May 2012
1 post
3 tags
Sizing up Connected Real Estate
Sizing up Connected Real Estate – Does size really matter?
Today, I’d like to explore how to size the connectivity aspect when exploring the decision to offer (or just use) Connected Real Estate for a Real Estate Project.
Defining the needs of the target market
When considering Connected Real Estate, it is important to understand what the target market is and what their requirements for technology...
April 2012
3 posts
Checkvist story: List reset and multiline task... →
checkvist:
It really takes time to make a noticable change.
Despite all excitement of working on the next big thing (more on this in a separate blog post), the ongoing maintenance and bugfixes should also take place.
Type ‘reset’ to reopen all tasks in the list
Some people have the same set of tasks to…
“The person who knows ‘how’ will always have a job. The person who knows ‘why’...”
– Diane Ravitch
3 tags
"Too Old For Technology?" - Network Connectivity... →
This is a guest post I did for the Construction Connection newsletter and Blog.
March 2012
3 posts
5 tags
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a...”
– Robert A. Heinlein
Generalist or Specialist: What does your SMB need...
One of the things that I have always seen as a strong point, is being a Jack of all Trades. It has always surprised me how society in the US is determined to pigeonhole who you are and what you do - If I talk about my experience or drop my resume at an employers desk, there is often confusion about where I fit in.
In other parts of the world it is normal that an IT guy has knowledge of everything...
February 2012
11 posts
4 tags
Thinking Cities - ICT is changing the game →
This is a brilliant piece by Ericsson on what smart cities do for everyday people. It explores some of the possibilities and in its simplicity, create a window where the regular person can catch a glimpse of life in tomorrows city..
It is 17 minutes long and worth watching.
Hands-On Pics of the Cisco Cius "phone"
I was in the fortunate situation earlier this week, to play around with the Cisco Cuis. Unfortunately, the device was not fully connected yet but it is a very interesting development.
The Cisco Cius is an “IP-based communications end-point”. Blah. What this essentially means is that Cisco sees the device as a phone first, and everything else later.
As you can see, the Cius is a...
5 tags
The hidden costs of PCs and how to reduce them.
Have you ever considered the cost of computers being left on? It is a subject that rarely gets touched but the figures are just staggering. In a world that is becoming more and more aware of green efforts, the calculations are often made on a large scale - referring to environmental impact.
But let’s bring it a bit closer to home and apply this to the cost of running your business.
My...
3 tags
High Availability in the SMB
When I use the words High Availability (HA) when talking to my clients, it usually results in funny looks and them telling me that their environment is not a 24 hour shop. Asking further, HA is often equated with large expenses in purchase as well as maintenance.
On a separate note and just to be clear: Having backups available is NOT availability (high, low or anything in between). Backups are...
“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who...”
– Charles Darwin
Testing some new themes...
If you see some changes on the blog, now you know why… :D
3 tags
Killing Progress with Financial ROI's (and... →
Fantastic article written by Rick Huijbregts from Cisco Canada.
How many of us still don’t believe that our children and their children will expect connectivity, wireless, and access to a personalized environment when the set foot in a home or building. Home many of us still don’t think that mobility, “cloud computing”, and virtualized compute power will change the landscape of the built...
3 tags
What is Connected Real Estate and why should you...
Now that slowly, but surely, the term Connected Real Estate is getting more traction, I often get the question about what CRE is. While there are many definitions from different sides of the spectrum, they all have one thing in common:
First and foremost, Connected Real Estate defines that a complete real estate project is electronically connected to the outside world, which is most commonly...
1 tag
“Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources...”
– Howard Stevenson
Marketing Research Services: A Short Neurological... →
civicom:
1- Find the C below.. Please do not use any cursor help. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOO …
2 tags
The Connected City - Thierry Martens talks about... →
An interview with Thierry Martens from Living PlanIT. This company is taking CRE to the next level, building a complete connected city in Portugal (PlanIT Valey).
Starting with a datacenter as the core, they use millions of sensors throughout the buildings as well as the city. I find this extremely exciting, but will this become the norm? If so, how long will it take to create the awareness...
January 2012
4 posts
4 tags
The demise of MegaUpload - This is why TRUST is...
Today, a great article was posted on Gartner. Jay Heiser, author of the article, speculates that there will be several businesses that will have lost their backups due to the sudden death of MegaUpload.com.
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This will usually affect the SMB. For the simple reason, that in general the SMB has a tendency to be less careful with their data - part because of a lack of understanding, part because...
2 tags
5 Reasons why your next location should be...
The more I think about it and the more I am talking to people about it, Connected Real Estate just makes sense. For all parties - not only the vendors, but the clients as well, especially those in the SMB segment.
As an advocate of Connected Real Estate, it dawned on me that I never wrote anything about the benefits for the end-user. So here goes.
If you are moving to a new location, you should...
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in...”
– George Bernard Shaw
1 tag
December 2011
1 post
5 tags
IT is the future, the future is now. Ergo?
IT is the future, the future is now. Therefore, IT has no future.
Maybe it is too simplistic, but the way that I see it, we are at a very sharp curve in the IT road and it is taking us into an amazing direction.
For years, we have heard people say that the term Information Technology has become a misnomer and many alternative names have been proposed. The ones that resonated most with me, are...
September 2011
6 posts
2 tags
1 tag
Document Management System
I sent an email message today about my experiences with finding a DMS system that offers basic functionality and is extremely easy for the supporting users to learn and maintain. Reading it again, I made a few minor modifications and decided to post it here……
We needed a document management system for several reasons. Primarily for a basic form of version control, to keep track of...
Connectivity: The fourth utility
** This post was migrated from my Blogger account and was originally written on February 18, 2011**
Over the past 15 years, having business access to the Internet has transformed from an oddity, to a luxury, to a necessity. It is hard to imagine doing business in this day and age, without being connected to the Internet. Even the most analog and traditional businesses make intensive use of email,...
1 tag
TCO and the real estate world
As a long time IT guy, the word TCO means only one thing - Total Cost of Ownership. However in the construction world, it seems to mean the Temporary Certificate of Occupancy or, as I have deciphered it to mean, that a new building is no longer considered a construction site and is ready for the occupants. The CO (yes, Certificate of Occupancy), follows within a few months.
What do these two have...
“Everyone is a genius.
But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree,...”
– Albert Einstein
A not-so-technical blog for the SMB
** This post was migrated from my Blogger account and was originally written on April 28, 2010**
Finally. Bazic Blue is officially alive and the products have launched. This is an exciting time for me and even though I am not known to be a writer, I feel that blogging is the right fit to broadcast my ideas and hopefully get some discussion going.
Over the past month, people have asked me why I...