Showing 1-10 of 13 results
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Memory keeps getting cheaper and better
Life, James Hein, Published on 05/07/2023
» I recently picked up a portable 5TB drive for around US$100 (3,516 baht) and it reminded me of the time I got a 500MB internal drive for about the same price, but the difference is a thousand times the storage that can be carried with you for the same amount of money. Yes, the value of money has changed somewhat during that time so the original drive actually cost more but you get the idea, things keep getting better and the prices keep dropping. I sometimes wonder how long this will last, but for a few decades now that has been the story and it looks like it will be that way for the near future at least.
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Microsoft stock booming on AI run
Life, James Hein, Published on 07/06/2023
» It's not a good time to be working for Microsoft, but it is a good time to be a shareholder or executive. Stock is up over 30%, net income is up and the CEO Satya Nadella got a nice 10% raise. Regular workers received no pay rise, or effectively a 5% pay cut due to inflation. Microsoft has rationalised it as pat and generic reasons like a "competitive environment" and the "global macroeconomic uncertainties". In reality, Microsoft is using the money to jump into the AI wave through a multibillion-dollar partnership with OpenAI.
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What would you do without internet?
Life, James Hein, Published on 12/04/2023
» India recently blocked all internet, phone and SMS access to the state of Punjab for four to five days as they search for a Sikh separatist. I had a friend who was there at the time and they told me how eerie it was to see no one on a phone for a few days. Someone would occasionally pull out the phone to see if service had returned but apart from that, there were no people talking loudly on phones in restaurants or on public transport. This impacted 27 million people, which is more than the population of Australia.
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Those pesky pixel trackers
Life, James Hein, Published on 12/10/2022
» I've written about the tracking in TikTok. I recently found out you don't need to have the app installed to be providing tracking data to this platform. The term you need to learn today is "tracking pixel".
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Banner year for Zoom, Microsoft Teams subpar
Life, James Hein, Published on 09/12/2020
» 'Zoom records another bumper quarter" is an unsurprising headline. While Covid-19 still has a grip on leaders and businesses, online meetings remain a big choice, but for how long? Over the years I've noticed that management falls into distinct groups when it comes to working from home. Most want to see their workers in the office as much as possible but some do support remote work and work-from-home as long as the work is being completed. For those who have to travel long distances to and from work, it also provides an opportunity for more sleep and less stress. For an eye-opener on the importance of this, I recommend that everyone read Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker for data on the importance of sleep, including its benefits to organisations.
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The borders of security
Life, James Hein, Published on 22/05/2019
» It's becoming more common for agents at some borders to demand your device passwords so they can check what you have on them. Given the power of the modern smartphone, partially indicated by the cost of the top-end models, this makes sense, as they are basically mini notebook computers. If you really want to protect your data, keep it elsewhere.
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An English-always app workaround
Life, James Hein, Published on 30/01/2019
» On a recent overseas trip I noticed that some of my Android phone Google-related apps would change language settings and feeds based on the country I was in. Unless you can read in multiple languages this is really annoying. Even more so is that this behaviour is the default one and apparently unchangeable. If you are using Google as a browser you can at least stop this when browsing by using the URL google.com/ncr where the "ncr" stands for No Country Redirect. The result is an English always result regardless of where you may be in the world at the time.
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Asking the right questions
Life, James Hein, Published on 17/12/2014
» As I write this, I am in the US conducting some training for a new software system. While a lot of work went into the specifications, design and expected results, when I was actually presented with the system a number of things became apparent. For those involved in business analysis, systems analysis, design and related fields, the following will not be a surprise, but for those on the other side (the user community) here are some observations.
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Myforecasts and how they fared in the end
Life, James Hein, Published on 25/12/2013
» It's that time of year again where we look back and review what the past 12 months brought us _ and check how well I did with my predictions from this time last year. While I forecast that the Galaxy S4 would do well against the iPhone, I didn't expect Apple to fall as far as it did this past year, compared to other firms, in terms of overall market position and sales. The 5S was indeed a catch-up for Apple and had no wow factors at all, causing some users to move away from the Apple line. The 5C was a sales failure and the iPad mini didn't do very well at all against the less expensive equivalents. As expected, Apple is still actively involved in litigation and trying to secure as many ridiculous patents for itself as possible instead of focusing on true innovation.
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Sympathy for the old devils
Life, James Hein, Published on 17/07/2013
» If you are below the age of 30 you were born into a world with global connectivity on your phone, at home and in your office. You probably grew up using mobile devices and social networking applications like Facebook to keep in contact with all your family, friends and business associates. In some countries you are doing most of your shopping online, doing your business with the government online and you probably don't have a fixed-line connection in your home or apartment. In short, you are connected everywhere you go.
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