The Network Podcast 69196c

Ken Duda, Arista’s Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, public comment about Arista “slavishly” copying Cisco’s CLI

A look at the career of Michael Stonebraker, the companies he founded and his involvement in data base research. Also listen to the conversation about his career and the awards he has received.

A look at the career of Reed Hundt, chairman of the FCC under President Clinton, environmentalist, venture capitalist, lawyer and lifetime "Gore Person." http://newsroom.cisco.com/feature-content?type=webcontent&articleId=1638111

Network Trailblazer: Vicki Hanson by The Network Podcast

A look at the career of Kevin Ashton known as the father of IoT, Proctor & Gamble alumni, founding Executive Director of MIT's Auto-ID Center, author of How to Fly a Horse. http://newsroom.cisco.com/feature-content?type=webcontent&articleId=1558161

Researchers and engineers are applying Internet of Everything (IoE) technology to waterways, using it for everything from monitoring real-time flooding conditions to preventing contaminants from spilling into rivers. Here’s a look at three such projects:

Everyone from kindergarten teachers and university professors, to CEOs and government leaders seem worried about the “technology skills gap”. It’s become commonplace to decry that we’re not equipping students with the STEM skills they need to succeed in a tech-centric economy. Companies complain they have thousands of open tech jobs, but can’t find qualified candidates to fill them. From San Francisco and Austin, to Sydney and London, companies say they could grow faster and boost hiring across teams, if only they could fill their open IT positions.

A dog lives in a kennel. A chicken lives in a coop. And innovation, it seems, lives in a hub. Innovation hubs are increasingly a feature of urban development as planners work to spice up economic and employment prospects with an environment dedicated to fostering invention.

In the current mobile manufacturing competition, device makers strive to give s a distinct product with unique features. So is it possible to imagine a common, ubiquitous device? That is, a mobile handset virtually the same as every other? Distinguished not by ‘bells & whistles’ and physical features, but by its cloud-based, personalized profile, services & apps delivered to the via SaaS?

The imperative “innovate or die” has been loosely thrown around tech and media landscapes for the last two years. Fast-growth companies are all racing to be dubbed the most innovative, the most creative, and the most disruptive in their sectors, to avoid being left behind as dust in the land of the obsolete.

Electric utilities are gradually modernizing the electric grid to meet the demands of an increasingly digital society. In the same way, mobile solutions are helping field service personnel (line crews, technicians, supervisors, etc.) respond to catastrophic storm events in ways that were unforeseen a few short years ago.

Earlier this year, fledgling startup Quanttus, raised $19 million in venture capital funding following a previous seed round of $3 million. The Cambridge, Mass.-based company, formed by a small group of mostly MIT alumni, is developing wearable devices using various sensors to measure such vital signs as heart rate and blood pressure. Software analyzes the data, allowing customers to take action in response. That’s pretty good for a year-and-a-half year old company still in stealth mode.

Data scientist and MIT professor, Alex Sandy Petland, coined the term social physics to describe the way human social networks spread ideas and transform those ideas into action. As niche social networking services are becoming more prevalent and more focused, a window of opportunity is wide open for studying and understanding social physics.

On a chilly evening in London in March, Index on Censorship presented its 2014 Freedom of Expression awards to “the world’s bravest journalists, campaigners and digital innovators”. All eyes were on the Google Digital Activism Award: its nominees included whistleblower Edward Snowden, and it was the only category decided by public vote.

One of the ironies about India’s technology infrastructure is that it looks a lot better the further away you go. While Indian service providers routinely handle major IT outsourcing tasks for American and European companies, getting even a standard Internet connection can still be a challenge for many people in the country.

The mobile payment solutions industry in India has seen significant growth in recent years and observers believe that growth is only going to explode in the future with Indian consumers’ increased use of mobile phone and credit cards.

A Friday afternoon crowd of young men and women packs a microbrewery. The Wi-Fi is free and the music is loud. Jeans and t-shirts abound. So do cell phones and conversations about technology, startup funding and business strategy. Outside, a black Porsche speeds by.

Web designers have long been aware of the need to make things easy for Internet s. Now usability is increasingly an issue for other technology areas.

The two-mile six-lane Charilaos Trikoupis bridge in Greece links the town of Rio on the Peloponnese peninsula to the mainland, spanning the Gulf of Corinth. Its 300 or so sensors monitor its condition, alerting operators when, say, high winds call for shutting the bridge to traffic. Soon after going live about ten years ago, for example, the technology detected unusual vibrations in the bridge’s cables and, in response, engineers added more weights.

Anyone who has suffered a break-in knows just how awful it feels. Even in cases where the damage and financial loss are minimal, the feeling of violation and fear caused by a theft can be overwhelming. The good news is that mobile technology is making home security easier and better than ever before and the technology is only getting better. Alarm systems that send signals and images over the mobile network can be placed almost anywhere you want.