Technometria with Phil Windley
In the 17th century, William Ames wrote a book called
Technometria. Technometry meant literally "the measure of a skill or
art." As Ames used it, he meant the study of the theory of the
interrelation of the arts and sciences. (See Why
Technometria for more detail.)
This is the Technometria podcast. I'm Phil Windley and I'm usually joined
by Scott Lemon and Ben Galbraith, good friends and
great technologists in their own right. Matt Asay has been a co-host in the past. We may talk him into coming back someday.
Technometria is our attempt to make sense of the technology that
surrounds us through exploration, analysis, and, hopefully,
reason. In these podcasts you'll find discussions of Web 2.0,
programming and software development, open source, identity, new
media, enterprise computing, and many other topics.
If you enjoy these podcasts, let us know by giving them a rating or sending us a note. You might also
enjoy Phil Windley's
Technometria blog.
A year ago, Apple released the iPhone to both critical and consumer acclaim. On July 11, 2008, the company came out with an upgraded version that promised faster speeds as well as third party applications. Tech geek and blogger Robert Scoble joins Phil and Scott to discuss both the device itself, as well as the social phenomenon that has people lining up for a second year in a row.
Scott Lemon is not happy with Firefox 3.0 and he, Ben, and Phil use his dissatisfaction to begin a discussion of browsers and other tech topics. Phil gives some statistics of browser usage on his blog Technometria, and they talk about Canvas (the HTML element, not the material), as well as a number of other related subjects.
Puppet is an automated administrative engine for systems, performs administrative tasks (such as adding users, installing packages, and updating server configurations) based on a centralized specification. Luke Kanies, who founded Reductive Labs, has been doing server automation for years, and Puppet is the result of his frustration with existing tools. He joins Phil, Scott, and Ben to discuss it.
In a recent Business Week article, writer Olga Kharif discussed the changes to the mobile phone industry that will take place because of the iPhone. Brian Fling of Fling Media clearly agrees with Kharif's premise. In a discussion with Phil and Scott, he talks about his recent Web 2.0 Expo presentation and how he believes the everyday mobile phone user will be impacted by the iPhone.
On the fifth anniversary of IT Conversations, founder Doug Kaye joins Phil to discuss the past, present, and future of both IT Conversations and the Conversations Network. He reviews the technical aspects of how shows are assembled and also assesses the challenges with trying to produce quality programming in a non-profit environment. He also discusses how the Conversations Network will continue to evolve in the future.
Phil and Scott discuss the recent Telecosm 2008 conference, where attendees debated, discussed, decoded and deciphered the digital and communications technologies and policies vital to the build-out of the global Internet infrastructure. They also talk about a number of other topics, including Google's Android project and PlateSpin, a company that specializes in server consolidation and disaster recovery.
Phil, Ben, and Scott are joined by Tyler Whitaker to discuss some of their current projects and activities. They first talk about alternate uses of mobile phones and how cellphone usage in other countries is quite similar to the United States. Scott then talks about the status of his work with Asterisk, an open source PBX, telephony engine, and telephony applications toolkit.
In his recent presentation at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, Adam Jacob talked about why a start-up needs an automated infrastructure. He covered the components necessary for any automated infrastructure to be successful and also presented use-cases. Along with Jesse Robbins, Adam joins Phil and Scott to talk about the automated infrastructure process.
Phil, Ben, and Scott discuss recent technology conferences. Phil talks about his visit to China for WWW2008, while Scott reports on the recent Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco. The group also has time to review other topics, including Wii remote programming using Java, using a cellphone to control realtime, multiplayer games, as well as Scott's video blog on QIK.
Enterprise social software is a term describing social software used in businesses and other enterprises. It includes such tools as blogging, people search, social network analysis, tagging, wiki, and collaboration/groupware. Christian Gray and Craig Honick join Phil and Scott to discuss their research. They define how ESS is different from traditional business models and why it is useful to study. They also discuss their initial findings and talk about how others can get involved.
Log In
Play