By Karen Lopez on Thu, 24 Aug 2006 17:21:00 GMT

My Aunt Peggy is a finalist in a Dell USA contest for designing a back to school notebook skin.  Her design, a picture of a teacher with Yo and E=mc² is one of ten finalists.  If her design wins, she gets 10 Grand!

I invite everyone register for the contest and vote for her design - if you like it.  To register and vote, visit

I'm sure she will appreciate your vote!  You can vote once a day between now and the end of August.

Thanks for your help.  Oh, and when you register, you might just win a free computer, too.  So vote early and often.

By Karen Lopez on Tue, 22 Aug 2006 11:23:00 GMT

Garry Gramm pointed me to this wonderful video of research into interface design.  Jeff Han demonstrates a more intuitive and easier way to interact with a computer. 

I've seen a lot of these types of videos over the years.  Most require a device that costs $50,000 or one that makes you look like you've stepped out of a very geeky Flash Gordon film.

In this video, Han demonstrates an interface that allows users to work with both hands. No Palm graffiti here.  One of the more promising aspects of this interface is that is appears to be very intuitive.  It allows the user to work pretty much as they would in the real world.

The interface does include a virtual keyboard.  I've used similar ones before, but since I'm a fairly fast touch typist, I tend to struggle with virtual ones because there is no feedback.  I wonder if that could be incorporated.

I could really see this device/approach being a wonderful addition to a modeling tool.  Heck, I'd love to see it as part of Enterprise Manager and MS Project.  I wonder, though, just how inexpensive it is given its size.

What do you think?  Would this make your modeling life easier?  Do you think you will find this device on the shelves of your local Best Buy? Would you be able to justify the cost of an additional input device?

By Karen Lopez on Mon, 21 Aug 2006 11:55:00 GMT

Michael Gorman, of Whitemarsh Information Systems, has published a whitepaper on data names and other data modeling and issues:

Managing Data Names, Value Domains, Abbreviations, and Definitions. This paper, along with the other two short papers are critical reads for all those involved in data management. http://wiscorp.com/sp/sp03.pdf

In his paper, he also includes great references to data naming standards.  Check it out.

By Karen Lopez on Mon, 21 Aug 2006 05:58:00 GMT

The Object Management Group (OMG) as a great overview PDF of Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN).  This standard has been adopted by many modeling tool vendors for use in their process modeling tools.

It's only 26 slides, so it shouldn't take long to review. 

I think there will be some great opportunities (and some challenges) for integrating data and process models as more tool vendors support this standard.

 

By Karen Lopez on Sat, 12 Aug 2006 01:46:00 GMT

Today is the 25th birthday of the Personal computer.  Happy Birthday, PC. 

Hmmm....1981.  I was finishing high school.  I did not have a computer. Raiders of the Lost Ark is the top grossing film, Mommy Dearest debuts. Dirty Deeds, Done Dirt Cheap, Freeze Frame, I Love a Rainy Night, Celebration, and Private Eyes are released (I know these will be lilting through your head for the rest of the day).  

The first Space Shuttle launches.  Ted Codd is the Turning Award Recipient.  Pierre Trudeau is Canadian PM.  Terry Fox  passes away, but his Marathon of Hope goes on.  Ronald Reagan is President and the Iran hostages are released minutes after he takes office.

MTV launches.

The original Model 5150 IBM PC with a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 processor was released in the United States at a base price of $1,565.  (from Wikipedia.com)

I don't have a picture of the first PC handy , but I do have these pics from a recent visit to the Smithsonian, of other early devices. 

That would be a TRS-80 I believe, on the right.  I remember a friend of mine had one at home.  I remember writing programs on it to track how many cases of oranges we had sold for a fundraiser.

Here's an Apple, for those of you who like simplicity...:)  And to think all those guys putting tiny motherboards into cigar boxes over at Fry's are way behind the times compared to this wooden work of art.

These days I stop by my local thrift shop from time to time to see what older computers they have.  I've picked up a Commodore, but most of the other stuff is just...stuff.  One night when I was out running, I found an old beat up Lisa out in someone's trash.  It's too beat up to work, but somehow I couldn't just let it go to the dump. Lisa was the first GUI computer. She even had project management software.

Now I have more power in my Pocket PC than we ever dreamed about on our desktops.  I still remember the excitement regarding the pace of change in computing.  Now days, that awe is focused on other gadgets, technologies and trends -- but that doesn't take way from where we were in the late Seventies and early Eighties.  Everybody Wang Chung...and Happy Birthday