Archive for October 15th, 2008
Gartner’s 10 technologies worth watching
I mentioned earlier in the week that the Gartner Symposium has been going on this week down at Disney World in Orlando.
One of the interesting things that Gartner presents each year around this time is its list of technologies worth watching for the next year. Technically, Gartner describes them as “strategic technologies,” which the market research firm describes as “one with the potential for significant impact on the enterprise in the next three years.”
With that, the list of strategic technologies:
- Virtualization
- Cloud computing
- Servers — Beyond Blades
- Web-Oriented Architectures
- EnterpriseMashups
- Specialized Systems
- Social Software and Social Networking
- Unified Communications
- Business Intelligence
- Green IT
So they don’t have Web 2.0 together — Gartner has broken it up into various bits.
These are directed at industry over all. We all know that governments are… different. For example, I still think that cloud computing is a tough sell in government. Enterprise mash-ups can be incredibly powerful. (See the CJD-fav Virtual Alabama.)
Get more information and details on this list here… and Gartner has even posted a video with officials talking about why these matter.
Happy birthday to… Phil Bond and George Stone
ITAA's Phil Bond
A very happy birthday to ITAA President and CEO Phil Bond. It is also the birthday of my good friend George Stone, who is the features editor at DC Magazine.
We’ve talked about change a lot in recent months. Bond has overseen a lot of change at ITAA — the merger with GEIA… and a possible merger with EIA… So he has been a very busy person.
So… on this date…
From public radio’s Writer’s Almanac:
It’s the birthday of the poet Virgil, (books by this author) born Publius Vergilius Maro near Mantua, Italy, 70 B.C.E. The government asked Virgil to write a poem persuading Romans who had left the countryside to return home and become farmers again. He wrote The Georgics, a kind of poetic farming manual about grain production, trees, animal husbandry, and beekeeping. The emperor was so impressed that he gave Virgil a generous stipend, and the poet spent the rest of his life working on his epic poem, The Aeneid.
From the Library of Congress’s report on this day in history:
On October 15, 1972, Jackie Robinson threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the second game of the World Series commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of his becoming the first African-American to play in modern Major League Baseball. His Major League career began in earnest on April 15, 1947, when played in his first game for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Following his retirement from baseball, Robinson worked as vice president for personnel at Chock Full O’ Nuts from 1957 to 1964. He was also active with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In December 1956, the NAACP had recognized Robinson with the Spingarn Medal, which it awards annually for the highest achievement by an African American. Robinson chaired the NAACP’s million-dollar Freedom Fund Drive in 1957 and was a member of the board of directors until 1967.
Many other groups also honored Robinson. In July 1962, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference held a testimonial dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. Although SCLC president Martin Luther King was not able to attend, King’s speech recognized the positive impact of Robinson’s achievements beyond baseball.
Read more — and see photos — here.
Other events:
In 1951 The situation comedy “I Love Lucy” premiered on CBS.
In 1964, it was announced that Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev had been removed from office. He was succeeded as premier by Alexei N. Kosygin and as Communist Party secretary by Leonid I. Brezhnev
In 1989 Wayne Gretzky of the Los Angeles Kings surpassed Gordie Howe’s NHL career scoring record of 1,850 points.
In 1990 Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev was named the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1990 South Africa’s Separate Amenities Act, which had barred blacks from public facilities for decades, was scrapped.
In 1991 The Senate narrowly confirmed the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, 52-48.
In 1993 Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk were named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to end apartheid in South Africa.
Other birthdays:
84 Lee Iacocca
Former Chrysler chairman
73 Barry McGuire
Rock singer
71 Linda Lavin
Actress (“Alice”)
66 Penny Marshall
Actress, director
63 Jim Palmer
Baseball Hall of Famer
62 Richard Carpenter
Singer, musician (The Carpenters)
55 Tito Jackson
Singer (The Jackson Five)
53 Tanya Roberts
Actress
49 Sarah Ferguson
Duchess of York
49 Emeril Lagasse
TV chef
39 Dominic West
Actor (“The Wire”)
Presidential cookies… and your privacy
If the presidential candidates Web sites were government Web sites, they would violate federal privacy rules.
The Web sites of both presidential candidates use Web cookies. Web cookies are, to use the definition that the NIST Web site uses, are “small bits of text that are either used for the duration of a session (“session cookies) or saved on a user’s hard drive in order to identify that user, or information about that user, the next time the user logs on the a Web site (“persistent cookies”).” By OMB mandate as part of the E-Gov Act, persistent cookies are not allowed on federal Web sites unless specifically approved — and the approval process is somewhat arduous, so few do it.
I am interested to see who uses cookies and why. The issue is controversial in the Web world. Privacy advocates are not big fans of cookies — they can let a site track where you’ve been and how you make your way through a Web site. Web content managers love because they can show how users actually use the Web site so they can make it better. They also allow you to save a password or remember where you’ve been on a Web site, for example.
Frankly, most people just don’t think about it — not unlike many privacy issues, to be honest. (I follow this issue occasionally… See FCW Insider posts I did on the topic here… and here… and here.)
So I thought it would be interesting to see how the presidential candidates deal with the issue — and while both the Obama and McCain Web sites use persistent cookies, they both talk about it in their Web privacy policies.
BarackObama.com
As I mentioned, the Web site of the Obama for President campaign does use persistent cookies — as you can see, this cookie expires on September 26, 2010. But the campaign does a good job of explaining the whole thing on the campaign’s privacy policy:
We log IP addresses, which are the locations of computers or networks on the Internet, and analyze them in order to improve the value of our site. We also collect aggregate numbers of page hits in order to track the popularity of certain pages and improve the value of our site. We do not gather, request, record, require, collect or track any Internet users’ Personal Information through these processes.
We use cookies on our site. A “cookie” is a tiny text file that we store on your computer to customize your experience and support some necessary functions. We also use cookies to better understand how our visitors use our site. Our cookies contain no Personal Information and are neither shared nor revealed to other sites. We do not look for or at other sites’ cookies on your computer.
You also have choices with respect to cookies. By modifying your browser preferences, you can accept all cookies, be notified when a cookie is set, or reject all cookies. (For more information on how to block or filter cookies, see http://www.cookiecentral.com/faq.) However, if you reject some or all cookies, your experience at our site and other sites throughout the World Wide Web may not be complete. Also, you would be unable to take advantage of personalized content delivery offered by other Internet sites or by us.
We may use pixel tags (also known as web beacons or clear GIF files) or other tracking technology to help us manage our online advertising and to analyze and measure the effectiveness of online advertising campaigns and the general usage patterns of visitors to our Web site.. Such technologies may also be used by third party advertising service providers who serve or assist us in managing ads on our site, such as DoubleClick, Yahoo Tremor and 24/7 RealMedia. These files enable us or these third parties to recognize a unique cookie on your Web browser, which in turn enables us to learn which advertisements bring users to our website and to deliver advertising targeted to your interests. The information that is collected and shared using these pixel tags and similar technology is anonymous and not personally identifiable. It does not contain your name, address, telephone number, or email address. We are not responsible for and do not control any actions or policies of any third party advertising technology service providers or of any third party members of any related advertising networks. For more information about DoubleClick, including
information about how to opt out of the use of these technologies by DoubleClick, go to http://www.doubleclick.net/us/corporate/privacy. To opt out of collection by 24/7 Real Media, please visit: http://www.247realmedia.com/opt-out.html. To opt our of collection by Yahoo Search Marketing, please go to http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/ysmt/details.html.
Obama’s Web site also had a cookie that expired… in 1919. Hmmm.
JohnMcCain.com
The Web site of McCain for President also uses persistent cookies — see the cookie here that expires on Dec. 31, 2019. But, again, the campaign does a good job of explaining the what and why on the campaign’s privacy policy:
How we use log files to better serve you: We use log files to assess the aggregate level of traffic to JohnMcCain.com including what pages people are visiting, and to diagnose any potential problems with the Web site. This log file does contain an “Internet Protocol” or IP address that gives us insight on the general geographic area that visitors are coming from but not information on a specific individual. All users remain anonymous unless they choose to give us personally identifiable information, or log in to the website using a username and password or through a cookie stored on the user computer.
Information collected when you donate: When you make a contribution to John McCain 2008, federal law requires us to collect and report the following information: name, mailing address, employer, occupation, and amount of contribution. Federal law requires us to report this information to the Federal Election Commission if an individual’s contribution or contributions aggregate in excess of $200 in a single election cycle. Contributions from corporations, government contractors, foreign nationals without a “green card,” and minors (individuals under the age of 18) are prohibited. Any credit card information provided is only used to immediately process your donation. John McCain 2008 does not retain your credit card information once the donation is processed online. John McCain 2008 may also choose to publicly disclose donors online or in other methods.
Use of cookies and protecting your privacy: We do make use of cookies to personalize and customize your interaction with JohnMcCain.com and to provide you with the best possible online experience. A cookie is a tiny text file that is placed on your hard drive and does not contain any personal information about you.
Cookies are a privacy low hanging fruit, and that’s why I often check in on them. Often the biggest issue with privacy is giving people the option — telling them what you are doing and letting them decide — transparency, even.
Earlier in the year when I looked at all of the campaigns cookies, the campaign with the most persistent cookies: Rudy Giuliani. Cookies on his Web site expired on January 17, 2038… but even he had an explainer.
