“Look Around” on Panoramio: Turn Lots of Pics into a 3D Landscape (http://ping.fm/Xlxzs) 3 months ago
Community Bank Research and Database Marketer, Business Performance Management, Data Visualization, Business Intelligence, KPIs, Social Media and 2.0...
Ubuntu 8.04 LTS - First Impressions Part Two
I spent some time this weekend exporing the new Linux Ubuntu 8.04 release. As I said in part one, I really enjoy how much snappier it is. All weekend long I made sure the 3D UI, compiz, was turned on. I found it to be much smoother then in the previous two versions.
During my second round of testing I focused on my Citrix connection to work. I had no issues and with the 3D UI turned on I actually got some of the fancy window open and close affects witht he Citrix windows that were running on a Windows 2003 server at work.
I played several type of videos at several sites, YouTube etc and had no issues.
The only glitch which I shoud report, is the Update program leaves windows fragments on the desktop after checking for updates.
So what is the bottome line? For me, I got a whle,bunch of updates, the core OS, the UI, and many programs and continued using my computer without any major issues. To me the is a huge success.
I strongly urge you to give Ubuntu a try.
4 months agoUbuntu 8.04 LTS – First Impressions
I upgraded my Linux installation on my Toshiba Tecra M2-S430 laptop from Ubuntu 7.10 to 8.04 LTS. For those of you not familiar with Ubuntu, it updates every six months. However, they started a Long Term Support (LTS) version for those who do not want to upgrade every six months. LTS versions receive support for three years.
I used the upgrade feature from within my install, clicked a couple of confirmation boxes and went to bed. I woke up to find the upgrade complete and just one more confirmation box to cleanup the install. A few minutes later I re-booted and I was on the new version.
My very first impression was this is faster. The Gnome interface, the browser and even Open Office all while running the advanced 3D interface (Combiz).
The only negative so far is two applications that were installed outside of the built in install program did not work. One was a beta product (hey it’s a beta) and the other was the Citrix client which could be due to Ubuntu running Firefox beta.
Over the weekend I will do more testing.
4 months agoWhat the Hell is Wubi? - Ubuntu Linux 8.04
What is Wubi? The Wubi website says “Wubi is a Ubuntu installer for Windows users that will bring you into the Linux world with a single click. Wubi allows you to install and uninstall Ubuntu as any other application. If you heard about Linux and Ubuntu, if you wanted to try them but you were afraid, Wubi is for you.”
I first used Wubi with the 7.04 release of Ubuntu Linux. I has been wanting to install Linux on my Toshba Tecra laptop for quite awhile but I never had the time to clean things up and repartition the hard drive. Activities that require advanced PC skill which I have. I heard that WUBI can install Linux into a virtual drive on my Windows XP system. I cleaned up 5 gigs of space and within minutes I had a working Linux computer.
I stayed with this install until the 7.10 release came out last October (2006). My linux install was stable and I was able to continue to work as I had before. I got to learn a few new apps and all was good. Well the system ran a bit slow. The hard drive was trashing and I as running Linux in a non standard fashion. So I backed up my system to I could split my meager 40gb hard drive into 2 partitions. I took my freshly burned Ubuntu 7.10 CD and installed Ubuntu Linux 7.10. The install automatically re-partitioned my drive. The install was just as simple as a Windows install. Since this new install was a native Linux install it ran much faster than my Wubi install.
So what did Wubi do for me? It got me to test Linux. There is always the LiveCD method but a disk based install is better.
What is great about the next version of Ubuntu Linux, version 8.0, is that Wubi is a part of the install so you can test it. This is what the offical Ubuntu site has to say, “
Wubi
There is a new installation option for Windows users. Wubi allows users to install and uninstall Ubuntu like any other Windows application. It does not require a dedicated partition, nor does it affect the existing bootloader, yet users can experience a dual-boot setup almost identical to a full installation. Wubi works with a physical CD or in stand-alone mode, by downloading an appropriate ISO to install from. It can be found on the root of the CD as Wubi.exe. A full installation within a dedicated partition is still recommended, but Wubi is a great way to try Ubuntu for a few days and weeks before committing dedicated disk resources.”
If you are a Windows user I challenge you to give it a try when Ubuntu 8.04 is released later this week.
Mashable.com published an article this afteroon titled, “5 Ways to Lend Online”. It still amazes me how many people in banking have never heard of person 2 person lending, a disruptive lending practice dating back to at least the summer of 2005. In the summer of 2005 Zopa.com started in the United Kingdom. I first became aware of P2P lending in February of 2006 when I read Interview with P2P Lender Prosper’s Chris Larsen By Jim Bruene of NetBanker.com. Ever since then I have continue to read and study these new services. When I would discuss this with bankers I would get comments like only people who we do not lend to would use this kind of service or businesses would never use something like this. Well they were wrong on both accounts. People with great credit are using these services as are small businesses.
This type of lending will start to affect banks and credit unions. The volume is still small but it is growing so we do need to watch. If you are curious about some of the current statisrtics regarding P2P lending you can read the First Quarter 2008 results for Prosper and LendingClub courtesy of NetBanker.
Just started reading “Performance Measurement for Financial Institutions” It’s over a decade old but I think it may still be relevant. 5 months ago
Having fun working on 2 major projects at work & trying to keep them on a schedule that is too fast for mortal men. Just glad I’m not human. 5 months ago
I have never understood the wide use of pie charts. Through most of my 20+ year career I have done my best to avoid them, only giving in to senior management when I knew it is a losing battle. Early in my career, I did use pie charts. What led me to stop using them was how they distorted the data or how the visual relationships were misread. I must admit, there is one perfect pie chart and it can be seen below. The main link to this post titled “Save the Pies for Desert”, was published by Data Visualization expert Stephen Few in July/August 2007. This and other articles can be found in the library section of his perceptualedge.com web site.
I had not been to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus since I was a kid. The family loved it. 5 months ago
Its nice to see that Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus uses live music. 5 months ago