Friday, January 6, 2006

10 Reasons to Date a Geek It's not easy being a geek. But Robert Scoble's wife Maryam has listed Ten Reasons to Date a Geek. Does this fit any of you. I guess I resemble that remark as Garfield once said. 12:52:13 PM    comment []

CES Comdex may be dead, but the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is in full swing in Las Vegas. Blogger and editor Doc Searls is blogging from the event. The merger of computers to entertainment is nearng completion as you can see from this post. In a further analysis, ZDNet's David Berlind posts about the meaning of digital rights management (DRM) for us poor consumers in the future. Another blogger at the show is Microsoft's Robert Scoble, whose blog is well worth a daily read. I spent an extended period of time only once with the famous Dick Morley. That was in Nashville at a Schneider Electric mini event at the Opryland hotel. I remember browsing a video game arcade with him and his comment was "let's look at the future of HMI" observing the realistic games like riding a race horse or downhill skiing. That was more than 5 years ago. We'll look at the merger of computers, audio, video and Internet at CES and imagine how that will affect how humans interact with machines, processes and business. Now run out and develop something. 10:38:53 AM    comment []

Fieldbus Training Planning Here's a good event to block out on your calendars now. The Fieldbus Center of Lee College in Baytown, Texas is hosting a gathering of those concerned with the loss of skilled technicians in the process control industry. The conference will discuss the impact of training across the entire plant automation field--from digital technologies such as fieldbus to conventional instrumentation and process control systems. According to Fieldbus Center Director Chuck Carter, the conference was organized in response to the growing shortage of personnel trained in the latest instrumentation technologies. "In the coming years, industrial manufacturers around the world will face a very significant and inevitable challenge: keeping pace with the accelerating retirement rate for today's experienced technicians and operators," said Carter. "The control and instrumentation field can only remain strong by enabling the education of tomorrow's workforce." Anyone involved with training the instrumentation workforce, from helpers to engineers, is encouraged to attend and participate. The Fieldbus Center is seeking input from the instrumentation industry on conference discussion topics, white papers, presenters, and sponsors. For more information, or to register for the event, contact Marsha Swimmer Tuha, operations specialist, Fieldbus Center at Lee College at mswimmer@lee.edu. 8:02:58 AM    comment []