Pinterest

Pinterest is a social curation website for sharing and categorizing images found online. The site's name is a portmanteau of the words "pin" and "interest."

Site members can add a "Pin it" button to their browser and then select and "pin" online images to virtual pinboards, which are used to organize categories. Visitors can browse or search for image content and can follow the boards of other users and can "like" or repin other users' pins. Current Pinterest categories include architecture, art, DIY and crafts, fashion, food and drink, home decor, science and travel.

Pinterest requires brief descriptions, but the main focus of the site is visual. Clicking on an image will take the visitor to the original source, so, for example, if a woman clicks on a picture of a pair of shoes, she might be taken to a site where she can purchase them. An image of blueberry pancakes might point to a web page with the recipe; a picture of a whimsical birdhouse might lead the visitor to instructions for how to build it.

Pinterest was founded by Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra and Evan Sharp. The Pinterest service launched as a closed beta in March 2010. Pinterest membership was initially by invitation-only but is now open to the general public. In 2011, TechCrunch selected Pinterest as the year's top startup, and Time magazine named it as one of the top 50 websites of that year. As of January 2012, the site had 11.7 million users.

VMware Horizon Mobile

VMware Horizon Mobile is mobile virtualization and application wrappingsoftware that lets IT administrators control corporate data and applications on end users' smartphones and tablets.

VMware Horizon Mobile for Android takes a mobile virtualization approach to managing and securing corporate data and applications. Using ahypervisor installed on the mobile device hardware, it creates a custom operating system onto which only IT-approved applications may be installed. All personal data and apps remain on the device's original operating system, untouched by IT, and the user may switch back and forth between the two operating systems as needed.

VMware Horizon Mobile for iOS takes an application wrapping approach, in which software added to the application enforces policies that determine how corporate apps, and the data they contain, can interact with a device's operating system or other apps. Both technologies are part of the VMware Horizon Suite, which is scheduled to be released in 2013.

Five Whys

Five Whys, sometimes written as "5 Whys," is a guided team exercise for identifying the root cause of a problem. Five Whys is used in the "analyze" phase of the Six SigmaDMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, control) methodology.
The exercise begins with a facilitator stating a problem and then asking the question "Why?" (meaning "Why did the problem occur?"). The group brainstorms answers based on direct observation. Once the group agrees upon an answer, the facilitator again asks the question, "Why?"
The exercise got its name because it generally takes five iterations of the questioning process for the group to arrive at the root-cause of a problem -- but it is perfectly correct for the facilitator to ask less than five "whys" or more than five "whys" depending on the group's needs.

Here is an example of how a Five Whys exercise might proceed:
Facilitator: Our websites were down from 2pm to 2:45 pm on Saturday. Why?
Group: Because the external DNS server failed.
Facilitator: Why did the external DNS server fail?
Group: Because the central process unit (CPU) was peaked at 100% and couldn't handle outside requests.
Facilitator: Why did the CPU peak at 100%?
Group: Because the server kept trying to auto-update Windows.
Facilitator: Why did the server keep trying to auto-update Windows?
Group: Because when the administrator created the server, he forgot to uncheck the auto-update service.
Facilitator: Why did the administrator forget to uncheck the auto-update service when he created the server?
Group: Because he was in a hurry and got distracted by an alarm going off.
Once the team has agreed that they have identified the root cause of the problem - in this case, the administrator getting distracted and forgetting to turn off auto-update, the facilitator should help the group to determine corrective action.
Facilitator: How can we make sure that each administrator unchecks auto-update when he creates a new server, no matter how hurried or distracted he gets?
Group: Create a vanilla server image with auto-update turned off. Have administratorsclone this image when deploying new servers.

Five Whys originated in the Toyota Production System, where it was used for post-mortem investigations into equipment failures and workplace safety incidents. It has proved to be especially useful for helping management teams identify and fix problems that at first glance appear to be technical problems, but upon further investigation, turn out to be people problems.

Revel Virtual Touch

Reverse electrovibration, also known as virtual touch, is an augmented reality (AR) technology that facilitates electronic transmission of the human tactile sense, allowing end users to perceive the textures and contours of remote objects. The field of study involving virtual touch is known ashaptics.

Advancements in reverse electrovibration are under development by Disney Research of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Disney's system, called REVEL, imparts a low-level signal, creating an oscillating, weak electric field around the user's skin. Signal variations correspond to texture variations in the distant object. The signals are generated in such a way that the resulting sensation in the fingers mimics the sensation of sliding the fingers over the object. No gloves or specialized back-pressure-sensor-like devices are necessary. The technology delivers such a small amount of current into the user's body that it poses no health risk.

The most highly anticipated application of reverse electrovibration is one allowing a person to sense the texture of a distant object on the touch screen of a computer or tablet device. The technology can allow for the transmission of Braille characters, as well as conveying the "feel" of everyday objects.

Multipath I/O

Multipath I/O (MPIO) is a Microsoft framework designed to mitigate the effects of a host bus adapter (HBA) failure by providing an alternate data path between storage devices and a Windows operating system. MPIO enables up to 32 alternate paths to add redundancy and load balancingfor Windows storage environments.

Pathing is a networking approach used to address the specific needs of storage networks by changing the way that communication paths are managed and organized. Unlike connection failures in message networks -- which generally just require that the connection be retried -- in storage networks, a failure is more likely to cause a systemcrash. Storage networks also require faster error recovery.

Technically, MPIO represents a hybrid approach to multipathing, combining software specific to each HBA -- the Device Specific Module (DSM) -- with the MPIO features integrated into the Windows operating system. While the DSMs must be written for specific hardware and cannot be generic, Microsoft designed MPIO to be as HBA-agnostic as possible. As such, it depends on the rest of the hardware and software to work correctly in order to do its job.

MPIO requires at least two HBAs connected to the storage device. (A dual-port HBA may provide two data paths, but it still represents a single point of failure.) In a storage area network (SAN) you also need to ensure that any switches or routers laying in the data path have enough path management intelligence to handle disruptions caused by an HBA failure.

DMAIC

DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, control) is an approach to problem-solving defined by Motorola as part of the Six Sigma management philosophy.

DMAIC, which is pronounced "de-may-ick," is a tool for improving an existing process. The steps can be summarized as follows.

Define: State the problem, specify the customer set, identify the goals, and outline the target process.

Measure: Decide what parameters need to be quantified, work out the best way to measure them, collect the necessary data, and carry out the measurements by experiment.

Analyze: Identify gaps between actual and goal performance, determine causes of those gaps, determine how process inputs affect outputs, and rank improvement opportunities.

Improve: Devise potential solutions, identify solutions that are easiest to implement, test hypothetical solutions, and implement actual improvements.

Control: Generate a detailed solution monitoring plan, observe implemented improvements for success, update plan records on a regular basis, and maintain a workable employee training routine.

DMAIC, which is used to regain control, should not be confused with a similar Six Sigma process called Sigma DMADV. DMADV, which stands for "define, measure, analyze, design, verify," is applied to new processes to make sure that they achieve Six Sigma quality.
Six Sigma methodologies, which were originally used in manufacturing to improve quality, are now used in many disciplines including project management, education and agile software development. All Six Sigma processes are executed by Six Sigma experts designated according to "belt color," using a scheme similar to the ones used in martial arts.

Goobuntu (Google Ubuntu)

Goobuntu (Google Ubuntu) is the default operating system (OS) that Google uses for its employee computer desktop workstations.

Goobuntu is basically a long term support (LTS) version of Ubuntu with custom security features. Ubuntu (pronounced oo-BOON-too) is an open source Debian-based Linux distribution managed by the private company Canonical Ltd. Although new versions of Ubuntu are released every six months, the LTS version isreleased every two years, making it a good choice for large enterprise customers like Google.

According to Google engineer Thomas Bushnell, Google partners with Canonical's Ubuntu Advantage support program and Google administrators use Advanced Packaging Tool (APT) and Puppet for desktop management. Employees are encouraged, but not required, to use the OS -- but all Google's development tools are built for Goobuntu. The OS does not have a default graphical user interface (GUI); employees can use Ubuntu Unity,GNOME, KDE, X-Window or X-Terms.