Our pastor talked about this topic and referenced Francis Chan, so I had to look it up. This was a message he shared a few years ago and it really helps put some things in perspective and forces you to think a bit if you let it.
I had to pause the video a couple of times to digest what he was saying the ponder it. I hope you get something out of this and if nothing else, it expands your perspective.
This topic is becoming more interesting to me every day as we see the technologies and the processes evolve. A simple definition of an Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) is becoming almost impossible to agree on as can be seen in a recent discussion group I am a member of over on LinkedIn that points to the LimsWiki definition.
An electronic laboratory notebook (also known as electronic lab notebook or ELN) is a software program or package designed to replace more traditional paper laboratory notebooks. Laboratory notebooks in general are used by scientists and technicians to document, store, retrieve, and share fully electronic laboratory records in ways that meet all legal, regulatory, technical and scientific requirements.[1] A laboratory notebook is often maintained to be a legal document and may be used in a court of law as evidence. Similar to an inventor's notebook, the lab notebook is also often referred to in patent prosecution and intellectual property litigation. Modern electronic lab notebooks have the advantage of being easier to search upon, support collaboration amongst many users, and can be made more secure than their paper counterparts.
A mouthful and it scrapes the surface of what may be meant when speaking of an investment in an ELN. I gave a talk at an informatics conference in London a couple of years back and showed a chart with overlapping functionality intersecting the role of traditional LIMS systems and the growing ELN segment. That chart has moved forward to the point where now you find markets where they are almost one and the same.
This brings up a couple of interesting discussion points
Clearly there is room for a discourse on all these topics, and many more that dive deep into the specifics, but as we look at the tools, I can’t help but come back to the question of what are we really trying to do? The technology is not the barrier to capturing data, or even in most cases, information. But are we making the technology a barrier to the process of creative thinking?
LIMS are by design typically built to capture structured information and results sets, manage samples and lifecycles and other common analytical workflow. Paper lab notebooks have for centuries been used to record everything from wild ideas that need to be formed into hypothesis and examined before even approached as a test, to being used as evidence of test execution or development. Now, in the litigious world of drug research and development, they hold a very high burden depending on where in the lifecycle they sit, acting in some cases as patent defense platforms!
I wonder how much we have moved away from creative thinking and free capture of those ideas in our pursuit of the right toolset to capture our data. I know a common theme I have heard from my scientific associates over the years is that there is less and less time for thinking, and more and more effort devoted to execution. Looking at the innovation cycle and the pharma pipeline as a whole, I wonder sometimes how much of the hollow sound in that pipe is regulatory pressure, or external pressure, and how much is a shifting in innovation and creative thinking.
While on vacation in Virginia with my bride, we were driving down around Newport News and decided on a crab shack for dinner. As luck would have it, the one we selected as at the tip of the coast, without clear markings to get there and we ended up on one of the longest bridges I have been on. (one of, not the longest, but loooong)
For those of you who know me – you know this is not a thing I seek out. So, here we are on this bridge to…. no idea where.
We look it up and it turns out we are headed for a somewhat famous place called the Isle of Wight. Now, I learned a bit of Ham trivia here. It turns out that there is a pretty selective process to get a ham called Smithfield Ham, and this is the only place to garner that distinction.
The ham history goes back to the 1700’s and if you are ever in the area, look it up and have some Red Eye Gravy while you are there. That’s a good story in itself. So – back to the original mission, finding dinner.
We are now on this island and looking for some dinner so we hit up the GPS and see what is around. We settled on Captain Chuck a Mucks, sight unseen and made our way there. The journey on the island was interesting and for a bit there it felt a little like a scene from a deliverance knock off or something. Tiny little towns, abandoned homes, twisting into the backwoods of this island.
After twisting around the island for a while, we ended up pulling into an almost empty parking lot and a river dive kind of first impression.
We got in and found we were just a bit early as they were in the process of opening for dinner, but the staff was great – friendly and making us at home from the get go. We got our menus and went with the seafood – kill your diet kind of dinner, but hey, it was vacation.
We took a few snapshots outside as well while there and were pleasantly surprised by the general location and atmosphere. It is worth making it over there if you are ever in the area, and they get fresh fish and serve customers right from the attached dock. We also learned about the fire that shut the place down for some time due to a boat incident that the waitress shared with us along with a photo album. Very Chummy!
The dinner at Captain Chuck a Mucks was unexpected and unplanned, but a good time – sometimes serendipity is the best way to experience things.
Links:
I have noticed my posts seem to have disappeared, as mentioned would happen in the blogger status update, but then they still appear to be showing up and going away.
I have had some posts available, then hours later, while visible in search, are not there when clicked on.
According to http://status.blogger.com/
Friday, May 13, 2011
Blogger is back now. We're still working on restoring some of the data. For more details, see this post: http://buzz.blogger.com/2011/05/blogger-is-back.html
Posted by Chang at 10:32 PDT
Following the included link in that post, we get this bit of update.
Update (5/14 5:37 PM PST): We're making progress restoring comments, some blogs with a lot of content are taking a little more time. Thanks for bearing with us.
Summary – if you are looking for content on this blog that you expect to find, especially recent posts, please be patient while Google figures out how it screwed things up and works to make it right. It will be forthcoming. Feel free to reach out directly to me as well since I often have offline copies of posts in my blogging editor.
This is short and thought provoking – it builds on the post I made around my personal journey. His message is relevant from a faith / God perspective and from a What Will You Do With Your Life question.
The real deal here is much like I have mentioned already and continue to work on. Hearing, saying, repeating is all worthless unless it turns into a passion filled life in pursuit of a goal and a vision to be something more.
A quote widely credited to Martin Luther King Jr. sums up the situation well. He says, “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. “
I posted a bit ago with a video from a guy by the name of Francis Chan. His talk was titled “Lukewarm and Loving it”. Pondering that thought, and thinking about personal growth, both in the spiritual discovery sense, and also the character development and impact aspect, I am forced more and more into reflection on the importance of passionate engagement.
It’s so easy to go through life without really questioning why or what could be. How should I really make a difference, not just for me, but for others. If your faith is such that you say you believe in God, that’s a pretty profound statement to make if you are not seeking a purpose and life impact there. Regardless of your faith, life with a purpose is so powerful, but so much more effort than the easy and safe alternative.
I am generally a guy who finds passion in almost anything I engage in, just ask my clients and colleagues – it is something I am known for. Where I lack in this area, is a more constant “Life Passion” or direction that governs all others. (passions not people, not working on world domination just yet).
I am looking for that passion in my Faith in an exploration of what that means and how that could / should impact my life. It is an interesting and challenging exercise, that is worth undertaking for anyone regardless of where / what faith is your starting point. If you claim one, figure it out. If not, figure out what does matter and why, then how that should drive your life. As I type these words, I have to acknowledge that it is a lot easier to say than live out!
I will post more reflections on this topic as time goes on, with my particular direction coming from a “Christian” viewpoint – air quotes intentional since that is such an abused and loaded word.
Good stuff to think about – lot’s of room to grow and make an impact for a better world with real effort. I’d like to think I’m up for it.
I posted about the Kindle vs. iPad discussion some time ago, and am now in a position to revisit that post with experience with both devices. One of the points I made at that time, was the dual use of my iPod touch and Kindle, using the iPod touch as a reference while reading something on the Kindle. This still holds true, but the real question I had was if I had both (iPad), which would I prefer to read on.
From a library management perspective, and from a rich user interface perspective, my iPad blows away my Kindle. When I want to read stories to my little kids from an eBook – no question, it’s the iPad. We have fun with the pictures and even interactive nature of some of the kids books. For graphics rich content, or for illustrated material, again, the iPad is the clear and compelling winner.
The Kindle shines in its core competency. If I want to sit down and read a book, I pick up my Kindle. If I want a bed time read that will allow me to wind down, it is paper or it is the Kindle.
I do have the Kindle app on my iPad so I can read the same library there, but I also have the Google books, Overdrive for the library books, and the Nook app among others. Short summary – both devices excel, though for different purposes. Both can comfortably co-exist and compliment each others functionality. The Kindle is hands down the superior device for reading books, while the iPad is the clear winner for interactive content.
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The little side switch, just next to the volume control, can be customized by you, to act as a rotation lock or mute. Now, it seems like an illusion of choice to me since all you have to do to mute is hold the volume rocker for a second or two and you have muted your iPad.
The rotation lock is a GREAT feature. Yes, I just went Tony the tiger and yelled great. I was quite pleased to discover that enabling that little feature made a variety of tasks much more comfortable, including watching movies and reading in bed. When I would shift position and the ever helpful iPad would go and rotate on me, I had to flip it flat again and let it readjust. With the rotation lock on, no worries, it holds a stable position regardless of your hand shifting.
An additional valuable bonus I found is when you are trying to view pictures / documents that are rotated incorrectly. Typically, the scenario would be that if I don’t want to turn my head sideways, I have to open my “rotate pictures” app, edit the photo and save it. With the rotation lock, I just lock it, flip it, read it and move on.
Short tip, but very important tip. Productivity enhancements are a favorite of mine, and I trust yours.
As I sat to write this up, I did a little additional research and found an article I quite liked that summarized the review well. I suggest you check out the PC Mag article by Tim Gideon found here http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2381687,00.asp
Following on with his article, the summary he came up with still largely stands even though the article referenced came out March 11 of 2011 and it is now May 12th, which in the world of tablet technology is almost a year of compressed time. The core point that comes up repeatedly is that there are a large number of players, a smaller number of competitors and even fewer contenders. The final tally of contenders really becomes about the Zoom and the iPad with a few contenders pushing their way in such as potentially Samsung, though at this point, they are not on the court of play.
The clear advantage is a year head start for Apple on figuring out what works and what doesn’t. One might easily argue that if that be the case, wouldn’t the new comers leapfrog the first mover with all the lessons publically learned regarding UI and behavior and while it makes sense, it turned out to not yet be the case. Apple moved the ball forward as well with the next rev of the iOS and really, the biggest change was multi tasking if I had to pick one.
I have a friend who picked up the Zoom and really tried hard to get me to go that route as well. I have to say, it was my preferred direction as I already use a droid X as my primary personal phone and I like the idea of the Android OS. That said, it is clear which OS is in rev 1 and which is not when you play with both devices side by side. The iPad is overall, more intuitive and an easier UI experience. (subjective, of course) and from a hardware perspective, the iPad has a much better feel in the hand, though again, this is subjective.
Rather than repeat all the stats Tim quotes in his solid review, I will just add a a few points that jump out at me and suggest you read his review or follow the links I provide at the end.
I am disappointed that the iPad does not offer SD expansion and you have to use the proprietary components to achieve what I think should be built in. Apple does provide the ability to connect to pretty much whatever you need with their components, but it is with additional purchases rather than “just works” by plugging it in. If you want to Jailbreak your iPad, you have even more expansion options and you can in fact, connect it to a USB drive or almost anything else if you desire. I have not seen the need to do so yet with mine, though I am told it is easy and reversible and that seems to be the general consensus. Until I have a clear need, I am not playing with that bit yet and so far, all I have needed to do, I have been able to do with a stock machine.
With the disappointment in expandability aside, I am finding that the way I use the device is making not as much of a limitation as it might be, with the connectivity to pull over what I want when I need it generally working well. Sharing media is the topic of a pending post so I will talk through why you may only need a small portion of your music library and the same can be said for photos and video.
Remember, your usage will be guided by your particular situation and device collection, so don’t rely on anyone else to tell you the best way to use it without experimenting yourself.
Reference Links
I had to dig into this one a little to see exactly where Google was going. They are really playing in the “white space” (buzzword bingo) of the emerging collaboration and device platform space. The device is not a traditional machine in the sense that you have everything local to you and synch to your resources, or in the sense that you can install things locally. The premise is that everything is stored “in the cloud”.
Same experience everywhere
Your apps, documents, and settings are stored safely in the cloud. So even if you lose your computer, you can just log in to another Chromebook and get right back to work.
The idea is that you connect with a quick boot (8 seconds) and instant resume once booted, then connect to the network to get all your content and apps. In practice, this may be workable in highly connected areas, but certainly limits mobility outside of metro connectivity and as one who spends a good deal of time traveling for a living I can attest to the fact that finding hot spots is non trivial at best once you are off a campus.
This, combined with the fact that the hotspot market is still fragmented and there is not yet a single contract that lets you jump on ATT, Verizon, Sprint, Airport, Starbucks, etc. means that while there is a theoretical coverage map for Wi-Fi, there is a barrier to implementation that has to be managed as well. This becomes a real issue if that is the only way to get my apps and data that I need.
Security built in
Chromebooks run the first consumer operating system designed from the ground up to defend against the ongoing threat of malware and viruses. They employ the principle of "defense in depth" to provide multiple layers of protection, including sandboxing, data encryption, and verified boot. Learn more about security.
As you can read in the preceding linked article, security is a big focus and it appears to be well addressed. The network layer aside, onboard the process is redundant and well though through, with flexibility and scaling considered. I am interested to learn what the extent of the on board storage really is as there has to be a cache for settings and such as well as the core OS and restore. A limited flash storage is the obvious answer, but how is it implemented? The site does not go into detail yet on this topic but I look forward to learning more.
The Google site points out a 3G model as well, that comes with a free 100MB / month connectivity from Verizon. Free is pretty relative as we all know, and it will be baked into the rental somewhere. The Verizon costs are shown here, and in line with the iPad plan that I currently use to supplement my Wi-Fi.
100MB of data per month - Free
Limitless day pass - $9.99 per day
Additional 1 GB of data - $20 per month
Additional 3 GB of data - $35 per month
Additional 5 GB of data - $50 per month
The pricing model for the device discussed so far seems to be an inclusive rental model of some type that provides the machine and storage for a flat rate, and then the provider contracts would sit on top of that.
As for applications, the plan is to use the Google Chrome Store and everything is HTML 5 / web based. The store is growing quickly and certainly has a broad selection of apps, but it will be a compromise for the foreseeable future. As a Chromebook user, you will have to use apps that are not the equivalent of the full on desktop experience until these environments achieve parity, and I would propose this is still out 3-4 years for most apps, and will not happen at all for others.
As to whether this matters to you or not, it all depends on your usage profile. As a student doing basic papers and presentation, playing some games and consuming media, this is not a problem. As a business professional needing Photoshop / GIMP, CAD, advanced document publishing, complex spreadsheets or data analysis, well, you will need to still have a content creation machine even if you are able to share or consume on the lightweight device. This points back to the cloud approach and what the consumer needs in respect to global platform coverage that “just works”.
At the bottom of the site, in grey print is the following disclaimer which I just noticed.
* Obviously, you're going to need a wireless network, be willing to use it subject to the provider's terms and conditions, and be ready to put up with its real life limitations including, for example, its speed and availability. When you do not have network access, functionality that depends on it will not be available.
So – are we ready for Chromebooks? I believe the answer is No, in a broad sense we are not ready. Is the idea very interesting and does it have limited applicability? Yes, it is and it does and I look forward to where Google goes with this, but I’m glad it’s not on my dime.
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When I started really using my iPad to edit text, the single biggest frustration I had was in editing text that I had typed incorrectly and could not get to easily without arrow keys I was used to. I ended up deleting a lot of double words to replace the n character I had hit instead of a space.
It sounds a little lame for a complaint I suppose, but if you are there dealing with it – I am sure your frustration level rose just like mine. Luckily I figured out pretty quick that there is a simple way to manage this – actually 2 methods that generally work well.
Once you have selected the text, you are presented with a blue bar that lets you expand either direction or simply start typing.
If you choose to expand the selection, you can then click on the expanded selection to copy, paste, etc…
Simple, easy and effective. No arrow key needed. I wish I knew that when I first got the thing!
As I am preparing a series of posts on the iPad I figured a quick one on how to do a screen shot would be a help for some.
To make a screen shot, you need to use the sleep / wake button at the top right corner of the iPad and the home button at the bottom center as shown below.
You will press the sleep / wake button and then home button at the bottom center.
When you do this key combo, you will hear an audible click and the screen shot will be captured to your camera role. Once it is there, you can do whatever you want with it, including copy it over to your desktop as needed by plugging in the iPad and mounting it as a drive.
A first screen shot I recommend is one that uses your notepad, or similar app to create a “return if found” screen shot that you then set as your lock screen wall paper. Put your name, phone number and email on the screen and ensure that it shows up clearly in the screen shot.
That gives anyone who may pick up your device the opportunity to identify the owner and get it back to you quickly. (assuming of course, good intent!). This leads to an additional comment to consider, which is the “find my iPad” option you should enable to allow remote location and wipe if needed, but more on that later.
The minimalist Apple approach to packaging reveals an iPad, Cable and plug along with a little piece of paper and little else when you open the box. For context, I have the 64g Verizon 3g model.
Where to get started? Of course, the device is pretty intuitive and that’s behind a lot of it’s appeal. That being said, there are a lot of little basic tips that are not obvious when you pick it up that make it so much nicer to use. I will post these lessons I have learned as separate tips and maybe come back here to link them, or you can just filter on the iPad tag to get a good overview.
As a first step – you have to plug it in to iTunes to get anywhere, and set up your account and synch preferences. I found great success using my Google account as a hub account for all my contacts across my devices and computers since I can synch the Google contacts with my windows, apple, linux and android systems with no problems. This may sound minor, but having one global address / contact set across all is a real boon and I can manage the contacts using the Google engine which is actually pretty effective.
In iTunes, you will also have the option of setting up picture, music, video etc synching. I suggest you make a playlist for your iPad that can pull in the playlists you want but reflects a subset of your entire collection. In my case this is especially important as my music collection is larger than the entire iPad storage system. Since you have the ability to stream tunes, you may not need much music, but it is nice to have it available for those times you may find yourself off line and not in possession of another music device or not want to hassle with another one. Another point in this is if you intend to do any of the fun stuff you can do with music like make sound tracks to movies and such, though that is another post.
For the pictures, again I advocate creating a dedicated folder in your pictures library on your main machine that is for the iPad. Of course, your particular usage pattern will drive how fast you run out of space, but planning ahead with structure that makes it easy to manage makes it better. When you connect your iPad and synch, it will pull these photos over and changes will reflect both ways though a real annoyance is that the iPad only recognizes one folder level with the native photos application. Do not expect to have nested folders and see them separate on the iPad. Break everything into one level down and you will be golden.
An interesting behavior on the photo bit is that the iPad drops all the photos you take into the camera role, which is NOT synched with this album. You can manually pull them over through explorer view and this includes many apps that edit photos, then drop them into the camera folder regardless of where they came from.
Check out all the free podcasts and content for some nice HD content to enjoy on the go and set up the synch to keep at least a few active episodes on the device.
Regarding iBooks – this is a treasure trove of available content. There is a huge selection of free books that you can search for to get started and I found the interface to be great and the layout nice. I will post a dedicated note on the organization here, but don’t miss the ability to create separate collections inside the iBook app.
There is much more on the setup, but I will post some follow ups to break up the content into digestible bits and link them. I am very much enjoying the device and at the same time, a little shocked at some of the simple things missing. All told, it is a great tool and a very fun toy.
Reading the article here, it looks like my previous post is indeed the intended direction. Could it really be so?
Microsoft pledged to keep Skype in all the places it is currently available, including mobile devices that run of the software of two major rivals, Apple and Google. Skype users don't have to pay to install the software on Apple's iPhone, iPad computer tablet or devices running on Google's Android system. ... The partnership would also bring Skype to the Xbox video game console and has sold 50 million copies, making it the world's No. 2 video game system behind the Nintendo Wii.
Of course, it's all pending regulatory approval and such. One line at the end of the article really tells an interesting story. Regarding the approval, here is the quote. MF Global analyst Paul Gallant said regulators might even view the deal as good for consumers by helping Microsoft compete with Google. Now tell me something, does it strike you as a sign of the times that Microsoft growing is considered a boon for consumers as it helps balance (wait for it) GOOGLE? The empires are shifting. Good times.
I'm trying to figure out if this is a good or bad thing. Right now, I use skype on my apple, linux, android and windows platforms. Will this go away or is this a part of Microsoft embracing the multi platform world of social media and collaboration?
I want to believe that Microsoft has embraced the new world of multiple platforms and technologies coming together to create seamless collaborative experiences for the world. Am I dreaming of a utopia that cannot exist? So - my thought is that "They" are getting it, and this will be part of the foray into connective technologies across MS boundaries. (Picture background music playing - when you wish, upon a star...)
