iTunes, Outer Joins and the Ubiquity of Data

Feb 14, 2013 by Phil Simon

Although I have fancied myself an Apple guy over the last two years, two applications kept one of my toes in the PC pool: my accounting application and my iTunes library. I’m happy to say that that’s no longer the case: I recently made the final jump from the PC to the Mac. In this post, I’ll explain the data ramifications of the move.

Facebook’s Graph Search and the Data Card

Jan 17, 2013 by Phil Simon

“It’s the kind of product we love to build at Facebook: A big technology problem and big social problem.”

So said Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday when Facebook announced Graph Search.

The Value of Zero

Oct 04, 2012 by Phil Simon

“The Watchmater nodded. Even an empty data set provides important information.”

–Kevin J. Anderson, Clockwork Angels

Sometimes sage words on data management come from unexpected sources.

Little Data and Dueling Data Duals

Apr 26, 2012 by Phil Simon

A few months ago on this site, I railed against multiple systems and applications. Attacking Netflix and my own home security company (in Dual is a Four-Letter Word, Part II), I argued that maintaining separate accounts and logins for similar if not identical purposes was just plain bad business.

David Loshin, Cowbell, and the Myth of (Completely) Unstructured Data

Mar 01, 2012 by Phil Simon

Most people don’t think of a book as data.

I do.

Dator’s First Observations

Feb 09, 2012 by Phil Simon

Greetings Again, Earthlings.

I am having an interesting time on your planet so far. I am particularly impressed with this band Rush and this show Breaking Bad.

But I must be honest. Your practices bemuse me. Let’s start with Justin Beiber, Kourtney and Kim, and Snooki?

Really?

The Myth of Big Data

Dec 22, 2011 by Phil Simon

In a world where I feel so small
I can’t stop thinking big.
–Neil Peart, Rush, “Caravan”

When people talk about Big Data, they more often than not think about big companies as well. It seems like a natural association, right? As in:

Memento and the Fallacy of Certainties

Jul 07, 2011 by Phil Simon

In the remarkably challenging 2000 film Memento, Guy Pearce plays Leonard Shelby, a man trying to determine who allegedly murdered his wife. There’s a pretty big hitch, though. Because of an injury sustained during his wife’s “murder”, he has lost his short-term memory. He doesn’t have complete amnesia; he knows who he is an what he’s trying to achieve. He just can’t remember what he did five minutes ago. The clinical term is retrograde amnesia.

That One Thing

Apr 14, 2011 by Phil Simon

One of my favorite Rush songs is “Where’s My Thing?” A few years later, the band wrote the song “Leave That Thing Alone.”

What are these songs about? I have no idea. I’d tell you to check out the lyrics to each song, but here’s the thing: Both songs are instrumentals.

In case you haven’t figured it out by now, this is a post about things.