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July 24, 2007
Wi-Fi Gurus?: Hear the Latest Podcast with Jim Geier
Where the WLAN industry is going....
http://wi-figurus.com/podcasts/podcasts/alan-cohen-vp-marketing-cisco---interview-podcast.html
Posted by Alan Cohen at 02:07 PM Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
July 19, 2007
Mobility and the Connected Life
Mobility and the Connected Life
My partners on the service provider side of the Cisco house are sponsoring a contest called "Help Design Your Connected Life." We are inviting entries from people (ages 13 and older) to participate.
The idea behind the contest is to generate innovative ideas for a connected life (one of my favorites, using your cell phone to pay for your Starbuck's coffee). The contest runs through September 14, 2007. The grand prize is $10,000 and there are ten runner-up $1000 prizes being given away as well. We are accepting both written and video entries.
Note that Cisco employees (and their families) are not eligible to participate in the contest. Even those of us who blog!
The "official rules" are here.
So what do you think, do you have a good suggestion for the Connected Life?
Posted by Alan Cohen at 03:54 PM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
July 13, 2007
Assuaging Paraskevidekatriaphobia
I’ve never been overly superstitious. No salt over the shoulder if I spilled some, not worried about black cats crossing my path (which is only thought of as unlucky in North America – in the rest of the world, a black cat crossing your path is good luck!), didn’t worry about 7 years of bad luck if I broke a mirror.
But many people are. It comes from generations of our elders repeating these as truths to us. Old wives tales, as sometimes they’re called. It doesn’t hurt to believe in them as long as they aren’t taken too far. And it’s fun to imagine how they evolved.
• Don’t sweep while you’re pregnant – an overworked peasant woman who just wanted a rest after dealing with the chores and her other seven kids.
• If you find a penny tails up, it’s bad luck – a man goes to work and is fired, then is robbed on the way home. Coming home, he’s trying to figure out how to explain it to his wife, and finds a penny tails up.
• Never give a knife as a housewarming present – a man is murdered by his neighbor. Another neighbor remembers that a knife was given as a gift and thus the superstition begins.
On a positive front, there are good luck superstitions. These are rampant, and often very personal. Like an athlete wearing lucky socks, or a musician who always has the same meal before a big performance.
Today is a scary day for those that believe in the superstitions that surround Friday the 13th. For those of us with Paraskevidekatriaphobia, I suggest mobility to help assuage worries about bad things happening. We always feel safer in our homes. So today, stay home! Tell your boss you have Paraskevidekatriaphobia [click here for more information on the origins of Friday the 13th] - he or she probably won't want you to come in anyway after you give them the news!
Posted by Lynn Lucas at 10:56 AM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
July 06, 2007
The RF Superhighway
In 1970, my uncle moved his branch of the clan out to Southern California, fleeing the dreaded Northeast winters, congestion and a dwindling set of personal opportunities (during a tough economic time). My father visited his brother in the sun-kissed paradise of a new suburb, watching my uncle brag: "look at all this land; look at these new roads and open space. This is paradise."
Forty years later, southern California, while still beautiful, has some of the worst commutes and densities of any metropolitan regions in the U.S. And, with the take off of Enterprise Wi-Fi and the continuing explosion of consumer wireless technologies (including, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and others), will the worldwide wireless market look like SoCal during rush hour or something less congested?
As we move into the mainstream era of WLAN in the Enterprise, the RF Management capabilities we pioneered during the WLAN era, couple with good analog engineering, including RF antenna design, RF interference detection and remediation, and the relationship between clients and access points will actually increase in importance rather than decrease. If someone tells you all the RF problems are licked, then:
1. Hide your wallet
2. Be prepared to live with a bad airspace
While we cannot expect an expanded set of users to become more RF knowledgeable (i.e., IT administrators, end users, guests), we do need to plan for systems that are.
Gentle readers, please weigh in with your thoughts here. Over the next few blogs, myself and fellow bloggers wille be weighing in here
Posted by Alan Cohen at 10:56 AM Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)
