Recently I was invited to join a panel discussion at the Electronic Resources and Libraries conference in Austin, TX. Our panel topic was “Identity Management and Federated Authentication for Institutional Administrators” and focused on the issues around the management of electronic subscriptions. We described the consequences (legal, business-process or information system security based) arising from the lack of authoritative...
Technology
Sand + Sun = Glass. This project by Markus Kayser is an amazing example of what is possible. The technology is based on sintering – a method used to create objects from powders. Markus has created a machine that uses the sun’s energy to manufacture 3D objects using sand. In sintering, powders are heated to just below the melting temperature, at which point the powder diffuses evenly and is bonded together forming a cermic-like...
This year, I finally had the time to visit Oreilly’s Maker Faire in San Mateo. What a treat! There is hope for us all yet. Some of my favorites included the following self-correcting robot: more to come (I’m about to get on a plane)...
Today I had the privilege of attending the Open Source Business Conference in San Francisco. While the presentations have all been interesting, Tim O’Reilly gave an inspired talk on the future of open source. He then promptly posted his presentation on slideshare. Open Source in the Cloud Computing Era View more presentations from Tim...
In 1833, Salvador de Vives, a Spaniard who emigrated from Venezuela to Puerto Rico, purchased an 87-acre farm in the hills north of Ponce. Hacienda Buena Vista, as it came to be known, sits in a subtropical forest near the Caños River. The hacienda soon became a major producer of coffee, as well as corn, bananas, pineapple, oranges, and cacao. Salvador’s son and grandson installed a Barker’s mill powered by a nearby 60-foot waterfall,...
