muraPOI: August 9, 2012

  • Globalized IT operations pay off: Robert L. Mitchell writes a nice piece about deeply considering mind what needs to be differentiated, and what doesn’t when designing/building something.

    IT must strike a balance between what should be consistent across the company and what needs to be differentiated — a process that Bessant calls “paint-by-numbers vs. Picasso.”

    “We try not to create a Picasso every time we undertake development, but not every project fits the paint-by-numbers approach,” she says. In the end, differentiated applications are allowed only where absolutely necessary to the business. And all applications must follow standards

    (via Computerworld, July 16, 2012)

  • User Acquisition: Viral Factor Basics: Adam Nash writes:

    Look at your product and ask yourself a simple question: which features actually let a user of your product reach out and connect with a non-user?… The key to understanding viral math is to remember a basic truth about rabbits. Rabbits don’t have a lot of rabbits because they have big litters. Rabbits have a lot of rabbits because they breed frequently. …
    The path to success is typically the combination of a high branching factor combined with a fast cycle time.”

    (via StartupDigest, August 3, 2012)

  • Usain Bolt vs. 116 years of Olympic sprinters: This is a cool visualization. And it’s nutty how much faster Bolt is than everyone else. He has a turbo gear that nobody else seems to have.

    (via Daring Fireball, August 6, 2012)

  • Internet Pirates Will Always Win: Nick Bilton writes:

    “Some YouTube users started placing copyrighted videos inside a still photo of a cat that appears to be watching an old JVC television set. The Content ID algorithm has a difficult time seeing that the video is violating any copyright rules; it just sees a cat watching TV.”

    LOL(cats). And I really could use a dose of this to get around the dinosaurs running NBC. (Yes, I know how to do this, but I also only really want to see the Opening Ceremonies sans the prattle of Costas and Viera.

    (via Slashdot, August 5, 2012)

  • Apple vs. Samsung: A Visual Guide to Apple’s IP Claims: Hardware, Icons & Packaging: Part of the drama surrounding the Apple v. Samsung trial. When layed out this way, it’s obvious that there are “easy” things Samsung could have done to mimic the features without leading to nearly the exact device.

    (via Daring Fireball, August 6, 2012)

And…hard to verify the veracity of this one, but makes for fun reading (now that I work at MIT)…