Industry Watch: Beware the dark patterns of privacy
You know how sometimes, when an app requires you to sign in, it will give you the option of signing in via Facebook, or Google mail? And you think, ‘Wow, this is nice of them to make it so convenient for me. I’ll have to send Facebook a card or something to thank them.’ (Well, … continue reading
Analyst View: Artificially intelligent “co-developers”
The relentless demands of digital transformation initiatives mean that application development (AD) teams have to find ways to increase their productivity. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are now good options to augment AD teams and increase their output. We predict that, by 2022, at least 40 percent of new AD projects will have … continue reading
premium Guest View: How to create a culture that’s not driven on guesswork
Becoming ‘data-driven’ has become the aspiration of every executive, founder and manager. Those that succeed see greater customer acquisition, retention and, as a result, major bottom line benefits. Companies are now investing more money than ever on big data tools, but 72 percent say they’ve failed to create a data-driven culture. Interestingly, the reason behind … continue reading
Industry Watch: Of open source, data breaches and speed
When IBM CEO Ginni Rometty joined Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst on stage at last month’s Red Hat Summit to declare that IBM would leave Red Hat alone after its acquisition, cheers went up from the developers in the keynote audience. Their fear, of course, was that IBM would somehow change Red Hat and move … continue reading
Analyst View: Qualcomm’s potential hybrid AI revolution
Qualcomm had a coming-out party for their new AI technology that includes a series of new smart Snapdragon parts with built-in AI capability for smartphones and connected devices. They also surprised with the announcement of their Cloud AI 100 simulator. Both of these things are interesting by themselves but, together, they have the potential to … continue reading
Guest View: A new approach to personal data discovery
Why do we seem to emulate the ostrich and put our heads in the sand when it comes to personally identifiable information (PII) discovery? Every other technology throughout history that I can think of has undergone multiple phases of evolution, including anti-virus, perimeter security, cell phones, the car – I could go on. So please … continue reading
Guest View: Top developer skills in demand
Digital disruption is building a voracious appetite for developers — and every area of home and business life is adapting to disruption. Platform-based business models, from travel and hospitality to recruitment and P2P funding, dominate the economy. Firms like Airbnb and Uber have no physical inventory of their own, but their platforms have revolutionized their … continue reading
Industry Watch: A sobering look at cloud
The advantages of cloud computing have been talked about for years in the pages of this magazine. Yes, massive scaling, redundancy and data availability are benefits, but the primary driver has always been cost. Companies were told they could abandon their data centers — or significantly reduce them — and move their applications to the … continue reading
Analyst Watch: The ubiquity of developers
What does it mean to be a software developer today? Is it necessary to write code to qualify as a contemporary software developer? Are practitioners of low-code and no-code development software developers? Should business stakeholders who participate in software development using platform-as-a-service development tools be considered software developers? Moreover, do IT professionals, business analysts and … continue reading
For development teams, it’s time to throw out the open-office plan
We’ve all been part of this debate about whether we should have an open-plan office or not. In general, executives would advocate for the open-plan office, while the individual contributors would say, “Please, no!!!” Executives won’t listen because they feel they are the only ones who can see the full picture clearly enough to make … continue reading
Analyst Watch: Will RAZR design cut into Apple’s lead?
Cell phone designs in its first years were incredibly fluid, with only one real constant — users, for whatever reason, hated screen phones. They were hard to type on, operating systems were a mess, there were no real apps, and they were comparatively expensive. One of the first powerful successes was the Motorola RAZR, which … continue reading
Industry Watch: It’s time for data privacy legislation
Privacy means different things to different people. It’s why some people build walls around their homes, yet others are totally comfortable walking on public beaches in the nude. Data privacy is another animal altogether, and there are varying degrees to what people will accept when it comes to giving up their personal information. People I’ve … continue reading
premium Power down: Say hello to sustainable programming
Green IT is nothing new, or so it would appear. Wikipedia, for instance, dates it back to 1992. But Green IT still concentrates very much on the operation and use of applications, with little focus on what goes on during their development. Up in our ivory towers, we software engineers often feel that such matters … continue reading
Industry Watch: Digital transformation is all about the timing
The software development industry is moving fast. Too fast, if you ask me, and for many practitioners I’ve spoken with in the last year at about a dozen events ranging from development to data to monitoring, to DevOps and testing. The folks I’ve spoken with over lunches, in session rooms and at post-conference socials tell … continue reading
