tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7669407302019473072024-03-13T03:33:25.118-07:00Roman Stanek's Push-Button ThinkingBI, SaaS, travel and everything else...Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.comBlogger68125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766940730201947307.post-55113868775830984832008-03-23T05:55:00.000-07:002008-03-23T06:13:50.498-07:00This Blog Moved to http://roman.stanek.orgI am now blogging at <a href="http://roman.stanek.org">http://roman.stanek.org</a>. Please update your feeds and bookmarks!Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766940730201947307.post-60290786820733616542008-03-22T07:20:00.000-07:002008-03-22T07:39:20.810-07:00Bear Stearns vs. Vuth Sem<span style="font-style: italic;"><span>(</span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span>NEW YORK</span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span> The Associated Press): On the verge of a collapse that could have shaken the very foundations of the U.S. financial system, investment bank Bear Stearns Cos. was bailed out Friday by a rival and the federal government.</span><br /></span><br />Foundations of capitalism are shaking but my friend <a href="http://romanstanek.blogspot.com/2007/07/vuth-sem-entrepreneur.html">Vuth Sem</a> is fortunately unaware of that. On the same day Bear Stearns signed a merger agreement with JP Morgan Chase in a stock swap worth $2 a share I received the following message from <a href="http://www.kiva.org/">Kiva.org</a>:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Dear Roman Stanek,</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> We are very pleased to notify you that the business you have loaned to,</span><span style="font-style: italic;" class="nfakPe"> Motor</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;" class="nfakPe">Taxi</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> service run by Vuth Sem, has repaid the full amount of this</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> loan $300.00. The payment was collected and deposited by Sive Chheng</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> Sreng.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=13041" target="_blank">http://www.kiva.org/app.php<wbr>?page=businesses&action=about<wbr>&id=13041</a>Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766940730201947307.post-80416414753896432422008-03-21T00:30:00.000-07:002008-03-21T01:16:21.423-07:00Mac OS X Software ListA few years ago Stefan published <a href="http://www.innoq.com/blog/st/2004/12/19/mac_os_x_software_list.html">list</a> of his favorite Mac utilities. When I started to use the new MB Air last week I realized that my list is completely different:<br /><br />Gmail<br />del.icio.us<br />Remember The Milk<br />Google Calendar<br />Plaxo<br />Google Reader<br />LinkedIn<br />Blogger<br />Facebook<br />Google Docs<br />Flickr<br />YouTube<br /><br />Oh, I almost forgot to mention Firefox and Adium...Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766940730201947307.post-15727285315791020232008-03-14T03:06:00.000-07:002008-12-12T15:36:58.208-08:00There was something in the air...... and after a series of long flights (via Shanghai, Anchorage and San Francisco) it landed on my desk:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_C3Hzp9J_sRg/R9pQYcqg1VI/AAAAAAAAAE8/PdFKU4nPdSY/s1600-h/MacBook+Air.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_C3Hzp9J_sRg/R9pQYcqg1VI/AAAAAAAAAE8/PdFKU4nPdSY/s320/MacBook+Air.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5177539102557394258" border="0" /></a>Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766940730201947307.post-45132819698736610442008-03-12T14:41:00.000-07:002008-03-12T14:53:11.440-07:00TripIt!Every time I planned my travel I ended up with a pile of confirmation emails from different sources: airlines, hotels, car rental companies, internet travel agents and so on. It was usually very difficult to create an itinerary from this mess. Until today!<br /><br />Everything changed when I joined <a href="http://www.tripit.com/">TripIt</a> earlier today. I simply forwarded the confirmations to <span style="font-style: italic;">plans@tripit.com</span> and I ended up with a very detailed travel plan for my upcoming US visit. Few clicks and I was done. Now I have everything in one place. Integrated with my Google calendar. The best Web 2.0 app I ever used. By far...Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766940730201947307.post-30609838771976494022008-03-07T08:17:00.000-08:002008-03-07T08:20:19.536-08:00ZD on BIZdenek "ZD" Svoboda <a href="http://zsvoboda.blogspot.com/">joined</a> the blogosphere a few days ago...Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766940730201947307.post-2735819209890335102008-03-06T12:21:00.000-08:002008-12-12T15:36:58.381-08:00Near missI always wondered why English uses the expression "near miss" when "near hit" would be more logical. But after the last weekend when hurricane Emma brought down some large trees around our house I am glad the tree <span style="font-style:italic;">missed</span> my car and it did not not <span style="font-style:italic;">hit</span> it:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_C3Hzp9J_sRg/R9BUIXZ35PI/AAAAAAAAAEs/supwWE07Hls/s1600-h/emma.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_C3Hzp9J_sRg/R9BUIXZ35PI/AAAAAAAAAEs/supwWE07Hls/s400/emma.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5174728474546922738" /></a>Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766940730201947307.post-57007218567288828642008-03-04T07:58:00.000-08:002008-03-04T08:59:40.238-08:00BI minus BS equals Good DataToday starts a new chapter of my life. After a year of hard work my team and I are coming out of stealth mode and launching a new company: <a href="http://www.gooddata.com">Good Data Corporation</a>.<br /><br />We've built a complete, on-demand business intelligence platform combining analytics, reporting, data warehousing and data integration. Our primary focus is collaborative analytics. We believe that sharing and teamwork will allow our users to move past isolated reports and arrive at the true meaning of "business intelligence."<br /><br />How is it different? It's fast, it's flexible, and it's on-demand. We've packed a sophisticated bundle into a simple package. By focusing on the right features, we've eliminated feature bloat. And it's secure, too.<br /><br />We've been working hard, and I would love to hear your thoughts. If you would like to learn more about Good Data please visit <a href="http://www.gooddata.com">http://www.gooddata.com</a>.Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766940730201947307.post-28803225653279822262008-02-07T01:48:00.000-08:002008-02-07T02:19:49.675-08:00Cape Clear gone<a href="http://www.workday.com/">Workday</a> announced yesterday the <a href="http://www.workday.com/news_and_events/press/integration.php">acquisition</a> of <a href="http://www.capeclear.com/">Cape Clear Software</a>. I believe that this is an important deal for several reasons:<br /><br />- any successful SaaS company will have to solve the problem of data/process integration. Existing applications inside the firewall need to be integrated with an external On Demand processes outside of the firewall. An acquisition of integration company can potentially solve this problem.<br /><br />- Cape Clear was one of the last independent SOA companies. This is another proof that SOA is no longer an independent activity. It is part of enterprise software (IBM, HP), BPM software (Software AG) and now Saas (Workday).<br /><br />- we used to compete against Cape Clear at <a href="https://h10078.www1.hp.com/cda/hpms/display/main/hpms_content.jsp?zn=bto&cp=1-11-130-27%5e1461_4000_100__">Systinet</a> and it was a great source of inspiration for us. Acquisition of Cape Clear closes one chapter of my career...Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766940730201947307.post-16816914459916398072008-01-13T11:01:00.000-08:002008-01-13T11:09:33.746-08:00We've moved!This is the new address of Prague office:<br /><br /><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=good+data+corporation+prague&ie=UTF8&ll=50.08617,14.426422&spn=0.020569,0.033903&z=15&iwloc=A&om=1">Jindrisska 24, Prague 1</a>Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766940730201947307.post-4472315144561123082007-11-15T02:01:00.000-08:002007-11-15T02:06:12.663-08:00Elaine the Hacker Story<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/1337_part_1.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px;" src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/1337_part_1.png" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><br />I can't wait to find out what will happen to Ellain and her mother. You can follow the story <a href="http://xkcd.com/342/">here</a>...Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766940730201947307.post-9692435345563719392007-11-14T05:45:00.000-08:002007-11-14T05:51:15.689-08:00Facebook Elastic Compute CloudSome <a href="http://romanstanek.blogspot.com/2007/09/facebook-elastic-compute-cloud.html">ideas</a> are just way too obvious and <a href="http://joyent.com/developers/facebook">Joyent's Free Accelerator</a> (on-demand infrastructure for Facebook application hosting) is one of them...Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766940730201947307.post-13270140737973102662007-11-13T06:46:00.000-08:002007-11-13T07:36:30.345-08:00IBM buying CognosThis famous <a href="http://www.forum2.org/eran/shelf/soul-machine.html">Data General advertisment</a> (it actually never ran) is over 25 years old, but after a small update it can be used even today:<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">They Say IBM’s Entry Into </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >On Demand BI</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> Will Legitimize The Market. The Bastards Say, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Welcome</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">.</span>Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766940730201947307.post-76621023715846975632007-09-28T12:34:00.001-07:002007-09-28T12:38:19.796-07:00Good King WenceslasToday is a public holiday in the Czech Republic. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wenceslaus_I%2C_Duke_of_Bohemia">Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia</a> was killed by his brother Boleslaus on this day back in 936 (or possibly 929), yet it is still a good reason to enjoy a three day weekend. No wonder they call him <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_King_Wenceslas">Good King Wenceslas</a>...Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766940730201947307.post-12482703648803243462007-09-19T00:57:00.000-07:002007-09-19T01:07:51.307-07:00On the Road AgainAfter a long wait I managed to get through the <a href="http://romanstanek.blogspot.com/2007/09/its-official.html">Heathrow Flight Disconnect</a> and I landed safely in the US yesterday.<br /><br />I plan to meet with the potential customers, VCs, analysts, advisers, partners and even some friends in Boston, New York and San Francisco. Overall almost forty meetings in one week. This trip reminds me the crazy travel schedule of Systinet days when I had to fly Prague - Tokyo - San Francisco - Los Angeles - Boston - London - Prague in one week (ever since I was a kid I knew from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne">Jules Verne</a>'s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Around_the_World_in_Eighty_Days">book</a> that this way around the globe I gain one working day).<br /><br />I did not have to travel as much at HP but things are different here at <a href="http://gooddata.com/">GDC</a>. And so I am on the road again...Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766940730201947307.post-72390937953072123812007-09-18T12:30:00.000-07:002007-09-18T12:33:35.961-07:00It’s official!The Flight Connection Centre at the Heathrow airport has been renamed to Heathrow Flight Disconnect. I think it’s a better name for a central security checkpoint that doesn’t scale to the increased security measures and the growth of traffic at Heathrow...Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766940730201947307.post-21203623578982881542007-09-16T05:42:00.000-07:002007-09-16T06:34:33.081-07:00Apple's answer to UbuntuThis is how <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela">Nelson Mandela</a> once explained the meaning of <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/">Ubuntu</a>: <i>"Ubuntu does not mean that people should not enrich themselves. The question therefore is: Are you going to do so in order to enable the community around you to improve?"</i> And here is a recent <a href="http://digg.com/linux_unix/New_iPods_reengineered_to_block_synching_with_Linux">answer</a> from Apple:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">The latest iPods have a cryptographic "checksum" in their song databases that <span style="font-weight:bold;">prevents third-party applications from synching with the portable music players</span>. This means that iPods can no longer be used with operating systems where iTunes doesn't exist -- like Linux.</span><br /><br />I don't think anybody needs Nelson Mandela to explain the meaning of this answer...Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766940730201947307.post-7601272820431523092007-09-15T11:23:00.000-07:002007-09-15T12:01:50.557-07:00The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural SciencesNobel Prize winner <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._P._Wigner">Eugene Wigner</a> published this <a href="http://www.galileivr.it/docenti/Fisica/articoli/Effectiveness.pdf">classic paper</a> almost fifty years ago but I was not aware of it until today. In case you are even remotely interested in mathematics or physics I am sure you will enjoy it as much as I did...Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766940730201947307.post-56460718009238205002007-09-13T12:28:00.000-07:002007-09-13T12:49:11.513-07:00Notification of Potential Data Breach<span style="font-style:italic;">Dear ... Employee,<br /><br />We recently became aware of an incident involving information that may affect you. A laptop belonging to an ... director was lost during a business trip to Atlanta in late July. The laptop contained personal information on some employees, including you...The laptop was secured by a user name/password combination...</span><br /><br />I received the letter above a few days ago from one of my former employers. It made me wonder what other sensitive data were on a laptop used by director of a large publicly traded company. And could this possibly happen if they used <span style="font-style:italic;">Software as a Service</span> HR application?<br /><br />SaaS will not make data on notebooks safer, but the chances are that this person would not need to download my personal information to his or her notebook. It is clear to me that incidents like this one prove that SaaS model is not inherently less secure...Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766940730201947307.post-21741806083690472942007-09-11T14:46:00.001-07:002007-09-16T06:39:16.594-07:00You say "Apple", I hear "control"Ever since I came out as a Mac user little over a year ago I've been very happy with this <em>choice</em>. Unfortunately "<em><strong>choice</strong></em>" is not really word from Apple's vocabulary. Everything related to products, music, software, public relations, technical support and so on is very tightly controlled by Apple.<br /><br />I do understand that control give us the fully integrated experience we get from Mac or iPod but sometimes it's simply overdone. One of many examples could be the famous <a href="http://www.macbookrandomshutdown.com/">Macbook Random Shutdown</a> problem. It took Apple way too long to even acknowledge the existence of the problem and it really upset the community of users. Sometimes the control becomes completely counterproductive: you can't simply report a problem with iTunes to Apple. You have to pick from "I bought the wrong version of a song", "I bought the same song twice" and other pre-fabricated options that blame you, the user, before you can even send message to Apple.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Lessig">Larry Lessig</a> called me once a <a href="http://www.lessig.org/content/standard/0,1902,6249,00.html"><em>post-communist capitalist</em></a> but I don't think he was correct. I am simply looking for more balanced relationship with my computer/music player/software/media supplier. And I guess this is why I am using <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/">Ubuntu</a> more and more. At the end of the day <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_(ideology)">Ubuntu</a> means: "<em>I am because we are, and since we are, therefore I am</em>"...<br /><br />PS. Apparently the other possible meaning of Ubuntu is "I can’t configure Debian"...Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766940730201947307.post-66391843337815569812007-09-10T01:37:00.001-07:002007-09-10T01:42:04.473-07:00Facebook Elastic Compute CloudI was never a big fan of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?node=201590011">Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud</a> (Amazon EC2). I did not see a real need for it and it doesn't even fit into retailer's business model. Amazon EC2 <span style="font-style:italic;">"enables users to increase or decrease capacity within minutes, not hours or days"</span>. But the growth of majority of web applications can be handled by additional hardware and faster connectivity. And even though the occasional traffic spikes caused by Slashdot or Digg can turn any site inaccessible for a day or two I am not sure it can justify a paradigm shift in the hosting platform.<br /><br />But after spending a few weeks on Facebook I've completely changed my mind. You don't need to build a user community on Facebook. Your users are already there and if you are lucky or smart (or both) enough to catch their attention with a new application you can see a dramatic increase in web traffic overnight. Being able to "<span style="font-style:italic;">obtain and configure capacity with minimal friction</span>" may actually be your only option before the users go somewhere else.<br /><br />Does it mean that Facebook should buy EC2 from Amazon.com and integrate it more tightly with the<a href="http://developers.facebook.com/"> Facebook Platform</a>? I believe so. It would make a lot of sense...Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766940730201947307.post-33187143793217929302007-09-08T08:47:00.000-07:002007-09-08T08:50:54.239-07:00Kepler Dude<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/kepler.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px;" src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/kepler.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766940730201947307.post-26508485981412258072007-09-06T14:01:00.000-07:002007-09-07T08:08:35.987-07:004 miles in 350 yearsHiring in Europe is slightly more difficult than in the US because people are less willing to move for work. And some people don't move at all. A good example is my mother's side of my family:<br /><br />My grand-grand-grand-grandfather Franta Fona was born in Lazinky in 1650. The news of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayflower">Mayflower's voyage</a> probably never reached Lazinky and so it must have been a big deal when Franta's grandson Jakub Placek moved 1 mile south to Vesce in 1740.<br /><br />It was not until 1805 when Matous Placek made the biggest move in this "epic journey of miniature proportions". Matous moved 2 miles west to Laz and I am sure he was inspired by Napoleon's advance in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Austerlitz">Battle of Austerlitz</a> (the battle was fought 50 miles from Laz the same year). <br /><br />The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower">Eiffel Tower</a> has not been built yet when the whole family trek was over in 1880: Pavel Placek moved 1 mile northwest to Nove Syrovice. And that's where my grandfather Josef Placek was born and where many of my cousins live until today...<br /><br /><iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&om=1&msa=0&msid=111115080922452990612.0004395bddb1debabb5f6&ll=49.023502,15.804541&spn=0.021753,0.066475&output=embed&s=AARTsJrx0Wk1SZhQy3b9hQ5U3O6KcVh2Bw"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&om=1&msa=0&msid=111115080922452990612.0004395bddb1debabb5f6&ll=49.023502,15.804541&spn=0.021753,0.066475&source=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766940730201947307.post-54645435410059196342007-09-06T03:24:00.000-07:002007-09-06T03:33:06.126-07:00Only the best people can make Good DataWe are hiring staff that want to be challenged to the highest levels in building what we believe will fundamentally change the way data is analyzed and used to gain insights and make decisions. Despite the massive size of the industry today there has been a glaring lack of innovation that creates a large opportunity for us in a market where existing players all suffer from the innovators dilemma.<br /><br />Today we are actively building the solution and are looking for best-in-class technical resources. Beyond simply meeting the requirements listed, applicants should be experienced in working in a demanding start-up environment where there is a minimum of wasted motion and corporate overhead.<br /><br />More information about open positions <a href="http://www.gooddata.com/jobs">here</a>.Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766940730201947307.post-44618215559716403922007-09-04T05:35:00.000-07:002007-09-04T06:06:35.093-07:00XP: new Mac OS shell?According to Wikipedia <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_%28computing%29">the shell</a></span> <span style="font-style: italic;">is <span style="font-weight:bold;">a piece of software</span> that provides an interface for users. The primary purpose of the shell is to invoke or "launch" another program, however, shells frequently have additional capabilities such as viewing the contents of directories.</span><br /><br />And this is exactly how I am using Microsoft XP on my Mac. The new <a href="http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/">Parallels Desktop 3.0</a> turns XP into a <span style="font-style:italic;">piece of code</span> that is almost invisible and that helps me to launch a few remaining apps that have not been ported to Mac OS X yet. I don't plan to upgrade to Vista ever. All I need is a small and stable shell. A piece of code...Roman Stanekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15406693510779330796noreply@blogger.com3