Colin Charles Agenda

I think MariaDB has had a great few weeks recently and the timeline of these events are important.

1. 27 November 2012 – WiredTree Adds MariaDB for Faster MySQL Database Performance (well worth reading their motivations to switch)
2. 29 November 2012 – Monty Program & SkySQL release the MariaDB Client Library for C & Java
3. 4 December 2012 – MariaDB Foundation is announced, see ZDNet coverage.
4. mid-December 2012 – Wikimedia Foundation starts migrating Wikipedia to MariaDB, not for any other reason besides the fact that the Foundation was announced (more ZDNet coverage).

Now, there have been rumors that the client libraries are just rip-offs or relicensed. They are not. They’ve been in works for customers for several years now (yes, Monty Program does need to pay the bills), and there are many a feature difference. This will be addressed next week to ensure that people know what they’re getting.

There have also been rumors that the foundation was announced with regards to the connectors. Wrong again. Connectors were announced first, foundation came later (see timeline above). You don’t do these things in a span of one week, the talk for the foundation has been going on for months. I should know, as alongside Monty & Rasmus, I’ve been somewhat involved.

I agree that we need better communications (remember to like us on facebook, follow us on twitter @mariadb), and we’re working on it. Its also that time of year when people love to take vacations (I am one of them). All that said, watch http://blog.mariadb.org/ closely as that’s the official channel for all things MariaDB.

2012 has been a great year for MariaDB in general, as the project grows, we get more coverage (see news reports), unparalleled downloads thanks to our 5.5-series being released, and our expanding product lines. I can forsee 2013 being even more exciting. Thank you all for an amazing 2012.

Happy new year and here’s to a great 2013!

Many talk about open data, but many don’t realize the power it has to convert open data into open information. An example of this is what has happened recently in New York: newspaper’s gun owner database draws criticism.

The article is provocative: The gun owner next door: What you don’t know about the weapons in your neighborhood. The converted data, taken from public sources via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, is placed as overlays into Google Maps to form information in Map: Where are the gun permits in your neighborhood?

The USA is a great nation because it has the FOIA. In Malaysia, we’ve been trying to get a FOIA only to be told its not required and a Whistleblower’s Act is better. Having an FOIA with a standard reporting set can ensure we can build maps of dengue hotspots, look at trends if neighborhoods are safe or if crime is increasing, etc. Instead we have a Home Minister saying his crime stats are correct and we should just believe him, yet everyone knows someone that’s been a victim of crime. Its disgusting, but I digress.

This isn’t a post about gun laws either. People die with or without guns, but massacres only seem to happen in America. Malaysians get gunned down despite illegal possession of a gun probably equating you to receiving the death penalty. Go figure.

This is about open data becoming open information. Gun owners could never guess that their details would be pasted online. They submit data when they renew their gun permits. Anyone can ask for this data, compile it, add it on an overlay with something modern like Google Maps, and publish this as information.

I understand that sexual offenders get on a registry, and this information is also available as a matter of public record.

Data by itself means little to many. But in the hands of a data scientist, it gets converted to useful information, infographics, et al. Is it bad that thieves today can know which house to potentially rob? Is it good that you don’t send your kids to your neighbors house because there are guns in it?

There are many other examples where I can see usefulness in having open data becoming open information. Think about having the CV of every member of parliament available as a matter of public record. I’d like to know if I’m more intelligent than the average politician (in Malaysia I estimate that the average person in the Klang Valley is more educated than about 70% of politicians). Imagine knowing if your public servant has served you well in the last five years, because people had access to a public repository of complaints that each was meant to take up on (this comes from opening up the hansard). 

When you play around with information, you can skew it. This is what the (controlled) media and politicians do in Malaysia. This is why its important that the data used to create the information is open as well. If the data is open, people can independently conclude that the information is correct. Or can always question it. Not everyone I expect will do this, and I believe the 1%-10%-rest rule applies: 1% will convert data into information, 10% will decide what information to spread, and the rest will just believe this.

This is a great contrast to how regimes control the media and expect 1% to feed 99% of the information. 

On the bottle of a Chimay Trappist beer:

The “Trappist” logo certifies that this ale is brewed in a Trappist Abbey and that the majority of sales income is intended for social aid.

I wonder what happens to the sin taxes in Malaysia, considering we’re the second highest in the world for beer after Norway.

About two weeks ago, I ditched my iPad. I backed it up, did a clean reset, and gave the iPad to my mother. My primary tablet now is the Google Nexus 7. 

I like the 7″ form factor better. It is also much lighter. The battery life compared to the iPad isn’t nearly as great, but I’ll just have to make do.

Why not an iPad Mini? Quite simply because I bought the Nexus 7 first and cannot justify carrying 2 7″-like tablets. I realized I didn’t use that much software, regularly, on my iPad so the migration process wasn’t too difficult.

My mother is enjoying playing tonnes of games on it. The only game she’s purchased is PvZ HD which is on sale now for $0.99. Everything else is free.

Me? I’m getting used to the Nexus 7 as my primary device. What do I use on it mostly? Web browser (Chrome). Kindle to read books. NYTimes application, though I hate that I have to see ads even though I’m a paying user. Evernote for little snippets of notes here & there.

Beyond that, I’m now on a trip and have no inclination to miss my iPad. Weird feeling, huh?

Here are some things I think are well worth reading (also, I’m starting the year fresh with nothing in my tabs :P)

• Wired has a great interview by Steven Levy on Tim O’Reilly’s Key to Creating the Next Big Thing. Tim taught me to work on stuff that matters (fond memories of an O’Reilly Moleskine Christmas gift), and now continues teaching everyone to create more value than they capture.
• Blood Sugar or how the diabetes market is waiting to be disrupted. More needs to be done in terms of controlling this disease. We already have sensible trackers like Fitbit, etc. what more can we do to manage this?
• Why Samsung’s Man in Silicon Valley uses Apple Devices – interesting take in the MIT Technology Review on Yong Sohn, President & Chief Strategy Officer for Samsung based in Silicon Valley. 
• Another from MIT Technology Review is Installable Web Apps WIll Be the Next Tech Battleground. I see web apps as being important, and I’ve been thinking about this space a lot more lately.
• Paul Buchheit wrote an amazing essay titled The Gift. It is a must read on unconditional love & living life to the fullest.
• MIT Technology Review again, this time on disrupting college textbooks. Free Textbooks Spell Disruption for College Publishers profiling Ariel Diaz and his site Boundless Learning. I remember a time buying really expensive textbooks and realized that you only use them for a term, with very few that you plan to keep on your bookshelf forever. The second-hand market naturally thrives but they go out-of-date usually within a year. I know many in Malaysia that love to photocopy textbooks (which I abhor and would never encourage). Imagine free e-book textbooks that you can read on your tablet? Highlight? Have all your notes in one place based on the highlights? This will revolutionize education.
• Marten Mickos asks: What is Innovation?
• I’m always interested in new & innovation publishing mediums, and this summary post leaves a lot to think about: Frankfurt Book Fair 2012: Self-publishing, cell phones & startups.
• Back to a nugget from Tim O’Reilly, a must read is It’s Not About You: The Truth about Social Media Marketing. There’s a money quote there:

• Activism has been the core of our marketing ever since.  We tell big stories that matter to a community of users, and together we use those stories to amplify a message that we all care about. Framing ideas in such a way that they include and reinforce the identity of a group of people who might not previously have seen themselves as part of the same community allows everyone to tell their own story in a way that adds up to something bigger than any one of them might tell alone. And once they start telling their story as part of the bigger story, it suddenly looks like a parade. 

We had Christmas indoors (Merry Christmas) as pretty much everything is closed in London for a bank holiday. As part of the festivities, we watched: The Dictator.

If you’re a fan of Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan or anything from Sacha Baron Cohen you’ve got to watch this show. We caught it on pay-per-view, since as a Royal Ambassador we get one free movie per stay. And what better place to watch it than at the newly opened InterContinental London Westminster.

So back to The Dictator. It is a funny show, will take about 80 minutes of your time, and its well worth watching. Some may describe the jokes as crude, but those one-liners are truly memorable. I’m going to endeavor to watch the unrated version as I’m told its about 15 minutes longer with a lot more scenes of comedy!