Jackson Miller

Coming Soon: smallBIG

Jackson Miller — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:40:32 GMT

I have written a little bit about wanting to focus on Business Intelligence for Small Businesses. As I am currently in a transition process, but some of the pieces are starting to fall together. The picture became much clearer this morning when I came up with the perfect name for a new company (I know Cory will appreciate the need for the perfect name).

I have settled on smallBIG. It is a partial acronym standing for Small Business Intelligence Group. I was playing with the multiple meanings of “Small Business Intelligence” when I came up with it. Luckily for me I was able to register thesmallbig.com.

I tossed the suggestion out to twitter and got some positive feedback. I mentioned it to several people and everyone seemed to like it, so I am running with it. Sara Clark even suggested a great motto: “No one is too small to think BIG”. I think I will make a tiny editorial decision and play with “No business is too small to think BIG”.

So at this point I have a name, a vague idea, a few potential clients and resources, and a unique skill set. I think that is enough to run with.

linkblog: Apr 23

Jackson Miller — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 06:04:21 GMT

Quit your job! - (37signals)

The next big thing? Lifestyle businesses.

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linkblog: Apr 17

Jackson Miller — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 06:04:25 GMT

stackoverflow.com - Joel on Software

Joel Spolsky and Jeff Atwood are going to provide an open alternative to pay services like ExpertSexChange.com. People hate Experts Exchange because they spam Google. I will be happy to participate in an open alternative.

Ma.gnolia: Ma.gnolia Ma.rker

A desktop widget for adding Ma.gnolia bookmarks. I kinda want a bookmark client that will post to both ma.gnolia and del.icio.us.

Venture Hacks â€” How do we set the valuation for a seed round?

Guide to setting a companies valuation for a first round of financing.

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Electric Heat

Jackson Miller — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:49:22 GMT

For the past couple of years I have had a question running around in my head and it won’t go away. Maybe by posting it here someone can point me in the right direction to understand it.

If every rooftop in a city was covered with solar panels, would it reduce the overall temperature of the city?

Now, I freely admit that I am way out of my league on this one. There are probably some people out there reading this and laughing at how obvious the answer is. The thing is, I haven’t heard this question asked before.

I have some basic understanding that heat and energy are related. Engines that run hot are less efficient than engines that run cool. I think that the heat (thermal energy?) in that case is wasted energy. I also know that the reflection of the suns rays warms the planet.

So, does it not hold true on some level that solar panels capture the energy from sunlight and therefore the light that is captured is not released as heat? Could it be a measurable amount?

I did a little research tonight and I know there is a relationship between heat and energy. I know that we cannot create energy from nothing. I know that the measure of electricity (Watts) is the rate of heat transfer (Joules per second).

So, does it not hold that widespread use of solar energy would not only reduce the emissions of green house gas, but it would also have a cooling effect that would counter the heat retention effect of some of the greenhouse gasses that are already in our atmosphere?

Can you help me understand this better?

Update: I may have found more information that helps. A Photovoltaic-Thermal System (PV/T) not only converts sunlight into electricity, but also captures the residual heat in a way that both the electricity and heat are usable. I think that supports this theory b/c “residual heat” seems to indicate that some heat is lost lost by standard photovoltaics (though maybe not all). As PV systems become more efficient will there be less residual heat?

Last Nightâ€™s Debate

Jackson Miller — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:42:18 GMT

I watched last night’s debate with some friends. The whole time we were wondering why they were focusing on such non-issues. Obama was clearly annoyed with it too. As I browse the internet this morning I can see that there is a large percentage of people who feel the same way.

According to ABC, Flag Pins are more important that Gas Prices, Mortgage Crisis, Iraq, Iran, etc. That is pathetic.

What really gets me is that I keep having this interview with Charlie Gibson playing over and over in my head. A few days before the debate someone was asking him about his preparations for the debate. He said two things that really bugged me:

1) He was not really nervous and not really preparing b/c George Stephanopoulos was going to be there. (His lack of preparation and lackadaisical attitude were clearly visible).

2) He made a comment that while they were accepting questions from viewers in PA, they were not sure if they were going to use them b/c they had a better understanding of what the issues really were.

That second comment has me ~~bitter~~ boiling mad. If I was in PA and submitted a question I would be irate that our questions were tossed aside so that ABC could create the least issues focused debate that I can remember ever seeing.

linkblog: Apr 16

Jackson Miller — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 06:04:15 GMT

DiSo & The Open Web Â» SlideShare

Chris Messina (and others) presentation on DiSo.

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linkblog: Apr 14

Jackson Miller — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 06:04:08 GMT

Draw the line between free and paid

“Many newly independent small business people make the mistake of giving away too much of their services for free…”

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Google as a Business Intelligence Platform for Small Businesses

Jackson Miller — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 10:04:24 GMT

Last week I wrote some thoughts about using the Mac OS X Dashboard for business intelligence. I still think that is a neat idea, but so much has changed in a very short period of time.

The main thing that changed is obviously Google AppEngine. Like with every major tech story these days there has been a mass rush to judgement. The fact of the matter is that it is too soon to tell. Google is a somewhat untrusted (or at least untested) vendor when it comes to mission critical services; Google has also earned more credibility than anyone else when it comes to web applications. So, the jury is still out on whether or not AppEngine will the great or mediocre. One thing we do know is that the addition of Google AppEngine makes Google as a platform more viable. And isn’t becoming the platform the real goal for most tech companies?

Spreadsheets are still the BI tool of choice for most people. Still, Excel has some serious deficiencies for BI. Spreadsheets are typically Shadow Systems by the nature of the way Excel interacts with source of data. (Shadow systems are separate databases outside of the central data repository). This makes spreadsheets cumbersome. You either have to re-import a CSV or tell Excel to update data from an external source (i.e. an ODBC data source) in order for spreadsheets to stay up to date (or option #3 of update it manually). once you share a spreadsheet you now have multiple Shadow Systems.

I am excited by Google docs because they are easy to share and thus reduce the number of Shadow Systems. Unfortunately Google Spreadsheets don’t have the ability to update from a remote data source. This means that to update a Google Spreadsheet you either have to export a csv from your data source and re-import it or you can use the Google API to push data. This is still cumbersome, but the data update can be automated. One big problem with using Google Spreadsheets is that there are limitations on the number of rows you can have. Without being able to query a remote data source you would have to continue pushing data in.

With the beta release of AppEngine developers now have access to a database to use when developing on the Google Platform. It is not a relational database and I don’t expect it will be replacing any mission critical databases. However, I hear that BigTable is fast. Damn fast. I am wondering if it would be a good data warehouse environment. It would require some creative data modeling and there are limited querying functions, but it is fast.

If (and this may be a big if) Google allows BigTable queries from Google Spreadsheets then many of the problems with Excel would be overcome. The spreadsheet would be easy to share without creating Shadow Systems. An added bonus would be that multiple people can collaborate on a spreadsheet at the same time.

BigTable is not designed as a reporting database. It may work as one, but that is not the stated intent. What would be cool is an OLAP database as a part of Google Apps and possible Google AppEngine. I have heard that this may be coming. I am hoping it is sooner rather than later.

A Restaurant In Santa Fe

Jackson Miller — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 14:44:10 GMT

Last week Sabrina and I went to see Rent. For those of you not familiar, Rent is a wildly over-rated broadway production that has some very loyal fans known as “Rent-heads” (yeah, creative, I know). While I think Rent is over-rated, it is not bad. To be honest that is quite a compliment coming from someone who is usually bored by drama (theatrical and, uh, real life drama).

Anyway, in Rent there is this song/theme about going to open up a restaurant in Santa Fe. The idea is that we can escape it all by just going to Santa Fe to open a restaurant. Sure, opening a restaurant is one of the most stressful and risky ways to support yourself, but let’s suspend disbelief for a moment. I am sure we all have a desire to go open a restaurant in Santa Fe from time to time.

I used to know what my pipe dream was. Until I had kids I held on to the hope that one day I would get the balls to just pack it all up and sail around the world solo on an old 1970’s fiberglass sailboat (they didn’t know how string fiberglass was in the 70s and thus made some boats that are as sturdy as a tank). Once I had kids that dream was no longer a reality.

I love my wife and kids, though I do wonder what life would have been like if I did it. It was within reach if I really wanted it. I don’t have regret per se, but it is a what-if.

For the past couple of years I have not had a “pack it all up” dream. Sabrina and I both know that we are happier when we are closer to the ocean. I have always wanted to live on the coast. After spending a week in San Jose with the clear air and palm trees, I am kinda thinking about going to open up a restaurant in San Jose.

linkblog: Apr 11

Jackson Miller — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 06:04:09 GMT

Google BI

Google is working to bring OLAP integration to Google Spreadsheets.

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Itâ€™s No Wonder

Jackson Miller — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 03:08:55 GMT

I am sitting on the plan tonight listening to some old Stevie Wonder. “Higher Ground” just came on and there is something about that funky beat that is getting me ready to head to some lower ground at the end of the month.

I seem to recall that Stevie is going to be at Jazz Fest while we are there. Unfortunately I think he might be playing at the same time as The Roots.

Man I am looking forward to this.

Moving Lawson Business Intelligence From Tomcat to Websphere

Jackson Miller — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:21:56 GMT

With the release of Lawson Business intelligence (LBI) 9.0.2, Lawson made the decision to no longer support Tomcat in a production environment. Many companies will now need to migrate LBI to Websphere since it is the only supported platform. Since LBI is a Windows-only web application the move to Websphere seems like a good step (though I would rather see Lawson add Unix support than take away Tomcat).

Sadly there is no documentation that I can find on how to move LBI from Tomcat to Websphere. I am making this transition for one of my clients as we speak so I figured it would be a good idea to document the process that worked for me.

Upgrade LBI to the most current release.
Backup the LawsonBusinessIntelligence and LawsonDocuments directories.
Backup the LawsonFS, LawsonRS, and LawsonSN databases.
Create new databases for temporary use by Websphere. I used wsLawsonFS, wsLawsonRS, wsLawsonSN.
Stop Tomcat.
Install Websphere.
Install IBM HTTP Server (set it to the current port that you use to access LBI. The Lawson default is 8282, but some companies prefer to use port 80, which could conflickt with IIS depending on your setup)
Create Data Sources in Websphere for wsLawsonFS, wsLawsonRS, and wsLawsonSN. These data sources should have the standard JNDI names (jdbc/LasonFS, jdbc/LawsonRS, jdbc/LawsonSN)
Use the LBI installer to install LBI into Websphere (as a new installation, not an upgrade)
Verify that LBI is working properly in Websphere.
Edit the Websphere data sources to point to the original LBI databases (i.e. jdbc/LawsonFS now points to LawsonFS)
Test LBI to verify everything works (admin acct will still be set to lawson/lawson)
If there is problems accessing reports or Reporting Services Admin then edit the RS service via the Tools Dashboard. I had to remove en-us from the URLs.
Run the Reporting Services installation validator to point LawsonDocuments to the proper location.
Configure your authentication source using the SysConfig editor.

That worked for me. If you are thinking about going through this process and would like assistance, my contact information is in the right sidebar.

linkblog: Apr 10

Jackson Miller — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 06:04:09 GMT

A Guide to Business Development 2.0 - ReadWriteWeb

At least once each day I get a call from someone trying to sell me outsourced development services. It’s difficult to not be frustrated with these calls and …

Aliph Jawbone 2 exposed - Engadget

mmmmmm

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linkblog: Apr 05

Jackson Miller — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 06:03:58 GMT

Monday view: Cheap solar power poised to undercut oil and gas by half - Telegraph

The “tipping point” will arrive when the capital cost of solar power falls below $1 (51p) per watt, roughly the cost of carbon power. We are not there yet. The best options today vary from $3 to $4 per watt - down from $100 in the late 1970s.

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linkblog: Apr 04

Jackson Miller — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 06:03:52 GMT

Source: Google To Launch BigTable As Web Service

Google may be releasing BigTable, its internal database system, as a web service to compete with Amazon SimpleDB, according to a source with …

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linkblog: Apr 03

Jackson Miller — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 06:03:53 GMT

Business Technology : The Threat of “Free”

Businesses sometimes are quick to dismiss the threat of â€œfreeâ€� Internet-based companies. But these organizations may actually turn out to be competitors, as a new examination of Craigslistâ€™s revenue shows…

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Blogging to Read: It Is Working

Jackson Miller — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:04:50 GMT

Yesterday I started “Blogging to Read” for my 6 year old. This morning as soon as he got up he asked me if he could “write”. We didn’t have time this morning, but I loved his enthusiasm.

As soon as he got home from school he was asking if he could write. After doing some chores I let him log into his blog and post an entry. Today’s entry was shorter than yesterday’s. He wanted to use a question mark so he wanted to post a question. He then wanted me to post a comment answering his question as soon as he was done. I think that the interaction with family is what will keep this interesting for him.

Now I need to do some research to learn how I can help him write. What kind of questions do I need to ask? What process should I guide him through to start posting longer thoughts? I also have to figure out if/when I should help help him post a picture or two. I am thinking maybe talking about a picture would be a good way to get him going too.

UPDATE
Zavier just came into my office to thank me for setting up his website. He said that it was nice to be able to talk online (his words, not mine). Then Carter came in and asked if I would setup a website for him. He asked me to help him write it.

linkblog: Apr 02

Jackson Miller — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 06:03:52 GMT

Weblogg-ed Â» Blogging to Teach Reading

A look at using blogging to help with online reading comprehension with secondary students.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Children flock to social networks

More than a quarter of eight to 11-year-olds in the UK have a profile on a social network, research shows.

Tags: education, parenting, socialmedia

Battening Down The Hatches

“But in my mind, the single most important thing is not revenue in a time like this. The most important thing is cost structure.”

How We Tweet: The Definitive List of the Top Twitter Clients

Analysis of the most common clients used to post to twitter. (Note: I often use TwitterBerry which posts tweets that say they came from the web)

Ruby Roo

At first glance this looks like a really excellent library for interacting with spreadsheets (Excel, OpenOffice, Google Docs so far).

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Using the Mac OSX Dashboard for Business Intelligence

Jackson Miller — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:16:12 GMT

I have been toying with the idea of how Google Docs could be used as a Business Intelligence platform for small businesses. As the thought develops it is expanding from just Google Docs to Google as a platform which could include Google for your domain, Google Gears, Google Gadgets, Google Charts and maybe more. I am hoping to prove the concept with a project for our retails stores our retails stores. The goal is for a daily push of our key metrics to a Google Spreadsheet. The key metrics would then be reported on using some sort of Dashboard.

BI dashboards are a metaphor based on the dashboard in your car. Wikipedia describes car dashboards as something that “contains instrumentation and controls pertaining to operation of the vehicle”. Wikipedia also touches on BI dashboards: “Based on the metaphor of the instrument panel in a car, the computer, or “digital” version of a dashboard provides a business manager with the input necessary to “drive” the business. Devices such as red/green/yellow lights, alerts, drill-downs, summaries, graphics such as bar charts, pie charts, bullet graphs, sparklines and gauges are usually set in a portal-like environment that is often role-driven and customizable.” The Mac OSX dashboard typically doesn’t fall into the same category, but I am finding it a great way to get a quick glance at the information I need.

Coincidentally all of the partners in our stores are using Mac laptops. There is a tool for displaying Google Gadgets as OSX Dashboard Widgets. By automating a process to send key metrics from our Point of Sale system to a Google spreadsheet I will be able to create a Google Gadget that pulls calculated cells from that spreadsheet into the Gadget using JSON. The Google Charts API will allow me to create charts from the JSON information as well. My hope is that I can drop a couple of Widgets onto our dashboards and all of the partners will be able to hit F12 and see recent sales numbers, current trends, inventory levels, etc. The best part is that there is no expensive software to purchase and maintain. The only custom code will be a little Javascript in the Google Gadget and a Ruby script that parses information from the POS and sends it to Google via an Atom call. I could probably create OSX Widgets without creating Google Gadgets, but using Google Gadgets will also allow us to have the same information on a Google for your domain start page.

Blogging to Read

Jackson Miller — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 12:31:28 GMT

When my sister was young she participated in a Writing to Read program at Julia Green. If I remember correctly she was very fortunate that one of her classmate’s father was able to volunteer a large amount of time to work with the students on the Writing to Read program in the school’s computer lab. My sister grew up one of the best and most prolific readers I have ever met. Now she is about to graduate from Law School. I would like for my kids to have the same opportunity (well, maybe not the lawyer part ).

The world has changed a lot singe the 1980’s. We have computers in our homes for one thing, but over the past few years computers have gotten much more social. This poses new challenges for parents. I want my kids to learn how to be good at interacting socially via computers, but I also want them to be safe.

I have been toying with the idea of combining these two sets of goals into a homemade “Blogging to Read” program. Hopefully this week I will be setting up my 6 year old with his very own wordpress install. It will be a password protected blog so that I can limit access to what he writes, but I do want to let family and friends in. My hope is that people he knows will comment on what he writes, which I think will be a big incentive for him to keep writing.

An added bonus may be that I get a new opportunity to learn about life from the perspective of a 6 year old.