Recent Bookmarks 10-Jun-2009

Rethinking Cost and Performance of Database Systems (pdf)
Daniela Florescu and Donald Kossmann, SIGMOD Record, March 2009
“The big question is no longer how fast a database workload can be executed or whether a particular throughput can be achieved; instead, the question is how many machines are necessary to meet the performance requirements of a particular workload. … [T]his paper argues that cost as measured in $ is the main metric that needs to be optimized.”
gml: Interesting paper. The redefinition of the database problem leads to a new presentation/application/storage architecture and new functionality requirements for databases.

The Universities in Trouble
Andrew Delbanco, The New York Review of Books, 14 May 2009
“[T]he same lame metaphors one hears every night on the evening news are pouring out of the dean’s office: it’s time to ‘tighten our belts’ and ‘batten down the hatches.’ But the questions remain: What does it all really mean, and how are colleges and universities dealing with the new circumstances?”

7 Rules of Design from MIT’s Guru of Low-Tech Engineering
Amy Smith, Popular Mechanics, 16 July 2008
“Try living for a week on $2 a day. … Do the hard work needed to find a simple solution. … Create ‘transparent’ technologies. … Make it inexpensive. …”
gml: There is much in Smith’s design principles that those working in e-learning should heed. Before we build the next look-what-is-possible for the already-have, maybe we should ask whether this is the best use of our time and talent?

SafeMashups
“A very common situation in Internet applications, especially those involving mashups, is when two web applications communicate with each other via a consumer’s browser. A major security risk in such situations is the presence of a MITM (man in the middle) or worse, a malicious user.”

Is MIT Obsolete?
Neil Gershenfeld, seedmagazine.com, 03 February 2009
“By digitizing not just the communication of ideas but also the fabrication of things, the campus can now effectively come to the student.”
gml: You might also want to check out the Fab Academy discussed in this article.

Google Chrome Developer Releases for Mac and Linux
gml: Shouldn’t the color of the Google Wave icon be Chrome?