Using Big Data to Make Solar Smarter

Solar rooftops only work in specific environments: an area with enough sun, a roof with the right tilt, a state or city with strong subsidies. But a company called Geostellar is using big data tools to help its solar installer customers deliver more solar panels to more rooftops in places where it actually makes economic sense. Later this year, the company plans to release an open API — so developers can build applications on top of it — and eventually, the company plans to launch a consumer-facing site.

Using Big Data to Make Solar Smarter

Backlink: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OmMalik/~3/uN12c6RKi2Y/

Smarter campus workshop

Smarter campus workshop

Backlink: http://www.slideshare.net/SFSPYork/smarter-campus-workshop

Google Lat Long Blog: Even smarter Street View navigation: single click to go (anywhere!)

Monday, November 22, 2010 at 5:35 PM

Last year we introduced Smart Navigation to Street View, which allowed you to jump to a new panorama just by double-clicking on a place or object. Now you can quickly navigate to those images with just a single click.

For those of you who haven’t used this click-to-go feature before, notice that as you move your mouse around in a street view panorama, a disk or rectangle follows the cursor (what we call the “pancake”). This pancake not only makes the panorama feel three-dimensional, but shows you where you can jump to a new panorama to get a different view. For instance, let’s say you’re checking out the town of San Miguel de Allende in Mexico because you read about the large community of artists and writers living there. You can get a closer look at the Parish of San Miguel by clicking on the pancake and navigating around the church.



A few more clicks will take you through the colorful neighboring streets. Through your virtual exploration, you can see a restaurant in the distance behind the below rectangular pancake:


With a single click on the pancake, you’re transported right in front of that location and the pancake reappears - this time with a magnifying glass. This means you can zoom in to get an even closer view:


To read the menu at “El Infierno” and see what kind of food they may have, the single click to zoom also applies here. We’ve also made it easier to zoom out. Once you’ve zoomed in all the way, the magnifying glass changes from a plus sign to a minus sign, signifying that the next click will zoom all the way out.


QUE VIVA single click navigation!

Posted by Daniel Filip, Senior Staff Engineer

Google Lat Long Blog: Even smarter Street View navigation: single click to go (anywhere!)

Backlink: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/SbSV/~3/e11Duk9f3Mk/even-smarter-street-view-navigation.html

Work Smarter, Not Harder...Here's How.

To become more effective, it might be best to stop multitasking. Jumping from task to task makes you less effective at each job you perform. And stop filling those spare moments with Twitter, Facebook, e-mail, the news, etc. Down moments are necessary to absorb the information that you've learned.

We in IT may be more likely to multitask because of all the opportunities we have. I have five screens within arm's reach right now: A laptop, two desktop monitors, my Blackberry and my iPod touch. Add my desk phone and I'm one buzz, ring or click away from the leaving the task at hand. I promise myself I'll be back in just a minute but even if I fulfill my promise, the damage is already done.

A recent study by the University of Indiana shows that successful multitasking is mainly an illusion. Work product suffers, we remember less, and may not even know how bad of a job we're doing at each function.  It's commonly accepted now that the brain can only do one function at a time and hold anywhere from five to nine bits of information in short term memory. While you think you're multitasking, your brain is really stopping and starting over with a new task.

We need downtime in order for newly developed neurons to go from the hippocampus to the rest of the brain. During downtime the brain records it to memory.

What To Do

Blogger Andy Inhatko suggests some ways to break the habit and in true blogging spirit is applying them to himself. He:

• Turns off e-mail alerts and checks them at his own pace and inclination
• Finishes one task before moving on to another.
  
  
• Suggests you choose a distraction-free work environment when possible.
  
  
• Reduces temptation by turning off WiFi, radio, TV etc.
• Takes breaks after working. Give your mind a chance to digest information.
  
  

I have to say this isn't easy, but after a few days of practicing, I can point to more completed tasks and more piece of mind.

-- Dino Londis 

Post originale: http://career-resources.dice.com:80/articles/content/entry/multitasking_myth

New Location-Based App Makes Business Networking Smarter

Unsocial, a new startup, is hoping to help make location-based mobile apps useful for business communication.Unsocial bills itself as LinkedIn meets Foursquare with a touch of Match.com on the side. That's a pretty apt description. Basically, it's

Tags: news business channels LinkedIn web apps geolocation iphone apps android apps unsocial location-based apps

Post originale: http://www.blogcatalog.com/search/frame?term=location&id;=5f299932fad18988384a44b194cbea0e