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Cloud Cyberinfrastructure Design Education Globalization Innovation IoT Network Reading Technology

Latest Read: Keeping Up with the Quants

Have been looking forward to Tom Davenport’s Keeping Up with the Quants: Your Guide to Understanding and Using Analytics for longer than I care to admit. I throughly enjoyed his book Competing on Analytics all the way back in 2008. His followup Big Data@Work provides the same scope for business regarding the emerging era of Big Data.
Keeping Up with the Quants: Your Guide to Understanding and Using Analytics Tom has truly mastered the role of business analytics for well over two decades. He is acknowledged as revealing the path of metrics and just as important how success can be defined by adopting a mindset of analytics over intuition. It should be no surprise that I am a big fan of Tom Davenport.

Seems like a lifetime ago in the competitive and fast changing world of analytics. Quantitative analysis with a side of regression is not a diner order but a key skill to identify patterns in data.

An easy read with great common sense approaches for leaders to understand and professionals to embrace it proves not only how business gains insights but how to defend Kobe Bryant.

On the heels of reading Nate Silver’s bestseller The Signal and the Noise, Davenport reveals how quants have not only broken down NBA basketball defensive measures to each quarter when playing Bryant and the Lakers but how to guard him in a last possession game scenario.

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Design Education Flat World Globalization Innovation IoT Maker Milwaukee OpenSource Reading Technology

FarmBot: Open­source precision farming

FarmBot is an open­source and scalable automated precision farming machine and software package designed from the ground up with today’s technologies. The world’s population is growing and is projected to surpass 9 billion inhabitants by 2050. As a result farms must increase production by about 60 percent to meet demand which is stunning since many believe we have reached the limits of traditional farming.
FarmBot

In comparison to desktop digital 3D printers and CNC machines FarmBot extends the idea of X, Y, and Z directions and applies it to plows, seed injectors, water and sensors in order to accurately and efficiently grow plants and soil. I think that I would like to try this out in my own backyard.

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Cloud Design Education Globalization Innovation Maker Milwaukee OpenSource Technology

Global 3D Printing Day in Milwaukee

Tomorrow 12/03/15 is Global 3D Printing Day. There are over 24,000 printers with 370 participating cities in over 150 countries participating. Luckily Milwaukee has over 30 established 3D Printing Hubs around Greater Milwaukee. There are many more throughout Wisconsin including Madison and Green Bay Hubs. 3D Hubs has established #3DPrintingDay has their twitter feed and Facebook page and Pinterest link.

3D Printing Day MilwaukeeBrowse a global map for your local 3D Printer hub location and drop by to see how they are participating in 3D Print Day to reveal local resources for digital manufacturing.

The main difference in each participating city is that the cities offer a different number of activities (most likely based on how active the community is and how many Hubs there are to host activities.)

But the idea of coordinating the same types of activities to run at the same time all around the world is definitely a testament to how much 3D printing technologies are growing in popularity and diversity of application.

In fact, London has planned is a great way to explain the template that many cities appear to be following for #3DPrintingDay. London 3D Hubs plans to honor Global #3DPrintingDay by showing people how 3D printing works tomorrow. This long day of 3D printing exhibitions includes 3D printing showcases and demonstrations throughout the day at various Hubs in London. For Londoners, this day will be jam packed with activities, according to Community Mayor Charlotte, so plan early and be ahead of the pack by reserving your spot now!

Similar events, planned throughout the world, all run from 12 am-12 am, providing a 24-hour day of 3D printing festivities in cities including: Kiev, Istanbul, Dublin, Lisbon, Milwaukee, Nairobi, Paris, Seattle, Taipei, Budapest, Cape Town, Zurich, and Buenos Aires.

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Design Education Globalization Innovation Milwaukee OpenSource Technology

Maker Faire Saturday

littleBitsOur Saturday in Milwaukee included trips across town to maker faire events in both Brookfield and Mayfair. My son enjoyed making littleBits at Brookfield. However no Milwaukee area store held a Raspberry Pi meetup.

I was pleased to see much more products were in place at Brookfield across four spaces on both their first and second floor. Mayfair’s workspaces were on their second floor. Greenfield is a ground floor facility.

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Design Education Globalization Innovation Milwaukee OpenSource Technology

Maker Faire Friday night

Tonight was the Barnes and Noble Maker Faire kickoff. Three Milwaukee area stores are participating and we visited Greenfield. We are looking forward to Saturday’s Raspberry Pi meetup. My son did not hold back explaining littleBits to three adults.A maker in the making