#1 Evolutionary Systems (E-News from 2SS.Com)
Friday, May 09, 2008
[[Contact:26]]
[[Company:25]]
Dear [[Salutation:40]],
‘ [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ‘
‘ E – N E W S from ‘
‘ 2SS.Com ‘
‘ Compiled and Edited by ‘
‘ Mailed on: 09/01/1998 8:35 PM Number 2 ‘
‘ [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ‘
‘ A ‘fast-read’ update on identifying and‘
‘ implementing strategic systems. ‘
‘ In this issue (5 Items): ‘
‘ ================ ‘
‘ 1--EVOLUTIONARY SYSTEMS
‘ 2--Question: WHAT ABOUT WINDOWS 98?
‘ 3--PRODUCT WATCH ‘
‘ 4--TOP FIVE STRATEGIC LINKS ‘
‘ 5--Strategic Systems Advisory Panel, ‘
‘ 2SS.Com and your subscription. ‘
‘ [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ‘
‘ --------------Item One----------- ‘
‘ EVOLUTIONARY SYSTEMS
‘ Do you believe that computers might some ‘
‘ day evolve designs, systems, and consequently, ‘
‘ working things that humans, alone, would not ‘
‘ conceive of?
‘ …It’s happening: ‘
‘ * The Boeing Co.'s 777 airliner has a General ‘
‘ Electric engine whose turbine geometry ‘
‘ evolved inside a computer. ‘
‘ * The University of Southampton’ s professor, ‘
‘ Andrew Keane, in England, was reviewing a ‘
‘ space station prototype girder used in the 1985 ‘
‘ space shuttle. He applied a computer-based ‘
‘ evolutionary design approach and, after 15 ‘
‘ generations and 4,500 different designs, had a ‘
‘ lumpy, knob-ended girder no human engineer ‘
‘ would design. Testing confirms the evolved ‘
‘ girder’s superiority to existing human designs. ‘
‘ No intelligence made the designs. ‘
‘ They just evolved. ‘
‘ * David Schaffer, a senior researcher at ‘
‘ Philips Electronics expects that "By the middle of ‘
‘ the next century, there will be no area of engine- ‘
‘ ering not touched" by evolutionary (e.g. genetic) ‘
‘ design techniques. ‘
‘ * At Deere, supervisors on the factory-floor use ‘
‘ ordinary PCs to capture their list of hay balers, ‘
‘ air-conditioned tractors, and other customized ‘
‘ farm machinery that’s on order. Then special- ‘
‘ ized software invokes the development of proto- ‘
‘ type schedules. Hours later a schedule is devised ‘
‘ that is consistently more efficient than any person ‘
‘ could have figured out. It details which machines ‘
‘ to make when. ‘
‘ * At Maxygen Inc. of Santa Clara, CA researchers ‘
‘ have used evolutionary methods to direct the ‘
‘ evolution of a protein for antibiotic resistance in ‘
‘ bacteria. The result was a version that worked ‘
‘ 32,000 times better than the protein naturally ‘
‘ present in microbes. ‘
‘ Why care now? We believe the impact of this ‘
‘ technology will rival the total impact of the ‘
‘ computer revolution itself. Dare we suggest that ‘
‘ computers, PCs and, even the Internet and all ‘
‘ their related technologies, together are a ‘
‘ comparatively small development. ABSOLUTELY! ‘
‘ Much of this was drawn from a very interesting ‘
‘ article you can review in more detail at ‘
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/980727/27evol.htm
‘ [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ‘
‘ --------------Item Two----------- ‘
‘ A client & subscriber asks: ‘
‘ 2--”What about Windows 98? should ‘
‘ we upgrade?” ‘
‘ Many of our clients and readers have been asking ‘
‘ about Windows 98. We like Microsoft’s own ‘
‘ opinion, which is to upgrade if you have a ‘
‘ strategic reason that will benefit you. But if not, ‘
‘ then consider the still-to-be-released Windows NT ‘
‘ Workstation version 5.0. ‘
‘ This means waiting first for NT 5.0 and, then, for ‘
‘ it to be well accepted in the marketplace (at least ‘
‘ another year). Windows 98 is only a good ‘
‘ choice if you need more stability now, (The ‘
‘ analysts say you’ll get it, but real-world experience ‘
‘ is still scarce.) ‘
‘ Another reason is the ability to use two ‘
‘ monitors with your PC. AutoCAD users have ‘
‘ done it for years. One screen for commands ‘
‘ and another for drawing. Two monitors could ‘
‘ let you open applications on each screen and ‘
‘ pass data between them. Imagine seeing ‘
‘ clearly 18 to 24 months of spreadsheet data ‘
‘ while also accessing several relevant accounting ‘
‘ system screens! ‘
‘ So at 2SS.Com we like to say “Exploit your ‘
‘ investment!” ‘
‘ [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ‘
‘ -------------Item Three---------- ‘
‘ Product Watch ‘
‘ Voice Recognition update! ‘
‘ New versions of software include: ‘
‘ 1. Dragon Naturally Speaking 2.0 $109 to $695 ‘
‘ 2. IBM ViaVoice 98 $50 to $149 ‘
‘ 3. Phillips FreeSpeech 98 $39 to $75 ‘
‘ 4. Learnout & Hauspie Voice Express $50 to $100 ‘
‘ Accuracy remains an issue (see last issue of E- ‘
‘ News), but the packages are improving. Big time ‘
‘ implementers of speech recognition (Information ‘
‘ Week 7-13-98) include American Airlines, Swiss ‘
‘ American Securities, UPS, Sears, Smith Barney ‘
‘ and exchanges, including New York and Chicago. ‘
‘ ELECTRONIC BOOKS ‘
‘ Several will be available by year’s end for $299 to ‘
‘ $1,600. Just plug into the phone or a PC and ‘
‘ download as many as 10 novels (4,000 pages) for ‘
‘ casual hand-held, back-lighted reading, (PC ‘
‘ Magazine 9-98 p.9). ‘
‘ COPPER CPU CHIPS IN THE NEWS ‘
‘ Lower power and more performance are making ‘
‘ IBM’s new ‘copper in place of aluminum’ chip ‘
‘ design a hot news item. Watch for new PCs with ‘
‘ copper CPU chips from IBM VERY SOON. ‘
‘ [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ‘
‘ -------------Item Four----------- ‘
‘ TOP FIVE STRATEGIC LINKS ‘
‘ Following are links that are useful, interesting, ‘
‘ and show the future of the Internet. ‘
‘ 1. Real time flight tracking. Pick a random flight ‘
‘ or enter the airline and flight number. Your ‘
‘ browser traces the plane in flight over a relevant ‘
‘ map. This could be one of your company vehicles ‘
‘ if the investment matches the value. ‘
http://www.thetrip.com/flightstatus/graphical/bin/randomfindflt.cgi
‘ 2. The Year 2000 problem; does it impact you? ‘
‘ For a thorough understanding of Year 2000 issues
‘ and their degree of impact on the family of Office ‘
‘ and other Microsoft products, browse the Microsoft ‘
‘ Year 2000 Resource Center at the URL below. ‘
‘ The site includes Microsoft’s definition of ‘
‘ compliance, http://www.microsoft.com/year2000/ ‘
‘ 3. PriceLine. You specify the airfare you’re willing ‘
‘ to pay and maybe get it! ‘
http://www.priceline.com/PriceLineHomePage/cfml/default.cfm
‘ 4. Get your groceries on the Internet and ‘
‘ schedule a weekly delivery of your favorite ‘
‘ items. http://www.netgrocer.com ‘
‘ 5. Credit reports for $3 and business credit ‘
‘ information www.lookupusa.com. ‘
‘ Thanks for reviewing E-News. Please E-Mail ‘
‘ us back if you get to here. Readers 7 and 12 ‘
‘ will get 4 trips on Sacramento’ s own River ‘
‘ Otter Taxi. Congratulations and thanks to new ‘
‘ subscriber E. Williams who got 4 after reading ‘
‘ E-News issue No. 1. ‘
‘ [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ‘
‘ -------------Item Five------------ ‘
‘ STRATEGIC SYSTEMS ADVISORY ‘
‘ PANEL, 2SS.Com, and YOUR ‘
‘ SUBSCRIPTION ‘
‘ Maybe the best reason to subscribe is ‘
‘ the ‘E-News Strategic Technology ‘
‘ Advisory Panel’, a growing list of ‘
‘ professionals in a variety of disciplines ‘
‘ who have agreed to: ‘
‘ 1--Review each month’s issue in ‘
‘ advance of its release to help make ‘
‘ sure we’re doing what we intend. ‘
‘ 2--Contribute throughout the year ‘
‘ from their respective areas of ‘
‘ specialization. ‘
‘ 3--Accept your strategic systems ‘
‘ technology questions. (That is a ‘
‘ free, EXTRAORDINARILY ‘
‘ CONVENIENT, multi-discipline ‘
‘ resource available any time to respond ‘
‘ to what’s on your mind.) ‘
‘ Computer Hardware and Software ‘
‘ Acquisition, Service and Repair by Ron ‘
‘ Ellis of 2SS.Com. ‘
‘ Legal issues and specific expertise in ‘
‘ corporate and securities law, nonprofits, ‘
‘ licensing and franchising by William Van ‘
‘ der Mei, Principal of The Van der Mei ‘
‘ Law Firm. ‘
‘ Accounting and Financial expertise include- ‘
‘ ing Audit, Tax and General Business ‘
‘ Consulting by David Ljung, Principal at ‘
‘ Gilbert Accountancy Corporation. Visit ‘
‘ them at www.GilbertCPA.com. ‘
‘ Human Resources expertise including ‘
‘ problem employees, policy and procedures; ‘
‘ and customized training by B.J. Flora of B.J. ‘
‘ Flora Associates. ‘
‘ Computer network design, implementation, ‘
‘ maintenance and support by Ron Ellis, ‘
‘ Managing Director of 2SS.Com. ‘
‘ Computer and printer rentals of all ‘
‘ types by Rick Randall, President of ‘
‘ RenTech Computers. Visit them at ‘
‘ Corporate and professional skill training ‘
‘ by Ann McCandless, Owner and founder ‘
‘ of Computer Assistance. Visit them at ‘
‘ Strategic Planning, turnarounds, marketing ‘
‘ analysis, and litigation support by Peter H. ‘
‘ Michael, President of The Michael Consulting ‘
‘ Group. Visit them at www.mcgmcg.com. ‘
‘ Internet WWW authoring, database ‘
‘ development and connectivity by ‘
‘ Michael Nelson, President of SacWeb.. ‘
‘ Visit them at www.SacWeb.Com. ‘
‘ SUBSCRIBE / UNSUBSCRIBE? ‘
‘ E-News from 2SS.Com aims to provide ‘
‘ you with timely and interesting ideas ‘
‘ that help you identify and implement ‘
‘ strategic systems. You can subscribe ‘
‘ by sending a message to ‘
‘ [email protected] with the subject ‘
‘ ‘Subscribe’. To un-Subscribe, enter the ‘
‘ subject ‘Un-Subscribe’ or ‘Remove’. ‘
‘ Our commitment to subscribers is to ‘
‘ NOT WASTE your time. We’ll offer you ‘
‘ ONLY information that we feel can be ‘
‘ of interest and use. If you have ‘
‘ questions, comments, or suggestions ‘
‘ for technologies of interest to you, etc., ‘
‘ please send a message to ‘
‘ [email protected]. We look forward ‘
‘ to hearing from you. (A sample issue ‘
‘ is available by fax or by mail upon request. ‘
‘ Please fax requests to 916-966-1962 or ‘
‘ send a stamped self-addressed envelope ‘
‘ to 2SS.Com at P.O. Box 163391 ‘
‘ Sacramento, CA 95816.) ‘
‘ Please advise us of any changes to our ‘
‘ current contact data for you. It is: ‘
‘ Contact: [[Contact:26]] ‘
‘ Company: [[Company:25]] ‘
‘ Title: [[Title:46]] ‘
‘ Address: [[Address 1:27]] [[Address 2:28]] ‘
‘ City: [[City:30]], State: [[State:31]] Zip: [[Zip:32]] ‘
‘ Phone: [[Phone:35]] Fax: [[Fax:36]] ‘