That was Then... This is Now

Last week in my Operations Management class, we learned several different methods for forecasting. Included were moving averages, exponential smoothing, and linear trend forecasts. After completing the first round of homework problems, students were required to come up with an original application using data they collected themselves or found on the Internet. Sarah Schuttler (whose father Robert is also a professor at Marian, and perhaps the world’s biggest Indianapolis Colts fan) decided to use a linear trend method to analyze statistics for both Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. The intent was to forecast total yardage and touchdown performance and also examine the relationship between yards gained and number of touchdowns thrown as a measure of effectiveness. As you can see, both quarterbacks have “hall of fame” stats as one would expect. Peyton Manning is clearly the winner in total production through a projected 15 year career (click to enlarge): However when we turn our attention to ...

I'm in the market for a new cell phone and have narrowed it down to two choices. The Motorola Droid Pro and the Blackberry Torch. Here is a pretty good comparison of the two. Stay tuned.

One of the first computers made by Apple way back in 1976 is scheduled to be auctioned November 23. It is expected to bring bids of at least $160,000. How powerful was it? By today's standards--not very. But it helped to start a revolution in technology. Here are the specs: "Apple-1 motherboard, number 82, printed label to reverse, with a few slightly later additions including a 6502 microprocessor, labeled R6502P R6502-11 8145, printed circuit board with 4 rows A-D and columns 1-18, three capacitors, heatsink, cassette board connector, 8K bytes of RAM, keyboard interface, firmware in PROMS, low-profile sockets on all integrated circuits, video terminal, breadboard area with slightly later connector, with later soldering, wires and electrical tape to reverse, printed to obverse Apple Computer 1 Palo Alto. Ca. Copyright 1976." If you are interested in bidding on it you can read more here . Updated 11/23/10: The computer reportedly sold for $210,700.

My MIS 320 Business Decisions class just took their mid-term exams. Much of it involved your typical advanced Excel calculations, conditional logic, and forecasts. Certainly hard enough, but really pretty standard stuff. One question however involved "making sense" of a collection of data regarding travel to and from the state of Indiana. The requirement was to create a series of charts that would interpret the data for Indiana business leaders, politicians, state and local governments, and average citizens. On the surface, this appeared simple--after all how hard could graphs be? The challenge was that the data was a “mess” and students had to dig deep in order to uncover useful information. They also were encouraged to experiment with color, 3-D effects, and styles. Some of the more interesting graphs are shown here... Eric Sheppard used a "Pie within a Pie Chart" to breakout the "Other" category regarding means of trasportation in Indiana. This i...

Mattel has developed a tag that goes on your dog's collar that allows them to send one of 200 predefined "tweets" to a Twitter page depending on the animal's activity level. So far Mattel has not develped one for cats. Yet.

Across the U.S. and around the world this week, " Cyber Storm III " a global cybersecurity exercise, designed to test the security of the Internet as well as the people charged with protecting it, is underway through October 1st. This is the third time that the Department of Homeland Security, in conjunction with other federal agencies, is conducting this exercise. Previous Cyber Storm exercises were conducted in 2006, and again in 2008. For the first time, DHS will manage its response to Cyber Storm III from its new National Cybersecurity and Communications and Integration Center.

Raytheon has updated the exoskeleton suit that they designed for the military to a newer version that is lighter, more agile and uses less power. Wearers of the suit can easily lift over 200 pounds hundreds of times, punch through several inches of wood, and have the agility to fight, climb stairs, or kick a soccer ball. Read more about the "Iron Man" suit here .