Hello again, Davos, AI ethics, cybersecurity, Db2 events and IBM Cloud

Hello, here I am again after a while. I hope you had a good start into 2019. I enjoyed being offline for a while, then got busy with not much time to blog. So, here is a roundup of things going on.

Impressions from Zeppelin flight

Zeppelin flight

Recently, I had the opportunity to fly on a Zeppelin NT, the kind of Zeppelin I had blogged about before. The 6+ hour flight was a once in a lifetime opportunity because it could not be booked. It took as from Bonn Hangelar (EDKB) to Friedrichshafen (EDNY). Our journey started with a detour over Cologne, then following the Rhine up to Karlsruhe, taking a turn to Stuttgart and from there down south to Lake Constance (see the rough route we took on the right).

The Cloud, Mood-Enhancing Substances, World Economic Forum, and More

DataWorks and Connect & Compose

Right now, the Winter sky is mostly covered by some low hanging clouds, giving way only for some random rays of sun. The past weeks I have been plagued by a cold which drew most of my energy. Now I am back, thanks to some mood-enhancing substances (a.k.a. lots of dark chocolate) and some rest. So what else, in addition to the usual World Economic Forum, is going on?

DIY: 3D-printing a quadrocopter (or hardware for IoT)

3D-printed quadrocopter/drone

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to get deeper into 3D printing. I got invited to Maker World 2015 in Friedrichshafen and to a workshop run by the guys of Construction Zone. The goal was to get an overview of 3D printing by designing parts for a small quadrocopter, printing them, and eventually assembling printed parts and electronic components to a flight-ready drone. Creating the casing for Internet-of-Thing (IoT) devices basically is the same.

The mini drone and its parts can be seen on the picture above. It has a printed body, a printed cover, a small board (in the middle of the drone), a battery pack, and 4 motors. The first step in getting the copter up into the air was to design the body and cover as seen on the picture below. Some attention needs to be applied to keeping the rotors in a safe distance to each other and to have space within the body to house the battery pack and the controller board.

Design process for a DIY quadrocopter

Once the design is complete, the next step is to create a STL file and/or G-code for the 3D printer. During that process the printing quality is specified. It is based, among others, on the number and thickness of printing layers. And that directly impacts the time needed for printing. What I learned is that patience is a virtue...

From Lake Constance with love: A new Goodyear Blimp

A new Zeppelin (Zeppelin NT with NT as in "New Technology"), the next generation of Goodyear Blimps, it scheduled for its first flight today. It is the first of three. The components have been built in my current home town Friedrichshafen and been shipped to Goodyear to Ohio. There, the semi-rigid airship has been assembled.

BTW: Zeppelin flights in Germany can be booked at Zeppelinflug and you can learn more about the Zeppelin history at the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen.

Travel and Security Concepts

When I am teaching a DB2 class, or data management in general, security is always on the agenda. Authentication and authorization are basic terms, but often they are mixed up. That is the moment when I bring the following analogy.

Authentication is about making sure that I am really the person I say I am. This can be done during travel through a "government-issued identification card" (passport, driver's license, etc.) or when working with a computer through a userid and password (or keycard, token generator, a PIN, or a fingerprint). Often a special token is then issued which can be used as simplified identicator for a limited time. During air travel this is the (in)famous bording pass. On the computer it could be setting a cookie, a session identifier or something else.

Authorization gives me (after I have been identified) access to specific resources, it is the access control part of security. I am allowed only to board a specific flight, I don't have access to the lounge, I am allowed to sit in economy class, but not in business class, the pilot is allowed to use electronic devices during take-off and landing, I don't.

Next on the agenda: Groups and roles in DB2 (groups are controlled outside the database, roles inside).

Aero Expo and Database Monitoring

Some years back (is my blog really that old...?) I had written about the AERO Expo, a global general aviation show in Friedrichshafen. Today, I received an invitation/marketing email reminding me about the upcoming expo. Looking over the list of exhibits and demonstrations, it is very similar to database systems or even information management. There is the core product (the aircraft/engine or database system) and then a good chunk is about the tooling and maintenance.

What - to me - stands out is the monitoring. It is critical in flight, to keep both your aircraft and your database system up and flying. I am not a pilot and cannot really comment on what is crucial, but for database systems performance monitoring is a very interesting topic. Did you know that InfoSphere Optim Performance Manager Extended Edition is capable of monitoring the application stack ("end to end monitoring")? To me as a frequent traveller this looks like making sure that both the aircraft is running well as well as understanding what is happening in terms of air traffic and on the ground, i.e., it provides the whole picture, not just a fragment.

Not sure whether I will visit the AERO this year (tickets anyone...?), I would look around to see if something similar to end-to-end monitoring is available.

BTW: For those in Switzerland or South Germany, take a look at this cool project for displaying air traffic.

Data inconsistency causing 30 minute flight delay

On Friday evening I was traveling back home. The last leg from FRA to FDH is with a regional jet which always is parked in an outside position and requiring a bus transfer from the terminal. I was happy because the bus was leaving the terminal 20 minutes before the departure time, usually a sign of on-time arrival (that's what counts). However, it turned out differently...


Once we arrived at the airplane, all the passengers boarded and took their seats. We then waited for the usual "boarding complete" and welcome message which didn't come. Instead, the flight attendants counted the passengers, re-counted, compared their passenger list with the seated crowd, and then got busy. At first, they asked the passengers in business class to show their boarding passes. After some more discussions, they went around in economy class and asking for specific passengers. Suddenly, at least for us boarded passengers, two more passengers were brought to the plane and also another car from operations arrived.

With some more discussions between crew, operations, and some passengers, the puzzle eventually got solved: It seemed that the crew was handed an outdated list (which they discovered) as there were some last-minute changes. Some of the new passengers arrived on time for boarding while some others on the first list arrived late. Hence we had a mix-up in the passenger count and with some names. All this caused a delayed departure of 30 minutes (and 20 minutes for arrival).

Friday Fun: What people drink on the airplane...

Earlier this week when flying back I had some spare minutes and actually read the fineprint on the back of my boarding pass. The section "Dangerous goods in passenger baggage" notes that, among others, poisonous substances and radioactive materials are prohibited. However, at the bottom it is pointed out that, among others, this rule does not apply to alcoholic drinks. Well, that explains the behavior and facial expression of some fellow travelers...

Some flights, appliances, and "one size fits all"

As I wrote before, I was traveling within Europe. Similar to the Skymall brochure in North America, some airplanes feature the Worldshop brochure. I used some spare time and read about the new G3Ferrari Pizzamaker. This brought up memories of the Popcorn Maker, the Ice Cream Maker, the Donut Maker, the bread machine, and all the other advertised appliances. How many of them do you own?

One reason I don't own (all of) them is the storage space required when they are not used. Another reason is that they usually can only do what they have been designed for (sometimes not even that!) and it often requires reading additional instructions, getting familiar with the do's and don'ts. Sometimes, some of those "specialty appliances" are something en vogue for few months, then disappear again. I trust my (hightech) oven and my induction stove on helping me out when I need a pizza or some popcorn and they work fine for base regular food. They are my "one size fits all" solution to my culinary requirements.

The same goes for my database system. I trust DB2 to handle all kinds of data: Strings, numbers, dates, timestamps, and - yes - XML documents. DB2 can manage my data for OLTP applications and in BI scenarios. Sometimes, the crust on the pizza is not as crispy as that from a true Pizzamaker, but I can prepare a pizza side by side with a nice plum tart in my convection oven. Hmm, a taste of Fall...

Friday Fun with Airlines

Yesterday, Adam's marketing thoughts were motivated by an old airline commercial and the feeling of coming home after a trip. That got me started last night because the feeling of "coming home" or "already feeling close to home" is what probably many travelers, including myself, share. I started to look for some funny videos that demonstrate my recent airline experiences. Here they are:

1) Flying has changed, it is safer today than it was, but the recent habit of charging for everything separately is annoying. Why not combine it?



2) The second video is about my experience as a tall person (198 cm / 6'6"). I have to crawl inside regional aircrafts. And in most others the overhead bins are a frequent hazard.



P.S.: Have a nice weekend to you all on DB2, Oracle, Informix, MySQL, MS SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Derby, and other database systems!

Do you webcam?

With the days getting shorter, darker, and colder (here in Germany) thoughts about nice, warm, and fun Summer days pop up more frequently. It's the time when some people start eating Marzipan, flip through their [online] photo albums, or do other things to keep the spirits high. Do you webcam?

When I am on business trips and back at the hotel, I usually try to check a webcam from "my place" before calling home ("I know how it looks like right now"). Do you webcam, too?

Before talking with co-workers in other locations, you can check webcams to make talking about the weather more interesting ("it is NOT snowing in your place"). Do you webcam?

Here are some webcams I use from time to time:

• Friedrichshafen has a couple of webcams and I will only list three around the airport. The so-called slashcam can be controlled and has nice views. The same goes for the Zeppelin webcam. The aero club located at the airport maintains 4 webcams.
  
• Boeblingen, where IBM's German Lab is located, has at least this webcam.
• For the conditions in San Jose, California, my former home and place of several IBM locations, the SJSU offers a cam.
  
• A very interesting "local" webcam is installed on one of the ships cruising the Lake of Constance, on the St. Gallen. In the archive you can follow the ship on its tours across the lake.
  

Now I want to hear from you, what are your webcams?

A day at AERO 2009: About aviation and databases

To my excuse let me start this post stating that to a database guy everything looks like a database.

On Saturday I took my oldest son to AERO 2009, the biggest European expo for General Aviation that included an air show in the afternoons. We went there half on foot and half by shuttle bus, but many visitors actually flew there with their own planes and Friedrichshafen's airport area and airspace was crowded.

Both I (and to some degree my son) can be labeled "experienced passenger", nothing more. In the database world this would compare to "having used an ATM" (this is not Air Traffic Management) or "received database-generated report in mail". At the expo were many commercial and private pilots, aircraft mechanics, aerobatic pilots, some flight attendants, air traffic controlers, some government agencies, and many more. In my (our?) world this would compare to DBAs and sysadmins, performance specialist, maybe application users, your management, auditors, etc. Of course there was finance and insurance companies present (and possibly lawyers...).

From strolling around I learned how much software is now used even by private pilots. Simulation, flight planning, navigation, in-flight monitoring and control, the electronic fligh bag (EFB), air traffic control/management (ATC/ATM), and many more require special software. The electronic flight bag can even be a collection of XML data. Statistical data such as that from ATADS is nothing more than your typical database application. A very nice air traffic visualization is using XML, web serivces, Google Maps, MashUps, and a database.

Thus, even if you were only an IT guy, you would have gotten your share of information. I won't write about the special deal I could have gotten for a private jet, how the goodies are different from an IT expo, and why I am lucky my wife is not a wing walking lady (or here)...