crashnbeirne

Consulting Adult: Life in the Boy's Dorm: My Career at Sun Microsystems Part 19

2010-03-22T08:18:00.000-07:00

Consulting Adult: Life in the Boy's Dorm: My Career at Sun Microsystems Part 19

Don't boycott FB - you Irish wannabees- NING in the New Year!

2009-12-30T18:04:00.001-08:00

If FaceBook ever goes <even more> for-pay - either by subscription or those tricky apps that rip off your cel phone account- there are plenty of alternatives to go to.

My personal favorite are the Ning-based sites. They have the best web 2.0 tool set- plenty of good stuff for video, photos, blogs, events and more- for free, of course!. Best of all, you can join an existing group AND also create your own - multiple, all for free- sites on the fly very easily.

Best place to get started? Drop by The People's Lounge!... See More
http://thepeopleslounge.ning.com/
* The Lounge is very artist friendly, eclectic & international.

* My little corner of The Lounge is here:
http://thepeopleslounge.ning.com/profile/MikeBeirne

(Uncle Tim, Mom and Grandpa Tom are members. We did the birthday album for St. Thomas on the Lounge too.)

For the holidays this year we did digital picture frames for GM&GP, Tom and Janny. The pictures I loaded onto the frames - and more - are on the Ning sites that I set up for mom and dad's family names:
beirne.ning.conm
malmstadt.ning.com

It is dead easy. You can get your own addresses, sites, mobile to web uploads, all that stuff and more.

Boycott FaceBook if and when you want, but it is usually better to hedge your bets and have a Plan B.

NING in the New year!

Happy Holidays-

Posted via email from Mike @ MaidoAri

RSS to NetPRnews - test 2

2009-11-22T11:43:00.000-08:00

RSS to NetPRnews - test 2

test1

2009-09-30T11:26:00.001-07:00

http://netprnews.net/

Posted via web from Net PR News

Branding 102- say it out loud, at least once....

2009-05-14T10:58:00.000-07:00

Querido amigos!

Round 2 in my rant about branding. Today's topic presents a conundrum; If you already know that- deep down- you are really bad at branding- wouldn't it be better to just give up at branding altogether?

Maybe that is the conclusion that Fujitsu has reached- for today. In the Formula-1 microprocessor wars, Intel is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. Along comes Fujitsu who just built a CPU that can do 2 1/5 laps around the fastest Intel chip- and still beat it to the finish line.

Yes, the World's Fastest CPU. Shatters Intel's speed record by 250%. So, what is it called?

Um.... (Long pause....)

"Venus" - yep, the world's fastest, next-best gizmo is named after the Goddess of love, beauty and fertility??? Alas, I must confess my very Western narrow-minded ignorance, but really, doesn't a kick-ass product deserve a kick-ass name?

Oh, maybe they were going for SEXY...

Wait, I get it now!
* The CPU clusters will be called "Mounds of Venus"!
* The service level agreements can be called "Aphrodite"! Brilliant!!!
* The Low-End, entry level servers would be what the Greeks called:
- - Venus Kallipygos ("Venus with the pretty bottom"),

I bow deeply to greatness in branding,

Mike

but....

p.s.

Of course, Japanese doesn't have a "V" in any of their syllabary or symbolic alphabets - so they have to pronounce it with a "B". So, it comes out as "BEEnasu" - which is the twin character of "PEEnasu." For the first five years of my marriage, that is how my lovely wife pronounced "Peanut Butter" - I thought it was cute, until our baby girl started saying it too. It took real effort to stop them from saying "PEEnasu Baatta" in public. They are cured now, but I fear that Fujitsu is terminal...

Fujitsu develops world's fastest processor

Associated Press, 05.13.09 -- Japanese computer maker Fujitsu Ltd. said Wednesday that it has successfully developed the world's fastest supercomputer processing unit with more than twice the speed of the current leader. A new central processing unit, or CPU, prototype successfully computed at 128 billion times per second - beating the current record, held by Intel Corp. ( INTC - news - people ), by 2.5 times, company spokesman Masao Sakamoto said.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/05/13/ap6416385.html

The company shrunk the size of each central circuit, thus doubling the number of circuits per chip, he said. The prototype is also energy-efficient and was able to cut power consumption to one-third of the conventional Fujitsu model.

Fujitsu aims to put the new CPU, with a code name "Venus," into practical application in supercomputers "within several years," Sakamoto said.

Computer makers, including IBM Corp. ( IBM - news - people ), Cray ( CRAY - news - people ) Inc. and Intel, have been competing to develop a faster CPU.

--
Mike Beirne
MaidoAri - Network Public Relations
mike@maidoari.info

2009-02-08T15:01:00.000-08:00

Mirai no Speech

2009-02-08T14:54:00.000-08:00

Scenes from Tachibana New Year 2009 - The Year of the Ox

2009-01-17T07:41:00.000-08:00

Find more videos like this on The People's Lounge

- for Naomi, the Ox

Happy Holiday from the Beirnes

Find more videos like this on The People's Lounge

Happy Father's Day, Dad

2008-06-15T06:19:00.000-07:00

"Look there, up in the sky... Is that a bird, or a plane? No, wait- it's SuperDad!"

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

Hope you are well this Father's Day. Down here in San Jose, we just finished the school year- both regular school- on Thursday- and Japanese school, yesterday.

Naomi and Teresa did great in school (again) this year. Naomi is at the top of her class and Teresa IS the top of her class. (She did so well in public high school this year that we had to teach her mother that the phrase "Four Point Oh!" means a perfect score - or all "A"s on your report card. She kept it up the whole year- including the college level Japanese course she is taking. (Yes, she got better grades than the college kids in her class- what a show off!)

The ladies have two weeks off before they go to Japan for the summer. Naomi will be going to school in Japan again- this will be her last year to take part in elementary school in Japan. Their grandparents in Japan are very excited that they will be visiting soon.

Next year will bring big changes, I think. Like her sister, Naomi wants to move to a bigger public school, so we enrolled her in the nearby middle school, called Castellero. They have a great music program and some of Naomi's friends from Japanese school go there. The school is closer to home, so the commute will be much easier.

Moreover, Mayumi will not have to work in exchange for tuition anymore. This finally allows Mayumi to exercise her Green Card, which we just renewed because she/we have been in the U.S. for ten years. (Can you believe it?) I took the day off on Tuesday and we went to the Federal office together to finish the paperwork, take her picture and fingerprints for her new Green Card. All went smoothly, so we don't have any worries about their summer travel plans.

She is still working on the application, but it looks like Mayumi will be going back into teaching next year. She contacted the "official" Japanese school in the area to see if they need teachers for next year. Yes- they do- and they were very happy to hear that she is a certified teacher in Japan. Her qualifications are far better than most of the people working there, so she should get hired there easily. It should be so much better than now- instead of working every afternoon , Mayumi would work a full day on Saturdays, with an occasional meeting / training during the week. The girls will continue their "informal" Japanese school on Saturdays next year, as it is probably the last year for Teresa. It will keep us busy on Saturdays, but will give Mayumi most of the week off. She will start earning a "real" income as a teacher, so that will help our finances a lot.

I don't know when/if I will be visiting Washington this summer. We have a couple of big announcements over the next two weeks that may affect my job. I might have to go to New York or even Tokyo for meetings soon. I'd love to be able to go to Japan - on the company's tab- and work in a visit with Mayumi's family. The good news from the Tokudomi family is that Mayumi's younger brother, Atsunobu, is engaged to get married. (Her youngest brother, Takashi, who visited Seattle long ago- has been married for some time, but we thought that the older brother, Atsunobu, was a dedicated bachelor.) They have tried for years to hook him up with a bride, to no avail. He finally met the right woman- "all by himself" - and they plan to get married in the Fall. Needless to say, the Tokudomi clan is very happy now.

Speaking of happy- we hope that you have a happy Father's Day. I will call you soon, but in case I miss you, we wanted to say that we love you, Dad.

Love you, Dad (and you too, Susie!)

- Mike, Mayumi, Teresa & Naomi

p.s. This is me recently with my "first daughter" - Jessa Derania.
Jessa is Peter's daughter, who I lived with during Law School.
I used to babysit Jessa for Peter and Jill, while I was studying.
Don't know if the law books that I used to read to her had any
influence, but she is now a PHD candidate at Tulane University
in New Orleans. Am as proud of her as my own girls and was
so very happy that she called when she was going through the
area and we had a chance to meet at the San Jose train station,
if only for a short time.

Happy, Ratty New Year

2007-12-25T09:29:00.000-08:00

Don't tell anyone, but the love of my life is a rat.

Well, maybe Mayumi is a mouse, but she is
definitely a rodent....

That being said- Merry Christmas and
Happy New Year 2008!

Mike, the Rat and the Kids

Give and Get this Holiday Season

2007-11-20T09:55:00.001-08:00

As our children get older, we get dumber and they get smarter. Am not sure why or how that happens, but it definitely does happen. When a 10 year old tells you at the breakfast table that she doesn't need Christmas presents and that it would be better to give things or money to people who really need it- well, even Dad gets it.

So, we looked into it. I also had a chance encounter with one of my favorite projects in the world... First, thanks to Larry Magid for his column in the Mercury News- we thought it was a great idea:

Tech File: Sites help small investments make social impact

MICROLOANS A NEW WAY TO INVEST

By Larry Magid

Article Launched: 10/29/2007 01:36:31 AM PDT

An investment adviser suggested I diversify my portfolio with international holdings. But instead of buying an international mutual fund, I went to microplace.com to make a small investment in a group of Ghanaian businesses and thanks to kiva.org I now have an interest in a Bolivian pig farm.
http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_7310562?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com

Both of the girls think this is a cool thing and we agreed that it would be a good way to invest their savings to help the world. ( See, I told you they were getting smarter than us! ) Well, Dad isn't slacking completely- he recently hooked up with one of the coolest gigs in the PR world, the gentleman who promotes the One Laptop Per Child initiative, SJ Klein. I got to play with the little green machine that our good friend Hector Ruiz and guiding guru Nicholas Negroponte has championed. It is a true paradigm shift.

This little thing CAN and - with our help- change the world for the better. So, as you think about what new gadget you want to give or get this holiday season, pause please, for just a moment and think about what you could give AND get. You can invest your money to help the developing world and/or you can buy a really cool laptop (yes, they DO have the handcrank and footcrank accessories) and one of those cool laptops will go to some child who REALLY needs the gift of such technology. Just seven days left in the campaign, so give the gift of giving early.

MB

http://www.laptopgiving.org/en/index.php

One learning child. One connected child. One laptop at a time.

The mission of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child. In order to accomplish our goal, we need people who believe in what we’re doing and want to help make education for the world’s children a priority, not a privilege. Between November 12 and November 26, OLPC is offering a Give One Get One program in the United States and Canada. During this time, you can donate the revolutionary XO laptop to a child in a developing nation, and also receive one for the child in your life in recognition of your contribution.

Triple Witching Hour

2007-10-09T22:09:00.000-07:00

Triple Witching Hour

This month is my triple witching hour- two birthdays and an Anniversary. If I forget what happens the first week of October, I am truly a dead man. Last week, we started off the celebrations with Teresa's 14th birthday. (Yes, 14- she's in High School now- yikes!) Mayumi's bday was
on Friday and our 17th anniversary was Saturday.

In the image above, the two characters are discussing birthdays in Japanese with a Brazilian accent. The picture below features the Beirne Ladies slurping Ramen in Kyoto, Japan this summer.

The three Kanji (or "Chinese Characters") in the bottom right are read "TanJoBi" or "Birthday." The four characters above "Happy birthday" and elsewhere on the page, are read "O-MeDeTo" and mean "Congratulations."
Taken together, "OTanjobi Omedeto " means happy birthday.

Yo! Semite!

2007-08-05T12:05:00.000-07:00

Yosemite National Park, July 2007

We have uploaded more than 600 pictures for Okaasan's trip to America 2007. These two are among the many that are now online in our Picasa family web photo album. You can see them all- and print or order prints if you want - here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/beirne.mike/2007OkaasanToIssho

Okaasan to Issho 2007

2007-08-03T18:31:00.000-07:00

Ansel Adams country, bear country,
the valley where "some of them kill"
- also known as "Yosemite"

Our photo album now has several hundred pictures from our recent travels with Mayumi's mother ("Okaasan") to Southern California and Las Vegas / the Grand Canyon and Yosemite National Park.

You can find the photos here: (Okaasan to Issho 2007 on Picassa)

First LEGO League - N. Calif. State Championships 2007

2007-08-03T14:20:00.000-07:00

The Nomads from Knowhere - "Against All Odds Award"

The pride of Almaden Preparatory School, the The Nomads from Knowhere excelled at the 2006 Northern California State Championships of First LEGO League (VIDEO)

The global robotics competition for youngsters, sponsored by the famed LEGO toy maker from Sweden, offered grade and middle school kids a grand challenge on a microscopic scale. Under the theme of "Nano Quest" students were inspried to create clever solutions to difficult problems and urged to "Explore Existing Science on the Nanotechnolgy Level."

The Nomads did very well in the first round regional competition, taking second place overall. Alas, second place wasn't good enough to qualify for the State tournament. Although there was a slight chance for the Nomads, the 64th seat in the N. Cal state tournament was awarded to an international team from Amman, Jordan.

So, while the 63 Bay Area and one Arabian team spent six weeks - including their winter vacations - fine tuning their robots and trying to obtain the holy grail - a perfect score- the Nomads finished their year knowing that the had done their best, but that they would not have any chance compete again this year.

Alas, world events shifted in the Nomads favor and the team from Jordan was denied entry into the United States. So, with barely 36 hours to go before the big day- the lads and lassy from Almaden Prep got the nod they had hoped for- a chance to go to State! Three team members were scheduled to sit for High School entrance exams that day, so the burden fell on the remaining two members to dust off their 'bot, re-learn their routines and try to maximize their scoring potential. In the end, strings were pulled and the entire Nomads team was on hand for the battle of the bots at San Jose City College.

With a brushed up 'bot and a few new tricks, the Nomads pulled off a truly gutsy performance. Though their scores didn't make it into the top three awards positions, ALL of their scores were near the top in EVERY catagory. The fact that the Nomads did so well on less than two days notice did not escape the judge's attention. Acknowledging their top level performance under tight time pressure, the judges gave the first award of tournament to the Nomads From Knowere, the Judge.s Award - "Against All Odds."

Nomads From Knowhere - 2007 First Lego League N. Calif. C'ships @ Yahoo! Video

2007-07-07T15:35:00.000-07:00

Test post.
gomen, ne!