Inforbix is another piece of the puzzle, but not the same as what Dassault will be able to do with NetVibes. As I understand the Inforbix stuff it is a crawler that discovers the semantic relationships amongst product specific data. That's cool and it could be applied on top of something like a NetVibes dashboard, but its a lot harder to understand what that gets you (even though Oleg does an awfully good job of explaining it) than a simple dashboard tool I can point at a topic of interest and see in real time what my customers are saying about it. Its sort of like the difference between Facbook and Google. They both overlap, but have different core ideas about how information should be connected - implicitly vs explicitly.

Haven't done hot yoga since the last time I was in Plano. Just a really good break...some of which I spent re-reading the Screwtape Letters. Excellent (and quick) read if you've never picked it up.

Thanks for the pointer to the Roland site, although it appears to be a product focused on Japan right now. I used to have a Roland Vinyl cutter for a sign business so I know their stuff is top notch. Thanks for the link to your site too...will take a look.

Yep. I should note that I did have an Apple wireless keyboard with me when I was doing my iPad only experiment for \'big\' content creations sessions (emails, note taking and blogging mostly). There is a limit to how much you can input using the touch keyboards - although I do find that the slight tilt you get from the smart cover makes it a little more bearable to type on the screen keyboard of the ipad2.

If you do think of the name, let me know. I\'d like to take a look at what they were trying to do and why it didn\'t work (or maybe it did and died off for other reasons).

Oleg - thanks - I had read that post and agree that there is a lot of potential. I was just watching the closing keynote from Dreamforce last night on my Roku (that's a whole other post sometime - what could it mean to business if you could get any info anywhere at anytime on any device like you can as a consumer today....but I digress) and Eric Schmidt was talking about the predictive power of computation. He gave some examples about predicting traffic patterns based on Android phone locations and went on to say he thinks you could apply the same approaches to business - predicting demand, downtime, etc. I'm still getting my head wrapped around the idea that you can create programs that figure out the relationships between data, but the idea that you can extend the same basic ideas further to predict what's next - I think that's something that any business can love really quickly.

BTW - if you are interested in the video (it really is good, especially the last 15 minutes where they talk about manufacturing) here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDl5hb0XbfY

OK seems I was a little apostrophe happy - I think I fixed them all and even found a sentence I forgot to finish (shudder for the ones I missed). I think it reads a bit better now (that will teach me to multi-task).

Sorry 'bout that. That'll have to go on the list of why I shouldn't try social media personally.

Sure, but remember this is a family blog.

I agree on the buses. Great way to get around too. Although in Rome I think I am going to use a personal tour guide that Gian Luca recommended. Also agree on the Vatican - that will be one for the whole day. The great thing is the place we rented in Rome is about 800 yards from the front gate. Getting tickets ahead of time in as many places as possible. In Rome I think there is a 'city pass' or something like that, that can get you into alot of attractions without having to buy tickets at each.