The Real Reason Why Your Galaxy 7 is Exploding

So, we all know that the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phones are catching fire at an alarming rate.  These phone are hot!  Not hot as in good, but hot as in "burning down your house".  

Samsung issued a recall on these phones and the replacement phones proved to be no better than the original "pocket fire crackers".

So, one might ask, why are these replacement phone causing fires at the same rate as the original "fire starters".  Surely, a company like Samsung with billions at stake could find the cause and fix it.  Right?  

We all were informed that the cause of these mini meltdowns was flawed lithium ion batteries.  Lithium ion batteries are not new.  It was thought that replacing these batteries would resolve the issue, but it has not.  That's because the issue is not solely a hardware battery issue.  The cause of these fires is most likely a flawed charging algorithm embedded in the firmware of the phone.  

So, some of you may ask: "What is firmware".  According to About.com, "Firmware is software that is embedded in a piece of hardware. You can think of firmware simply as 'software for hardware.'"

The flaw could be a simple coding bug or even a firmware virus. I knew of a really smart guy who theorized about a virus that could live in the firmware of a network printer.  The virus would spread through the network and infect computers as most computer viruses do.  Different from most viruses, this virus would retreat to the firmware and lie dormant until after the network was cleaned and re-infect the network later.  The same could be in effect some these Samsung blow torch phones.

The conventional wisdom of replacing parts and issuing re-calls says that if the problem is isolated to a specific item/part then replace that item/part.  Unfortunately, if the replacements are showing the same level of failure, then you have to look at the system in which the replace item/part resides and the surrounding environment which makes that item/part work.

So, you heard it hear first.  Samsung's exploding phone problem is directly related to the firmware.  All of the evidence points to it.

What do you think?

Don't Be No Punk About Artificial Intelligence

I recently attended a few workshops on the future on AI (Artificial Intelligence).  There is a growing concern that the proliferation of AI could spell financial doom for those hard working Americans whose jobs are replaced by AI.

Cnet.com quoted President Obama in an article titled “Obama: Don't let AI Impoverish American Citizens”

“ ‘High-skill folks do very well in these systems. They can leverage their talents, they can interface with machines to extend their reach, their sales, their products and services,’ Obama said. ‘Low-wage, low-skill individuals become more and more redundant, and their jobs may not be replaced, but wages are suppressed.’

One possible fix he mentioned is a ‘universal income’ to redistribute money and ensure ‘folks have a living income,’ though he also said that would be politically difficult for a lot of people to accept. “

Let’s address this statement on “Universal Income”.  You damn right that mess is difficult to accept. That is absurd! This sounds like Communism to me! Capitalism should always be the focus over Communism!

Capitalism, automation and industrialization have ALWAYS been good for the economy.  Back in 1450, being a scribe was a very lucrative career choice.  Scribes manually copied books painstakingly copying each word by hand.  Some books took years to copy.  In 1450, most Europeans where illiterate, the supply of books was limited (by today’s standards), books were rare, very expensive and owned only by the wealthy.  Then, Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press and AUTOMATED the process of creating books.  The result was drastic.  Scribes unemployment was at an all-time high, but knowledge flourished.  The end result was an economic boom which lead to the industrial revolution 300+ years later.

In France, during the industrial revolution, an inventor named Barthelemy Thimonnier had invented a sewing machine and was making a good living sewing uniforms for the French Army until a mob of angry tailors burned his shop to the ground.  As we all know, tailors are still needed today, perhaps not as many tailors as in 1840.  Textiles, fashion and hundreds of other industries were created by or are much stronger now than they were in the 19th century primarily from automation.

My statement to our President: “Don’t create policies like a fearful French tailor from the 19th century.”  Embrace the change without creating social crutches calling it “Universal Income”. In other words, "Don't be no punk about artificial intelligence!"

What do you think?

Report Builder Interactive Controls Issue

As a heavy user of Adobe Analytics, I ran into a problem using Interactive Controls recently. I could not find a solution on any Adobe website, on any blog or social site.  Adobe Support pointed me in the right direction but they did not provide a solution.  I was able fix the problem.  See below.  I hope this helps.

Problem:

Getting the following error message when attempting to use Interactive Controls in Report Builder in Adobe Analytics

"Cannot run the macro 'FormControlClickEvent'. The macro may not be available in this workbook or all macros may be disabled."

Reason:

Adobe ReportBuilder.Bridge is not enabled as an Excel Add-in (it may be enabled as a COM Add-in only)

Solution:

Open Excel

Click File

Click Options

Under Manage, select "Excel Add-ins"

Click Go

Adobe.ReportBuilder.Bridge will be missing from list.

Click "Automation"

Select "Adobe.ReportBuilder.Bridge"

Click "OK"