The second and more important issue facing the FTC is determining Apple’s hold on the market from an antitrust perspective.  In fact Google (who has faced their own antitrust probes) is leading the charge in criticizing Apple for their handling of advertising and marketing of apps (applications run on the mobile devices).

It is an interesting take on the software giant and the FTC probes will certainly have an effect on their short-term prospects, but as with any potential software monopoly, the only real leveling will come from new innovations, products and ideas.  Just ask Microsoft.

I recently watched a Ted Talk by Dan Meyer, a high school math teacher, who is reevaluating the way we teach problem solving (http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_meyer_math_curriculum_makeover.html).  In this discussion, Meyer invokes Einstein as a way to illustrate the value of persons developing a context in which to solve a problem rather than searching for pre-derived solutions or methodologies.  Specifically, he illuminates the common approach of math textbooks to show a “sample” problem with the relevant data highlighted for the student  followed by cookie-cutter replicas that refer back to the original sample as a solutions guide.  This rote process (he argues) denies the student the important step of problem-reasoning or real contextual development.  In business we often call this the implementation of “best-practices.”

In the business world we are constantly searching for the next New York Times best-seller to tell us how to mine more profits or invigorate our employees or even make ourselves better leaders, but are we just searching for pre-canned formulas and inserting our own life context into the equation in order to shortcut to a better solution?  Do we need to step back and analyze our problems within their own context and, as Einstein described, go through the process of formulating the problem in order to derive the best solution?

In short, are “best-practices” really better as one-off solutions?

If true, and if Jobs were successful, this would be a  is a bit disconcerting to advanced surveillance and web-based video tools that maximize the interface advantages of Silverlight and Flash over standard web-browsing technologies.  However, here comes Google to the rescue.  Yes it’s true, nothing corrects monopolistic instincts like the free-market itself.  Google, seeing the dominance and dictatorial stance Apple (and Jobs) is imposing on the mobile market, has announced plans of its own to work with Flash (and other RIAs) on its rival operating system for mobile phones and soon tablet computers. This approach towards flash was discussed in a recent interview with the New York Times and Google’s  Andy Rubin who outlined some interesting steps for Android.

C’est la vie, it’s the tech world’s version of checks and balances.

I will be very interested to see how this progresses.  One of the significant challenges facing manufactuers of both access control and video managment systems (VMS) is dedicating the time and effort in choosing the right partners to develop the software tools necessary for communicating actions between access control events and video surveillance or recording.  Manufacturers tend to rely on integrators or channel partners to dictate market demand for the joint development, but that “demand” is too-often skewed towards one project and rarely reflects a true market need.

ONVIF has proven its effectiveness in coalescing  the demand and business case for a set of  standards related to IP video interoperability of cameras and video management software.  Let us see how this next step evolves.

In the education market the ROI is not so obvious.  In public education, schools generate revenue from the local tax base as well as state and federal funds.  Typically the revenue is between $4,000 and $11,000/student, depending on the educational services offered.  This revenue is more or less guaranteed because this student population (for the most part) is fixed.

Separately in the higher education vertical market, a relevant cause-and-effect argument can be drawn between public safety methodology and enrollment.  Parents of college age children want to see proactive safety measures being employed at a university where they will choose to be sending their loved ones for the next 4 to 5 years and spending six-figures to do so.

K-12 schools (for the most part) are lacking such a financial incentive.  Public funding can only go so far, until we start tying school safety metrics to enrollment we will continue to see lackluster development in their public safety systems as seen in the recent CDW-G report http://www.securityinfowatch.com/Homepage+Articles/1311606)

Congress authorized $900 million for the transit program and $400 million for the port program for fiscal 2010 but President Obama seeks to reduce that funding to $250 million for each.  The funding for the Secure our Schools program will remain at $16 million but that is still below the $50 million authorized by Congress in September.

This comes directly off of the heels of a national border scare produced by a new viral flu strain apparently emanating from Mexico and in the middle of an international war on terrorism.  The security industry as a whole, is also feeling the effects of the global macroeconomic conditions.  Commercial security spending has dropped off due to expected spending freezes and while federal dollars have been authorized to increase protection on critical infrastructure and public works, it is difficult to tell what percentage of those funds will survive further cuts.

Fiscal responsibility is necessary for our country to climb out of recession but sacrificing national defense and our children’s safety is not the right way to proceed.

However until now it has been difficult (if not impossible) to try controlling a PC from device other than a PC.  Logmein (www.logmein.com) has resolved this dilema by allowing you to control any desktop with your I-phone and soon your Blackberry Storm.  Again, the development of enhanced mobile devices combined with faster networking speeds (3G, 4G), enabled this technology to evolve.

Of course the client software needs to be installed on the PC, but that is a good thing for those of us working on systems where a mouse-click can unlock doors and provide unfettered access into a building.

A recent article from Continutity Central notes a pair of Japanese researchers at Shizuoka University are working on methods of measuring a person’s unique reflexes as an identifying credential.  Specifically they are finding the human eye blindspot and using sensors to track the natural subconcious reflexes of the human eye.

Definately worth keeping your “eye” on this tech…

However, a gamechanger it is.  According to the WHO website, phase 5/6 is the culmination of the scale indicating “Widespread Human Infection.”  Now, I am not advocated ducktaping your windows and cracking open those water purification tablets in your Emergency Preparedness kit just yet, but I am more of a concerned individual than before.

There are steps that we can take to mitigate the spread and many news outlets have posted this type of info.  My only goal is to make aware some folks (like me) who were not aware of the full scope of the situation.