New Memberships for 2011
Full-price Computer Society membership for 2010/2011 are available starting 16 August 2010. New memberships are valid September 2010 through December 2011 — that’s an extra four months of membership for new members who join now.
Membership benefits include subscription to IEEE Computer digital edition, thousands of distance learning and certificate courses, an IEEE email address (you@COMPUTER.ORG), and best of all, free access to the Safari online technical library that holds over 600 titles, most of which cost $30-60 apiece when purchased through normal channels.
- Join the IEEE Computer Society
- Join as a Student member
The Member Resource Guide contains detailed information about all Computer Society services.
If you have any questions, please contact one of the other chapter officers (see list on the chapter homepage). If you have already joined this year, please send us your new membership number from your new computer.org address; we’d like to welcome you personally!
Testing the Smart Grid
Filed under: Events, Power Engineering Society, Software Testing
Utilities across the US continue to roll out smart meters as well as a wide range of smart grid infrastructure projects. The Department of Energy is funding numerous regional demonstration projects under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Smart grid technologies enhance power delivery and use through intelligent two‐way communication. The technology includes everything from interactive appliances in homes to substation automation and sensors on transmission lines. Electricity generators, suppliers and consumers are all part of the equation.
QualityLogic, a 25‐year‐old testing products and services company headquartered in Ventura County with facilities in Idaho and Oregon, is part of the largest smart grid demonstration project in the US – the Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project.
The five‐year project will cover a diverse five‐state region and involve more than 60,000 metered customers. QualityLogic’s role is to create interoperability tests and certification for the Project’s transactive control system and advise Project participants on interoperability issues. Transactive control technology will allow transaction‐based collaboration to occur over complex networks, where intelligent devices negotiate with each other, their users and the energy supplier to increase efficiency and reduce costs.
Dave Jollota, QualityLogic President and CEO, will provide an overview of the Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project, as well as other key smart grid technologies in which QualityLogic is involved.
About the Presenter
Dave Jollota has been with QualityLogic for 20 years and has served as its president and CEO since 2008. He has led QualityLogic into many new ventures during his tenure, most recently into the smart energy arena. Prior to joining QualityLogic, he held several operations positions at Dataproducts Corporation. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University.
When: 6:30-8:30pm Wednesday, 8 September
Where: Overton Hall, California Lutheran University
See our Meeting Information page for location details, maps, and parking.
1/2-Price Membership Through mid-August
Filed under: Computer, Events, Memberships, Professional Development
Half-price Computer Society membership for 2010 are available only through 13 August. Memberships are $50 for professionals, $20 for students. Benefits:
Membership benefits include subscription to IEEE Computer, thousands of distance learning and certificate courses, an IEEE email address (you@COMPUTER.ORG), and best of all, free access to the Safari online technical library that holds over 600 titles, most of which cost $30-60 apiece when purchased through normal channels.
If you’ve been thinking about joining the Computer Society, now is the time to do it. It’s cheaper than food and a lot more fun.
If you have any questions, please contact Karl Geiger or one of the other chapter officers (see list on the chapter homepage). If you have already joined this year, please send us your new membership number from your new computer.org address; we’d like to welcome you personally!
Putting Graphic Novels and Comics Online
… funny thing I saw online everywhere yesterday …
Digital Comics: Technical Challenges of 21st-Century Publishing
The world of comics/graphic novels has leaped online with new delivery systems, channels like iTunes, and on multiple platforms ranging from traditional PCs to Sony PSP and Apple iPads/iPhones. Quicksilver Software’s founder, William Fisher, has been working with major publishers and artists to deliver comics in these new, digital formats.
In this talk, Bill will discuss his company’s new LongBox Digital Comic Book publishing and distribution system. He will present background about why digital distribution is so critical in this and many other markets, and then discuss some of the key technical challenges faced by the development team as they put together a state-of-the-art infrastructure for multi-platform digital content delivery.
The talk will include details about the competing challenges of providing solid protection against copying while at the same time giving users great freedom in how they can use and enjoy the content that they download. He will also discuss his company’s technical design philosophy, how it influenced the design of the application, the tools, and the back-end infrastructure for the system which is now in final public beta testing.
About the Speaker and His Company
Bill Fisher is the Founder, Kingpin, and Scoutmaster of Quicksilver Software, Inc. Quicksilver creates strategy, simulation, and educational titles, including Star Trek: Starfleet Command, and the U.S. Army’s Full Spectrum Command series.
The company also excels in embedded and vertical market product development, and projects that require custom hardware components. Recent projects include a mobile counter-IED trainer for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, a game for Apple iPhone and iPad, a live poker game show in Las Vegas, a keyboarding skills product, and a military “urban stability operations” simulator.
Prior to founding Quicksilver Software, Inc. in 1984, he managed home computer software development for Mattel Electronics where he developed Intellivision programs.
Bill has spent 26 years managing his own software development company. His interests range from strategy game development to simulation-based training and artificial intelligence design to usability and user interface design. He maintains an active role in guiding development of the company’s projects, which include products targeted at markets ranging from commercial entertainment software and educational software to simulation software and mobile applications
When: 6:30-8:00pm Wed. evening, 14 July 2010
Where: Richter Hall, California Lutheran University
Free, open to the public. RSVP requested.
Details, parking info: see our Meetings page.
MS Robotics Studio Free Download
Filed under: Programming, Robotics, Robotics and Automation
IEEE Spectrum reports Microsoft is now offering Microsoft Robitics Studio as a free download.
Erico Guizzo writes
Over the past year or so, Microsoft’s robotics group has been working quietly, very quietly. That’s because, among other things, they were busy planning a significant strategy shift.
Microsoft is upping the ante on its robotics ambitions by announcing today that its Robotics Developer Studio, or RDS, a big package of programming and simulation tools, is now available to anyone for free.
Previously, RDS had multiple releases: one free but with limited features, a full commercial version that users could purchase, and an academic version distributed only to partners.
By releasing a single version with full capabilities and at no cost, Microsoft wants to expand its RDS user base, hoping to amass a legion of hobbyists, researchers, entrepreneurs, and other robot enthusiasts who will come up with the next big things in consumer robotics.
See “Microsoft Shifts Robotics Strategy, Makes Robotics Studio Available Free” for full article.
License and download at Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio Site
IEEE Computer- PrePrint: Cloud Computing in Developing Economies: Current State, Opportunities and Challenges
- PrePrint: A Cross Analysis of Master Curricula in ICT and Professional Profiles
- PrePrint: Cloud Computing for Mobile Users
- PrePrint: Use of the IEEE Codes of Conduct to Resolve Legal Disputes
- PrePrint: Model-based Runtime Verification of Web Service Interface Contracts
- IEEE Spectrum
Chapter Info
Buenaventura Section
Chapter C16 Location R6 01 09
Regular Meeting Location