Samb Business Intelligence Blog

Amazing Molecular Biology Animation Video

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 00:53:47 GMT

Gartner's Predictions and Mine

Sat, 31 May 2008 16:44:19 GMT

The good folks over at the Gartner Group have revealed the top 10 technologies that they believe will change the world over the next four years:

Multicore and hybrid processors
Virtualization and fabric computing
Social networks and social software
Cloud computing and cloud/Web platforms
Web mashups
User Interface
Ubiquitous computing
Contextual computing
Augmented reality
Semantics

Most of these, in my opinion, are obvious - in fact, many are here. One of the things that Gartner commented on deeply when revealing this list was that items 1-4 will usher in an era of no need for IT shops. I find this fascinating since IT shops have basically funded Gartner's ridiculous advice over the past two decades. "Biting the hand that feeds you" is the best way to describe this.

Software and Hardware are not getting more simplified and cloud computing does not remove the need of local support and programming talent. If Gartner ever worked a day in their life in an IT shop they would understand this.

So, here's my prediction:

1. Gartner, Forrester, and all other IT Advice Houses lose relevance and disappear over the next 5 years.

*** This is my opinion and not the opinion of my employer ***

Metabolic Pathway Diagrams as a measure for complexity in Life Science

Fri, 30 May 2008 17:01:50 GMT

Prediction of metabolic networks using Fourier Transform Mass Spectrometry data (PDF, 700kB)

Every once in a while I get questions from people about how complicated Life Science is...*very* would be a good answer...if not overly simplistic.

For me, a good reminder is to scan the current representations of Metabolic Pathways which typically show fairly elementary processes.
Given the constraints on price, the stress on patents and the decreasing pool of human resources that can be brought to bear on this problem, I think technology will be front and center on this endeavor.

How much are you paying for Gas?

Fri, 23 May 2008 12:39:30 GMT

http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_gastemperaturemap.aspx

The Multi-Touch Wall Killer App - Missile Command!

Tue, 20 May 2008 19:20:13 GMT

So, multitouch has some interesting applications, but all pale in comparison to playing a two-player version of Missile Command. The clone was installed by Steve Mason at the Obscura Digital production studios' massive 8'X4' multitouch wall—and as you can see in the video after the break, It looks like a good time, not to mention a decent workout.

PhotoSynth on CSI:NY

Mon, 12 May 2008 14:54:41 GMT

Big Dog from Boston Dynamics

Thu, 08 May 2008 20:03:47 GMT

http://www.bostondynamics.com/content/sec.php?section=BigDog

OK, this has nothing to do with visualization or Life Science, but I know great technology when I see it.

This is an amazing movie - check out the icy surface test at the middle of the movie.

Injecting Bitmaps streams into Images in WPF from Web Service Calls

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 12:14:32 GMT

Whew, that's a big title. Ran into a great contact at the Atlantic City HLS DevCon, who asked me to post this code.

OK, so, that little image of the chemical structure on the bottom comes at me as a stream from a web service call to Chemspider.

Here's the call, and the creation of the bitmap image...

try
            {
                com.chemspider.www.TradeSearch.Search search = new com.chemspider.www.TradeSearch.Search();
                int[] ids = search.SimpleSearch2IdList(ChemSpiderSearchText.Text);
                Random r = new Random();
                double ri;
                int r1;

                if (ids != null && ids.Length > 0)
                {
                    foreach (int id in ids)
                    {
                        Canvas search_result = new Canvas();

search_result.Width = 400;
search_result.Height = 500;

                        ri = r.NextDouble() * 30;
                        r1 = (int)ri;
                        r1 = r1 + 220;
                        search_result.Background = new SolidColorBrush(System.Windows.Media.Color.FromArgb(255, (byte)r1, (byte)r1, (byte)r1));
                        search_result.Tag = "NR";
                        PinBoard.Children.Add(search_result);

object[] details = search.GetRecordDetails(id.ToString());

                        Label title = new Label();
                        title.Content = id.ToString();
                        search_result.Children.Add(title);

                        Label urllink = new Label();
                        Canvas.SetTop(urllink, 30);
                        urllink.Content = String.Format("http://www.chemspider.com/Chemical-Structure.{0}.html", id);
                        search_result.Children.Add(urllink);

                        TextBox CKIKey = new TextBox();
                        Canvas.SetTop(CKIKey, 50);
                        CKIKey.VerticalScrollBarVisibility = ScrollBarVisibility.Visible;
                        CKIKey.Width = 380;
                        CKIKey.Height = 90;
                        CKIKey.Text = details[1].ToString();
                        search_result.Children.Add(CKIKey);

                        TextBox CHI = new TextBox();
                        CHI.MaxLines = 5;
                        Canvas.SetTop(CHI, 100);
                        CHI.VerticalScrollBarVisibility = ScrollBarVisibility.Visible;
                        CHI.Width = 380;
                        CHI.Height = 90;
                        CHI.Text = details[2].ToString();
                        search_result.Children.Add(CHI);

                        TextBox smiles = new TextBox();
                        smiles.MaxLines = 5;
                        smiles.VerticalScrollBarVisibility = ScrollBarVisibility.Visible;
                        smiles.Width = 380;
                        smiles.Height = 90;
                        Canvas.SetTop(smiles, 200);
                        smiles.Text = details[3].ToString();
                        search_result.Children.Add(smiles);

                        // Get the image of the structure...
                        //com.chemspider.www.TradeSearch.GetRecordImageCompletedEventArgs img = new com.chemspider.www.TradeSearch.GetRecordImageCompletedEventArgs);
                        byte[] bigimg = search.GetRecordImage(id.ToString());
                        System.Windows.Controls.Image myImage = new System.Windows.Controls.Image();

BitmapImage bitImg = new BitmapImage();

bitImg.BeginInit();

MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(bigimg);

bitImg.StreamSource = ms;

bitImg.EndInit();

myImage.Source = bitImg;
bitImg = null;

                        myImage.Width = 150;
                        myImage.Height = 150;
                        Canvas.SetLeft(myImage, 10);
                        Canvas.SetTop(myImage, 300);
                        search_result.Children.Add(myImage);

// Position the result in an overall canvas by posx, posy (posx is incremented to give your results a staggered look)

// I animated mine, which is why I peeled that out here...

posx = posx + 45;

                    }
                }
                else
                {
                    MessageBox.Show("No Results Found.");
                }
            }
            catch
            {
            }

HLS DevCon in Atlantic City, NJ - Gene Expression Map Demo

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:43:37 GMT

I'm just about to do my presentation on WPF and Visualization in Life Sciences and wanted to post this up to my blog.

You can find my slides here (on SkyDrive).

At the end of the presentation, I built a Gene Expression map using WPF. Here are the steps to do it yourself, if you are so inclined.

First, using Visual Studio 2008, start a new Windows program and create a new WPF Application.

Here's the XAML...

In the code-behind (XAML.cs)...

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Data;
using System.Windows.Documents;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Imaging;
using System.Windows.Navigation;
using System.Windows.Shapes;

namespace GeneExpression
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Interaction logic for Window1.xaml
    /// </summary>
    public partial class Window1 : Window
    {
        public Window1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            Draw_Map();
        }

        private void Sparkle(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
        {
            double newposx, newposy;
            ((System.Windows.FrameworkElement)(sender)).Width = 12;
            ((System.Windows.FrameworkElement)(sender)).Height = 4;
            newposx = Canvas.GetLeft(((System.Windows.FrameworkElement)(sender))) - 1;
            newposy = Canvas.GetTop(((System.Windows.FrameworkElement)(sender))) - 1;
            Canvas.SetLeft(((System.Windows.FrameworkElement)(sender)),newposx);
            Canvas.SetTop(((System.Windows.FrameworkElement)(sender)),newposy);
        }

        private void NoSparkle(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
        {
            double newposx, newposy;
            ((System.Windows.FrameworkElement)(sender)).Width = 10;
            ((System.Windows.FrameworkElement)(sender)).Height = 2;
            newposx = Canvas.GetLeft(((System.Windows.FrameworkElement)(sender))) + 1;
            newposy = Canvas.GetTop(((System.Windows.FrameworkElement)(sender))) + 1;
            Canvas.SetLeft(((System.Windows.FrameworkElement)(sender)),newposx);
            Canvas.SetTop(((System.Windows.FrameworkElement)(sender)),newposy);
        }

        private void slider_ValueChanged(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            try
            {
                double ffactor;
                ffactor = ((System.Windows.Controls.Primitives.RangeBase)(sender)).Value;
                ScaleTransform myscale;
                myscale = new ScaleTransform(ffactor, ffactor);
                Backgrounder.RenderTransform = myscale;

            }
            catch (Exception)
            { }
        }
        private void Draw_Map()
        {
            double xx, yy;
            double markval;
            int markcolor;
            Random r1 = new Random();
            for (yy = 0; yy < 300; yy++)
            {
                for (xx = 0; xx < 300; xx++)
                {
                    Rectangle Gene = new Rectangle();
                    Gene.MouseEnter += new MouseEventHandler(Sparkle);
                    Gene.MouseLeave += new MouseEventHandler(NoSparkle);
                    Gene.Width = 10;
                    Gene.Height = 2;
                    Canvas.SetLeft(Gene, xx * 11);
                    Canvas.SetTop(Gene, yy * 3);
                    Backgrounder.Children.Add(Gene);
                    Gene.Fill = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Black);
                    markval = r1.NextDouble() * 255;
                    markcolor = (int)markval;
                    Gene.ToolTip = markcolor.ToString();
                    if (markcolor < 125)
                    {
                        markcolor = markcolor * 2;
                        Gene.Fill = new SolidColorBrush(Color.FromArgb(255,(byte)markcolor,0,0));
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        Gene.Fill = new SolidColorBrush(Color.FromArgb(255, 0,(byte)markcolor, 0));
                    }
                }
            }

}
}

}

I met a lot of great folks at DevCon(my first Health Care Devcon) - and I can't wait to see you this coming year.

Thanks for coming!

Home Foreclosure Heat Map

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:38:49 GMT

http://hotpads.com/pages/features/foreclosures.htm

This is just plain scary!

HotPads Foreclosure Heat Maps portray the markets hit hardest by the recent housing crisis and the increased foreclosure rates. These foreclosure heat maps visually illustrate the foreclosures per capita and display color-coded foreclosure rates by county and state.

Intelligence for the Masses...

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 22:55:45 GMT

Sometimes, no matter how much time you spend on visualization, the raw data should speak for itself.

Hawaii, the Highest Mountain on Earth?

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:55:29 GMT

http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/scivis/popup/hawaii.htm

I thought this was an interesting visualization. Even though a cardinal rule of baselines is broken here, they manage to pull off using the curvature of the Earth as a baseline.

Mount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth above sea level, but it’s not the world’s tallest mountain. That honor goes to the Hawaiian volcano Mauna Kea. When measured from its base on the Pacific Ocean floor, it is about 1,000 meters taller than Mount Everest. Mauna Kea is part of a 5,600-kilometer-long string of volcanoes stretching westward from the main Hawaiian island.

Credit: Nils Sparwasser, Thorsten Andresen, Stephan Reiniger; Robert Meisner, German Aerospace Center (DLR)

Rendering Live Web Pages in WPF

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:24:07 GMT

I got a lot of help from my friend Michael Peters, of Oculus, so pay his blog a visit for me.

In working on WPF, there are a number of reasons why someone might want to render a "live" web page on a canvas. By "live", I don't mean a dumb thumbnail - although that can have value too - I mean a fully navigable Web page that you can click and navigate.

Here's how to do it. Download the WPFInterop codeplex entry. Create a Canvas (mine is called Pinboard) and add this code to create a dynamic button:

Canvas backgrounder = new Canvas();

backgrounder.Background = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Blue);
backgrounder.Width = 860;
backgrounder.Height = 1110;

Button pageresult = new Button();
pageresult.Width = 850;
pageresult.Height = 1100;
Canvas.SetLeft(pageresult, 5);
Canvas.SetTop(pageresult, 5);
Uri wpURL = new Uri(sourceResult.Url);
pageresult.Content = openwebFile(wpURL);
pageresult.ToolTip = "Title: " + sourceResult.Title + "\nDescription: " + sourceResult.Description + "\nSummary: " + sourceResult.Summary + "\n\nURL: " + sourceResult.Url;

PinBoard.Children.Add(backgrounder);

Canvas.SetLeft(backgrounder, posx);
Canvas.SetTop(backgrounder, posy);
backgrounder.Children.Add(pageresult);

The Function, openwebFile returns a grid with the web page addressable by the URL (wpURL).

private Grid openwebFile(Uri url)

{

Grid myGrid = new Grid();

System.Windows.Forms.WebBrowser sampleWB = new System.Windows.Forms.WebBrowser();

sampleWB.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(850, 1100);

sampleWB.Url = url;

WPFInterop.InteropInfoMesa2.Win32HostRenderer sampleRender = new WPFInterop.InteropInfoMesa2.Win32HostRenderer();

sampleRender.ContentControl = sampleWB;

myGrid.Children.Add(sampleRender);

return myGrid;

}

Here's the net effect of many web pages from a search coming back from Microsoft Live Web Service:

It doesn't work perfectly (yet), so keep an eye out for new releases.

Ray Tracing Molecules using the IBM BlueGene SuperComputer

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:45:57 GMT

http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0801/0801.1500v1.pdf

Michael McGuigan of the Brookhaven National Laboratory is using a BlueGene Supercomputer to perform Ray Tracing in real time against exceptionally complex objects. Instead of lighting each polygon and calculating impinging light on its surface, Ray Tracing, on the other hand, scans an imaginary particle of light through each pixel, bouncing and refracting in the way real light performs. This enables images of amazing realism. Intel is also talking more and more about this.

Image of the 1e79 Atp phosphorylase molecule rendered with ambient
occlusion lighting on a Blue Gene/L with the parallel tachyon raytracer.

Lamborghini Reventon Dashboard

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:19:45 GMT

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamborghini_Revent%C3%B3n

$1,000,000.00 buys you a new look for your car's dashboard -
or, you can print this out and glue it onto your Pinto.

Zygote Dataset Gallery

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 00:30:22 GMT

I posted a few days ago about the Zygote/3D Science Dataset that arrived the other day. The quality of their data is quite amazing.
Here's a small sample of their offering rendered in Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).

Muscular System Skull Female Organs Lymphatic System Circulatory System Male Skeleton

1969 Moon Landing Transcript

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:38:40 GMT

I thought this was a good example of context (overview) and detail with text.

http://www.fibredesign.co.uk/index.php?/case_study/motorola_75th_anniversary_poster/

3D Annotations of *.3DS models using the ScreenSpaceLines3D Class

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:50:56 GMT

As people who follow this blog know, I've been working on an overall idea that marries 3D models and 2D images, documents, data visualizations, etc. into one big thing. A major part of this is is factoring things like tagging and annotation across the *overall* capability, instead of just doing it in all the individual tools (like it's done now)...
Here's an example of using a ScreenSpaceLine3d class instance with the 3dsreader...next up: tying the right side of the annotation to a point that can anchor linkages to any kind of element.

ScreenSpaceLines3D mline = new ScreenSpaceLines3D();
mline.Color = Colors.Black;
mline.Thickness = 1.5;
Point3D onjectCenter;
onjectCenter = _mainReader3ds.Transformer.GetObjectCenter(_mainModel3DGroup);
Point3D start = new Point3D(onjectCenter.X, onjectCenter.Y, onjectCenter.Z);
Point3D ender = new Point3D(100,100,40);
mline.Points.Add(start);
mline.Points.Add(ender);
Viewport1.Children.Add(mline);

Rendering 3D objects (3ds) with WPF

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 01:05:45 GMT

Here are some images I built today using the great library available from WPF Graphics. It renders 3ds files in WPF 3D viewports. The source data is from www.zygote.com, specifically, the Male/Female Premier Anatomy Collection, which we recently purchased. The quality of the datasets and the texture maps really speak for themselves.

Microsoft World-wide Telescope

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 20:59:31 GMT

fastcompany.tv/video/exclusive-first-look-worldwide-telescope

Photo Album: My Rockets (Hobby)

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 01:08:22 GMT

My Rockets (Hobby)

Bullpup (Level 2) on the pad

Bullpup after landing

JASSM

JASSM 2006 Build

Jayhawk

Photo Album: Blog Images

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 22:18:20 GMT

Blog Images

More Photos...

Photo Album: Blog Images

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 13:24:02 GMT

Blog Images

More Photos...

Photo Album: Blog Images

Fri, 11 May 2007 15:57:07 GMT

Blog Images

More Photos...

Photo Album: Blog Images

Tue, 08 May 2007 13:10:47 GMT

Blog Images

More Photos...

Photo Album: Blog Images

Mon, 07 May 2007 23:15:37 GMT

Blog Images

More Photos...

Blog list: Blog Role

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 16:32:46 GMT

Blog Role

Don Box
Ray Ozzie
Channel9
Charles Fitzgerald
Platformonomics
Robert Scoble
Of course...
Steven Sinofsky
Vic Gundotra
The Map Room
Chris Anderson
All things Avalon
Chris DiBona
Google Guy
Jen Miksovsky
UI Research
Jensen Harris
Office 12 Ribbon Stuff
BSM Team Blog
Jamie Thomson
SSIS Goodness
Brian Welcker's Direct Reports
Reporting Services
Ian Tien
Business Scorecard Mgr.
Chris Webb
MDX Guy
Nick Barclay
BI Blog (one of the best)
Tim Pash Infopath Forms
Infopath Nuggets
Mosha Pasumansky
MDX and OLAP Blog
SQL Server Data Mining
Excellent Examples for DM
JamieMAC's Weblog
PM Dev for DM on SQL
Zulfiqar's DM Blog
DM Learn as you go...
Mike Gannotti
Sharepoint/Digital Media
Eric Rockey
Visio Data Viz Blog
Visio Insights
MSDN Blogs by Categories
Just in case you need something to read...
Lester WPF
Win Presentation Framework Blog
Direct X Tom Schultz
CPMInsider
UnOfficial BSM Site
David Pae's Sharepoint Blog
Ramana Rao
Visualization Visionary
Virtual Earth Blog
Reed Sutton
SQL Server 2005 Topics
Intentional Software
Charles Simonyi's Software Development company.
UI Patterns & Techniques
Great web site for UI/web page/Graphic Design best practices.
MSDN Technet Bloggers
Ben Tamblyn
PerformancePoint
Enterprise Dashboard examples
Dundas and Microcharts examples
Designing Interactions
Single best site on the web for learning interaction science and best ideas. Highly recommended.
Putting People First
Design Best Practices
Don Dodge
This guy has great insight...
Mark Cuban
Opinion? Mark Cuban? Nah!
Janne Pyykkö's BI Blog
BI, DW, OLAP, charting, reporting, data visualization, dashboards, web user interfaces, searching for best practices
Communication Nation
Bill Morein
Visualization in Microsoft Visio
Adrian Downes
BI expert - coverage on BSM and PPS
Dan Meyers' BI Blog
Synaptic Transmissions
P2P Communications
Eugene Asahara
NibblesTutorials.net
XAML Snacks for hungary developers. SilverLight XAML Demos
WPF Wonderland
Wired Prarie
WPF/Silverlight
Liquid Boy
Silverlight/WPF Jock
MC's Sandpit
WPF/Silverlight
ChemSpider
Outstanding Web Service & Search for Chem Structures and Properties
The Chemical Blogspace Blog
Egon Willighagen Researcher at Wageningen University & Research Center
Pixel in Gene
WPF Site
Depth First
Rich Apodaka - Chem Viz
Jeff Barr
Amazon Web Services Architect
Michael Peters
Data Visualization Expert at Oculus
Mike Naimoli
Director of Microsoft Life Sciences

Book List: Book List

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 20:20:10 GMT

Edward Tufte:: Beautiful Evidence
Spark Lines!
James Bamford: Body of Secrets
A relatively recent view of signals intelligence.
Kenneth Allard: Business as War
Comparison of War Intel to Business Scenarios.
Elizabeth Vitt/Michael Luckevich/Stacia Misner: Business Intelligence
Focuses on Tech side - I'm not a big fan of this book - but a generally good overview of the market and techniques.
Larry Kahaner: Competitive Intelligence
Excellent book - how to organize your BI team in your organization.
ZhaoHui Tang & Jamie MacLennan: Data Mining with SQL Server 2005
Fantastic source for DM - rich with code and in-depth descriptions of the algorithms.
Bill Moggridge: Designing Interactions
Incredible Book - a new favorite of mine.
Edward Tufte: Envisioning Information
Narratives of Space and Time.
Stephen Few: Information Dashboard Design
The right way to build Dashboards and Scorecards. Great examples of Good and Bad across all vendor offerings.
John Keegan: Intelligence in War
A look at when Intel made a difference either way in war scenarios.
James Bamford: Puzzle Palace
An older (1980), but considered one of the best books on signalsintel.
by Kurt Hanks, Larry Belliston: Rapid Viz : A New Method for the Rapid Visualization of Ideas
Nick Barclay and Adrian Downes: Rational Guide to Business Scorecard Manager 2005
Great Resource for building scorecards and report views.
Bill Buxton: Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design (Interactive Technologies)
Great design book by a great designer.
Gary Klein: Sources of Power - How people make Decisions
There are no expert decision makers...
Edward Tufte: The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
How to present information and evidence in an Excellent, clear manner.
Edward Tufte: Visual Explanations
Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative
Dave Konopka: Windows Vista Sidebar: Your visual blueprint for developing cool gadgets for the Windows OS (Visual Blueprint)
Great book on Gadgets!

Custom List: Favorite BI Web Sites

Thu, 10 May 2007 00:00:47 GMT

Favorite BI Web Sites

DMReview
Online BI Trade Periodical
Intelligent Enterprise
Online BI Periodical
Oculus
Visualization Vendor for Dotnet
Tom Sawyer
Graph/Network Software
Dundas
Killer Charts, Gauges, and Diagram Tools
Tableau Software
Some cool 2D Visualization Tools - not for the masses, but a neat Knowledge Discovery Tool.
IDV Solutions
Excellent Web service Based Geo-Spatial Partner.
B-Eye Network
Information Aesthetics
Great ideas for Visualizing Info
10
Channel 9
TechMeme
General good overview of the technology industry.
Technorati
BI Blog List
Data is Nature
Ed Tufte
Dynamic Diagrams
Graphic Facilitation
Info Vis Wiki
Statistical Modeling
Visual Complexity
Xplane
Machine Learning