The Best of 2015

The Best of 2015

As 2015 comes to a close I thought that I would share some of my best investments, experiences and products purchased of the year.

1.  Best Financial Investments

Stocks, bonds and commodities all seem to have had a lackluster year.  Some of my best returns actually came from alternative investments.  While I wouldn't recommending investing a large percentage of your investments in these, they are good for some portfolio diversification. 

• Bitcoin (via Coinbase):  Up 34% in 2015.
• Upstart:  Consistent 6-7% ROI on a portfolio of loans.
• Sharespost 100 Fund:  Portfolio of late stage venture backed companies

 2.  Best Conferences/Events

• By far one the best experiences that I had this year was attending the Hive Global Leaders Program in August.  If you are trying to find or solidify your "why" I would highly recommended it.  You'll come away with a life plan and a supportive network of kindred spirits to help you make it a reality.
• Second on my list would be attending the 50th Annual Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder meeting.  Myself and 44,000 others made the pilgrimage to Omaha to see Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger for the largest attendance at the event ever.  I'm not sure that I would want to attend every year, but it is definitely worth attending at least once for the experience and knowledge you'll gain. 

3.  Best Products Purchased

• Audible by Amazon:  In early 2015 I grew absolutely sick of satellite radio, so I decide to turn my commute into a rolling classroom.  24 books for under $10 each through Audible's Platinum subscription have allowed me to listen 8-10 hours of audio books a week.  The best part is that if you don't like a book you simply return it (no questions asked).  If you are not already a member you can get one of the books below for free from me just to give it a try.  These are a few of my favorite books of 2015: 

             - Intentional Living: Choosing a Life That Matters by John C. Maxwell

             - Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel

             - The Self-Made Billionaire Effect: How Extreme Producers Create Massive Value by John Sviokla

             - Bold: How to Go Big, Make Bank, and Better the World by Peter H. Diamandis

• Apple Watch:  No surprise here right?  While I can say that I haven't mastered all it's functionality yet, I am quite pleased with it's functionality and performance so far.

Happy New Year!!!

Gary Hoke

Use These Secret NSA Google Search Tips to Become Your Own Spy Agency

So this recent story on Wired.com caught my attention.  It drives home the premise that big brother is watching, but so is everyone else.  Definitely something that CIOs and CISOs should sit up and take note of with regards to information and data security.

Use These Secret NSA Google Search Tips to Become Your Own Spy Agency
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/05/nsa-manual-on-hacking-internet/

The article references a public compiled by the NSA, which is now declassified and available on their website thanks to a FOIA request.
http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/Untangling_the_Web.pdf

The content is a little dated, nonetheless the awareness of such methods just became that much more well known thanks to this article.

Wikipedia provides a slimmed down guide referred to as Google Hacking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_hacking


Give it a try.  You might be surprised by what you find.  Especially, searching inside files by filetype or searching within a specific site of interest.

Gary Hoke

Microsoft forges ahead with new home-automation OS

So is home automation due for a comeback?  I recall all the hype about a decade ago yet adoption has not lived up to the hype. 

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57423253-75/microsoft-forges-ahead-with-new-home-automation-os/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

What do you think?

Gary Hoke

Need PDUs to maintain your PMP certification?

There is one month left to get up to 12 PDUs for free through the IIL.

http://events.unisfair.com/index.jsp?eid=1022&seid=374

Enjoy!

Gary Hoke, MBA, PMP

Great article comparing web conferencing options....

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/239419/business_videoconferencing_showdown_meet_facetoface.html

Gary Hoke

Have you Branch"ed"Out yet?

So what is the BranchOut app on Facebook? I'd describe it as the LinkedIn of Facebook. Many people try to separate their personal and professional networks. BranchOut spans both of these.

http://bit.ly/qAb7nV

It should be interesting to see if this app has longevity and begins to generate revenue streams similar to LinkedIn.

Gary Hoke

http://www.garyhoke.com

LinkedIn to Launch Job Application Tool

Lookout job boards! You are soon to be extinct! LinkedIn's got the network, got the money from their IPO and will now proceed to put hooks into everything else.

http://gigaom.com/2011/06/01/apply-with-linkedin/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OmMalik+%28GigaOM%3A+Tech%29

If they bring on some additionally functionality like this their market cap might actually become justifiable.

Gary Hoke

German scientists beat data transfer record - 26 Tb/sec!!!


This seems fairly newsworthy. Maybe we'll be bouncing lasers off satellites for WAN connections in the near future?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110523/tc_afp/germanysciencetelecomdata

Gary Hoke

Is a storm brewing for cloud computing???

Outage of Amazon Web Services won't help adoption, but will hopeful drive some changes.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110422/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_amazon_outages

Gary Hoke

Dice Tech Salary Survey for 2010-2011 is out...

http://salary.dice.com/Documents/Dice_2010_11_TechSalarySurvey.pdf

Some surprise results with regards to salary drop for some roles and skills.

Gary Hoke

Lots of patches out recently from Microsoft, Apple, Oracle and Adobe.

Read more about them here: http://www.informationweek.com/articles/229401762

Don't become a victim to these vulnerabilities! Install your patches today.

Gary Hoke

Freebie after Rebate: McAfee Internet Security 2011 - 1 User @ Newegg

Gary Hoke

I just ordered "The Real Business of IT" this past weekend and I'm looking forward to reading it. I heard lots of positive feedback and it appears to have numerous positive reviews.

http://www.gartner.com/it/products/research/media_products/REAL_IT/home.jsp

If you would like a preview Chapter 1 and Chapter 5 are available online. I'll post a review once I'm finished.

Gary Hoke

So what if you could take a pill and it could report back to your doctor when you took it, what was your heart rate, body temperature or other physiological information? Well that day is here (or at least really close). Proteus Biomedical has developed ingestible sensor technology that does just that.

http://www.proteusbiomed.com/proteus_technology.html

Imagine if you got a text message reminding you to take your medication, but only if you forgot to take it. This technology has the promise to significantly increase drug adherence thereby allow physicians to better determine if a drug was not effective as a result of poor drug adherence versus efficacy. This could be especially of interest in clinical trials when the assessment of efficacy is most critical.

Gary Hoke

Congrats to all you software engineers out there! Best job in America for 2011 per CNBC.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/40950977?slide=11

1. Software Engineer

Average Salary: $87,140
Scored High On: Hiring Outlook, Salary, Work Environment

If you had any doubt that technology was king, this No. 1 ranking should erase it. Software engineers, those who research, design and maintain software systems, are in great demand as mobile technology and computer networking grows. Plus, the need to secure and update those systems gives an added spike to demand.

Employment of computer software engineers is expected to jump more than 30 percent in the next decade, according to the Labor Department.

The pay is highest at scientific-research, computer-equipment manufacturing and software-publishing companies.

Gary Hoke

So I'm thinking about buying a Apple iPad to run Microsoft Windows on. No really. So if you had to choose would you go with a Windows Tablet or an iPad with VM access to the Windows client in a business environment? Please share your thoughts!

The article below discusses how the newly released VMware View™ Client for iPad is being planned for use in the healthcare industry.

http://emrdailynews.com/2011/03/09/apple-ipad-means-business-for-healthcare-with-vmware-view%E2%84%A2-virtual-desktops/

Gary Hoke

So have you signed up for the Amazon Cloud Drive yet? Amazon's offering is pretty nice. You get 5 GB for free and can purchase more space. You can upload up to a 2 GB file, which way exceeds the 50 MB limit allowed by Microsoft Skydrive. Give a try, it's free.

https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/learnmore

Gary Hoke

NCSU MBA Program jumps 15 places to 59th in the nation in U.S. News and World Report rankings...

http://mgt.ncsu.edu/news/2008/march/jenkins-mba-us-news-world-rankings-report.php

Gary Hoke

Forbes Magazine ranks Raleigh #1 Best Places For Business And Careers

http://www.forbes.com/2008/03/19/best-business-cities-biz-bestplaces08-cx_kb_0319places_land.html

The Raleigh specific page provides rankings for the individual criteria used to determine the overall ranking.

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/1/bestplaces08_Raleigh-NC_100138.html


Gary Hoke

CubeShield Reports 86% Revenue Growth in 2006

Thursday, January 25, 2007

RALEIGH, NC – CubeShield, Inc., manufacturer and retailer of the patented CubeShield product, today announced record results for 2006. The company achieved 86% revenue growth for the year. A strong holiday season contributed to these results with 42% of sales occurring in the 4th quarter.

Existing customers played a significant role in the company’s growth as well, representing 67% of product revenues in 2006. “Once companies start using our products many of them place follow on orders,” said Paul Rony. The CubeShield product, which blocks out excessive overhead lighting in office cubicles, is used in numerous large corporations and government agencies throughout the United States.

Gary Hoke and Paul Rony, the company cofounders, received U.S. Patent 7,117,802 for the product in October 2006. They predict sales growth to continue into 2007. The company plans to pursue new distribution channels and recruit additional product resellers.

About CubeShield

CubeShield, Inc. was established in June 2002 to develop and market a unique product that allows employees to enhance their cubicle environments. While the CubeShield product was invented to block excessive overhead light, it can also provide personalization and privacy to an office cubicle. To learn more about CubeShield please visit the company website at www.cubeshield.com.


Other Sources:

• http://www.prleap.com/pr/63155/
• http://www.pr.com/press-release/27945
• http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/view_press_release.php?rID=23466&tf7sid=fa58715ec9b0d3e742ffd42ede0e0927
• http://carolinanewswire.com/news/News.cgi?database=1news.db&command=viewone&id=2257&op=t
• http://triangle.dbusinessnews.com/shownews.php?newsid=104657&type_news=latest