links for 2010-04-01: NoSQL = Manual vs Auto; Automated Journalism; Scatterplots with R; Will the cloud rain cash?; Bing killing OpenOffice?; Logarithms

• The NoSQL Debate: Automatic vs. Manual Transmission - A good metaphor.  Perhaps NoSQL should really be abbreviating "Not Only SQL" and not "No SQL"?
  
• Automated Journalism: In the US, algorithms are already reporting the news - Reposted from a comment to yesterday's links, very interesting.  "do algorithms steal the work of journalists - or help them to cope with information overload?"
• "Different" by Youngme Moon - Great way to promote a book, and piqued my interest in it.
• How to: make a scatterplot with a smooth fitted line - I did not know about R (probably should have), but appears to be a cool tool for working with data.  Love it.  And provides a source for unemployment data should you want it.
  
• When will cloud computing start raining cash? - "... there's a tremendous amount of trial and evaluation happening right now, which should translate into paid engagements in the very near future."
• Lawson ERP on Amazon Web Services - An example of the move to the cloud.
• Bing trying to kill OpenOffice? - An update at the end of the story says it is a technical issue, but this makes one think about the control we give to the search engine we use.
• Apple: Simplicity taken too far? - "I've heard a growing chorus of open-source voices shifting from Microsoft as (open-source) public enemy No. 1 to Apple."
• Opinionator - Power Tools - If you never understood logarithms in school, this is a good read.