February 2006

CeBIT Mobile Fair Planner

by Volker Weber

The Mobile Fair Planner is the CeBIT 2006 electronic catalogue for your mobile device. All data about companies and events, hall and site plans as well as general information on CeBIT are available. The search function will help you to find the desired exhibitors.

The Fair Planner can now be downloaded on devices with Palm OS 3.3 or Windows CE 3.0./Pocket PC (or higher). Moreover this year we also offer a version for Mobile Phones(Java) and Blackberry.

The Mobile Fair Planner for Symbian OS-based Smartphones will be available within the next days.

More >

Boom boom

by Volker Weber

Looks like the perfect thing to have for a small party. But why is it missing Wi-Fi? This would be neat as a remote speaker for iTunes. And you could use the dock to sync with a remote computer ...

Who is this comedian?

by Volker Weber

comedian

Whoever he is, he does a killer George W. Bush.

Kleine Schutzgelderpressung

by Volker Weber

"Eine schöne Kneipe habt Ihr hier. Wäre doch schade, wenn da was passiert." So liest sich das:

NTP wirft RIM nun vor, die Lizenzbedingungen eines Einigungsvorschlags falsch wiederzugeben. Der kanadische Betreiber des drahtlosen E-Mail-Systems versuche, mit seiner Ablehnung die Öffentlichkeit bewusst zu täuschen. NTP gestatte mit dem Vorschlag eine umfassende Nutzung der Patente und schütze damit sowohl RIM wie auch dessen Partner und Kunden zuverlässig.

Der eine hat einen riesigen Erfolg mit einem E-Mail-Service, der "süchtig" macht. Der andere hat ein paar Patente, die samt und sonders wieder vom Patentamt kassiert werden. Aber in Amerika kann man ja eine Jury bequasseln, um eine kleine Schutzgelderpressung zu organisieren. Und der Richter ist genervt, weil niemand zahlt.

Popular Technorati Blogs: Unique Links vs. Most Favorited

by Cem Basman

From today on there are two ways at Technorati you can see the Top 100 blogs worldwide: The biggest blogs in the blogosphere,

Interesting mismatches: #71 in one chart is #1 in the other chart. And so on. Can you explain it? Well, maybe, in the Top 100 of the Faves there are a lot of Technorati featured blogs ...

Why don't you add vowe.net? :-)

Windows Vista Screenhots

by Volker Weber

PC Welt has published 74 screenshots of Windows Vista. They are a bit difficult to navigate, so I have compiled this page with all of them. You can download highres versions here in .EXE format. I guess if you are interested in Vista, you should be running Windows. :-)

Different strokes for different folks

by Volker Weber

A number of very vocal people seem to have difficulties running their sites on 1&1 servers. This does not apply to me so I wanted to give a short testimonial of how good things can be. Usually I do not publish any traffic information, but I want to share a small chart with you:

traffic0602.png

This graph describes traffic on vowe.net from 1999 to 2006 with a peek of 1.65 mio hits/month in January 2006. During this time we have not experienced any downtime. I am not so much concerned with the absolute numbers but with the traffic increase. The site has been able to serve this traffic without any major reengineering.

However, I am constantly fending off abusive robots. Without this effort the graph would look exponential. Yesterday was a busy day with 77,657 hits, but we can discount 11,861 of them.

In case you are wondering: The steep incline started at the same time I began updating my site on a regular basis. The large spike in 2001 was a load test. At that time I though I had ruined my traffic chart. :-)

Mercedes Mixed Tape 11 is out

by Volker Weber

mixedtape11.jpg

Wie wär's mit "Kühlschrank"?

by Volker Weber

Tim Mälzer, Fernsehkoch:

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Stellen Sie sich vor, Sie erlitten Schiffbruch auf einer Insel mit perfekter Stromversorgung: Welches Gerät hätten Sie in der Tasche, um die Wartezeit zu überbrücken?

Mälzer: Mein Handy, um im Ernstfall Hilfe herbeiholen zu können.

Schiffbruch in Mallorca?

More >

Want to get started with Ruby on Rails?

by Volker Weber

Apple has published a nice tutorial that steps you through creating your first application with Ruby on Rails. Here is the intro:

The Ruby on Rails web application framework has built up a tremendous head of steam over the last year. Fueled by some significant benefits and an impressive portfolio of real-world applications already in production, Rails is destined to continue making significant inroads in 2006. Simply put, Ruby on Rails is an open source tool that gives you the advantage of rapidly creating great web applications backed by SQL databases to keep up with the speed of the web. And with the release of Rails 1.0 kicking off the new year, there's never been a better time to climb aboard.

This article introduces you to Ruby on Rails by building a trivial web application step by step. Consider it a ride on the express train—an overview of what Rails can do, including a look at features new to Rails 1.0. In the end you'll be better equipped to consider the advantages of powering your web application with Rails.

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Ed gets some praise in Network World

by Volker Weber

best products banner

Ed is named one of "Best blogs for buyers":

Ed Brill, a senior marketing manager for Lotus software, is candid and likable. He praises the company but also acknowledges when IBM gets it wrong. In a Jan. 5 post, he admitted that his knee-jerk defense of IBM (and its slack domain-name management) resulted from drinking "a little too much IBM Kool-Aid," and he went on to write that "Microsoft seems to be very good about this."

The blog displays Brill's wry and biting sense of humor. One of the most viewed posts is a PowerPoint presentation provocatively titled "The Boss Loves Microsoft: Where Does that Leave Lotus?" Another good-natured jab was a post that featured a picture of Microsoft Chief Software Architect Bill Gates carrying a precariously balanced sheaf of papers. "Where's his Tablet PC?" Brill mused.

Other blogs mentioned are Tom Kyte of Oracle, Robert Scoble of Microsoft, Mini-Microsoft, Engadged and Techdirt.

More >

[via Jack]

Anatomy of a bad RSS reader

by Volker Weber

User enters his office at the University of Paderborn and switches on his computer at 9am. Fetches the RSS feed at 09:05:37 and reads two pages seven seconds later with his Firefox 1.5.0.1 browser. Twenty seconds later he reads another page. Less than two hours later he loads his robot and all hell breaks loose. He fetches the RSS feed 11,861 times in the next 42 minutes and 24 seconds.

131.234.xxx.xx - - [27/Feb/2006:10:49:17 +0100] "GET /index.rdf HTTP/1.1"
131.234.xxx.xx - - [27/Feb/2006:10:49:17 +0100] "GET /index.rdf HTTP/1.1"
131.234.xxx.xx - - [27/Feb/2006:10:49:17 +0100] "GET /index.rdf HTTP/1.1"
131.234.xxx.xx - - [27/Feb/2006:10:49:17 +0100] "GET /index.rdf HTTP/1.1"
131.234.xxx.xx - - [27/Feb/2006:10:49:17 +0100] "GET /index.rdf HTTP/1.1"
....
131.234.xxx.xx - - [27/Feb/2006:11:31:41 +0100] "GET /index.rdf HTTP/1.1"
131.234.xxx.xx - - [27/Feb/2006:11:31:41 +0100] "GET /index.rdf HTTP/1.1"

Then the storm ends. User reads three more pages throughout the day and shuts down his computer shortly after 5pm.

What a job. Nine to five. And I bet that at home he has DSL service from Arcor. His address is now blocked. If you are working at the University of Paderborn and someone tells you he cannot access my site, then you will know.

Is anybody betting against me if I say this is a Notes agent? :-)

Gearing up for CeBIT

by Volker Weber

Next week is CeBIT, the unofficial end of the winter season. It may be a bit optimistic since this year's show runs a bit early because of the World Cup, but in any given CeBIT so far we had snow, and on a different day I could also drive with the top down. My calendar is quickly filling up with press conferences and parties. You are looking at a 15 hour schedule:

cebit2006plan.jpg

The first day of this schedule is Wednesday, the day before the show kicks off. I have some time left in the afternoon to walk around and see the last minute preparations. You would not believe how much work gets done on this day.

There is still some room left for individual meetings on Friday. And I may have some time left to actually see the show. :-)

Microsoft designs the iPod package

by Volker Weber

If you are seeing a white space above, then YouTube is currently down. Or as Flickr woud say: "is having a massage".

Session evaluations are in

by Volker Weber

Otto sent me the session evaluations from the edcom Lotusphere Comes To You event. The overall evaluation was a staggering 1.44 on a scale from 1.0 (excellent) to 4.0 (bad). And I am proud to say that my own sessions were voted as #1 and #2 with 1.08 and 1.14. Last year I had to concede to the excellent Stephan Waltl who is no longer playing. :-)

It's "Make your own caption" time

by Volker Weber

cat

Googlefasting

by Cem Basman

Chris Pirillo is detoxificating and chasten himself:

I'm going to live without searching for anything on Google (or using Google software) for a week... ohmygod.

Because of:

I've been growing increasingly concerned over how Google is starting to do more... and the world is just letting it do more without asking questions (because most users trust the brand blindly). Google is everywhere. I want it to be everywhere, but I also don't want it to be everywhere - because that's very scary. I trust that they will continue to "do no evil" (as opposed to "do know evil?") - but perhaps there's such a thing as "too big?" I have to prepare for the worst.

Follow his desperation and progress here.

Could you live without, say ... Lotus Notes? Uh, I know, you guys ...

[HEALTH WARNING: Googlefasting can seriously shrink your search results - only do this on the recommendation of a SEO professional]

Fake iPod Video

by Volker Weber

The Apple scene is obsessed with rumors. They have to know now what may be announced soon. Last week everybody seemed to agree that Apple would release a new Video iPod next week. There was even one mystery picture out there. This video shows how the picture was faked.

[via digg]

Idiot robot of the day is back

by Volker Weber

Less than two weeks ago someone read my RSS feed 13890 times. As fast as his computer would permit. That is more than a dozen times a second.

Now he is back. This time from dslb-084-061-195-086.pools.arcor-ip.net

If you are sitting in Essen, Germany, and are trying to kill my server: Get a life. Or learn how to terminate a loop.

Friends and Favorites at Technorati

by Cem Basman

A blogroll-ersatz and the most recent posts from my favorite blogs.

Minifig Famous People # 17: Dick Cheney

by Volker Weber

14 valuable rules on how to launder ¢ 50,000,000

by Cem Basman

Paul Lashmar writes about the Tonbridge heist: "It's not the robbery that separates the amateur from the professional," said the former armed robber-turned-author "Horace Silver" yesterday. "It's the way you deal with the money afterwards." ... and gives 14 valuable rules on how to launder ¢ 50,000,000:

COUNT THE CASH. If there are any new, traceable notes, chuck them. Prepare for prison. What we are about to describe is theoretically possible, but the chances of success are extremely slim

BURY IT, put it away, stick it in an inconspicuous lock-up or security vault for as long as you can bear to do so, at least until the fuss dies down. That might take a year

HIRE YOURSELF A RELIABLE FINANCIAL ADVISER who knows both how to bend the rules and keep his mouth shut. Pay him well. (This is not a real one, by the way)

SPEND A LITTLE IF YOU MUST, but keep it to small amounts of used notes only, in places such as dodgy casinos where nobody looks too closely at the cash. Don't be flash

RECRUIT SMURFS - lower-ranking villains who are used to handling funny money - to change bundles of less than ¢5,000 for euros at friendly bureaux de change

COLLECT THE EUROS and take them into Europe, through the Tunnel or on the Eurostar. Stay calm and watch your mates carefully - there is a ¢2m reward out, after all

WALK INTO A BANK IN LIECHTENSTEIN, one of the few countries in Europe where the law protects the identity of account holders, even from police investigators

OR SMUGGLE THE NOTES OUT OF BRITAIN. If you did not do this on the same night as the robbery and before the alarm was raised, then wait as long as you can

TAKE THE MONEY TO A COUNTRY where the customs officials can be bribed to certificate your cash as clean. Start a company. Experts suggest the Balkans would be a good choice

START ANOTHER COMPANY IN DUBAI, where directors do not need to be named. Use the Balkan money to buy expensive products from it (which need not exist)

TRANSFER THE INCOME from Dubai to a tax haven such as the Cayman Islands where secrecy is assured. Set up a blind trust and nobody will know it's for you

BRING THE MONEY FROM THE CAYMANS back to the UK through more shell companies. Set up an apparently legitimate business here. And hope nobody asks why it never goes bust

OR USE THE PROCEEDS you have brought back to buy - slowly, discreetly - diamonds, property or anything else that might be an investment. Then sell up, and all your money is clean

OR CHARGE UP an anonymous 'stored value' account in the Caymans and withdraw money, untraceably, from any ATM. In your dreams. In reality, you will probably be in prison by now

Thanks, Paul.

Look at this

by Volker Weber

imac_snap_560.png

Continental Europe is terra incognita for Google Maps. Now there is a small map covering the area of Italy which hosts the Olympic Winter Games. Does that mean Google may find the map of Germany when the Worldcup starts in a few months?

Loremo

by Volker Weber

loremo

This could be the most fuel efficient car ever. If they manage to actually build it.

[via metafilter]

Can you spare a sock?

by Volker Weber

ipod

Meet Schroeder, the newest family member in vowe's magic flying circus. Schroeder is a white iPod 60 GB. He has revived my interest in iPods since he plays videos and has my 2006 photo album. I did not think that I would be interested in viewing videos on a small screen like this but I was wrong. Just drop a video on iSquint and it will be converted and added to iTunes. This week I watched Gone In 60 Seconds and The Emperor's New Groove. I guess "Lawrence Of Arabia" would not work so well. :-)

This 5th iPod generation is the first design I like since the second generation. If you compare them side by side, Woodstock still looks a lot better. When you switch them on however, Schroeder wins hands down with his gorgeous color screen. However, there is one major downside: Apple dropped Firewire support. Since Lucy only has USB 1.1, syncing takes a lot of time now. When I bought the second generation 20 GB iPod three years ago, it was $499. The fifth generation 60 GB is $399 but Apple has dropped a few things from the (much smaller) package. There is no charger, no remote control and no protective case. Your best value for adding accessories is the AV Connection Kit, which includes a dock, a remote, a USB charger, a second USB cable and an AV cable to hook up the dock to a TV.

The only thing I am missing is an iPod sock. You get six for $29. But I only need one and not six. Can you spare one of your's?

ipod socks

Update: It looks like tpk has a purple sock for me.

Depeche Mode in Madrid

by Volker Weber

"Were not coming. Were not your monkey and so what?"

by Cem Basman

Official announcement from the Sex Pistols regarding the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame on February 24th 2006. BTW, I thought I ought to put this as a contemporary document in wikipedia (done!) ...

HP Explains where all deleted images go

by Cem Basman

HPdeleted

Linkology: How the 50 Most Popular Blogs Are Related

by Cem Basman

linkology_560

Explained by New York Magazine
Download (PDF) the infographic by Ben Fry
Data of course by Technorati

Yahoo-Musikchef sieht DRM als Hindernis

by Ragnar Schierholz

Lt. heise online sieht Yahoo-Musikchef Dave Goldberg DRM als Hindernis.

Laut Dave Goldberg, beim Internet-Portal Yahoo für Musikdienste zuständig, schade das digitale Rechtemanagement DRM der Musikindustrie mehr, als es ihr nutze [...] insgesamt brauche die Industrie innovative Verkaufskonzepte.

Recht hat er, der Mann!

Fürchterlich

by Volker Weber

Ein Bär, ein Löwe und ein Huhn treffen sich.
Sagt der Bär: "Wenn ich im Wald brülle, fürchtet sich der ganze Wald."
Der Löwe: "Wenn ich in der Wüste brülle, fürchtet sich die ganze Wüste."
Das Huhn darauf: "Wenn ich huste, fürchtet sich die ganze Welt!"

[via Skype]

Having a bad day?

by Volker Weber

Are you feeling that life is unfair to you or that your job sucks? Read this, cry a little and understand how blessed you are.

Idea for a non-business card

by Volker Weber

googlecard.png

This should work very well. One concern though: If I handed you this non-business card, would you assume that I work for Google? If so, is this any better?

It's "Make your own caption" time

by Volker Weber


Photo: Eric Hancock

Choose your crew

by Esther Schindler

I love silly quizzes like this: in which sci-fi crew would you best fit?

For me: Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica).

Uncool tomato juice

by Cem Basman

I really hate hate hate people drinking tomato juice ("Salt'n pepper?") on planes:

It's been an in-flight mystery: Why do grown-ups ritually drink tomato juice and ginger ale on airplanes, but not, statistics show, on the ground? No one has explained the bizarre phenomenon...until now.

Read on blockheads >

Not in this weather

by Volker Weber

Not exactly new, this Mercedes-Benz spot, but hey, Google Video finally available in Germany, without "translating" through a proxy. And while we are at it, Got Nerves?

[via Alex]

GarbageScout.com

by Volker Weber

Found treasure map to New York City, a recycler's dream, a cheapskate's best friend, and a dumpster diver's companion

More >

Only in Switzerland

by Volker Weber

Google Page Creator launches

by Volker Weber

Some observations from Entwicklercamp

by Volker Weber

Everything is larger in New York

by Volker Weber

Even Windows error messages.

[Thanks, Thomas]

Dickes Dings bei Heros

by Cem Basman

1928 ließ Berthold Brecht einen Protagonisten in der Dreigroschenoper sagen: Was ist ein Einbruch in eine Bank gegen die Gründung einer Bank? 2006 heisst es nun: Was ist eine Gründung einer Bank gegen die Gründung einer Geldtransportfirma? Das große Dings bei Brinks ist 'ne Lachpille dagegen. Ein Fliegenschiß. Erdnüsse. Kundengelder in Höhe von insgesamt rund 300 Millionen Euro sollen über Jahre (!) unterschlagen worden sein? Hat das denn keiner gemerkt? Können die nicht rechnen? Oder geht es nach Gewicht etwa? Lehre aus der Geschicht: Man muß die Nummer eben halt nur groß genug anlegen.

Pictures from Histo-Monte 2006

by Volker Weber

auto motor und sport has a large gallery of pictures from Histo-Monte 2006.

[Thanks, Stephan]

Snowed in

by Volker Weber

snowed in
Photo: Paul Mooney


I made a bad choice this morning when I picked the car without snow tires. On the Autobahn this was not a problem. But on the country road that was going to the Entwicklercamp conference I was quickly snowed in. As soon as the car did a few skids I left it parked in a residential road. Luckily Rudi picked me up with his all-wheel-drive car and I am safe at the hotel now. I think I leave the car for the next two days and will not move it up here. The weather is not going to improve, but the roads might be in better condition when I leave.

Bill and Paul, take this as a warning. Insist on a rental with snow tires.

Update: Yes, the roads were clear two days later. Just had to remove ice from the windshield and I was ready to go.

It's not only the chief

by Volker Weber

Do they pay the webmaster by LOC?

Immer bei Vollmond

by Volker Weber

Kaum ist man mal ein paar Tage nicht da, schon passiert hier mal was:

Ein 52-Jähriger Mann aus Darmstadt erschien bei den Beamten des Rauschgiftkommissariats um einen "dreisten Betrug" anzuzeigen. Zunächst glaubten die Beamten, er wolle eigentlich zum Betrugskommissariat. Als der Mann jedoch seine Beschwerde konkretisierte, wurde schnell klar, dass er doch an der richtigen Stelle gelandet ist. Der 52-Jährige führte nämlich Beschwerde darüber, dass ihm von einem Dealer 200 Gramm Haschisch für 400,- EUR verkauft wurden, das Haschisch aber "von absolut minderwertiger Qualität und überhaupt nicht genießbar sei". Er habe sich zwar massiv bei dem Verkäufer beschwert, doch der Händler weigere sich, es umzutauschen. Deshalb habe er sich jetzt entschlossen, seine Beschwerde bei der Polizei vorzutragen.

More >

The Experience Economy

by Cem Basman

Now, this is not brandnew but it is interesting, Anjana Ahuja has a theory (or is it an observation?):

How we spend our money is changing. In the new 'experience economy' we pay to do things, not have things.

Furthermore,

Rather than upgrading our car or television, we’ll spend the cash in coffee shops, hotels, restaurants, sports clubs and theme parks. We’ll splash out on European city breaks or walking the Inca trail. Experiences, in other words.

We are going from product economy, to service economy, to experience economy, as Ben Canocha puts it. Think about it what this means for your own business ... Play with this idea. Think radical. Spin a little.

Vista Galore! Microsoft plans seven core Windows Vista versions ... or more!

by Cem Basman

Microsoft is readying sixseven core Vista packages, or SKUs, plus some additional releases customized for the European Union that won't bundle in Windows Media Player, as ordered by European antitrust regulators. The list according to Microsoft:

If you drill down the beta version of this support sites to some of the topics, you'll see actual content. Other items just have placeholders.

According to arstechnica:

What's missing is a 64-bit version of Vista, which more than likely means that more SKUs are going to be announced at some point. Also, the Help and Support beta site is far from complete as some descriptions are missing in their entirety. We can be assured that as the release date of Windows Vista gets closer, Microsoft's site is going to be updated with more information and possibly more versions.

Duck! ... It's Vista Galore!

Just ignore the noise!

by Cem Basman

Derek Powazek on gatekeepers and gatekeepers:

So now, my fellow bloggers, I beseech you: Ignore the numbers. Ignore the lists. Blog what you love and the rest will follow. Everything else is just noise.

BTW, Derek was one of the very first bloggers I have read in my life. Must have been around 1999. He is always a joy. In case you didn't know, he is also the creator of fray, the famous personal storytelling blog.

"Das ist Punk: Das kannst du auch."

by Cem Basman

Ein Stück Zeitgeschichte: Johnny Haeusler, Blogger und ehemaliger Frontmann der Rockband Plan B, erzählt, wie sie damals 1984 in Düsseldorf als völlig unbekannte Vorgruppe aus Berlin vor The Clash auftraten:

Um Punkt acht Uhr standen wir, nervös wie Sau und mit unseren Gitarren bewaffnet, am Bühnenrand. In der Düsseldorfer Philipshalle ging das Licht aus und ohrenbetäubendes Gejohle vom Publikum setzte ein. In diesem Moment hatte ich zum ersten Mal den Eindruck, dass ich eine extrem beschissene Idee gehabt hatte. Denn ich hatte in meiner Euphorie eine nicht unwichtige Tatsache außer Acht gelassen: Niemand im Publikum wusste, dass wir spielen würden. Noch schlimmer: Niemand im Publikum wusste, dass überhaupt eine Vorgruppe spielen würde. Die Leute erwarteten mit dem Erlöschen der Saalbeleuchtung nur eines: The Clash.

Großartige Geschichte. Großartig erzählt. Großes Kino. Es gibt noch wahre Helden. Unbedingt lesen!

Nokia 9300 Communicators were everywhere

by Volker Weber

9300

Russell Beattie reports on Things I didn't see at 3GSM in Barcelona:

Treos or Blackberries: Nokia 9300 Communicators were everywhere, and though 'd see the odd American with those silly belt-hooks for their Palms and Blackberry phones, they were pretty much non-existant.

Same thing at last week's conference. Anneliese, Mark, Otto, Wolfgang ... everybody had a 9300. I'd probably still be using a Treo, if it had Blackberry Connect yet.

Presenting with Keynote

by Volker Weber

At the edcom Lotusphere comes to you event we got all presenters on the stage to introduce themselves. A few of them were quite surprised when they took a look at my screen. Not all of them, but certainly those who usually present with PowerPoint 2003. Keynote lets you easily configure two separate displays - the one your audience sees and the one you see:

Keynote presenter display

Your display shows current and next slide, slide notes, a clock, and a timer on your screen. And I thought, PowerPoint 2003 has the same feature, but that was only because PowerPoint 2004 on the Mac has it.

Microsoft launches Office Live

by Volker Weber

Will they ever learn?

Free audio books from BMW

by Volker Weber

Put on your seatbelt and prepare for highs, lows and plenty of twists and turns. BMW, in conjunction with Random House, brings you BMW Audio Books, a unique series of specially-commissioned short stories showcasing the work of some of the finest contemporary writing talent. Each gripping tale is yours to download for free and a new book will be available to download every two weeks. Listen to them on your MP3 player, your laptop or ideally, in the car. So sit back, hit play and enjoy the ride.

More >

[Thanks, Oliver]

Why Jake dislikes Notes

by Volker Weber

Jake Howlett of codestore.net has a great analogy:

Notes is butt-ugly. If Notes were a girl I'd be embarrassed to introduce her to family and friends. Whenever I did I can imagine having to justify my choice afterwards, telling them what a complex person she was underneath. Not only is she ugly she's - how can I say this - a big fatty. Morbidly obese!

More >

New toy: Navman iCN 520

by Volker Weber

iCN520

While in Munich I picked up quite a few toys to write about. The first one I tested was the Navman iCN 520. I have the Premium Edition which comes with a small remote control and a CD with maps of 16 European countries. Germany was pre-installed on a 256 MB SD card and I have not yet looked at the PC software or the other maps.

Although I have been quite firmly in the TomTom camp (Nokia 9300, Palm Tungsten and Treo, Windows Mobile) , I like the iCN 520. It has less features, the 3D map is too crowded and the software can be confusing. But there are quite a few things that I like better on the Navman than on the TomTom. The most important improvement is the instructions. They are much clearer and more timely. It also tells you things like "drive 72 kilometers" so you will know that there won't be any instructions soon. It will then continue to let you know at 60, 40 and 20 kilometers how far you have to procede. While TomTom will say "exit ahead", Navman says "In 2.5 km stay right". I am writing this review in English but I mostly used it in its localized German setup, and here the instructions are also very clear and grammatically correct.

I found a small bug in the localized version. You cannot switch off the "GPS lost" warning while you are looking at the German screen. It appears to be checked off, but the warning remains. Switch the language to English, make the change, and switch back to German. Later I discovered that other settings also did not stick, so I am switching to English each time I want to make adjustments.

Using a dedicated nav device has some advantages: There is only one device to hook up to the 12V outlet, no need to keep a charged GPS mouse around, no Bluetooth setup. If you can't get a fix, you know it is the GPS receiver and not a connection between GPS device and mobile phone for instance. The screen mount for the Navman works very well, the cable has the right length and everything feels quite solid.

There are a few downsides: The device has a 3.5" TFT screen which is quite bright but still hard to read in direct sunlight. TomTom on the Nokia 9300 gets better the more light falls on the display because it's transflective. The Navman has a touch screen. You can use a pen, your finger, then there is a 4-way rocker and a thumbwheel. There are just to many confusing choices. The rocker is pretty useless since you have to press the middle to select, and it is almost impossible to do that without also rocking it. You are constantly making the wrong choices. I quickly found out that it is best to grab the device with your left hand, pull out the pen or use your finger to make choices directly on the screen. Once you are done, you drop it into the screen mount and be done with it.

The other disadvantage is the 3D view. This works very well on a TomTom but the Navman screen is too crowded to see your route. Lots of opportunities for improvement here. However, the Navman has a very good "next turn" view. It will tell you very clearly what your next turn will be and how far you have to drive until you get there. On the right hand side it will show you a small map of that area and also your distance to finish. However there is no indication how long you will have to drive or when you should arrive. Case in point that the software is complicated enough to make you read the manual: By moving the rocker left and right you can make other data available than just distance to go. Time to go or ETA are amongst them.

What I am missing most is an advance A-B routing. How long would it take from point A to point B and how long is the distance. This feature has only been added to TomTom more recently so maybe Navman has something like this coming up.

Summary for now: Much better than expected. I will keep an eye on updates and new devices as they become available.

Back from Munich

by Volker Weber

After a relaxing visit to Petra, Sandra and Stefan we are back from Munich. 1000 km on 52 liters, reduce to the max. I am still waiting for the final results from the feedback forms, but I have overheard that people were really pleased. I saw one form where the attendee hat drawn another check box above "very good" and check it as "incredible". What more can you ask for. In any case, we will take a close look at feedback and try to make it even better next year. There is always room for improvement. You can mark your calenders:

Lotusphere comes to you: Feb 14-15, 2007, edcom, Munich

One day of relaxing tomorrow and then I will head out for another conference: EntwicklerCamp '06. Looking forward to seeing Ben, Paul and Wild Bill just one month after Lotusphere. Madness! :-)

Ruby on Rails lernen

by Volker Weber

Jens-Christian bietet ein Rails-Training in Zürich an. Ich weiß nicht, warum er es auf englisch ankündigt, obwohl die Schulung in deutscher Sprache erfolgt:

On February 27. and 28. I will be hosting Ruby On Rails Training in Zurich, Switzerland. There still are open slots, so if you want to learn hands-on how to build web applications using Ruby on Rails, now is the time to sign up.

Wie auch immer, Jens-Christian ist ein Könner und Kenner.

More >

Solisten

by Cem Basman

Heute auf dem Rückflug von Stuttgart folgende Marginalie von Thomas Quasthoff, Baßbariton und dreimaliger Grammy Gewinner, in der Zeitung gelesen:

Ein Solist hat nur Chancen, wenn er wirklich gut ist.

Ein wahrer Satz. Drum prüfe jeden Tag wer sich als (IT) Freelancer verdingt.

[Online-Ausgabe des Artikels]

Vot are you sinking about

by Volker Weber

edcom Nachlese 06

vowe is still alive. :-) We are having a blast in Munich at edcom's Lotusphere Comes To You. More than a hundred attendees, Ron Sebastian was the best opening speaker ever, we had a seven eight course meal in the evening from 8pm to 12pm at the Master's Home. Great conversations, great people, loads of fun.

And yes, we are improving our english. :-) Sorry for not posting this for more than a week, but I wanted to use it in the opening session and there are too many readers of this site at the conference.

Mark your calendars for next year. We will do the show again in the same week, Wednesday/Thursday. That would be Feb 14-15, 2007. Management does not know this yet, but it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission. :-)

Idiot robot of the day

by Volker Weber

13890 hits from dslb-084-060-100-141.pools.arcor-ip.net last night between 4 and 6.

Get some sleep.

The Vice President got a gun

by Cem Basman

Late Show with David Letterman, CBS:

Good news, ladies and gentlemen, we have finally located weapons of mass destruction: It's Dick Cheney.

More >

Waiting for Blackberry Connect on the Treo 650

by Volker Weber

Well, I have seen it at Lotusphere and now it is seen again at the 3GSM World Congress. It appears to be in final beta and waits for certification. Whatever that means.

More >

A little late maybe?

by Ragnar Schierholz

Looks like 15 large (and not so large) mobile network operators are forming an alliance against free IM services on mobile devices. They've realized that the profits from the data service might not be long lasting enough, so they should set up their own mobile IM service. To me, that sounds like someone overslept a trend and is now trying to catch up with brute force.

Olympic photographer blogs only!

by Cem Basman

A thread at Sportsshooter collects blogs of professional sport photographers at the XX Olympic Winter Games 10-26 February 2006 in Torino. Here are the first discovered photo blog links:


[link to thread via dangerousmeta! via Rob Galbraith]

Do you know of other olympic photo blogs or moblogs? Feel free to drop the links here in the comment section ...

Yeah! Yeah! Ship timestamps, not versions!

by Cem Basman

Marc Hedlund, an entrepreneur-in-residence at O'Reilly Media and author at O'Reilly Radar, writes:

Gone are the days of 1.0, 1.1, and 1.3.17b6. They have been replaced by the '20060210-1808:32 push'.

More >

There is beauty in the eye of the database designer

by Cem Basman

sqlbeauty

Schemaball is a flexible schema visualizer for SQL databases. The purpose of Schemaball is to help visualize the relationships between tables.

More >

Histo Monte finishes

by Volker Weber

DSCF1585.jpg
Stephan Perthes & Hans-Werner Mattis on Lancia Fulvia 1.3 S (#43)

Congratulations to our friends Stephan and Hans-Werner for finishing the 12th AvD-Histo-Monte 10th in their class and 14th of all participating oldtimers. Way to go! Have a safe trip home.

Die Dinge ändern sich

by Cem Basman

Der Karikaturenstreit und diese Diskussion um den "Kampf der Kulturen" hat mich ziemlich unbefriedigt gelassen. Heute hat mich uceda überraschenderweise auf eine interessante Parallele aus der Vergangenheit gestossen.

Für diejenigen Muslime, die zwischen den beiden Welten leben, deren Köpfe dem Westen zugewendet sind und deren Herzen auch im Osten schlagen, ist die gegenwärtige Atmosphäre unerträglich. Das Bild des "hässlichen Muselmanen" schmerzt. Ich gebe zu, dass ich die historischen Parallelen, die uceda bemerkenswert aufzeigt, aus dieser Perspektive so noch nicht gesehen hatte:

Ich habe auch einen guten Grund. Denn deren Argumente - Kapitulation vor "den" Muslimen, Aufgabe "der" westlichen Prinzipien, Niederlage "der" Aufklärung, Scheitern "der" Integration klingen so vertraut, so altbekannt, so ekelhaft nach dem, was zwischen 1800 und 1933 an Argumenten gegen die jüdische Assimilation vorgetragen wurde.

Auch die Erinnerung an die Haskala des jüdischen Berliner Bürgertums des 18. Jahrhunderts mit wichtigen Vertretern wie Moses Mendelssohn im der Geist der Aufklärung zeigt mir doch immer deutlicher, dass es in naher Zukunft eine vergleichbare Säkularisierung und ein Zeitalter der Aufklärung in der islamischen Welt geben muss und geben wird. Vorläufer dieser Aufklärung sind Schriftsteller wie beispielsweise Salman Rushdie, aber auch wie Orhan Pamuk.

uceda ferner:

Aber "die" Muslime sind einen weiten Weg in kurzer Zeit gegangen. Das sollte man im Westen zur Kenntnis nehmen. Und mal Reiseberichte aus dem osmanischen Reich um 1900 lesen, danach versteht man vielleicht den Sprung vom, europäisch gesagt, hohen Mittelalter in die globale Jetztzeit.

Die Dinge ändern sich. London, Paris, Berlin und Rom sind vielleicht die neuen Zentren der islamischen Aufklärung neben den alten Istanbul, Bagdad, Kairo, Karachi und Jakarta.

StuffAndMe.com

by Cem Basman

Is it still possible to have an original and good idea in the web? Yes, Sir!

step 1: you buy an ad on this page
step 2: I take a funny picture of myself and your product
step 3: the funny picture is placed on this page for all to enjoy

Without any Ajax. I love this guy. What a cool business model. This little golden nugget of the web has been discovered by Philipp Lenssen. It made my day.

Comments, trackbacks, and now chat?

by Cem Basman

Michael Arrington is enthusiastic about the revival of the chatroom as an appendix of every blog. It's called 3Bubbles:

They have created a very easy to integrate Ajax based chat interface that can be added to every blog post automatically. By simply adding a code snippet into the blog template, a link will be included in every post (think comments, trackbacks, and now chat) to open a chat window where readers can debate and discuss the post.

The service will eventually integrate advertising into the ajax chat window, and the company says that they will split revenue with bloggers. Alternatively, bloggers can pay a monthly fee for the service and either turn off ads, or keep all of the advertising revenue.

Why not just skype it if you want to talk about a posting? Maybe it is also the time for the first empty and quiet blog. What a niche. We have enough chatterboxes. But the market will decide now.

Addendum: BTW, commenting. Now, this is interesting: Capture, share and alert your comments with coComment. This reminds me in turn: The web world 2.0 is getting more complex. A lot of different services in alpha, beta and final stages are asking me for my identity. Where do I store all my userID's and passwords in a secure way?

Donate now!

by Cem Basman


Wired reports:

How much charities raised online in the USA

1999: $192,000,000
2000: $525,000,000
2001: $1,025,000,000
2002: $1,435,000,000
2003: $1,900,000,000
2004: $3,000,000,000

The cost of raising $1

$1.25: From a new donor via direct mail
$0.25: From an existing donor via direct mail
$0.63: Via tele-marketing
$0.07: Online

Thank you for clicking.

What is your design philosophy?

by Cem Basman

Emily Chang, a web and interactive designer from the bay area and member of the Web 2.0 Workgroup, recognizes a clear trend towards a webdesign which is simple, fast, intuitive, social, minimal, choice, useful and fun. This is the result of more than 60 interviews she made in her blog with outstanding people in the industry. She has a detailed and concrete discussion about design 2.0 in her blog.

There is so much talking about the new webdesign philosophy - I'm afraid the new will be copied over and over 'til it's dead before the end of this year ... Somehow it's a great pity because I like this kind design. Well, but in the end it's content that counts I suppose ...

Gmail for your domain

by Volker Weber

Bring Gmail to your domain. This special beta test lets you give Gmail, Google's webmail service, to every user at your domain. Gmail for your domain is hosted by Google, so there's no hardware or software for you to install or maintain.

This will be big, when Google rolls it out. E-Mail hosted by Google, but with your own domain instead of @gmail.com.

More >

Google Desktop not so desktop anymore

by Ragnar Schierholz

When I first saw the Google Desktop search, I was wondering how secure such a system would be for access from the outside. Then I was told it would be all ok, only the local user could submit a query and/or access the index and files. Still I wasn't quite convinced and stayed away from it.

More >

Workspace or Bookmarks

by Volker Weber

The results of this poll have been pretty stable going from 60 to over 400 votes. They have always been in the 76...77 vs. 23...24 band. It looks like we can say that three out of four voted for the workspace.

Low pressure system

by Volker Weber

lowpressuresystem.png

Chris has found an interesting error message when upgrading to Notes 7.0.1. Low pressure system? Is that only a storm or a hurricane? :-)

Bruce has more >

Avoid using InfoRSS

by Volker Weber

I have had the second instance of somebody using an abusive feedreader. It was polling my site every two minutes. That is the default for InfoRSS. (How stupid is this developer?) Don't bother changing it. No matter what your setting is, it will be ignored, and InfoRSS will happily continue to chuck along at one poll every two minutes. I think I need to block this software.

Looking for a good RSS plugin for Firefox? Use Sage.

Histo Monte

by Volker Weber


Stephan Perthes & Hans-Werner Mattis on Lancia Fulvia 1.3 S (#43)

The 12th AvD-Histo-Monte Rallye starts tomorrow. Bad Homburg, Germany to Monte Carlo, Monaco. The rallye will take four days and finishes at the Quai Albert in the port of Monaco. Of course we are rooting for our good friends Stephan and Hans-Werner. Stay safe.

Lotus Notes Bookmark and Workspace Usage Survey

by Volker Weber

IBM wants your input for the next Notes client. We discusses the workspace yesterday, and Chris Linfoot wants to get some numbers behind it. Preliminary result: Three out of four Notes users prefer workspace. This is all nice and dandy, but won't have any impact on IBM. However, here is a survey that is designed to get some real input on how you use bookmarks and the workspace.

This survey is designed to gain information from you about the way you use Lotus Notes Bookmarks and Workspace in version 6.0 or later. (If you use an earlier version of Lotus Notes please do not take this survey).

We are gathering feedback to help us in our design efforts for future releases of Lotus Notes. The information you provide will directly influence an upcoming version of Lotus Notes!

This survey should take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete.

There are only 8 questions, so it will never take 10-15 minutes. Go ahead and take the survey >

There was a second survey around the usage of location documents, but that seems to have been closed already.

[Thanks, Oliver]

Wie peinlich

by Volker Weber

Erst bei Thomas Cloer, gestern noch bei CW online und im CW-Notizblog veröffentlicht, heute schon bei Spiegel Online geklaut. Ohne Quellenangabe, dafür mit Nennung des Kopierers.

Alle mal abstimmen

by Volker Weber

Ich habe gestern behauptet, dass die meisten Notes-Anwender die traditionelle "Kachelwand" benutzen. Richard Schwartz dagegen meint, das sei Kappes und die allermeisten Leute würden heute die mit Notes R5 eingeführten Lesezeichen am linken Rand von Notes verwenden. Jetzt macht Chris Linfoot eine Abstimmung. Kachelwand (Workspace) oder Lesezeichen (Bookmarks).

ibook_snap_522.png

Die Abstimmung ist links oben auf seiner Site. Geht wählen >

Update: Innerhalb einer guten Stunde hat sich die Anzahl der abgegebenen Stimmen vervierfacht. Vielen Dank! Die Kachelwand ist IBM übrigens peinlich. Das erklärt auch, warum die üblichen Verdächtigen nicht auf diese Abstimmung verweisen. So steht bei Rocky zum Beispiel ein Link auf Rich, nicht aber auf die Ursprungsdiskussion hier. Chris ist gar nicht erwähnt. Und bei Ed ist totale Funkstille.

Armes Deutschland

by Volker Weber

ALSO ich habe diese mouse nun 4 tag und ich sage diese mouse ist einfach der hammer. die genauigkeit ist der hammer und die einstelleung ist genial man kann sich GENAU einstellen wie schnell oder wie langsam die sensiblety sein soll wenn man es richtig eingestellt hat kann man in jeden belibigen spiel abrocken ich z.B. spiele CS früher stads von 15 zu 7 und nun 47 zu 13 und ich bin noch nicht mal gut in diesen spiel und habe in nur 4 tagen eine steigerung erreicht also jeder der besserwerden will der muss sich diese mouse kaufen und ich denke noch eine wochen und der erfolg ist kaum zu glauben also KAUFEN KAUFEN KAUFEN. Diese mouse liegt genial in der hand mit dem gummy an der mouse rutscht sie nicht aus der hat hand und die optig geil das zeichen von razer auf der mouse pumpt wie ein hertz der hammer auch im dunkeln ein muss für zu hause und jeder LAN deswegen auch 5 sterne. aber sie ist auch genial zu bearbeiten von bildern die genauigkeit ist cool so kann man bilder lustig verarschen also ein allroundtalend

More >

[Danke, Karsten]

Stalker

by Volker Weber

Eric Hancock observes:

All those douchebags? They bought cameras.

Everywhere I go, people are carrying (and using) cameras. Conferences. Restaurants. Funerals. Concerts. And not sophisticated cameras with fast lenses; they are carrying point-and-shoot cameras with the flashes popping all over the place.

You can't go anywhere interesting without having a couple dozen people snapping photos. A bunch of people popping flashes at annoying, inappropriate times. As if capturing the moment on a compact flash card somehow validates their existence.

And I'm sick of it.

More >

Pseudo-Links bei der Computerwoche abschalten

by Volker Weber

Habe mich gerade mal wieder über die Werbung geärgert, die CW hinter scheinbaren Links versteckt. Sieht aus wie ein Link, ist aber keiner. Ich weiß, das hatten wir schon mal. Und man kann den Zirkus abschalten.

Ergebnis: Ich kann lange suchen. In diesem Beitrag ist nämlich kein echter Link.

Briggs & Riley is a good company

by Volker Weber

duffle bag

About ten years ago Ute bought me a Briggs & Riley wheeled duffle bag. I have since travelled with it numerous times around the world. It has been abused by airlines and baggage handlers, but it has only broken twice. The last time it broke, I had to send it to a shop in the UK which repaired and sent it back promptly. On the last trip it broke again and there is no more repair shop outside of North America. So I sent them an email, and Briggs & Riley swiftly replied.

I was instructed to take the bag to a local repair shop, get a quote for the amount it takes to repair the bag and get back to Briggs & Riley. They will reimburse me for the repair. Lifetime warranty, how does that sound?

Notes' dirty little secret

by Volker Weber

Lotus Notes has a dirty little secret: The workspace, also known as the "tile wall", is still the preferred interface for Notes users. And there is no documented way to manage these tiles from the server.

The workspace stores bookmarks to the user databases as tiles on a tabbed interface. This has been the home screen for Notes versions 1 through 4. With Notes R5 Lotus introduced a new concept with bookmarks on the left side of the client window. However, the workspace did not go away. IBM tried a number of things to improve the bookmarks, even making them look like the workspace. But even with Notes 7, if you take a quick peek at a Notes user's desktop, you will still find them preferring the old interface.

If we look ahead to Notes "Hannover", IBM has still not dared to do away with the workspace:

notes8workspace.png

As stated above there is no documented and stable API for managing these tiles. A user can add, move or remove them but there is no way to do this in a controlled way from the server. Imagine you are moving a database to a different server. All tiles on all users' workspaces now point to the old server. Wouldn't it be neat if you could tell the Notes client to replace the old server with the new server in the tile? Or imagine you wanted to deploy a new database and have a new tile appear on everybody's workspace on the first page, leftmost in the fourth row? Yes there are tools out there who do this. But while they are ingenious, they are basically just hacks.

Here is where madness kicks in. I know for sure that a number of business partners have tried to find a person within IBM who understands this need. A person senior enough to make an API happen which would make this less of a hack and more of a stable solution that customers could depend on.

If you are that person, send me a mail. I can connect you to interested business partners who can explain what they need. Don't bet the farm on Hannover.

Update: Make sure you read Jeff Eisen's comment.

SubEthaEdit 2.3 released

by Volker Weber

Dominik Wagner, Martin Ott and Martin Pittenauer, a.k.a. TheCodingMonkeys are going pro. No longer students they now need a revenue stream for their company. Thus, SubEthaEdit 2.2 was the last version free for personal use. It already is a universal binary, so you are not forced to upgrade if you are going Intel.

New releases however will be only available for paying customers.

More >

Knapp daneben

by Volker Weber

Dass BMW aus dem Google-Index geflogen ist, hatten wir gestern schon. Thomas Knüwer freut sich, dass Mario Sixtus das letzte Woche nicht nur vorausgesehen hat, sondern aufgeschrieben hat, was Matt Cuts zwei Wochen vorher angesagt hatte. Und bei Philipp Lenssen kann man lesen, worin die BMW-Eselei besteht: Der Versuch einen Fehler zu vertuschen. Wie Mario Sixtus so schön schreibt: "Wie man als Projektleiter vermeidet, einen Fehler zuzugeben, indem man ihn mit einem noch größeren Fehler zu vertuschen sucht". Fehler? BMW hält das dagegen für einen Dienst am Kunden.

Und der Frank Patalong hat heute auch was geschrieben:

Die Hauptseiten von BMW finden sich bei Google derzeit ganz, ganz weit hinten im Verzeichnis (Bildunterschrift)

Das ist wie gewöhnlich knapp und auch meilenweit daneben. Google meint nämlich:

Es wurden keine mit Ihrer Suchanfrage - site:bmw.de - übereinstimmenden Dokumente gefunden.

Das ist so weit hinten, dass es gar nicht mehr drin ist.

Update: BMW steht wieder im Index. Und bei Spiegel Online steht immer noch dummes Zeugs.

Subject Prädikat Objekt

by Volker Weber

Neuer E-Plus-Chef wird Michael Krammer

Ich dachte, Michael Krammer wird neuer E-Plus-Chef. :-) Und heise online hat sogar noch einen zweiten Beitrag, diesmal von dpa.

VMware Introduces Free VMware Server

by Volker Weber

PALO ALTO, Calif., February 6, 2006 VMware, Inc., the global leader in virtual infrastructure software for industry-standard systems, today introduced VMware Server, a free new entry-level hosted virtualization product for Linux and Windows servers. The product is available as a beta download at www.vmware.com/products/server/.

More >

Flickr Logo Maker

by Volker Weber

volkr    webr

Pimp my Ubuntu

by Volker Weber

EasyUbuntu is an easy to use (duh!) script that gives the Ubuntu user the most commonly requested apps, codecs, and tweaks that are not found in the base distribution - all with a few clicks of your mouse.

EasyUbuntu is so easy to use in fact, that even your grandma could be playing encrypted dvds, streaming Windows Media, and sporting the latest Nvidia or Ati drivers in minutes! And yes, EasyUbuntu is GPL.

More >

[via schwaechling]

Cat wash

by Volker Weber

cat

Google death penalty - on probation

by Volker Weber

Now that BMW.de has been removed from the Google index, I hope that BMW removes those people from their workforce who have caused this mess.

Been there, done that. A former "enterprise" client has also demanded that their website ranks higher on search engines for very generic terms. Whatever snake oil the SEO gang tries to sell you, it never replaces substance: Publish excellent content, get involved, get linked to.

Update: BMW has removed the webspam and Google has put BMW.de back into the index.

Digg'n for the truth

by Cem Basman

Digg founder Kevin Rose in an interview:

We plan to add the ability to mark stories as false or inaccurate, so that other users can see they've been marked inaccurate.

Thank you, Kevin.

Zack

by Volker Weber

Hal Faber:

Nach den Kinderklappen und der Kunstklappe wäre ein Türchen ganz angebracht, durch das der größte Unsinn dieser Branche entsorgt werden kann. Nehmen wir nur das endlose Gerede vom Web 2.0, dass Die Ritter der Schwafelrunde von sich geben. Im Kern ist es nur ein gutes Geschäft, wenn eine Gefälligkeitsrezension eines Bloggers über die neue Software eines anderen Bloggers erscheinen kann. Da sollte man sich den Sermon über "Social Software" sparen und lieben von Web $,e reden.

More >

Langsam reicht's

by Volker Weber

Ein kurzer Blick in den Newsticker:

Karikaturen-Streit: Iran macht Israel für dänische Cartoons verantwortlich
Angst vor Übergriffen:Dänen holen weltweit ihre Flagge ein
Karikatur-Streit: Tote bei Angriff auf Isaf-Soldaten in Afghanistan
Cartoon-Streit: Iranische Zeitung plant Karikatur-Wettbewerb über Holocaust
Angst vor Übergriffen: Dänische Sportler verzichten auf Turniere in Arabien
Karikaturen-Streit: Demonstranten attackieren norwegische Nato-Soldaten
Karikaturen-Streit: Proteste weiten sich aus
Proteste gegen Karikaturen: Iran stoppt Handel mit Dänemark
Karikaturen-Streit: "Wir wollen muslimische Leser nicht beleidigen"
Karikatur-Proteste: Dänische Veranstalter sagen Reisen nach Nordafrika ab
Mohammed-Karikaturen: Iraner stecken deutsche Fahne in Brand
Mohammed-Karikaturen: Festnahmen nach Gewaltausbrüchen im Libanon
Ausschreitungen in Beirut: Libanesischer Innenminister tritt zurück
Protest gegen Cartoons: Brennende Botschaften und Antisemitismus
Karikaturenstreit: Dänische Botschaft in Beirut angezündet
Cartoon-Streit: Flächenbrand in der islamischen Welt
Karikaturenstreit: Pakistan bestellt deutschen Botschafter ein
Umstrittene Cartoons: Vatikan kritisiert Mohammed-Karikaturen
Abdruck der Mohammed-Karikaturen: Jordanischer Chefredakteur festgenommen
Mohammed-Karikaturen: Dänische Botschaft in Syrien in Brand gesetzt
Cartoon-Debatte: Maulhelden der Meinungsfreiheit
Mohammed-Cartoons: Das gefährliche Spiel mit der religiösen Inbrunst
Mohammed-Cartoons: Palästinenser greifen deutsche Vertretung in Gaza an
Mohammed-Karikaturen: Annan fordert Moslems zu Vergebung auf
Proteste gegen Mohammed-Karikaturen: Deutsche Botschaften verschärfen Sicherheitsvorkehrungen
Mohammed-Karikaturen: Zeichner mit dem Tode bedroht
Mohammed-Karikaturen: USA unterstützen Moslems
Mohammed-Cartoons: Jordanischer Chefredakteur wagt Abdruck der Karikaturen - und fliegt
Streit über Karikaturen: Dänische Regierung will sich nicht entschuldigen
Mohammed-Karikaturen: Muslime stürmen Dänemarks Botschaft in Jakarta
Karikaturen-Streit: Annan fordert Respekt vor Religionen
Mohammed-Karikaturen: Schäuble lehnt Entschuldigung ab
Streit um Mohammed-Karikaturen, Einen bedrohen, eine Million einschüchtern
Mohammed-Karikaturen: Europäische Union schließt Büro in Gaza
Karikaturen-Streit: Frankreich fürchtet neue Unruhen in den Banlieues
Karikatur-Streit: Missverständnis im Namen des Propheten
Mohammed-Karikaturen: "Das war es wert"
Mohammed-Karikaturen: Meinungsfreiheit in Zeiten des Internets
Streit um Mohammed-Karikaturen: Islamisten rufen zu Attacken gegen dänischen Zeitungsserver auf
Mohammed-Karikaturen: Dänische Muslime lehnen Entschuldigung ab
Skandinavien: Mohammed-Karikaturen sorgen weiter für Wirbel
Mohammed-Karikaturen: Wütender Protest von Muslimen, Entschuldigung von Dänen
Mohammed-Karikaturen sorgen für Proteste

Und das war noch nicht mal alles.

Statt die Vorurteile zu festigen, die in den Karikaturen überzeichnet wurden, sollten sich die Herrschaften mal einen Jesus-Film anschauen.

Attitude 2.0

by Cem Basman

How to pretend being inventive, younger, flexible and experimental. Roman Mittermayr unmasks the look and the style of web 2.0. Good reading. And step by step in detail >

Funny videos

by Volker Weber

We have not had funny videos in a while. So here are two new ones.

Getting closer

by Volker Weber

graph.png

Bildblog.de is by and large the most successful blog in Germany. But we are getting closer. :-)

Overheard

by Cem Basman

Guy A: Yahoo! has URLs longer than my penis.
Guy B: So they're 5 chars long?
Guy C: Yeah, but in CAPS.

Overheard at Valleywag >

Don't waste your time!

by Cem Basman

dontwasteyourtime

Some very simple old time productivity tools and truths by David Seah >

Suchen statt finden ...

by Cem Basman

Peter Glaser in Webwatching:

„Das Suchen hat in der Zwischenzeit einen religiösen Charakter angenommen. Die Leute wollen gar nicht mehr finden, sie wollen suchen.“

Peter Glaser, Jahrgang 1957, ist Schriftsteller, Journalist und Computerexperte. Er ist Mitglied im Chaos Computer Club und schrieb für die Magazine Datenschleuder, Konr@d und Tempo. Für seine Erzählung Geschichte von Nichts bekam er 2002 den Bachmann-Preis.

Erinnert mich an "Der Weg ist das Ziel" ... Ich gebe zu, dass das Stöbern in Datenhalden und Infoschlacken Spass macht. Und man hier und da mal ein Nugget findet. Das Wühlen an sich in Google, Yahoo aber auch vor allem in delicious kann zur Sucht ausarten. Ich lasse mich von Fundstücken gerne überraschen. Es ist manchmal wie auf dem Flohmarkt oder auch beim Sperrmüll. Ich gebe es ja zu.

Mehr über Peter Glaser >

New T-Shirt

by Volker Weber

you are so off my buddylist

"You are so off my buddylist". Thanks, Amy! Also sold my first "cold dead fish services express" last month. And Ken B. wants a "who the fuck is vowe dot net" shirt. :-)

Any more ideas?

Catch me here today

by Volker Weber

idc

Klingeltöne selber machen

by Volker Weber

Eine SMS an die Nummer soundso schicken - und schon hat man ein kostspieliges Klingelton-Abo am Hals. Zum Glück lassen sich Klingeltöne auch selbst erstellen - und das ab Mitte Februar sogar kostenlos. Die Softwarefirma Magix und das Bundesfamilienministerium veröffentlichen dazu eigens eine eigene Software im Netz.

More >

Teleshop

by Volker Weber

Hire better than yourself

by Volker Weber

Guy Kawasaki states the obvious:

In the Macintosh Division, we had a saying, "A player hire A players; B players hire C players" -- meaning that great people hire great people. On the other hand, mediocre people hire candidates who are not as good as they are, so they can feel superior to them. (If you start down this slippery slope, you'll soon end up with Z players; this is called The Bozo Explosion. It is followed by The Layoff.)

More >

MSFT: Our DRM licensing is there to eliminate hobbyists and little guys

by Volker Weber

... Just before me was the opening keynote, from Microsoft's Amir Majidimehr, Corporate VP of the Windows Digital Media Division, which oversees licensing and deployment of Microsoft's DRM.

Amir's presentation kept referring to Microsoft DRM as "open," which was curious, because it's actually the opposite of open. ...

The bombshell was Amir's explanation of the reason that his employer charges fees to license its DRM. According to Amir, the fee is not intended to recoup the expenses Microsoft incurred in developing their DRM, or to turn a profit. The intention is to reduce the number of licensors to a manageable level, to lock out "hobbyists" and other entities that Microsoft doesn't want to have to trouble itself with.

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New frames - again

by Volker Weber

model_184_foto.jpg

Remember the new frames I got a month ago? During our return flight from Orlando I noticed that the paint was coming off. So I went to the store Friday at noon and they immediately ordered new ones for me. Since I did not trust "gun-metal", a new color introduced this season, I did not want to try that one again. There were four other choices: chrome, black, tt-grey and matt-copper. I could rule out copper, and then could not decide between the other three. First I went for black, but then called in again an hour later when all of my friends recommended chrome.

So, chrome it was. I picked them up today and now I am very happy with them. Much nicer than gun-metal. It took less than five minutes to remove the lenses from the old frames and put them into the new ones. And there were no tools required to complete the task.

This picture is still valid. :-)

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