May 2006

Premium cat content

by Volker Weber

Spielplan der Fußball-WM als Excel-Vorlage

by Volker Weber

31.05.2006 - In Kürze startet die Fußball-WM mit dem Eröffnungsspiel in München. Damit ist es höchste Zeit, sich auf das wichtigste Sportereignis des Jahres vorzubereiten. Microsoft gibt hierzu eine Steilvorlage! Auf Office Online bietet das Unternehmen ab sofort eine Excel-Vorlage mit Spielplan und Vorrundentabellen an. ... Nach Eingabe der Spielergebnisse errechnet Excel automatisch die Gruppen-Tabellen und Teams, die sich für das Achtelfinale qualifizieren.

Alles sehr löblich. Allerdings muss man vor dem Download erst diesen Endbenutzer-Lizenzvertrag bestätigen:

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Europe's Worst Cuisines

by Esther Schindler

Iceland


Do you have a taste for rancid blue cheese, but find it can be improved by the added tang of rotten fish? Then try Iceland's great speciality, Hakarl - putrefied shark. Hungry Icelanders found that the uremic acid that renders raw Greenland shark inedible could be removed by burying the meat in gravel for a few months, producing a sort of piscine Jerky with an ammoniac stench so powerful it could blow the doors off a Transit van.

I think I'm glad they didn't come up with a list of American food's worst examples.


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An excuse ...

by Cem Basman

... to stop blogging.

0-800

by Ragnar Schierholz

Endlich sagt mal einer die Wahrheit über 0800er-Nummern:

gefunden im Zwiebelfischchen

Weird news of the day

by Volker Weber

An Australian man has been charged with causing bodily harm after he put a 13-month-old baby in a tumble dryer when she spilt a drink on herself.

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[Thanks, Mitch]

Amazing mermaids

by Cem Basman

Amazing mermaids

Created by Alberich Mathews >

Intranet-Redakteur in Bremen gesucht

by Volker Weber

Ein Freund sucht für einen Projekt einen freiberuflichen Redakteur. 3 Tage die Woche, Standort Bremen. Er soll selbstständig Tipps und Tricks, IT-Empfehlungen, Best Practices in der Verwendung von Office Tools, Lotus Notes, Mailmanagement, Papierloses Büro etc. erstellen.

Kurze Mail an mich genügt. Ich stelle den Kontakt her.

Overheard in New York

by Volker Weber

Woman #1: It's really small, you know, but the sex is wonderful.
Woman #2: You mean he's rich?
Woman #1: Yeah. Exactly.

--Union Square
Drunk girl: I want to call my boyfriend so I can have sex.
Random drunk guy: Well, save yourself a call and have sex with me.
Drunk girl: That makes sense.......ok!

--10th St & 3rd Ave

What a great feed. Loads of fun.

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Windows 2003 Terminalserver Hosting in Deutschland

by Volker Weber

Ich suche eine Hosting-Lösung für Windows 2003 Terminalserver. Statt den Server an einen von zwei Standorten zu stellen und dann für den anderen Standort einen schlechten ADSL Upstream nutzen zu müssen, würde ich den Server lieber in einem Rechenzentrum mit schneller Anbindung sehen. Bei 1&1 kann man Windows 2003 Server SE bekommen, aber enthält der auch Terminalserver?

Der Server soll eine Access-Anwendung hosten. Aktuell sind das sieben named users. Ich denke, eine Maschine mit 2GB RAM und RAID 1 würde reichen. Wer bietet sowas an?

Dinge, die die Welt nicht braucht...

by Ragnar Schierholz

Microsoft führt mit Vista ein neues Bildformat ein: Windows Media Photo. Wer braucht's? Abgesehen von Microsoft, um mal wieder einen Trend mit proprietärem Format zur Dominanz zu treiben: Niemand!

Vodafone Germany and RIM Introduce the UMTS-Enabled BlackBerry 8707v

by Volker Weber

8707vfront.jpg

In addition to supporting email, phone, text messaging, browser, organizer and corporate data applications, the UMTS-enabled BlackBerry 8707v can be used as a wireless modem to enable mobile users to access the Internet from their laptop. In addition, UMTS support enables users to simultaneously send and receive email, browse the Internet and use other applications while speaking on the phone, even while the handset is being used as a tethered modem.

OK. I want one. ;-)

On heavy rotation

by Volker Weber

klassiklounge4.jpg

Buckaroo, you've got mail. Klassik Lounge Werk 4 was in my inbox today. Thank you, Heiko. 20 minutes after opening the envelope the Sonos player had 216 meg of excellent music to index. All zones link to party mode, set the queue to repeat and off we go.

Sonos playing Klassik Lounge Werk 4

This is how it ought to be. 2.5 hours of excellent music, no stupid DRM, no Majors involved, artists benefit from the licenses. There is one store in Munich where you can buy it, or you can order from their website.

If you are not hooked on this music yet, listen to Klassik Lounge from 22:00 CET, which is 1pm PST or 4pm EST, Monday through Saturday.

Ferrari Designausstellung in Essen

by Volker Weber

Design- und Automobilinteressierten bietet sich vom 24. Mai bis zum 11. Juni 2006 die äußerst seltene Gelegenheit, einen Blick in die Zukunft von Ferrari zu werfen. Im Anschluss an die Vernissage am 23. Mai zeigt das red dot design museum in Essen als einzige Institution in Deutschland 20 von Ferrari prämierte Designstudien. Die Prototypen im Maßstab 1:4 sind das Ergebnis eines Designwettbewerbs, den der italienische Sportwagenhersteller an vier führenden internationalen Designhochschulen durchführte.

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[via design mattis]

Congratulations

by Volker Weber

t2000

Stefan eventually wins a T2000. Well, he actually earned it.

Microsoft und die Office-Presse

by Volker Weber

Das CIO Weblog nimmt eine Pressemitteilung der Computerbild auf und schreibt:

Computerzeitschriften, die eine Kopie von "Office Professional Plus 2007 Beta 2" auf ihren Heft-CDs oder -DVDs anbieten wollen, müssen einen bisher so noch nicht dagewesenen Vertrag unterschreiben. Kern dieser Vereinbarung: Microsoft bekommt vor Veröffentlichung einen Entwurf aller geplanten Artikel zur "Prüfung und Stellungnahme zur Verfügung gestellt". Bei etwaigen Änderungswünschen des Softwarekonzerns sollen die Redaktionen dann "kooperieren" und die empfohlenen Änderungen berücksichtigen. Ziel - so Microsoft - sei die Berichtigung von "Inkorrektheiten in Bezug auf die Produkte" und die Vermeidung einer "Herabsetzung von Microsoft und/oder jeglichen Produkten".

Der Autor spekuliert:

Die c't wird morgen "Office 2007" auf der Heft-CD drauf haben. Nun ist die Redaktion eigentlich dafür bekannt, dass sie zum Beispiel keine NDAs (Non Disclosure Agreements) der Softwarefirmen unterschreibt, mit denen eine Geheimhaltung von Infos bis zu einem bestimmten Termin gesichert werden soll. Aber wenn Microsoft bei der ComputerBild hart geblieben ist, werden sie wohl bei der c't keine Ausnahme gemacht haben.

Na, da bin ich mal gespannt. Egal, ob oder ob nicht: Ich erwarte keine besondere Zurückhaltung von c't gegenüber Microsoft. Das ist ohnehin eine ganz merkwürdige Sache. Gerade Microsoft war in der Vergangenheit extrem unbeeindruckt von "schlechter" Presse. Während andere Hersteller schon mal einschnappen, wenn sie nicht gut wegkommen, zur Not auch mit rechtlichen Schritten drohen, hat Microsoft sich stets professionell verhalten. Wenn sie hier wirklich eine Einflussnahme versuchen würden, dann wäre das ein deutliches Zeichen von Schwäche.

Eine interessante Stellungnahme von Christian Persson, Chefredakteur c't, zu diesem Vorgang: [Danke, Olaf]

Der Herausgabe dieser CD ist eine kritische Diskussion zwischen Microsoft und etlichen deutschen Fachverlagen vorausgegangen. Ein Anlass dieser Diskussion war die Tatsache, dass Microsoft bei der Herausgabe des XP Service Pack 2 ein einzelnes Computermagazin bevorzugt bedient hat. Es wurde dadurch in die Lage versetzt, die CD früher als alle anderen beizulegen und so seine verkaufte Auflage drastisch zu steigern.

Ich erkenne da Parallelen, die schon Jürgen Klinsmann zu spüren bekommen hat: 'Entweder wir bekommen Exklusivinformationen, oder ...' Klinsmann hat sich für 'oder' entschieden. Microsoft anscheinend auch.

Unabhängig von dieser Kampagne erwarte ich übrigens, dass Office 2007 ziemlich gut wird. Ich freue mich, dass Microsoft völlig neue Wege bei der Benutzeroberfläche geht. Und ich denke, das wird entweder ein ganz großer Erfolg, oder aber der totale Reinfall. Wenn sich die Kunden nicht auf diese Neuerungen einlassen.

Software on my Nokia N70

by Volker Weber

The Nokia N70 is pretty complete with the preloaded software. It comes with a mail client which supports the IMAP Idle command, so your email gets "pushed" when you are online. If you install the memory card you will also find that the N70 has Opera pre-installed, which beats the S60 browser any day. But there are still a few applications I need to install:

What am I missing? A Skype client.

FIFA Worldcup timetable as iCal subscription

by Volker Weber

The nice thing about Apple's iCal is that you can subscribe to calendars that others will keep updated for you, such as the FIFA Worldcup timetable, complete with links to the venues.

Quote of the day

by Volker Weber

I am not a Vegetarian. I'm a Dessertarian.
— Calvin (from Calvin & Hobbes)

Looking for a naked theme

by Volker Weber

No, not naked ladies. A Nokia N70 theme without any decorations, no backgrounds. Just plain white background, black fonts, blue accents. There are hundreds of unusable themes for download, but there is no way to switch them off.

In a futile attempt to create a naked theme, I downloaded a 70++ meg file from Nokia, which installs a theme studio that loads a 300++ meg Java VM. It even lets me create an empty theme, but then I cannot create the .SIS file to install it.

I seem to be the only person on this planet who just wants a readable screen.

Update: David suggests a dark theme (download):

n70darktheme.png n70darkthememail.png

It's not bad at all and goes nicely with the design of the phone, but I still want the opposite (white background) and I like it!

N70 drops off the network in dual mode

by Volker Weber

nokia n70

After six weeks, everything is nice and dandy with the Nokia N70. Everything but one very annoying deal breaker: If the phone is in "dual mode", which means it connects to GSM/GPRS or UMTS (3G) networks, then it so happens that the phone becomes unavailable. There is no indication of this failure. The display shows you are on the network, but nobody can reach you and you cannot place calls. The calling party gets the standard "The person you called is temporarily not available" message while you don't hear a thing after placing a call.

This has happened twice so far, and I have found other people mentioning this problem on the E-Plus and O2 networks, but so far not on T-Mobile and Vodafone. Which suggests, that this is more of a UMTS than a phone problem.

You can place the phone in GSM only mode and it works without a problem. Changing the mode from GSM only to dual mode or back reboots the phone. This is what I am doing now. Software revision is 5.0609.2.0.1.

Any insights?

Puppy vs. Sonos controller - Puppy wins

by Volker Weber

Just found this photo on Flickr, along with a letter from Sonos:

Hi,

We saw the puppy vs Sonos photo – very sad ;)

Sonos will replace this controller for our standard repair charge of $100. Just call support @ 800-680-2345 if you’d like to get the process moving.


Best, Chris.

--

Chris Fowler
Sonos, Inc.
Director, Customer Support and Operations

Sounds like a very reasonable offer.

From the "Amazing Company Names" department

by Volker Weber

cps

What's on your iPod?

by Volker Weber

This is an interesting study by Paul Lamere:

Have you ever wondered what is on all of those iPods out there? I did a little study of some iPod data graciously provided by Mark Young of the iTunes Registry. The iTunes registry is a site where folks upload their iTunes usage data and see all sorts of aggregate statistics about what genres, artists and songs are popular. I was interested in looking at individual iPod usage patterns. This iTunes registry data was perfect for this. It had data for over 5,600 iPod users (anonymized of course). Now obviously this isn't exactly scientific. These were self-selecting users, who were geeky enough to want to upload their iTunes data to a website. They are probably not your typical iPod user (but its the best data I have). Here's what I found:

Read the whole post. I come to a different conclusion: An iPod does not need more than 10 gig of storage. Currently the 4 gig Nano might be your best choice.

[via Janko]

Reading vowe.net can be expensive

by Volker Weber

This is a small "tongue in cheek" post. My friend Schweppes has always said, that it can be quite expensive to know me. On the other hand Stefan can attest that you can save and even make quite some money because of the same thing.

Today I heard that another friend has just bought a Sonos starter pack. This pushes the number of Sonos players bought after reading my review to 22. And those are only the ones I know of. I also know four people who are sitting on the fence to buy in, three of them looking at four players each.

Consider yourself warned.

Comparison USA-Germany

by Volker Weber

I found this comparison of stereotypes via Wolfgang's blog:

There are many stereotypes in Germany about life in the United States. Here I will try to compare these stereotypes to the reality in the US as I perceive it. In this comparison, I will also portrait the situation in Germany so that Americans might learn something about my country and Germans have something to criticize.

It is an interesting read, and a quite comprehensive one. There is one thing I found particularly interesting, where the author states about Americans:

People generally look down on smokers as losers.

Is this true? Smokers do not need to reply. ;-)

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Tools update

by Volker Weber

Apple updates Xcode to version 2.3, and my favorite text editor SubEthaEdit gets lots and lots of new features in version 2.5.

Microsoft Deutschland verfehlt Prognose

by Volker Weber

Hamburg, 23. Mai 2006 - Microsoft-Deutschland-Chef Jürgen Gallmann hat seine Wachstumsprognose für das laufende Geschäftsjahr, das am 30. Juni 2006 endet, verfehlt. Wie das manager magazin (Erscheinungstermin: 24. Mai 2006) berichtet, hat Gallmann in der ersten Hälfte des laufenden Fiskaljahres die angekündigten 11 bis 13 Prozent Umsatzplus nicht erreicht. Laut unternehmensinternen Quellen soll nicht einmal die Hälfte der prognostizierten Werte erzielt worden sein. Auch im gerade abgelaufenen dritten Quartal soll Gallmanns Truppe hinter den Erwartungen zurückgeblieben sein. Laut mm erklärt eine Unternehmenssprecherin zu den Zahlen: "Microsoft Deutschland ist zuversichtlich, das selbst gesteckte Ziel für dieses Fiskaljahr wie auch in den vergangenen Jahren zu erreichen."

[Quelle]

Yosemite

by Volker Weber


Photo Simon Phipps

This picture looks like a scene for a Bob Ross painting ("happy little trees"). But Yosemite really is that beautiful. Thanks for the memories, Simon.

Skype WLAN phone in July

by Volker Weber

skypephoneinjuly.png

We talked about the Netgear Skype phone before. Now Skype is listing it as available in July:

Coming July 2006... NETGEAR’s Skype WiFi Phone is the world’s first wireless Internet phone that can make free calls to other Skype users anywhere in the world, anytime you have WiFi access, without a PC.

Read the fine print in the picture above: 210 € inkl. MWSt or ¢ 140 VAT incl., depending on your shop. It also says Available in USA 250$. If you look into the US Shop however, it says $300 (minus 1 ct).

In any case, it slipped to the third quarter. Can't wait to test one.

Base Telefon- und Internet-Flat auf einer SIM-Karte

by Volker Weber

baseaufeinerkarte.png

Ich wusste gar nicht, dass das geht, und bin erst durch einen Kommentar von Christian Just aufmerksam geworden: Während man ursprünglich bei Base immer zwangsweise zwei SIM-Karten nutzen musste (1x Telefonflat, 1x Internetflat), kann man nun auswählen, dass beide Tarife über eine SIM-Karte laufen. Damit läßt sich Base jetzt wunderbar mit einem UMTS-Telefon einsetzen, das nebenbei als UMTS-Modem genutzt wird.

Wenn man sich überlegt, dass der Internet-Zugang in den Hotels, die ich in den letzten vier Wochen bewohnt habe, zwischen 10 und 18 Euro für 24 Stunden kostet, ist das ein guter Deal. 50 Euro im Monat und dann soviel Internetnutzung und Telefonate ins Festnetz wie man will.

Sehr nett

by Volker Weber

Das habe ich heute zufällig gefunden. Und habe mich natürlich gefreut wie Bolle:

Volker ist ein offener, freundlicher und sinnenfroher Zeitgenosse, der darüber hinaus ein großartiger Redner ist. Seine unkomplizierte, pointierte und heitere Art nimmt jeden Zuhörer mit und trägt dazu bei, dass von seinem Beitrag tatsächlich ein paar mehr Punkte hängen bleiben - Aufmerksamkeit und Gedächtnis sind nun mal knappe Güter.

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Plazes

by Volker Weber

plazesbuddies.png

While is was travelling heavily in the last four weeks, Plazes has always been a good companion. My friends knew where I was, and I could discover whether any of the colleagues had already signed in. If you have not looked in a while, please revisit. Martin's launcher for Plazes has always been excellent, but there is also a good Plazer for Windows.

If you want to join Plazes — it's free — send me an email and I will reply with an invite. This might earn me some worthless KarmaPoints. ;-)

Update: This is all about the network effect. If you can't convince your friends to use it, or if you don't have any, then a service like this does not make any sense. But if you can get them online, it can be of great benefit. I have one friend who constantly moves between three European cities and it is nice to know when he happens to be here.

Hot stuff

by Volker Weber

As much as I like the new Macbook, I am going to stick it out with my iBook G4 until Apple gets to the second revision. I am mostly concerned with the excessive heat reported in various reviews. I have no idea whether it heats up because of the Intel processors, or because Apple does not use the proper amount of thermal paste (Picture 1 and Picture 2).

I also don't like the fact that Apple delivers the machine with no open memory slot. You get two 256 MB modules that you have to throw away to either buy two 512 MB chips, or better yet two 1024 MB modules. A proper machine with 2GB/120 GB, DVD-writer, Mini-DVI-to-VGA adapter and AppleCare sells for 2337 Euro in white and a whopping 2497 in black. At the low end you could have 1GB/60GB, CD-writer, Mini-DVI-to-VGA adapter and AppleCare for 1507 Euro.

Don't even think about saving the 309 Euro on AppleCare for this toaster oven.

Hamburg

by Volker Weber

This was the first serious shot with the new lens. I shall be using it a lot from now on.

Vorfreude

by Volker Weber

Nach zwei Monaten Nabelschau, sechs Wochen Referrer-Sammeln, Pagerank Zero und zigtausend Besuchern, die durch die leeren Hallen bummelten, geht es jetzt hoffentlich los: Johnny und Max übernehmen in Kürze die Mobile-Macs.de in den Spreeblick-Verlag. O2 bleibt Sponsor, und Spreeblick gibt hoffentlich Gas. W-e-n-n   d-a-n-n   m-a-l   d-i-e   Ü-b-e-r-g-a-b-e   e-n-d-l-i-c-h   d-u-r-c-h   i-s-t.

Lieber Gott, gib mir Geduld. Aber rasch!

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Die Amis wissen mehr als wir...

by Cem Basman

The man behind the curtain: Stefan Rubner. Danke für den exquisiten Hinweis per E-Mail.

Der Grösste oder der Beste

by Cem Basman

Am Freitag als Volker, Björn und ich in Hamburg an der Elbkante am Hafen einen Lunch nahmen, habe ich folgende Business-These aufgestellt:

Entweder man ist der Grösste oder der Beste in seinem Beruf. Dazwischen ist Mittelmass und da kann man auf Dauer nicht bestehen. Und beides gleichzeitig schafft keiner wirklich. Man muss sich also entscheiden, was man anstreben will.

Der "Beste" zu sein ist nicht billig. Man ist gezwungen immer ein Stückchen weiter zu sein im Knowhow als die anderen. Aber auch nicht zu weit vorneweg, da es dafür wiederum auch (noch) keinen Markt gibt. Also immer eine Nasenlänge vor "time-to-market". Man muss also viel Zeit und Ressourcen investieren in die Weiterbildung, Zeit und Ressourcen, die man nicht fakturieren kann. Deshalb die höheren Honorare, die man dann verlangen muss, um mindestens konstendeckend zu sein. Das Risiko des "Besten" ist immer, dass es einen "noch Besseren" gibt. Oder aber der Fokus des Marktes kann in ein anderes Fachgebiet abwandern und man könnte dabei diese Entwicklung verpassen, weil man sich vielleicht seiner Sache zu sicher war oder man kurzfristig keine Ressourcen aufbringen kann, um mit der Marktänderung Schritt zu halten. Das letztere ist dabei sicher das häufigere Risiko. OK, der "Beste" zu sein oder zu werden ist legitim und macht auch Spass. Ich kenne das.

Jetzt interessiert mich momentan aber "Grösse" mehr: Die McDonaldisierung von IT Dienstleistungen.

Bored?

by Volker Weber

This should keep you busy for a while. :-)

New lens

by Volker Weber

85mm 1.8

This is my favorite Nikon lens so far. 85 mm 1:1.8 AF D. We borrowed (an older) one for Lotusphere and Ute used it extensively for all indoor shots at the opening session. We finally have our own.

The week in review

by Volker Weber

Monday: Took the early train to Karlsruhe and already met the first DNUG participant in Darmstadt Hauptbahnhof. Then joined up with Oliver at Karlsruhe Hauptbahnhof and after a quick trip on the tram checked into the Dorint Hotel and finally the conference. This is always an incredible experience since I seem to know at least half of the people there. Think: Coming home. I went to Bob's first session and picked up the lens he had brought over. Bob had not yet warmed up his presentation skills, and the session went along with lots of small anecdotes and a few trick questions. ;-) In the afternoon I attended the two hour keynote with Mike Rhodin, Craig Hayman, Ron Sebastian and Surjit Chana. This was the first time I ever listened to Surjit, and frankly, I was disappointed. Ron was excellent as ever. He is always entertaining and he demoes the stuff that the audience likes to hear. The SAP news was very well received as was the Open Document announcement. Everybody talked without tele prompter which was a nice enhancement from Lotusphere. I had a short interview with Mike after the keynote, and I have never seen him so relaxed and confident before. Neither offensive, nor defensive, just very well balanced. He was even able to give short answers. ;-) The conference day ended with a welcome reception and hardly any food, followed by a VIP dinner with excellent food. Was among the last people to leave the room and went to bed past midnight.

Mike Rhodin

Tuesday: Slow start in the morning, breakfast with Marco and then went to Lothar Seiwert's presentation about work life balance. I am pretty sure that I already live what he teaches. Nevertheless, the session was informative, with a little bit too much magician wannabe. In the afternoon I moderated a track with five session by Bob Balaban, Chris Reckling, Hardy Groeger, Maureen Leland, and Rocky Oliver. While the sessions were interesting, I also had to do my day job writing up some stories for my publisher, so I could not pay that much attention. Maureen was really sweet and got good feedback on her efforts to port Domino Designer to Eclipse. All of the sessions were well received, but Rocky was having a blast. He ran 30 minutes over time in the evening, and nobody complained. Code talks. The evening ended with a nice party at a Brauhaus in Karlsruhe with Alex, Carin, Frank, Kai and Oliver. Very entertaining. Walked all the way home to the Dorint and — before I could hit the bed — noticed that vowe.net was hosed. Something broke at 1&1, and while I was trying to fix it, I broke something else.

Wednesday: In the morning I called a friend at 1&1 and he in turn called in the cavalry to fix my site. They fixed it while I was in the shower. ;-) After a late breakfast I went to the lab, talked to Heidi, Maureen, Mary Beth and Rocky. One of my take-aways: Hannover is going to fix a lot of odd things in the user interface, but not nearly enough. I would like it to be more radical. One of the things I was hoping for is simplification, and there are still too many ways to get things done. The inbox view is still way too crowded. The other thing that Lotus really should be doing is copying the Outlook way of presenting mail categorized by date as "Today, Yesterday, ...". Yes, I know this can be done, and many customers have done it, and the final product is still a year away. But I have talked to the people who actually plan the product. At noon I hopped on the train to Hamburg, where I was joined by Frank and Oliver. We had a nice chat, but then I dozed off to catch some much needed sleep. While the weather was quite warm in Karlsruhe, it was chilly in Hamburg. I had an hour to get acquainted at the Sofitel in Hamburg — my favorite hotel by quite a margin — and then we did the pre-conference check for our last hop of the Heise Security conference. All of the support staff was as professional as you can get, and we finished on time. Went to bed after a nice evening dinner with the crew and had a good night's sleep. I was very happy with the large room I had secured with a charm initiative on check-in.

Sofitel Hamburg Sofitel Hamburg

Thursday: After an excellent breakfast with waffles and champagne (!) we kicked off the conference, which went very well. While the other speakers were holding their sessions I was able to hang around in the hotel. I had hoped for some nice weather for a short walk around the city center, but it was raining almost all day long. On the upside, you can hardly find a better place to spend a rainy day then this hotel. If you ever stay there, do not forget to check out the wonderful spa. My session in the afternoon went well, the audience was a little bit more reserved than in the other locations (as expected in Hamburg) but I was still able to get some good laughs. The feedback was positive, but on the other hand, have you ever have seen anybody walk up to insult the speaker. :-) Wrote two more pieces for my publisher and then closed the day with a get-together with our guests, and then finally cocktails at the bar with Joerg and Stefan. The rest of the gang went out and did not return until the early morning.

Sofitel Hamburg

Friday: This was the day off that I had planned for. After a late breakfast, Katharina came to visit me at the hotel and we had a good two hours talk. Then Cem picked me up and took me out for lunch with Bjoern, who is about to hand over Mobile-Macs.de to Johnny. Cem and Bjoern dropped me off at Bahnhof Dammtor where I had a good hour until the train left for Frankfurt. Currently I am on ICE 673 to Frankfurt and shall return home within two hours.

This concludes a month of travel and I am very, very happy to be home tonight. Normal posting on vowe.net shall commence after a short break.

Steve has been to the Louvre

by Volker Weber

User groups

by Volker Weber

This posting is not going to be particularly popular with Ben, but I have to ask this question:

What is the difference between a Notes User Group and a Notes User Group? One of them does not seem to belong.

Microsoft to Acquire Whale Communications

by Volker Weber

REDMOND, Wash. - May 18, 2006 - Microsoft Corp. today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Whale Communications Ltd., a leading provider of secure access products, including secure sockets layer (SSL) virtual private networks (VPN) and Web application firewalls.

More>

[via elbewerk]

Zeit

by Cem Basman

Ich weiss heute schon, dass wenn ich vielleicht so alt sein werde wie meine Mutter, wahrscheinlich genauso wenig auf meine Kinder hören werde wie sie.

Und ich weiss auch, dass ich nicht mehr wissen werde, dass ich das heute schon weiss.

Das ist ganz leicht

by Volker Weber

Ein Apple Support-Dokument:

Sind Sie sich nicht sicher, wie Sie Ihren iMac G5 anheben und transportieren sollen? Das ist ganz leicht.

Bevor Sie Ihren Computer bewegen, stellen Sie sicher, dass alle Kabel abgezogen sind.

Heben Sie den iMac G5 an, indem Sie ihn an beiden Seiten fassen. Tragen Sie ihn dann an den gewünschten Standort.

Apple hilft auch in schwierigen Fällen.

Was ist schon ein Notfall?

by Ragnar Schierholz

Wenn man dem dem Bericht des ARD Magazins Monitor Glauben schenkt, dann sind die streikenden Ärzte gerade dabei, sich alle verbliebene Sympathie zu verspielen.

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Reichensteuer-Mentalität

by Volker Weber

Lufthansa-Chef Wolfgang Mayrhuber hat eine "zunehmende Reichensteuer-Mentalität" in Deutschland beklagt. Die Luftfahrt leide besonders unter der Genehmigungsbürokratie, sagte er am Mittwoch bei der Hauptversammlung des Unternehmens in Köln. "Während wir Anhörungshallen aufstellen, werden in Dubai Großflughäfen gebaut."

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Free Blackberry Enterprise Server with 10 CALs for Lotus Domino

by Volker Weber

If you have a small company, you can now deploy up to 10 BlackBerrys for free with your Domino Server, while enjoying the comfort and security of a BlackBerry Enterprise Server. How cool is that? You can buy 5 additional licenses or upgrade to the minimal 20 licences of the regular offering.

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Site news: SNAFU

by Volker Weber

Last night something went terribly wrong. First, you would only get 403 errors, then all pages one directory level up from root don't display correctly since the includes don't work.

It turned out that I caused the second error when trying to fix the first. Since the first error was not in my domain, I couldn't. Now everything is back to normal.

Time and again it proves that the second error is worse than the first one. If your car skids and you take corrective action, it is usually that action that makes you leave the road. :-)

Dümmster anzunehmender Spamversender

by Cem Basman

Eben in meinem Spameingang:

Lesen Sie unseren Suchmaschinen Ratgeber! Wir verraten Ihnen die Insider Tricks damit Ihre Webseite www.gmail.com bei Google und Yahoo auf der ersten Seite landet! Profitieren Sie von unserem Know-How und finden Sie heraus, warum Ihre Konkurrenz bei Google vor Ihnen landet!

Landen auch Sie in Zukunft auf den Top 10 der großen Suchmaschinen!

FAX-Abruf: 0042 - 36 ** ** ** **

Meine Webseite www.gmail.com? FAX-Abruf? Dass Sie diesen Dummsinn auch noch mit vollem Namen abgezeichnet haben, macht das Ganze auch nicht besser, Herr Finke "Herr Finke" aus der Schweiz Liechtenstein Korea China Brasilien ...

Update: Spurenverfolgung ...

Statement

by Cem Basman

More >

Steve Ballmer sells Windows

by Volker Weber

[Thanks, Jörg-Stefan]

Diamond-covered Mercedes SL

by Cem Basman

DiamondSL

Yes, it is expensive to look cheap >

Jan kocht WM-Rezepte

by Volker Weber

Diese Seite ist eine Übersichtsseite zu meinem Projekt Jan kocht WM-Rezepte. MIt dieser Aktion begleite ich die Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft 2006 in Deutschland kulinarisch: Zu jedem der 64 Spiele veröffentliche ich jeweils ein Rezept pro spielendem Land. Dazu kommen Zusatzrezepte, so dass ich insgesamt etwas über 150 verschiedene Rezepte veröffentlichen werde.

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What's wrong with "Lotus"?

by Volker Weber

Among the speakers is Michael Rhodin, General Manager, Workplace, Portal and Collaboration (WPLC) Software, who will be one of two keynote speakers for the conference. Rhodin became General Manager in August of last year, which means for many attendees, this will be the first opportunity to hear the new executive talk about the direction of collaborative software. His talk is billed, “Future Insights: The Road Just Ahead."

Following Rhodin to the speaker's platform will be Craig Hayman, the Vice President of Development and Technical Support for WPLC. Hayman will speak on the future of collaboration.

Is "Lotus" being replaced by the powerful new brand "WPLC"?

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More travel ahead

by Volker Weber

dnug24

This is the big week. First stop Karlsruhe für DNUG, then Hamburg for the last leg of our Heise Security tour. Looking forward to seeing lots and lots of people. If you see me, don't be shy. I am there to talk to you.

Thank you for your kind words

by Volker Weber

bdaywishes06.png

Thank you all for you birthday wishes. The Blackberry never stopped blinking on this day. I also have to thank you for all the kind emails and instant messages I received. I'll try to answer them all.

Mehr als

by Volker Weber

Das Schiff kann mehr als 2600 Menschen an Bord nehmen - mehr als 1250 Menschen sind für die Betreuung der Gäste zuständig. Das Schiff wiegt mehr als 151.000 Tonnen.

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Blogging from Microsoft Word 2007

by Volker Weber

Word is a great tool for writing stuff, right? Blogging is all about communicating with words (and pictures, too). So, why not use Word to write your blog posts?

Before you jump to the comments section, read the whole post. I like the idea.

It's "Make your own caption" time

by Volker Weber

jump

Explore: IT Outsourcing

by Cem Basman

Gartner says:

The IT service market will grow to $760 billion by 2009, with more IT services purchased as part of an outsourcing arrangement than on a one-off project basis.

The business side of the industry rules what's happening in the end. Not the gadgets and technological gimmicks. And there is no business 2.0, btw.

Recently I have startet a little blog. Well, currently it's rather a scrapbook of press clippings and other material than a blog. But it's evolving I hope. Explore: IT Outsourcing is a place where I collect news and information in German and English about the industry, best practices in business and delivery services in IT outsourcing.

This is a personal site even if its topic is my professional life. I'm blogging this information for my permanent education and to keep myself up-to-date with the market and with the emerging knowledge and experiences in the domain. I've just used Wordpress.com as platform for the blog because it was there, it was hosted, it was easy to start, and I liked the templates. Simple as that. This may change over time ...

So, if you are also interested in IT outsourcing, feel free to join the conversation and make the world richer.

Launch2Net

by Volker Weber

This week was the first time that I used the Nokia N70 as a UMTS modem. While it is pretty simple to setup the phone to sync dates and contacts with a Mac, using it as a modem is pretty tricky. You will have to find the correct modem script and set a bunch of parameters.

Launch2Net to the rescue. This product from Novamedia will recognize your phone or data card, figure out all the parameters it needs to connect to your provider. And then you only have to click on Connect or Disconnect. As simple as that.

I think the interface is kind of weird. Case in point: Check out the green marble in the lower right hand corner. However, I have used it twice this week on the train to and from Leipzig and it has worked as advertised. Recommended.


Mixed Tape 12 is out

by Volker Weber

mixedtape12-769452.jpg

Liars

by Volker Weber

T-Mobile UK believes VoIP isn't sufficiently consistent or capable of providing calls of a high enough quality calls to be allowed into its mobile phone network, the carrier said to day in response to revelations it has effectively banned the technology from its latest data-oriented airtime package.

However, the company did say it is considering allowing the use of instant messaging on its network "later in the year". For now, though, IM is likewise off-limits to the company's customers.

How hard is it to say "We need to protect our profits from voice calls and SMS" ?

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Forty Eight

by Volker Weber

Do I smell birthday cake

Call for participation

by Volker Weber


"Clickstream Project" user study

Dear Sir/Madam,

At Fraunhofer IPSI we are conducting an online user study on the topic of "Surfing behavior in the Internet". You can participate by surfing the net for us and maybe you will even learn a thing or two about the world of movies. All in all, this will not take more than 10 minutes of your time.

Should you be interested, click on the link below to start:

http://www.ipsi.fraunhofer.de/~dkoch/

Questions will be answered by David Koch

Thank you for your time,

David Koch

Intriganten, Bluffer, Kollaborateure, Diebe, Schwätzer und Klugscheisser

by Cem Basman

Thomas Leif ist kritischer Journalist und Chefreporter Fernsehen beim SWR in Mainz und Vorsitzender des Netzwerk Recherche e.V.. Die Frankfurter Rundschau Online veröffentlichte heute auszugsweise einen Text aus seinem Buch Beraten und verkauft. Einem Buch über grosse Beratungsunternehmen und ihre Geschäftspraktiken. Thomas Leif stellt den Kinseys, Accentures, Roland Bergers kein gutes Zeugnis aus. Hier die Kurzfassung seiner Top Ten Thesen:

1. Berater scheuen die Öffentlichkeit wie der Teufel das Weihwasser.

2. Berater sind heute vor allem professionelle Wissens-Recycler, geschickte Informationsbeschaffer aus dem Wissensfonds und Erfahrungsschatz ihrer Kunden sowie geniale Vereinfacher von vermeintlich komplizierten Prozessen.

3. Berater für Unternehmen oder den öffentlichen Sektor werden vor allem eingekauft, weil man ihre Hebelfunktion und ihre Rücksichtslosigkeit bei den gewünschten Reformen oder Restrukturierungen nutzen will.

4. Die Auftraggeber kaufen Akzeptanz, Legitimation und Loyalität. Berater übernehmen oft das Coaching für Manager in den Vorstandsetagen.

5. Das größte Defizit der Berater besteht in der Operationalisierung der erarbeiteten Lösungen.

6. Zum erfolgreichen Geschäftsmodell gehören der rasche Wechsel der Mitarbeiter innerhalb der Berater-Branche und die Jobrotation in der Wirtschaft.

7. Die Berater arbeiten mit Nachdruck und Erfolg an der "Magie" der eigenen Branche.

8. In den Beratungsfirmen herrscht ein modernes System der Ausbeutung.

9. Das "Up or out"-Prinzip ist ein Druck- und Überwachungsinstrument. Jeder wird im engmaschigen Netz der Befragungen potenziell informeller Mitarbeiter.

10. Der Beratungskomplex in Deutschland ist noch ein perfekt gehütetes Geheimnis, aber der Mythos der Branche bröckelt.

Grösstenteils kann ich dieses Sündenregister nach über dreissig Berufsjahren als Unternehmer und Berater bestätigen. Das machte heute meinen Tag.

Video upload to YouTube from mobile phone

by Volker Weber

Mobile Upload makes it possible for you to upload videos to YouTube directly from your mobile phone. To get started, click on "Create Mobile Profile."

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Wer findet den Fehler?

by Volker Weber


Am 15.04.2006 wird das IBM Lotus Technical Forum 2006 den FUTUREINSIGHT Day veranstalten. Diese einzigartige Veranstaltung wird spannende und inhaltsreiche Informationen bieten, präsentiert von Top Executives und Mitarbeitern von IBM Lotus. Zu den Hauptrednern gehören: General Manager Mike Rhodin, Vice-President Development & Technical Support, Craig Hayman, und Senior Technical Consultant, Ron Sebastian.

Die Eröffnungsveranstaltung ist für alle registrierten DNUG Besucher kostenlos.

Melden Sie sich noch heute entweder zum kostenlosen Future in Sight Day am 15.04.2006 oder für die gesamte DNUG Konferenz: IBM Lotus Technical Forum 2006 vom 15. -17.04.2006 in Karlsruhe an.

Update: IBM hat den Fehler dann doch noch gefunden. :-)

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Can an unconfirmed, rumored event actually be delayed?

by Volker Weber

Engadget nicely sums up the Apple rumor mill:

As recently as yesterday, the rumor mill was turning with discussions of the MacBook, Apple's Core Duo-based successor to the iBook, which was said to be coming today. However, yesterday also brought us the first inklings of a "delay" (can an unconfirmed, rumored event actually be delayed?), via AppleInsider. Today, ThinkSecret joined the delay party, and reported that due to "supply issues," the launch was postponed at the "last minute," and the new laptop won't show up until next Tuesday. We suspect that Apple never planned to launch it today in the first place; after all, the company doesn't like to share the limelight, and launching today would have forced it to vie for coverage with the likes of Microsoft and Nintendo. Still, we can't help but feel sorry for anyone who shows up at tomorrow's CompUSA seminar on the "new iBooks" -- not to mention the poor schlub who actually has to push last year's models as the "go-anywhere digital solution."

"Can an unconfirmed, rumored event actually be delayed?" Only in the Apple parallel universe.

Site news: Time stamps in RSS feeds fixed

by Volker Weber

Today I finally fixed a problem in my RSS feeds that has existed ever since vowe.net existed. During DST the feeds where showing the wrong time for posts and comments. I was using <$MTBlogTimezone$> which does not account for the DST offset. Now I installed this plugin and changed the markup for dates/times to:

<dc:date><$MTEntryDate format="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S"$>
<$MTDaylightOrStandard daylight="+02:00" standard="+01:00"$>
</dc:date>

This is not perfect, since time stamps are generated with the wrong offsets the day after a DST switch for older entries, but it is good enough. The feeds will now show the correct times in your own time zone, and the site itself continues to show local times for Germany.

Just in time

by Volker Weber

Sie Gelbwurst, Sie

by Volker Weber

09052006032.jpg

Und ich les noch "Leberwerte"

by Volker Weber

labourwerte.png

... aber die werden ja auch nicht durch Umfrage bestimmt.

Made to break

by Volker Weber

Hanno sent me a link to this interesting interview with Giles Slade. I listened to it on my way to Wiesbaden today. You may have heard most of the things in this interview elsewhere, but I found some statements quite interesting:

I did not know when and why single use goods where invented. Did you?

More >

Do you know what you agreed to?

by Volker Weber

Somehow this slipped over the weekend, but it's never too late to post.

Of course you did not read the license agreement, that Microsoft presents when you install Windows XP Home. Now read this translation into plain english and shudder. Amongst the things you agreed to are:

Did you notice you don't agree to any such things when you install Ubuntu?

No SIP in Sametime 7.5?

by Volker Weber

I know this is an awful slide. The boxes represent components that make up the "next" Sametime client. But this slide contains an interesting piece of information: "SIP ... not supported in Sametime 7.5". What does this mean beyond "no voice"?

Trusted?

by Volker Weber

Since Karsten has mentioned it.

[Thanks, Alper]

Pretty Planet

by Ragnar Schierholz

Over the last days, it was about four times that I received an email with this subject or a variation of it: Pretty Planet. Attached was a slideshow showing some awesome space pictures of our Mother Earth. Now someone put them together on a webpage: And it's a really pretty planet.

I don't think there's much of Swiss Alps to see in the so labeled picture, but nonetheless, they are all plain beautiful.

Bill is watching you

by Volker Weber

More travel ahead

by Volker Weber

jax2006      heisec

JAX 2006 kicks off tomorrow in Wiesbaden, Germany. Wednesday is a day off, Thursday another Heise Security conference, this time in Leipzig. I think I will take a day off Friday and do some sightseeing there. Any hints?

Next week there is DNUG and the last Heise conference in Hamburg. More on that later ...

Blue sky over Darmstadt

by Volker Weber

vowe is a conference sponsor

by Volker Weber

Paul Mooney is putting together a conference for the Irish Lotus User Group and was having difficulties finding sponsors. Last week I had the opportunity to help him out. Now I am a conference sponsor.

And IBM isn't.

Update: I am happy to report, that IBM is now a sponsor.

Why we fight - A political documentary

by Volker Weber

Strenge Sitten

by Cem Basman

Gummistiefel

Heute mit der Familie einen Tagesausflug zu den Krabbenpulern gemacht. In den öffentlichen Sanitärräumen hinterm Deich legt man dort allergrössten Wert auf Etikette und Anstand.

PS: Die Bedienung im Restaurant sah aus wie das Ebenbild von Gwyneth Paltrow. Habe es ihr gesagt. Hat ihr mächtig geschmeichelt. Den Trick muss ich mir merken ...

Knapp über 30

by Volker Weber

spon060505.png

Knapp über 30? Nicht schlecht. Da ich auch nur 98 Tage älter bin ... ;-)

Imagine

by Volker Weber

Going home

by Volker Weber

This is the ICE Mk. 3 train from Cologne to Frankfurt.

So langsam verlier' ich den Überblick

by Ragnar Schierholz

Ok, Windows Vista kommt jetzt also ohne 2-Faktor-Authentifizierung. Ich hab' so langsam den Überblick verloren, was genau waren jetzt noch die übriggebliebenen Features, die Vista von XP unterscheiden? Neue Farben auf dem Desktop und im Start-Menü-Button?

Deutsche Nationalhymne auf Türkisch?

by Cem Basman

Was den Amerikanern billig ist, ist uns hier in Deutschland natürlich auch Recht:

Nationalhymne für das Deutsche Volk

Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit
Für das deutsche Vaterland!
Danach laßt uns alle streben,
Brüderlich mit Herz und Hand!
Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit
Sind des Glückes Unterpfand:
Blüh im Glanze dieses Glückes,
Blühe, deutsches Vaterland!

Hier meine schnelle unautorisierte Übersetzung ins Türkische:

Alman halkin milli marsi

Birlik ve yasa ve hürriyet
Alman vatani icin!
Hepimiz oraya dogru cabalasalim,
Kardesce kalbimizle ve elimizle!
Birlik ve yasa ve hürriyet
mutlulugumuzun teminati:
mutlulugumuzun pariltisinda gelis
Gelis, alman vatanim!

Den leicht unterschiedlichen türkischen Zeichensatz konnte ich hier aus technischen Gründen nicht berücksichtigen. Bei der Aussprache frage man gerne bei seinen türkischen Arbeitskollegen oder Nachbarn nach ...

Meine Übersetzung darf jederzeit nach dieser Creative Commons License weiter verwendet und verbreitet werden.

Nachtrag mit Videoausschnitt und singenden Mitbügern: [2006-05-04 14:45] Die tagesthemen berichteten gestern [Dank an Ragnar]:

Der grüne Spitzenpolitiker Hans-Christian Ströbele hat sich für eine offizielle türkische Version der deutschen Nationalhymne ausgesprochen und damit eine lebhafte Debatte ausgelöst. "Ich würde es als Zeichen der Integration werten, wenn türkisch-stämmige Mitbürger die dritte Strophe auf türkisch singen könnten," sagte Ströbele der Berliner Zeitung (BZ). "Die deutsche Nationalhymne auf türkisch wäre das Gegenteil von Integration", meint Unions-Fraktionsvize Wolfgang Bosbach.

Sorry, no prize for you :-)

by Volker Weber

Another hint

by Volker Weber

Where in the world is vowe?

by Volker Weber

73

by Cem Basman

Ladies and Gentlemen! Soul Brother Number One, Mr. Dynamite, the Hardest-Working Man in Show Business, Minister of The New Super-Heavy Funk, Universal James, Sex Machine and the Godfather of Soooouuuul! Brothers'n Sisters! Please give The Man a hand! Happy Birthday, Mr. James Broooown! ... Get up, get on up Get up, get on up Stay on the scene, like a sex machine ... Uuuuh ...

Firefox Update 1.5.0.3

by Ragnar Schierholz

The Firefox team has fixed the recently discussed bug in the handling of JavaScript. Hence, they published a new update 1.5.0.3 earlier than originally scheduled, the scheduled update releases were renamed 1.5.0.4 etc.

BlackBerry Connect for Treo 650

by Volker Weber

Download here >

Being German

by Cem Basman

Richard Edelman, the president and CEO of the world's largest independent public relations firm, and boss of the wellknown blogger & PR guy Steve Rubel, spent a week in Germany. He comes up with an advice for his hosts in three PR messages. Listen, this is #3:

Third, country identity today is tied up with the success of the companies based in that nation (note rise of Korea is partly linked to dramatic rise of Samsung). The Edelman Trust Barometer 2006 found that German companies were the most trusted around the world. Yet there is a strange reticence to impose any central control, leading to a federalized and localized approach. Yet now more than ever, as jobs are being moved from Germany to faster growing markets like China and Eastern Europe, the self confidence of the home market requires recognition of German attributes such as design, innovation and care for the environment. Fear of being "too German" because of historic burdens is no longer the right approach--Brand Germany has to be about the future. These need to be universal messages from German companies wherever they operate.

So PR message #3 is central creative control, with local implementation.

I go full with Edelman's PR message #1, Germany to own innovation, and message #2, doing this together, listening to our work force and inspiring them, but I doubt a little bit with this PR message #3. Why "central creative control"? What is "central"? Berlin? The government? The chamber of commerce and industry? These three words sound to me very contradictorily. You know, I'm afraid the last "central creative controlled" PR campaign went terribly wrong, ... The claim was "Du bist Deutschland". It was a big laugh.

Flickr2Map

by Cem Basman

flickr2map

Nice mashup: Flickr2Map is a free service that allows Flickr users to link their photos to a variety of different maps. Try my example here. [First seen at Heiko Hebig]

Last call

by Volker Weber

This week is your last chance to win a mobile phone on Mobile Macs, Germany's premier platform for giving away nice gadgets mobile mac users, before it launches at the beginning of May. :-) The rules are simple: the website which sent the most referrers this week gets a mobile phone, second place collects a bluetooth headset, third place has to settle for a bag. Check out the other prices here.

Play it fair. Don't click your own link, don't set up a new website just for the competition.

These made me smile

by Volker Weber

Of course they are not fair. But how great is "Restarting"? :-)

Finally a cure for information overload

by Volker Weber

Don't we all suffer from information overload? Email, instant messages, RSS feeds, newspapers, adverts, etc. Thanks to Dave Delay, I have finally found a cure. Everybody should read this interesting paper.

Looking for german radio streams

by Volker Weber

I found this list in the SONOS forum, but many (if not all) of them are of very low quality. Do you know any streams with 128 kbps, or at least 64 kbps, so that they sound ok when played on real speakers.

Old vowe.net archive pages

I explain difficult concepts in simple ways. For free, and for money. Clue procurement and bullshit detection.

vowe

Paypal vowe