January 2014

Mixed Tape 55 is out

by Volker Weber

mixed tape 55

01 MIDNIGHT RAGE | JORDAN BRATTON | 3:56
02 HOLLOW | ADEIYU | 3:38
03 TRANSATLANTIC TRYST | FINS | 3:34
04 TRAILS | MSNRA | 2:53
05 TRIANGLE | MAYBE NOTS | 3:55
06 LA LA LA | STROIK | 3:33
07 RUNNING AROUND YOU | DOCTORS AND LAWYERS | 4:10
08 NANCY | HEALTH&BEAUTY | 4:32
09 PATHOS / INTERLUDE | TOMIKA | 2:40
10 YOU’RE | CULT FLUORESCENT | 7:55

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[Danke, Hansjürgen]

Scott Adams (creator of Dilbert) presents at #IBMConnect

by Volker Weber

Get Lucky :: Freak Out :: Another Star

by Volker Weber

Interview: Craig Hayman, IBM General Manager Industry Cloud Solutions

by Volker Weber

How to get your Blackberry 10.2.1 update fix

by Volker Weber

BlackBerry 10 devices are being updated to 10.2.1 now. However, not all customers see that OTA update, depending on their carrier. BlackBerry checks the MCC/MNC of your SIM card before delivering the update. However, that SIM does not have to be active. You can use any old SIM from a different carrier.

MCC/MNC for German carriers are 262-01 for T-Mobile, 262-02 for Vodafone, 262-03 for E-Plus, 262-07 for O2. With my Vodafone SIM in place, I would not get the update, with my O2 SIM it started right away.

Disable Skype integration in Outlook.com and SkyDrive

by Volker Weber

A little over nine months ago, Microsoft rolled out Skype for Outlook.com. This new integration allows users to instant message, make phone calls and even send and receive video -- right from the web browser. It sounds great, but as my colleague Paul Thurrott pointed out then, it comes with a crippling incoming call notification that won't stop ringing after you answer the call with one of the many other applications or devices ringing.

Simple fix: resolve skypewebexperience.live.com as localhost. Gone forever.

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This tweet about Oracle resonated very well

by Volker Weber

A little UX riddle

by Volker Weber

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What is missing from this login?

Worn wear

by Volker Weber

A poetic murmuration of starlings

by Volker Weber

Der Letzte

by Volker Weber

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Ich werde voraussichtlich der Letzte sein, dem man einen Briefkasten bei De-Mail aufschwatzt.

3 myths that block progress for the poor

by Volker Weber

By almost any measure, the world is better than it has ever been. People are living longer, healthier lives. Many nations that were aid recipients are now self-sufficient. You might think that such striking progress would be widely celebrated, but in fact, Melinda and I are struck by how many people think the world is getting worse. The belief that the world can't solve extreme poverty and disease isn't just mistaken. It is harmful. That's why in this year's letter we take apart some of the myths that slow down the work. The next time you hear these myths, we hope you will do the same.

— Bill Gates

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Who is going to buy MobileIron?

by Volker Weber

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This is the MDM landscape half a year ago. SAP got there by acquiring Sybase, Citrix bought Zenprise. Now that IBM has bought Fiberlink, VMware is getting AirWatch. Which leaves MobileIron as the only small and leading player in the market. Who is going to buy them?

Connect 2014 Livestream Schedule

by Volker Weber

Missing out on IBM Connect 2014? You don’t have to. In an effort to keep you connected, we are once again broadcasting sessions via Livestream on ibm.com/connect. Hear keynote speakers, learn about the newest announcements in the general sessions and watch this year’s live program hosted by Social Sandy.

Funny thing: I can watch the Sunday 8:00am keynote over Livestream whereas the IBM police would not let me get into the room since I have the wrong badge. :-)

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Jake Shimabukuro :: Bohemian Rhapsody :: On a Ukelele!

by Volker Weber

[via hob]

Es muss ja nicht immer ein überteuertes Original sein

by Volker Weber

Reicht ja, wenn es aussieht wie eins.

Vodafone entfernt Netlock von iPhones

by Volker Weber

Wer sein iPhone bei Vodafone gekauft hat, sollte es einmal an iTunes zum Synchronisieren hängen. Dann wir das Netlock entfernt, so dass man im Ausland eine andere SIM einlegen kann.

IBM Connect :: Yay or Nay?

by Volker Weber

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IBM Connect, the artist formerly known as Lotusphere, kicks off next Sunday. I will be going, as I have done the last 17 years. But what about you? Will I see you in Orlando like I saw you in previous years? You don't have to comment, but please drop me a mail by clicking below:

Hanno Mackowitz :: Lorraine

by Volker Weber

[Danke, Thomas]

Abnutzung

by Volker Weber

Ich finde es clever vom Guardian, die Snowden-Papiere in kleinen Schnipseln zu veröffentlichen. So wird dieses wichtige Thema nicht mit einem großen Knall verpuffen, sondern brennt lange weiter. Aber ich habe den Eindruck, das Thema hat sich auch abgenutzt. Man traut den Geheimdiensten alles zu, aber fühlt sich nicht bedroht. Wer täglich "Feuer" ruft, ohne dass es erkennbar brennt, wird nicht mehr gehört. Wohlgemerkt, da ist ein Unterschied zwischen gefühlter und tatsächlicher Bedrohung.

Le calendrier 2014 d'Aubade est arrivé

by Volker Weber

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The Aubade calendar was published in November of last year, but you could only buy a paper version. Boudewijn has diligently checked the site and now has found the download.

iTunes Radio Recorder

by Volker Weber

Record iTunes radio to your phone or tablet! The iTunes Radio Recorder by doubleTwist saves songs and radio stations that you stream from iTunes to your Android device.

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A few ramblings about BlackBerry

by Volker Weber

Two things off my chest first: I love the new BlackBerrys. And they completely failed in the prosumer space. The new CEO has created four topics for new BlackBerry, the company. My comments in no particular order:

  1. BBM. This is supposed to be a future business. I have no idea how that is going to work. BBM was once great, but people have moved on to WhatsApp (and other dominant platforms in other markets). Yes, there are a few markets where BlackBerry fans hold on to their old BlackBerry 7 devices and use BBM. Secure messaging? You have to be kidding me. All devices use the same encryption key. Unless set by a BES to build an island, where all devices on that BES use a different one, again the same for all of them.
  2. EMM/MDM. BlackBerry wants to manage iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, and eventually Windows Phone. The good news is that they use a container approach that separates business from private apps and data. This bodes well in a BYOD environment, which is going to be the norm in the future. The bad news is, so far this has not worked very well. Lots of companies have deployed BES 10 in testing, and something else in production.
  3. Devices. BlackBerry is no longer cool, but there are loads of people in business who love love love their BlackBerrys. Because they are dependable and secure. This is BlackBerry's castle and the reason the company is not going to go away. EMM/MDM will not be enough to keep BlackBerry afloat. They also need to make great devices for business.
  4. QNX. They used to tell us this thing runs nuclear power plants and cars. After Fukushima BlackBerry stopped talking about the power plants. QNX also runs BlackBerry 10. I don't know much about this business. But I do know that Android is making inroads into car entertainment. Apple has also announced partnerships. Since the majority of handhelds run on Android and iOS, chances are we are seeing more of that.


In any case, this is a complete turnaround from the happy days of Global Creative Director nonsense.

IBM Connect :: Here we go again

by Volker Weber

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Another year, another short-lived networking site. Fill out your profile, connect to your friends, use a disposable mail address. Let IBM burn down the house six weeks later.

No, I don't have my credentials yet.

The Problem With Facebook

by Volker Weber

Social media disappointments

by Volker Weber

I have been using quite a few social networks. And I keep hopping when they piss me off. A short and incomplete history:

  1. I joined Facebook and Twitter. Could not make much use of them. Twitter was simple but had a bad signal-noise ratio. I eventually embraced Facebook.
  2. Facebook started to bother me with games and recommendations. People asked me to like their commercial pages. Facebook believes it is driving engagement. In reality, it's chasing me away.
  3. I joined Path and shared photos in small circles. Then it started to bore me. You can only look at so many pictures that moms take of their kids. People you know well can't be bothered to fill out their profile or upload a picture. And then Path put a nail in the coffin by suggesting people I might know, right on top of the list of people I do know. It was the opposite of what I wanted.
  4. I joined Google+ early on. It was quite wonderful. Intelligent discourse, lots of new insights, great design. Then Google and Microsoft started a war. Google+ stopped working in IE on WP. Gmail dropped EAS. A Microsoft Youtube app was blocked on WP. Too much evil, too hard to use on mobile.
  5. Went back to Twitter and Facebook and used them in exactly the same fashion. Facebook looked nice at first. Great support on all platform. Then they worked really hard on pissing me off. Switching my news feed from 'Most Recent' to 'Top Stories', even when I set the opposite. Filtering news feeds, so I would not get what I asked for. Polluting the 'Most Recent' feed with comments, when I just wanted to get the latest stories.

For now, Twitter has won. It gets me exactly the content that I subscribe to. There is even a nice feature that lets me switch off Retweets for people who post very little original content.

I did learn one lesson well: keep a short tail. Weed out your old data, once it becomes irrelevant. It makes it easy to leave. There is only a single post on Facebook, and a few dozen on Twitter. At any time.

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Awesome Vine compilation

by Volker Weber

Lumia 1020/1520 :: DNG color profiles for Adobe Lightroom

by Volker Weber

Today we are releasing three different profiles for specific light sources: flash profile, fluorescent profile, and daylight-halogen profile.

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Mandatory iPhone app :: Horizon

by Volker Weber

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Mittagspause :: China :: Lumia

by Volker Weber

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Ab und zu gehe ich in die Mensa an der Lichtwiese, um was Leckeres aus dem Wok zu essen. Für mich ist das eine Zeitreise 30 Jahre in die Vergangenheit. Und ich treffe dabei immer wieder mal Studenten, die mir etwas neues zeigen. So wie diese junge Studentin, die zunächst fleißig mit ihrem Nokia 1520 beschäftigt war, bis ich sie ansprach.

Was zunächst wie WhatsApp aussah, entpuppte sich als Instant Messaging QQ von Tencent, Chinas größtem Internet-Portal. Vor dem 1520 hatte sie ein Sony Xperia und ein Galaxy Note. Warum nun das 1520? Groß, sehr gute Kamera, volle Unterstützung ihrer Schriftzeichen. Ich habe ihr Nokia Refocus gezeigt und ihr noch eine Hülle und ein Ladegerät aufgeschwatzt. ;-)

AUDIO :: Sonos Play:1 im Test

by Volker Weber

Der Sonos Play:1 ist Netzwerkplayer und Mono-Aktivbox in einem. Nettes Spielzeug, könnte man meinen - bis man zwei davon als Stereopaar gehört hat: Für 400 Euro klingt es sensationell gut, wie der Test zeigt.

Das ist auch meine Empfehlung. Eher zwei Play:1 als ein Play:5.

Die Biester sind jetzt schon kaum zu liefern. Nach diesem Test wird das nicht besser, fürchte ich.

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Matt Mulholland :: Get Lucky

by Volker Weber

Alistair Rennie also has a new job

by Volker Weber

Along with Mike Rhodin's new SVP role for Watson Group the rest of Software Group plays musical chairs. There are two more SVPs under Mills, Robert LeBlanc and Bob Picciano. Alistair Rennie is now General Manager of Business Analytics, reporting to Bob Picciano, along with two other GMs: Doug Hunt (ECM) and Beth Smith (Information Management).

Smarter Workforce, the artist formerly known as IBM Collaboration Solutions nee Lotus, get folded into Craig Hayman's Industry Solutions organization. Craig reports to Robert LeBlanc.

Nokia to start rolling out Black across the world

by Volker Weber

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Nokia is announcing they will start rolling out a new software based on WP 8 GDR 3 to Lumia 925 and 1020 today. All other Lumias with Windows Phone 8 will follow. The key word is 'start'. There are hundreds of variants of each Lumia model and rollouts of the software need to be certified by the carriers. This is a huge bottleneck, that only Apple has so far managed to bypass by sending Tom Hagen - and if that does not help Luca Brasi - to negotiate.

The 1520 I am using came out with Black, so it's not exactly new territory. But there are a number of enhancements that make this a very worthwhile update. I expect the 1020 camera to get even better with new oversampling algorithms to create photos with even less visual noise. The 1520 photos are incredibly good, and that has only half the 1020 sensor. Camera enthusiasts will also be able to download raw DNG images from the phone. Nokia Camera will run on non-Pureview Lumias.

Black will bring Bluetooth 4.0 LE (Low Energy) to other Lumias, enabling support for wearables like Adidas myCoach, which is so far only supported on 520, 620, 625, 720 and 1520. You will also be able to use a new version of Glance, which gives you all notifications from the lock screen even when the display is "off". You will be able to see how many messages came in on email, voicemail, text, Whatsapp, Twitter or Facebook with a glance.

Black also brings enhancements from GDR 3 like a safe driving mode that suppresses notifications once you connect to your car radio. You will be able to lock the screen rotations to make it easier to read when lying down. And you can close apps from the multitasking view.

Finally, Black will enable new applications like Nokia Beamer, which lets you share the screen to a Javascript-enabled web browser, and Nokia Storyteller, which puts photos into a location context. That's all stuff that currently only runs on the 1520.

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The bad news is that unless you have a 925 or 1020 you will have to be patient for your device to actually get the update. This can easily take weeks and you better just relax. You can check in Settings/Phone Update every few minutes, but that is only going to hurt you.

Mike Rhodin has a new job

by Volker Weber

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IBM CEO Virginia M. Rometty announcing the new IBM Watson Group, to be headed by Mike Rhodin.

BTW: IBM can do a webcast, if they just use the right tools.

Riley Blakeway :: Dolphin Days #3 with Josh Pall

by Volker Weber

Exceptional

by Volker Weber

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Every time I have to deal with these IBM exceptional experiences, I cannot help shaking my head.

When I almost joined an IBM webcast

by Volker Weber

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Step 1: Register
Step 2: Confirm your registration
Step 3: Test your setup
Step 4: Test your other setup
Step 5: Learn about the meeting app
Step 6: Install the meeting app
Step 7: Invitation does not load the meeting app
Step 8: Forget it

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Update: just received an email

Dear Participant,

We would like to thank you for joining our recent Reinventing the Inbox: Getting the Most Out of IBM Notes and Domino Social Edition event.

For questions about this event and more information, contact SocialBiz UG.org at reply@socialbizug.org.

Sincerely,
SocialBiz UG.org
Wellesley Information Services

Just for the record, I did not leave 'Participant' as my name, and I was unable to attend. There was no presentation attached.

IBM Marketing at work.

Package Tracker

by Volker Weber

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This is the app I am using on the Lumia to track packages. Recommended. It lets you pin individual packages to the start screen so you can see the current status with a glance.

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DeliTape

by Volker Weber

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Es ist ja schon ein bisschen albern, aber ich benutze gerne diese App, um Musik auf dem Lumia zu hören. Vor- und Rückspulen geht zum Beispiel über die beiden Spulen. Das Band wird auch brav von links nach rechts gespult.

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Heute in Bessungen

by Volker Weber

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BlackBerry speculation

by Volker Weber

I have been thinking about BlackBerry and some of the options they have. First, a few observations:

Now I am going out on a limb. I believe that Foxconn could be making Android devices for BlackBerry and putting BlackBerry Messenger and BlackBerry Secure Work Space front and center on those devices. If this plan works, BlackBerry would have two lines of phones: high end BB10 devices and low end Android devices. And they can potentially balance this mix in the future, phasing out BB10 in favor of Android.

Urbanears Zinken

by Volker Weber

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I love clever design. Not design that only looks good, but rather design that works well. I was unaware of Urbanears until I saw them at IFA in Berlin. Brought home a Kransen in-ear headset that let you connect the two ear pieces behind your head. Then the agency sent me the Humlan on-ear headset with washable headband and cushions. That's a clever design if you want to wear the headset for workout.

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Here is another very clever design: the Zinken DJ headset. It comes with a detachable cable with two different sized plugs. The left can fits the big plug, the right can fits the small one. One end goes into the headset, the other into your phone (small) or your mixer (big). No matter where you have to plug it in, you always have the proper plug without carrying any loose connectors. Another benefit: when listening to music on your phone, you will have a free 3.5mm socket where your friend can plug in his headset.

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The cable is coiled, another must have for a DJ. You can step away from the mixer without yanking the cable. Between the coil and the headset is the microphone and your handy start/stop/make/break remote. When you are plugged into a phone (small plug), the mic is close to your head. If you are plugged into the mixer (big plug), the coil is close to the mixer, where it needs to be.

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The cans tilt and swivel so you take one can off your ear if you need to hear the music playing in the club and mix in the new track playing on your other ear. I like to rest the right can behind my ear and the whole headset is still comfortable on my head. The cushions are very soft and rest on my ears, covering them completely. Zinken is smaller than my Sony headset which rests on my head and completely encapsulates the ears.

Zinken sounds powerful with strong bass, exactly how a DJ would like them to be.

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Facebook is broken, and I can't fix it

by Volker Weber

Facebook displays a lot of stuff I don't want to see. Pages I might be interested in, people I may know, etc etc. It keeps asking me for profile information I don't want to share. Much of this nonsense can be fixed with Socialfixer.

However, Facebook filters out a lot of information I do want to see. Updates from my friends for instance. You'd be surprised to see what they have posted on their own wall, and you never saw it.

This I cannot fix. But I can walk away from it. In 2014 you will see me using Twitter a lot more. I'm vowe.

BlackBerry Files Suit Against Typo

by Volker Weber

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WATERLOO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan. 3, 2014) - BlackBerry Limited today announced that it has filed a lawsuit against Typo Products LLC ("Typo"). The complaint against Typo alleges patent infringement and that Typo has blatantly copied BlackBerry's keyboard with its iPhone keyboard case designed to slip on to iPhone devices

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