Dear Readers,
Do not expect any updates here till August 7. We are flying to the beautiful Corsica to rest ourselves a little bit ;-)
Take care!

[via letterJames]

[via Jeremy via Gretchen]

My latest tirade revolves around Hiring Managers (and I’m referring to Microsoft Hiring Managers … but I know this problem exists in other companies) not “getting” the talent landscape. Not only do they not seem to understand that brilliant software engineers don’t grow on trees (you don’t, do you?) … but they can’t seem to get it through their heads that 1) Microsoft isn’t the only place hiring, 2) Working at a big company isn’t everyone’s dream, and 3) Redmond is not the first place people say they want to move when they wake up in the morning. (Unfortunately, I don’t think the slogan ….”Where do you want to go today? Redmond, of course!” would fly.)

I have received yesterday some information about the Colplay European Tour. I will try to go to Zurich, Switzerland on Nov.12, 2005.

Coldplay are excited to announce several new tour dates across Europe later this year.

The band will play at the following venues:

26/10/05 Sports Palace – Antwerp, BELGIUM
28/10/05 Arena – Oberhausen, GERMANY
30/10/05 Forum – Copenhagen, DENMARK
31/10/05 Spektrum – Oslo, NORWAY
7/11/05 Globe – Stockholm, SWEDEN
9/11/05 Arena – Leipzig, GERMANY
10/11/05 Maimarkhalle – Mannheim, GERMANY
12/11/05 Hallenstadion – Zurich, SWITZERLAND
14/11/05 Fillaforum – Milan, ITALY
15/11/05 Palamalagott – Bologna, ITALY
17/11/05 Dome – Marseille, FRANCE
18/11/05 Zenith – Toulouse, FRANCE
20/11/05 Palau Saint Jordi – Barcelona, SPAIN
22/11/05 Palacio de Deportes – Madrid, SPAIN
23/11/05 Atlantico Pavillion – Lisbon, PORTUGAL
25/11/05 Velodromo Anoeta – San Sebastian, SPAIN
28/11/05 Tony Garnier Hall – Lyon, FRANCE
29/11/05 Bercy – Paris, FRANCE

Tickets for France, Italy and Denmark go on sale in the next few days.

Nick and I (Nick is deputy head of the eCenter) are very kindly invited by Mr. Selçuk Boydak, owner and founder of Boydak Management Consulting, to the coming IT Strategy Forum on 15th September 2005 in Zurich, Switzerland.

What is the IT Strategy Forum?

The IT Strategy Forum is a non-commercial promotional-free conference at the Lake of Zurich, Switzerland. It provides a communication and networking platform, not industry specific, for IT Executives from all German-speaken countries.

The target groups are CIO, IT Executives and Managers. It will be the third edition of this Forum.

Motto this year: IT as innovation driver.

This year, all the presentations are linked with the usage of IT as a strategic innovation driver. Interesting.

eCenter presentation

Practical Example: setup of an innovative Sales and Consulting platform in the Financial Services Industry.

• Development of the strategic initiative, objective and target business needs
• Actual outcome and added value
• Procedure and Key Success Factors of the execution

Other participants

• Trends of the Innovation Management: Prof. Oliver Gassmann, University of St.Gallen, Director of the Institute for Technology Management
• Practical Example: an innovative information factory in the FSI, Dr. Klaus Detemple, Director of Information Operations at Deutsche Börse AG
• Practical Example: Innovative usage of the RFID technology in the Logistic Industry, Thomas Engel, CIO and Member of the Group Management, Kühne & Nagel International

[via Forrester Research]

Interesting. I am convinced, since I started to work, that you have to understand the Business, and if possible the specificities and business challenges of the industry you are working for (this takes quite a long time), to be able to *really* deliver some added value as an IT worker… and to avoid to be “offshored” or “nearshored” ;-)

The combination of accelerating retirement rates with a significant decline in the number of European students graduating from IT-related courses leads many firms to fear an IT skills shortage beginning in 2006. However, the reality is more complex, according to a recent report by Forrester Research, Inc. (NASDAQ: FORR). In the future, companies will see their IT skills requirements shift away from technicians and more toward business-oriented profiles. They will continue to outsource more routine activities. This shift in the enterprise impacts education and recruitment. In theory, the educational system should be able to rapidly create new programs to train IT/business analysts, architects, enterprise program managers, and vendor managers — skills that firms expect to need in greater numbers in the future; however, Forrester believes that, in practice, this will take too long to meet company demands.

While some companies may have a clear picture of their future IT skills needs in mind, few academic IT departments yet reflect this profile in their curricula; and — as Forrester uncovered in a parallel study of European technical universities and engineering schools — academia has barely begun to transform its IT programs. Meanwhile, many European countries can’t even generate a respectable level of enthusiasm for computer sciences among young people planning to enter higher education.

Forrester reports that many companies don’t renew “routine” positions in development and operations simply because they will outsource them. This trend is particularly evident in the finance and public sectors. However, outsourcing does not mean simplification. Companies that opt for global or selective outsourcing can’t afford to move all responsibilities and decisions to service providers. Security, enterprise and technical architecture, innovative solutions, new technologies, and evolving business remain critical challenges. The decisions should be made internally by people with high skill levels — positions that Forrester believes are not “offshorable.”

Mercedez-Benz launched its Mixed Tape 08, released…today! Let’s discover it, it is free ;-)

The wait has come to an end: with Mixed Tape 08 Mercedes-Benz introduces the latest edition of its hugely successful free music compilation.
Until the 4th of October 05, we invite you to explore, download and enjoy 15 exclusive new tracks by bright young hopefuls at http://www.mercedes-benz.com/mixedtape.

Kicking off with one of the world’s most-sampled artists, renowned vibraphone virtuoso and soul specialist Roy Ayers, Mixed Tape 08 features a plethora of fresh musical talent.
London’s soul and jazz scene, for example, features prominently with a range of instant classics: while Colonel Red excels at warm, funky beats, D’Nell and Low Budget Soul prefer to blend modern trip hop rhythms with timeless soul harmonies.
With their exuberant disco funk, German collective Flowarea add a breath of fresh, continental air to the proceedings and whet your appetites for the compilation’s many further, exciting forays into beats and tunes from around the globe.

[via The Australian]

Earth contains nearly 6.5 billion inhabitants […] Of every 100 people in the world, 61 live in Asia, 14 in Africa, 11 in Europe, nine in Latin America, five in North America and less than one in Oceania […] The six most populous countries – China, India, the US, Indonesia, Brazil and Pakistan – contain between them 3.3 billion inhabitants.

Life expectancy is longest in Japan at 82 years, followed by Iceland and Switzerland at 80. But people can expect to live just 36 years in Zimbabwe, 38 in Zambia and 40 in Malawi – mainly as a result of the AIDS epidemic in those southern African states.

Agronomists say the earth has the potential to support many more inhabitants – up to 15 billion. The question is how to share out the resources rather than whether we can produce enough.

[via Mozilla Firefox]

Milestone Plan

This is, as always, subject to change.

[via Heiko & Russel & BetaNews]

First contact with this geek’s tool in October 2004, then in November 2004, again in December 2004, and finally in April this year.

Let’s just get this out of the way… Konfabulator is now free. Yup. If you download version 2.1 you know what you’ll never ever see? That’s right a registration reminder. Fear not, there’s nothing sneaky in there, no spyware, no ads, nothing that’s keeping track of information and sending it to us… it’s pure, uncut Konfabulator goodness.

Now, we can currently hear the cries of all those people who’ve recently purchased Konfabulator. Fear not, people, for you will be given the gift of a refund if you purchased Konfabulator 2.0 or later. Revel in the glory of it.

[via vowe]

Some nice screenshots of about all the versions of Windows. For me, the first version I worked with was the version 3.0. Wow…