[via pointblog.com]

If you are a U2’s fan, have a look at this blog – U2log.com. Cool :-)

U2log.com is an independent weblog and online magazine about the Irish band U2. We are not affiliated with U2, Island, Interscope, Universal or Principle Management.

U2log.com was originally set up as a ‘webcam watch’ when U2 were recording All that you can’t leave behind in their Dublin studio.

Four of U2log.com’s editors have roots in IRC ‘chat’. We met on (channel) #U2 as far back as 1997. When U2 set up their first webcam, during the recording of Pop, we were among the few people to watch it. Religiously. We still watch, but we’re looking at the bigger picture now.

Today is a day-off in France – the Bastille Day, also celebrated by google.

That means: a day-off, with a great weather!

And a good swimming-pool temperature (24°C) ;-)

[via Jeremy]

I couldn’t believe these statistics about spam. Are the people *really* so stupid?

11% of people say they’ve bought from spam, while 9% said they were scammed by spam. It certainly sounds like your chances aren’t very good if you’re buying from spam. At the same time, 39% admit to clicking on spammed URLs, most of whom now admit that they get more spam because of it.

Spam definitely HAS a future….

New version 1.0.5 of Firefox released!

What’s new in this release?

• Improvements to stability.
• Several security fixes.

• Code execution through shared function objects
• XHTML node spoofing
• Javascript prompt origin spoofing
• Standalone applications can run arbitrary code through the browser
• Same origin violation: frame calling top.focus()
• The return of frame-injection spoofing
• Possibly exploitable crash in InstallVersion.compareTo()
• Script injection from Firefox sidebar panel using data:
• Same-origin violation with InstallTrigger callback
• Code execution via “Set as Wallpaper”
• XBL scripts ran even when Javascript disabled
• Content-generated event vulnerabilities

So, we had our yearly “Montreux’ event” yesterday evening. As usual, very nice atmosphere, Montreux is a beautiful place, specially with the lake. The people are very nice, no stress, good organization. Plus some Davidoff “Grand Cru Nr.4” :-)

The two concerts took place at “the Casino” (see below), the first one with Dianne Reeves, the second with George Duke.

Dianne was great, excellent, superb. Wow, what a singer. Really great. The brand – trio bass/drum/piano – was very solid, very groovy. Plus a good connivance between the four and a real pleasure to play. What a style! I download a video from the Dianne Reeves’ concert (640×480, 30 f/s, 8 bits PCM at 88 kbps, avi/MJPG format), 17s for 32 MB.

[click to download, 32MB]

George Duke was…very disappointing: bad sound (keyboard sounds from the 80’s? Beurk), bad mix – I mean an awful unacceptable mix, musicians who are not really playing together (I am NOT joking), completely boring. We left after the fourth song…. A prestigious past, indeed, a *so* bad performance, pfffuuuuu :-/

Montreux – A beautiful place

Montreux – The Master is here, Miles Davis

Montreux – Cool atmosphere

Montreux – The Casino!

Steve Jobs told three stories about his life on June 12, 2005 at the Stanford University.

About connecting the dots

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

About love and loss

I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

About death

“If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.[…]

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

[thanx Patrick]

Somebody reserved the following URL in Germany:

wiemenschlichmenschensindzeigtihrumgangmitdermuttersprachefrsch.de

The corresponding website is active, the URL is … 63 characters long :-) In France, we have also a 63-characters-long-URL:

feery-lepremiersitecyberdocumentalistaumondedeplhistdelhumanite.fr

But, this one is not active.

[via InternetActu]

BusinessWeek, based on data from S&P;, published a scoreboard about the Info Tech Top 100 (pdf document). Below, some rankings:

[via vowe]

Some good ideas and inputs in the blogging policy from IBM.

1. Know and follow IBM’s Business Conduct Guidelines.
2. Blogs, wikis and other forms of online discourse are individual interactions, not corporate communications. IBMers are personally responsible for their posts. Be mindful that what you write will be public for a long time – protect your privacy.
3. Identify yourself – name and, when relevant, role at IBM – when you blog about IBM or IBM-related matters. And write in the first person. You must make it clear that you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of IBM.
4. If you publish a blog or post to a blog and it has something to do with work you do or subjects associated with IBM, use a disclaimer such as this: “The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.”
5. Respect copyright, fair use and financial disclosure laws.
6. Don’t provide IBM’s or another’s confidential or other proprietary information.
7. Don’t cite or reference clients, partners or suppliers without their approval.
8. Respect your audience. Don’t use ethnic slurs, personal insults, obscenity, etc., and show proper consideration for others’ privacy and for topics that may be considered objectionable or inflammatory – such as politics and religion.
9. Find out who else is blogging on the topic, and cite them.
10. Don’t pick fights, be the first to correct your own mistakes, and don’t alter previous posts without indicating that you have done so.
11. Try to add value. Provide worthwhile information and perspective.

[via Jeremy]

And some good inputs from the Yahoo‘s blogging policy.

• Be Respectful of Your Colleagues: Be thoughtful and accurate in your posts, and be respectful of how other Yahoos may be affected. All Yahoo! employees can be viewed (correctly or incorrectly) as representative of the company, which can add significance to your public reflections on the organization (whether you intend to or not).
• Get Your Facts Straight: To ensure you are not misrepresenting your fellow
  Yahoos or their work, consider reaching out to a member of the relevant team
  before posting.
• Provide Context to Your Argument: Please be sure to provide enough support in your posting to help Yahoos understand your reasoning, be it positive or negative. We appreciate the value of multiple perspectives, so help us to understand yours by providing context to your opinion.
• Engage in Private Feedback: Not everyone who is reading your blog will feel comfortable approaching you if they are concerned their feedback will become public. In order to maintain an open dialogue that everyone can comfortably engage in, Yahoo! bloggers are asked to welcome “off-blog” feedback from their colleagues who would like to privately respond, make suggestions, or report errors without having their comments appear your blog.

[via Joi]

A great post from Joi Ito about the added value for a company of Software patents. Some very challenging and out-of-the-box inputs! I totally agree with his view.

Generally speaking, filing for patents is an expensive and time consuming task. Most startup CEOs don’t understand and can’t afford a patent strategy. I have done a number of calculations on the cost of filing and maintaining software patents, and one estimate we did for a company that I am working on was that it would cost about $750,000 to file and maintain a single patent in the major markets over the lifetime of the patent. Most companies I invest in raise only $1M or less their first round. In addition, to properly protect a technology and continuing developments around a technology, a portfolio of patents must be filed or you can be “surrounded” by application patents and derivatives filed by competitors. In away, filing a patent is practically like putting up an ad balloon for people to see where you are focusing.

Some startup companies I have looked at and worked with have in fact, invested in a portfolio of patents, but from my experience, most of these companies end up spending so much time on their patents that often the products never make it to market. The patents just become fodder for some large company when they are purchased in the bankruptcy fire-sale.

I personally believe that software patents are primarily the tool of large companies with portfolios of patents which they cross-license with each other. Generally, it serve to keep competition out of the market and allows those with patents to push those without patents around or cut them out of markets entirely. A number of open source licenses are now dealing with software patent issues by creating incentives for participants not to litigate against each other. A focus on open standards is also another important way to try to keep innovation unencumbered by patents.

I am not against patents generally and I have worked in materials science and manufacturing technology companies where patents serve as a strong incentive for innovation and royalties provide a fair return for the investments. I just believe that the notion that software patents somehow help venture businesses is a red herring and that software patents are primarily a tool for software monopolies to stay keep the little guys out.