If you need a good and easy-to-configure tool to enhance the printscreen capability (eg. to capture some DVD’s printscreens), Gadwin is not bad:

There are several hotkey combos to choose from (PrintScreen is the default). Once you’ve chosen your favorite combo, head to the Destination tab and have the screen print out instantly, copy the capture to the clipboard, save it to a specific folder, or even send it through e-mail. You can perform full screen captures, or only capture a specific window.

Gadwin PrintScreen is an easy to use freeware utility that allows you to capture any portion of the screen, save it to a file, copy it to Windows clipboard, print it or e-mail it to a recipient of your choice.

There are also six different image formats to choose from, and each one can be resized.

After having installed the version 2.2 of blogkomm, I have also changed the way my posts are archived. I have enabled the “Post pages” option in Blogger, that means:

Post Pages give each of your posts their own unique web page, in addition to appearing on your blog’s front page.

That’s quite the standard today, I haven’t taken the time to change that before. Clear that google doesn’t really like the other structure I used, with one archived page and the different posts within this page with different post-ID’s.

So, the changes concretely?

• The permalink of each post is targeting a separate php page. The other structure is still active, that means that all the old links to my posts are valid, no problem here.
• The permalink-URLs are now much more clear than before. For example, the permalink to my post about Vint Cerf is http://www.didierbeck.com/2005/09/news-vint-cerf-joins-google.php
• The old comments are still in place and working.
• The publishing of my entire blog with the 540 posts takes more than 10 minutes. Before, I needed less than one minute…

So, sorry for the last instability, it was not very long but you could have been impacted. Now, I would like to change some little things in the design ;-)

So, I have taken some time to install the last version (2.2) of blogkomm developped by Holger Kreis (under Creative Commons licence). Have a look also at my last post about blogkomm in February 2005.

What is blogkomm?

blogkomm integrates the reader’s comments into your blog without any pop-ups. Besides this you have different features coming along with that, like

* different notification services
* preview feature
* user remember feature
* quick-Editing admin-tool
* recent comment-list
* multilingual interface
* a setup and configuration tool (since Version 2.1)
* comments moderation (since Version 2.2)
* gravatar-feature included

What’s new in v2.2?

• added Comments-Moderation feature. Comments can be reviewed before being approved and shown in your weblog (anti-spam)
• added Gravatar-Support. For more infos check out http://gravatar.com
• changed e-Mail Policy, e-Mail will be shown in admin-mode only
• added textile waiting for license clearance
• added css :hover pseudo-class, and css- classes for “even” “odd” and “mod”-rows
• added css-moderation enblng during setup
• added norwegian language file

[via Joi]

That’s an incredible move! Vint joins Google as Chief Internet Evangelist. Have a look at the Google press release.

Cerf joins Google from MCI, where he led technology advancements since 1982, with a break to return to research at the Corporation for National Research Initiatives from 1986 to 1994. On his return to MCI in 1994, he helped to put MCI on the Internet map. With Robert Kahn, he recently received the ACM’s A.M. Turing Award, considered “the Nobel Prize for computing,” for his achievements in computer networking. Cerf is also working on the Interplanetary Network, a project of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, which aims to extend the Internet into outer space for planet-to-planet communications. He will also continue in his role as the Chairman of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

I have discovered a website called softwareCEO.com, quite interesting for those who are working in this field. You can find an interesting interview of John Cimral, serial entrepreneur, and CEO of ProSight.

In 2003, ProSight had $9.2 million in sales, and last year it hit $12.8 million; that’s a one-year bump of 39 percent. During the last four years, company revenues have grown 2,399 percent. […]

ProSight helps customers measure and manage every component of their IT investment, to minimize risk and maximize return, and (often) to justify that investment to upper management or shareholders.

Their software plugs a critical gap for CIOs challenged to evolve beyond managing technical details like network performance and take on more strategic issues like IT risk management.

So, John Cimral is giving us his 14 success strategies:

1. It’s not enough to know who your customer is; you need to know how your customer buys.
2. Reference accounts are everything; in the early days, get your investors to help line them up.
3. For your first reference sites, give a bit on software, but not services.
4. Choose your investors wisely.
5. Let opportunity steer your business plans, but keep your eyes on the road.
6. Use corporate sales to leverage government sales.
7. When the herd starts running, think of lemmings.
8. The CEO must articulate — and embody — the company’s values.
9. Use partners (and their cash) to expand internationally.
10. Use partners (and their clout) to pull in leads at local events.
11. Never underestimate your competitors’ ability to steal your thunder.
12. Invest your marketing budget to give your customers a voice.
13. Don’t dilute the power of your user conference by letting in non-users.
14. Adopt a “customer intimate” business model, starting with sales.

I like the corporate code of ProSight: Make money, have fun, be ethical.

For each success strategy, you find an explanation and some good examples to illustrate. Worth a read! Be careful, I think that the article is not staying on-line for a long time…

Helvetia Patria Group, the company I am working for, launched its new website design.

Have a look!

[click]

Notre Dame de la Serra

The Vault of the Madonna di A Serra is to be discovered on the heights of CALVI.
This vault of the XIXe century is at 6 km in the south-west of CALVI. One reaches it by the littoral road of PORTO.
It is a splendid view-point from where one can admire CALVI’s bay and the mountains of Balagna.
This place is to be visited without moderation more especially as in the vault, you will be able to listen to an excellent violinist in concert during all the summer season.

[click]

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[via Beta News]

Some information about the coming new version of Firefox:

Mozilla has announced its beta schedule for the upcoming release of Firefox 1.5, according to a posting on its developer news Web site. Beta 1 will be released on September 8, followed by a second beta on October 5.

Furthermore, the first release candidate of the browser is expected on October 28, which indicates the final version of Firefox 1.5 would likely come sometime during the month of November.

Some of the current enhancements include a better software update system to serve browser upgrades, the ability to reorder tabs through drag and drop functionality, and improved pop-up blocking.

Early alpha versions have also shown the ‘SnapBack’ technology that allows for faster navigation through Web pages. Also, better support has been announced for Mac OS X.

What happened and happens now in New Orleans, because of the hurricane Katrina, is pure horror, the hell on Earth. Again, a natural disaster, which is now hitting the US, after the Tsunami, and a lot of others…

Some much flooding. Homeless and dead people now (perhaps more than 20’000). A disaster…

I was *very* impacted by the thoughts of Russell in one of his last posts.
It is not the time for politics, critics or controversy. But, on the other hand, I think that we have to face the brutal reality…

I’m sorry, you can’t blame the people of New Orleans for living there, like some people have online. Everyone in the Bay Area – in most of California really – live on massive earthquake faults. Saying we shouldn’t live in this beautiful area because some day we might have a natural disaster just doesn’t work. What does work is preparation, as the catastrophe in New Orleans has shown us.

I won’t start in on the systemic problems where the poorest people were the ones that were not able to evacuate before the hurricane, and were essentially ignored for 24-48 hours after as well. Under President Bush the poverty rate in the U.S. has risen to an incredible 12.5% of the nation. We’re now watching the consequences of that massive number.

Found in the Wikipedia, just to confirm the input of Russ:

Evacuation issues.

[…] Evacuation was mainly left up to individual citizens to find their own way out of the city. Officials knew that New Orleans has the lowest percentage of people with cars of any major city in the United States. A 2000 census revealed that 27% of New Orleans households, amounting to approximately 120,000 people, were without privately-owned transportation. Officials also did not take into account the fact that New Orleans has one of the highest poverty rates in the United States at about 38%. These factors prevented many people from being able to evacuate on their own. Consequentially most of those stranded in the city are the poor, the elderly, and the sick

I hope that the US nation, with the help of other countries, will begin to manage the next steps better than now. It is *so* dramatic…

My heart goes out to all those involved in the disaster.

Donate now.

Gordon is organizing a survey about blogging and its impact and link with knowledge management. It takes about 5 minutes to answer this short survey.

It really helps if you could invest this short amount of time! Thanks in advance for your help.

http://www.adenquire.net/pd5g0022/

It is a very short survey (3-5 minutes) about the influence of weblogs on knowledge work. We think that it will help webloggers to understand, what they really do.
[…] Be sure, the scope of the questionnaire is academic and non-profit. The data you submit are kept strictly confidential and anonymous.
[…] P.S.: The summarized results of this survey will be published on our website

http://www.ku-eichstaett.de/Fakultaeten/WWF/Lehrstuehle/OP