emconsteroids

Macrumors provides a iPhone tailored site that refreshes automatically and provides you with the interesting bits “on the move”.

Pretty cool!

I believe that a large number of wars these days can be traced back to misunderstandings. Understanding each other is the fundamental base on which we can communicate and exchange, share and maybe dispute on thoughts, ideas, ideologies and moral concepts. Unfortunately it’s all already failing at the communication – the fact that we speak different languages.

This image found on foreignpolicy.com is – though not contributing much to world peace – a tiny sign in the big ocean of misunderstandings that there are efforts to understand each other. This is the very and only foundation on which future disastrous disagreements can be avoided. Hopefully?

A US officer with the 101st Airborne Division learns Arabic at a combat outpost in the northern Iraqi town of Baiji, near the oil city of Kirkuk.

(Image: PATRICK BAZ/AFP/Getty Images via http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/7710)

There is an interesting blog post about how to find out what makes a good programmer. In summary, the factors are:

• Passionate about technology
• Programs as a hobby
• Will talk your ear off on a technical subject if encouraged
• Significant (and often numerous) personal side-projects over the years
• Learns new technologies on his/her own
• Opinionated about which technologies are better for various usages
• Very uncomfortable about the idea of working with a technology he doesn’t believe to be “right”
• Clearly smart, can have great conversations on a variety of topics
• Started programming long before university/work
• Has some hidden “icebergs”, large personal projects under the CV radar
• Knowledge of a large variety of unrelated technologies (may not be on CV)

LG WILLIAMS
How To Explain Great Art in The Age of Sports (Mona Lisa)
2005, 30” x 50”, Mixed Media on Canvas
Copyright © 2004 LG Williams and The Estate of LG Williams. All Rights Reserved.

http://lgwilliams.com/art/pr/2004_lgnralph.pdf

The Economist’s “The World in 2008” gives some interesting insight into what may or may not happen in 2008:

• To watch: Texting for cash. Mobile banking is taking off in places such as Kenya and the Philippines. This allows low-income workers to use their mobile phones to make and receive small payments at neighbourhood kiosks, eliminating the need to visit a bank.
• To watch: Bragging blogs. More than 90% of marketing departments will launch a “social media” campaign, such as a blog, in 2008, according to Lewis PR, a United States-based global agency. By 2009 two-thirds of marketers will set aside up to 25% of their budgets for online social media.
• NOT to watch: IPTV. The success of internet protocol television—watching your favourite shows over broadband connections—is not likely to take off for some years, mainly because of competition from cable and satellite operators.

Source: http://www.economist.com/theworldin/forecasts/industry.cfm?d=2008

Also interesting: The Economist’s take on “Technology in 2008“