Lake Wobegon effect

via vowe

We all have – at least one time ;-) - the impression that we are delivering better outcome/results/outputs than the “average”. At work, during our education, by making sports, etc.

I haven’t know, as Volker, that this kind of positive illusion or overestimating was studied and has a name. Actually it is called the “lake Wobegon” effect. Have a look at the Wikipedia’s description.

The Lake Wobegon effect designates either: the human tendency to overestimate one's achievements and capabilities in relation to others (in academic sources this is more usually called the above average effect or the better-than-average effect); or the finding that in many educational tests a vast majority of participants achieve results above the norm.

It is named for the fictional town of Lake Wobegon from the radio series A Prairie Home Companion, where, according to the presenter, Garrison Keillor, "all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average." […]

The above average effect or better-than-average effect is one kind of positive illusion. It describes the tendency for people to evaluate themselves as 'better than average' on desirable skills, characteristics or behaviors. It is a characteristic bias of social comparison where people usually compare themselves to an unspecified peer and, despite the mathematical odds, en masse judge themselves to be better than their average peer.

I am learning every day! Or is that also a “lake Wobegon effect”?

;-)

My new lens: Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

I am using a Canon EOS 20D since April 2005 (!) with 2 lenses:

• an ultrawide-angle, the famous Canon EF 17-40mm, absolutely great
• a standard zoom lens with Image Stabilized, the Canon EF 28-135mm

I have taken a majority of my pictures with the 17-40mm, which is really very nice. Now, for travelling, and specially when you are in a “non-safe” atmosphere (humidity, dust, sand, etc.), it is quite difficult to change your lens. Without speaking about the transport ;-)

Canon has released this autumn a new lens, which is to my mind the “perfect” compromise between an ultrawide-angle and a zoom lens, the Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6, with Image Stabilization, but without the USM (Ultra Sonic Motor). Perfect compromise for the usage means also automatically … some optical compromises! Which “forces” me to start to use a “post-production” software, to be able to correct some very visible optical aberrations (barrel distortion, chromatic aberration, softness, etc.) with this lens. I am using DxO Optics Pro, but I will talk about that in a coming post!

Good summary from Wikipedia

Reviews indicate that the 18-200 does not compare to the 28-300L in terms of image quality, though this is understandable since the latter is priced much higher, due to it belonging to the L-series line. Most reviewers have criticised the lens for high levels of barrel distortion at the wide end, and chromatic aberration and softness evident at all focal lengths and apertures. The lack of an UltraSonic Motor has also been noted by reviewers, and along with the 18-55 IS has given rise to concerns that Canon may be moving towards removing USM from their lower-end lenses. It has generally been rated higher than Sigma and Tamron's offerings however, and has gotten generally positive reviews with the caveat that it is designed for convenience rather than image quality.

Some detailed reviews

• dpreview
• photozone
• the-digital-picture.com
• PhotoReview
• SLRgear.com

Forget the traditional 4 “P”s!

via Seth Godin

Seth is, as usual, suggesting a new “out-of-the-box” structure to represent the different marketing elements and mechanisms. So, forget the  traditional 4 “P”s (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) coming from the commonly accepted definition of Marketing Mix (Jerome McCarthy). For Seth, we should have a look at 5 elements:

© Seth Godin

So now, let’s have a look at the definition of these 5 elements:

• DATA is observational. […] Data is powerful, overlooked and sometimes mistaken for boring. You don't have to understand the why, you merely need to know the what.
• STORIES define everything you say and do. The product has a myth, the service has a legend. […]
• PRODUCTS (and services) are physical manifestations of the story. […]
• INTERACTIONS are all the tactics the marketer uses to actually touch the prospect or customer. […]
• CONNECTION is the highest level of enlightenment, the end goal. Connection between you and the customer, surely, but mostly connection between customers. Great marketers create bands of brothers, tribes of people who wish each other well and want to belong.

Interesting, isn’t it? Try to have a look at your marketing reality through this new prism.

Three essential questions you can ask yourself:

• Does this interaction lead to connections?
• Do our products support our story?
• Is the story pulling in numbers that demonstrate that it's working?

I like Seth Godin exactly for this kind of disruptive inputs ;-)

New U2 album announced – March 3, 2009

via U2log.com

No Line On The Horizon

 

Mark your calendars! U2.com reports that ‘No Line on the Horizon’, the new studio album from U2, will be released on Monday 2nd March, 2009.

More on U2.com:

No Line On The Horizon, the new studio album from U2, will be released on Monday 2nd March 2009.
Written and recorded in various locations, No Line On The Horizon is the group’s 12th studio album and is their first release since the 9 million selling album How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, released in late 2004.
Sessions for No Line On The Horizon began last year in Fez, Morocco, continued in the band’s own studio in Dublin, before moving to New York’s Platinum Sound Recording Studios, and finally being completed at Olympic Studios in London.
The album calls on the production talents of long-time collaborators Brian Eno and Danny Lanois, with additional production by Steve Lillywhite.

Actually, the new album is already available for pre-order on amazon.com!

Wow, that’s a *very* good news.

The oldest dot-com domains

via PC World

PC World published the list of the 100 oldest dot-com domains registered.

This first one was reserved on March 15, 1985 - symbolics.com.

Below the Top20:

1. symbolics.com: March 15, 1985
2. bbn.com: April 24, 1985
3. think.com: May 24, 1985
4. mcc.com: July 11, 1985
5. dec.com: September 30, 1985
6. northrop.com: November 7, 1985
7. xerox.com: January 9, 1986
8. sri.com: January 17, 1986
9. hp.com: March 3, 1986
10. bellcore.com: March 5, 1986
11. ibm.com: March 19, 1986
12. sun.com: March 19, 1986
13. intel.com: March 25, 1986
14. ti.com: March 25, 1986
15. att.com: April 25, 1986
16. gmr.com: May 8, 1986
17. tek.com: May 8, 1986
18. fmc.com: July 10, 1986
19. ub.com: July 10, 1986
20. bell-atl.com: August 5, 1986

Also interesting to notice that Microsoft first reserved its domain in May 1991, Yahoo in January 1995, and Google in September 1997!

Snowy day in Zurich!

This morning, it was snowing between 10 and 20cm in Zurich.
Happy not to travel by car ;-)

On the way to Zurich by train

From the office

Cool to bike today!

Scenarios For 2009: How CIOs Should Prepare (Forrester research)

via Ed Cone

Ed is pointing to a very interesting document from Forrester about the reactions of CIOs, classified by sectors. Including the Finance &  Insurance industries.

For the Insurance Industry, the analysis of Forrester is quite aligned with what we are perceiving at Innoveo.

The analysis is very recent and was presented during a webinar on December 11, 2008.

What is the insurance industry doing to address the downturn?

• Anticipating more cut backs for 2009.
• Insurance has already made significant cuts in IT spending early in 2008.
• Growth in IT purchases for Finance & Insurance:
  • 2007: +8%
  • 2008: -2%
  • 2009: -3%

How will the recession affect the Insurance Industry?

• Shallow recession: GOOD
• Deep recession: NEUTRAL

What are firms in these sectors doing to address the downturn?

• Most firms focus on IT’s traditional cost-cutting tactics.
• New investments (30% of the overall costs):
  • Portfolio segmentation
    • Use commodity / low-cost resources
    • Eliminate large-sized efforts
    • Focus on short-term returns
  • Adopt lean thinking, reduce complexity
  • Shorten planning horizons
• Operational costs (70% of the overall costs):
  • Consolidation/standardization, consistent with the business model
    • Data centers, server/storage virtualization
    • Consolidate and squeeze vendors
    • Centralization of IT contracts
  • Lean thinking — reduce complexity,
  • Staff and asset utilization optimization
    • Delay upgrades and refresh
    • Downgrade for lower volumes
    • Automate where it makes sense

The Finance & Insurance sectors are considering to invest in the following actions in 2009:

• Retiring older applications or technologies to save support costs 50%
• Adjusting project portfolios to increase near-term return on investment 55%
• Assessing the IT organization structure to improve efficiencies 60%
• Investing in technologies such as automation to reduce IT operating costs 70%

Leading firms take multiple alternative approaches:

• Traditional IT tactics to deliver short-term results
• Agility to offer alternatives in the long run — providing a lasting ability to rapidly shift partners, customers, and markets
  • Focus on increasing ability to change: adding/removing services, reselling services from third parties, channel integration
  • Focus on external interfaces to data and systems
    • Apply SOA for strategic flexibility
    • Look to third parties for flexible interfaces
  • Increase flexibility of contracts
  • Employ agile development methodologies
• Innovation to accelerate out of the downturn — new business models and product/service offerings in addition to operational improvements
  • Accelerating out of the downturn requires a strategic focus, but without higher overall costs
  • Use a portion of CapEx for innovative ideas
  • Focus innovation criteria on business strategies
  • Use Web 2.0 technologies to farm ideas from across your Innovation Network — internal and external
  • Employ a different idea pipeline / steering committee
  • Keep investment performance metrics

Summary for the Finance & Insurance sectors:

 

Steve Lukather

For a while I had a discussion about the guitarist Steve Lukather with a friend of mine and I have discovered that Steve is not the most well-known guitarist, although he has played on over 1’000 albums in the last years!

Some information about

 

WIKIPEDIA /

 

Steve "Luke" Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American Grammy Award winning guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger, and record producer best known for his work with the rock band Toto.

Lukather has also released several solo albums and, as a studio session guitarist, has arranged, composed, and recorded on over 1000 albums.

Lukather was recently voted #1 guitarist worldwide in over 40 countries at VoteNumber1.com.

While his work with Toto is predominantly based on pop rock music, Lukather's solo work spans many genres including rock, prog, jazz and funk.

Lukather has been nominated for a Grammy twelve times, and has won five awards.

[...]

Influenced by blues-rock guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page, jazz guitarists such as Larry Carlton, and jazz fusion players such as Al Di Meola and Frank Gambale, Lukather is known for fast, melodic lines that often combine blues phrases with jazzy 'out' notes.

His vibrato is very pronounced and his exaggerated wide bends are instantly recognizable.

Well versed in theory, Lukather can follow chord charts and changes as a jazz musician would, and this enhances his value as a session musician. In interviews, he has explained how he thinks of the guitar in a "chordal cluster" format, and not the typical "linear scale" format.

 

INTERVIEW /

 

You said many times that your heros are Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughan, George Harrison and so on... You also got to work with Jeff Beck at one point... I just wondered if you ever got to meet these "heros" you've mentioned as being so important in your (musical) life and how it was to finally be "face to face" with them?

Luke: All these players are so awesome and have inspired me more than words. Jeff Beck... I have known him and played with him many times. We did a record together that never came out 'cause he wanted to get into electronic music but he's a main influence and a great friend. Jimi... Well I never met him but if he was alive I would most certainly know him. Major influence. Clapton... I did his Behind the sun record and played live with him with Elton John at the Hollywood Bowl. WAY cool. Jimmy Page... What a gentleman. He made a point to take me aside and tell me that he really dug my playing, I have never worked with him but I would love to sometime. I felt up my first girlfriend summer of 1969 listening to Led Zepplin 1, hahaha. SRV... never met him but I LOVE his touch. What a player! George Harrison... Well HE is the reason I play the guitar. I met him right after we lost Jeff Porcaro and I talked him into playing with us at the tribute at the Ampitheatre in L.A. What an honor. He took me out to dinner that next year and Bob Dylan was there, Jim Keltner, Jeff Lynne and we had a jam at Jeff Lynne's house after. What a trip that was.

 

SHORT-LIST OF ARTISTS HE PLAYED WITH/FOR /

 

Among others, he has played with/for:

• Jimmy Cliff
• Alice Cooper
• Gilberto Gil
• Elton John
• Eric Clapton
• Lee Ritenour
• Barbara Streisand
• Aretha Franklin
• Donna Summer
• George Benson
• Al Jarreau
• Quincy Jones
• Herbie Hancock
• Michael Jackson
• Joni Mitchell
• Lionel Richie
• Diana Ross
• Joe Cocker
• Paul McCartney
• Chet Atkins
• Rod Stewart
• Trilok Gurtu
• Van Halen
• …

 

PART OF HIS DISCOGRAPHY /

 

http://www.stevelukather.net/Discography.aspx

 

SOME INTERESTING VIDEOS /

• 6:14 of chorus, alone with his Ovation electro-acoustic (specially around 1’45 and 2’45, pure technique!)
• http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/steve%2Blukather/video/x1job_steve-lukatheracoustic-live

• Steve Lukather playing Purple Haze (J. Hendrix)
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-Eklqbovpw&feature=related

• Steve Lukather playing Little Wing (J. Hendrix)
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6amczqaEfc (Live in Paris, absolutely great)

• Steve Lukather playing Smell yourself (fusion!! With Simon Philipps on drums)
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GEFfx29Njs

• Other videos listed there:
• http://www.stevelukather.net/Live.aspx

2009 will be a complicated year for software

via Judith Hurwitz

One of the first “predictions list” for 2009 for software companies.

Very interesting insights!

1. Software as a Service (SaaS) goes mainstream. It isn’t just for small companies anymore. […]
2. Tough economic times favor the big and stable technology companies. […] The only way emerging companies will survive is to do what I call “follow the pain”. In other words, come up with compelling technology that solves really tough problems that others can’t do. They need to fill the white space that the big vendors have not filled yet. […]
3. The Service Oriented Architecture market enters the post hype phase. […]
4. Service Management gets hot. […]
5. The desktop takes a beating in a tough economy. When times get tough companies look for ways to cut back and I expect that the desktop will be an area where companies will delay replacement of existing PCs. […]
6. The Cloud grows more serious. […] Just as companies are moving to SaaS because of economic reasons, companies will move to Clouds with the same goal – decreasing capital expenditures.  Companies will start to have to gain an understanding of the impact of trusting a third party provider. […]
7. There will be tech companies that fail in 2009. […]
8. Open Source will soar in this tight market. […] Companies that offer commercial open source will emerge as strong players.
9. Software goes vertical. I am not talking about packaged software. I anticipate that more and more companies will begin to package everything based on a solutions focus. […]
10. Appliances become a software platform of choice for customers. […] More software solutions will be sold with prepackaged solutions to make the acceptance rate for complex enterprise software easier.
11. Companies will spend money on anticipation management. […] Companies will need to understand not just what happened last year but where they should invest for the future. They cannot do this without understanding their data.

Wow, good food for thoughts!

I am excited also to be able to read the new version of the book “SOA for Dummies”, written, among others, by Judith Hurwitz. Innoveo should have there its own chapter, hopefully ;-)

Business Restaurant in Zürich / Switzerland

I was establishing a list of 3 different choices for a friend of mine, in order to organize a good (whatever that could mean ;-) business lunch with one of his customer.

I am not the “Guide Michelin” but I know some of the restaurants in Zurich, and, to my very subjective mind, these 3 below are very good and interesting, as they are all 3 offering “something special”.

1) CANTINETTA ANTINORI /

 

• Family Antinori
• The Restaurant
• The Menu
• Some pictures
• How to go there/contact

 

2) SEEROSE /

 

• The Restaurant
• The Menu
• Some pictures
• How to go there/contact

 

3) TRIIBBHUUS /

 

• The Restaurant
• The Menu
• Some pictures
• How to go there/contact

Surely not exhaustive, the question was “3 possibilities”, not 10 ;-)

10 characteristics of software companies that will fail

via Judith Hurwitz

Extremely interesting post from Judith. She is listing the 10 characteristics of software companies that will make them fail in the coming economical downturn phase.

1. My technology is so revolutionary everyone will want it.
2. The platform we offer to our customers is a complete architecture and we’re going to build an ecosystem.
3. We don’t plan to try to partner with the big players; it’s too hard.
4. We’d love to partner with a large vendor if they are willing to put our product on their price list and sell for us.
5. We sell a great tool.
6. Our technology sells itself.
7. We sell an entire turnkey environment.
8. We are implementing precisely what our customers tell us they need.
9. We are thinking about Software as a Service (SaaS)…but…
10. We are limiting our outreach in the market. It is too expensive to advertise or market. We’re going to wait until things get better.

So, are you “in” or “out”?