my daily news: October 2007

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Can we be Jersey?

List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jersey - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bermuda - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

意外的，世界這樣的國家，也不在少數。而且還是在查GDP時發現的，個個名列前茅。然後很多都是英國搞出來的。 XD

我們可以成為聖馬利諾，安道爾或是Jersey嗎？
其實國家本來就是個虛妄的由極少數的人類所創造，再強迫大家接受的名詞。人們所需要的只是美好的生活，和親人朋友一起，這樣而已。

Estonia GDP in PPP is around 19,692 and we are 30,687 ranked 25th on the 2006 census.
We are a independent country in all aspects. I am so sick of all the 無意義爭辯定義意識型態耍嘴皮子。
how can it be so hard, to declare the most basic identity, proudly tell the world who I am and where I am from?

Monday, October 22, 2007

Ubuntu 7.10 加 Windows Vista，超華麗雙重開機

Mobile01 本站新聞:

給Ubuntu一個機會吧！
當一件東西太過出名，就會有人刻意不去用它，通常並不是因為東西不好，而是它們的粉絲太煩人了，像Apple、Sony、哈波利特等等，(I cannot agree more with it...those annoying apple fans)有點怕 Ubuntu也快步上後塵了。我並不想讓自己聽起來像Linux的盲目崇拜者，我認同並尊重Ubuntu的理念，但不會認為用Windows的就是枯燥無聊穿西裝的白痴（不然就罵到自己了

）。 Ubuntu還有許多地方要加強，很多是整個Linux社群和軟硬體廠商要一起努力的，大家不妨給Ubuntu、給眾多Linux一個機會， Mandrake、Fedora、SUSE都很好用，也都內建Compiz Fusion，越多使用者就越能鼓勵他們改進，反正它們好玩、免錢又漂亮。就算不想灌也沒關係，至少記住這些名字並留下「Linux也可以被一般人接受」的印象。

隨著Ubuntu 7.10的釋出，Mark Shuttleworth也宣佈8.04版（代號Hardy Heron），從版號就知道將在2008年四月推出，這版的重要性是它會掛上LTS（Long Term Support），上一個LTS版已經是久遠的6.06版了。LTS代表官方會有三年的更新支援，而非一般的18個月，Ubuntu每半年就改版一次，三年的支援是很大的承諾，通常只有非常穩定、最佳化的版本才會掛LTS，7.04和7.10都還在實驗一些新技術，8.04將會是集大成之作。用一句老話做結尾，讓我們拭目以待吧！

Ubuntu, Mark Shutterworth and software development jardons

2007/10/20

the futurist - 奈恩比(John Naisbitt) - China
BBC 中文網 | 中國報導 | 科學發展觀正式寫入中共黨章
江澤民的三個代表？

中國人將書寫怎樣的未來﹖世界期待中國精彩答卷
這也太噁了吧通篇沒有一句公正的話只是歌功頌德的形容詞堆砌
看了眼睛好痛 @@(吐) 真後悔看了他...

《包立德專欄》把咖啡大眾化進行到底 | 專欄 | cnt.reuters.com

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

非洲小國六代國王遭咒死

世界日報──國際新聞:

"非洲小國六代國王遭咒死

【本報綜合電訊報導】奈及利亞北部境內一個回教小王國，不知受何詛咒，六代國王都「坐不穩」，大多登基不到一周就蒙主寵召。現時王子為保命不爭王位，將來王阿媽登天後由妹妹繼位。

被詛咒的小王國叫做Kumbwada，只有約50萬人口，現時由女王哈迪莎統治。55歲的她在位九年仍「很健康」，看來咒語只會「咒死」男性統治者。她說：「我的父親嘗試打破這宿命，但他失敗了。他在登基首周突然病倒，嚴重得要退位就醫，三周後就死了。」

當地人相傳，詛咒與村中一塊大石頭有關，可是所有去調查的人都一去不返，令傳說更恐怖。

Thursday, October 11, 2007

中國、印度生產生物燃料可能加劇用水短缺 | 亞洲 | cnt.reuters.com

中國、印度生產生物燃料可能加劇用水短缺 | 亞洲 | cnt.reuters.com:

路透奧斯陸10月11日電（記者Alister Doyle）---國際水管理研究院(IWMI)周四發表報告稱，中國和印度利用人工灌溉的玉米和甘蔗製造生物燃料的計劃可能會加劇用水短缺，並危及糧食生產。

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At first when i read the title, I want to scream - heeey, hands off from my food! Don't you know that you do not even have enough food for your people to eat. Give up the stupid plan first promoted by the unthoughtful westerners.

But keep reading, I found there's surely a problem. They want to lower the dependence on those countries exporting gasoline and also reduce the greenhouse gas emission. But ... biofuel is definitely not for you, those who have poor, hungry people more than half of the population.

We are people who wants to be God. We found we are run out of sources, we want to find some way to solve, we thought we got it.

But again, we only find again how stupid we are and fragile in God's hand. The wealth goes to some very small group of people, the destruction is what most people gonna take, as it always is.

Monday, October 08, 2007

The acquisition of ABN AMRO

ABN AMRO - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
荷蘭銀行千億美元交易立下里程碑: "M&A Milestone: $101 Billion Deal For ABN Amro"

這件事總給我一種很奇妙的感覺，尤其是在今天，當一切終於塵埃落定之後。

銀行/金融業是我應該永遠不會喜歡的東西，尤其看這個事件，心中浮現的想法是，銀行就跟無臉怪一樣嘛，不停吞吃其他弱小的金融機構藉以長成巨大的怪物。

請看看這一段，"RBS將得到荷銀的投資銀行和企業金融業務，以及在亞洲的據點；Fortis拿到財富和資產管理部門；義大利和巴西分行則進入Santander 的口袋中。RBS企金業務大為增加，使它在商業銀行領域，變成英國和歐陸第1大，美國及亞洲第5大。裁員無可避免，大約1.9萬人得打包回家。"
一整個就是活人生吃阿，一群豺狼組個隊來狩獵，你吃手我吃腳，挖掉心臟再配個頭，ABN AMRO到底是怎樣在一年內歷經史上最大的銀行購併戰爭，和牽涉無數的國家規定法令爭議終於走到這一步的呢？
ABN AMRO曾經是AIESEC的驕傲阿...總而言之就是感覺很奇妙

Deal Journal - WSJ.com : The $101 Billion Lessons of ABN Amro
看到這個標題我笑了，現在是流行什麼都要寫個billion lessons嗎？
EBays Billion Lesson in the Value of Hype 這世界阿...
次級房貸和經濟衰退促進了購併風潮嗎？

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

BBC 以2.03億美元買下Lonely Planet

Taiwan.CNET.com : 新聞專區 : 網路通訊 : BBC 以2.03億美元買下Lonely Planet
CNET新聞專區：綜合外電　　02/10/2007

英國國家廣播電台旗下的商業部門BBC Worldwide以1億英鎊（相當於2.03億美元）買下Lonely Planet公司。

BBC週一表示，Lonely Planet創始人 Maureen 與Tony Wheeler將保留25%股權。
這對佳偶當初是在倫敦 The Regent's Park公園板凳上相遇，之後以「一輛老爺車、幾塊錢，加上一點冒險精神」歷經一次亞洲蜜月之旅後，便在1972年成立了專門以旅遊指南為主的出版社。

Wheelers在一份新聞稿中表示，「加入BBC Worldwide可讓我們的公司得以在一個全球知名媒體下繼續生存。」

Lonely Planet總部位於澳洲墨爾本，出版超過500多種旅遊指南。該公司目前有500多位員工，以及多達300位的旅遊作家。

BBC Worldwide執行長John Smith表示，這樁交易可協助BBC成為「全球領先的內容事業」。Smith表示，該公司希望能擴大線上品牌，並增加北美與澳洲的業務。

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喔....屋....

What happened exactly with Skype in the past one year, after I left?

At Skype, Nightmare (almost) before Christmas « GigaOM

Wednesday, November 29, 2006 at 3:40 PM PT
Comment:
" One need not look farther than Apple and the Spindler years to see what happens to a successfully disruptive “tech” company when it’s taken over by “Marketing” folks.

When I first heard that Skype was being aquired by eBay, I was willing to give it time to see what came of the acquisition; I haven’t been disappointed yet. I only hope that Skype continues to improve it’s client programs and network as it has in the past year.

Good luck Neo-Skype, if you fail where you’ve risen, I’m more than sure someone will be there to pick up the pieces…

(See Napster –> Kazaa, Spindler-Apple –> Jobs-Apple, SuprNova –> The Pirate Bay, for “torch grabbing” details)

Ian Horner on December 1st, 2006 at 8:43 am - # "

" Hmmm…

This is just a hunch, but I would guess that the pre-acquisition fire-ees are being scraped up off the London sidewalks right about now, if their buddies haven’t already tossed them into tart-filled private limos for the ride home (tart = hooker). As for the poor sods who joined Skype after the deal thinking they were joining a dynamic web 2.0 powerhouse, and then got fired a few weeks or months into the job, I guess they’ll be telling their kids “it’s scientific experiments for the lot of you”.

Suds McKenzie on November 29th, 2006 at 11:18 pm - # "

Who’s Skype’s Daddy? Niklas Of Course « GigaOM

Friday, December 15, 2006 at 10:08 AM PT

Skype Announces Senior Management Changes - About Skype:

Luxembourg, December 15th, 2006 – Skype today announced two key personnel changes. Alex Kazim, Skype’s President, will be leaving Skype in January to return to eBay. Kazim, an 8-year eBay veteran, joined Skype immediately following eBay’s acquisition of the company 14 months ago. He was responsible for product development and innovation at Skype and reported to Niklas Zennström, Skype’s Chief Executive Officer.

Taiwan.CNET.com : 新聞專區 : 網路通訊 : Skype大斷訊：享受免費得忍受一點小瑕疵

2007/8/21

Static On Skype, Zennstrom Quits « GigaOM

Monday, October 1, 2007 at 9:58 AM PT

"Skype’s business model (is)was fundamentally flawed.

Adding subscribers will constantly reduce calls that generate revenue and if everyone in the world were to get skype, it will have zero revenue.

There is a critical point beyond which having to maintain infra-structure costs a lot more than revenues. With 220 Million accounts, my calculation says that Skype reached that point a while ago !!

Most businesses would love hockey stick growth, skype would collapse even if it hit halfway!

The management & VCs sold out at a good time.

As PT Barnum said .. there is sucker born every minute.

Satish Sharma on October 1st, 2007 at 3:15 pm - #"

EBays Billion Lesson in the Value of Hype - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

October 1, 2007, 1:19 pm
"Here’s a suggestion to every Internet executive: take a Post-It note, write “EBay wasted $3 billion on Skype” and stick it to your monitor. Stare at it the next time some hot social whatever-2.0 company comes by and talks about growing fast and finding a revenue model later."

EBay Revises Its Ambitions for Skype - New York Times:

“Right after the bust, people started focusing on business models and revenue,” said Greg Sterling, a Silicon Valley analyst and consultant. “There has been a little bit of departure on that, with a focus on building the biggest audience and figuring that revenues will follow. That is the attitude that has prevailed over the last couple years, and it may not be sound.”

================================================================

I am wondering a issue which may trouble the investors and CEOs for long - how to evaluate a company?
Skype is where the employees are happy, kind of techie geek atmosphere. But when it comes to Wall Street and San Jose, people only care about one thing - profit.
When people do what they like, being happy, they are able to do the right thing. 大手和過於天真的小朋友，接下來的結局會是什麼呢？
因為有恩所以不能輕易說些什麼，我是一個小小小員工也未必可能做什麼，或了解其上的大人物們混亂的是什麼。
也許現在有點事後諸葛的意味，但或許當初的感覺的確正確，我喜歡其上摘錄的評論"One need not look farther than Apple and the Spindler years to see what happens to a successfully disruptive “tech” company when it’s taken over by “Marketing” folks."
Skype那種歐陸Tech guy的自由氣氛，和eBay美國的那種零售業威勢確實難以相容吧。
事後想想，從2006.9起暴增的離職信，eBay的人帶來的，親切卻不容反抗的命令，都是sign吧。
我無法說我愛Skype，但是的確在那裡度過很快樂的時光，就算最後覺得沮喪不堪。

真奇怪我居然就這樣斷了線什麼都不知道，還是基層的小員工也不用關心上層的變動跟紛擾？

現在，大家不知道怎麼樣了呢？

WSJ, NY TIMES

華爾街日報管美國的人在看

2007/08/01 【聯合報╱編譯陳世欽／報導】
以下這則笑話流傳已久：華爾街日報是實際在管美國的人看的報紙；紐約時報是自認為在管美國的人看的；華盛頓郵報是自認應該管美國的人看的，波士頓環球報則是老爸老媽曾經管美國的人看的。
無論這則笑話是真是假，華爾街日報的確舉足輕重，這也是該報買給梅鐸一事在美國引發莫大關切的主因。它擁有廣大的讀者群，其中包括全美的經濟與政治菁英。
平面媒體的影響力因網路蓬勃發展而大不如前，華爾街日報卻繼續提供重要的公共服務。哥倫比亞大學新聞學研究所副所長艾琳‧摩根表示：「即使不是第一，華爾街日報也是全美最優質的報紙之一。」
華爾街日報的傳統報紙發行量與網友點閱次數合計超過二百萬分（次），高居全美第二，僅次於今日美國報。逾四分之三的華爾街日報讀者擁有大學學歷，家庭年平均收入超過廿三萬美元，高於今日美國報與紐約時報的讀者。
華爾街日報擁有一群腰纏萬貫的讀者，每逢周五都會刊出私人噴射機、名貴手錶、豪宅、農場的廣告。曾任華爾街日報記者的史塔克曼表示：「華爾街日報之於華爾街與資本市場，正如紐約時報之於白宮、國務院及美國政界。它是最權威的監督者。」
【2007/08/01 聯合報】

Engadgetオフライン東京、10月4日にGoogle渋谷オフィスで開催決定 - Engadget Japanese

Engadgetオフライン東京、10月4日にGoogle渋谷オフィスで開催決定 - Engadget Japanese: "Posted Oct 1st 2007 5:25AM by kentaro"

Google很認真的拉攏日本市場呢。
好酷，我也想去shibuya office玩。

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