It keeps surprising me how vendors in the business intelligence and data integration space consistently promise their customers and prospects that their technology enables companies to provide the single version of the truth. Of course, this is mostly a marketing message, but even if you don’t drink all the cool-aid, there is still a fundamental [...]

No more hiding, folks…
Goo-Goo-Google now enabled the view into our backyards also here in Germany. Now, luckily the Google Maps satellite imagery is not available in hi-res format, but still good enough to see my house, my car, and notice that there isn’t any grass yet.
Those pictures therefore must be at least 2-3 years [...]

I picked up a FT at the airport this morning and was stunned when I scanned the headlines on the sidebar. One said “Heinz to buy HP for £470M”. Huh? What the …? Of course, I heard the rumors that HP would spin off or sell some of its business groups, but wasn’t aware of [...]

I learned something today. Apparently, it’s really not the onboard electronics, that would go out of whack if we all used mobile phones in airplanes. I suspected that for a long time, because there must be countless phones polling until the cows come home, becuase the respective owner forgot to switch it off. But since [...]

At Amptown’s musician flee market I (sort of) completed my drum set today. First I found a great Sabian hand-hammered ride cymbal, then a Paiste 14″ thin crash, another Sabian dark crash, and a pair of heavy Ufip hi-hats. Gotta run, make some noise….

It seems to be the time when I continuously have interesting experiences with air travel. Yesterday, I had to fly to Cardiff, Wales, and the best (or rather only) connection was via Amsterdam, so I had to fly KLM. The fact that the departure out of Schiphol was 30 minutes late doesn’t even bother me [...]

Sometimes it just pays off that airlines are stuck in the middle-ages. IT-wise, that is. Of course, there are other times, when it annoys the hell out of me. Here is why:
On my return flight from Johannesburg a few days ago, it happened again: I board the plane, find my seat (3G) and there is [...]

Well, we all know that Microsoft is always eager, but the folks behind the latest announcement from Redmond must have had something else in mind, when they gave their “XP light” platform the codename Eiger. First, it’s pronounced “eye-ger”, not “ea-ger” and Eiger (in its respective context) is one of the hardest challenges [...]