1. Blog more
   This blog is horribly neglected. I am a constant writer on the corporate blog, yet my personal blog could do with some new content as well, even though some authors claim that “blogging is dead” in the social age. Also I suspect there is one Spanish reader who might like to see more posts here.
2. Work out more
   Not driving to work by bicycle anymore (too far/clothing demands) took my daily workout away. There is an opportunity for weekly badminton with the colleagues as well as a slot for swimming. Would be great and healthy if I manage both.
3. Lose weight
   Goes in line with #2
4. Digitize my physical media
   I barely listen to my CD’s anymore – only to the songs I have on the various electronic devices. There’s several hundred of CD’s waiting to be digitized and tagged. Not sure what to do about the boxes full of audio cassettes.
5. Make photobooks
   Then again, sitting back and browsing through an actual physical album with photos is quite relaxing. A best-of for each year of digital photography would be cool.
6. Improve my guitar skills
   My guitar skills have not really improved in years. Taking lessons a few years ago did not really work out, mostly due to my busy schedule. So I need to think of a strategy how I can play more often and improve. Maybe the new gadget I gave myself for Christmas helps?
7. Spend more time with friends
   I’ve been something of a hermit the past years (people who know me know why). Gladly I made some new friends in 2010/2010 and I would enjoy spending more time with them. The old friends are scattered all over, but there is car and train. An exception might be my friends in Kiwiland.
8. Geocaching
   Finally the equipment is all here, so caches in the vicinity – beware!

Well, quite a list already. Welcome, 2012!

In a funny coincidence, I stumbled across an article with public speaking tricks today. I support most of the tricks mentioned. They work well. Here are my three secret soup ingredients when it comes to public speaking:

1. Speak LOUD
   In smaller rooms and with smaller audiences, I usually do not need amplification, because I talk significantly louder than many other speakers I have met. The trick is to find a volume where you are not shouting yet and still have full control over the nuances of your voice. Not only will speaking loud help the audience to understand you. The main effect is that a loud and clear and steady voice will give you an aura of authority and expertship. As a side effect, it will force you to breathe regularly, which helps you to relax and makes your thoughts more clear.
2. Speak SLOW
   Some people suggest you should treat your audience as if they were a bunch of 5 year olds. I do not like the implications of that – it’s a disregard of your audience. However, what works for me, is to speak slow. Real slow. And then a bit. Of course you need to adjust to your audience, but still – speak slower than you would normally do in a conversation. Again, this helps your audience to follow you, but it also helps YOU to plan your sentence ahead, in order to avoid gaps. Especially useful in a Q&A track.
3. Make eye contact
   Secret sauce ingredient #3 is equally important. I usually pick 2-5 people from the audience, and keep eye contact with them. It’s really not important who you chose, but if there are important people in the audience (prospective clients for example), pick them. Otherwise pick the ones you think look most sympathic or attractive. Members of the audience you will NOT pick, won’t realize they were not picked, but WILL realize you keep eye contact with the audience. Shift your eye-contact among the people you picked in a random pattern. Actually, don’t think too much of it, it will happen automatically. The effect is that the audience gets the impression that you CARE about them, and that you want them to take something home with them from your presentation.

Those are my 3 golden rules for presentations. More general rules include to be well prepared, to know what you talk about, the make a full body presentation, with walking, gesticulation, leaning against things. I even sat down on stage edges occasionally, to address the audience.

Public speaking can be great fun and is definitely a rewarding experience. Next time you have to do it, remember my 3 suggestions.

Have fun!

I have witnessed that numerous times lately. It is easier to spot with people who do infrequent updates, but stands true for frequent updaters as well. If a job change is imminent, then the LinkedIn (or Xing) profiles get updated a lot, brushed up, spring cleaned. Descriptions get added, References and testimonials get requested. Photos get changed.

But it gets even more interesting. If several people from the same company start to work on their LinkedIn/Xing profiles, this is usually a sign for layoffs and/or change of ownership of the company.

One of the first projects for my new employer is to get the corporate website up and running. The launch is planned for June 30 – until then there is a simple placeholder which got a little polish from me and an embedded Google Analytics code.

The page gets barely accessed – which is no surprise as it really contains nothing more than our address. Most queries were for our company name – or some of its more popular misspellings. However as May 28 approached – the iPad release date for Germany – the queries increased. It was amazing how many phone calls we got, not only from Germany but from Belgium and the Netherlands as well. And it is amazing to see the interest in the iPad so graphically displayed.

For the English readers – tweets from top to bottom:

1. We’re glad that we did not clean the windows. Outside, Aachen is sinking. Would have been a waste.
2. Sitting on the balcony with my laptop =)
3. Oh, Doomsday in Aachen. Nice to have met you all.

A big step after 21 years with DOS and Windows? No, no at all. I expected there to be some toothing pains, some awkwardness during the transition, some problems and frustrations. But no, none of that. I switched off the Windows laptop, switched on the MacBook and started to be productive almost instantaneously.

Apple and I go back a long way. In school I worked with Apple II computers during the early Eighties. In 1983 I saw my first Apple Lisa, the predecessor of the Macintosh. While owning Commodore and Atari computers (and in the early Nineties my first PC’s) I wrote newspaper and magazine articles covering Macintosh computers, and even wrote a book comparing the Macintosh to other computers.

But somehow I never managed to get my own Mac. The machines were to exclusive for my budget, and later I was firmly integrated in the Windows and Linux ecosystem, compensating lack of finances with inventive spirit and the willingness to spend hours on end building my own machines and troubleshooting incompatibilities. In addition to that, two “traumatic” experiences alienated me further from the Apple universe: a rather unsuccessful experience with Apple stock (bought during a period which Steve Jobs recently called Apple’s “Near Death Experience” – and worth many times its initial value had I held on to it), and the outcry of over a hundred angry Mac users regarding an article I wrote for the ZEIT Magazin.

I grew tired of Mac evangelists, tired of the almost sect-like attire of Mac aficionados. I got angry when Apple managed to make even my parents think they invented the MP3 player. And I got annoyed by the smug “I’m a PC – I’m a Mac” advertising. But now  can freely admit it: all the time I actually liked Apple, actually liked Macs, and would have loved to have one for myself.

True, there is a lot to criticize about Apple. The tightly controlled environment. The secrecy. A certain arrogance of some of its promoters. My friend Bernhard had a quite nasty experience in the early days of iTunes. But after all Apple does what every company should do: maximize profits and controlling their market segment. Only with the addition that Apple tries to do this with perfect products, while other market participants seem to have lower standards for themselves.

On May 1st I turned a new page in my professional career. I started working with an exciting new startup company, and I switched from PC to Mac. Im looking forward to an exciting ride.

When I picked it up for the first time I was surprised how light it actually is. Knowing how much technology is inside, knowing the frame is out of solid aluminium, knowing about the huge multitouch glass plate  I expected more weight. Since this first experience I handle it several times a day and have to adjust my statement. Holding it in one hand is actually a tiresome experience sine the weight is not negligible. Placing it on my lap however or putting it on the desk is a nice way to work with it.

The pad itself is fast. It is pretty fast. Launching apps is almost instantaneous, and interacting with them have no detectable latency. It is ho working with a computerized device should be: fast, responsive, intuitive. Intuitive is the key here. An application like Google Earth is incredibly intuitive to operate. The large multitouch surface leads to a natural and almost haptic way to deal with software Only in very few cases I have to rely on the online help of apps.

Is it for me? Not really. I prefer the versatility of a laptop – an iPad culd at best be an auxiliary device for me. But for browsing the web or answering emails, for my personal taste the cost is not justifiable. However I can see many, many applications for the iPad. It would be the ideal tool for my father, who does not want to deal with “normal” computers at his time of life, but would probably welcome an intuitive device like this. I can also see many aplications where the ad gets used as mobile data display and data entry device, starting with opinion research and ending at warehouse logistics.

The iPad definitely is a game changer which will redefine what we know about (mobile) computing. While there have been tablet PC’s for quite some years, the iPad  the first of its kind to really get to the bottom of an idea and strip all dead wood away.

The photo is for my dear friend Lorna, who lusts after an iPad but is not as fortunate as me to have one available in her job. Sorry, Lorna, I could not resist to tease you

I am pretty sure that a “Pizza Diabolo” should have article number 666. In today’s lunch order it turned out to be aricle number 444, which was sort of anticlimatic.

The video is based on a PowerPoint presentation I made almost 3 years ago. In a first step, we illustrated the content of the presentation with static renderings. Later we decided to put it into a short movie for display during presentations, on the webpage and – in reduced size – send it via email.

I realized the CGI parts of the movie in Cinema 4D. Some of the models were made by myself, other models were commissioned work. Wie briefly considered rendering the human operator in Poser, but then decided to keep the Zygote human to clearly show it is a CGI character.

I selected camera paths that added some sort of suspense to the scenes. Repetitive elements were intended to show repetitive tasks and act as anchors. The Zygote human became “alive” as well – having been static in early tests.

Like with a classic video production, I ended up with having far more footage than needed. The initial video was almost 7 minutes long – more than we could sensibly expect anybody to stay focused on. We then cut it down to its final length.

I am very pleased with the final results, especially since there was no budget set aside for the project and we had to squeeze it into the daily work. CGI rendering took about 4 days straight on a single machine – squeezed into small portions and some overnight rendering.