Goodbye SAP, see you soon...

Dear friend,

After more than 7 years at SAP, it is time for me to follow another path.

During the last 7 years I had the pleasure to be challenged with interesting (and sometimes impossible) projects and roles.

I am very proud to have been part of many activities, including training development, leading SAP's eLearning and knowledge transfer initiatives and team management, building SDN and seeing its success, managing global teams and operations and building many prototypes. Representing SAP in many '2.0' events and be a SAP Venture Fellow.
Last but not least, be part of SAP Ux, helping improving existing products and driving ideas for new products.

I am very happy to be part of the SAP ecosystem and more importantly, the SAP extended family.

I made many friends along these years (such as yourself), as well as many air-miles...

I had the opportunity to join a small start up, Veodia, and to help them design and build unique applications with real business value. So I did.

For those who worked with me in the past - Thank you!
And for all the others - Let's build some cool applications and bring value with Veodia.


E.T.

Sixty Second Tech

Sixtysecondtech.com is Cal Evans latest project.


As Cal describes it:

Sixty Second Tech is the cure for BSS

Sixty Second Tech is the only known cure for “Blank Stare Syndrome” (BSS). BSS happens when one of your technical friends starts talking to you and unconsciously slips into geek speak. They don’t realize they’ve triggered BSS until long after your eyes glaze over. BSS is an embarrassing condition but a curable one, just spend one minute a week listening to Sixty Second Tech.

If you are looking for great, short, insightful notes about current technology topics and buzz-words, Sixty Second Tech is a bookmark for you.

You can also download the MP3 files or read the ~250 words segment.

Good luck Cal, I am listening...

E.T.

Shay Barry

My long time friend Shay Barry is making headlines in Israel.

Shay and I worked together for many years. He played (and still do) a key role in creating and developing SDN (SAP Developer Network).

It is good to see that his hard work and talent are recognized on this level.

The article in Globes.co.il.

Scan from the printed version:

Do not know Hebrew? Learn!

Kudos Shay!

E.T.

Yo! Design Advice

Finally some design tips with some rhythm.




If only we could keep this attitude with our developers and designers all the way to production...

:-)

E.T.

FireFox 3 Beta

I was looking forward to use Mozilla Firefox 3.
(beta version: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html)

The installation is easy and it 'remembered' all my settings and such.

However, when I tried to use it, I found that most of the add-ons and goodies I got so used to, are not supported yet.

So I tried to enjoy a 'naked/clean' FireFox. Not the same.

I hope that the developers of firebug, Google Gear and others are working on the next version.

FireFox is a great example of platform-based- ecosystem, driven by the developer community.

E.T.


Technorati Tags: FireFox, software

Under The Radar: The Business of Web Apps : Graduate Circle (3/...)

Additional notes from the Under the Radar event - Graduate Circle track.



(not so much in my domain - so raw comments as is)

---

http://www.3tera.com/

Key messages:

• "The Next Google Won't Own a Server"
• "Scalability"
• "Everyone should have access to scalable infrastructure - and should pay only for what they use"
  

A service that allows your to have a world class (Google level) scalability without owning hardware.

Utility Computing : 3Tera's AppLogic grid operating system eliminates the binding of software to hardware through virtualization.

---

http://www.nirvanix.com/

"...
Nirvanix is the premier “Cloud Storage” platform provider. Nirvanix has built a global cluster of storage nodes collectively referred to as the Storage Delivery Network (SDN), powered by the Nirvanix Internet Media File System (IMFS). The SDN intelligently stores, delivers and processes storage requests in the best network location, providing the best user experience in the marketplace. With the ability to store multiple file copies in multiple geographic nodes, the SDN enables unparalleled data availability for developers, businesses and enterprises.
..."

(comment: I worked hard in the past making SDN mean something else).

They claim they manage to show 3x improvement in performance VS Amazon S3.

---

http://www.q-layer.com/

Q-layer introduces the Virtual Private Data-Center

"...

Q-layer provides software for datacenters to enable the Virtual Private DataCenter (VPDC). With Q-layer, datacenter managers can provide their customers with a simple, self-service portal for datacenter provisioning. This allows customers to visually configure their datacenter with a simple drag-and-drop interface, including servers, networks, and SAN and NAS devices for storage. Datacenter managers can also integrate any other virtual appliances into the Q-layer Datacenter Abstraction Layer (DAL), to enable simple end-user provisioning of any service provided in their datacenter
..."

---

http://www.transerainc.com/

They provide virtual call centers solutions.
Pay for what you use based on a subscription model.

---

E.T.

Technorati Tags: Event, undertheradar, software,

Under The Radar: The Business of Web Apps : Aggregation (2/...)

Additional notes from the Under the Radar event - Aggregation track.

---

https://www.docsyncer.com/

Want to be in the center in a all document management of the organization and people.

They offer:

• Migrating to online document editor - as GoogleDocs
  
• Collaboration and remote access to users
• Enterprise search - find your documents in the organization

The new service has already over 4M documents.
They claim for an automatic upload and sync process as well as easy to adopt from a user experience perspective.

In the future they would like to work with additional online editor (Zoho and such).
Offline capabilities are on the roadmap.

The panel tried to ask some hard questions about collaboration, versions, security and offline capabilities.
I do not think they are trying to solve these issues, which could be consider as a 'platform' for this domain.

I liked their visual design (did not use the service yet).

---

http://www.kwiry.com



A service that allow you to 'text'/SMS/voice/eMail yourself for reminders.
They focus on SMS as it the most use and simple scenario.

The eMail you receive - with you note + marketing/ads information.
Collaborations, sharing and other srvices are available as well.

Comments from the panel:

• A simple scenario such as trying SMS yourself during driving - so you could read and learn more while you are in the hospital... Well - this is why they have the voice interface as well.
• Does text messaging used by non-teenagers? They claim there is a growth in SMS usage across all generations.
• The business model and the capability/potential of driving people to go to websites of advertisers. Kwiry call it "Call for Action".

---

http://www.orgoo.com

Would like us to us argoo as our "communication cockpit".

different IM/eMail/Chat accounts managed in one screen.

Video chat and other advanced features (presence, profiles and such) are available as well.
A demo of 4 people doing a video chat at once.
Video chat was a nice feature as well. As well as the easy embedding in facebook/MySpace.

Conversations using different medium (IM, SMS, eMail) are being aggregated and shown as one eMail stream on the screen.

Cool mashup.

Do I want one service have all my username/password information?

---

http://www.pageonce.com/

One personal page that has access to all your data (as far as they think it is relevant).
Fast setup for common web portals and services.

Again, do I want one service have all my username/password information?

The panel was focusing on security topic.
Pageonce said they are using bank level security. In addition, most people as using a small set of user/password set and they can now be aware of all the activities done by their 'identity'. So, it may help you to find if someone is abusing your account.

The idea of having all your info on one server was not well received by the panel.

Well - you could start with aggregating eMail, airline, newspaper, amazon and such first and later on decide if you would like to go and put your bank info.

Private beta available on http://www.pageonce.com/utr.htm

---

Overall - all the services are trying to make all our information more available.
Will it create more noise or will it allow us to focus on the more important things... ?

To be continue.


E.T.

Technorati Tags: Event, undertheradar, software, microsoft, orgoo, docsyncer, kwiry, pageonce

Under The Radar: The Business of Web Apps (1/...)

Today I am at the Under the Radar event.


Some comments from the first session.

---

http://www.splashtop.com

Interesting virtualization software that tries to make the experience of starting working on the PC as simple as open your mobile phone/PDA. They showed a demo of booting a PC and have some apps running with in 12 seconds. (cool if you like Linux apps). The Windows XP was booting in the background...

It seems that 'hibernate / sleep-mode' is doing some of this things al ready - as long as you have no problem with Power. Is it greener or safer to have the PC off.

---

http://www.elastra.com/

Sorry - Did not understand what, how and why they are doing what they are doing.
I tried.
So - here is an image that may help you.

---

http://www.jumpbox.com/

Presented a solution for the consumer / small business solution for virtual computer that could run on top of the current OS and virtualization apps.
The demo included 'easy' configuration process.
There is a nice collection of open source apps and tools as part of the 'box'.

This make 'playing' with new and open source application easy and less risky.
However, it is not free.

Support is optional and on top of the package (~$200 per instance per year).
The support is for the jumpbox and not for the applications on top of it.

I think it could be a great 'sandbox' for POC and demos, before running the applications on your hardware.

---

http://www.universant.com

They (re)worked the main business processes and application functions and offer them as a open source platform.

From my experience in enterprises it is hard to offer 'one size fits all' and have most of your customers happy - especially in the SMB market.

---

Overall - the potential is clear.
It was interesting to see the focus on the consumer and SMB markets. Especially the consumer one. Running virtual OS / computer for non-business reasons is interesting.

Time to juice the laptop...

To be continue (if I find a power source...)

E.T.

Technorati Tags: Event,undertheradar,software, microsoft

Back2Blog

I did not Blogged for a while.
I know.
Sorry.

I have some great excuses if you are interesting in.
For example:










I was surprised to get comments from friends (and mom) that it was not unnoticed.

So, I am back blogging and I hope you will enjoy it.

E.T.

Veodia

One of my long time interests is multimedia. During past and current role, as well as private life, I keep monitoring this topic.

During this week, it was hard to miss the vibe around Veodia.

I first saw their offering during the office2.0 event last year. Veodia provided the video recording of the event. See:

This week Veodia announced their Flash Widget.

---

From Veodia press release:

“…
Veodia is a browser-based video service leveraging the new capabilities of Adobe Flash Player 9, allowing its users to create and stream their own crystal clear videos to millions of Adobe Flash players. With just a video camera, Internet connection and a Veodia account, users can easily broadcast live and record MPEG-4 / h.264 video from their browser. Veodia eliminates the need for expensive investments in encoding, streaming and distribution technology. All content created with or imported to the Veodia broadcasting service can be played back in native h.264 format with the latest version of Adobe Flash Player 9.

"Veodia decided over two years ago to build its core technology around the h.264 standard because of its superior quality and multi-device compatibility. When Adobe announced support for h.264 in the Adobe Flash Player it confirmed that we had made the right decision for our customers. Now in addition to viewing content in Quicktime, on 3G phones, iPhones, televisions and hundreds of other MPEG-4/h.264 compatible devices, our users can playback their Veodia content using Flash Player," said Guillaume Cohen, CEO, Veodia.

In addition, the new Veodia channel widget offers a more interactive navigation interface based on Adobe Flash technology, allowing viewers to browse through all videos published on a channel. See the new flash widget in action with a video message from Veodia's CEO at: http://www.veodia.com/flashdemo.
…”)

Latest buzz:

• Flash Player Released!
• Veodia Browser-Based h.264 Video Service Adds Native Flash Player ...

• Veodia Now Supports Flash
• Veodia ditching Quicktime for Flash, HD to come in 2009
• Veodia ups the video ante
• Veodia Now Supports Flash
• Exploiting Flash
• Veodia - the live TV studio in your browser
• High-def video service Veodia gets Flash compatibility » VentureBeat
• Broadcast your live Video now...

---

Like many, I believe in "simple is better". But most of the "simple" solutions are usually have a "price". In addition, you can choose two out of these three: Good/Cheap/Fast.

The video recording quality using Veodia is amazing ( just make sure you are not filming in the dark using your 4 years old 0.5MP web cam and a mic you stolen from your kids - see my demo bellow ). The encoding is fast. And as I still using the free account, it is cheap (but I am sure their pricing model will be very good as well).

These capabilities show great potential.
From Corporate communications and education, through security, entertainment and v/blogs - Cost effective, high quality video and scalable platform providing great foundations to all new type of applications.

So - check Veodia's capabilities and no not forget to have fun as well.







E.T.

Technorati Tags: HD,multimedia,video, Veodia

Zen Truths

I am working on some new projects I would love to share with you, so please stay tune.

But for now - here is a list of Zen Truths I recently received and would like to share with you:

1. Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me. Just leave me the &*%$ alone.
2. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and leaky tire.
3. It's always darkest before dawn. So if you're going to steal your neighbor's newspaper, that's the time to do it.
4. Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.
5. Always remember that you're unique. Just like everyone else.
6. Never test the depth of the water with both feet.
7. If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments.
8. Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and they're barefoot.
9. If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.
10. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer.
11. If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.
12. If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.
13. Some days you're the bug; some days you're the windshield.
14. Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.
15. The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it back in your pocket.
16. A closed mouth gathers no foot.
17. Duct tape is like 'The Force'. It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the Universe together.
18. There are two theories to arguing with women. Neither one works.
19. Generally speaking, you aren't learning much when your lips are moving.
20. Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
21. Never miss a good chance to shut up.
    Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.
    

E.T.

Zend.com

The updated Zend.com site launched yesterday.







Zend = The PHP company, build their site using PHP, and it is 'powered' by Zend Core, Zend Framework, Zend Platform and Smarty.

Additional information is available in the "behind-the-site" section.

Congratulations and good luck!


E.T.

Technorati Tags: zend, PHP

Finally : Graphic Personal Homepage & Directory

Until recently I was using a 'blank' page as my browsers homepage.
I kept testing all kind of 'personal homepage' and portals for a long time.
I always returned to my clean, empty page.
I think the main reason is that I am a person who need visual stimulation as well as information. Most of the 'personal homepage' offerings are 'text oriented' and try to present you with the most relevant information for you (or in other words - push you things you may/want).
It is hard enough to start the day with a list of unread eMails - do I really want it on my browser as well? (the answer is No).

There are some interaction design concepts which try to predict the user needs and to provide it with minimum effort / clicks / discovery steps / etc. Trying to minimize the 'clicks' needed to perform a task.

Well, you know what, sometime the 'extra' click is a good thing.
I can protect myself from the stream of information if I have an extra click as a buffer.

+ I need colors. These 'clean', 'white space' pages are just too clean for me.

Then I found Symbaloo.com.

This site is different. It is colorful and easy to customized.
There are two main interactions. One is the 'icon desk'


The other is a 'news/image desk'


Adding a desktop is easy.


As well as creating new 'blocks', select there color, position and content.
You can create work-oriented desks as well as personal.
You can share them with your friends as well.



General settings are


Finally, a Graphic Personal Homepage & Directory I like to use.

E.T.

Technorati Tags: homepage, symbaloo

Congratulations to the Yedda team

I just spoke with Yaniv Golan, the CTO of Yedda to congratulate him and the team on the deal with AOL.

He seems very excited, as he should!

Well done!

As I wrote earlier today, Yedda took part of the last Israel Web Tour event - So one more reason for you to participate.

E.T.

Technorati Tags: Israel, israelwebtour, Yedda, AOL, Web 2.0

Calendar Vs. Tetris

Recently I got a the feeling my calendar is playing with me...





Do you know what I mean?

E.T.

Announcing the 2008 Israel Web Tour

The California Israel Chamber of Commerce has just announced the return of their highly successful IsraelWebTour competition and roadshow. Current returning sponsors include Google, Yahoo and Adobe.

The Tour will kick off on February 4th, 2008 when fifteen chosen CEOs from Israel’s most exciting startups will arrive in Silicon Valley for a week of activities. The companies will meet with investors, strategic partners, customers, entrepreneurs and industry leaders in a mix of private one-on-one meetings, roundtable discussions and ad-hoc networking events .

The highlight of the week will be a public showcase on Wednesday, February 5th where each start-up will present their business to the industry and press . The Tour will end with a closing night party in San Francisco on Thursday February 7th.



The CICC is now soliciting applications for participating companies and sponsors. If you want to participate in this year’s IsraelWebTour, submit an application to CICC by Monday, December 3rd at 5:00 PM PST. Conference organizers & Steering Committee will select 15 companies to participate in the tour.

Highlights From Last Year’s Israel Web Tour:
- A series of private tours and meetings at Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Adobe, Ebay
- A week of panels and roundtable sessions were held with the following industry leaders:

• Mike Moritz, General Partner, Sequoia Capital
• Alex Kazim, President, Skype
• Michael Arrington, Editor, TechCrunch
• Caterina Fake, Co-Founder, Flickr
• Gokul Rajaram, Director, AdSense
• Keith Rabois, VP Business Development, LinkedIn
• Sundaresan Neel - Director, eBay Research Labs
• Amir Ashkenazi, CTO and Founder, Shopping.com
• David Tenenhause, VP of Platform Strategy, Amazon
• Geoff Yang, Founding Partner, Redpoint Ventures
• Jeff Crowe, General Partner, Norwest Venture Partners
• Michael Sippey, Vice President Product, Six Apart

The Bottom line
- Five of the 15 companies who participated in 2006 IsraelWebTour raised venture funds from US and Israeli VCs.
- One company was acquired.
- Four companies launched their US operations within 9 months of the tour.




The 2008 IsraelWebTour Steering Committee:

• Dr. Yossi Vardi, Chairman, International Technologies
• Gil Ben-Artzi, Corporate Development, Yahoo!
• Jacques Benkoski, USVP
• Daniel Cohen, Partner, Gemini Israel Funds
• Etay Gafni, Sr. Director, User Experience and Web 2.0, SAP Labs
• Jason Harinstein, Corporate Development, Google
• Eyal Keren, VP, Business Development, The Pudding Inc.
• Ido Sarig, Partner, Tomas Weisel Partners
• Deborah Schultz, Social Software Strategist, P&G Global Advisor
• Yaniv Vakrat, Director of Corporate Development, Adobe
• Jeff Pulver, Technology anthropoligist, Pulver.com

Related Links:
Application Form
Facebook Group: IsraelWebTour

It is going to be a great event.
Please forward this information to your friends and hope you see you all soon!

E.T.

Technorati Tags: Israel, israelwebtour, SAP, Office 2.0, Web 2.0

Meeting Fake Steve Jobs and Real friends

Last night I had the pleasure to be part of an after-party for the release of the new
Options: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs, a Parody book
, by fake steve, at the British Bankers Club in Menlo Park.

The meeting was organized by Paul from Coghead, using Facebook event manager.

Many people showed up, a great mix of people, with interesting backgrounds and jobs.

But the best part of the party, from my perspective was meeting an old friend, which I did not see for 15 (!!) years... (we were roommates in Tel Aviv back in 92). Now he is working with his friend Gabe Rivera (http://www.techmeme.com/).
Lots of laughs and memories.

E.T.

Technorati Tags: coghead, fakesteve, techmeme

SCEA 2007 Annual Meeting - Web Trend: Today and Tomorrow

On Saturday I attended the SCEA 2007 Annual Meeting and participated in the panel discussion on "Web Trend: Today and Tomorrow". The panelists were:

• 
  Paul McNamara: CEO at Coghead
• 
  Ismael Ghalimi: Chief Executive Officer at Intalio
• 
  Sridhar Vembu: CEO at AdventNet/ZOHO
• 
  Etay Gafni: Sr. Director, User Experiences and Web2.0, SAP
• Andy Lee: Managing Director of Berksford

We discussed many topics around these guidelines:

• Future trends and how can we notice them now?
• Office 2.0 - future mainstream or current bubble
• Future mash-ups and "do-it-yourself" applications
• Future Platforms - The power of Facebook and Social network
• Thoughts about Enterprise 2.0
• Cross culture and multi languages sites and examples
• Mobile Web
• Distribute development of Web products and services

I could not capture the whole discussion, so here are some points:

Sridhar was asked about the competition from Microsoft and Google in office 2.0 space. I liked his answer: "The competition does not kill you, you kill you". He then explained that he believe that as long as you keep your focus on your customers, your company execution and technology, you will do well. And there is a place for more than one solution.

Ismael told the story of how he started the idea of running a business using only hosted/online solutions; while he was in Japan and tried to keep working, but had only a Japanese laptop he borrowed from a friend.
Ismael also called for action and help with the great project of the Redux Model 1 (an experimental device built for the Office 2.0 Conference).



Paul provided and explanation about the evolution of business applications and focused on the capability we have now (and which Coghead provide) to compose the application that its your business. I added that working as a community allowing us to be able to reuse ideas and applications and collaborate to define new best practices and to build the relevant applications to support them.

Additional discussion was around the capability to use new Web Platforms to develop and distribute products and services.
Ismael made a valid point that it is not enough to get famous on Facebook or TechCrunch, you must build a real business and gave example of salesforce marketing and businss model.

The discussions and interactions with many people continued during the brakes.
Overall - I had fun and I think it was a very interesting event.
Plus - I got this:



E.T.

Technorati Tags: China, coghead, SAP, intalio, Office 2.0, Web 2.0, zoho