Friday, September 14, 2007

10,000 Feeds!

10,000 RSS feeds in my Bloglines account! Topics: anime, Apple, artificial intelligence, audio, aviation, biotech, Blogger, blognation, blogosphere, blogs, blogs - Africa, blogs - Asia, blogs - Australia, blogs - Canada, blogs - China, blogs - Europe, blogs - favourite, blogs - India, blogs - Israel, blogs - Japan, blogs - Korea, blogs - Latin America, blogs - Lebanon, blogs - Middle East, blogs - Palestine, blogs - popular, blogs - Russia, blogs - South Africa, blogs - UK, blogs - USA, blogs - world, Blogtronix, bookmarks, books, Bulgaria, business, call center, cars, CEO, CIO/CTO, classifieds, communications, communities, competitive intelligence, consultant, corporate blogs, craigslist, CRM, culture, customer service, design, developer, downloads, economics, education/learning, energy, English, entertainment, entrepreneur, events/conferences, Facebook, fashion, finance, food/drink, forums - Russia, fun, future, geeks, GoingOn, Google, Google Groups, government, hardware, health, history, ideas, images/Flickr, innovation, international affairs, internet, IT, Jaiku, jobs/HR, knowledge management, law, library, lifestyle, linguistics/philosophy, LinkedIn, LiveJournal, magazines, Mahalo, management, maps/geography, marketing/advertising/PR, media, Meetup, Microsoft, MIT OCW, mobile life, MoiKrug.ru, movies, multimedia, museums, music, my blogs/links, MySpace, nanotech, Netscape, neurotech, news, Ning, open source, OpenLearn - The Open University, opinion, outsourcing, P2P, people, personal technology, politics, Pownce, project management, psychology, quantum, quotes, Rambler, real estate/property, reference, research, reviews, sales, science, scifi, search/SEM/SEO, security, services, shopping, Silicon Valley, Six Apart, Skype, SMB/SME, social software/media, society, software, space, sport, tech news, technology, Technorati, telecom, travel, Tribe.net, Tumblr, TV, Twitter, TypePad, venture capital, video, virtual worlds, VoIP, Vox, weird, Windows Live Spaces, WordPress, world, world - Asia, world - China, world - Europe, world - India, world - Middle East, world - Russia, world - UK, world - USA, writing, XING, Yahoo, Yahoo Answers, Yahoo groups, zeitgeist, Zoho.
http://www.bloglines.com/public/divedi

Saturday, August 18, 2007

SAP Survey

Keywords: Bulgaria

My answers to Shel Israel's questions:

1. Dimitar, you seem to be everywhere I look on the Internet, can you list the social media tools that you use?
Bloglines, Skype, Facebook, Blogger, del.icio.us, MyBlogLog and YouTube are my favourite ones.

2. You say you follow more than 9500 feeds, more than even Scoble. How do you accomplish that? How much time to you spend following your feeds.
I'd like to learn as much as I can. I'm almost always on. Broadband is a bliss! I don't read all of my feeds on a daily basis. Every day there are some knowledge management goals I try to accomplish. My feeds could be described as digital memory silos. Reading on demand.

3. How has social media changed your life?
I have only one word for you. Revolution. Life without internet would be a very tough one for me.

4. Tell me about technology in Bulgaria? What percent of people have computers and connection? How about broadband and wi-fi? How about cellphones?
23% of the households in Bulgaria have computers. Internet penetration in Sofia, Bulgaria's capital, is 50%, although the internet penetration in the rest of the country is 25%. Bulgaria has one of the highest penetrations of telephone service in Eastern Europe, with around 38 subscribers per 100 inhabitants. The leading internet service providers are Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC), Orbitel and Spectrumnet. The other big players in this market are the cable TV operators. Also, there are hundreds smaller ISPs, providing LAN. Wi-Fi is not very popular. The mobile phones penetration is 75%. Bulgarians simply love their mobile phones. Buying the most new and expensive mobile devices is a national mania.

5. What about business? What are the largest enterprises in Bulgaria? How do they use technology and social media?
Bulgaria used to be the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe. Now, there are almost 4,000 ICT companies. Companies like SAP and the U.S. auto parts manufacturer Johnson Control have their R&D centers in Bulgaria. Also, in January 2006 HP opened a customer support centre in Sofia for their clients from Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The largest enterprises are telecoms (BTC, Mobiltel, Globul), utilities providers, banks, power plants, heavy industry manufactures ( KCM). These corporations work mainly with well-known brands like Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, SAP and HP. Their primary concerns are stability, reliability and security. Social media is not on their radar.

6. What are the most popular social media tools in Bulgaria?
Instant messengers (ICQ, Skype), forums, chats and SMS. Bulgarians love chatting. Bulgarians are people you could easily talk to and communicate with. It's not a big surpise that dating sites still rule the internet landscape. The most popular video sharing site is Vbox7 with 460,000 users. The Bulgarian blogosphere is growing. There are over 25,000 blogs. The leading social networking sites in Bulgaria are the local ones ( friends.bg, sibir.bg, one.bg, zip.bg).

7. How is social media changing culture for Bulgarians? How will it change it in the next 5-10 years?
I hope that social media could make our communications faster, cheaper and better.

8. Can you give me a description of what's happening in social media in your overall region including the countries near you?
I see a big potential for growth in any niche. There are lots of underserved markets. Why? We are talking about over 130 million people, including Turkey. Some of the biggest web giants like Google already pay much more attention to the region.

9. What language do most Bulgarians speak? How big a barrier is language?
Bulgarian is the official language, Turkish and Romany are also spoken. Bulgarians like foreign languages. Let me give you an example with myself. I have studied seriously five different languages: English, Russian, French, Spanish and Greek. There is a huge Bulgarian diaspora all over the world, mainly in the USA, Canada, the UK, Spain and Greece. Bulgarians are the second biggest group of foreign students in Germany, after the Chinese. The older generations have studied Russian, the younger - English. There are a lot of polyglots in Bulgaria.

10. What opportunities, related to social media, are there for the international business community in Bulgaria?
Bulgaria is a member of the European Union and could be a gateway to the Balkans and Turkey. The Bulgarian capital market could be described as really fast-growing. Why don't they invest in the Google/Yahoo of Southeastern Europe?

11. Additional comments?
Thank you very much for your interesting questions!

Blogs:
SAP Global Survey: Bulgaria's Dimitar Vesselinov - Global Neighbourhoods

See also:
Bulgaria - The World 2 Come

Update:
Now, I subscribe to 9,876 RSS feeds. My next aim is 10,000 RSS feeds.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Civil petition against the unequal treatment of the citizens of the Republic of Bulgaria by the authorities

Keywords: Roma in Bulgaria

Image: dnevnik.bg

Ladies and gentlemen,

Recently, in the Bulgarian society there has been a tendency for the discrimination of the non-Roma population of the Republic of Bulgaria, e.g. people are being treated in a different way, most often unfavorable and discriminatory, on the basis of their race, ethnicity, background and social status in favour of the Roma population.

Chapter 1 of The Bulgarian Constitution states that:

"§ 6 (1) All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
(2) All citizens are equal in front of the law. Limitations of their rights or privileges based on race, nationality, ethnicity, sex, origin, religion, education, beliefs, party affiliation, personal and social status or property status shall not be tolerated."

Today, in the Bulgarian society there are plenty of examples for the violation of the above quoted law. As such, we quote the following:

1. The case in the residential district Zaharna Fabrika, Sofia, where as a result of battery Prof. Stanimir Kaloyanov was killed and so far the perpetrators have not faced any responsibility for their actions due to their Roma origin, having in mind that the residents of the district know who these individuals are. The Bulgarian institutions refuse to guarantee a fair trial and security for the residents of the district in the future, and in the recurrent events, e.g. assaults and harassment. The authorities do not provide transparency of the results of the investigation. In a similar manner, the state and its institutions refuse to protect the train commuters in Bulgaria when individuals of Roma origin throw stones at the trains on a daily basis. The latter individuals do not face any sanctions and the police do not try to limit or terminate their actions, having in mind that they are recurrent. It is also common that individuals of Roma origin encroach upon agricultural property and, as a result, the owners of the property are left with nothing to live on. The perpetrators are rarely caught and even less frequently – punished. The examples above show that the law has been violated and this gives us reason to claim that the citizens of Bulgaria are not equal in front of the law.

2. The Bulgarian state provides free apartments to individuals of Roma origin and does not provide such to non-Roma citizens of Bulgaria. This is a violation of The Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria, which forbids privileges based on ethnicity.

3. The Bulgarian state provides all sorts of aid to individuals of Roma origin and does not provide such to non-Roma citizens of Bulgaria, having in mind that in both cases the individuals are extremely poor. This is a violation of The Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria, which forbids privileges based on ethnicity.

4. Unequal treatment of the rights of Bulgarian citizens on the basis of their origin by the following Bulgarian institutions: Elektrorazpredelenie EAD (the Electric Company), the public transport companies, the Police of the Republic of Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Court System, etc. A well-known fact from our everyday life is that when Bulgarians do not pay their bills to Elektrorazpredelenie EAD within deadline, the company immediately cuts their electricity, based on their non-Roma origin, and does not cut their electricity, based on their Roma origin, regardless of the fact that the Roma community have millions of leva debt to Elektrorazpredelenie EAD dating back 15 years and they do not even try to pay that debt on the ground of being unemployed and at the same time they often refuse jobs offered to them by the employment offices. This is a violation of The Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria, which forbids any privileges and inequalities based on ethnicity.

5. The citizens of the Republic of Bulgaria are not equal when they apply for universities, even though The Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria explicitly forbids that. For example, article 22 paragraph 3 in the admission requirements book of the Technical University of Varna states that 5 places are reserved for the admission of students of Roma origin.

6. State institutions, organizations and media propagate ethnic hatred and aggression in Bulgaria by claiming that the Roma minority is being discriminated by the majority, having in mind that racial and ethnic discrimination and their propagation are indictable by the constitution. There is no adequate state policy towards the Roma minority and this instigates racism and hatred towards the Roma minority. The tacit toleration of the situation, which sometimes receives large publicity, creates a dangerous precedent in Bulgaria, where there has never been racism. On the contrary, our country has provided refuge for ethnically persecuted Armenians and has saved the Bulgarian Jews from the Holocaust. And now, unconsidered acts are making us face a future ethnic conflict. The Bulgarian Government and the Bulgarian institutions have to take urgent measures to prevent that, instead of instigating ethnic hatred. The inequality of the citizens of the Republic of Bulgaria is a result of the discriminatory policy of the Bulgarian Government and the Bulgarian institutions against all Bulgarian citizens except the Roma. This is a violation of The Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria.

The undersigned plead for EQUALITY and NON-DISCRIMINATION. We insist that the Bulgarian authorities abide by the law quoted above and not violate the rights of the Bulgarians and of the non-Roma citizens of Bulgaria in favour of the Roma. We state that in case the authorities fail to abide by that law, we are ready to seek assistance from international organizations and courts, to organize protests and demonstrations and boycott Bulgaria and it institutions, goods and services and as an extreme measure we ourselves will make sure that The Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria is not violated.

We state explicitly that the current petition is not bound to any political party and we do not wish that any political party recognizes it and uses it for its own purposes. The petitions is a result of the discontent of citizens of the Republic of Bulgaria who think that their rights have been violated. The text of the petition was composed by the following non-political members:

Veselina Ivanova Katsarova, translator
Desislava Dimitrova Stoeva, journalist
Valentin Georgiev Gurkov, associate professor at The National Sports Academy
Veselin Iliev Vasilev, accountant
Georgi Ognyanov Naumov, computer programmer
Ivanka Lukova Chervenkova, civil engineer

Source: bgpetition

Blogs:
Roma Violence in Bulgaria - mirchev.blog.bg

Saturday, July 14, 2007

9,500 Feeds

9,500 RSS feeds in my Bloglines account! Topics: anime, Apple, artificial intelligence, audio, aviation, biotech, Blogger, blogosphere, blogs, blogs - Africa, blogs - Asia, blogs - Australia, blogs - Canada, blogs - China, blogs - Europe, blogs - favourite, blogs - India, blogs - Israel, blogs - Japan, blogs - Korea, blogs - Latin America, blogs - Lebanon, blogs - Middle East, blogs - Palestine, blogs - popular, blogs - Russia, blogs - UK, blogs - USA, blogs - world, Blogtronix, bookmarks, books, Bulgaria, business, call center, cars, CEO, CIO/CTO, classifieds, communications, communities, competitive intelligence, consultant, corporate blogs, craigslist, CRM, culture, customer service, design, developer, downloads, economics, education/learning, energy, English, entertainment, entrepreneur, events/conferences, Facebook, fashion, finance, food, fun, future, geeks, GoingOn, Google, Google Groups, government, hardware, health, history, ideas, images/Flickr, innovation, international affairs, internet, IT, Jaiku, jobs/HR, knowledge management, law, library, lifestyle, linguistics/philosophy, LinkedIn, LiveJournal, magazines, Mahalo, management, maps/geography, marketing/advertising/PR, media, Meetup, Microsoft, MIT OCW, mobile life, MoiKrug.ru, movies, multimedia, museums, music, my blogs/links, MySpace, nanotech, Netscape, neurotech, news, Ning, open source, OpenLearn - The Open University, opinion, outsourcing, P2P, people, personal technology, politics, Pownce, project management, psychology, quantum, quotes, real estate/property, reference, research, reviews, sales, science, scifi, search/SEM/SEO, security, services, shopping, Silicon Valley, Six Apart, social software/media, society, software, space, sport, tech news, technology, Technorati, telecom, travel, Tribe.net, TV, TypePad, venture capital, video, virtual worlds, VoIP, Vox, weird, Windows Live Spaces, WordPress, world, world - Asia, world - Europe, world - India, world - Middle East, world - Russia, world - USA, XING, Yahoo, Yahoo Answers, Yahoo groups, zeitgeist.
http://www.bloglines.com/public/divedi

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Book of the Week: Brave New War

"War in the twenty-first century will be very different from what we've come to expect. Terrorism and guerrilla warfare are rapidly evolving to allow nonstate networks to challenge the structure and order of nation-states. It is a change on par with the rise of the Internet and China, and will dramatically change how you and your kids will view security.

In Brave New War, the counterterrorism expert John Robb reveals how the same technology that has enabled globalization also allows terrorists and criminals to join forces against larger adversaries with relative ease and to carry out small, inexpensive actions—like sabotaging an oil pipeline—that will generate a huge return. He shows how taking steps to combat the shutdown of the world's oil, high-tech, and financial markets could cost us the thing we've come to value the most—worldwide economic and cultural integration—and the crucial steps we must take now to safeguard our systems and ourselves against this new method of warfare."
Source: Amazon.com

Blogs:
John Robb's Weblog
Global Guerrillas

Audio:
Globalization’s Double-Edged Sword - Open Source

See also:
Book - The World 2 Come

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Video of the Day: RockStartup - Episode 21

Keywords: PayPerPost

Ted Murphy, CEO and Co-Founder of PayPerPost, should work as a comedian! This guy is funny:

RockStartup - Episode 21
"Some of PPP's best outtakes."
Source: YouTube



See also:
Playlist: Comedy - YouTube
Video of the Day - The World 2 Come

Monday, April 30, 2007

Report of the Day: 2007 Digital Fact Pack

Keywords: Advertising Age

"It's becoming critical to stay atop the digital media and marketing space, but the pace of technological change is making it increasingly difficult. That's why we've again pulled together the important data and trends to serve as a guide to marketing in this space.

This, our second annual Digital Fact Pack, is full of fascinating numbers."
Source: AdAge.com

Bookmarks:
del.icio.us/Monten/marketing
del.icio.us/Monten/media
del.icio.us/Monten/advertising
del.icio.us/Monten/report
del.icio.us/Monten/research
del.icio.us/Monten/internet
del.icio.us/Monten/search
del.icio.us/Monten/web2.0
del.icio.us/Monten/video
del.icio.us/Monten/SNS

See also:
Report of the Day - The World 2 Come

Audio of the Day: WallStRadio


Lots of podcasts on business, finance, economics and investing:

WallStRadio
http://radio.wallst.net/
[via Internet Outsider]

See also:
Audio of the Day - The World 2 Come

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Company of the Week: Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)

"Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) NYSE: SAI was the largest employee-owned research and engineering firm in the United States. It was founded by Dr. J. Robert 'Bob' Beyster in 1969 in La Jolla, California, as Science Applications Incorporated. As of 2006, SAIC employed over 43,000 employees and reported $7.8 billion in revenue, making it number 285 on the Fortune 500 list."
Source: Wikipedia

Corporate site:
saic.com

News & Blogs:
SAIC - Topix

Blogs:
SAIC - SeekingAlpha
SAIC: Serving up technical solutions for Uncle Sam - BloggingStocks
SAIC - Defense Industry Daily

Finance:
SAI - Google Finance
SAI - Yahoo Finance

Insight:
Washington's $8 Billion Shadow - vanityfair.com

Video:
The Defense Industry - Wallstrip

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Video/Audio of the Day: Pop!Casts

Keywords: Pop!Tech

"New. Portable. World changing. Now you can take the energy and inspiration that is Pop!Tech with you anywhere. Pop!Casts let you join the conversation and engage in the extraordinary work that had its start in Camden, Maine. Are you ready to accept the challenges issued by the thinkers and innovators who move Pop!Tech audiences, year after year?"
Source: Pop!Tech
[via Lunch over IP]

People:
- Thomas Friedman
- Neil Gershenfeld
- Thomas Barnett
- Chris Anderson
- Richard Dawkins

See also:
Video of the Day - The World 2 Come
Audio of the Day - The World 2 Come

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Blog of the Day: The Long Tailpipe - Shai Agassi's Blog

Keywords: Shai Agassi


Shai, I'm happy to see that you have joined the blogosphere! I'm sure that your next endeavours will be as successful and impactful as your previous achievements.

Shai Agassi is blogging on enterprise software and alternative energy:

The Long Tailpipe - Shai Agassi's Blog
http://shaiagassi.typepad.com/
[via Between the Lines/ZDNet.com]

Video:
Davos 07 - Shai Agassi SAP - Loic Le Meur blog

Audio:
Shai Agassi - Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders

See also:
Blog of the Day - The World 2 Come

Friday, April 13, 2007

Resource of the Day: DjVu Zone Digital Library

Keywords: DjVu

"You are entering the DjVu Zone Cybrary (or Digital Library), that contains over 1300 pages of very diverse material. Each item in the list below contains several eye candies in DjVu. The documents range from renaissance printed leaves to the latest scientific papers, from comics to financial documents, from mail-order catalogs to restaurant menus, from Gutenberg's Bible to Thomas Jefferson's handwriting."
Source: DjVu Zone Digital Library

See also:
Resource of the Day - The World 2 Come

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Company of the Week: EMI

"The EMI Group (LSE: EMI) is a British music company comprising of the major record company EMI Music which operates several labels, based in Brook Green in London, England, and EMI Music Publishing, based on Charing Cross Road, London. EMI Music is one of the Big Four record companies, making it among the largest in the world."
Source: Wikipedia

Corporate site:
emigroup.com

News:
EMI - Topix

Blogs:
EMI Group - SeekingAlpha
EMI - Blogging Stocks
EMI - padContent.org

Finance:
EMI Group - Google Finance

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Company of the Week: SAP

"SAP is the largest software company in Europe and the third largest in the world. It ranks after Microsoft and IBM in terms of market capitalization. SAP is also the largest business application and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution and software provider in terms of revenue."
Source: Wikipedia

Corporate site:
sap.com

News & Blogs:
SAP - Topix.net

Blogs:
SAP - SeekingAlpha
SAP - Enterprise Irregulars
SAP - Blogging Stocks

Finance:
SAP - Google Finance
SAP - Yahoo Finance

Video:
Inside SAP Labs Bulgaria - Google Video

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Person of the Day: Rene Descartes

"Rene Descartes (March 31, 1596 – February 11, 1650), also known as Renatus Cartesius (latinized form), was a highly influential French philosopher, mathematician, scientist, and writer. Dubbed the 'Founder of Modern Philosophy', and the 'Father of Modern Mathematics', much of subsequent western philosophy is a reaction to his writings, which have been closely studied from his time down to the present day. His influence in mathematics is also apparent, the Cartesian coordinate system used in plane geometry and algebra being named after him, and he was one of the key figures in the Scientific Revolution."
Source: Wikipedia

Audio:
Rene Descartes - LibriVox

See also:
Person of the Day - The World 2 Come

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Company of the Week: Ryanair

"Ryanair (ISEQ: RYA, LSE: RYA, NASDAQ: RYAAY) is an Irish airline headquartered in Dublin. Its biggest operational base, however, is at London Stansted Airport. It is Europe's largest low-cost carrier and one of the world's largest and most successful airlines (whether in terms of profits, number of flights, number of passengers flown). Ryanair operates - at one count - on 362 routes to 22 countries. Ryanair has been characterised by rapid expansion, a result of the deregulation of the air industry in Europe in 1997. Over the years, it has evolved into one of the world's most profitable airlines, running at remarkable margins by passing its costs directly to its customers."
Source: Wikipedia

Corporate site:
ryanair.com

News & Blogs:
Ryanair - Topix.net

Finance:
RYAAY - Google Finance
RYAAY - Yahoo Finance

Photos:
Ryanair - Flickr

Video:
Ryanair - YouTube

Insight:
Jet-Setting for the Masses - Bloomberg (PDF)

See also:
Europe - The World 2 Come

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Audio of the Day: SXSW Podcasts

Keywords: South by Southwest

SXSW Podcasts
Link

Topics:
- Will Wright's Keynote at SXSW 2007
- 12 Values Shaping Technology's Future
- There's no Such Thing as the Mobile Web (Or Is There?)
- Why Marketers Need To Work With People Media
- Worldchanging 2.0
- Web Typography Sucks
- The 4-Hour Workweek: Secrets of Doing More with Less in a Digital World
- Bruce Sterling's SXSW Rant
- The Rise of the Blogebrity
- Online Games: Beyond Play and Fantasy with Joi Ito and Justin Hall
- Five Tips to Make Your Lame Podcast Listenable
- Dan Rather Keynote Interview
- Keynote Conversation: Limor Fried / Phil Torrone
- Sex and Computational Technology
- Emerging Social and Technology Trends
- After the Brief: A Field Guide to Design Inspiration
- Opening Remarks: Kathy Sierra
- How to Rawk SXSW

People:
- Bruce Sterling, Visionary In Residence, wired.com
- Peter Rojas, Engadget
- Dan Rather
- Will Wright, Chief Designer, Maxis/EA
- Kathy Sierra, CreatingPassionateUsers
- Alex Steffen, Executive Editor, Worldchanging.com
- Phillip Torrone, Sr Editor, MAKE magazine
- John Battelle, Chairman & Founder, Federated Media Publishing
- Toni Schneider, Automattic Inc
- Tony Conrad, CEO & Founder, Sphere
- Michael Sippey, VP Prod, Six Apart Ltd
- Daniel Appelquist, Sr Technology Strategist, Vodafone
- Carlo Longino, MobHappy
- Timo Veikkola, Sr futures Specialist, Nokia

Blogs:
Weekly Wrapup, 12-16 March 2007 - Read/WriteWeb

See also:
SXSW - The World 2 Come

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Company of the Week: Viacom

"Viacom (NYSE: VIA, NYSE: VIAb) is an American media conglomerate with various worldwide interests in cable and satellite television networks (MTV Networks and BET), and movie production and distribution (the Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks movie studios). Sumner Redstone is the Chairman and, through National Amusements, the parent of Viacom, majority shareholder.

The new Viacom is considered to be the 'high-growth' side of the much larger former Viacom. The former Viacom was renamed CBS Corporation, from which this firm was split off on December 31, 2005. CBS, not Viacom, retains control of the over-the-air broadcasting, TV production, and publishing assets formerly owned by the larger company. However, National Amusements remains the common majority shareholder of both firms."
Source: Wikipedia

Corporate site:
viacom.com

News & Blogs:
Viacom - Topix.net

Blogs:
VIA - Seeking Alpha
VIA - Blogging Stocks
Viacom - paidContent.org

Finance:
Viacom - Google Finance
Viacom - Yahoo Finance

Images:
Viacom - Flickr

Video:
Viacom - Google Video
Viacom - YouTube
Charlie Rose - Sumner Redstone - Google Video

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Company of the Week: Boeing

"The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA, TYO: 7661) is an aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Boeing is the largest global aircraft manufacturer by revenue and the second-largest defense contractor in the world.

In 2006, Boeing was the world’s largest civil aircraft company in terms of orders (with 55% of orders and 54% of deliveries in its market segment), overtaking Airbus for the first time since 2000. The largest exporter in the United States, Boeing’s stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average."
Source: Wikipedia

Corporate site:
boeing.com

News & Blogs:
Boeing - Topix.net

Blogs:
BA - SeekingAlpha
BA - Blogging Stocks
Boeing - Defense Industry Daily
Randy's Journal

Finance:
Boeing - Google Finance
Boeing - Yahoo Finance

Photos:
Boeing - Flickr

Video:
Boeing - Google Video
Boeing - YouTube

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Company of the Week: Berkshire Hathaway

Keywords: Warren Buffett

"Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA, NYSE: BRKB) is a large holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, USA, that oversees and manages a number of subsidiary companies. Berkshire Hathaway's core business is insurance, including property and casualty insurance, reinsurance and specialty nonstandard insurance. The Company averaged a phenomenal 25%+ annual return to its shareholders for the last 25 years while employing large amounts of capital and minimal debt."
Source: Wikipedia

Corporate site:
berkshirehathaway.com

News & Blogs:
Berkshire Hathaway - Topix.net

Blogs:
Berkshire Hathaway - SeekingAlpha
BRK.A - Blogging Stocks

Finance:
Berkshire Hathaway - Google Finance
Berkshire Hathaway - Yahoo Finance

Photos:
Warren Buffett - Flickr

Video:
Warren Buffett - Google Video
Berkshire Hathaway - Wallstrip

See also:
Warren Buffett - The World 2 Come

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Company of the Week: Samsung Electronics

"Samsung Electronics (KSE: 005930, KSE: 005935, LSE: SMSN, LSE: SMSD) is the world's largest electronics company. Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, it is part of the Korean Samsung Group with a revenue of around $79.6 billion. It operates in approximately over 100 countries and has over 128,000 employees worldwide. The name samsung literally means 'three stars' or 'tristar' in Korean."
Source: Wikipedia

Corporate site:
samsung.com

News & Blogs:
Samsung Electronics - Topix.net

Blogs:
Samsung - Engadget
Samsung - Engadget Mobile
Samsung Electronics - SeekingAlpha

Finance:
Samsung Electronics - Google Finance

Photos:
Samsung - Flickr

Video:
Samsung - Google Video

Bookmarks:
del.icio.us/Monten/Korea

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Video of the Day: I am a Struggling, Broke Entepreneur

Keywords: entrepreneur, venture capital (VC)

Preeti:
"I'm doing this for 3 reasons: 1) Fame and Fortune, 2) Drive traffic to my site, 3) Help others (not in order of priority :) I am going to tell you about my experiences as an entrepreneur, given that I'm not yet a complete 'success' you can either take them as things you should 'DO' or 'NOT DO'.

I am 34 years old, am a serial entrepreneur who can't seem to quit even though I've not yet made any money from any of my companies, currently run a company called CopperPages.com, and have no social life whatsoever. And I'm broke. And I'm burned out. Sick of just running companies to 'LEARN', that was fine for my 20s, now in my 30s its 'SHOW ME THE MONEY!' I think the money is coming soon, the Tipping Point is almost here, stay tuned...."
Source: YouTube

Blogs:
Venture Capital Blogs - FeedBurner

News & Blogs:
Venture Capital - Topix.net

Audio & Video:
PodTech.net

Bookmarks:
del.icio.us/Monten/entrepreneur
del.icio.us/Monten/startup
del.icio.us/Monten/women

See also:
Video of the Day - The World 2 Come
Entrepreneur - The World 2 Come
VC - The World 2 Come

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Company of the Week: Electronic Arts

"Electronic Arts (EA) (NASDAQ: ERTS) is an American developer, marketer, publisher, and distributor of computer and video games. Established in 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers responsible for their games. EA was just a publisher for its first few years and exclusively published for home computers, but began developing games in-house in the late 1980s and started supporting consoles in the early 1990s. Also in the 1990s, EA began to expand by acquiring several successful developers and, as of the early 2000s, EA has become the world's largest third-party publisher, with a net revenue of US$3.129 billion on its fiscal year March 31, 2005. Currently, the company's most successful products are sports games published under their EA Sports label, games based on popular movie licenses and games from long-running franchises like Need for Speed, Medal of Honor and The Sims."
Source: Wikipedia

Corporate site:
ea.com

News & Blogs:
Electronic Arts - Topix.net

Blogs:
ERTS - SeekingAlpha
ERTS - Blogging Stocks

Finance:
Electronic Arts - Google Finance
Electronic Arts - Yahoo Finance

Audio:
ERTS - EarningsCast

Images:
Electronic Arts - Flickr

Video:
EA - YouTube
Electronic Arts - Wallstrip
Electronic Arts - Google Video

Bookmarks:
del.icio.us/Monten/games

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Company of the Week: General Electric

"The General Electric Company, or GE (NYSE: GE) is a multinational American technology and services conglomerate incorporated in the State of New York. According to the Forbes Global 2000 it is the world's second-largest company.

In the 1960s, aspects of U.S. tax laws and accounting practices led to a rise in the assembly of conglomerates. GE, which was a conglomerate long before the term was coined, is arguably the most successful organization of this type."
Source: Wikipedia

Corporate site:
ge.com

News & Blogs:
General Electric - Topix.net
General Electric - Moreover

Blogs:
GE - SeekingAlpha
GE - Blogging Stocks

Finance:
GE - Google Finance
GE - Yahoo Finance

Video:
Charlie Rose - An Hour with Jeffrey Immelt, Chairman & CEO, General Electric - Google Video
General Electric - Google Video

See also:
Company of the Week - The World 2 Come

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Person of the Day: Michel Platini

"Michel Platini (born June 21, 1955) is a French former football manager and midfielder, and current president of the UEFA (Union of European Football Associations).

Acknowledged as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the best passers of the ball in his era, and was also an outstanding goalscorer for his position. He is the only player ever to win three consecutive European Footballer of the Year awards, and in 1999, he was elected the seventh-best footballer of the 20th century in a poll by the IFFHS. He is regarded as one of the most elegant players of his generation and as the greatest French footballer of all time."
Source: Wikipedia

News & Blogs:
Michel Platini - Topix.net

See also:
Person of the Day - The World 2 Come

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Person of the Day: Napoleon

"Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte) (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a general during the French Revolution, the ruler of France as First Consul of the French Republic from 11 November 1799 to 18 May 1804, Emperor of the French under the name Napoleon I from 18 May 1804 to 6 April 1814, and was briefly restored as Emperor from 20 March to 22 June 1815. He was also King of Italy, Mediator of the Swiss Confederation and Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine.

Over the course of little more than a decade, the armies of France under his command fought almost every European power and acquired control of most of continental Europe by conquest or alliance. The disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812 marked a turning point. Following the Russian campaign and the defeat at Leipzig in October 1813, the Allies invaded France, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April 1814. He was exiled to the island of Elba. He staged a comeback known as the Hundred Days, but was defeated at Waterloo on 18 June 1815. He spent the remaining six years of his life on the island of St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean under British supervision."
Source: Wikipedia

Audio:
Napoleon 1O1 - TPN
Napoleon on Project Management - Controlling Chaos

Video:
Napoleon - Google Video
Napoleon - YouTube

Photos:
Napoleon - Flickr

Learn:
Napoleon Bonaparte - About.com
Napoleon - MIT OCW

Books:
War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy - The University of Adelaide Library

See also:
Person of the Day - The World 2 Come

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Topic of the Day: India

Keywords: India

"The Indus Valley civilization, one of the oldest in the world, dates back at least 5,000 years. Aryan tribes from the northwest infiltrated onto Indian lands about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the earlier Dravidian inhabitants created the classical Indian culture. Arab incursions starting in the 8th century and Turkish in the 12th were followed by those of European traders, beginning in the late 15th century. By the 19th century, Britain had assumed political control of virtually all Indian lands. Indian armed forces in the British army played a vital role in both World Wars. Nonviolent resistance to British colonialism led by Mohandas GANDHI and Jawaharlal NEHRU brought independence in 1947. The subcontinent was divided into the secular state of India and the smaller Muslim state of Pakistan. A third war between the two countries in 1971 resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh. Despite impressive gains in economic investment and output, India faces pressing problems such as the ongoing dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir, massive overpopulation, environmental degradation, extensive poverty, and ethnic and religious strife."
Source: CIA - The World Factbook

News & Blogs:
India - Topix.net

Blogs:
IndiaDaily
Emergic
Sepia Mutiny
Atanu Dey on India's Development
Youth Curry - Insight on Indian Youth
India - SeekingAlpha
VentureWoods
India - Technorati
India - MyBlogLog
India - WordPress.com

Photos:
India - Flickr

Video:
India - Google Video
India - YouTube

Audio:
IndiaTech - Podtech.net

Media:
India - Digital Media Asia
ContentSutra

Discuss:
India - Orkut

Bookmarks:
del.icio.us/Monten/India

See also:
Company of the Week: Wipro - The World 2 Come
Topic of the Day: Outsourcing - The World 2 Come
Topic of the Day - The World 2 Come
Russia Blogs - The World 2 Come
The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century - The World 2 Come

Monday, January 29, 2007

Topic of the Day: Outsourcing

"Outsourcing entered the business lexicon in the 1980s and often refers to the delegation of non-core operations from internal production to an external entity specialising in the management of that operation. The decision to outsource is often made in the interest of lowering firm costs, redirecting or conserving energy directed at the competencies of a particular business, or to make more efficient use of worldwide labour, capital, technology and resources. Though often used interchangeably, outsourcing differs from offshoring in that outsourcing is relative to the restructuring of the firm while offshoring is relative to the nation(see below), though the two are not mutually exclusive, especially under conditions of globalization. Fundamentally and historically, outsourcing is a term relative to the organisation of labour within and between societies."
Source: Wikipedia

News & Blogs:
Outsourcing - Topix.net
Outsourcing news - Moreover

Blogs:
The Outsourcing Weblog
Outsourcing Times
Offshoring Digest
Planet Outsourcing
Russian ICT Industry
Think Flat - Infosys
Managing Offshore IT - Infosys
Outsource Bulgaria
Luxoft - LiveJournal (in Russian)
BPO Journal

Insight:
Six Blind Men and the Offshoring Elephant - Part 1 of 18 - Viewpoint of an Entrepreneur

Bookmarks:
del.icio.us/Monten/outsourcing

Video:
Thomas Friedman - Google Video
The Other Side of Outsourcing - YouTube
Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro/Nandan Nilekani, CEO, Infosys Technologies - Google Video
Ratan Tata/Kiran Mazumdar Shaw/Anil Agarwal - Google Video
Inside SAP Labs Bulgaria - Google Video

Books:
The World Is Flat - Wikipedia

See also:
Company of the Week: Wipro - The World 2 Come
India Blogs - The World 2 Come
The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century - The World 2 Come
Topic of the Day: Bulgaria - The World 2 Come
Russia Blogs - The World 2 Come
Topic of the Day: China - The World 2 Come
Topic of the Day - The World 2 Come

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Topic of the Day: Project Management

"Project management is the discipline of organizing and managing resources in such a way that these resources deliver all the work required to complete a project within defined scope, time, and cost constraints. A project is a temporary and one-time endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service. This property of being a temporary and a one-time undertaking contrasts with processes, or operations, which are permanent or semi-permanent ongoing functional work to create the same product or service over and over again. The management of these two systems is often very different and requires varying technical skills and philosophy, hence requiring the development of project management."
Source: Wikipedia

News & Blogs:
Project management - Topix.net

Blogs:
A Girl's Guide to Managing Projects
Projectized
SoftwareProjects Blog
LeadingAnswers: Leadership and Agile Project Management Blog
Managing Offshore IT - Infosys
Reforming Project Management
Tools, Trends, Thoughts on Portfolio Management
ProjectSteps
How to manage a camel - project management and recruitment
PMThink! Project Management Thought Leadership
Project Management Blog
All about Project Management Offices
Software Project Management
Project Management - LiveJournal (in Russian)

Audio:
The Project Management Podcast
Controlling Chaos

Bookmarks:
del.icio.us/Monten/PM

Glossary:
Wideman Comparative Glossary of Project Management Terms v3.1
PM Glossary - allpm.com
Project management glossary - Projecta (in Bulgarian)

Video:
Project management - Google Video
Project management - YouTube

Discuss:
Project Management Discussions - gantthead.com

Q&A:
Project management - Yahoo Answers
Project manager - Yahoo Answers

Tests:
Self Assessment Test - oliverlehmann.com

Images:
Project management - Flickr

Learn:
Project Management - About.com

See also:
Topic of the Day - The World 2 Come

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Company of the Week: Wipro

Keywords: India, outsourcing, Wipro Technologies, Azim Premji

"Wipro Limited (Wipro) is a global information technology (IT) services company. The Company operates in four business segments: IT Services and Products, which is referred to as Wipro Technologies, provides IT services to international companies; Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Services, which is referred to as Wipro BPO, is a third-party offshore BPO provider in India; India and AsiaPac IT Services and Products, which focuses primarily on meeting the IT products and services requirements of companies in India, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East region, and Consumer Care and Lighting, which operates in niche markets in the areas of soaps, toiletries and lighting products for the Indian market."
Source: Reuters

Corporate site:
wipro.com

News & Blogs:
Wipro - Topix.net
Outsourcing - Topix.net

Blogs:
WIT - SeekingAlpha
India on SeekingAlpha
Wipro - Google Blog Search
Think Flat - Infosys
Managing Offshore IT - Infosys

Finance:
Wipro - Google Finance
Wipro - Yahoo Finance

Images:
Wipro - Flickr

Video:
Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro - Google Video
Wipro - Wallstrip

Insight:
Indian Style of Innovation and Intellectual Property Creation - Arun Kottolli

Bookmarks:
del.icio.us/Monten/outsourcing
del.icio.us/Monten/India

See also:
India Blogs - The World 2 Come
The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century - The World 2 Come
Company of the Week - The World 2 Come

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Topic of the Day: Bulgaria

"Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeastern Europe, and a member state of the European Union. It borders the Black Sea to the east, Greece and Turkey to the south, Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Romania to the north, mostly along the Danube. Bulgaria also shares a maritime border with Turkey, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, and Georgia. The capital of Bulgaria is Sofia.

Bulgaria is a country with an ancient history dating back to prehistoric times, the Thracian, Greek and Roman worlds of antiquity and the powerful Bulgarian Empire of the Middle Ages founded in 681. Geographically and climatically, Bulgaria is noted for its diversity, with the landscape ranging from the Alpine snow-capped peaks in Rila, Pirin and the Balkan Mountains to the mild and sunny weather of the Black Sea coast, from the typically continental Danubian Plain (ancient Moesia) in the north to the strong Mediterranean influence in the valleys of Macedonia and the lowlands in the southernmost parts of Thrace.

Bulgaria joined NATO on March 29, 2004 and the European Union on January 1, 2007."
Source: Wikipedia

News & Blogs:
Bulgaria - Topix.net

Photos:
Bulgaria - Flickr

Video:
Bulgaria - Google Video
Bulgaria - YouTube

Media:
Bulgaria - Digital Media Europe
Bulgarian Media Landscape

See also:
Topic of the Day - The World 2 Come

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Company of the Week: eBay

"eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) is an American Internet company that manages ebay.com, an online auction and shopping website where people and businesses buy and sell goods and services worldwide. eBay also owns PayPal, Skype, and other businesses."
Source: Wikipedia

Corporate site:
ebay.com

News & Blogs:
eBay - Topix.net

Blogs:
eBay Inc. (EBAY) - SeekingAlpha
EBAY - Blogging Stocks

Finance:
EBAY - Google Finance
EBAY - Yahoo Finance

Audio:
EBAY - EarningsCast

Bookmarks:
del.icio.us/Monten/ebay

See also:
eBay - The World 2 Come
Company of the Week - The World 2 Come