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

9,000 Feeds

Keywords: RSS, web feed, news aggregator

9,000 RSS feeds in my Bloglines account! Topics: anime, 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, cars, CEO, CIO/CTO, communications, communities, competitive intelligence, consultant, corporate blogs, culture, design, developer, downloads, economics, education, energy, entertainment, entrepreneur, events, fashion, finance, food, fun, future, geeks, GoingOn, Google Groups, government, hardware, health, history, ideas, innovation, international affairs, IT, jobs, knowledge management, law, library, lifestyle, LiveJournal, magazines, management, marketing, media, MIT OCW, mobile life, moblogs, movies, multimedia, music, my blogs/links, MySpace, nanotech, net, Netscape, neurotech, news, OpenLearn - The Open University, outsourcing, people, personal technology, politics, real estate, reference, research, science, scifi, search, security, shopping, Silicon Valley, society, software, space, sport, tech news, technology, Technorati, telecom, travel, Tribe.net, TV, TypePad, venture capital, video, virtual worlds, weird, Vox, Windows Live Spaces, WordPress, world, world - Asia, world - Europe, world - Middle East, world - Russia, world - USA, XING, Yahoo Answers, Yahoo groups, zeitgeist.
http://www.bloglines.com/public/divedi

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Blog of the Day: News of Future

Keywords: future, futures studies

"News of Future tells you what the future will look like during the next 50 years and invites the people of the world to take part in shaping it."
Source: News of Future
[via Bruno Giussani]

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

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Gadget of the Day: Apple iPhone

Keywords: iPhone, Apple Inc., Steve Jobs


"iPhone combines three products — a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, maps, and searching — into one small and lightweight handheld device. iPhone also introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting you control everything with just your fingers. So it ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, completely redefining what you can do on a mobile phone."
Source: apple.com

News & Blogs:
Apple iPhone - Techmeme
Apple iPhone - Topix.net

Blogs:
iPhone - Gizmodo
The rest of the world welcomes the Apple iPhone - Global Voices Online
More Views On The iPhone - MobHappy

Images:
The Apple iPhone runs OS X - Engadget
Apple iPhone - Engadget
Macworld 2007 - ZDNet Photo Gallery
Apple iPhone - Flickr

Audio/Video:
Apple Voices - PodTech.net
Engadget Podcast 098 - 01.10.07 - Engadget

Insight:
Nine Ways Apple Changed the Face of Consumer Electronics - SeekingAlpha
Open letter to Apple: The killer App is not voice nor music - Communities Dominate Brands
Handicapping the race: iPhone markets and rivals - Communities Dominate Brands

Communications:
Steve Jobs at Macworld: "We come from different worlds" - Presentation Zen

Zeitgeist:
Apple iPhone - Google Trends

Comment:
Wow! Steve Jobs is the master! Period! Let the mobile revolution continue!

Bookmarks:
del.icio.us/Monten/Apple

See also:
Apple - The World 2 Come

Monday, January 08, 2007

Topic of the Day: Turkey

Keywords: Turkey


"Modern Turkey was founded in 1923 from the Anatolian remnants of the defeated Ottoman Empire by national hero Mustafa KEMAL, who was later honored with the title Ataturk, or 'Father of the Turks.' Under his authoritarian leadership, the country adopted wide-ranging social, legal, and political reforms. After a period of one-party rule, an experiment with multi-party politics led to the 1950 election victory of the opposition Democratic Party and the peaceful transfer of power. Since then, Turkish political parties have multiplied, but democracy has been fractured by periods of instability and intermittent military coups (1960, 1971, 1980), which in each case eventually resulted in a return of political power to civilians. In 1997, the military again helped engineer the ouster - popularly dubbed a 'post-modern coup' - of the then Islamic-oriented government. Turkey intervened militarily on Cyprus in 1974 to prevent a Greek takeover of the island and has since acted as patron state to the 'Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,' which only Turkey recognizes. A separatist insurgency begun in 1984 by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - now known as the People's Congress of Kurdistan or Kongra-Gel (KGK) - has dominated the Turkish military's attention and claimed more than 30,000 lives. After the capture of the group's leader in 1999, the insurgents largely withdrew from Turkey, mainly to northern Iraq. In 2004, KGK announced an end to its ceasefire and attacks attributed to the KGK increased. Turkey joined the UN in 1945 and in 1952 it became a member of NATO. In 1964, Turkey became an associate member of the European Community; over the past decade, it has undertaken many reforms to strengthen its democracy and economy, enabling it to begin accession membership talks with the European Union."
Source: CIA - The World Factbook

News & Blogs:
Turkey - Topix.net

Blogs:
Erkan's field diary
TurcoPundit
Turkey - Global Voices Online
Turkey - MyBlogLog

Photos:
Turkey - Flickr

Video:
Turkey - Google Video
Turkey - YouTube

Business:
Turkish Business

Media:
Turkey - Digital Media Europe
Turkey - Digital Media Asia
Media Landscape Turkey

Bookmarks:
del.icio.us/Monten/Turkey

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

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Person of the Day: James Cook

Keywords: geography, map

"Captain James Cook FRS RN (October 27, 1728 (O.S.) – February 14, 1779) was an English explorer, navigator and cartographer. Ultimately rising to the rank of Captain in the Royal Navy, Cook made three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, achieving the first European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia, the European discovery of the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation and mapping of Newfoundland and New Zealand."
Source: Wikipedia

Learn:
James Cook - About.com

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

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Topic of the Day: United Kingdom

Keywords: United Kingdom

"As the dominant industrial and maritime power of the 19th century, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland played a leading role in developing parliamentary democracy and in advancing literature and science. At its zenith, the British Empire stretched over one-fourth of the earth's surface. The first half of the 20th century saw the UK's strength seriously depleted in two World Wars and the Irish republic withdraw from the union. The second half witnessed the dismantling of the Empire and the UK rebuilding itself into a modern and prosperous European nation. As one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council, a founding member of NATO, and of the Commonwealth, the UK pursues a global approach to foreign policy; it currently is weighing the degree of its integration with continental Europe. A member of the EU, it chose to remain outside the Economic and Monetary Union for the time being. Constitutional reform is also a significant issue in the UK. The Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, and the Northern Ireland Assembly were established in 1999, but the latter is suspended due to wrangling over the peace process."
Source: CIA - The World Factbook

News & Blogs:
Google News U.K.
United Kingdom - Topix.net

Blogs:
British Blogosphere - LoicLeMeur Wiki
Londonist
Metroblogging London

Images:
United Kingdom - Flickr
Panoptics - London

Video:
United Kingdom - Google Video
United Kingdom - YouTube

Communities:
london.craigslist.org

Business:
UK business news - Moreover
UK law news - Moreover

Media:
United Kingdom - Digital Media Europe
UK media news - Moreover
British Media Landscape

Learn:
United Kingdom - About.com

Bookmarks:
del.icio.us/Monten/UK

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

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Topic of the Day: European Union


"The European Union (EU) is a supranational and intergovernmental union of 25 (27 as of January 2007) independent, democratic member states. The European Union is the world's largest confederation of independent states, established under that name in 1992 by the Treaty on European Union (the Maastricht Treaty). However, many aspects of the Union existed before that date through a series of predecessor relationships, dating back to 1951."
Source: Wikipedia

News & Blogs:
European Union - Topix.net

Blogs:
European Blogosphere - LoicLeMeur Wiki
Pan/European Blogosphere - LoicLeMeur Wiki
Europe - MyBlogLog

Photos:
European Union - Flickr

Video:
European Union - Google Video
European Union - YouTube

Media:
European Union - Digital Media Europe
European Media Landscape

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

Place of the Day: Machu Picchu

"Machu Picchu (Quechua: Old Peak; sometimes called the 'Lost City of the Incas') is a well-preserved pre-Columbian Inca ruin located at 2,430 m (7,970 ft) on a mountain ridge. Machu Picchu is located above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, about 70 km (44 mi) northwest of Cuzco. Forgotten for centuries by the outside world, although not by locals, it was brought back to international attention by Yale archaeologist Hiram Bingham who rediscovered it in 1911, and wrote a best-selling work about it."
Source: Wikipedia

News & Blogs:
Machu Picchu - Topix.net

Photos:
Machu Picchu - Flickr

Video:
Machu Picchu - Google Video
Machu Picchu - YouTube

Learn:
Machu Picchu - About.com

Monday, January 01, 2007

Person of the Day: Michel de Montaigne

Keywords: philosophy

"Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (February 28, 1533 – September 13, 1592) was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance. Montaigne is known for popularizing the essay. He became famous for his effortless ability to merge serious intellectual speculation with casual anecdotes and autobiography—and his massive volume Essais (translating literally as 'Attempts') contains, to this day, some of the most widely influential essays ever written. Montaigne had a direct influence on writers the world over, from Shakespeare to Emerson, from Nietzsche to Rousseau."
Source: Wikipedia

Bookmarks:
http://del.icio.us/Monten/philosophy

Learn:
Michel de Montaigne - About.com
Linguistics and Philosophy - MIT OCW

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