Pantha Corp

Like many other like-minded people, I tend to see more positive things and trends on the horizon than bad. So linking to positive news is a good idea. The signing of a free trade agreement with ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) and New Zealand certainly falls under that category. It's the setting of positive signs that is the most important right now.

I wanted to share a message from someone here in Australia who is personally very exposed to the fires ravaging Victoria. If you can, please do donate with the Australian Red Cross for the thousands who have lost all they had and the countless others deeply affected.

Following her message which speaks best by itself.

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[...] in relation to the horrific Bushfire situation in Victoria, Australia.

I live in the rebuilt township of Cockatoo, Victoria; the worst hit town, obliterated in the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires in which 75 people died and 2,545 homes were lost, total land area burnt was approximately 2,100 km².

On the weekend I evacuated my young family ahead of the warnings that the fire conditions on Saturday 7th January 2009 would be worse than those on Ash Wednesday, and they were.

Thankfully our area was spared this time around, however many areas weren't.

The current situation is that there are 25 fires still burning out of control and a total 152 fires burning in Victoria yet to be declared safe, 173 people are confirmed dead and over 750 homes lost, 3,218 km² of land burnt, and still more to come.

I personally have dear friends still missing in Kinglake and Narbethong, including two children aged 6 and 3, and several other friends are thankfully safe, but without homes.
It cost $1.3 billion (in today's adjusted terms) to rebuild after Ash Wednesday. Victorian citizens, Corporate and Government have already raised $26 Million, however it will take much more to rebuild after this devastating event.

I am making a heartfelt appeal to anyone who can spare a few dollars to please make a donation to the Australian Red Cross, Victorian Bushfire Appeal 2009 on this link, every single dollar counts.

Please could you also share this email with your professional networks.
Thank you for your consideration and for sparing a thought for all who have lost beloved ones, pets, homes and memories.

Kind regards,
[...]

PS: Here are two pictures that show how close the fires are to me.

Cockatoo
The view from my home this morning; as you can see there are still fires burning, so a wind change in our direction would mean we too would lose our home.
As a first degree connection, you now know someone personally affected by this tragedy.

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With our involvement in the creation of transLucidonline, the simple website publishing system for small- to medium-sized companies, through our UK entity Pantha Software, we discovered a little the start-up scene in Sydney. And discovered that there were many more Web2.0 start-ups than we ever imagined, the term 'silicon beach' a very fitting term for this beautiful strip of land we live and work in.

Whereas in Silicon Valley it feels that the same errors as in the first web 1.0 bubble are repeated (buzz, buzz, buzzzzzwords galore, geeky-sounding company names, skyrocketing valuations, ...), the hype ever growing and insiders starting to worry that it's all a little bit of history repeating, i got the feeling from talking to some startups here that things seemed a little bit more grounded overall. Being far away from the Microsofts and Googles of this world and "alone" on a large island can be good when you are trying to build something of lasting value, where long-term goals can have higher priority than short-term return.

Just my 2 cents. Certainly, our office location is not the worst.

Speed Web delivery with HTTP compression

A great article for a functionality that we, web technologists, should all recommand to implement in our web applications.
We just implemented on a series of 25 web portals (based on Tibco Portalbuilder 4.5.1 / weblogic / apache platform) and gained 40% on page load (various tests including modem based connections).

I copied/pasted this article from a post on the Ryze network 24x7 (BTW, my page on Ryze: here)

Wanted to share this article and hear alternate points of view from my remote colleagues from Tata Infotech in Bangalore.

What's your point of view guys/girls? This article really rips Bangalore programmers apart. As I'm working with you everyday I know you guys are worth a lot more than what is stated here. Could you counter-attack ? I'll post your comments on Ryze (or if you are on Ryze go ahead and defend yourself !)

More in the article itself...

Amplified Intelligence :: Astrobiology Magazine :: Search for Life in the Universe
Make me think of TechnoGenesys and Echoes of Earth and more recently the movie i-robot... Though this is science in today's world.

Refreshing article about outsourcing that provides an alternative perspective on the topic:

Outsourcing goes micro-multinational

You certainly got the classic picture plentifuly covered by the media, especially in USA, with its trail of screamers, believers, hardliners and dreamers. The reality though shows that it actually works and happens to be worthwhile for any big corporate. Even if there is a cost and some rules to be respected to benefit from it.
I recently presented in a conference (EIMCA conference, in Brussels) a case about outsourcing. I spoke about the assignment I'm on right now. Consequently I'm sort of immersed in the outsourcing ocean, the indian one actually, on a daily basis :-)
May I share a selection of articles ? I found those worthwhile to provide a context to my case:
General facts about India
Cultural issue
Things to secure success

If you want details on the case study I presented (Web portal development and on-going operation outsourced to Tata) , feel free to contact me.

But that's *only* the big picture , the multinational corporate case. What I like about the Wired article is that it reflects the huge underground potential of outsourcing. Massively beneficial for any business size. Actually Theandb Ltd, our small brand& outfit, might just do that for a non-for-profit-yet development in which we believe but for which we don't have the manpower to push forward. With internet teleworking becomes a piece of cake, especially when all parties are proficient in it. And with all the outsourcing wide-opened pool out there, we found one smart guy that we can afford (low-cost, capable resource)!

Also think about other kind of ... sourcing, like open-sourcing, if i may abuse the language. Look into Zope and offsprings such as Plone and you might sniff new strategies.

Thoughts? Please share !
The A

MediaGuardian.co.uk | Media | The long conversation

5 years after cluetrain...

Mathemagenic: learning and KM insights - 10 June 2004

TIME.com: Start-Up Your Engines! -- Jun. 07, 2004

Just something for The B to read ...