Louis CK

Louis CK is one of my favourite american humorist. If you want have a look, here is a short excerpt about bill gates :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95fNgx8aCS8



He is now in Irak doing some shows for the american soldiers, and here is what he has to say :

Then it was my turn. [...] I hit the stage, not knowing what I would say first till the second i put the mike to my face. I looked at them all and said "how are you fuckers doing?"

The place went bezerk and it became instantly plain to me what they needed and wanted and what I needed to do. "You people are in a very fucked up place. I mean, it's Kuwait, the dessert and right over there is a starbucks. I saw the sign and thought it would be a little tent with coffe, but it's a real starbucks! With the jazz music, the chess tables and the faggot with the laptop."

They couldn't believe it. the laughs were enormous. I was filthy. It was awesome. People were going crazy. It was like looking out over choppy water. People rocking back and forth, punching each other, clapping, stamping. It was mayhem. Every time I went way over the line I would say "I'm so sorry. I am not supposed to be saying any of this. I"m so sorry. Am I in trouble?" which would only make them laugh more.



More at www.louisck.net

YouTube - Bill Gates Speech at Harvard (part 1)

YouTube - Bill Gates Speech at Harvard (part 1)

This is the speech we listened to in class this morning....
which do you prefer? Steve Jobs or Bill?

have a good week

james

« American should go home » was the conclusion of Waqqas Akhtar’s very interesting lecture on Pakistan. Here is some recent peace of news to feed the debate on whether the international military presence in Afghanistan is desirable or not to Pakistanis.
Afghan Strikes by Taliban Get Pakistan Help, U.S. Aides Say

In the mood

I used to be ashamed of listening to Britney Spears all day. Then I read this post from Seth Godin and realized that I was not looking for good music, I was looking for good mood. Have you ever payed attention to the lyrics of these songs ? Dull, monotone, extremely unimaginative. But that is not what I am looking for. I am looking for positive words, for energy, for a new type of sound that will delight my ears and my mind ( for a few hours ).

Here is my personal solution to find good mood : AMV ( anime music video ). Anime reedited on another track. Here are my favourites ones, enjoy !



For the next one, go one Youtube, click on HD, and see the resolution of that thing !! Impressive !

D conference

Hi everybody !
Have you ever heard of the D conference ?
D stands for digital because this conference gathers the most famous and influencial people working in bleeding edge technology companies.
Just an insight of who you will be able to hear this year, from the 26th to the 28th of May :
_the chairmen of Mozilla, HDNet, Liberty Media Corporation...
_the Chief executive officers of Microsoft, Yahoo, Nokia...
and many more !
You will hear them answering the questions of two famous journalists working for the Wall Street Journal, Walt Mossbery and Kara Swisher.
Do you know another event where Bill Gates and Steve Jobs have been able to debate face to face ?
Just check D5, it was awesome.
Nevertheless, I can assume that listening lectures all day long for three days may be a bit boring at the end, that is why we planed for you an open-play golf, some delicious lunches and a nightcap before bed !
Moreover, you will be able to meet fascinating people in a heavenly frame : the magnificient Four Seasons Resort Aviara in Carlsbad, California.
So if you want to hear the people who really matter in the digital world and if you want to know what to expect in terms of digital innovation, just come and enjoy the D conference, you will not be disappointed !

A journey to Pakistan

On Monday the 23rd of March was held in the famous ingeneering school Telecom Paristech a lecture about Pakistan (Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Iramia, Sindh, Tukharistan, Balochistan, from the seven provinces that compose the country) by Waqqas Akhtar. He took us in his birth country for an hour and a half.

During this journey people who attended the lecture have learnt a lot about Pakistan, its history from the oldest civilasitions of the world to the current conflicts and through the fight for independance against the British empire, but also about its geography and its population.
The multiple photographs and the passion Waqqas put in his speech helped us escape Paris for a while, and made us dream of walking theses preserved landscapes or climbing these high mountains (more than 8000 meters for the highests !).
Waqqas matered totally his subject at a point that he did not hesitate once along the 90 minutes and kept his presentation interactive by asking the public some questions. His fluency and his knowledge about history, geography, culture of Pakistan and neighboor countries were impressive.

He had some efficient tricks on his slides, for instance when he zoomed on the map and the border of the country appeared, but on some other slides there were too many words or a map was missing.

Nevertheless, it was a great trip in the "land of the pure" and now we are all waiting for the next lecture !

CNET TV - Free video downloads and streaming video - CNET TV

Videos - Free video downloads and streaming video - CNET TV

Do you watch CNET TV. Did you know that lots of the material is subtitled? Here's a report about Apple's netbook and also the "Death of Newspapers". Click on the "CC" button to see the subtitles (closed captions).

have a good week!

james

Videos - Free video downloads and streaming video - CNET TV

Videos - Free video downloads and streaming video - CNET TV


This video is subtitled when you go to the website! (Click on the CC button.) Enjoy!
have a good week. james

David Pogue: CES

Pogue's C.E.S. Round-Up

Highlights from the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.


I thought you might enjoy this! Have you seen other video reports by David Pogue? or his TedTalk?

have a good weekend (Bruno have a good Athens!)

james

ps... what do you think of this? How about leaving a comment?

Fuck the earth !

I don't like ecologists. They always say the same two things : 1) we are all going to die 2) it's your fault. It may be true, but God ! I am tired of hearing it !

I could dwell on their pity quest for hours, but today, I am not going to do it because I think I have just found the one exception that confirms the rule.

I have found the one ecologist that does not have the time to blame anyone for destroying the planet because he is too busy saving it ! The guy actually built a entire forest in the poorest possible place in the world, and here is his story :



Here is the same video with English subtitles... long life to dot.sub!

The Cult of Done Manifesto

I read this Manifesto from Bob Sutton's blog about work. I edited it a bit, I hope you will enjoy it.

Dear Members of the Cult of Done.

I present to you a manifesto of done. This was written in 10 minutes because I only had 10 minutes to get it done.

The Cult of Done Manifesto

1. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
2. Accept that you know what you're doing even if you don't and do it.
3. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.
4. Laugh at perfection. It's boring and keeps you from being done.
5. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.
6. The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.

Done.

Some vocabulary i chose from various articles

Sorry for the french content, but i found these words on the following articles. You mind find them interesting.

10 new technologies

*Next generation batteries:
molten=fondu
antimony=antimoine(chimie)
uphill=montant(adjective)
the grid=le réseau d'électricité
be crammed= entasser, empiler
menial tasks
prick=piquer
soak up=absorber
liver=foie
churn out= pondre en série

*Web's thirdworld memory cache to solve low bandwidth problems
stubborn = tenace, obstiné
conspicuous = visible, évident
dearth=disette,faiblesse
the web's protean nature= la nature protéiforme du web
hash function= algorithme de hachage
bandwidth constrained= limitées par la bande passante

*New kind of magnetic storage
to usher=inaugurer
to bolster=soutenir
revamp=réhausser, remettre en valeur

* TED Conference from Twitter 's CEO
tinker=bricoler
hunch=intuition

*10 most disruptive technologies
lure=attrait
to thrive=se porter bien
bogus=fake = bidon
scammer=arnaqueur
skew=fausser, déformer
a storm is brewing=a storm is coming
versatile=polyvalent, souple

YouTube - Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard joins the Davos Debates

Here is an interesting contribution of a buddhist monk to the 2009 Davos debates which I'll present on monday.

YouTube - Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard joins the Davos Debates

cooliris

Hi everyone,
do you know Cooliris ?
It's a nice tool for Mozilla whichs transforms your browser into an interactive 3D interface.
You can check trailers of films or find pictures very quickly for example, and it's beautiful and very easy to use, so try it !
http://www.cooliris.com/
Have a nice week-end,
Guillaume

Web 2.0 Events: Co-produced by TechWeb and O'Reilly Conferences

Web 2.0 Events: Co-produced by TechWeb and O'Reilly Conferences: "

(Maybe Raphael could present an ad for this conference... BTW, next Monday could you please present your conferences in the form of a ad... a must-see, must-do, must-follow, must-know-about event.)


"Keynote presentations from leaders and innovators describing what's ahead for the industry... taking place in San Francisco (March 31-April 3, 2009) and New York (Fall 2009)."


Web 2.0 Summit (Nov 5 - 7 2008 in SF, CA)
some nice keynote videos here! ... Jerry Yang (Yahoo!), Lance Armstrong... (??),
Mark Zuckerberg (facebook), etc

enjoy!

james

Evan Williams on listening to Twitter users - 1 Translation(s) | dotSUB

Evan Williams on listening to Twitter users - dotSUB:

Any tweets recently? This is a real treat that it's now on dot sub! Is this disruptive? emerging? bleeding edge?
what do you think?

"Twitter has won a small army of lifecasting converts, with its bite-sized notes and instant-gratification communication. Co-founder Evan Williams reveals some startling things he's learned from users, and the way they've driven his business forward."

The 10 Most Disruptive Technology Combinations - PC World

The 10 Most Disruptive Technology Combinations - PC World:

Here are some examples of disruptive technology... enjoy :-) (Leave a comment... which ones surprise you the most?) ONIM and not Sunday night! ;-)

"The 10 Most Disruptive Technology Combinations
Often, even great new technology needs a partner to really change the world. Here are 10 marriages of technologies that have shaken the digital world over the last 25 years.

Dan Tynan, PC World"

Technology Review: 10 Emerging Technologies 2009

Technology Review: 10 Emerging Technologies 2009: "Special Reports 10 Emerging Technologies 2009
See All Special Reports �
Technology Review presents its annual list of 10 technologies that can change the way we live."

Sheffield Gadgets project

Sheffield Gadgets project:

"Sheffield TelecomParisTech Gadgets Videoconference Project"

This is a link to the gadgets video project documents we did in S1.

Power Point Design

Again! Your slides are crucially important too!

PowerPoint Design Tips
Don’t Overuse Effects or Overcrowd Slides.
o Don’t let people focus on the “gee whiz” aspects of your program. You want them to focus on the content of your presentation and on you as the deliverer of that content.
o Use your slides to illustrate your speech, not to replace your handouts. Don’t cram them with information that belongs in a handout.
o Limit your points on a slide to 3 to 6 points.
o Avoid sub-headings. Instead, break major points into separate slides.
o Stick with the same backgrounds, styles and transition effects throughout your presentation.
o Think carefully before using animations, sound and video. It’s best to use those effects sparingly—they’ll have more impact.
Use Bulleted Points Effectively.
o On each slide use 3 to 6 bullet points and a single, simple graphic that illustrates the slide title.
o Bring points onto the slide one at a time with no special effects and “gray out” points after finishing with them. This approach gives better control and pace.
o In a presentation, typically don’t use sounds or movie clips. However, sound and video work perfectly for specific presentations. Music clips, for example, work very effectively for some situations.
o Basically, know your audience. PowerPoint gives you plenty of tools to fit your style.
Think Like Someone in Your Audience.
o Picture what your audience will be seeing and hearing.
o Spend more time on content than on design issues. You can be creative but don’t be silly.
o Make sure that your slides are readable. Use large fonts. If you can’t fit all your points on a slide without moving to a smaller font, break the points up onto separate slides.
o Colors matter because they have specific cultural connotations.
o Font styles and graphics choices set your professional image, so be smart in your choices.
Never Forget Your Conclusion Slide.
o Create a concluding slide that includes 3–5 summary points.
o Focus on the final impressions that you want to create in these points.
o You can never emphasize or restate your main points too often.
Don’t read your presentation.
o Compose your presentation for the ear—with shorter sentences, action verbs and simple grammar.
o Get comfortable with your material so you aren’t dependent on notes or reading a script.
o If you use notes, keep them short, highlight points you want to make, and use them as memory joggers, not as a script.
Slide Design Elements
• Repeat design elements on each slide: layout, color scheme, and bullet style
• Keep titles and text spaced consistently.
• Be brief. Use bulleted phrases rather than sentences.
• Limit lines to 6-8 per slide.
• Leave space between lines for easier reading.
• Keep the typeface on your slides consistent.
• Use no more than 2 typefaces in your presentation.
• Sans Serif is recommended.
o Serif - characters have a curl or tail: Bookman, Garamond, Courier
o Sans Serif - characters do not have curls: Arial, Tahoma, Comic Sans
• Avoid using all CAPS, except on title slide.
• Use Bold, Italics, or Color for emphasis.
o High contrast color for titles and text is easier to read.
o White or yellow on dark backgrounds.
o Black or dark blue on light backgrounds.
• Avoid busy backgrounds.

How to do a good professional presentation

Hi! Everyone, how about your holidays!
Here is a text about how to do a great professional presentation. Enjoy it

The Art of Professional Presentation

Elements of an Electronic Presentation

Use sharply contrasting colors. Unless you have presented in the exact room with the exact equipment previously, you probably do not have a strong sense of the quality of darkness in the room and the sharpness of color contrast. Do not spend weeks developing a project and hours preparing a presentation only to find your audience cannot read anything on your slides.

Use large fonts. Your audience will concentrate more on its inability to read than on your substantive content if you place incomprehensible small characters on the screen. Do not distract your audience this way. Keep your font sizes to a minimum of 18 points. Absolutely never drop below 14 points, even in tables, graphics, and map legends. When you insert a graphic that includes text, make sure you compare its font sizes to known sizes in your presentation software.

Number your slides. If you have numbers, someone with a question can refer to slide 16 much more easily than asking, “Back when you were talking about… uh… something about cars and volumes… uh… I wasn’t clear.”

Follow the rules of outline format. You never have a number one without a number two. Similarly, you should never have only one bullet at any level… always two or more.

Standardize your style. Whether you choose to put your bullets in title case or sentence case, stay consistent throughout your presentation.

Use parallel structure. You choose your standard, but if you have three bullets starting with a verb, do not start the fourth bullet with a noun. Make sure that all bullets consistently take the form of nouns, verbs, adjectives, or (rarely) sentences. Never mix forms.

Include references. Even though your time is limited in presentation, academic integrity still demands that you give credit where credit is due. If you use a direct quote, put it in quotation marks. If you paraphrase a bullet point, put the name of the author in parentheses at the end of the line. If you present an entire concept from someone else, put a name (and perhaps even the full reference) in an innocuous place on the slide, such as the lower right corner.

Content

Take credit. Include your name and affiliation on the title slide. You might also include an affiliation logo on the title slide. If done discreetly, this logo may also appear as part of the slide template for all subsequent slides.

Allocate time strategically. Think about the amount of time you have for your presentation from the start. Depending on the content of your presentation, each slide will take between 30 seconds and two minutes to present… even if it is only a picture. You will only include a picture if you have a story to tell about it, and that story will typically take at least 30 seconds. If you have ten minutes to present, you simply cannot cover 30 slides. Given that you cannot say everything you know about your topic. Do you really want to spend seven out of ten slides discussing the background of your topic? You might need to cut the introductory material down to three slides to allow the bulk of your presentation time to go to describing your methodology, identifying your results, interpreting their implications, and explaining your conclusions.

Know your audience. As a corollary to allocating time strategically, you need to target the interests of your audience. If you are speaking to academicians, they will take great interest in your methodology and research approach. The general public generally wants you to move quickly to your findings, the bottom line, and what needs to be done. Other audiences will have other areas of interest. Always know before you start preparing your presentation what the audience will want to get out of time spent listening.

Outline your presentation. Typical presentation elements include slides for:

· Title

· Outline/objectives

· Introduction / problem statement / motivation

· Background / literature review

· Goals and objectives

· Methodology and site location (if appropriate)

· Findings

· Discussion of results/implications

· Conclusion

Capture attention. Your first substantive slide should make your audience sit up straight with eager ears. If you start with a definition, you do nothing to raise interest. Make the audience immediately identify with the problem you are addressing, the motivation for investigating the problem, and your topic’s importance.

Do not write paragraphs. Visual aids in presentations are meant to supplement your verbal presentation. You cannot expect your audience to read extensive sentences. Even with your close familiarity with you material, you yourself will have difficulty reading verbose slides. Use as few words as necessary to communicate your points.

Provide visual variety. Use a mixture of slides with text, graphics, and tables. Long stretches of any of these elements will hypnotize your audience, but people will eagerly follow five slides of text if you put a slide with a map or a table in the middle of them. Similarly, you will lose your audience if you give them slide after slide of equations or tables with numbers. Keep your audience’s attention by constantly offering new attractions for interest.

Personal Manner and Delivery

PRACTICE!!! Plan to spend time the night before your presentation working out the kinks of sequencing and word flow. As you practice, you increase your familiarity and, therefore, your confidence. For a professional presentation, you should know within a few seconds how long it will take you to deliver your message. Your audience will respond to your professionalism.

Dress for success. Everything the audience sees affects how people process, evaluate, and remember your presentation. You do not need to wear a tux and tails for every presentation, but people will naturally focus on a rip in your jeans if you give them that opportunity. Be neat and meet the dress code standards of your audience.

Smile and show enthusiasm! Just that exclamation point has made you approach reading this paragraph differently from the rest, right? Your audience will react the same way. If you look scared and eager for the presentation to end, everyone else will look at watches, too. If you show your audience the enthusiasm that inspired you to spend hours working with your topic, the contagion of interest will spread and likely generate lingering positive discussion after you finish.

Project confidence. You know your topic. You know it better than anyone in the audience. Exude it! Take you hands out of your pockets. Uncross your arms. Project your voice as if you are saying everything directly to the person at the back of the room.

Keep moving forward. Build interest in your presentation slide by slide such that the audience follows you closely all the way to your conclusions. Many people stop this momentum with comments deriding themselves. Your audience will focus on whatever you say, whether you make an important point about your topic or your point out a minor flaw in your presentation style. Where do you want the audience to focus?

“I’m repeating myself.”	è	“We have already established this base, now we build on it…”
“You can’t read this.”	è	Fix it before you present, or if it catches you by surprise at presentation time, either ignore it or make it clear that you are compensating: “Let me explain this table to you.”
“You already know this.”	è	“Let’s establish a common base: we have seen that…”

David Merrill demos Siftables, the toy blocks that think - 5 Translation(s) | dotSUB

David Merrill demos Siftables, the toy blocks that think - 5 Translation(s) | dotSUB

Here is a sub-titled Ted Talk! And a really neat gadget! I wonder if Sheffield will buy it?
How about a comment?

What are they? - Fiasco Awards 2009

What are they? - Fiasco Awards 2009:

"The aim of the Fiasco Awards is rewarding the best projects in the ICT field that have ended up as a FIASCO. We want to promote a critical spirit, a positive attitude towards the obstacles in the road to success, and why not? let's admit it: to have fun"


Can you guess who won the prize???
What do you think of the results.... Let's have a comment or two.

james