Walked thru parts of Riehen and Chrischona today. The weather was better than expected. Took lots of flower snapshots for the boring flower snapshot set. So boring they easily qualify.
I found this sign on my way back to my bicycle:
Made me smile.
I continued exploring Jekyll (see yesterday’s post). Bin gespannt.
Further snapshots:
Took part in a photo shooting at the day job. I learnt a lot by watching a pro.
Lighting – using indirect flash and white boards to bounce the light.
Tethered shooting – to position the photo and to check the lighting and sharpness on a larger screen.
Quantity – the photographer took 28 GB for 10 photos. We tried 40 to 50 photos per theme.
I attended Barcamp Bodensee in Friedrichshafen yesterday. Very enjoyable.
Big thank you to the organizers. It was worth getting up early.
It started with breakfast and an emotional greeting by Oliver Gassner: “The internet is made of people.”
And it was truly impressive to see so many people attending and participating.
The location at Zeppelin University on the shore of Lake Constance was perfect.
A few highlights:
A talk on sleep by Jan Krämer
“sleep is good for creativity”
Facebook community management
Romy showed us how she manages comments, spam on a large Facebook fan page. Her advice: never delete a comment or block the user. Rather mark the comment as spam and then explain why. She recommended having a page on policies and handling of comments in a “Netiquette” page. She showed the new content management features that went live recently for fan pages: you can now schedule posts and assign different admin roles. And her take: all the brands are spending $$$ to gain Facebook followers; very few followers are organic.
I learnt a lot just by listening.
And if I ever start a company, I would go to each and every barcamp in Europe and present my idea. Startup presenters get so much free and useful consulting and marketing ideas from attendees.
Thank you.
Links:
allfacebook.com
nutshellmail.com/
http://unhosted.org/
https://www.flinc.org/
http://www.pixoona.com/
BTW, the DB train along the German side of the Rhine river is very noisy and made me feel queasy and travel-sick. Buy some new trains and renew the tracks. Or maybe SBB should take over this route?
Blogging advice in 2012 err… 2011:
Heh, I thought blogging’s dead?!
It’s the first of May – a public holiday in my part of Switzerland. I am listening to BBC radio and reading news distributed via Facebook and Twitter.
Random useless fact of the day:
I woke up at 5:40. For the second day in a row.
I have been posting snapshots on Flickr:
And may I say that my set of really boring flower snapshots is… well… really, truly boring.
I received an offline comment on this phrase on my Flickr profile:
Unhindered by talent or technical skills, I hope I can at least convey the fun I’m having.
Questions and random observations:
By the way, where can i find the best samosas in Basel? And I still haven’t solved the issue of best dim sum in Basel.
Which Klippan cover should i get for my Klippan couch?
Via this tweet, celebrate the end of winter with this Italian children’s song
Fruit fool:
I was just reminded of my first cooking class at Saint Andrew’s: we made fruit fool – with custard and seasonal fruit.
Twitter has changed my reading habits. If a webpage is full of text… So I’d better stop soon.
I went a’photo-walking. Some snapshots:
I cycled over 60 km to Bad Säckingen via an unwanted detour to Liestal, and then on to Rheinfelden, Möhlin, Wallbach, Stein. I cycled back on the German side via Schwörstadt, Grenzach-Wyhlen.
No mountains. A few hills.
I only took a few photos. Coming soon.
A quick blog post to document Monday’s mini tour to Bad Bellingen and back.
I wanted to avoid cycling along the Rhine cos it is so monotonous and boring on the German side (done it before and found it boring). I started ok but somewhere between Märt and Efringen-Kirchen all bicycle path signs took me down to the river. So I ended up on the Rhein-Radweg. On my way back, I took a different route via Istein village.
About 20 km one way. Easy ride.
Some snapshots
Some architecture snapshots of a church built in the mid sixties. Unfortunately the door was closed so I’ll have to go back for the glass windows.
From Basel about 17 km one way.
Via Weil am Rhein, Binzen and Wollbach, along the railway tracks to Kandern.
Easy ride.
Wow, Google Maps now offers a bicycle option in its Get Directions menu. Though not for the route below.
View Larger Map
How do I find my best photo of 2010 on Flickr?
Not easy.
I need an app for that.
I (still) don’t edit my photos according to composition or technical aspects.
I have been uploading snapshots at regular intervals.
Despite a busy schedule.
Still following my motto:
Document your life.
Some spontaneous selections:
Feb 27, 2010
March 21, 2010
June 19, 2010
July 27, 2010
July 31, 2010
August 17, 2010
August 26, 2010
September 26, 2010
October 9,2010
October 16, 2010
October 29, 2010
I am always taking photos… Not sure how to take this hobby to the next level. I am very involved and I hope I can convey the fun and enjoyment that I experience while I am on my discovery journey.
Have a good week 🙂 Alles wird gut. Andra’ tutto bene.
I stumbled across a list of places to see in Basel (link now broken) and decided to venture out and have a look at some of the listed architecture.
Freidorf Residential Estate (1920) by Hannes Meyer in Muttenz near Basel
Antoniuskirche (1927), near Kannenfeldplatz, Basel by Karl Moser
I really like this church building. It feels very modern. The stained glass windows are exceptional. Highly recommended. More background info is available at Wikipedia.
Kraftwerk Birsfelden / Power Station (1955) by Hans Hoffmann in Birsfelden near Basel
St. Alban-Tal Housing (1984 to 88) by Diener & Diener at St. Alban-Rheinweg 94 in Basel
Schaulager (2003) by Herzog and de Meuron in Münchenstein near Basel
Breite Zentrum (2004), Zürcherstr. 149, 4052 Basel
The Breite Hotel was designed by Larghi and Stula. More details on the design can be found on the hotel’s website. The hotel manager was very friendly and would have shown me a room. Unfortunately all rooms were taken due to the watch and jewellery trade fair.
Residential Housing in a former factory (2005) by Buol and Zünd at Oetlingerstrasse 69 in Basel
This building proved difficult to find as the former factory is located behind an apartment building in Klein-Basel withia an inner courtyard. But it is an instant fave. I would love to live in a building like this. Well worth the search time…
Apartment House in Riehen (2009) by Pedrocchi Meier Architekten at Hinterwenkenweg 3 in Riehen near Basel
I am not such a fan of all the corners but it does look very spacious and the location is great:
School cafeteria by HHF
Gymnasium Kirschgarten
Hermann Kinkelin-Strasse 10
4051 Basel
Further details:
The city of Basel publishes this architectural guide.
Update: new building to see in Allschwil: the corporate headquarters of Actelion by Herzog and de Meuron:
Update no. 2:
Another building to see is Ackermannshof:
HdM: Basel is Herzog and de Meuron City.
Central signal box
Südpark by Herzog and de Meuron.
Messe Basel
Herzog and de Meuron archive and apartment building, Dreispitz
Another HdM construction in Basel-Stadt is the natural water swimming pool in Riehen. I really like the pool and it reminds me of old wooden lidos.
New in 2016: Kunstmuseum by Gantenbein and Christ.
And at night: Looks like there are LED lights in the walls. The museum opened in April 2016.
And another view of the new wing of Kunstmuseum by Gantenbein and Christ:
Opening in 2019: Meret Oppenheim building by Herzog and de Meuron.
Baloise Park:
I managed to break the key of my bicycle lock last night.
Tomotec helped me to extract the broken key from the lock for free. Thank you.
Tip: remember to lubricate your bicycle lock at regular intervals!
Just got back from visiting family in beautiful Blantyre. It’s rainy season now and there are regular rain showers every other day. Everything is green and lush. The sun is hot. The air is moist. And the shopping centres and outdoor markets of Blantyre are busy with holiday shopping. And except for a couple of power cuts and short water supply intermissions, I had good access to Blantyre’s “Big Three” from my part of town.
In search of the best Internet connection in Blantyre
To connect with my MBA study group, I needed an internet connection. Here are some of my findings and observations regarding Internet for private use.
Internet service providers in Blantyre include:
Mobile phone networks offer data services as well:
First, I tried TNM, but unfortunately they did not have any USB dongles in stock at the Chichiri sales office.
Next I tried Globe’s MAX 4G service. This promised the best connection speeds, but unfortunately the reception in my part of Blantyre was less than optimal. Instead of 4 LEDs lighting up, I only got between 2 and 3. And even then, the router showed a high fluctuation in signals. I kept losing my Skype audio connection when the signal dropped. When I got a strong signal it was speedy. But – due to my geographic position – the signal strength was unpredictable. I contacted Globe support and they wanted to update the firmware of the router and stated that they were some problems with Skype, which they had resolved.
If you don’t need audio or video streaming and if coverage in your area is good, then Globe MAX 4G is a good and viable option. But check the signal strength beforehand. Following the signal fluctuations, I started speculating about the quality of the provided Globe router, the influence of the weather, etc. When I returned the router, Globe suggested installing an external antenna to boost the wifi signal. At the end of the day, I think your geographic position and proximity to the signal decides whether this solution will work for you or not.
MTL (Malawi Telecommunications Limited) offers a wireless broadband product called MTL Liberty. A friend in Namiwawa strongly recommended it. The company is also advertising a new fibre optic cable connection in all major newspapers. I walked into an MTL shop near FMB in Blantyre to find out more about the fibre optic cable connection. The MTL sales person said that this will indeed connect Malawi to the Seacom cable and improve the Internet backbone, but it was not yet connected. He advised me to go to the MTL headquarters for more information. I didn’t have time to follow up on this.
I went back to TNM; this time to the head office in Livingstone Towers. The sales consultant was very savvy and explained the various data bundling options very well. I found out that if I have a postpaid TNM sim card, I can easily add mobile data services. The consultant advised me to wait another week and buy a 3G USB dongle. He said the 3G USB modem will go on sale on 30th December 2009. TNM is currently testing 3G in parts of Blantyre.
Automatic software downloads
Coming from Switzerland and a flat rate setup where I don’t care how many MBs are downloaded in the background, to a price plan where every MB counts, I realized how dependent software has become on a high speed internet connection. I was unable to download the latest Symantec Norton anti-virus update on my mom’s laptop via Globe Wifi at Chichiri because Norton timed out after 6 MB. I tried 3 times before I gave up. Unfortunately iGetter didn’t help cos Norton connects directly from the app. All kinds of software from Adobe Reader to Mozilla Firefox want to connect and download updates at regular intervals. It’s OK if you’re using a flat rate but if every kB costs extra time and money…
Software companies should consider alternative options for developing countries. Cloud computing is not yet available everywhere.
My mom had to go to SDNP to get her legally purchased version of MS Office registered *online*. What a hassle.
Flat rates connections are not yet very widespread in Malawi and usually only corporate customers can afford them. Most of my friends have Internet at their workplace or on their mobile handset only.
Opera 10
I strongly recommend getting Opera. Opera Turbo loads web pages much faster and compresses images. Thank you to Appfrica for their excellent article pointing to resources and tools.
Web design
Pages optimized for mobile internet and simple HTML load much faster than CMS-based web pages.
I was able to access the mobile version of chiperoni.ch at an acceptable speed. While other sites failed to display.
If you are targeting developing countries, please consider this in your web design.
Resize photos for lower bandwidth
Same for emails. My mom still connects using dial-up. Downloading 1.2 MB takes 20 to 30 minutes and many times the connection breaks. And she pays for the length of the dial-up connection. But, so many people from Europe forget to resize their photos for lower bandwidth. Please resize your photos before sending!
In Picasa 3 it’s really easy. Go to Tools > Options > Email and select a new size such as 640 pixel:
You can then email a photo from the Picasa interface.
A quick snapshot that I took on my daily trek to class:
I found this text on the back of a signpost in downtown Basel:
An example of an analog tweet…
