Chiperoni ku Basel

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  • Chiperoni goes Mobile (kind of)

    As part of my ongoing research regarding internet access via low bandwidth connections, I saw App+frica displaying a mobile version at http://appfrica.net/blog/.

    I installed the same MobilePress plugin and activated it a few minutes ago. Based on the plugin description, it should detect if you’re accessing the website with a mobile device and display a version optimized for iPhone and Barackberrys and others.

    A couple of Mobilepress URL hooks to remember:

    • ?mobile – display mobile version
    • ?nomobile – render the standard WordPress theme / normal blog.
    • ?killsession – kill any session data stored and render the correct version of a blog, based on browser / device type

    In addition I just downloaded the latest WordPress app for my low and humble iPod Touch. According to @whiteafrican it is much improved compared to the last version.

  • Autumn 2009

    i like this snapshot

  • Today’s link

    Stumbled across this – very high-level but might be a useful reminder. Esp. the remark “life is short” in bullet no. 5.

    1. Don’t worry about being perfect. There are never right or wrong answers to complex business decisions. The best that you can do as a leader is to gather all of the information that you can (in a timely manner), do a cost-benefit analysis of potential options, use your best judgment ”” and then go for it.

    2. Learn to live with failure. Great salespeople are the ones who get rejected the most often. They just ask for the order more than the other salespeople. You are going to make mistakes. You are human. Learn from these mistakes and move on.

    3. After you make the final decision ”” commit! Don’t continually second-guess yourself. Great leaders communicate with a sense of belief in what they are doing and with positive expectations toward the achievement of their vision.

    4. Show courage on the outside ”” even if you don’t always feel it on the inside. Everyone is afraid sometimes. If you are a leader, your direct reports will read your every expression. If you show a lack of courage, you will begin to damage your direct reports’ self-confidence.

    5. Find happiness and contentment in your work. Life is short. My extensive research indicates that we are all going to die anyway. Do your best. Follow your heart. When you win, celebrate. When you lose, just start over the next day.

  • Impatient new-media pundits

    Quote of the day:

    One of the things slowing tech uptake by the rest of society is that you new-media pundits get so impatient you have moved on to the next thing before we’ve had a chance to digest your last idea.

    via Scoble’s “Why I don’t use Google Reader anymore”

  • Intro to SEO and SEM

    I am faced with the challenge to explain SEO and SEM in a 1 hour presentation. The audience consists of business folks.

    Where to start explaining is the hard part.

    Also there are so many myths in this area – garnered by SEO vendors selling their services as a “Wunderwaffe” for instant web traffic success.

    As is typical at Chiperoni headquarters, here are a couple of ideas and a rough outline for my presentation.

    Ideas and links

    I liked this section of Derek Powazek’s recent criticism of all things SEO:

    The One True Way

    Which brings us, finally, to the One True Way to get a lot of traffic on the web. It’s pretty simple, and I’m going to give it to you here, for free:

    Make something great. Tell people about it. Do it again.

    That’s it. Make something you believe in. Make it beautiful, confident, and real. Sweat every detail. If it’s not getting traffic, maybe it wasn’t good enough. Try again.

    Then tell people about it. Start with your friends. Send them a personal note ”“ not an automated blast from a spam cannon. Post it to your Twitter feed, email list, personal blog. (Don’t have those things? Start them.) Tell people who give a shit ”“ not strangers. Tell them why it matters to you. Find the places where your community congregates online and participate. Connect with them like a person, not a corporation. Engage. Be real.

    Then do it again. And again. You’ll build a reputation for doing good work, meaning what you say, and building trust.

    It’ll take time. A lot of time. But it works. And it’s the only thing that does.

    ‘Cos it explains why you can have all the SEO you want but without personal drive, it will take you nowhere. It’s the content that matters.

    Within a larger organization, this personalized focused drive isn’t always possible and needs to be planned and managed carefully.

    Derek’s approach misses some aspects. As pointed out by Danny Sullivan at “An Open Letter To Derek Powazek On The Value Of SEO”. Many aspects that long-term bloggers learnt between the lines while trying to google-bomb their way into the top 10 are unknown to website owners and need explaining. (May I take this opportunity to remind my blogging friends that I am still the top hit for “boring flower snapshot”? Yes, I may).

    Rough outline
    Here’s a first outline, which I’ll convert into PPT slides on Monday:

    1. SEO – from directory lists to a secret search algorithm

    2. White hat SEO vs. black hat SEO
    Goodbye to link farms, Keyword stuffing, Cloaking, Redirects

    3. Myths and legends

    4. Technical Aspects of SEO

    5. The Google Webmaster Guideline
    Web developer must clearly have SEO thoughts in mind when building the site:

    • Title tag
    • Meta description
    • Keywords
    • Clear navigation structure
    • Readable URLS

    But this is only the basis…

    6. Writing for the Web and SEO

    How to get into the top 10 search items for a search phrase:

    • Technical aspects – is your website conform with Google Webmaster Guidelines?
    • Keyword research – identify 5 to 12 keywords that users will enter to find a service or product
    • Content – write copy that supports the buying process and incorporates your main keywords, see “Content drives action”. Write for people not search engines. Incorporate keywords intelligently. At the end of the day, it is people that will read and share your link.
    • Coherence – the whole site with its meta tags and content must fit together – in German we say the site “muss stimmig sein“.
    • Frequency – the Internet has become more dynamic than ever. The real-time web is here to stay. The companies and the technologies may/will change. But the concept will remain. It is like an ocean of data, seeping around us. Create a flow of articles, news items and events at regular intervals. To continue the analogy – offer a stream of data that grows into a river and forms a wide tributary when it reaches the ocean.
    • Outposts – Google decides how important a website is based on the number of back-links. Strive to get listed within your industry sectors leading websites and online directories. Publish articles at external news sites. Use online PR distribution services such as PRWeb. Build your online reputation. Links from non-relevant, off-topic sites will have no impact on your search engine ranking.
    • Patience – it takes time to build web reputation. No instant fix.
    • Old “traditional” media vs. new “online” media – don’t neglect one or the other. Use all distribution channels to make your marketing message known. But – an important but – read the TOS at Facebook, Twitter beforehand. Maybe your company cannot afford having its data locked in by some of the TOS we see these days. Just like with print, be aware that some new media may not be beneficial for your product or service.

    What do you think?

    Other aspects to consider?

  • UTF-8, Charsets and WordPress

    It seems charset and UTF-8 issues are following me around.

    At the day job and here.

    I moved my blog from one install to the other. After importing the MySQL db, several characters were no longer displaying correctly.

    There are a number of plug-ins and descriptions:

    I tried a combination of UTF-8 Sanitize and Search and Replace for broken Umlauts and accents.

    UTF8 Sanitize ”¹ chiperoni.ch ”” WordPress

    Any suggestions or further recommendations? Any other strange characters to fix?

  • Moving WordPress from Server to Server

    I found this video explaining how to import large MySQL using Big Dump

    And Yoast explains how to change the domain names here.

  • sunset



  • Return of the Blog

    Gigaom recently published an article that highlights an important point. A point that has been resonating through my head since Lift 07:

    In this incredible sea of data that surround us, what happens to my data when a service like Twitter or Flickr or FriendFeed is sold to another company.

    Gigaom writes:

    The cynical me believes that it’s foolish for any of us to expect that Web 2.0 companies be in the business of providing services for charity. They are, after all, for-profit entities and when opportunity arises, everyone looks out for themselves. That’s just the way of the world.

    I really like Flickr, Twitter and I recently started using Friendfeed more actively. Mainly ‘cos I can search thru my Twitter content more easily.

    But… what happens when these services are discontinued?

    It is my data. I am the owner. As the owner I want:

    1. To be able to download a backup copy when I want to
    2. Close, shut down and delete all of my data whenever I want to
    3. Control who sees which data, where and when

    These are my minimum requirements for online, interactive web applications. Sound easy and straightforward.

    End of topic. Well, not quite.

    Many web applications – and I’m kind of shying away from the omnipresent social media / social network term here – don’t offer an easy Export/Backup all of my data/Batch Download function.

    Flickr Batch Download
    Consider Flickr, by all measures one of the more established and mature tools. If you click Get Help this dropdown menu displays:

    Flickr Help Topics

    It doesn’t list an item how to download photos. titles, descriptions and comments or create a backup of photos and comments using a batch downloader or similar.

    The tools page only lists applications to upload files.

    Flickr Tools to upload and share

    Apparently, the export feature is being discussed in the Help forums. I know that there are lots of threads, discussing download tools for Flickr, ‘cos I was worried about my data at Flickr. Yes, every dedicated photographer has a backup system in place for their photos.

    There are some third party tools like Downloadr (I haven’t tested this yet).

    Here’s an example how to create a backup of your Twiitter content using Dave Winer’s OPML tool:

    How To: Backup And Search All Your Friends’ Tweets In Google Reader

    But, my point is: the effort is on the users’ side. And I know many users forget or ignore this. Luckily, the RSS format offers a number of options.

    One way street
    Signing up and uploading is made as easy as possible. I have years of data at Flickr and I really like the application. So far the benefits outweigh the downsides by far. I like sharing my photos at Flickr. But since I signed up, Flickr was purchased by Yahoo and now Yahoo is partnering with Microsoft. Who knows what will happen in the next 1-3 years? A good web application should offer a batch export/download function.

    My advice if you’re signing up for a web application:

    • Be aware of the fact that most web apps are one way streets. They are in the data business. They want your data to display on their website for business reasons.
    • Read the terms and conditions carefully.
    • Find out how you can export or download your data beforehand.
    • Find out how you can close and delete your account.
    • Be prepared to spend time and resources to learn the web application that you are using. Learn the advantages as well the disadvantages of the web application. It is important that you acquire web skills.
    • A good web application should offer a batch export/download function. If it isn’t available, ask for it. Remember: It’s your data.
    • Build your own blog. Get involved in building your own website. Your blog is your mothership. Consider services such as Twitter and Friendfeed as fast and zippy spaceship shuttles that bring visitors to your mothership. Rather than feeding Facebook and co., you will experience a learning curve that will benefit you in many other areas.
    • Develop your research skills. We need independent, ad-free blogs more than ever.

    Remember the continuous bootstrap curve.

    Gigaom writes:

    But somewhere between my cynicism and people’s Utopian desires lies a happy place. It’s called the blog.

    Your Opinion…
    What are your thoughts on this? How are you backing up your Flickr and Twitter and Facebook and Friendfeed and Google data? Do you care what happens to your data? What precautions are you taking?

  • cook a lot



  • Marc, Macke, and Delaunay



    I liked this show at Sprengel Museum.

  • looking up



  • Rhybadhysli



  • Study weekend + Long walk

    I spent most of my weekend working and discussing my MBA homework.

    Learning about:

    • the exchange equation
    • money supply
    • the monetarists’ first and second proposition
    • the cause of inflation
    • incremental cash costs
    • motivating employees – “interesting work” seems to be a universal motivator

    This afternoon I went for a long walk up to St. Chrischona (522 m. above sea level). Lots of bikers and hikers and joggers and nordic walkers were out there as well. There are some beautiful wheat fields. Need to go back with a camera

    Watching youtube videos on Milton Friedman that @lotm sent me.

  • Wasser



  • Blogging is Dead. Long Live Blogging.

    This morning I read a phrase which captures why I blog:

    “…now my attitude is that if I’m not blogging for myself it’s not worth it” (seen at ma.tt)

    Between you and me, I don’t care if blogging is dying. Let the social media experts decide. What I do care about is writing. I like the way I can capture and organize thoughts through writing.

    Maybe one day I will become a writer. Maybe not.

    In the meantime this is my niche at Chiperoni.ch.

  • Cloud spotting: the pointing finger

    the pointing finger

    I took snapshots of clouds (and pool water) at the local swimming pool (in Swiss German: that’s a Badi…).

    This looks like a hand raised at school to answer a question, or maybe somebody is pointing out something:

    “Can you see the silver lining? Every cloud has one”

  • Malawi Twitterers

    As Malawi celebrates independence day tomorrow, here is a list of Malawi twitterers you might like to follow:

    Vincent Kumwenda – currently at Muloza border, Mulanje; topics include Malawi news, world news, interesting Malawi web pages, and soccer. He also writes a blog.

    Fred Bvalani – in Blantyre; tweets about mobile applications and phones, Oracle training in freezing cold Cape Town, Manchester United, movies, church, Escom power cuts, and Malawi news and websites. Check out his blog.

    Dannie Grant Phiri – first started twittering during the recent Malawi elections; writes about Malawi and soccer in his blog at http://daniso.weebly.com/.

    Soyapi Mumba – well-known Malawi blogger and twitterer, software developer, volunteer developer at Ushahidi, lives in Lilongwe. He writes about software development, interesting mobile and web applications, Malawi news. He is the programmer behind Owinna – a web app on Malawi football league fixtures and results, as well as the Premier league and other international championships. You can access this information through the website or SMS by texting FOLLOW owinna to +447624801423 or on Twitter.

    Clement Nyirenda – blogs and twitters from Tokyo, where he is doing a PhD in computer science. He covers many IT and development topics related to Malawi. A good resource to learn about projects such as Seacom. He discusses entrepreneurial ventures and their effect on Malawi. Read his blog post on Ashton Kutcher’s Twitter stunt to raise awareness about malaria.

    There are many more, which I might mention in a second blog post.

  • Requirements

    This web project manager had a requirement blackout today. In a meeting at the day job somewhere in Switzerland, I seriously couldn’t remember if the tool that I evaluated six months ago – and which I am now using – runs on a Microsoft server.

    (Err… Microsoft server? Was that a requirement? )

    Sometimes memory fails. I haz a sad.

    And time to start planning the vacation…

    Bonus link on an unrelated topic:

    The cathedral plus the bazaar

  • Social Media News Room

    Twitter / Home

    Cyberwiter posted the above tweet on using social media to enhance your company’s online news room.

    The article lists ways how to aggregate text, images, audio and video to make it useful for corporations and their target audience.

    Ein gutgemachter Social Media Newsroom ist essentiell für die Online-PR: Er …

    1. eröffnet einen schnellen Zugang zu den wichtigsten Unternehmensinhalten
    2. lebt von aktuellen und vielfältigen Inhalten, die möglichst täglich erneuert werden
    3. ist komplett per RSS abonnierbar und individualisierbar
    4. basiert auf Pull-Elementen und nicht auf Push
    5. spricht Journalisten wie andere Influencer gleichermaàŸen an
    6. verweist nicht nur auf die eigenen, sondern auch auf fremde Quellen (Verlinkung)
    7. öffnet seinen Pressespiegel für alle (Social Bookmarking erleichtert das)
    8. ermöglicht den schnellen Kontakt für einen Dialog (Twitter, Facebook, Skype, etc.)
    9. nutzt Real-Time-Elemente (Livestreaming auf Basis von Twitter oder Friendfeed)
    10. erleichtert die Vernetzung mit den Ansprechpartnern im Unternehmen
    11. bietet reichhaltiges lizenzfreies Video- und Bild-Material (gerne auch Pod- oder Vodcasts)
    12. fordert alle Besucher zu Copy & Paste auf
    13. regt Online-Diskussionen auf anderen Plattformen (Facebook, Twitter, Blogs etc.) an
    14. Integriert eigene Corporate Blogs und Microblogs
    15. bringt die News des Unternehmens zum Laufen

    The article lists a number of corporate examples.

    The web consultant hiding here at Chiperoni headquarters (errr… me!) believes this is one way corporations can profit from new media technologies.

    • Build a better online newsroom using these new distribution channels. Instead of sitting on the sidelines commenting on the quality of content. While I don’t know which services will survive the next couple of years, I do know that the real-time web is here to stay. Unless we run out off electricity to power all of the server farms.
    • Start small. Grow incrementally. Bring lots of endurance and patience. Remember that most people stop blogging after 3 months. A large percentage of Twitter is dormant.
    • Avoid PR speak. Press releases no longer target journalists alone. Publish useful content that supports the buying process. Read David Meerman Scott’s book.
    • Aggregate useful content. Become a subject matter expert on the web.
    • Offer a quality filter for your company’s specific area of expertise. Don’t try to copy private bloggers or twitterers. Be authentic and personable. But don’t swamp us with blog posts and tweets from your coffee break. And please do check for spelling mistakes. I expect a newsroom to have a higher quality.

    And I’m not only talking. I have been using blogging technology and RSS feeds within a company context for over four years.

    My experience… some traditional PR distribution services still don’t understand that it’s important to be included in Google News.

    It is. Whether you like Google or not.

    A newsroom is more than just collecting and archiving press releases…

    To build a community around Twitter or Facebook or similar, you will need a concept and a company policy regarding behavior in your communities. And before you quote me wrongly. I am not saying your company should start a Twitter or Facebook channel. Think about your time resources and goals beforehand. Ultimately you will want to draw people to your site or sub-sites. And there may be a different way that is better suited for your corporate environment. And most importantly, read the TOS before you start posting your content on third party sites.

    See my simple WordPress prototype here – a quick test install to demonstrate how WordPress can be used for a simple corporate newsroom.

    I need to run and finish my MBA assignments for today…

  • red and white



  • Connections

    As social media is becoming more mainstream, I find I am discussing various tools and voicing my opinion in many daily situations.

    Half-geek that I am, I have explored quite a few tools over the years.

    For instance I find myself explaining:

    • Why I deleted my Xing and LinkedIn accounts. Why it’s not such a good idea to list all of my customers on Xing. That I didn’t really get any good networking results on Xing and LinkedIn. There’s a lot of showing off and spam. Cos of my Marketing IT profile I was contacted by dozens of IT outsourcing providers.
    • Why I am wary of Facebook. It’s a closed garden. I haven’t forgotten the recent TOS uproar regarding content rights.
    • Why I still like Flickr. After so many years.
    • How Twitter is establishing itself as a news channel. And how I can see scenarios where people blindly re-tweet propanganda and myths.
    • Why I believe a consolidation phase is bound to happen ‘cos many tools haven’t really figured out their business models.
    • That building communities is hard work. And requires lots of time. It doesn’t happen out of the blue.
    • While Scoble and his followers are discussing the real-time web, I find myself trying to explain how I use Google Reader. And that it’s about the flow rather than individual static web pages.
    • Why I sincerely believe that everybody on the Internetz needs to develop media skills. The Internet does not forget.

  • Google Mail Tips

    I discovered a couple of very useful lists of Gmail tips

    Gmail: Tips

  • Ted Video on Creativity

  • The Five-Step Decision-Making Process

    From my Cost Accounting textbook:

    1. Identify the problem and uncertainties
    2. Obtain information
    3. Make predictions about the future
    4. Make decisions by choosing among alternatives
    5. Implement the decision, evaluate performance, and learn

    straightforward…