This page shows the results of using my following
the MyLifeBits Approach to document everything significant in my Daily Life, along with the
associated Digital Assets.
I used my cell/mobile phone, which is a standard off-the-shelf Internet-enabled Nokia, with Camera and Video.
We used the camera to photo documents instead of using a scanner.
The words in bold could be used to tag each Activity for search purposes or to build a dynamic Topic classification.
Here's an example of Searching my Collection of Digital Assets stored in the Database.
This page has evolved into a combination Blog, Contacts list, Diary, '2 Do List' Reminder and Work In Progress. Here's a diagram of the Database for the
My Life Development Project.
I began this Diary after a Trip with my wife to Lake Lugarno,Switzerland.
Activities and supporting Digital Assets ('Bits')
DATE OF ENTRY
TOPIC TAG
ACTIVITY
LINKS
FMT
18th. Dec 9.00 am
eLearning
I registered for the Annual eLearning Exhibition in Olympia (badge WR18546)
on January 14th-17th..
I just bought an excellent book called Wikinomics by Tapscott and Williams.
It covers a wide range of interesting topics related to Web 2.0, innovation and social impact,
including eLearning in the form of the California Open Source Textbook Project, which is designed to reduce the cost of providing K-12 textbooks in the Californai School System.
I should look into eLearning and Learning Management Systems (LMS) for Native People, and especially see if there is any common ground with Web 2.0 for Indigenous People.
The Telegraph on January 1st. 2009 states "What Users will be hoping for [in 2009] is great inter-operability between Social Networking Platforms, [like] Facebook, MySpace and Twitter", which will extend the facilities offered by FriendFeed and Facebook Connect and OpenSocial.
People don't want to rebuild their Social Networks on every new Ste they join. They want their profile data to be portable and work on any system.
OpenSocial redirected me to an interesting Web Site called VastPark, which is "a highly interactive platform that is geared towards the easy creation of games and virtual worlds".
I could use it to build 3-D worlds of Database, or Tutorials.
I can find plenty of Developers to help me, such as FinPA in Australia, who specialise in eLearning.
ACTIONS
1. Find out how to run SOQL and syntax for Search.
2. Create Tables for some of my Data Models.
3. Produce documentation and Screenshots to discuss with Salesforce in Staines.
4. Document problems and Step-by-Step as an example of how it works in practice.
5. Login as bw333/WPNeFZ2PH and create 3 Tabs for Diego - Display Diary, Make new Entries and Search.
1. 30-Day Trial has weekly emails and useful Links.
2. Login to Salesforce.com,(dba/m3 or bw333/m333).
3. Check out "Run Your Sites in Our Cloud"
4. Watch 45 minute Video on "Look, Ma! No Code", and summarise - Create Objects, Buttons, Apps.
99. Login to Sites Developer Preview - THIS DOESN'T WORK !!!
DRAFT Architecture of a Salesforce.com Application :- (should be based on MVC)
Google Translate is great - I have used it to translate my Data Models page into 6 different languages and I will be using it to exchange emails with Diego in Brazil, who speaks Portugese.
An article in the current American Entrepreneur Magazine mentions a company called Wi5 Connect
which has a great future in Enterprise Social Learning Platforms'.
The Magazine also offers a Network for Entrepreneurs which I will join.
1) Cody Harper from Arizona is Member #1,111
2) I can find Student Members by searching for 'student'.
3) Find out how to send std msg to 284 Students about my Tutorials, asking for comments.
In 1945, Dr. Vannevar Bush conceived the idea of Hypertext in his seminal Paper entitled "As We My Think".
I have explored this concept in the Diary of MyLife.
0) Bearcat - D & B and/or Myer Vandenburg ($1,200 AUD)
1) Register as dba_demo/m333 with Developers Account with Sforce.com
2) Contact Gov 3 to enquire about Associate Consultant possibilities.
3) Think about Fast Company article about Airline Planning Routes World Development Forum
- Emailed Link to Anne.
4) Plan Presentations to Middle-Eastern Airlines about IPR.
5) Add Ref Data, especially for Airlines, and compile list of Sources, eg SIC.
6) Check GRI for Airlines.
7) Questions for Salesforce - why not in Middle-East,
8) Post Geoff Duniam's BP on Community.
9) Read new SQL Svr Book - post feature summary on Community
10) Draft SQL Svr Architecture, and check with Spargo.
11) Telegraph on January 1st., 2009 states "What Users will be hoping for [in 2009] is great inter-operability between Social Networking Platforms, [like] Facebook, MySpace and Twitter".
80) DONE - Emailed Craig Sumner at the TheFlightRegister
81) DONE - Told Grace about Access DBForums for Excel and Access.
82) DONE - N made booking for David Gest's Soul Classic at O2 Indigo on January 12th..
1) Chase up Bearcat with Dunn and Bradstreet.
2) Complete Presentation for Anne Parker in Brunei.
4) Letters from Ealing.
5) Convert Australian Video to DVD.
6) Sign up with School of Everthing.
1) Cody Harper, Member #1,111
2) Find Student Members by searching for 'student'.
3) Send std msg to 284 Students about my Tutorials, asking for comments.
In 1945, Dr. Vannevar Bush conceived the idea of Hypertext in his seminal Paper entitled "As We My Think".
I have explored this concept in the Diary of MyLife.
Started tidying up my Papers and straight away had a bonus when I found Brian's Mobile number 07930-234-094.
21st. Dec 8.30 am
Music
I found an interesting Black Music Web Site called Soul Exress.
I also discovered YouTube has Videos for Latimore ("My Give a Damn just Gave Out",
Tyrone Davis, Sly and the Family Stone,("It's a Family Affair"), and so on.
WOW - Data Quality and Passenger CRM for Airlines - useful for Anne.
Link to Salesforce.com.
"The Flight Register specialises in designing, building, and hosting airline databases."
CNet reports on Microsoft's plans for CRM.
They are spending $1 billion annually to provide on providing Software-as-a-Service, including CRM, which they also offer as on-premise option
I have produced a draft one-page summary of my Universal Information Architecture.
My draft Paper for the World Tour is C:/World_Tour/World_Tour_with_diagram.doc.
Four of the important images are in 4_images.doc. Another image is Info_in_the_Future.jpg.
Two very useful images of small people are little_people.gif and small_people.gif.
The press reports that Obama made extensive use of the Internet in mounting his successful bid to become the
next President of the United States.
Fresh Marketing reports that
on Facebook Obama had 2.43 million fans ands McCain had 620,000.
On MySpace, he had 665,000 more 'friends' than McCain.
On YouTube he posted 1,800 Videos which were watched more than 18 million times.
McCain posted 329 Videos, watched by 2 million viwers.
On Twitter his messages attracted more than 112,000 messages.
An article in the Sunday Times makes me think that Eton College would be worth a visit.
Contact the Visits Manager on 01753-67177 or go to the Web Site.
The Sunday Times reports a great new facility for Mobile Phones called Wikitude.
This allows you to point your Mobile at something nearby, then the application of
GPS will identify notable landmarks and will display information from Wikipedia.
Unfortunately, I got very disappointing results because it didn't recognise Windsor Castle, which returned 10 Results, including Windsor Railway Station, Windsor Bridge, even after I specified Windsor Berkshire, England.
An article in yesterday's Telegraph had an article on 'Switzerland's Secret Ski Scene' mentioning places I had never heard of, but did not mention Villars, which is my favourite Secret Ski Place.
A number of companies have sprung up offering Collaborative Solutions
applying Social Networking principles to Project Management, Intranets and related Activities.
Airset calls itself a Web Computer, BaseCamp says it has 1,000,000 Users signed up worldwide
and Huddle offers links to LinkedIn
A UK Government Think-Tank called Foresight has published a Report recommending five simple things to do every day to improve the quality of life and mental health :-
1) Be Active - take up hobbies, sports or just a daily stroll
2) Be Curious - reflect on the beauty of everyday things
3) Connect with people 4) Give help to friends and strangers
5) Learn - cooking, learn an instrument
My wife (Norlia) decided she would like an up-market Bath Oil called
Miele di Neroti from Ortigia in Sicily, which has just opened shop in Marylebone High Street !!!
I just came across a definition on the CNET Site of the great new concept of WebWare You have to beware that WebWare is a term also used for a Python-based O-O Web Application Framework.
It uses well known Design Patterns and incoudes Object-Relational Mapping.
The Telegraph has an article saying that you can get good value, and very drinkable wine, for about �9.99 (about $15).
For Whites, it recommend two from Australia - a Semillion from McGuigan and a Nottage Hill Riesling from Hardys.
For Red, one from Argentina and one from Australia, and for Roses, one from Chile and one from Spain.
Right now, I am only interested in Whites.
Keep up with MDM at this New York Summit on Oct 19-21.
I must draft my next Presentation which will provide a review of one-year on progress and how well
my Vision is being implemented by Vendor's Product enhancements over the past year.
Tutorials + Templates + Tools - Tutorials free, Templates cheap and Tools expensive.
Guidelines - under MS radar and price - time to develop is 1 week.
27th. Aug 8.30 am
GDE Clients
1. Christie + Co (Business Intelligence) - offers specialist businesses for sale.
2. Royal Brunei Airlines
Here's an article in IT Business Edge that's worth reading about 'The Pros and Cons of Web-Oriented Architecture' (WOA),
and one in Information Week entitled "Taking a simpler [WOA] approach to SOA".
The HTC Dream has just been announced as the first GooglePhone to hit the market and is due (maybe) on October 13th, for $199 in the US.
HTC is facing stiff competition from Samsung who are apparently working very hard to beat HTC to the market.
Here's a great plan - I should build free giveaway Components for the BMEWS Architecture Framework, incorporating Global Accounatbility,SMPL KPIs, Enterprise Data Quality and integrating Informatica,Microsoft and Salesforce.
Check out Konesans Products, especially Data Generator and File Watcher.
Start with BMEWS Ad-Hoc Report (Data Mart and Master/Transaction)
From time-to-time, I think about Reference Data, and whether to use just one table or have lots of hard-coded tables.I like the idea of just one table, because 1) Users can extend the table to include more types of Reference data without any programming, and it lends itself easily to drop-down tables in an application.
I came across some thoughts on Common Lookup Tables on a Web Site called Data Management Exchange (DMX) that's worth a look.
With my page on the Microsoft Web Site, it makes sense for me to consider going for 2008 Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA).
I will draft my CV, focussing on what I have done, not job titles.
I should have at least 10 years experience as an Architect.
I will draft an Architecture, based on SMPL/BMEWS with MS Components.
Therefore, I should keep in touch with Larry Hunter at Spargo, Dave Mitchell at Spur, Peter, Phil, Peter and Earl.
Requirements for the Technology level :
Candidates show they can quickly assimilate information about new technologies.
Candidates also demonstrate that they have a detailed knowledge of the concepts and application of at least two depth competencies, such as :-
� (1) Data management and structuring.
� (2) User experience, including smart clients and adaptive UI
� (2 alternate) Integration, with knowledge of traditional enterprise application integration (EAI) products such as Microsoft BizTalk Server, IBM WebSphere, or BEA WebLogic.
� Component and solution modeling � Solutions frameworks (for example, the Microsoft .NET Framework and Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition [J2EE]).
I imagine that your database is set to full recovery mode.
This which means that the log will only truncate on a checkpoint which will happen when you do a backup.
Importing data is likely to grow the log substantially and if it's rarely backed up, it's likely to grow to a size of many Gigabytes.
There are 3 things that you should do here.
Truncate your log (ie clear the entries in the log)
Shrink you log (which will reclaim the space the file system)
Set your recovery mode to simple which will mean that things are minimally logged from hereon.
After you've done this, open Managment Studio, right click your database and bring up the properties.
Select 'Options' on the left hand pane.
On the right hand panel, you'll see a 'Recovery Model' dropdown that you should set to 'Simple'.
This will now prevent the log from growing to that size.
If you now go to the files option, you can delete the current log file and create a new one with the same prefix as your mdf file.
You may have to bring your database offline to do this.
SQL Server will still be running when you close down Management Studio because it runs as a service and that is why you still see a log.
A SQL Server log file will never be automatically deleted - it must be done manually.
Imagine that you unexpectedly pull the power on your computer.
As soon as you repower the machine, all uncommitted transactions will be rolled back and log file is used to do this.
A new wine called Fish Hoek from South Africa is being introduced into the UK.
I think that qualifies as a funny name because it made me smile.
So I'll have a look for it this weekend. it's available in Tesco. among other places,
Yesterday I bought the Financial Times,(the UK's equivalent of the Wall Street Journal).
I was very surprised and pleased to see a lengthy article about Qik, a small piece of mobile software to "stream live video to the Web right from your phone". It's like YouTube but live !!!
I never heard of Qik, but already they have competitor called Kyte.
Prepare Presentation to be given aroud the world to Global MNCs, Not-for-Profits and Governments.
Presentations will include :-
Approach (BP) and Framework
Tools, (on behalf of Microsoft, Salesforce.com and Informatica)
Locations will include KL,Vietnam,(Tam), Dubai,(Walid's brothers), Chiba, (Aiko and Kashiwazaki) Sydney,(Azri family), Hawaii (Kona Surf Hotel), LA (Uncle Cesar and Vic Braden), Canada (Ottawa), and London.
Topics will include Getting Started, or Assessment of where you are and getting on Track, incorporating BP for DQ and/or BI and DQ or BMEWS Framework combined.
Make contact with Karim Hussein, Mohd in Ipoh, Gijs Arends at RaboBank.nl.
I must investigate the third-party organisations that have sprung up to offer Data Manipulation software for Salesforce.
DBAmp integrates SQL Server and Salesforce data and is priced at US$1,295 per year.
1. Contact Dave Mitchell
2. Draft World Tour and Paper for Walid's "Info and Quality: the Global Dimension"
This should be similar to the World Tour.
3. Publish new Tutorial on Getting Started
4. Work on Fresh Brewed Media Database for Brian
5. Sign up with Microsoft's Start-Up Zone.
6. Look into being a Microsoft Mobile Partner.
7. Follow-up my Toolkit and include full range from PDA Data Entry to BI Reports, including DQ.
23rd. July 8.00 am
Norlia
Here's a major Exhibition in October on Volunteering opportunities, in the Business Design Centre, Islington.
I am preparing a new Tutorial for YouTube about 'Getting Started on Database Design, and
I should include Is-a leads to Inheritancebut I shouldn't include Has-a, because that is too O-O.
The Blackberry Bold and Curve look good for Smartphones,but whatever the question is, the Answer is Salesforce.com.
The Redesdale Arms in Moreton-in-the-Marsh, Gloucestershire, gets a good review in the Telegraph.
THeir Web Site was created by a company called Solutions Squared which looks good.
We put a short Video on YouTube to show Norlia enjoying the delicious Confiture created and donated by Florence from Yvoire.
Here's Take 1, where Norlia burst into laughter before the end !!!
An article in yesterday's Financial Times about 'Getting away from it all' mentions
a company called SiteKit that develops CMS software and is based on the Isle of Skye, off the coast of Scotland - about as remote as you can get
They also mention Lightfoot Solutions, a consultancy specialising in performance Reporting, and based in marlowe, a lot nearer home.
Both Web Sites look good and are worth checking out.
Norlia is interested in polishing up her Arabic skills so that she can translate articles and documents.
Recognised qualifications in the UK include DPSI, which is the Diploma in Public Service Interpreting of the Institute of Linguists (IOL).
The London Arabic School looks interesting.
BT offers a Digitial Vault and an Internet-capable smartphone BT ToGo, (nmade by HTC),
with their Broadband Anywhere package.
My current favourite is the HTC Touch Pro, running Windows Mobile.
I must catch up with Web 2.0 and Development to prepare for my World Tour.
Starting with Native Planet, Native Web, and the Web2forDev Conference held at FAO HQ in Rome,Italy 25-27 September 2007.
Native Planet describes itself as a "Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) dedicated to the self-empowerment of indigenous people and the preservation of world ethnic cultures".
Native Web offers "Resources for Indigenous Cultures around the World".
I must find some names of people to talk to, like Colin Nicholas and Rizuan in Malaysia.
I should look into eLearning and Learning Management Systems (LMS) especially for Native People, and especially see if there is any common ground with Web 2.0 for Indigenous People.
Blackberry are holding a presentation in London next week about their new Development Toollkit.
I also came across a UK company called Kirona, selling a Mobile Development Toolkit to Local Governemnt, and Northgate is one of their Partners. There is also a free one-day Conference on Mobile Working in Environmental Health in London on June 19th..
The Daily Telegrah Travel Section mentions an Insurance company called Final Touch (Phone 0116 272 0500) that specialises in providing insurance coverage for people with past health conditions.City Breaks from Great GetAways look good.
Norway's Fjords look good, but right now, our current favourite is Turkey
I should check with Mike Andrews (Phone 0208-323-8438) at Inflection Point in Hammersmith, to seee if they are still Stratature's partner in the UK - they seem to have moved to Guildford - Phone 01483-549075.
Enterprise Data Mash-ups are becoming very popular, and are defined by Gartner as
1) getting their data from external sources
2) being Web-based
3) Use Building-Block Applications.
Vendors and Products include Denodo Data Mashup, LiquidApps, Serena Software.
Major players include IBM's Microsoft's QEDWiki,Microsoft's Popfly and Yahoo's Pipes.
In a footnote in a book called "The Art of SQL" I came across a remarkable assertion, which is that the great saying that "The data in a record depends on the Key, the Whole Key and nothing but the Key" was coined by William Kent - (but it doesn't add "So help me Codd".
Howevr, when I checked his Web Site I couldn't find it mentioned anywhere.
I came across an interesting Database product called "Data on the Run", which runs on Windows Mobile.
Maybe I can use it to get up-and-running with MyLife and my Development Toolkit (for MyLife,CMI and SMPL)
But it seems like crazy price at $15 or �10 !!!
It is possible to take a trip to visit the Berber in the Sahara Desert.
Fly with XL Airways to Sharm El Sheikh, and stay in the Al Karm Eco-Lodge for $10/�5 a night.
1) MDM Data Architecture diagram - "C:/WIP/Data_Arch_MDM_Layer.doc".
2) MDM Vendor Integration (for Insource,etc) - "C:/WIP/MDM_Vendor_Integration.doc"
3) PDA Proposal for Mobl Development Toolkit - "C:/PDA_Proposal/dev_toolkit4_mbl_applns/doc"
4) Partners for PDA Proposal - "C:/PDA_Proposal/parters.doc"
18th May 10.00 pm
Wikis
The OpenSocial Foundation is worth looking into.
I saw an interesting book on Wiki Patterns by Stewart Mader in Waterstones, but didn't buy it until I checked it out on Amazon,where I found it got 4.5 Stars.
Among other things, I found a reference to AllTop, which covers All the Top Stories, all the time, and describes itself as "is an innovative site that lists the five most recent stories".
from a variety of sites around the web on topic pages like small business, social media, science, photography, fashion, politics, sports, etc.
Maybe we should go to the Annual Festival in the Royal Horticulturial Hall,s Greycoat St, SW1P 2QD.
My favourties include Denise LaSalle, Patti LaBelle, Latimore and Tyrone Davis.
Googling for "reporting services" "design patterns" was very productive.
I like the word Templates but it turns out it has a much more limited meaning than "Design Patterns" A good article on Reusable Templates in Reporting Services in the Database Journal,
and another one on Enterprise Reporting in the same Journal.
I started planning for my trip to Canada in July.
I will show my Malaysian wife Algonquin Park and take a Canoe Trip.
I came across some beautiful pictures of the Ottawa River.
My Case Study for Nomad is on the HelpIT USB.
Joe's SMPL Vision is also on the same USB and should be a Presentation to get everybody thinking the same way, especially about top-level maps showing KPIs.
2nd May 11.00 pm
Joel on Software
Here's a wonderful quote from Joel [on Software]:-
"The hallmark of an architecture astronaut is that they don't solve an actual problem...
they solve something that appears to be the template of a lot of problems. Or at least, they try"
This is part of a tirade about Microsoft's Windows Live Mesh.
Norlia is driving her top-of-the-range Proton Perdana and listening to our favourite Lite Radio Station, which is 101.5 in Ipoh.
She can check the Malaysian Government Portal
Check with the Bank (24-hour number is 0845 309 0047) whether Stuart has paid the second Invoice.
30th. April 7.30 pm
DVLA
The DVLA contact is Wynford James but he hasn't replied to my email.
The Swansea DVLA phone number is 0179 27 66153, and the Wimbledon ffice is 0870-850-0007.
Mobile in Malaysia 0060 132 578 565 (7 hours ahead). Room 366 in PJ Hilton.
29th Apr 9.00 am
WIP
Earl's Complaints Reports are in C:/Ealing/Earls_Reports/Customer_Complaints/
29th Apr 8.30 am
Microsoft
"It's a bad way for Microsoft to be perceived"
26th Apr 11.00 pm
MDM
Object River can map to your own Enterprise Data Model, and they publish some interesting White Papers.
"ObjectRiver�s products are developed around a unique programmable metadata compiler technology."
I'd forgotten how much I like Zapp & Roger until I heard them on AOL's Funk Radio Station.
Whenever I hear Computer Love it reminds of Fiji where I met my beautiful Malaysian wife.
The Giotto story reminds me of a genius in another, much baser realm: Aaron Spelling, master of the sitcom.
Supposedly Spelling sold a network on a project by economically describing it as follows:
"Three attractive nurses share an apartment in Dallas; it's hot and they don't have air conditioning."
18th Apr 11.30 pm
Work
I remember working for one idiot who thought he could manage me,
even though he was stupid and didn't understand the work I was doing, and certainly couldn't do it himself.
I've just seen it described by Joel (as in Joel on Software) as :-
"The cult of the MBA likes to believe that you can run organizations that do things that you don't understand."
Joel is describing a "Bill Gates Review" of his Project, where the measure of success was how few F Words Bill Gates said.
Joel scored an all-time low of Four !!
I came across a company called Red Gate who write ingeniously simple tools to make the job the SQL Server DBA easier.
The Fatback Band are coming to England and playing at the Jazz Cafe on Sunday, April 27th,
a week before the Blind Boys of Alabama on Saturday, May 3rd..
Later the Neville Brothers will be in the UK on Sunday, July 20th..
An African Berber group called Tinariwen is also coming to the Jazz Cafe.
I found a guy selling Access Databases for prices ranging from �99 to �399 that I am giving away from free !!!
I guess I'm not as smart as I thought I was.
I must get going and use ShareIT to sell things over the Internet.
In the UK, a new set of 198 national indicators was introduced last October, and will apply to Local Authorities from the start of the 2009/10 financial year.
There's a Promotion in this month's Esquire magazine for Windows Mobile, mentioning the interface with Windows Office and Windows Media Player.The same issue mentions GooSync which will sync your Google Calendar to your Mobile/Cellphone.
I picked up an interesting free Travel magazine, put out by a Travel Web Site called Kulmulka,
featuring a trip to Borneo, so maybe I'll add Borneo to my World Tour that kicks off in the summer.
A Google sponsored link threw up another Travel Web Site specialising in Worldwide Trips.
Maybe I will speak at Microsoft's TechEd Conference, about :-
"A Case Study of BI integrated to Mobile Applications" "Global Enterprise Data Management" and/or
"A Universal Data Platform for Mobile Applications".
Today's Guardian newspaper had a very interesting article by Victor Keegan about Social Networking for Mobile/Cellphones, especially in South-East Asia, mentioning myGamma.
I wonder whether I can use Microsoft Sharepoint Server to build DB-driven Web Sites that are driven by SQL Server. Then I can use it for MLB and maybe Mobile Applications !!!
Maybe I can instal it on SMPL and also on my VPS at HostMySite.
Then I can provide one simple front-end for Earl to look at Reports and Spreadsheets.
I downloaded with Product Key of Q7B7D-R4Y2B-4K2MK-DYDX7-HHYGJ to use when I instal it.
I had to miss one of the wonderful Blind Boys of Alabama talking on British Radio to take the photos.
They will be appearing at the Jazz Cafe on May 3rd. 2008.
Tim Berners-Lee says "The Semantic Web involves RDF and SPARQL",
SPARQL is a query language and a protocol for accessing RDF,
designed by the W3C RDF Data Access Working Group.
I registered as bw/m3 with BT's new public Development facility called Web21CN.
Prepare Presentation and DaaS for MDM, CDI and Mobile Application,
and a Software Toolkit based Microsoft products.
Contact Country Managers for Microsoft in Malaysia, Vietnam, Australia, Hawaii and Canada,
to ask what is most in-demand topic and area of interest.
Here's a free download and trial De-Dupe Software, with annual support at $995 from SQL Power in Canada.
However, when I downloaded it, I couldn't instal it because it turned out to be a .JAR file which wanted to be
installed on a Nokia Cellphone.
When I called their Support number there was nobody there and I was prompted to leave a message.
I sent an email at 10.00 pm London time and I'm still waiting for an answer.
Google, MySpace and Yahoo annnounced yesterday that they will join in
creating the OPenSocial Foundation, which will be a neutral, community-governed forum for
developing applications for Social Networks.
A while ago, I used a wonderful PC and IT Trouble-shooting Services service called
GeekSquad (phone 0800-049-4335),who helped me with a terrible problem called "Sticky Keys".
They didn't ask for any money.
Their slogan is "When PC love turns to hate, the Geek Squad are the relationship experts".
I found another from British Telecom (BT),offering 24/7 Business IT Support (phone 0800-707-6307),
A third 24/7 Service was "Tech Guys from PC World" (phone 0800 066 5833).
Maybe I'll go and see Mavis Staples in London's Barbican on Tuesday, April 15th. (phone 0207-638-8891),
or Eric Clapton in Hyde Park on June 28th..
I bought a copy of a magazine called Juke Blues, which turned out to be British, with a very minimalistic Web Site.
Maybe I'll go and see Eric Clapton in Hyde Park on June 28th.
I found a promising Music Download site connected to CNet.
There's an interesting Site called MetaCritic which helps you make informed buying decisions across a wide range of entertainment, like Books, Music and Movies
Maybe I should go to the SalesForce.com DreamForce Developers Conference in London at the beginning of May.
I should certainly look into developing Applications for the Apple iPhone using Salesforce.
I registered as a Developer (dba@gmail.com/m3) altho it seems I can't use SalesForce to develop Applications, only to link between SalesForce and the iPhone SDK.
I have liked Banana Republic since my wife and I discovered them in Hawaii twenty years ago.
Now they have opened a store here in London.
The British Daily Telegraph newspaper reports that the shopping "experience is like America itself : eerily agreeable".
Today's Telegraph has 50 Tips on saving money.
Two that I liked were for very cheap (and legal) downloads from a Russian Music Web Site, and the other was a price comparison web site for flights called Kayak.
Ruby on Rails is a very popular Development Framework brought to you by the folks from 37 Signals,
which sounds like a great place to work - only 9 employees, no meetings, and even days when people are not allowed to talk to each other !!!
By coincidence, the current British .net magazine and the US Wired magazine have articles about it.
Wired also mentions an alternative called Merb.
Among other things I found a good-looking Web Site called Kineta, related to a popular CMS package called Drupal.
In Monday's Times newspaper, there was a fascinating article about using a Cell/Mobile Phone with
a 'Virtual Personal Trainer' called miCoach (with a beautfiul Web Site).
This is a "total coaching system", produced as the result of collaboration between adidas and Samsung.
It's a wonderful example of a "Universal Smart Phone".
A separate report says that Touch-Phones are taking off thanks to the success of the iPhone.
I will buy a Panama hat from Alfred Sayers, based in Ealing since 1901, (because of the connection with Alec Guiness and Ealing Comedies), for my Presentation at the Ark Group Conference on Data Quality at 15.40 pm on Monday, Mar 31st..
The title of my Presentation is "Setting objectives for a data quality strategy"
and here are the bullet points :-
Identifying the infrastructure to create a data quality reporting framework
Setting a quality control initiative for the entire information environment
Developing plans to enrich the quality and integrity of business data
I must sign up with Malaco Records and buy the latest CD from two of my all-time favourite singers - Tyrone Davis "Can I Change my Mind ?" and Latimore("Let's Straighten it Out").
I heard a new guy I like called Vick Allen.
Here's a great quote from a TV Show called Cold Cases tonight :-
"Do you ever feel you want to change your life, but you can't outrun your screwed-up family ?"
Today's Sunday Times newspaper reports the Top 100 Best Small Companies to work for in the UK.
Number 39 was Red Gate Software "which develops ingeniously simple software tools for database professionals".
They sell useful tools for SQL Server. Maybe I'll ask them for something to load data into SQL Server.
The Times also reports a group called SugaRush Beat Company consisting of three people who live (separately) in Australia, Denmark and the UK, and have some Videos on YouTube.
I also bumped into an old friend called Dr.Balbir Barn who will shortly be taking up a new post as Assistan Dean at Middlesex Univerity.
SalesForce.com has a link to Database Services as part of their innovation in launching a Universal Application Development Platform. They have introduced a Salesforce Object Query Language,("SOQL").
Today's papers report that Eskimos file a lawsuit against oil companies because Global Warming is threatening to destry a tiny community in Alaska, consisting of 391 people in Kivalina. which is
is a traditional Inupiat Eskimo village built on an eight-mile barrier reef.
Duffy has a great new single out called Mercy, which you can hear on YouTube and on her MySpace Web Site. It turns out she's from Nefyn in North Wales, which is where I'm from - and Nefyn Golf Club has a beautiful Web Site.
Yesterday's Sunday Times reports that an Irish girl is advising Barack Obama.
Her name is Samantha Power and she is on the faculty in the Kennedy SChool of Government at Harvard.
It also mentions a Blog by Serena Williams and a golfer called David Howell.
I came across a reference to Ray Kurzweil, who is a noted futurologist, and recently announced that
"21 years from now, machines will have both the hardware and software to achieve human-level artificial intelligence".
9.20 am Finish generating PDA Schedules for feb20th., (started last night with CSI).
9.30 am Started final review of Abatement Report.
13th. Feb 8.00 pm
2DoList
In order of Importance :-
0. FTP the BBC Data Model.
1. Define Interface between Coghead and SQL Server.
2. Define Interface between Popfly and SQL Server.
3. Create readme files for Earl and Ceri.
4. Decide what I want to achieve - Build MyLife and DaaS on DBA VPS, starting with Data Dictionary and MyLogin
5. Draft Presentation on DQ (using Boomi as Case Study).
6. Draft Presentation on MDM (and CDI) - think about leading discussion.
7. Draft Presentation on DaaS (with Case Study).
8. Draft Presentation on 'Global View of Enterprise Data Mgt'.
9. Review Presentation on MDM and DQ (2007)
10. A Mobile Data Platform - Amazon, Google, etc.. ('Developing for every Mobile Phone')
A Data Platform provides clean data,std TOI - Entities,Tables,Classes/Objects.
It offers a std way of writing DB-driven applns that can run in any environment.
It's supported by a Data Svcs Layer Utilities for Clean-up, validation and transformation.
11. Finish Paper on a PDA Tookit for MS Startup Zone
(maybe 6 and 7 should be combined)
12. Build CRM Application using Coghead as feasibility test for Order Processing
and evaluate against SalesForce for better generic approach - eg MVC.
Check SQL Server Central for advice on Application Generator.
13. Web 2.0 and Native People for N.
14. Check today's announcement on Amazon's Widgets.
A rather interesting part-time position was advertised for a Chair of the Board for a new organisation called Digital Outreach.
For 15 days a year it pays �10,000.
Here's another MDM, which stands for Mobile Device Management (MDM).
This material was taken from a supplement on Digital Business in the Financial Times for today.
There are organisations like Innopath and Mformation (looking for a Solutions Architect in Windsor, England)
specialising in MDM, and Cognito,in Mobile Workforce Management.
There's a reissue of Michael Jackson's Thriller to mark the 25th Anniversary of the first release.
Maybe I'll get it the DVD with the dance because it was great the first time around.
A couple of years ago, we got in the habit of having Candles burning in the house.
Then at a price (haha) of �30 or $60 it seemed dumb to just our money going up in smoke so we stopped.
Somehow recently, Candles are creeping back into our lives.
Today's evening paper has an article about six different brands, and I have added a few more that we like.
Mobile Applications have potential for Globalisation and Development.
A recent email from the Communications Initiative had some other interesting articles.
Coghead looks interesting, (and maybe Caspio is better).
Coghead uses Adobe's AIR and its DIY Web Application Development Platform is hosted by Amazon Cloud.
Maybe I can use Coghead to develop the Order Processing Application for New Iberia, Louisiana.
I created an account on Coghead, with userid=bw/m3, to build a CMI !!!.
Let's go to Malaco Records in Jackson, Mississippi.
Itinerary is Malaysia, Vietanm, Australi, Hawaii, Vancouver, Seattle, Ottawa and back to London.
I will be talking
about "A Global View of Enterprise Data Management"
and "A Toolkit for Building PDA Applications for a Global Market".
"A Universal Data platform for Mobile Applications" Sub-title 'A Review of plans from Amazon,Google, Microsoft and Salesforce'.
I signed up with AWS as dba+aws/m333
Presentation :-
Past (Hastings)
Present (Cisco,Ealing,etc)
Future (Amazon WS on DBA,'DQ-as-a-Svc' from Boomi'.'Data-as-a-Svc' from CyberSavvy)
An interesting article in today's British Guardian newspaper discusses open mapping data in the context of a Web Site called MySociety which offers "More Travel Maps" as a way to work out where you can live in and around London to minimise your daily commute.
It also uses the Land Registry and Open Streets Map.
I need a way to make Reminders or 'always on top' for things like Metacafe,
which is similar to YouTube,except that it pays people who contributors which are popular with viewers.
Maybe I should send in some Database Design Tutorials.
I saw a mention of GoDaddy in Wired magazine as though it is something special.
When I check out the GoDaddy Web Site it doesn't look very special.
Then I came across Web.com which is a great name which is completely wasted.
And finally, VideoJug, which offers advice and information across a wide range of topics.
I was looking for Best Practice in loading data into an SQL Server Database.
Tim recommended I look at Scott Guthrie's Blog, which discusses Data Transformation.
Tim's full response was (of course) very useful :-
Integration Services (SSIS) is Microsoft's recommended approach to data import in SQL2005 - unfortunately, it isn't available in the 2005 Express Edition. With SQL Server 2000, Management Studio came with Data Transformation Services (DTS).
I like DTS and in some ways, I prefer the simplicity of it over SSIS.
You might want to consider the SQL Server publishing toolkit mentioned in Scott's Blog.
It's mainly designed for web developers but the SQL scripting in it would work for anyone who has to move data from one server to another.
BCP is still an integral part of the SQL Server toolkit and widely used even today.
IMHO, Access is the easiest method of loading data into SQL.
Google launched Android and the Android Developers' Challenge (some Assembly required in Java).
The Microsoft Startup Zone was launched by Steve Ballmer in both the US and the UK.
The Blind Boys of Alabama have a new CD out, called 'Down in New Orleans'.
The video on their Web Site is just great and is hosted by Nimbit, which could be very useful if you are looking for ways to sell your music over the Internet.
Today (January 27th) Nimbit is displaying the new CD by Robert Plan and Alison Krauss, which has got great reviews. You can listen to a 30 second sample of each track - and I think I'll buy the CD.
BrightCove is interesting, but has probably been overtaken by YouTube.
A few years ago, I saw a great TV Commercial featuring the Lambada.
It's great way to spend your life - dancing in the sunshine by the sea surrounded by beautiful people.
The Center for Digital Futures (see below) has International Partners at academic Institutions all around the world, including Canada, Macau, (a Portuguese-owned Territory in China), Singapore and the United Aarab Emirates.
Add Index to Site Cleaning Report (takes 2 minutes)
Check on installing upgrade to Dezign
SQL to add days to create Schedules in SQL Server -
- SELECT ID As Cleaning_ID,Sched_Cleaning_Date,DATEADD(dd,7,Sched_Cleaning_Date) FROM Cleaning_Schedule
An item in tpoday's newspaper mentions Wamato, which is an all-girl group from an African country called Guinea.
It gives a Web Site for Sterns Music, but this has no references for Wamato.
However, Google is much more sucessful, giving me web sites where I can download MP3 tracks for Wamato.
This is pretty remarkable because Wamato has been around since the sixties, when they called themesleves 'The Women's Orchestara of the Guinean Militia' !!!
Microsoft have been very active in pushing forward the frontiers of Development Methodologies.
I am preparing a Road Map for Microsoft Development Tools to produce a composite Review of Best Practice.
A consulting organisation called THINK Strategies provides a couple of useful SaaS-related Directories,
one on Managed Service Providers and the other on SaaS.
One of my wife's favourite TV shows is the 'Dog Whisperer'.
It's very entertaining to watch, partly because of what Cesar Millan says, which includes the idea that he is training the dog owners not the dogs.
He is smart to identify that one reason women like dogs is as targets of affection, but as he says :-
'You can't rescitate unstable men with affection'.
My wife enjoys using her Hula Hoop and was saddened to learnt that the inventor, Richard Knerr, died yesterday in his birthplace, San Gabriel, California.
I have been thinking about how to achieve achieving Productivity and FlexibilityApplications Development and it's obvious that I have to focus on Database-Driven Development.
Scott Ambler (and maybe Martin Fowler) write good relevant stuff.
Steven R (a new member of my Database Answers Community) told me he is developing a Database-driven Web Site using Microsoft's Sharepoint.
This is an interesting idea that I must look into.
Today's news headlines include an item telling us that attention to four key aspects can extend your life by 14 years :-
1. Cut down on Alcohol.
2. Eat Fruit and Vegetables.
3. Give up smoking.
4. Take regular Exercise
Wow !!!
6th. Jan 10.00 am
Work
I put all my current documents in a new Directory called WIP.
I copy this to the USB stick as necessary.
5th. Jan 8.30 pm
Music
Here's a YouTube video for a great new single from Leann Rhimes
I came across a wine with the great name of 'Little Penguin', and another called 'Chat-en-Oeuf' ('Cat on Egg'), and then a Web Site devoted to unusual Wine Labels.
The Evening Standard has an article about In-Spa, which is an up-market chain of Spas which offers 'healthy, inspiring holidays'.
These are geared to healthy breaks, featuring yoga, de-tox diets, plenty of exercise and NO Alcohol,
The English Telegraph newspaper reports that the three most popular Networks are Bebo, Flickr and Facebook.
They report this only to add that the fourth (in the UK) is the Senior Citizens Network called Saga Zone,
which is a recent addition to the Web Site for Saga, a well-established site for the over 50's.
Bebo says it is 'a social media network where friends share their lives and explore great entertainment'.
Flickr says almost 2,00 photos are uploaded every minute,2 million geotagged a last month (so you can
search for Photos of your favorite place) and offers translations in Japanese, German, French, Italian and Portugese.
Facebook says it 'is a social utility that connects you with the people around you'.
Saga Zone says 'Saga Zone is a new online community where you create a whole new social network of friends
and easily stay in touch from the comfort of your home'.
The UK Independent newspaper had an interesting article about a
Web Site called MetaCafe which is similar to YouTube,except that it pays people who contributors which are popular with viewers.
Maybe I should send in some Tutorials.
We arrived home after a very enjoyable stay at a the Orles Barn Hotel in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire.
A warm welcome was provided by Richard and Kelly Bailey, who run the Hotel in a very professional and friendly manner.
They have recently taken it over and I am sure they will do very well in the future.
(0) Book for Cirque du Soleil in January phone 0870 380 0020 or 0845 401 5008.
'Ask for the Tapis Rouge VIP Experience'.
(1) Email Karim
(2) MLB Proposal to Microsoft StartUpZone.
(3) DB Design kids Lifecycle
(4) MDM Master Class
(5) Tutorial for Beginners.
(6) Look at Robin's Reports
Draft Best Practice in Applications Development, using my DBA Manuals On-demand utility.
Material will be developed for MDM, including RS Reports.
Templates will be created based on Software Factories using Microsoft Technology, and vendors such as Telerik.
Agile Development will be key.
The current Business Week magazine has an article about Google and IBM collaborating in research into "Cloud Computing".
David Hay's book on Data Model Patterns might be relevant.
Last night I watched Pulp Fiction for the second time in two days.
At least, I got lucky and caught one of the best scenes in which Samuel Jackson does his speech where he quotes from Ezekiel 25:17 - "The Path of the Righteous Man Is Beset on All Sides by the Inequities of the Selfish and the Tyranny of Evil Men." This reminds me of too many people I have had to work with in past and present incarnations.
In the course of tracking down this quotation, I came across an interesting Web Site called "Best Of".
I had a problem I didn't understand and an error message that said :-
"Index was outside the bounds of the array."
I found the fix by searching on the Microsoft Technet Web Site.
It was a simple fix, involving deleting or renaming the .rdl.data file.
RS then recreates the file without the problem.
Do vendors offer Free Trial ?
My experience to be used as Case Studies starts with Barclays in Hastings and ends with PDAs,
also Governance, User Involvement, Consensus, Top-Level endorsement, translated into working-level actions and deliverables.
Essentials,(based on Barclays in Hastings,includes User Involvement, Business Rules and Iterations,(Bus Rules with equivalent SQL.
Wikipedia has an article on Data Quality (DQ), saying "There are a number of theoretical frameworks for understanding data quality", including one related to Customer Service.
Gartner's Magic Quadrant for DQ Tools inclides Trillium, Business Objects, DataFlux IBM and Informatica.
Talend offers a unique FREE SaaS Data Integration Suite, which is definitely worth a look.Talend will offer a low-end entry-point to counterbalance DataFlux at the top end from the Magic Quadrant.
A recent issue of Business Week had an interesting article on the future of TV, and mentioned Current.com, which lets you define your own TV Station, and then share it with your friends.
Today's paper reports good news with a Red Wine Diet by Roger Corder, featuring a wine called Madiran from the South of France.
Madiran is supposed to be good for the heart and 'a wine that is actually good for you' !!!.
In the Gym, I heard what I thought was a great track called 'Heater by Samim' (a group I never heard of), but when I listened to it on MP3 Download in Amazon, I realised that it is not my taste at all.
I can reach Louie by calling Siberia 459 915.
'Aman Iman' by Tinariwen looks like a CD my wife might like because it's a 'Slab of gritty Saharan space-rock from Tuareg nomad soul rebels'.
The current issue quotes somebody from Google saying :-
'It's far easier to to beg for forgiveness [afterward]s than to ask for permission [before]'.
16th. Dec 5.30 pm
PDAs
The current issue of PDA Essentials magazine reports the results of the recent Awards, sponsored by Expansys, to celebrate the best and most innovative products of the past year,
HTC won the Manfacturer of the Year, as well as the Readers' Award.
I saw a reference to Dan yr Ogof Caves in the Brecon Beacons in South Wales in the Telegraph.
My favourite candles are Yankee Candles, which are available in the LongAcre Garden Center.
LoveFilm with the Sunday Times are offering a free trial of DVD Rental.
I came across an interesting Telegraph newspaper Poll of the 21 Wonders in the World, and a related 7 Wonders in the World.
One of them is the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany, which looks simply beautiful, especially in the winter.
Today's Sunday Times (UK) newspaper also recommends a couple of hotels in KL -
'the sumptuous carcosa Seri Negara' ($400/night), and the more affordable Hotel Maya, (from $200/night).
Today's Sunday Times (UK) newspaper mentioned a couple of interesting things -
one was a USB DVB-T stick (�50/$100) which would turn your laptop into a TV set.
The other was a sleeve (�25/$50) for the laptop to protect it when you go thru airport security.
In a Forrester Report on Model-Driven Development I cam across a reference to an [IT] Architecture Journal, which
describes itself as "... an independent platform for free thinkers and practitioners of IT architecture".
I have been thinking about programming languages lately in the context of Best Practice for Applications Development.
Jack Schofield in this week's TechnologyGuardian, had a useful comment on how to decide which language to get started with.
He says '... the daddy in the home and emerging programmer field is Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition.'
Borland's Delphi is a Visual Pascal and is worth a look.
The UK Government has set up a Web Site giving advice to anyone starting a Social Enteprise,
which they define as 'a business with primarily social objectives'.
The Independent's supplement on Education & Careers today has an ad for the Innovation Unit,
which "promotes innovation to improve education and chlildren's services".
The (UK) Telegraph newspaper reported progress at the Microsoft Cambridge Research Center (also in the UK) with a trials of a camera called SenseCam to keep a 'pictorial diary' that helps Alzheimer's sufferers.
The Trials were led by Emma Berry, a clinical neuropsychologist.
Wikipedia provides useful background.
Here's a couple of unrelated URLs -
(1) Earlier this week, the London Evening Standard newspaper had an article about an Australian couple
(Greg and Jan Wilkins) who have have moved to an 'e-village' in Italy where they run a computer consultancy (WebTide)
from their home.
(2) Surrey County Council is (maybe) my local County.
ITIL is the 'IT Infrastructure Library' and maybe I should include ITIL in the scope of topics I cover.
Wikipedia says "ITIL is a [UK] set of concepts and techniques for managing IT infrastructure, development, and operations."
I think I will specialise in advising Local Government on Best Practise, supplemented with Case Studies and Vendor Evaluations. I will have a particular knowledge and focus on CRM, Mobile Applications, Database topics and Microsoft.
Asset Management is an interesting area where Mobile solutions can help.
There's a good article in a magazine called 'Integrated Solutions' that I should subscribe to.
Here is a list of Vendors in Enterprise Data Management.
Aspective is a local Microsoft CRM Partner recommended by Tim Hoban.
Dexterra specialise in Mobile Applications.
CRM is an area that I like so I should look into Microsoft Partner Support for Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
As well as Mobile Web Development, and the Mobile Application Development Toolkit.
Watching the Dragon's Den last night I started thinking about getting rich through being smart.
A while ago I signed up with Microsoft as a Partner specialising in Mobile applications.
This builds on my Microsoft associations through my page on the Microsoft Web Site and my collaboration in their MyLifeBits Research Project in San Francisco.
I have been made aware of the new Microsoft Startup Zone, and the Startup Accelerator Program in the UK.
We went to Bath where I managed to find a book to buy at Waterstone's entitled "How to do Everything with Web 2.0 Mashups"
It covers Google Mapshas an accompanying Web Site where I can download the sofware.
We stayed in 'MidgetLand' in a very agreeable Hotel in Bath.
18th. Nov 5.00 pm
MyLife
Today's Telegraph newspaper has a great headline "Goodbye computer, hello mobile phone".
It describes TruTap, which describes itself as
"a free global messaging service which lets you take your social life everywhere you go... on your phone".
You download software to your mobile/cell that will automatically tap into Flickr,with FaceBook and MySpace promised by the end of 2007.
Mashups are going to be big business,and and have a lot in common with Data Integration
and thinking about Architectures.
Maybe I should enter the Business Mashup Challenge with my MLB work.
Here's a neat, new, very portable PC from Asus and is CHEAP PC at �220 or about $500.
It currently runs on Linux (ie UNIX) and will offer Microsoft Windows by the end of 2007.
Here's an independent publishing company called Greenbooks, established in the UK for 20 years, which was mentioned in the Telegraph newspaper in the UK.
They produce books on a wide range of environmental and cultural issues, including Books in Welsh !!!
At last, the UK Ordnance Survey is waking up to reality and trying to compete with Google Maps.
They are helping developers build mashups using OS Maps.
Google has launched OpenSpace, which seems to based on MIT Open Source work.
Silicon.com has some other interesting articles, such as Web 2.0 and Public Sector.
An interesting program on TV about Georgia (the Georgia that used to be part of Soviet Union, not the State in the US).
Someone called Piers Lewis (British-born but educated in the US) and Curious Software (in Ealing !!!) featured largely
As part of my current Project on Master Data Management, I checked out the IT Director and IT-Analysis Sites.
It seems IBM is now taking great interest in MDM.
We enjoyed our trip to Oslo in Norway on Sept 2nd and maybe Hurtigruten would be good for Christmas.
They work with Climate Care to help reduce Carbon Emissions.
I saw an interesting Requests for Database consulting from the Childrens Workforce Development Council (CWDC) in the UK.
Some of my Children's Databases will be relevant.
Here's a Blog from Intelligent Enterprise, saying [Salesforce] approaches Microsoft and IBM in influence in the [SaaS] industry, perhaps surpassing them in some areas",and an interesting insider's view on SaaS/Salesforce from Appirio.
A Blog says that Google Enterprise might also be relevant.
Salesforce has "AppExchange Mobile" and says "More and more, organizations are arming their field sales representatives with mobile access to CRM and SFA applications."
Microsoft has a Faculty Connection program for Educators, which they say is "Advancing the art of teaching technology".
This includes teaching 'Software Entrepreneurship'.
I made some progress by registering as bdimple_at_myway and looked at a 'Deep Dive' presentation on VisualForce.
SalesForce is also keen on Mobile working.
This morning I went to an interesting joint Presentation from SalesForce.com and Business Objects.
Two useful contacts are Woodson Martin, VP, EMEA Marketing of SalesForce.com (based in Camberley) and Fraser McKay, Director, On-Demand Solutions of Business Objects,(based in France).
I described my plans to create a Presentation on Strategic Customer Data Management and building a demonstration using SalesForce and Business Objects
They both liked my ideas so I promised to send them both my plans.
SalesForce.com Videos appear on YouTube and Pervasive works well with SalesForce for data integration.
Here's a report on the recent Web 2.0 Conference.
It says all the young Googleytes have gone off to make their own fortunes by getting involved in Web 2.0 Startups.
I must check out iGoogle to see if it really is a Personalised Home Page that could act as my Portal on the World.
Or whether I should design my own, starting with my 'Database Answers Community' from Ning.
I used to read a great magazine called Intelligent Enterprise.
I can't get the magazine any more in England but I guess the Web Site makes up for it.
It seems to be relatred to TechWeb.
I have created my Social Networking Community called 'The Database Answers Community' on Ning to include all the people who have made contributions by PayPal.
Visit The Database Answers Community
We visited William Curley's Chocolate Shop in John Lewis's new and excellent Food Hall in London, England.
William has been awarded the Best British Chocolatier accolade for 2007 by the Academy of Chocolate.
My interest is :-"More pervasive use of Databases in our daily lives".
My Strategy is Get smart, then Get Rich"
Define a "Data Validation Layer",(Ballmer likes Software On Demand).
Microsoft has added an online party-invitation service called Events to its suite of Windows Live Web services.
It links to FaceBook, Live Search for driving instructions and the Spaces social network site for blogging.
The 11th (!!!) International Symposium on Wearable Computers
has just finished in Boston, Mass., featuring the work of the Wearable Smart Assistance project in Zurich, Switzerland.
I had to do Date Arithmetic in Access to generate time series data at weekly intervals in Access and after
checking www.dbforums.com and www.utteraccess.com I found the answer to adding 7 days to the Schedule_Date was -
DateAdd("d",7,[Schedule_Date])
Typical Web 2.0 Tools used in a Development environment include Blogs, Chat Rooms,(Skype and Yahoo), Flick'R, eLearning Tools for Schools, Google Maps, Information Webs Sites, Picasa (Google's answer to Flick'R), and Wikis. This selection relate to Projects in Africa.
Tsarabanjina has a very attractive Web Site for a beautiful holiday destination in Madagascar, where most of the world's vanilla comes from.
Here's a reminder to Order Cat Calendar for 2008.
Web 2.0 for Development is quite a lively area right now.
Telecentre is a collaborative social investment program.
dgCommunities reports on a Conference in Rome, Italy addressing
"What can the collaborative, multi-user and participatory web contribute to development ?"
dgCommunities states :-
�Web 2.0 is a term used in recent years to describe web-based systems that enable users to share content (text, photos, video etc), communicate and work together on common areas of interest.
A quite fuzzy concept, it was applied during the conference to a range of more and less interactive information systems,
including more traditional e-mail enabled discussion lists and �community� portals, as well as more accepted 2.0 applications
such as blogs and wikis, feed aggregators and �mash-ups�.
I found an interesting item in the newspaper about 'Social Enterprises', which are defined as "Not-for-Profit companies that achieve public good and whose surpluses are ploughed back into the business or the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profits".
I went to a bookstore yesterday and found myself admiring some of the well-designed Book covers.
When I woke up this morning I decided to put together a page of the most attractive ones.
I published my Tutorial on "Understanding a Database Schema" on YouTube.
But it is too long at 15 minutes so I'll have to cut it down to 10 minutes.
6th. Oct 11.30 am
Orang Asli
My interest in Native Peoples (Orang Asli in Malaysia) was reawakened by an item on DG Gateway about Australian Aborigines using Web 2.0 to preserve their heritage.
This includes Google Earth to record cultural and sacred places, and digitising tapes of songs, and videos".
To date, and along with digital video and community web sites, the Ngalia community in Australia has embraced technologies such as
You Tube, Skype, My Space, blogs, Google and Wikipedia.
Plans are in place to develop a participatory GIS system also.
There is also a Web Site called 'Web 2.0 for Participatory Development" (Web2forDev), which held a Conference recently.
The Conference is discussed in a Blog
Presentation on Web 2.0 for Australian Aboriginal Case Study is available for download.
.
We like Cirque du Soleil so we decided to go to the Cirque Surreal (from producers of the Chinese State Circus), at Windsor Racecourse, from October 19th. to 28th, (phone 0871 224 0033).
From the Woodland Trust Web Site, I came across an alternative to using Ordnance Survey maps,
using Drawlive. MapWeaver.com and Streetmap.
StreetMap looks very promising at �500/year.
Their Online Trial, and mentions Reporting Systems for Local Authorities.
I woke up early and got up at 6.00 am to start my birthday celebrations.
My wife gave me Acqua di Parma soap and aftershave from Harrods.
I tried adding these entries to my Blog, instead of this diary, but the Blog doesn't give me what I want because I can't link to my Digital Assests.
I found a place called Bear's Wood in Crawley Down, and also Corner Copse in Ifold,so I resolved to sign up with the Woodland Trust charity (UK) as part of my birthday celebrations.
My wife found an ad for an interesting job, open to citizens of UK Commonwealth countries, for Asylum Case Owners with the Border & Immigration Agency of the Home Office,(closing date October 19th.) I also found another interesting job with MI5 for British Citizens who understand Arabic
I relax reading one of my favourite Thriller writers, Robert Parker.
I smile because the setting of his book is a town called Paradise in Massachussets, and we are staying in a town called Paradiso in Switzerland.
My wife saw a couple of interesting requirements for volunteers - one to work with Databases and one for
Foreign-language Speakers.
She speaks English, French and Arabic, as well as her native Malay, so she thought she would be able to help.
We go into central London to celebrate and find three Japanese Restaurants within a one minute walk of each other.
We choose one we are not familiar with called Kai and have a great time.
It was an impressive complex with a shop and Japanese social centre.
I was able to practice the Japanese I learned just before I met my wife in Fiji.
I received a cheque from Google for about $500, representing my earnings for having Google Ads on my DatabaseAnswers Data Models page for 3 months.
I guess I can't give up my day job just yet !
Vodafone (UK) has an interesting marketing campaign showing on their Web Site how cell/mobile phones can be used for a wide variety of social applications.
Their design anticipates my Grand Award.
Woke up at 6.00 am (it's Saturday !!!) with my mind buzzing.Resolved to spend some time on my Hands-on Master Class in Master Data Management and Customer Data Integration, perhaps with reference to Kimball's Book on
'The Microsoft Data Warehouse Toolkit'.
I should combine it with a DIY ETL Toolkit, tailored specifically to MDM and CDI, and featuring an Internet-based Data Dictionary.
I came across an article on the Intelligent Enterprise Site saying that 83% of people in a recent survey wanted 'a single interface to all information in the enterprise'. It's a great title but the article was a disappointment which talked about the combination of BI and Enterprise Search as though it was something new.
Here's my current thinking about showing
Street Cleaning Services might be shown in a diagram.
I also have a version with a Mouseover effect to show an Inspector checking a Street.
I decided that my Strategy for buying Wine would be based on unusual or amusing names on the bottle !
One 'wine expert' said, in an arrogant voice - 'Of course, you will get variable results with that approach, sir', so I said, 'And that's half the fun !', to which there was no reply.
The first two were called Barefoot Zinfandel, from Modesto,California, and Joy, from France.
So far, my strategy is a great success because the first wine I sampled (Joy) turned out to be exactly to my taste.
The British press reported that "... billions of gigabytes of Government data will be preserved for posterity thanks to a deal between Microsoft and the UK National Archives.
The partnership involves Microsoft donating new software (Virtual PC 2007), allowing historians to read old electronic documents,regardless of the software package they were created in".
I continued my Strategy of buying Wine with unusual or amusing names.
The next three were Bloody Good Red, from the Bonny Doon Winery in Modesto,California,
Oracle, from South Africa,
and Procrastinator, from Chalk Hill Wines in Australia.
I came across a very well-designed Web Site for the
Countryside Council for Wales.
For American visitors, maybe I should explain that Wales is a country which is part of the UK, but has a very proud tradition and independent history.
Today's Wine buying included
Firebird,
from Moldova, (a country in Eastern Europe with a population of 3.5 million) and
Naked Grape, from Dr.Loosen in Germany,
I passed up a wine called Gladiator, because the name didn't make me smile.
Current Rectification Reports and Scripts are on the Toshiba USB in the Folder called "F:\lbe\Rectification_Reports_June25th\July08th.
I am currently working on presenting correct latest I and R values in by replacing inspected_date with scheduled_cleaning_date in Report1DDL.sql.
Sony sells a GPS-CS1 'Dongle' ($150/�100) that records the date,time and location for every photograph you take on a Sony Camera.
You can synchronise with your PC and you can see your movements and photos displayed on a Map.
SQL Scripts for a Consolidated View of all Data Categories is on the Toshiba USB in F:\eel\Rectification_Reports_June25th\ConsolidatedViews\ in a file called cre_consolidatedviewsDDL_july14th_2100hrs.doc
Export Schedule data is on c:/eel/databases/exp_from_xxx_to ixxx_on_july15th_csv.
16th July 7.00 pm
Wine
Today's Wine buying included Dancing Bull
from California and Lazy Lizard, a Chardonnay from France,
Microsoft is working on a Coffee Table PC with a touch-sensitive top called Surface which is relevant to my MyLife Project.
One interesting Scenario would be to use your Universal PDA strung around your name all day and then come home to complete the process on your Surface coffee table.
My wife and I had an outing to a Fashion Design Center which offers a wide range of up-market
Designer labels in one location.
She bought a pair of brown suede shoes from L.K.Bennett.
We took a break from Shopping in "O'Briens Irish Sandwich Bar.
I was eating Chips/Crisps and was amused to read on the back of the packet that "these are made in Wales" and "O'Briens is proud to be the Premier Worlwide Sponsors of an internatiional Charity that provides love and gives back dignity to children in Mongolia and Vietnam".
I started thinking about Data Models for Quantity Surveyors, and found that searching the Chartered Surveyors Site for Databases produced some interesting results.
We drove into central London with the idea of picking up lunch at Villandry's, our favourite deli, and eating it in Regents Park. We agreed to see 'Lady be Good' in Aug at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, which is something that we like to do every year. The productions are always a little lame, but the open-air setting is magical when the sun goes dark.
At my wife's suggestion, we went to buy me a Brooks Brothers shirt.
I guess I got brain-washed during my time at IBM because I always buy good-quality, white, cotton, button-down shirts.
I need to call Mark Jewett on his mobile number 206.660.3644.
23rd July 10.00 pm
MyLife
My wife and I are planning where to go for the 20th. Anniversary of our first meeting. There's an item in today's Sunday Times about the Hotel Welcome in Villefranche-sur-Mer, four miles east of Nice in the South of France.
First thing I'll do is to check it out on TripAdvisor.
I liked the idea of the Grand Hotel in Cap Ferrat but seems it's full when we want to go - even with the cheapest room costing about $1000 ! The only hotel with availability when we want to go was the Best Western which got lousy reviews from lots of people so that's the end of that !
I starting working with the US Navy to design a Database to help with Equipment Maintenance.
An interesting challenges was to determine which data we can use which is not classified.
One of them was the Navy Standard (not an officla Navy Web Site, showing images in the public domain).
I was checking out Welsh Web Sites (I was born in Wales) and came across an interesting service called Cluster Maps that displays the locations of visitors to a web site on a map of the world.
I added it to the Data Models page on my DatabaseAnswers Web Site and the next day I saw the countries where my daily 500 Visitors were located.
I saw an interesting article on Mapping Data on MyWay (one of my email providers).
This is a serious problem in the UK, where the Government charges a fortune for the use of Mapping Data,which has already been paid for by the taxpayer.
This is a part of a major Guardian newspaper campaign called 'Free our Data'.
I am looking at Google Maps as a suitable alternative.
There was an article in today's UK Sunday Times newspaper about Child-tracking Systems.
It liked three - FollowGB, SimpleSimon and Best Buddy, and disliked two - Trace a Mobile and ChildLocate
In the July, 2007 issue of Wired Magazine, there's a couple of articles about mapping and the explosive growth in mash-ups.
It mentions Google's MyMaps, Microsoft's LiveSearchMaps and Yahoo's Flickr (which allows you to geo-tag photos).
,
The lastest Filename to change Total Instructions in Report 1 is C:/eel/Rectification_Reports_June25th/GetReport1Data_SP_july31st_2200pm.txt.
It's also in the same Directories on the Toshiba USB and the Verbatim USB.
31st July 6.30 pm
MyLife
I passed by the Richmond Tennis Club, which my wife might like to join.
A recent announcement about Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services makes it sound like I need Service Pack 2 installed because SP1 removed the 'select all' option which would allow a user to use a tick box to select all wards or grades (further details are in the URL).
I need this for my current client.
I have to spend time on my interest in 'DBoD' - Databases On Demand - Software As a service ("SaaS") CRM On-Demand, starting with CRMFusion, which is linked to SalesForce and Oracle.
Here's an interesting Web Site called "Schome", (School at Home"),
which uses the Second Life Site to provide a 'Learning Environment for Professionals',
targetted at young people.
Current priorities are Seth (send Aerobics Programs), DCA for NatWest, Smartphone Data Model for Jim G. at MS, Adan (Add Qualifications tables), Stuart (Fleet.xls), UFRF (Specs), Mark at MS.
11th Aug 12 noon
MyLife
I came across photos of my son Meredith when he was a teenager and then later when he graduated with a BA in Information and Library Science from Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK.
I have a little AirPlant sitting quietly on the shelf.
Suddenly my wife noticed it is flowering - which is remarkable considering that we never water it because when we bought it we were told it will live on fresh air !
2DoList -
1. Contract, 2. Wkly Stats built on my Consolidated SQL, 3. Email Mark at MS, 4. Complete DCA.
15th Aug 9.00 am
MyWork
Reports Directory Structure -
C:/Tosh/VerbUSB/Eel/Rect_Rpts/Rpt 1,2,3/v01_Date_Live,v02,v03, etc..
Status summary :-
Report 1 - Monthly Cleaning Summary by Ward - builds on my Consolidated SQL
Report 2 - Monthly/Weekly Cleaning Site Record
Report 3 - Monthly Zone Performance Report
15th Aug 9.30 am
MyLife
The Telegraph newspaper reported a terrible incident in the UK yesterday.
A 47-year-old husband and father of 3 went out to talk to a bunch of teenagers who were vandalising his car
outside his house.
They kicked him to death.
Every week the UK gets worse and nobody says 'This has gone far enough'. Now (finally) the Government is blaming it on the parents. The police are too busy chasing terrorists and doing paperwork.
Today's Wine buying included Zonte's Footstep, a white Viognier from Australia,
The name didn't actually make me smile but I am having trouble finding more wine with really funny names.
I passed on 'Gladiator' from California but maybe I will have to reconsider.
I will try to get to a grand total of 10 Wines before I stop.
I think right now, I've got to 7, and Joy from France is the only one I liked, or could even finish.
So far, I have stopped at 10 different Wines with amusing or unusual names of varying quality :-
1. Joy from France (Great)
2. Barefoot (Undrinkable)
3. Dancing Bull (Undrinkable)
4. Firebird (Undrinkable)
5. Lazy Lizard (Undrinkable)
6. Naked Grape (OK)
7. Zonte's Footstep (OK)
Waiting to be sampled :- 8. Bloody Good Red
9. Oracle
10. Procrastinator
It was reported that Luther Ingram, singer of the classic "If loving you is wrong (I don't want to be right)", died this week on Monday,Aug 13th. 2007.
I bought a book called 'Mastering Judo' by the Takahashi family.
They are based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada where I lived for 6 years back in the 70's.
It's a great book based on an excellent idea, and very well executed. It covers a wide range of topics, from nutrition to advanced contest preparation.
It draws on the 200+ years experience of all 6 family members.
The Independent newspaper in England mentions a web site called Filter that that recommends music based on an analysis of your music library. It's worth checking out because it also offers about 20 music categories plus a list of Radio Station Web Sites.
This one is supported by a $5M cash injection from Peter ('Sledgehammer') Gabriel.
As part of my collaboration with Microsoft, I checked out the MSDN TV broadcast on Data-Aware Windows Mobile Applications.
I was curious to see how the theory compares to my practice in building and deploying Smartphone-based Applications for Business Intelligence.
Isn't the Internet wonderful ! - Pandora (my daily companion) introduced me to Taana Gardner, a singer from the 80's.
Then Wikipedia pointed me to MySpace and then I was able to download a great track called 'HeartBeat' free of charge (from MySpace).
In the afternoon, we went to Thailand, or rather Thailand came to us (in Milford, Surrey outside London) in the shape of the "Amazing Thailand Festival".
Here's a
Google Map showing the location.
in aid of the Mudita Trust Charity and in association with the Royal Thai Embassy.
I posted a Video on YouTube, and a photo of Norlia smiling with the ducks on
At yesterday's Thailand, Festival, I decided to give up buying wine with funny names because (with one exception) I really didn't like the taste of them.
This decision came when I saw a bottle with 'Smiling Fish' on the label.
I came across an interesting contribution in the .net magazine by Ian Moulster, of Microsoft (UK), about Silverlight.
I emailed Ian to determine if there is common ground for collaboration.
I went to Fortnum and Masons, (the Queens Grocers in London) and came across a quality sweet white wine called "The Noble One" from the De Bortoli Vineyard in Australia.
So I decided to postpone not buying wine with funny names.
In the Times newspaper, I came across a reference to the "Transparencey Intenernational Index" which sounds like a measure of the amount of corruptiontion in any country in the world. It states that Sierra Leone is as corrupt as Nigeria.
Also in the Times, there was a mention of the "Digitisation of Vital Events" (Dove), which is a UK govenmenrt programme covering events such as Births, Deaths and Marriages. However, the UK Society of Genealogists report their concern about the management and timing of this major undertaking.
I must remember to find MapEdit, a great Hotspot Image Editor I used years ago, and also explore Shareit as a way to 'monetarize' my Web Site.
I easily find MapEdit thru Tucows, and ShareIt. described as the "Your Global Partner for Selling Shareware" (sounds promising !).
This entry contains embedded images to see whether it's more 'User-Friendly'. Last weekend my wife and I went to Oslo in Norway to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of when we met in Fiji.
We posted a short Video on for Norlia's family in Malaysia.
After we came back,my wife checked Wikipedia and told me we had chosen to visit the most expensive place in the world.
On our first evening we chose a restaurant that looked OK called Cafe Sorgenfri which turned out to be the most expensive in Oslo (and that's saying something !).
Of course, the food was excellent, although the portions were rather small.
Beer was $20 or �12 a pint so I was teetotal for 3 days !
Instead of going to bed I find myself browsing YouTube looking at Database Design Tutorials in preparation for producucing my own,
and found one in Arabic.
I received an email from Jean-Marie Favre, from the University of Grenoble in France.
I met Jean-Marie a year ago to learn about his Research Project in sharing MetaData Models.
I am always on the lokout for Hotel recommendations.
Here are two recommended in an interview with Pam Ayres (a British comedienne) in today's
Telegraph newspaper.
They might be very useful in the next twelve months.
Firstly, the Llangoed Hall Hotel near Hay-on_Wye in the UK, and then the Quay Grand Hotel, Macquarie, Sydney in Australia.
From GotReportViewer (http://www.gotreportviewer.com/)
1. Q: Why doesn't the ReportViewer control support parameter prompting in local mode?
A: The ReportViewer control does not prompt for parameters when in local mode. It prompts for parameters when it is connected to a Report Server.
In local mode it does not make sense for ReportViewer to prompt for parameters. The rationale is as follows: The most common use of report parameters is to pass to queries as values of query parameters. But unlike the Report Server, the ReportViewer control does not execute queries itself. Rather, queries are executed by the host application, and the result is passed to the ReportViewer control. So the ReportViewer control does not have the opportunity to set query parameters.
Applications should take advantage of the parameterization features of Visual Studio data wizards instead.
Here�s my Question :- �I have developed Reports using Reporting Services and I want to deploy them for access over the Internet.
These Reports allow the Users to specify parameters, such as Start and End Dates.
I am told that a User Interface has to be developed manually to provide this facility for some kind of security reason.
This seems very bizarre and the reason doesn�t make much sense.
Is this really true ?
Thanks very much�
Linked Reports seem relevant, along with Eugene Bykov's Blog.
It's a beautiful, warm, sunny afternoon.
My wife,Norlia, fell asleep lying in the window of our living-room overlooking the river.
I noticed how clean and clear the River Thames is where we live.
The Sunday Times (UK) newspaper Travel section reviews a book of interesting Secret (Budget) Hotels.
When I check out the Sumday Times web site, there's a link to our new favourite travel destination, which is the Norwegian Fjords
Yesterday's Telegraph newspaper contained an interesting article about a 'Brat Nav' PDA called
Buddi which can be used by parents to track their movements of their children continuously.
It uses GPS and a map on the Buddi Web Site shows where their children are at all times.
I have been giving some thought to alternative ways of publishing this Diary.
The current issue of .net magazine has an interesting article on FormatPixel which may be a contender.
I saw a wine called Dragon Fly from Australia, so I decied to buy it even though I already gave up.
It's red and I haven't tried it yet, so it's just another one on the list of those that I have not yet explored.
I saw an item in the paper about sophisticated Home Perfume Dispensers, costing about �150/$300.
One was called the Scent Surround Cube
, from Jo Malone and the other called the
Chez Moi Perfume Diffuser
from a French company called "L'Artisan Chez Moi"
Maybe I'll get one for my wife, whose birthday is coming up soon.
I was very impressed by the L'Artisan Web Site because it encouraged visitor's comments - and most of them were critical of the high price !!!
Here's an Event on Oct 26th/27th in "Appreciative Inquiry" that my wife might find interesting.
It's put on by a consulting company called Aeneas Knowledge Transfer.
An article in the Telegraph (UK) newspaper discusses an interesting variation on the MyLifeBits concept, which is Intelligent Appliances.
A research Project is under way at the University of Newcastle in England, to explore how this concept can be applied to older people so that Appliances can be smart enough to improve the safety and quality of life.
This work is being sponsored by the Centre of Excellence for Life Sciences (CELS), which is cdescribed as "an oreganisation interested in commercial opportunities associated with an ageing population".
Today's International Herald Tribune has a brief mention of mashups on cell/mobile phones,
with a link for a good Web Site called 'Programmable Web'.
Another mashup site called OpenKapow, says "The most important foundation for mashups is data integration".
I also found a link to a Map Builder Mashup which I must apply.
After I put my short Video on YouTube I checked what similar material was there and was surprised to find this one on Enterprise Architecture.
I also recommend searching for "Design Patterns".
We went to our favourite department store, which is Selfridges in Oxford Street, London, where we found a small company called 55 MAX, (on the point of moving to Harrods) which will create a handbag for you, with your favourite photographs printed on the bag.
It's time to quit and switch off - my brain and this laptop.
I just saw a TV commercial for Wales, where I was born.
It's strange how they manage to make very familiar places look exotic and interesting !
I wandered into a wine store called Laithwaites and asked if they had any wine with funny or amusing names.
They offered me 'Red Sedan' from Australia and I decided that qualified because it made me smile.
It's a red Oak-aged Shiraz, so it's just another one on the list of those that I have not yet explored.
There's an interesting new offer of a flexible digital TV service called BT Vision from British Telecom in the UK.
BT is also offering a business-oriented PDA service they call "Your Office Anywhere".
Here's a couple of items of miscellaneous interest -
1) A Web Site called 'Really Worried' for people who are worried about their health and want to share their worries
with other people. Of course, the best-known Web Site for health questions is probably WebMD.
2) My local Water Utility company in London ("Thames Water") making their operations transparent where they are
renovating water pipes that are more than 100 years old.
We found a couple of hotels in Cap-Ferrat that we might stay in for my birthday on Octiber 6th.
Both are 5-Star luxury Hotels - one is the Grand Hotel and the other is the Royal-Riviera.
The British Library has worked with Microsoft to digitise more than 100,000 old books and use Microsoft's Live Search Books to make them accessible and searchable, and then via the Library's website.
Microsoft is also working with the UK's National Archive organisation, where they employ a "Head of eArchitecture" !!!
Here's a band called Soul'd Up that you can hire in London to play Funk at your party and social event. They sound pretty good judging by the sample on their Web Site.
The NFL has cancelled their association with Pontel in Zurich so now I can't get DVDs.
They want me to watch games on my PC which is a terrible idea.
On TV in England I can catch games on Sky Sports (but that requires me to sign up and pay !),
or live on
30th Sept 1.00 am
MyLife
I came across an interesting article in Time magazine about the GeekCorp, which is a voluntary organisation encouraging Geeks to do volunteer work in countries where there is a need. This is not related to the marvelllous GeekSquad (see above).
It contains a Blog by Steve Porter with an insight into 'Code Clarity' saying simplicity and readability is to be preferred over compact code. In other words, if you make the code as concise as possible, readability suffers.
"Can I Change my Mind ?" and Latimore
("Let's Straighten it Out").
Google Map
Buddi which can be used by parents to track their movements of their children continuously.
, from Jo Malone and the other called the
Chez Moi Perfume Diffuser
from a French company called "L'Artisan Chez Moi"
Maybe I'll get one for my wife, whose birthday is coming up soon.
