Redefining ecosystems, or, counting down to one Billion downloads!

When Jobs launched the app store last July no living soul was able to foresee the level of success that initiative would enjoy. With more than 30 million iPhones and iPods Touch out in the clear as we speak, we are getting closer and closer to hitting one billion downloads in just over nine months after the July 08 launch. With the current download rates, that you can easily verify in Apple's countdown page (about 4 million a day according to my count yesterday), I'd expect them to hit one billion downloads the week after next. If you are owners of any of those two Apple gadgets, live in certain countries, and have used the service (or, not) you can keep closely monitoring the counts moving towards the Billionth milestone download, and, if you start downloading apps with your iTunes around the time you think that Billionth count to be met, you may win some generous give-aways by Apple Inc as a reward for hitting that target. Official competition rules to be found here...

Metropolis M

Metropolis M 2009#2 flipthrough from erik metropolis on Vimeo

For the übergeeks among you who get orgasmic when viewing the best of the best in arts' avant-garde, the new April-May 2009 edition of Metropolis M is out in the clear. Designed by my sibling and his partner. Enjoy 58 secs of viewing this hot off the press edition, 2009's second, in the vimeo clip attached here.

Talented people

I'm watching CNBC live this Monday pm, you know, the financial network... first of all, why do Americans pronounce the 'neur' in 'entrepreneur' like the 'ure' in 'manure'? Just being curious...

Anyways, that's not the subject of my crankiness this afternoon. I just heard the anchor present some dude from Unilever, the consumer products behemoth, who was like, 'our highly talented people... who will leverage on our strengths... and will emerge from this crisis as winners by showing great leadership... bla...bla...bla...' If I got a cent for every time I heard a pitch like that I'd be filthy rich by now. Do these people actually believe what the're sayin'? I mean, if there was so much talent in their shops, would their stock still go down the tube the way it recently did? C'm on, folks. This whole oratory sounds like Webster's definition of self-deception: faking an orgasm while masturbating! Got it?

In every company I worked for (many US HQed among them) I often heard bosses talking about 'our highly talented people'. Always they sounded like we were the unique ones with excessive 'talent' in overdrive whereas each and every one of our competitors sucked! Know what? The worst of all was that many among the troops needed that stroking to enjoy their version of professional fullfillment. Get serious dude... really! Why do bosses do that? Almost always, average leaders will deliver 'stroking' opium to the subordinate masses to be seen that it's actually them who have been capable indeed, in the first place, to have assembled all that unique 'talent'... aiming to achieve "the company's long term strategies for the benefit of the shareholders!" Horseshit! What a pile of monumental horseshit! Wow! They're really good these characters! Especially as they manage to walk away with multiple millions in annual pay and related bonusses.

Am I so cranky about them buggers because of some sort of jealousy? Nay... not that at all! Been there done that! I had my fair share in playing similar leadership roles myself for some time (albeit without the multiple millions bit, rather hundreds of thousands instead) and, as I go back in memories I can't help seeing myself delivering that type of bullshit to my troops, then, too. Worst of all, I didn't realize the size of 'orgasm faking' I was also indulging into. I'd be dead ashamed for sure if I time-traveled back to those days and heard me pitching horseshit like this. Whatever...

Here's the thing. Yep, there's huge talent out there. Those rare souls who changed our lives via their inventions and advancement of the arts, science and technology in the last three thousand years. Like Confucius, Plato and Aristoteles. Like Newton, and Bacon... Maxwell, Darwin, Einstein and Feynman. Callas and Bob Dylan. Pattie Maes and Steve Jobs to mention a few geniuses in our days. Even Bill Gates for that matter, but... not that Monkeyboy Ballmer. That one is the stereotype of a bullshitting leader instead, fooling himself about his company's bottomless 'talent' reservoir of myriads of Mandarin bureaucrats he's attracted to the safe MSFT haven, to have them enjoy a stressless and balanced family and professional life until retirement. How cool is that?

I could go on for ever... Anyways, beware of your leaders' palabras agudas, folks. If you know what's good for you...

The Tour of Flanders 2009 - this was the real thing!

Sunday, April 5th today and the Tour of Flanders, one of the greatest classics (if not the greatest) of professional cycling took place in a misty but later bright sunbathed day without a drop of rain! A Flemish winner, Stijn Devolder, also to keep the black lion on yellow tissue Flanders flag proud of her son, same winner athlete apparently as in 2008 (experts in the family and friends gettogether told me... I wouldn't know). I was just there for the photo-shooting, the colors, the bikes, their helmets, the moronic spectators... Unglaublich! Was more fun that I expected indeed. You gotta be there to believe it. The bikers drove 262 km in total with an average speed of around 45km an hour. From 9:45am to 4:05pm. Given some spots (hills that locals call 'mountains' - bergen) where they had to walk, bikes on shoulders, like that poor sod Cancellara with a damaged tire, then, I betsa, there must have been areas they had to do about 60 to 70km/hr. That's real quick! On my best days, when I do that gym bike and I gotta do 30 km max for half hour tops, my tongue hangs out and sweat like a pig. I am mid fifties and overweight... can't compare with these kids... Now, how can they still do that with all the insane crowds surrounding them, I got no clue! I mean, if the streets are empty, ok, I get it. But look at the shots! They ride on one another for crying out loud! Anyways, this job must apparently be paying them pretty good, otherwise they wouldn't be doing it, I reckon.

So, there I was with my... crew of siblings, I took the 40D myself with a tele zoom 70-300 with image stabilizer, and I passed two Nikons to Terry and Vincent, one wide angle 12-24 and one zoom tele 70-300, and sent them to the wolves-mountain (Wolvenberg). I went to the flat street just above our house instead, so called Wijnendale (whatever this may mean - valley of wines?), and went to wait for 30 minutes before the 'peloton' arrived. Caravans of funny and some luxury cars and police all over the place, driving up and down and making noises and feeling cool and important. Check out the slideshows here and here. the latter is about spectators who thought it was cinco de mayo today. One of them impersonated a topless babe, like in tittie bars, and went to dance around an electricity pole. Check this here...

BTW, if you like any of them pictures, feel free to interrupt the slideshow, click on the picture you like and get to its original at my Flickr account. Then click 'all sizes' on the top left corner. This will bring you to a number of available picture sizes. Download the so-called 'original' resolution for best results. The size provide is good to go for 6x4 inch (10x15cm) prints.

Tour of Flanders for amateurs 2009

These folks have been riding their super-duper bikes in front of our house all day. Men and women, young and old, Flemish and foreigners! From 8:30am to 5:00pm. Sports-loving nutcases in the thousands! Cool colors though and pretty sophisticated bikes! Worth in the millions of diddlies. And their protective helmets, OMG! High tech in the making. One such helmet would feed a Darfur family for a year! To say the least... For the rest, we are living in a global financial crisis! Records of unemployed added daily to the scores of those already parked there... In the background, Cohen is still singing, in his 74th year, a fraud victim himself, that cost him all his retirement money. An almost forgotten troubadour on tour to save some bucks for his 'old days'. There is no cure for love...Hallelujah...Insha'Allah! Whatever...