Inspiring technology videos

I found Johnny Lee's videos through a BusinessWeek article and they just blew my mind. I have been aware of Wii modifications for some time now, especially for music interface purposes, but what he has done is not only extremely professional and relevant, it is also explained in a great way. Instead of writing more about his ideas, I'll let you see the videos. For all his videos, follow this link.









His haptic pen, even though it does not use the Wii remote, is a very cool device too:

2nd part of the pre-farewell activities

Tonight we meet for dinner at 8 p.m. at the Keg, in Kingston. A tabvle for 15 has been reserved, and we hope to see many of our colleagues there.
it has been a great term here at Queen's and we have been in a farewell mood for some days now. Many of the students here have already left for their own exchange courses in Europe, China, India or, even, Japan. The weather continues to be cold, but signs of spring have shown up slowly.
The last course, Managing Innovation, is getting to an end, and it has been an excellent course. our professor, Lib, has great corporate experience as CEO and as innovation champion, and she brigns her experiences effectively to class.
Life at co-op is also coming to an end. The last inspection before returning the keys is scheduled, the last kitchen duties are coming and the last party, this time at our direct neighbours, was yesterday. it was also a great experience, living with this nice bunch of diverse people.
And this is the mood today. One last presentation to practice, one last class to attend, one last exam to write. And then pack our books, clothes and hope that all will fit in the suitcases, even the pair of ice skates, my main Canadian souvenir.

Niagara Falls in the winter

Eleven days ago I went with 3 other colleagues to Niagara Falls and, later, Toronto, with even more people.
It was worthwhile. I was a bit skeptical, some people had told me that the town was horribly touristy (and it was) and I am usually not that impressed with the major tourists sites, so I was not sure if I was going to enjoy the sights or not.
Luckily, we arrived at the river close to the American Rapids, which are nice falls, but not that impressive at all. Very disappointing. But this disappointment made the view of the Horseshoe, the main attraction, that much more interesting.
I am certain that the falls at winter were more interesting for me than they would have been in the summer, and, because it is not the main season, the town is not too busy and everything is certainly easier around there. The only tourists around are odd people like us or 19 and 20 year old Americans who take advantage in the difference of the legal drinking age.
Yes, the town is extremely touristy. Take a look at the Frankenstein Burger King or any of the many "scary" or "haunted" attractions. I don't know why they have all congregated there, but it is really funny. So, in the end, the fact of it being touristy to extremes is not that bad, just adds a bit more of zest to the experience.
We didn't get to do the traditional boat excursion, for obvious reasons. Below, some pictures and videos on Picasa.

080313-14 Niagara Falls

4 Mannheimers in Kingston's winter

A cool picture taken by Viktoria at the frozen Ontario Lake.



I am going ice skating soon, to enjoy the cool weather and bright sun.

And the people in Warwick are done with the first half of their MBA

And tonight they had a cool party at the Warwick Business School. All exams are over and the second term of MBA, with the last core subjects is also over.
From the Facebook updates I have been following, people have looked to this party with mixed feelings. They are happy for how far they have come and the feeling that exams are done is certainly very liberating. On the other hand, with the end of the core subjects, which everybody has to take, an important stage of the MBA reached its end. After these subjects, the whole cohort will maybe only get together again at the graduation party.
The A0.01 class room will no more be full with 80 plus FTMBA07 people again. It is kind of sad. This is a great group of people and it was a great group of people for me to start my MBA. I found good friends, open minds and, more important, open hearts. A very diverse mix: different ages, different countries, different professional experiences. But it was the group I started with and it is the group I would be with now if I could.
Anyway, I am now at the Business School in Kingston, Ontario, several thousand kilometers away, with another great group of people, watching a video after a good week of classes, relaxing deservedly. My first half of the MBA is also soon over. 10 more days and one exam. Then I will pack everything up and fly over to Germany. And the big job search will start seriously.
In Mannheim there will be yet a third group of great people assembled. I am really looking forward to meet the guys and girls I met for one brief week in Semptember 2007, an eternity or two ago. This will surely be great! And, to top it up, we will have weekly reinforcements from all over the place: the students who have been our hosts will come to stay at our home this time. Man, will that be fun!!

Queen's clothing sales

I wanted to buy a hoodie from the beginning of my course here, but, at $50, it was too expensive for me. Well, now I have one and 4 T-shirts. Not buying T's for a long time. Only today.

They even have a facebook page.

http://www.campusbookstore.com

Queen's Tee Shirts Gray, White, Navy, Red Sale: $5.00 Reg.: $14.95 You Save: $9.95 *Only 500 Available

Water Bottle Variety of Colours Sale: $5.00 Reg.: $11.95 You Save: $6.95 *Only 100 Available

Long-Sleeve Tee White, Gray, Navy, Red Sale: $9.00 Reg.: $18.95 You Save: $9.95 *Only 100 Available

Queen's Track Pant Gray, Navy, Red Sale: $15.00 Reg.: $34.95 You Save: $19.95 *Only 400 Available

Standard Hoodie Navy, Gray, Red Sale: $19.00 Reg.: $55.95 You Save: $36.95 *Only 200 Available

Premium Hoodie Gray ONLY! Sale: $25.00 Reg.: $59.95 You Save: $34.95 *Only 200 Available

Be sure to sign up for our "Surprise Sale" email alerts through the Reminder Service.

The free week

So this is our free week in the semester. All of the other Queen's University students had their reading week 2 or 3 weeks ago, and we MBAs kept going to a completely empty Business School in what seemed to be a ghost campus.
But now it is our turn. All assignments done, all classes over, we are indeed free to enjoy some relaxing time.
The first extravagance that I treated myself to was going snowboarding with Marc last Sunday on a hill about 150 km north of Kingston. It wasn't the greatest hill, but we had a perfect snowboarding day and I consider those 100 bucks very well spent. I had been dying to snowboard for about a year, and am happy that I was able to do so at least once this season. The problem with Kingston is that we have lots of snow, but no hills.



The first half of the week was slow. I had my full of things to sort out, got it sorted out, took the opportunity to sleep some, read some more and even apply to a job or two. Not too bad, but certainly not as productive as I had imagined.
And now, again with Marc and other colleagues form the MBA, we are in Niagara Falls, on the Canadian side. It is certainly an interesting sight, and it was fun to go to the American side to eat at a casino buffet. But tomorrow we will head back to Toronto, where we will spend two nights.
It is good to be out of Kingston, but I am, unfortunately, very conscious of every dollar that I am spending during this trip. When you have a loan building up in the Bank, that's simply the way it is, and you have to find the balance between saving money and not missing unique opportunities.

Snowboarding in Calabogie

It was a phenomenal day!

IBM's webcast

Last week I took part in a recruiting webcast done by UK's consulting arm of the company, IBM Global Business Services.
I thought, from the beginning, that it was a cool idea, as I would be able to take part in the same event as my colleagues from Warwick Business School, even being an Ocean apart.
But the webcast was set up in a surprising way: the slides were served through a password protected website, while you had to call a special number to be able to listen to the speakers. Why not have both online, I don't know, but, in the age of Youtube and Skype, it surely is strange. Since I don't have a good phone plan for daytime calls, I used Skype out, which worked just fine, bringing all back to the internet.
The presentation was fine, the slides being showed on the screen and the audio through the headphones. One glitch or two due to feedback, but that was really minor.
I would have one or two suggestions to make this type of event more effective.
First of all, it should be all online. I don't know the reasons to separate the audio from the video, but I am sure the folks at IBM know why they do that. But it certainly would make our lives easier. And taking part in the event would be more convenient for the participants. It certainly is technologically possible.
Then I would suggest doing it in two parts. The first part, the one way presentation, when the audience doesn't interact with the talkers, could be presented as a pre-recorded podcast. Not only would the overall production quality be better, it would give participants the chance to get the presentation at their own time.
The second part would naturally be the questions and answers part, which is two way. For this section, people would then all connect at the same time and use the teleconference possibilities.
Furthermore, there were only 3 questions allowed and I thought this was very little. After all, people had been listening for about 40 minutes, they could have reserved a little bit more of time for the more interactive part of the presentation.
All in all, it was an interesting event. But, more interesting, was the opportunity to talk to a more senior consultant from IBM Global Business Services Canada, who gave a guest lecture for the marketing course here at Queen's. The cohort went to the pub after the class, with the aim of having the possibility of talking to Todd. And this was certainly constructive, as I could discuss several higher level issues related to the consultancy profession in general.