La simplicité est une chose merveilleuse, dans la vie, dans les objets qu’on utilise tous les jours, mais surtout chez les gens qu’on côtoie tous les jours. Etre avec des gens qui sont simples, dans leurs interactions avec les autres, rend la vie plus agréable. Une ancienne connaissance m’a expliqué que l’interface de l’iPod était vraiment compliqué et difficile à comprendre pour elle. Je me suis rendu compte dans son cas, qu’elle tentait de rendre compliqué son quotidien, sans doute par habitude, jusque dans son interaction avec son entourage. C’est quelqu’un de compliqué qui dira souvent que les autres sont compliqués, sans doute comme mécanisme de défense. C’était un signe, mais c’est aussi une tendance, de vouloir toujours rajouter des fonctionnalités dans un produit, rajouter des signes de connaissances ‘intellectuelles’ dans une conversation, porter des vêtements extravagants pour ne pas paraitre simple, être différent etc.
Pensée du jour…
Archive for the 'News' Category
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One of the best French TV series I have seen in years has just started with a second season in France. My sister is watching it with her future husband and gave away the premise for the new series : something is found burnt up in the boot of a car. Well if you watch the trailer below you will get more information than that (so beware the people that like me don’t like giveaways) :
The BBC had bought the series (first season in 2006) and do not often buy French series so shows how good it is as the BBC can do some great series themselves : http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/cinema/features/spiral.shtml
Can’t wait to start watching the second season !
A few nights ago I discovered that the whole station at Angel had been redecorated by Magners and it was a pretty impressive experience. Not just because I must admit I quite like the drink on the rocks !
Yes I know, another late night at work 
The series “Saving Grace” from TNT who are behind the other great series “The Closer” has a great soundtrack to it from Everlast. While it lasts here it is on YouTube sorry GoogleVideos… :
The series stars Holy Hunter and is one of the recent ‘original’ series that survived the Hollywood scenario strike and rightly so. Even if it can be considered gritty and one can question the need for so much boozing and smoking to give a realistic shine, it is a great show !
The heroine’s strong character can be an addictive initiation but her troubled and unconventional relationships have her leading a pretty solitary existence even though she may be surrounded by friends. It’s only when the story unravels that you realise that her torments are well and truly a dark burden that would drown ‘many a man’, resonating her strength and determination, not just a self pitying and lost soul.
The song that you can listen to in the video clip above is really successful in providing the series with a ‘soul’ !
Extract from lyrics :
One time around the block
Two times around the clock
Three times don’t cross the little ladySo pretty, and oh so bold
Got a heart full of gold on a lonely road
She said I don’t even think that god can save me…
One time around the sun
Another year older and my work ain’t done
It’s time for me to write the final chapterDeal the cards, and roll the dice
Sex, drugs and rock & roll are my only vice
Tryin to figure out just what’s hereafter
Enjoy !
iMedaConnection has an article that proclaims that the likes of McDonalds and Burger King should be on your Desktop and although the article is surounded by adverts for a company that creates Desktop applications it is interesting to read how the current websites aimed at Kids are just too complicated for kids !
I’ve been conversing with Google on getting my Time Zone changed from the default ‘Pacific Time’ (GMT-08:00), which is not very handy when you live in Europe like some of us
Please note that if your Analytics account is not linked to an AdWords account, you’ll be able to set your timezone preference from the Main Website Profile Information section of your Profile Settings page. By default, all accounts are set to use Pacific Time.
Further down the email from Google Support states that :
If your Analytics account is linked to a Google AdWords account, your time zone will be automatically set to your AdWords preference and you will not see the time zone feature in your Analytics account. This ensures accurate reporting on your AdWords campaigns. To learn how to set the timezone in your AdWords account, please read
http://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=35211 in the AdWords help center.
However I tried both suggestions and neither provided me with any way of changing it. I have an Adwords account but had never got round to activating it. I didn’t like the idea that the I would be advertising for anything/anybody. Especially not without any assurance that it wasn’t a scam, or shabby products I don’t believe in and definitely wouldn’t want to endorse in any way.
As you can see here the Google Analytics Account Settings page doesn’t allow me to change the time zone :
And finally here you can see that my AdWords account does not let me modify a thing either, with regards to the time zone :
So I got back to Google to explain this and well, it seems that you can’t change it, so all of my analytics data is pretty difficult to read at the moment. I’m getting the impression that people start looking at my pages from Europe at about 1 o’clock in the morning. I must appeal to the insomniacs among us !
Please note that though you have not activated your AdWords account, your AdWords and Analytics accounts are already linked. Once you have linked your AdWords and Analytics accounts, the time zone that is set in the AdWords account is automatically set for the Analytics account. This is done to ensure that data is reported accurately for your AdWords campaigns being tracked in Analytics. Therefore John, you may not be able to change the time-zone for your Analytics account.
We apologize for any confusion you may have experienced.
So I am basically stuck with this and never specifically asked for the time zone to be “Pacific Time” (GMT-08:00). There was no warning about the fact that you cannot change this nor that it would then stop me from changing my Analytics time zone settings ! Since I’m not even using AdWords I have now gained a greater distaste for it than before !
So if anybody knows what I can do about changing the time zone on my Google Analytics account I would really appreciate a heads up on what I need to do !
I just wrote to Google, asking them if cancelling the AdWords account, will get rid of the problem…
I must say that the Google Analytics system is really good although not being to change the time zone is a real pain and something that one of the lead programmers obviously forgot to integrate as an option between the two systems. Maybe the linking up with AdWords has caused this issue but regardless of the blame it is a problem that needs to dealt with.
So if you are thinking of using Google Analytics which is really useful, then do remember that your initial Time Zone setting is important !
Update: Paul Hiles has just posted a solution in the comments that I can’t check since I’m writing this from my Blackberry. I’ve copied his comment here so that you don’t have to scroll further down to read it. However if you can test this and confirm it works please let everyone know and conform it works:
The timezone setting is in Adwords, and can only be set once, but if you do make a mistake there is the option to change it (but only once!).
If you are logged into your account, then clicking the link below should automatically open a request form to update your timezone.http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/request.py?contact_type=timezone_change
Changes are carried out by authorised Adwords personnel and are usually complete within one working day (exluding weekends).
The Far East was already fragile prior to the US invading Iraq on false pretences. A classified report from US intelligence agencies called “Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States” concludes that terrorism is now being fuelled by the war on Iraq.
Agencies “found that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks.”
New York Times
The discussion about the real motivating factors that led to the war in Iraq, the control of petrol by the US/UK rather than Russia/France that were successfully courting Saddam Hussein, has faded to a whisper. The cost in human lives alone to control the petrol in Iraq is enormous, but this report indicates that secondary effects may be more devastating.
A 30-page National Intelligence Estimate completed in April cites the “centrality” of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and the insurgency that has followed, as the leading inspiration for new Islamic extremist networks and cells that are united by little more than an anti-Western agenda.
Washington Post
Although this does sound pretty logical, a previous NIE report had concluded Iraq was continuing to make weapons of mass destruction which became part of the pretext for the war on Iraq. The same report only described Bin Laden as a ‘terrorist financier’, with no mention of Al-Qaeda !
The Bush government explains it is fighting a war on terrorism. The report’s findings contest the effectiveness of how Bush has engaged the war on terror; top US intelligence agencies conclude the war on Iraq is directly helping terrorists to recruit. Are these findings the prelude to a succession of grounds to leave Iraq ? Even if such a move is likely to prompt civil war ?
Je viens de terminer la traduction de l’article ‘Web 3.0′ de Jeffrey Zeldman publié en janvier sur ‘A List Apart’. Il n’existait pas encore de traduction de cet article fort intéressant pour les francophones, voilà chose faite. Je voudrai remercier Jean Tournier pour sa relecture et ses remarques précieuses. Je souhaite aussi remercier Erin Kissane, éditrice du magazine ‘A List Apart’ pour son aide pendant la traduction.
J’ai connu les premières périodes de l’Internet et les regards perplexes à la fin des années 90 lorsqu’on expliquait “un travail dans le Web”. Le paragraphe “Bulle, bulle” de cet article a fait resurgir ces souvenirs. Je dois avouer qu’étant un passionné d’Internet depuis le début, j’ai été motivé par l’idée de traduire ces souvenirs…
The BBC has compiled a very interesting set of statistical charts combined with key event dates, giving a better idea of their impact on the statistics.
It is nicely presented and works well with the key dates, accompanied each time with an image and brief description. An interesting choice of statistics indicating which areas have dramatically changed due to 9/11.
Part of my family live near Leeds, while my close family live in France. I was looking to compare prices for flights from Paris to Leeds and a little green thing caught my eye next to the results on Google.
My mum’s flight from Leeds to France a few weeks ago was just after the foiled terrorist attacks story and she complained how little passenger alert information she had found on the Jet2 site. So I thought I check their site to see if they had added anything…
First of all I thought Google had started putting company logos on ads but then I realised, it was an icon not a logo. So I hovered over it first but no title info appeared, then I clicked on it (PS: I added the red arrow to indicate what I’m talking about) :
When you click on the arrow a mini form appears where you can add your telephone number and Google (out of the kindness of their hearts) offer to put you in contact with Jet2 via telephone “for free” !
Wow, if it wasn’t past 12 o’clock at night I’d take them up on the offer just to give it a try !
Note also the fact that they suggest remembering your telephone number so that you don’t even have to type you number in next time they offer the same call-back service
This is certainly a post I’ll be tagging with the word ‘Trend’.
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