News

I added several weeks ago a character in the right menu of the blog French version. It is called a Skaaz. It is not hard to explain the concept, however it is much harder to define why to use it. A colleague has even told me: Are you raising a tamagotchi?

This Skaaz is kind of an avatar as it should represent someone. In this case, this Quetzal should talk like me. He should answer back instead of me in MSN or on my website. I guess Skaaz website tries to imitate Cyworld which I have mentioned in an article.

I have tested this feature as it is from a company working on language research. VirtuOz's technology is used by organizations like Neuf Cegetel for its after sale FQA, SNCF on its travel agency website...

You can test it if you want and this will also enable me to train him better in English (as new combinations will enrich his knowledge).

My fixed term contract at JP Morgan was changed to a permanent contract. I will therefore stay longer in Geneva's area. I should not change my address in the near term.

A new movie showing how rich is Nature will be in theatres on October 10th: Earth.

Here is the link to the movie website.

This week, Mohamed alerted me about a weird article from a newspaper: Polytech'Grenoble, the engineering school we were graduated from signed a partnership with Sogeti, a subsidiary company of Cap Gemini. The firm commits to recruit all students graduating in 2010 (about 110 engineers).

This news in Polytech'Grenoble 's Website was also mentioned by computing newspapers, local TV channels as well as the economic newspaper La Tribune.

This is surely good promotion for the school. Is it something interesting for students? This can be debated. However, as it is written in several articles, it reflects that it is currently hard to hire employees for IT consulting companies.

Polytech'Grenoble 's alumni, do not forget to subscribe to the alumni association, APOG.

Currently, I regularly buy an economical newspaper, Les Echos. This monday, I read an article that completely amazed me. Its title was La mort des abeilles met la planète en danger (bees' death puts in jeopardy the planet). When I read it, I understood that the author was mentioning living species instead of the entire Earth.

According to quoted figures, between 60 and 90% of honeybees have disappeared in the United States, between 15 and 95% in France. This phenomenon is called colony collapse disorder. Bees go missing... 80% of vegetal species need honeybees for reproduction purposes though. Without them, no pollination, no fruits, no vegetables... If we want to focus on mankind, what will we eat? Broadly speaking, this means less vegetation, therefore less animals as well... The article mentions that Einstein had already pointed ou our dependancy towards bees.

There are several explanations for the colony collapse disorder. However no one is really sure which ones are right. This article (in French for the ones who understand and a similar one in English) should help us understand our relationship with the Nature and our obligation to protect the planet.