Steve Jobs: 1955-2011

I started using Windows 3.0 at the age of 12 and even though I worked with a lot of different systems, from Linux and OS/2 to BSD (and a few times, Apple OSes), I have pretty much solidified my profession career with Microsoft products.

I saw Jobs as a difficult man who mistreated his employees, and I never understood his value to the market. That is, until I did my Masters Degree and I was introduced to the concept of industry paradigms.

Regardless of any rivalry feeling one can feel on “Apple Vs Windows” subject, Steve Jobs was undeniably a visionary and a paradigm pioneer who challenged concepts and developed new markets and trends. Before the iPod, the digital music players were all but a joke, and the iPad succeeded to launch the tablet industry where others previously failed.

The world will be less innovative without him. My sympathies to Apple and his family and friends.

There is no such thing as “grey mail”

I just read today at the Windows Team Blog that Hotmail declares war on greymail. However, I assert that there is not such thing as “gray mail”.

It doesn’t matter if it is an email offering me dodgy Rolex replicas or dubious pharmaceuticals, or if it is a newsletter from a major and respectable institution. Any speculative email I receive that I haven’t explicitly subscribed to, is to be considered SPAM. Enough said.

Human Rights: The enemy within

I have always been puzzled about one aspect of society and politics. How is that people can get away with the defilement of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by vindicating the same declaration themselves?

It seems that for those acting in their own disposition forget that the UDHR has 30 articles, and not 29. The 30th Article of the UDHR is perfectly clear:

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein

So how is it that sovereign states that adopt and recognise the UDHR accept the engagement of organisations, parties and other sort of entities that disregard the 30th Article? Read more >>

Rio violence and the 2016 olympics

There is some frenzy going on in the international media about whether the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil will be able to protect the public in the 2016 Olympic Games.
According to several international publications, there are new levels of violence in the city, which has been demonstrated in the recent clashes between the police and drug lords where 14 people died, and a police helicopter was shot-down.

Let me just make one brief point here: The reason we are seeing this escalation of violence is because the police is acting to tackle crime and pacify areas controlled by crime – and the criminals are fighting back. Rio is facing a now-or-never situation, where the government is aware that a change must be made, particularly for the 2014 World Cup and for the 2016 Olympic Games, which are serving as a major catalyst for such changes.

Let’s not forget that one day after being elected the city to host the 2012 Olympic Games, London was hit by a coordinated terrorist attack on its public transport. Since the UK government is under constant threat of international terrorism, one could argue that the public in general would be more vulnerable to violence in the 2012 games rather than in 2016 games. Drug-lords want to sell drugs; international terrorists want to kill people in the name of their ideology.

Sérgio Vieira de Mello: In Memoriam

In the state we find the world today with all its poverty, epidemics and never-ending conflicts, it is almost impossible to find comfort in the words and actions of our politicians and statesmen. We’re often tired of their rhetoric and demagogue speeches, in what many of us see as fuelling empty promises about making the world a better place. Speaking for myself, I can’t think of any politicians from our time that I can say, hand on heart, that I truly believe in their good intentions, integrity and honourable values. All but one, who unfortunately was taken away from us five years ago.

Sérgio Vieira de Mello was a man who lived his life to honour the principles for which the United Nations was created: To help ease the suffering of people and mediate conflicts around the world. Sérgio Vieira de Mello was a pivotal figure within the United Nations that legitimised the organisation’s existence. A charismatic figure and remarkable diplomat, he worked to resolve conflicts in several regions including Lebanon, Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, Kosovo and Timor-Leste. He died five years ago in a coward attack in Iraq.

Do videogames influence us?

This week the murder of a TAXI driver in Thailand by a student who was “carrying out a scene” of the Game Grand Theft Auto IV, prompted authorities to ban the game nation-wide. Once again the question reigns: Do videogames influence people? Well, I have some comments on the matter not from a 3^rd person perspective, but from a 1^st person.

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Consumer Rights: The Brazilian Way

As I wrote in my previous post about the reforms required in Brazil in order to open its economy to foreign organisations, I discussed how Brazil with all its incumbent problems has an excellent track of customer rights; which I yet have to see it being matched by an European country.

Now the Brazilian president signed a decree that imposes new regulations for call centres (source). If you have ever suffered in the hands of poor service delivery through call centres then get ready to feel avenged. You’ll love this! Read more >>

Brazil: Riding the wave of progress?

I recently read an article on the FT entitled “Surfing a big wave of confidence” (FT, 08/Jul/2008) about Brazil’s privileged position in facing what seems to be a global economic crisis. In this article Lapper and Wheatley mentions the growth in Brazil’s home market, the successful results of 15 years of economic reforms, the attraction of foreign investments and the transformation being experienced by society as “income rises and inequality falls”.

However, the authors also righteously assert that Brazil is not yet a superpower and that there is yet a lot to be done – particularly with regards to the public sector, infrastructure and the bureaucracy faced by organisations. This is the last bit I would like to stir some thoughts about.

I do think massive reforms are needed in regards to corporate legislation. But while Brazil should look around and learn from the experience of other successful economies in what to do, I think it is mostly important to learn what not to do. Let me develop on this thought.

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More demagogy against biofuels

With an international food crisis knocking at the backdoor of developed countries, comments started to fly around about biofuels being the main culprit for the rise in food prices.

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Brazilian Ethanol: Facts, myths… (protectionist propaganda?)

Today I read an article at the Time Magazine by Michael Grunwald which talks about the serious problem that is the deflorestation of the Amazon Rainforest. However some of the facts and statements in this article sound extremely dubious and media biased; particularly because there are no cited references or quotes to them, and by the way some of them have been worded.
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