Pi Day

Today is Pi Day, July 22. Pi day is a tradition that started back in 1988 in San Francisco. It is a day to celebrate the number Pi that fascinates to so many people. There are several days accepted as Pi Day:

• March 14 at 1h59 am is the most popular one for being 3.14159
• July 22 is the second one as 22/7 = 3.142

What can I say, if people are willing to celebrate Saint Valentine, Pi Day sounds even more appealing to me.

Manhattanhenge

Known too as the Manhattan Solstice is a semi annual occurrence where the sun perfectly aligned with the streets of New York. The proliferation of glass buildings make the show breath taking with the sun rays reflecting in uncountable windows while following their path from east to west.

It happens twice a year usually in May 28th and July 13th (evenly spaced dates around the Summer Solstice).

iPhone 3G, the hype is back

On September 2007, I wrote this article talking about what was missing on the iPhone. There were three things: 3G vs. EDGE; capacity; GPS; and applications. Clearly I wasn't the only one complaining about it because those exactly are the elements that Apple has change in the second version of the phone. Let's see what is new:

• 3G connection provides 2 - 4x faster page downloads
• aGPS combines phone-tower information with GPS data to give your exact position
• 16 GB of capacity increases the usability of the phone as unique computing platform
• App Store gives the iPhone more than ~500 applications to download including categories that go from games to productivity

I don't like the new plastic back but improves signal reception. More than 4 antennas are included in the device (i.e., EDGE, 3G, GPS, WiFI) what makes having a metal cover hard to justify.

Other than that, the device is basically the same. Minor tweaks were implemented: improved battery, a must requirement for a 3G device; warmer screen (~ 7000 vs ~ 8000 kelvin on the 1st generation); flush headphones jack.

Overall, the iPhone has redefined the concept of mobile computing - maybe it has created the concept and brought it to the mass market. For once, you can have on your pocket a complete computer that does what is supposed to do. Last weekend, we found the closest theater to watch a movie in the middle of the street. It was quick, reliable, on the go.

This is just the beginning, but I'm expecting more things to come. With more than 6 million users around the world now and 4 million more expected before the end of the year, developers will be jumping on the iPhone wagon to get a piece of the cake. Soon we will get a full GPS application (e.g., Tom Tom), maybe a presentation tool, VoIP calls (e.g., Fring, Skype), ....

Post edit:
I've just read that the App Store has received more than 10 million application downloads in the first 3 days with the number of applications rising from 500 to 800 during the same period.

Manifiesto por el castellano

Esto merece el uso de mi lengua nativa. Desde aquí me gustaría pedir a todos que firmaseis el Manifiesto en defensa de nuestra lengua. Olvidemos temas políticos y pongamos todos un poco para defender esta lengua que ha dado al mundo un sinfín de obras únicas de la literatura. Obras que por mérito propio son reconocidas sin comparación a nivel internacional.

No dejemos que el barbarismo localista que asola España, y confunde cultura con política, siga desterrando esta lengua de escuelas, calles, bares, cafés, ...

Estamos en pleno siglo XXI y cada vez más regiones de España viven bajo sistemas políticos que cortan la libertad de expresión. Increible? No por ello menos cierto.

Enlace para adherirse al manifiesto.

Defining innovation

As most of you probably know, Innovation is my true passion. It's great to see what can be done when conventional wisdom is challenged.

The tailor of Singapore

When traveling to Asia, one of the first things I always do is to find a good tailor. Savile Row is still years away, so it's hard to resist the opportunity of getting hand-made, tailor-made suits.

My recent trip to Singapore was a great surprise on this topic. A former partner of my firm was kind enough to suggest some places where he used to get his suits made. Joe Tailoring was my choice and I wasn't disappointed at all.

For some, tailor-made is about getting a copy of a famous suit/dress/shirt/... In my case, it's all about personalization. I want a specific size of the pockets, a specific number of buttons (btw, the ones on the sleeve have to be functional), a particular size of the sleeves, extremely fitted for American standards, etc. The list goes on and on.

Singapore set a new bar in terms of quality and customer satisfaction. If you ever go there, remember to visit Joe Tailoring. They are not a cheap alternative, but the result will completely shock you.

OE OE OE OE OE OE!!!!!

Hoy toca español! Qué alegría!

Comenzaba la tarde mal! El bar al que fuimos estaba lleno de alemanes, no tenía comida y estaba hasta la bandera.

Fieles al estilo Spanish! la mayor parte de la banda llegó tarde y desde allí decidimos tratar de crear ambiente en otro lado.

Acabamos en un restaurante con una gran pantalla. Faltaba algo asi que Caro y Maria se decidaron con una bandera a reclutar espa~noles en la calle. En breve teniamos mas de 30 personas.

Empezo el partido, llego Torres y .... el resto es historia!

Ferrari California - No explanation required!

NY Times: A Goya Tour of Madrid

One of my favorite readings is NY Times travel section on weekends. Today, they are covering a Tour of Madrid center on the figure of Goya. It's really worthy.

One of my passions

Since I was a kid, I always loved photography. It gives you the opportunity to freeze a memory forever; the opportunity of capturing that fraction of a second where everything happens; the opportunity of bringing your own creativity to the world changing the way it appears to the eye; the opportunity ... You know, unlimited opportunities.

I still remember the time where I took just one or two shoots trying to guess what is going to be result; where I needed to remember that each "click" was going to cost me more than 50 cents. Those times are gone, are gone forever.

I bought my first digital camera, point an shoot camera, and I kept since then as a precious memory the words of everyone telling me what a short future that new trend had: "digital pictures, who cares? people love to see paper". I still laugh remembering that :-)

A long time has passed and one month ago I started to update all my gear and the process is not over. This is my gear, I'm more than happy with all the elements, so I strongly recommend them to anybody trying to jump to more serious photography.

• Body: I replaced my Canon 400D XTi for the Canon 40D (semi-pro). I was thinking about the 5D Full Frame but price, weight and knowing that the 5D-II is coming stopped me.

• Walk through lenses: Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5. It's a fast glass that brings together a zoom and good aperture range

• Telezoom: Canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM. The image stabilization plays along with this great lenses. Some people call this a L lenses hidden on a EF price.

• Must have: Canon 50mm, f/1.8 II. It's a fixed lens that has an amazing quality for just $89. Who can resist it? It's a shame that 50mm with an APC camera is not so usable, but still it's worth any penny. Great for portraits

• Backpack: Canon EG200, great offeering for the money: a lot of space, good compartments, protected, ... It lacks some protection against water, but it cost less than $30

Now, I'm just longing for opportunities to use it.

Paraskavedekatriaphobia

The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia. Today is considered a day of bad luck in all English, French and Portuguese speaking countries in addition to tons of other countries (e.g., Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, ...)

Spanish speaking countries have their thing with Tuesday 13 and Italians, as usual, have decided to honor a complete different number, Friday 17th.

It seems that the idea of bad luck came on the 19th century from joining two different concepts:

1. Thirteen is in general associated with bad lack as it's the first number that come after the magic 12 - 12 months, 12 zodiac signs, 12 Jesus' apostoles, ...
2. Friday is, in Christian societies, a dark day. The day when Jesus Christ was crucified.

One plus one equals two. My question is, what the hell happen on Tuesday?

My first HDR picture

HDR is a new photographic technique that allows to capture higher ranges when taking pictures (High Dynamic Range). This is my first one. It was taking with a Canon XTi, 17-70 mm Sigma Lens from the River Cafe on Brooklyn.

Singapore sling

The Singapore Sling is a cocktail that was invented in the Raffles Hotel in Singapore in 1915. The drink made by Ngiam Tong Boon was intended to be a ladies drink and became extremely popular over time.

The original recipe includes gin, cherry brandy and Benedictine (equal parts). The drink will be served on a glass after being shaken. On the glass club soda will be added to finalize it.

The picture shows the one that I drunk today on the Raffles Hotel. I know it's a ladies drink, but I really like it.

Note: do not order a Singapore Sling other than here. Every time I tried one, it's been awful.

Taxi fact pack and other things

I call TFP (Taxi Fact Pack) to the set of data that the first taxi driver tells you when you get into a new country. On Singapore I've got:

• Cleanest city in the world
• 0.05% unemployment rate
• 2.5 Million citizens (~70% Chinese, ~20 Malaysian, ~10% Indies & other)
• The city has pieces of New York (the skyline), London (the Eye), Las Vegas (they are building two amazing casinos)
• The harbor can move thousands of cargoes per hour competing with Hong Kong to become the biggest harbor on this part of the world

Cab drivers and shoe shiners are probably the two professions with more access to what people thinks. They deal with dozens of clients every day, and given the loneliness of their profession they tend to spend a lot of time listening. Great sources of information!

First thoughts (Singapore, day 1)

After 20 hours on the plane, here I am finally. The flight was quite pleasant, surprisingly. Singapore airlines provides great seats also on coach: space, great screens, a lot of movies, ...

How do you get ready for a 20 hours flight? There are some things that you need to pack:

1. Noise canceling headphones, my choice is Sony MDR-NC60. They are cheaper than other options and provide the highest noise cancellation available (87%).
2. iPod Video full of movies/TV shows. I used this trip to catch up with Battlestar Gallactica. I'm almost done with the first season. Note: after July, it will be a iPod Touch or iPhone with a bigger screen. I can't wait!!!
   
3. Extra battery for the iPod so you can play movies for more than 2-3 hours.

Singapore is so far one of the nicest cities I've seen. It's so clean that you can't believe it. It makes Tokyo seem dirty. It makes NY look like a latrine :-( People is nice and everyone speaks perfect English, with an accent but great.

The picture was taken this morning on the hotel. I love how flowers on the water look on picture. My first stop will be Orchard Road for two reasons: 1) it's the main shopping area of Singapore and I need a couple of things; 2) the shuttle from the hotel takes you there, so it will be the easiest thing to do now that I'm completely groggy.

Second stop, find a great tailor. Remember my advise, never visit Asia without taking the chance to increase your wardrobe.

Black swan

In Nassim N. Taleb's definittion, a black swan is a hard to predict, large impact event beyond the realm of normal expectations. There are multiple examples of Black Swans just in the recent history (e.g., black Monday 1987 - largest one day stock decline in history).

The term Black Swam was selected by Taleb after the conception that all swans where white. Conception that was based on empirical evidence, before the discovery of Australia, there were no black swans in the known world.

The book is easy to read, so I strongly recommend everybody to give it a try. No so long ago, I heard a lot of people say "real estate prices will never go down". Black swans are all over the place.

Money makes you happier

Against popular culture or traditional sayings, money makes you happier. There is clear correlation and causality between income level and happiness. There is no other single factor that can increase levels of happiness as sharply as money can.

Freakonomics, one of my favorite blogs, has a interesting series on "The Economics of Happiness" where you can find data supporting this argument. The effect is observed in all the countries with a similar ratio.

I shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody. Having a higher income carries as a consequence better health care, education, possibilities for enjoyment and relax, ...

Ready to flight

In 4 days, I will be traveling to Singapore. Close to Malaysia, Singapore is one of the few city-nation that still exists. During the late 80s and early 90s, Singapore became the prosperous city that linked business across cultures and continents. Fusion of old Asian tradition and old world style, Singapore has grown to be a amazing place where everything is possible.

I will be there two weeks on a training program. During this time, I will find the time to get to know the city, the culture and the food. The opportunity for this trip just came one week ago when an open spot appeared. As always, surprises come with trade-offs. In this case, I'm talking about the longest flight in the world. In just one shot, we will be covering all the ground between New York and Singapore- 19 hours in a plane. It may seem better than taking two planes, but I'm no so sure how things will work out on a plane for so long.

My only concern is the amount of fuel they are going to put on the plane!

The Onion: 'Iron Man' Trailer To Be Made Into Feature Film

El metro en Japón

Las estaciones de tren y metro en Japón tienen personal asignado que facilita la tarea de cerrar las puertas. Increible pero cierto.