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20081013 Archive
TOGAF Certification Course Completed this week
This week I completed a TOGAF 8.1 Certifcation course. This means that I should be TOGAF Certified in the coming days. This is the second Certification I pass this year after the ITIL Certification (Thank you IBM!). TOGAF is about Entreprise Architecture and it's a fascinating topic. I'll blog about the highlights of this TOGAF course soon.

TOGAF Certification Course Completed this week
This week I completed a TOGAF 8.1 Certifcation course. This means that I should be TOGAF Certified in the coming days. This is the second Certification I pass this year after the ITIL Certification (Thank you IBM!). TOGAF is about Entreprise Architecture and it's a fascinating topic. I'll blog about the highlights of this TOGAF course soon.

TOGAF Certification Course Completed this week
This week I completed a TOGAF 8.1 Certifcation course. This means that I should be TOGAF Certified in the coming days. This is the second Certification I pass this year after the ITIL Certification (Thank you IBM!). TOGAF is about Entreprise Architecture and it's a fascinating topic. I'll blog about the highlights of this TOGAF course soon.

Foot sur la plage de De Haan, ce 28 septembre 2008
J'ai upload? sur Youtube une vid?o d'une partie de foot film?e sur la plage de De Haan ce 28 septembre 2008. Je joue avec avec Thomas et Jonas (rencontr? sur place).


Fortis...
J'essaye de ne pas dire de b?tises sur le cas Fortis mais je n'ai pas su me retenir de commenter le post suivant sur le blog "Je suis Belge mais je me soigne":

http://francoisquinqua.blog.lemonde.fr/2008/09/29/fortis-et-puis-maintenant-dexia/
Reading Playmobil books on the Web with the FSI-Viewevr
I just received an Information Letter from PlayMobil where they propose me to have a look at a book about Egypt : "D?couvre l'Egypte".

This book is rendered using a technology that I have seen for the second time and that I find very interesting : FSI-Viewer.

Those guys found a way to put flyers in a browser. It's much better than the traditional pdf (which is never in Landscape and always in Portrait, obliging you to scroll).

Have a look here : http://download.playmobil.com/public/eCS/Store/befr/egypt_booklet/index.html

I like it !
Portal or RIAs ?
Two days ago, with a colleague, we had an interesting discussion around the future of Entreprise Portals.

Today in a SOA, Services are consumed by consumers like Fat Clients (Lotus Notes for instance) or Thin Clients (via a Portal).

The arrival of Web2.0 technologies like Rich Internet Applications (RIA) like Google Calendar, Google Docs ect will puzzle this architecture.

At IBM we already have two examples with Project Zero and Websphere Business Spaces. A Portal product is than no more necessary for consuming and exposing services in a browser.

What becomes than the role of a Portal in the SOA ? Probably it becomes a provisionning and security platform for RIAs and Mashups. At the security level, it means offering an Identity and Access Management platform. At the provisionning level it becomes a place where you can search for a mashup, configure it and use it immediately.

To show you an example of what a website/portal can become with RIAs, you can compare my server side "Portal" http://www.jfdeclercq.com/ with a "RIA Portal" version of it : http://www.netvibes.com/jfdeclercq

If you start using Netvibes you will understand how you can mix content on your own page using Widgets. Those widgets contain their own application logic (Gmail, Google Notes, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook....). Netvibes doesn't own the widget's code like a traditional Websphere Portal would.

Therefore the future of Traditional Portals like Websphere Portal is to provision those kind of Widgets in a secure way.
Chuck Norris, c'est plus fort que toi
Vous savez pas tout ce que Chuck Norris sait faire ?

Allez voir ici : http://www.lowas.be/index.php?pagename=ChuckNorris
Vlerick Event : How Social are you ?
Last week we (Mireille and I) went to the Vlerick Marketing Alumni Event : How Social are you ?

The evening was about a marketing approach on the Social Networks and Online Communities.

Robin Wauters started with an Introduction on Social Networks. I didn't learn much on that introduction (maybe I know already too much) except that the groups that exist on different networks like Facebook are a target for Marketeers.

So creating or using social networks is now the objective of good marketeers. Pieter Goiris (CEO Boondoggle) showed us how the Heineken Music site to illustrate how brands try to engage in a give & take relationship with online communities. By the way this website is a wonderful Mashup (Stoemp) ! Web2.0 is also about involving the users to make the content. It's the case of Sensoa, a Flemish website where people can ask all questions about Sex.

Luc Colson of 4C Consulting explained us that in a Social Network, three kind of people are very interesting for the Marketeer : the people with most connections within a group (Let's call them "Leaders"), the people linking independant groups to each other ("Connectors") and people on the path between the two profiles ("Relays"). The "Leaders" would allow to influence the group. If the Leader has an excellent experience with your brand, others will know it. "Connectors" allow to transfer the brand experience from communities to communities. "Relays" are a way to accelerate the transfer from Community to Community (they connect the Leaders to the Connectors). Those concepts are for instance exploited in the Telecom sector to enforce operator loyalty and reduce the risk of churn.

Steven Van Belleghem (Insites Consulting) gave me the best impression. He explained that Marketeers have to understand how the new technologies can impact the way branding works. Marketeers have an important challenge to learn surfing on the web2.0 advertsing wave led by FaceBook, Google... There is a change of paradigm going on. Before the Marketing equation was the following :

Advertising ... Brand ... Sales

Today the chain is the following :

Brand ... Advertising ... Conversations.


The goal of the marketeer is to land in the conversation zone. Consumers need to talk about the product, advertsing is not enough anymore...This session gave me a better idea on how marketeers think about Web2.0. I see it as a great way to discuss with people and a great technology at the same time. I see the promise of the semantic web. They see segments, focus groups, communities, conversations, advertising...

Note 1 : For the Vlerick Alumni people, that kind of event is the best rather than just have a beer, let's also have some content.

Note 2 : From web experts websites, I'm not always impressed : 1) I hate the Boondoggle's website (try searching Heineken in it...), and 2) how is it possible to have an URL like http://www.4cconsulting.com/Templates/home.aspx?id=32&langType=1033 when you know the following principle : "Good URLs never Change"
Photos of the Pecha Kucha Brussels Vol 5
The quality of my pictures isn't good but it's just to remind some of the bla bla...

The Picasa Album is here : Pecha Kucha Brussels Vol 5


Listening to The Lounge Box
If you like the Lounge music that you hear in the Fashion Stores of Brussels or Antwerp (joke), why not give it a try with this CD : The Lounge Box



It's a very nice box. You have 5 CDs of relaxing music. Very Nice.
I want the new IRex DR1000
When I posted "Will I buy an ePaper reader or not yet ?", I commented I didn't want because there was no A4 and search function.

But recently IRex has released the DR1000SW. I think I'm going to buy it !

Have a look here:
Samsung Omnia Night
On Sept 11th 2008, we attended the Samsung Omnia night.

The party was not as good as the last one but there was more content : the presentation of the new Samsung Omnia.

The Samsung Omnia is a great MulltiMedia device (Music, Video, 5 MegaPixel Camera, GPS, MS Office Integration, Push Email...).

It also has a touchscreen like the iPhone. If I had to choose between the iPhone and the Omnia, I think I would choose the Omnia because it's more compact and Windows Mobile 6 would allow me to install more custom applications.

However I still have a phone with a keyboard (Samsung SGH I600) and I'm not convinced about the Touch screen yet.

Posted by Picasa
A terrace in Belgium


Do you guess where it was ?
Posted by Picasa
Watching the Champion's League tonight
Yesterday when watching the Champion's league, I found very funny that when eventually the best french players are performant, they score against a French club. Malouda and Anelka have killed... Bordeaux.
I have seen Elephants in Antwerp
This is the Elephant Parade. There must be a pink one somewhere but I haven't seen it (yet).




Posted by Picasa
Cher Guevara



You can see Cher Guevara if you drink a coffee at CaffeNation in Antwerp.
Posted by Picasa
De Gordel
This weekend we did De Gordel, a bicycle tour around Brussels.

Our goal wasn't political but rather sportive. We did 120 Km. The tour of 100 Km makes in reality 106Km. As we left and went home by bike we did another 7Km. Also, I had a flat tire in Meise and the assistance truck brought us back to Wemmel, it added 7Km to the trip.

The organization of the Gordel is excellent. If you have a mechanical problem, a truck brings you to a repair centre. The people of VAB repaired my bike, I had nothing to do do except pay the inner tube.

The weather was horrible in the morning : rain, rain and rain. Only in the afternoon after more than 60 Km it stopped and we could enjoy the tour a bit more.

The parcours is not very difficult. I expected more climbs. In fact, the most difficult part is between Zaventem and Overijse (Vossem, Duisburg) and that was the last part for us. Or was it the most difficult because it was the last ? Perception is reality...

De Gordel was our main bicycle objective this year and we are quiet happy we did it ! We will do it again.




PS : Is it politically correct to blog about De Gordel in English when you are a native Walloon and and live in Flanders ?
De Gordel
This weekend we did De Gordel, a bicycle tour around Brussels.

Our goal wasn't political but rather sportive. We did 120 Km. The tour of 100 Km makes in reality 106Km. As we left and went home by bike we did another 7Km. Also, I had a flat tire in Meise and the assistance truck brought us back to Wemmel, it added 7Km to the trip.

The organization of the Gordel is excellent. If you have a mechanical problem, a truck brings you to a repair centre. The people of VAB repaired my bike, I had nothing to do do except pay the inner tube.

The weather was horrible in the morning : rain, rain and rain. Only in the afternoon after more than 60 Km it stopped and we could enjoy the tour a bit more.

The parcours is not very difficult. I expected more climbs. In fact, the most difficult part is between Zaventem and Overijse (Vossem, Duisburg) and that was the last part for us. Or was it the most difficult because it was the last ? Perception is reality...

De Gordel was our main bicycle objective this year and we are quiet happy we did it ! We will do it again.




PS : Is it politically correct to blog about De Gordel in English when you are a native Walloon and and live in Flanders ?
According to all known laws of aviation...
According to all known laws of aviation there is no way a bee should be able to fly: A bees' wings are too short and their bodies too fat.

Bees, of course, fly anyway,

because bees don't care what humans think is impossible...


(Bee Movie)
Obama : How to seduce America using sales techniques ?

How to seduce people so they vote for you : address their concerns.

Obama addresses several key concerns of 2008 :
"I do want three things," "I want to end
the war. I want to get everybody a health care system that is sensible
and common sense and saves money. And the energy policy. But, if I had
to just choose one thing, that would be it."?



And I believe indeed Americans are concerned by those
  • war
  • health
  • energy
If you add that he wants to decrease taxes for the middle class, I believe you have enough broad subjects that can gather many votes.


So to be successful, just address your client's pain points. A well known sales technique applied at a large scale.

Good job, Mr Obama...

ScribeFire
If you blog often I recommend you to have a look at ScribeFire. It's an excellent FireFox Plugin which helps to write or edit your posts. It allows to include Videos, Links, images in a easy way. It also supports multi-blogs.
Druivenfeesten in Overijse
This week is the week of the DruivenFeetsen in Overijse.

Up to now we mainly took the opportunity to go to 2 concerts:

See you soon there maybe ?
Insignifiant

Comment peux-t'on ?tre ambitieux si on compend que ? l'?chelle de l'Univers, l'Humanit? est insignifiante ?

Comment peux-t'on penser que le bien ou le mal que l'on fait a du sens ?

Comment peux-t'on penser que notre travail m?rite autant d'importance ?

Pourquoi doit on conserver notre planete alors qu'elle disparaitra avec le soleil dans quelques milliards d'ann?es ?

Pourquoi ?crire ces lignes qui sont destin?es ? dispara?tre de toutes facons.

L'?nergie de cet Univers doit vraiment avoir envie d'exister...

Internet Radio
Lately I have hesitated to buy a new kind of device : an Internet Radio. It connects on your WiFi router and plays thousands of radios streams that you can catch on the web.

Today I just plug my portable PC into my HiFi system using a mini-jack, but I find the quality is not so good. Therefore I have been looking for better options. Here are some products I find interesting :

I have visited several shops (Padeg, TDH... ) in Brussels, LLN and Overijse to try to see those products in real but they have not yet arrived in the shops. So for now, the only option seems to be to buy online. We probably need to wait until Christmass.


For the moment, my favorite Internet Radios are :
For a list of more than 1000 free radios on the web, you can have alook at Shoutcast (http://www.shoutcast.com/).
Quick CV
I don't know if you have ever had a look at my long CV but it's quiet a long one. I have read in a article (in Bizz I believe) that a good CV should be at the most 3 pages. Therefore I have tried to rewrite my CV in a much shorter format . I have organized it along 5 aspects of my work that I like and that I want to continue to develop during my career:
  • Strategic Thinking
  • Leadership
  • Management & Team Work
  • Creative Solution Design
  • Marketing & Sales
The result is here : Quick CV and I have published in PDF and MS Word formats also here
I have been Itilized
I have successfully passed my ITIL V3 Foundations Certification !

ITIL is a framework which allows IT Managers to standardize the IT processes which aim at satisfying the demand of their system's customers and/or end-users.

In order to meet customer's needs, ITIL organises the lifecycle of IT Services which are delivered by IT.

The IT department can supply several types of "services", for instance :
  • Applications (SAP, CRM, Document Management)
  • Purchasing of IT material (PCs, printers...)
  • Help Desk, Call Center
  • Internet Services (Home Banking system for a bank for instance)
  • Hardware Installation
  • Printing
  • ...
ITIL gives guidelines on how to organize the professional delivery of those "IT services".

ITIL V3' service life cycle defines 5 "steps":
  • Service Strategy : it defines which services the IT department should provide
  • Service Design : it defines what the delivered services are and how they are realized
  • Service Transition : it determines how a designed service is put into production
  • Service Operation : it describes how services have to be run in production (according to their specifications and their Service Level Agreements)
  • Continual Improvement : a set of processes to improve the life cycle realization

Cycling in Limburg and Kempen Last Weekend
Last Weekend we did quiet some cycling in Flanders.

On saturday we did the "Limburgse Rivierenland" tour in Halen. It was supposed to be 52 Km. We did 63 and we even did a shortcut at the end.

On sunday we went to Herentals and we followed what is called the "EcoCyclo". There the KM were correct and it was 46 Km. We started from Herenthout and we used the following "KnoopPunten " :

Herenthout - 45 - 46 - 47 - 9 - 10 - 8 - 15 (Let op: we rijden niet volledig tot aan 15. Neem een kijkje aan de watermolen. Het is een waardevol monument. Daarna keer je terug naar 8.) - 19 - 18 - 14 - Hidrodoe - Van Hidrodoe rijd je terug naar de knooppuntenroute. Sla echter niet af naar links richting knooppunt 14, maar blijf rechtdoor rijden. Volg de pijltjes richting Centrum. - 12 - 60 - 62 - 65 - 66 - 43 - 44 - 45
If you search Biking Roads in Belgium I stongly recommend you this website http://www.fietsroute.org/.


Mise ? jour du site de Paul Leroy
Le site Internet pour Paul Leroy se trouve sous mon nom de domaine. Nous y travaillons de temps en temps en buvant un bonne bi?re. Nous l'avons mis ? jour cette semaine:
  • Il y a un nouveau menu pour faciliter la navigation.
  • Paul a ?galement mis des nouveaux tableaux en ligne sur PicasaWeb.
Allez jetter un coup d'oeil : http://pleroy.lowas.be/


Made with Slideshow Embed Tool
Quel est le con qui a chang? skynet ?
Moi j'aimais bien skynet pour la m?t?o facile a trouver et facile a lire pour les pr?visions ? dix jours. Il y avait une colonne bleue ? gauche avec toutes les possibilit?s skynet dont la m?t?o. C'?tait facile et efficace.

Evidement il y a quelqu'un qui a trouv? que c'?tait mieux de changer. Essayez maintenant d'aller sur http://www.skynet.be/ et trouvez-moi la m?t?o. Bonne chance !

Comme dirait l'autre : "Si je connaissais le con qu'a fait sauter le pont..."
Thinking : Am I a Rain Maker ?

Merriam Webster's dictionary defines rainmaker as "a person (such as a partner in a law firm) who brings in new business or whose influence can initiate progress or ensure success." In short, a rainmaker is someone that makes things happen, someone who initiates action that ultimately brings in new business and revenue.

Rainmakers take a 'big picture' view of their customers business. Rather than focus on specific IT projects, they look at the overall state of the client's industry, company and LOB. Some characteristics of a rainmaker include the following: pro-active, results-oriented, patient, driven, conscientious, good listener, active listener, empathetic, sympathetic, curious, knowledgeable, engaged, confident, incisive, inquiring, flexible, visionary, creative, positive, optimistic, and collaborative.

4 Recent Music CDs
If you want the artists you like to continue to produce, you have to support them. Here are the 4 latest CDs I have bought :
  • Mix Mania 2008 Vol 3
  • Milk Inc - Forever
  • Tiesto - In search of sunrise 7 (Asia)
  • Dany Brillant - Best Of

Make Clouds with Wordle
Something I found by accident yesterday : Wordle.

Wordle draws a tag cloud for you from a text or rss feed.

I let it run on my CV and here is the result :



Than I run it on my delicious tags :



I like it.
Francois L embrouille en parent d eleve
Dans cette camera cachee, Francois L embrouille se fait passer pour un parent d eleve et piege un professeur d'histoire geographie. Il raconte qu il est a fond dans les jeux video et que lui et son fils jouent des heures et des heures...
Fran?ois L?embrouille en parent d??l?ve
Dans cette cam?ra cach?e, Fran?ois L?embrouille se fait passer pour un parent d??l?ve et pi?ge un professeur d?histoire g?ographie. Il raconte qu?il est ? fond dans les jeux vid?o et que lui et son fils jouent des heures et des heures san
Fran?ois L?embrouille en parent d??l?ve
Dans cette cam?ra cach?e, Fran?ois L?embrouille se fait passer pour un parent d??l?ve et pi?ge un professeur d?histoire g?ographie. Il raconte qu?il est ? fond dans les jeux vid?o et que lui et son fils jouent des heures et des heures san
Fran?ois L'embrouille en parent d'?l?ve
Dans cette cam?ra cach?e, Fran?ois L'embrouille se fait passer pour un parent d'?l?ve et pi?ge un professeur d'histoire g?ographie. Il raconte qu'il est...
Fran?ois L'embrouille en parent d'?l?ve
Dans cette cam?ra cach?e, Fran?ois L'embrouille se fait passer pour un parent d'?l?ve et pi?ge un professeur d'histoire g?ographie. Il raconte qu'il est...
Fran?ois L'embrouille en parent d'?l?ve
Dans cette cam?ra cach?e, Fran?ois L'embrouille se fait passer pour un parent d'?l?ve et pi?ge un professeur d'histoire g?ographie. Il raconte qu'il est...
Fran?ois L'embrouille en parent d'?l?ve
Dans cette cam?ra cach?e, Fran?ois L'embrouille se fait passer pour un parent d'?l?ve et pi?ge un professeur d'histoire g?ographie. Il raconte qu'il est...
Fran?ois L'embrouille en parent d'?l?ve
Dans cette cam?ra cach?e, Fran?ois L'embrouille se fait passer pour un parent d'?l?ve et pi?ge un professeur d'histoire g?ographie. Il raconte qu'il est...
Party @ the Pool
Yesterday we had fun at the Party @ the pool.

Party @ the Pool
Yesterday we had fun at the Party @ the pool.

Party @ the Pool
Yesterday we had fun at the Party @ the pool.

Party @ the Pool
Yesterday we had fun at the Party @ the pool.

Party @ the Pool
Yesterday we had fun at the Party @ the pool.

Using Google Maps to prepare my bike tours
I use Google Maps to prepare my biking tours.

You start by adding your starting-point than you plan your itineray by clicking on "Add destination".

See an example here of the bike tour I just did tonight.
I like the Yahoo! Widgets
You have different Widgets systems that you can use on your desktop : Vista Gadgets, Google Deskbar... My preferred one is the Yahoo! Widgets.

Have a look here (or click on the image):



The widgets I use are ImageView, Yahoo! Weather, Yahoo! Mail Checker, Gmail Monitor, Digital Clock and Calendar.
I can be a blonde too
Today I took pictures without the SD card in my Camera...

Result : no picture taken.
Je ne suis pas ? l'Euro
Et Trezeguet et Cisse non plus...

Voir ici sur dailymotion


Euro 2008 : What is your favorite team ?
As for the last World Cup, Mireille and I make our best guesses for the Euro 2008.

We both selected 3 teams that we think can win :

  • Mireille : Italy, Spain, Portugal
  • J-F : France, Germany, Turkey
List of all mountain bike routes in Belgium
Maybe it can sound weird to you but it has been a long time I have been searching for that information and now I eventually find it : a good list of existing mountain bike routes in Belgium.

You can find it here :
http://www.mountainbike.be/algemeen/routes.php
StumbleUpon : Sorry to all my contacts
Yesterday I sent an invitation to join StumbleUpon to all my Yahoo! contacts. It was not my intention, it was a mistake from me.

I want to apologize for having spammed you !

Nevertheless some of you (about 10) have joined StumbleUpon, I'm very grateful for the trust.

StumbleUpon is really a cool system and if you actually use it we can exchange what we find cool or interestig on the web.

So, once again sorry for the spam...
Why are we here ? What matters in life ?
On the right colomn of my "In JF mind today" blog, You'll find a question I want you to respond in a poll :

What matters in life ?

Why are we here ?

Take 20 seconds to answer. Closing of the poll at the end of the year...
Will I buy one ePaper reader or not yet ?
What do you think if you have a look at this video of the ePaper version of Les Echos ?

I think it's just great. If you add that you can use the Iliad as a Notepad (you can write also!), that you can upload PDF documents like reports, Presentations... It makes of it a great business tool.

I'm really hesitating : Should I buy it ? There is an interesting package with l'Equipe for this summer.
SOA stays a top business priority in 2008
According to an IBM survey SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) is still in the radar of the majority of customers:

  • 73 percent of customers indicated their CEO understands the business value of SOA; more than half say their IT staff is meeting once per month or more with business managers they support.
  • 45 percent of customers indicated they spent between 10 percent and 29 percent of their 2007 IT budgets on SOA.
Read the complete article on CNN Money's website
Vibstars - le Web2.0 Belge
Hier je suis tomb? sur le blog de Christophe Lefevre. Il s'y trouve un article sur le m?tier de blogueur. Mon regard s'est port? sur la colonne de droite (toujours la colonne de droite) et j'y ai trouv? un badge qui m'?tait inconnu. C'est un badge de vibstars.

Vibstars

Vibstars se d?finit comme une plateforme de SocialBuzzing. Ma perception est que Vibstars prend le m
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