SAP events, reloaded...

4 years of events from around the world!

The people of SAP TechEd

SAP TechEd is an amazing event and the people in it make it even more so, here's a look back from 2005 to 2007 across 9 events!

SAP Sapphire, reloaded

SAP Sapphire is a huge event taking place in the US then in Europe, this year the US one is in Orlando and had 15,000+ attendees and it's the starting point for the SAP Blogger program. 

 

I attended the US one in Atlanta last year and had an eye opening experience in terms of how far SAP goes to make executives available to industry, Analysts, Press, Bloggers, etc. amazing and something I've never experienced with any other company of this size.

I'll be in the Berlin event in about a week's time so if you are there come by and say hello!

The following is a little "flashback" to Atlanta...

Animoto, simply sweet and cool!

First attempt and this service is very cool, will have some fun with this at SAP TechEd this year I think!

Organic Bees Surviving Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) » Celsias

Here's another bit in the regarding the "bee problem"...

"I’m on an organic beekeeping list of about 1,000 people, mostly Americans, and no one in the organic beekeeping world, including commercial beekeepers, is reporting colony collapse on this list. The problem with the big commercial guys is that they put pesticides in their hives to fumigate for varroa mites, and they feed antibiotics to the bees. They also haul the hives by truck all over the place to make more money with pollination services, which stresses the colonies."

(Via Organic Bees Surviving Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) » Celsias.)

Now I've been following this topic not just because I love honey but because the idea of harvesting honey has been around for a real long time,

"It is not clear when man became an apiculturist (beekeeper), but there is a wealth of archeological evidence that as far as 4,000 years ago B.C., Egyptians kept bees in clay pots and used not only honey, but propolis and wax.  In fact, the honeybee was the symbol of Lower Egypt."

(Via Honeybee History.)

And because of the potential implications a lack of the little suckers can mean to our planet, our food and our survival.

Bid on an SAP Exec!

"I acknowledge that inequities in diversity are not always easy to explain or address. I know for a fact how hard the Web 2.0 Expo organizers worked, for example, to attract a better representation of women at the conference. Likewise, senior leaders at SAP have expressed that they would gladly promote qualified women if they could find them. To this, I reply that I've been impressed at the high visibility of our friends such as Google, Microsoft, Sun, and many others at tech events such as the Grace Hopper Celebration, yet discouraged at the relative absence of SAP's visibility.

Which is why I'm particularly pleased to announce that this year, SAP is putting its money where my mouth is. SAP is a new sponsor of the Anita Borg Institute (ABI), which supports the promotion of women in the fields of science and technology. As part of this, Rami Branitzky, our managing director, has invited us to lunch.

That's right: Rami is offering winning bidders a chance for a two-hour executive lunch with him, and the winners will be announced during the ABI's Women of Vision Awards banquet coming up this week on May 8th. You don't need to be present to win -- but bidding ends soon.

It's important enough to Rami and it's important to SAP. So now it's time for ME to put my money where my mouth is. I've placed the first bid on Rami, and although I would look forward to the opportunity to dine with him, I challenge YOU to unseat my bid, so we can help further the cause of diversity in technology and diversity in general -- ultimately to the benefit of us all. Time is running out! Bidding ends on May 8th.

I look forward to your counterbid -- so bid now!"

(Via A bid for Rami is a bid for diversity.)

Technorati Tags:
sap

Value of the wheel

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

(Via TweetWheel - Find out which of your Twitter friends know each other!.)

Or you can view the interactive version here.

I've always been a fan of seeing how connections work and this is one very impressive way, although I can imagine it to be more burdensome for many of those on Twitter with large numbers of followers.

But really what does this mean? What do the connections mean? anything?

Because I share connections with others does that mean I have a benefit out of that, sure mutual friends is a powerful thing on occasion but is it always a powerful thing?

Now for these new environments like Twitter where you can "follow" the musing of a particular user but they need not follow you in return the "circle" of friends can be quite powerful I can think of numerous occasions where I was trying to reach out to someone but they were "unaware" of me, but thankfully one of my other friends had a closer relationship than I to that person and thus through them I was able to complete the circle and accomplish my goal.

How about you? Do you see the value have you "lived" the value?

Technorati Tags:
social, twitter, tweetwheel

Honey Bee Die-off Alarms Beekeepers, Crop Growers And Researchers

This has been huge on German TV lately and doing a bit of searching it seems to not be isolated to just Germany.

One tends to swat and kill rather than think of all the good bees do, we are truly screwing our planet here.

"An alarming die-off of honey bees has beekeepers fighting for commercial survival and crop growers wondering whether bees will be available to pollinate their crops this spring and summer. Researchers are scrambling to find answers to what's causing an affliction recently named Colony Collapse Disorder, which has decimated commercial beekeeping operations in Pennsylvania and across the country."

(Via Honey Bee Die-off Alarms Beekeepers, Crop Growers And Researchers.)

"Honeybees don’t just make honey; they pollinate more than 90 of the tastiest flowering crops we have. Among them: apples, nuts, avocados, soybeans, asparagus, broccoli, celery, squash and cucumbers. And lots of the really sweet and tart stuff, too, including citrus fruit, peaches, kiwi, cherries, blueberries, cranberries, strawberries, cantaloupe and other melons.

In fact, about one-third of the human diet comes from insect-pollinated plants, and the honeybee is responsible for 80 percent of that pollination, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Even cattle, which feed on alfalfa, depend on bees. So if the collapse worsens, we could end up being ‘stuck with grains and water,’ said Kevin Hackett, the national program leader for USDA’s bee and pollination program.

‘This is the biggest general threat to our food supply,’ Hackett said."

(Via Honeybee Die-Off Threatens Food Supply - CommonDreams.org.)