Stefi e Asia, by giusec.

Posted by giusec in Asia & co., Photoset, Vagabonding at 3:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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I am not always a Microsoft fan. I often criticize Microsoft people, marketing and products, products, products. But this time buzz generated because of the latest Vista launch is risking to focus on the wrong side. I will try to make a long story short.

A few days before Christmas, Edelman - the lead PR agency for the launch of Vista and one of the biggest of the world - emailed a number of influential US bloggers to ask them if they’d like to receive an Acer Ferrari notebook computer pre-loaded with Vista OS. Bloggers started posting about the invitation they received; some have already received the computer and blogged their first impressions/opinions.

Some blogs start now criticize Microsoft and Edelman with accusations of bribery. Others write that is an awesome idea. Confusion starts to take hold as some bloggers report that Microsoft is asking for the computers back.

Now, the question here is: is sending out laptops ethical? Yes, it is. That’s Elderman PR job. Their job is in fact to get the product (Vista) and company they represent (Microsoft) in front of as many influentials as possible (bloggers, in our case). Is giving the PCs away ethical? Well, why not. But this is not the right question, I think. Is ethical getting a PC and not disclosing? This is the real question.

To know more: Laughing Squid, Long Zheng, notgartner, Crunchnotes, Whatsnextblog (1 and 2), Neville Hobson, Robert Scoble.

Posted by giusec in Marketing, ergo sum, Web & Tecnology at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

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Asia saving biscuits on a plane (for future passengers), by giusec.

Here is the (short) full photo-set.

Posted by giusec in Asia & co., Photoset at 9:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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The today flight from Sicily to Milan will be her fourtheen (14) flight. Asia is 15 months old, today.

She took her first flight when she was three only. Then she took six (yeah, six!) planes last summer, to and from Madrid, to/from Canarias (see picture, via Flickr) and to/from Sicily, again. At that time she was still not one year old. I took my very first flight when I was eighteen.

Years old. It's impressive to see how confident she is with airports, planes, check-ins. She particularly likes shops (like her mother) and bars & coffee shops (like her father does).

Different generations? Maybe. Pictures will come, soon.

Posted by giusec in Asia & co. at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Microsoft is now facing an early crisis of confidence in the quality of its Windows Vista operating system. The browser flaw is particularly troubling because it potentially means that Web users could become infected with malicious software simply by visiting a booby-trapped site.

Here, via Wired and here via NYT Tech. 

Posted by giusec in Web & Tecnology at 10:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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This is great. How to create a list and ask your readers to vote the best item. Take a look here, on my italian blog. List has been created with Squidoo. The entire process is simple and short. It takes about five minutes. Anyone can add this feature to his blog. See also another great example, here, via Seth Godin's blog.

Basically all you have to do is creating a Plexo list with Squidoo (first, you need to create your own account). Whatever kind of list. Then, generate the related code. Finally, insert the code on your post.

Posted by giusec in Blogging at 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (177)

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Before you are a leader, success is about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others. (*)

(*) Jeck Welch. Readers know that I am a Marketer. They (should) also know that I have a team reporting to me; this is a very distributed and virtual team. Based in Italy, Germany, Scandinavia, Spain. There are less than ten people in each location. This situation needs a communication and coordination effort with no equals.

People is the main asset companies do have. Rectuiting is then a crucial activity for every manager and for every company. Sure, I am not the first and the last one pointing this concept out. But I can tell you about my experience.

I spent the last six months recruiting people and redesigning my organization. That was not my only activity, of course. I had to run an international marketing department, in fact. The recruiting task took initially 20% of my time - and ended more or less with a full time effort. Thinking about the right profiles. Redesigning the organization. Applying some designing tools (i.e. activity by competency matrix). Choosing the right vehicle to search candidates (Monster? No way! Head hunters? Yes, for some specific positions. Magazines? Yes, FAZ in Germany, El Pais in Spain, Corriere in Italy). And then reviewing CVs, calling candidates, interviewing (Milan, Dusseldorf, Copenhagen), assessing.

Assessing. Yes. This is something that I found extremely interesting and helpful. I used a company called Right Management. They belong to the Manpower network. They do assessments. Simulations. Leadership assessments. They present a complete report about candidates' personality, profile, competencies. Cost is good - and I can assure that the value pays perfectly the investment. I finally based most of my decisions on Right's assessment reports - or at least they gave me hints about candidate's gaps to be covered during the first months in the company.

Posted by giusec in About giusec, Marketing, ergo sum at 7:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1984)

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New Milan SMS parking system, uploaded by giusec.

This is the latest Milan photo-set. During the crazy Xmas shopping time. And this is the new Milan SMS-based parking card system. Brand new stuff for the city. Let me explain.

You buy a card. It's a rechargeable card. Ten, thirty, fifty Euros (for loooong parking). After some time spent to find a parking spot - can be also one, two hours during the Xmas break - you finally use the card. You send an SMS to a service center, specifying: "pole" code + your card code + your pin + number of parking hours.

Interesting to discover the concept of the "pole code". Since the parking cost is based on zones (more you are in downtown, more you pay) you need to specify how much the parking is going to cost you to the service center. Per hour. Well, the code is written on metal poles which limitate the entire zone.

And this is the interesting concept. Looking around for the metal pole. Because we Italians like to simplify our life.

PS: Forgot. This is the website. In Italian. Only. If you don't speak Italian the pole will not be your only issue. You are supposed to translate the site, first.

Posted by giusec in Milano, mon amour, Photoset at 2:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (778)

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Every blogger should have one. At least. Talking about moleskines. Yes. The legendary notebooks. The ones used by European artists and writers. I actually do have three: one for my job, one for private stuff, and one for quick traveling notes. And now, the new MoleskineCity notebooks are on the shelves. Milan. London. Rome. Paris. Barcelona. And many others. 

Also, brand new blogs have been opened by Modo&Modo, the italian brand producing Moleskines. This is the Milan blog, for instance. Paris, Rome, London are already live. Barcelona, Berlin, Amsterdam will be live soon.

The first guide you write yourself. I bouthgt already my Milan moleskincity notebook last weekend. And I see this as another great marketing idea coming from the Modo&Modo/Moleskine team.

Posted by giusec in Blogging, Marketing, ergo sum at 1:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

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comScore Networks conducted a research over blog penetration among web readers. It seems that - guess what? - Italians read blogs less that all other Westerners do, with the exception of Germans. In fact:

Among the eight countries examined in the study, Canada saw the highest penetration of visitors to blogs, with 58 percent of all internet users visiting the category in October 2006. Half (51 percent) of all internet users in Spain also visited blogs.

And:

Of the selected countries, only Germany (26 percent) and Italy (31 percent) had a lower penetration of internet visitors to the blogs category than the United States (36 percent).

Here the full research and tables. 

Posted by giusec in Blogging, Web & Tecnology at 12:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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OECD released few weeks ago an economic outlook of Milan and its metropolitan area. Nothing really new. But interesting to read it back on white on a OECD report.

Milan ranks among wealthy OECD metropolitan regions and is often identified with the “Made in Italy” brand on the international arena, notably for fashion and design. Once a successful industrial city, Milan has grown into the core of a wider industrial metropolitan region that is home to more than 7 million people. 

But

(...) public goods and services such as transportation have not kept pace with the continuous urban sprawl and the widening commuting flows across the metropolitan region. This has led to a deterioration of the region’s liveability, hampering the region’s buzz and capacity to attract knowledge workers.

And 

 Milan suffers from the lack of a well-structured and coherent innovation policy for its metropolitan area. Following the restructuring of large companies during the 1980-1990s, Milan’s productive fabric has been mostly composed of SMEs, which has contributed to delaying investment in research and development (R&D) compared with European competitors. The Lombardy regionspent consistently less than other leading European regions such as Paris-Ile-de-France, London, Baden-Württemberg in Germany and Lyon-Rhône-Alpes in France between 1998 and 2000.

Here, the full report. 

Posted by giusec in Finance and Economics, Milano, mon amour at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (361)

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(Italian) Blogosphere, by giusec.

Posted by giusec in Blogging at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Leaving children's gifts under the Xmas tree is a tipical Italian tradition. Well, not just children's. Leaving a post under a Xmas tree is another well established Italian tradition. Blogging tradition, this time. This is the story, in few words.

Sir Squonk collects all posts from Italian bloggers. He aggregates them, combines them, consolidates them (that's the reason why he's called the living aggregator), pdfs them. This is the result. Post sotto l'Albero 2006 (literaly: Posts under the Xmas tree 2006). If you understand italian: download and enjoy it.

Posted by giusec in Blogging at 12:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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If you like stats - better, if you like webstats - this site is for you: Compete. Also, Bill Gross and his company run a very interesting blog. It shows examples of what you can do with Compete.com. Like comparisons. Or business cases. Take the Southwest example. Interesting, isn't it?

Posted by giusec in Blogging, Web & Tecnology at 12:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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This is the blog of giusec (simple, uh?). The guy behind this funny nickname is Giuseppe Caltabiano. Italian, 38 y.o., he actually lives in Milan (Milan-Italy, not Milan-Texas), Engineer, got an MBA at SDA Bocconi, works as a responsible for marketing in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) for a US-based software company and travels all around US, Europe, Africa and Middle East because of his job (and leasure, some time).

giusec writes about business vagabonding (the way he likes to call his professional life); locations, places, people, cultures, languages, hotels, food. He also writes about Milan, the city where he actually lives, with his wife and his micro-daughter (Asia, 16 months-old). And he is fascinated about some stuff, like: blogging, marketing, software, high tech stuff, Movable Type and social networking.

giusec started blogging two years ago. Here you can find his Italian blog (giusec&frienz). He decided recently to switch from Italian to English. In fact, he loves languages. He's now planning to start a new blog in catalan and a fourth in sicilian dialect.

giusec RSS is here (atom) and here (RSS 2.0).

giusec can be contacted (yes, he can be contacted): 

• via email: giusec at yahoo dot com
  
• always via email: giusec at gmail dot com
  
• via MSN Messenger: giusec at yahoo.com
• via Yahoo!Messenger: guess what? giusec at yahoo dot com
• via ICQ: never used ICQ
  
• via Skype: giusecnet
  
• via Google Talk: giusec at gmail dot com 

giusec also owns a Flickr account, where he uploads pictures of Milan, his family & friends, the beautiful little Asia and his many trips around the world.

Posted by giusec in About giusec, Blogging at 3:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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