[…] SAP going all-in on SAP Analytics Cloud by Xavier Hacking […]
The Xcelsius feel good movie
Watch this cool propaganda marketing video on SAP BusinessObjects Xcelsius 2008 featuring Ryan Goodman of Centigon Solutions and others discussing the benefits of the (growing) Xcelsius universe. I really really like Xcelsius, but customers should be aware that just acquiring Xcelsius won’t bring you much more success. It will require at least a solid and well structured back-end datawarehouse, excellent dashboard requirements gathering and a sophisticated user interface design. So make sure the conditions are right, and Xcelsius will indeed enable you to get better insights and make better decisions. Have fun!
![I want iSlate [updated]](https://www.hackingsap.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/apple-tablet.jpg "I want iSlate [updated]")
I want iSlate [updated]
As you may have read Apple is expected to make a major product announcement by the end of this month. Will the iTablet/iSlate/iGuide finally come? Many rumor/news sites think so and I sure hope it is true. Gizmodo made a nice overview on the Apple tablet rumors so you don’t have to read all those rumor sites yourself. For me this feels like the months before the iPhone release in 2007 all over again.
The #1 reason for me to buy such a device – besides the fact that I obviously like new Apple stuff – would be that I am ditching paper in 2010. At the end of 2009 I purchased and read lots of paper books which made me think. Why am I still driving to my local bookstore to get my books, and why am I still waiting days/weeks for my Amazon/Bol.com orders to be delivered when I know that most books are available in digital format. Every week I receive several paper magazines and until last week I even got a daily newspaper on my doormat! Also, at work my desk is always filled with prints of documents because I don’t like to read long texts from a computer screen and I want to write some small notes on them.
So I started looking for a digital paper/e-reader like device that would allow me to really go digital. Fast conclusion was that they all kinda suck. Yes even the Amazon Kindle DX. I don’t want to use an USB cable to sync it to my Mac. I want a real browser. I want a multitouch screen. I want a color screen. I want to edit docs. I want to use spreadsheets. I want to watch videos. I want to install small Apps.
So actually I just want a big iPhone with a screen that is easy on the eyes. When can I get it, Apple?
Update: 24 hours after writing this blog I got the Plastic Logic News Alert in my mailbox. I think over a year ago I read something on the web about a cool e-ink/e-paper prototype, which was of a much higher quality than the available e-readers. It must have grabbed my attention because I signed up for the newsletter, which learns me that they finally unveiled the specs, prizing and release date for their QUE product. After a quick look at the website I think this comes pretty close to what I am looking for. Its business oriented, supports MS Excel, has a multitouch screen, enables commenting, is Mac compatible and it sure looks great. Major remarks are the high price ($649 – $799) and the no-color screen. QUE will be available in April 2010. The video below gives an impression of the device.
Easy Lifehack: Shared calendars
It’s almost 2010 and I still see people manually adding ‘standard’ calendar events to their iCal, Outlook or whatever calendar app they use. For example the yearly (school) holidays, but even more frustrating the numerous matches of their favorite sports team! With the upcoming FIFA World Cup in South Africa I expect to see a lot of this unnecessary data entry work being carried out in the next few months.
Let’s end this now and start using ‘shared calendars’. A shared calendar means that you publish your calendar from your calendar app to the web so others can read (not write to!) your calendar. The best thing is that the calendar ‘receivers’ are able to get all the updates automatically.
To get started with these shared calendars, have a look at iCalShare and MarkThisDate. Choose your calendar, click ‘Add to Calendar’ and pick your calendar app from the list. On my Mac iCal opens and asks me if I want to subscribe to this calendar. According to this article subscribing a calendar to Outlook seems to work in the same way. Nice!
SAP TechEd video: Ingo Hilgefort interview
In this short TechEd ’09 video Ingo Hilgefort is being interviewed on integrating BusinessObjects with the SAP world, covering the SAP BusinessObjects/SDN community and his book on this subject.
