Klar, all diese Konzepte sind spannend, und der geneigte Leser denkt, “das findet er gut weil Eishockey drin vorkommt”.
Ja, auch.

Aber die Kontextualität ist entscheidend. Nicht das ausweichen auf Wikipedia oder (Stichwort Eishockey) NHL.com oder GetGlue sondern die Einbindung dieser Plattformen in die App. Natürlich stellt sich dabei dann schnell die Frage nach dem Geschäftsmodell – nicht nur die App wird Geld kosten sondern auch die Partner müssen irgendwie entlohnt werden, wenn Nutzer eben nicht mehr NHL.com oder GetGlue besuchen (wo sie Werbung sehen). Hier bietet sich vielleicht der klassische Weg des Kapitalismus an: ich möchte eine Ware haben, also zahle ich dafür.

Ich würd’s tun.

Ducks – Sharks: 2-4
A Scott Niedermeyer on a roll is not enough, the Sharks just have too much against it.

Blue Jackets – Red Wings: 0-4
Let’s call a spade a spade. Maybe this is wishful thinking on my part, but the Blue Jackets are first-timers and just not as good. Hard games, one-goal games. But still.

Blues – Canucks: 1-4
See above, but I think the Mason will steal one for the Blues. I am not a big Sundin fan but it will be Luongo carrying this team to the next round.

Flames – Blackhawks: 4-2
Upset, because the Bulin Wall won’t be enough. Maybe they go down 0-1 and 1-2, but in the end experience should persevere.

Canadiens – Bruins: 1-4
Just a feeling. No 5th gear the Habs can shift into.

Rangers – Capitals: 2-4
How I wish the Rangers would win this, but Gomez was never a superstar and Drury didn’t carry the teams on his own. He came through, but I think this is too hard. The dead line acquisitions, I don’t know. Maybe it does work. But the Caps are really strong, payed their dues last year and are destined for more.

Hurricanes – Devils: 2-4
Again, I wish Shanahan would get another shot, but he chose location over chances. Normally I don’t bet against Brodeur, but I think the long pause might have hurt his play.

Flyers – Penguins: 2-4
I see the problem in Philly’s goal and the strength in Pittsburgh’s middle. Defensively, both are no Red Wings defense.

I just got an email from slideshare informing me that the media kit for the Speaking English Podcast received a lot of views in the last 24 hours. Apparently so, for some reason it has 70.000 views. If you are interested I could let you know that in the last 5 months alone 370.000+ additional views were gathered. So Rackspace, Sony, Seagate, Apple, Flip Mino, where are you when needed?
Anyhow, I am happy so many people are checking it out, maybe a hint that I should update it…

Here it is for a quick view

Fitness
I set out to become much fitter again, chasing myself ca. 1999, when I lived in the States, ice skated and went to the gym a lot. Two bouts of illness basically leave me way behind, but I’ll get moving.

Reading
The list is long, and I finished these:
McCarthy’s Bar (370p)
The To-Do List (330p)
Evelyn Wood (212p)
Personal Devolopment for Smart People (160p)
The To-Do List wasn’t on it, but I am still par for 26 which is almost all. Furthermore, I am two thirds in to Time of Our Singing and one third into Shadows of the Wind. Not sure though, whether I’ll finish the latter.
In addition (due to the illness), we basically breezed through The West Wing’s first 4.5 seasons. And we thought, getting rid of the TV would help watch less TV…

Web projects

• The Speaking English Podcast continues to run. Six episodes in 2009 so far.
• One work project went online as planned.
• The “taking the cell phone off the grid” project was a nice idea, but the charger didn’t put out enough power for the iPhone. Will try it on the Nokia 95 to use that as a camera maybe.
• Three Kanal 14 episodes were published, two more interviews are done, this week I have two more scheduled.
• My “Portfolio Project” looked like dead on arrival after early criticism. Illness didn’t help here either, but I re-started recording again. It will certainly look different than announced, but I’ll pick it up for sure.
• The band has now a repertoire of about 40 minutes (all covers). I hear Jessica Simpson’s sets are not much longer.

I finally finished reading what must me the longest and worst formatted piece I ever read online, the Oral History of the Bush White House (Vanity Fair). Here is my favorite quote:

The contrast with having briefed his father and Clinton and Gore was so marked. And to be told, frankly, early in the administration, by Condi Rice and [her deputy] Steve Hadley, you know, Don’t give the president a lot of long memos, he’s not a big reader—well, shit. I mean, the president of the United States is not a big reader?

The Financial Crisis in Plain English (via Bjoern Ognibeni). Great video on how it all fell apart.