derbaum.com/weblog

Feature Creep in Lab Software

2010-02-15T23:02:00.000+01:00

Customers want features, features, features and a clean, easy to use application. How to square that circle?

Sure, the goal for Labordatenbank is to provide clean and easy to use applications. Laboratories have complex tasks to solve. That's what they do. No need for lab software to add even more complexity.

Alright than, keep it simple!

Having said that, labs do need specific features to get specific tasks done.
While every feature may add value to at least one user, it also adds complexity to the whole laboratory information system.

We approach this dilemma by

learning: better understanding enables less complex solutions.
customizing: features are only activated on need to use basis.
saying no: if 1.) and 2.) fails and a requests adds more complexity than value, say so and stay firm.

The last may well be the toughest. But saying no is just as important.

Fulfilling Development

2009-12-31T23:25:00.010+01:00

As I wrote before Menschen müssen arbeiten und lieben um Erfüllung zu finden.

Would I enjoy spending my life on a beach under the sun? Surely, for a week. But in the end, I need to do great work to find fulfillment. Ideally, work that flows.

I find flow when I'm facing challenges and successes in rapid succession. Really both is needed to stay in the flow of maximum productivity. Tools like Textmate, OS X and git provide fast cycles of code, test and deploy. Which is key to quickly jump from challenge to success and back.

Sure, to run a software company we have to manage marketing, sales, contracts, accounting and so on. But what I enjoy is finding those seemingly obvious solutions in interface and database design that ultimatly provide value to our customer and therefor drive our business.

It's not Twitter or some fancy web company monetizing eyeballs. We charge money for software that customers value. With our customers we develop solutions to collect and manage literally billions of measurements. If we can make their work more effective, than that's fulfilling development!

Labordatenbank Demos: Allgemeine Einführung

2009-10-28T18:26:00.003+01:00

What is a gift?

2008-12-21T10:32:00.004+01:00

A clarification for Economists

C: A gift. (shakes his collecting tin to drive home the point)
B: Oh, a gift! (his face brightens) A tax dodge!
C: No, no, no, no!
B:  No? Well, I'm awfully sorry. I don't understand. 
     Can you just explain exactly what you want?
C: I want you to give me a pound. And then I'll go 
     away and give it to the orphans.
B: Yes? (waiting, as above, absolutely baffled)
C: Well, that's it.
B: (shaking his head in utter disbelief)  
     No, no, I don't follow this at all, I mean, 
     I don't want to seem stupid, but it looks to me  
     as if I was a pound down on the whole deal.
C: Well, yes you are!
B: I am? But what is my incentive to give you the pound?
C: Well,  the incentive is to make the orphans happy.
B: (genuinely puzzled) Happy?  
     Are you quite sure you've got this right?
C: Yes, lots of people give me money.
B: What, just like that?
C: Yes!
B: They must be sick! I don't suppose you could give me  
     a list with their names and addresses, could you?

Now published: An n-Sector Migration Simulation

2008-10-11T19:24:00.003+02:00

I'm happy to report that my work on migration got published!

You can order the book on Amazon or read the original paper, including key results of the book, in a free online version.

Beijing Soya Chicken

2008-08-21T15:44:00.001+02:00

Chicken legs, onion, ginger and salt go in boiling water. Wait till the chicken is tender.
Next, place the chicken in a hot pan with oil and broil it in soya sauce. Add sugar and salt. Lower the heat but keep adding chicken soup till the meat is nice and juicy.

Ingredients

An n-Sector Migration Simulation

2008-06-19T19:41:00.008+02:00

I finished my work on migration simulation for the Research-Unit Economics.

It's based on a Two-Sector Migration Model inspired by Harris and Todaro and applied Agent Based Simulation aligned to Axtell’s Emergence of Firms to build "An n-Sector Migration Simulation".

Here is the abstract:
"Workers, considering costs of migration, tend to migrate to sectors where they expect higher wages. In revers, ﬁrms trying to increase proﬁts, migrate to sectors with lower wages. The result of their combined movement determins wages in each sector. This Agent Based Simulation applies an inductive behavior models with various strategies for wage expectations, and yields patterns of migration in an n-sector scenario."

Here are some results:

Download: http://www.derbaum.com/n-sector-migration.pdf

Nomads work and love

2008-04-12T15:55:00.022+02:00

This weeks issue of The Economist is running a special report on mobile telecoms: Nomads at last.

The report describes how today's ubiquitous mobile technology allows us to work, live and love like nomads (wanderer), without staying long in the same place.

Our documents, spreadsheets, contacts, calenders,... are always available online in the cloud. So unlike previous nomads, we don't have to carry much weight. An iPhone like device may do. Where ever we are we can sit down, do some work, play around with ideas or catch-up with customers, coworkers, or friends and family.

Who wants to be at the office from 9 to 5? If I'm working, does it matter if I sweat in a cubicle or enjoy fresh air in the park? Of course it does! And reading this report just gave me additional encouragement to stay out of that cubicle.

Surely this beach has Wifi

For some an office may be great to get focused, while others prefer a beach. If you find yourself bored or in need for inspiration, get moving. (Right now, I'm in a coffee shop, but that beach looks inviting). In the end, where we are becomes secondary. What counts is that we get things done and spend time with those we love.

Or, as Sigmund Freud put it, Menschen müssen arbeiten und lieben um Erfüllung zu finden (humans must work and love in order to find fulfillment). Mmm, I love it when The Economist runs quotes like that.

Freegans

2008-03-11T17:04:00.018+01:00

I'm all about consumerism. Electronics made in China. A newspaper from Britan. Shirts from Turkey and eggs from Aldi (no idea where they come from).

I try to marginally improve the world by bringing at least a small part of my euros to workers in poor or developing countries (even the most capitalistic company creates jobs and incomes). However there are some who restrict their consumption.

pescatarian a person who does not eat meat, but fish.
vegetarian a person who does not eat animals.
vegan a vegetarian who also does not eat or use animal products.
fruitarian a person who will eat only what falls (or would fall) naturally from a plant.
locavorian a person who only eats local food.

While I could see myself as a pescatarian, I find it hard to imagine life as a fruitarian. However, today I read about a group called freegans.

freegan a vegetarian who only eats or uses things from other people’s garbage.

It's some kind of antiglobalisation thing, which -obviously- I don't understand.

No, we are not homeless. We eat garbage to save the world.

I found those freegans on 3 Extreme Ways To Go Green (via digg).
A related post on derbaum.com is: Eier von Glücklichen Bauern

iPhone Surgery

2007-09-03T12:47:00.002+02:00

My friend Peter was kind enough to bring me an iPhone from New York. It looked cool, but initially it was locked to AT&T and therefor useless in Europe. But luckily I found an unlocking guide on the web: iPhone in Switzerland.

It looked tough, but doable. So Stefan and I decided to go for it.

First we had to do some coding. Easy, except the HEX editing which was a bit tiring.
Second we had to open the device. Hard, since you constantly have to worry about breaking the device.
Third we had to connect a circuit with a capacitor on the motherboard. Impossible, since those gates are only 0.08mm tick. But somehow we managed it.

Me with special light to see impossible small circuits.

After seven hours of sweat and pain we reassembled the device. And...
NO SERVICE, PLEASE INSERT AT&T SIM CARD
Agrr...

But wait, we forgot to enter:

AT+CLCK=”PN”,0,”00000000″
AT+CLCK=”PN”,2

And surprise, surprise: the iPhone is now unlocked!

iPhone with Austrian SIM (ONE)

Sommerpause

2007-08-18T09:38:00.000+02:00

The Gartenbau Cinema

Walking around Vienna, one is easily reminded of the current season: Summerbreak. The time when small and mid-sized shops hang a little sign in the window saying "Summerpause". They leave early in August and most return in September.

I'm glad to see how successful those shops must be. How else could their owners afford to close and take a month long vacation? I always misunderstood their past complains about international competition. An ironic joke it must have been.

It must be a fest, for the shop owners on vacation, to lay in the sun and laugh about their competitors working thru the summer heath. "Those poor bastards" they might think. "Who knows, if allowed, they would probably work on Sunday as well."

Could the Dollar fall any lower?

2007-08-10T14:00:00.000+02:00

Another fun illustration of China's economic relations with the USA.

From The Economist print edition Aug 9th 2007

Free flights to Hong Kong

2007-07-12T15:35:00.000+02:00

I always keep an eye on cheap flights to Asia. I hailed Lufthansa's "Ready to Fly" for it's 300€ flights to China, but this offer seems to be expired. Anyway, help is on it's way: Oasis Hong Kong Airline promises flights from London to Hong Kong for 50€.

Checking flights for next week showed nothing below 400€. But a month later, flights show up for about 130€. Adding a discount flight to London Gatewick, and one should get from about anywhere in Europe to Hong Kong for under 200€ (one-way).

Now if I just buy a nicely trailered suit and a few gadgets, I can quickly save 2x200€ in the tax-free-shopping-haven also known as Hong Kong. Which leaves me a free flight to Hong Kong. Right?

Please, No Asiaphobia

2007-05-18T09:57:00.000+02:00

Twice a year (next on May 22nd) the economic leadership of China and America meets for a Strategic Economic Dialogue to disuse trade relations.

Hank Paulson and Wu Yi

The Economist, May 17th 2007

The dialogue was coined by Hank Paulson, America's treasury secretary and ex CEO of Goldman Sachs. He will welcome Wu Yi, the woman behind China's economic policy since 1991 and current vice-premier of China.

Unfortunately discussions are overshadowed by increasing hostility against China. The American congress accuses China among other things of stealing their economic leadership, natural resources and jobs. (This weeks issue of The Economist runs a survey about America's fear of China.)

First, China's population is more than four times bigger than America's population. Obviously China should command a bigger economy at some point (as it did in the past).

Second, natural resources are bought and sold internationally. As the world economy grows and more people live a decent life, so does demand for resources and their price. America could easily improve a thing or two in its efficiency of using resources. A higher price (and regard for the environment) provides the right incentives. The same counts for China.

Lastly: jobs. Is China stealing American jobs? Some members of congress seem to believe that world trade (or trade in general) is a zero-sum game. One job more in China's export industry means one job less in America.

That's not the case. As America imports from China, China imports from America. Jobs lost in one sector, will be gained in another. If America imports more than it exports (as it currently does), it pays with dollars. A promise of value which China can use for imports in the future. If China does not redeems those dollars, America basically imports for free. Hardly something to complain about.

In today's China Daily I read a smart statement by Ms. Wu: "The United States, as a global leader in science and technology, should give full play to its comparative advantage, enhance mutual trust and relax export controls to boost the competitiveness of American companies, revers the trend of dwindling market share of American hi-tech products in China, and reduce its trade deficit with China."

With comparative advantage, David Ricardo's theory on trade, Ms. Wu reminds us that even if America is far ahead in science and technology, it could still gain from trade in those fields.

As a previous investment banker, Mr. Paulson knows just as well about the gains from trade. That's why he should resist pressure from congress and further open the US economy. Ms. Wu would certainly welcome him.

Everyday prices in Beijing

2007-05-13T16:47:00.000+02:00

10RMB = 1Euro

Bottled water 1RMB
Small latte at Starbucks 22RMB
Latte in Chinese Cafe 4RMB
Vegetables for a fine lunch 3.6RMB
Haircut 30RMB
Dinner at fine Italian 400RMB
Cinema 70RMB
Fake DVD 5RMB
Gintonic 10RMB
T-Shirt 10RMB
The Economist 70RMB
Apartment in central Beijing (55m²) 4800RMB/Month
Cleaning lady (full time) 700RMB/month
Unlimited broadband internet 120RMB/month
Taxi 2RMB/km
Car wash (inside + outside) 10RMB
Gasoline 4.6RMB/liter
Train from Beijing to Shanghai 320RMB
Flight from Beijing to Shanghai 560RMB

4:30:40

2007-04-29T15:07:00.000+02:00

Today, tortured and with tears in my eyes, I finished my first marathon.
I'm pleased with my time (4:30:40). If I keep running, maybe I can beat 4 hours next year.

OK, I will fall asleep now and pray that I can still walk tomorrow.

Communication Costs in Austria and Germany

2007-04-16T10:34:00.000+02:00

My friend Konrad and I occasionally compare our living costs in German and Austria. Communication costs are particular interesting. Since years, we find broadband internet to be cheaper in German, while mobile telephony is cheaper in Austria. Why that?

Let's try some back-of-the-envelope calculations:

Population density and broadband internet: Wiring a highly populated area is cheaper (per head) than wiring a low populated area. Population density turns out to be more than double in Germany than in Austria. 231 people/km² in Germany vs. 99 people/km² in Austria.
Competition and mobile telephony: Higher competition means lower prices. Austria has a 12 times higher ratio of mobile phone companies per people. 4/82m in Germany vs. 5/8m in Austria.

If we follow the Voice-over-Internet trend, it's save to say that telephony is moving online. So cheaper internet, gives Germany an edge. But new technologies like HSDPA offer broadband on a mobile device. So, Austria with cheaper mobile communication, may have the better deal after all.

China's share of the World

2007-04-11T15:46:00.000+02:00

China's share of world GDP is nearly four times more than it was in 1980. Measured at purchasing power parity, it approaches that of the world's rich countries. It's just a matter of time* before China returns to it's ancient status as the Central Kingdom.

*Goldman Sachs predicts that China's GDP will overtake the US GDP (in PPP terms) by 2011.

Kafkaesque Bureaucracy*

2007-04-06T17:03:00.001+02:00

International newspapers only write about Austria in their culture or travel section. If it does come up in the politics or business section, it's usually rather embarrassing.

Last weeks edition of The Economist had a fun (but sad, since true) sentence, stating that "the elan of Austrian business was stifled for many years by a bloated public sector, Kafkaesque bureaucracy and politicized boardrooms".

Examples of Austrias Kafkaesque Bureaucracy:

Office Hours (Parteinverkehr): Mo, We, Thu 8-12am
Tenant's rights (Mieterschutz): Enjoyed by renters, but dare you if you think about renting out yourself.
Government Expenditure: 49% of GDP (that's 66billion Euro).
Civil Servant (Beamte): Learn to deal with them (they make up half the employed population). If you need something, prepare compliments and little presents like a cake or wine.
Documents (Akten) must be long and hard to read.
Labor law (Arbeitnehmerschutz): Better not to hire.
Community housing (Gemeindewohnung): Apartments which are partly paid for by the government. Mostly for civil servants or their closest relatives.
??? (Kommerzialrat): Someone who has been civil servant for a long time.
Post office: To get the full Kafkaesque experience, try sending a letter to Asia on a Friday around 5pm.

*The impossible fight against government regulation and monopolies, as described in Franz Kafka's "Das Schloß" and "Der Prozeß".

Freude, Freude, Freude

2007-03-23T20:39:00.000+01:00

Freude, schöner Götterfunken
Tochter aus Elysium,
Wir betreten feuertrunken,
Himmlische, dein Heiligtum!
Deine Zauber binden wieder
Was die Mode streng geteilt;
Alle Menschen werden Brüder,
Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.

Beethoven's Ode „An die Freude“

This Sunday we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the European Union.

Many people don't think highly about the Union these days. They worry about future expansion. Some even reject our new member states Romania and Bulgaria. They worry that integrating poor countries might push down wages. But the solution is not to shut them out, but to help them grow rich. The best way to do so, is to forget about borders and start working together.

Therefore we toast to the European Union and welcome even more new members.

Addition from March 26th: Today I read a fictional article about the 100th anniversary of the Union. So good, I had to laugh and cry and offer you a copy without permission...

From The Economist:

The EU is celebrating its 100th birthday with quiet satisfaction. Predictions when it turned 50 that it was doomed to irrelevance in a world dominated by America, China and India proved wide of the mark. A turning-point was the bursting of America's housing bubble and the collapse of the dollar early in the presidency of Barack Obama in 2010. But even more crucial were Germany's and France's efforts later in that decade, under Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy respectively, to push through economic reforms.

These reforms produced a sharp fall in unemployment just as Europe began to enjoy a productivity spurt from the spread of information technology. The eventual result was a growing labour shortage, which was not resolved until the arrival of Turkey and Ukraine as full members in 2025. The accession soon afterwards of the first north African country, Morocco, helped to prolong Europe's boom.

Of course it was not all plain sailing. The great Italian crisis of 2015, when the government of Gianfranco Fini quit the single currency just as David Miliband's Britain was about to join, cast a long shadow. Yet although Italian bondholders took a hit from the subsequent default and Italy's economy was soon overtaken by Spain's, financial markets proved forgiving, and the government of Walter Veltroni managed to rejoin the euro fairly quickly. Since then no country has been tempted to repeat Italy's painful experiment.

The other cause for quiet satisfaction has been the EU's foreign policy. In the dangerous second decade of the century, when Vladimir Putin returned for a third term as Russian president and stood poised to invade Ukraine, it was the EU that pushed the Obama administration to threaten massive nuclear retaliation. The Ukraine crisis became a triumph for the EU foreign minister, Carl Bildt, prompting the decision to go for a further big round of enlargement. It was ironic that, less than a decade later, Russia itself lodged its first formal application for membership.

At the same time politicians in Brussels and Washington, grappling with the blocked Middle East peace process, had a eureka moment. EU membership had worked, eventually, in Cyprus, which was reunified in 2024; why not try it again? So it was that Israel and Palestine became the EU's 49th and 50th members.

The big challenge now is what to do about Russia. Its application has been pending for 15 years. Some say that it is too big, too poor and not European enough to join. But now that the tsar has been symbolically restored, Russia has an impeccably democratic government. A previous tsar saved Europe from Napoleon nearly 250 years ago. It would be apt to mark the anniversary by welcoming Russia back into the European fold.

Are you messing with me?

2007-03-18T19:09:00.001+01:00

Why Economics?

2007-03-02T11:48:00.002+01:00

When I was 16, my friend Cornelius and I, bought three billiard tables. We convinced a coffee shop owner to let us put the tables in the back of his café. We told him how much money we expected to earn and promised him half. We were sure the shop owner would have a look, since it was his money as well. Everyday after school we went to the cafe and thought about ways to improve our business. We cleaned up, bought better cues, a coin changer and even installed new lightning (the green ones in the picture). We where highly motivated because we saw the reward in the coin collector every day.
Intuitively we understood the working of the free market. We improved the lot of our players and the coffee owner, simply by pursuing our own self-interest. It was a win-win-win situation.
Unfortunately after only a year we had to stop our business. Our parents insisted that school was more important. (Through this, we learned how regulations can limit the market.)
After high school, I decided to study information systems but never left economics. I took all available economics courses and read every book I could get my hands on. Now, after being close to finishing my master in information systems, I want to proceed with a master in economics.
In my future career I hope to pursue both, my interests in economics and computer science.

Firework for the Pig

2007-02-27T03:31:00.001+01:00

On February 18th started the Year of the Pig in China. I was in Beijing and enjoyed the spectacle but hated the firework. In Austria I don't mind. I enjoy the free ride, when other people spend there money lighting up the sky.

But Beijing firework isn't about illuminating the sky, its about who makes the biggest bang. At moments its a pain to be outside and uncomfortable loud inside.

Only last year was the bane on fireworks lifted in Beijing for the days surrounding new-year celebrations. It seems people needed to make up for the 12 years it was forbidden. But unlike a smart boy, who carefully drives when his father gives him the first opportunity, Beijing people seemed to try to get it banned again as soon as possible (some 270 people were injured and one 25-year-old was killed during this years celebration in Beijing).

Of course a single Beijinger doesn't make the difference. Only the combined overshooting causes risk of banning. A negative externality of fireworks. Putting the Econ101 textbook example for public goods (a firework for everyone to enjoy) on the head.

Hustler: an aggressively enterprising person; a go-getter

2007-01-13T17:17:00.001+01:00

I remember walking around GangNam, in Seoul, where I passed a fashion store. The store and the exhibited clothes appealed, so I walked in for a closer look. I liked there shirts. They used a surprisingly comfortable material, which just felt good. But there it was, a shocking slogan: Made in Downtown LA, Organic. Gosh, another anti-globalization environmentalist. No, I can't support this company. I left the store feeling a bit sorry for the missed shirt.

Half a year later, today. I'm reading about this guy, Dov Charney, who runs a global fashion company focusing on the needs of the young, well-travelled crowd that he calls the “world-metropolitan culture”. While reading I figured this company called American Apparel, is the one I visited in Seoul.

From The Economist:
DOV CHARNEY courts controversy. The 37-year-old founder and chief executive of American Apparel, the largest T-shirt manufacturer in America, has been called a brilliant businessman, an amateur pornographer, a Jewish hustler and a man with a social mission. He is admired for single-handedly creating one of America's most successful fashion retailers, for devising his company's sexually suggestive approach to advertising and for treating his workers much better than his rivals. He is also envied, loathed and criticised for all of these things.
Read the entire Face Value.

This article and an interview by Charlie Rose showed me that Mr Charney is a likeable person, indeed a capitalist and very much pro-globalisation. The Economist calls him The Hustler. An aggressively enterprising person. A go-getter.

I guess I can return to GangNam and buy that Shirt without a guilty conscience.

PS.: I wanted to show a picture of Mr Charney. But American Apparel has a beautiful Photo Collections where I stumbled over a picture of Ji-Sung, an employee from the Seoul store, which I liked better.

Marathon Training

2007-01-11T19:22:00.000+01:00

I would like to run the Vienna Marathon on April 29th. After reading about marathon training and talking to Lutzi -my trainer- I came up with the following schedule:

Week	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	So
8.-14.Jan		10km		8km	8km	14km
15.-21.Jan		10km		8km	8km	15km
22.-28.Jan		10km		9km	8km	16km
29.-4.Feb		10km		9km	9km	17km
5.-11.Feb		11km		9km	9km	18km
12.-18.Feb		11km		10km	9km	19km
19.-25.Feb		11km		10km	10km	20km
26.-4.Mar		11km		10km	10km	21km
5.-11.Mar		12km		10km	10km	22km
12.-18.Mar		12km		10km	10km	23km
19.-25.Mar		12km		10km	10km	24km
26.-1.Apr		12km		10km	10km	25km
2.-8.Apr		12km		10km	10km	15km
9.-15.Apr		10km		8km	8km	14km
16.-22.Apr	4km		4km		4km
23.-29.Apr	4km		4km		4km	42km

Additionally Lutzi recommends noodles, potatoes, fish, eggs, chocolate and bananas. Which sounds like my current diet anyway.