Alp Flix is a place in the Swiss mountains (Canton Graubünden) where you can enjoy nature and also get first hand information on bio diversity. The scientific project on Alp Flix is sponsored by the GEO Magazine, Ricola and local museums. Some background information on why they started this project:

In 2000 scientists collected during one of the "GEO days" within 24 hours 2092 different species; among them one scientific sensation. An up to that date unknown fly with the name "Rhexoza". So far this species has only been found in North America.

I was just wondering what airline the fly took when traveling over the Atlantic as a stowaway.

This week's prestigious "Gadget of the Week" goes to: Saab's biofuel/electricity powered hybrid model introduced at the British International Motor Show this week.

What we like:

• Being from Sweden Saab is clearly profiting from the Swedish government 's initiative to become the world's first oil free energy country within only 5 years. Government -tax- incentives are required/important since bio fuel filling stations need to be also built up country wide.
• Can run on any mixture between ordinary petrol and E85, a fuel blend that contains 85% bioethanol made from plants.
• In the future the Power Hybrid will become available, a concept car that combines a plant-powered engine with an electric one, thus reducing emissions even further.

What we don't like (yet):

• As with many gadget's also this one is -still- expensive at least the Hybrid one will be.
• Announcements of when the Power Hybrid model will be available have been unclear.
• The fact that Saab belongs to GM might have been a blessing for them so far but now it seems more of a burden and source for uncertainty due to GM's troubles.
• The design-sorry guys- could have a bit more sex appeal. It looks a bit boring like most of the GM family cars.

Unlike its US counterparts in this list it seems to be used primarily for non-military and non-security research. The computer is not for everyone, as the following numbers show:

• 38 million EUR CAPEX, 15 million EUR OPEX for the 6 years of its operation
• 20 monitors survey the building area in a separate control room
• the cube building to house the computer measures 36mx36m
• aircooling requires 400'000 m3 air per hour

• Katie Fehrenbach (on Gigom) seems to be doing market research for MySpace. At least that's how her contribution on the MySpace market entry in Germany sounds, in particular her research on the current popularity of Lokalisten, the number one social network site (as she thinks). So don't fall for her trap: "If you’re an avid Lokalisten user, or use other German social network sites, let us know!" unless you want to do her job...
• In case you are interested in knowing how online game distribution is done (or actually not yet done up to now) then you should read an excellent article by Wagner James Au - also on the Gigom site.
• This was a big week of quarterly financial reports in the tech industry. If you want to hear it a bit more interestingly commented then "Good Morning Silicon Valley" is the place for you: see here or there. Or how does this header sound to you? "Apple earnings hotter than a MacBook owner's thighs"
• What's the gadget of the week? Although one should not confuse a gadget with something useful (I think that's not what "gadget" means to native English speakers) I still decided - in light of the rising oil prices - to pick the latest Swedish Saab biofuel hybrid engine powered model.
• In case it does not work out with those boring Silicon Valley startup panels, Guy Kawasaki could rise to the best selling book sales person in Amazon.com. His post on the book Sweet Swan of Avon by Robin P. Wiliams (no not the singer but a Shakespeare expert) was outstanding and animated me to look into it too. Of course for different reasons than the Americans. I like Guy's comment: " The design of the book is so elegant that as a fellow author, I want to cry in envy...“Why can’t my books look like this?” "
• No week without a news on VoIP. This time Gizmo announces that it is to offer even more free service than anyone else - like Jahjah or Skype. Hey guys, it is time to accept that this market is closed and that there's one big winner: Skype, who sucked in the money. The rest will supply at much lower cost some of the established players such as Microsoft and probably Google.

We are not management consultants for good reasons. One of them is certainly that we don't like to be joked about. Enjoy this week's contribution:

How many consultants does it take to change a light bulb?

• We don't know. They never get past the feasibility study.

• Three. One to change the bulb and two to write the standards and tell him what he did wrong.

• Five. One to change the bulb and four to contemplate how Tom Peters would have done it.

• Five. One to change the bulb and four to tell him how much better they could have done it.