Miletos: Center of Science and Philosophy in ancient era

15.000 people used to watch that view during a performance 2500 years ago. The hill was an island, the plain was sea. Thales, Anaximander, Aspasia, Anaximenes, Isidorus, and many more were there.

The Road Ahead

The Long and winding road.

Pentax Digital SLR

Pentax K50, My digital SLR choice.

Istanbul Bosphorus

Istanbul, The city, where two continents meet. View from Europe to Asia.

Feb 28, 2013

Liderlere sektör tecrübesi gerekir mi?

İşe alım sürecinde, kuruluşlar daima seçecekleri adaylarda yetkinliklerinin yanı sıra, sektör tecrübesinin olup olmadığına da bakıyorlar. Sektör tecrübesi, eğitim ve yetkinliklerinin yanına eklenince ilgili başvuruyu en kuvvetli aday haline getirebiliyor. Bu durum, hem İnsan Kaynaklarının hem de İş biriminin ortak tercihi olarak doğal bir şekilde ortaya çıkıyor. Sonuç olarak sektör tecrübesi olan bir adayı istihdam etmek, ilk günlerdeki geçiş sürecini kolaylaştıracak ve adayın daha çabuk adapte olup hemen iş üretmesini temin edecektir.

Liderlik tüm organizasyonların büyümesi ve gelişmesi için temel etkenlerden biri olarak görülmektedir. Liderlik sadece çok üst kademelerde değil, organizasyonlardaki her seviyede vardır ve organizasyonların pozitif gelişimi için kişilerde liderlik de geliştirilmelidir.
"Gandossy" ve "Guarnieri" tarafından yapılan bir çalışmada şu sonuç ortaya çıkmıştır. CEO'lar nitelikli liderlik becerisinin eksikliğinin kuruluşların önündeki en önemli engel olarak gördüklerini belirtmişlerdir [1]. Bu durumda yıllardır süregelen, işe alım süreçlerinde adayın sektör tecrübesini ön planda tutma meselesi acaba isabetli bir karar değil mi? Sektör tecrübesi yerini liderlik özelliğine mi bırakmalı? Bir başka deyişle liderlerin sektör tecrübesine ihtiyacı var mı?

Harvard Üniversitesi öğretim üyelerinden Gautam Mukunda bu soruyu destekleyen bir çalışma yapmıştır [2]. Mukunda yaptığı çalışmada liderleri iki kategoriye ayırmıştır.
1) İçeridekiler
2) Dışarıdakiler

Bu çalışmada Mukunda dışarıdan gelenlerin en etkin olduklarını bulmuştur. İçeridekilerden seçilenler ilgili işi başarılı bir şekilde yerine getirecektir. Fakat bu başarı, diğer sektör tecrübeli veya içeriden gelen adaylardan  daha farklı olmayacaktır. Yani sektörden gelenler benzer başarılar sergilemektedirler.

Yapılan çalışmada en iyi liderlere örnek gösterilen "Steve Jobs" ve "Abraham Lincoln"'ün de dışarıdan gelen liderler olduğu söylenmektedir. Onları bu kadar başarılı kılan, dışarıdan olmaları ve içeridekilerden farklı düşünebilmeleri olmuştur. İçeriden olanlar gibi tek bir yönteme veya içeride bilinen doğrulara bağlı kalmamaları olmuştur.

Dışarıdan gelenler için zorlu durum şudur: Dışarıdan gelenler hem büyük bir ödül hem de risktir.

İçeridekiler oturmuş yapılarda etkin olabilirler. Fakat uç durumlarda ve ani değişimlerde dışarıdan gelenler daha rahat adapte olabiliyorlar. İçeriden gelenler ekstrem durumlarda genellikle normal durumlardaki gibi aynı kararları alırlar ve liderliklerinin bir etkisi yoktur. Dışarıdan gelenler ise daha farklı düşünecek ve risk alacaklardır.

Özetle ya büyük kazanma veya büyük kaybetme potansiyeli olan sektör dışından bir lider seçebilirsiniz, ya da içeriden standart bir başarı sergileyecek birini. Ama en kazançlısı sektör dışından bir lider seçip "büyük kazanma" potansiyelinin daha ağır basmasını temin etmek olacaktır.




Referanslar:
1- Gandossy and Guarnieri, Can you measure leadership, 2008
2- Gautam Mukunda, Great leaders don't need experience, 2012

Feb 23, 2013

Do leaders need sector experience?

It is always a concern for the organizations to select competent candidate with the sector experience or not.   Definitely to meet with sector experienced candidates is preference of both HR and business. Such a placement will shorten induction period and enable the organization to move business as usual earlier. But on the other hand,  different sector experience might add value to the organization. Experience from another domain will enrich employee's contribution to the organization.

Leadership is the main leverage for the growth of an organization. Gandossy and Guarnieri state that "Many CEO cite the lack of qualified leadership talent as the most significant constraint on growth" [1]. Thus selecting candidates who demonstrate leadership with the different domain knowledge might be the most contributor for the growth.

Gautam Mukunda from Harvard Business School support this idea with his study [2]. He also adds another challenge to the idea with his study.

Mukunda categorize leaders into two groups.
1) Filtered Leaders or Insiders.
2) Unfiltered Leaders or Outsiders.

In the study Mukunda discovered that the outsiders were the most effective. Choosing an insider will do the job well but won't perform any different from any other top candidate with the sector experience. Outsiders perform the very best without lots of sector experience. The best leaders - Steve Jobs, Abraham Lincoln were outsiders or unfiltered leaders. Their ability to think differently and not stick to a certain way of doing things, made them so effective.

The challenge is, "outsiders are high risk but high reward".
Insiders can be effective in stable situation. But they can't adapt to extreme situation or sudden change where outsiders feel free to adapt. Insiders will usually make the same decisions in extreme situation. Their leadership doesn't have impact. Outsiders will think differently and take the risk.

Out of this study, it is clear that one can either choose a leader who is potential to win big or lose big, or choose the one that insider with standard outcome.




References:
1- Gandossy and Guarnieri, Can you measure leadership, 2008
2- Gautam Mukunda, Great leaders don't need experience, 2012

Feb 18, 2013

How to run my Blogger in Hostgator domain

Let me briefly state the situation as follows. This article will summarize how to set up your purchased domain name from Hostgator instead of blogger domain.

  1. You have a blog in blogger from Google.
  2. You purchased a Domain Name registration from Hostgator. 
  3. You want to call your blog with your domain name instead of blogger domain name.
Settings must be done in both blogger and your own domain provider which is Hostgator in this case.

Blogger side settings:


  1. Go to blogger main page.
  2. Select "Settings", "Basics", 
  3. Click "Add a custom domain" will bring you following screen 
  4. Click "Switch to advanced settings"
  5. In the advanced settings screen write your purchased domain name in the available box (circulated)  and click "Save" button (circulated) as shown in the picture below.
  6. After clicking save button you will have an error message from blogger as follows: We have not been able to verify your authority to this domain. Error 12.
  7. This is normal. No need to worry. Write down or better to copy three highlighted items in the picture below to a notepad. (not MS word) We will need them in the hosting side settings.



Hostgator side settings

Hostgator has set up your IP address and domain name ready. But it is surely not related with blogger. Now you will generate this linkage or make the integration between these two party.

Login to Hostgator CPanel and select "Advanced DNS zone editor" 









Please look for www.YourSelectedName.com record in the list. YourSelectedName stands for your purchased domain name.

If you have this record please edit and change as follows.


Name box: It should be entered as www. Your domain name will automatically be added. So at the end the box will contain www.YourSelectedName.com

CNAME box: It is filled with the first item copied and pasted in the notepad from blogger error screen (above)



Add a new record: 
This record will contain Short numbers and letters that have been copied into notepad. The second item in the error screen from blogger.Total Name box content will be your copied text.YourSelectedName.com.

TTL and Type boxes will be same as above 14400 and CNAME respectively.

Finally CNAME will have the long trails of letters and numbers from blogger error screen that we have previously copied to notepad.

Click add record.

Hostgator hosting side settings are completed. 
Logout from cpanel.

Finally Again Blogger settings:

Go to blogger.
Follow the steps above from 1 to 5 in the blogger side settings.
This time your settings will be saved with no error.

I hope it simply helps you to guide through your setting with Blogger and Hostgator for your domain name. Any other questions or comments please do not hesitate.















Use your domain name instead of blogger's

This article will address the following questions on your mind (if you have)
How to set up your blog with your own domain name? How to set up your domain name with blogger?
There are lots of content management system (CMS) or platform to host your blog. But I will just continue to explain how to start blogging with Google blogspot. As the next step to configure your blogger for your domain name.

Google blogger is the most convenient, fast and easy set up blogging environment for those who already have Google accounts. But the blog name you selected will be represented as "SelectedName.blogspot.com". It will  be like a subscription in blogger. This is called sub-domain. A domain name under the blogger domain. This means you can reach your blog page as "http://SelectedName.blogspot.com".  Later on you may want to have your own domain name such as "www.SelectedName.com" instead of blogger sub-domain. Here are some suggestions for the bloggers who have the question of "How do I access my blog using my own domain name?"

Considering that you have a Google account and blog set up ready. If you don't have, you should obtain one. Easiest way is to have a gmail account, which will enable you to have a blogger with this account.
Login gmail. You will see the following black strip on the top of the screen.


Go to "More" and select "Blogger". From the blogger screen select "Settings", "Basics", and "Add a custom domain" will bring you following screen.

Here you can buy a domain name from Google partner domain name system (DNS) provider. All you have to do is to click "Check Availability" button to see if your "www.SelectedName.com" is available. Then follow the instructions. This is the cheapest and easiest way of registering your domain name. There are currently two DNS provider listed and selectable in the Google blogger site. But this service  doesn't include storage space. You are limited with Google's free storage capacity.
One may want to register some other hosting providers than these two. If you need a storage space, you should definitely go for same or different hosting providers for a storage space and other services. In this case you buy your domain name from a hosting provider and all you have to do is to link your blogger name with your own domain name.  Google has a support page for some hosting service providers. This support page explain in details how to do the configuration.
I will try to simplify the necessary settings of how to use your domain with blogger. No need to confuse with the meaning of A record or CNAME etc.

Settings must be done in both blogger and your own domain provider.
Blogger side settings:

  1. Go to blogger main page.
  2. Select "Settings", "Basics", 
  3. Click "Add a custom domain" will bring you following screen 
  4. Click "Switch to advanced settings"
  5. In the advanced settings screen write your purchased domain name in the available box (circulated)  and click "Save" button (circulated) as shown in the picture below.
  6. After clicking save button you will have an error message from blogger as follows: We have not been able to verify your authority to this domain. Error 12.
  7. This is normal. No need to worry. Write down or better to copy three highlighted items in the picture below to a notepad. (not MS word) We will need them in the hosting side settings.







I will explain hosting side settings with a non explained Hostgator example. Hostgator has took its place within top 10 hosting companies in 2012 and 2013 by all comparison compilations. According to some comparison site, Hostgator has a market increase trend. Hostgator case is not explained by Google support site. So I wanted to explain how to do the blogger settings in Hostgator. Please read my next post to complete settings. Any comments or questions are welcome.


Jan 13, 2013

How do I set bilingual or multilingual blogger ?

It is not so difficult to create multilingual blog using blogger (blogspot) from google. There are several approaches to make bilingual or multilingual blogs, but not for blogger. Wordpress is much more convenient or many of bloggers explained how to do it with Wordpress. I searched for a solution and tried several things until I get it work properly work in blogger. Even in an hopeless time, I wanted to give a try to Wordpress and move all my posts to Wordpress from blogger. Then I found a way of setting up a bilingual blog for blogger.

Let's start with the idea of making bilingual site. There are translation solutions which are suggested by other blogger. But these translators are still not performing good. Human translation is always easier and better to understand and more convenient for the readers.

I had posts both in Tukish and in English in my blog. I didn't want to split two languages into to different blog. That will split the traffic of the blog. I preferred to keep them all in one blog.

Tutorial on how to make bilingual blogger

For a multilingual site, you need a menu theme. It is easier to click one menu item for each language selection.

To identify the languages in the posts I added tags (or labels) to each post that determines the language of the post. Let say "TR" for Turkish and "EN" for English.

To render only posts in one language (or one label let say "EN") you should call your blog as follows:

http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/search/label/EN

This link on the web browser will bring only your blog posts with "EN" label. Now you know how to render posts of just one language. For another language, you should change TAG in your link, according to your label. In my case it is just to replace "EN" with "TR"

Next step is how to render main page with the search label parameters. You should go to your bloger. Select SETTINGS, SEARCH PREFERENCES and CUSTOM REDIRECTS.
Add From link just "/" slash mark. This means your blog name.
Add To link "/search/label/TR" where TR is your label to reference posts of that language. So your main page will be a page with label search parameter. Finally check the "Permanent" box, Click Save and than "Save Changes".

Now your main page with the selected language is ready. Final issue is to set the second language. You should use one of the menu link on your theme for this. Then go to blogger, Template, Edit HTML.
HTML codes will be visible. Search for the Link item you want to use. Replace this link with the language identifier. And give the link with the search label parameter. Your HTML code line should look like this.

<li><a href='/search/label/TR'>Türkçe</a></li>
Same idea as we made with redirection. When mouse lick on this link only posts with TR labels will be rendered.

In this solution, gadgets, image buttons will be only in one language. These details are not replaced with selected language and kept in original language.

Other solutions such as java scripting and META Refresh will not bring that simple solution and have problems with the search engines.
I hope you enjoy. Any questions are welcome.
If you intent to do the same with Wordpress please check my other post. How to bilingual with Wordpress? I presume it is easier to handle.

Dec 30, 2012

Image file histogram drawer

Bmp image histogram viewer will allow you to import the bmp image file, to render the file and to draw the histogram with a scaling factor.

This version only imports bmp files, thus, you need to convert other types of files into bmp format before running the histogram. I'm hoping that, following version of this software will support several image formats. Just click the link below to download free image histogram viewer software Release 1.1..


Click following link.
Click FILE, and then DOWNLOAD on the next screen.
After downloading the zip file (Histogram.zip) UNZIP the downloaded file by double clicking it.
Then Run the Setup.exe file.
This will install Image histogram viewer on your computer.



Download Image Histogram Viewer


How to use the software?

It has a simple user guide that comes with the installation. It is located same directory and shortcut to user guide is attached on desktop.
This can not be said as a user guide. Although, the software is intuitive and easy to use, I just want to leave some comments for the users.
1) Click "File Open" button to load BMP file from your computer.
2) Set the scaling factor. This coefficient apply the scaling factor for whole image histogram. So that you can zoom in a part of the histogram or zoom out just to evaluate the picture looking at the histogram.
3) Click the "histogram" button. So, both image and its histogram will be visible.

Please note that, if you want to redraw the histogram with different scale, feel free to change the scaling factor and click "Histogram" button again.

If you liked this software, please click "g+1", "Like" or "Tweet" button. I'll keep posting the further versions.

Dec 16, 2012

Didyma, Center of Oracle for the ancient Ionians.


Didyma was an ancient Ionian sanctuary. It had a temple and oracle of Apollo. Didyma was the most significant sanctuary in the territory of Miletus. 








The oldest tablets dated back to the 6th century BC. Most of the sculptures, form the same century, were carried out to British Museum by Sir Charles Newton in 1858, of course with the permission of Ottoman authorities. German excavations made between 1905 and 1930 revealed most part of the temple.
 

The huge marble temple has amazing, 120 giant columns at the front porch. Because the giant size of the construction, it never covered by a roof.







At the back of the porch, temple priests met petitioners. They accept questions for the oracle, and to deliver oracular poems. 













Two tunnel ramps slope down from both sides of the porch to the huge square. This square held the sacred spring. A priest would drink from the spring to produce oracle.












Several impressive sculptures are around the temple, especially the head of Medusa. It is similar to the head of Medusa in the Basilica Cistern in Istanbul.






Didim, Antik İyon medeniyetinde kahinlerin ve kehanetin merkezi


Apollo Tapınağı
Didim antik bir İyon tapınağıdır.  Apollo tapınağının da bulunduğu bir kehanet merkezidir. Bu kehanet merkezi o dönemlerde Milet toprakları içerisinde bulunmaktadır. 







Didim’deki en eski yazıtlar MÖ 6. yüzyıla dayanmaktadır. Aynı yüzyıldan kalan birçok heykel 1858 yılında Sir Charles Newton tarafından Osmanlı hükümetinden izin alınarak İngiltere’ye götürülmüştür.  Didim’deki ilk kazılar 1905 ile 1930 yılları arasında yapılmış ve tapınağın büyük bir bölümü bu dönem kazıları ile ortaya çıkartılmıştır.












Büyük mermer tapınağın üzerinde 120 tane kocaman sütun bulunmaktadır. Yapının büyüklüğü nedeniyle hiçbir zaman sütunların üzeri bir çatı ile örtülmemiştir.

Sütunların bulunduğu girişin arka tarafında bir meydan bulunmaktadır. Bu meydanda tapınak rahipleri kehanet soranlar ile görüşür, onların sorularını alır ve sonrasında yanıt olarak kehanetlerini şiirsel bir şekilde verirlerdi.




Tapınağın ön tarafındaki sütunlu girişten arkadaki meydana gitmek için iki tarafta mermer tüneller mevcuttur. Bu tünellerden inerek arka meydana ulaşılır. Bu meydanda bulunan çeşmeden rahipler suyu içip, daha sonra kehanette bulunurlardı. 

Tapınağın etrafında az da olsa çeşitli heykeller bulunmaktadır. Bunlardan en bilineni Medusa başıdır. Bu baş İstanbul’daki Yerebatan sarnıcında bulunan Medusa başı ile çok benzeşmektedir.






Nov 6, 2012

IPhone 5 Fotoğraf Özellikleri


Günümüzde birçoğumuz yanımızda taşıdığımız telefonlar ile fotoğraf anlık resimler çeker olduk. Bu nedenle artık cep telefonlarını alırken fotoğraf makinesi özelliklerine de bakar olduğumuzu görüyorum.
IPhone 5’in çıkması ile birlikte Iphone 4 veya 4S kullanıcıları ikiye ayrıldı. Hemen almayı isteyenler ve değip değmeyeceğine karar veremeyenler. Türkiye’de 18 ay ortalamasında cep telefonu değiştiriliyor. 24 aylık taahhüt ile Iphone alan kullanıcılar için, 24 aylık  yeni kontrat imzalayarak Iphone 5 almak çok uygun. Bu nedenle ilk kategoride olanların çoğunluk olacağını düşünürüm.

Fakat ben yine de Iphone 5’in fotoğraf tarafında yeni neler var diye merak edenler için bir küçük karşılaştırma yapmak isterim.
IPhone 5’in fotoğraf makinesinde şu özellikler ön plana çıkıyor.

·         Düşük ISO değerlerinde çok kaliteli resimler çekebiliyor. Bunun anlamı az ışıkta selefleri olan Iphone 4 ve Iphone 4S’e göre daha iyi resim çekiyor.
·         Otofokus (otomatik metre ayarı) ve Beyaz denge (White balance) ayarları eskilerine göre daha güvenilir.
·         Yüz tanıma özelliği mevcut
·         4 ve 4S’e göre daha fazla resimde karlanmayı önleyici özelliği var.
·         Daha parlak ve yüksek çözünürlüklü LCD ekrana sahip.
·         Mükemmel bir HDR özelliği var. Bu özellik aynı resim içerisinde çok parlak ve çok karanlık temalar olduğunda ikisinin ortası bir pozlama yapabilmek için büyük önem taşır.
·         Panaromik resim çekebiliyor. Bu özellik aslında IOS 6 ile birlikte geldi ve eğer Iphone 4 veya 4S’e IOS 6 yüklenirse de kullanılabilir.
·         Ekran üzerinde basarak resim çekilebileceği gibi telefon üzerindeki bir butona basarak da resim çekilebiliyor.
·         Ekrandaki belli noktalara dokunarak resimin o noktaya odaklanmasını sağlayan oto fokus sistemi.
·         Daha kolay kullanılabilir fotoğraf uygulaması.




Dezavantajları
·         Karanlıkta yetersiz flash.
·         Yapay ışık altında daha sarımsı resimler çekebiliyor.
·         Kumaş veya düz çizgilerin çekiminde “moire” etkisi adı verilen bir bozulma söz konusu olabiliyor. Bu etki resmi büyüttüğünüz zaman daha belirgin olabilir.





Sonuç olarak Iphone 5 fotoğraf özelliği seleflerine göre daha iyi resim kalitesine ve daha kolay kullanıma sahip. Fakat yine de resim kalitesi ve özellikler açısından şu günlerde mobil telefonlarda en iyisi Nokia Pureview 808.

Sonuç olarak bu yazı, Iphone 5 alınca bir önceki Iphone’ unuza göre fotoğraf özelliği olarak beklentilerinizi nereye yerleştirmeniz gerektiği konusunda az da olsa bir fikir verebilecektir.



IPhone 5 camera capabilities


Many people points and shoot instantly using their phones. This need added “camera” feature of the mobile phones in the buyer’s list of future to compare for different products.
When Iphone 5 announced, I thought if it worth to change Iphone 4. Comparing the camera feature of Iphone 5 with its predecessors I phone 4 or Iphone 4S, here are the highlights.


Camera of I Phone 5 has:
  • Excellent resolution at low ISO settings. It goes up to ISO 3200.
  • Reliable autofocus metering and white balance in daylight
  • Automatic face detection
  • More noise reduction compared to 4 or 4s.
  • Bright, very high-resolution LCD screen
  • Excellent built-in HDR mode.
  • Shot in Panorama modes. It actually comes with IOS 6 and can be used by 4 and 4S too.
  • Hardware shutter button (volume keys)
  • Easy to use Camera Application.
  • Easy Auto Focus touching the screen.



Cons:
  • Poor flash performance in low light.
  • Yellowish results under warm artificial light
  • Occasional “moire” issues with very fine detail (fabric, straight lines, etc.)



As the final note, definitely camera of IPhone 5 has a better image quality and easy to use application compared to its predecessors.  Although IPhone 5 has a very good camera, looking at the specs and image quality, Nokia pureview 808 camera is better compared to Iphone 5 camera. 

Now this is your call, where to position your camera expectation with Iphone 5 compared to its predecessors.