Each quarter, Akamai publishes a quarterly “State of the Internet” report. This report includes data gathered across Akamai’s global server network about attack traffic, average & maximum connection speeds, Internet penetration and broadband adoption, and mobile usage, as well as trends seen in this data over time.

You can download the free quarterly report here, and also use a fun visualization tool to chart network performance in different countries. Who in the world gets the best broadband access?  Find out.

I am often asked “how is BAIA doing?”. The nonprofit just celebrated its 5th anniversary, so I took a step back and took a moment to look at what we have done lately. By all accounts, BAIA is going strong:

• BAIA has produced more than 75 content-rich events, both in Italy and the USA, featuring speakers of exceptional caliber such as Bill Draper, Federico Faggin, Alberto Sangiovanni Vincentelli, Vivek Wadhwa, Joanna Rees and many others.
• In 2010 alone BAIA produced 19 events (!) and so far in 2011 we are already at 10.
• The BAIA member community has reached 1300+ members.
• Subscribers to BAIA’s newsletter are just shy of 5000.
• In July 2011 BAIA launched BAIAbase, the first ever open and editable database of companies operating between Italy and the USA.

Diets do not work, or rather, they never worked for me. The gym is boring and the chances to stick with it, slim. Here’s what has worked for me, simple ideas for a healthier, fitter, less stressed life:

1. Rekindle your college passions

Remember how much you enjoyed participating in sports in college? As much as watching them, right? No need to reinvent the wheel. Whether it was soccer, synchronized swimming, karate or tennis, there is no better, easier way to get moving again than picking up where you left. No learning curve, no need for beginner lessons and plenty of old buddies to share your passion with. Plus the added psychological bonus of feeling free to pretend you are still 21, living in a dorm and without a worry in a world. 

2. If you can only chose one, make it a team sport

This is a no brainer. Lonely pursuits are, well… lonely. There’s nothing like peer pressure and the expectation that you cannot let your team down to get you out of bed and into the court/rink/field/track.  So if you can chose, chose a team sport.

3. Buy the most expensive athletic shoes you can

And put them in a place where you are going to see them every day (in front of your door, by your bed, in your bathroom!) The constant reminder of the need to amortize your  shoes investment will help you find motivation. They are shiny and new and are screaming “show me around!” Note: it works also with any other kind of recreational equipment: skis, skates, tennis racquet, board, weights… even kayaks!

4. Never shop for groceries hungry

Research demonstrates that hungry shoppers tend to buy more and select more prepared meal solutions. Make a list and stick to it. The best time to shop is Saturday morning only AFTER a massive breakfast. You will gladly pass on those buttery cookies and creamy cheeses that you would otherwise jam into your grocery bag.

5. Dine at home

Studies show that meals eaten with others are, on average, 44% larger than meals eaten alone. In addition, meals prepared at home have an average lower caloric content then similar restaurant dishes. No tips required.

6. “Room for dessert?” No, thanks.

If you do eat out, pass on the dessert. I know it is tempting, the special menu and all, but remember that restaurant desserts easily pack in excess of 1000 calories. Also, you may want to note that restaurants make most of their profit margins from your armless guilty pleasures: wine and desserts.

7. Happy hour, fatty hour.

Talking about drinks, an average mixed drink contains easily at least 300 calories. And you tend to consume it at night, the worst time of the day for calorie intake. So a little restraint at happy hour time goes a long way. A friend told me once she only orders Vodka Tonic as it is the leanest of mixed drinks. Not sure about that, but feel free to take her advice.

8. Never take the escalator

Stairs (walking upstairs, but also walking downstairs) are an excellent low-impact cardio-vascular exercise. They are everywhere so opportunities abound. You do not need equipment. Plus, they’ll get your endorphins going so you’ll be more energized and likable in that staff meeting.

9. Give up your cable subscription

I did this back in 2003 and never regretted it (well, maybe I do regret it come NBA Finals time…). As a complete sucker/addict for TV and videogames (I can spend literally days on end playing) I had to force myself to the pace of Netflix’s mail delivery. It is hard to overstate how much time a television-less lifestyle frees up. And while you can replace TV time with the other screens in your life, you can also chose to go out, walk, workout, meditate, cook and many other pursuits that better your existence.

10. Sell your car

This is the hardest one, and a bit hypocritical of me, since I do own one. But I have conducted a car-free existence for long stretches of time, a total of 4 years over the past 10, and I can attest to the fact that, for some combination of factors, all things equal, this action alone is the one that can have the biggest impact on your overall health and fitness. You walk more, carry your grocery bags, start using a bike for commuting, become more disciplined with your schedule (least you miss the last bus home). Take two people with the same genes, the same jobs, the same family, the same hobbies, one owning a car and one not. I bet I can tell you which one is which just by looking at them.

The event that finally prompted me to write… is here.

I put together a list of interesting tech and business events taking place in the Bay Area and Silicon Valley, in July and August 2010. The focus is mostly web, internet marketing, social media, software etc.

Here’s the Google calendar in HTML and iCal format.

PS: I am not associated with, nor endorse any specific listed organization or event.

BAIA is first and foremost a community, so it comes at no surprise that BAIA Link, our online social network, has become a reference resource for BAIA members and friends. The network is on its way to reach 1,000 members early this year and all performance indicators are on the upswing. Very good.

Turns out I am not alone. In fact, about only 14% of the respondents never work on Sundays and almost half (47%) work on Sundays often (2-3 times a month!)

More interestingly, the results suggest a strong inverse correlation between the size of the company you work for and the chances that you will work on Sundays. The self-employed/startup/small biz people work harder?

Conventional wisdom around Europe and Asia is that a local parent company will keep its engineering and product development home and “open a Silicon Valley office to market the product/service/technology”. Perfect. Until you get down to assessing what resources are required. And assessing you must, least finding out later in the game that you are grossly undersized for the challenge.

I may cover legal costs, accounting, infrastructure, rent and other investments another time. Now I want to focus on talent, the scarcest of resources, even in this market.

For the sake of example say you wanted to create a Silicon Valley-based marketing team. Naturally, you may think about hiring a “director-level marketing guy/gal with specific industry experience.” Someone who can “hit the ground running.” Well, there is plenty of great talent in Silicon Valley. The next logical thought is “how much will I have to pay?”

A quick search on Salary.com (I know, not very scientific, but somewhat of a meaningful indicator) estimates the median yearly cash compensation (base salary + bonus) of a Marketing Director in San Francisco at USD ~200,000 (or EUR 135,000 at today’s exchange rate!).

That’s just the start. Such an employee will expect some standard benefits, such as medical insurance, 401k retirement plan, time off, etc. That very quickly adds up to another USD 60,000/year or 20 to 25% of total compensation.

We are not done. Additional direct employee costs need to be factored in, such as computer and IT support (~3,000/year), smartphone and cell plan to answer all those emails from the globe-trotting CEO (~2,500/year), business travel (~10,000 to infinity/year, depending on travel perks and frequency). More often than not some form of severance pay as well as equity compensation must be included in an employment contract.

In the all-too-common scenario that such a hire happened through a broker (head hunter or contingency recruiter), there is also an upfront hiring cost of 15 to 30% of the first year salary, a nifty fee up to USD 50,000 in our little case study.

And finally such a valuable asset cannot possibly do his/her work without a bare-bone team, right? Throw in a couple of “junior marketing persons“ and a “social media intern“ for starters and you need to think about a payroll which will easily burn in excess of half a million USD a year!

Oh, and we have not talked about marketing budget at all…

Bottomline: Fortunately, there are ways to lower the upfront beachhead investment and the risk of building an untested in-house team (I’ll talk about those another time.)  Entrepreneurs, think hard about your objectives, assess the true amount of required resources and weigh all your alternatives.

So, here is the log.

Thursday, Aug 27, 2009 – Day 1

7:40 am: Board Amtrak “San Joaquin” in Emeryville heading to Merced. Mostly commuters around me. Clean cars and comfortable ride, as we coast along the Bay profile and head into the Central Valley.

11:20 am: It is noticeably hotter in Merced. Fortunately YARTS bus to Yosemite is air conditioned. Riding the bus on the way to the park gives me an opportunity to look at the Californian landscape as it changes from flat to hilly and from dry to green. As we enter the Yosemite Valley along Merced river, a haze, due to a fire on Highway 120 miles away, envelops the air.

2:30 pm: After a stop at the Wilderness Center, and now armed with my permit, I head out to Happy Isles Trailhead and up the Mist Trail.

4:50 pm: It’s a tough hike to the top of Nevada Falls with a loaded pack. The sun light filters through the smoky haze produced by a large fire miles away on Highway 120. As I leave the falls trail junction headed to uncrowded Ililouette Creek, the foot traffic evaporates.

8:00 pm: I have now walked in complete solitude for several hours and reach the Ililoutte/Mono Meadow Trail junction. It is getting dark and I set up camp about a mile down, in a flat grey meadow just below a gigantic granite dome. The silence is dense in the trees, as darkness thickens and the breeze dies down. I take in some quick meal and get to sleep, exhausted.

Friday,  Aug 28, 2009 – Day 2

3:00 am: The moon has set and I wake up to a beautifully clear, star-studded sky.

6:30 am: Wake up, coffee and a solid breakfast. I pack up and head back early on the trail. It’s now in the 40s but rapidly warming up, as the sun rises over the Clark Range.

1:50 pm: After a couple of detours to higher ground to catch some vistas, I continue my slow ascend to Ottoway Lake and Red Peak pass and reach Upper Merced Pass lake. It is a perfect spot for my lunch and I take advantage of the most obvious campsite not to far from the shore. I have not seen anyone now for a good full day.

4:40 pm: For a moment I had considered overnighting at Upper Merced Pass Lake, such was the beauty of the place, but I am glad I did not. Ottoway Lake, another fairly strenuous 3 miles up the trail at 9,700 ft, is just stunning! I setup camp as close to the water as I can, on a grassy bluff just above one of the streams that flows into the lake.

6:30 pm: Happy after taking in a earthy enchilada, I survey the surroundings and spot a handful of tents around the lake. The area is so large that we hardly notice each other. Campfires at this altitude are not permitted, but I do not miss one, sipping a cup of tea by the water. A very peaceful, warm and calm evening.

Saturday,  Aug 29, 2009 – Day 3

6:45 am: It was a clear, still, starry night and now the sun is rising from behind the range. Blueberry granola and coffee taste so very good as I prepare the final push to Red Peak Pass, my trip’s highest point.  A short yoga routine by the lake shore and I am ready to go.

8:45 am: It is a tough ascent to the pass, but the views are truly rewarding as I emerge above the tree line into a lunar landscape of red rocks and granite boulders. Curious marmots get out of their burrows to check me out.

11:40 am: Top of Red Peak pass. From up here, looking North, a commanding view of the eastern park valleys and peaks opens up. Magnificent. I meet a fellow hiker from the Bay Area, C., the first real conversation in three days.

1:00 pm: After a rough, step and rocky descent leaving Red Peak to my left, I reach a small alpine lake, still above tree line and wide open under the vertical sun. Perfect spot for lunch, some rest and a dip in the chill water.

2:15 pm: As I continue my descent to Triple Fork creek, the landscape turns to picture-perfect quintessential Yosemite. Granite inclines dotted by round gigantic boulders, pools, streams, isolated junipers, pines and hemlocks, against a blue sky.

4:50 pm: After having reached the Triple Fork trail junction, I set to find a suitable camp site further downstream and east of the trail and select a most perfect spot on a tree-rimmed flat just above the river. It has been a fairly strenuous 9 miles from Ottoway Lake and I am glad I can finally pitch my tent, rest and get some dinner. C., who I crossed paths with again at the junction, pitches his on the other side of the river.

8:30 pm: It is the perfect night for a campfire, cold and dry. C. and I exchange backpacking stories in front of the crackling flames. Looks like the temperature is going to fall into the 30s during the night.

Sunday, Aug 30, 2009 – Day 4

6:15 am: The second part of my loop will be mostly flat or downhill and, with a lighter pack, I expect to move much faster, so I am in no hurry to get back on the trail. It has been a very chilly night and although I still woke up at least four or five times, I feel very well rested. Mount Florence is now clearly visible straight ahead as I sip my coffee and prepare breakfast. Plenty of time to wash socks, light a fire and toast-dry them.

9:45 am: I finally leave camp. One last look to fix in the memory the beauty of the place and off I go. Following the creek downstream and off the trail, through marshes and meadows, something one could not quite do in early Spring, I pass by waterfall after waterfall.

1:40 pm: Back on the trail for several miles now, I reach the south end of Washburn Lake. Wedged between steep, polished granite domes, it offers plenty of campsites, a shore and, a good 3 days away from the nearest road, tranquility. I coast the lake to reach the north side to find a ranger-led fishing party, there for the day. I decide to not push forward, and spend the night here. After backtracking the trail to the south shore and setting up camp, the fishermen leave. No one else would come by through the rest of the day and the following night. An entire lake, all for me. What a privilege.

6:10 pm After a swim in the freezing lake waters, a tea and some reading, I lit a fire. The sun is setting behind the west ridge, while I prepare my meal and throw the fly over my tent to protect me from the steady wind from the north. I retire early, ready for the sleeping bag by 8:30.

Monday, Aug 31, 2009 – Day 5

5:45 am Early rise and ritual breakfast. The only sound is the one of pine cones falling to the ground under the wind.

7:40 am Off to Merced Lake. It is mainly a steady slow descent from this point on, so I make very good time even as I take breaks to enjoy the scenery. I am at Merced Lake by 10 am and cross paths with several mule convoys bringing supplies up from the valley. Cumuli are forming overhead, threatening thunderstorms.

12:30 pm Brunell Cascade is a sequence of several rushing whitewater falls over and around massive granite slabs and crevices. Must be quite a spectacle earlier in the season, but still manages to produce impressive cascades this late in August.

3:15 pm Here I am at Yosemite Valley backpackers campground. I have covered 12 miles today and feel it in my feet. I take over a large site and pitch the tent. The camp has certainly a very different feel than the sites I have been stopping at for the last few days. I need to really worry about bears and squirrels adept at getting food from less than careful campers. Plenty of parties stopping for the night on the way to Half Dome or the John Muir Trail.

10:45 pm It did not rain in the end. The moon sets, giving way to the usual clear, starry night sky.

Tuesday, Sep 1, 2009 – Day 6

6:00 am Short day. I need to get back to Yosemite Valley in time to catch the early YARTS bus to Merced. A quick breakfast and I am ready to go.

8:45 am The descent to Happy Isles Trailhead is fast and I am really feeling the 6-days worth of walking in my legs now. I reach the valley before 9 and hop on the shuttle to the Visitor Center. It is a pleasure to talk with strangers. The deli BLT sandwich I get at the Visitor Center tastes absolutely delicious.

11:15 am After a whole 6 hours on bus, Amtrak and BART, I am finally back home. Filthy, tired and with a satisfied grin on my face.

UPDATE 11/10/2009

My fellow backcountry enthusiast Charles Hodgkins has done a much better job at describing the Southern Yosemite wilderness experience than I did. He is the guy I met on top of Red Peak Pass.