Links for January 15th through January 18th

• Ode to a Microwave
  "Leftovers are my life, which is one reason I have such a close relationship with my microwave oven. Last night I discovered one more justification for their existence: Nothing makes better basmati rice." And then directions for making rice in the Microwave, takes about 25 minutes.
• IBM and RIM baby!
  Blackberry Client for IBM Lotus Quickr and Blackberry Client for IBM Lotus Connections for $35 from IBM.
• Marrakesh: myths, mint and memories – The Globe and Mail
• In Power Push, Movement Sees Base in G.O.P.
• How a writer tweeted the earthquake
• Naomi Klein on how corporate branding has taken over America
  "This was the era when corporate epiphanies were striking CEOs like lightning bolts from the heavens: Nike isn't a running shoe company, it is about the idea of transcendence through sports, Starbucks isn't a coffee shop chain, it's about the idea of community. Down on earth these epiphanies meant that many companies that had manufactured their products in their own factories, and had maintained large, stable workforces, embraced the now ubiquitous Nike model: close your factories, produce your products through an intricate web of contractors and subcontractors and pour your resources into the design and marketing required to project your big idea… Some called these restructured companies 'hollow corporations' because their goal seemed to be to transcend the corporeal world of things so they could be an utterly unencumbered brand. As corporate guru Tom Peters put it: 'You're a damn fool if you own it!'"
• SAP Caves to Client Price Demand, May Cap Sales Gain
  "Under the new plan, SAP’s current enterprise support customers get another year of unchanged prices, at 18.36 percent of the licensing fee, which will gradually increase to 22 percent in the years 2011 to 2016."
• February Agile Austin Meeting @ Welcome to Agile Austin
  I'll be doing a talk Feb 2nd at Agile Austin: "Agile Infrastructure, or, The Silver Bullet du jour, or, Mutual Hatred Between Development and Operations."
• Why the Punditocracy is Wrong About the Google Phone
  "You are signing up for years of pain and wasted money with Google's business model."
• Things you might want to know:

Disclosure: see the RedMonk client list for clients mentioned.