Steve jobs passed away early this month, the day after the presentation of Iphone 4S. The gadgets fanatic that I am couldn't go by without paying tribute at my level to one of the greatest inventors since Isaac Newton or Thomas Edison. Because yes, Steve could be cited among them.

Like many guys of my generation, my story with Apple and Steve begun with the Ipod in early 2000's, when I started having interest in music. I was just amazed at how a gadget with so few buttons had so many functionalities. I always wondered how it was possible for the player to work, until I got one in my hands.

From conception to presentation, every product that Steve and his team designed had that touch that made Apple the recognized quality brand it is now. By a decade, they succeeded in introducing and changing the way people behave more than one time, and not just in one technology domain, which is just exceptional. The world made giant steps in software, computers, music consumption or mobility, following what Apple had decided.

As the advertising campaign is saying, he was thinking differently. It wasn't just for marketing, but truly a lifetime motto as proved by Apple strategy for decades. And that's how every big step had been performed through humanity history, because one person decided to do something other people never think of, or never had the courage to do.

From education to lifetime choices, Steve's way was atypical. Unlike Bill Gates, he didn't attend one of the top colleges in USA (he attended Reed College), but just like him, he dropped out of college to follow his passion.

It would be too simple to resume his success to those similarities though. We could just say that like every genius, Steve was sort of guided by an invisible force that led him to follow its own path. It's like he knew exactly where he would be standing decades after having started to work in electronics. This month the world has lost a great man but with all his intelligence, I think Steve earned to live forever among us. Walter Isaacson, one of its long-time friend wrote a biography that is available since few days on Amazon us that will relate you the whole story. For my part, I'll end up with a quote from president Barack Obama that summarizes who Steve was:

"...brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it."

Image source: Jonathan Mak

Where are the once known as the "indomitables"? That's the question every Cameroonian football amateur is asking nowadays.

5 years after the 2006 world cup qualifications debacle, it seems like we're still at the same point. Sadly in Cameroon, we no longer have a football team, but just a bunch of guys playing football together. I'm not even sure they're doing it to have and give fun as it should be. The memories of the glorious times where everybody feared the lions of Africa, the indomitables ones, seem so far gone.

Everytime Cameroon had a match, I always hoped at the time that things would be  different. At the end, as it has been over the last years, It'd been the same result: defeat and disappointment.

How come did we reach that point? When did it happen? I don't think anybody got an accurate answer. We thought that by putting them in the best conditions they could hope to prepare the matches like luxuruous hotels (3rd most expensive during South Africa world cup) or 1st class flights they will give more... We thought that by changing the coach (for the xth time), it would have solved our problems... We believed the fault was incombing to a few players and banned them from play. But after all this, we got nothing, nothing, nothing.

For me the truth is cameroonian football is not and will never be the same.  The world of football now require a high sense of professionalism and discipline in the management, preparation and the play itself, 2 things we lack for now. The truth is, our team doesn't have the level it used to have. Apart a few individualities, the players don't have the level for international competitions. We are now paying for years of amateurism, lack of preparation. Where we should be building a team, we are (like always) waiting the urge to react. Football is played not with 1 player, but with 1+1, I mean 11. You just have to look at France or Bresil who are already working on the next world cup by incorporating young talents to see the difference.

Until we learn that the key is proactivity instead of reactivity to events; until we recognize that we must regain not only our lost spirit but also our fighting spirit, the only indomitable lion on earth will remain the one you could see on Cameroonian football team's jersey: an image.

Already 2 months into 2011, maybe the time for the first article of the year :). Stock exchange is an amazing way to invest and earn (or lose) money really fast. I wanted to get involved, without first investing my own money (what most traders are doing, you could say :). There is an old adage in the world of investment banking that is saying "Never take the junk yourself", but I just found an amazing site, Virtual Stock Exchange by MarketWatch, part of the Wall Street Journal network, which made me want to forget about the adage.On vse.marketwatch.com, you will find tons of games on stock exchange, enabling you to virtually buy and trade stocks by competing against other players. It's just an amazing way to apprehend the markets, without the stress of having invested your money, and a perfect way to train, for the day you will decide to take the plunge.

Just remember, the only way to get started is to start, so let's go.

I spent the last weeks on dream hollidays; for cause, I was back in my country, the country of indomitable lions, Cameroon. I could have made a day-by-day résumé of my trip, but there was too many places to see again, too many people to visit, to be updating the blog on a regular basis.

It has been five years since the last time I saw the country of my fathers before this time. I remember that when my plane touched the ground, I still couldn't believe I was there. At one time during the last months, It seems like I'll never see my family again, the time seemed so long.

My first stop was in the city I used to live in, the capital, Yaoundé. I found my home, my neighborhood a bit changed with a lot more houses around. I dedicated the first week of my trip to family, before seeing friends I lived with in Morocco or high school's classmates.

The particularities of Yaoundé, just like many places in Cameroon are red soil and the mix between buildings and nature. Yaoundé is also known as "the 7 hills' town".

Next part of my trip was dedicated to the coast, and the economy's capital, Douala. Unhappily I couldn't have made it to the north, since it's taking a full day to get there by train, and I wasn't in a hurry, plus lacking motivation to take the plane which is much faster, since all my friends borned in the north were now living in Yaoundé.

To briefly resume regions of Cameroon, we have the Centre, full of hills; the South with the most amazing beaches and Cameroon's main harbor.  East well known for its minerals exploitations and forests where you could still find first inhabitants of Cameroon called Pygmees, with some still living in a traditional way. The North is the desertic part, main producer of beans and corn. That's where you could find awesome natural parks with almost every animal living in Africa. West is the part with the most high hills :), and fertile soil, suitable to agriculture. It's the countryside of the famous Bamilékés, a population of Cameroon well known for its keen sense for business. Most  Cameroonian billionaires (in local currency ;) CFA francs) are coming from there. All that has built up Cameroon reputation in the sub-region as Africa in miniature.

So I spent overall 3 weeks there, and now my batteries are fully charged, I'm ready to take a new start, so let's go.

For 4 years, every african football team has been dreaming of one thing: participate to the first world cup ever held in Africa. June 11th started what must have been the most beautiful feast and demonstration of a whole continent. Beauty, responsibility, organization are such things that were mixed for a single goal: win. Win the respect of other countries or continents by perfectly welcoming millions of tourist. Win by saying to people like Pélé who didn't believe the organization of the most popular competition in the world could be handled by africans, that yes we can. Win thousand of supporters, having the chance to finally win the trophee.

What happened to all those dreams? Well, South Africa made its part of the job, by showing one of the most organized, colorful and warm welcoming world cup. A country that has been much known before this month of June for its high rate of seropositive people, or the violence reigning in its slums, like in Soweto. All this will elevate the country among its fellow African countries. What will stay for the rest of Africa? An example to follow.

Now let's talk about the main purpose of the competition: football. The 6 qualified african countries' performances could be summarized in few words: inexperience, not ready, bad luck, egocentricity, hard work. For most of the teams, I'm sure you guessed the correspondence. 

1st country: Algeria. Was it really surprising that they didn't pass the 1st round? No. I think the team has been overflowed with enthusiasm since their epic win in Soudan, against Egypt. They just didn't realised it was only the beginning of the journey, and that they needed to work a lot more. Just like champions league, the world cup is about experience, and Algeria really lacked that one.

South Africa. I believed they would go far in the tournament after their brillant 1st play, but the reality resurfaced in the 2nd match against Uruguay. Because yes, when Pareira took SA team, most observers knew there were not enough good players, and that Pareira needed to work on the group. Unhappily, in an international competition, that didn't forgive. Apart the good match against france, south africans lacked freshness, and individualities that could change the course of a match.

Nigeria. Due to its great experience in international competitions, the eagles were one of the hopes among the qualified. Not enough youngs in that team, not enough creators in the game, that could have showed the way are what pushed them out of the tournament, a bit early.

Ivory Coast. I think the elephants represented the most beautiful team of Africa at least on the paper, with great players, having experience of high level competition. To win world cup, you need 3 things: a good team, realism and a bit of luck. The last part is equally important, because in Drogba's team case, they weren't lucky to be in the same group with Brazil (future finalist :) and Portugal. They have been ousted on one match, the defeat against Seleçao (1-3), despite that they didn't play bad overall.

Cameroon. I'm sure you have been waiting for what I will say about that "team". Well, Cameroon is surely the biggest disappointment of the whole tournament. I'm not just talking about me, but I'm surely talking for all Africans and amateurs of african football, which beautiful pages of history have been written by the team once renowned for their nickname, the indomitable lions. What happened? The same problem that we are facing since 8 years: Egocentricity. The Cameroonians believed they could beat teams like Soudan, Egypt, Gabon or Japan before even having put a feet on the pitch. Players have been overrated, because trust me, we didn't have the level for the tournament, as a group. Internal fights for leadership, a stubborn coach without "cojones" and vision, not willing to experience different systems of play, are the ingredients leading to a severe defeat, which transformed once scaring lions into domestical cats.

Ghana. What to say about that amazing group? Ghana has just been brillant. I have the feeling that they are the only african team that was just not waiting for the African hosted world cup, but also preparing it for years. The emergence of a young team which won u-21 world cup held in Nigeria last year and constant performances on continental and international scene put them where they are today: in quarter finals. After 20 years, Prince Boateng (wink)'s Ghana seems armed to broke the african record held by Cameroon, by becoming the first African team to ever reach semi-finals. They will need for that a victory against Uruguay. At least, they could be guaranteed that now, a whole continent is behind them, because they are the only ones who really defended, and are defending our honor, on our land.

For my country, the wake will be hard, now that we need to find other sources of proudness. We wanted to be the first team to hold the trophee. Instead, we were the first assured of not getting it. Funny hun :). I hope that this will serve as a lesson, and that football in Africa will stay what it is, a sport. A sport and not a political weapon, used to hide real problems. So let's take a date for Morocco 2030 or Ghana 2030, in the hope that this time, the African continent will be totally ready. Let's go "Black Stars"!!