Written on April 14, 2008 – 8:13 am
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten,
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Here is a beautiful movie to help you survive another Mischievous Monday Morning. Its a television item which was broadcasted on October 8, 1993 by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is about a ‘new phenomena’ called ‘The Internet’.
For those of you who work in this industry it is good to realize just how young The Internet actually is. Just imagine what it will look like 14 years from now. Or don’t just imagine it and go back to work now and build it…
A few interesting quotes from the item:
“A revolution in which 15 million people take part”
“It has more soul than any human being I know!”
“The Internet is growing like an embryonic brain, at a rate of 10%, a month!”
The original can be seen at the CBC Digital Archives but here is a copy from Youtube:
A network called ‘Internet’ (6:25 minutes):
Written on March 6, 2008 – 12:01 am
Eric Bun, business innovation consultant
I guess you all might be familiar with the book of James Surowiecki ‘The Wisdom of Crowds – Why the many are smarter than the few and how collective wisdom shapes business, economies, societies and nations’. The book elaborates on the value of, and how to utilize the knowledge within communities to foster knowledge, ideas, initiatives and innovation. It starts with a nice example of a lost submarine in the Atlantic Ocean which is found back after all those concerned are asked to bring ideas on the supposed location.
Gradually, more and more organizations are utilizing the wisdom of the crowds and also consultancy and software firms are cleverly seizing up on that development. This week I coincidentally came in contact with people of BrightIdea.com. A company that offers idea management tools to be implemented on corporate websites in order to encourage community members to came up with new inspiring ideas. Although I really believe in social innovation and co-creating with your customer, I think that any idea management tool won’t deliver the continuous adequate innovation process which are companies looking for nowadays. (more…)
Written on March 4, 2008 – 5:31 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Remember the post I wrote about Wordpress NOT being the next social network, just because it’s too complicated for the larger public? I still think about it the same way, yet I see more and more initiatives that show that Wordpress is becoming an even larger player in the field of web publishing.
The most inspiring post on this subject is written by Raj Dash on the blog Performancing. He describes 48 unique ways to use Wordpress:
As someone who has both written small, custom CMSes from scratch as well as evaluated million-dollar professional CMSes for large corporations, WordPress’ robustness never ceases to amaze me.
According to Dash, the key to the many ways Wordpress can be used lies in five components: custom theme, custom code tweaks, custom or widely-available plugins, custom fields per post and custom code to use the custom fields. After making this clear he sums up some interesting Wordpress-powered sites, like city guides, webcasting stations and web portfolios.
Yet the simplest idea strikes me the most. Developers like Charlene from Essential Keystrokes use Wordpress as an easy content management system. Have a look at Furniture Warehouse, this simple website is build with Wordpress, not that you can tell though. It’s perfect for small companies that want a good-looking site that is easy to customize. They used to hire a web master or pay a huge license fee for a complicated CMS, now they can just ask an experienced blogger to install Wordpress with a good looking theme.
It might not be a bad idea if Wordpress would start to exploit this new usage of their publishing platform. With some minor adjustments - like a function that disables the comments functions - Wordpress could easily evolve to a popular content management system as well.
Some useful links
Written on February 28, 2008 – 1:53 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Today I received an email by Antonio Roldao Lopes, he is one of the creators of WebCanvas, a world-wide collaborative painting project, started in London. Can projects get even more charming than this one? It’s Flower Power 2.0! On a Dutch blog, I’ve once drawn a comparison between hippies and bloggers, inspired by what LSD promoter and professor Timothy Leary once said:
Internet is the LSD of the 1990s
Just like the hippies, we’ve created a place where everybody has the freedom to publish his or her thoughts. We have the power to criticize multinationals, a place where we can discusses whether our world leaders do the right thing and people with the same passion from all over the world now have a place to meet. Not to mention the geographical resemblance. And now can we work on an art piece together.
Anyone can move around an ‘infinite’ canvas. Using available painting tools is it’s also possible to draw and upload images. Furthermore it is possible to view other users painting if they happen to be painting within the same viewing area.
Check out some highlights on the WebCanvas blog, like the skeleton on the right.
Written on February 18, 2008 – 3:47 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Problem 1: when one of my best friends and me want to meet, we always have discussion about the place to go to. Since he lives in the southern part of Amsterdam and my apartment is in the north-east, we have a mutual agreement to meet in the middle. Yet for some reason, our definitions of the ‘middle’ are always slightly different.
Problem 2: a Dutch correspondent in the US once told me that when American families meet for Thanksgiving or Christmas, they just drive to a location that is located in the middle. US visitors of the Next Web Blog can probably verify this, right? These families probably have the same discussions as my friend and me do. The result: family fights about a driving a few miles more.
Solution: As with most great solutions: they’re stupid yet brilliant ideas. This time I found one in the Museum of Modern Betas. It’s called the Mezzoman and it will prevent a lot of people from fighting. It uses Google Maps and some pre-defined search terms - such as Italian food - to show my friend, American families and everybody else out there the way to the perfect meeting point.
The service and its Facebook app are still in beta. Hopefully the guys behind this initiative will expand it somewhat, since options are very limited now. Why not use more services than just Google Maps and Facebook? Mezzoman could also show some reviews, link to blog articles about the spot and find some Flickrpics of the place. That will make the act of preventing fights even more fun.
Written on February 16, 2008 – 1:08 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
After spending two days in the city of love and buying Valentine’s presents, the wildest ideas about love pop into your mind. At least in my experience they do… so here’s one! On my way to Paris I read an article in my favorite newspaper that said it started a dating service. Nothing special, since every newspaper in the Netherlands has its own dating service. They were just a little later.
Starting a dating service as a newspaper makes sense if you think about it. You choose a newspaper because you feel most comfortable with its political signature, tone of voice, cultural supplement and of course its brand experience. The newspaper I read for example is aimed at a young cosmopolitan audience, discusses broad themes instead of just the hottest news and highlights interesting and semi-intellectual stuff to do. If I were looking for a girlfriend, I would definitely want a girl who has the same ideas about what’s important in life and the world. So the perfect girl for me would probably read the same newspaper.
That’s where the dating service comes in. I could just browse through profiles of girls, without worrying whether she open for semi-intellectual stuff of not. Makes perfect sense to me. I mean, somebody who reads The New York Times would never date anyone who started the day with The New York Post. It goes for magazines too, a FHM man doesn’t want a high-brow New Yorker reader to spend his life with. Right?
If you think of it that way, blogs could easily start dating services as well. They discuss a specific hobby, passion, business or sports team etcetera and differentiate from each other by using a different tone of voice and design. If you’re an eligible bachelor in London, it mustn’t be that hard to meet an attractive tech-minded girl (correct me if I’m wrong guys), yet when you live in Liverpool you might need some help finding one. Wouldn’t it be great if a TechCrunch UK dating service came to the rescue?
Moreover, blogs have a big advantage compared to newspapers since they allow interaction between readers. You can judge on beforehand whether you like his or hers opinion on certain matters. Want some diversity? Check out an article that discusses an important topic and see if he or she has as totally different view on things.
One doubt about dating on blogs, I’m not sure about the man/woman ratio though as male readers are probably still a majority. Anyway, let me try to give you an idea what I’m talking about, here are some stereotype readers. Feel free to drop your experiences in the comments.
- TechCrunch Chick: she’s pretty straight-forward, would love to live in the Valley and is always looking for opportunities to come up with THE perfect business idea. And as no other, she knows money makes the world go round.
- VentureBeat Gentleman: killer-guy, working his ass off and likes to cut through the chase. One you thing must know ladies, he checks the business news every 15 minutes.
- Valleywag Queen: he/ she gossips the day round and has an radar for rumors. Great to drunk with, since he/she is a great story teller and knows how to crash a party. Don’t let your guard down though.
- Mashable Man: Girls, you sure gonna love his elegant and charismatic appearance. Yet after a while, you might feel a bit neglected since he’s always busy with meeting friends and keeping social contacts intact.
- ReadWriteWebWoman: Highly intelligent lady who likes to get to the bottom of things. Although her punctual and structured approach to life might start to get on you nerves.
- Loogic Guapa: For all of you who are looking for that Spanish temper, the Loogic guapa is your chick. If only all her friends wouldn’t speak Spanish all the time.
Written on February 11, 2008 – 1:40 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Pixels, tattoos on foreheads and Macbook covers all have one thing in common, you can sell them. Preferably by letting people bid. Alex Tew made his fortune by selling pixels, Karolyne Smith received $10k for walking around with an ink-ad ‘GoldenPalace.com’ above her eyes and Leah Culver (speaker at the Next Web conference btw) sold the space on her laptop cover for 150 dollars per square inch. Apparently, companies and consumers both love to support these stupid yet brilliant ideas. So why not turn them in to auctionings that support people and organizations that desperately need some money? Dutch marketeer Mark de Kock made this idea a reality by selling his 10,000th tweet on Twitter.
After pitching the idea to Robert Scoble, who was in Europe for LIFT08, he started an auction item on Ebay. Half of the final bid would be donated to the Dutch cancer fund. The second part would be transferred to the bank account of a charity named by the sponsor. The auction ended yesterday and guess who got the tweet: Next Web blogger Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten. He bought it for EUR 152.50. Not an amazing result, yet not bad for a first time. Will this new way of gathering money for good causes become a new trend?
Let’s hear what Mark de Kock thinks about it. “For me it’s just an one time experiment although I believe in the power of an online platform and the possibilities it can bring to reach a big crowd in no time. For example, the Dutch Twitter scene once raised more than 20 laptops for Africa. There will be more of these types of new innovative ways to make money. The difference will be these will serve the masses and not just one persons wallet. If an idea is entertaining enough and serves people who need the money, it could turn into a success.”
Mark also says that when an online celebrity uses his of hers influence to promote an innovative idea, the outcome can exceed our wildest expectations. “Last night I saw a guy willing to pay 10 to 12 million dollars for a license plate. If that’s possible in the world we live in, we could also try and help organizations such as the Cancer Fund. Enjoy your richness on a personal level and and help others to do that as well.”
There are 30 tweets left till De Kock reaches the magic 10k tweet. His 301 followers will see Boris’ tweet, so my fellow blogger has paid 50 euro cents per view. As I’ve said, it’s a start and definitely worth a retry. Some tips for the person who wants to give it another shot:
- Pick someone who has 1000+ followers;
- Make sure his or hers tweets aren’t protected;
- Start weeks in advance, so that you have enough time to spark the hype fire;
- Get Arrington, Scoble or another influential to blog about it;
- Pick a ’sexy’ cause or something that just made the news bulletins.
- Create a dedicated blog or start a new category on your blog;
- Facebook is THE medium for spreading the word, kids love to do good.
Written on February 7, 2008 – 4:19 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
You probably already heard of Nabaztag, the smart Wifi-enabled rabbit with its famous moving ears. Its Facebook app was a real hype, and thousands of users fell for the rabbit’s charms. While most people might see this rabbit just as a funny gadget, its inventor Rafi Haladjian told during LIFT08 that there’s a lot more to it.
Haladjian is founder of several Minitel start-ups and Internet providers in France. His latest venture Violet is the company behind Nabaztag. One day, he was sitting behind his desk, thinking about how he could promote his Wifi services. His eye fell on a rabbit and he had his eureka moment. “With creating Nabaztag, we wanted to make a statement”, Haladjian said, “If you can connect a rabbit, you can connect anything.” Just imagine we made a Wifi-enabled frisk. People would have said, ok, so you can connect frisks now. Yet by connecting something absurd as a rabbit, people think: you can even connect rabbits now”.
After explaining his choice for a Wifi rabbit, Haladjian told about the functions the electronic animal has. I would like to highlight one, namely the speech function. Nabaztag for example updates you on the statuses of your Facebook friends. “Nabaztag tells you about things that are good to know, yet now worth the effort of looking up. The typical Web 2.0 info”.
Nabaztag tells you about things that are good to know, yet now worth the effort of looking up
It’s a great idea. By taking Web 2.0 data -such as Last.fm shouts - off the screen with an Ambient Information Device like Nabaztag, they become more accessible for people who are now only interested in content that IS worth the effort looking it up. Haladjian is also using it as a filter for his RSS reader: “Nabaztag is reading the RSS headlines out loud. I look up the ones that sound interesting.”
We’ve learned yet another lesson at LIFT08: next to the fun-factor, gadgets like Nabaztag also have the potential to change the way we use the web.
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The Next Web Blog is closely associated with The Next Web Conference which is held annually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At this event speakers from all over the world come together to talk about, and show of, the future of the Web. (
