The Next Web

More juice for your 3G iPhone with imported batteries

Written on July 12, 2008 – 3:11 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

Henk van Ess, Dutch Internet speaker, writer, and consultant - the type that writes an Internet tip column for the Dutch journalist trade journal - has became the European battery dealer for the iPhone 3G in just 24 hours. He’s the kind of guy that travels with huge stacks of batteries - so that he can work for nine hours on his Macbook Air. Not surprisingly, he wasn’t pleased with the battery life of the new iPhone - as the fast HDSPA sucks out all its energy in no-time. Not that van Ess blames Apple for that, as “all major phone manufacturers have to deal with that” - he writes on his corporate blog.

China BAK Battery to the rescue

Driven by the urge for a full battery, van Ess posted a question in LinkedIn - asking: “‘who brings me the smallest rechargeable battery for the iPhone 3G without silly cases”. He was looking for a solid Apple-certified battery and found out that NASDAQ company China BAK Battery made such a product. Twenty acquaintances also fancied the battery, so van Ess started a little web shop to avoid paper works. The dealer than asked whether the Internet expert would be interested in becoming the European reseller - and so it happened.

Why is this battery so great?

Van Ess called his company 3G Juice company and now offers a fine battery for European iPhone owners. It’s world’s smallest external battery for both iPhone versions - only six centimeters - and it doesn’t need any cables. But don’t be fooled by its size, as the battery doubles the life of your iPhone.

Muse

Looks like van Ess found what Timothy Ferriss describes as a muse - a relatively simple way of making money. That means: not much effort and time involved. He has his web shop running and money flowing - while improving our iPhone experience.

Update: Henk just mailed us that he is in search for an American distributor, if you’re a distributor or know someone who might be interested, get in contact with henk or leave a comment.

I hope you like that post!

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3g juice, Apple, Batteries, Henk van Ess, iphone, iphone 3G, shiny object, Timothy Ferriss

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Hey!Spread pumps your video to 20 YouTube-like hosts

Written on July 4, 2008 – 5:34 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

Remember the infamous and hackled post by Dan Ackerman Greenberg? This viral video professional revealed some of his secrets in a guest contribution on TechCrunch, advising people to create fake accounts and more of those shady activities. His post started a storm of discontent and Dan was virtually killed in the comments. I’m sure he didn’t mind though, as he’s making millions with the promise that every video he touches, breaks the 100,000 views barrier. Well, here’s a tool he probably uses for that: Hey!Spread.

This service posts your video on nearly 20 different video hosts at once - how’s that for viral? You either upload the file or use the YouClone - a tool that rips it off Google’s video site to post it on the other hosts as well. Moreover, it tracks the popularity of the video by giving you a neat overview of the number of views - making it possible to see which site works best for you. It also allows you to compare it with other videos - even those from your competitors.

This will cost you some money though - one to three 5 cent credits per video -, but if you hang on to Timothy Ferriss’ Four Hour Work Week theory, you’ll realize your own time is worth more.

heyspread, Start-ups, Timothy Ferriss, Video Interview, viral

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Timothy Ferriss caught on the beach

Written on June 14, 2008 – 12:02 pm
Patrick de Laive, Internet entrepreneur and co-founder of Fleck

Two weeks ago I did an interview with Timothy Ferriss, author of the 4-hour work week in Greece during Greek Blogger camp. The book has sold over 500.000 copies and his blog is still attracting lots of visitors. What is even more impressive is that no (conventional) marketing was used to do so. He describes his marketing strategy in his book: he used the blogosphere to spread the word and to make this book a huge success.

Lets keep in mind that a great marketing strategy is not the key to success, it is a very important ingredient but in the end you need a good product, service or in this case a good story. That is what Timothy did, he wrote a compelling story and what also helps is that he is a really interesting guy.

You can tell that I’m not a journalist, but hey… we had fun. I like to share this open conversation and this beautiful location with you. Hope you don’t get sea sick…

4hww, blogging, book, gbc08, interview, marketing, Timothy Ferriss

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