JaapWillem.com

Coffee time

2010-05-09T21:03:00.001+02:00

The best ingredients for a delicious coffee time.

Some great coffee, freshly grinded from a local coffee shop and a
delicious cake from the local bakery.

I wish Everyone a great Sunday and enjoy the great small moments in
life :)

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from JaapWillem Blog

Orange socks in Amsterdam

2010-05-05T22:45:00.001+02:00

Orange socks outside the window in Amsterdam during queensday.

Due to the fine weather at the queensday celebrations many people where enjoying the great weather.

What is better then sitting in the window and chillin with your friends while your legs are floating in the air outside the window?

Taken by Jaap Willem

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Appli iAd preview article How Apple’s iAd Could Blow Marketers’ Mobile Budgets | paidContent

2010-05-04T09:54:00.001+02:00

Dozens of questions remain about Apple’s plans to get into the mobile advertising business, from how much a campaign will cost to which applications will they run on.

Based on information Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is telling advertising agencies, we were able to get answers for at least one: how much a campaign could potentially cost on the iAd platform—and the results are startling. According to our number crunching, CPMs will be highly variable but in some some cases could wind up being triple what marketers are used to paying for banners, and double the price of a video ad on mobile. In another scenario—a very successful campaign that generates an unusual number of clicks—a marketer’s ad spend could easily wind up being more than seven times what it had anticipated.

There are plenty of skeptics who say that iAd’s high prices and other restrictions may drive interested marketers away. But if Apple gets its way, iAd could mean a financial landslide for the mobile advertising industry, which was been bouncing along the bottom for years, totaling only $416 million in 2009, according to eMarketer.

For starters, Apple is setting the minimum annual spend at $1 million, but the price could go much higher if the ad generates a lot of clicks. For comparison sake, luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover last year budgeted a combined $1.6 million for mobile marketing. With Apple asking for that much on just its platform, advertisers will have to weigh the attractiveness of the company’s user demographics and premium ad experience with how much they are really willing to lay out for mobile advertising.

For Apple, the key lies in iAd’s model of charging marketers based on a hybrid of CPMs and click-through rates, rather than one or the other, as is standard. Apple is said to be charging 1 cent per impression and $2 per click, reports the WSJ. Using those figures, we tried to determine how pricey a campaign would be, assuming a few different scenarios. The biggest variable is the click-through rate. Today, the mobile industry commonly sees anything between 1 and 3 percent, but iAd could easily be higher because of its novelty factor. Using this information, and assuming a marketer spends no more than $1 million, we calculated the CPM, which is the industry standard for cost per thousand impressions (see chart).

On the low-end (assuming a 1 percent click-through rate), the CPM would be $15. On the high-end (with a 3 percent click-through), it would jump to $70.

Jumptap’s Chief Marketing Officer Paran Johar says mobile banners today garner between $6 and $30, while mobile video on the high end falls between $20 and $40. “I have talked to a dozen or so agencies and there’s going to be a lot of push back. They’ll probably be some that engage for the sexiness, but not for the ROI,” he said.

While our calculations demonstrate what occurs when the budget is fixed and the ad impressions fluctuate, Johar said that’s not typically how a deal is done. Rather, he said advertisers dictate the budget and how many impressions they want. In that scenario, the same outcome exists: Costs will increase dramatically as the campaign becomes more successful.

Once again, if we do the math: The CPM will be fixed at $10 if the advertiser has a $1 million budget and is buying 100 million impressions at a penny each. But in addition, the advertiser will have to pay for the clicks—at $2 each. If 100 million impressions draw a 3 percent click-through rate, the advertiser will have to pay around $6 million more. The $1 million year-long iPhone campaign becomes a $7 million campaign (many more times Land Rover’s and Jaguar’s combined 2009 budget).

Johar says the fluctuating cost structure discourages advertisers from producing a very engaging campaign when there’s a $2 fee associated with each click. He figures you are better off providing a branded message that doesn’t encourage a call to action. But that’s contradictory to what iAd is proposing, which is a very engaging advertising experience that includes videos and games. “If you are incentivzing people to click, but then disincentivizing people from a cost structure perspective, they don’t work well…The cost structure could get very expensive, very quickly.”

Neil Strother, an analyst with ABI Research, says the typical mobile campaign is $100,000 to $200,000 over a two-month period, putting Apple’s million-dollar asking price in the right range. However, the WSJ reports that Apple even has its sights set on some $10 million campaigns. “Clearly, they are pushing the dollar amount up.” Strother agrees that the CPMs sound high, “but if you are getting a highly creative ad that’s interactive and you are the first ones to move, you will probably be written up on every blog from here to Hong Kong,” he says.

via paidcontent.org

Interesting Article from PaidContent over the new iAd platform and the potential costs.
The platform will definatly be High end what I suppose will increase the likehood of quality ads...
Looking forward to have some more information about this though..

Posted via web from JaapWillem Blog

Marketing and the Facebook OpenGraph

2010-04-27T19:06:00.001+02:00

Marketing and the Facebook OpenGraph

Over the last few days we’ve heard many things about Facebook and all their plans.

Basically Facebook would like that every page on the Internet would be connected to the Facebook system and they could track you down over all the pages.

There are many privacy alarms going over this, mainly as well because every Facebook user is automatically opted-in.

I do suggest any person to reconsider their privacy settings on their Facebook Profile, if you have any issues with setting up the correct way please let me know.

Now the marketing part.

Howly Mowhly, now we have a 2nd holy grail to work for...

It’s not anymore all about Google but we can now serious include Facebook as well. And not anymore with only making a Facebook Page but we can bring Facebook Data to our website... Get me that other champagne bottle :)

Why am I so happy about these developments. I’ll bring it down to a few points for each new Facebook option:

Open Graph:

This is the basics of the whole new idea. Basically with a few new Metatags you can let anyone interact with your page like they would do on Facebook. And furthermore it means that they have now more more pages to obtain information about, apart from their own Facebook pages. But more on that later at the Insights for your Domain point.

Social Widgets:

The social widgets lets you integrate all kind of Facebook options within your website. They have launched a set of Social widgets at the moment:
Like Button: this one is the most important at the moment, people can like for example your page, a book, a photo and so on. Their likes will be stored within their profile and is accessible with applications.
Activities and Recommendations: Hereby can a visitor from your site see if one their friends have already accessed the website and what they liked.
Even more they can see which of their friends are online at the moment and discuss the content. This is as well related back to their profile from the user.

Furthermore this data is accessible later on as well within their profile. Very powerful for Content sharing and going viral of content.

Open Graph API

This is the API for the Open Graph System. In short for the non-techies among us, it’s a channel for applications to obtain information and integrate the new possibilities within their application. This has been extended greatly as well so expect soon more possibilities and mash ups from the Facebook data.

At the moment it’s not sure what will be possible with this option but soon there will be more information available and hopefully some very interesting apps to use.

Facebook Insights for your Domain

Data is nothing and useless without a good and clear way to get your information out of this. That is why Facebook Insights for your Domain is so important.

Here within you can see and analyse what has happened with your content on your website and how the persons have been interacting with your website. Everyone with a Facebook Page analytics knows that it’s still very basic data by in comparison with Google Analytics.

But you would be very stupid out of your mind not to use them both together. Because it already gives some very valuable information about your visitor. Have you ever tried to obtain gender and age from your visitor? Do you know for sure if someone likes a certain page because they have been there for more time then average or they just went to the toilet?

This information will be available for all website owners and can be very helpful. It is more then probable that in the future this product will become the most important part of this whole new push from a Marketing perspective and gonna be replacing even Google Analytics or whatever else....

Marketing and Advertisement possibilities

What are the Marketing and Advertising possibilities with all these new options?
This is actually where all the above points are coming together. If it’s all well implemented and great interface, it will be big. It will be Adwords big if you know what I mean.

What do you think about CPC bidding for Advertising only not on Keywords but on Keywords and Categories and Segments.
For example I want to target someone who has visited my site and like something on my site. Furthermore he should be male and between the 25 - 35 year. A preference of his should be including Pop music.
Because of all the targeting options on this, I get some real interesting Target Groups back and sure I’m willing to pay top euro to obtain a conversation from this group.

Conclusion

The great thing of this is that there is only way from here for Facebook Advertizing. That is way is only up.

At the moment they are cementing their base for CPC advertising on Facebook.com. But in the (near) future I’m expecting an Adsense type advertising platform, for all the websites who have been integrating the Facebook codes. This would make it a direct a competitor to Google in their most lucrative area, advertising.

These moves will definitely improve the competition among Google, Twitter and Facebook with each their own advertising solution.

Online marketing always change, often with large and huge ruptures and new technologies. This one is definitely one and will cause a lot of rupture in the current Advertising market.

Where is the other bottle......????

Posted via email from JaapWillem Blog

Spring is here

2010-04-21T19:30:00.001+02:00

The spring is finally here with more sunlight.
So now we're going outside and enjoying the nature. So at that moment
we came along this lovely bee nurturring himself from the flower
nectar of this plant.

Enjoy the upcoming spring and all the lovely moments.

Posted via email from JaapWillem Blog

iPhone OS 4 preview and iAd

2010-04-08T22:09:00.001+02:00

iPhone OS 4

The iPhone OS4 preview show is gone and finally multi tasking is
getting there and more possibilities for the developers.
Even the ability for Skype to run in the background and hello to
spotify as well.
If they want to launch their us access on Any good moment, this summer
should do the trick with a brand new iPhone app.

So I'm happy about the progress for the OS 4, only now just wondering
why my itouch ain't supported anymore. That pisses me off. And
furthermore the iPhone 3g is gonna to get a bloody cripled version as
well. Not funny.

Then the new iAd platform.
So basically apple wants to bring the mofo flash banners to the iPhone.
But it's all good because it's in HTML 5.
I earn my money with ads, but I really need to see more before getting
really happy with that. Because at the moment what I do see a full
screen ad coming up in the form of interactivity.
That is what the flash always have been about on the net.
But I'll get back to this when I've tried it myself and get some more
initial impressions.

What was your impression from this event and which part got your
utmost attention?

Posted via email from JaapWillem Blog

Black and White Panoramic

2010-04-06T21:53:00.001+02:00

Black and White Panoramic.

This Panoramic photo is taken with an Angle of 180 degrees and is basically the view from our window.

During the easter we had some horrendous weather and this was taken during one of the moments when the sky broke a little bit open.

I took in total 5 pictures and stitched it later on together with Photoshop. After making the Panoramic photo within Photoshop I exported it back to Lightroom and made the Black and White Adaptations.

Enjoy this Black and White Panoramic picture and let me know if you like it.

Jaap Willem

Posted via email from JaapWillem Blog

Location: Facebook + Nokia Ovi Maps

2010-03-26T14:06:00.001+01:00

Location: Facebook + Nokia Ovi Maps

The other day I had a blog post about the Location wars and of course the next day there was some very interesting news from Facebook and Nokia Ovi Maps.

Basically they've worked together to get location directly from Nokia Ovi Maps Application into Facebook. The same way how twitter broadcast a location, it is now available as well on Facebook.

Why is this huge?

Nokia Ovi Maps has more then 200 million users worldwide and is soon becoming together with Google Maps the top GPS solution for the mobile user.
This helped as well with this year announcement that all GPS navigation will be free of charge for user of Nokia Ovi Maps. This was a huge announcement and if they start now as well to extend this towards Facebook and more integration it will be very but very nice.
Facebook is the largest social network in the world, no introduction necesairy.
But untill this event, location have been very low in the priorities of Facebook. Basically they only wanted to copy first Friendfeed and then Twitter when they bought Friendfeed. But this is the first time they are developing into a new area.

Prognosis

With their highly successful iPhone and Android app it will be very easy to connect this one through to their own mobile application. This all on basis of the Ovi Maps data, what they could license for a fee.

This combination would throw them from back in the location field towards straight into the top position in no time.

Let's see what the next steps will be but in the first view, it's becoming more and more interesting all the different parties.

What do you guys think about it?

=====

Jaap Willem
http://www.jaapwillem.com
Twitter: jaapwillem

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Marketing Location - The possibilities

2010-03-22T13:58:00.001+01:00

Marketing Location - The possibilities.

As I'm preparing for another Location blogpost, after my last one about Friends and Location, I would like to dive into the Marketing possibilities.

An interesting article about this can be already found on the AdAge page, but I'll be covering it from a Online Marketing point of view.

Happy reading on the AdAge article thought, it's a very nice introduction into Location Marketing.

Have a great day,

Jaap Willem

Posted via email from JaapWillem Blog

Spring Narcissus

2010-03-19T14:13:00.001+01:00

Spring Narcissus, sprouting out of the earth.

Spring is coming, and how better can you see that when we do have some very nice Narcissus coming up, still inside the house but soonish as well outside.

At least I know that I'll be planting them outside if they have passed their time indoors.

Have a great weekend,

Posted via email from JaapWillem Blog

Aperture vs Lightroom

2010-02-25T18:56:00.001+01:00

Just a quick update on my quest to get the most out of digital photo
management.

Last week I installed the latest and best version of the aperture
software.

People who are following me on Twitter have remarked it surely and
will know what I think of the whole program. Maybe not the whole
program, but I'm still trying to find out the best parts for me.

Expect soon a proper comparisation post with adobe lightroom 3 beta
nut at the moment it has many minus points. But stay tuned, maybe soon
it will change.

Someone is allowed to dream, isn't? Hahaha

What are your opinions or questions about lightroom and or aperture ?
Let me know an I'll pay some extra attention to those points

Have a great day!!!

Jaap Willem

Enviado desde mi iPod

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Untitled

2010-02-21T21:26:00.001+01:00

via twitterrific

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Senior Marketers Need Greater Accountability - And Companies as well..

2010-02-03T09:06:00.001+01:00

I ran across this survey data eMarketer released last week and my heart sank:

This first chart looks innocent enough. It's when you look at the next one (from the same report) that things get ugly:

As a CEO, an SEO, a web marketer and a participant in social media, this drives me absolutely crazy. The very last item on the list is "conversions, ROI, etc." If your pulse isn't pounding, you might need to cut back on the pharmaceuticals.

Absolutely nothing in the analytics world should trump conversions and ROI for "senior marketers" or anyone else who cares about the success of a company. If you're thinking in terms of time on site or unique page views as primary metrics - metrics you'd describe in a survey as being those you're "most interested in" - there's a big problem. The web as a medium is designed to let you capture data beyond number of viewers or engagement level. It lets you track return visits and actions and build sophisticated models that predict what activities will drive up revenue and earnings in the most cost-effective ways. Why let it go to waste?

This report from Forrester suggets that the spend on web marketing has a lot of growth, and social media in particular is poised for exceptional CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate). But, I'm tremendously concerned that if marketers obsess over metrics like time on site, unique page views and CTR, they'll miss out on the real opportunity of all these channels.

ROI should be the ultimate metric - it should be the most important thing on every marketer's mind for every project and every channel. I'll grant that prioritizing the projects and investments that have the highest return is challenging, and even the best do it imperfectly. What worries me is that there are marketers who may be taking their cues not from the great analytics data suggesting that, although first-time visits from social media may have low value, over time, they can drive greater brand engagement, predict higher rates of recivism and eventually become buyers and brand evangelists, but from the onslaught of press coverage and media attention around social networks.

If you're taking your clues about where to spend your marketing budget from the media, rather than experiments and data, get ready for disappointment. Likewise, if you're measuring the wrong thing, you'll never know the right place to spend those dollars.

The beauty of online channels like SEO, landing page testing, conversion rate optimization, email marketing and, yes, social media is that the data tells a story we can read. So long as we're willing to hear the message, we can draw the connections to find the traffic sources that cost less and earn more. We can invest in those until the ROI from them diminishes to a point where other channels become viable. But only if we're paying attention to the metrics that matter.

There have been tools, data and experienced professionals in this field, fighting these fights for over a decade now. Tragically, it seems that we're in for a long slog.

p.s. We've filled up about 600/1,000 spots for Thursday's PRO webinar on SEO Analytics - feel free to join in :-)

via seomoz.org

This is a very valid point.
The problem with senior Marketers is that they are not used to Online Marketing metrics.
Online marketing is a combination of Marketing and Sales. It is not only about creating brand awareness and views (Like it is on the TV and Radio) but on sales and conversions as well.
It is about creating a sustainable business, online.
If you have offline activities, they will be greatly supported by the online effort but in the end it is all about getting these conversions.

Soon I'll be posting a series of posts about why the Online Marketing is different from the Offline Marketing, so stay tuned..

Have a great read in the meantime..

Posted via web from JaapWillem Blog

Local Trends Twitter

2010-02-02T17:01:00.001+01:00

Welcome Local Trends in Twitter

I Finally got my local trends twitter option. Wow.. I am soooo thrilled... :D

Not really, but I think it's a nice option for me as a Twitter user and Local news follower... Furthermore it will make place for new marketing initiatives, of course for my marketing point of view.

Mainly local companies will be benefiting from this Local Trends. How? Now you can see where the people are tweeting about in your surrounding and maybe adapt your message rapidly to include the latest trending in your local city or region.

Furthermore I see that this point will increase the use of Geo-location within Twitter, as it is an option but an option what could benefit more people day by day. Since Twitter is becoming more and more as well a news source, Local trends could be like local news in your daily newspaper. Only Realtime.

The inclusion of the Local Trends with the geo-location will twitter make more geo and local aware..

So, welcome Local Trends in my Twitter surrounding and hope you get soonish new options and places.

What are your thoughts??

Let me know in the comments..

Posted via email from JaapWillem Blog

Social Search: Explained

2010-01-28T14:03:00.001+01:00

Social Search Explained

So finally we do have social search, it is showing up since this morning in my results, as you can see from the red line..

Sorry, about the trembling, but it's that I'm just still surprised about the Apple iPad..

Anyway Social Search, what is the idea behind it?

Basically it is Google looking within your Circle of Friends to see what kind of content they have been sharing or visiting and will put it higher in the results.

It's kinda cool to see that one of your friends give his opinion about someplace or you can see his pictures..

Social Search, when will it work?

It will work when you are logged in into your Google Account. And of course you have to integrate all your Social profiles into your Google profile to actually see it work.. It is great to get your Facebook Friends, Twitter and Friendfeed friends all together with their opinions..

Will it make a difference.

I think for the regular guy it will make a difference, because in general they intend to have their closest buddies in their profiles, so it will work fine. The question is when you are following that many companies and sites and persons on Twitter and Friendfeed for example, that the results might be changing for the Online Freaks..

What do you guys think about it?? Are you willing to put all your friends together within a Google Profile and enjoy the Social Search benefits??...

Let me know your opinion about Social Search..

Posted via email from JaapWillem Blog

Proximity Searches in Google

2010-01-26T15:37:00.001+01:00

Today I saw for the first time in Google Chrome that my position reflect as well in the searches.

While I was browsing in Google Chrome and doing some research, what I saw the First 3 results, normal ones, then a suggestion for Paris (because I had searched before on Google.fr) and then the proximity results..

There you go with any good results pages what you should get back.. Proximity and navigation is getting more and more important in Google and I have to say that the quality of the results are actually going up..

So I would like to ask you guys, do you think that the Google Experience has improved over the last months??

Get back to me in the comments

Jaap Willem

www.jaapwillem.com

Twitter: jaapwillem

Posted via email from JaapWillem Blog

[Jason] Why We Should Boycott ComScore (and perhaps why traders should short their stock)

2010-01-24T02:04:00.001+01:00

-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Calacanis
Sent: 23/01/2010 8:00:20 pm
Subject: [Jason] Why We Should Boycott ComScore (and *perhaps* why traders should short their stock)

Jason's List: Why We Should Boycott ComScore (and *perhaps* why
traders should short their stock)
Location: Brentwood, Ca 90049
Time: 10:45AM
Listening To: Rilo Kiley's "Silver Lining" http://bit.ly/SJIj
Members: About 19,000 of you
Signup: http://www.bit.ly/jasonslist
Angel investments: 5
Bulldogs: 2 http://bit.ly/6sF1WD
=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=

Comscore is the technology industry's biggest bully, and today I'm
calling for an industry-wide boycott of their services.

I'm asking journalist and bloggers to stop covering their stats, I'm
asking advertisers to not use their services, and finally, I'm asking
startup companies to not support their new and widely reported on
"$10,000 to get your stats correct" extortion ring.

If I was a stock trader I would short the stock--but I'm not--so I
won't (I keep my money in bonds and angel investments for the record).
Also, if you own Comscore shares, I'm not going to tell you that you
should sell them, but if I were an analyst--and I'm not--I would
probably tell folks to sell every share they had, and as quickly as
possible.

Additionally, I'm asking Comscore to drop their "pay for correct
stats" model in the next ten days.

Let's get into why.

Comscore's Reign of Terror
------------------------
For over a decade, I've railed against our industry's leading metrics
company ComScore with little result.

It all started when I was a journalist in the 90s for the Silicon
Alley Reporter. I listened to company after company from Silicon Alley
to Silicon Valley complain about how ComScore's method of counting
traffic websites, via a sample of users, was incorrect.

People couldn't understand why the internet industry, with it's
ability to track traffic perfectly, would ever adopt the failed
sample-based methods used on television and radio. Comscore's ideas
were antiquated and unnecessary.

Entrepreneurs would show me their internal stats, which were typically
three to five times larger than Comscore's numbers, and beg me to
correct them in the Silicon Alley Reporter.

However, I noticed a pattern: the big companies didn't complain about Comscore.

Why?

Well, from what multiple people shared with me, you simply had to
follow the money. According to these folks it was an unspoken truth
for years that if you paid Comscore they fixed your numbers, and if
you were a small company and didn't, well, you suffered. Comscore
would probably deny this, but their recent "pay to play" product shows
their true stripes.

They screwed me at Weblogs, Inc.
------------------------
It wasn't until I started Weblogs, Inc. that I really felt the sting
of not participating in the Comscore protection racket. You see,
advertisers love Comscore and they make advertising buys based on it.

Our small, but growing blogs, were under reported month after month
and Comscore basically told me to pound salt when I complained. It
cost me money, and I promised myself that if I could ever support
another service that wasn't based on payola I would.

Here you can see a smoking gun from 2005 when Comscore did a "study"
on blogs with Gawker Media as a sponsor. Interestingly, Gawker's blogs
did really well in the study. The only problem was that Comscore's
numbers were different than the SiteMeter traffic that Gawker and
Weblogs Inc. were publishing at the time.

Denton privately admitted to me he support Comscore because he had to
because of their reputation in the advertising industry. He thought I
should bite the bullet as well and get in bed with the bullies. Not my
style, sorry.

[[ Some links from 2005 Comscore: Show us the data or get out of Dodge
http://bit.ly/4I7S6i and ClickZ: http://www.clickz.com/3526851 - Fred
Wilson throws me under the bus: http://bit.ly/8BpFnh ]]

I publicly complained about Comscore but no one would really listen.
Actually Jeff Jarvis did support me: http://bit.ly/8zW0GF

My good friend Fred Wilson, who had invested in the firm, turned away
and watched the bullies he invested in pummel me when I complained
about Comscore. Fred is outspoken and an advocate of startups--except
with Comscore. He's turned a blind eye while letting his huge venture
return in Comscore color his objectivity. In fact, it must be obvious
to Fred that Comscore is, in fact, holding back his other startup
investments by extorting money from them!

Fred's been an amazing supporter of mine over the years, but I've
never been able to get over the fact that he invested in and supported
these guys. Fred's continued support of this company is unconscionable
at this point. He needs to come out and say that Comscore charging
$10,000 for this product is a pure shake down.

Do it Fred... you know you want to! :-)

ComScore Tries to Buy Me Off
------------------------
This summer the tough guys at Comscore approached me with a
clandestine deal after I continued to publicly complain about their
methods. The message was clear: if I stopped criticizing them and
publicly supported their server data measurement program they would
not charge me. The $10,000 it would cost a year for this service would
be free for me if I threw my fellow entrepreneurs under the bus.

Their email to me included something out of the a Sopranos episode:
"Normally there is a cost to implement, but in this case we will
gladly waive the charge if you are interested." Yeah, and if you're
not interested perhaps you would like to come on a fishing trip with
us this weekend.

You bastards think that after a *decade* of me trying to stop your
extortion you can by me off by simply waiving some fees? I could
easily pay the $10,000 fee today but I will never give you guys a
dime. I will remember what you did to me when I was coming up forever.

I'd rather lose half my revenue from advertising as Mahalo grows from
a top 1,000 site (2007), to the top 400 sites (2008) and now a top 200
site (2009), and eventually even a top 50 site I hope (2011?)--than
give you even one ounce of my support.

I wrote back: "You guys are evil for charging companies--I would never
support you. Quantcast and Google are going to crush you guys.... And
I'm telling everyone I know to support Quantcast."

They never contacted me again.

Comscore formalizes their extortion ring
------------------------
This week you may have read over at the excellent "All Things D" that
Comscore is now willing to do real metrics on your website if you give
them $10,000 a year. They claim this is to pay for their servers.
More: http://bit.ly/6Fqrhe

This after they spent the last decade criticizing the direct
measurement methods of their competitors like Quantcast and Google
Analytics as being flawed! Now they say pixel tracking--actual
measurement on the server side--is the best method. What a bunch of
slim buckets.

Could it be that enough publishers and advertisers have told you to go
f-- yourself in the past year?

Could it be that Quantcast has a product that is 100x better than your
service and it's FREE?

Could it be that Compete.com is secretly testing a server-side testing
method like Quantcast's and is about to kick your ass?

>From where I sit, this is Comscore's desperate Hail Mary pass to try
and save their dying protection racket. Comscore has ZERO value when
Google Analytics, Compete.com and Quantcast allow you to publicly and
freely track your stats.

Bullies, Ethics & Your Part
------------------------
As a kid growing up in Brooklyn, I learned that when you or your
friends were being bullied there was really only one solution to the
problem: punch the bully directly in the face as hard as you can the
second they approached you. Like really, the second they come at
you--the second the first word comes out of their mouth--punch them in
the face. Don't let them even finish their sentence. If they say "I
want your milk money" your fist should make contact right around the
"want" mark.

BANG!

At a young age I tested this technique and it resulted in a couple of
multi-day suspensions from school and black eyes, but it is a
life-long strategy for success that has never failed me. Do not let
yourself or your friends get bullied--ever. Even if you get your ass
kicked, at least you got your shot in and you held your ground.

When someone from Comscore approaches, you should tell them to go
hell. (Note: do not literally punch them in the face--I'm not
advocating physical violence here, I'm advocating voting with your
dollar.)

I put up a good fight for a decade but made little progress and
frankly got my ass kicked by Comscore in the Weblogs, Inc. days.
However, their obnoxious behavior has finally been publicly exposed.
This means that we--as an industry--can finally run this bully out of
town.

Again, here is what I'm asking for in the Comscore Boycott. Feel free
to republish this article in whole at your blog.

The Comscore Boycott: Play Your Part!
======================
1. Startups: Do NOT pay a single penny to Comscore--ever.
2. Startups who are getting this program for free (I suspect a good
number): Opt out and tell Comscore to f-- themselves.
3. Press & Bloggers: Please do not run Comscore's inaccurate numbers,
and please expose their extortion ring.
4. Advertisers: Do not use Comscore to plan your media buys: use the
free and more accurate Quantcast.
5. Google: Please release your version Comscore killer (based on
Quantcast's model), or better yet PLEASE BUY QUANTCAST!
6. Compete.com: Please release your Comscore killer.
7. Stock traders & Analysts: Please think deeply about the potential
revenue destruction that Comscore could be facing.
8. Fred Wilson: publicly state that you do not agree with ComScore's
mafia-like methods.
9. Republish this email at your blog.
10. If you have information on Comscore that should be exposed send it
to me in confidence (say anonymous up top)

To My "Friends" at Comscore
---------------------------------------
You know I'm right.

As such, I'm asking for complete and unconditional surrender. Make
your tracking pixel program 100% free in the next 10 days or the
boycott will continue.

If you're a current or former executive at Comscore and you have an
opinion on this please send me your thoughts in confidence, and I will
republish them to the list without your name.

If you're a current employee who can't deal with this any more, please
add me on LinkedIn and ask for a LinkedIn introduction to the Google
Analytics, Compete.com or Quantcast teams. I will gladly forward
talented people from Comscore on to companies I think are more
ethical.

All the best,

Jason

You can find me here:
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
http://www.twitter.com/jason
http://www.thisweekinstartups.com
http://www.facebook.com/jasoncalacanis
http://www.blippy.com/jason (angel investor)
http://www.calacanis.com
http://user.gdgt.com/jasoncalacanis/ (angel investor)
http://gowalla.com/users/jason (angel investor)
http://www.challengepost.com/jason-calacanis (angel investor)
http://www.causecast.org/member/jasoncalacanis (advisor)
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Calacanis (65% correct!)

Copy editing of Jason's List: Jennifer Engevik http://www.jenniferengevik.com

Unsubscribe: just hit reply with unsubscribe in the subject line or
visit http://www.tinyurl.com/jasonslist
Subscribe: http://www.bit.ly/jasonslist

Jason Calacanis
902 Colorado Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Office Phone: 310-593-6134
email: jason@calacanis.com

Posted via email from JaapWillem Blog

Jaap willem myself

2010-01-20T21:16:00.001+01:00

Posted via web from JaapWillem Blog

Oostende Beach Photos

2010-01-19T12:02:00.001+01:00

Oostende Beach Photos

This is the final set of the beach photos I took on the beach, all edited within Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.

So we went for a photoshoot in the middle of January 2010 and it was really chilly.

But still quiet a few people where walking at the beach and enjoying their sunday afternoon. It was definatly a great moment and just in time for the lovely sunset over the northsea.

It was as well the first time for me to get into Oostende and surprised me pleasantly..

Enjoy these beach pics and let me know what you think..

Cheers

((tag: nikon, d80, beach, edited, photoshop lightroom, sunset, landscape, january, belgium, oostende, 2010))

Jaap Willem
http://www.jaapwillem.com
Twitter: jaapwillem

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from JaapWillem Blog

New website design www.jaapwillem.com

2010-01-12T15:21:00.001+01:00

Hi there,

Yes, like I've promised many times before, I've started to move to a total different point for my Website.

Please stay tuned and enjoy these pictures for the moment.

Kind regards

Jaap Willem

Contact me via:

Twitter and Flickr

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from JaapWillem Blog

End of the Digital Cleanse

2010-01-11T13:39:00.001+01:00

Ok, so the last week I've been doing a digital Cleanse, that will say not using Twitter, Facebook and Friendfeed anymore.

The Results are in and it's funny.

At the end I've been more effective in the things I've done but in other things I've been less productive.

To stay in touch with the friends was much more dificult and as well getting to know new things have been more dificult. Because of the buzz always around the latest news in Friendfeed and Twitter, feel that I've missed out..

Anyway today I'll start with the next point, to filter and sort my Twitter list..

How was your digital cleanse??

Posted via email from JaapWillem Blog

Digital Cleanse

2010-01-05T14:03:00.001+01:00

English below the dutch part.

Digital Cleanse, Wat is het?

Van de week ben ik begonnen met een digital cleanse op Social Media..

Voor een week ga ik geen Twitter, Facebook of Friendfeed of wat dan ook gebruiken. De enige site die ik wel blijf gebruiken is Flickr, voor mijn foto's.

Maar nu is het terug naar Gmail en Google Reader. En het lezen van Blogs en maken van lange teksten en geen kleine berichtjes versturen..

Nu ben ik op de eerte dag en ik moet zeggen dat het wel even wennen is. Ook omdat ik nu op het werk weer terug ben op een standaard computer. MIjn oude heeft ook een digital cleanse nodig.. hahaha..

Ik zal jullie volgende week laten weten hoe het gegaan is, maar ik heb er wel een goed gevoel van..

O ja, het 2de gedeelte van mijn Digital Cleanse is het verwijderen van alle automatische feeds op de Twitter..

Stay Tuned..

Digital Cleanse, what is it?

Digital cleanse is to be without Facebook, Twitter and all kind of Social website for a week. So I've decided to go into this and started on Monday with it for a week. So no Twitter, Facebook and anykind of Social media website for a week. The only exclusion I made for myself is Flickr, due to the fact I need it for my work.

But now it's back into Gmail, Google reader and reading the news on dedicated newssites. No more short messages and blurps but decent emails.

Now I finished with the first day and I have to get used to it. And even more cause at work I had to downgrade my computer.. The old computer needed as well a digital cleanse.. hahaha..

Next Week I'll let you guys know how it all went, but the 1st day was a positive experience.

The 2nd part of my Digital Cleanse will be the elimination of all kind of spam on my Twitter account...

Stay Tuned for more..

Jaap Willem

http://www.jaapwillem.com

Posted via email from JaapWillem.com Blog

Prettig 2010 en veel Fotografie Plezier

2009-12-30T17:13:00.001+01:00

Ik wil jullie allemaal een prettig 2010 wensen en veel succes in het nieuwe jaar.

Ook wens ik jullie veel fotografie plezier toe en geniet van alle mooie dingen die voor je camera kan komen.

Niks is te gek om foto’s van te maken en geeft altijd veel plezier achteraf.. dus laat de fotograafinjezelf naar boven komen

Geniet er van..

Jaap Willem

See the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Fotograaf Deinze en Vlaanderen. Fotografie JaapWillem

What is your search activity??

2009-12-30T14:32:00.001+01:00

What is your Search Activity in Google?

You can find it in your Web History.. I just love to see this data..

This is mine search activiy...

Posted via email from JaapWillem.com Blog

Blog Post: Deinze in the Winter

2009-12-29T13:48:00.001+01:00

Blog Post: Deinze in the Winter.

Deinze in the winter is beautiful, specially on the side of the Leie river and the church.

Last week I went out to make some winter pictures from Deinze, to see the beautly and expect soonish new blog posts about Deinze and photographs.

Enjoy now these pictures from Deinze in the winter.

http://www.jaapwillem.com

Visit my personal page as well http://www.jaapwillem.com

Cheers,

Jaap Willem

JaapWillem Photography

Picture 1: The Church from Deinze in Winter Landscape

Picture 2 : Winter in Deinze, The Canal Side.

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FireFox Addons vs Google Chrome Extensions: Will You Migrate?

2009-12-29T12:56:00.001+01:00

Search Engine Tools and Downloads

FireFox Addons vs Google Chrome Extensions

Email Ann Smarty Follow me on Twitter
Ann Smarty

12/28/09

6 Comments

Ever since Google Chrome blog announced the launch of Google Chrome Extensions, people have never stopped talking when this move is going to kill FireFox.

Well, you might know how much I love FireFox (even despite the fact that because of my experiments with addons it sometimes becomes dead slow) and how hardcore I may become wen it comes to something that I love, but even I couldn’t ignore those talks any longer.

So yes, I went ahead, did some research, tried Google Chrome extensions and here’s what I came up with:

Chrome Extensions vs FireFox Addons

FireFox Google Chrome

Installation Requires browser re-start (this addon makes the process a bit more easier) Easy and instant

Variety Plenty of addons available Only few extensions so far

Affect on browser performance The more addons, the slower the browser Runs extensions in separate processes, so no extension affects the entire browser.

The update process of extensions (?) Update on the start (with confirmation required) Automatic

Security Is known for security issues “Isolated Worlds” : By separating various processes from one another, Chrome should insure one addon security issues does not affect the whole browser

Note: you will need to install a Beta version of Google Chrome to install addons.

So except for a couple of points (one of which is temporal and one is a questionable benefit because auto updating may be not cool but it is good for security as due to that auto-updating feature, Chrome is able to remotely kill any extension that is reported to be doing bad things to people’s systems), FireFox seems to lose.

The comparison resources:

Google Chrome Extensions vs Firefox Add-ons: Head to Head Comparison;

Chrome Extensions v.s Firefox Add-ons: Why You Should Migrate?;

By Extension, Chrome Battles Firefox

Are you migrating?

I only see one issue with me (for example) switching to Chrome in the near future: I spend 90% of my working time browsing – FireFox is my #1 tool and it will need huge amount of time to get used to a new working environment: to find alternatives to my installed addons and to learn all Chrome shortcuts.

And what about you? Do you see yourself switching to Chrome (if you haven’t already)?

6 Comments

Leftfield says:

12/28/2009 at 10:44 am

Restart and fire-up are not some bad reasons because it is required only once and you will not install million extensions.

From security point what if i use Firefox on FreeBSD? Last security issue was caused by Windows, not Firefox.

Generally i prefer more Firefox, because i can run it on my FreeBSD; Windows and Ubuntu with same extensions. Runs normally, fast, stable and reliable :)

Reply

Vygantas says:

12/28/2009 at 3:27 pm

That’s the worst font/background colors I ever saw

Reply

Kristine says:

12/28/2009 at 3:31 pm

I think this is a bit biased. I find the all the many processes Google Chrome runs in order to preserve ’security’ causes my computer to slow down quite a bit when running the same # i would run in Firefox. Firefox has it’s issues, but this comparison chart is written with a Chrome bias (IMO)

Reply

Kristine says:

12/28/2009 at 3:40 pm

also not a fan of the autoupdate as my add ons often are the last to be supported in Firefox.. might be ok in Chrome I do not know.. their multi process slowdown issue has turned me back to Firefox

Reply

Ann Smarty says:

12/28/2009 at 6:58 pm

It is funny it seems biased to Chrome as I am actually a huge FireFox fan – obviously the job of not looking biased to FF was overdone :)

On a serious note, I wasn’t using my judgments – ws trying to sum up what is being said on the web…

Reply

Leftfield says:

12/28/2009 at 7:05 pm

Ann, your work is great, i like to read everything from you but this test is not your best.

Comparing browsers is more like apple and oranges. Every browser, except IE, has its own qualities. You should do the fast speed test with, let’s say, how they are opening some major CMS systems: Joomla; Drupal… and WP of course and how much they are eating memory and CPU.

Reply

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« « Analyze HTML Elements & Microformats w/ Semantic Checker
How SEOs Win the War on Personalized & Real-Time Search » »

via searchenginejournal.com

Moving on from Firefox into Chrome

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Merry Christmas from Belgium

2009-12-24T09:55:00.001+01:00

Merry Christmas to all of you and wish you all a happy New Year.. .

See you all in 2010 and we keep on blogging..

Visit my webpage www.jaapwillem.com for the latest Winterpictures..

Cheers

Jaap Willem

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from JaapWillem.com Blog

Fresh snow snow

2009-12-18T14:11:00.001+01:00

Snow snow snow..

The first snow from the year have fallen again and just in time to let everyone enjoy the beautiful landscape..

It's as well the time to that everyone is uploading new pics from beautiful winter landscapes on Flickr, Like me. But I also just wanted to give you guys an idea on what kind of Winter Photography you can have.. so I just wanted to give my opinions and shots to share with you..

Both are close ups, what I prefer when shooting in industry zones, cause they create their own entourage..

what do you think??

Winter and snow shooting, close up or on a distance?? panoramic.. ??

Have a great shooting time..

Click here to download:

snow-plant (579 KB)

Click here to download:

fresh-snow-plant (417 KB)

Posted via email from JaapWillem.com Blog

Awesome pictures from the Golden Gate Brige Atop a Famous Bridge - a set on Flickr

2009-12-16T12:38:00.001+01:00

via flickr.com

This is an awesome photo set from atop the Golden Gate bridge in San Fran.
Never been there, but this makes me wanna go there...

Posted via web from JaapWillem.com Blog

We can't see the garden for the Apples and BlackBerrys

2009-12-15T15:38:00.001+01:00

We can't see the forest for the T-Mobiles

As we consume Apples and BlackBerrys, natural world beats a sensory retreat

FINGERS ON THE POLITICAL PULSE: Senate aides with BlackBerrys in hand during a committee meeting. (Sarah L. Voisin/the Washington Post)

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Who's Blogging

» Links to this article

By Adrian Higgins
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 15, 2009

via washingtonpost.com

Awesome and great article about technology advances and the problems with them.

Posted via web from JaapWillem.com Blog

Video: American Refugees Seek Health Care in Mexico | The Daily Show | Comedy Central

2009-12-15T11:24:00.001+01:00

via thedailyshow.com

Awesome video about Merida and Yucatan.. It's a great place to go I heard...

Posted via web from JaapWillem.com Blog

Xmas tree decoration

2009-12-08T13:55:00.001+01:00

Xmas tree decoration

Now we have entered the december month, the shops are buzzing again with all kind of decorations and xmas trees and presents.

This picture is a close up from our xmas tree decoration, what we have made small but astounishing.. Really proud on it.

So I know that this month it will be slow on posts and everything but we keep on going strong with new plans for 2010..

What is your plan for the xmas tree decoration this year and your plans for next year??

Have a great time decorating your xmas tree :D

Posted via email from JaapWillem.com Blog

Lovely spicy Ham / Cheese Sandwich

2009-12-01T16:54:00.001+01:00

This is the way of making a very lovely Spicy Ham / Cheese Sandwich

Preparation is:

Toast slightly the 2 bread slices.
Put on some butter or Mayonnaise on both bread slices.
Just a handful of Salad.
A slice of regular Cheese.
A slice of Ham.
3 Jalapenos peppers..
And a great Milkshake (not photographed)

You should be finished within 5 minutes but with a great lunch or dinner..

Enjoy and Bonne Appetit

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Dancing Mexican Beauty

2009-11-27T14:30:00.001+01:00

Dancing Mexican beauty

This picture is taken from a dancing Mexican group in Puerto vallarta.

The dance was a typical Mexican dance, I'll edit this post later on when I remember the name. :D I think the sepia colours make it interesting with the light and the dancing position from the other actors on the stage.

Enjoy this Friday picture.

I've edited it with Photoshop Lightroom and Photoshop.

Posted via email from JaapWillem.com Blog

B&W Office Furniture

2009-11-26T16:22:00.001+01:00

B&W office furniture.

How does your office look like? That's always a very important question among all office workers..

Everyone has their own style of course and everyone is happy with their office, but just wanted to let you guys now about our office details..

I like those pictures because they're abstract and have something to say about the place.. if it's full of light or not..

Enjoy..

Jaap Willem
http://www.jaapwillem.com
Twitter: jaapwillem

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Time Lapse video outside from our house

2009-11-19T09:59:00.001+01:00

Time Lapse video in Deinze

I've uploaded 2 Time lapse videos to Youtube and Vimeo, both in 1080 HD resolution.

So you can have a look which one is better for Flash implementation, as well since the last upgrade from Youtube to support for 1080 and as well with the use of the Desktop up loader from Vimeo, what works flawless for the moment..

The only thing is that the image is quite dark, didn't check it on a windows PC and on my mac it was perfect. But I'll be upgrading and making the images lighter this week.

Time lapse Deinze on Youtube

Time-Lapse Deinze on Vimeo

Cheers and enjoy,

Jaap Willem
http://www.jaapwillem.com
Twitter: jaapwillem

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Apture integration on www.jaapwillem.com

2009-11-18T15:41:00.001+01:00

Hello there,

I'm back with a short Blog post and a short note on my personal page (http://www.jaapwillem.com)

Lately i've been adding some points and additions to my website, mainly to make it more interactive and easier to navigate.

Frontpage: interactive extension

So on the frontpage I've added a very cool new extension, Apture. This extension do permit you to see rapidly some images and as well videos and my Twitter feed.

Images page: Breadcrumbs

The second change I've been adding is that addition of so called breadcrumbs in my Photography page. You can find it for example on my Bruges photography page and as well the update page on September images.

Comments? Shoot!!

Please let me know what you think of these additions and changes and keep tuned for some more changes soon.

Cheers

Jaap Willem

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Travelling: The beauty of Honduras

2009-11-10T15:03:00.002+01:00

Travelling: Beauty of Honduras

With the latest problems in Honduras it's easy to forget about a very important part of the country, the tourism.

It is indeed one of the poorest countries in the region and South America but it's plenty covered with beautiful spots all over the country. I would like to invite you guys to explore with me the beauty of the country and the persons within the Gallery I linked to this Blog post on Flickr.

Travelling in Honduras: Tegucigalpa

The capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa, is build upon many hills and very steep hills sometimes but it's definitely a very interesting place with sometimes a tremendous difference between the old classical Spanish style and the latest buildings from western companies whom are using low wage workers to make their products.

Travelling in Honduras: Caribbean coast.

If you go towards the coast you come to see the rolling green hills with the local flowers before you get to the Caribbean sea. This is when you get to the beautiful blue colored sea with the islands just a short boat trip away.

The local population is very charming and welcoming to tourists and are happy to share with you the beauty of their country.

Do you have a Honduras travel experience? Please share it with me in the comments.

Travelling in Honduras: Slideshow

</object>

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaapwillem/tags/2008americasabrilhondurasviaje/

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Google Wave workflow

2009-10-16T10:11:00.001+02:00

Just wondering what each ones work flow for Google Wave is..

I have at the moment 2 favorite views..

One with 3 to 4 conversations open. This is for the moment I'm really into the productivity and need to collaborate with everyone..
One with no conversations visible but all hidden into the top from the page. This is the moment when I leave I like to have everything clean and I can see when I come back which ones had comments on them. It is indicated in Green ;)

Which one is yours??

Give me a feedback in the comments or on Google wave... jaapwillem at googlewave dot com

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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French Pharmacies

2009-10-14T14:02:00.001+02:00

French Pharmacies

Just saw the other day this picture in my library and every time I'm always intrigued.

I don't know, but it gives me always a very warm feeling to see one. It looks like one out of the old cartoons where it still is like it used to be during the beginning of the 1900...

So I would like to introduce you this edited photo from a french pharmacy, made in a cartoonish style image.

Let me know what you think,

Cheers Jaap Willem

Posted via email from JaapWillem.com Blog

Yahoo HATES PUBLIC opinion

2009-10-13T20:57:00.001+02:00

Now I think it's becoming more and more official.. And I think it's a real pity but Yahoo HATES public opinion.

I write this article with boiling blood, because Yahoo is taking more and more control over Flickr and they clearly do not understand the Flickr motivation.

Way back in the time we loved Flickr because they where cutting-edge and had a great community ..

Now the community is going down.. more and more people are moving towards other sites, like SmugMug and even Picasaweb..

From a technical point of view, few things have changed lately, the last major addition is the addition of Video.. and that only for 1:30 minutes..

Lately there's a trend from Flickr to start to intervene into community discussions, one of the biggest fails was the Laughing clown which was similar to Obama. Now the latest is the erasing of posts and intervention within the Yahoo groups..

So I would like to refer to this article from Thomas Hawk and face the facts that Flickr soon will be a community without community..

Give it a look and share this with your friends, colleagues etc.. and stop using Flickr, there are many more interesting photo sites on the internet..

Cheers Jaap Willem

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Amsterdam Street Images

2009-10-12T17:50:00.003+02:00

Amsterdam Street Images.
The following images are a few images I took during the car-free Sunday in September in Amsterdam.

It's really nice to see that the people took their living room to the street to make a statement about the use of the streets.
True, normally the weather ain't that good that it's possible but still, it's great. I think it's as well about the spirit in Amsterdam that when there's something going on, the whole city center is enjoying the party. Anyone who have been at a Queensday knows how the party can be.

So I would like to invite you guys to this small selection of edited images from Amsterdam and the living room on the streets. At the end we always have the blue cushion to sit on, isn't?? To enjoy the beautiful sight over the Canals.

If you are in Amsterdam, just try to stroll around and enjoy the spirit of the city, you'll be positively surprised.

Jaap Willem

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Houseboat in Amsterdam

2009-10-09T13:52:00.002+02:00

Houseboat in Amsterdam,

This B&W picture from a Houseboat in Amsterdam is a famous example. It is even mentioned on the Wikipedia site about the houseboats in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
In the city they all have their own official locations with their own Address. Due to the fact that the places are limited the prices have risen on the same rate as the Real Estate on the ground.

Enjoy..

Posted via email from JaapWillem.com Blog

Google Passes 71% Market Share In Latest Hitwise Survey

2009-10-07T12:52:00.001+02:00

via feeds.searchengineland.com

Funny to see that suddenly Ask.com is soaring 8% .. Will people change Bing and Yahoo for Ask???

Posted via web from JaapWillem.com Blog

Typical Amsterdam City landscape

2009-10-06T14:52:00.001+02:00

Typical Amsterdam city center landscape.

So, about 2 weeks ago we went for a weekend to Amsterdam and it's always really nice to to stroll around in the city center taste the ambiance of the city.
Even though it was only for a day, the other day we went to the Zaanstreek, we had a great luck with the weather and the fact there where very few people around.
This is the moment I took this picture from one of the Grachten, canals, with the typical view from Amsterdam with the bikes on the bridges, the canals and boats..
Hope you guys enjoys this picture and stay updated for some new images from Amsterdam I have up my sleeve :) somewhere ;)

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Lavazza Cappuccino & Espresso Coffee

2009-10-03T21:17:00.001+02:00

Lavazza Coffee.. It's really great coffee..

I know there's a discussion going on between Illy Coffee and Lavazza Coffee.. But honestly I just love them both.

We took this coffee 2 weeks ago in Amsterdam, Holland while strolling trough the City Center.. Great place just between 2 Canals (Grachten)..

Now I've edited these images within Adobe Lightroom and exported them as well into Flickr You can find them here Lavazza Espresso, Lavazza Cappuccino Dark, Lavazza Cappuccino Close up

Enjoy the pictures and treat yourself on a great cup of Coffee, Cappuccino or Espresso ;)

=====
Jaap Willem
http://www.jaapwillem.com
Twitter: jaapwillem

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from JaapWillem.com Blog

Google Ad Planner gebruiken

2009-10-02T10:09:00.002+02:00

Google Ad Planner

Wat is Google Ad Planner en hoe gebruik ik het?

Google Adplanner is een tool van Google voor het definiëren en targetting van je doelgroep:

Weten welke sites je doelgroep bezoekt.
Nieuwe sites vinden om te targetten op basis van bepaalde criteria.
Uit vinden welke sites je doelgroep bezoekt.

Voor wie is het geschikt?

Media Planners: Een media planner in de ruimste zin van het woord. Dit is bijvoorbeeld een SEA, Affiliatie en Sociaal Media marketeers.
Account managers: Account managers kunnen voor potentiële klant de Doelgroep helpen bepalen en het potentiële bereik. Ook kan er duidelijker worden gekozen voor verschillende vormen van Advertenties, Tekst, Display, Affiliatie. Potentiële zoekwoorden kan men er ook op terugvinden die de doelgroep eventueel gebruikt.
Linkbuilders: Het bepalen van de doelgroep en de websites die de doelgroep bezoekt kan heel erg interessant zijn om kwaliteit linkbuilding uit te voeren.

Gebruik Ad Planner

Je kunt Ad Planner vanuit 2 kanten benaderen:

Per website
Per doelgroep.

Website keuze.

Hier kan je een website aangeven die je wilt onderzoeken.
Je geeft een bepaalde website in die je wilt onderzoeken. Elke website die je wilt kan je hierin invullen, alleen hoe groter de website hoe meer informatie er terug te vinden zal zijn.

In België de informatie die beschikbaar is het volgende:

Categorie (dit komt van de Dmoz.org website)
Of er advertenties worden geaccepteerd. (Ook advertenties van buiten het Google inhoud netwerk, nu is dat minder geworden door de DoubleClick Ad Exchange integratie)
Het aantal bezoekers. (Ook beschikbaar via Trends for Search)
Bezochte sites
Zoekwoorden gebruikt
Welke advertentie types er gebruikt kunnen worden
Of het in het Google inhoud netwerk zit.
Waar de advertentie wordt weergegeven.
Demografische informatie (niet in België maar voor Frankrijk en Verenigd Koninkrijk wel beschikbaar)

Geslacht informatie
Huishouden inkomen
Onderwijs Niveau
Kinderen in Huishouden
Leeftijd

Hieronder treffen jullie een voorbeeld aan van de analyse van de Ikea website.

Doelgroep:

Hier kan je dus je doelgroep bepalen en bekijken welke sites zij bezoeken. Kan je dus bekijken welke websites je wilt targetten voor welke klant.

Je kunt de doelgroep filtreren op:

Land: Hierbij kan je het land en tot bepaalde regio's filtreren van je doelgroep.

Taal: De taal die de persoon heeft ingesteld in zijn Webbrowser en via welke taal hij heeft gezocht. Hierdoor weet men welke taal de gebruiker spreekt en kunnen we bepaalde websites bepalen.

Bezochte websites. Welke websites heeft de gebruiker ook bezocht of wat is de website van de concurrent.

Zoekwoorden gebruikt: Wanneer je weet welke zoekwoorden je doelgroep zou kunnen gebruiken kan je de websites filtreren die hierop gevonden worden. Dit is heel erg interessant voor High Conversing Zoekwoorden.

Daarna kan je bepalen op wat je het wilt sorteren:

Website Relevantie: Wil je een grote relevantie aangeven voor de websites of wil je een iets uitgebreidere selectie terugkrijgen.

Advertentie bereik en plaats

Of je de advertentie plaats wilt zien of alleen het domein naam: Wil je het website adres zien of ook de posities die je op deze website kan gebruikmaken.
Of het in het Google inhoud netwerk zit.

Welke categorie de site toebehoord: Welke categorie wil je targetten, bijvoorbeeld Kranten, Financieel en Prijsvergelijker.

Welke advertentie formaten er worden geaccepteerd. Dit zijn volgens de officiële IAB Ad Formats. Hierbij kan men verschillende formaten selecteren.

Het domain suffix dat getarged moet worden, bijvoorbeeld alleen met .be

Ik heb mijn data geselecteerd, wat nu?
Je hebt 2 mogelijkheden om te doen:

Toevoegen aan een mediaplan: Een mediaplan is een Profiel wat je opzet en wat je gebruikt voor je data. Bijvoorbeeld je kunt een profiel opzetten voor België en een voor Nederland, je kan helaas nog niet meerdere landen selecteren. Je maakt een Media Plan aan in de tab Media Plan en je ziet in welk Media Plan je aan het werk bent aan de rechter bovenkant.

Exporteren naar CSV. Je kunt ook de gegevens selecteren voor op te slaan in CSV formaat. Hierbij kan je kiezen tussen normaal CSV formaat en MediaVisor formaat, wat voor DoubleClick gebruikt word.

Waar komt de data vandaan?

De data komt uit het Google zoekverkeer, Google Analytics data, eventuele gebruikersdata gecollecteerd van bijvoorbeeld de Google werkbalk en verschillende 3de partij marktonderzoeken. Hier geven ze verder geen onderscheid aan.

Is het dus wel betrouwbaar?

Er is geen 100% garantie dat de data perfect betrouwbaar is maar aangezien het bereik van Google over internet gebruikers is het zeker meer dan gemiddeld betrouwbaar.

Posted via email from JaapWillem.com Blog

Adobe boss takes seat at Dell

2009-09-30T16:05:00.001+02:00

Annoyed with Adobe? Feel the company’s customer commitment to be a little weak? Somewhat annoyed at the company’s opaque price tier structure when it comes to Creative Suite sales in the UK and Europe in comparison to the US? Wondering why it won’t stick strictly to Apple development guidelines to create CS in the first place? Perhaps there’s a reason behind it all. Perhaps that reason has just become pretty visible - Adobe’s got a Dell.

Here’s the deal: Dell announced today that Shantanu Narayen, president and CEO of Adobe, has been appointed to the company’s board of directors. Mr. Narayen, 46, joins the board immediately and will stand for election at Dell’s next shareholders meeting.

“As CEO of one of the world’s largest and most diversified software companies, Shantanu will provide us with valuable insight as we develop and deliver IT solutions to customers,” said Michael Dell, chairman and CEO. “In addition, he brings strong operational expertise and experience, leading a company known for its innovative culture and growth.”

Mr. Narayen has been CEO of Adobe since December 2007, after serving as Adobe’s president and COO, responsible for day-to-day global operations, product research and development, marketing, and corporate development. He held key product research and development positions at Adobe, including for worldwide products, product development and engineering technology.

Before joining Adobe in 1998, Mr. Narayen was co-founder of Pictra Inc., a pioneer in digital photo-sharing over the Internet; led desktop and collaboration products at Silicon Graphics; and held senior management positions at Apple, that last stint was a long time ago, it’s clear.

So there we have in interesting rift. Adobe and Apple helped revolutionise desktop publishing way back in the day, with close and friendly relations between the founders of both firms. Flash forward to today, and Adobe’s current CEO seems to want to send us all to Dell.

via feedproxy.google.com

Really funny indeed.. specially the first paragraph

Posted via web from JaapWillem.com Blog

Panoramic Image from Windmill Zaanse Schans

2009-09-24T13:45:00.001+02:00

Panoramic landscape picture of the Zaanse Schans in Noord Holland.
This picture is made from various others pictures to produce at the end this panoramic one.
I was standing on the windmill itself, very funny indeed...

Posted via email from JaapWillem.com Blog

Images Zaanse Schans.

2009-09-23T21:32:00.002+02:00

Images from Zaanse Schans and Haarlem

These are a few images I've taken while being for a weekend in Zaandam and Haarlem.

Thankfully there where plenty of opportunities to take plenty of pictures and these are the first batch from them.

The first Picture is from an Old green door within a windmill. It's one of the few windmills which are still active and accessible.

The other picture is from the same Windmill but from a bit further away..

Third photo is from me myself and I ;)

The last one is a HDR picture from an old building within the center square from Haarlem. This is a HDR night picture.

Hope you guys enjoy these pictures..

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from JaapWillem.com Blog

1st page on Google image for term Cunorte

2009-09-22T14:47:00.001+02:00

2 Photos on first page from Google Images

This just made my day, found out that I got to the first page of Google images for 2 pictures...
With the term Cunorte got me to the first page with 2 photos

The first one are paintings at Cunorte and the second is from the other side as well at the Cunorte Entrance.
And even better these are the only ones from the Flickr website.

You can imagine that I'm really happy..
Just wanted to let you know guys..
Cheers

Posted via email from JaapWillem.com Blog

Youtube search within Google Search Results

2009-09-18T10:46:00.001+02:00

Just wanted to show an update (for me) about the Google Search.

Now you can search within google as well for Youtube videos.

Probably many people are first searching for Youtube on Google instead of typing in Youtube.com.

This is a nice addition to the Google search results, only see if they will be add it to others as well.. For example Flickr.. (I'm still dreaming) hahaha

Posted via email from JaapWillem.com Blog

Obama bashing and Google Content Network

2009-09-16T20:39:00.001+02:00

I think it's really Ironic how the Google Content Network sometimes serves their ads.

I'm wondering as well what the target keywords for this ad where on the Content Network, maybe Obama?

And of course there's the never ending discussion on if Obama is a Socialist... He's a freaking Democrat and Democrats always have been more socialist then Republicans. Get over it and vote the next time.

Posted via email from JaapWillem.com Blog

Adobe moving to the Cloud?

2009-09-16T19:48:00.001+02:00

Adobe is moving more and more to the cloud.

I think the biggest surprise for many persons was that they bought yesterday the Web tracking company Omniture.

For me it was a big surprise as well, even I was wondering what the does it make for sense that they did this.

I still have some questions about it, but there are a few points very clear to me:

It's not only that they have now bought Omniture, making them a big competitor to DoubleClick (Google) Atlas SearchSolutions (Microsoft) but as well many others. There are still many web tracking companies and no one has still a controlling stake at something or some parts.

But why would a design and a publisher company go towards Web tracking? That is like a bakery starting to sell Jeans. (Maybe in the word there is some bakery doing that but it's normal.)

So what comes into my mind are a few things..

Integration from tracking within Flash.

This would be nice to be able to track the path of a visitor within your Flash website, so you have the same level of data as a HTML page.

I could imagine myself that they are working with Google and the other big Search engines to make Flash accessible for their Spiders and then with Omniture you have direct access to the behaviour.

Integration of tracking within their online products.

At the moment they have a bunch of online service going on, for example Buzzword, Acrobat.com and Photoshop online. They are all based upon Flash and at the moment there is not any tracking possible as is for example possible with Google Docs. Google Docs fits directly in Google Analytics and maybe they will be offering this kind of integration soon as well.

Cross-Selling.

This is the reason I hear the most around the internet, that it's for cross-selling reason, It could be easier to do some kind of cross-selling, but then I'm wondering to witch customers? A creative agency or department do have the need for online tracking, but in general the clients from Omniture do have their special Online Marketing department.

In this case I'm coming back from the example of the bakery selling jeans, there are Creative agencies and there are Online Marketing Agencies. Both have their specialities but they don't overflow that much.

Then in the large companies you have a Creative department, the geeks with the Macs, and you have the Online Marketing department, the geeks with their Firefoxes all pimped out. And they don't match.

I think this is the first acquisition in a trend and we'll see why Adobe went this way.

I hope they will be integrating analytics within their Flash services and Products online and maybe as well make a light version from Omniture, what will be free, just to get some counterweight to Google. Furthermore it would be very nice indeed to have a deeper integration of tracking within the applications online.

One thing is for sure, I'm really curious about the future and what it will bring.

=====

Jaap Willem
http://www.jaapwillem.com
Twitter: jaapwillem

Posted via email from JaapWillem.com Blog

Themes on Bing.com Homepage

2009-09-15T15:34:00.001+02:00

I just saw something new for me, I don't know how long it have been active but it's quite a nice touch, that nowadays there are Hot Spots on the Images. If you hover over the image you see a small text with an explanation based upon the Picture you have as background.

Please see the images for a few examples, but in general it's a nice touch to the website.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from JaapWillem.com Blog

Google Chrome Dual View Extension

2009-09-15T13:51:00.001+02:00

I would like to share an enormous time saver, specially to compare two sites within Google Chrome.

Here you can have 2 sites open at the same time next to each other in the Browser window.. Works Sweet, try it and download it from this link http://www.chromeplugins.org/plugins/google-chrome-dual-view/

There's only one thing, and that is that you need the Beta version of Chrome or the Developer version.

Jaap Willem

Posted via email from JaapWillem.com Blog

Antwoord op open Email Dockx Autoverhuur

2009-09-15T12:47:00.001+02:00

Graag wil ook het antwoord van Dockx Autoverhuur doormailen, maar dat is Prohibited dus zal ik jullie het antwoord beschrijven.

Volgens de mensen van Dockx is het een verzekering reden dat ze alleen aan Mensen met een Belgisch paspoort kunnen verhuren.

Dan missen ze toch een groot gedeelte van de toeristen en handel.

Ik neem aan dat ze teveel werk hebben in deze economische crisis.

Jaap Willem

Posted via email from JaapWillem.com Blog

Open Email aan Dockx Rental

2009-09-15T10:09:00.002+02:00

Ik heb deze brief geschreven wegens een paar vragen die ik aan Dockx Rental had.

To: Dockx Rental Belgie

Subject: Benodigde papieren om te huren

Goedemorgen,

Ik heb een vraag voor u over de benodigde papieren om een auto bij u te huren.

Gisteren had ik een auto bij u gereserveerd en tot mijn verbazing werd het me geweigerd omdat ik geen Belgisch Rijbewijs had. Ik ben een Nederlander, met een Nederlands rijbewijs en een Nederlands Paspoort. Ik had een auto nodig en nu moest ik dus 6 uur rijzen met het openbaar vervoer in plaats van 3 uur. Daar was ik heel erg ontstemd over, zoals u misschien kunt voorstellen.

Daarom heb ik een tweetal vragen aan u:

Kunt u mij uitleggen wat de redenen zijn dat mijn rijbewijs niet werd geaccepteerd terwijl op uw website duidelijk staat vermeld dat een Europees rijbewijs goed is.(http://www.dockx.be/nl/dockx-rental/veelgestelde-vragen.html#afhalen)
Kunt u mij ook uitleggen waarom een Europees Paspoort niet geaccepteerd word, aangezien we allemaal in de Europeesche Unie zitten en vrij vervoer van personen en goederen hebben.

Ik wacht uw antwoord met interesse af.

Met Vriendelijke groet,

Jaap Willem van de Plasse

Google Search - How to get...

2009-09-10T13:45:00.001+02:00

Sometimes it's really interesting to look at the search suggestions from Google in the Searchbox, this is my search for today:

How to get: .....

Posted via email from JaapWillem.com Blog

Why corporate IT should unchain our office computers. - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine

2009-08-27T19:55:00.001+02:00

During a town hall meeting for State Department workers last month, an employee named Jim Finkle asked Hillary Clinton a very important question: "Can you please let the staff use an alternative Web browser called Firefox?" The room erupted in cheers. Finkle explained that he'd previously worked at the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, where everyone enjoyed Firefox. "So I don't understand why State can't use it," he said. "It's a much safer program."
You don't have to know Jim Finkle or anyone else at the State Department to recognize their pain. Millions of workers around the world are in the same straits: They've heard about the joys of Firefox, the wonders of Google Docs, or any number of other great programs or Web sites that might improve how they work. Indeed, they use these apps at home all the time, and they love them. But at work they're stymied by the IT department, that class of interoffice Brahmins that decides, ridiculously and capriciously, how people should work.
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The secretary of state didn't know why Firefox was blocked; an aide stepped in to explain that the free program was too expensive—"it has to be administered, the patches have to be loaded." Isn't that how it always is? You ask your IT manager to let you use something that seems pretty safe and run-of-the-mill, and you're given an outlandish stock answer about administrative costs and unseen dangers lurking on the Web. Like TSA guards at the airport, workplace IT wardens are rarely amenable to rational argument. That's because, in theory, their mission seems reasonable. Computers, like airplanes, can be dangerous things—they can breed viruses and other malware, they can consume enormous resources meant for other tasks, and they're portals to great expanses of procrastination. So why not lock down workplace computers?
Here's why: The restrictions infantilize workers—they foster resentment, reduce morale, lock people into inefficient routines, and, worst of all, they kill our incentives to work productively. In the information age, most companies' success depends entirely on the creativity and drive of their workers. IT restrictions are corrosive to that creativity—they keep everyone under the thumb of people who have no idea which tools we need to do our jobs but who are charged with deciding anyway.
If I sound a bit over-exercised about what seems like an uncontroversial practice, it's because I am—for too long, office workers of the world have taken IT restrictions sitting down. Most of my co-workers at Slate labor away on machines that are under bureaucratic control; they need special dispensation to install anything that requires running an installation program, even programs that have been proved to be safe—anything that uses the increasingly popular Adobe AIR platform or new versions of major Web browsers. Other friends are blocked from visiting large swaths of the Web. IT departments install filtering programs that block not only adult sites but anything that might allow for goofing off on "company time," including e-mail and chat programs, dating sites, shopping sites, and news sites like Digg or Reddit (or even Slate).
Related in Slate
Farhad Manjoo recently wrote about why the new Firefox augurs great things for the Web. In 2006, Jeff Merron debunked the myth that "workplace interruptions" cost the U.S. economy $588 billion each year. Emily Yoffe explained why our brain hard-wires us to love seeking. Plus, Meghan O'Rourke reviews Joshua Ferris' meditation on how office work can destroy our identity, The We Came to the End.
Different IT managers have different aims, of course. At some companies—like Slate—the techs are mainly trying to keep the network secure; preventing people from installing programs is a simple and effective (if blunt) way to ensure that corporate computers don't ingest scary stuff. Other firms want to do something even more sinister: keep workers from having fun. These companies block the Web and various other online distractions on the theory that cowed a workforce is an efficient one. But that's not really the case.
One obvious problem with such restrictions is that they're arbitrary. In blocking "dangerous" sites or programs, IT managers inevitably restrict many more useful applications. One editor at a large New York publishing house told me that the art department at his company is constantly running into the firm's net-nanny filtering program. An artist will need to look up, say, pictures of 14^th-century Ottoman swords in order to illustrate a fantasy novel—and she'll run into a notice saying, "Access to that site has been blocked because of the following category: Weapons." (It's a measure of the IT department's power that all the office workers I interviewed for this article would talk only on background; no one wants to get on the wrong side of his tech master.) Or consider this madness: Even though many companies are now looking to popularize their products or brands using social-networking sites, IT departments routinely restrict access to Facebook, Twitter, and their ilk.
What's worse, because they aren't tasked with understanding how people in different parts of a company do their jobs, IT managers often can't appreciate how profoundly certain tools can improve how we work. As I've written before, switching from Outlook to Gmail changed my life; hosting my e-mail at Google freed me from methodically backing up old mail, which is an important way I remember my reporting contacts. When I worked in an office not long ago, though, a new man in IT decided that forwarding company mail to my Gmail account might violate the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. I tried to explain that was ridiculous—Sarbanes-Oxley proscribes deleting mail, which I wasn't doing, and, anyway, the IT department had no problem forwarding mail to people's BlackBerries and iPhones. But he wouldn't budge. And it's not just Gmail: I can name several programs—plugins for Outlook or Firefox, desktop Twitter clients, local search programs like Google Desktop, and lots of other apps that have yet to be invented—that might let people work faster or more efficiently. But IT departments can take years to approve such advances; there are office workers all over America still stuck using IE 6.
You might argue that firms need to make sure that people stay on task—if employees were allowed to do whatever they wanted at work, nobody would get anything done. But in many instances, that claim is ridiculous. My fiancée works at a hospital that blocks all instant-messaging programs. Now, she and her co-workers are doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals—they've been through years of training in which they've proved that they can stay on task even despite the allure of online chat. Can anyone seriously argue that the hospital would suddenly grind to a halt if they were allowed to use IM at work?
Indeed, there's no empirical evidence that unfettered access to the Internet turns people into slackers at work. The research shows just the opposite. Brent Corker, a professor of marketing at the University of Melbourne, recently tested how two sets of workers—one group that was blocked from using the Web and another that had free access—perform various tasks. Corker found that those who could use the Web were 9 percent more productive than those who couldn't. Why? Because we aren't robots; people with Web access took short breaks to look online while doing their work, and the distractions kept them sharper than the folks who had no choice but to keep on task.
Corker's finding fits in with a long line of research that shows distractions can sometimes be good for the mind. Doodling, for instance, helps us stay more alert at meetings. Indeed, Daniel Pink, the author of the upcoming Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, has pointed out that some of the world's most innovative companies are also the most relaxed about goof-off workers. At Google—which, like most big tech firms, imposes no restrictions on workers' computers—people are encouraged to spend time doing stuff that is unrelated to their jobs. Everyone at Pixar is allowed to spend many hours every week attending classes on filmmaking, painting, drawing, creative writing, and other subjects. And Netflix has no vacation plan—people can take as much time off as they like as long as their work gets done.
There is a jargony HR phrase that describes these forward-looking firms: They're called "results-only workplace environments," where people are judged on what they produce, not how. As Netflix CEO Reed Hastings once told a reporter, "I want managers to come to me and say, 'Let's give a really big raise to Sally because she's getting a lot done'—not because she's chained to her desk." This jibes with Pink's argument that it's a sense of autonomy—rather than money—that drive employees to work hard. People work best, he argues, when they feel they're being left alone to do their jobs. But it's hard to feel that way if your computer is constantly throwing up roadblocks in your path.
OK, but shouldn't firms at least do something about viruses and porn? Sure. Rather than restrict access for everyone—ensuring that nobody ever learns which programs are genuinely bad news and which are blocked just for convenience's sake—they can educate workers about how to use their computers. IT departments could also block the most-obviously ruinous sites, places that traffic in illegal material, like the Pirate Bay, or that have been flagged as repositories of dangerous software. But doing any more than that is counterproductive. As one locked-down worker told me, blocking parts of the Web "systematically makes the company stupider" about the innovation now flooding into our lives. Systematic stupidity is rarely a plan for success.
Killer Apps: Farhad Manjoo reviews Ninja Words, the best dictionary for iPhone.

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Unchain the Office Computers!: Why corporate IT should let us browse any way we want.

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One Part Creativity: Zero Parts Recipe: Can just using ratios really teach me to be a better cook?

Farhad Manjoo is Slate's technology columnist and the author of True Enough: Learning To Live in a Post-Fact Society. You can e-mail him at ")farhad.manjoo@slate.com'); and follow him on Twitter.
Illustration by Robert Neubecker.
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I only can hope that in the future this will become less and less, although there's a change that it won't happen.
I've always had luck of hijacking my computer more or less so that it runs other programs and that I could install them, but I think it's more of a problem in larger companies.
Furthermore the Adobe Air thing is a typical one, I've found many apps on Air which made my work so much more effecient, although they never accepted it.
Free our work computers and tell the bosses that you can't work without free access. Send everytime an example of a program what could save your work hours with a financial calculation to your boss and the IT man, to see if that could work in the long run.

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Some funny impressions

2009-08-23T20:27:00.001+02:00

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Application or the Cloud? (jaapwillem)

2009-08-02T20:45:00.001+02:00

Application or the Cloud?

It's a question many people are making nowadays and the Cloud do definitely have strong backers at the moment.

Of course Google, Microsoft and even Adobe is more and more pushing our data to the cloud.

But lately I've been wondering, more and more people are getting used to it, I'm quite happy with it as well, but I see myself every time using the Sync service of these services. It does means that while I'm a back fan of them, I use one computer where I have applications synchronizing to the cloud, while I use the application. For example on my private computer, a Macbook, I use not the web version of Gmail but the Mail client. Where I have as well conversations but as well colour codes and etc. Google Calendar is changed to iCal and even Google Reader just got a competitor with NetNewsWire. This is apart from Feedly what I use.

One web service I basically never use online is Twitter, I use Tweetdeck and Tweetie for that. But on the other way, Friendfeed I use exclusively in the browser.

That's why I'm wondering, more and more people are using now the Cloud, and more and more blogs are written by Tech experts are expecting the end of Applications.

I do think that stand alone applications will have a hard time, but a exchange application with a direct connection with the Internet.

The next question what comes up then, Do I believe in the Browser as OS?

The short answer: No.

The long answer, I don't think that a browser will be able to support the memory independent and speed tasks you are doing in an Application. Maybe we can do it in a little while, but then it will take a long time. For example, to edit a simple Photoshop file it is possible but it takes longer then in Photoshop. Then when we're talking about larger files, more then 200 MB, I do think that the browser and the Internet will actually break.

The next time I'll write something more and will take a few applications which will be very interesting to see online.

Cheers

Jaap Willem
Online Presence Consultant at http://www.jaapwillem.com
Contact me at jaapwillem at jaapwillem.com
Friendfeed: http://www.friendfeed.com/jaapwillem

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Nokia Ovi Services Suite

2009-07-27T18:01:00.000+02:00

The Nokia Ovi Suite Services

What is it?

The Nokia Ovi suite is a range of web based applications developed to integrate with Nokia mobile phones. it's storing all the information in the cloud and the information can be updated from the Internet and from the mobile phone with the help of synchronisation software embedded in the phone.
In plain English: data you on your phone is getting backed up online, where you can easily access it.
Which applications does it contain?
The suite contains the standard applications like a Address book, Calendar, Task and Notes.these are transferred directly from the mobile phones. in general you can find a sync application within the tools folder.
then as extras you can share as well your pictures and videos with the share online service. then there is as well an email application online which works great with the messaging application what you can download from Nokia. and then at the end, there is the maps application what brings GPS navigation to your mobile phone.

The apps

Address book
This is probably one of the most useful parts of the services, due to the fact that you can make a back up from your contacts and have them always at hand if you are browsing on the internet. The sync is happening over the air via the build in Sync application on your Nokia mobile phone.
It is syncing as well photos and all kind of details from your contacts online, basically all the same information what you have stored in your Outlook Contacts as well.
As well you can divide your contacts as well into groups, which are then again synced back into your phone.

Calendar / Notes / Tasks
The calendar application from Nokia Ovi Suite takes the information from your phone into separate applications online. The Data shows up in the Calendar part within the different tabs. The first tab is the calendar view, with all the options to view (Daily, Weekly, Monthly and list) view what has become a standard for any calendar application. Furthermore on the left side you can quickly add a new appointment with extensive options available by clicking on the more options button.
The Notes application is located on the third tab and is displaying all the notes you have made on your phone and you have the ability to make a new one as well, which will be synchronized back again. This is the standard notes functionality what you can find as well in outlook, but don't expect an innovative program like Evernote.
The tasks manager is the second tab and is basically the same as a task in outlook and you can add easily new notes on the web. This is basically the same as what I've written over the notes, it has the basic functionality included but don't expect more, for example what you could do with Remember the Milk.

Email
One of the interesting apps is the Email application. It does sync direct to your phone with the new Messaging application from Nokia and has a very clean interface. It is opening directly with the view of your email and on the left side the options to Write a new message, Check the Email and Address Book. Below that you can find Folders wherein can store your email's.
In total you can store for 1 Gig on email, what is quite paltry in comparisation with Gmail and Yahoo, but will do for text email's, don't start to send out large files!
If you click on an email you see the email and then with a nice novelty touch, on the left side you can see the latest email's. So you can click quickly between one and the other, or skipping a few email's. This is an option I would like to see in more email programs.
The maximum attachments size is 10 MB and you can send almost everything. Furthermore the Spelling check contains the most used languages and some asian as well.
A disappointing point is that the Address book isn't synced with the main address book application, but uses a separate one for the email. Since it's not possible yet to import rapidly addresses, this is a major pain in the ass.

Maps
The maps application takes on directly the Google maps function and I have to say that they are doing a very good job. First it is more accurate, I've found already several times that Google maps was quite off, while Nokia Ovi Maps got it right directly.
Furthermore there is as well the option to have 3d buildings and views. You have the classic maps view, the satellite and the terrain view.
Another good point is that since Maps 3.0 you can as well synchronize your places and routes, so that you have always the correct data everywhere. The synchronization happens within the Ovi Maps application within your phone.

Share
The Nokia Suite Share application contains Photos and files.
The photos application is one of the eldest application within the Nokia Ovi Suite and you can see that as well. It has the most options and you can store as many photos and videos as you would like.
Furthermore as well to share the photos is up to the latest possibilities with the embed and the share function. Only disappointment is that there are no statistics visible. It took Picasaweb long enough as well, so I do have faith in the future that it will be implemented here as well.
The file share function is a bit more hidden but has some nice options.
You can find it on http://files.ovi.com and on the right side of the Welcome screen on Ovi.com
It has the option to synchronize your files from your computer to the mobile phone and that with a free capacity of 10 Gigabyte. You can see the files on the web, on your phone and from your computer.
The whole system is good implemented and it will only be improved in the future.

Conclusion.
In short the Nokia Ovi Suite applications is a very powerful services suite, as long as you have a Nokia phone. It can definatly rival Google and Apple with the options, specially because of the price (free) and free of Advertising.
The integration between the apps can still be improved and as well the import and export functions.
The stars are the welcome screen, the colours used, the Email and the Maps application. The Calendar and Address book functions are well implemented but basically a copy of the Outlook possibilities and implemented online. Here it's a shame that you cannot share anything, what would make it a much more social environment.
If you have a Nokia mobile phone, use it, and you will be surprised, if not, use some applications like the email and the photos applications, which are powerful, even without the mobile phone.

Written by JaapWillem for www.jaapwillem.com

	FireFox	Google Chrome
Installation	Requires browser re-start (this addon makes the process a bit more easier)	Easy and instant
Variety	Plenty of addons available	Only few extensions so far
Affect on browser performance	The more addons, the slower the browser	Runs extensions in separate processes, so no extension affects the entire browser.
The update process of extensions (?)	Update on the start (with confirmation required)	Automatic
Security	Is known for security issues	“Isolated Worlds” : By separating various processes from one another, Chrome should insure one addon security issues does not affect the whole browser

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