Tomorrow morning I’ll be leaving for Hong Kong, and I won’t be back until the 10th of January. Until then, I won’t be answering any calls on my mobile phone as it seems to cost 18 SEK a minute… A bit steep just to have a chat. If you want to contact me please give me a call on Skype, either with my handle bjornjeffery or to my number +46 (0) 40 692 8 692. IM works as usual, of course.
Happy new year everyone!
We started Good Old a few months ago with the idea that a lot of companies wanted to do something on the internet, but they didn’t know quite what do to. It turns out we were right. In January we will officially be six employees, and a good friend of mine is moving down to help us set up an office in Macedonia. I’ll post the blog link as soon as things are moving.
For me personally, it has been an amazing experience. Being able to shape your own job is a privilege that many more should get the chance to pursue. I get to read the thoughts of super interesting people – in office hours! About the way that the internet is changing, and how society is changing along with it. I get to document my own ideas and use this blog as a spring board for my mind. And as a connection to a network of people that I wouldn’t normally get in contact with.
So on that note – if you read this blog and find it interesting, feel free to drop me a line. Perhaps we can have lunch and chat about what’s going on at the moment. If all goes according to plan I will be travelling more extensively during the spring – let me know where you live and I might turn up and say hello.
Speaking of which, I’m going to Hong Kong on the 27th of December. If you live there, or have been there and have good tips on anything – interesting people, restaurants or shopping – I’d love to hear about it.
Let’s stay in touch. And Merry Christmas!
Socialight just left private beta and Olof made sure to put us on the map straight away.
(bonus point to the first person that gets the title reference 🙂
tags bloggar.se: socialight, socialight.com, mobil
The five-star facilities, WC1, are more than just restrooms. For GBP 5, stressed out shoppers and women on their way from meeting to meeting, or work to date can relax, revive and be pampered.
Ten Predictions about the Cell Phone Industry in 2007, by Roman Polz.
Mobile TV’s early adopters are expected to be mass transit commuters, primarily Asian and European adults wanting to get the early morning news or sports highlights for 10-to-15 minutes from TV stations. This already has started in Asia and will take off in Europe in particular because a much higher percentage of them take trains to and from work each day than Americans.
Over at Vassa Eggen (Swedish only) I find an interesting article about newspapers, other than The Guardian, starting to look at PDF-editions:
One might think a newspaper in PDF format would have only slight appeal, but publishers see real potential. For one, the PDF is highly portable, fit for printing out on short notice, which makes it ideal for people heading into meetings, for example.
And the printed version, at 8.5 by 11 inches, fits easily into briefcases for reading on the train on the way home or folders for filing. And if a printout is lost, another can be done up quickly.
For publishers, there’s no real added cost for PDF editions, in terms of paper and ink and distribution, since it is delivered by email. And it offers yet another means of reaching readers and providing advertisers exposure.
Using the time spent in transit is important. And when newspapers deliver the right material the right way, people want it. Get with the programme old timers.
tags bloggar.se: tidningar, dagstidningar, media, transit, trend, pdf
Read this!
Myron, 27, is a reporter for the Fort Myers News-Press and one of its fleet of mobile journalists, or “mojos.” The mojos have high-tech tools — ThinkPads, digital audio recorders, digital still and video cameras — but no desk, no chair, no nameplate, no land line, no office. They spend their time on the road looking for stories, filing several a day for the newspaper’s Web site, and often for the print edition, too. Their guiding principle: A constantly updated stream of intensely local, fresh Web content — regardless of its traditional news value — is key to building online and newspaper readership.
Finally! A newsroom that realizes that the only way to cover hyperlocal stories, is to participate in the hyperlocal. Start conversations, remember? It works IRL too. And it works with news (even if it was a long time ago journalists left their desks and actually covered news where it happens).
tags bloggar.se: tidningar, dagstidningar, media, hyperlokalt
The last few days I’ve been thinking a lot about people in transit and what we do while while we’re in it. Commuting is a necessary evil to get from home to work, and back again. While in transit between these two places you might as well do something, like read a free newspaper for instance. They are very common here in Sweden.
I believe this behaviour will move into other arenas as well. People will want to use all the time in between appointments more efficiently. They will turn the time in transit, into a pleasurable event in itself.
This poses a challenge for any company that involves some sort of waiting for their customers. An example: in Sweden it’s big business helping people to switch to winter tyres. If you go to a garage, the process might take you about half an hour. Usually, this is half an hour down the drain as there is nothing but a few worn out car magazines to read. If the garage instead had a wireless internet connection you could continue working as if nothing had happened, more or less. Or a bit more extreme – why not have a spa section that offers half an hours massage while you wait? A lot of stressed out people would greatly appreciate both maximising their day, and at the same time getting a soothing massage. This could be seen as good promotion, or an alternate source of income.
Another example would be phone cues. I absolutely hate waiting for ages on the phone in order to get the simplest of answers. Apart from having all the information available online (which is the obvious solution), having people in a phone cue could actually be good thing for both parties. How about adding a game to the service? A simple number based game that you can pay for through the phone bill. Entertaining, and something that everyone can do, understand and enjoy.
Personally, I’ve found that I love being in between two places. I absolutely love airports and I work really efficiently while I am on a train. The whole momentum of going somewhere really appeals to me. But give me a meaningful way of taking care of the time I’m in transit – new experiences or offers that I don’t usually get – and you’ll make me even happier.
So Google News finally launched in Sweden and the blogosphere is going nuts about it. Quite a few papers as well I think, even if they aren’t planning to take the Belgian approach to them.
Personally, I’m neither worried, impressed or excited. The functionality in itself tags along with the first post I wrote in this blog – it’s a simple news aggregator. No more, no less. Used correctly this will increase the amount of visitors rather than the opposite.
If the newspapers spent half as much time worrying about their content, or lack of (relevant) content, as they seem to be doing about Google News a lot of heartache could be avoided. The newspaper that has managed to build the best brand loyalty through quality of articles or other projects is winner in this race. If you, as a newspaper, feel that you haven’t done this – well, then you should be worried about the future of your paper in general. Google News won’t kill you, but if you haven’t done your homework it won’t help you considerably either.
So what to do? In my opinion there are a few things that still aren’t being done enough in the media. Get close to your readers, invite them to a conversation, start asking “why” instead of just telling “what” just happened. Guidelines that applied long before the launch of Google News.
(an interesting bonus is how papers that are late the news benefit through getting the top position)
tags bloggar.se: google news, google news sverige, media, tidningar
One of the more weird presentations I’ve held in my life. I was filmed by Mats and Kristian at WM Data in Malmö, the film was sent at a conference in Arvidsjaur and then I answered questions through Skype from Stockholm. Odd, but fun at the same time. Especially since there was 150 energy(!) companies on the other end listening to what I had to say about the future of the internet.
(the picture shows a part of Kristians head while he’s trying the out camera)
Regarding what I wrote earlier, this is the sort of thing I was talking about. Plugins to browsers are an excellent way to go. As our web browsers more and more become carriers of both commerce and applications, a way to simplify the choices that you make within them – from whatever perspective you may prefer – will become big business.
Shorten the time spent to make concious decisions and you’re on to something.
tags bloggar.se: miljö, plugins, trender, trend, webbläsare
