May 1st, 2008
The LSD discoverer, Swiss professor Albert Hoffman, has died at the honorable age of 102. From 1938 he had been developing lysergic acid diethylamide - also known as lsd-25, acid, blotter acid, window pane, dots, tickets and mellow yellow - in his lab. During the fifties, outlaws like Timothy Leary picked it up and promoted it to a hugely popular drug in the infamous Sixties.
So why do I report about this? Because I witnessed the victims of this drug myself…
Continue reading Father of LSD Albert Hoffman on his final trip
April 24th, 2008
A few minutes ago, I met with Khris Loux at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco. Khris is the energetic and supercool founder of Js-kit, a service that offers rich and interactive services for web sites. We know each other from the Next Web Conference, where he gave a keynote speech about widgets and open standards.
He showed me some of the features, of which in my opinion Score stands out. It allows visitors to give a thumbs up or down. Simple, effective…
Continue reading Use JS-kit’s tools to express your wishes
April 23rd, 2008
Generally, I hate tourist traps. I don’t care for the Eiffel tower, Big Ben or the San Marco square, I prefer to hang out with locals and discover shops, museums and bars I won’t find in Amsterdam. But to be honest with you, sometimes I actually do enjoy the typically tourist stuff. Perfect example, American diners who try to revive the fabulous fifties.
When Boris and me sat down in Lori’s diner for a quick break of all the Web 2.0 Expo…
Continue reading Rockin’ a jukebox fifties-style in American diner
April 22nd, 2008
When you’re a tech blogger, you can’t afford to miss the infamous pre-conference meet-ups. Those are the ideal places to meet start-ups and influentials who can tell you the latest about developments in the web industry. Moreover, if your blog isn’t all too famous yet, meet-ups are perfect for getting the word out. So how can you make the most of these events?
Boris and me are in San Francisco for the Web 2.0 Expo and are visiting a lot of…
Continue reading Make the most of pre-conference meet-ups
April 21st, 2008
Life is hard… but not in San Francisco! We arrived yesterday, had a burger in a rooftop restaurant at Union Square, took a swim (see above) and had dinner at Scott Rafer’s house with my favorite British blogger TechCrunch UK’s Mike Butcher and the ambitious guys from Zemanta. Today we’re live reporting from the altsearchengines’ meeting.
Keep an eye on Boris’ photoset, The Next Web Blog and this one to see what we land into in San Francisco.
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Continue reading Boris the photographer: San Francisco pics
April 20th, 2008
I’m sitting in a typical airport diner, waiting for the gate to open. That gives me time to tell you I bought a white suit last week. For those of you who don’t know why, I’m glad to tell that it’s one of the most infamous clothings in the Valley. Ask the San Jose Mercury News, ask Micheal Arrington, ask Wired. They’re all familiar with the meaning of the suits: entrepreneurial trouble from Amsterdam. And now they’re coming back, with me…
Continue reading On my way to San Francisco!
April 18th, 2008
Last week I participated in the Don’t-do-it-yourself-days. That might sound kind of awkward, so please allow me to explain this awesome concept:
- Invite 30 professionals from the creative industry;
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Put them in an industrial room with good food, drinks, web connection and four tables;
- Ask those professionals what their area of expertise is;
- Ask them what they want to get done;
- Get a speed date process going so that people who can something for each other will connect;
- Let them do great things for each other.
So…
Continue reading Great idea: don’t do it yourself
April 13th, 2008
As a blogger you have to read a lot, scan hundreds of short articles and write up your thoughts immediately. So there’s hardly any time left to really think about the bigger picture. Is this making us superficial?
Today I didn’t feel that good and was too tired to do some serious Web 2.0 reporting for The Next Web. On a normal Sunday - after an easy start - I read my feeds, empty my inbox and write a couple of…
Continue reading Am I becoming superficial?
April 11th, 2008
Photo service Flickr is an almost endless source for beautiful, grungy, business, artsy or hip pictures. Since their archives contain literally billions of photos, you’ll find pictures about any given subject. So, if you’re running a non-commercial site, why would you mind buying photos at iStockphoto or risk some serious suing by violating copyrights? Just browse to flickr.com and discover the plethora of creative highlights.
Whenever I talk with bloggers about visuals in their publications, I always advice them to use Flickr.…
Continue reading A 5-step manual to use Flickr for stock photos in a proper way
