I have run accros this interview with David Weinberger. Author of The Cluetrain Manifesto and Small Pieces Loosly Joint. Made in Hamburg/Germany in Feb. 2006 at Handelsblatt. Has some interesting points in it! So, enjoy watching it:
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/1dzTAJpJv9k" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
Month: May 2006
Web 2.0 Germany
I would like to list some of the start-ups coming from Germany and review them on a regular basis. I am thinking of giving them a permanent page soon.
Some of them are already well established like:
- openBC (biz networking)
Some are upcoming and going fast:
- QYPE (reviews of places) and
- Plazes (where do I find what, being Swiss based(!), integrates now with GoogleMaps, Skype and a mobile version is coming up)
Further upcoming sites:
- sevenload (think youtube),
- oneview (like del.icio.us, digg etc.) and
- mabber (integrates ICQ, MSN, AIM, Yahoo and Jabber in one web browser-based IM)
Feel invited to add further sites and information about them.
TV on the Internet
Today a short link to a nicely written overview of TV content available on the Internet: download your tv the current options.
Enjoy reading!
I do want to add sources available in Europe later on. If you like to respond with some interested offerings… feel invited!
How to approach VoIP
Lately nearly everybody tries to get into the VoIP arena. Some take the same route as Skype (like Yahoo, MS, Google etc.) and some try to find other ways to make VoIP happen.
Yahoo works together with at&t in the U.S. What i find let’s say interesting due to the fact that at&t has it’s service CallVantage. But they provide DSL together so they provide VoIP… I think. Basically they try to make call to traditional phone cheap. Having better prices than the at&t service. But the prices seem to change quickly in these days…
Next we have Lycos. They call it Lycos Phone and focus on calls and payed video content (?). The trick for them is that they work together globe7.com. Through this services you are able to watch advertising or participate somewhere and get free minutes voucher for it. What could virtually make your calls free then… But looking into all the ads all the time to save the 1-2 cents / min.? Decide yourself…
Great feature is that you get your own VoIP Number reachable from e.g. land line phones, a voice box and fax receiving once you have become a Gold Member.
Than we have a totally different approach to VoIP: Jajah. Like a combination of VoIP over the Internet and a land line phone. You simply type in your number and the number you do like to call. Jajah is then connecting the two and you simply pick up your own landline phone. The connection is established to the destination number and you have a cheap call AND use your existing phone. No headphone and mic needed! Nice!
And there is the recent attempt of Skype to get all of the market in making all calls free to any land line or mobile phone in the U.S. Beat this!
The first open source movie: elephants dream
It is out! The first professional movie rendered with the open source 3D renderer Blender. You can download it here. It is also distributed as a Torrent. I have downloaded the 425 MB version in about 2 h. The HD version with 5.1 Surround Sound took a bit more than 4 h. The original servers have been overloaded by requests at that time….
All production files and the movie are free for the public and can be viewed, studied and reused.
The film is about 10 mins long and very cool to watch with super nice sound effects! I do strongly recommend watching it!
This shows that “the public” is now able to produce professional film 3D rendered movies without the big pocket full of money! Let us see more!! Spread the word.
You enjoyed it, too?!
1st Radio Interview ever using VoIP on an Airplane
Do you still think that big equipment is needed to make a live radio interview? And let’s further add the fact that you are traveling on a plane from Europe to the U.S.?
Than have a look: 
and 
Wolf Siegert is claiming to be the first (again) this time doing a radio interview via VoIP while traveling on an air plane. You can read more of it on his page (in German) at DayByDay. Including the radio interviews.
If you still wander what the radio interviews are about: Wolf Siegert is on his way to the NAB Show 2006 in Las Vegas and talking about the change of technology (Availability of IP/Internet while traveling in trains and (now) planes) and his expectations of the show.
The connection is working this way:
Lufthansa has installed WiFi (W-Lan) on their planes. So the connection from the Laptop is established using WiFi available for everyone on the plane. The signal is than transmitted via satellite to the ground being “normal” Internet communication than…
Let me know what stunts you have done while up in the air and what you think this can enable!
Go to the Songbirdnest
I am now using Songbird for some month to play my music. And wanted to use my blog to maybe add some more people to the user base! Try it out!They are still working on a bug in Mozilla Firefox getting fixed to move on…
Firefox is the base for Songbird and extending it to a music player. And it is open source, too!!
Some call it the iTunes killer… Can you say that with Songbird being version 0.1.1? Let me know!
Micro-TV about Horses
More and more Internet Broadcast channels are coming up. Some use the technology of Brightcove like you find out in their blog. This time for people how love horses and ride theme in exotic places…
See for yourself! Whats coming next?
Jupiter: DVR Ad Skipping Threatens $8B in Advertising
A recent article on MarketingVOX shows that traditional TV really has to think about marketing revenues. DVR are used to skip the commercials. Find the full article here.
We will see if the Ad-Supported Internet-Channels of CBS (launched today) and Upfront will help to boost revenues again…
Find more in the Article on Broadcasting & Cable.
Which way to go to find new sources of revenue?
VoIP Testrun
For some days now I very intensely tested different VoIP Programs and Services. And while there is still for sure some way to go to be really mainstream… You get already a lot out of the Services offered today!
Sure there is Skype (you can make free calls over the Internet and buy credits to make calls to normal land lines…) and now Gizmo. But many VoIP Service-Provider are coming up.
I even started to use different Provider depending on which country I am calling in.
A great and free prgram to combine different providers is x-Lite. I used it to connect two German (Web.de FreePhone & GMX NetPhone) and a US (Gizmo) provider. I was able to receive calls on my VoIP Phone number and make calls in both countries.
The big advantage is that you are able to dial 0800- (free call) and 0900- (toll call) numbers with some of these services not reachable through traditional land line calls from abroad! Additionally every service offers different prices for calls to different counties and you can make the cheapest call depending on where the call terminates.
I will add more to this topic as I work with these services.