Once upon a time: "SYMP"

Tonight I've been doing some backup stuff, and when I went through all the files, I found a directory called "backup_240106": it contained a neat PDF I had forgotten: a first presentation of "SYMP", which I had written on the 24.08.05 - SYMP (which fancy-like stodd for Sync Your Mobile Phone) was a kind of "MobileMe" which I had thought of back in '05 - and I remember a guy called "Nico" which I had some nice discussions about that (and several beer in cologne, if I remember correctly ;) ). The idea was to have a kind of open source CVS or SVN for everybody, with easy to use Accessing-Apps as well for the Desktop, as for your mobile. Of course, there was no idea about the iPhone back then, but I was thinking of J2ME, as it was (is) widely spread among mobiles in that times. There should have been a kind of XML index, for all syncing files, so that on your mobile, only the xml would have been parsed - and if you "ordered" a document within, the device would have downloaded it, in order to reduce traffic-costs (which back then were the main problem). I feel like I should have thought about that idea in more depth, but as Loic can't stop saying: Only execution matters. ;)

SYMP Presentation (german)

Couch potatoe

This evening my second beloved football club (just behind Arminia Bielefeld, 1. FC Cologne) played against Borussia Mönchengladbach, which is a traditional derby. I haven't got a TV since 2 years anymore, but my notebook with a DVB-T card, which is fine for all the channels I'm normally watching, Unfortunately the game tonight was on a channel I can't get via the antenna - instead of going to the pub next door I gave zatoo a chance - and was quite impressed. I met their CEO about 3/4 year ago, and they now have all major channels on their program in germany. the quality is quite good - I loved not to have a complicated registration process and sound quality was very good. I noticed, that my upload capacity was quite small -which leads me to the opinion, that they use a mixed p2p and client-server architecture behind their system, with a bigger part for client-server. Being on the couch I had my blackberry in my hand, writing mails with Thomas in the editorial office, had my ipod touch in touch for twittering with friends in the stadium - and guess what - it was great. It was a much cooler experience than watching the game on the couch just together with my potatoe-chips - I love the idea of watching TV interactively with friends. It's much more about the experience than about the content (they played 1:1, but it was a really exciting game). I'm so happy that we at motionet are able to take part in a small part with our technology emundoo - we'll soon start our browser based p2p streaming service i alpha mode - and it'll be great. We won't have these interactive parts from the beginning, but we'll bring you an excellent user-experience in picture- and soundquality and ease of use.

last.fm and the future of personal computing

It's been some weeks now, since I really got into last.fm - I think it was around the time I installed all the airtunes stuff (by the way: just found amua which is an alternative player for last.fm - it's a kind of proxy for the last.fm webservice and uses itunes for playback which means, that now last.fm streams to airtunes through the whole flat ;) ) . It's great to have your personal music profile there, always automatically being served with new stuff you like. Today i stumbled upon an article on Nicholas Carr's blog (via Robert), which deals with the idea of Apple and Google merging their core competences: Apple building new slick "alwyas-online" devices, and Google being responsible for the web back-end. And Eric Schmidt being on the board of Apple this indeed could be a real thign going on at this time. The major point behind it is having all your data on the web, always accessible via some device. this of course has major security an performance issues, but Google with their super-computers could be the one dealing with it (in fact in some ways they already do with their office- and email apps they are offering.) And I really like the idea - in fact this is already happening with services like last.fm: as long as I'm online, and I am actually the whole day in office and with WLAN at home, I have the last.fm player playing my music - basically no need for an itunes library anymore though I need it for syncing the ipod - but I think you get the idea. Having data centralized and always accessible could be the future of personal computing - the main thread will be, as noted, availability, security and performance. This is why I believe in p2p based structures in the future. Let all your devices be able to share their small amount of hard-space they have and you build the scaling, resistant and perfect performing backend for the future. It's failsafe, even if certain structures are down. This is the centralized model, Google and Apple might build, decentralized. For that one thing seems to come clear: availability and bandwith will be the currency of tomorrow: "if you've got bandwith you can share with me, I'm willing to "pay" (say "give") you something. For that "currency" I'm giving you, you are able to get other things like a movie-download or three songs on itunes. It's so much fun digging into this, cause it's going to change the game, and with a very very small part, we take place in it... ;)

last.fm and the future of personal computing

It's been some weeks now, since I really got into last.fm - I think it was around the time I installed all the airtunes stuff (by the way: just found amua which is an alternative player for last.fm - it's a kind of proxy for the last.fm webservice and uses itunes for playback which means, that now last.fm streams to airtunes through the whole flat ;) ) . It's great to have your personal music profile there, always automatically being served with new stuff you like. Today i stumbled upon an article on Nicholas Carr's blog (via Robert), which deals with the idea of Apple and Google merging their core competences: Apple building new slick "alwyas-online" devices, and Google being responsible for the web back-end. And Eric Schmidt being on the board of Apple this indeed could be a real thing going on at this time. The major point behind it is having all your data on the web, always accessible via some device. This of course has major security an performance issues, but Google with their super-computers could be the one dealing with it (in fact in some ways they already do with their office- and email apps they are offering.) And I really like the idea - in fact this is already happening with services like last.fm: as long as I'm online, and I am actually the whole day in office and with WLAN at home, I have the last.fm player playing my music - basically no need for an itunes library anymore though I need it for syncing the ipod - you get the point. Having data centralized and always available could be the future of personal computing - the main thread will be, as noted, availability, security and performance. This is why I believe in p2p based structures in the future. Let all your devices be able to share their small amount of hard-space they have and you build the scaling, resistant and perfect performing backend for the future. It's failsafe, even if certain structures are down. This is the centralized model, Google and Apple might build, decentralized. For that one thing seems to come clear: availability and bandwith will be the currency of tomorrow: "if you've got bandwith you can share with me, I'm willing to "pay" (say "give") you something. For that "currency" I'm giving you, you are able to get other things like a movie-download or three songs on itunes. It's so much fun digging into this, cause it's going to change the game, and with a very very small part, we take place in it... ;)

Maybe I should try to invest some more ;)

By the end of 2006, when Open BC (XING) went public, I predicted their stock price to raise up to 50 € by the midth of 2007. As for today they are at 45 € ;)

Web 3.0 - or 'what can the internet do for you?'

Everybody is talking about Web 2.0 - Ajax, webservices and a thousand more buzzwords make the blogs headlines. But it is time for Web 3.0, or better Web 4.0 because there´s no linear progression in the way the internet gets deeper into our lives.
What we are experiencing at the moment with Web 2.0 is the beginning of the "humanizing" of the internet: social software gives people a voice, individuals are using the web expressing themselves to the whole world, web interfaces are getting easier so that more and more people are able to use it.
But the future will bring us more individualization and more live communication. Take skype for example - they´ve started with audio but their future will be video live conferencing - on your mobile, everywhere. This is important: with the technology to have IP Networks everywhere there will raise new markets people can work in: From your personal fitness trainer, who advises you with your fitness excercises at home, to the professional cook, who you can book online to help you at your birthday meal in the kitchen - live via videoconferencing - the web will be the enabler to bring humans together everywhere in the world. Helpdesks for software-support will be normal - on a click you´ll get LIVE, PERSONAL advise from a helpdesk-staff, who will be able to help you with your computer problems - be it from india or any other place in the world. So this all has consequences. First of all the traffic will raise in an unbelieveable speed. This means demand for more and more hardware ressources: go! Invest in cisco! Secondly there´ll be a great demand for synchronization: there´ll be no more difference between mobile internet, wifi, or hardwire - take google for example: they are building the first free wifi network! This means, that you will have access to your data everywhere, anytime. You´ll use your private profile to pay your parking space, to buy your books, to get your seats of your shared car into the saved positions. Third, everything will be "on demand": videos, eBooks, psychological help, netdoctors, financial consulting: from humans to humans.
Let´s call it the "rules of the small": some big companies will enable all the small ones to do their business: amazon will develop from a "vendor" to an "enabler" a "connector", connecting humans to create new marketspaces through conversations AND trust. Doctors will use conversation-places to be connected to their patients - and they are able to chose between the most trustworthy doc´s. Millions of computer experts will be able to help you with your computer problems. This is why eBay bought skype, and this is why Google makes free wifi: control the communication of the individuals, and you have business model of he future.

German society: a rant

Sorry, this will be a german post: Familienfeste - wer liebt sie nicht?! Was jedoch spannend ist, ist meistens der Schnitt quer durch die Gesellschaft den man hier trifft: den wohlhabende Onkel, den Angestellte Cousin, die Hausfrau, den Lehrer, den Versandleiter. Und weil man sich ja kennt und liebt erzählt man aus seinem Leben - die einen offener, die anderen verschlossener. In den letzten 2 Jahren beobachte ich auf diesen Festen einen komischen Trend - egal wer, egal welche Schicht oder Arbeit, meckert mehr. Es wird gejammert, und das immer schlimmer. Arbeit und Politik, Politik und Arbeit - die Themen sind fast immer die gleichen. Jedoch bei aller Jammerei stelle ich interessantes fest: die Menschen wollen etwas tun. Nehme ich meine und die Familie meiner Freundin als Querschnitt durch die deutsche Gesellschaft, was es sicherlich nicht nicht 100%ig ist, stoße ich auf die Bereitschaft zu helfen. Die Deutschen wollen zupacken, sind auch bereit zu teilen und abzugeben. Die Raffgier, die uns vorgelebt wird und die durch die Medien die Runde macht, kann ich eigentlich an keiner Stelle finden. Ich bin mir sicher, das hat historische Gründe: die Deutschen haben, bei all Ihrer Machenschaften im 20 Jahrhundert, wohl eines gelernt: ohne einen sozialen Zusammenhalt bricht ein Volk auseinander. Lösen sich Parlamente immer wieder selber auf und gibt es kein Vertrauen in den Nachbarn, wird ein Staat unregierbar und fällt in eine Krise. Das Wirtschaftswunder zeigte eine gegenteilige Entwicklung. In tausenden nicht beachteten Gemeinden und Vereinen passierte und passiert unglaubliches: das Ehrenamt. Menschen wollen etwas tun - ohne dafür bezahlt zu werden. Sie räumen Wälder auf, leiten Sportvereine, engagieren sich im Umweltschutz. So war es bisher, doch wie sieht es in unserer Generation aus? Meine Altersgenossen, die Mittzwanziger, scheinen nicht mehr so aktiv, wie es unsere Eltern waren. Keiner meiner Freunde betätigt sich irgendwo ehrenamtlich - ich habe zwar lange nach meinem Zivildienst in einer Behinderteneinrichtung dort noch freiwillig geholfen - doch inzwischen habe auch ich dafür keine Zeit mehr. Wie sollen wir das denn unseren Kindern vorleben, dass Gesellschaft nur funktioniert, wenn die Einzelnen zusammenhalten und man auch manchmal etwas, wenn auch nur vordergründig, umsonst macht? Warum hat der Partnerschaftsverein, der die Völkerverständigung zwischen Frankreich und Deutschland über Jahre mit Jugendaustausch etc. unterstützt hat, auf einmal keinen Nachwuchs mehr? Es scheint mir, dass die deutsche Hilfsbereitschaft ein Relikt des 20. Jahrhunderts ist und vorwiegend von unseren Eltern gepflegt wurde. Oder nicht? Gibt es Gegenbeispiele? Die Frage stellt sich also, was können wir von unseren Eltern lernen und welche Verantwortung tragen wir für unsere Kinder. Vielleicht sollten wir anfangen die richtigen Fragen zu stellen, anstatt schon immer da gewesenes nur in eine neue Verpackung zu stecken und unseren Mitmenschen als Innovation zu verkaufen. Da wäre zum Beispiel die geförderte betriebliche Altersvorsorge - ein Produkt der letzten Bundesregierung? Mitnichten. Ich habe gestern, zu meinem großen Erstaunen und Begeisterung, einen älteren Herren am Mittagstisch kennen gelernt, der früher bei Henkell (der Sektkellerei aus Wiesbaden) gearbeitet hat. Henkell ist ein traditionsreiches, früher Inhabergeführtes mittelständisches Unternehmen und gehört jetzt zum Oetker Konzern. In den knapp 30 Jahren seiner Betriebszugehörigkeit hat er im Schnitt 13-14 Stunden am Tag gearbeitet. Er war Versandleiter und hat seinen Job geliebt. Das Arbeitsklima war seiner Erzählung nach immer wunderbar, auch wenn es mal Zeiten gab, in denen Henkell schlechte Zahlen schrieb. Diese Entwicklungen haben die Mitarbeiter jedoch eher motiviert noch eine "Schippe draufzulegen". Auf meine Frage ob denn alle seine Überstunden bezahlt worden oder mit Urlaub verrechnet worden seien, erzählte er mir von der betrieblichen Rentenkasse, die Henkell seinen Mitarbeitern eingeräumt hatte. In den 30 Jahren wurde jede Überstunde dort eingezahlt und steuert jetzt einen beträchtlichen Teil seiner Rente bei. Ein Modell das funktioniert - ist aber offensichtlich nichts neues. Worum also geht es, was sind die Fragen die gestellt werden sollen? Wie kann ein Miteinander gefördert und geschaffen werden? Das funktioniert nur wenn alle profitieren. Das Beispiel Henkell zeugt von einem Wandel einer "Shareholder Value" zu einer "Shareholder Responsibillity" Sicht. das Unternehmen investiert in seine Arbeitnehmer und bekommt einen geldwerten Vorteil zurück - alle Seiten profitieren. Einer solchen Weitsicht und Investition kann auch der oft zitierte globale Wettbewerb nichts anhaben. Treue und Identifikation sowie Motivation sind Qualitäten, die deutschen Unternehmen Wettbewerbsvorteile sichern. Nimmt man den Menschen jedoch diese Grundlagen wird ein Land träge, raffgierig und zerfällt schließlich. Menschen sind bereit zu verzichten wenn es ein Ziel gibt, doch sie müssen sich darauf verlassen können. Jeder kann anfangen und jeder wird profitieren. Sei es nur in kleinem Maße, in der Gesamtheit wird es spürbare Effekte haben. Warum muss uns ein bescheuertes Marketing sagen dass wir Bier saufen sollen um Bolzplätze zu erhalten - das können wir selber - ein wenig Eigenverantwortung und Engagement reicht. Ich fange gleich heute an: es gibt eine Internetseite für einen kolumbianischen Verein zu bauen, der sich um Straßenkinder kümmert. Wir werden sicherlich mit gojou nichts großartiges bauen, aber es wird die Arbeit dieser wunderbaren Menschen ein wenig mehr ins Rampenlicht der Öffentlichkeit rücken und ich bin mir sicher, die Hilfsbereitschaft der deutschen wird den Kindern helfen. Was machst Du heute....?

Vision of 2014

I found this vision of how the internet will be in 2014 on ourmedia.org - and I´m not quite sure, if I´m allowed to share it - but I simple do ;-)

Mobile Rich-Content: Yes or NO?

In Joi's ponit of view carriers should conentrate on the quality of their services - for mobile broadband (like gprs) is no need. Do you agree?

Captital of the 21th century

Well, I was quite astonished to read that Always On Networks are starting a new service on the internet: Zaibatsu, another new social-network beneath orkut, friendster, etc. That leads me to the opinion that finding the right people, finding the right "people-doing-the-right-job" is the biggest challenge in the new century, and therefore is the
valuabelest capital you can get. (Thanks to marketingwonk.com for the pointer)