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September 29, 2006
The death of German mobile
News that BenQ have given up on the mobile division they "acquired" from Siemens a year ago rocked Germany yesterday. Frank is angry and rightly so.
Posted by Matthew at 07:43 AM | Comments (0)
September 28, 2006
Doom on the XBox360
The original Doom has just been released for the XBox360 (on XBLA).
Posted by Matthew at 07:29 PM | Comments (0)
Open Source community event - doing it right
Next week, 85 (and counting) people from 12 different countries will be gathering in Amsterdam for a community conference around a single Open Source project - the 5th Cocoon GetTogether. The program contains an amazing 13 sessions covering a wide range of topics around Cocoon.
Even though I've spent less time around Cocoon lately, I'm really looking forward to Amsterdam and a chance to catch up with many friends from the European Open Source scene. If you are planning or thinking about putting on a community Open Source event - then come to the Cocoon GetTogether to see how it's done - successfully.
Posted by Matthew at 07:22 PM | Comments (0)
September 26, 2006
openBC to become XING
Well, I'm not sure I like the name - but then again, who am I to quibble - the popular European business social networking site openBC is morphing itself into "XING". I've been an openBC member for over 2 years and it is the only social networking site I've tried out that has actually brought value to my "networked life". It was great to see the site expand from being "just" a German language site to a more international approach some time ago.
I hope Lars Hinrichs and the team manage to move what's good about openBC into XING without diluting the offering with too much "social network candy". It would be a pity if that happened as there are enough "dead" social networking sites around already. Orkut anyone?
Best of luck Lars!
Posted by Matthew at 07:28 PM | Comments (0)
Upheaval in Collax-Land
Collax is often quoted as being the German success story when it comes to a VC backed Open Source venture. I haven't been following the "goings-on" too closely recently - but because we talked to one of the VC investors back last year, I've remained sort of interested.
Seems there is now some ongoing upheaval at the moment, as the CEO Olaf Jacobi has suddenly "stepped down". A short time ago, Richard Seibt joined the board of Collax. Seibt is well-known in German Open Source circles due to his previous involvement in SUSE and Novell. Computerwoche is reporting today that Collax is now looking for a US manager to replace Jacobi and drive the international expansion of the company.
Posted by Matthew at 07:20 PM | Comments (0)
September 20, 2006
Relevance and Open Source
Matt Asay's post on how Open Source companies are banking on system integrators when it comes to keeping close contact with their customers provides some food for thought and also some insight into what we're doing at Indiginox. [Read more].
Posted by Matthew at 03:54 PM | Comments (0)
September 15, 2006
The short goodbye
Today was my last day at S&N and after 15 years it was time to say goodbye. I really don't like goodbyes so I tried to keep this one as brief as possible and in the end, after all the official debriefing type stuff, slipped out as quietly as possible.
That probably wasn't right either and will no doubt have upset some colleagues who may have been expecting me to go round and say good-bye personally. But I don't really think I would have been able to handle that added amount of emotion today and I'm sure I'll be seeing some of them in various places in the future.
Now a short reboot and then onward.
Posted by Matthew at 06:01 PM | Comments (1)
September 13, 2006
Company feel
It was great to see our company signs go up earlier this week.
Posted by Matthew at 09:08 PM | Comments (0)
September 12, 2006
The truth is out there
Ian's post reminded me of my experience with leaky information. A few weeks ago I added my new founding role at Indiginox to my LinkedIn profile. Unfortunately I forgot to notice that LinkedIn sends a notification to all the people on your network when you add something (if I remember correctly it's opt-out). And so that snippet of information was also sent my current colleagues in my network. You can imagine the conversations I had at work the next morning.
Now that was my own fault. On the one hand I wanted to add the information, figuring that it would take a while before my colleagues would notice - by which time it would be public knowledge anyway - and on the other hand I also wanted to "get the news out there".
However, with our growing involvement in various type of networks it pays to take special care when adding or updating information. You may want your "news" to quickly reach certain people but not others. "Send this to all on my network != current work colleagues OR boss"
Posted by Matthew at 11:12 AM | Comments (0)
September 10, 2006
Cocoon and Amsterdam in October
It has been a while since I've been able to follow the Cocoon project closely. In a way I guess Cocoon is also somewhat responsible for my pending move to my own company - opening my eyes to Open Source back in 1999.
So it is only fitting that my first "public appearance" in my new role with Indiginox will be at the Cocoon GetTogether in Amsterdam.
See you all there!
Posted by Matthew at 08:28 PM | Comments (0)
September 08, 2006
Zefrank on unity and 9/11
Moving. Even for a European.
Posted by Matthew at 07:56 AM | Comments (0)
September 04, 2006
Skype bridges mobile gap
I chatted with my wife via Skype tonight. She is a physiotherapist for handicapped children and currently away on a course. The hotel she's staying in offers free broadband in the hotel rooms and therefore Skype is a great cheap way to stay in touch as I'm sure most of you know.
The unusual thing about this is that she is actually only about 130 Kilometers away. However, the hotel she is staying in lies in an area where mobile coverage is non existent. When checking in she was told she could leave her mobile turned off as it "just won't work here".
So while "traditional" communication channels don't work, Skype via DSL does. Strange times indeed.
Posted by Matthew at 08:34 PM | Comments (0)
September 01, 2006
Getting Things Done - or just Getting Old?
Now if you ask me, the current GTD meme is just another sign that we're getting old. Or rather, if you start reading up on GTD and using GTD tools, then that's a sign you're getting old and slowly losing it. It happens.
That being said, Tom Coates points to what looks like becoming a neat GTD tool on your Mac - Midnight Inbox. For me anyway.
Posted by Matthew at 07:17 AM | Comments (0)