May 2013
1 post
Milestone
My first Tumblroo! post…
March 2013
1 post
2 tags
“Austria ranks 3rd, improving by one position since 2011. Its strong performance...”
– Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013 - World Economic Forum
November 2012
1 post
2 tags
August 2012
2 posts
4 tags
Change
Age might be the root cause for writing this post. On the other hand, it might just be the change of weather in Belgium that inspires me. One thing’s for sure, change is all around. Be it the weather, the daily increasing traffic jams, Apple Q3 figures, smartphone penetration rate, work-life balance shift, … it’s all change. Many people dislike the fact that we have no more long-term...
3 tags
“It amuses me when organisations brainstorm – with the same people, around the...”
– Bettina von Stamm, Innovation Leadership Forum
April 2012
1 post
632 →
parislemon:
Apple’s share price has passed Google’s at $632-a-share. Share prices are basically meaningless since the number of shares outstanding differ (Apple has nearly 3x the number of shares out there, and as such, nearly 3x the valuation). But the numbers are interesting in historical context. They show what a ride Apple has been on (while Google has remained relatively static).
When...
March 2012
2 posts
5 tags
The unbearable "Sound of silence" - #sierre
On March 14, 22 children and 6 adults lost their precious lives in an accident in Sierre, Switzerland.
Language is not a barrier when hearing the unbearable sound of silence. A country divided by language stands united in tragedy, the tragedy of 28 lives taken away from their families and friends in a purposeless accident.
Belgium was completely silenced at 11AM today, March 16, national day of...
4 tags
Interview with Jonathan Ive, some inspiring quotes
Jonathan Ive, Sr. VP Industrial Design at Apple does say some inspiring things in this interview.
(source: London Evening Standard - Mark Prigg)
For one, collaboration in the creative design process is crucial:
…The nature of having ideas and creativity is incredibly inspiring. There is an idea which is solitary, fragile and tentative and doesn’t have form. What we’ve found...
February 2012
6 posts
5 tags
Data roaming in Europe - #frustration
Data roaming in the EU… a never ending story if you ask me. Mobile internet usage keeps on rising, apps are commonly used and accessible to everybody. We all want to use the internet anywhere, anytime!
To me, as an IT kind of guy, it’s rather simple to predict which service on my phone or iPad will use a certain amount of data, but I can imagine that for someone not into the...
3 tags
5 tags
European Innovation - some thoughts
If you look at the scoreboard, some (expected) results pop up.
Report: INNOVATION UNION SCOREBOARD 2011
Decline in Venture Capital investments: I guess this is partly due to conservatism and the difficult economical situation. Nevertheless, it’s my opinion that this remains a very important field for supporting innovation. Opportunities are there, we only need to acknowledge them.
...
6 tags
The art of Listening!
Service Delivery and the art of listening is what keeps me wondering these days.
My previous post about tourism in Austria is actually a good example. Austrian tourism workers are genuinely ”good listeners”. They really hear what tourists are asking for and most of the time, they deliver! These people are service minded and flexible, they are open to suggestion and they don’t...
10 tags
Tourism in wonderful Austria!
Every year I’m more amazed of the adoption of new- and social media in Austria! Tourism in this beautiful country is not seldom described as simple and conservative… yet, I don’t know any other country (I’m not exactly a world traveler) so in to new media opportunities!
Finding a hotel is dead easy. Lot’s of them have a decent website, free WiFi, a facebook page,...
Das aktuelle Wetter in Lech Zürs am Arlberg →
Some nice weather in Lech… very nice and cold!
January 2012
1 post
Crisis 2.0, the year is 2012.
When I read the news today (talking mainly EU here), I start wondering how we will ever overcome this financial crisis? Somewhere along all those depressing statements, one has to say “stop, clear your head and think!”. I can’t loose the feeling that battling the crisis by mitigation measures is the only priority we define.
What will we do when we succeed? When every big...
October 2011
2 posts
2 tags
$AAPL FQ4 results... not really bad I think
Everybody is disappointed in the results published by Apple yesterday. It kind of strikes me that Wall Street Analysts didn’t see this comming?
If you look at the projections for FQ4 made after the previous quarter, they did really good:
“Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter of 2011,” said CFO Peter Oppenheimer, “we expect revenue of about $25 billion and we...
Belgium buys... bank →
Well, ante is up! If you’re still interested in buying Belgium, know that we just bought a… euhm… bank! So all of the sudden, all it’s habitants are now partial owner of a “good” bank!
Up’s the value? Think again I would say…
September 2011
1 post
2 tags
For Sale... Belgium! #nogov
Well, that’s about it. We’ve been trying appoint a new government for almost more than 500 days now, but no luck. In discussing the appointment of 3 mayors (on a total of 590!), the political parties just could not agree. And that was just the start! Don’t bother trying to understand, it’s a language thing.
I think the only option of getting out of this shaming mess...
August 2011
1 post
3 tags
"If it ain't broken, don't fix it" - corporate...
In addition to my previous post, I can’t stop thinking about an easy model to ignite change in Belgian enterprises. Change, to me, can be triggered by several “motives”. Most obvious motives are problems, shortcomings, growth, etc, all well mastered by most companies.
One motive that I don’t notice enough in Belgium is innovation. How does corporate innovation fit...
July 2011
2 posts
3 tags
Changing the "establishment"
For some time now, I’m really struggling with the way the current enterprise leaders and managers are keeping focus on established values. Let me be clear, I’m referring to the majority of Belgian companies and institutions.
More and more, as technology and the way we deal with it is evolving, I hear and read protectionism and despair. Is it related to the current financial...
5 tags
Enterprise (ICT) innovation readiness, what's in a...
With every newly launched social platform (eg. Google+), the question about enterprise use and engagement value pops up again.
What defines “enterprise readiness” in Social Media/Business? Is it the adoption rate of managers, the leadership quality of founders or C-level directors? Or maybe employee pressure to be able to use these platforms for work purposes?
It’s my...
June 2011
6 posts
3 tags
How will google+ evolve?
Well, that’s probably the question everybody wants an answer to. The platform has lot’s of potential, looks good, feels very fast and… needs some killer features.
It’s the first platform I try that, to me, has the opportunity of combining personal and work “circles” into one account. Once it gets integrated with Google Apps for business purposes, the sky is...
3 tags
Exploring the web "mobile" can be a pain!
It keeps surprising me. The number of websites that deliver content in a non-mobile-friendly way is still enormous. Let’s face it, there are a number of ways to easily adapt a site for mobile viewing. Maybe one of the most pragmatic ways is to (for now,) abandon Flash-only as a development platform.
Don’t misunderstand me, I do admire Flash and worked with it for a long time, but...
1 tag
Could google+ mean a breakthrough when available...
Well, as for me, I do believe so. From what I understand speaking with colleagues, there appears to be a growing need for a social networking platform in corporate environments. More and more, C-level management believes in the value of social networking as a knowledge and collaboration platform.
Imagining the possible power of Google+ in addition to Google Apps as a fully integrated cloud...
6 tags
Locationbased services and payment for...
Some things in tech and life are really difficult to understand. I’ve had some thoughts lately on the price of mobile data when roaming in Europe. With all the available technology, people always know who we are and where we are. Imagine going abroad and receiving a notification from a local carrier that you have entered his/her network. This carrier could give you the possibility of...
Lot's of opportunity - Die Chancen der Check-In... →
This great infograph shows there is still a lot of opportunity in Tourism for location based services. I’ll surely write a post about this very soon.
@MichaelMrazek #austriatourism
4 tags
Tools, tools, tools and ... apps
When seeing all the “new account” creations in my mailbox, I can’t help myself from thinking how to integrate all these promising tools. They all have their strengths and shortcomings, but together, they would be able to give me a great online experience! to me, is a great start, but there has to be more to it. It’s just great seeing how I experience the web shift...
October 2010
3 posts
The Social Enterprise
We’ve all been hearing about the “consumerization of IT” for some time now and of course, we all agree with very knowledgeable people like Peter Hinssen that our homes are far better equipped with technology than our desk. As we do spend most of our active time at that desk, this works frustrating in some way. Understandable… . But if I look at what exactly we do in our...
Why Social Tech "Storm"
I think this article on mashable, http://goo.gl/mgTG explains a lot… . Social Technology has been hitting us like a real tropical storm lately. Any company in the world is obliged to start “implementing” social media as a work force instrument. The only downside is, nobody ever told us, conservative technology managers, how exactly we should handle this. New is exciting…...
12 Essential News Media Tumblrs You Should Follow →
One about tumblr itself and why it attracts me in seeking what use I can make of it.
September 2010
3 posts
The beginning...
Just starting to explore tumblr… See what nice features it brings ;)
Hello to the world!
tumblrbot asked: WHAT IS YOUR EARLIEST HUMAN MEMORY?
