Playing with Google Earth
I’ve only just started to dive into the functionality of Google Earth. Using the overlay app, I was able to place a Wikipedia map of the battle of El-Alamein on top of the according spot.
Add some transparency, and you now know exactly where units and minefields were positioned, where action took place. Amazing indeed, this adds an entirely new dimension to internet usage.
Today’s biking
I’ve completely taken to biking; it helps having textbook weather (anyone else worried by a possible drought?). Normally it’s around 18km to work single trip, but today was a bit more extended.
Roughly 55km.
Yummy
Inequality
I’ve upgraded my ADSL pipe from 2mbit/s to 6. The official switch date is April 30, but looking at recent measurements, it looks like my provider, 1&1, has already done something or other to the download stream.
Fantastic speed, just hoping they’re planning on working on the upload bit too.
2.0 Misconceptions
There’s a slight misconception these days, that any successful, internet-based company is automatically labelled as a web2.0 player. Obviously, this would depend on what one’s definition of “Web2.0″ is, but let’s assume it’s more about social than eCommerce. Incidentally, a blog alone won’t make you social, although it is a great tool for having conversations with your customers and other peers.
If you’re fluent in German, I’d recommend this read by Lukasz Gadowski of Spreadshirt fame, who pretty much confirms my own view of companies like his and Posterjack: we’re actually factories. If you think about it, we could, instead of printing on-demand posters, be offering personalised sardine cans (now there’s an idea).
What makes Spreadshirt seem 2.0-ish is the fact that they have cleverly brought themselves into this comparison, as well as harnessing a target group that itself is very much 2.0. I should think there is a large overlap between Spreadshirt’s customer base with bloggers or people who use social networks and blogs.
Compare this with posterjack, we’re by far not there yet, since a large chunk of our customers are acquired through good old TV advertising. This, in itself, is not bad, but not even remotely 2.0. If we follow our roadmap, which is full of exciting and innovative functionalities and ideas, we still won’t be a 2.0 company.
Perhaps it is as simple as dividing between physical and electronic goods, social or not. There’s no clean-cut answer, but it doesn’t really matter, does it?
[tags]posterjack, spreadshirt, social, web2.0[/tags]
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Welcome
Welcome to Irakli West's personal pages on the Web. I am Danish, live close to Munich in Germany, and run FWnetz, an online magazine and training resource for firefighters. In real life, I am Regional Manager Northern Europe for Paratech and currently training to become a specialist in Urban Search and Rescue as well as Heavy Rescue (it's fun, challenging and serves a good purpose)
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