IB

So you have to work on a PC – and you´ve always wanted to be so damn cool as the guys with quicksilver on their macs? Then try AppRocket – damn cool, damn fast…..

Dears, it´s been busy weeks, so here´s a small easter update I´d like to give to you:

Some weeks ago we started the Emscherplayer, which is a sound-archive for sounds of the Emscher. The „Emscher“ is a quite big river, which runs through the Ruhrgebiet and is in a completely re-naturalization process because it was abused as a waste-water channel during the last century. The „Emscherplayer“ at it´s now state will be further developed as a multimedia system for archiving and viewing pictures and movies, too. The presentation was led by Dr. Stemplewski, who is the president of the board of the EGLV, and Werner Hansch, who is the „voice of the Ruhrgebiet“ and a famous sports-moderator in germany.

Then there was the launch of mobile-macs.de which is a new Blog and Wiki enabled by o2. My agency gojou has done the design and technical realisation, while Björn did the project management. Thanks to all involved – you did a great job! The wiki has just been set up, and we are inviting users to contribute content to it: the goal is to set up a central place, for stuff around going mobile with your Mac.

We have really generated some buzz around it, as the daily stats figure out.

And last but not least we have been invited to Munich this week, to give a preview of our new german videosharing-platform vloop.de which we will be launching in an alpha version shortly. Thanks Burda for the kind invitation and the exciting chats we had throughout the day.

Now it´s easter and I wish you a some relaxing and comfortable days. Take care!

We all have seen the different Google services approaching. And now we see some of them combined into one project: the invitation only joga.com – social software for the Fifa Worldcup. You can share Video Clips there with Google Video, will be able to exchange mails via Gmail. the login works with your Google Account – this will be your new passport to the most important WebServices. And yes, that´s their new business: they are the first who managed to build a virtual identity which really works, profiling every step you take through the net. Now, when will there be the next billing system from Google with a sophisticated API – enabling you to trade your Google-Dollars 😉

I´ve just followed some discussions around Sequoia investing into Jajah, the Austria based VoIP company. And Matt pointed out, that Jajah´s license agreement (which is only available in english) allows them to collect and share user information with third parties…. I think this is not acceptable. Do you know of other companies digging this information in some deep license agreements?

So if you think, you fit into one of these job-discriptions, basically web-developers, this is your way to go… these guys are really smart, and what they are going to build is far beyond…

….trapped in our office! It´s not him? Believe me…

…wenn man Samstag-Mittags, 2 Minuten vor Ladenschluss, die örtliche Postfiliale gehetzt betritt und ein fröhlicher und zuvorkommender Postbeamte einem noch eine Faber-Lottoreihe und detailliertere Informationen zum Postbank-Girokonto anbietet….wär früher NIE passiert.

Once in a while it get´s me, and I get my technology-virus. I then have to install some new server, reconfigure our network or … build a Medie Platform at home. I did so yesterday night with my modded Xbox (old one) and I have to say: it really kicks ass. I put a 60 GB HD into it and modded it with an executer evolution chip, which BIOS I flashed. And then I put the Xbox Media Center on it (XBMC) which is a sofware for Mulitmedia Playback issues – but it´s so much more.

First of all the Design of the skin is just beautiful – in the latest Version you got even event-sounds, when switching menues etc. The sytem plays back EVERY media – even my iTunes songs in Mpeg4 format (m4u) which I have bought, are being played back without asking for any permission or so – strange. It even shows the artwork of the CD covers.

But the cooles thing is, that the system has a build in web- and ftp server. Over its webserver one can control the hole system and use it as a remote control. This means I´m sitting on the couch, having my 12″ iBook beside me, and switching through the playlist….GREAT!

But there´s even more: some folks have written scripts which the XBMC can execute: Bittorrent clients, a german TV-Today client, weatherforecasts, Mail-Clients, Flickr for Photos and: a bloglines client.

This is really cool: it has a client to stream all the stuff from BBC media.

All in all I think the guys who programmed it really did a great job. It is well designed, very functional and quite mature – it´s not a unstable system done by some script-kiddies….

We´ve just received the new Album of Richard Ashcroft „Keys to the world“. Thx to amazon we got it in the postbox today, the official launch day. This is his 3rd solo Album, after „Alone with Everybody (2000)“ and „Human Conditions (2002)“. As we are now listening to the first tracks, we´re expieriencing a change in the character of the music – it seems much lazier, not as dark and heavy as the ones before. It looks like Richards mastered his crisis – and the music is the mirror of this „new“ powerful artist. Great album, great music.