Funtastic Artistic do Brazil: Capoeira at Jericoacoara
It's a pleasure to watch this guy celebrating the high arts of capoeira in Jericoacoara, located in the northeast of Brazil, close to the equator. Powered by natural trade winds it's the number one place for radical sports such as windsurfing and kite in Brazil. Excellent skills, perfect conditions, beautiful beaches...

• Pics from Flickr

Labels: brazil, entertainment, travel, videos

  ¶ 'Funtastic Artistic do Brazil: Capoeira at Jericoacoara' posted by eA : 10:39 AM  0 comments links to this post

  Brand the most Valuable Asset of a Global Company Just received the 2007 BRANDZ Top 100 Most Powerful Brands report established by Millward Brown Optimor. As businesses go global and information becomes more and more critical it's the brand that leads the most valuable assets of a company, well and of course it's Google to lead the list:

Brand | Brand Value | Change from year before
1 Google | 66,434 | 77%
2 GE (General Electric) | 61,880 | 11%
3 Microsoft | 54,951 | -11%
4 Coca-Cola | 44,134 | 7%
5 China Mobile | 41,214 | 5%
...
22 Vodafone 21,107 -12%
42 Yahoo! | 13,201 | -6%
43 eBay | 12,927 | -2%
67 Orange | 9,922 | 5%
77 T-Mobile | 8,047 | -32%
92 Amazon | 5,964 | 0%

Hottest topic in technology:

• Convergence of different services (voice, data, GPS, music, Internet, email, etc) delivered over different devices

in mobile communications:

• Saturated markets and price competition in mature markets erode margins, companies are moving into non-traditional services

Managing information becomes more and more important for individuals and corporations that want to use the web strategically to build value. Easy to use tools will have a huge impact on the way people and companies interact in communications, digital media and business.

• Rebranding into Google Product Search
• Global Brand Awareness: YouTube and Wikipedia among Top 5 Now

Labels: bizdev, branding, google, markets

  ¶ 'Brand the most Valuable Asset of a Global Company' posted by eA : 4:35 PM  0 comments links to this post

  Rebranding into Google Product Search To get a better understanding what it is, it's Google Product Search now, no longer Froogle and can be found as a vertical search option under the 'more' link on Google.com.

The results page initially sorted by relevance got a more user friendly outfit moving the products and the filter for Google Checkout to the top of the page and the other refinements to the bottom, thus Google Product Search promotes Google Checkout.


Since people tend to start their web search from the main Google site the newly branded Google Product Search got a prominent position on top of the web results page:


Overall it's a step into a more serious product strategy. Of course, there is also competition from other comparison engines like Yahoo Shopping & PayPal, who might follow this strategy pushing the paypal checkout button and Shopzilla, Shopping.com (eBay), Dealio...
From Google:

• Back to basics

Labels: branding, ecommerce, google, markets

  ¶ 'Rebranding into Google Product Search' posted by eA : 11:18 AM  0 comments links to this post

  Developing New Incentive Models for Modern Work Groups In these days it's trendy to collaborate, share data and information over the Web. It seems to me like the Web has quickly morphed into a giant global operating system which allows to remix the Web via mash ups. As a result of a constantly growing acceptance of social applications the global audience has set a new standard for online creative content, online news, audio and video streaming.

• TrendSpotting - New Technologies First in Consumer Markets

In an enterprise employees usually are organized in different roles around issues. Issues are identified during meetings, in conferences and discussions, then resolved between the meetings. Blogs and wikis are inevitable requirements for a modern work group.

The more I got surprised reading 'Executives Remain Wary of Web 2.0' from BusinessWeek that executives put their resources behind 'technologies that enable automation and networking'

1. Web Services
2. Collective Intelligence
3. Peer-to-peer Networking

followed by mainstream Web 2.0 technologies such as

1. Social Networking
2. RSS
3. Wikis
4. Blogs
5. Mash Ups

A major reason was that 'people with heavy knowledge tend to keep that for themselves, because that's the way they define their job'.

Well, knowledge is power and should be honored.

Labels: bizdev, collaboration, web2.0

  ¶ 'Developing New Incentive Models for Modern Work Groups' posted by eA : 12:35 AM  0 comments links to this post

  Google Checkout Launched in the UK Today 9 and 1/2 months after initial launch in the US and 3 weeks after being certified for e-money by the UK-based FSA Google Checkout launched as expected within Europe of course first in the UK.

• Google Authorized for E-Money by UK-Based FSA
• Clever Checkout for eCommerce Platforms: Google Checkout (US)
• More on Checkout
  

From initial advertising to final checkout it's an experience that reduces costs of Google AdWords campaigns through clever financial incentives providing free transaction processing until 2008. It's also a good base for strategic partnerships.

• Releasing My Current Skill Set

Centralization into a single online payment method provides many practical benefits for citizens, I'm thinking of travelling, buying goods and services abroad, particularly when coupled with the progress of e-commerce it is a big step forward in user friendliness.

Main Competitor is PayPal.

Labels: checkout, ecommerce, google, payments, uk

  ¶ 'Google Checkout Launched in the UK Today' posted by eA : 11:56 AM  0 comments links to this post

  Thrilling Moments Diving with Oceanic White Tip Sharks
Amazing: Being so close to Oceanic White Tip sharks that one could touch them - probably the guy in the boat thinks about whether to dive or better not.

Extensive opportunity watching Oceanic White Tips swimming towards the camera, circling underneath and swimming away again, fantastic pictures and thrilling scenes throughout the video.

The potential of sharing videos is to reach participators not bounded to a single geographical region and thus to broaden reach and to attract the attention of niche markets and markets that did not exist before. More:

• Excellent Shark Video near Brother Islands, Red Sea
• Fantastic Shot of a Sailfish Raising it's Sail

Labels: diving, red sea, travel, videos

  ¶ 'Thrilling Moments Diving with Oceanic White Tip Sharks' posted by eA : 11:11 AM  0 comments links to this post

  Second Life Casinos in the Headlines According to eCOGRA people say 'the best things about Internet gambling are ‘convenience and accessibility’ and ‘fun and excitement’, while ‘losing’ and ‘financial implications’ came top of the worst things.'

• Betting and Gambling Safe Online with eCOGRA

According to Reuters it seems like 'wannabe casino-style operators' have invaded SL and attracted the attention of the FBI probing Second Life gambling casinos. From Reuters:

'Hundreds of casinos offering poker, slot machines and blackjack can be found in Second Life.'

• In legal limbo, Second Life poker rakes in profits
• FBI probes Second Life gambling

Immersive environments like Second Life create an even more exciting 3D experience and people are using them as a platform to meet, communicate and shop, to participate in virtual 3D events and to conduct gambling on a level of interaction they have never experienced before.

• Second Life
• Areae
• There

Labels: 3D, entertainment, markets

  ¶ 'Second Life Casinos in the Headlines' posted by eA : 7:24 PM  0 comments links to this post

  Soon New Gmail Capacity: Infinity Plus One Despite extensively making use of Gmail backing up files, mails and articles labeling them and archiving them I never ran out of space or lost any data on Gmail. But good to know that Google will increase Gmail's capacity to 'Infinity Plus One'. First I did not understand what it means, but after reading this article especially these sequences:

'...they would be using new RAID technologies which allow them to store copies of e-mail in parallel universes'

'"Once your Yahoo e-mail box is full, you'll be able to transfer it to Gmail and add one more message," said Tomkins. "Those Yahoos will have a hard time beating that."'

it clarified - and the new RAID technologies make data even more safe. Late April fool's, but probably true one day.

Labels: entertainment

  ¶ 'Soon New Gmail Capacity: Infinity Plus One' posted by eA : 11:14 PM  0 comments links to this post

  Releasing My Current Skill Set As products and experiences become more complicated or gain new capabilities new technologies, disciplines and the hyper speed of today's platforms require new ways of thinking and skills, including strategy, creative and technology helping customers, users, audiences and participants effectively use or experience these solutions.

During the early stage of a product or service I'm often creating designs and mockups to visualize and communicate in an effective way, to define the use-case, to deliver functional specifications or to code with the purpose to

• create new opportunities for self-expression and collaboration
• complement and compete in products and services
• leverage network effects and monetization

Besides BizDev I'm offering:

1. Product & Service Development • Team Building & Management • Service Management (ITIL)
   
2. Market Research & Analysis • Budget Preparation / Administration • Languages: German / English
   

Orientation

Labels: brazil, collaboration, dahab

  ¶ 'Releasing My Current Skill Set' posted by eA : 10:01 PM  0 comments links to this post

  Southernmost Point of Europe: Tarifa, Spain

Mekka of surf innovation and reputed to be the windiest town in Europe: The high arts of kiteboarding today have less to do with surfing than with flying - Gibraltar isn't far away.

Labels: photos, spain, travel

  ¶ 'Southernmost Point of Europe: Tarifa, Spain' posted by eA : 7:04 PM  0 comments links to this post

  Betting and Gambling Safe Online with eCOGRA As the field of e-commerce and online gaming begins to mature eCOGRA (eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance) has set a standard for the online gaming industry approving sites with the 'eCOGRA Play It Safe' seal. An accredited site ensures eCOGRA compliance providing player protection, fair gaming and responsible conduct. View their Generally Accepted Practices (eGAP) for Casinos and Poker.

• Approved quality online casinos and poker rooms
• Portals offering integrity and quality of gambling related content

As betting and gambling online has hit the headlines during the last months the eCOGRA global online gambler report provides excellent insights and knowledge about the attitude and behavior of gamblers. Here some extracts:

'The best things about Internet gambling are ‘convenience and accessibility’ and ‘fun and excitement’, while ‘losing’ and ‘financial implications’ came top of the worst things.'

'The average player is male (73.8%), aged 26-35 (26.9%), play 2-3 times per week (26.8%), played for 2-3 years (23.6%), plays for between 1-2 hours per session (33.3%)...'

• Press release
• Full Report

Labels: bizdev, ecommerce, entertainment

  ¶ 'Betting and Gambling Safe Online with eCOGRA' posted by eA : 6:45 PM  0 comments links to this post