Digital Villages

China on my agenda

2012-01-05T20:38:00.001+02:00

China on my agenda
Originally uploaded by Helge V. Keitel

I've China on my agenda and will spend more time to follow what happens in China, Taiwan, Vietnam, India... Another way to look at the new emerging markets is to follow things and trends in the BRIC countries.

Financial Times Thursday December 29, 2011, tells about Labour unrest in China.

- LG Display hit by worker militancy

- Workers become very assertive

- Nervousness grows within government

- Revelations from Memo to Barack Obama

The weakening global economy has prompted companies to cut pay and benefits. The cheap labor model does cause problems and some estimate it isn't working anymore.

Thousands of employees at the LG Display factory went on strike over year-end bonuses.

The dispute involved some 8 000 people and forced a partial production shutdown at the Nanjing plant.

Happy New Year 2012

2011-12-31T15:57:00.001+02:00

Happy New Year 2012
Originally uploaded by Helge V. Keitel

Happy New Year 2012. What's new for the coming year?

Let's call it TRANSFORMATION. Numerous great ideas from the 80s are getting a new life in our services 2012.

We're very happy for tremendeous cooperation and collaboration with our global digital friends and wishing a prosperous new year to all of you!

Winter is late

2011-12-28T23:09:00.001+02:00

Winter is late
Originally uploaded by Helge V. Keitel

Winter is late but North Corea does have a new leader. Huffington Post writes:

"PYONGYANG, North Korea — North Korea's power brokers publicly declared Kim Jong Un the country's supreme leader for the first time at a massive public memorial Thursday for his father, cementing the family's hold on power for another generation."

I'm a little bit confused. Father Christmas might have the same kind of status in Finland without any political power, whatsoever.

Happy Christmas

2011-12-23T11:34:00.002+02:00

Sotkamo K-supermarket

2011-12-14T23:05:00.001+02:00

Sotkamo K-supermarket
Originally uploaded by Helge V. Keitel

Sotkamo K-supermarket. We're expecting a white Christmas.

- a few centimetres of snow
- temperature is just around cero degrees Celcius
- the Southern part of Finland will not have snow
- the downhill slopes in Sotkamo are ready to accpet skiiers

European turmoil

2011-12-10T15:47:00.001+02:00

European turmoil
Originally uploaded by Helge V. Keitel

European turmoil: problems aren't over yet. It will take years to get the euro on track again.

Britain is distancing itself from the European Union. Finland does have a marginal role and is probably moving out from the core decision making process.

What does it mean for us? Changes are marginal. It's not realistic to believe that we could have a bigger impact than the one percent of the population.

Why should we be in the center of the European decision making process if we aren't able to deliver added value to the solutions that have to be made faster and faster in the future.

Sotkamo yesterday evening

2011-12-09T18:05:00.001+02:00

Sotkamo yesterday evening
Originally uploaded by Helge V. Keitel

Sotkamo yesterday evening outside the K-Supermarket. It was the day of final Spanish language course for this year.

There is still plenty of work
We start again 12.1.2012
But w've more than seven months to learn more
Singing christmas songs together
We've a great team of ten students and an inspring teacher

Postcard from Gdansk, Poland

2011-12-08T12:50:00.001+02:00

Postcard from Gdansk, Poland
Originally uploaded by Helge V. Keitel

Postcard from Gdansk, Poland. The year 2011 is almost finished.

We did spend some time in Gdansk over twenty years ago just before the stumble of the Berlin Wall.

Today 29.12.2011, I read about news from North Corea:

"Life in the North Korean capital came to a standstill as mourners dressed in thick, dark colored jackets blanketed the plaza from the Grand People's Study House to the Taedong River for the second day of funeral ceremonies for the late leader. A giant red placard hanging on the front of a building facing Kim Il Sung Square urged the country to rally around Kim Jong Un."

The Sovjet inspired communism is gone and history, but there're stiil some strongholds on the globe: China and North Corea. China is very much capitalism inspired. North Corea is trying to become a museum of hard-line communism with closed borders and no freedom of speach for its citizens.

More jobs in sales and retail than in car manufacturing

2011-12-05T20:07:00.001+02:00

Mote jobs in sales and retail than in car manufacturing
Originally uploaded by Helge V. Keitel

More jobs in sales and retail than in car manufacturing, according to Der Handel ad in Der Spiegel.

Selling
Shopkeeping
Services
Retail
Customer support

Memories from France

2011-12-04T12:49:00.001+02:00

Memories from France
Originally uploaded by Helge V. Keitel

Memories from France. I've loads of papers from the 90's that need to be screened and analyzed.

The years in France
Travelling around Europe
Search for new projects
Development of new projects

I'm planning new audio recordings to cover some of the key experiences.

Working with manuscripts to get started.

Virtual service design

2011-11-16T09:59:00.001+02:00

For a social media nerd, it is no news that organizations are slower than individuals in adopting social networking technology.

But I do see a change happening
There is a huge sleeping potential
Organizations can make tiger-jumps
Open innovation and collaboration
New business models and service design
New global distribution chaneels
Cost-effective global collaboration

Paris

2011-10-22T10:31:00.001+03:00

Paris
Originally uploaded by Helge V. Keitel

Paris, Champs Elyse. We're planning a campaign focusing on Asia 2012: Taiwan and China to be more specific.

Planning starting now
Bioenergy
Bioeconomy
Measurement and Control
Knowledge intensive travel arrangements
Problem solving with the Bitotechtouch team
Logistics: Finnair, VR and Vantaa City

Blogging more about details during the coming months

Networking and Narrowcasting

2011-10-20T20:32:00.001+03:00

Networking
Originally uploaded by Helge V. Keitel

Networking has been a part of my vocabulary for at least thirty years.

The digital age has changed the way we work together on a global scale, but networking is still very much a people to people business.

We used video, tape recordings, interviews and print media as tools for networking in the '70s at Hewlett-Packard.

Personally, I did interactive and transatlantic "podcasting" with C-60 minutes cassettes at the end of the '70s.

Still, the biggest challenge is to have something valuable to say or to contribute.

Technology makes some things easier and adds to the speed of interaction, but the thought process is just about as slow and cumbersome as ever before.

Digitalvillages remix

2011-10-04T19:14:00.001+03:00

Creative Collaboration

Transatlantic Open Innovation

We're starting a new transatlantic collaboration project with Paul Swansen.

Participants are creating problem solving, training, and innovation services for b2b clients.

Future store
iTraining and iTrading
Problem solving think tank
Measure direct delivery
Mobile mentalists

We also need to build a short and long term business model.

The international importance of India

2011-09-28T17:23:00.001+03:00

The country's economy is growing at roughly 8 percent a year for the past decade. India's business community tends to be family centered, both at home and abroad.

The international importance of India is rising. Most economists predict that by 2025 the country will outstrip Japan to become the world's third largest economy.

India's population is today 1,21 billion, second only to China's 1,3 billion. Much of the Indian middle class has ties outside India. The ties around the world are also family ties.

At the end of ´20s India will have an estimated 1,4 billion people versus China's (one child policy) 1,39 billion.

Soon more people will speak English in India than in USA. Indian's have global family ties and are very flexible about doing business on a global scale. They are global and cosmpolitan.

Structured Approach to Open Innovation

2011-09-18T19:41:00.001+03:00

Are you looking for ways to preserve and develop your company, organization or new business ideas?

I wrote these thoughts 7.9.2009 and published somewhere. Decided to upload it to Digital Villages today.

The picture is very old: I guess, it was made 1987 or 1989.

It might be a god idea to take a sneak peak into social media environments.

Sounds strange that something called "open" promises to deliver "innovations" to maximize future profits and helps to build a healthier and more sustainable society.

Working with a structured approach to open innovation, co-creation, and global collaboration.

Open (accepting new, different, weird, and outsider participation)

Positive (we are attracted to positive working conditions; relaxed atmosphere & learning environment)

Environment (open, positive, relaxed, humor, emphatic, supporting sustainable)
Natural (organic evolution of collaboration; command and control doesn't work anymore)
Innovation (new elements or aspects are needed to motivate collaborators like social attraction)
Nomadic (social, technical, cultural mobility; open innovation brothers and sisters)
Global (open culture to reach global markets through co-creation and collaboration)

Crazy Creative Finns are accepting and adapting new working cultures to enhance Open Innovation. Social media, microblogs, wikis, basecamps, nings, photo, video & podcast galleries, and blogs are used to replace traditional meeting rooms and seminars.

Innovators and entrepreneurs are networking and collaborating to improve the profitability of product development and service design.

Industrial products, innovations, and services are always invented and created in narrow subcultures (laboratory, R&D department, research institute, corporation). "Market Penetration" is followed by "Dedication" and finally we move towards "Saturation" if we are able to break out from the subculture and get a broader acceptance for our invention(s).
Social media can be used to "socialize" or adapt a new invention, product + service to a new culture, national market or subculture.
Social engineering can be used to understand the differences of a product development subculture and the new environment where we want to adapt it.
NIH is a valid reaction. If we don't socialize and adapt our product or service to the new market, culture or environment, the "not invented here" (NIH) is a predictable, valid, and understandable reaction.
Service design is a practical tool for personalization of a product + the service promise to a new culture, country, user / market segment.
Open Innovation is a cost effective way of producer - consumer - client service improvements. If we don't do the "prosumer adaption" we should expect product rejection comparable to hearth transplant rejection.
Open source software development takes us to a new product adaption layer. Programming is very complex in a closed environment and "open development" leads to even bigger challenges.
Personalization is needed for industrial processes and consumer gadgets. It's the core of customer orientation, but we tend to think that customers should adapt to our [the producers] needs.
Many to many networking is effective and productive only if we have a clear and structured strategy for our participation. If not, Social Media leads us to an endless loop of discussions that won't take us anywhere. Worst case of social media is talking, talking, talking into eternity - but no tangible results.
Ethernet is a starting point for data collection in a "thing links" environment where we need clear goals or are alternatively drowned into a stormy sea of data that can't be interpreted.
Values and goals are important tools in information society solution developments. We need them to control where we are, and where we are heading.
Don't accept social media as an endless talking mechanism. It can be transformed into a structured productivity tool for all kinds of organizations.

Open Innovation and Co-creation isn't limited to face to face activities within the traditional organization. Digital technology empowers us to do things with collaborators living in other countries and cultures.

Are we slowly moving towards a global networking business development?

No physical seminars (they key is participation and sharing)
No physical meeting rooms needed (virtualization of collaboration)
No organization charts (we create in ad-hoc open environments with people we never met before)

Killing me softly

Killing me [my company] softly with no innovation can be defended by opening the gates for multitalented crowds to participate and share their ideas, experiences, and skills. We're moving towards open door creativity where customers, clients, and partners have a central role in the design of killer applications and sustainable business ideas.

As we know, goals play a huge factor in personal and business success. Look at the most successful people in business and industry. Do they set goals? They do, but what are the goals we've to set for the future sustainable future development of Europe and a more peaceful world.

Opening Europe

The economic conditions in Europe, on the globe, and this country [Finland] is presenting challenges for many traditional industries and enterprises. The post-depression marketplace will undergo dramatic changes and many industrial enterprises are downscaling to adapt.

car manufacturing has to reduce capacity
forest industry, pulp and paper are downscaling in Europe
the mobile gadgets industry is not growing like in the past, new products and services are needed
music industry has to adapt to Internet as a distribution and marketing channel
engineering, construction, building, renovation markets are facing financing challenges
the possibilities of growth are in Russia, China, India, South America, Asia...

The mobile phone was the big Finnish break-through in the 90's. We're now ready to launch the next big thing - open innovation, co-creation and collaboration on a global scale - as a method for new wealth creation. Sounds strange that something called "open" promises to deliver "innovations" to maximize future profits, but continue to challenge and motivate your organization to move towards:

participation
sharing of ideas and concepts
provide open access to new ideas and opportunities
collaboration and co-creation are attitudes for more cost-effective change management
become a part of a much larger groups (crowdsourcing and multitalented problem solving)
we've to be open minded, learn to use open platforms, and have to be ready to take risks

The wisdom of the crowd is needed

Globally, water consumption increases at more than twice the rate of population growth. There will be a shortage of Water, Money, Oil and Energy in many parts of the world. A workforce of several hundred millions is waiting for whatever jobs available. If cheap energy helped fuel the boom in China and India, then a vanishing supply of fresh water will apply the brakes in the near future.

Could open innovation play a role in solving these problems?
Military power and command control isn't the only way towards democracy
We ca do serious business with social media, but for proper use we need to re-think and re-engineer the way we used to work within the safety of four walls of the traditional organization in the past
Is the management ready?
How about the individuals?
What will the corporate lawyers say?
The company's security manual isn't written for open global collaboration

Digital Documentation and Distribution

I like to give some examples where "Open Innovation and Collaboration" has been applied unconsciously. The first one is about a Power plant where the user started to use different biomass compositions to avoid the mixing procedure of peat, bark, wood chips, sawdust, planning residues. The mixing would be an additional work and require more storage space. The supply of biomass isn't stable and consistent either.

The power plant owner and operator started to burn unmixed residues and to make manual adjustments. The supplier learned about the new evolution and ideas about programming and the use of machine vision to determine what residues were delivered to the heating plant. PLC Logic changed rotation speed of burning chamber and the air supply increased the efficiency of the process.

This is a "prosumer" [produce and consumer] collaboration example resulted in a better operational practice through a trial and error process. The plant owner and manufacturer were in continuous contact and by accident they learned about the unconventional operation and as a result they were supporting the development of a more practical operational model. The manufacturer is now able to deliver turnkey plants with multiple biomass species.

A tightly regulated and controlled power plant operation according to specifications would have taken a much longer time to evolve. It's not a good idea to play by the books and agreements. Innovations are born when people start to work without the operating manual or agreement.

There will be more examples later: IKEA, Unicode, Big projects...

Helge V. Keitel

KK-Net

helgekeitel at gmail.com

+ 358 50 309 2021

Direct Digital Distribution

2011-09-03T22:41:00.001+03:00

One day, we’re promoting on the the Web, people are choosing products and services from digital boards, payments are transferred through the Internet.

On-demand transport can be scheduled according to requests expressed in digital order forms.

This isn’t futuristic Sci-Fi visioning, it’s a quote from a post dated 15.06.1996 at 17h12.

The weak or early warning signals of Internet as a business environment was described in a post to a business associate in Tampere.

We’d a meeting about this subject before our departure to France. It has to be mentioned that the meeting wasn’t very successful. Our ideas weren’t of this planet at that time.

It might be a good idea to suggest a follow-up meeting with the same people today ;)

New intelligent business possibilities in the mining industry

2011-05-06T15:25:00.001+03:00

We’re living in Sotkamo since August 1, 2010 after years and years almost all over the globe and looking for new opportunities in the field of mining, energy and environmental business operations.

The idea is to use the benefits of social media, open data, social engineering, 5T / 5D, microjobs, biotechnology, intelligent sensors, process automation, open collaboration, group sourcing and collaborative intelligence to find new global business opportunities.

This is a small world and with intelligent use of specialized network operations we’ve the possibility to reach out and build bout business intelligence and customer relationships all over the globe with low cost and great accuracy. We can also support B2B operations of specialized task forces looking for F2F negotiations.

We can work it out with both mobile and desktop tools.
My brother lives in Sydney, Australia and he is familiar with the global mining industry.
The open data community has new ideas and methods for open biz developments.

Tacit Knowledge and 5T / 5D

2011-03-27T14:40:00.001+03:00

Tavoite = Destination, target

Tunne = Desire, feeling

Tieto = Data, knowledge

Tahto = Determination, dedication

Toiminta = Do-it, execution, action

With tacit knowledge, people are not often aware of the knowledge they possess or how it can be valuable to others.

Helge: We didn’t realize in 23 years that the 5T could be used in open problem solving situations. The tool have been used by KK-Net people and some of our partners as a back-office tool to analyze complex and chaotic organizational problems.

Effective transfer of tacit knowledge generally requires extensive personal contact and trust. Another example of tacit knowledge is the ability to ride a bicycle. The formal knowledge of how to ride a bicycle is that in order to balance, if the bike falls to the left, one steers to the left. To turn right the rider first steers to the left, and then when the bike falls right, the rider steers to the right. ^[2] Knowing this formally, however, is no help in riding a bicycle, and few riders are in fact aware of this.

Helge: All that is very true and applies to 5T (the Finnish version). Are you happy with the “translation” of 5D?

Tacit knowledge is not easily shared. It involves learning and skill, but not in a way that can be written down. Tacit knowledge consists often of habits and culture that we do not recognize in ourselves. In the field of knowledge management, the concept of tacit knowledge refers to a knowledge possessed only by an individual and difficult to communicate to others via words and symbols. Knowledge that is easy to communicate is called explicit knowledge.

Helge: We’re now experimenting how to open 5T and how to communicate it to large numbers of users, trainers and coaches.

Tacit knowledge has been described as “know-how” - as opposed to “know-what” (facts), “know-why” (science), or “know-who” (networking). It involves learning and skill but not in a way that can be written down. The process of transforming tacit knowledge into explicit or specifiable knowledge is known as codification, articulation, or specification. The tacit aspects of knowledge are those that cannot be codified, but can only be transmitted via training or gained through personal experience.

Helge: Yes, I agree… but I also see that we’re in the process of “writing it down.”

"others know it, but you don't know it." -sherwin que

A chief practice of technological development is the codification of tacit knowledge into explicit programmed operations so that processes previously requiring skilled employees can be automated for greater efficiency and consistency at lower cost. Such codification involves mechanically replicating the performance of persons who possess relevant tacit knowledge; in doing so, however, the ability of the skilled practitioner to innovate and adapt to unforeseen circumstances based on the tacit "feel" of the situation is often lost. The technical remedy is to attempt to substitute brute-force methods capitalizing on the computing power of a system, such as those that enable a supercomputer programmed to "play" chess against a grandmaster whose tacit knowledge of the game is broad and deep.

Helge: The “automation” leads to the evolution of a business model as well.

The conflicts demonstrated in the previous two paragraphs are reflected in Nonaka's model of organizational knowledge creation, in which he proposes that tacit knowledge can be converted to explicit knowledge. In that model tacit knowledge is presented variously as uncodifiable ("tacit aspects of knowledge are those that cannot be codified") and codifiable ("transforming tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge is known as codification"). This ambiguity is common in the knowledge management literature. Nonaka diverted from Polanyi's original view of 'tacit knowing' that lacks empirical or conceptual foundation, as is discussed in detail in a later article by Ikujiro Nonaka and Georg von Krogh^[3].

Helge: Hmmm… need to read this several times to understand ;)

The documentation of 5T / 5D

2011-03-27T14:19:00.001+03:00

Juho Tunkelo did ask in Qaiku about the documentation and business model of 5T /5D.

We’ve [KK-Net] used it as a back-office tacit knowledge mindset since 1987 but realized 2010 that the problem solving tool can be applied to process complex creative and learning processes.

The idea of designing it to a training, coaching and problem solving tool was initiated by Heikki Hallantie (comment on my wall in Facebook). The discussion continues in Qaiku.

In the meantime, we’ve continued to analyze problems with 5T and I started to produce drawings (cartoons) to find out how to “open up” the idea. I’ve been experimenting for some time with the idea of opening tacit knowledge and emerging ideas. The best way to learn more about 5T is to use it in problem solving situations. But there is much more to be done to get the training orders flowing ;)

The concept of VIRTUAL SUPPORT TEAM has been proposed by Paul Swansen, USA. The support could become a part of the cash-flow generation (business model) in organizations using the concept.

We could also sell the HAT and colored cards to improve the branding of 5T / 5D.

Suggest more. We’ve a new generic tool helping us to take out complexity from chaotic and unstructured problem solving situations. Tell me how you feel about it? It this point of the development “feeling” and “desire” combined with “dedication” are very important. The “data” or “knowledge” is always embedded in the problem solving situation. Execution leads to learning through “Do-it”.

Wikipedia: Tacit knowledge (as opposed to formal or explicit knowledge) is knowledge that is difficult to transfer to another person by means of writing it down or verbalizing it. For example, stating to someone that Tooting is in London is a piece of explicit knowledge that can be written down, transmitted, and understood by a recipient. However, the ability to speak a language, use algebra^[1], or design and use complex equipment requires all sorts of knowledge that is not always known explicitly, even by expert practitioners, and which is difficult to explicitly transfer to users.

While tacit knowledge appears to be simple, it has far reaching consequences and is not widely understood.

Digital Villages - The Learning Community Concept

2011-03-10T22:21:00.001+02:00

The Concept.pptx

View more presentations from KK-Net

Digital Villages Evolution

2011-03-05T14:43:00.002+02:00

The concept of digital villages has been in evolution for more than fifteen years. Yes, it was still a prototype year 2006 when we adpoted some new ideas from Italy.

The idea of collective intelligence, global collaboration of human networks, and open innovation had been boosted by social media and its user friendly interface engineering.

People can now integrate their lives - not limited by location - to be a part of a global development community; easier than ever before in human history.

Something big is going on. Increased openness is a real integrator + facilitator of an amazing change. We're now better equipped with communication tools making it possible to initiate political changes in Tunise, Egypt, Libya...

The web has always been about hacking. Now activists are hacking the poltical systems to suite their own lives. The changes are profund and rapid.

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Social Media are helping to transform the world. We're the web of the future. And who are we? You and myself, the grassroots activists connected to easy to use collaboration and sharing platforms.

Business Improvement Distrcits

2011-02-28T17:15:00.000+02:00

Business Improvement Distrcits

Business
Improvement
Districts

(BIDs) a practical tool for the revitalization of downtown neighborhoods

We start with the VISION and work out a GOAL.

There is a choice in impossible times

2011-02-28T12:14:00.001+02:00

To get a job. Inspirational video about finding a job: http://t.co/ajFalLB from @barakhullman throught Twitter. This could be part of the Digital Villages going hyperlocal and creating jobs from inside, not outsourcing but insourcing, creating local islands of imagination, co-creation and collaboration. New jobs can be created if we want and apply the skills of multiple minds.

Make a smart move

2011-02-27T00:23:00.002+02:00

It did take us years to understand the scope and impact. Hard work makes us smarter: learning by doing is a great idea.

I'm working to find a better translation for 5T. How about SMART?

SENSITIVITY
METHODOLOGY
ACTIVITY
REASON
TARGET

The wording isn't perfect but SMART could become a useful slogan.

DATA
DESTINATION
DETERMINATION
DESIRE / DISLIKE
DOING

This isn't bad either. When we've the ecosystem documented it's time to start knocking doors.

It started as a small scale building project

2011-02-26T22:41:00.001+02:00

The Digital Villages history goes back in time to the 1970's.

Fragmented ideas started to visualize in the 80's during multiple training projects of start-ups and entrepreneurs.

But the technolgy had to improve, networking had to become cheper and easier.

We followed the evolution of technology villages in Finland, North America, Asia, and Europe.

Learned a lot about how to network, how to engage people and work towards a goal.

The first prototype villages development took place in regional development project 2001 - 2005.

We've improved the model and are ready to take the next step. This time going for a full scale community development.

Financing is essential
We need full-scale targets
Possible to handle multiple projects
The model spreads like a Domino game

Japanese mobile ecosystem

2011-02-26T12:27:00.001+02:00

The Japanes "docomo" mobile-phone technology has grown up in an unique ecosystem that makes it almost unsuitable for use anywhere else, tells Intelligent Life.

The closed-country period, the Edo Era (1602 - 1868) went for 265 years without wars or revolutions. The shogun families, or military dictators ruled the country; Edo was a merry place of peace and social stability.

The life on the islands has been shaped by the physical landscape of Japan, which packs one of the most crowded populations on earth onto narrow plains, bounded by sea and inhospitable mountains.

She is teaching windpower

2011-02-06T22:26:00.002+02:00

Sorry, I've to go. I should go and make a story about distributed heat and power production.

That could become a future growth industry, but there are ups and downs in the energy sector.

We need more renewable sources but don't want to pay the extra cost.

Wind is cheap, it doesn't cost a dime but investments per megawatt are still higher than the average consumer is villing to pay.

Harrods in London

2011-01-25T11:48:00.001+02:00

The fashionable Harrods store a rainy November evening while driving through the City of London.

This photo was taken 1991 or 1992 and is a part of the Digital Villages Magical History Tour.

Rocket Science

2011-01-17T01:19:00.001+02:00

Social media isn't rocket science but we can do complex things with easy to use networking tools: collaborating with other people around the globe.

Rocket Sience
Social Media
Collaboration
Social Engineering
What's the Next Big Thing?
The role of ESA and the European Union

Moving Forward in the Village

2011-01-15T17:32:00.001+02:00

He moved quickly. Let me explayn why. Digital Villages is a ten years old concept with a huge glocal potential.

The concept offers new ways to approach hyper local problems and the development of solutions with the help of grass-roots tools.

RFID and NFC are twho of them. The barcode will be replaced by RFID one day.

The Future Store is waiting around the corner and NFC will have an important role.

Every single step is taking you deeper into the village

2011-01-14T09:48:00.001+02:00

You can never step into the same river or room twice.

We learn new things from every single steps we take.

There’s no limits of learning. Learning organizations are not limited to acquiring knowledge from seminars and meetings.

I’m interested in the ability learn from trivial every day events. Unique things are happening every single day.

Electronic Village Online / FrontPage

2011-01-02T15:48:00.000+02:00

Electronic Village Online / FrontPage: Learned about this through Qaiku.

TESOL CALL-IS EVO Sessions

For five weeks in January-February, participants can engage with ESOL experts in collaborative, online discussion sessions or hands-on virtual workshops of professional and scholarly benefit. These sessions will bring together participants for a longer period of time than is permitted by the land-based TESOL convention and will allow a fuller development of ideas and themes of the convention or of professional interest in general.

The sessions are free and open to all interested parties. You do not need to be a TESOL member to participate.

Performing disturbing events in the darkness

2010-12-10T22:56:00.002+02:00

One second of the past three years flashed through my mind. We started playing with augmented realities again. There it was finally - dramatic music on the stage; out of the darkness of my mind.

The tune is there for everyone to listen. In search for the vision of now. I was shocked. It was a large venue and still a very personal experience.

It all happens in front of a live audience.

I take care of my friends and take pride of being a good band leader. Sometimes deep despair and still determination to reach the people in the way we can. With undiscovered music on our minds.

Almost being a part of a bigger conversation where we loose our illusions.

Now, get in touch with your spiritual life; your songs are made of small untoucahble objects. We call them words, and a string of words sometimes becomes a poem.

Search for a better way to express yourself in 3 minutes. Not an easy task for a creative person with a long story to tell.

I do!

Dusty dirt road to Digital Village

2010-12-08T15:35:00.000+02:00

My digital village is located in Virby, a small village, where I was born a long time ago. The dusty road has been replaced by asphalt and high-speed Internet is available to a cost.

Digital Storytelling

2010-11-08T23:25:00.001+02:00

It isn't easy to get people to understande the necessity of proper public-private and open documentation.

We know it and try to persuade companies to do it. The B2B tradition doesn't help us to make a change.

Still, it takes time to get proper long term decisions.

The need for continuous open collaboration is rising when companies have to communicate with a broader public domain.

Product Price Promotion Place Politics Process

Building Automation System

2010-11-04T20:38:00.001+02:00

According to Wikipedia, “Building automation describes the functionality provided by the control system of a building. A building automation system (BAS) is an example of a distributed control system. The control system is a computerized, intelligent network of electronic devices, designed to monitor and control the mechanical and lighting systems in a building.”

There are millions of blogs covering technical consumer devices, mobile smart phones and computers but I’d like to contribute with my own writings about Building Automation.

BAS core functionality keeps the building climate within a specified range, provides lighting based on an occupancy schedule, and monitors system performance and device failures and provides email and/or text notifications to building engineering staff.

Building Automation Systems are installed into large new office buildings. How about older buildings and assets? Who can tell great examples about old made better as new?

“The BAS functionality reduces building energy and maintenance costs when compared to a non-controlled building. A building controlled by a BAS is often referred to as an intelligent building system,” informs Wikipedia.

Should I write a report?

2010-11-03T22:12:00.001+02:00

I owe you an explanation, please come to the library. New stories will appear soon.

My intention is to write more about building automation, but I've been busy.

We've been moving from south to northeastern Finland.

Thank you for being so understanding and waiting with patience for digital villages news and building automation stories.

I need more time to get more background information, to learn how much bloggers write about building automation. How about Finland? Do we've Finnish writers in the blogosphere?

Take a closer look

2010-10-20T00:30:00.001+03:00

I've not done much for Digital Villages during the past ten months.

The concept is waiting for some action. We do have interesting activity and learning organization traces going back ten years in time.

I need to get DV reconstructed or the whole project has to be pushed over the edge.

How can I get in touch with a new trace leading to additional social inventions?

I want to do the right thing this time
We've a great ground work
The platform is perfect
Need to take advantage of the old stuff
Let's creat a new schedule

What are you dealing with?

2010-10-11T22:12:00.001+03:00

What is happening? I try to make a short report about the Invasion movie; texting with E71.

Is this about fact or fiction? We don't know. How could I know? The story covers ideas from fantasy land, the real thing doesn't have a central role. The movie is crazy.

It's getting dark. Keep on walking. Make split second decisions about who is against and who is in favor.
Being there in thirty minutes. It's unbelievable. We need a video camera. Get one from the news room. The events must be recorded.

You're very emotional. Don't show your feelings. Move away, open the damned door. There is no reason for you to fight against the realities. It's too late. Change and transformation did already start.

What are the forces we are fighting against? Are they already here? When did they cross the border? Continue the search, there migt still be a rational explanation.

Corporate Web Worker vs. Freelance Web Worker: Business Collaboration News «

2010-10-10T18:24:00.000+03:00

Corporate Web Worker vs. Freelance Web Worker: Business Collaboration News «: "On March 1 I became a full-time employee, but I continue to spend most days as web worker telecommuting from my home office. Prior to taking this full-time position, I had been a freelance consultant for almost two years. Friends who are considering similar moves in either direction have recently asked me for advice. In the spirit of reuse, I thought it would be nice to put all of my thoughts the pros, cons and things to think about when making the move between corporate web working and freelance web working, and vice versa.

– Lähetetty Google-työkalupalkin välityksellä"

Partner Day Sessions | MindTrek 2010

2010-09-28T13:38:00.000+03:00

Partner Day Sessions | MindTrek 2010: "Partner Day Sessions

Wednesday Oct 6th is reserved for MindTrek's Partner Sessions:

* Cloud Computing
* Nettiajan kansalaisyhteiskunta (in Finnish only)
* Academic MindTrek
* CloudCamp Tampere (in the evening)

* Cloud Cocktail Party, from 5pm to 7pm, @ Talvipuutarha, Hotel Rosendahl

– Lähetetty Google-työkalupalkin välityksellä"

How Social Media Helps Customers Co-Create Products | CustomerThink

2010-09-25T16:25:00.000+03:00

How Social Media Helps Customers Co-Create Products | CustomerThink: "Co-creation with customers was a regular practice at some companies even before the emergence of social media. Now social media makes it easier and more effective for customers to engage in the product development process.

– Lähetetty Google-työkalupalkin välityksellä"

The Customer in the CRM driving seat

2010-09-21T20:01:00.001+03:00

Customer relation is more important than ever. Small and large organizations are focusing on loyalty-building customer experience.

We help to learn effective strategies for building customer loyalty with superior service.

iTraining
iTrading
Microworks
5T (tieto, taito, tunne, tahto, tavoite)
Fast Fresh Flow

Additional tools are Digital Villages, Biotouch, Visual Radio and Future Store. We can help to grow fast on a slim budget. It’s all about open innovation, new learning methods and global collaboration

Toys and children plays are predicting our future

2010-09-19T19:24:00.001+03:00

Toys are telling about our history. Now kids are playing with video games. Drawings and cartoons are low-cost items that also can be used to sketch coming times.

I work with the future idea of Eco City along with the concept of Digital Villages.

Let’s take a look at very ordinary everyday tasks. Going to a bank teller to pick some pocket money is a routine operation but it hasn’t been around for more than twenty years.

Phone boots were located all around cities but I suppose there aren’t a single one in Finland anymore.

My view about Digital Villages has changed during the past ten years. The first ideas were drafted over twenty years ago but Wirby the Global Village became the first prototype 1998.

We’ve much more experience and better tools and networks for distance work. The idea of networking villages emerged 2001 to 2005 but the realization of all the ideas is more realistic today. It takes years to work out and test a new community concept.

Audioboo because Sound is Social

2010-09-12T16:56:00.001+03:00

AudioBoo: Because sound is social. We are a mobile & web platform that effortlessly allows you to record and upload audio for your friends, family or the rest of the world to hear.

Helge: I learned a bout this service on Twitter, today.

Audioboo is the simplest way to share audio. It’s fantastic for many things.

Impromptu interviews that you can put on your website, ambience that just sound wonderful, music you’ve made yourself, a record of your children growing up or even a full blown radio show. You can use it for reporting, for story-telling, educational use or quick tips.

Think of it as your audio digital archive, your web connected Dictaphone or simply a great way to let your friends know what you’re up to.

Audioboo works on the web, iPhone and Android devices. Soon we’ll be adding Blackberry, Nokia and Windows Mobile. Our mission is to be the one platform you use when you want to record audio, share it or keep it safe for the future. Listen!

Helge: Doesn’t support Nokia but I can probably use my Olympus and my PC.

Recording audio

Download the app onto your mobile or use the record button on the front page. This allows you to do everything the app does but also adds in the ability to upload audio recorded on other devices.. Then you can go ahead and add a title, some tags, a photo and pick a location it was recorded in. There’s a 5 minute limit on recording and a 50Mb one on uploads.

Browser-record

You can boo anonymously from the mobile app but it’s much more powerful with an account. Simply sign up and enter your email and we’ll immediately send you a link to choose an account name and password.

Register

We don’t ask for much information but if you enter your real name, a short bio and a web link, then it makes it easier for people to know who you are. You can also upload a photo or choose to use use Gravatar, a globally recognized Avatar (use the same email as your audioboo one).

Follow people

If you hear a boo that you like, try following that person via the Follow button. They will then appear in a separate column in your account, which makes it simple to keep up to date with their boos. You can find people by listening to featured or popular boos, as well as searching for things you’re interested in.

Link to other platforms

You can choose to link to Twitter, Facebook, Posterous, Tumblr or Friendfeed. This will make sure your boos appear in your accounts on those platforms as well as always being available on audioboo. With Facebook, you even get a fancy player.

Facebook-player
Subscribe via iTunes

You can also choose to listen to peoples boos as podcasts. Just choose the iTunes button on their account page.

Itunes-button
API, etc

If you’re a developer, join those who are building on Audioboo using our API. We aim to become the platform of choice for anyone wanting to record, upload, archive and share audio across multiple devices, and have provided developers with rich access to both query and manipulate our user’s audio and meta-data.

It’s already been adopted by PixelPipe, to allow posting via email, MMS and Nokia phones. There are also versions of Kinoma Play and Gravity in the pipeline that ultilise the API to make audioboo available on those applications. It also drives indie sites like boobase.com.

To learn more about interacting with the current API, you can view the documentation on the API’s google code page.

Do you have an awesome idea that might work? Want more functionality? Get in touch with us and we’ll see how we might be able to extend the API to accommodate your new ideas in the further.

About Internet six years ago: the emerging power of social media

2010-09-11T20:25:00.001+03:00

keskiviikkona 25. elokuuta 2004 [Wednesday August 25, 2004] I wrote about Reading blogs six years ago. What has happened since? What’s new? Are the changes so big as we tend to think?

The Internet is quickly becoming the world's primary source of information. Reporters begin every day by reading blogs. They're looking for the pulse of the people, for stories they might have missed. The blogosphere has become fundamental - the plankton of the information ecology.

Helge: That was big news at that time and routine for most journalists today.

But it's not just the media elite who are affected. Television took 13 years to get into 50 million homes. The Web reached that number in only five years. September 11, 2001, was the key moment.

Helge: Small and large businesses don’t yet know how to embrace the web and social media.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project found that in the days immediately after 9/11, just 3 percent of Americans who were on the Internet used it as their primary source of information. Less than two years later, as the US was preparing for war with Iraq, that number had risen to 26 percent.

Helge: Today, nine years after 9/11 the net is probably the primary source of information.

Now, 77 percent say they have used the Internet to interact with news about the war. They're not just reading the Web; they're emailing one another, posting messages, writing blogs.

Helge: Those figures reflected activities in North America, now the same is true for Finland.

The Internet has been revolutionizing business and culture for years - and that was just a side effect. Some experts believe: the 2008 election will be the first national contest waged and won primarily online.

Helge: Barack Obama was elected the president of USA and Social Media had a central role in campaign financing and his success.

1987 sending a document was a courier job

2010-09-08T13:03:00.001+03:00

It has always been a big work producing a document, but 1987 the net-worker's wet dream was to get a connection between local work-stations and send the stuff stored on his computer.

Internal networks improved the productivity and the vision of the paperless office was becoming less cloudy.

Sending stuff to outsiders, we still had to rely on post. The local publishing work had been automated by a central computer and a network of personal computers.

The benefits of office automation promised many benefits: fast, international communication with colleagues around the globe.

Personal Computers - and their users - were islands. What we needed was a bridge - an international bridge that allowed people and companies to turn their local computers into interconnected integrated systems.

Building Automation and WebTV

2010-09-06T20:14:00.001+03:00

Those of you interested in building automation, I’d like to sit down and have a talk with you over a cup of coffee.

The blogosphere is covering issues like computers, cell phones, smart phones, digital cameras, and video recorders but the buzz about building automation is still very limited and focuses on technical details.

What could we do together to improve the situation? I’ve been giving this a thought for several months.

I like to present Roof Ventilation based on a comment i received today: “Significance of roof ventilators for house Roof is a very important area for any building. You should take care of it properly because it affects other constructions of building also. If your house is not ventilated properly then you should do something for it. Mainly if you install any roof ventilators then it will help you in air circulation for whole house. With the help of these devices you can have freshness in the house because they exchange the stale air with fresh air. You can discover many types of roof ventilators in the market. There are many suppliers of roof ventilators in the market but airventilator.com is the best place from where you can purchase your ventilation system with best quality and less cost. You can find a large range of them. You just need to choose and then order it online. The process is very simple and easy. Just log on to airventilator.com and get proper ventilation in your house.”

Are you familiar with this company? Let me have more comments about the importance of ventilation, building automation and sensors needed for proper building automation.

Building automation fashion

2010-08-21T22:52:00.001+03:00

Will you excuse me. Here we have some interesting people speaking about the building automation fashion.

We're going towards an incredible exciting time. More things can be done with less money.

People have learned to express their ideas about functional air control and ventilation in public places.

Call the team, ask for the best contemporary solution. The gadgets for individual room ventilation is there and they don't cost too much.

It's more about what we value and how we spend our money.

What's the plan?

2010-08-16T22:53:00.002+03:00

We're not planning to achieve miracles. This summer proved it for the Finns: good ventilation is in demand for hospitals, offices and homes, when you want to feel good, want to chant, feel happy and dance.

New technologies are adapted gradually. A change in building automation control approach doesn't spread around the world over-night.

We've to "chant" and spread the idea continuously. Simple things can be done to spread the gospel. For my part, I just need a tape recorder and a digital cam recorder for sudden and occasional podcast transmissions.

Okay, we've started the digital storytelling. Messages are circulating, ideas are flowing down the river. The message is out.

I'm testing new techniques. I'm beginning to wonder, how long it takes to get down to spiritual music videos for improved ventilation?

The journey continues, the value of air condition is not challenged, but it takes time to get good practices down the pipeline.

It's a result of dedication
We need to show practical results
Re-think energy balance, save money and expose a better life-style
Scientists can tell the facts, we're focusing on the quality of life
Scepticists are always around: don't worry!

Get active, make the move. Technical miracles can be accomplished

Carbon dioxide ventilation control in populated buildings

2010-08-06T20:51:00.001+03:00

The other day, I’d a talk with the Managing Director of Produal Oy, Ari Mårtensson, how Carbon dioxide (CO2) ventilation control can reduce HVAC cost in most buildings by up to 20%.

Online measurement and control leads to both energy and money savings in big buildings frequented by a lot of people.

Let’s have a look at some examples. Airports, shopping centers, office buildings, administrative buildings, hospitals, etc.

Do we understand the benefits?

But do people understand the benefits of CO2 control? I can assure you, CO2 measurement and control is a neat idea but still not so well adopted by building automation engineers around the globe.

Scandinavian systems engineers are doing a pretty good job, but the more south we go, more conservative are the control strategies of systems integrators.

Really, are they still building control strategies by the book? Is control applied without CO2 measurements, based on assumptions and / or mathematical models?

CO2 measurement and control

How can we get decision makers to change their opinions? Money talks, how about money as a consultant in this case?

A building automation control strategy with the CO2 control, combined heating and cooling potential energy savings is estimated from 30% to more than 80% percent, depending on climate and building type.

Wow, that sounds like even more money

Most buildings’ air handling systems deliver a fixed amount of outside air ventilation, based on the building design occupancy, which is needlessly expensive and the costliest of any air ventilation strategy.

Measurement, measurement, and measurement can save money to the owner of the building but it also leads to a much pleasurable user experience.

Average occupancy in most buildings never approaches design occupancy. Let’s take a shopping centers or airports as practical examples.

There are peak hours and low occupancies. To the degree the building’s actual occupancy is less than the design maximum, heating or cooling that extra air will directly increase energy costs.

Further, most buildings actual level of outside air ventilation is in excess of the design level, resulting in even greater over-ventilation and additional energy expense.

Viable technology

CO2 control is a viable technology to actually measure and control outside air delivered to a space inside a building, based on actual required ventilation.

It is increasingly being used to measure and control fresh air delivery to all space based on their real time occupancy to ensure code required levels of ventilation are maintained at all times.

How CO2 measurement and control works

Indoor CO2 levels indicate the amount of outside air being introduced to the space to dilute CO2 exhaled by people in a space.

The relationship between CO2 levels and ventilation rates is recognized
Let’s measure CO2 levels on a real time basis, and adjusts air delivery to
ensure ventilation meets actual occupancy needs to reduce over-ventilation
In humid climates, this can also mean better humidity control in spaces

Movie in making

2010-07-20T00:17:00.001+03:00

I'm planning a video performance documentary. It will be about the twin peaks. The theme will be about new identities. The story will express new sides that can't profiled with traditional printed media.

Injecting new ideas

2010-07-15T02:12:00.000+03:00

It started several yeats ago. Those involved didn't have the slightest idea about the final outcome. We just knew that time will tell.

Several individuals were involved. The theorethical background was fuzzy but the project leaders didn't mind.

Five years later, the results started to show off. There were only slight negative effects. Next, I'll start to document central observations.

InformationWeek – Unified Communications > ‘Cisco will focus on Smart Connected Communities’

2010-06-04T22:50:00.000+03:00

InformationWeek – Unified Communications > ‘Cisco will focus on Smart Connected Communities’
Cisco has traditionally been a strong contender in the enterprise networking space. What’s the new focus for Cisco and what’s the company’s strategy to take these plans forward?
While we continue to focus on the network platform and on traditional verticals, we also want to bring technological innovation to industries that have not seen major transformations in a long time. The key to achieving this is Smart + Connected communities and intelligent networks.

We look at markets such as power, education and real estate that are opening up, and explore ways to introduce smart intelligence. We believe technology can play a significant role in introducing efficiency.

When we entered Telephony, for instance, the industry had not seen major changes for some time. Then suddenly we had a significant transition by moving voice into IP.

In the power sector, technology can help cut down power loss and introduce efficiencies—thus reducing costs. This is enabled through smart grids.
We’re talking about the ‘Internet of Things’ where everything will be connected in the future. In preparation for this we’ll make routers more powerful and switches more intelligent. The network is becoming a platform and needs to have this intelligence—to do things like optimization—in order to be more efficient.

Women tweet 12 percent more

2010-05-28T08:30:00.001+03:00

Learned this from Posterous this morning. “Who dominates the world of 140 characters? Look no further than the fairer sex. A new report from HubSpot found that women tweet 12 percent more than men and follow two percent more. Where my tweetin’ ladies at? Represent.”

During my first cup of coffee I decided to take a look at Horribly Sexist Vintage Ads.

The official Posterous announces new features. “Hello everyone, I’m Chris. I am one of the new(ish) members of the Posterous team. We are proud to announce Markdown support for Posterous blogs. This is a great way for software developers or advanced power bloggers to control the markup of their posts with a lot more precision. Now you can post using Markdown with the same simplicity you’ve come to expect from Posterous.”

Radical modernization of the tourism industry is needed

2010-05-16T21:32:00.001+03:00

We’ve to do something entirely different. The average tourist has been here several times but still we don’t know the people.

There is an urgent need to move into something that is completely new. Traditional tourism doesn’t work anymore.

We need a new kind of genius to move us from traditional tourism towards something that is entirely new.

Traditional attractions will still remain, but we’ve seen it so many times in so many other industries that the old big names are becoming history and the same will happen within tourism during the coming years.

Think about “ruotsinlaivat” – that was a big industry for several decades. Now, a trip to Sweden is commodity. Nobody buzzes about it. What did happen? Tax Free isn’t an incentive anymore. The same will happen with travels to Estonia from Finland.

Social Media and Cross-border Collaboration

2010-05-12T23:36:00.001+03:00

Social media, Web 2.0, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Buzz, Google Docs, FTP, Jaiku, Qaiku, Ning, microblogs, Wiki, LinkedIn, etc. can be used to enhance and improve cross-border collaboration.

I’ll be speaking about this at Tallinn BlogFest 2010 May 25 and now writing a manuscript for success. What did we learn from the Innovationtrain? Where are the limits of self organization? How good is BarCamp?

What are the obstacles we need to overcome when we have long distances, cultural differences and the participants can’t use their mother language?

Practical Guide to Building Automation

2010-05-12T16:30:00.001+03:00

Our second house is located 600 kilometers away. It would be very important to monitor what happens in the building while we’re away for several weeks or months.

The winter and temperatures down to – 40 C is always a challenge to the water supply. If they freeze, there is a possibility to a major catastrophe.

We’ve safeguarded ourselves against such an occurrence, but other things can happen. What about monitoring possible threats with the help of sensors and building automation? What kind on sensors would we need? How could the information be delivered to a mobile phone and a home computer?

Who makes this kind of monitoring and alarm systems?

The Concept Notes of the first Call for Proposals evaluated

2010-05-04T11:33:00.000+03:00

The Concept Notes of the first Call for Proposals evaluated. The Concept Notes of the first Call for Proposals evaluated

Wednesday, 28 April 2010 06:52

Altogether 59 concept notes were submittted to the JMA during the first phase of the first call for proposals. 51 concept notes passed the administrative check.

The Selection Committee evaluated the concept notes on its meeting on 21st April. In order to be invited to submit a grant application the concept note needed to get at least 12 points on relevance (of a maximum of 15) and an overall score of at least 30 (of 50). 18 of the concept notes passed the evaluation and are invited to the second phase of the call. Some of the concept notes not selected were, however, considered to be of a high level, but more relevant from the point of view of some other theme.

The grant applications are submitted to the JMA on 17th June at 3 pm. the latest. The decisions of the applications are to be made in September.

I’ve seen ET on the Road

2010-04-25T14:30:00.001+03:00

I’m still experimenting with Paint.Net and became interested with picture manipulation again.

I’ve Photoshop on the other laptop but the Samsung PC-20 is my on the road laptop.

The above pictures have been taken with Nokia E71 mobile phone camera.

Mobile phones do not produce the best quality pictures but with some layer playing it’s possible to create new things.

Augmented digital reality can be produced with simple tools. Meeting ET on the road is possible for the average person today. I know how to improve the picture at the left, but wanted to show this early creation. I know how take away the shades but it’s nice to see early bird test works.

The Power of the Myth

2010-04-20T19:39:00.001+03:00

We’re talking about marginal developments within the European Union.

There’s no need to explain the details. The future EU is a bureautric construction and most of my friends doesn’t want to be related with the present Europe in any way.

Europe is an outdated and non-fashioned construction. We need something more and modern. The present Europe doesn’t deliver anything that could be coined “innovative” and that’s why we continue the struggle for a modern and contemporary Europe.

Day 5 Volcano Ash Disruption

2010-04-19T11:20:00.001+03:00

joannejacobs.net » Day 5 Volcano Ash Disruption: "Day 5 Volcano Ash Disruption | 19th April, 2010 - Here’s the latest on flights in and out of Europe, care of the BBC.

Airspace closed:
Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland, UK

Partial closures:

Bulgaria (Sofia and Plovdiv open)
France (southern airports open)
Italy (northern airspace expected to reopen from 0500 GMT Monday)
Norway (most airports open)
Poland (several airports, including Warsaw, open)
Sweden (northern airports open)

Flights operating:
Greece, Lithuania, Portugal, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Spain

Test flights have been conducted by British Airways and while UK airspace is closed until at least 7pm tonight, the test was completed in perfect conditions with no problems encountered from the ash cloud. The Dutch Pilots Association (independent authority, representing pilots’ interests in the Netherlands) has said that there is no reason to worry about resuming flights.

The Met Office in the UK maintain that conditions for flight are dangerous, and NATS are using this advice as a basis for their decision to keep airspace closed. The Civil Aviation Authority in the UK has not issued a statement on the ash situation in 2 days, and even then they said “procedures adopted in the UK comply with international aviation recommendations laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organisation”. This, in spite of the fact that the ICAO has not issued a report in 3 days and airspace around Alaska and Hawaii in the US, and across Asia and South American locations is never closed as a result of volcanic activity, and still complies with ICAO standards.

In the meantime, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called a meeting of COBRA (Cabinet Office Briefing Room Alpha – the Committee that deals with emergency situations in the UK) to organise how to get UK citizens back in to the UK from international destinations where they are currently stranded – in some places without a visa, and thus they are effectively barricaded in rooms and airline facilities as illegal aliens. No reports as yet as to what COBRA might do to prop up failing airline businesses."

At Startup Incubator Bootup Labs, a Scandal Brews

2010-04-16T15:26:00.000+03:00

At Startup Incubator Bootup Labs, a Scandal Brews

oDesk is a service you can use to hire people

2010-04-09T17:47:00.001+03:00

I started to think about Microworks (Mikroduuni) a few weeks after the innovationtrain trip from Helsinki to Oulu returned back. It took place January 13, 2010 and I arrived to Sotkamo one day later.

The microworks idea was moving ahead about a month later with a group of enthusiasts at Sitra talking about what could be accomplished through open innovation and collaboration.

Then we took a break for a several weeks. Some new discussions were taking place but we still had a lot of planning ahead. Financing of a new venture was completely open. Today, I learned about oDesk and even though it’s different, there are a number of ideas that are comparable.

The new way to work: odesk is a service you can use to hire people. Or get a job. But not a job like your dad had. Here you get a job based on either time, project, or maybe a longer-term contract. And you can work anywhere in the world because the odesk system lets you collaborate with your new boss and he can watch your work as it progresses. Did we mention you get paid?

And they now offer benefits? Crazy and here we talk with odesk's CEO to find out what's changing in the world of work.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=odesk&...

Can bioenergy save the planet?

2010-04-03T23:46:00.001+03:00

This is not a traditional story. Bioenergy does not possess the power to save the planet or to solve the energy problem.

We’re stuck with a very big environmental footprint and there is no solution in sight.

Political meetings promise marginal changes. We, the consumers, are not willing or able to step back and start living a less energy intensive life-style.

Finland does not show a good example. We’ve a very energy intensive industrial structure. That’s why we talk about three new nuclear power plants. There is no magic: we would need to cut back on consumption, traffic, eat food that consumes less water and energy to produce, live in smaller houses, change our lifestyle completely.

How long will it take to learn this basic lesson? Fifty or one hundred years? How many catastrophes do we need to understand the connection? I’ve no idea, I don’t even know if the questions are relevant.

I’ll be speaking in Tallinn May 25, 2010

2010-03-23T19:21:00.001+02:00

Microblogging is fun. Qaiku is one of the Finnish services taking it mainstream. Before this we had Jaiku.

Everybody knows Twitter and Facebook but the Finnish Qaiku is much more advanced for those who want to interact, report and advance open innovation.

Why is managing technical people difficult? I had this question on of my blogs.

Some would say tech people are socially inept to adopt social media and some don't communicate well.

While that may be true in some cases, saying so doesn't help managers deal with social media in a better way.

The solution is learning by doing. I’ll be speaking at Tallinn BlogFest 2010 May 25, 2010. Take a look at the details here.

Managing business and other processes

2010-03-02T21:03:00.001+02:00

We’re great process managers and should take advantage of the national heritage of ultra-rapid industrialization and modernization of the society.

There are billions of people around the world that could take advantage of the silent knowledge of how to make rapid societal changes. Do we understand the potential of what lies behind all this.

iTraining as a Spin-off from the innovaatiojuna

2010-02-13T19:14:00.001+02:00

information to understand the essential problem

Target definition by 1000 characters, picture and graphics

reality orientation through primary evaluation

action taken to improve the understanding

innovation based on available information

networking to increase the scope of problem solving

interaction within the group, social media and other communities to boost quality of problem solving

normalization and adaption to reality

global development in collaboration with best resources available

Centralized Control of Social vs. Spreading Social Throughout the Organization - Digital Influence Mapping Project

2010-01-25T22:18:00.001+02:00

Centralized Control of Social vs. Spreading Social Throughout the Organization - Digital Influence Mapping Project: "Centralized Control of Social vs. Spreading Social Throughout the Organization

Should there be social media marketing and communication experts within your enterprise or should 'social' be spread out across the business within existing job functions? This is a false question. Or at the least it is a question whose answer will predictably change over time.

Ultimately, business will identify and adopt best practices in the disciplines of social media and embed those in pre-existing job functions. 'Social' will be a way of doing things and found everywhere across the business.

Media relations professionals have already largely made blogger outreach a part of their job. For all the criticism of the public relations discipline, their early involvement in social media has led to this integration. Customer care professionals are adopting 'social customer care' most obvious in the use of Twitter handles as an initial outreach and triage platform."

More about this in John Bell's blog.

Kerava going Mobile on day

2010-01-16T21:04:00.001+02:00

Kerava did have a hidden role in the preparation of the innovaatiojuna trip to Oulu. We’d a meeting with Seppo where the Future Store Concept was discussed.

Today, I learned that there are one million square meters of free office space in the Helsinki region. That’s three times more than what could be regarded as “normal”.

Kerava is about 20 minutes by commuter train from the Helsinki central railway station. Our mobile meeting started here and we moved forward to Porvoo.

The Kerava mobility is symbolized by all the bikes outside the railway station.

Wind Power is not an easy thing

2010-01-09T22:39:00.001+02:00

I’ve been writing about wind power. It’s not an easy thing. The price of electricity with wind power is twice the price compared to nuclear or coal produced.

Wind is cheap. It doesn’t cost a dime, but the wind parks are expensive to build and we do have days that are not windy at all.

Finland believes in nuclear energy production. Wind power has a marginal position in the energy mix.

Knowledge is still Power

2010-01-02T10:17:00.001+02:00

We’re not going to say hello to the “Knowledge Economy” even though some people think that even the era of “Creative Economy” is over.

Problem is, you can’t command people to be enthusiastic, creative and passionate.

What matters today is how fast a company can generate new insights and build new knowledge—of the sort that enhances customer value.

Simple things like taking care of your oil burner can’t be solved by creativity but down to earth practical knowledge helps you to change some vital parts according to schedule. But how many things are there in our households that don’t get the attention required.

Computer programs are updated continuously but mechanical gadgets don’t speak or tell us what to do. Nobody reads user or service manuals, and as a result a lot of vital maintenance never takes place at time.

Learning by doing is still a valid learning model. This holiday season has been a crash course in basic plumbing techniques. How to keep the water lines from not icing while being away will save money and time in the future.

Small Scale Building Automation and Distance Alarm Needed

2009-12-30T13:28:00.001+02:00

Building Automation needed to detect water leaks in a house were people aren’t present all the time.

- Water leaks

- Fire and smoke alarm

- What if the heating system fails to work

- Electricity problems

- When temperature goes below freezing point

We’re spending Christmas and New Year 2010 in Sotkamo

2009-12-28T11:28:00.001+02:00

It’s very cold in Sotkamo today. I’ll spend my day writing blogs and organizing some paper work.

I wrote an article about the Climate Conference in Copenhagen for Ostra Nyland today.

My Windmill article should be published tomorrow.

Had some plans to go to downtown Sotkamo but it’s – 30 Celsius so that trip will have to wait for better driving conditions.

Safe Building Automation in Berlin and Germany

2009-12-20T10:44:00.001+02:00

I’m looking for Building Automation experts in Berlin. It could be a person or a company. The intention is to build a business relationship with a Finnish building automation components supplier.

Someone with the ability to operate as B2B partner supporting building automation systems integrators.

Below some examples of HIMA Building Automation at various locations in Germany.

References - Structural engineering

Olympia Stadium - Germany: Berlin
Railway Station Lehrte - Germany: Berlin
Marriott Hotel - Germany: Berlin
Shopping center Schloßgalerie - Germany: Berlin
Boehringer Ingelheim - Germany: Ingelheim
FRAPORT Airport - Germany: Frankfurt
State criminal investigation office - Germany: Munich
Stadium - Germany: Munich
Stachus - Germany: Munich
Regional office for agriculture - Germany: Freising

This text comes from HIMA’s home page: “Conventional fire and smoke protection concepts are often stretched to their limits in the event of a complex fire scenario. The safe integration of all of the protection functions demands a level of flexibility and complexity that these systems cannot reliably provide. That’s where HIMA safety related controllers come in, safely networked using safeethernet - and new ideas.”

HIMA can reliably network safety-critical applications such as fire alarms, smoke detection, smoke removal and escape route signalling - and fundamentally revolutionises fire protection and evacuation management by establishing a logical and dynamic interaction between the different functions involved.

Advantages of HIMA solutions:

Ensure a legally sustainable defence by proving the operational safety of electronic components.
Economic benefits through the reduction of components; planning, installation and wiring; and faster, more reliable acceptance testing and functional/repeat testing.

We work together with operators, architects, planning offices, surveyors, fire brigades and facility management companies to develop solutions for high-risk properties such as:

High-rise blocks
Shopping centres
Hospitals
Stadiums
Airports
Railway stations
Other public venues

Building Automation

2009-12-19T17:38:00.001+02:00

I’m looking for partners from Germany. Our first attempt is to find a company or a person with the abiblity for B2B collaboration with Building Automation systems integrators in Berlin.

We’re ready to expand to other parts later. The first definitive step is Berlin. Anybody into Building Automation interested, please comment this blog post.

I Like Windows Live Writer

2009-12-19T12:45:00.001+02:00

I’ve been testing Windows Live Writer for a few hours. There is a language check for Finnish and English text but I’d like to have one for Swedish as well. Do I need to create another account for that? Probably not, I just have to check language options.

Christmas is almost around the corner. I also like the rounded corners options for photo publishing. All this happens without cumbersome photo-shopping. I also like to wish you a Merry Christmas.

RFID and Near Field Communication

2009-12-18T16:32:00.002+02:00

The innovation train to Oulu will start January 13, 2010 at 6h30 am from Helsinki.

We could visit VTT or Nokia to learn more about RFID and NFC.

The train returns to Helsinki before midnight.

Close to fifty participants are talking and documenting open innovation.

We could also pay a visit to Idesco or Buscom but there is a time limit. Details will be decided in early January 2010.

Lappset Playground

2009-10-14T09:19:00.002+03:00

A few years ago, Lappset Group was the third largest producer of playground equipment and park furnishings in Europe.

At that time, the company had a turnover of 33 million euros, and employees, together with affiliates, about 200 people.

Founded 1967
Founder Antero Ikäheimo
Ikäheimo's daughters are running the company now
Active in 30 countries

I was talking about the present Lappset Oy today over Qaiku. Here is a comment in Finnish language.

@visualradio kyllähän niihinkin vaikuttaa kuntien pienentyneet investoinnit. Nykyisin niillä tosin on uusia moderneja tuotesarjoja, jotka saivat hyvin pullautettua tuotekehitysputkesta ulos ennen tätä taloudellista ahdinkoa, joten tuotekehitysosastolta pistettiin hyvä osa jengistä pihalle. Eipä paluuta entiseen ole toimarin puheiden perusteella tulossa, vaan tuotekehitys ulkoistetaan.

Tämä on varmasti Link designin kaltaisille tuotekehityspalveluita myyville firmoille ihan lottovoitto, mutta tiijänpä vaan ettei tällaiset ulkoistamisetkaan tapahdu ihan kivuitta... Onneksi Lappsetilla on tuoteportfolio nyt kuitenkin ihan hyvällä mallilla.

Sony Introduces the VAIO X "Lightest Notebook Ever" | InventorSpot

2009-10-08T21:08:00.001+03:00

This is a FriendFeed catch.

Sony Introduces the VAIO X "Lightest Notebook Ever" | InventorSpot: "Sony is claiming that its new VAIO X is the lightest notebook ever. The sleek, netbook/notebook crossover is a mere 1.6 lbs. of computing and uses carbon fiber casing to help maintain its impressive weight. Using a slimmer, cooler Atom chip, the notebook is also able to maintain an ultra-slim .55-inch thickness across its entire length.

Enough gushing about the slim factor--the VAIO X features an 11-inch, 16:9 display with LED backlighting and comes with Windows 7. The trackpad includes multi-touch capability for actions such as pinching and rotating, and the X ships with a second battery pack that will combine with the standard battery to offer 14 hours of run time. Other notable features include built-in Verizon 3G compatibility and built-in GPS that works
independently of internet connection.

The VAIO X will begin at $1,300, which buys a model with a 2GHz Atom processor, 2GB of RAM and a 64GB solid-state drive. Preorders are available now and the VAIO X is scheduled to ship in November."

eComm2008: Emerging Communications Conference

2009-10-08T17:33:00.001+03:00

Tracked on Facebook. The "trillion dollar telecommunications industry..."

eComm2008: Emerging Communications Conference: "The trillion dollar telecommunications industry has already started down the path that the homebrew computer took three decades ago. Democratized computation gave birth to the computer industry. eComm tracks, highlights and promotes both the people and the technologies driving the democratization of communications.

Helge: We're going to get more advanced smart phones -> the almost microcomputers

eComm™ brings out the visionaries, bleeding-edge technologies, real-world startups, cutting-edge academic projects, views from the incumbent telecom players; garage based hacks and stirs required policy debates to create the only telecommunications forum to embrace and promote the radical change."

Secretary of state taps social media in blog, other efforts | StatesmanJournal.com | Statesman Journal

2009-10-04T14:35:00.001+03:00

Government 2.0 in the making.

Secretary of state taps social media in blog, other efforts | StatesmanJournal.com | Statesman Journal: "Secretary of state taps social media in blog, other efforts | October 4, 2009

Secretary of State Kate Brown has begun a blog and revised her agency's Web site in an attempt to tap new social media.

There will be Facebook and Twitter portals.

The blog will offer an insider's take on the work of the agency's four program divisions: Archives, Audits, Corporations and Elections. Among the contents will be news, frequently asked questions, reports, and an occasional question-and-answer format with staff. There is also a section for public comments.

'I believe that social networking and media present a tremendous opportunity for government and the public to have a truly interactive discussion about the state and how it is run,' Brown said.

Blog: www.oregonsosblog.us. Web site: www.sos.state.or.us.

— Peter Wong"

Apple Tablet May Have Two-Handed Multitouch Input - Apple touch keyboard patent - Gizmodo

2009-10-02T11:38:00.002+03:00

More news about Apple innovations. They are moving ahead with new inventions for touch-screens. I start thinking about the talking walls and the possibilities of touching virtual realities in a store.

Apple Tablet May Have Two-Handed Multitouch Input - Apple touch keyboard patent - Gizmodo: "Apple's latest patent filing revolves around dual-handed touchscreen detection for typing, gesturing, controlling a 3D interface and handwriting. But it this intended for the fabled Apple Tablet, or something entirely different?

Apple Insider says this multitouch interface is designed to recognize specific user hands touching the device (personalized profiles!), and could differentiate between actions such as typing, or hands just resting on the surface. There's also talk of scrollwheel elements for basic OS X control and tactile feedback that wouldn't disrupt movement across the device surface."

Cisco CEO Optimistic About the Economy - Digits - WSJ

2009-09-24T13:43:00.001+03:00

Cisco CEO Optimistic About the Economy - Digits - WSJ: "By Ben Worthen | Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers was one of the first tech executives to predict that the recession — then limited to the financial sector — would spread to the rest of the economy. Now he’s among the first to say it’s on the way back.

Helge: Are we going to see a V or W shaped recovery?

The economy has started a “gradual recovery,” Chambers said Wednesday during a meeting with Wall Street Journal reporters and editors, echoing optimism he expressed when discussing Cisco’s fourth-quarter results in August. Chambers said that he bases his assessment of the economy on several factors, including the stock market, conversations with customers and the rate at which Cisco receives orders. Based on these criteria, he believes that the U.S. is coming out of the recession. He added that Asia seems to be picking up as well, but that he expects Europe to lag behind.

Helge: What about Europe?

Chambers said he expects that the Obama administration’s stimulus package will help the recovery. It’s also had another effect: Tech companies like Cisco are investing in the areas the government is targeting, such as health care and upgrading the electricity network.

Helge: Health care! Are we ready to invest?

He didn’t agree with the government’s decision not to grant a tax holiday that would allow companies to repatriate cash from overseas. Cisco, which makes networking gear such as routers and switches, has approximately $29 billion overseas, he said. Now Cisco will be forced to spend more outside the U.S. than it would otherwise like.

In general, Chambers said that neither the government nor the private sector can turn the economy around on their own. “You’re not going to have a recovery without the government and business working together,” he said."

Helge: Governement and Business united!

Netbooks Sales Still Climbing - www.wi-fiplanet.com

2009-09-04T16:38:00.000+03:00

Netbooks Sales Still Climbing - www.wi-fiplanet.com: "Netbooks Sales Still Climbing | By Andy Patrizio | September 3, 2009

Netbooks are beginning to really eat away at the notebook market and are showing their greatest strength outside the U.S., according to a new report by market researcher DisplaySearch, a subsidiary of NPD Group.

In its new Quarterly Notebook PC Shipment and Forecast Report, DisplaySearch found netbook sales had surged to 38 million units during second quarter, with 40 percent quarterly sequential growth--better than the 22 percent sequential growth for notebooks.

Of course, notebooks are a mature market while netbooks are still finding their footing. Plus, netbooks have been positioned as a second or third computer, ideal for someone who already owns a laptop, but wants something smaller and lighter to more easily carry with them.

Netbooks' share of the market has soared from 5.6 percent in the second quarter of 2008 to 22.2 percent last quarter. There has also been a corresponding loss for notebooks, from 94.4 percent of the market in 2008 to 77.8 percent in 2009.

Small world

Equally notable is where netbooks are growing. When the product category first emerged on the market, experts widely assumed they would take root in emerging and poorer countries. Instead, the opposite happened: They initially took off in the U.S. and Europe."

Helge: What will Nokia's and Apple's plans to enter the market accomplish?

More people centric blogging

2009-08-08T11:10:00.005+03:00

I've a Seesmic account but I've not used it. Wanted to use it with my E71 but there is not a mobile interface so I continue to use Qik and Bambuser.

Haven't yet posted videos to my Flickr account either. Nokia's OVI doesn't pay an important role in my life yet. I feel OVI is complicated. Flickr isn't.

My blog postings could become little works of art and I work hard to personalize them.

The English language is certainly a challenge. It's very demanding to get into the flow. I've to struggle with the words. But life isn't easy either. I try to learn new ways of expression every single day.

I seldom hit people with products on my blogs but I've been inspired by buildings, nature, street pictures etc.

I would like to write more interviews about people but time is a limiting factor. Interviewing takes time.

This social media stuff is what we breath on a daily basis. My social media usage isn't expanding but I try to focus on the channels I've - which means a lot.

First step was blogging but the most interesting events take place in microblogs. I'm happier with the use of Facebook now.

With social media I can follow thousands of conversations on an annual basis. It could be used as sales funnel as well but I still concentrate more on socializing and expressing ideas.

My interest isn't in multilevel marketing. Social media is probably at best the most important learning environment I happen to have. Great ideas can be turned it into conversations and sharing ideas means very often that they become better when they are touched and commented by others..

Maybe I can tell someone else about things that are on my mind with all the pictures I take and have taken over the years. Drawings, cartoons, and old memos contain great and weird ideas. I've been posting a part from a huge archive.

A great way of communication happens with pictures transmitted to Brightkite and Qaiku. Flickr and Brightkite transport them to Friendfeed, Twitter, and Facebook where they get a second life. Or at least an extension.

Twitter has been low on my list lately and Friendfeed could certainly get more attention.

Flickr and KK-Net's Gallery, on the other hand aren't just my or KK-Net's family photo albums but a part of my / our personal exposure. My followers can see on a continuous basis what I'm involved in.

Old and new pictures have credibility and they can underline important historical events in my and KK-Net's life.

Schneider provides electrical distribution and building controls in Antarctica - Building Automation Portal: Products, News, Articles, Application Stories, Training, Events & Resources on Automation.com

2009-08-03T10:07:00.002+03:00

Schneider provides electrical distribution and building controls in Antarctica - Building Automation Portal: Products, News, Articles, Application Stories, Training, Events & Resources on Automation.com:

Schnider is active in Finland through its factory in Stromfors.

"Brussels, September 7, 2007 – In Brussels, Schneider Electric and the International Polar Foundation (IPF) present Princess Elisabeth, the first “Zero Emission” scientific research station, before its installation in the Antarctic

In an unprecedented initiative, the station will exclusively use renewable energy: solar – via photovoltaic panels – and wind power. This process avoids all emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases.

Schneider Electric's offer of energy services, solutions and products actively help to reduce CO2 emissions. In this way, 50,000 metric tons of CO2 are economised every year in the framework of contracts managed by the Building Automation Business Unit.

“For Schneider Electric, participating in the extraordinary adventure of the Princess Elisabeth Antartica research station is a highly significant action. Alongside the International Polar Foundation, we share the same values – environmental responsibility, concern for the planet and the absolute need to reduce CO2 emissions. Finally, this is the first time that our products will encounter such extreme conditions, with temperatures of -40°C and under remote control for four months of the year,” explains Jean-Pascal Tricoire, President and CEO of Schneider Electric.

“It is also a tremendous scientific adventure and learning process,” adds Gilles Vermot-Desroches, Schneider Electric’s Senior Vice-President Sustainable Development. “Alain Hubert, the founder of the IPF, will be working with us, alongside a team of scientists and experts, to raise awareness in all of Schneider Electric’s employees of the history of the climate and its changes, because the poles are where the world’s climate is constructed.”

Schneider Electric and the IPF: a special partnership for a responsible, high-performance research station, economical in its use of energy.

Schneider Electric provides not only the electrical power supply, but also all of the building’s technical management and its remote control process.

1) The electrical power supply and distribution:

Prisma+ cabinets and switchboards will ensure electrical distribution. They are entirely fitted with modular multi 9 switchgear. All this equipment is standard, as, right from the start, it is capable of functioning in extreme conditions.

2) Remote management:

a SCADA system enables maintained optimum operating conditions by limiting over-consumption. Information is captured and TeSys contactors enable load shedding functions, for example, when necessary.

3) Supervision and command control:

programmable Quantum automation units are installed in redundancy in order to ensure command control of water treatment and automatic switch-over from wind power to photovoltaic power in the event of violent wind conditions.
the HVAC system is completely autonomous. It enables control and management of the station’s temperature, ventilation and hygrometry level.

About Schneider Electric
The world leader in electrical distribution and automation & control, Schneider Electric develops a global offer of products and services for the residential, buildings, industry, energy and infrastructures markets. In 2006, the 112,000 employees of Schneider Electric generated sales of €13.7 billion through 15,000 sales outlets in 190 countries."

Digital controls for HVAC, building automation, lighting control, energy management, and OPC solutions

2009-07-30T14:29:00.003+03:00

More about building automation through Tiwtter Search.

Digital controls for HVAC, building automation, lighting control, energy management, and OPC solutions: "ASI Controls manufactures Direct Digital Controls (DDC) for the Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) and light industrial marketplace. We offer a powerful, cost-effective, and easy to configure family of web enabled, OPC compatible, controllers, peripherals and software products.

Heating
Ventilating
Air Conditioning
Cost-effective

Their network of Value Added Resellers and System Integrators delivers complete solutions for Energy Management, Building Automation, Green Building and other requirements for facility control. "Customers value our reliability, unparalleled flexibility in configuration, price performance, strong customer support, and extensive interoperability with OPC enabled controls from other manufacturers," says their website.

Alan Weinkrantz PR Web Log: Twitter 101 for Business — A Special Guide

2009-07-29T12:30:00.002+03:00

Alan Weinkrantz PR Web Log: Twitter 101 for Business — A Special Guide: "Twitter 101 for Business — A Special Guide

Helge: I've been slow on Twitter for a while but I do agree, it's a great tool to broadcast personal ideas. I also get valuable information through my Twitter friends.

Every day, millions of people use Twitter to create, discover and share ideas with others. Now, people are turning to Twitter as an effective way to reach out to businesses, too. From local stores to big brands, and from brick-and-mortar to internet-based or service sector, people are finding great value in the connections they make with businesses on Twitter.

create
discover
share

When people working in the Empire State Building twittered that they were craving ice cream delivery, New York local chain Tasti D Lite was there to listen and meet their need. When electronics buyers look for good deals, the Dell Outlet Twitter account helps them save money with exclusive coupons. When Houston's coffee drinkers decide where to get their daily dose, many choose Coffee Groundz, which lets them order via Twitter. Read on to learn what Twitter is and to get detailed examples of how companies are using it. On these pages, we’ll also reveal how Twitter can help your business right now.

So what does Twitter do for businesses?

Twitter is a communications platform that helps businesses and their customers do a number of useful things. As a business, you can use it to quickly share information with people interested in your company, gather real-time market intelligence and feedback, and build relationships with customers, partners and other people who care about your company. As an individual user, you can use Twitter to tell a company (or anyone else) that you've had a great--or disappointing--experience with their business, offer product ideas, and learn about great offers."

communication platform
helps businesses and their customers to do useful things
share information
find people with the same interests
gather real-time market intelligence and feedback
build relationships with customers, partners and other people

Preparing for Batimat

2009-07-20T20:21:00.003+03:00

We're looking for partners in the field of building automation.

Germany
France

Here is a list of companies operating in Europe and France.

Lighting Control, Energy Management - Home & Building Automation.

Access Control Systems: Biometrics, Video Surveillance and more.

Building Automation: Automation for hotel and hospital Access & electric systems control.

Honeywell: We are the worldwide leader in products and services that create comfortable, safe, efficient environments--in homes, office buildings, hospitals, schools, and anywhere else people live and work.

Work locally. Store globally.

2009-07-17T21:56:00.001+03:00

If you work on more than one computer, you might have a problem. Because your files, images and videos are scattered between your home, your office and who knows where else.

This is why you need Internet as a storage place.

Storage
Access
Share
Anytime
Anywhere

Building Automation Distributors - Honeywell Finland

2009-07-15T22:17:00.001+03:00

I'm studying Building Automation Systemintegrators. Here is a list of activists in Finland.

Building Automation Distributors - Honeywell Finland: "Building Automation Distributors

Through a comprehensive distributor network, our control devices - from measuring sensors to control systems - are promptly available.

Honeywell Building Automation Distributors in Finland:

Espoo: Digicontrol Ky, www.digicontrol.fi
Espoo: Eleta Talotekniikka Ky, www.eleta.fi
Forssa: BSV Automaatio Oy, www.bsv.fi
Jyväskylä: LVI-Elektro Oy, www.lvielektro.fi
Jyväskylä: Säätö ja Asennus Oy, www.saatoasennus.com
Järvenpää: AdConSys Oy, www.adconsys.fi
Karhula: AdConSys Oy, www.adconsys.fi
Kerava: Hausmatic Oy, www.hausmatic.fi
Kuopio: jataku Oy, www.jataku.fi
Lahti: LK-Automaatio Oy, anssi.huuskonen@lkautomaatio.fi
Lappeenranta: AdConSys Oy, www.adconsys.fi
Lappeenranta: Digicontrol Ky, www.digicontrol.fi
Lapua: ANA-DIGI Automaatio Oy, ana-digi.automaatio@netikka.fi
Lohja: Prosessisäätö Ky, Kari.lindfors@prosessisaato.inet.fi
Oulu: AdConSys Oy, www.adconsys.fi
Oulu: Pohjanmaan Kiinteistötekniikka Oy, www.pokitek.com
Pielavesi: Säätöpaja Oy, hannu.kumpulainen@saatopaja.inet.fi
Seinäjoki: LVI-Automaatio Viitaniemi Ky, lvi-automaatio.viitaniemi@netikka.fi
Tampere: AdConSys Oy, www.adconsys.fi
Tampere: LVI-Elektro Oy, www.lvielektro.fi
Turku: Prosessiautomaatio Oy, www.prosessiautomaatio.com
Turku: Resta-Sky Oy, www.resta-sky.fi
Turku: Turun LVI-Instrumentointi Oy, www.turunlvi.fi

Batimat Maison Futur

2009-07-11T11:48:00.000+03:00

Building Automation

2009-06-24T10:41:00.001+03:00

We're looking for two area managers, one for Germany and the otherr one for France.

They should have good working relationships with systems integrators in the field of building automation.

Engineering degree
Field experience
Located in Paris
Berlin or Munich

Building Automation in France

2009-06-12T06:09:00.000+03:00

We're looking for systems integrators and individual specialists in the field of building automation measurement technology. The measurement and control devices designed and manufactured by our supplier are modern, installation friendly and of good quality. Technical innovations of our products have become a standard for the measurement devices.

Our first goal is to find a country and or area manager with good understanding of the Greater Paris area building automation market and the ability to work with local, regional and national systems integrators.

The products have become familiar to the building automation professionals for the last 20 years. Modern building, increase of automation, national and European standards have raised the demand of necessary measurements.

The active product development and co-operation with customers has created an extensive product family to the growing needs of the building automation market. Technical design, fastening and installation solutions and the multiple measurement ranges of the transmitters ease and speed up the commissioning of our products.

Important to understand

2009-06-07T00:20:00.000+03:00

Why make such a big deal about understanding everything? I've been testing the idea of twitter being a microbroadcasting sajt. It's not so much social media. We just go there and shout out our ideas. Sometimes we get into a dialogue but very sldom it leads to a lengthier discussion.

Apps for Democracy Finland - Kansalaisosallistujan työkalut | MindTrek

2009-06-05T10:44:00.001+03:00

Got into this through Facebook and Qaiku.

Apps for Democracy Finland - Kansalaisosallistujan työkalut | MindTrek: "The competition team supports initiatives that use information technology to make the world a better place. We strongly believe that the collaboration between citizens and public sector may be enhanced by clever IT-solutions.

The availability of public information enables people, and society as a whole, to take responsibility and apply conscientiousness in the decision making processes. On the other hand private citizens and organizations have lot's of detailed information waiting to be delivered in useful manner for the public sector organizations. We want to use software to help address these issues.

The 'Apps for Democracy Finland' is your chance to wow the world with your ideas; your chance to build better systems on top of public data; your chance to demonstrate the value and the power of public data when it is let free; your chance to take public information and display it in exciting new ways; and your chance to walk away with a range of prizes."

Commentary: How Twitter poses a threat to newspapers | McClatchy

2009-05-31T18:51:00.002+03:00

Got this story from Twitter.

Commentary: How Twitter poses a threat to newspapers | McClatchy: "The end began in January 1998, when Matt Drudge broke the story on his blog that linked President Clinton amorously to a young White House intern.

At least that's how his scoop is remembered, as a signature moment in the growing dominance of online news. Except that's not what happened.

Drudge didn't break the intern story because he didn't have it. What he reported was that Newsweek magazine had the story but wouldn't publish it.

Evidently somebody at Newsweek was fed up with the magazine's reluctance and told Drudge. I think that was the first time a major story went public after being back-channeled from reporters at a mainstream news organization to an unaffiliated website.

What Drudge's scoop really exemplified was the declining ability of news managers to control their staffs' access to the public. Today, 11 years later, thanks to the Internet most every journalist here can reach independently an audience immeasurably greater than the star reporter on the biggest newspaper or top-rated newscast could a generation ago.

Now the traditional news business is built, one way or another, on a promise of exclusivity: What we've got you won't get elsewhere. So the idea that a media company's biggest threat may come from its own newsroom is hard for news managers to swallow."

The car was the social media carrier of the last century

2009-05-17T17:38:00.001+03:00

The car was the social media carrier of the last century

Photo day: 17.05.2009 at 17:37

We made a 20 km's bicycle tour today. I had the opportunity to take nice photos from various spots in Loviisa and Pernaja.

Social Media and Internet has a destructive effect on

- gas stations
- car industry
- printed media
- travel industry
- traditional education
- advertising
- public relations
- television