Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten

Wakoopa Tracks iPhone Software!

Wakoopa, a company I own shares in, today announced a new product/service. They now track usage on iPhones too. We all own iPhones at the office and I think it is a smart move to take advantage of the iPhones popularity this way. Here is the official press release: PRESS RELEASE - Amsterdam, October 22 2007 Software startup makes iPhone usage transparent Amsterdam-based company Wakoopa has announced today that it's tracking worldwide iPhone usage. Since January, Wakoopa has been...

Steve Jobs: Design & The Washing Machine

As you might know I have a huge (complete!) collection of Wired Magazines. Regularly I grab a random copy and browse through it. Today I grabbed a 1996 issue with Steve Jobs on the cover. I only read half of the article but was thrilled when I found a quote that made a huge impression on me when I first read it. The last question that Gary Wolf asks is "Is there anything well designed today that inspires you?". Steve Jobs then tells a very personal story about his ideas about design and how...

OpenIdea: Give Spammers What They Want….

You have no idea how much I hate spam and spammers. I'm generally a friendly guy but spam makes me aggressive. And with 85% of ALL my mail being spam (19.648 Good Messages, 111.961 Spam Messages (85%) on 405 Spam Messages Per Day) I spent a lot of time thinking about how to prevent any more from coming in. Since January 2007 I have been using a fairly good Spam filter. It is 99.1% correct which means I have to wade my way through hundreds of spam messages every day to make sure I don't...

Doing business in… Zeeland?

Later today (October 16) I will be driving to Zeeland to talk about entrepreneurship and officially open the 'mediaplein' at the Zeelandhallen in Goes. I will be interviewed together with Mr. Wiersma who is resposible for Economic affairs in Zeeland. We will be talking about what effect technology has on business and whether it matters (pro or con) to do business in Zeeland compared to other places in the Netherlands, Europe of maybe even the world. The event is held in the Zeelandhallen...

Free Ticket & Huge Savings: Sprout ChallengerDay

On Thursday, November 1, 2007 I will be a speaker on Sprout's ChallengerDay. I am looking forward to this day a lot and not just because I am speaking but because the other speakers are all very inspiring people. I intend to be there the whole day just listening to what these challengers have to say. I also offered to host the Speakers Dinner the night before at my house which will be extra cool because I will get to meet all the speakers personally the evening before. You can see who all...

Small Change?

As a kid I always carried a small magnet with me. It was attached to a long cord and I used it to grab small coins out of fountains or street ventilation shafts. One day I stopped doing that. Maybe because I figured out that it wasn't a scalable business. Not many €1000 bills can be found in fountains. People always tell you to focus. Focus is important. Unfortunately nobody is able to tell you WHAT to focus on. Let me rephrase that: everybody has a different opinion on...

5 Tips: Efficiently Communicating Your New Contact Data

A few months ago I received a message from someone I once met. He had moved from one company to another and wanted to let me (and the 400 other recipients in the To: field) know his new contact details. I opened the message and included was a 1.2 megabyte JPG with his new contact details, in an image. Can you imagine how inconvenient that is? Ever since then I have been paying special attention to how people communicate their new addresses and have now decided to write a 'How to' about the...

Floating House

YouTube - Floating House We just noticed this floating house outside our offices....