I just bumped into a set of really nice features in the online edition of the Belgian newspaper “Het Laatste Nieuws”. Many newspapers in this part of Europe do not allow their readers to leave their opinion, let alone criticize the paper or the journalist. HLN, one of the larger Flemish newspapers in Belgium, has now all possible features in place.

Of course you can leave reactions, but not all the readers might be ready to comment on each piece of news. So there is another option for each article, where you can choose between six feelings (fascinating, frustrating, funny, frightening, heartwarming, depressing). From the results (I do not see totals), you can see this tool is used  a lot.

Additionally, all tools to share the news are in place, buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and an email button are all in place. Very important is a link to correct a mistake in an article. The lack of that direct link to the editors in charge, I find the single most annoying lack of respect for readers. Newspapers can get feedback from their readers now they are online, there is no justification for now allowing it.

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China's FIRST McDonald's

China's FIRST McDonald's (Photo credit: flickr.Marcus)

The China Speakers Bureauis starting a set of broadcasts, using Google+ Hangout-on-air to encourage the debate on China. In this broadcast CSB COO Maria Korolov and president Fons Tuinstra discuss their plans.

 Here is more information on Google+ Hangouts on air.

 

We will start in a few weeks time interviewing a few of our excellent speakers on current affairs in China, and might if the approach proves successful invite a limited audience, and set up regular debates between opinion leaders on China.
Are you interested in participating in the audience, or otherwise? Do drop us an email. 
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Sailing to California for the California Gold ...

Sailing to California for the California Gold Rush (originally published in 1850s). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This is no comprehensive analysis, but links some of Apple’s revenue streams to another great US feature, that of the California gold rush (1848–1855). The question who made real money in that gold rush has been revisited later by academics, and it was not the gold diggers themselves who made serious money.

Two recent articles made me think about the potential basis of business model for Apple, also in the future. One of the key figures in Apple’s corporate propaganda is the large number of developers and apps it can deploy for its hardware. They just cannot stop mentioning the fast-growing number of the modern-age gold diggers. Unfortunately, recent research, here summarized by Arstechnica, shows that 60 percent of the developers do not break even, and for 80 percent the development business might never generate enough revenue for support a standalone business. Others suggest 90 percent might even be a more realistic figure.

Developers for Apple have to pay 99 US dollar to become part of the developers’ community and after that, with a minimum extra effort from Apple, they can dig for gold. Some might have found gold, as Apple claims it has already paid out billions of US dollars to those developers. A few success stories might still be enough for thousands of developers to pay their fee, but the chances of striking gold are actually pretty small.

The second article focuses on Amazon and its e-book business, published on Mediashift, and suggests that Amazon (and other producers of ebook readers) make their real money in selling the hardware, not by selling books. The thousands of authors, trying to make a buck too, are no less and no more than a marketing tool to sell more tablets, Kindle’s or Nook’s.

Why did I associate this with the Gold Rush? Read this piece from Wikipedia:

Recent scholarship confirms that merchants made far more money than miners during the Gold Rush.[86][87] The wealthiest man in California during the early years of the Gold Rush was Samuel Brannan, the tireless self-promoter, shopkeeper and newspaper publisher.[88]Brannan opened the first supply stores in Sacramento, Coloma, and other spots in the gold fields. Just as the Gold Rush began, he purchased all the prospecting supplies available in San Francisco and re-sold them at a substantial profit.[88] However, substantial money was made by some gold-seekers as well. For example, within a few months, one small group of prospectors, working on the Feather River in 1848, retrieved a sum of gold worth more than $3 million by 2010 prices.[89]

On average, half the gold-seekers made a modest profit, after all expenses were taken into account. Most, however, especially those arriving later, made little or wound up losing money.[90] Similarly, many unlucky merchants set up in settlements that disappeared, or were wiped out in one of the calamitous fires that swept the towns springing up. By contrast, a businessman who went on to great success was Levi Strauss, who first began selling denim overalls in San Francisco in 1853.[91] Other businessmen, through good fortune and hard work, reaped great rewards in retail, shipping, entertainment, lodging,[92] or transportation.[93] Boardinghouses, food preparation, sewing, and laundry were highly profitable businesses often run by women (married, single, or widowed) who realized men would pay well for a service done by a woman. Brothels also brought in large profits, especially when combined with saloons and gaming houses.[94]

By 1855, the economic climate had changed dramatically. Gold could be retrieved profitably from the goldfields only by medium to large groups of workers, either in partnerships or as employees. By the mid-1850s, it was the owners of these gold-mining companies who made the money. Also, the population and economy of California had become large and diverse enough that money could be made in a wide variety of conventional businesses.[95]

You might see some parallels. Of course, there are substantial differences between the old gold industry on one hand the book publishing and software industry on the other hand. And nobody wants to deny Apple managers the chance of becoming the new Levi Strauss. It is only bad luck for the 99,9 percent of the modern gold diggers, who only have their dreams to live on.

Just like in the gold industry, I believe that in the end sustainable business can be generated by larger companies, not by the individual book writers and software developers on lonely attics. But then, any gold rush is a powerful psychological trigger. Rational arguments might not work anymore.

Fortunately, both industries are more flexible than the gold industry. When internet companies do not look at their gold diggers as cheap labor, marketing tools or easy revenue models, perspectives might change. Unlike the Californian gold diggers, book authors and software developers talk to each other. They might figure out who is a the losing end of the equation.

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I was just too late to pick up my camera this afternoon when are special equipped car showed up under our balcony, just at the corner of Lausanne and Pully, Switzerland. It looked at first view like the Google streetview car, with an elevated camera on the roof and a set of equipment on each corner of the car’s roof. Only, it did not carry the name of Google, but that of Tomtom. The car had a Belgian car registration number, so it was a bit off track.

And later, on our way to enjoy the Lausanne carnaval, the same car passed us, in the direction of the railway station, and it happened again too fast to make a picture.

Fortunately, I was not the first one to notice these Tomtom cars with a streetview outfit. Different Tomtom cars have been spotted in France and Belgium in 2011.

What is the story, is Tomtom going to dabble in this successful Google venture? Most of the reports on Tomtom streetview cars are in Dutch or German. Tomtom says in a few of these reports it is not planning a streetview like, but only use these cars since 2004 to make their existing maps more efficient.

Well, since they are looking for different business models to survive, using these data for other service could be a good idea.

 

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WSJpublishing

WSJpublishing (Photo credit: Fantake)

In the past few months I have spent a bit of time in getting a book together with the current title Managing your online life: DIY guidelines for selecting services, friends, followers and news. 

The big idea is that there is no shortage on books, training and debate on how the internet and social media for larger organizations and companies work, but they mostly focus on getting people and institutions on an Olympic level. That ignores largely the problem many people have: they just bought their swimming gear, went to the swimming pool to get their feet wet for the first time, but nobody tells them how to swim.

In my years in Europe I have seen a larger number of people who are left out from the dramatic changes caused by the internet and the new digital life, because nobody bothers to tell them how to get their online life in place.

The Dutch researcher Alexander van Deursen of the University of Twenty, quantified that problem and estimates that annually the Dutch economy loses 19 billion euro because of that lack of internet skills. And that is for the Netherlands only.

There seemed to be a market, and I have my first 25,000 words together and was just writing a few paragraphs on the book publishing, and of course the drive into self-publishing over the past five years. I have been involved in a few books myself , like A Changing China. But this battlefield is changing so fast, with the e-readers popping up, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft diving into the market, that a new orientation on this industry is needed. A the time we used Lightening Source as a service provider, and were ha

Wikipedia gives a decent overview, but it rather limited in helping to make a choice. I’m still pretty early in the process, and do not want to exclude any business model. Should I give it away for free, and see if I can generate secondary business out of it? Should I ask for donations from satisfied readers? Should I only do it online, as a pdf-file, or also sell it also as a full-blown paperback? And if I ask money, what would be a decent fee?

Time to collect some decent advise myself, and roam around in the latest tips and tricks on the self-publishing of books. Suggestions? Let me know.

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On a walk today from Pully to Ouchy (Lausanne), along Geneva lake, I discovered that the Lavaux vineyards had turned yellow, just

Dandelions at the Lavaux vineyards

before they would turn green under the Spring sun.

A stunning sight. I discovered it were mostly dandelions, and a lot of them. Traditionally, the dandelion is associated with many health benefits, but I have no clue whether that is the reason to keep them so massively on the vineyards. I could not find any direct usage for the vineyards, perhaps there is no reason, it still looks very nice.

More pictures here.

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Milan 028

Tourist route to Piazza Castello

Have you ever walked into a city for the first time and thought it would be a nice place to stay? It happened to me with Milan. Relaxed, cosmopolitan and a weird combination of Shanghainese-style crowds and nice and quiet residential areas.

The sunny, warm weather in early April might have helped, people sitting outside the bars, sipping white Italian wines, first leaves on the many trees. And an excellent combination of espresso’s and even more excellent ice cream made Milan irresistible.

Milan is doing a superior job, also compared to Rome.

The city did an excellent job for the many foreign tourists is getting the route between Duomo and the Piazza Castello, dotted with all the famous brands the big spenders among the Chinese, Russians and Japanese visitors. A multilingual shopping guide, complimentary in all hotels, with editors from all those nations, guide you through the most important streets. Depending on your gender, you can do this route in half a day, just and just be able to carry your goodies to your hotel.

But Milan remains nice, even if you divert from those tourists routes and, more than other larger cities, international tourism and a vibrant domestic culture seem to go together. People leaving the theaters, taking the bus and the subway: it is all on a stone throw way from the tourist areas.

Prices might be sometimes outrageous, but by walking on through the shopping streets, or visiting the university area around the Porta Romana, you might find enough cheaper alternatives.

We walked one afternoon all along the Corso Venezia and could easy take the subway back to the city center.

The subway in Milan is anyway a must, even if you stay for only a few days. The 24-hour or 48-hour tickets make it very easy to use. After a tiring day, you can head back fast to your favorite place for some more white wine.

 Update: I forgot to mention the excellent food.

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Image representing New York Times as depicted ...

Image via CrunchBase

As you might have heard, the New York Times has tightened the free access to its online articles to about 20 per month, a regime that has started 28 March – so I have not yet hit the limit yet.

I’m not sure I will read more than 20 articles from the New York Times per month; most likely not, but I have never counted them. I do mostly appreciate the ones I do, since they then to be of a higher quality than many other media.

What I do know is that is that I link to those articles often, as a kind of free service to my followers, at Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and a few others. You do not need to be good at math to figure out some of those people will hit the 20-article limit.

Now, I have been very strict in linking to news sources behind firewalls, whether they require money or only a free registration: I typically do not do that. Nothing is a bigger nuisance than after clicking on a link, you have to struggle through any registration procedure. To, for that reason I do not link to the Financial Times, although they sometimes have articles that do make sense, and are only shared by other media a few days later.

The Wall Street Journal has found another solution. Although they have officially a financial firewall, for their China reporting they have a special section that does not require payment. I have no problem with that, I just have to make sure a WSJ article is in that section, and not behind the firewall.

Now the dilemma: should I continue this policy and stop linking to the New York Times. I’m inclined to say yes, since a large portion of my audience will not be interested that much in the New York Times, or not have the financial means to pay for access.

Let me ask your opinion: do you think I should stop linking to the New York Times articles, or should I continue, in a limited fashion, or just link to anything I find useful? Please let me know in the comments or in this poll.

 

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CHICAGO, IL - JUNE 10:  The Groupon logo is di...

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Today I got my first Groupon voucher honored, reason enough to ask the hairdresser in Lausanne whether my grim assumptions, supported by some initial research, were correct. The deal was nice enough: a reduction from 45 to 21 Swiss francs for a haircut. Next week I will be traveling, so it seemed a good idea to get my hair cut, before take-off.

Hairdressers in Switzerland are terrible expensive compared to other countries I’m used to, but when I noticed the deal, it looked pretty attractive. The fact I noticed the Groupon deal to start with was already an achievement. I have subscribed to a variation of Groupon emails in the cities where I would stay a bit longer than a few weeks. After a few weeks, I would not look at the deals, since they seemed mostly not interesting. After a month I would not even open the email and after a few months I would unsubscribe.

Mostly the deal are financially interesting enough, but just nothing from what I wanted. So different from the internet-based group buying I knew from China, where (before the Groupon clones moved in) people would organize buyers based on their needs. Group on the contrary mostly offers stuff I do not want, even not if it is a bargain.

My friendly hairdresser was still ambivalent about her deal: it had good sides and bad sides. She operated a one-women hairdresser close to the Lausanne railway station and suddenly saw herself confronted with over one hundred extra customers. Fortunately, she could divide the extra work until the end of August, otherwise her regular customers would have had a problem.

She was no making really money on the deal, and she would only repeat it when some of those 100+ customers would hang on as regulars. That seems to be the hope of many participating retails, but seems one of the weak points of the Groupon business model.

Will I go back to this hairdresser? I do not think so.

Update I: I just got an update from Groupon. The vouchers of my hairdresser will be valid till October. Guess it was too much work for her.

Update II: And yet another development. A second hairdresser joined Groupon with an even lower price: 15 Swiss Francs, and after half a day already over 50 customers had registered. A price war in Switzerland?

Update III: April 2 and the last update on the deal. The kind hairdresser has decided to kill the arrangement and the money will be refunded.

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