Dream Yacht

I worked a bit and added some explanation about one of my classes - building businedss workshop with Martin Varsavsky. Please, consider, that business idea I develop is no more than class exercise and I put as much efforts for it as necessary. In real life the overall aproach is also implemented, but the depth of details and work are at another level.

All the updates are in Building Eureka blog.

what a small world!

Playing with social networks actually shows you how the world is small and connected. What really differs Xing from other nets I use is that they show the whole conection chain between existing connections and a person. Even when I had 1 connection (guy whom I met randomly in friends feed of my livejournal friend and afterwards met in Munich when I visited Friedrichshafen Outdoor trade show), all my IE contacts were connected with him through network. Random guy with my IE network! Well, Xing is the first system I saw that shows the whole chain (not like "somebody from your friend's network"). And even when I find my ex-colleagues from Norway, they are somehow connected with my IE contacts. Lovely!

By now:
Xing - 19 connections within 4 days (most from my university, 1 ex-colleague, 1 poutdoor contact, 1 from groups I added).
Odnoklassniki (Classmates) - 104 connections within 7 days.

to sell or not to sell

Talking to potential buyers about your company is the only way to know how much is worth. There´s nothing wrong with that as we all need to make informed decisions.

Martin Varsavsky quotation

Small business success.

Three things you need:
1) the ability to abandon a plan when it doesn't work,
2) the confidence to do the right thing even when it costs you money in the short run, and
3) enough belief in other people that you don't try to do everything yourself.

seth godin quotation

x-posted to building eureka blog

first result of netvibes feeding

I really liked the post of Seth Godin.

I was at a gala a few weeks ago (featuring no less than ten speakers). At least 80% of them began their talk by saying, "I know you're hungry, but..." or "I know it's late, but..." or "I know you want to go home, but..." and then apologized for giving a speech.

If your speech needs to be prefaced by an apology...

don't give it.

That's why they call it giving a speech. It's a gift. If you have to apologize, it's no longer a gift, is it?

Our collective fear of public speaking has created a host of awkward situations and events. It's pretty simple: Be brief. Or don't come at all. Don't do anything you need to apologize for.

(and brief means sixty seconds, usually. That's enough to say hi, to say thanks and to move on.)

Seth Godin, Nov 07, 2007 16:37:46 GMT

tech notes

Well, you really understand the opportunity when you need it. I become aware of RSS idea a year and a half ago when bumped into discussion of its necessity. I started using it a year ago when during our Informational System class we mentioned it. At that time I was choosing between downloading feed with a special program or having it online. Since I didn't have connection at home, I went for FeedDaemon - to download and then read later. At that time it seemed to be a perfect thing - I had all my feeds atr one place, read them when I had time. I wondered: why people need online rss-combiners.

My laptop now is on mainteinance (to make a long story short, I had a flaw at the top cover and went to service for a change, they promised to fix it during one month, when the block got stuck, when they decided to change the screen because of spots and now they are waiting for a motherboard - I don'tknow really why, but the laptop is 2 months delayed). I'm using my friend's machine - she was very kind to borrowit to me until December. And I really can't using a lot of programs - the capacity doesn't allow me. I gave up Outlook (to export messages then and to sort - too much time), stopped using Skype for calls (I rarely used it, mostly for messenging), reordered all the links and folders I use, but it's getting messy, because it is just not my laptop!!!

Since my networks are not requiring that my time, now I decided to build my rss feed place. Thanx to Marin Varsavsky, whose class again inspiredme to do one more crazy thing online. I really need the easy updateness on news. Later on I will duplicate all the feeds to my FeedDaemon, but now...

Welcome to the wonderful world of netvibes.com.

networking again

With all networking activities the main thing is consistency. If you're building a network,youneed to do it regularly and on contstnt basis, since you stop, the processgoes backwards. Within 3 days I built 2 networks - private and business. Or, let say, started building that. I'm going to cut my activities within facebook (after december, when I come back to Russia) and russian nets and pay attention to LinkedIn and Xing.

The steps to build it are the following:
1. Register and check ytour closest network - University and Business School.
2. Check network of each member added you. Add those you know.
3. Check groups, choose, be a member.
4. Participate.

Now I'm at 4th stage with Xing.
;)

social networks

I'm playing with social networks now. There is a huge variety of ones, with different aims and coverage, but all of them require a lot of time and don't use in full.

I've understood several stages of relationships with the net:
1. Awareness - somebody lets a person know, may be describes main features and advantages.
2. Interface test - here a person registers for a network (by invitation or through automatic process) and makes first steps on the building networks through checking invited friend's connections.
3. Network building - (s)he uses search tools, matching possibilities, checks colleagues, classmates.
4. Additional services check - the most useful and user-frienly are adopted, others are ignored.
5. Network modration - after a certain effort the network is updated automatically. User just moderates it.
6. Intensive use of the network - most of users rarely come to this stage.

The aims of creating a social network are the following:
1. Stay in touch with friends - network here is an interactive adressbook or messenger.
2. Active participationin social life - creating and attending different networks, groups.
3. Job search engine.
4. Professional network creation - for knowledge sharing.

Well, each of the type has its own target users, I can't say that my nets are not important. some of them are not just developped to be useful.

Most probable trends are:
1. Entertainment (social life) nets will merge, since it is hard to manage several ones.
2. Professional nets are on contrary will intimidate and increase entrance barriers due to the level of sharing of information rise.

I participate in the following nets:
* Facebook - social, entertainment, mostly to stay in touch with my IE classmates and spanish friends.
* LinkedIn - social+professional, since most of the contacts business related (IE + some external).
* Xing - entered today, job search + professional.
* MoiKrug - russian net, started as a contact book, now I use for professional purposes - job search + stay in touch with russian professionals.
* Odnoklassniki.Ru (Classmates) - I'm using it since two days ago. Curious to find elementary school classmates and see them now. While surfing thru it, I understood that I started forgetting even university friends. Just to stay in touch.
* Vkontakte - russian clone (copycat?) of facebook (even design). Non developped forme, just in case, cause I have a good friend there. Plus, making an experiment of networking building.

Well, when building, networks require a certain effort and a lot of time. When buit, they save time through providing quick answers and help a lot if correctly used.

As my friend Mauricio says, network should work, when it worths the time spent for building it.

fabrizio salvador

Two quick quotes from one of my favorite professor's class:

Sunk cost is irrelevant for future decisions (everyon knows, but tends to forget).

and

You don't make money if youalways say yes. Raise your ability to say no.

two weeks of no classes is over

I mostly spent my time for spanish classes and our project financial calculations.

Waiting for new ideas from school discussions.