Glow by Madcon and mob dancing in MGP interval

In the Eurovision Song Contest 29 May 2010, "Glow" with Madcon and many people dancing in the interval were great fun! Here is some background from how the mob flashdance was orchestrated. Meet Karene Lyngholm and others, from training ground in Dusseldorf.

Stek eller bli stekt: Strid om en singlet (in Norwegian)

Foto: Håvard Prestegården

Kan "kjendisbruk" av en singlet gi noen åndsverkrettigheter for kommersielle formål? Eller en god læringsmulighet for å sette igang noe. Vi snakker om en STEKEsinglet for salg, et mulig hett objekt denne sommeren!

Jeg stiller spørsmålet fordi Håvard Prestegården i Bergens Tidende (24.mai) forteller denne historien:
- Carl Eliassen (22) vant årets utgave av realityserien «Paradise Hotel».
På TV gikk han ofte rundt i en singlet med påskriften «stek! stek! stek!» og omtalte seg som en «stekare» (se annen bloggpost, min anmerkn).
Nå har Eliassen startet nettbutikk hvor han selger kopier av signaturtrøyen.
I Bergen sitter tre økonomistudenter og føler seg snytt. De sier TV-kjendisen har stjålet ideen deres. Egentlig skulle de starte et samarbeid med Eliassen. Men nå opererer Paradise-vinneren på egen hånd.

Møttes på ferie
- Denne skjorten har jeg designet, forteller Sondre Holvik (21).
- For moro skyld lagde vi fire sånne singleter da vi skulle på ferie til Magaluf sist sommer. Der møtte vi Carl. Han la merke til singletene og syntes de var kule. Han spurte derfor om han kunne kjøpe en for noen shots i baren hvor han jobbet den sommeren, forteller Holvik.

Ifølge Prestegårdens reportasje i Bergens Tidende benekter Carl Eliassen at han har stjålet noen forretningsidé.
- Dette stemmer ikke i det hele tatt. Hvem er det som har brukt denne t-skjorten? Det er det jeg som har gjort. Uten meg ville den ikke hatt noen verdi. Jeg har rettighetene. Det de sier er fake, sier han.
- Hvordan skaffet du t-skjorten som ble brukt i Paradise Hotel?
- Jeg husker ikke helt. Eller jeg tror jeg fikk den av en jeg kjenner. Men jeg husker ikke navnet hans.

RESTEN av BT-artikkelen kan du lese via link under.

Sondre Holvik er forøvrig student ved BI Bergen. Og Sondres versjon av historien kan etter sigende bekreftes av flere kilder. (Har sjekket via egen kilde. Skylder å gjøre oppmerksom på at jeg kjenner gutta littegrann via familie).
Få derfor vite mer om denne historien bl.a. her:
http://www.bt.no/kultur/media/Full-krangel-med-Paradise-vinner-1089569.html

OPPDUKKENDE MULIGHET. Denne historien viser at ting som oppstår spontant og morsomt i en liten kompisgjeng faktisk kan slå an og bli til noe. Det kan vise seg å bli en oppdukkende forretningsmulighet. Eller en god læringsmulighet for videre entreprenørskap med venner på laget.

Vil du sjekke ut mer om den opprinnelige STEKsingleten, så finner du den på www.stek.no

Stekare before and now (in Swedish)

Courtesy to You Tube and user122aa — October 31, 2008 — Exempel på stekare på 00-talet och 50-talet
Category:
Comedy
Tags:
stekare bergman Sommarnattens Leende Packat och Klart

Relevance: Will Diaspora need to SCALE to "hundreds of millions"?

Today I posted this comment following up Jonathan Higgins comment regarding Diaspora (see a recent post for intro):

Will Diaspora or other alternative distributed friendsfeeds solutions need to SCALE to "hundreds of millions" to be relevant? Good Q Jonathan!

On the one hand, I guess perhaps not (though I do not know the technical details).

Because I guess socially, Friendsfeeds can still become very relevant IF it can attract many cliques of friends and thus gain some critical mass also among smaller networks of friends. If it becomes popular, the new practices can then become endemic spreading further.

On the other hand, "users" have actually got new habits through FB and its huge scaling. Some might enjoy to continue friendsfeeding and group connecting through the possibilities of a huge mass social medium. While others may rather wish to move on to more free and "true" friendfeed networks. Thus it might differ among us where and how we may wish to continue. This is only some preliminary thoughts... wish to learn more!

Posted on the website ReadWriteStart by: Birgit | May 16, 2010 3:13 AM

Bad Design: destructive combinations

Bad design of the week:

mobile phone cases with magnet locker. It demagnitizes your credit cards.

This is an example of destructive combinations that can emerge, Do not know whether effects are possibly thought about in advance.

Source: own recent experience in our family.

Visuelt business award 2010 to Halvors

Næringslivsprisen 2010

"Design gir gjennomslagskraft for Tradisjonsfisk" (Design helps achieve breakthrough for Trad Fish, my transl.) Courtesy for photos: Fotografene Kristin&Vibeke.)

Visuelt Business Award 2010 was given to Halvors Tradisjonsfisk, a small entrepreneurial firm located in Tromsø and it is preparing, packaging and distributing Norwegian fish to restaurants and some groceries and supermarkets. Halvors is a newcomer, established in 2000, but deals with traditional clipfish, "tørrfisk" (dried fish) from Lofoten, lutefisk etc. Clip fish is fish for baccalao and other uses, see some suggestions of recipes here.

This case shows how a skilled graphic design approach (from Tank design, Tromsø) can actually contribute to building an attractive and relevant identity, a good and differentiated packaging, a meaningful presentation and so forth in close collaboration together with entrepreneurs.
- You need to respect other kinds of expertise, said Halvor Hansen, one of the cofounders to me just after receiving the Næringslivsprisen (Business award) during the Visuelt award ceremony.

LEARNING LESSONS. Although not yet fully researched in academic ways, we may learn many things from this Halvors case. Here are three suggestions:

1. Working on a skilled design approach with designers and business entrepreneurs can help even a small trad business recreate and project itself - for example, as Halvors Tradisjonsfisk. Design can help create a distinct and attractive character and elegant, differentiated packaging. A skilled designing can also form the online material on the web so as to show and tell in sensuous ways the benefits of the offerings.

(In turn, this may signal and significantly help communication with actual and potential customers, dealers, own salespeople and workers, and other interests).

2. Exploring design work with a holistic take even when starting small. Think beyond - rather than just one separate design/business issue at the time.

(Fish enterprise is also designing the fish and sharing food recipes and possible dish designs).

3. Collaborating closely throughout the design/business process may include many relevant concerns and engage entrepreneurial managers and other specialists.

(Halvors Tradisjonsfisk for example has a key person who also is a cook employed and Halvor Hansen, the cofounder has worked in fisheries for years and traveled much, he told me).

Given the awarded design but also knowing about some of the challenges of continued quality delivery and distribution for small food producers, it will be interesting to see how Halvors Tradisjonsfisk is sustaining their design/business creative efforts in the future.

Hope to learn more from Halvors!

***

Jury statement and some background info in Norwegian:
Næringslivsprisen 2010 ble delt ut under Visueltdagene på Christiania Teater i Oslo 7. mai 2010. Prisen går til en bedrift eller organisasjon som har utviklet en ny visuell identitet som et strategisk virkemiddel for å skape en konsistent og helhetlig presentasjon av bedrift og/eller produkt. Det var mange sterke kandidater til Næringslivsprisen 2010 og HALVORS var i år klar vinner av denne prestisjetunge prisen.

JURYENS BEGRUNNELSE

Halvors Tradisjonsfisk har vist godt entreprenørskap ved å benytte design på en gjennomført måte, og har gjennom de gode resultatene de har oppnådd vist at design er en viktig bidragsyter for å øke omsetning, distribusjon og merkestyrke. Designet skaper oppmerksomhet gjennom sitt nøkterne og kvalitetsbevisste uttrykk, og har en moderne tilnærming til opprinnelse og tradisjon. Halvors Tradisjonsfisk har spesialisert seg på klippfisk og tørrfisk, og gikk fra å være restaurantleverandør til å entre dagligvarehandelen med det nye designet som hovedvirkemiddel. Gjennom sitt nye design har Halvors fått stor gjennomslagskraft, noe som var en klar målsetting for prosessen. Det prisvinnende designet er utviklet av Tank Design i samarbeid med Halvors, og juryen berømmer dem for et solid designarbeid med gode resultater.

Oslo, 08.05.2010

Kilder: egen deltakende observasjon som jurymedlem i Næringslivsprisen samt linker til Halvors tradisjonsfisk og til Visuelt vinner i denne kategori 2010.
Sources: Own participation as member of the jury of the Visuelt Business award, see also links to Grafill Visuelt and to Halvors Tradisjonsfisk above.

The Four Freedoms, listen to Stallman

Photo courtesy of Think Ubuntu.

SOFTWARE AS COOKING. Freedom for computer use can be compared with cooking, according to Richard Stallman, Free Software Foundation. You should be able to do four things:

0. Freedom to use the recipe (or software) when you want
1. Freedom to look at ingredients and change them
2. Freedom to copy recipes and share with your friend
3. Freedom to write down your version of a recipe and give it to the community

These are four essential freedoms for software use as well.
Learn more from GNU website (courtesy http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html):

“Free software” is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of “free” as in “free speech,” not as in “free beer.”

Free software is a matter of the users' freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. More precisely, it means that the program's users have the four essential freedoms:

• The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
• The freedom to study how the program works, and change it to make it do what you wish (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
• The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
• The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others (freedom 3). By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes. Access to the source code is a precondition for this. (END of citation)
  

THE PHILOSOPHER. Richard Stallman is behind the GNU project that Linux became a part of. He says nobody knows how people actually use software. Indeed, he does not want tracking of free software.
Stallman rather wants you to defend the four freedoms of free software.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:051118-WSIS.2005-Richard.Stallman.ogg

The inventor's dilemmas

I save this link from NY for later read: The inventor's dilemmas.

See http://bit.ly/abLu1W

Centralized or distributed friendsfeeds? Notice Diaspora

The Diaspora team maxwell daniel raphael ilya

(Courtesy for photo: joindiaspora.com)

SOCIAL MEDIA EXPLOITATION. Currently, much of the attention and discussions in mass media and among companies are focused on how to enter, use and exploit rapidly growing social media such as Facebook (about half of the population of Norway is apparently already having an account on FB).
However, many issues of reuse, commercialization and privacy seem yet unsolved. Would Facebook administrators for example share our FB information and emergent behaviours with corporate others such as publishing houses or magazine sellers?

While some corporations and publishing houses are debating the new media possibilities of reaching potential customers in new ways through Facebook, some users and developers are already looking for alternative and what they see as less centralized ways of sharing news and other content with friends.

THE BIG QUESTION is how to actually combine sharing content with (many or selective) others with some privacy intact or at least a degree of self-governance of your "own" information, pics, news feeds, variety of connections and other activities including both social and purchasing behaviour.

DIASPORA. Notice the alternative project Diaspora by a dedicated "boy-band" it seems, of young developers and students (from NYU). At least when you see four of them on You Tube, seems to be a devoted group of young men, check out the link below where they introduce their dedication to working on this current project. (Need to check out more on their backgrounds and interests later!)

See some introduction first here:

Is Your Startup Too Geeky? Written by Audrey Watters / May 15, 2010 http://bit.ly/cc42Vr

TEAM EXPLAINING. The current Diaspora Team is: Maxwell, Daniel, Raphael and Ilya. Hear the guys self-explaining their project here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqxQgfQD24M&feature=player_embedded

NAME BACKGROUND. Diaspora, what does it mean? A diaspora (in Greek, διασπορά – "a scattering [of seeds]")

- and according to Wikipedia it is "any movement of a population sharing common national and/or ethnic identity. While refugees may or may not ultimately settle in a new geographic location, the term diaspora refers to a permanently displaced and relocated collective."

(It is a name with a long history of meanings connected to for example exciles of people which is beyond this post).

- according to the current Diaspora project (link) is specifically "the privacy aware, personally controlled, do-it-all distributed open source social network."

I guess we might also associate this with the possible future alternatives, complementaries, and/or excile from FB?

Ron Callary over at Inventorspot says:

- The central premise is to replicate the Facebook user experience that’s proven popular (until recent date), but to allow the Diaspora social network to be available on users’ own personal Web servers -- called “seeds.” This differs from Facebook's centralized user interface that claims ownership of users’ content and marketable data while running roughshod over their privacy data. At the rate at which Diaspora is growing and gaining funding, if it continues at its current pace, it might be the Facebook alternative many ex-FBers are looking for.

If anyone has more info on the further work of this free and possibly antifacebook project, please share with us.

UPDATES AND COMMENTS:

Jonathan Higgins comments on Diaspora on 16 May 2010 on the ReadWriteWeb:

- Will that scale ? Time will tell.

Does Diaspora need to scale to hundreds of millions of "users" to be relevant ?

Now that's a question that's worth thinking about.

(SEE my comment in separate new post 16 May).

Visuelt days in Oslo 6-7 May 2010

For two days, a bunch of graphic designers and illustrators and other interested people met in Oslo for the annual Visuelt event offered by Grafill (association for graphic designers and illustrators in Norway). The seminar was arranged in Vika Cinema and included welcome speeches, several visual screenings and a range of interesting presenters, many from international agencies and collectives. On Friday evening, it was time for the annual Visuelt Award Ceremony in Christiania Theatre. A number of awards (so many subcategories!) and much praise was shared with an enthusiastic audience as also the after-awards party time got closer.

You can see more here: ............(links to come)

http://bit.ly/9qfRoD