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The Silicon Valley tour, part 7: A few exciting new business models that actually work

Visiting Silicon Valley enabled me too peek into the future a bit. Finding out about new technology trends, meeting disruptive new software startups and seeing fascinating new business models that are proven to work. There are even more futuristic products / services than the ones mentioned in this post, but these are the ones that made the biggest impression on me. And they all share similar competitive advantages: using smartphones and other mobile devices, canceling middlemen and supporting cashless commerce.

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written 25.3.2012 18:28 CET on chronolog
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Dear Twitter, please reconsider this madness

Dear Twitter. You were always one of my favorites. I love it how you managed to create a subculture, something that Facebook will never be able to do. You've allowed people to collectively create information that travels the world in seconds. Your role in many global activist projects is invaluable, and your stance on privacy issues something that inspires the world. You help us find out about things before they actually happen. When the Icelandic volcano was erupting in 2010, I was watching the #ashtag word clouds being broadcasted live on CNN. It was then that it struck me that the media will never be the same again, the power of thousands reporters wins every time. You made it to the mainstream, shaped transmedia into Twitter + television. You were becoming the ultimate foundation for real-time information. You made me realize so many things by being one of the most prominent platforms of the social era. You were the man.

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written 21.8.2012 16:01 CET on chronolog
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Thinking about Silicon Valley? Did you hear about the Slovenian / Slavic startup house?

I can't believe it's been more than half a year since I went to the Valley. Good times, a lot has happened there, even more has happened since. San Francisco and Silicon Valley are a place every developer and / or entrepreneur should visit at least once, to get the idea about how things work on a larger scale. To receive another orientation point, to think outside the box. All roads in technology lead there, and if you are planning on ever doing something major, this is definitely the place to be. Startups, developers, investors, enthusiasts, geeks, technology corporations, everybody's there. Good news: it's easier than ever for you to be a part of it too.

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written 6.12.2012 17:41 CET on chronolog
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How Facebook and Twitter are messing up Slovenian journalism

Before I proceed with this rant, I would like to point out that I strongly believe in social media. I think it can do magical things, hell, we've already seen it has the potential to change the world. But that's just me, a person consuming information, deciding what's real and what not, riding those waves that I like. The media - they should try harder - it's their job to report the truth. In the past few weeks, we've encountered a few slips from the mainstream media here in Slovenia, feeding us with bogus information they've copied from the (social) web. I know it can be hard to track everything that's going on, but still, double-checking a few things and sources wouldn't hurt that much. And since Slovenia is in a quite critical stage at this point, with a fucked up financial situation, austerity measures, protests and everything, this makes it even more important for journalists to do their job properly.

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written 8.1.2013 20:56 CET on chronolog
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Uporabniška izkušnja kot uporabniško doživetje [In Slovene]

Med prebiranjem biografije Steva Jobsa sem naletel na dokaj nenavaden slovenski prevod pojma "user experience", “uporabniško doživetje”. Zadevi nisem namenil veliko pozornosti, saj sem v knjigi zasledil tudi nekaj manj posrečenih strokovnih prevodov, kot sta npr. “brezšivno integriran” ali “predkupna večopravilnost”. Klub temu pa se nisem mogel izogniti občutku, da ima ta besedna zveza potencial, da dobro zveni. Nekaj dni pozneje sem ugotovil, da je “uporabniško doživetje” morda celó bolj primeren izraz od sicer uporabljenega, “uporabniška izkušnja”, katerega razumevanje pozroča preglavice marsikomu.

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written 26.1.2014 19:09 CET on chronolog
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Me vs. IT 2.0 vs. Enterprise 2.0

In 2009, I was very excited to present a few funky things we've been developing with Neolab, at the largest independent IT conference in Slovenia. The world was obsessed with "2.0" back then, and we were determined to join that hype. Facebook was already big at that point, and it was becoming clear they will make a huge impact on the future of technology. Tim O'Reilly wrote a seminal article on the topic, arguing how Web 2.0, the new generation of the internet (and software!), has changed everything.

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written 30.7.2014 21:41 CET on chronolog
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Cool Slovenian brands, part 3: The rise of the Slovenian hardware startup

I've been writing about Slovenian startups for years now. In a post I published in the beginning of 2012, I've highlighted a few Slovenian companies there were able to gain global traction, and as you can see, all of them are focused on software. About a year later, I wrote on the topic again, and this time, the spotlight was on a new generation of companies, which were fueled by Kickstarter and the crowdfunding movement. These businesses were able to find their market with niche products that were interesting to the public mostly because of their innovative design. This year, I'll focus on the third generation of Slovenian technology startups, represented by companies that were able establish something that actually seems so logical today: the rise of the Slovenian hardware startup.

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written 7.10.2014 9:55 CET on chronolog
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Force touch is the new multi-touch

When I first saw the video demonstrating Force Touch on one of Huawei’s new phones a few weeks ago, I found the feature pretty much useless. You have this amazing new sensor, and a scale application is the best you can do with it? Supposedly, the Chinese manufacturer has beaten Apple at introducing this new feature, but the fact is, Apple has done something completely different. The Force Touch 3D Touch - iOS integration has the potential to change the way we interact with our phones, in a similar way than multi-touch gestures did years ago.

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written 14.9.2015 23:12 CET on chronolog
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Redesigning the blog - behold the Chronolog

The development of my blog is well on the way. The idea and the concept is a lot clearer and I am already coding it. The construct is based on a clone between a blog, friendfeed and hopefully some other web 2.0 elements. I am a heavy web 2.0 user, and there is a lot of interesting and useless information about me on different web 2.0 portals. Therefore I though, why should I leave it go to waste and make yet another separate pool of information in the form of a blog?

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written 30.5.2009 21:24 CET on chronolog
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I want it all - the curious case of Microsoft

There's Microsoft, probably the biggest software company in the world. And there are others. In the past years Microsoft has been trying to expand it's business to pretty much all the markets, faintly connected with it's core business - developing software. Marketing experts could say this is not a good strategy, because it is better for companies to retain their focus and stay specialized in things they do best. But if Samsung can build bridges in South Korea and at the same time make smart phones, why shouldn't Microsoft make iPods?

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written 25.6.2009 14:18 CET on chronolog
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How Facebook & Co. changed the world

I'm a bit shocked actually, because my first (brand oriented) Web 2.0 post was about Twitter and not about Facebook. It looks like times are changing and Facebook is not so dominant as it was a year ago. Nevertheless, for now it's still the greatest and in many ways it showed us the way that MySpace wasn't able to show. Even though there is a bit of controversy behind Facebook's beginnings, we have to admit it set new standards in many areas, both conceptually (real names instead of aliases, mini-feed, status updates, people tagging) and technically (open API for applications, great Ajax, useful upload). And while doing it, it changed the world we live in.

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written 4.10.2009 20:53 CET on chronolog
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Environmental, political and technological influences of Avatar

This post is probably already out of date, but I still feel I should say a few words about the movie that could become one of the biggest blockbusters of all time and surely a cult movie of the future. I personally loved it. Not just because of the story and the package, but because of the positive influence it will bring to this confused era. I think the director James Cameron is quite bold to openly address most of the biggest global issues of our time in it, a thing that actually wasn't mentioned as much as it probably should be.

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written 11.1.2010 19:46 CET on chronolog
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The influence of new generation information systems on modern organizations

The traditional role of Information Science and corresponding Information Technologies is providing organizations with information. This makes it a tool supporting decision process, which can be counted as an organizational process. But today, this role is becoming more widely spread, making Information Sciences and Information Technologies also an important part of the operational process itself. Concepts such as Business Process Reengineering (BPR) make information solutions a vital part of any modern organization process, present in all components in the business cycle of planning, realization and controlling.

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written 6.6.2010 16:08 CET on chronolog
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Twitfluence application basic technical specifications

Twitfluence is a registered Twitter application for calculating the "weight" and influence of your Twitter account, and is already accessible for beta users. It uses read and write permissions on your Twitter account. Perhaps it will be upgraded with write permissions one day too, so it will be able to post the results to your timeline on request, but for now, read permission is all it needs. The original idea was to have it done without Twitter authentication (by simply entering a user name), but then you're not able to access mentions and retweets, which are obviously a big thing in measuring someone's Twitter influence.

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written 1.8.2010 12:53 CET on chronolog
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The chronolog now understands connections between content

I once made a promise that I will try to incorporate as many interesting features as possible into my blog. My previous development sessions were based mostly on interactions of readers with the posts, the peak of it being the Hot on the chronolog algorithm. But now, as the chronolog finally reached critical mass in the amount of content it operates with, the time has come to do something new. The next step is focused on a different functionality, and a few days ago, the chronolog received an algorithm for recognizing relationships between different blog posts.

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written 3.11.2010 22:20 CET on chronolog
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