Inspired report, plenty of interesting projects and an even more interesting shift to a whole new business model.
Jan 302013
Jan 042013
Golden Spike aims to return mankind to the Moon on a non-governmental basis.
Sounds interesting, and considering the hardships NASA has been enduring for the last quarter century or so, probably the way any united states citizens are going to touch lunar soil any time soon.
The aims are lofty indeed, and the company roster packed with experience, money and brains.
I’ll keep my eyes on this. Most likely not for the chance to dance on Mare Serenitatis, but for the chance to see somebody do it. And pave the way even further from Terra’s gravity well.
Dec 302012
Most computer gaming/hardware/whatever magazines have slowly but irrevocably turned into vehicles of consumption, only rarely do they contain anything singnificant on creating something or understanding things any deeper than the surface.
The new marshall in town, Skrolli (in finnish), aims to correct that.
The zeroth issue (a four-pager .pdf) is out already, and the first proper magazine should see daylight in early 2013.
Nov 032011
Ubisoft acquired Red Lynx yesterday.
The finnish game house has been on a roll lately – their games have been hits on multiple platforms (Trials HD on X360, Moto Heroz on Wii and finally Draw Race and 1000 Heroz on iOS).
Let’s hope they retain enough of their independence to keep on innovating, instead of being trapped in the cycle of neverending sequelitis.
Sep 182011
The downward spiralling saga of Techcrunch keeps getting gets nastier and nastier with yet another way too public airing of dirty laundry.
Sep 182011
Impressively negative review of the book by one of the chief proponents of the term.
Sep 182011
POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is Morgan Spurlock’s latest film, and the only documentary that I signed up for in this year’s R&A.
The film cuts an impressive swath through the world of product placement, the act of funding films by introducing products and brands on screen.
Spurlock walks through the process of getting a rough dozen of brave companies to fund a film that describes the act of funding films. In effect the company executives and spokesmen on screen are effectively playing themselves.
The film is far more interesting than it initially appears. It is cut to a rapid whole. Some interviews are almost painfully brief, and some of the subjects would have been nice to listen to for more than a few precision-cut sentences.
The best film in the festival thus far, but there’s plenty still to come.
And it would have been a perfect opportunity to launch Pom Wonderful as a brand in Finland, but it seems that the real pomegranate juice isn’t sold outside the US.
Aug 262011
Exhibit A: Steve Jobs retires from running Apple.
Exhibit B: CmdrTaco retires from editorial duties in Slashdot.
Aug 092011
Rovio’s Angry Birds campaign for world domination continues with yet another new arrival: a cookbook. The Bad Piggies’ Egg Recipes debuts in September.
Jun 272011
Jun 052011
On Friday, as the markest closed, Apple was worth more than Microsoft and Intel combined.
Mar 212011
Nintendo says “no” to garage developers. In a suprising move, Reggie Fils-Aime describes that Nintendo has no faith in the tsunami of independent developers that has been splashing on the iOS shores for the last few years.
In the immortal words of Kosh:
They are alone. They are a dying people. We should let them pass.
Mar 152011
Thousand – one business ideas. Not all of them viable. Quite a few of tem interesting.
Feb 012011
Had not one, but two packages from the co.uk instance of Amazon go M.I.A.
One order, two packages, both missing, ten days past the calculated delivery date.
As the finnish postal service provides no tracking service for packages, the only recourse was to turn to the amazon customer care.
Who delivered in spades. At least in theory: my order got forked into a new copy, and the second run is set to arrive at the end of the month.
Jan 182011
Jan 102011
Yes, let’s crowdfund a monolith on the moon.
Or, if that’s too long a shot, buy an action figure of the rock.
Nov 032010
My newest target in Kickstarter is Hadean Lands, an interactive fiction game by Andrew Plotkin.
The author has given up his day job to concentrate on the game. And based on the strength and depth of the reception (broke the target in less than a day), this might very well be the beginning of a brand new career.
The game will be available on iOS devices only – the sole way of getting to play it on a computer is to pledge more than 25$ on it. Otherwise the only way of playing the Hadean Lands is to purchase it from the AppStore.
Nov 032010
Following the entry into Kiva, I began a career as nano-level angel investor at Kickstarter.
Kickstarter is a ransom-model incubator – a way of attracting funding for “creative ideas and ambitious endeavors”. The funds are allocated through the Amazon payment system, and unless the target set by the fundee is set, the money is returned to the funders.
The extra spice in the equation is the concept of rewards – the fundees can provide incentives, such as adding the names of the people providing more than 100$ into the credit roll of a film.
I started with two projects, both well over the target figure, but laden with prospects of access to things normally not available: Lockpicks is supposed to bring in a set of locks and tools to open them and Gameful enabled the investors to access the website on world-changing games well ahead of the schedule.
Oct 082010
Enrolled in kiva.org and gave out my first loan. Or a fraction of one, actually.
First recipient: a fish merchant from Philippines.
Aug 282010
Paul Allen sues everybody. Except companies from Washington state.
Aug 032010
Booklife is a website that attempts to explain how authors can sustain their careers when books and publishing industry in general is on a fast track to change.
Jun 102010
Nettielämää, a finnish book about online-ish lifestyle has been released free of charge.
Mar 102010
Wired Reread proves that the big internet bubble was lacking style and content.
Jan 032010
Something to do on the next trip to London: pick up a few Brixton pound bills.
According to wikipedia such a local currency is by no means unique.
Sep 172009
Your company? There’s an app for that. How Apple competes with EVERYBODY.