Peter van Dongen's BLog

Of course everyone has read my tweets and watched my FaceBook entries, so I do not have to tell you here that since last week I am the proud owner of a 64GB Wifi Apple iPad, bought in New York and legally brought into the Netherlands (after paying € 108 for VAT). So now having played with this astonishing device for almost a week I want to share with you my first impressions. But be prepared: I will only have positive comments, but had anyone expected anything else?

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People have asked me to give them an update on my new gadgets. But how can I tell you something on that as I am still not the owner of an iPad yet? Although that will not take long, I will then maybe write a separate  blog about my first impressions of the iPad. But let me now try to update you on the most remarkable things that entered my life recently. You maybe a little bit surprised. Not that many chips involved I can tell you!

Wherever we are, we have access to the web. We can see if in another part of the world the weather in the mountains is good enough to ski. We can watch the ships entering the harbour of Willemstad. We can watch our assets are doing on the Dow Jones stock market? But we are mainly lurking. We are downloading all kind of information from the net. Enriching our minds and broadening our knowledge or just enjoying the music, video’s or photos. But what about giving back?

Tag Heuer Carrera

It’s already widely known, that I own maybe more computers per square meter than a lot of other people and not only because I live in a small apartment in the centre of Rotterdam, but also because a few computers are not that big. But the same feeling I have on computers I also have when we talk about watches. Why is that? Are there more people that have the same feeling about those two so different products? I will try to explain.

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People are wondering why I don’t have the iPad yet and it is hard to explain to them that it is still not available on the Dutch market, correction: on the world market. On April 3rd the newest gadget from Apple will be available in the United States, but the exact release date for Europe – and of course in particular The Netherlands – is not yet known as the availability of the different models is also a question that is not answered yet. But how is it possible, that people are already asking me where I hide my new gadget, as only a few people have had the chance to hold it in their own hands? It’s the marketing machine again, that did its job so very well. It’s really Apple again!

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OK, I know I have a certain weakness for small PC’s. A few years ago I bought one of the first Netbooks (the word was not invented at that time). A very nice Asus (the S6F) with a beautiful 11inch screen. The price of the computer was at that time almost € 2.000 and it was for years my companion on various vacations. Not only to read my mail and to keep up with the latest news, but also to watch my own digital television from home on any place in the world.

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This title is a famous sentence of a dutch economic pessimist (Kees de Kort) who has his daily column on Business News Radio in the Netherlands. Every time he thinks he has seen it all, but even then he is also being surprised about what is going on in the economic world and on our stock exchange in particular.

As I am writing this weblog, I am sitting in the train to Cologne to meet there some European financial executives working in retail and of course it is very normal to have an internet connection and have the 230V power provided by the Dutch Railway Company (NS). But what about the latest Apple iPod Nano.

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Why do I spend a lot of money to fly to the other part of the world just to shop (till I drop?) and why don’t I just use to the Internet? I am the one who is telling everybody, that Internet shopping is more convenient from your couch instead of walking in the rain and having to spend a lot of time and energy to find all the goods you need. Is something wrong with me? Did my ISP (Internet Service Provider) cut me off from the outside world? Or am I as human as all of my friends? Or is off line shopping more fun?

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It is perhaps not the right sequence, but after first looking at my agenda when I could have some time off, I then began to think what to do with this ‘earned’ free time. First I thought it could be a good idea to visit Austria, to read some books (on my new Sony E-reader of course), play some golf and be pampered in one of the most luxurious hotels in Tyrol: Stanglwirt in Going am Wilden Kaiser. But after being there this summer already I got a better idea.

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A few weeks ago I already explained the immature market of electronic newspapers, magazines and books. And especially books. But now it seems that there is a breakthrough as one of the biggest on line book resellers in the Netherlands has started to sell e-books and the matching reader. But what to do if you already had bought in the past a few e-books here and there? Let me tell you.

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