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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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?

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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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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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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Drobo is my new friend. He (or she?) lives on my desktop. Just next to my Apple iMac. And although I had a lot of peripherals in my network, this is something I have seen and never heard before, until a friend told me about the Drobo last week. Drobo is not only a very safe backup system, but it is also giving my old hard drives a new life.

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Being a CFO of a publishing company and also a gadget man, combined with MY love for reading, you can imagine that I have to discover the world of e-books and e-magazines. Combining all the good things in life. Reading, playing with one of your PC’s and feeling that it helps you with your work. But why is the world of electronic magazines so different from their books counterpart? (more…)

Many people these days keep their agenda in someway electronically: on the Internet or on their phone / PDA. But there are a few who have different agendas on different platforms. How do they manage all these agendas? Some want to keep it simple and want just one system synchronizing with just one PDA. But what if your employer uses Lotus for instance and you want to have all the benefits of an iPhone? Not to mention if you’re equipped (by the company you work for) with a Windows Mobile device. And finally there are also good willing secretaries that try to keep your appointments in line with the planning. Let me tell you about my situation.
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As I told you earlier, I am fond of gadgets. Although I qualified only the iPhone and the MacBook Air as real gadgets, I must admit that you can put the newest toothbrush of Oral Braun high on an “almost gadget” list. But what is the gadget feeling or gadget look of this normal day to day device? I will tell you. One of the features of a gadget is that it has at least some sort of display. And this one has two. One on the brush itself, providing the information about the current state of the batteries. But the other is much more sophisticated.
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Twitter is hot. Twitter is growing with more than 1,000%. Twitter is everywhere. Twitter is becoming a part of life. Why are people willing to share everything they are doing? Is it a quest for ‘ancient’ times using modern technology?

I think that modern society is becoming more and more individual. That is not really big news, but is this individuality bringing everybody perfect happiness? Probably not. The human being is not created to be on its own. You cannot create successful organisations with individuals; teams are needed and coordinated cooperation. So how are these individuals coping with the lack of team spirit, the lack of having the possibility to show themselves, the lack of a warm welcome? They find other kindred on the Internet. They throw some words into the air, hoping that someone is picking them up. Someone in outer space. Someone who is willing to respond. Someone who wants to team up. They twitter.
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