Archive for February, 2008

iPhone tools for outside developers and features aimed at businesses on March 6

Wednesday, February 27th, 2008

said today it will reveal its software plans for its device on March 6, including tools for outside developers and features aimed at businesses.

iPhone SDK Invite

Tags: , ,

Live Webcast on Open Innovation

Tuesday, February 26th, 2008

ZDNet is holding a live Webcast tomorrow about how your company can use the social world to improve product innovation. It’s free with registration.

Here are the details:

Date: 2/27/2008
Time: 8pm (GMT+1)
Participants: Josh Bernoff, Forrester Vice President, Principal Analyst and co-author of “Groundswell,” along with Colby Dyess, Product Manager from Endeca

This Webcast will address these important topics followed by interactive Q&A:

  • ROI of Engaging with Your Customers for New Product Innovation
  • What You Should Do to Tap Into Your Customers for Innovation
  • Case Study: Building an Online Customer Community–Endeca’s Developer Network “EDeN”

The event is sponsored by , which was a finalist for a Forrester Groundswell award with its Swisscom Labs application and RedHat.

Tags:

Enter Content Here: Open Source Web Content Management Options in Java

Friday, February 15th, 2008

Seth has published an Open Source Java CMS Report. It evaluates seven Java WCM systems: Alfresco, Apache Lenya, Daisy, Hippo, Jahia, Magnolia, and OpenCMS.

javaAs in his previous report Content Management Problems and Open Source Solutions written still at , Seth takes the approach of positioning each project in categories of use where it typically excels. The projects described in the the new Java report all fall into two categories: Informational Brochure and Web (WCM) Platform.
There is also a discussion of the overall web marketplace and how software fits in.

Check it out on Seth’s website.

Tags: , , ,

Drupal 6 released

Thursday, February 14th, 2008

Drupal LogoAfter one year of work with a focus on improving the theme system, internationalization, logging and usability, and re-writing the menu system, 6 is released with over 1,600 resolved issues evident in major usability improvements, security and maintainability advancements, friendlier installer, and expanded development framework. 6 now includes OpenID support.

For a quick video tour, check out Greg Knaddison’s “New features in Drupal 6.0 screencast”. Find a list of good reasons to upgrate to 6 in the release announcement.

Tags: , ,

Open Source and the Mac platform

Wednesday, February 13th, 2008

Reading John’s post on open source, Mac OS and Freedom 0, I reflected a little my first 3 months of using a Mac for some of my work (I was not as fortunate as John, so I have to use the one at home).

I agree that most of the people you meet at camps and conferences (at least the one John and the like get to go to) have at some point or the other worked with most of the available environments and figured that a combination of OSes including OS X on a Macbook Pro is the most productive combination in a very sleek form factor with an acceptable level of evilness.

The thing that does make me think with OS X is actually not the mentioned closed SW and iTunes DRM issues you might consider that no freedom or even evil, but I don’t. I want to make sure I can buy what I want to buy (if you do not have an American credit card you have to steal your favorite soap as you can not buy it in other iTunes stores but the US one) and that I can use what I’ve payed for (where is the point to paying for Music if I then have to break the law - remove DRM - or steal it again to be able to play it in my car?) As long as the offer matches the requirement at a reasonable price point, I’m well willing to accept certain limitations, especially if the are market or even economy driven and not just made up by a monopolist for his own interest.

For me it would be the 100 missing features issue you can only partly solve through the great repository of open source or not always open source but mostly free solutions. The obviously more tricky ones leave room for just one too many 39$ smart but closed tool purchases (UI configurable firewall, use a scanner, place an .htaccess file on an FTP server,…) if do not want to solve them on a command line and do not want to switch OSes all the time for the smallest feature.

But looking at it from another angle and comparing to the Windows world, I can quickly conclude, that the combination of engaging experience and open standards foundation of the platform allows for smart people to make a living by doing what they like (coding and solving problems). The fact that the tools are not available as is only due to the fact that the business models will not work for software for 20$ to 40$ that will never ever need support. So I will continue happily to load my credit card bill with small $ items for add-ons to my work environment. If will manage to integrate the right ones over time into their platform without putting the developers out of business, then even better.

Tags: , , ,

Web 2.0 breakup

Monday, February 11th, 2008

We’ve all heard stories about people breaking up with s/o by sending a text (SMS). At least in Europe the media was full of some celebrities complaining about haven been broken up with like this (how stupid can you be, I’d at least not admit that it happened to me).

Relationship Now I just read about a friend of mine on Facebook that he was no longer listed as “in a relationship”. Ok. Does she know? I assume she does, but what an evolution of text breaking up if she did not.

Event Also, is this the new way to resign? At least it can serve as a way to get fired, depending on what type of info you post.

Poke I should considered doing him a favor and forwarding this item to a dating platform but then realized that I should find a contact at a online relationship vendors and sell them a facebook app that registers people with this attribute “not listed in a relationship anymore” with them as leads right after breakup…

Tags:

Optaros Assembles New Online Shopping Concept for Wonderbox

Wednesday, February 6th, 2008

We announced today the design and assembly of a new online shopping concept for Wonderbox, a leading international Internet and retail company that sells the “Wonderbox”, which is a themed gift box containing vouchers for 6000 experiences from which the recipient can choose. We redesigned and re-platformed Wonderbox’s online store, creating a experience that drives excitement, usability and conversion rates.

WonderboxInnovation is exploding in as the industry reaches the end of its first decade. New online shopping experiences, including Wonderbox’s unique retailing concept, are proving to be successful and making legacy storefronts appear old and tired. Wonderbox sells experiences in a box through a large network of partners and distributors, including Thomas Cook, Virgin and Cultura. Since its launch in 2004, Wonderbox continues to increase its influence in the rapidly growing retail industry, boosting its sales.

  • Read the full press release on Business Wire.
  • Check out our Wonderbox online case study and video walk through on optaros.com.

Tags: ,
Entries (RSS)