NevOn

Pray the name isn't Kone

If you ever get stuck in a lift, hope that it's not a lift where the emergency help system is managed by Kone.

I had a surreal experience last night, New Year's Eve, involving a Kone lift, three gorgeous women and a bottle of champagne.

We'd been celebrating the New Year Amsterdam-neighbourhood style, where you gather on the street corner just before midnight to toast in the New Year with your neighbours. Plenty of champagne and other beverages flowing freely to accompany the sound and light spectacle of fireworks going off everywhere. Very loud fireworks, especially the strings of Chinese firecrackers that were going off on just about every neighbourhood street corner (example pics on my moblog).

So at about half past midnight, we all traipsed back to Janine's place, next door to ours. Janine is the hostess with the mostest and we fully intended to continue our New Year celebration with more champagne, mince pies, etc.

Like ours, Janine's place is on the top floor. Unlike most apartment buildings in Amsterdam, though, we have lifts. No mountain-climbing steep flights of stairs in our neighbourhood!

Our lifts are quite compact so we took it in shifts: half of our group took the lift then sent it back down for the rest of us.

And so it was that Janine, Micky, Karen and I squeezed into the lift for our flight to the top floor. Except we didn't go up, we went down. About two feet, to the basement buffer. And stopped.

Uh oh. Door wouldn't open. None of the floor buttons would work. We were stuck.

Video presentation on PR and the blogosphere

In mid October, I participated in a session at the Emerce eDay conference in Amsterdam entitled Public Relations in the Blogosphere.

The session comprised two presentations followed by a panel discussion. The two presentations were made by Scott Rafer and I, and were video recorded.

That video is now online and you can view it via Google Video. In total, it's just over 35 minutes and you can watch Scott and I separately presenting on this topic. We both talked about different subject matter but all to do with the primary theme - PR in the blogosphere:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7497036260870920356&q=winkeldermaat

The conference organizers have made a PDF version of my presentation PowerPoint available so you can download it if you want to follow the slides along with the video.

Speaking at E-Day Amsterdam

Heading off to the Emerce E-Day conference taking place today in Amsterdam.

I'm participating in a panel discussion broadly titled Public Relations in The Blogosphere. My fellow panelists are Scott Rafer, Frank Janssen, Paul Molenaar and Hans Mestrum.

We hope to have a stimulating and dynamic multi-lingual discussion (Dutch and English) on issues and strategies for PR.

There is a conference blog which features live blogging (in Dutch) during the day so you can follow events. Sessions including mine are being videoed and organizers VNU plan to make those recordings available  after the event. There will be info about streaming video on the event website.

More later.

Technorati: emerce eday

Customer service from UPC? Fat chance!

Is waiting a week for your cable TV service to be fixed a reasonable time? Is it right to expect that the cable guy who's coming to fix your service at an appointed time actually shows up? And is it reasonable to expect that, when you call customer service for the third time and they tell you they'll call you back, that they actually do and reasonably quickly?

As a customer of UPC Nederland, I think these are reasonable expectations. But clearly UPC don't think so.

Our cable TV service conked out last Tuesday. Switched the TV on at lunchtime to catch the news, and no signal on any channel. A check of things showed that everything was connected up correctly and the VCR and DVD player worked fine, just no TV signal via the cable.

So we called UPC customer service on their 10 Eurocents a minute support line. Amazing response from that department - they said first thing to do is to go around the neighbourhood asking the neighbours if they have cable TV service or not. If yes, then connect another TV to make sure it's not a fault with the first TV. Well, maybe our demographic isn't the right one for UPC, but we have only the one TV.

To cut a long story short after that nonsense, we made an appointment for the cable guy to come. The earliest time was yesterday between 8 and 1.

He didn't show up.

Another conversation with customer support yesterday afternoon revealed that while our appointment was "in the system," the news of that appointment hadn't reached the cable guy. The helpful customer service representative said he'd investigate and call me back.

He didn't call.

Net chaos in Amsterdam

Since about midday yesterday, Wednesday, I've been without net access along with several hundred other people in the part of Amsterdam where I am. Still no service this morning.

No dial-up any more: none of my PCs has the capability to connect to the net via a normal phone line (how we progress!). So I'm writing this post from an internet cafe downtown.

From what KPN, the Dutch telecom company, and XS4ALL, my ISP, told me in my frequent calls to them during Wednesday, there was a complete outage of DSL service in Amsterdam affecting hundreds of subscribers. No one could say what the problem was nor when it would be fixed. All KPN would say was that they were working on fixing it, whatever it was.

In one of my conversations with KPN yesterday, the otherwise-helpful support person suggested I check the ISP's website for info. Duh! Hello?!

At 11.00am this morning, there was still no net service. Speaking to KPN early this morning, they told me that the problem had now been fixed although still unable to say what the problem was. If I still had no connection, then full service restoration was in the hands of my ISP, they said. They also said that other parts of The Netherlands were without DSL service.

Simply a gorgeous day

Today's one of those city days when the weather is just perfect. Wall-to-wall sunshine, 25 degrees C (about 77 F), about 50 percent humidity. For this part of western Europe, it doesn't get much more pleasant than this in a city.

Here in Amsterdam, it's been pretty dismal during the past few weeks. A couple of pleasant-ish days but mostly cloud and usually rain. Today, though, made up for all that.

I took the photo above at about 3pm this afternoon, a view from my home office balcony looking south towards the World Trade Center. Contrast this with the scenes of heavy snow I shot from this same position back in March.

Incredibly, the weather's even looking good for at least three days in succession during the coming week according to Forecastfox, my Firefox weather widget. Blimey!

Incidentally, it's not only the English who always talk about the weather - the Dutch do as well (probably because the weather here and in the eastern part of England is, generally, quite similar). I add another dimension to that - an Englishman living in The Netherlands. So I can talk about it in English and Dutch ;)

Amsterdam's giant street party

On 30 April each year, The Netherlands celebrates Queen's Day, or Koninginnedag to give it its formal Dutch label.

Queen's Day is ostensibly about celebrating the birthday of Queen Beatrix. Indeed, the monarch spends the day visiting towns throughout the country as part of the celebrations. This year, 2005, is a special one as it marks the 25th year of Queen Beatrix' accession to the Dutch throne as head of the House of Orange-Nassau.

These days, Queen's Day is more about having a lot of fun, especially in Amsterdam. There are street parties everywhere, with thousands of people setting out stalls in every neighbourhood to sell literally anything. It's just an enormous flea market as throughout the city, shops are closed as the pavements are filled with display after display of... whatever!

Bars do a roaring trade, as you'd expect, especially in the city center as does anyone connected with the hospitality industry. This year, there are reports that almost every hotel room in Amsterdam was fully booked in anticipation of the celebrations and parties.

So this afternoon, my wife and I took a stroll from our neighbourhood in the Oud-Zuid district of the city, up to the Museumplein and back again.

Along the way, I took about 70 photos all of which I've uploaded to Flickr. I've also recorded a brief 3-minute audio commentary (MP3, 1.5Mb) to accompany those photos.

Enjoy!

Talk and images about Blognomics

Yesterday's Blognomics conference at the RAI conference center in Amsterdam was a terrific event. With about 85 participants, there were so many great people to meet.

I commented about it in yesterday's edition of the Hobson & Holtz Report podcast, so I won't repeat all that here in a post.

If you'd like to listen to my 10-minute commentary, download the show (MP3, 27Mb); the Blognomics commentary starts at about 24 minutes 19 seconds into the show.

Already, there are plenty of other blog posts about the event, mostly in Dutch - check them at this Technorati link. Also, some media will report on the event. For instance, I was interviewed by NRC Handelsblad, one of the leading Dutch dailies, so I expect there will be some event coverage there. In fact, there was a strong media showing at Blognomics so I expect there will be more coverage in other Dutch media.

I've just uploaded 20 photos to Flickr. I saw that Guido van Nispen and Krijn Schuurman have taken some great photos, all up on Flickr as well. You can see all the photos there with the blognomics tag.

In all, I think Blognomics will have done a great job in raising more awareness in the Dutch business and political community.

Update Edit: I must also mention that Frank Meuuwsen was live video casting during the whole event - laptop, webcam and wi-fi meant he could do that.

All Frank's videocasts are in Dutch, but go take a look anyway at the 10 'casts he did. Terrific example of what you can do, anywhere, any time, with a bit of imagination,  the right kit and a connection to the net.

The colours of Keukenhof

One of the things The Netherlands is well known for is flowers, tulips in particular. And there's one place in particular where you can see tulips of every single type imaginable. Not only tulips, but also other flowers including rare orchids.

That place is Keukenhof outside the town of Lisse, about a 20-minute drive from Amsterdam towards The Hague.

Keukenhof is the place where, each year from late March to late May, nearly 100 Dutch bulb-growing companies exhibit the best and most beautiful flowers in The Netherlands. Keukenhof has become one of the best-known attractions in the country and one of the most photographed sights in the world, with some 700,000 visitors each year.

The Keukenhof estate is a big place, covering some 30+ hectares (74 acres). The grounds are filled with flowers of every type. At this time of year, not many are yet in bloom - May is the best time to go for seeing a kaleidoscope of colour wherever you look.

But we took a family trip to Keukenhof today. The various exhibition halls, being under cover and with controlled environments, have all the flowers you could want to see in full and spectacular bloom.

One point in going is to capture what you see on disk (no, not film any more). So I took quite a few photos and I've just uploaded them to Flickr.

Feast your eyes on the colours of Keukenhof!

A stroll through the neighbourhood

Today is the first really spring-like day of the year in Amsterdam. A hazy but sunny day, temperature about 19 Celsius (about 66 F), so it felt nice for my wife and I to take a stroll for an hour or so around our neighbourhood with my camera this afternoon.

I snapped quite a few pics, real amateur snapshot stuff. Some crocuses in bloom here, some daffodils there, plus quite a few of the buildings and architecture of the World Trade Center and surroundings.

I've uploaded those photos to Flickr where you can view them as a slideshow. Contrast these views with the winter snow scene from just a few weeks ago.

One thing you'll notice from the photos is that the area where we are in Amsterdam - the Oud-Zuid district - isn't the typical Amsterdam scene that might spring to mind. Most of the residential buildings in this area were build between 1900 and 1935, so relatively modern constructions. So it's not an area of pretty 17th-century canal-side houses - for pictures of those, see my TypePad photo album of last year's Gay Pride Parade in August, with photos taken along the Prinsengracht downtown.

The other thing is that this is the first time I've really used Picasa to any extent. This really is an excellent photo management and manipulation application, and its free. What I especially like is that I just insert my camera's memory card into the PC; Picasa opens and loads all the pics, I fill in some details in the dialog box and that's it. It then deletes the photos from the card which then goes back into the camera ready for next time.

The collage pic you see here was automatically created by Picasa from the ones I took today. Neat! A much bigger (1600x1200) original image than the one I have here (I used Paint Shop Pro 7 to make this smaller-size copy).

How easy it all is.

Edit: Oops. Yes, it is all easy as well easy to not pay attention. That collage pic was just too big (400 pixels width), so I've replaced it with one at 300 pixels width.

A chaotic day to travel

It's amazing what a little snow will do to mess up your best-laid plans.

Today I was due to be away in the UK for a couple of days, mixed business/pleasure trip. Things didn't quite go as planned.

Because of the poor weather we've been having during the past few days (here are some photos on Flickr from yesterday), my wife and I showed up at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport early this morning to catch our 10:40 British Airways flight to London Heathrow. We'd heard about the major flight delays during yesterday because of serious disruptions due to the bad weather and were expecting some effects from that.

What we didn't expect was to spend over four hours at Schiphol trying to get a flight, any flight, to Heathrow or Gatwick, to no avail. The airport was absolute chaos with hundreds of people trying to get flights to various destinations around Europe. We heard that some 50 incoming and departing flights had been cancelled since last night. Eventually, the best BA could offer us was a potential departure to Heathrow at about 6pm or later, but no guarantees a flight would go. We decided to not do that.

So back home mid afternoon, retrieve Jones from the cat hotel a couple of days early and accept the reality that we wouldn't be joining my sister and the rest of the family for a special get-together tonight at Miltons in Wokingham.

So we raise a glass of champagne here in Amsterdam instead and say - happy birthday, Pam!

Firefox extensions add great functionality

One of the great things about Firefox is the vast range of extensions you can add it to.

These are little applications that you install into the browser which give you some great additional functionality. My two current favourites are Tab Browser Preferences (adding enhanced control over what you can do with tabs) and Spellbound (which gives you a spell checker for web forms - especially useful when you leave comments to blog posts).

You can find these and a rich range of other extensions at the Firefox extensions page.

I found another great one the other day - Forecastfox, which gives you weather forecasts from almost any place you want, right in your browser. It uses data from Weather.com and you can customize its settings almost any way you want - what to forecast, how many days, where in the browser you want your icons, etc.

As the small graphic shows, you hover your mouse over one of the forecast icons to get a tooltip-type display. Of course, you can always just look out your window, but this is more fun!

The three extensions I've highlighted, by the way, are all versions that will work with the latest Firefox 1.0.1 release.

Speaking of weather, we've had the most unsusual snow conditions in Amsterdam for the past two days. Constant snow, light mostly but a good six inches lying on the ground now. I uploaded some photos to Flickr taken at various times during the day yesterday between 9am and about 8pm if you want to see what it looks like from my home office window.

Netherlands hard line on immigration

The Dutch government is proposing that people applying to live in The Netherlands will have to take an examination to prove that they understand the language and culture, before they get here.

Today's Daily Telegraph carries a report on proposals that were announced in parliament on Thursday, where Rita Verdonk, the Minister for Integration and Immigration, said a video film designed to capture the essence of Dutch life would be sent to applicants in their home countries. The proposals were first announced by Minister Verdonk in December.

The Telegraph report said that it's expected that some 14,000 candidates, mostly from Turkey, Morocco and Suriname, will take the test each year under the proposed newcomers' integration act, which must first be approved by parliament. The report said that the exam would not be required for citizens of other European Union countries, or for people from Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Canada, the USA, Australia, New Zealand or Japan. Female victims of people trafficking would also be exempt.

This is the latest sign of the growing government hard line on immigration following the murder of film maker Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam last November.

Murders and death threats from Muslim extremists have been matched by rising assaults on immigrants and arson attacks on mosques, the Telegraph reported. There are now nearly a million Muslims in The Netherlands, or six per cent of the population, the Telegraph said.

It also comes at a time when more people are leaving The Netherlands than are arriving as migrants or asylum seekers.

Daily Telegraph | Dutch plan test aimed at curbing Muslim migrants (registration required)

A related development is that, for the first time, it's now a legal requirement to carry identification at all times when out in public. This law came into effect on 1 January 2005.

Sunrise

Sunrise, 9:30am this morning, looking south-east across the World Trade Center in Amsterdam.

A wonderful start to the day.

Car in Amsterdam canal drama

So I'm taking a ten-minute break this lunchtime, catching up with the newspapers (some dead-trees reading for a change) when I hear this loud 'bang' from outside along with people yelling.

"What on earth was that?" I said to my wife. I jump to the window - and there's a car in the canal. And the driver's still inside.

People running up and down the street, someone jumps into the canal and swims over to the rapidly-sinking car. I call 112, the emergency service, who say they've already had a dozen calls and help is on the way.

By the time I get my camera, the car's almost disappeared under the water. The picture you see here is the end result - the police hoisting the car out of the canal, after the ambulance has taken the driver away (he lived, thank goodness), the divers have departed, the ambulance helicopter which landed in the main road across the way (and wasn't needed in the end) has flown off, the TV crews have gone and most of the spectators lining both sides of the canal have melted away.

But what an hour-long drama - and how impressively speedily the Amsterdam police, ambulance and fire services arrived on the scene - within ten minutes of my hearing the bang and seeing the car in the canal - and sorting it all out.

I took quite a few photos with an Olympus 3030-Zoom 3.3 megapixel digital camera (yeah, I know, old hat resolution these days) using optical and digital zoom from my vantage point in my top-floor apartment, with the events happening in and across the canal some 150 meters away, and shooting into the sun.

Here's the story (and see what you think of the photos):

The changing face of Dutch society

The Daily Telegraph carries a front-page report today about how an exodus of native-born Dutch in search of a new life abroad has reversed immigration flows for the first time since the post-WW2 era.

The report says that, last year, more people left The Netherlands than arrived as migrants or asylum seekers, even though unemployment remains low at 4.7 percent and per capita income is higher than any major country in Europe.

Lawyers, accountants, computer specialists, nurses, and businessmen are lining up for visas to the English-speaking world, looking to Australia, New Zealand and Canada as orderly societies where people have the space to breathe, the Telegraph said.

Requests for visa information have exploded since the murder of Theo van Gogh, a Dutch film-maker and acerbic critic of Muslim views on women. He was gunned down in Amsterdam on 2 November.

The Netherlands has been transformed in barely 30 years from a tight-knit Christian society into a polyethnic state, with three million people of immigrant background out of a total population of about 16 million.

The Daily Telegraph | Dutch desert their changing country (registration required)

I've lived in Amsterdam - a truly polyethnic city - for over five years. My neighbourhood, in the Oud-Zuid part of the city, reflects the multicultural aspects of life in this homogenous city. Just about every western European country is represented in this area as well as Americans and Canadians. Indeed, you hear more English spoken around here than Dutch, and not just by the foreigners - tram drivers, shopkeepers, the postman... they're Dutch and they all speak fluent English.

Of course, this is just my neighbourhood which isn't representative of the full cultural diversity in the city as a whole.

And, I'm talking only about Amsterdam which isn't the same as the rest of the country, particularly in the north and the east. Far more traditional there. What's been happening around the country since the murder of Theo van Gogh is indeed cause for deep concern: mosques and schools fire-bombed, demonstrations, other shootings.

(FYI, see this report by Radio Nederland re a Syrian connection to the van Gogh murder.)

I'm no sociologist, but it often does look as if the very fabric of traditional Dutch society is under seige. This is not to say that you go out in active fear for your personal safety. Far from it - this is still one of the most pleasant and safest places anywhere in the world in which to live.

Nevertheless, if you then consider the bleak economic outlook reported by the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis a few days ago with what the Telegraph reports today, there is much food for thought - especially as there are plans to make a sequel of van Gogh's controversial film.

Related NevOn post:

• Dutch freedoms under real threat

Dutch freedoms under real threat

The news this morning of the burning down of a mosque in the eastern part of The Netherlands is the latest worrying development here following the murder of Theo van Gogh, the controversial Dutch filmmaker who was gunned down in Amsterdam on 2 November.

There have now been more than 20 incidents like this in various parts of the country following van Gogh's murder, not only mosques: Christian churches and schools have also been attacked.

In addressing the Dutch parliament on Wednesday, Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said:

You don't attack schools.
You don't attack mosques and churches.
You don't attack people who voice their opinions.

Everyone should be aware of the rules in this country. No violence.

Freedom of expression, freedom of religion and other fundamental rights are the cornerstones of the rule of law and democracy. They apply to everyone, at all times. We will not tolerate violence or threats by people and groups who challenge those fundamental rights. Anyone living in The Netherlands must respect those rights and accept our legal order completely and without exception.

To me, one of the alarming things is the threat all this poses to the long tradition of liberalism and freedom of expression that exists in this country, and which makes it one of the most pleasant, free and safest countries in which to live.

Here's the worrying part in Balkende's statement:

That legal order is the only way to preserve our society peacefully, with all its different opinions, convictions and lifestyles. The government has to be resolute in defending those fundamental rights. That is why we are taking firm measures. We are extending our system of security and stepping up investigations of people whose extreme behaviour and contacts pose a threat to the rule of law in our country.

You can read Balkende's complete statement.

I can see The Netherlands becoming yet another battleground in the war of religious ideologies that simply shows the continuing lack of understanding and acceptance just about everywhere you look of the beliefs of others, Christian and Islam.

If you'd like some insight into why van Gogh's film, Submission - a critical portrayal of the treatment of women under Islam - has been at the center of so much upset and was the catalyst that led to his murder, just take a look at the film. It's 11 minutes long, in English with Dutch subtitles. It plays in Windows Media Player, Real or Quicktime.

iFilm | Submission

eBay expands in The Netherlands

eBay is buying Marktplaats, the biggest online buy/sell site in The Netherlands, the Wall Street Journal reports today, for about €225 million.

eBay said it wanted to strengthen its position in The Netherlands, where 70% of the population uses the internet (that's about 11 million people) and there is a strong and historic tradition of trading. Though eBay said its existing Dutch auction site is flourishing, the company has been surpassed in virtually all electronic-commerce categories by Marktplaats. I would agree with that from my own experience here - Marktplaats is definitely the online auction site of choice in The Netherlands, not eBay.

The transaction marks eBay's third investment in the internet classified-listings market, the Journal reported. Three months ago, eBay purchased a 25% minority stake in Craigslist, which offers classified listings for web users in the San Francisco Bay area, New York, Los Angeles and other cities. EBay also purchased Mobile.de, a German classified-ad site for cars, in January for $149 million.

Wall Street Journal | EBay Buys Netherlands Classified-Listing Site (Subscription required)

Those Florida voting machines...

With the US elections over and done with, what interest will there be now in anything to do with the electronic voting systems used in many states, eg, Florida?

Well, maybe if it's funny. Humour is always subjective but I bet many of my American friends (especially Democrats, which is most of them, actually) will get a laugh out of this great sketch I came across today on a cunning way those voting machines helped Mr Bush win in Florida. All tongue in cheek, of course.

This comes from the superb stand-up comedy wizards at Boom Chicago in Amsterdam. If you thought Saturday Night Live (US) or Whose Line Is It Anyway? (UK) were good, wait until you get a chance to see a show at Boom Chicago!

Boom Chicago | Bush Wins Florida!

Filmmaker Theo van Gogh murdered

News this morning of the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, gunned down last night in Amsterdam.

Police reports said van Gogh was stabbed and then shot dead by an unnamed assailant near the Oosterpark in east Amsterdam. The killer then engaged police in a shootout before being wounded and arrested.

The great-grandson of the famous painter's brother, van Gogh was a controversial figure in The Netherlands and had received a number of death threats recently after his English-language film Submission was broadcast on Dutch TV in August. The film was a critical portrayal of the treatment of women under Islam.

- BBC News | Europe | Gunman kills Dutch film director
- mlive.com | Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh murdered
- Amsterdam Police report (in Dutch)
- Internet Movie database entry

Getting up to speed in Holland

If you're planning a move to The Netherlands, an event next month will help you find out everything you need to know about life in a new country.

"Welcome to The Netherlands" is the biggest expat fair in the country, taking place in Amsterdam on 24 October.

It offers information from companies and agencies specialized in expatriate services, from banks, investment firms and insurance companies to schools and tax agencies. You'll find information on house hunting, immigration and permits, job hunting, staying long term, and much more.

Free admission if you sign up before 15 October. Thereafter, tickets are €5 at the door or €15 for families.

Welcome to The Netherlands

Metroblogging Amsterdam

I discovered a great collection of city blogs the other day - Metroblogging.com.

Metblogs (as they're called) are a hyper-local look at what's going on in a city with bloggers who live in a city providing their perspective on daily life.

Currently, there are metblogs for Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, London, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York City, Orange County, Orlando, San Francisco, Seattle, Tokyo, Toronto, Vienna and Washington D.C.

But not Amsterdam! One of Europe's great cities and no such blog!

Well, I've signed up straightaway to be a metroblogger for an Amsterdam metblog. But, it needs a minimum of 10 bloggers before Metroblogging will set up a metblog. So we need 9 more.

If you live in or near Amsterdam and want to help develop a new city metblog, apply now!

(Written with BlogJet 1.1.0 build 20 and manually published live from TypePad.)

IBC 2004 exhibition photos

Earlier this week, I visited the IBC 2004 Exhibition at the RAI Exhibition Center in Amsterdam.

Quite an event (see my earlier post for description). In my wanderings around the 11 exhibition halls, I snapped photos here and there of exhibition stands that caught my eye.

IBC 2004 Exhibition Photo Album

Music to soothe your dog

The ethos of Dutch cool, from Reuters:

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Help is at hand for pet owners and their neighbors troubled by barking dogs -- soothing recordings of "new age"-style music blended with sounds of nature.

"Piano music with twittering birds and murmuring water apparently has a soothing effect on dogs," said a spokesman for LindeTree, the company marketing the new age CD.

"The owner can put it on whenever he leaves the house or needs some peace of mind."

The firm's idea was inspired by research at the University of Belfast into the effect of different types of music on 50 dogs: heavy metal songs caused them to howl and growl; classical music calmed them down.

A good idea in Amsterdam! My cat would definitely buy the CD.

Reuters.com

IBC 2004 entertainment tech event in Amsterdam

The IBC 2004 conference and exhibition takes place at the RAI conference center in Amsterdam from 9-14 September. Growing from its roots in broadcasting, IBC (International Broadcasting Convention) attracts 40,000 professionals involved in the creation, management and delivery of entertainment content worldwide.

The IBC Exhibition features over 1,000 of the industry's leading companies, with every major supplier of technology for the creation, management and delivery of entertainment content participating (the big names include Sony Pictures, Microsoft Digital Media, Microsoft TV, BBC Technology, BBC R&D, Macromedia, Apple). It will showcase the latest technology and foremost business ideas in broadcasting and media including digital cinema and interactive TV.

I'll be attending the exhibition, probably on Monday 13 September. If any fellow blogger is planning to be there and would like to meet up, do let me know.

IBC | The World of Content Creation Management and Delivery

Amsterdam WiFi network roll-out

A follow-up to my post on 31 August re the new WiFi network that's being established in Amsterdam by HotSpot Amsterdam.

As The Register reported on 2 September, Amsterdam is going to be the first European capital where WiFi will be available almost everywhere, not just in hotels or cafes. Startup Hotspot Amsterdam [...] plans to cover all of Amsterdam with just 125 base stations. The first seven base stations are up and running.

I live in the Oud-Zuid part of Amsterdam (that's just south of the city center and a 2-minute bike ride from the World Trade Center) and earlier this week I emailed HotSpot Amsterdam founder Carl Harper to ask about coverage.

His reply: "We are currently actively rolling out our transmitters and will have coverage in your area. Our initial target area is the 4 inner canals and the Pijp area but as the network grows we will be rolling out to other areas. If you are a property owner or know of people with property particularly high buildings we can spread our network at a significantly faster rate."

HotSpot Amsterdam

The Register | Blanket Wi-Fi smothers Amsterdam

City-wide WiFi comes to Amsterdam

Good news if you have a wireless PC in Amsterdam (I live here and have a wireless PC!) - Bink reports that startup firm HotSpot Amsterdam launched a wireless computer network yesterday with a supercharged version of the WiFi technology that is used to turn homes, airports, hotels and cafes into web-connected hot spots.

Bink reports that the first seven base stations are up and running, connecting historic areas that date back to the 13th century, while the entire city center will be covered by 40 to 60 antennas within three months, HotSpot Amsterdam founder Carl Harper said. That network would be able to support several thousand users, he said.

Bink.nu | Amsterdam Start-Up to Offer WiFi Internet Citywide

HotSpot Amsterdam

Amsterdam canal parade - great spectacle!

Crowds lined the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam this afternoon to watch the annual Amsterdam Canal Parade. Part of the gay pride weekend and now in its 9th year, the parade is one of the bigggest visitor events in Amsterdam.

My wife and I were there, too, cameras in hand, joining the estimated 250,000+ visitors who crowded central Amsterdam. We took a few pictures!

See album: Amsterdam Canal Parade, August 2004.

Developed a real stinker

Developed a real stinker of a cold over the weekend. So my plans to muse a while and write something isn't going to work today. The first cold this year. Nothing to do with the Amsterdam weather (cold and miserable outside right now), more to do with sitting in an aircraft last Thursday night with someone behind me sneezing away. What will alleviate the discomfort, that kind of thick sensation you have in your head when you have a cold? Some hot decongestant might work, but a coffee and a cigarette would be nicer.

As I sit here in

As I sit here in my office in Amsterdam this Friday afternoon, my first random blog thought emerges. If the temperature here this afternoon is around +4 degrees Celsius, why is the water in the Prinsengracht outside still frozen?