French Minister’s blog error reveals sponsorship of controversial 10-day week EU legislation April 1, 2008
Posted by David Petherick in : Blogs, News, Reports , add a commentThe blogosphere is abuzz today after an entry on French Communities Minister Jean-Jacques Atác’s web blog was apparently programmed to be released dated April 8th, but which appeared in error today.
The blog (which has since been pulled offline) reveals details of the Minister’s sponsorship of controversial ten-day week legislation, proposed to increase economic activity within the EU. The blog also revealed that his counterpart in Germany, Hans Tyaselv, will be supporting the bill, due to be introduced to the European Legislature in early May.
New real-time update web site twitter.com is buzzing with the news. There is also background input from the BBC with details of the French Calendar.
This is what could be found of Atác’s statement from newwires and the Associated Press archives this morning…
“The economic power of Europe is at stake in the next five years. We are now a community of over 400m individuals, who, by putting aside their national differences, have become a strong economic force capable of competing with the might of the United States. The ten-day week, or decade, has already been introduced in the past, during our own French Revolution, where the universally acknowledged values of liberty, egality and fraternity became part of French law, and similar ideas are now enshrined in the laws of almost every nation. What the ten day week provides is the opportunity for at least 8% greater productivity in working days per year across the nations of the EU, as well as allowing for the observation of all national holidays, and providing most European citizens with an additional 5 days per year of paid holiday.
“As the eminent mathematician Gilbert Romme has shown in his calculations, the mathematics are compelling, even without any discussion of the digital hour or any longer day proposals. This is chance for the people of Europe to increase their economic efficiency overnight, and for this reason I am sponsoring this bill. My colleagues in Germany have already given me their full support, and the so-called “Decade Act” will be moved forward for presentation in May, with the hope being that these changes will be enacted by September 2008.”
“The ten days of the decade are proposed to be called: primidi, duodi, tridi, quartidi, quintidi, sextidi, septidi, octidi, nonidi and décadi. Every décadi will be a rest-day. At the end of the year, the five remaining days of the solar year (16 - 22 September) will be proclaimed holidays: les Fêtes de la Vertu (Virtue), de la Génie (Talent), du Travail (Work), de l’Opinion (Opinion) and des Récompenses (Rewards). In leap years an additional Fête de la Révolution can be celebrated.”
“The year will no longer begin on 1 January, but at the autumn equinox and anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic of France: 21 September. Each month will be thirty days long, divided into three ‘decades’ of ten days each. it is not yet proposed to have a metric day, with ten hours of a hundred minutes, of a hundred seconds, as some integration issues have still to be resolved.”
“I hope that my colleagues across the EU will support this initiative, and although it will shock some people, it is a simple and effective method of ensuring economic growth at a stroke.”
It is widely expected that an official announcement will be made by Atác later today in Paris, with his German counterpart arranging a simultaneous briefing in Berlin to clarify the situation. Some doubts have been expressed by Turkish EU representatives as to whether in fact the blog was legitimate, and suspicions remain that the web site may have been hacked by anti-European activists.
Breaking news: Google still retained a cache copy of the Minister’s original blog.
Plain Speaking on Microsoft / Yahoo merger from Marc Andreessen February 5, 2008
Posted by David Petherick in : Authority, BlackStar, Blogs, Emedia, News, plain english , add a commentI’m grateful to Jason Calacanis of Mahalo for bringing this to my attention - a refreshing take on what the proposed Microsoft/Yahoo merger might mean for Silicon Valley startups.
Just a fine example of plain speaking and logic. Read “Silicon Valley after a Microsoft/Yahoo merger: a contrarian view“
Edinburgh Book Festival: Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood virtually, really, meet Roza Nazipova. August 16, 2007
Posted by David Petherick in : Authority, Blogs, Emedia, Fun, Media 2.0, Networks, News , add a commentEdinburgh’s fantastic International Book Festival was buzzing last night, as a sell-out audience of 600 witnessed the first ever Canadian-Scottish translatlantic book signings, when Canadian Author Alice Munro, in the Bayfield Bookshop, Bayfield, Ontario, signed books for audience members in Edinburgh, using author Margaret Atwood’s amazing “Long Pen”.
The signings followed a hilarious and witty interview between the two authors, both from Canada, which included live questions from the Edinburgh audience.
Due to obvious time restraints, there were only a limited number of signings available, and high-tech met low-tech as audience members queueing for entry were handed raffle tickets for the chance to have a book signed, and Margaret Atwood, inventor of the Long Pen, and a distinguished novelist herself, drew the numbers from the hat.
Just 30 lucky audience members then were able to have their book placed on the amazing “long pen” device, and see and talk to the author signing their book from Canada - who naturally could see and talk to them - all of which was live, broadcast onto large screens, as part of the evening’s event. These tete-a-tete chats will also be added to the Long Pen web site, so that audience members will have the ability to share their chat with the author with a wider audience.
Roza Nazipova, my wife and business partner, asked a question during the audience questions sessions, which was largely, but charmingly, sidestepped by Alice Munro - as to her favourite Scottish or Russian authors, but she did confess to be working on writing about a Russian historical figure. Roza was lucky enough to have her number chosen for a book signing. In one of those odd coincidences in life, so too was a Canadian girl directly behind Roza in the queue, performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, a lifelong fan of both authors, and who had the sequential ticket above Roza’s winner (103 just for the curious numerologists among you). Naturally, she had booked her ticket online… but due to a glitch somewhere, had initially received the wrong tickets - but still, here she was. Roza had queued for five hours in June to make sure she had tickets for this event. It all seems to have been worth the effort.
Here is the signing taking place, and Roza Nazipova talking to Alice Munro:
Here is the signature (the book’s action begins in Edinburgh):
And here is Margaret Atwood adding her signature and inscription:
And this is the full inscription, which reads:
‘Alice Munro
and Margaret Atwood
did via LongPen on
August 15 2007′
A big thank you to Catherine Lockerbie, Edinburgh Book Festival Director, and all of the technical staff, for a long anticipated event that will be long remembered - not just for its novelty, but also for the wit, charm and humour of these two amazing authors.
And just think of all those air miles saved… 
>> Edinburgh Book Festival
>> Edinburgh Festival (Pocket Tweetmap Edition)
Speaka No Evil: Help stop cyberbullies today with Speaka Points! August 7, 2007
Posted by David Petherick in : Authority, Blogs, Fun, Media 2.0, Networks , add a commentI hate bullies, bigmouths and know-it alls who bash people - especially those new to forums, social networks and community web sites. So you and I are going to gang up on those bullies! (And we’re also going to be nice to people who are good guys and girls).
If you feel someone has made a particularly good or bad contribution on a blog, forum or social networking site (or indeed anywhere online), why not award them ‘Speaka’ points?
Simply add the appropriate good or bad image by using the code
<img src=”http://speaka.org/minus3.gif”>
right the way up to
< img src=”http://speaka.org/plus3.gif”>
in your web comments. Simple.
You may also want to link to http://speaka.org/noevil as a reference, where you will find other tools, full codes for links, and other information.
We’re already planning Russian and Spanish versions. Sponsorship, if you are a non-evil corporation, is possible. Your suggestions are welcome.
“Try nice - you’ll like it.”
David Petherick | I am the Digital Biographer
(more…)
US Lawyers suing YouTube infringe YouTube trademark with class action website May 6, 2007
Posted by David Petherick in : Authority, Blogs, News, Online Communities, Reports , add a comment
A little blog can go a long way….
I’ve caught the attention of franticindustries.com with my suggestion that YouTube sue the lawyers trying to sue them.
Youtube, as I reported here yesterday, are being sued by The English Football League and Bourne Music in what their lawyers hope will become a class action lawsuit. However, they have seen fit to set up a web site at http://www.youtubeclassaction.com/ which invites others to join in if they have a complaint against YouTube infringing copyright.
Stan Schroeder at Franticindustries.com has published my suggestion that YouTube should sue these lawyers for infringement of the YouTube trademark - as the domain name appropriates the YouTube name. Stan agrees that a cease and desist letter would be an appropriate response to these people. I wonder if it will happen - I know that Stan’s blog gets around 100,000 monthly unique visitors, so at least it might cause pause for thought in the YouTube legal department.
Are there any trademark experts or lawyers who would like to give an opinion on the matter?
![[speaka's plain english blog]](http://searchsuccess.net/images/cc-speeka-100wh.gif)
David Petherick | Profile Makeover | Makes words make sense
Why Alan Johnston is here April 21, 2007
Posted by David Petherick in : Blogs, Networks, News, alan johnston , add a comment
There’s a picture of Alan Johnston appearing at the bottom of this blog, because he was courageously searching out truth in a troubled part of the world.
A picture on my blog won’t bring him home. But a picture on hundreds of thousands of web sites might just get the message through to his abductors. It’ll be staying there indefinitely, but I hope I’ll have the occasion to remove it very soon.
SEE YOU SOON, ALAN.
MySpace to be renamed NewsCorpRevenueMakerSpace March 21, 2007
Posted by David Petherick in : Authority, Blogs, News, Online Communities , add a commentDigital Music News reports that MySpace has blocked artist/apparent pornstar Tila Tequila from posting an Indie911 Hoooka widget/MP3 store on her MySpace page, and apparently, MySpace is considering banning other third-party music widgets as well. MySpace makes revenue when a sale is made through the MyStore/SnoCap widget it promotes, but does not get a cent from the Indie911 Hooka widget.
One of MySpace’s strengths is that you can create and modify an online presence without needing to know any code, and can embed your other online presences into the MySpace page using all sorts of widgets - independent and official. If MySpace restricts and proscribes the content one can add, there will be a significant backlash from MySpace users, and MySpace has already allegedly removed blog content from Tila Tequila’s page.
Although I sense a certain amount of “news engineering” behind Tila’s promotion of Indie911, and I can understand MySpace wishing to maximise revenue - if the site restricts how content can be displayed on its pages, and perhaps more specifically, if it restricts what content can be displayed, then it is in trouble. If MySpace actually means NewsCorpApprovedRevenueandContentSpace, it will surely die.
We all know web sites like MySpace need a revenue model - but this could be a meltdown model, as there are a lot of independently minded people on MySpace who are all perfectly capable of moving their content to other networks, and, like Tila, to draw traffic to their their own independent blogs. In 2007, we can all publish our content freely (and through multiple channels) - it’s Web 2.0 guys - big media trying to make us think and act as they dictate is so very last century.
MySpace need to remember that the most important element of any social network is the content the members of that network create, and the sense of community that their interaction around that content creates. Try to control or curb that content, and you are taking away the very reason many will have joined the network in the first place - to express themselves freely. It will take about a New York Second for a smart outfit to provide an “instant port” of your MySpace content onto another platform - let’s call it QuiteIndependent - and they will flourish.
Now, QuiteIndependent.com (URL is available, by the way) might be bought up in six months by the next NewsCorp, but by then, it’s likely that even NewsCorp will have learned, just like Microsoft, that if they want to make a profit, they can no longer do it by trying to shove competitors off their platform, stifling competition and innovation, controlling people, limiting their choices, and forcing them to use proprietary software that is only designed to make money. They have to be smarter than that. I hope that MySpace is clever enough to start hiring some smart new talent soon…
powered by performancing firefox
Inside Ecademy BlackStar: Belonging, Sharing, Winning (25 days of Attitude) January 27, 2007
Posted by David Petherick in : Authority, BlackStar, Blogs, Emedia, Online Communities , add a commentWhy do people stop reading your Ecademy Profile? | Complete Certainty: Reliable Business Hosting | Do you Speaka Plain English? | Seats at David Petherick’s Barcelona Masterclass: 12-Feb-07
1: Act 1 Scene 1
On the 28th of January 2006, I joined Ecademy, having come across it as part of my ongoing research and investigation into blogging, social networks, and ‘web 2.0′ in general. Within ten minutes, I knew that PowerNetworker status was the only sensible starting point, and I also recognised that Ecademy had something that an Israeli company I’d been working with needed - and vice versa. I wrote to, and had a response from, Thomas and Penny Power, the very next day.
By February, Ecademy had a deal on the table with Conduit to create the Ecademy Toolbar, and I was beginning to recognise that by sharing ideas and contacts, I might not be getting paid for “the deal” in cash, but I was earning goodwill from all the parties I brought together. Goodwill, in my years of building businesses, I consider is more valuable than money - because you can’t buy it - you have to earn it - and when you need to spend it - it’s inflation-proof.
I started to recognise that my skills could be used in Ecademy in a very specific way: to rewrite profiles, and market place adverts. After all I am a journalist, copy writer, photographer, designer, can code HTML and tell a story. So the “profile makeover” service was created. After honing my talents on a few willing friends and volunteers at Ecademy, I finally managed to persuade Thomas Power that I should rewrite his profile in July 2006. When he published the result and posted a blog about it, I soon realised that I had just invented an industry. By October of 2006, I had a constant three week waiting list of customers, and they were almost half referrals from existing customers.
I decided that I should investigate joining BlackStar: for two reasons. 1) Some of the best networkers in Ecademy were Blackstars; 2) Many of my customers were Blackstars; and 3) The energy and focus these people all seemed to have intrigued me, as did the idea of a wealth profile - something that I kept seeing and hearing about.
In correspondence and meetings with Thomas and other Black Stars, I saw that being “a member” somehow helped other Blackstars to get to the point quickly, establish a level of intimicy and trust that seemed almost automatic, intuitive. I also read up on wealth profiles and the work of Roger Hamilton. I decided to apply in December, filled out an application form, and had an interview of about an hour and a half, at the end of which, I was accepted as a member.
I made my payment, and within two hours, was astonished to see that I had an inbox message welcoming me to BlackStar. What? How did that colleague know so soon? I looked at my profile summary, and it suddenly dawned on me: my little membership icon had changed from orange to black. I was a BlackStar.
It was the 29th of December, 2006. I did not quite know it then, but I had the most stimulating, fulfilling and rewarding three weeks of my life ahead of me, which were beautifully crystallised on Monday 22nd January, at my first ever (and I hear the biggest ever) BlackStar Monthly Meeting in London.
(Free MP3 Recorded version of this story will be available shortly - just send an email to blackstar25@searchsuccess.net and you’ll get to grab it when it’s edited.)
Business Blogs still make sense… August 10, 2006
Posted by David Petherick in : Authority, Blogs, Emedia, Reports , add a commentI originally posted this message in June 2005, but it still holds true…
A survey carried out by Backbonemedia on business blogging has some amazing conclusions…
“…build trust, collect valuable feedback and foster strengthened relationships while and at the same time benefiting in ways that are tangible.”
Just like in other aspects of life, success breeds success. What we see with successful blogs is a chain reaction that starts with a sincere interest on the part of the bloggers to provide their audience with great value in terms of useful and engaging content in the form of information, help, discussion and ideas. If a company can harness their customers’ knowledge and ideas, a company will find better ways to satisfy their customers needs and wants.
Look at the executive summary or read the full report (70 page PDF file). Thanks to Radiant Marketing Group for highlighting this report.
Certain Host: Reliable, affordable Web Hosting is here… July 1, 2006
Posted by David Petherick in : Authority, Blogs, Emedia, Managing Data, News , add a commentCertain Host from Clarocada is launched to the general public in the UK today, 1st of July 2006 - offering reliable, affordable and certain web and email services, and features Speaka! in its identity…
- You have not one, but TWO domains hosted with CertainHost. Host 2 domains.
- You also get to Register a new Domain name for FREE - .COM .NET .ORG .INFO .BIZ or .US. Yes, free. A free Domain name.
- 99.9% Server Uptime Guarantee
- 24/7 Technical Support with a UK non-0870 number! (020-7993-2768
- 1 Hour Support Response Guarantee 9am-2am GMT. Seven days a week.
- Instant Account Activation - sign up, and you’re in business. No waiting around.
- 2 Hosted Domains - yes, two. One of them is a free, new registration
- 20 Hosted Subdomains - so you can have, for example, http://ecademy.mydomain.com as well as http://www.mydomain.com, http://usa.mydomain.com, http://news.mydomain.com etc, to offer your customers customised content and additional ‘doorways’ into your web site.
