Vassko's Blog

Blogtronix is the dog’s

2006-11-21T15:25:00.000-08:00

Blogtronix Is the Dog's - by Dennis Howlett
Blogtronix Is the Dog's
Posted by Dennis Howlett at http://www.accmanpro.com
Original article permalink: http://www.accmanpro.com/2006/11/21/blogtronix-is-the-dogs/

Attention continues to ramp up this week for Web 2.0 collaboration, communication, knowledge management and corporate social networking platforms. Today an article was published by Dennis Howlett; who writes about innovation for accounting professionals. Dennis has written a very thoughtful and in depth article (with a catchy tongue-in-cheek title) describing the usefulness and benefits of the Blogtronix platform in todays corporate environment, and compares it to other offerings from WordPress, MoveableType, Blogger, wetpaint and Zimbio . The usefulness of the Blogtronix platform is evaluated, especially as it relates to his specific area of interest concerning accounting and financial enterprises.

Dennis is also a member of the Enterprise Irregulars. This is a group of experienced professionals who write about "smart thinking for the smart enterprise".

Blogtronix is the dog’s

I know it’s hip to say that a particular technology ‘rocks’ but it’s an expression that doesn’t sit comfortably with me. Too many tech CEOs think they’re rock stars, when they’re anything but. Can you see Larry Ellison or Henning Kagermann in spangly suits? Didn’t think so. To me, software comes in four easily recognised flavours:

* Crap
* So-so
* Not bad
* Dog’s nuts

I’m equally aware that describing technology as the dog’s nuts is not universally viewed as a great plaudit. It works for me but feel free to apply your own nomenclature. Anyway - Blogtronix fits squarely into the DN category.

Blogtronix has way too much for me to go into a detailed review here but here are the highlights:

The Offering:

The top line description is confusing. How do you categorise or explain something that includes blog, wiki, document management, content management, email campaigns all wrapped up in a single sign on application that can be assembled out of a palette of modules?

I’ve been looking for months to find tools that would serve as the basis for a solid and price competitive practice management system capable of delivery in a single application. At present, there’s nothing out there among the usual players that meets the requirements practitioners expect. There are plenty of tools which do parts of what’s needed but none that has it all. To me, Blogtonix comes the closest. So what does it have that excites me?

Document Management:

You can upload, categorise and share pretty much any kind of document type you want. That allows you to mix up Word, PDF, text files, spreadsheets, whatever in a secure manner - as we’ll see later. You can exclude certain file types if that is appropriate.

Command and Control:

Practitioners are rightly concerned that any sharable system should be capable of open sharing among those that need to share but not operate as a free for all. The current crop of consumery blog, wiki and feed aggregation tools just don’t cut it. In this category I’d include Wordpress, MovableType, Blogger, wetpaint and Zimbio. Let me stress there is nothing wrong with these tools but they don’t have what it takes to satisfy the security or compliance demands of business.

Blogtronix offers industrial strength permissioning at multiple levels. You can permission on both a permanent and temporary basis, depending on need. Think about an M&A project where you need audit, tax, due diligence and strategy staff involved and where you need to share a variety of stored and ad hoc created documents. You can use Blogtronix to create a space where selected staff see increasingly more (or less) information, depending on sensitivity or requirement.

It also means you can model the business on the basis of current organisation and make incremental changes as you gain experience in the tools.

From a compliance perspective, Blogtronix offers finely grained tracking and logging. Content creation, editing and deletion are all recorded. The use of inappropriate words can be managed by blocking or notifying moderators who in turn can take appropriate actions.

Discovery and Authority:

The fear of people of people saying outrageous things, divulging secrets or making a plain nuisance of themselves weighs on the minds of management. Some will argue that if those organisations have something to fear then, they’ve got problems. Not necessarily. Who among us can say they’re innocent of some embarrassing indiscretion?

On the other hand, as we are seeing, position does not necessarily equate to authority. I have for example argued that blogs provide an excellent talent discovery mechanism. I’m constantly falling across incredibly smart people who help shape my thinking. Do you really know where the talent is in your firm? Blogtronix provides statistical tools that allow you to identify patterns of behaviour that reveal where authority lays. This is done through an algorithm that combines page views, comments, ratings and author activity. This is searchable across topic and author and struck me as incredibly powerful and useful for all manner of HR style activities as well as for research purposes.

Blog:

The blog tools are more or less on a par with the consumer offerings. Basic design is simple (there are some 30 templates to choose from to get you going). If you have HTML and CSS skills then styling should be no problem. Ordering content on a blog page follows the Drupal method of assigning modules to left, centre or right and then clicking up or down arrows to position modules within those sections.

As with other parts of the system, both community and individual blogs can be administered and managed so that for example blog postings are moderated, approved, rejected or edited. This may sound anathema to free spirit bloggers but what about the creation of strategy documents and the discussions that go around them? How about if a competitive bid is being considered?

From a big firm or consulting perspective, this is the kind of thing that helps ensure compliance - provided it is done in a sensitive manner.

Personal blogs can include profile information. Again, publishing to a wider audience can be managed so that for example, you’re internal staff evaluations could be put out over a secure blog so there is a centralised record but without necessarily invoking privacy concerns. That facility could be used for project personnel assembly. In large firms, this is usually a nightmare because you can never be sure if you’ve got the optimum team. Using a combination of profiles plus discovery tools, you should be able to get a very close approximation.

How does Blogtronix fit?

I’ve barely scratched the surface but for me the above represent the most important points. I see this as the foundation for practice management because the integrated nature of the various modules means that you don’t have to worry about intermediary integrations from disparate systems. The one exception is accounting applications.

Blogtronix uses Microsoft .NET technology as its foundation. In very simple terms therefore, any application that spits out .NET data should be able to integrate directly with Blogtronix. Those that don’t but spit out XML anyway should be OK, with some limited technical assistance. That means you can use Blogtronix as a native repository for accounting information which in turn can be used and re-used for benchmarking, tax planning, M&A and so on. It is this combination of use/re-use, collaboration and security based compliance that makes it a front runner.

So what’s the downside?

* There is no embedded spreadsheet capability of the kind Social Text expects to include when wikiCalc is integrated. That’s a must do because the profession makes a huge deal of using spreadsheets. I suggested taking a look at EditGrid.
* Feed handling for RSS is not as deep as I’d like. I cannot readily aggregate category feeds from many sites into a single viewable page that can be published to the community as whole. I can with iUpload. At least that doesn’t seem possible right now.
* No mention of document scanning and upload though I can’t imagine it’s a problem given you can upload any document type.
* .NET - for the religious, the fact it is tied to Microsoft will be seen as a negative. I thoroughly disagree. Despite the cost issues attached to running Microsoft technology, it is and will be the technology platform of choice for many businesses into the forseeable future. Why work against it when you can work with it? the fact Blogtronix integrates directly to Sharepoint services will be a bonus for many who are looking at that technology as a collaboration platform.
*

Overall take

This may all seem over the top for small firms (<25 people) but in reality there is much to be gained from taking even a limited approach to Blogtronix. If you try and deploy everything at once, I guarantee you’ll come unstuck. But I like you can switch functionality on (and off) to suit your tempo and when you do, it can be configured and administered by business users according to your requirements. IT need not have a great deal of involvement but will provide valuable guidance on security standards and so on. The fact you cannot lose records and documents unless you make a positive choice to do so through deletion is a massive bonus.

This really is a ‘one size fits most’ service that you can operate on a hosted basis, have as an IT appliance or run as an application inside your own firewall. That makes huge sense. It means for example you can go from one to another form of deployment as your needs change. It overcomes the SaaS v on-premise argument that bedevils many discussions about the future of applications. It also means you don’t need to have a lot of additional IT in place or think about running the application through a portal - which has proven to be something of a two-edged sword with complexity in the background but having to be managed across multiple applications.

I won’t discuss pricing as I know there are changes afoot that will make Blogtronix extremely attractive. The company has also said it plans a free multi-user version that will have all the functionality available but limited by numbers of user. That means there is no excuse not to give it a go.

I know that efficient practice management is a big, big issue. I’m sure the Blogtronix toolbox provides a solid starting point. You can arrange a demonstration through this link. If you do then be prepared to spend a good amount of time. I had 3 hours for which I thank George and John. You can also obtain a 30-day trial or have a free limited functionality 25-user version from this link.

Technorati Tags: Blogtronix, integration, Microsoft, wiki, wordpress, workflow

Russian Military Jets

2006-08-11T10:03:00.000-07:00


Russian Military Jets; Sukhoi, su-27, su-30

My Blogtronix blog

2006-07-31T15:14:00.000-07:00

My Blogtronix blog is at http://www.blogtronix.com/blog/vasskosf

Skateboarding Dog

2006-07-19T14:46:00.000-07:00


This Bulldog can skate better than most people.

Blogtronix launches a new blog site

2006-07-14T17:20:00.000-07:00

We are very excited to announce that the new corporate blogtronix site is finally up and running. We tried very hard to confuse many of you over the last year and to give as little information as possible about what we do, how and why. It was part of our strategy to stay under the radar for as long as we can. It has worked fairly well, we must admit.

You will notice that blogtronix’ web site is in fact built on the blogtronix platform and it is a blog, wiki and social networking portal all in one. Here you will find all the information you need on blogtronix, our new communication platform, and how to use blogs and wikis in your organization.

With offices both in U.S.A and in Europe, blogtronix is open for our clients 24 hours a day. You can connect with our experts about your specific needs or if you need support.

You will notice the links to our demo blogtronix site here as well, now you can get a glance of our technology. If you are interested to see all the features, our enterprise administration tools or want to get a free trial and play around, just let us know and we can have you up and running in no time.

Ok, now that we are up and running you need to get our RSS feeds and stay tuned for many new developments around blogtronix, our new platform, many success stories and a lot more that you will be able to find out soon.

Thanks for your interest.

the blogtronix team.

Test post from Office 12

2006-06-15T07:48:00.000-07:00

This is a new blog post

Blogs & Podcasts: Competitive Weapons or Too Much Hype? April 25, 2006

2006-04-21T20:43:00.000-07:00

Management Partners

Management Partners presents
Blogs & Podcasts: Competitive Weapons or Too Much Hype?
April 25, 2006

FEATURED SPEAKERS:
Robert Scoble, Evangelist & Alpha-Blogger, Microsoft
Vassil Mladjov, Founder & CEO, Blogtronix
Pete Blackshaw, Chief Marketing Officer, Nielsen BuzzMetrics
Scott Anderson, Director, Enterprise Brand Communications, Hewlett Packard

MODERATOR:
Michael Copeland, Senior Writer, BUSINESS 2.0 Magazine

Click here for panelist bios

Blogs and Podcasts are two of the latest powerful technology tools that are having an increasing impact on how companies communicate with their customers; collect and analyze customer opinions; communicate within their companies; and garner competitive intelligence.

This diverse panel of industry experts will explore:

* how and why these tools are creating a paradigm shift for more than just corporate communications;
* implementing effective corporate blogs and podcasts;
* top things you need to avoid (what companies like Dell, Microsoft & HP have learned from bumps along the way); and
* how these tools can increase your company's competitive advantage.

Hilton Santa Clara
4949 Great America Parkway
Santa Clara, CA 95054
April 25, 2006
Reception: 6:00 pm
Panel Discussion: 6:45 pm

Hors d'oeuvres and soft drinks included, cash bar available.
Register
Invite a colleague and register online today.

Registration Rates:

$25 Management Partners Member
$35 Non-Management Partner - Alumni or Guest

Not a Management Partner Member? Find out more: http://bschool.pepperdine.edu/alumni/partners/

Panelist Bios

Panelists

S. Anderson

Scott Anderson
Director, Enterprise Brand Communications
Hewlett Packard
Scott Anderson is Director of Enterprise Brand Communications for Hewlett Packard. Scott oversees integrated communications to the company's B2B customers through traditional media such as advertising and collateral as well as interactive media such as web, eMail, online events, blogs, streaming video, and more. Scott is skilled at integrating advanced marketing practices with emerging interactive technologies to enable increased customer intimacy and accelerate the buying cycle. Scott continues to deliver innovative marketing capabilities at HP such as HP's first executive blog program, HP's first online enterprise launch event, and the increasingly popular streaming video application HP Enterprise TV. Before coming to HP, Scott was employed by Sun Microsystems's as the company's first corporate Director of eMarketing.

P. Blackshaw

Pete Blackshaw
Chief Marketing Officer, Nielsen BuzzMetrics
Pete Blackshaw is a recognized expert in interactive marketing, word of mouth, and consumer understanding. He presently serves as Chief Marketing Officer of Nielsen BuzzMetrics, the global measurement standard in consumer-generated media. The company’s technology enables marketing intelligence by tracking, measuring and analyzing word-of-mouth behavior on the internet. Pete is the co-founder of the recently established Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association, one of the fastest growing industry groups in advertising and marketing circles, and he presently authors a bi-weekly column on digital marketing strategy targeted to CMOs for ClickZ network. Prior to BuzzMetrics, Pete was at P&G where he led initiatives dealing with online advertising development, online issues/rumor management, online sampling, database marketing and consumer word-of-mouth behavior.

V. Mladjov

Vassil Mladjov
Founder & CEO, Blogtronix
Vassil Mladjov is a novel entrepreneur with over 10 years of executive and technical startup experience focusing on business collaboration with the latest web technologies.

Most recently, Vassil Mladjov founded Blogtronix with George Athanassov. Blogtronix is a Web 2.0 startup focusing on enterprise community blogging and business networking.

In early 2002, Mladjov founded StreamingMarketplace.com, an on-line exchange focusing on streaming media technology and services. Over the years he has created new business models for the digital media industry and has worked closely with Microsoft, Apple, Akamai, Speedera, PBS, Charles Schwab, Sun Microsystems and Wells Fargo. Vassil Mladjov has also worked as a CTO for AlwaysOn Network, VP and director of technology for corporate communications at ABN AMRO Bank, VP and CIO for ITN, and as technology consultant with UB Group, Preferred Technology, and Sage Clearing.

R. Scoble

Robert Scoble
Evangelist & Alpha-Blogger, Microsoft
Robert Scoble is an "evangelist" who works for Microsoft and maintains the popular blog, Scobleizer. He lives in Bothell, Washington. Although Scoble often promotes Microsoft products like Tablet PCs and Windows Vista, at the same time he criticizes his own employer and praises its competitors (like Apple and Google). He publishes his cell phone number on his blog and urges people to contact him directly with issues, as well as accepting comments on his blog. Scoble has long been known as a prominent advocate of both RSS technology and the Tablet PC. He has previously been involved with both these technologies in a professional capacity: at NEC Mobile Solutions, where he was sales support manager, and UserLand Software, where he was director of marketing. He and Shel Israel have written a book about business blogging entitled Naked Conversations, which was released in January 2006.

Moderator

M. Copeland

Michael V. Copeland
Senior Writer, BUSINESS 2.0
Michael V. Copeland joined BUSINESS 2.0 in April 2003 and now covers the venture capital community, new technology, and startups. He was most recently a senior writer for Red Herring and authored features on venture capital, emerging technology, and management issues. Along with Lee Bruno, Om Malik, and Chris Locke, he was recognized by the American Society of Business Publication Editors in the Single News Article category for a Sept. 1, 2001, piece titled “Enron's Burnout". Before that, Copeland served as a senior editor at the Venture Capital Journal and worked on the national desk at the Washington Post. He has been a reporter for the Oakland Tribune, Orange County Register, and Philadelphia Inquirer, and he has freelanced for several San Francisco Bay Area and national publications.

"Blogtronix is a Web Office technology" by Rod Boothby from Ernst & Young

2006-04-21T18:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I met Rod Boothby from Ernst & Young's Financial Services Advisory. Rob is probably the only person I have met so far that understands the true power of blogging and how enterprises can be using blogging, social networking and wiki technology. I had a blast talking to him as we discussing our technology and the way financial companies (or large organizations in general) can use blogtronix today. We even used a few white boards with flow charts and architecture sketches. Rob, just loves technology, understands is very well, and knows what he needs to make work easier for his co-workers and clients. My meeting with him, changed my idea of E&Y. These guys are now testing blogging and are doing it right too.

"Blogtronix is Web Office Technology

Blogtronixlogo.gifBlogtronix is the first example of an operating system in the cloud that I have ever had the pleasure of actually seeing work. Vassil Mladjov and his team truly understand the needs of a large enterprise when it comes to Web Office technology.

The Blogtronix system was built with enterprise users in mind from the ground up. Everything has access control. Everything has a stored history of changes. It is a full blown audit trail machine. Every post, every comment, every change is recorded. Everything is an object, which means you can create blogs and sub blogs with ease. Built on Microsoft's .Net platform, it will be both familiar and easily understood by the IT shops of large organizations.

Some of the most impressive features are much more basic. Blogtronix has a simple integrated AJAX powered authoring screen, which lets users drop literally any kind of web based content into the system. You just click a button and insert a file, a picture, a piece of FLASH directly into the post.

And I haven't mentioned anything about the built in statistics engine and reporting tools.

Imagine showing your boss that you wrote 54 posts in the last 6 months, with a total of 125,000 internal page views, and 636 comments from your co-workers and an average article rating of 4.8 out of 5 on a "This is useful" scale. These days, it is hard for knowledge workers to prove that they add value. Blogtronix will change that.

About the only thing that concerned me was the amazing abundance of features. Blogtronix is so far ahead of the curve, and so capable that it might prove too much for first time users. It's a nice problem for Vassil and his team to have. Vassil told me the solution was easy: "We just turn things off until they need it". The brilliance of the Blogtronix modular design shines through.

If you are trying to find a solution for internal enterprise blogging, you owe it to yourself to check out Blogtronix.

http://www.innovationcreators.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/147

Bring Your Family & Friends For an Extraordinary Evening of Music

2006-04-10T12:09:00.000-07:00

Bring Your Family & Friends
For an Extraordinary Evening of Music

Felicia van den End, German Flute
Vera Kerstens, Piano
Tosca Opdam, Violin
Svjatoslav Presnyakov, Piano

Four Gifted Young Dutch Musicians Visiting from Holland
Prizewinners of the Princess Christina Competition

Monday, May 1, 2006
7:00 p.m.
(reception with musicians immediately following)

Grace Cathedral
1100 California Street
(between Taylor & Jones Streets)
San Francisco, CA

Families are welcome – no charge for this special evening

For More Information: www.christinaconcours.nl or www.gracecathedral.org

StreamingMarketplace launches blogging and social networking community portal; Streamblogs.com powered by Blogtronix.

2006-03-26T18:21:00.000-08:00

Santa Monica, CA – March 27, 2006 – StreamingMarketplace today announced the launch of a new streaming exchange community called Streamblogs.com. The new community portal is powered by Blogtronix, an innovative global provider of on-demand community blogging and social networking services.
The new community blogging portal is being announced at this week’s Digital Hollywood Spring, the industry’s premier event for media and technology, which is being held at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, March 27-30, 2006. Streamblogs’ founder Vassil Mladjov will be podcasting from Digital Hollywood and will bring you the latest uncut gossip, inside look at the media giants and pioneers shaking Hollywood, and the Internet-media revolution of Media 2.0. The event site is http://www.digitalhollywood.com.
Streamblogs.com was inspired and created by lack of current streaming industry portal for media professionals. The new community blogging and social networking portal Streamblogs.com, gives direct power and cutting edge collaboration tools to media industry companies, streaming experts and end users.

Streamblogs.com allows companies and individuals to:
• Publish and share company or personal blogs, product info, news, videos, and podcasts.
• Connect to the streaming media expert’s global community.
• Subscribe to news, events, products and blog RSS feeds.
• Create and edit Streaming Media specific Wiki - Streampedia.com
• Learn how to create and use streaming media.
• Streamblogs is about exchanging ideas, sharing knowledge and connecting people.
• FREE individual blog page and user profiles.
• Sponsor industry groups integrated within Streamblogs.com.
• Create unique corporate groups for direct marketing of their products and services within Streamblogs.com.

About Blogtronix
Blogtronix is a pioneering community blogging and social networking company, enabling enterprises, universities, government agencies, and Internet portals with Web 2.0 on-demand community collaboration services. Blogtronix’ community blogging system differentiates by incorporating enterprise-scale features such as secure blogging, compliance & alerting, version control & editing, workflow tools, archiving, analytical dashboard, a wiki, product blogging, rating capabilities and social networking with rich user profiles for optimal collaboration, marketing reach and customer feedback.

For more information, please visit: www.blogtronix.com, email info at blogtronix.com or call 415.420.2883

For additional information, sponsor opportunities or if you wish to create community blog portals for your organization or media company, please contact:

Vassil Mladjov

Streamblogs.com
info at streamblogs.com
skype: vassko_sf
415.420.2883

Google OS

2006-01-31T22:14:00.000-08:00

Google to develop new OS?

OK, for a long time people have been talking about the GOS. So what? OS in my opinion are so old. Now, if Google, Apple, MSFT or SUN just would stop and think about this for a moment. It’s not about the OS any more people, Apple is now running on Intel and many have figured out a way to run WIN OS on the MAC.
I remember the time when I was in college in 1998 (graduating) and I was thinking about the great future of computer. Than it came to me. Why not just have a browser and run the apps in it. Yes, this was how I saw Web 2.0 in 1998. I did a lot of research and in ’99 a told my friend and mentor Doug Engmann about it (who has just sold his company to the Dutch ABN AMRO bank for $100M). Doug liked the idea and let me run with it. Soon I realized that the technology was already there and was not that expensive to buy and operate. Sun Micro Systems had developed their SUN Rays terminals, which allowed company to run Star Office over the net securely w/o the need of expensive PC. You simple run the apps in a server where the files are kept and backed up all the time. A smart card was used to gain access to your files, sessions and web access.
So, even MSFT had their solution at the time as well, I put my cards on SUN. I wrote a small biz plan and than I email Scott McNealy. A few days later I got an email back asking me to go to SUN and make a presentation about my grand idea. So, only a few months fresh from college I put on a suite got my PPT papers and the biz plan to drove to the SUN campus.
Wow, it was so cool, clean, and full of energy at SUN.
My idea was great, setup a service for apartment and office buildings and provide internet terminals with internet services as well as business applications for a small monthly fee.
I met with the GM of the SUN desktop and sun ray terminal division Gene Banman. A tall guys (like me) full of energy himself.
I thought that if I could just get 5 min of his time, that will be great. So, I sat down next to him and I showed him my paper. (I may have emailed them something as well, but I don’t think so) After a few minutes of chatting, Gene stood up and went to the white board, then he started to drew diagrams of their current systems and I joined him, trying to make my additions. The 5 min went by and than another 5 and than another and another, after 50 min later. Gene thanked me and told me that he will email me later.
I was so impressed by the meeting, but I also was very skeptical too. What if Sun just runs with my idea and do it themselves? I thought.
Well, a week or so later, Gene emailed me and asked me and asked me if I would consider and investment from him and other SUN executives. Wow, this was just what I wanted.
……………………………………………..
Later, I will skip the boring details, after we figured out that the time was not right yet for our grand idea :
- Terminals were too expansive
- The internet was too expensive
- Internet Connectivity (wires or wireless) was way too expensive
- People and companies did not understand what software as we service was.
So, we WiredResidence.com did not make it.
Any way, the reason I wrote this who into, was to show you, that now the moment for a similar web based OS is finally here.
Google and SUN or MSFT and Yahoo or AOL, Apple or Nokia could easily make this happen today (with the help of SBC or Verizon) The technology is here and the time is now. All you need is a small OS, fast internet, lots of storage and a CDN app system on the web.
So, would they do it? I think someone will. MSFT Office Live is a clear indicator of where MSFT wants to be. Google’s rumors of GOS and their partnership with SUN or the work of Yahoo or AOL in their labs (I can’t tell you all the details) also show their intend to dominate or be a big player in the on-demand services space of the future. Apple is half way there with .Mac and iWork. Steve is cooking the big Web 3.0 right now with content, service and great boxes.

I hope that Blogtronix will take its place of the new web 2.0 generation of service and 13 years after I first started to dream about web on-demand (this is a whole other KPCB story, so stay put for that post) now I will be able to finally do it right.

Web 3.0 is coming, are you ready? (yes 3.0 ;) )

google OS
web 3.0
vassil mladjov
blogtronix

Forrester Evaluating Corporate Blogging

2006-01-31T21:08:00.000-08:00

Forrester's Charlene Li is looking into corporate blogging.
Here is my list of options that can make corporate blogging work.

The above info is a good start, but I would like to add the following as well.

1. Support
2. Active directory integration
3. High security options
4. Appliance for added security
5. Community blogging
6. Content corporate compliance tools
7. Statistics
8. Wiki integration
9. User rights and management
10. RSS readers integration
11. Mobile access
12. Video and audio integration
13. SUPPORT

These are just some of the options we offer on our corporate blogging platform. There are a lot more to come that I can’t blog about yet.
Since, our startup Blogtronix (www.blogtronix.com) is based on the .NET platform, you can figure out that we do not think Drupal is the right choice for corporate blogging. Drupal is great for personal blogging and it is free. Many large companies are still reluctant to deploy open source platforms on their secure intranets or extranets, where corporate blogging will be useful for collaboration between employees, clients and partners. There are too many security risks and no professional (paid) support options for it. There is a great development community that can help with issues, but there needs to be a company for the insurance policy (if you want to call it that way) that the IT department can point to when the blog goes down and the PR person or the CEO is cutting the head count in systems department. My good friend Mårten Mickos, CEO of MySQL can teach many open source companies how to run successfully in the enterprise. They simply offer support, consulting and training options for their paid clients. JotSpot and SimpleText are also good examples of successful open source collaboration platforms with secure appliances and paid support.

P.S. And one more:
14. Make is simple to use :)

corporate blogging blogtronix

Blogging Delivered ?? - AT&T - Blogging, come on.

2006-01-09T14:18:00.000-08:00

Blogging Delivered and AT&T

OK, so I had to drive to Vegas for CES. The flights were sold out or were to too expensive. I was driving through CA and there on Hwy 58, right before Bakersfield, CA (in the middle of nowhere) I saw it! A new AT&T bill board (blogging delivered)
(image placeholder)

( this is not the actual image, I was a bit confused and I could not think at that point to take a picture. )
This came from Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidking/83057291/
Any way, why was this so confusing to me in the first play, well I will tell you.
AT&T are a complete idiots to start with.
White at CES, ( I was there to get new clients for my corporate community blogging platform) I stopped at the AT&T booth to chat with them and find out if they could use blogging for their PR or customer service, or internal collaboration, etc.
They answer was almost too shocking for me at that time, but very predictable, (what is blogging?, I don’t see how this has anything to do with our business) This is not a quote, but very close.
So, when I saw the cool green board, I did not know what to think any more, what was going on here. Is AT&T (or maybe SBC) as crazy as they look once again, or are they playing games. The one dragon head does not know what the other had said….

Other bloggers are also very confused as well I think or maybe a bit optimistic ( AT&T does NOT GET IT !!
http://daweed.blogspot.com/2006/01/blogging-delivered.html

ces, att, at&T, vassil mladjov, blogtronix, blogging, blogging delivered

The best of CES - Consumer 2.0

2006-01-09T13:59:00.000-08:00

OK, CES is over, but the real affect from it will just begin to hit us.
I started writing a very detailed blog from CES with many picture and even video blogs, but than I stopped.
So, the gadgets were just great, but most people I think missed the point in my opinion about the GREATEST thing from CES. Robert Scoble gave us a bunch of great little posts and links to cool stuff, as well as many other geeks did, but again when people ask me what was the best thing from CES, what should I tell them.

Ok, the greatest thing was not a single gadget for me, but the huge adoption of service oriented entertainment and consumer services. It was all about services. Almost every other box and screen was not only connectable, but also billable.
What is the big deal about this?! Well, the whole biz model of companies is changing around consumer 2.0. It’s all about the min monthly price an end user is willing to pay for video or audio clips, VOIP or other information. Every manufacturer is also trying to imbed itself into the recurring revenue model as much as possible. They are investing in service companies or creating new once from zero.

So, if you would to ask me about the best thing or a company that has best adapted for this new 2.0 economy, my answer will be MSFT by far. I have blog this before, and I will say it again. MSFT has by far found the right formula to be part of the new economy. I must also add that I think a (small) reason for this may be the fact that I told them to do so a few years ago in a industry report and recommendation I did for them for the media industry. Thanks for listening Bill.

ces scoble las vegas 2. vassil mladjov blogtronix blogging services enterntainment 2.0 MSFT microsoft gadgets

Anina and Vassil at LesBlogs Paris

2005-12-08T17:37:00.000-08:00

Anina and Vassil at LesBlogs Paris
Originally uploaded by vassko.

Marc Canter

2005-12-06T08:29:00.000-08:00

Check out Marc Canter's voice

Air Port in San Diego

2005-12-01T09:41:00.000-08:00

air_sandiego
Originally uploaded by vassko.

This is one of ours here in California. The details are also much better than the European pics.

Air Port in Russia

2005-12-01T09:40:00.000-08:00

russia_air_google
Originally uploaded by vassko.

Another airport. This one is in Russia

Google Earth pictures for Military Airports

2005-12-01T09:38:00.000-08:00

sofia_air
Originally uploaded by vassko.

Wow, this is very interesting. If you know what you need to look for, you can find some very interesting places using Google Earth.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vassko/

Here is a picture from Bulgarian base with several planes and choppers.
I have also located in les than a few min bases in Russia and US. Now, I know what to look for since I was in the Air force - anti aircraft defense. If I can do it so can you, It's fun.
I even found Area 51, but most of it is blurred out :(
vassko

Flickr

2005-12-01T09:29:00.000-08:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Yahoo RSS aggregator & Alerts - I love it

2005-11-29T22:00:00.000-08:00

Yahoo RSS reader is now alive in my Yahoo Beta email.
I love it. Yahoo has really done a very good job here. With the SMS/MSM/Email alerts this is very, very nice now.

You can also get the John Furrier's podcast at http://www.podtech.net/?p=229
Here is a screen shot of the Yahoo beta with RSS feeds.

iPod Picano

2005-11-21T14:40:00.000-08:00

Right click your mouse button and select zoom in or zoom out of the iPOD Picano

Thanks Peter, this is great.

"Steve Jobs" on Saturday Night Live - Presenting the iPod Micro Pecano and the amazing iPod Invisa

2005-11-21T09:05:00.000-08:00

SNL did it again. Check out Steve's latest creation.
Presenting the iPod Micro Pecano and the amazing iPod Invisa

http://vpwpartners.blogs.com/SNLJOBSIPOD/JOBSSNLIPOD.mov

Too bad I can't do video blogging on this one. It would have been great. And only 1 million songs for the Pecano, come on. But the Invisa, 8 million, now that is something. Let me think for a second; with the current one that I have I can have some 1000 songs at $.99 each, wow. that's $1000 for music. And if I wanted to put 20,000 that will be $20k.

What happens when we have mp3 DRM?

SAP figures out OPEN SOURCE, they hate it

2005-11-11T09:52:00.000-08:00

Wow, I just saw this article about open source and SAP's view on it.
Very interesting point I must say. I agree with SAP 110%.
This is the business point of view that I am taking as well.

"SAP slams open source 'socialism'

Ingrid Marson
ZDNet UK
November 11, 2005, 16:05 GMT

'Intellectual property socialism is the worst that can happen to any IP-based society,' says a SAP executive

A senior executive at SAP has criticised the open source development methodology by claiming that it does not promote innovation, according to reports.

Shai Agassi, president of the product and technology group at SAP, said in a speech at a club in California that Linux is not innovative, according to an article on technology news site VNUNet this week.

"We all talk about how great Linux is," Agassi reportedly said. "But if you look at the most innovative desktop today, Microsoft's Vista is not copying Linux, it is copying Apple."

SAP will not make its software open source as it would no longer have an incentive to innovate, Agassi said.

"Intellectual property [IP] socialism is the worst that can happen to any IP-based society," he said. "And we are an IP-based society. If there is no way to protect IP, there is no reason to invest in IP."

Florian Mueller, a software developer and anti-patent campaigner, described Agassi's comments as "FUD" [fear, uncertainty and doubt].

He warned that SAP has a "huge influence" on a new lobby group, the European Software Association, which is likely to lobby the EU against open source.

"[The ESA] are going to tell politicians just the kind of stuff that Shai Agassi said in order to try to prevent public administrations from migrating to FOSS solutions and from promoting FOSS development in Europe," said Mueller. The ESA was launched last month.

SAP is not the first company to claim that open source development is not compatible with capitalism. In an interview earlier this year, Microsoft's chairman Bill Gates implied that free software developers were communists.

"There are some new modern-day sort of communists who want to get rid of the incentive for musicians and moviemakers and software makers under various guises. They don't think that those incentives should exist," said Gates in the interview.

This is a view shared by some politicians also, with Eastern European countries reportedly concerned about using open source software in case they are seen as communists.

The full VNUNet article can be viewed here.

Rocket Car - Reece - Top speed 358 Mph

2005-11-07T15:58:00.000-08:00

Click to watch: Rocket Car - Reece - Top speed 358 Mph

Description: What do kids and their father do with broken cars?! They add rocket engines and test how fast they can go, or should I say fly. Ok, after reviewing the video frame by frame and doing some math, it turns out that our "car" traveled top speed of 358.7539336313664 Mph. or 577.3584905660377 Kmph, not too bad.

Rocket Car 2- Samantha- Top speed 316 Mph

2005-11-07T15:57:00.000-08:00

Click to watch: Rocket Car 2- Samantha- Top speed 316 Mph

Description: What do kids and their father do with broken cars?! They add rocket engines and test how fast they can go, or should I say fly. Ok, after reviewing the video frame by frame and doing some math, it turns out that our "car" traveled top speed of 316 Mph. or 510 Kmph, not too bad. This car's speed was slower, since we lost the back wheels in the first test. Also, in the end of the video you can see the impact of the car hitting a hill and a small explosion, yes we got the hill on fire. And yes, I must have broken my own record on 150 meter dash. Later I had to go and water the hill just in case it does not re-ignite later :( Kids, do not do this at home, even if you father says it's ok.

Robert Scoble is impressed by Blogtronix

2005-11-01T07:04:00.000-08:00

OK, over the weekend we (George and I ) went to Seattle at the Blog Business Summit 101.
We wanted to show Blogtronix to few people there, including to Microsoft.
So, since Robert Scoble was there to teach businesses how to blog, we set up a meeting with him before hand.
After a few hours at the conference, I was able to get to Robert and pull him a side for a demo of blogtronix.
So what did Robert has to say about it? Well, he wants to test it himself before he gives a final verdict, but also he blog this about Blogtronix:

"But, yesterday at the Blog Business Summit I saw two things that really are interesting. Here’s why. When I go to companies to speak, they keep asking me “how do I do something similar to Channel 9.” That isn’t easy. We had two developers working on that for quite a while. They started with Community Server from Telligent (Microsoft’s employee blogs are run on top of Community Server — we have more than 2,000 now and a TON of traffic, so it holds up very well. The new Xbox.com forums are built on top of Community Server as well). Our tech team on Channel 9 (Charles, Brin, Adam, and Jeff) mashed in video components and a Wiki and other stuff and then hacked the heck out of it to make it Channel 9. I’ve been hoping that a company would come out with a set of tools/service that would make it possible to do a Channel 9 style site.

BlogTronix is the answer. It’s awesome. Has all that and more (and has security built in so you can blog both internally and externally very easily). I’m going to get a test blog there and will write more after I actually can try it out."

Not too bad for a start.
We are putting some 700+ beta test users in 10 days to test the new Blogtronix systems, bugs will be fixed and even new features will be available in Dec.
Stay tuned.

Cheers,
Vassil

blogtronix

Blogtronix webcasting BlogOn 2005 Live

2005-10-17T08:06:00.000-07:00

Blogtronix is webcasting live and on-demand the BlogOn 2005 Social Media Summit

Live Webcasts
We're webcasting all BlogOn 2005 General Sessions!
To watch the webcast, you'll need Microsoft's Windows Media Player installed on your system. Click here to find the proper download for your computer.
Once you have the Media Player, watch the webcast.

BlogOn2005

BLOGTRONIX NAMED BLOGON 2005 INNOVATOR

2005-10-17T07:15:00.000-07:00

BLOGTRONIX NAMED BLOGON 2005 INNOVATOR

Leader in Corporate Blogging to be showcased at executive conference for internet marketing professionals

San Francisco—(October 3, 2005) – Guidewire Group, producer of BlogOn 2005 Social Media Summit (http://www.blogonevent.com/blogon2005) , announced today that it has selected Blogtronix to exhibit in its exclusive Showcase at BlogOn 2005, taking place October 17-18 at the Copacabana in New York City. Blogtronix is among a select number of cutting-edge technology companies named as Social Media Innovators after an extensive screening process that included hundreds of candidates.

The companies named as BlogOn 2005’s Social Media Innovators were evaluated on several criteria, including their unique approach to the target market, the importance of the problem addressed by the technology, and the size of the market opportunity.

Chris Shipley, executive producer of the BlogOn executive conference, personally led the selection process, carefully reviewing applicants to choose those with the most innovative social media products and services. Well known as the respected host of the DEMO conferences, she has helped nearly 1,000 companies break into emerging markets.

“We are very proud of the companies participating in this year’s BlogOn Showcase,” said Shipley. “We expect them to play an important part in shaping the social media landscape in coming months. There’s no doubt that adoption of social media technology is on the rise and these companies should be applauded for recognizing the market’s needs and adapting quickly to meet consumer demands.”

Executives from Blogtronix will be among the hundreds of senior communications and internet marketing professionals, technology insiders, investors, analysts and media that will gather at BlogOn 2005 in New York City to explore how social media like blogs, RSS feeds and podcasting can be used to create more meaningful conversations with customers.

BlogOn2005 will open with a keynote address by renowned author and agent of change Seth Godin. BlogOn 2005 attendees will also hear from marketing and social media experts at leading companies such as AOL, Disney, Fox Broadcasting, Organic, SIRIUS Satellite Radio and Yahoo!, who will share proven techniques for using social media for business advantage.

Additional details on BlogOn 2005 Social Media Summit and the Showcase program can be found online at http://www.blogonevent.com.

About Guidewire Group

Guidewire Group, producer of the BlogOn 2005 executive conference for internet marketing professionals, is a global research firm focusing exclusively on emerging technology companies and markets. The company's online media, reports, and executive events bring the right people together at the right time with the right information to accelerate market development and business opportunity for entrepreneurs and those who support them. For more information, visit http://www.guidewiregroup.com.

About Blogtronix

Blogtronix provides web 2.0-communication platform, which enables executives and employees to have a real time overview of their business operations. Employees, clients and partners can now communicate in a structured and more efficient way than even before using Blogtronix corporate blogging, wiki and business networking services.
Blogtronix’s services are based on several generations of web based content management, publishing and community applications, which have been deployed to numerous enterprises and federal government agencies in the U.S. and Europe. Blogtronix LLC is headquartered in Oakland, California with offices in Colorado and European HQ in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
http://www.blogtronix.com
blogtronix

Apple's New Video iPod

2005-10-12T11:21:00.000-07:00

Finally the new Video iPod is here.
It's alive.
A bit late in the game, but still running.
I do hope that this helps Apple's QT 7 a bit, since MSFT has had WM platform portable players for years now.
It looks good, but I am not too impressed by it. I wanted a bigger screen myself and a camera on it :)
What's next? It's time for a Home Media center, powered by QT.
Come on Steve, time is running out.

"The new iPod boasts up to 20 hours of battery life⁽⁵⁾, five hours more than before. Plus, you get a bigger display and one more iPod color — sleek black. But here’s the kicker: At under half an inch thin, the new 30GB iPod takes up about 45 percent less room than the original iPod. Even the new 60GB model is 10 percent thinner than the fourth-generation 20GB iPod. More features in less space? Sounds like iPod."
Not bad for $299 (starting)

Cheers,
Vassko

MSFT's butterfly is flying again :)

2005-08-20T20:03:00.000-07:00

I saw this video yesterday at the BBS SF 2005. I just found the link and I think you should check it out. This is funy:)

http://www.virtualearthinfo.com/video.asp

Blog Business Summit SF 2005

2005-08-20T09:42:00.000-07:00

OK,
I was at the BBS SF 2005 for the last few days.
I had a chance to chat with many old friends and to make few new once too. The summit was great. It was well orginazed and I think people also got a lot out of it.
There were many very interesting sessions on corporate blogging, blog networks, new tools and content creation. I think some of the content will be even available as podcasts and video on-demand. I am not sure about the links for it yet.

I did manage to get Robert Scobel to do a video blog on business blogging.
You will hear a bit too much of my voice in the back, sorry. I used my pocket digital camera for first time to have a video interview and the mic is way to sensative. This is a 400K Streaming video, so if you don't have broadband, you will not be able to see this. Sorry.

I got a copy from Microsoft of the new IE7 beta and its good. Now there are some problems. Yahoo mail for one does not recognize the IE7b version as a valid one and pushes you back to use the old YAHOO mail page. Well, after chatting with Sean Lyndersay, a lead Program MNG, Windows RSS, I fixed the problem in less than 5min.

You need to go to MSDN and search for "user agent" an dyou get this link
http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/04/27/412813.aspx

I had to trick it and midify the code and restart my new IE7 and it works great. Here is my code with 6.0 in it.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\User Agent]
"Version"="MSIE 6.0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\User Agent\Post Platform]
"SV1"=-

Save it as IE7UA.REG, double click and you are done.

This is for now

Cheers,
Vassil

Launching Blogtronix

2005-08-17T16:41:00.000-07:00

OK guys,
I have been a bit quiet in the last few months. There is a good reason; I was very, very busy with a new startup. A few of you know about my work, but here it is as we are finally ready with our main product and almost ready to start beta testing with our clients.

Yes, it is true, I have been working on a new blogging and business-networking service and yes Marc, it is on Microsoft’s 2.0 .NET platform. I have joined the other side .

My new company is Blogtronix. (www.blogtronix.com) We are going to provide secure blogging and social (and business) networking service to businesses, universities and government agencies.
I am today at the Blog Business Summit (http://www.blogbusinesssummit.com) in SF and here is where we are making the announcement about our official launch. We are working on our web site as we speak, but soon there will be a lot more content, a free trial and who knows what else.

You may ask why we want to use .NET vs. Drupal or some other free blogging software. Well, because after talking to many corporations and potential clients, they all want a platform that integrates with your current IT infrastructure. So, since most desktops are a Microsoft based, why would you do anything else if you are going after the corporate market.

On top of the regular hosting, we are finishing a blogging appliance, which when connected to our main servers will create a true blogging and business delivery network.

There is a lot more that Blogtronix will do, but this is just a sneak peak at what we are working on. We did boot strap the company, and now that the product is ready are raising seed money to start selling.

Cheers for now,
Vassil

2005-02-04T13:28:00.000-08:00

Can you feel the electricity in the air? I could. I started to sweat, just a few feet from the Rat Pack.
If these guys cant do it, than who can?!

2005-02-04T13:25:00.000-08:00

2005, whould he make it? I hope so.

2005-02-04T13:23:00.000-08:00

itss superman, its Bono, it's Bonoman :)

2005-02-04T13:22:00.000-08:00

man, I should have bought some Google stock.

2005-02-04T13:20:00.000-08:00

Chris rocks the house

2005-02-04T13:18:00.000-08:00

Gavin, despite his separation, he still wears his wedding ring. He is the man.

2005-02-04T13:15:00.000-08:00

Davos at -13 (negative) degree Fahrenheit

2005-02-04T13:11:00.000-08:00

To keep us entertain, the Russian milliners
brought Bolshoy theater to Davos. This was great.

2005-02-04T13:04:00.000-08:00

Let's party ! And man does this guy know how to rock the house.

2005-02-04T13:02:00.001-08:00

Whos is the middle again?

2005-02-04T13:02:00.000-08:00

From world politics to the patty, you can always meet interesting people in the bathroom. The conversations never stop.

2005-02-04T13:00:00.000-08:00

My table at the geek party. Gavin is on the center again.

2005-02-04T12:56:00.000-08:00

"You have 955 new emails! All of which are marked urgent!"

2005-02-04T12:55:00.000-08:00

The conversation is getting hot

2005-02-04T12:54:00.000-08:00

From world peace to nanotech, to the three naked woman. Google it and you will find the answers.

2005-02-04T12:51:00.000-08:00

Oh, no Sergey is about to say hi to Shamon.

2005-02-04T12:49:00.000-08:00

Your stock is now what? Man, I should have bought some *^%*&^%^#?!

2005-02-04T12:48:00.000-08:00

Yap, we were there together partying :)

2005-02-04T12:47:00.000-08:00

What would happpened if you combine Accell, GoreTV, Google and AO ? I don't know yet?!

2005-02-04T12:45:00.001-08:00

The boys are back in town

2005-02-04T12:45:00.000-08:00

How much for this ride again? Is this in CHF? I will take two. Plastic or paper?

2005-02-04T12:41:00.001-08:00

He did not needed to introduce himself after all

2005-02-04T12:41:00.000-08:00

Smile, you are in Davos

2005-02-04T12:40:00.000-08:00

Yes, she is the one

2005-02-04T12:39:00.000-08:00

How you doing :)

2005-02-04T12:38:00.000-08:00

Davos 2005 - WEF

Olympic Medals.

2004-08-26T14:10:00.000-07:00

How to make more athletes and fans happy?! We make a new medal category :)

Sports games have become so competitive that now we measure times and scores in a hundred and even a thousand of a point in order to determine the winners. Over time the gap between a new WR or OR will become even more diminutive. So, what should we do to give credit for the rest of the athletes who compete?! In many sports for kids there are ribbons for up to 8th spot, maybe this will show some gratitude. But we could also introduce new medals ? the PLATINUM for first spot. It seams that this works for credit card holders, so why not here?

Than we will see appeals for the platinum, but oh well..

Cheers,
Vassil

Our big fat Greek Olympics.

2004-08-24T08:48:00.000-07:00

The correlation between Greek Medals and event attendees. How to increase Olympic attendance- Simple; give more medals to the Greeks.

OK, you are the IOC and see that hardly anyone in Greece goes to the games, so what do you do? The sponsors are not getting their message across, the networks can?t find an angle with spectators in it, and the Olympic machine is not making money! Disaster? Wait, you can fix it. Yes, it?s simple; you let the local players get some glory and some medals.

Well, this may be my conspiracy theory only for now, but I don?t think I am too far from the truth. Let?s look at some facts and history here. Now, I grew up in Bulgaria, a small country (7.5 mil), which has embraced sports through its history. I also come from a professional sports family. Many of my values for life have been thought on the tennis, basketball and volleyball courts by my grandfather, father and coaches. For me fair play has only one meaning ? play fair and be jugged fair. Keep in mind that my small country has 105 qualified athletes at the Athens and for those who like to keep score, in our glory days during the 1988 Olympics, that same small nation finished # 4 (four) by total medal counts behind US, USSR and China (or Germany). Enough with the sport history.

So, last night I was watching NBC and their limited coverage on NON-US participation games ? Man?s gymnastics and individual rings. The main reason, NBC chose to show this particular segment, was because Greece ?WON? a gold medal. Did the Greeks disserve to win the gold?! I think not, and I am not alone here. The commentators were stunned, I was stunned, (even my wife agreed with me for once) but the 14,000 Greek spectators loved it. Who was robbed, we all were. The Bulgarian and the Italian gymnasts performed so much better. Their composition was more complicated; clean and just so much more, jet the Greek got the gold with shaking feet, short stands and bouncing landing?! We even had to watch the Greek national hymn on TV. I mean no disrespect to the Greek nation or its athletes, here, but it?s a bit ironic the way this works. How many times has NBC done that, hardly any for non-us athletes?! What happed here, why did the IOC do this? We all lost a lot last night; the Olympic Games lost the faith of millions of Bulgarians and Italians who loved the games for its fairness. It is heartbreaking to see that NBC and the Olympic games have sold themselves to the corporate sponsors and care for nothing else than money at the end of the day. Most Bulgarian athletes and Olympic medal winners will never get a multi-million dollar endorsements; they play for joy, national pride and glory.

To top this, right before the ring competition, NBC had a special segment on another Greek athlete Leonidas Sampanis a ?Greek? weightlifter who got a bronze medal and who was like NO the other Greek athletes and was clean of drugs and loved the sport so much. We watched a portrait of a true Greek national hero, a real sportsman, his lovely family and the Greek nation who loves him mo much. Blah, blah , blah. Did the NBC producers or any of their thousands of assistants care to check the IOC?s press release earlier that day? I think not. The IOC took away the same bronze medal from the Greek ?hero? (I believe the NBC commentator even made some references to Hercules). So, why are we watching this IOC/NBC propaganda here, come on. What happed to our values?

I am deeply saddened by all of this. I have not watched any of the other 4 gold Greek medals, or any other Greek medal winnings, so I can not speak of their fairness, but I do think that the IOC should investigate itself and take some measures. Until recently NBC was simply not showing us much of the non-US winnings. I know they will argue that they can?s show it all, but than why now all of the sudden we get all of this?! And how about the US gold medal we got on gymnastics, which should have been given to the Koreans? All this shows how much power TV media has over our opinions, and what a simple editing and some B-roll can do for the bottom line of corporate earnings.

Ciao,
Vassil Mladjov

P.S. For those interested, I can provide you with a private link of streaming media of the ring?s competition, and trust me even in the small 320x240 pixel streaming video window you will be able to see why the Greeks should not have won the gold.

video blog

2004-08-14T19:13:00.000-07:00

2004-06-11T09:26:00.000-07:00

Outsourcing is bad for California?! Let’s outsource out prisons! .

2004-05-31T23:14:00.000-07:00

This is just a crazy idea....

Ok, Arnie, this is how California can save lots of money and drive crime rates down. Let’s outsource our prisons to Mexico, Russia or China. This will be great, now we are talking about the real thing. I think that even the Federal prisons should be outsource. I mean what is wrong with sending the bed guys or at least the death row inmates somewhere out there. I read somewhere that a death row inmate cost us some $1k per day (sound a bit high if you ask me). These are some people that we do want to keep away from us anyway. And I think the USD goes much further in many of the suggested countries. No to mention that this could make some people think twice before committing a crime.
I know that this idea would not fly since we are such a humane society, but it’s just an idea.

Personally, I will advocate technology outsourcing, since I run an managed outsourcing company myself, and I know that this can save money not only on the development side, but also keep prices lower (not to forget higher profitsJ) But I think that when it comes to running businesses or even the state, we should think outside the box. Maybe my idea is not so far fetched after all, only time will tell.
Vassil Mladjov

Google IPO, I say; Buy, Buy, Buy!!!

2004-05-31T23:13:00.000-07:00

They came, they learned, and made Google!
Vassil Mladjov [BGpoint.com & StreamingMarketplace.com] | POSTED: 05.31.04 @22:30

OK, why are you guys so negative on Google? Why are people so jealous of other’s success? They came, they learned, and made Google! They change the Internet as we knew it.
I am not sure about the evaluation, this is up to Wall Street to determine, but one thing is for sure, Google’s IPO is nothing but a good thing for everyone.
First let’s not be so macroeconomic here, let’s look at things from macro view as well. Let’s look at how the Internet is changing our lives and work. Let’s not forget that before Google we were checking web listings based on ABC’s and BOLD listings.
I would like to use an analogy to FORD Motor. Yahoo, just liked FORD, makes easy and cheap listings that work. Than, the Germans made the Mercedes. Well, how can I compare the two, I can’t. We just can’t compare apples with oranges. One is there and running, the other is everywhere, is turning heads, faster and more sophisticated, more expensive and more desired, it a the BENZ, it's the Google.
It’s just a new way of thinking. Yahoo needs to really keep an eye on Google. For those of you who still may have some doubts about it, please take a look at Google’s labs. Again, these guys’ thinking is so much a head of the rest of the gang. And this is what we can see in the open world. Why do you think MSFT is putting so much and getting in the search game?! It’s a very profitable business.
The one who controls the web search will control the web.
Think about it. Would MSFT’s strategy to add a search engine inside the OS hurt Google ? Maybe. Did MSFT's media player stop us from using Real or QT’s ? NO! The question is what is the Internet transforming into. Well, let’s see. Mobile market for one is way bigger than the Internet on a global bases and the Internet will be part of it. TV and the Internet are converging as well, would we be doing searched for VOD movies from our remotes? I think so. Would NetFlix and Google make good partners in creating a multimedia portal that could offer VOD movies, MP3's or vlogs? The answer is YES. This better be on both companies’ product plans. NetFlix wants to get into the VOD DVD’s and Google needs to have a Multimedia portal similar to WindowsMedia, Yahoo’s Launch or AOL’s. Both can make more money, it’s simple.
I do think that Google has a lot to do about making money, but this will come. It will be much easier for Google to make money, since they don’t have to make the same mistakes as so many pioneers did. I do think that they have learned from the mistakes of the pack. The biz models are now refined.
How many have looked at the YHOO sticker lately? Just check the stock return since they went IPO in ’96. The stock today is at $30.66 (after 5 splits). I think it is about 2,000% up since its IPO. Not too shabby. You may want to do a comprising between YHOO and MSFT for the last 8 years as well. http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=YHOO&t=my&l=off&z=m&q=l&c=MSFT
If Google has even a fraction of Yahoo’s success I would be fine with that.
What does Google needs to do to be a winner in their IPO, keep it up? Believe in your own strategy?! Do you think that KPCB and the rest of the investors would let them do anything stupid at this point, come on. They have learned their mistakes and they want to make more money.
Be the leader, imbed Google with AMD, Java or just make the G-Chip. Be on the cutting edge, hire and keep the best and the geekiest out there. Get good marketing and biz dev people. Don’t change too much, but please do add some sexiness. This will be cool and it will pay off. CNET (a small fish in the pound) is charging some 50K for a home page flash ad. (and I think this is per day – sound high to me).
Outsource some of your development, so you can add all these cool top 100 things which otherwise we would need to wait for too long for. (I offer my Bulgarian connections, if you want great developers at 1/10 the US cost ;)
Give Gmail to the world, they would love it. I do. Yahoo hates you, they will loose millions as well as will many others, sorry.
Make Blogger, Vlogger :)
Good luck you baby xillionaires to be. Live the American dream. This is what life is about.
Cheers,
Vassil Mladjov
vassko@gmail.com

Yahoo! email and sites are maybe down - is Akamai under attack?

2004-05-11T09:43:00.000-07:00

what is going on today, why is Yahoo down and slow??