Diego Giol Internet and many other things

The BBC is one of my favorite media groups. Not only I like the quality of their products in general but I also periodically follow their news site, some of their podcasts, and I find their documentaries and investigations on different subjects superb.

Another aspect to note is that they are a leading organization in terms of using new technologies and testing new communication channels (like mobile phones) to offer their products.

The following FT.com video with Ashley Highfield, director of future media at the BBC, about the future digital strategy of the corporation and the iPlayer is quite interesting.

Video: FT interview to Ashley Highfield, BBC

I just discovered an excellent game developed in flash thanks to an Anywr post from my friend Fabio. This game takes best of the Nintendo Wii world to the web / webcam / PC environment.

The interesting part of this story is that the game was created by Miguel Angel Acevedo for Disney in Mendoza, Argentina . Mendoza is better known for its excellent wines than for its technology but for me this is an example of how the Internet is making us more and more aware of the talent that is spread all around the world. Distances do not matter anymore.

Congratulations to both of you for the achievement.

Here is the link: http://meettherobinsonsgames.contestshowroom.com/

I have been following the Israeli IT industry for many years. The number of success stories that have come from such a small country is just incredible. The country has achieved the right mix of Venture Capital, entrepreneurial spirit and vision.

Some people could argue that Europe already has its Israel and it is called Ireland. I think that it is different; I personally don’t know that many companies that have originated in Ireland and then made it worldwide. On the other hand, Switzerland has also achieved an incredible record of global companies (even though most of them are not in the IT sector), have you heard of Nestle, Novertis, Roche, UBS, Milka or Logitech just to name a few of them?

I wonder why Switzerland has not made use of its excellent location (right in the middle of Europe), very well educated people and tremendous capital and presence of wealthy people that could act as angel investors. Is it that Swiss people are too conservative and not interested in IT or the sector just needs a push from the government?

I personally believe that the later is probably the right answer. For example, forming a company in Switzerland is much more troublesome and expensive that it is in the UK or Ireland. When we formed Anywr Ltd. we first verified with our lawyer but the process itself took half an hour (all you have to do is go on-line and fill out a form) and it was up and running within one day. All the information you need is on-line and there are companies that do it all for you for less than a hundred pounds. Also, the number of IT events and angel networks in Ireland and the UK is really high.

I believe that Switzerland has the real potential of becoming an important player in this sector and I really hope that the country takes that opportunity.

Even though I HATED Windows Vista and all its problems, and finally decided to get rid of it (even though I had paid for the license when I got my laptop), I have to say that Office 2007 was a totally different experience.

The new version is even more integrated with Internet services than the Office 2003: it is possible to blog from Word, use on-line calendars with Outlook and create flashy documents even if you are really bad when it comes to lay out a presentation or document (like in my case).

Overall I have to say that it is worth spending the few days that it takes to get used to the new look and feel, I recovered that time by gaining in productivity later on.

For me, this new version of Office actually creates a problem, I was ready to switch to Mac, is Microsoft planning to launch a similar product for Mac as well? I think that they will.

Today I had the pleasure to participate in a debate here at the University of Oxford with Kevin Baughan, Head of Technical Strategy at Virgin Media.

It was very interesting because we discussed about the media in general but more specifically about were the Internet and mobiles communications were heading.

Some people argued that mobile companies were going to die because of Wi-Max, others said that operators would adjust and still continue to have profits, not as nice as it could be today (for some of them) but profitable.

Where everyone seemed to agree was in the fact that fixed telephony is less and less attractive, that is nothing new but it put me to think when it was that I had a fixed line at home for the last time, and after thinking for a while I realized that I haven’t had a fixed phone for almost 4 years already.

You may think that I am disconnected from the world… oh no, I would say the opposite; the thing is that all I need is a mobile phone and access to the internet.

The apartment where I was living before coming to Oxford had wireless access that was provided as part of the services of the building, yes, like water or electricity, and here, Internet is provided by the University.

Most of my calls are to Oxford, London, Switzerland and Argentina all of them are for free when I call with my SIP (VoIP) provider, VoipDiscount.com. Whenever I need to contact someone urgently I use the phone.

But I don’t need to carry my computer anywhere I go, I have a Nokia E70 with Wi-Fi capabilities, this mean that I can connect to the internet from my mobile and call for free almost all the time.

Personally, I believe that in the short term both fixed lines and mobile operators will start to charge less and less as pressure from alternatives grows and we will see more boundless like the one from Neuf in France where you receive almost everything and you only pay fixed amount per month. And yes, Wi-Max is probably going to be very big.