Loïc Le Meur blog

Six Apart launches TypePad widgets

We have just launched TypePad Widgets, TechCrunch has the story and the press release is below.

The US video podcast star ?

Rocketboom, I know I have no excuse but I did not know Amanda Congdon's daily show, it's Ouriel again who forced me to watch it.

The Marker conference in Tel Aviv

As the current online information about the Marker Comvention Sunday conference is only in Hebrew, below is the final agenda in english that Ouriel just translated. I speak on Sunday at 16:30 PM on "how Google Disrupts and Creates Businesses" see you there. Life seems terrible in this country.

The US ranks #1 in WE Forum latest report on Global Information Technology

US climbs four places and bumps Singapour this year. Report and ranking of the World Economic Forum (pdf) via Tubbydev. There is also an interactive map of the digital world. France loses two seats.

1 United States 2.02
2 Singapore 1.89
3 Denmark 1.80
4 Iceland 1.78
5 Finland 1.72
6 Canada 1.54
7 Taiwan 1.51
8 Sweden 1.49
9 Switzerland 1.48
10 United Kingdom 1.44
11 Hong Kong SAR 1.44
12 Netherlands 1.39
13 Norway 1.33
14 Korea, Rep. 1.31
15 Australia 1.28
16 Japan 1.24
17 Germany 1.18
18 Austria 1.18
19 Israel 1.16
20 Ireland 1.15
21 New Zealand 1.14
22 France 1.11
23 Estonia 0.96
24 Malaysia 0.93
25 Belgium 0.87
26 Luxembourg 0.80
27 Portugal 0.56
28 United Arab Emirates 0.54
29 Chile 0.52
30 Malta 0.51
31 Spain 0.47
32 Czech Republic 0.36
33 Cyprus 0.36
34 Thailand 0.35
35 Slovenia 0.34
36 Tunisia 0.33
37 South Africa 0.30
38 Hungary 0.27
39 Qatar 0.25
40 India 0.23

"Apple Loves France, Sometimes"

After the Stanford Podcast, the business school that I graduated from, HEC, partners with Apple to use the iPod as an educational tool. Cool news.

Foetus

A new photograph of Gonzale who says "this guy was obviously throwing things at the police.. they rarely charge for nothing". Fans of Gonzale's pictures suggest that she submits them to the BBC. "Amazing shot; powerful" say ShutterMoth, another commenter on Flickr. Agreed.

Technorati Tags: demonstration

Listen to podcasts on your mobile

Pod2Mob lets you get free podcasts on your mobile, it inserts ads in them. Merci, Andrew.

From their press release: According to BusinessWeek, Sequoia Capital believes podcasting is positioned

to capture $1 to $2 billion away from the $30 billion traditional radio
advertising market over the next three to five years. An estimated $80 million in podcast ad spending in 2006 will balloon to $300 million in 2010, according to eMarketer.

Reboot 2006 is up

Reboot is a great and cool geek&bloggers conference I will join with pleasure again this year. The theme of Reboot8 is renaissance, you can help co-create reboot8. See you in Denmark !

Tel Aviv next week and an article in hebrew

It's always surprising for me I just had a cool article in hebrew on one of the national newspaper Haaretz (thanks, Eytan Avriel), as I am going to Kinnernet 2006 and to the conference The Marker in Tel Aviv next sunday. It gathers many entrepreneurs and investors from Israel and around the world. Thanks, Yossi Vardi for having invited me again. It is my second trip to Israel, I had written a few notes last year. I'll be crashing part of the week at my friend Ouriel's place and possibly even try a few hours of kite-surfing (too bad the spot is not there even though there is one on the Tel Aviv beach). Most importantly I will be reachable again at my official office... and have a good shaksuka. Marc will be there too we planned to run together, I will probably meet Jeremie as well.

The panel I'm on at The Marker conference on sunday is: "Googled: How Google Disrupts and Creates Businesses" with other speakers from AOL, Nokia, World Economic Forum and other organisations.

לויק לה מר
For those of you who are lost, this was my name in hebrew and I don't get a word from it.

You play World of Warcraft ? You're hired

Great Wired story:

And that's exactly what Gillett is doing. He accepted Yahoo!'s offer and now works there as senior director of engineering operations. "I used to worry about not having what I needed to get a job done," he says. "Now I think of it like a quest; by being willing to improvise, I can usually find the people and resources I need to accomplish the task." His story - translating experience in the virtual world into success in the real one - is bound to become more common as the gaming audience explodes and gameplay becomes more sophisticated. The day may not be far off when companies receive résumés that include a line reading "level 60 tauren shaman in World of Warcraft."

The savviest employers will get the message. via Joi.

MS Word in Ajax

Very cool and enough for most needs.

Fashionable danse in France these days

Photo, Gonzale.

Technorati Tags: CPE

Stuart on French students in the streets

"In France, however, the prevailing attitude seems to be a quest for security (the fight against 'precariousness' is one of the main rallying cries of the current protests). In part, this is understandable; it's difficult to do anything in this country - get credit, rent a flat - without a permanent contract. But I believe that to be a blinkered view. The answer lies not in providing young people with long-term contracts that are so binding they make employers afraid of hiring anyone new because getting rid of them later if it proves to be the wrong decision, or even simply if the economic climate changes, is prohibitively difficult and expensive. That protects people already in work; it doesn't do much to create new jobs." Link.

FAA defines commercial flight rules in... space !

Now you can use your personal space shuttles, it's official. More at Wired.

Plan B 2.0 to save the Planet

"Mass extinctions, more Hurricane Katrina-like disasters, widespread droughts: A majority of climate scientists say these are just a few of the roads ahead if our consumption of oil and coal go unchecked." Link.

Netvibes raises funds and gets new board member

My friend Pierre Chappaz, founder of Kelkoo recently sold to Yahoo! just invested [FR] and joined the board of Netvibes. Congrats to both Tariq and Pierre.

Conference in London: Blogging 4 Business, April 4th

There is a full day around corporate blogging in London on April 4th, Blogging 4 Business, unfortunately I was speaking at another event that same day but my partner Olivier Creiche will join one of the panels. Thanks for inviting me to speak and good luck for the conference !

Updating your feed reader ?

Om has a good post on feed reader choices for Mac users, I'll try the new NetNewswire.

Possible general work stoppages in the coming days in France

Photo, Hugo.

"After nationwide protests against the measure ended in outbreaks of violence late Saturday, union leaders gave Villepin a deadline of Monday evening to withdraw the First Employment Contract, or CPE, which was designed to make it easier for businesses to hire and fire young people.

"If nothing moves we will propose preparing a day of general work stoppages in the coming days," said Bernard Thibault, head of the powerful CGT labor union. "Conditions are such that it should be a success."

-The IHT: Villepin facing deadline for a general strike

New Macs are MagSafe... but

not FireSafe (thanks Yann) and not even Cat safe (my cat started eating my power cord...)

French in streets, but it's not '68

Photo, Vincentglad
Good advertising for France today in the IHT...

Technorati Tags: CPE

The most beautiful is mine

I could not resist to form a couple with a beautiful american that I spend so much time with everyday. This american is also the most beautiful for italians, and they know what they are talking about ! And you know nothing until you heard my american, I'll have to podcast her one day.

Six Apart raises $12 milion

In case you missed it, we have just closed a third round.

Six Apart acquires mobile blogging company Splashblog

We have just announced it, welcome on board, Splashblog.

Some blogs & press that already talk about it:
Om Malik
San Francisco Business Times
San Jose Mercury News
Bambi Francisco
James Kendrick
Webpronews
Internetnews
Geekzone

Business Wire, picked up by many sites such as Yahoo! Finance.

Why should deans blog ?

Santiago Iniguez, Dean of Instituto de Empresa, answers on BizDeansTalk, an excellent collaborative blog by a business school.

Clear and cold in Paris these days

Le Louvre yesterday, march 12th 2006, during my sunday walk in Les Tuileries garden with the kids.

Technorati Tags: paris

A PC integrated in a new Alfa Romeo

Almost. Wew. That may convice me.

ParisDailyPhoto's one year birthday

Bon anniversaire, Eric. If you like photos and Paris, don't miss Eric's blog, Parisdailyphoto. Eric got pictures sent to him for his blog birthday from around the World. I was very proud when Eric sent me an email today saying "it's your fault, you got me started !". Happy when it's my fault like that and congrats for your talent, Eric !

Forbes thinks Georgia is in France: billionaire Boris Ivanishvili

See below screenshot of Forbes World's ranking of billionaires. Boris Ivanishvili "now lives in the Georgian village of Chorvila, where he was born". Forbes has put his residence in Paris, France and also on the illustration see "the red disc" is in the middle of France. So is Chorvila in France ? I don't think so. Is he a French resident ? I doubt it. Congrats, Forbes.

Searching the web for Video

Difficult to search video and video podcasts on the web, here are a few links I got from a WSJ article:

AOL Video Search that uses companies it owns: Truveo.com and Singingfish.com
Yahoo Video Search

Blinkx
Google Video
MSN Video

Only TV

TVEyes Video Search

only content it hosts:
YouTube
GoFish

Pope Benedict XVI has his iPod

"Pope Benedict XVI has joined the masses of millions of iPod users. A group of Vatican Radio employees gave the Pope an iPod nano loaded with Vatican Radio programming and classical music."

I had offered one too to Nicolas Sarkozy, France's second man in Government, it was a video, the Pope would have deserved a video one too, to watch what's happening in churches. I was *so* criticized when I did it that I'll never offer anything anymore to a politician ! My intentions were just to help him discover the podcasting phenomenon and it turned into a shower of criticism on my "deontology as interviewer" even though I'm not a journalist...

Hacking fashion with Levi's jeans

Jean de Filles is a new brand blog from Levi's that encourages girls to customize their jeans and involves bloggers such as Stéphanie who customize them. Stephanie has a French famous blog, Détournements de mode ("hacking fashion" in english) which is about customizing clothes and fashion for those who don't want to wear what everybody else is.

The editor that publishes a book on Google and sues them at the same time...

Weird stories around The Search, John Battelle's book.

L'Oreal launches Agora for Women in Science

L'Oreal launches in partnership with Unesco a site "open to all members of the For Women in Science community around the world", Agora for Women in Science. Powered by Movable Type.

Connect your Garmin GPS to Google Earth

Pete pings me on the fact that there is now Motion Based for Mac that lets you upload data from my Garmin Forerunner GPS and trace your routes on Google Earth when you run, bike, etc. So cool, I have to try that and get this type of pictures:

Bubble 2.0 ?

90% of these Web 2.0 bands will have disappeared in three years. You know what ? I love this creativity and entrepreneurship we have around web 2.0 these days. Taking risks and creating is the way to go.

Quizz: on this picture what are the brands that will be still alive in three years ?

Web 2.0 image via Jason

What tourist will you be in 20 years ?

Interesting article [fr] by Sophie Fay at Le Figaro, in summary:

-we'll go on average on holidays 4 times a year instead of 2, even in the US, more leisure time
-we'll want more original and exciting stuff, less fly and beach
-spatial tourism will be there but still expensive
-classic all-in formulas will be outdated, the cool ones will be business class ticket and camping
-as many divorced as single old people, the classic couple with two children will be tired as well with such a high divorce rate
-cool: health trips for an always aging population
-cool: environmental friendly tourism and carbon taxes applied to travelers that burn too much jet fuel, Joi beware !

How about you, where do you want to go on holidays in 20 years and how ? (photo preetamrai)

In Serbia, a $70 tip and you're dead

Here is what happened to Dragan Peric for a $70 to $100 tip for information from a funeral company:

"NOVI SAD, Serbia and Montenegro Dragan Peric was shocked to learn that his father, in the hospital for a stomach ulcer, had died. But the call came from the city's Institute for Internal Medicine, so his mother and uncle began alerting relatives from as far away as Bosnia and Austria to rush in for the funeral.

At that point, two men appeared at the front door, offering the services of their funeral company, Miran San, or "peaceful sleep." Nobody had called them in, Dragan said, but the family needed someone right away, and they got the job.

Fortunately for the Perics, when the family and funeral directors went to the morgue to retrieve the body, there was no registration for the dead man. After some confusion, they learned that he was quite alive, but had been moved to a different ward. [...] "In this case, senior hospital officials explained, a nurse had seen Peric's empty bed and presumed he was dead. She rushed to inform the family and to claim cash from the funeral company for the tip."

Globalization the French way

Globalization here works only one way. In France we like to sell our products and services to other countries, but don't try to buy one of our companies, we will merge before you even start moving: EU making France a takeover case (IHT).

Are you a European entrepreneur and innovator ?

Innovate Europe 06 will be on May 15-17th in Zaragoza, I really advise you to participate and you can also apply to become one of the selected showcased startup to journalists and VCs, fast, the Innovator!Days are from March 7th to March 17th, I believe you can still apply.

update: if you miss an innovator day in your city, you may contact them by phone to apply for a presentation of your company at the conference, email Julie (at) guidewiregroup.com

PodcastUser Magazine #2 is out

PodcastUser Magazine #2 is available as pdf, very good content, as always.

Six Apart and Technorati in CNNMoney's "Next Net 25"

The Next Net 25.
Thanks for pinging me about this, Jean-Carl.

Popular podcasts begin charging in the U.K.

"The Times sells £6.95 monthly subscriptions to a five days a week podcast reading of its main stories and LBC, the London talk radio station, has been charging £2.50 a month since January for access to a catalogue of past shows and special podcast-only material.

The Ricky Gervais Show will be the most high-profile podcast to date to begin charging. The first series, distributed free through the Guardian Unlimited website, has been downloaded about 4.5m times and is to be included in the 2007 Guinness Book of World Records as the most popular podcast to date."

More at the FT: "Is Ricky Gervais having a laugh? By Maija Palmer"

Technorati Tags: podcasting