Blog stats & facts !

Did you know that:

There are more than 181 million blogs!

68% have been blogging for two years or more, 86% have been blogging for at least a year

The most common rate of updating is 2-3 times a week

That on in five bloggers update their blog every single day (..pff)

15% of bloggers spend 10 hours a week on blogging        
     

60% of the bloggers is in the age of 18 to 44, and two third is male  

More than half of all bloggers are married and/or parents

14% of blogs are corporate blogs

...and this is just for 2009

Angry Birds go to Riooo!

Who doesn't know the Angry Birds?! This addicted puzzle video game developed by Rovio Mobile from Finland sold over 12 million copies of the game since the release in December 2009. First it was only for the Iphone but thanks to the great succes, the company made versions for other touchscreen-based smartphones.

For noob's: Players use a slingshot to launch birds at pigs situated on or within various structures, with the intent of destroying all pigs on the playfield. The further you go, new birds with special ablities appear.

Rovio Mobile has supported Angry Birds with numerous free updates that add additional game content, Stand-alone holiday and promotional versions of the game. The game is praised for its succesful combination of addictive gameplay, comical style, low price and ease. Thanks to this popularity, Angry Birds is also created for personal computers and gaming consoles! And there are plans to make a film or a television serie.

With 140 million downloads across all platforms, the game has been called "one of the most mainstream games out right now", "one of the great runaway hits of 2010", and "the largest mobile app success the world has seen so far".

At the end of this week, as promised, Rovio brings out an update to its Angry Birds Rio game! The Beach Volley update will be followed by a new episode per month till November.
For the ones who can't wait, this is the trailer:

And, for the ones who wanna play on the web (now available for the first time) click here!!

Enjoy x

The Second Internet Bubble

As said in my last blog, Facebook's current on-paper value is somewhere between the value of Ford ($55bn) and Visa ($63bn) two major companies that have been arround for quit a while. Google's value nowadays is even more than three times bigger.

The new generation of internet companies are booming, in fact according to some the second Internet Bubble has began. According to Patrick (co-founder of technology consultancy Broadsight) the first breaths have been blown. "A bubble is defined by too much money chasing assets, greater production of those assets, then the need to find  greater fool to buy them." The small group of companies chasing money right now can be good investments but it must not escalate.  Patrick gives 10 signs that this new Internet Bubble is being blown:

1. The arrival of a 'new thing' that cannot be valued in the old way. Dumb-money companies start paying ove the odds for New Thing acquisitions.
2. Smart people identify the start of a bubble; New Thing apostles make ever more glowing claims
3. Startups with founders deemed to have 'pedigree' (for example, former employees of New Thing Companies) get funded at eye-watering valuations for next to no reason.
4. There is a flurry of new investment funds catering for startups
5. Companies start getting funded 'off the slide deck' (purely on the basis of their Powerpoint presentations)
6. MBAs leave banks to start up firms.
7. the 'big flotation' happens
8. Banks make a market in the New Thing, investing pension money.
9. Taxi drivers start giving you advice on what stock to buy
10. A New Thing darling buys an old-world company for stupid money.

Social media is hot and happening, 'the likes' of twitter and facebook are revolutionary in human communication. These companies aren't making money but are worth a fortune! Michael Errington, creator of Techcrunch (an influental technology blog) and Arianna Huffington (founder of Huffington Post) have sold their publications to AOL. #1

Fred Wilson (Investor at Unionn Square Ventures and a veteran of the 2000 dotcombubble) is ringing the alarm bells for quit some time now, he is worried that a two- or three-person startup could get a $50-$100 valuation which he finds not reasonable.  #2

He also stated that for example Quora (Questions-and-answers site) raised $11m last year that valued the firm at $86m, now it is reportedly fending off offers for $330m!  #3

David Cohen (managing director of TechStars) says there is a bubble in the number of companies financing startups.  #4

Sumon Sadhu (director of intelligence at Quid) disagrees, he states that social media created a new source of information about the people using the web, these identities are just worth a fortune. The first wave of internet firms gave us an overload of information, now we need the filters. We have to trust where the information is coming from.

There is a sense that this isn't real money, and that can't be good in the long run. The sad thing is that we only really know if this was a bubble when it bursts..

source: the Guardian

Pink elephants, green dragons & deceptive children



About pink elephants and green dragons: Children's awareness of being deceptive

This is an interview with prof. dr. Marc Swerts, a researcher and academic teacher at the University of Tilburg.

The interview includes his research to children's awareness of being deceptive, based on a digital puppet-show where children have to communicate with a prince and a (green) dragon.

Furthermore, dr. Swerts discusses the pink elephant phenomenon, theory of mind, detecting lies as a parent, differences in lying adults and children, non-verbal communication, Paul Ekman and the truth behind the tv-show 'Lie To Me'.

The interview is recorded and edited by group 24 of the course Business Information Technology.