Skype, Marktplaats, paint, polystyrene, dust
Throw it all in a bowl and you have the perfect mix for my daily doses of “entertainment”.
It is Autumn. The typical smell, the turning of the leaves, the rain, it is all providing me with an enormous boost of energy. This happens every year and I am used to it.
I am a child of the North, a forest “animal” and like all those animals; I am extremely active getting ready for the winter.
Of course I don’t hide in my cave to do my winter sleep (although I am going to feel like it soon). Still I am working on my cave: my new bedroom.
I bought my fist Polystyrene to insolate. I am doing the lower part of the slope roof first to organize the belongings that will be stored there. Out of the way means space.
I have put 2 packages up and vacuumed in between the packages; cutting Polystyrene is a dusty job: it flies and sticks everywhere!
I also painted the first beam: “Summer Yellow” the label says. My cousin visited me today and says she knows a cheap address for quality paint. I ordered 10 litres of white for the walls and roof.
The fun is that I have a very tight budget. A challenge I love.
I have put up quite a few ad’s on Marktplaats to subsidise the decorating and I am not doing too bad.
At the same time I browsed Marktplaats for items I want to use for the interior. And it looks like that I found the lamps I want, the Grand Foulard for the bed and some deco items all fitting in with what I have in mind, like pieces of a puzzle called “bedroom”
I have to admit that it is a huge job for one person but I know already how the end result will look like and I am slowly but steady, working towards it.
I only wished I could live a double life: 18 hours of work and Skype and 24 hours for decorating.
Work of course is still no. 1. It is possible to answer (Skype)calls in a dusty outfit but it is not recommendable to hit the keyboard with sticky paint fingers!!
Tomorrow I am having a meeting with my client in Heerenveen but Ike wouldn’t be Ike if she hadn’t found the elegant white / brass lamps for her new room on her way to the meeting and the “Grand Foulards” on her way back.
Back home, there is a lot of work on the Forum waiting for me. Usually I am also active during the weekend but yesterday and today I have been dedicated to the top floor.
Skype…. Much happened the past week like the introduction of 3.0 Public Beta.
I did not mention it because the Press published about it world wide. What other news could I add?
Though it was fun. One of my contacts, knowing I am a Beta Tester, tried to get info from me by asking intelligent tricky question.
But a signed NDA sealed my lips and causes red warning lights flashing all over whenever someone starts asking about new features.
Though hours after 3.0 Beta was launched, my contact sent me an IM: “Ike, I think I can now predict when the new Beta version will be launched!!”
I felt almost sorry to tell him that happened hours before. Maybe I should have sent him the link as soon as it was on line…… sorry, I forgot.
Skype also reached the 8.000.000 users on line simultaneously. Two days later then predicted by Jean Mercier who is always very accurate. He has a nose for it.
I love 3.0, Skype made a huge step forwards and much to the benefit of Varras Consultancy!
Cheers!
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Monday, November 06, 2006
“Mmmmmmmmm…… what am I going to do today…….”
I can’t remember when I said that for the last time. IF I ever said that…
I need a bigger office and don’t have enough space in my living room to extend it.
Renting another place is simply not an option. Well, not yet. Maybe when my neighbour will move to another place, but she is so nice. I don't want her to move.
Not enough garden to extend the living room but I do have a top floor which is currently in use for unwanted items or those without an immediate need for use.
Although I am not a horder, over the past years I gathered more items then I wished to. It is time for a clean out. I know, most people feel this need during Spring. Not me, I am an Autumn cleaner. I definitely feel a need to nestle when the days get shorter. I would thrive in the Scandinavian countries with their long dark winters.
Time to get my top floor in order, to insolate it (a very old fashioned little house), to paint the beams in a sunny yellow, the slope roof in white and the wooden floor in mahogany.
I am going to divide the top floor in two parts and the back part is going to be my new bedroom. It will even be bigger then my current bedroom which is on the ground floor.
I have promised myself to finish it before Christmas. In January I am going to change my “old” bedroom into an office. 3 Times more space then I have now and I can shut the door behind me when I take time off work!
Moving the office is less work then “building” a bedroom so somewhere half way January I am updating my blogs from a real office :-)
At the end of January my living room will be redecorated and back to normal. It is nice to start from “scratch” but it is even nicer to have a separate office!
I can’t remember when I said that for the last time. IF I ever said that…
I need a bigger office and don’t have enough space in my living room to extend it.
Renting another place is simply not an option. Well, not yet. Maybe when my neighbour will move to another place, but she is so nice. I don't want her to move.
Not enough garden to extend the living room but I do have a top floor which is currently in use for unwanted items or those without an immediate need for use.
Although I am not a horder, over the past years I gathered more items then I wished to. It is time for a clean out. I know, most people feel this need during Spring. Not me, I am an Autumn cleaner. I definitely feel a need to nestle when the days get shorter. I would thrive in the Scandinavian countries with their long dark winters.
Time to get my top floor in order, to insolate it (a very old fashioned little house), to paint the beams in a sunny yellow, the slope roof in white and the wooden floor in mahogany.
I am going to divide the top floor in two parts and the back part is going to be my new bedroom. It will even be bigger then my current bedroom which is on the ground floor.
I have promised myself to finish it before Christmas. In January I am going to change my “old” bedroom into an office. 3 Times more space then I have now and I can shut the door behind me when I take time off work!
Moving the office is less work then “building” a bedroom so somewhere half way January I am updating my blogs from a real office :-)
At the end of January my living room will be redecorated and back to normal. It is nice to start from “scratch” but it is even nicer to have a separate office!
Sunday, November 05, 2006
eBay is trying to catch up with Marktplaats
Yesterday Don Albert, vice president and general manager, Skype North America announced that Skype can now be added to listings in the following categories: Motorcycles, Special Vehicles, Cell Phones & Portable Electronics, Camera & Photo, Baby, Travel and additional areas of Collectibles. Using Skype buttons on eBay listings allows eBay buyers to instantly connect with the seller to send messages.
ay introduced this feature some months ago and it was World News.
This surprised me. In Holland we have our own site Marktplaats “De advertentie Site van Nederland”. And not only for Holland. We can visit ad’s in 20 countries world wide.
Marktplaats became part of eBay for over a year ago. But even when Marktplaats was still owned by a private company, it offered their clients a Skype Button to allow buyers to get in touch with the sellers.
Like millions of other Dutch people, I visit and use Marktplaats and the option of the Skype button frequently. And for a long, long time already.
So eBay was not the first one although they would like us to believe so, but Marktplaats who had the skill to integrate the button into their website.
Holland, such a small country uh? Still…..
Yesterday Don Albert, vice president and general manager, Skype North America announced that Skype can now be added to listings in the following categories: Motorcycles, Special Vehicles, Cell Phones & Portable Electronics, Camera & Photo, Baby, Travel and additional areas of Collectibles. Using Skype buttons on eBay listings allows eBay buyers to instantly connect with the seller to send messages.
ay introduced this feature some months ago and it was World News.
This surprised me. In Holland we have our own site Marktplaats “De advertentie Site van Nederland”. And not only for Holland. We can visit ad’s in 20 countries world wide.
Marktplaats became part of eBay for over a year ago. But even when Marktplaats was still owned by a private company, it offered their clients a Skype Button to allow buyers to get in touch with the sellers.
Like millions of other Dutch people, I visit and use Marktplaats and the option of the Skype button frequently. And for a long, long time already.
So eBay was not the first one although they would like us to believe so, but Marktplaats who had the skill to integrate the button into their website.
Holland, such a small country uh? Still…..
Friday, November 03, 2006
The Dutch VoIP Phone directory “Samen Gratis Bellen”
Are we unique in the world with a VoIP telephone book especially for one country?
Wouter van den Berg, Economy student at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, is much aware of the fact that you can only spend your money once.
When all his friends moved to other locations in Holland, he was more then happy to sign up for free internet calls and reduced his costs to almost zero.
Phoning via the Internet is not unknown, neither is phoning via your computer though it is cost effective and a good replacement for your landline (note that it is still not possible to call emergency numbers! Keep your mobile at hand when you want to unsubscribe from your landline).
Wouter thought that it was the right moment to start the first Dutch VoIP telephone directory “Samen Gratis Bellen”
He developed a “grown up” telephone directory with an easy to navigate and good looking lay-out.
Although I was not one of the very first to sign up, I was definitely one of the earlier ones.
In the meantime many other private and business users found their way to Wouter’s on-line directory.
If you know similar directories in other countries, feel free to list them here in your comment.
Otherwise: may more countries follow Wouter’s great initiative!
Are we unique in the world with a VoIP telephone book especially for one country?
Wouter van den Berg, Economy student at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, is much aware of the fact that you can only spend your money once.
When all his friends moved to other locations in Holland, he was more then happy to sign up for free internet calls and reduced his costs to almost zero.
Phoning via the Internet is not unknown, neither is phoning via your computer though it is cost effective and a good replacement for your landline (note that it is still not possible to call emergency numbers! Keep your mobile at hand when you want to unsubscribe from your landline).
Wouter thought that it was the right moment to start the first Dutch VoIP telephone directory “Samen Gratis Bellen”
He developed a “grown up” telephone directory with an easy to navigate and good looking lay-out.
Although I was not one of the very first to sign up, I was definitely one of the earlier ones.
In the meantime many other private and business users found their way to Wouter’s on-line directory.
If you know similar directories in other countries, feel free to list them here in your comment.
Otherwise: may more countries follow Wouter’s great initiative!
Phishing and Vishing
Spammers and Spitters, Phishing and Vishing. The Internet is developing it’s own dictionary.
And Phishing and Vishing has nothing to do with Fishing.
Well, nothing……….. ok, sort off.
With Phishing swindlers are fishing for e.g. creditcard information by e-mail. Not because they love you but because they love to use your money for their own benefit.
Great example are the fake e-mails from PayPal. I tried it out with ridiculous names like username “PietjePuk”, password “Flabberdewatsky” and Creditcard number0123456789
Know that these fake e-mails can be reported to PayPal via spoof@paypal.com. Those for eBay at spoof@ebay.com.
Vishing is the name given to the use of Voice-Over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone calls to obtain credit card information from unsuspecting consumers.
Using VoIP technology, criminals are now relying on the trust people place in telephone messages to extract the information needed to steal money or buy goods.
One key element to Vishing attacks is the ability of VoIP technology systems to recognize telephone keystrokes.
A Vishing attack might happen like this:
- The person receiving a call is told by a recorded voice that their credit card information has been compromised and to call the identified number immediately.
- When the person calls that number another recorded message would identify the service as the account verification service and request the caller enter their 16-digit account number.
The person has now become a victim of the scam.
We do not only need to get used to a whole new language, but also to a whole new type of Swindlers.
The only way to be safe is never and I repeat NEVER, give out your credit card information.
If the company you bought your products is asking for your credit card or bank information, they often only need the first and last 4 digits, not the whole number.
Read more about Vishing.
Spammers and Spitters, Phishing and Vishing. The Internet is developing it’s own dictionary.
And Phishing and Vishing has nothing to do with Fishing.
Well, nothing……….. ok, sort off.
With Phishing swindlers are fishing for e.g. creditcard information by e-mail. Not because they love you but because they love to use your money for their own benefit.
Great example are the fake e-mails from PayPal. I tried it out with ridiculous names like username “PietjePuk”, password “Flabberdewatsky” and Creditcard number
Know that these fake e-mails can be reported to PayPal via spoof@paypal.com. Those for eBay at spoof@ebay.com.
Vishing is the name given to the use of Voice-Over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone calls to obtain credit card information from unsuspecting consumers.
Using VoIP technology, criminals are now relying on the trust people place in telephone messages to extract the information needed to steal money or buy goods.
One key element to Vishing attacks is the ability of VoIP technology systems to recognize telephone keystrokes.
A Vishing attack might happen like this:
- The person receiving a call is told by a recorded voice that their credit card information has been compromised and to call the identified number immediately.
- When the person calls that number another recorded message would identify the service as the account verification service and request the caller enter their 16-digit account number.
The person has now become a victim of the scam.
We do not only need to get used to a whole new language, but also to a whole new type of Swindlers.
The only way to be safe is never and I repeat NEVER, give out your credit card information.
If the company you bought your products is asking for your credit card or bank information, they often only need the first and last 4 digits, not the whole number.
Read more about Vishing.
UAE and Skype, still no joy
It is not the fist time I blogged about the UAE banning Skype. You can find my previous posts here: 1 – 2 – 3.
It keeps everybody busy: the press, the bloggers and last but not least and most important of all: the users.
How disappointed it must be that after it had been reported by one national English language newspaper that: “The UAE is to lift a ban on internet telephony from December.” 7DAYS spoke to a source at the TRA who told them: “These reports are not accurate. The lifting of the VoIP ban has not been decided in any way at all. When such an announcement is ready to be made, then the TRA will let everyone know”
Read the whole article here.
It is not the fist time I blogged about the UAE banning Skype. You can find my previous posts here: 1 – 2 – 3.
It keeps everybody busy: the press, the bloggers and last but not least and most important of all: the users.
How disappointed it must be that after it had been reported by one national English language newspaper that: “The UAE is to lift a ban on internet telephony from December.” 7DAYS spoke to a source at the TRA who told them: “These reports are not accurate. The lifting of the VoIP ban has not been decided in any way at all. When such an announcement is ready to be made, then the TRA will let everyone know”
Read the whole article here.
Don’t tell me it is the end of the week again….
I don’t know about you, but running your own business is often a 24/7 job. And especially when it is busy with numerous little jobs, I easily forget which day I live.
I don’t mean the date. No, I am much aware of that: billing time!
I mean the days of the week. On Tuesday I was almost certain it was Friday. And now with a few minutes to go before it is indeed Friday, I just can’t believe the week went that fast.
It will also be a week ago that my Mother arrived home from the hospital by ambulance.
We got her settled with a special bed, extra help from a nurse (also during the night but this wasn’t of much help as Mum woke up as soon as the nurse arrived and couldn’t sleep for hours after the nurse left! So we cancelled that). I now know how to listen to Mum’s lungs and are allowed to give her extra medication when she starts filling up with fluid again.
Morphine is also on the “menue” for breathing problems. Hopefully we don’t need it but it is a comfortable thought it is there. This way I hope to keep Mum out of hospital for a while.
I spent much time with my Mother during the weekend, promising myself to catch up with the work on Monday and so I did. Unfortunately I had to take Mum’s little dog to the Vet. Diagnosed with a paralyzed bowl, the only human way to handle this, was to put her to sleep. Not necessary to mention Mum and I had a little cry.
This past week was one of little jobs: answering forwarded landline calls, Skype calls, phoning clients of my client, my Moderator work on the Forum, minor Beta testing, more volunteering translations, billing (best part of my administration ;-) ) , the design of new forms to list the little job overviews, replying to the odd questions on Skype, networking, reading Skype related articles for my blog (it is all about new hardware for Skype these days) and the occasional private chat.
Yesterday late night I had a conversation with my client Opvion who is currently in New Zealand, planning to come back to Holland early next year instead of next week. Apart from talking about business, we also had a good laugh and I logged off at 1.30 AM with a big smile.
I don’t think I have to mention that I had difficulties waking up this morning….
As a brake from the office work, the building cooperation I rent my little house from arrived with a new heater for my bathroom. This reminded me of which day it was and I was surprised.
Do all days look like one another then? No, no boring days in my life it is just that the 24 hours seem to fly. Any suggestion how to make 48 hours of 24?
Today ended with a Skype call of my London client Matter Solutions who is going to move to Australia tomorrow. Varras Consultancy stays put and is going to answer all Uk calls.
And, last but not least, this blog post.
Friday, for many the last day of the week. For others day 5 of 7. I am looking forward to a brake on Saturday afternoon and hopefully a longer brake on Sunday, weather permitted. Although I don’t mind rain (after all Autumn is my favourite season), today it was an icy rain, like little frozen needles.
I ordered sunshine for Sunday and a lot of wind. Dog and I are planning a walk along the Waddenzee near our favourite village “Moddergat” Feel like joining us?
I don’t know about you, but running your own business is often a 24/7 job. And especially when it is busy with numerous little jobs, I easily forget which day I live.
I don’t mean the date. No, I am much aware of that: billing time!
I mean the days of the week. On Tuesday I was almost certain it was Friday. And now with a few minutes to go before it is indeed Friday, I just can’t believe the week went that fast.
It will also be a week ago that my Mother arrived home from the hospital by ambulance.
We got her settled with a special bed, extra help from a nurse (also during the night but this wasn’t of much help as Mum woke up as soon as the nurse arrived and couldn’t sleep for hours after the nurse left! So we cancelled that). I now know how to listen to Mum’s lungs and are allowed to give her extra medication when she starts filling up with fluid again.
Morphine is also on the “menue” for breathing problems. Hopefully we don’t need it but it is a comfortable thought it is there. This way I hope to keep Mum out of hospital for a while.
I spent much time with my Mother during the weekend, promising myself to catch up with the work on Monday and so I did. Unfortunately I had to take Mum’s little dog to the Vet. Diagnosed with a paralyzed bowl, the only human way to handle this, was to put her to sleep. Not necessary to mention Mum and I had a little cry.
This past week was one of little jobs: answering forwarded landline calls, Skype calls, phoning clients of my client, my Moderator work on the Forum, minor Beta testing, more volunteering translations, billing (best part of my administration ;-) ) , the design of new forms to list the little job overviews, replying to the odd questions on Skype, networking, reading Skype related articles for my blog (it is all about new hardware for Skype these days) and the occasional private chat.
Yesterday late night I had a conversation with my client Opvion who is currently in New Zealand, planning to come back to Holland early next year instead of next week. Apart from talking about business, we also had a good laugh and I logged off at 1.30 AM with a big smile.
I don’t think I have to mention that I had difficulties waking up this morning….
As a brake from the office work, the building cooperation I rent my little house from arrived with a new heater for my bathroom. This reminded me of which day it was and I was surprised.
Do all days look like one another then? No, no boring days in my life it is just that the 24 hours seem to fly. Any suggestion how to make 48 hours of 24?
Today ended with a Skype call of my London client Matter Solutions who is going to move to Australia tomorrow. Varras Consultancy stays put and is going to answer all Uk calls.
And, last but not least, this blog post.
Friday, for many the last day of the week. For others day 5 of 7. I am looking forward to a brake on Saturday afternoon and hopefully a longer brake on Sunday, weather permitted. Although I don’t mind rain (after all Autumn is my favourite season), today it was an icy rain, like little frozen needles.
I ordered sunshine for Sunday and a lot of wind. Dog and I are planning a walk along the Waddenzee near our favourite village “Moddergat” Feel like joining us?
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