Stefan’s blog

We are having some gas supply issues here in eastern europe. But the good thing is that after these troubles, companies, industries may finally realize that they can not depend on gas. This could force them to look towards alternative energy, and alternative systems for heating. There are many options, from ground heating pumps to thermal energy, which seems to be plenty of available in Slovakia. Trouble is that till now everybody was very content with russian gas and nobody looked ahead. Clever leap towards alternative sources would be a good move. Imagine a world powered completely with renewables. Production halls covered with structure changing glass which would absorb sun heating in the winter and reflect light in the summer. Homes powered with heating pumps or ground thermal source.

Definitely there are many options to go. We should start making first step.

…or how is Richard Branson promoting his book.

It has been few months since I posted on this blog. The reason? I was so busy. I had exams in Nottingham, parties, I almost missed my flight, I traveled home and back to czech republic for a New Year’s Eve party and back. Had no time.

These uni exams are killing me. I am frustrated when doing something I do not believe in. Analysing large companies strategies is so useless for somebody who is not going to pursue career in multinational company. But I have to force myself. I managed to get here with my studies and I have to finish them. However I would like to quit so much.

One chinese wisdom says, that temtetion to resign is highest when you are about to succeed. I feel exactly the same.

So keep going don’t give up. Will repeat this, and you should also never give up if you are struggling with something. Keep going, don’t give up.

Good luck to everybody doing research and studying for exams.

iPhone is fancy, it has great web browsing capabilities almost as good as on your desktop, but… No SKYPE, and you CAN NOT use it as a modem to connect your laptop to the Internet. That is a big failure.

I just moved to a new house in Nottingham and unfortunately I end up without the Internet connection and with no phone line. I began to look for quick, cheap and easy broadband solution and found Skypephone S2. This is a great phone, it keeps amazing me. It has HSDPA, so access to the Internet is really fast. I have got 300 Kbps download speed. It is good enough to watch YouTube videos. The 3G speed and the fact that you are getting it through your mobile phone is really amazing. Especially when I remember those old days of dial-up modems.

Skypephone has got three things out of 4, which I use the internet for. That is email, Skype and internet connection itself which is possible to share with laptop or other device over bluetooth or cable. Skypephone has got web browser itself, but it is poor compared to the iPhone one. However it is good enough to check your email, or browse your RSS feeds or get the latest news. I will not count the built in web browser however it is usable for 50%. 3 out of 4 features than. iPhone on the other hand got just 2 things out of 4 things I use and that is just solid web browser directly in the phone and email. You can not use the phone to connect your laptop to the Internet unless you hack it and there is no Skype.

I am very happy with the new Skype phone. I got features which I need, mobile internet, ability to connect my laptop, skype and email on the go for just €60 one time payment. With the iPhone (around €500) you can’t get this, you will get just decent mobile web browser. No free Skype calls, no fast Internet for your laptop. Apple should do this right, at least enable full potential of 3G inside the iPhone, should make it possible to share the connection with the laptop and enable VoIP services like Skype to use the iPhone. When these things will be done iPhone will be very good device, till than I stick with my cheap Skype phone.

PS: I had a bit of trouble to make Skype phone work under Mac OS X Tiger. So here is a quick note for people using it on Macintosh. Forget about System Preferences : Networking. I set it up over System Preferences : Bluetooth and run wizzard for setting up Bluetooth device where you can choose it to act as a modem for the Internet connection. Turn off wait for dial tone option.

It was made in 2001. Now is 2008 but still it is in use by many. Around 30% of all the people visiting my sites use IE6. It is crappy, it lacks proper support for web site standards and it is hard to make all the latest web sites compatible with this old crappy browser. From now on, I end up support for Internet Explorer 6. This means that all the new web sites developed, and existing Clever Leap services updated, will no longer be tested for Internet Explorer 6. This will enable us to keep focused on quality of the service rather than solving compatibility issues for 7 years old browser used by people who slept.

The time has come and it is good to update all that old browsers. I understand however that it is hard to get Internet Explorer 7 on old machines running windows 98. But there are even better and more secure alternatives like Firefox and Opera which run on windows 98. Opera is excellent browser for the old machine and still supports latest web standards. So there is no excuse why not to upgrade to the latest browser or different one.

Good bye Internet Explorer 6, you were pain in the ass for about two years. Now we are going to develop even better web sites and application worth the year 2008.

I remember my presentation about our poor promotion of tourism in Slovakia compared to places like Tirol. When I was studying in Antwerp, I was so amazed with the ability of Tirol tourism office to bring artificial skiing slope to the city center of Antwerp. Air lines were also present. They had their own stands and happily promoting cheap flights to Tirol.

However, we are not that far yet there are some small steps taking place. At least in some advertisements on Eurosport channel. Don LaFontaine apparently borrowed his famous Hollywood voice for this advertisement.

Check it out…

Here is the older ad… I like this voice much more than the above… It sound more Slovakian, not like Terminator.

After Eurosport, it would be great to see it on BBC, DW and other big channels…

People copy one another. Human behavior in the group can be easily influenced by the others. Here is a great illustration from the London underground elevator.

But how to use it for your own benefit? I am sure you will find out :). I realized that jealousy works similarly well. Few years ago, when I started my online catalogue of hotels and B&Bs in High Tatras, I find out that once I got one customer and his neighbor found him in the catalogue, he wanted to be there too… And I got another customer.

What to take from it? Don’t let your opinion to be formed by the others. It is good to stand hard behind your views and actions even if others are acting differently.

(Via: PsyBlog)

Here is something I learned recently from the web site of dConstruct - user experience design conference. Their web site has one example of how not to design for user experience, especially if your users are keen on using bookmarks and services alike - which most people do trust me.

I was just thinking that I need to go out between people again, someday, somewhere. Attending conference is great to meet like minded people and learn something new at the same time. As I was running through my Del.icio.us bookmarks I end up at dConstruct page and “Sold Out” popped just into my mind before I realized that the page is for 2007. What? I wanted to go. Ok something has to be wrong. Off course it was for 2007 and my bookmark 2007.dconstruct.org was wrong. I rewritten the URL for 2008… and luckily found what I was looking for. It took me quite a while to realize that the page was out of date.

Here is the hassle. Dconstruct web site always moves you to sub-domain and if you bookmark such a page, your bookmark is referring to old conference a year later. I consider this broken. I think that you should promote your actual content at your top domain. This way if people bookmark your pages, they get link to your main domain and always actual content. Even if they return one year later. Move the archive of your old content to sub-domains, that’s fine, but keep the actual content at the main domain.

By letting people bookmark your top domain you will always serve them up to date landing page. It will not only avoid confusion but you will also create better user experience.

Volvo in their S40/V50 campaign speak about design principles which are applied in web design almost daily…

• less is more
• treat everything like a piece of art
• form follows function
• redefine luxury
• never stop learning

These are scopes very similar to mine applied in web design. However Volvo is speaking about cars. Less is more. In fact less is less and that is good about it. It enables you to focus on what is really important and make it as best as possible, treat every little piece as a piece of art. Off course form follows function, we make web sites both nice looking, functional and easy to use. We do not design creative sites for creative designers. We design nice looking and usable sites and application to perform concrete functions, present, provide information and sell.

I never stop learning, that’s why “embrace the unknown” is my motto.

You can apply these principles for any design, either web, car, furniture or even property development. I would very much like to live in a house developed according to these principles.

Check it out, it is well done.