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L'Alliance pour la Planète (a French alliance of environmental groups) has launched an appeal to give this planet a 5 minutes' break: on 1 February between 7.55 and 8.00 pm Paris time (you can check here what that means for you local timezone).

To quote the Alliance: "It is not about saving 5 minutes of electricity, but about drawing the attention of all citizens, media and politicians to the waste of energy and the urgency of taking action. 5 minutes for the planete: it doesn't take long, it costs nothing and it will show the candidates for the Presidency (France is electing a new President in a couple of months) that climat change is an important subject in the political debate."

I, for one, will try to join the action (if I don't forget and miss the 5-minute time span). I do wonder, however, what will happen if everybody switches their lights back on at 8?

It's Belgium, Jim, but not as we know it (2)

"If all goes well, we’ll be able to feed a live Praga Khan concert to 2,000 citizens of Second Life. That would be awesome!"

  [picture]

Just quoting Miel aka MicroMiel aka Coolzûr here, who has been working on the SL launch of Microsoft Vista for the last couple of weeks. Miel is  Belgian, and so is Praga Khan, the band whose concert at the Belgian Atomium will be watched by some 2,000 SL people tomorrow (30 Jan) at 11 pm CET.

Miel seems to be confident that they're doing it right, and I think so too. He says: "I’ve had a lot of discussions with people in Second Life about brands and marketing, but I do know that everyone is really ‘pro’, because at least we didn’t just buy our way in. We come in with something that has never been done before, on an unseen scale. And we don’t take from the community, we give. That’s the best place to be for a brand."

So check it out. And even if you are not into SL, but still would like to see the concert, you should check out http://www.experiencethewow.be/streaming and learn how.

It's Belgium, Jim, but not as we know it

Robin Wauters, a well-known and - judging from the national drink in the picture I googled also typical ;-) - Belgian blogger (you might know him from his Marketing Blog), has set up a new web 2.0 blog, albeit with a slightly different approach. This blog aims to review web 2.0 applications and services, specifically originating from Belgium.

  [photo via]

According to the the ‘About’ page, Robin defines the term web 2.0 like this:

"Web 2.0 (although the term itself is subject of some debate) = next generation of internet based services that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users. If you’re looking for a more extensive explanation of the term, please visit this definition, published by Tim O’Reilly (who coined the term)." He also adds: "I hope good things come out of this blog. Please don’t hesitate to send in any review requests, announcements, remarks or questions via the contact page."

I, for one, am curious to read more about web 2.0 in Belgium. So cheers, Robin, and best of luck with the new blog!

Bob's your uncle

Just keep breathing, push when necessary and Bob's your uncle. According to my sister, giving birth is not such a big deal at all. The result, on the other hand...

 

Anyway, in this case, Serge is your uncle. Welcome to this world, Axelle (°25 January 2007 at 11.22 a.m. - 2.650 kg and 48.5 cm).

I smell winter

Finally. I smell winter. Not only a great song by The Housemartins, but also reality early this morning:

I know a big bunch of small people who will be thrilled to hear the school bell ring today. I think I'll join them...

Nothing beats RL (2)

Didn't I tell you? Nothing beats RL: GetAFirstLife.com. Brilliant. :-)

[via Robin on SLForum.be]

Beauty and brains

Just a post to set you off smiling into the weekend...

Something 'old', something new...

My college pal Steven has recently discovered Pandora, the music genome project aka a lot of people's internet radio. Personally, I had been tampering a bit with Last.fm until now, but given Steven's enthousiasm, I'll be trying Pandora for the next couple of weeks.

What I would also like to try out any time soon is what Sam posted about earlier today (it takes about 8 minutes, but it is definitely worth watching - goodbye mouse and keyboard):

To paraphrase some American youngsters on tv just the other day: "This is so cool. I'm like... wow, you know." Or something along those lines.

Note 1: No, there is nothing borrowed nor anything blue...

Note 2: I'm curious: which do you prefer - Pandora or Last.fm? And don't tell me you still put on CDs - that's so 1999 :-) ...

Nothing beats RL

How do you get the cream of the Belgian online community* together in one room nowadays? Exactly: you pick up on the Second Life hype and organise an SL demo. That's exactly what Pascal Vanhecke did last night - thanks to Pascal for the initiative (and for setting up the online Belgian SL forum) and to One Agency for letting us use their office space.

Was it interesting? It sure was. Even with a lot of divided opinions - Miel is really digging it and gave an interesting presentation on how brands can/don't yet/should use SL, whereas Bart sees no merit in SL and is convinced it is doomed to remain a niche product (Dutch only) - it was a great initiative, if only to meet with people you usually only know or meet through the internet. **

Still, my conclusion? Nothing beats Real Life so far.

UPDATE: if you want to know what that cream looks like, you can see some photos on MarketingBlog.eu.

* Not counting in myself here of course, and still omitting a great many others.

** Some of them (like Clo) really are internet addicts; me, I am still eligible for salvation:

You Are 55% Addicted to the Internet

You're somewhat addicted to the internet - but who isn't? You can keep it under check, and you're by no means a hermit.

Are You Addicted to the Internet?

I went to HUMO Park and all I got...

... was this lousy T-shirt. :-)

Anyway: it's nice to see my favourite magazine (it still is, after all these years and despite the many changes it has undergone as well as the criticism I could utter on those changes) creating its own Second Life space: HUMO Park. Finally a place to meet some Belgian, more or less like-minded folk (ahum, yeah right).

If you read Dutch, you can also read the interview with Peter Van Wijnaerde (These Days staff member and avid SecondLifer) about it in 'Harde cash, malafide pelsdieren en penisbombardementen'.

Like to check it out? This SLurl is all you need. See you there some time!