Wines for the European Wine Blogging Conference

A quick note to mention the great wines that I’ll be taking to Rioja for the EWBC2008 as representatives of Portuguese wine making.

Niepoort Wines

The great Redoma Reserva 2004, a marvelous magnum of Batuta 2004 and the inevitable Niepoort Vintage 2005 from Niepoort Wines.

The different Cavalo Maluco 05, the sangiovese Anima L5 and the Herdade do Portocarro 2004 from Herdade do Portocarro.

It’s going to be a fantastic wine tasting for the lucky EWBC participants.

August 22, 2008 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment 

Adegga “Tempranillo” release

Just before going off for a couple more days of vacations I’ve put live the Tempranillo release of adegga. This release includes new profile pages for wineries and members, a new activity log and a more direct way to add a rating or write a note on a wine.

Here’s a example of one of the new producer profiles:

Winery profile on adegga

This was the last release before the two major changes that have been on the works. There’s a redesign being worked on and a surprise feature!

A side note on release names. As you probably noticed, from now on code releases will be named after grapes names. Tempranillo is the first one because it’s the main grape used in Rioja where the 3 of us will be driving to in a couple of days to join the European Wine Blogging Conference.

August 21, 2008 | Tags: | Leave a Comment 

More vacations

I have returned to work last week after a few days of vacations in the south but I feel that I need more time off.

It’s has been a busy year so far. Working weeks, nights and weekends on adegga has been very demanding and since I’m expecting a very busy time towards the end of the year (with some adegga news and a new project coming up) I’ve decided to take more days off now and prepare myself better for those times.

I’m reminded by this situation that one of the advantages of managing my own time is that I can decide when to take vacations!

I’ll be visiting Salamanca for a few days and then head to the European Wine Blogger Conference which will take place in Logrono, Rioja in the end of the month.

August 21, 2008 | Tags: | Leave a Comment 

Barcamp Portugal 2008

O próximo Barcamp (bar quê?) em Portugal vai ter lugar no inicio de Setembro (no fim-de-semana de 6 e 7).

Barcamp Portugal 2008

O evento é mais uma vez organizado pela equipa da WeBreakStuff que montou também um site para o evento. O Barcamp vai ser no local do costume, o Departamento de Engenharia Informática da Universidade de Coimbra.

A inscrição é gratuita mas necessária.

Para além das várias sessões já propostas (cada pessoas pode sugerir uma) vai ser mais uma excelente oportunidade para encontrar e falar com as pessoas que trabalham na Web em Portugal. Vão ser uns óptimos dois dias.

August 21, 2008 | Tags: | Leave a Comment 

My personal brand

I use adegga business cards most of the time. However, there are situations where what it matters is who I am and what I do and not who I am at adegga. This means I need to care about my personal brand.

As an entrepreneur I frequently represent many roles at the same time. On the Web I’m represented by my blog, my about page, my linkedin profile, my flickr, my adegga profile and many others but offline I needed a personal business card that I could hand out in a more about me context.

So, while I’m waiting for the new adegga business cards (with a new logo!) to arrive I decided to take the Moo + LinkedIn promotion and order a set of personal business cards. They have arrived and look like this:

new business cards
Note: phone number was removed from the picture but is (obviously) on the card.

August 8, 2008 | Tags: | 3 Comments 

Férias, Holidays, Vacations, Vacaciones, Vacances

I’m taking a few days off and heading south for a relaxing mix of sun, beach and family.
DSC09591.JPG
Updates have been slow around here (except for the moblog you see on the sidebar). Adegga is taking more and more time (time I didn’t know existed) and things like writing on the blog were (unashamedly) moved into second place. However, the occasional post will come up and hopefully full speed will return towards the end of August.

Christmas Holidays

August 3, 2008 | Tags: , , | 1 Comment 

It’s the people!

Google has always done a good job of showing how working for them is cool and full of perks. Meetup’s CEO (Scott Heiferman) is trying to hire some people in NYC and has created the best deconstruction of this myth I’ve seen so far.

meetup logo

Here’s an couple of lines from the document:

  • At Google, you eat exquisite free Google Food with other Googlers at the Googleplex, prepared by Chef Googlers. It’s the best company food around.
  • At Meetup, you eat at one of NYC’s 18,696 restaurants. They’re not free, but some are cheap. It’s the best cafeteria in the world.
  • At Google, you’re one of over 10,000 Googlers.
  • At Meetup, you’re one of only 38 Meetuppers (doubling this year). You will have an impact.

Meetup is about people meeting with other people. Why would they work differently?

Note: Meetup recently received funding. Brad Burnham explains why having an offline connection is part of the reason Union Square Ventures invested on Meetup.

August 3, 2008 | Tags: , , | Leave a Comment