If you’ve never failed, you’ve never lived

(via Nuno)

September 29, 2009 | Tags: entrepreneurship | 1 Comment

Oh, The Temptation

September 25, 2009 | Tags: marshmallow, video | 8 Comments

Business Development

Seth Godin’s recent article explains very well the concept of business development. It’s the kind of article I should be reading every morning to remind me of the opportunities I’m probably missing.

Seth explains business development is a simple way:

Good business development allows businesses to profit by doing something that is tangential to their core mission. Sometimes the profit is so good, it becomes part of their core mission, other times it supports the brand and sometimes it just makes money. And often it’s a little guy who can be flexible enough to make things happen.

As a business developer on Adegga I’m always looking for different ways in which to promote the project. However, I’ve been giving priority to opportunities that are strictly inline with our core mission (help people choose good wines). While it’s important to maintain focus I think I might not be giving enough relevance to small side biz dev ideas that could really help support the brand.

To keep in mind: The thing that makes business development fascinating is that the best deals have never been done before.

September 23, 2009 | Tags: businessdevelopment | 2 Comments

Desligar o complicómetro

No Expresso deste fim-de-semana vem um excelente artigo do Paulo Rosado que faz um retrato quase fotográfico da situação do empreendorismo em Portugal.

Concordo com o ponto de vista do Paulo. É tudo uma questão de contexto e de falta de tempo de existência (do empreendorismo em Portugal). Felizmente sou dos que “vou lá fora limpar a cabeça e desligar o complicómetro”. Infelizmente não o faço vezes suficientes.

Não tive tempo para copiar o texto e o site do Expresso não o tem por lá, por isso, aqui fica a imagem. Cliquem para ler em grande.

September 22, 2009 | Tags: empreendorismo, portugal | 2 Comments

The soul of an empty library

Empty buildings are an attraction to me. On a beautiful sunny day there’s nothing an soulless building to really create an ambiance.

This short 3d animation film about the Philips Exeter Academy Library shows the building’s beautiful architecture crossed by the power of light and the lightness of the empty.

Made by Alex Roman
(thank to Pedro for sending it to me)

September 22, 2009 | Tags: architecture, art, building, cg | Leave a Comment

Google Street View in Japan (animation)

Absolutely delicious. Amazing job.

September 16, 2009 | Tags: animation, google | 1 Comment

What the F**k is Social Commerce?

I did a presentation about Social Commerce at the last Barcamp Portugal.

Social Commerce is an area I’ve become interested in the last 2 years and these slides aggregate some of the research I’ve been doing. The presentation includes some examples and statistics on projects like Ravelry, Threadless or Etsy.

View more documents from andrerib.

September 13, 2009 | Tags: barcamppt09, etsy, mass customization, ravelry, social shopping, social-commerce, threadless | 3 Comments

Music Industry Visualization

Data visualization can be very powerful if done in a simple and beautiful way.

September 8, 2009 | Tags: business, longtail, music, Visualization | Leave a Comment

Saveur #122: The Burger Bible

I love magazines. I buy them, read them and store them. Once in a while there’s a special issue that it’s just too good to be read quickly. It take days to finish. The last edition of Saveur magazine is just one of those.

Issue number 122 is called “The Burger Bible” and for a very good reason. This edition covers everything from meat types to Burger toppings. There’s cheese, buns (bread) and even the best cooking methods for a perfect burger. Lots of details on how the Burger was born.

They include my favorite Burger recipe. Basically a Burger with a bit of Brie and caramelized onions on top.

Here are a few more photos of the magazine:

more photos of the magazine