Kaizen Bits

I was testing Opera Unite an interesting idea from the Norwegian company (whose browser has been awarded very often as the most reliable and trustworthy to surf the net). The basic idea of Opera Unite is including a server inside the browser. This implies turning your machine into a P2P, filesharing or FTP-like node, but through the browser, what is quite important.

However, I am not sure what is really the point. First of all, a browser is a broswer (like in Gertrude Stein, a rose is a rose is a rose) and in a well-defined client-server structure, it fulfills a particular role. Also, the big success of the so-called Web 2.0 sites (such as Flickr, Youtube and so on) has been precisely centralize content, instead of distributing it through computational devices, like Opera Unite will do. I would have expected something like Google Gears, which puts on the client side a number of functionalities traditionally hosted in the server.

Finally, Opera promise of “reinventing the Web” seems to me a bit…ambitious I´d better say they have re-invent the browser, which is really good and shows the Norwegian browswer is once more on the innovation pathline. Great for them!!

At Telenor Headquarters:

Yesterday, I was in a brainstorming meeting with the people of Movation at Telenor. It was about Semantic Technologies and it was pretty interesting since a number of Norwegian companies were gathering to discuss about semantic applications that could change the world.

Firstly there was an introductory talking by Robert Engels, then we heard the people from FAST and Comperio. It was very interesting to see that there was quite a lot of buzz in Norway about Semantics. After that, there was an open discussion where we were extensively encouaraged to talk about what could be the killer applications for semantics in mobile services.

I did. I talked a lot. Particularly, I pushed a kind of crazy idea which was to create a customized Corporate Twitter , to tell for example  your boss what you are doing. More seriously, I pondered over the usual suspects, EAI and B2B. Now that a list of Web 2.0 applications has been released, I am waiting for the list of SW applications.

Finally, an interesting quote Robert brought over from Gartner: “By 2007, formal logic will become the lingua franca of the majority of major metadata initiatives (0.7%)”.  March, 05.

Two days ago in a barbecue at the student house where I am staying, I met a Norwegian girl, Trine. When we had some pictures and she told me to send them, I asked for her email but she just said: “Why don´t you put them in Facebook?”. Then I replied I would have to link with her (I did not dare to confess I am not in Facebook) and she got Tom, one of our common Norwegian pals and said: “Go through him”.

That story has been coming out lately. Ina also send me a Facebook invitation and everybody in the Erasmus community here is linked. After reading this special from the Guardian, I can conclude that there is really a social networking phenomenon and I suspect for my range age it is all about Facebook, more than Bebo or some other social networking sites. In Facebook, you can also “poke” people, which is kind of a hug which allows you to be both sides connected… sounds good.

So can you guess what is first thing I am doing as soon as I´ll get some free time?

Tomorrow it is the National Day here in Norway so I will be travelling to Oslo and then over the weekend to the famous Norwegian Fjords located in Bergen. It is quite cool because it will be a great chance to sink a bit on the real Norway, so… see you next Monday!!

Long has been written (in this blog and in the previous one) about the economic model of the US, particularly last year when I was living in Texas. However, despite we tend to always compare with them, the Spanish economic model, same as the French and many other welfare-oriented states, is much more close to the Scandinavian one. We have a strong public social security system and taxes that revert in the common good. However, with Norway, that is another story.

Norway economic model is to take the European 68 welfare politics to the very extent. Everything is taxed, and highly. For example, yesterday I was eating a pizza and I saw a 25% tax. That means I am paying a quarter of its price more, and that is just food: cigarettes, alcohol and cosmetics are the most taxed goods. But there is a snippet of an article in Wikipedia that explains it much better:

• Taxation – the primary purpose of the Norwegian tax system has been to raise revenue for public expenditures; but it is also viewed as a means to achieve social objectives, such as redistribution of income, reduction in alcohol and tobacco consumption, and as a disincentive against certain behaviors. Three elements of the tax system seem to attract the most debate:
  • Progressive taxation. At one time one of the most aggressive in the world, the top marginal tax rate on income has been decreased over time. In addition, Norwegians are taxed for their stated net worth, which some have argued discourages savings.
  • Value-added tax. The largest source of government revenue. The current standard rate is 25%, food and drink is 14%, and movie theater tickets and public transportation 7%.
  • Special surcharges and taxes. The government has established a number of taxes related to specific purchases, including cars, alcohol, tobacco, and various kinds of benefits.

Let alone that Norway is one of the most expensive countries in the world, this makes it a case study for an economics lecture!!

I knew it today that Opera Web Browser is purely Norwegian. I had never used it but if they borrow me a machine at UniK, I might be installing Ubuntu and a number of software programs I wanted to catch up with.

Interesting enough this interview with Mark Shuttleworth, a rich South-African leading the Ubuntu initiative which talks about the Ubuntu business model and about how the world is “relatively flat” but… it is getting better.

It´s already several days I am living in Norway and I can´t help shouting a couple of things that have amazed me about this incredible country. First of all, efficiency and organization. I have been visiting researcher in Austria, Ireland, Brazil and the USA. I was very lucky in both of the first ones, because my organization arranged everything but in the second ones, I had to do it by myself (with some support, of course). Fundamentally versus the USA, Norway has proved much more organized: yesterday, my second day of work, everything was set. I had a cozy workplace with a nice screen, keyboard and printer at hand. I was picked up by my colleague Mushfiq and taken to a really well organized studenthouse where my name was already yesterday on the door. I have all kind of facilities and… you know, time to enjoy Norway.

So far, two things shocked me way too much: lunch and working hours. At lunchtime, they head a so-called “kantine” and get bread and a salad. And what else? Nothing. Wow. Again. Wow. Then working hours are also funny: from 8:00 to 15:00. And the rest of the day, just to enjoy.
Norway can be defined by just one word: oil. Being the fourth largest oil exporter in the world, they can just get another well and go sleeping. Life is very relaxed… It is gonna be fun.