Marcel van Marrewijk's Blog, page 89
February 21, 2018
Goede voornemens voor sociaal ondernemers
Article originally publishe at SIFUtrecht.nl
Ben jij een ondernemer en wil je in 2018 niet alleen beter voor jezelf zorgen maar ook voor de rest van de wereld? Zet deze tien goede voornemens dan maar op je lijstje!
Meer sporten, gezonder eten, stoppen met roken… die goede voornemens kennen we allemaal wel. Een betere wereld begint bij jezelf. Maar wil jij in 2018 echt meer gaan betekenen voor anderen? Start dan met deze tien goede, sociale voornemens!
Koop minder spullen
Lang leve minimalisme! Vergeet de consumptiemaatschappij en koop minder. En laat wat je koopt dan alsjeblieft een beetje duurzaam zijn. Fair fashion, slaafvrije chocola, dat werk.
Pak vaker de fiets
Laat die auto (en files) voor wat het is en ga lekker op de fiets naar je werk. Beweging voor jou, minder vervuilend voor de aarde. En het scheelt ook nog eens in de portemonnee!
Zorg voor jouw eigen unieke kledingstijl
Stippen? Strepen? Panter print? Als je meelift op de kleding trends van nu blijf je maar items kopen. Creëer je eigen tijdloze stijl en kies voor duurzame merken of vintage stukken.
Reis duurzaam
Reizen en duurzaamheid in één zin? Dat klinkt tegenstrijdig. Reizen – en zeker vliegen – is enorm milieuvervuilend. Toch doen we het maar al te graag. Compenseer eens de CO2-uitstoot van je vlucht, kies voor een duurzame reisorganisatie of blijf eens dicht bij huis. Toerist in eigen stad, hoe leuk is dat?
Eet vaker vega
We vragen je heus niet om abrupt vegetariër te worden, maar iets minder vlees eten kan best, toch? Kleine moeite om één à twee maaltijden per dag vleesloos te eten. Spreek bijvoorbeeld met je collega’s af om samen vega te lunchen. En daarna te wandelen. En een havermelk-cappuccino te halen!
Huur en leen meer
We leven in een deeleconomie. Delen is het nieuwe bezit! Zo zijn er minder spullen nodig en dat is beter voor het milieu. Ook kunnen zo de kosten gedeeld worden. Auto’s, huizen, gereedschap, campers, werkplekken, what’s next?
Begin met het minimaliseren van je afvalproductie
In de supermarkt is zo goed als alles verpakt in plastic of karton. (Voorgesneden) groenten, rijst, yoghurt, kaas.. Zelfs koeken die per stuk verpakt zijn en weer zijn verpakt in een grotere verpakking. Bizar toch eigenlijk? Koop je spullen vaker bij een groenteboer in de buurt. Onder andere pasta, rijst en noten en andere onmogelijke producten zonder verpakking? Daar bestaan speciale verpakkingsvrije winkels voor!
Doe meer aan yoga en/of meditatie
We schreven er laatst al over: word een zentrepreneur en daarmee liever voor jezelf en degenen met wie je werkt. Als we allemaal wat minder zouden stressen zou de wereld een veel fijnere plek worden!
Let’s get digital
Het is 2018, dus die papieren zijn nu écht passé. Weg met die printer en lekker digitaal gaan werken. De mail werkt prima! Bye papieren boeken, hello ebook!
Maak social impact
Het liefst willen we natuurlijk dat iedereen een sociaal ondernemen wordt. Dat sociaal ondernemen het nieuwe normaal wordt. Heb jij geen sociale ondernemer? Dan hopen we dat je in ieder geval andere sociaal ondernemers een warm hart toedraagt.
Dit stuk is geschreven in samenwerking met Suzanne van Duijn. Neem een kijkje op de blog van Suzanne van Duijn, oprichter en eigenaar van SuusjeHQ – PR & Content.
The post Goede voornemens voor sociaal ondernemers appeared first on Seats2meet.
February 20, 2018
Putting a face on artificial intelligence
Description:
Greg Cross, Chief Business Officer of the New Zealand company Soul Machines, talks at Amazing Night 2017 in Taipei for Taiwan Business Weekly about humanizing robots.
What is it?
Cross introduces us to Rachel. A 3d avatar which does not only looks like a human but also talks and reacts as a human. The company which built her fitted her with a virtual nervous system. That makes her entirely emotional responsive en can humanly connect with you. Rachel can laugh, talk, she recognises emotions and can adequately respond to them. To make her talk in a natural way she even has lungs.
Why is it interesting?
It is a bit creepy. Rachel looks and feels like a human. One of the main things that give her away is the way she moves her lips when she talks, but when you can build lungs and a nervous system, making her lips move more naturally must be easy. Rachel and other avatars like her can be put to work and be really successful. They could work in customer service and do a much better job then chatbots. But that is only the beginning. According to Cross humans are going to be spending more and more time with machines, so it would be useful if they would be more like us. Rachel suddenly is.
Key take away
The robots are coming. And they look and feel just like us. As Cross says: “We are crossing a very big line!”
The post Putting a face on artificial intelligence appeared first on Seats2meet.
February 19, 2018
How To Make Money In The Cryptocurrency Industry
Did you know that bitcoin was unveiled officially on the 31st of October 2008 on an 8-page white paper? This digital gold invention was mainly motivated by the 2008 financial crisis. Currently, bitcoin can quickly be sent remotely to any part of the world via the internet. Even people in the most remote parts of the globe can invest in it. Most entrepreneurs in this era work remotely, from the comfort of their homes. Likewise, there is no reason why cryptocurrency trading cannot happen in the same manner. Inspirational entrepreneur stories of people around the world are constantly being shared on business platforms. However, despite the fact that different people have different routes to success, 21st-century entrepreneurs make use of social capital, decentralize and invest in unorthodox but genius ideas.
In 2009, a Norwegian student bought 5000 bitcoins each at $27. Currently, those bitcoins are selling at $13.5 million. He has so far gained 500000X his investment. Nuru Coin has made crypto entrepreneurship across all African countries an easy and readily accessible trade. Every continent is now in the loop. With a few dollars to risk and with a guideline to cryptocurrency terminologies, all you need will be a percentage of a crypto coin. The best part is that there are no brokers or middlemen of any kind involved. There are also no barriers limiting you from entering the trade. In a period of less than 9 years, the world of cryptocurrency has hugely evolved and gained popularity with 2017 being a record-breaking year in terms of trading volumes and transactions.
Getting Started
The very initial step is to purchase bitcoin. This will allow you to trade in any cryptocurrency available on the market. Depending on the amount of money you are looking to invest, you can buy a whole bitcoin or a fraction of it. A fraction of a bitcoin is known as a Satoshi. You can thus buy any fraction equivalent to your money. Coinbase.com is one of the many online platforms where you can buy bitcoin. For a cheaper buying rate, you can buy bitcoin by trading US dollars for Bitcoin in various forums that have an exchange that has this form of transaction.
Getting Exchange
Once you successfully purchase bitcoin, the next step is getting an exchange for it. This is the most crucial part. In the past, some exchange sites have been scandalous and shut down. You thus need to find a good and reliable exchange such as Bittrex. You can get information on the best exchange by closely following cryptocurrency news feeds regularly. They travel pretty fast. Use the information, news, and rumors on commonly used social media platforms such as Twitter to stay updated on what’s trending and look out for available opportunities.
Start Trading
With your bitcoin in a reliable exchange account, it is time to begin trading. Here, you don’t just pick a random cryptocurrency for the sake of watching its chart. It is important to first carry out some research. Blind trading can mess you up. To research on a cryptocurrency coin, you need to type its name followed by “ann”. The “ann” is meant to represent an announcement. For instance, if you intend to get announcements on cannabiscoin, you search “Cannabiscoin ann”.
This leads you to bitcoin forums with announcement threads on coins of your choice. Announcements will include the technical details, a mission statement, community speculation, the total supply of the coin and much more information. Make sure not to leave out or ignore any forum you come across as it may contain very crucial information.
Trading Basics
Fundamental analysis refers to the act of carrying out research on the market. Gaining relevant information out of it makes it easy to predict market trends. Essentially, the rise or fall of the crypto-coin you intend to trade. Secondly, technical analysis is where you analyze charts to identify patterns of the fall or rise of the coin. It is advised that immediately after a coin is dumped, it is the best time to buy it. This is because it gives you an opportunity to cash out back to bitcoin when prices rise. Here, the tip for better trading is buying more good coins. Good coins will always rise afterward.
Reading from the continued positive trend, this year looks like a good window to make money. Cryptocurrency is a good investment opportunity for 2018. Invest your money and trade wisely. You will reap big.
The post How To Make Money In The Cryptocurrency Industry appeared first on Seats2meet.
February 18, 2018
Kluseconomie: innovatief of uitbuiting? | De impact van Thuisafgehaald | Vergeet Uber en volg Softbank
Afgelopen week mocht ik een bijdrage leveren aan een toffe sessie van PropTechNLover AVG/GDPR en De Platformrevolutie. Dat gaat nog hele interessante vraagstukken en zaken opleveren. AVG is voor veel tech ondernemers een flinke kluif, maar uiteindelijk draait het om de gebruiker. Naast AVG komt PSD2 er binnenkort overigens ook nog aan. Genoeg kansen en kopzorgen zou ik zeggen 
February 16, 2018
S2M Welcomes Flint
2018 barely started and we are on cloud 9. In the last weeks, we have welcomed UtrechtInc to join the ecosystem and now the newest location to join is Flint, the theater located in Amersfoort. The creative company that already has partnerships with several local establishments strives for connecting and facilitating growth around them, or for themselves. The creative setting gives an atmosphere of fun and productivity.
Flints join other three locations in Amersfoort: S2M Amersfoort CS, Meet & Discover and Peer. They all welcome co-workers in return for social capital, that is, the only condition for anyone to seat and work there, is that they are open to help and collaborate with others. Anyone checked at an S2M location can also see who is present at Flint on now.seats2meet.com, and connect to them online.
The location of name Flex @ Flint will be available for booking from March 1st on at Seats2meet.com. You can read more about it here.
The post S2M Welcomes Flint appeared first on Seats2meet.
The Desenolator provides water independence
Description:
Desenolator is an invention of Dutch engineer William Janssen with which you can purify water.
What is it?
It’s estimated that in the near future 3,5 billion people will suffer from a lack of clean water. Water that’s needed to drink, cook and wash. Villages in countries like India already struggle. The village Vizhinjam Kerala in India, which is situated by the sea, for example, relies on the transport of water by water trucks. The water is usable for three days only because it gets infested by worms. If there is a local problem with electricity it means no water can be pumped up, so the villagers have to survive without. The Desolenator could be a great solution for places like Vizhinjam. It purifies water and makes even seawater drinkable.
Why is it interesting?
About 70% of the world consists of water. Unfortunately, most of that water is salt, which means it’s undrinkable. Dutch engineer William Janssen came up with a solution: the Desolenator. The Desolenator is a stand-alone device which turns up to 4 gallons of undrinkable water into drinking water a day. It runs on solar power and holds no moving parts which make it durable. One Desolenator costs 450 dollars and lasts for 20 years. A price tag that may still be far too high for the poor in this world, but a lot more affordable than similar inventions. The company who produces the Desolenator work hard to get the costs down for it to be a real solution to the water problem in the world.
Key take away?
If you can turn seawater into drinking water with the help of effective and durable modern technology there will be no water crisis.
The post The Desenolator provides water independence appeared first on Seats2meet.
February 15, 2018
The exponential growth of podcasts
Being a content consumer and producer, having worked on one of the biggest media companies in the world, I reached the following conclusion: people will always consume content, the one thing that stays behind is the format in which it is consumed, but never the content itself. Thousands of years ago the human being was telling stories and passing them on through word of mouth. Some of them live on in the shape of drawings in caves, which are theorized to have preceded cinema itself.
In the dawn of the 20th century, the favorite vehicle in which our stories spread was radio. Families, or even entire villages, would gather around the talking box to hear stories, be them reality or fiction. Soon after that television brought images, and with them, the conclusion of the radio golden age. Yes, radio still exists. But it had to adapt. And it continued adjusting to the new technologies, one of which gave a freshness to the spoken stories. We are talking about the internet.
As before you would have to buy a radio to listen to it, now everyone who owns a device with a connection to the world wide web can access radio. The radio producers were quick to realize that and responded by adapting to their new audience. Some of them weren’t that agile. And instead of changing, they just offered the same format of content but in a different medium. Those who adapted created something completely different from what they already had, and that’s podcasts. To their surprise – or not – the infamous millennials love it! And the market only grows, as the infographic made by the University Saint Paul shows.
The infographic shows that in the last three years alone the number of Americans who listen to podcasts doubled. Together with the audience, the number of companies paying for ads also grew, and the revenue that used to be of 69 million dollars for this market skyrocketed to 220 million. The trend is not limited to the United States, but podcasts are gaining momentum worldwide.
Ask your neighbor
I asked the people sitting at S2M to know who is doing podcasts and got great answers, which you can read here. I separated the link of the podcasts so you can get to know what the coworkers around you, and Seats2meet users have been doing.
Angéle Bakker – Vibe Podcasts
Angéle was the first one to reply me, beyond recording podcasts for a while, she also created an online course for anyone who wants to start. You can know more about it clicking here.
Ronnie Couwenberg – Mind Your Business
Ronnie worked on the podcast Mind Your Business at the beginning of 2017, and now they are promoted by the BNR radio.
Peter Joosten – Project Leven
Peter Joosten asks the question “how can we become a superhuman?” in his podcast Project Leven. The question is answered by several experts. If you love his podcast, you can support him on Patreon!
Jethro Hardeman – ZorgInnovisie
Jethro Hardeman interviews influencers and innovators. His goal? Empower and facilitate innovation by spreading knowledge.
The post The exponential growth of podcasts appeared first on Seats2meet.
Restaurant Syr zoekt een bedrijfsleider
Is deze bijzondere uitdaging jou op het lijf geschreven?
Wij bieden:
– een mooie plek om maatschappelijke impact te maken
– een kans om meerwaarde te halen uit culturele verschillen
– een plek om een vernieuwende invulling te geven aan het begrip gastvrijheid
– jouw kans om ondernemerschap te ontwikkelen
Wij zoeken:
– een zeer warm gevoel voor gastvrijheid en een hoog ambitieniveau op dit vlak
– natuurlijk leiderschap en sterke focus op de ontwikkeling van de teamleden
– interculturele sensitiviteit en affiniteit
– ervaring met het commercieel, administratief en financieel leiden van een horeca onderneming
– oog voor detail en esthetiek
– goede kennis van de Nederlandse (horeca) wet- en regelgeving
– goede beheersing Nederlandse en Engelse taal
Reacties of tips graag vóór 18 februari naar: mijnvolgendestap@restaurantsyr.nl
De gouden tip belonen wij met een dankbaar diner voor 2!
Meer informatie: Ivo Sillé | 06-42056162
The post Restaurant Syr zoekt een bedrijfsleider appeared first on Seats2meet.
February 14, 2018
Robot Love
Guest post by Ine Poppe
Today its the 14th February, Valentine’s Day. This special day is recognized in many regions around the world as a significant cultural end commercial celebration of romantic love. The person you love the most will become aware of that fact on this specific day by social media, apps, letters, flowers, chocolate or other forms of attention.
Yesterday evening at Tech Tuesday Marc Buma and Ine Poppe talked about PIP, a chatbot that’s looking for love, longing for contact with (lonely) human beings.
A huge crowd gathered at Tech Tuesday. The general atmosphere was positive: the public was genuinely interested in the several subjects presented that night.
After introducing themselves, Ine (with an art/ film background) and Marc (with a technical background) started to tell why they are are interested in bots. They started PIP, the ultimate LOVE bot, as part of the Robot Love project for the Dutch Design Week 2018. Robot Love is an exhibition / symposium (complete with book and website) around the question: ‘Can we humans learn something from robots about love?’
PIP, made by old style technology, is one of the tools for Poppe’s artistic research. PIP is made in AIML, just like the first psychological chatterbot Eliza. Eliza, made by MIT Prof. Joseph Weizenbaum is based on Rogerian psychotherapy. In this therapy the answers of the users (or patients) are mirrored by the bot. F.i. user: I am depressed. Eliza: Why are you depressed? User: I have a bad relation with my father. Eliza: Tell me more about the bad relation with your father. Etcetera.
Eliza ‘s father Joseph Weizenbaum was interested in the ethics of AI and was really angry that some of his colleagues like Marvin Minsky believed that they could make machine that resembles a human. Weizenbaum thought philosophically about the implications of Artificial Intelligence and became one of its leading critics. Nowadays Eliza and Pip have a lot of brothers and sisters, to mention some: ALICE, Parry, Jabberwacky, Cleverbot.
Poppe and Buma revealed in their talk some of PIPs character, language, preferences and his/her/its behavior. PIP asks if you agree with him/her for the usage of the conversations for an art project. All these data are anonymous. Most computer programs that conduct a conversation through textual methods, like PIP, are designed to convincingly simulate how a human would behave as a conversational partner, thereby passing the Turing test. The makers of PIP are interested in the flaws and strange conversations. During this talks some people are surprisingly open and share their most intimate feelings, while others express their deepest aggression to something so alien and not understanding.
In one part of the presentation Ine presented some art projects done with Cleverbot, like two chat bots talking to each other and a short film written by cleverbot.
Part of PIP’ conversations will be used for the ROBOT LOVE book but also for a sound sculpture with human voices, shown in Eindhoven sept/ oct 2018.
Next, Marc showed what is going on in PIPs brain and give some tips about building your own chatbot. Topics that were discussed are chatbot technology, bot creation platforms and artificial intelligence markup language (AIML).
So please have a revealing chat with PIP your self!
https://robotlove.nl/
The post Robot Love appeared first on Seats2meet.
United Wardrobe is looking for an Android engineer
Opportunity via United Wardrobe
About the job
We have three main frontends: native iOS app, native Android app and an AngularJS responsive web app. The Android app is the fastest growing frontend amongst them.
We currently only use Java for the Android app, but we’re open to adding Kotlin if you’re interested. We support Jelly Bean (SDK 16) and later.
You will be responsible for implementing new functionalities in the app. New features are A/B tested before being launched (data-driven product development). There are multiple team members familiar with Android development, but there is no specialised Android team. You’ll be the first step in the direction of a dedicated Android team!
What we have to offer
Work on an innovative product that’s used by millions of users.
Learn a lot. We move fast, so we’re used to making mistakes and learn!
Competitive wage based on your relevant experience.
Travel compensation from train station to train station, monthly compensation for bring-your-own-device or you get a company laptop (MacBook Pro).
Free daily lunch together + our own bar for Friday afternoon drinks.
What we expect from you
At least 2 years of experience as a developer
Fast learner
Comfortable with speaking English or English is your native language
Comfortable with working in a young and dynamic team
Comfortable with taking responsibility for the Android app
Apply at United Wardrobe
The post United Wardrobe is looking for an Android engineer appeared first on Seats2meet.
