Marcel van Marrewijk's Blog, page 98

S2M 10 Jaar – Lenneke van Rossum

During the festival that took place at Seats2meet Utrecht CS to celebrate the 10 years of Seats2meet, Martijn Arets, from Crowd Expedition, made several interviews. Here is the one with Lenneke van Rossum, the person responsible for international relations at Seats2meet international.

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TIS Picks: 5 Top Robots and AI Videos

Our Robots & AI archive has grown to 130+ videos! Quite cool to have a vast collection of world-wide examples of how robots can help us become more efficient, can teach each other and help us in our daily lives. There are many videos that have amazed us, including several artificial intelligence videos. Here’s our top 5 pick from the best and most breathtaking videos on Robots & AI.

1. 3D-printed robots

The Distributed Robotics Laboratory at Dartmouth College has come up with a way to print robots! Using multi-material additive-manufacturing techniques they offer an alternative to conventional rigid and soft robot fabrication. All mechanical components of this robot are printed in a single step with no assembly required. Just add a battery.

Just watched TIS.tv: Printable Hydraulic Robots

According to Johan Schaap ‟No need to assemble, this robot from MIT comes out of your 3D printer as one machine…www.tis.tv
2. Autobots

In September 2016, the Turkish company Letvision has surprised the world with its real-life Transformer that is made out of a BMW. The prototype called Antimon doesn’t walk, but that functionality can be added later if the company finds additional funding.

Just watched TIS.tv: Rise Of LETRONS (Official Video)

According to Simone de Bruin ‟The Turkish company Letvision has transformed a BMW into a real life Autobot! “www.tis.tv
3. Biomimicry in robots

In designing robots many companies have looked towards nature for inspiration. In this video you will see some really cool robotic snakes, dogs and kangaroos!

Just watched TIS.tv: Awesome Robots Inspired By Animals

According to Johan Schaap ‟Robo-inspiration! Watch this robot snake, dog, dragonfly, cheetah, kangaroo and bird move…www.tis.tv
4. AI — how far have we come?

Neil Jacobstein, Chairman of AI and Robotics at Singularity University beliefs strongly in artificial intelligence and robotics. He sees revolutionary progress in these fields every 18–20 months. Results get better. And cheaper. However, humans are still better at asking the right questions.

Just watched TIS.tv: Neil Jacobstein (Singularity University):

According to Simone de Bruin ‟At Singularity University NL Summit we talked with Neil Jacobstein, expert on human and…www.tis.tv
5. AI — robots & ethics

Andrew Smart is author of the book Beyond Zero and One which focuses on machines and consciousness. We talked with him during the Border Sessions Festival and discussed weak and strong artificial intelligence, ethics and whether robots can trip on acid.

Just watched TIS.tv: #BSF16 Andrew Smart: Can You Program Ethics in AI?

According to Simone de Bruin ‟At Border Sessions Festival 2016 we talked with Andrew Smart, author of Beyond Zero and…www.tis.tv

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Watch the S2M 10 Jaar festival

Last Monday Seats2meet Utrecht CS hosted the S2M 10 Years festival. A celebration of the past decade and all that has been accomplished during it. With a full program for 9 straight hours and #S2M10jaar becoming trend topic on the Dutch twitter, the party went beyond expectations. And if you missed it, you don’t have to worry about it! Here are a few ways of catching up with what happened.

The afternoon program

Watch the first part of the afternoon program with inspirational talks from:

Ronald van den Hoff, co-founder of Seats2meet and author of Society 3.0

Martijn Aslander, author of Easycratie and Nooit Af

Jan Willem Alphenaar

Ermi van Oers, creator of Living Light

Olivier, an 11-year-old entrepreneur

Frank Kolkman, who created a DIY surgery machine

Watch the whole Facebook live here

P.S.: You can skip the first two minutes as we had some technical issues.

Fast Moving Targets

The special show was hosted during the festival in the S2M Utrecht CS location, with Marielle Sijgers, the co-founder of Seats2meet, as a co-host.

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Ikbenfrits, dé onafhankelijke hypotheekadviseur voor zp’ers

Dit is mijn eerste blog voor Seats2meet. Daarom stel ik mezelf en het bedrijf waar ik voor werk even voor: Ikbenfrits. Een online hypotheekadviseur die gespecialiseerd is in hypotheken voor zp’ers (zelfstandige professionals). De komende maanden zullen mijn blogs gaan over hoe je als zp’er een hypotheek kan afsluiten.

‘Dit moet makkelijker kunnen’

Laat ik beginnen bij het begin. Een goeie vriend van me vroeg iets meer dan twee jaar geleden of ik hem kon helpen met iets uitzoeken voor zijn hypotheek. Zelf kom ik met mijn studie Technische Natuurkunde niet uit de financiële sector. Maar ik besloot toch om te kijken of ik hem kon helpen. Toen ontdekte ik voor het eerst hoe dingen nodeloos ingewikkeld worden gemaakt in de financiële dienstverlening. Ik weet nog dat ik bij mezelf dacht: ‘dit moet makkelijker kunnen.’

‘Waarom die naam?’

Zo is het idee voor Ikbenfrits ontstaan. Samen met twee anderen (Thomas de Leeuw en Joost Schulze) die ik uit Delft ken hebben we Ikbenfrits opgericht. Zij hadden ook eenzelfde soort ervaring als ik gehad. ‘Waarom die naam?’ denk je misschien. Frits is eigenlijk een soort willekeurige naam. Van een slimme gast waarvan je de naam even kwijt bent.

Frits is een outsider

Frits is een outsider in de financiële wereld die dingen tot de bodem uit wil zoeken. Met een onbevangen maar kritische blik wil hij dingen beter en transparanter maken. We zijn bij Ikbenfrits gek op kleine lettertjes. Als we iets vreemd vinden in de voorwaarden van een bank die hypotheken verstrekt dan trekken we meteen aan de bel. Zo hebben we ontdekt dat banken veel te hoge boetes rekenen als mensen tussentijds van hypotheek willen veranderen. Hiermee zijn we op televisie geweest, in Radar. Vervolgens zijn er kamervragen over gesteld. En dat terwijl er hier maar 13 mensen werken.

We zijn cijferaars

Door onze ‘Delftse’ achtergrond van technische studies hebben we een natuurlijke voorliefde voor cijfertjes. Ons doel is om het hele proces van een hypotheek afsluiten efficiënter en transparanter te maken. Dit doen we door slimme rekentools te bouwen waarmee je snel een duidelijk inzicht hebt in je mogelijkheden. Sinds kort hebben we ook een tool speciaal voor zelfstandige ondernemers. Hiernaast werken we er elke dag hard aan om nog meer dingen in het proces te automatiseren.

We zijn onafhankelijk

Last but not least: Frits is onafhankelijk. We geloven erin om klanten eerlijk te adviseren. Ook als we daar zelf geen financieel gewin bij hebben. We rekenen namelijk pas kosten als je ook echt een hypotheek afsluit. Waarom we het zo doen en niet gewoon een uurtarief rekenen? Omdat we ervan overtuigd zijn dat mensen terug zullen komen als je ze eerlijk adviseert. En dat ze ons aanraden bij hun familie en vrienden.

Volgende keer…

…ga ik dieper in op het hele proces van een hypotheek afsluiten als zp’er. Er komt namelijk nogal wat bij kijken. Maar het is niet zo moeilijk als veel zelfstandige ondernemers soms denken. In de tussentijd ben ik wel benieuwd of jij je al wel eens hebt georiënteerd op een hypotheek. En waar je eventueel tegenaan liep. Laat een reactie achter hier beneden.

 

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Nice Shirt!

Meet Gerben and Gerwin. In 2016 they established the Netherlands’ most positive clothing brand: Supermegaflex. This non-profit is all about spreading a smile by selling slow fashion (GOTS certified!) with joyous prints.



‘Nice shirt!’ is how it all started. An exclamation which sparked many cheerful chats with strangers. Gerben was vacationing in Florida. And people over there loved his t-shirt. The print? ‘Have a nice day!’ Simple as that. Gerben thought: “Let’s start spreading positivity through our clothes!”



Meanwhile in the Netherlands… his cousin Gerwin began to realize how little clothes one actually needs. He just returned home from a pilgrimage where he spent weeks living out of a daypack. Had he missed anything? Nope! A slow fashion fan was born.



And that’s how their plans got together. They just dove into the mysterious world of clothing. It took Gerwin and Gerben 1,5 years to learn about all producing clothes. They looked for the best fabric, fitting size and design. They went to Izmir in Turkey to follow the whole supply chain. The result? Sustainably sourced, fairtrade AND supercomfy sweaters and t-shirts which #spreadpositivity.



Because Supermegaflex Order a sweater for €67 and get a t-shirt (worth €37) for free. Grab your discount by using the promo code S2M at checkout. Get yours here – the promotion is running until December 31st 2017.



PS. So far we only sell sweaters and t-shirts for men. Ladies, we’d like to keep you posted! Subscribe to our newsletter here.

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iPhone Photography School is looking for a service costumer agent

Opportunity via WeWorkRemotely

WORK CAN BE FUN, EDUCATIONAL AND SOMETHING THAT MAKES YOU SO EXCITED THAT YOU JUMP OUT OF BED EACH MORNING.

So why settle for a boring job? Instead, get paid to create, learn and grow with brilliant young people who accomplish things that everyone else calls impossible – over and over again.

WHAT WE DO: BEAUTY AND JOY

We’re an exceptional company of artists, geeks and marketers. Our goal is to bring joy to people’s lives by inspiring and empowering them to create beautiful photos with iPhone. Regardless of your role in the company, your work will help millions of people appreciate the beauty in the world around them.

WHAT’S IT LIKE TO WORK AT IPHONE PHOTOGRAPHY SCHOOL?

Imagine collaborating and hanging out with some of the smartest, craziest and most passionate people in the world. Learning from the freshest and most innovative ideas in business and technology. Having the freedom to do great work without management getting in your way. All in a fun and positive way.

Our company takes customer satisfaction seriously, which is why we make sure that customer queries and questions are answered quickly but carefully. As our customer service agent, you’ll be working together with the rest of our team to ensure a high level of customer satisfaction by answering customer questions and solving other issues via email and social media.

So we want to work with you if…
 – You love helping other people
 – You’re patient and don’t get upset easily
 – You can answer complex questions simply
 – You don’t mind doing somewhat repetitive tasks
 – You have some interest in photography
 – You have excellent written English

Apply here

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SurveyMonkey is looking for an UX/Product Designer

Opportunity via WeWorkRemotely

About SurveyMonkey

SurveyMonkey is the world’s leading provider of web-based survey solutions, and we’re looking to transform the way people make decisions. We’re a smart, passionate group of people who work hard to deliver the best survey experiences on the planet, period. We believe everyone deserves easy access to the information and insights they need to make great decisions.

We’re also proud to admit that despite our incredible growth over the past 17 years, we refuse to grow up. We stay curious. We believe in good ol’ roll-up-your-sleeves scrappiness. Everyone plays an impactful role, because we’re here to make a difference. And when we say good ideas can come from anyone, we mean it.

SurveyMonkey is trusted by millions of customers, including 99% of the Fortune 500, as well as other businesses, academic institutions and organizations of all shapes and sizes. We collect over 3 million survey responses daily from people in all countries around the world.

About SurveyMonkey Business Solutions

SurveyMonkey is the world’s most popular survey platform. While it is a great general-purpose tool used by millions, there is ample opportunity for more specialized solutions. That’s where we come in. We build standalone, targeted SaaS products that bring great UX to solving more specific business problems.

To date, our 10-person team has shipped three products:


SurveyMonkey CX – Measure and improve customer satisfaction
SurveyMonkey Engage – Understand and foster employee engagement
TechValidate – Source and publish 3rd-party verified customer proof

We operate each solution as a small startup within the larger SurveyMonkey organization. This affords us flexibility to quickly try new ideas, but with the resources of larger company. Our goal — and our track record — is to build high growth, profitable businesses that leverage the enormous user base of SurveyMonkey.

Who We’re Looking For

We’re looking for a talented designer with demonstrable experience working on user-friendly SaaS applications. Your portfolio should demonstrate the ability to design for all screen sizes from mobile to desktop. You should also be comfortable writing clear, concise UI copy.

Strong visual design, product design, usability, and communication skills are essential. Technical skills such as CSS, Javascript, and familiarity with Ruby on Rails are also a strong plus, though not required. Experience mentoring and/or managing junior designers would also be a big plus.

If you like working closely with developers and other designers and love designing data-rich visualizations, we should talk. If you think of yourself as a product designer as much as a UX designer, we should definitely talk. If you have some Tufte books on your shelf and are the kind of person others look to to tease out subtle edge cases in an interface, we should absolutely talk.

Why Work Here?

We are a remote team. As long as your work day overlaps the Pacific timezone by at least four hours, where you live and work and up to you. We’re not strangers though — in addition to a sane amount of video calls, we meet up quarterly to get to know each other better and have some fun. In the past year, we’ve been bowling in Phoenix, made sushi in San Francisco, and toured a brewery.

We are strong believers in work-life balance. We know world class work can be done in just forty hours a week when distractions are minimized and the pace is sustainable. As such, you will be expected to be a manager of one.

Naturally, we offer competitive salaries and annual bonuses, medical/dental benefits, generous PTO, 401k, paid holidays, and meaningful equity compensation. We also supply you with top of the line equipment for your home office.

Finally, in a world of clunky “enterprise” software, we consider great UX and visual design to be a strategic advantage, and we need you to help us keep improving. Our track record gives our team a lot of autonomy — this is your chance to rethink how “business solutions” should look and function, and to have fun while doing it.

The Team

Our ten person team is responsible for building products from soup to nuts. We often wear many hats and work across both the technical stack and departments. You’ll have the opportunity to work with people who have successfully launched (and sold) products.

Most of us choose to focus on one solution at a time. We feel this allows us to fully embrace and understand our customer needs and develop a deep technical understanding of the problem domain. However, we are also committed to sharing our work – not just with each other, but via open source contributions to our code library, Pano.

Outside of work, we are well-rounded people with diverse interests from winemaking to music to sculpture. Several of us have kids (and we actually get to see them).

Join us.

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Spargle.nl is looking for a Brand Manager

Vacature via Spargle.nl

Ben jij de strategische Brand Manager die een merk duurzaam weet te versterken? Boost je carrière in een internationale omgeving! Start op de marketingafdeling bij één van de grootste retailers in bloemen en planten.

De functie

In de functie van Brand Manager ben je verantwoordelijk voor het ontwikkelen, stimuleren en managen van een relevant, onderscheidend en duurzaam merk dat toegevoegde waarde biedt voor de kwekers en hun klanten. De Brand Manager werkt overkoepelend over alle marketing en communicatie heen en heeft de rol van ‘verbinder’.

Wie zoeken we?

Je bent een stevige beïnvloeder en bruggenbouwer en in staat om de uitdagingen van marketing in een ‘coöperatie’ model en een sector in ontwikkeling om te zetten in een visie en activiteiten. Jij kan als teamplayer (directe) collega’s en stakeholders beïnvloeden, inspireren en in beweging krijgen.

Skills

Een WO diploma;
Minimaal 5 jaar relevante strategische brand management ervaring als Brandmanager in een B2B omgeving;
Aantoonbare ervaring met het werken in grote en complexe organisaties die in transitie is met diverse behoeften en belangen;
Aantoonbare ervaring in een marketing gedreven organisatie waarin het denken vanuit klantbehoeften en merken centraal staat;
Strategisch inzicht en uitstekende communicatie- & adviesvaardigheden;
Een juiste mix van ‘out of the box’ en resultaatgericht denken.

Leuk, wanneer kan ik beginnen?

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Expert Selection: Ingenious Solutions And Technology In West Africa

Dr. Monk

Lynn Zebeda and Ama van Dantzig are Dr. Monk. ‘Dr. Monk heals the world. Makes it a better place. For you and for me and the man in the mirror. You are not alone!’

Just watched TIS.tv: Kunle Adeyemi’s I Makoko floating school

According to Erwin Blom ‟Kunle Adeyemi’s floating school – An innovative prototype, floating structure, powered with…www.tis.tv

Our selection focuses on ingenious solutions and technology in West Africa, one of our favourite canvases for innovation. But watching between the lines, these topics actually represent the interconnectedness of our world. Because why is e-waste booming business in Ghana? And why are coastal communities flooding? With climate change catastrophes looming, the video of Makoko floating school is a beautiful and brave example of what we can do for coastal communities around the world.

Just watched TIS.tv: African inventor makes 3D printer from scrap

According to Erwin Blom ‟Using rails and belts from old scanners, the case of a discarded desktop computer, a 3D…www.tis.tv

Kodjo Afata Gnikou has done it: he built a 3D printer for less than $100, potentially solving Togo’s e-waste problem while at it.

Just watched TIS.tv: Electronic Waste in Ghana

According to Erwin Blom ‟High tech toxic trash causes horrendous pollution.”www.tis.tv

Do you ever think about your second or third cellphone, your old printer or your 2004 laptop? The people in Agbogbloshie do.

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More About: Sharing Economy

 Less Is More

The sharing economy (collaborative economy) is an emerging socio-economic movement aimed at shared consumption of goods and services. Often making use of some form of communication technology (apps or websites) the sharing economy forms a vast community of people who share  homes ,  cars ,  bikes ,  boats , tools ,  books ,  pets , etc. It’s a great step forward and signifies a move away from consumerism. Actively sharing goods and services makes people save money, share experiences and prevent objects to be underutilized.

The sharing economy springs forth by two trends: unlike post-war generations, the current generation doesn’t feel the need to own everything themselves. Moreover, the internet connects you to a host of like-minded people who enjoy sharing experiences. Looking at what the sharing economy offers, you can divide it into four sections:

Collaborative consumption
Collaborative production
Collaborative education
Collaborative finance

In each of these sections, money is hardly of any importance. Trust is the new currency, and your (online) reputation is one to protect. Here’s a talk by sharing economy expert Rachel Botsman on the importance of trust.

Read on or watch a short animated overview of the sharing economy instead.

Collaborative consumption

Collaborative consumption enables a better allocation of resources by putting access before ownership. Share your (holiday) home with visitors from all around the globe with Airbnb or Couchsurfing. Let strangers share in your fuel expenses for a city trip with Blablacar. Drive people around town who are in need of a cheap taxi ride with Uber and SafeBoda. Help each other out by lending out your tools via Peerby. In terms of services, check out the platform TaskRabbit which connects people with jobs and tasks and people who can complete it.

Collaborative production

Collaborative production enables local manufacturing and creativity in maker labs, such as Fab Labs. These maker labs (once started by MITs Neil Gershenfeld) are workshops full of digital machines which provide low key access to makers. Think of the famous 3D-printers, laser engraving machines, vinyl cutters and digital sewing machines. An excellent video on this is the panel on Open Manufacturing: the new industrial revolution. Another great example which transcends geographical boundaries is open source software. It enables people from all over the world to download and work on the same code, making the end product more valuable and suited to specific needs.

Collaborative education

Collaborative education among others refers to the free Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) from universities and other organizations. You can now attend Harvard lectures from a computer screen in your living room. One of the bigger communities is the MOOC platforms Coursera. It’s a shame that this type of education is often not officially recognized, unlike an offline degree.

A second example of education in the sharing world — and the most famous — is of course Wikipedia! Everybody gets access to the same vast amount of information, which is updated by the public.

Collaborative finance

Collaborative finance enables innovators and makers to reach out to a global audience when looking for funding of ideas and project. In these so-called crowdfunding campaigns the audience is asked to invest in return for small rewards or a first edition of the product. Many products that otherwise would have never made it into existence, were fully funded and became a huge success. Examples are The Smog Free Tower, Zungle music glasses and Vi personal trainer. If you want to learn more about crowdfunding, here’s a good crowdfunding update by the biggest experts.

The most famous crowdfunding platform is the American Kickstarter, but there are many platforms out there, of which some focus on specific audiences: books (Unbound), movies (Tubestart), human-needs development projects (Get It Done), sports (MakeAChamp), etc.

Other great examples of the sharing economy:

Simbi — exchanging services and skills with other people
Simonetta Carbonaro — advocate of the sharing economy and product less
Neal Gorenflo — connecting people within the sharing economy
An African perspective — culture makes a difference
Sharing bro’s — traveling by only using the sharing economy

Watch more videos on  Sharing Economy .

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