chat roulette from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.

The video above (via alt1040) explains Chatroulette better than I would.  My experience with it has been mixed, but it reminds me a lot of the old BBS/ICQ free-for-all 10 years ago.  I’ve read metaphors comparing it to TV zapping with people, but I think it’s more akin a people player in shuffle mode.  Some of the nice people I’ve found (after nexting all the flying male body parts) included:

• A bored Filipina (at 3 a.m. her time) asking what music was I playing (Nortec Collective, of course).
• A Dutch law student with a great sense of humour.
• A German dude interested in banking for development (we were chatting about Muhammad Yunus)
• Random male stranger asking questions on existential philosophy (my conclusion is he had watched The Matrix too many times).
• A Texan in his 50’s very interested to know my views on the Mexican drug violence situation.
• A French literature student just interested in a chat, also with a really nice sense of humour.
• A young Indian female doctor waiting for her night shift to start who gave me a couple of nice suggestions of Indian indie after I mentioned I collect “local rock” from all over the place.

Serendipituous, yes. Extreme, sometimes (but you can also next them or even better report them, jerks!). An interesting study of the human condition, absolutely.

Mexican public finances are not in the best of shapes given the economic crisis and the extremely difficult year so far for the country, so in their budget proposal for the next year Congress has proposed to raise taxes on pretty much everything instead of trimming down public spending further and closing useless ministries and bureaucratic institutions.

One “small detail” that has gotten pretty much every Mexican netizen riled up is a raise of 3% on telecommunications, including the use of internet, as Congress considers it a “luxury good”.  Great way of stifle the development of the nation even further, especially when comparing it to what is going in in places like Finland where brodband access is a right (which doesn’t mean it’s subsidised by the state).  Here in Finland it is understood that connectivity brings economic advantages and growth, unlike our prehistoric Mexican politicians.

Currently on my N85:

• Mail for Exchange
• Share Online 4.0 with Ovi Share & Flickr
• Maps 3.0 with Ovi Maps
• Nokia Messaging for Ovi Mail, Gmail & private inbox.
• Ovi Files widget
• Worldmate
• Sports Tracker
• Windows Live Messenger
• Ovi Contacts
• Conversation
• Mobbler for Last.fm
• Ovi Sync
• Flixwagon
• 118 Mobile

Plus bookmarks for:

• Facebook
• El Universal
• BBC News
• Helsingin Sanomat
• Dopplr
• Google Reader
• Ping.fm
• Twitter
• Ilmatieteen laitos

Thankfully I have a flat rate data plan, and WLAN hotspots at work and at home.

Funny how certain topics tend to resurface every once in a while.  A year ago we were discussing the advantages of treating your internet presence as a branding exercise, and yesterday marketing guru Seth Godin gave a great example of why you should do so.

Be yourself but remember: you’re in candid camera.

Dopplr annual travel report 2008

Originally uploaded by Chiva Congelado

Kept rather busy last year traveling except for the last few months. This year won’t be so much, looks like.

The guys from Dopplr definitely know how to make it look good regardless.  All the related photos are online, as usual.

Wii users answer: Are you doing anything to counter global warming?

Originally uploaded by Chiva Congelado

I found this in the Everybody Votes Channel of my Wii. What worried me was that over 40% of the respondents aren’t doing something about a very real threat.

So, you might have read the presumed advantages of treating yourself as a branded product.  Now, where do you start?  I'd suggest your Facebook profile and your blog.  I don't think you need to "spin" anything really, but be certainly aware that whatever you put in there will be visible to everybody, including co-workers and prospective (or current) employers.  Therefore, less pictures of drunken parties might be in order.

Another key aspect is of course differentiation.  What do you do/are/think that makes you different?  Do you play in a band?  Have you got a blog with a huge readership (that's definitely not me, LOL)?  Were you born in a foreign country?  Even seemingly minor details like the way you dress will make people remember you. 

And of course, you have to build your brand.  Trust and lots of hard work will take you far.  Otherwise, it's got no substance.

You might have read it on the news, or on their blog, but it’s out there at share.ovi.com, and it’s been live for over a week.  With support for storing and sharing over 100 media types, unlimited storage and bandwidth and posting not restricted to the PC, we’re very excited indeed, so please send your feedback this way!

We held a Q&A session in Barcelona with selected bloggers (video excrepts below).

And this is how a session like that looks from the other side:

"Convergence" is a word I've heard plenty of times in the last 10 years, when mobile phones still had monochromatic screens and Minidisc players were all the rage.  Now, with Google and Apple entering the mobile market, it's definitely getting interesting.  The IHT has a run on the situation here, and a couple of posts from Mobile Opportunity giving a digest of the most recent moves here and here.

Disclaimer: Yes, I work for one of these companies, but even if it weren't related to my job I find this interesting.