Ruigrok | NetPanel, research partner of The Next Web, conducts online research to measure webusage of consumers. Every year, results are compared to the year before to discover or uncover trends on the usage of the web. What kind of websites and applications do we use, in an active or more passive way? How active are we on online networks and mobile internet?
And, with all of our personal information we leave on the web, how do we think and act on behalf of our ‘online identity’? How do we spend and earn money online? And how do we feel about the usability of websites in general? And more..
The complete report of The Next Web 2009 will be available online (in Dutch) by the end of April. This report will contain target groups (women verses men, young versus old etcetera).
Sadly, the mam himself has not been immune to the darker elements of the web. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, he describes his first encounter with online crime:
“The worst thing that has happened to me was when I tried to buy a Christmas present from a company that looked like a bona fide company on the internet and then actually they were a completely fake company. I think I am yet to get the money back, but it wasn’t a lot.
The moment I called the 0800 number listed on the website, there was a very polite message saying this number is available if you would like to use it, so a little bit of due diligence on my part would have revealed it wasn’t what it was set up to be.”
The pioneer maintains a level head regarding the matter:
There have been many positive things about the web, but there are also some nasty things out there too. You can find out how to cure diseases, but you can also find out how to make bombs.
Sometimes we need new laws, but in other cases we need to realise that old laws can still be applied to the web.
We need to tackle issues of enforcement instead, as the laws on fraud, for example, already exist but is hard to find and catch the people responsible.
Despite the crime the internet has brought – which seems to still be actively growing despite the economic downturn – we are unquestionably fortunate to have the internet at our finger tips today. In time, like in any other new environment, I’m certain we will learn to control and manage better than ever before.
Written on 13th February 2009
11 COMMENTS Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
Nowadays there really is very little that we have been able to do on our desktop, that we aren’t able to do online. One area which has yet to have enjoyed that level of portability however is coding – that looks set to change.
Today, Mozilla have introduced probably the worlds first quality web based code editing tool and it goes by the name of Bespin.
Bespin was designed to help make coding easier, slick, accessible from anywhere and collaborative, with this first release it appears they have taken great strides to achieving those goals.
The tool is fast, cleanly designed and what’s more – it’s ready to play with immediately. Some of the most impressive features include the following:
Integrated command-line
Fast
Collaborative editing
Syntax highlighting
Open source code base
A very nice dark color scheme
Innovative and productive file browser
All of the source code behind Bespin is being released as open source which should lead to some pretty dramatic improvements and changes in the short to medium term.
For now however, have a watch of the video below introducing Bespin or head over to Mozilla Labs and try it out for yourself – if you code, you’ll be impressed. There is also a Google Groups discussion group available for all your queries and issues.
Written on 30th January 2009
11 COMMENTS Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
Designer Brian Ussery spotted a reference to the GDrive in a file within Google’s suite of apps, the Google Pack.
The file places the GDrive within an “online file backup and storage” category and describes the application in two separate lines:
1. GDrive provides reliable storage for all of your files, including photos, music and documents
2. GDrive allows you to access your files from anywhere, anytime, and from any device – be it from your desktop, web browser or cellular phone’
This clearly implies a confirmation of plans for the GDrive plus the ability to access your files and information from multiple locations. With inclusion in the “Google Pack”, we can also assume there will be a desktop application as well…online storage startups, be prepared.
Written on 25th December 2008
3 COMMENTS Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
In the UK, more than five million people are expected to have used the internet to catch early opening Christmas sales today.
Online retail group IMRG estimates more than £100m will be spent online, compared with £84m spent last year. It’s estimated 5.24 million people will have taken advantage of big discounts today, outnumbering church service visitors of approximately 4.5 million people.
Many high street stores have begun their sales on Christmas day including John Lewis and Marks & Spencer. With other high street stores offering sales of over 70% from early morning Boxing Day.
I personally feel it’s a sad case of affairs when people are choosing to spend this special day shopping for early bargains rather than spending quality time with family. However, it’s clear the economic climate has taken it’s toll and whether it’s Christmas Day, New Years Day or a birthday – people will sacrifice whatever is required to keep money in their pocket.
Written on 22nd October 2008
6 COMMENTS Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
Being an outliner fan, I am constantly looking for new & better online options to compete with the beloved Omni Outliner for the Mac (who have just released a newer version by the way). Why I love outliners so much & find them so useful – i’ll explain in another post. For this post however, I’d like to give a good overview of what’s out there at the moment & what, I believe, you should be using.
If you’re not familiar with outliners, they are typically used for collecting and/or organising notes, todo lists, codes and/or ideas – and are called Outliners because they are organised in outline fashion or as a tree-like structure. Still unsure? Read on – you’ll soon get the idea!
Sproutliner
Potentially a great but currently out of date, unsecure to use on their site (which really is just for demo purposes) – the downloadable currently open source version needs a major update before I would recommend usage in any sort of work environment.
No import or export or strong collaborative sharing functionality. Fast & great use of shortcuts but all in all best to give this one a miss until someone decides to give it an update.
Todoist What I currently use as my todo list – although I may be moving. It’s undoubtedly a great tool, superb use of keyboard shortcuts, fast, gmail integration, quicksilver & launchy integration, igoogle/netvibes gadget & mac/yahoo widgets. Drag & drop works brilliantly. Great search facility, however only available on premium subscription which is only $3 a month. This also brings a cool tagging feature & reminders.
No easy way to import or export. I can’t embed images or video into it which is frustrating. Mass changing of tasks / lists is difficult. No mobile/iphone version & no sharing/collaborative features. My major qualm is the little new added features recently & are a bunch of requests- no surprise considering the developer needs to spend most of his time developing at Plurk.
Checkvist
New to the game is checkvist & it looks very promising – potentially a bigger & better todoist. Ability to create multiple outlines very easily. Clean & simple to use. Ability to share outlines & strong commenting feature which makes it ultra special in my book. You can embed images or video into it which is very cool. Currently no due dates or other add-ons (email/calendar integrations) – but it’s early days.
At TheNextWeb.org we like to look forward and talk about events as they happen. But today I would like to look back and make you remember the very first time you went online. How did it feel? What did you do? How did it change your life?
My first time online was in 1995. I had bought a modem after I graduated from art school and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. A local ISP was very helpful with setting up ‘Config PPP’ and TCP/IP on my Macintosh Quadra 660AV. The whole procedure took us about two hours. I was one of the fist Apple Macintosh clients the ISP had. I think the whole company consisted of just one guy with a bunch of modems under his bed.
Getting connected took a few minutes and started with the familiar screeching sounds every modem used to make when trying to connect. It generally took multiple tries to get connected and often I would get disconnected without reason mid-session anyway. My dial-up speed was 14.4k and the first browser I used was Mosaic but I used that only to get to Netscape and then used Fetch to download a version of Netscape.
I don’t remember what version of Netscape I used but do remember the 2.0 version coming out not long after I got online. I also remember that a new version of HTML was introduced which allowed background images. Suddenly the web looked so much cooler!
My Macintosh Centris 660AV
Within a day or two I realized I wanted to build homepages too and had to learn HTML. So I got on my bike and went looking for a book that would teach me HTML. I remember vividly sitting in my parents garden reading my “HTML 1.0″ book and trying to explain to my parents how incredibly exciting that was.
Within a week or so I had built my first homepage which relied heavily on my Apple Quicktake 1.0 and Photoshop 1.0. Unfortunately within a month my ISP took my site offline because it was generating too much traffic. Ever since I have been hooked.
So, now it is your turn. When did you go online and what happened?
The Netherlands welcomes its first online TV network for professionals in the fields of internet, media and communication industry. Co-founder Ronnie Overgoor announced the channel Blueshots.tv earlier today. Programs will include recent affairs show ‘View the news’, and GURUS, which consists of interviews with gurus by our co-editor Boris.
During another show, called SHE, female entrepreneurs will be interviewed about their ambitions and careers. Marianne van Leeuwen, founder of Sisteract.eu and undersigned will present the program.
All programs will be available on the web (YouTube) and mobile as of October 2008.
Written on 17th April 2009
0 COMMENTS 
Written on 16th March 2009
Just last week, we let you know of the 
Bespin was designed to help make coding easier, slick, accessible from anywhere and collaborative, with this first release it appears they have taken great strides to achieving those goals.
Designer 
In the UK, more than five million people are expected to have used the internet to catch early opening Christmas sales today.
What I currently use as my todo list – although I may be moving. It’s undoubtedly a great tool, superb use of keyboard shortcuts, fast, gmail integration, quicksilver & launchy integration, igoogle/netvibes gadget & mac/yahoo widgets. Drag & drop works brilliantly. Great search facility, however only available on premium subscription which is only $3 a month. This also brings a cool tagging feature & reminders.
Written on 4th July 2008
The Next Web Blog is closely associated with The Next Web Conference which is held annually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At this event speakers from all over the world come together to talk about, and show off, the future of the Web. (More info 
