Archive of thenextweb.com
Written on 20th October 2008
9 COMMENTS 
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, Serial Internet Entrepreneur
This weekend Apple approved our second iPhone app titled ‘iTips‘. We started development on the app during the Dutch iPhone Dev Day which was held August 30 here in Amsterdam.
The App is very simple but promises to be THE app every iPhone should buy first. It contains 100+ iPhone tips for beginners and experts and I’m sure that even YOU will discover a lot of things you didn’t know before.
Here are a few examples:
Apparently the App struck a cord because we have seen a nice amount of downloads in the first 24 hours since it is live. The app is only $0.99 in the US and €0.79 in Europe.
Of course you could also spend a few hours finding these tips online or by reading ALL the documentation you can find. If you value your time you might consider making us rich.
If you do: thank you! Download iTips from the iTunes store.
Written on 10th October 2008
0 COMMENTS
David Petherick, Contributing Editor, United Kingdom
The Next Web talks with Tim Bray at Future of Web Apps, London. Tim gives us some tips for the tough times ahead. He knows that even if he’s wrong, we should listen.
Mobile post sent by davidpetherick using Utterli. 
Replies. mp3
Written on 17th September 2008
1 COMMENT
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, Serial Internet Entrepreneur
Watch this video titled “How NOT To Use PowerPoint”. First laugh a little, then watch it again and actually listen to those tips. He IS right you know!
One of his quotes: “Powerpoint can just suck the life right out of you. It is amazing”
Go ahead, forward it to EVERYONE in your office…
Written on 14th August 2008
2 COMMENTS
Ayelet Noff, Next Web WebTipr Israel
There are different ways of optimizing your social application’s virality. Here are 8 great tips:
1) Create an application that gives value to the user. Ask yourself: “What would make me, as a user, add this application?” If you can’t come up with a good answer, you’re probably not thinking of the right application to make. As Tom Kincaid writes:
“Unfortunately, people will not flock to put something on their profiles just because YOU care about it. People will put something on their profile because it provides value to THEM.”
2) Give users incentives to share the application with their friends. You can use incentives such as ranking or virtual money which they can use to win prizes. Don’t require users to invite 20 of their friends to join the app before they can use it. This tactic is just annoying and many groups have already emerged on Facebook boycotting such applications.
3) Don’t create a one-time use application. These applications will be the first to be removed by users from their profiles since they render no continued added value to them.
4) Build an app which allows the user to increasingly enjoy it if his friends also join.
5) Make it easy to invite friends by providing a link in a visible spot and allow for different ways of sharing the application. For example, if you created a quiz application, allow people to send their results to their friends.
6) Build an application which allows for various interactions with friends, thereby increasing its visibility and adding value.
7) Allow users to create their own content. Users will want to promote and share the content that they created.
8) Make sure people know about your application. Promote your application in the right channels. If you created a dating app, make sure you’re promoting it in dating groups and communities.
It’s all about quality, folks
Hopefully these tips will help you create a more viral app, however, at the end of the day, these suggestions will only take you so far. Above all, In order for your app to be viral, it needs to be good. I know this is easier said then done, but I believe that with enough researching, brainstorming, and planning, you’ll be able to come up with something. For more information, check out my post: What Does It Take To Become A Sustainable Facebook App?
Written on 14th July 2008
7 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
An iPhone 3G doesn’t come cheap, in fact, most monthly plans are pretty expensive. Yet bloggers are constantly writing about ways to save some money with the shiny object – such as VoIP calling (and not having to buy an iPod or GPS system). This morning I stumbled on a money-saving plan that concerns the most unfairly priced mobile technology of our time: SMS texting. It’s ridiculous how much we have to pay for transferring such a small amount of data. If we had to download a song from iTunes for SMS data costs, we’d pay €3,770 (based on calculations by Sam from a gthing science project).
So I don’t know about you, but I welcome every possibility to take away some money from this billion dollar SMS business. Here’s one:
- Download and install the free AIM client from the App Store.
- In your IM client, create a new contact whose AIM address is a plus sign and the mobile number of the recipient, such as “+31641510902″.
- Start texting away by looking up the new buddy on your AIM software. He or she will receive a SMS text message, yet the reply will end up in your AIM client.
Just so you know, this also works with an iPod Touch.
Written on 17th March 2008
4 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Bestselling-author Tim Ferriss from The 4-hour Workweek has interviewed the founding editor of Lifehacker.com, Gina Trapani. The result is an interesting article that contains some useful tips for web workers. Since this is a Web 2.0 blog, I assume quite a lot of guys would call yourself a web worker. So I highlighted some of the best advices, for the other tips I gladly refer to the man we owe this interview to.
Trapani wants us to forget about the ‘2read’ tag:
“One simple but powerful habit is this: To act immediately on things as they come up. (…) If I see a web page that looks like it might be a good Lifehacker post at some point, instead of just bookmarking it for later, creating a draft post in Lifehacker’s publishing system on the spot. This practice requires some discipline to develop, especially when you’re feeling lazy or distracted, but it can make a huge difference.”
Monkey minds swinging from branch to branch
To some degree, I reject the super-structured, old school of time management thought, (..) From 10:45 to 11:15 check email,” etc. As a “web worker,” by nature I embrace serendipity and tangents, and like to keep myself open to working on unexpected things that excite me, even if they’re not in the plan. (..) At the same time, I think a lot of web workers like me can take this to the extreme, and need a dose of structure and limits in their day.
Open/ closed mindsets
Basically I’ve got two modes of work: loose/open, and focused/closed. When I’m in “open” mode, my instant messenger status is set to available, I’m surfing, writing, checking email, coding, listening to music with lyrics—getting things done, but in a multitasking way, open to interruptions and tangents. When I’m in focused/closed mode,I shut down IM, stop checking email, close any windows I’m not using, switch to my ambient music playlist, set a timer, and plow through whatever I’ve got to get done. Typically I go into closed mode when I’m on deadline.
Some other useful lifehacks for Web Workers/ bloggers
By the way, if you think lifehacking is just a superficial buzzword, drop a line in the comments. In a time that everybody seems excited about ‘geek to live’, some critical thoughts about hacking your life.
Written on 13th February 2008
12 COMMENTS
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, Serial Internet Entrepreneur
Last week TipJoy, a Y Combinator start-up, launched its tipping service for websites. User can add a “Tip Me” button to their site which allows visitors to donate a small amount of money to sites, blogs and services they like.
In a few hours another tipping service will launch: TipIt.to. The TipJar launch forced the Tipit.to team to quickly finish their work. Although Tipit.to offers a similar service to TipJar their site looks a whole lot better.
Tipjar.com
http://Tipjar.com
The original TipJar service. Not live and according to the site “Transaction service re-launch is tentatively scheduled later this year (2007)”. Obviously the domain-name that all the others services wanted to have in the first place.
TipJoy.com
http://TipJoy.com
Y-Combinator start-up launched last week. Techcrunch still one of the most tipped companies with over $66 received in tips since the launch of TipJoy on February 10 (in three days). If a heavy traffic website with a loyal following like Techcrunch can’t make more than $22 a day (with 670k RSS followers no less) I think it will be hard for other websites to get serious money from tips. The front page looks like it is vulnerable for spammers. Some of the links there look spammy. You can tip as low as 5 cents and as high as $10. People who sign up can’t get cash, yet. Right now you can only donate your tips to charity or purchase an Amazon gift card.
TipIt.To
http://tipit.to
Start-up launching today with similar tipping service as TipJoy.com. Site looks better than TipJoy. They accept money from Paypal (with minimum amounts of 3 EUR / 2 GBP / 4 USD) and are adding more options later. You can get your tips transferred to you as soon as you reach €30 EUR (20 GBP or €40). If you live in Europe they transfer via IBAN money transfer or Paypal. Other parts of the world can only use PayPal. They take 13.33% of the tipped amount (this seems to be incorrect. Unfortunately I can’t explain what would be the correct percentage. Read their FAQ: Fee Recovery System and tell me if YOU understand) when you decide to collect your tips. TipIt.to claims that this is just to cover the expenses of getting this moment through financial institutions back to you. The only way they make money is by collecting interest on money they manage.
Setting up is very easy and a variety of options for displaying a tipping button are available. They also just supply a URL which I can link to. My TipIt.To URLS is https://tipit.to/TheNextWeb and this is my button:
PayPal Donation Buttons
https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donate-intro-outside
A service everybody loves to ignore but has been around for a while as maybe the first working Tipjar is Paypal Donate. With a huge user base and trusted brand this might be more interesting than the other options. And you can convert your tips into real money here too. I couldn’t find a minimum amount which you can tip but PayPal takes between 1.9% and 2.9% of each amount transferred through PayPal and a minimum of $0.30.
Conclusion
It is difficult to choose from these options. Paypal is expensive, Tipjoy is ugly and doesn’t pay you real money. TipIt.to takes a large cut but looks good and at least pays you real money. Also Paypal is mainly focused on payments and PayPal Donation Buttons is not their core business.
The real question is whether you NEED to choose or maybe it is smarter to simply ignore these options. If you have a loyal following you probably have some traffic and can make more from ads. If you don’t have a loyal following these tips won’t do you much good. So why bother?
Well, because one can dream. I’m sure most bloggers would be happy with a dollar or two a month. Just enough to pay for hosting and maybe the occasional beer. For precisely that goal I have added a TipIt.To button to this post. Please (please, please!) tip us for our good work so we can get away from our computers and drink a beer.
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 
