ESTONIAN INVENTOR

In footsteps of the Dragon

As I live in the UK and I have many British readers as well, I’d like to feature TV tycoon Mr. Peter Jones this time.  Peter , best known as one of the Dragon’s Den heavyweight entrepreneurs has founded The National Enterprise Academy. This is a superb challenge for youngsters in age of 16-19 to take early steps towards to business world and to became entrepreneurs. As we know some kids don’t do very well in so called traditional education. Perhaps your kid is an entrepreneur ? – suggests Peter and urges you to find out about it.  What can I say ? I wish I had this opportunity myself …

Cheers Peter , It is a Great stuff you doing !

Follow the Dragon >>  http://www.peterjones.tv/ &  http://www.positive-parents.com/blog-item.aspx?id=950

Garage 48 got its lights on !

A boot-camp style initiative to build new services in just 48hrs is taking place in Tartu, South-Estonia over this weekend. It started last night with presenting ideas from which best 17 have been chosen to get on with. The event attracts experts from IT , law , tech and VC sector. Garage 48 peaks with the new product demonstration on Sunday evening and there are still some places left to see the show : )  Quite few our latest startups have come from Garage 48 previous events and hopes are surely on this time as well : )

Sneek through the door >> http://garage48.org/blogger/garage48-tartu-2010-launched-projects

Testmarket.eu and Dragons.

The TestMarket.eu or former Tigerprises.com has been nominated as the best Estonian entrepreneurship booster in 2010 by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Who does not know yet- this is the blog about the latest technology news and startups run by Express journalist Toivo Tänavsuu.

Another good news is that BBC Dragons Den has started its 8th season. These 5 , hard to please and super-rich British entrepreneurs are looking for the next money making idea or invention. Who could please them and why ? Find out tonight @ BBC 2 , 9pm.

Perhaps it is time for estonians to come and meet dragons here in Britain as our own dragons are flying about and not showing much of their presence and interest yet …

Twitter & .CO are taking off together !!

Some of you may know that I have a bit of interest about domain industry as well. In fact I run a blog called Domeeniekspert  www.domeeniexpert.com , which is about latest developments of Estonian and foreign domainmarkets. I came across this industry almost accidentally , looking for some domain names for my web-projects. It seemed interesting to me how fast the Web industry is growing and booming. After short browse I was able to find my way already …

Now, these are the news about the latest innovation in domain industry. Twitter – the most popular short-message service provider in Web has released its “Tweet” button for websites yesterday. This button enables customer to enter ones short message + desired link straight from the web-page ! This for sure will raise the interest about Twitter and increase ones shares ! But Twitter itself is using the domain T.CO which is promoting one of the latest new domains on the World market – Colombian originated .CO. This kind of symbiosis is well beneficial for both sides and will generate more revenues indeed ! Non of them is  taking away the others market share , but increases one instead !! Surely there are many good brains out there in Estonia as well, who could produce some  great results together !

I am not a tweeter myself , but you can find Estonian Inventor on Facebook. If I will find myself less busy, maybe I could start tweeting some day : )  You can get this magic Tweet Button for your blog from here :

http://www.twitip.com/get-a-retweet-button-for-your-blog/

The Gadget Show is ON again !

The first episode of this seasons Gadget Show was on already at Monday night. This is surely the best review in UK  of what are these new toys to get you spoiled with.  There was also a quite amusing competition going on as well … On the top of all that the show gives away 184 gadgets to the winner : ) who could be me or you !

The show is on Channel 5 , every Monday  at 8pm  >>  http://fwd.five.tv/gadget-show

The Industrial Abuse

It just came to my attention how we inventors have been treated by industry few days ago. I was reading the comment at IP Network made  by Nawab Ikramullah Khan, realizing what sort of role industry still plays in this game.

We are all familiar with contracts where employer says that – in case you create or invent something during your working time  - it belongs to them. How nice ! I am going an extra mile to improve their crap system or tool and they claim rights on it and making millions out of me ! Basically industry treats the inventor like one of is industrial properties. Just like machinery or cattle or materials. Say , you are working at recycling plant today and happen to invent something  Dont forget you are just like the material they use to produce the heat from. It is called a rubbish. You have no rights to your creation , not even 50:50, just nothing !! Now this is what I call the Industrial Abuse.

First steps to stop it have made by British inventor Trevor Baylis  last year. Trevor wrote the letter to Birtish Government to consider the matter that inventors have no equal rights with industry. In fact they are in much worse situation all over. Example if your wrights have been infringed by industry – it is YOU who has to take them to the court ! And to make it worse, lets say their lawer was better than yours and you happen to loose the case !  - You will pay all the fees and also you will loose your invention on the top of it !  Now, can anyone clear up this mess ??

Raising kids to be Entrepreneurs.

An excellent speech has been done by Cameron Herold @TEDxEdmonton and brought to us via Domain Name Wire. As far I know our communist and post-communist society has never supported that kind of activity . Perhaps things are about to change now. I really appreciate the idea that an Entrepreneur should be recognized as any other good profession, such as a lawer or a doctor. By the end of the day we need more people who have a vision and good will to work hard in order to establish these successful  corporations where many others could work for …  Take your time and enjoy – its 20 minutes long  :)

http://domainnamewire.com/2010/07/29/raising-kids-to-be-entrepreneurs/

Summer kicks in !

Strawberries and cream, Claret Jug and St.Andrews, beach and Polo … British Summertime seems to be great this year indeed ! Not much rain either which makes it even more special : )  Who needs holidays abroad if our own summer is good as gold ?

This weeks BBCs tech programme “Click” announced that due to new conservative government policies Britain is unable to achieve 2Mbit/s  as national internet speed standard by 2012. Obviously there are other priorities as recession may get worse and we got to tighten our belts even harder !

As estonian, I must admit I am proud of our country who is aiming to 100Mbit/s internet speed standard by 2011. Also 4G mobile network has been tested successfully last Spring and its working in some places already  :)   So, if you like fast internet and you would like to see the nation who has the most PCs per capita in the World – its good time to see it now ! Our beaches are nice & quiet and temperatures are soaring +30c.  So, better not wait too long as it may drop to -30c in six months time …

New heights in wind energy!

The hunt for alternative energies goes on. Today we can transform energy from the Sun, wind, waves , compost , soil and the list is growing. It has come to my attention recently that windparks are planning to move “a bit higher”. No suprise as wind is faster and more constant up there. Just catch it, if you can ! Dutch and Americans have taken this challenge seriously and developing strategies to catch those high winds. US company Magenn has produced its first 100kw AWT ( Airborne Wind Turbine ) , which can go up to 1000 ft and is 20-60% more effective  than conventional designs on the ground. It is also less costly to set up than  tower based wind turbines. Magenn does not produce 2-20kw solutions and is likely to sell its licence to someone who would.  But Dutch have slightly different approach to transform their winds into electricity. It is so good that even James May from Top Gear decided to go and find out how it works :    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYRTuWyqIsc&feature=related

High rolling American wind-farmers are here :  http://www.magenn.com

Branding holds the key

I have noticed the rise of personal branding recently. I’ve also noticed few reasons why people go for it. First of all the shortage of employment which makes a man more inventive. Secondly the growth of social networks and the Internet. And third perhaps TV shows , what encourage people to do their own thing as so many of us have shown that it can be done !

Being laid off work is not just happening to common workers in these days , but also to many people in managment.  Therefore  desire to have “your own thing” is growing rapidly.

Internet is the inspiration for many. We can hear stories about teenagers or 20 somethings  , who have made it to 7 figure even without taking their brand to the  high street ! For me it shows the fact that domain names have actually become well important IP assets to make a global brand. My other concern is social networks, which allow you today to expand the information with the great speed. It was unknown just few years ago. So, literally you can launch you brand through social networks and get it around the globe in minutes !!

TV Shows like Dragons Den , American Inventor and Apprentice have been a great encouragement to many modern entrepreneurs today. Surely these shows have been watched by millions and they have produced quite few successful people with their own brands.

I believe branding actually holds the key for me and for you to get out from the labour market and to be your own boss. Yes, we still have to work hard , but once its been done and brand has been made profitable, then we can also enjoy the fruits of our hard labour : )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand

http://www.minubrand.ee/