Problem: It’s Saturday evening and you’re in the freaking office, working on the super-freaking-important project that needs to be done by Monday.

Why is this a problem? Well, nothing big, it’s just that you’re gonna die young, dude! And if you ain’t gonna die, well… you’re gonna get crazy anyway.

Solution: Take your intelligent butt off that chair and go have some fun. See a movie. Have a walk in the park. Play some soccer (or whatever it is you’re good at). Relax, it’s not gonna be the end of the world.

Questions you might have:

1. Everybody’s depending on me!
Really? Then… where is everybody? How come only you are working this weekend? Have a break, dude. Unless you have a brain surgery to operate (or some other critical mambo-jumbo), just take a break…

2. I’ve worked all week. Why should I stop?
Well, you just said the answer. Because you worked all week. Hey, God created the world in 6 days and rested in the 7th, did you know that? Are you God? No? Thought so. Go have some fun.

3. What if I love working this weekend?
Well, if you love it dude, by all means, work this weekend! Just make sure you don’t make this a routine. Once you get on the wrong path, well, you’re gonna die. Or at least get crazy .

Conclusion: Life should be fun, so make it that way.

Chris Johnson from The Name Inspector wrote a really interesting article about the pros and cons of product naming, splitting everything up in the following categories:

1. Real words
2. Compounds
3. Phrases
4. Blends
5. Tweaked words
6. Affixed words
7. Made up or obscure origin
8. Puns
9. People’s names (real or fictitious)
10. Initials and Acronyms

Must read!

I don’t even remember when was the last time I rented a DVD. Why? It just doesn’t seem logical to do it. You need to search, order, pay, go get it or be home to receive it, take it back, and so on. What’s the point?

If I want to watch a movie, I want it now. If not, I’ll just go to the cinema. The solution? On-demand, downloadable dvd-quality movies. There are some services going in that direction, and I can’t wait to see it really happen.

The biggest challenge for web designers is the unthinkably huge number of possible ways to solve any given problem. Do this, do that, make it web 2.0-ish, use vivid colors, don’t use vivid colors, and so on.

Patterns enable users to create strategically, knowing exactly what goes where, and why. Our friends at 37signals have written a really nice article called “An Introduction to Using Patterns in Web Design“.

Nice!

How far can you push a widget? YouTube video embeds, quite possibly the most successful widgets of all time, are seriously failing these days. Click on most any embedded clip, it seems, and you’ll get a “This video is no longer available� warning. Perhaps this is a fatal flaw of widgets; maybe they are best used for delivery of information that is time-sensitive and forgettable, like the weather or the stocks (more on newteevee)

I believe it’s a two sided story:

1. the widgets that have great functionality embedded in them and limit the amount of information required from a server have very much chances to be the next big thing.
2. the information-based widget that simply pull data from a database / website are going to die if no-one comes up with a smart idea to solve this…

meanwhile, I’m having a lot of fun with new and interesting widgets from all over the web

It seems that the hottest thing to discuss about these days is web 2.0. Is it a bubble, is it not? Is it gonna burst soon, or not, and so on…

Well, I want in too… so here’s my opinion:

What is web 2.0? Well, I think it’s the trend/culture that started scratching the surface of the internet. There’s so much more to be done, and if you ask me… Internet services are going to drive the world’s economies for the foreseeable future.

To me that doesn’t spell bubble, it spells opportunity.

1. Define a previously unrecognized niche

2. Strong ability to leverage natural search as the primary means of user acquisition

3. Service that empowers people to make a living

4. Free (or near free) alternative for a previously high cost service

5. True viral distribution potential

6. Ability to jumpstart user acquisition through distribution partnerships

7. Story that lends itself to mainstream PR

Yup, seems that the author got it right. More details here.

I was reading the Romanian Biz magazine yesterday evening and I suddenly found myself looking for the “Home” button and the “Add a comment” form.

Really disappointed ’cause I couldn’t find them, I went back to my trustful Google reader and continued my lecturing…

So… I believe traditional media will slowly die, to make room for the new guys that provide real-time information and get real-time feedback from their viewers.

I’ve been interviewing people for the last 7 days or so. I met a lot of interesting boys and girls… a lot of rookie programmers but also a bunch of awesome developers.

We hired some, and one of them is Cristian… a geeky developer (hey, you don’t mind us calling you a geek, don’t you? . Thought so). He starts today!

Welcome, Cristian… we hope you enjoy working with us.

Meanwhile, we’re preparing to move in the new office!

PS: Pics with Cristian and the new office, coming soon!

I was thinking the other day about how I started this company. I dug into some of my backups and found the very first business plan: A Mobile Software company with some (pretty unique and) interesting ideas.

Three years have past since I created that business plan. And time made those ideas fade out. But you know what? A short google search showed me that no one has thought about it yet. Or maybe there isn’t a market for the kind of mobile application I was trying to build. Or maybe… people just aren’t interested, who knows?

All in all, it’s all about connecting the dots (how Steve Jobs likes to say). I couldn’t connect the dots then, nor can I completely do that now. But there’s a few things I know for sure:

1. Being an entrepreneur has thought me a lot about … life
2. Life ain’t pink
3. The “biggest” people on this planet were not afraid of failure
4. It’s not good to always be a YES person
5. Having vision and strategy makes the difference

We wish you a brainy new year!