2007 7
1977: my own year of living dangerously
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in MV with No Comments
In 1977 when I was 17 years old, there was a song that was very popular in Argentina called “Volver a los 17”-which kind of means “Return to being 17 years old” but sounds much better in Spanish. It was sung by Mercedes Sosa. Last month, thanks to an interview I did with the journalist Andres Lopez, from Clarin called “My first Job” I travelled back to when I was 17. This innocent journey back in time took hold of me with a great force. The result is the first autobiographical post on this blog. What follows is the story of my life from September 1976 to September 1977. This article was already published in my Spanish blog and was one of the most commented ever. It was also published by Noticias, the Newsweek or Time of Argentina. The translation was done by my cousin Carla Diamond. Somehow I was unable to translate my own story and she helped me out. Here it goes and as a warning I would like to say that I will continue to edit this story online and will not include editing marks as it improves. The challenge here is that I don´t believe in translation but rather than rewriting the story into another culture, in this case the English culture.
First let me give you the setting. I am now 47 years old and when I got the call from the Argentine journalist enquiring about my first job I was sailing with my wife and the youngest of my four children, baby Leo, to the Isla del Aire in Menorca. While on our way back my PA called and told me that I had an appointment to speak with a journalist in Buenos Aires. When I got on the call the writer asked me to talk about my first job. And then my journey back in time begins. He asks me to “Return to being 17 years old” and I find myself traveling back with an intensity that makes our conversation almost tense. At that moment, thanks to the mix of the most modern of technologies (the cell phone) with the most ancient (memory), I returned to when I was 17 and found myself overtaken by the deepest emotions, by a profound sadness. These sensations were so strong I found it incredibly difficult to stay focused on the subject of the interview- my first job as an apprentice carpenter in a shipyard in San Martin on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. When the interview was over I felt obliged to share the story of the most important year of my life in this blog. In writing about my first job, I realize that I can’t do this without telling the tragic story of the Argentine military dictatorship and its actions, of the years where friends and loved ones were kidnapped and murdered. The age of youth, where the first deep relationships built on love were created for me, was forced to live next to the first pain of mourning, of grieving without funerals; this is the story of los “desaparecidos”, the disappeared. They died… without funerals.
2007 6
My Investments in Solar Farms
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in Investments with No Comments
Many readers have asked me to comment on the technology that we use in the solar farms that we are building together with my partner Miguel Salis. Here´s a presentation that explains how this technology works.
2007 6
Moneytrackin’ improves its website
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in Investments with No Comments
Moneytrackin’, created by Victor and Albert Martin, who work at Fon Labs in Barcelona and in which I am an investor, redesigned its brand and launched together with the successful existing features, a new online social network for people who want to do “social accounting” for common ventures like start ups, graduation trips, etc.
Below you can find the press realease with the new changes and features.
Thanks to the new website, users can continue to manage their personal accounts, but now with an easier and more usable interface, and they can also join the moneytrackin’ community. The community acts as a “wikipedia” for money saving, and its members manage all of the community tips by rating and classifying them, add personal tips to save money, upload their pictures and value the best tips which are included in a savings “Hall of Fame”.The new Community also offers a geolocalized tip sevice powered by Google Maps. This tool offers members local tips for saving money based on where they live. For example, they can check for the cheapest gas station in their city or town.
All of the tips are integrated into the personal accounting tool, and the system offers the information for saving money according to the member’s geographic location and the transactions included in the tool. For example, if the member has a monthly expense for the gym tracked in moneytrackin’, she will receive tips related to saving money in gym fees in her city or neighbourhood.
Moneytrackin’ aims to become the saving’s “Wikipedia” thanks to its new community generated input, offering this collective “savings” knowledge to people around the world.
2007 6
FrancoFON’s software for la Fonera
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in Fon with No Comments
In this video, Guillaume Valet of FrancoFON, a very well organized community of French foneros, shows me how the software they developed for la Fonera works. Basically, the software allows la Fonera to create a bridge by which it can turn any encrypted WiFi signal into a FON WiFi signal. We will test this software thoroughly and most likely incorporate it in the Fonera firmware. Thank you FrancoFon!!!
UPDATE : I forgot to mention that the “bridge” functionality i talk about in the video (which enables la fonera to become a WiFi repeater) was actually developed by Antonio Anselmi, of Italy, who worked with FrancoFON to integrate his “ponte” on their firmware. Sorry for that and congrats again to Antonio and FrancoFON for the great job in bringing new features to the FON firmware !
2007 4
BT Fon Home: the story unfolds
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in General with No Comments
Here it is, the Technorati link to watch how the BT Fon story unfolds.
2007 4
No way Jose!!!
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in General with No Comments
This story in Techcrunch and in GigaOm is wrong. Hey Om, are we buddies or not? Next time pls check with me. Do you think el fonero jefe here would pay BT $10 per fonero they get??? No way Jose.
2007 4
Sorry BT engineers!
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in General with No Comments
Today in the analysts presentations I said that BT ported the Fon firmware into their hubs. My apologies, this is not correct. What BT did is incorporated our functionality into their hubs but they did it writing new code for it. Sorry! I don´t mean to put anyone down, on the contrary I am so happy of everyone at BT who worked on the BT Fon deal and I hope to be able to thank you in person. Gracias, muchas gracias!
2007 4
Introducing the BT FON Community
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in Fon with No Comments
Yes, you read it correctly: BT stands for British Telecom!!!
Ever since we started building FON, the largest WiFi community in the world, I have been explaining how FON is great for telcos and ISPs. BT, one of the world’s leading and most innovative telcos, has partnered with FON because it understands the value that FON gives to its customers.
So I am extremely proud to introduce you to the BT FON Community that BT and FON have built together in the U.K. BT recognized FON’s vision and understood how it would greatly benefit BT customers both at home in the U.K. and when abroad. It was amazing and refreshing to see how agile a telco giant could be in working with an innovative concept like the BT FON Community. Everyone at BT and FON has dedicated an extraordinary amount of time and effort in working closely together to make this new Wi-Fi community a reality.
The result is that now millions of BT broadband subscribers can automatically opt-in to the BT FON Community. That means a revolutionary number of places for you to get WiFi in the U.K. for FREE. We have done this by integrating FON into BT’s broadband platform and allowing BT users to share their Wi-Fi like the rest of us. And yes, of course, all Foneros who share Wi-Fi can now access all BT FON hotspots in the UK for free.
And there’s more great news. I’d like to announce that BT is also shareholder and partner in FON. BT is a fantastic addition to our roster of investors and highlights the on-going success of FON. We are now part of BT’s strategy to provide wireless broadband not just inside the home, but outside as well. Wireless broadband is central to BT’s consumer, business mobility, and convergence strategies, and enables customers to be better connected, anytime, anyplace, anywhere. The combination of BT Total Broadband and BT’s other wireless networks, and now with the BT FON Community, customers across the UK will be able to experience the benefits of broadband at home and everywhere else in the UK and across the world.
From the beginning we Foneros have believed in the concept of sharing and in citizens’ ability to participate in building something important that would benefit everyone. BT FON represents a huge leap forward in the Fonero goal of making WiFi available anytime, anywhere!
Thanks to all of you Foneros out there, and welcome to the U.K.!
You can also watch this video in Youtube
2007 2
Fiesta FON in Paris to Celebrate the Neuf WiFi FON Service
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in Fon with No Comments
Tonight FON rocked Paris with a real Spanish style fiesta organized by our FON France team and Neuf Cegetel to celebrate the launch of the Neuf WiFi FON Service. We also had the great honor of being hosted by Mr. Jean-Paul Huchon, the President of the Conseil Régional d’Île-de-France (representing some 11 million Parisians). More than six hundred guests attended the event including Neuf’s General Director, Michel Paulin, as well as our friends from the OpenSource community such as Mozilla Europe, Ubuntu, and Mandriva, the guys from FrancoFON and all the other FONatics who showed up.
Neuf Cegetel, the number one alternative carrier in France with over 3.5 million subscribers, and FON have updated the Neuf Box 4 (the latest Neuf Router, based on open source operating system) so Neuf subscribers can activate the new Neuf WiFi FON service, share their WiFi with Foneros around the globe, and get free WiFi access on all FON Spots everywhere. Already more than 600,000 Neuf Boxes have been centrally enabled with this FON software upgrade and the subscribers can now become WiFi sharers and receivers. By the end of 2007, around 1 million Neuf Boxes will have been upgraded with FON functionality. Read More
2007 1
Funny magazine cover
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in General with No Comments
On the CNBC paper edition.