Thusgaard.com 2010

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Social group managers: Your groups are not yours (Denmark Online Groups: Weekly round-up, week 20)

What often happens when numbers get tracked and publicized is that a few individuals dislike having their numbers made public. In the case of the overview and statistics for Denmark Online Groups the numbers are already public, but still the point doesn’t seem to be entirely clear to some of the Denmark-related group managers.

A network is not the property of the person who has set it up and is kind enough to make a structure available within which the members can join in discussion and networking related to their interests. The person with the initiative to set up such a network is merely an admin – the true owners of the network are the members. The admin should keep the interest of the members in mind. The goal should be to make for the best possible networking experience without any regard for whether that experience happens inside our outside the framework the admin makes available.

Any group manager should keep this in mind!

This weekly round-up of groups specifically related to Denmark, Danes and Danish is a tool that networkers can use to seek out the most valuable forum, whether for business or other purposes.

Maybe that’s why some group managers dislike being put on a list. It compares the quality and value of their network by putting them next to all the people they see as their competitors.

That’s so 10 years ago! Group managers should snap out of it!

Now on to this week’s round-up:

The most recent update to the online groups featuring content about Denmark, Danes or Danish has been posted at http://bit.ly/dkgroups.

Notable developments include:

Danmark Unlimited (Xing-based): is still the largest Denmark-related network online.
DABGO – the Danish largest Danish expat network for business grew their Ning-based network with an impressive 42 members. With just 586 members the network probably still needs some growth to really have value for its members.
The fastest growing country for the Danes Abroad Business Group Online (DABGO) was Switzerland. Same as with the Ning-based DABGO network as for the individual countries on LinkedIn, they will need to grow further to really be worth much to their members.
Most growth was achieved by the “Danmark” group on LinkedIn with an impressive 28 new members.

Head over to http://bit.ly/dkgroups for more details and do click the links in the sheet to visit the individual groups!

Your ideas, comments and criticism are welcome. You can find me on twitter here http://twitter.com/thusgaard, you can start a discussion in the Danmark group, or you can comment here on the page.

If you’re in North-Western Europe (or anywhere else with good weather): Enjoy the weather!

Denmark Online Groups: Weekly round-up, week 19

The most recent update to the online groups featuring content about Denmark, Danes or Danish has been posted at http://bit.ly/dkgroups. For frequent readers of this weekly publishing, you may notice a change in format. Groups have been re-grouped to focus on readers’ areas of interest. You should now find it easier to find a group the fits your specific interests.
Now on to the report.

Notable developments include:

Danmark Unlimited (Xing-based): is still #1
DABGO – the Danish largest Danish expat network – outgrew Danmark Unlimited by 10 new members and is still #2.
It was a good week for Danish online groups. The looser of the week was DABGO North America, which lost only 3 members.
The fastest growing country for the Danes Abroad Business Group Online (DABGO) was Belgium for the 2nd week in a row, which gained 4 members.
Most growth was achieved by the “Danmark” group on LinkedIn with an impressive 28 new members.
Highest percentage growth was achieved by the “Danmark” sub-group “Expats in Denmark” which increased by 60%.

Head over to http://bit.ly/dkgroups for more details.

During week 18 we saw the following activity in the Danmark group and subgroups:

Discussion on bringing up multilingual children continued on “Expats in Denmark“;
A few people got removed from the network for spamming the group and the members – keeping it clean;
Busy week on the jobs page at the main Danmark group: 14 new, legitimate posts – good luck in finding your jobs here!

Your ideas, comments and criticism are welcome. You can find me on twitter here http://twitter.com/thusgaard, you can start a discussion in the Danmark group, or you can comment here on the page.

Have an excellent week!

Denmark Online Groups: Weekly round-up, week 18

The most recent update to the online groups featuring content about Denmark, Danes or Danish has been posted at http://bit.ly/dkgroups.

Notable developments include:

Danmark Unlimited (Xing-based): is still #1 and outgrew the closest competitor DABGO by 4 new members.
The looser of the week was the Facebook group “Denmark”, which lost another 7 members.
The fastest growing country for the Danes Abroad Business Group Online (DABGO) was Belgium, which gained 8 members.
Most growth was achieved by the “Danmark Unlimited” group on Xing with an impressive 22 new members.
Highest percentage growth was achieved by the “DABGO” sub-group “West DK” which increased by 250% – granted from an extremely low base.

Head over to http://bit.ly/dkgroups for more details.

As for the “Danmark” group which you’ll find at http://bit.ly/dklink:

11 new jobs in the past week.
News: 3000 New Danes were welcomed to Denmark by the members of Parliament.
News: The Little Mermaid is now a hot hit in Shanghai.
News: Danish restaurant Noma became the best in the World.
Travel guide: Aarhus travel guide posted to the Aarhus subgroup.
A Bulgarian expat was kind enough to share a few tips for Denmark expats. Now also on the Aarhus and Expats in Denmark subgroups.
Finally a single spammer, Angie Botero, was banned from the group.

Have a great week.

Garmin confuses with Forerunner 110

Some 4 weeks ago Garmin announced a new model in its lineup of heart rate, speed and distance measurement devices – the Garmin Forerunner 110. The 110 is a runners watch with no cycling support whatsoever. Sure, you can use it on the bike, but there are no options for adding cadence.

That pretty much seems to be the story for the Garmin Forerunner 110. It impresses with simplicity: the display holds less information than for instance the 405/405cx which has previously been written about here, there’s less of a setup hazzle and in simple terms you could this a back to basics design.

Comparing the 110 to the Garmin Forerunner 405 is fairly interesting. The 110 has a lot less features than the 405 and as far as I can judge only heart rate based calory usage is the only feature of the 110 holds that is missing on the 405.

Many have so far mentioned that they see the Garmin Forerunner 110 as an entry-level watch, but the price of around €229 for the version with heart rate is HIGH for entry-level! I have found the Garmin Forerunner 405 for just €259 with heart rate monitor. For just €30 price difference you’ll get a whole lot more with the 405, and so the conclusion must be that the Garmin Forerunner 110 will flop despite the nice marketing.

It’s a basic entry-level heart rate monitor with speed and distance and interesting features for the runners, but comes at far too high a price. Leave it and instead read a later review on entry level GPS, heart-rate monitors on this blog.

Denmark Online Groups: Weekly round-up, week 17

The most recent update to the online groups featuring content about Denmark, Danes or Danish has been posted at http://bit.ly/dkgroups.

Notable developments include:

Danmark Unlimited (Xing-based): is still #1 and outgrew the closest competitor DABGO by 30 new members.
The looser of the week was the Facebook group “Denmark”, which lost 9 members.
The fastest growing country for the Danes Abroad Business Group Online (DABGO) was Great Britain, which gained 7 members.
Most growth was achieved by the “Danmark Unlimited” group on Xing with an impressive 48 new members.
Highest percentage growth was achieved by the “Danmark” sub-group “Expats in Denmark” which increased by 16,13%.

Head over to http://bit.ly/dkgroups for more details.

Garmin Forerunner 405/405cx vs Polar RS800cx G3

A while back I read a Garmin Forerunner 405/405cx review which was pro- the device. This text was intended as a comment on that review, but grew a bit out of hand for a comment. Here first a few words on the Garmin – just for context. Garmin, the word is yours:

“The Forerunner 405/405CX is the evolution of GPS-enabled training. This sleek sport watch tracks your distance, pace and heart rate, then wirelessly sends the data to your PC for later analysis. The 405CX features heart rate-based calorie computation and comes with a second wrist band option suitable for smaller wrists”.
For a comparison on the Garmin Forerunner 405 and the 405CX I suggest you go here:
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/compare.do?cID=141&compareProduct=31859&compareProduct=11039

Now, while all that Garmin marketing and the products themselves certainly do make you think about how you can use one of them in your training, there are a few things that should make you think twice. For instance the battery life of Garmin 405/405CX is not impressive and will require frequent charging. If you go somewhere far away for training or competition, do you really want to have to worry about charging your heart rate monitor too?

If you compare the Garmin 405 to the Polar RS800CX with G3 (GPS) sensor – the premium product from Finnish company Polar you’ll find both pros and cons for both. Let’s start with some of the Polar’s weak points:

too many devices: heart rate band, wrist unit, GPS-unit;
since recently: the Polar is a very closed platform with no current options of exporting Polar data to other platforms – although I haven’t tested it, the Garmin does offer export to Endomondo and other tools that allow for mapping and sharing of training routes and data through various social networks.

The advantages of Polar vs Garmin are:

The disadvantage for the Polar can also be turned against the Garmin: More devices in the Polar solution also ensures that if for instance the GPS runs out of battery during training you will still get heart rate data for the remaining session. Not so with the Garmin where it’s all lights out if the wrist unit dies. Furthermore the Polar’s battery will take you MUCH further than the Garmin battery – probably because the battery doesn’t need to support the same amount of functions.
Final comment on the battery: Battery change with the Polar doesn’t happen often, is easy, and relatively cheap.
Soft heart rate strap on the Polar. With the Garmin the heart rate strap is hard and a soft is only available for an additional $70.

I’m missing more information on social network integration. The Polar is completely unfit for any type of social network interaction. The Garmin has an own network with a few shortfalls, but more importantly allows exporting training files to services external to Garmin.

Conclusion: For me Polar wins this battle. The shortcomings in the Garmin package are a source of irritation if experienced while training. I have a feeling that I might find myself without battery really often.

Still, one has to often if Polar is fighting the right battles. Presumably the consumer market is where they get most of their money and they might want to watch it more closely and avoid what has happened to the Navigation device manufacturers: Mobile devices with minor additions grabbing market share with free software.

It’s happening in the training device market already: mobile devices from Apple, Nokia, HTC and more now include GPS for positioning and speed data, software for the tracking and uploading, and finally all they need is a 3rd party bluetooth heart rate monitor and off you go. I’m not aware of any heart rate straps that will do the trick, but as soon as they come out, Polar should get worried.

Denmark Groups status and growth, week 16 update

The most recent update to the online groups featuring content about Denmark, Danes or Danish has been posted at http://bit.ly/dkgroups.

Notable developments include:

Danmark Unlimited (Xing-based): is still #1 and outgrew the closest competitor DABGO by 3 new members and 0,04%.
The looser of the week was one of the Facebook-based Denmark groups.
The fastest growing country for the Danes Abroad Business Group Online (DABGO) was…. Denmark!?
Most growth was achieved by the “Danmark” and “Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland” groups on LinkedIn with 28 each.
Highest percentage growth was achieved by the DABGO group “DABGO Belgium”.

Head over to http://bit.ly/dkgroups for more details.

Nokia E71, E66 get Free Navigation (aka “OK, I take that back blogpost”)

A while back I wrote about reasons that Nokia wouldn’t come with a free version of their Ovi Maps navigation software for older models. Now, as it turns out, Nokia has proven me at least 95% wrong by coming out with Ovi Maps navigation for the E71 and E66.

Of older devices the N86 and now the E71 and E66 will have free Ovi Maps navigation. All other feature pack 1 or older devices will not have Ovi Maps with free navigation. In addition the E71 and E66 will not have the Lonely Planet and Michelin guide premium content. While some may whine at this, I consider it to be of little significance that the premium content only goes with newer phones and if the navigation software works with E71 and E66 it increases the life of those devices – good job Nokia.

Find the download for your E66 or E71 by clicking here!

Denmark Online Groups Rankings

I recently started tracking the development and size of Denmark related forums and groups online. At this point the largest groups are “Danmark Unlimited” on Xing and “Dabgo” based on LinkedIn and Ning with about 6-6.500 members each.

My own group “Danmark“, while by far outnumbered by the two groups mentioned above, grows consistently. With good activity and services for group members “Danmark” should be able to make the gap to “Danmark Unlimited” and “Dabgo” even smaller.

To make this list as complete as possible, do suggest groups that you know of, which are related to Denmark. Place your suggestion as a comment to this post.

Also remember to come back to http://bit.ly/dkgroups for an update on groups focusing on Denmark, Danes or Danish.

Nimbuzz+Skype=Cheapest International Mobile Calls

At the end of this guide, you will be able to call other countries for free or nearly nothing – from your mobile phone!

Your contacts will be able to see that you’re calling and respond or call back!

Usually when you want to call family, friends or other contacts in other countries with your mobile, your left with no other option than to simply give them a call and pay hefty fees to service providers who charge you way more than their costs justify.

Here’s a small guide to how to work around that in a few, simple steps.
What will you need to complete this guide:

Your mobile phone with 3G or Wireless internet connection (this guide was made with a symbian based Nokia E72)
That’s it !!!

To make VoIP calls possible on your phone you will need an application that supports such services. For Nokia phones a few well-known services are available: Fring, Skype, and Nimbuzz. In this test I’ll make use of the Nimbuzz client – that’s the app I like the most. Like Fring, it supports several chat clients incl. Skype as well as SkypeOut and Nimbuzz’ own VoIP service, NimbuzzOut. On to the first step of the test.

1. With your mobile browser, on your phone – go to http://get.nimbuzz.com or take your computer’s browser to http://www.nimbuzz.com/en/mobile/download and have Nimbuzz downloaded to your computer, or an sms download link send to your mobile phone.

2. Install Nimbuzz to your mobile phone and create the instant chat, VoIP and SIP services you would like to use. Make sure to add your Skype account.

3. Go to skype.com and log in to your account at http://www.skype.com/go/myaccount.

4. Buy some Skype credit. If this is your first time I recommend starting with the lowest possible amount to avoid disappointment.

5. On https://secure.skype.com/account/caller-id/settings set your caller ID to your mobile phone number. This is what makes it possible for people to see that you’re the one who’s calling and to call you back.

6. In Nimbuzz, make sure to set your VoIP provider correctly. Start the app on your mobile, select options, settings, VoIP provider settings, choose SkypeOut. The reason not to choose NimbuzzOut is that they currently do not offer caller ID, which is key to making the whole thing work.

7. Finally, set your connection in the Nimbuzz app: select options, settings, Connection. I recommend that you indicate under Default connection that the app should Always ask which connection to use. In addition make sure that you answer Yes to using Wi-Fi when available.

8. If you now would like to call people directly from your address book, you need to make sure that their address book telephone numbers include international dialing codes (+country code or “00country code, ie +31 or 0031 for the Netherlands).

You are now all set to make your first international or local telephone call using Nimbuzz to call through SkypeOut.

From the chat contact list, go twice to the right to arrive at the SkypeOut menu and call someone – nearly for free.

Enjoy !!

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