A bit later than anticipated, I'm starting a monthly column about the previous 30 days in the Digital world. The changes in this area are daily and many. So, I'll be taking note of the ones I find more relevant and relay them to you every month. I hope you enjoy these writings. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)If you are a connected person, you no doubt have been … [Read more...]
On resilience
The inaugural post for The Start Zone was published in February 2014, over 4 years ago. There, I talk about the feeling of starting something new, as something I love. But more importantly, it is crucial to keep momentum going and to persevere. Resilience, I have come to realise, is one of the most important traits one can have. I sometimes, as everyone, have my doubts. And … [Read more...]
New adventure in self-publishing
It's no big secret that I like to put thoughts in writing. I maintain several blogs and sites, and have been doing so for many years. I'm not sure what prompted this last adventure, but I came to be fascinated with the business of self publishing. Nowadays you can publish your own book and control the process from start to finish. I watched a couple of videos by Chandler … [Read more...]
One Year Young
The Start Zone turns one year old today. Whew... time sure flies by. All since the first ever post, I have published 143 more, including 38 interviews, 22 book reviews, and 20 posts about tech conferences. I have talked to and about many startups, some huge, some small (but promising). I have been to Dublin for the Web Summit for the second year in a row, the biggest tech … [Read more...]
Books read in 2014
As you probably noticed already, I read a lot. It's one of my greatest pleasures. I take a book with me everywhere I go. It keeps me company, I learn immensely, and so I develop. Here's the full list of books I read in 2014. Some have to do with the topics of this site, some don't. But I thought I'd share it anyway. They range from fiction, to business and management, to … [Read more...]
2014 in Review
Here's the end of year post, as is to be expected. 2014 marked the birth of The Start Zone, back in February. 138 posts later, here we are, looking back on what the year brought. Some highlights: I made a total of 38 interviews this year, most of them to startups, but some to other creatives and thinkers. I published 20 book reviews, of issues from management, startups, … [Read more...]
Jeffrey Zeldman: Mr web
I've had the domain pedromendes.com since 2001. And even before that, I can't exactly remember when, I've had a personal website. Geocities was my friend back then (does anyone remember?). We're talking really early days of the web. If you're younger than 30, you won't believe how things had to be made back then. We were few, learning by trial and error, as well as from … [Read more...]
Remembering 9/11
I may have told this story before. Early September 2001, I went to a Web conference in San Francisco. It was a great event, and I got to know great people. On the 10th, on my way back, I made a stop in New York City to change planes. While landing, I was chatting to the gentleman next to me, and we commented on the NYC skyline. I told him I had been at the top of the Twin … [Read more...]
ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
"Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)—also referred to as motor neurone disease (MND), is a neurodegenerative disease. It is characterised by muscle spasticity, rapidly progressive weakness due to muscle atrophy, difficulty in speaking (dysarthria), swallowing (dysphagia), and breathing (dyspnea)" (Wikipedia) This is a serious, almost always fatal disease, affecting many … [Read more...]
The internet in real-time
We all know, or imagine, the gigabytes of data that travel the internet every second. But seeing it happen in real-time is quite the eye opener. Check out this great infographic, displaying many internet metrics. Tweets per second, WordPress posts, purchases at Amazon, WhatsApp messages sent, and minutes used on Skype are just a few of the numbers you'll be blow away … [Read more...]