May 22, 2008

Talking pillbox for the visually impaired

Filed under: Gadgets,Science by Orangemaster @ 7:55 am
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It’s not yet on the market (and it will look different than this picture), but two inventors from Breda, Noord-Brabant hope that it will be soon: a pillbox that reads the directions folders of medicine. Once the box is opened, it will start reading automatically. The box makes sure to state that it is medicine and not sweets, a good idea when children are around.

A text can be up to 4.5 minutes long, and a 60-second text can be read some 150 times.

Let’s hope that the direction folders are properly written (an issue about two years ago in the Netherlands), properly translated (always an issue) and not too long (nobody needs to hear an entire disclaimer in 27 EU languages).

(Link: rtl.nl)

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May 21, 2008

Mark Ho and his robot conquer America

Filed under: Art,Gadgets,Science by Orangemaster @ 9:12 am
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Mark Ho is an artist who thought up a bronze robot at a lonely time in his life. Just like in the movies, some rich American now wants to sell his art to the world, after having seen a photo of the robot on the cover of Scientific American.

The Amsterdam student at the Hoge School voor de Kunsten (HKU) has been working almost 12 years alone and in silence on the metal doll that moves like a human. Yesterday, he left for the US to talk to an investor about bringing his product onto the market. “At the HKU, sometime in 1994, we were given the assignment of making an animated figure from aluminium. Everyone knows those wooden dolls on the bookshelves. I wanted to make one from metal, but I had no idea how.”

After figuring out many details and even building his own tools, his first doll is now five years old. It consists of 920 parts and 80 mechanical parts. The creature, that answers to the name Artform No 1, can even move its shoulders. “A person is much simpler than this,” Ho laughs.

(Link and photo depers.nl)

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May 20, 2008

A Fokit condom in your keychain

Filed under: Gadgets,General by Orangemaster @ 9:22 am
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Yes, they mean ‘fuck it’, pronounced like a Dutch person, which sounds more like ‘fokit’. Again, the blunt Dutch approach, in this case, of always having a condom on you has a less than attractive Dunglish name, but sounds like a good idea. Business students of the Hogeschool Utrecht in Amersfoort came up with this in their first year to show off their business savvy.

“We talk a lot about sex,’’ says Jelle Okkerse (21). “The link with STDs was made very quickly since it is increasingly more of a problem with young people. We have so often not had a condom handy, which is why we came up with a trendy keychain, which can fit a condom.’’

(Link and photo: ad.nl)

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May 13, 2008

World Naked Bike Ride in the Netherlands

Filed under: Sports,Weird by Orangemaster @ 7:58 am
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On Saturday 7 June, Utrecht will play host to the World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR) to ‘attract some attention’ to the environment and our bodies by biking around naked. Utrecht was chosen since on the same day there will be a concert entitled ‘Geen halve maatregelen, Klimaatwet nu!’ (roughly ‘No half measures, an environmental law now!’) with performances by De Dijk and Stevie.

Besides Utrecht, more than 15 cities in 20 countries around the world will have people demonstrating for a more positive attitude towards our bodies and the environment. “But no one has to go naked”, according to the WNBR.

And now my two cents: besides posing for Spencer Tunick) or some church calendar, many naked events tend to attract white, middle aged heterosexual men, like at the naked fitness (not really mentioned, but on Dutch TV not a single other type of person could be seen). And if the white, middle aged heterosexual men are not in the event, they are the ones gawking on the sidelines. It’s just an observation, folks. If anyone qualified has a real explanation, I’m very interested.

(Link: frontpage.fok.nl, photo treehugger,com)

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May 12, 2008

Amsterdam first in energy saving street lighting

Filed under: Dutch first,Sustainability by Orangemaster @ 3:21 pm
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The Amsterdam council and Dutch electronics giant Philips will start a test exercise this summer, using a range of Philips LED street lighting called ‘UrbanLine’. The innovation is aimed at stimulating the more economic use of energy. Amsterdam is therefore the first big city in the world to install the new LED street lighting. The council will determine whether it will proceed further with the technology on the basis of the results of the exercise, with specific reference to the issues of sustainability, energy savings and lighting requirements. The LED street lamps along the bicycle path by the Amsterdam city hall/music theatre will be switched on for the first time on 21 July.

Replacing the existing compact fluorescent lamp (PLL-) by the Amsterdam city hall with the Philips UrbanLine LED innovation could lead to energy savings of as much as 51%. The Amsterdam city council’s environmental policy commits the city to the highest energy consumption reductions possible, and if the exercise proves successful, it intends to extend the use of the economical street lighting.

Working on its own account and with partners, the Amsterdam council intends to develop innovations for economical energy consumption in the city in a wide range of areas. For example, Councillor Herrema and a number of Amsterdam companies signed a declaration of intent on 1 April 2008 regarding an approach to sustainable mobility within the city, and established a platform for sustainable mobility. The aim is to support and develop projects that stimulate sustainable mobility.

(Link: iamsterdam.com)

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May 9, 2008

New inkjet printer uses marbles

Filed under: General,Science by Orangemaster @ 10:45 am
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Dutch copier manufacturer Océ has introduced an industrial inkjet printer using CrystalPoint technology, which makes prints that do not smear when they are wet. The printer was nicknamed ‘knikkerprinter’ (‘marble printer’) by the local press because the ink is contained in tiny balls that are turned into a gel by the printer.

The technology has a ‘solid in, solid out’ principle. It uses small colour balls called ‘Tonerpearls’, which are contained in a transparent toner cartridge. The user can immediately see how much ink is left.

(Link: webwereld.nl)

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May 7, 2008

Selling Dutch sweets in Morocco

Filed under: Dutch first,Food & Drink by Orangemaster @ 10:19 am
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After one Moroccan entrepreneur decided to make Gouda cheese in the Sahara, another Moroccan in Rotterdam is going to attempt making stroopwafels – also originally from the town of Gouda – and sell them in Morocco.

You’d think someone would have thought of this already, but according to businessman Mimoun el Arkoub, no one has. He explains that Moroccans love sweets and many of them know about Dutch food, so why not sell stroopwafels there? He bought himself two huge machines to produce the delights and is getting ready to crank them out and sell lots of them.

One major flop of pushing Dutch fare I have heard about in the past and seen on TV was convincing the Chinese to eat cheese. From what the Chinese, the Dutch people I know who have lived in China and others have said, the Chinese are not big on dairy products in general and have a problem with the smell of cheese. I mean, have you ever had cheese at a Chinese restaurant? The appeal of a huge market like China does not mean that if you just market real hard, they’ll start eating cheese. How many decades did it take the Dutch to drink wine? Think about it.

(Link: bizz.nl)

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May 6, 2008

Sleeping on the job for train staff

Filed under: Dutch first,General by Orangemaster @ 9:17 am
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On Monday in Maastricht, Limburg, the Dutch railways (NS) installed the first ‘reclining seat’ at the train station for use by train personnel. While on the job, train staff can take a 15-minute nap, sitting on this vibrating seat. The idea is that the seat will lull those hard workers to sleep in order to have them fresh and alert on long train rides across the country.

If a train driver falls asleep on the job, it can have fatal consequences for everyone on board a train. Every year some 250 train drivers from the Netherlands and abroad drive right through a red signal.

This picture is from an accident that happened right in Amsterdam Central Station a few years back.

(Link: depers.nl, Photo: ruudvisser)

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May 5, 2008

Moving on up at work by doing the boss

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 12:46 pm

It’s been a while since we posted something objectionable and this video certainly qualifies. Viral marketing has to have an edge – kitschy or not – to get our attention. OK, the music got my attention.

And true to blunt Dutch form, this one is called “f*** your way to the top”. A male trainee in ugly not tighty whiteys does all kinds of things (mostly insinuated) to impress his future, much older female boss. Since the punch line has to do with condoms, I can imagine that a woman trying to ‘please’ her boss would have fallen short and be considered even more sexist by the masses. And the advert is for a Dutch company called Jobcircle.

And since the punch line is in Dutch, allow me to translate. When Rogier picks up the phone near the end, the voice says “Hey Rogier, didn’t you know that on each condom there are tips so that you don’t have to take your clothes off?”

(Link: reclamewereld.blog.nl)

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May 2, 2008

Frenchman in Amsterdam gets nationality revoked for marrying Dutchman

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 8:21 am

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Frédéric used to be French, but because he married a Dutchman, the French Embassy forced him to give up his French nationality. The French consulate revoked his nationality because they did not want to recognise his marriage when he also acquired the Dutch nationality. According to an agreement between France and the Netherlands, anyone who opts for the nationality of the other country automatically loses their original nationality, unless they are married to a person of the other nationality, in which case dual citizenship is automatically awarded.

The consulate declared Frédéric unmarried and wants him to hand in his passport, ID card and has told him he is banned from voting. Frédéric, very much attached to his home country, is terribly upset.

Tanguy Le Breton, the official representative of the French community in the Netherlands, calls this “blatant discrimination”. “It’s obvious that the French authorities discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. In this case, the discrimination is symbolically terrible because we are depriving homosexuals of their nationality. It is about time to start a debate on the issue and put an end to this discrimination.”

All this just in time for the International Day Against Homophobia and the very same day I happen to have a meeting with the French Embassy in The Hague about French music…

(Link (in French): kreukreuscopie)

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