Test of Insignia HD camcorder.

This test is not really accurate for the following reasons:

- Original was an Avi converted in Mov via Quicktime
- HD was lost in the conversion.
- It was edited on iMovie and re-exported in mp4
- All shots in this video were taken on bright daylight behind a tinted windshield.
- Camera was not steady as I was holding it.
- Road was bumpy at some point which caused some distortions.

But overall it gives a good view of this tiny camcorder sold for $99 at Best Buy. It has a lot of potential and I will try to improve shooting and editing in next posts.

2008 My Social Media Year in image

This year was a tough year for everyone and the only person who knew something was happening was Jeff Pulver. Back on December 27th last year, Jeff hosted a SoFla [South Florida] social media breakfast and his prediction for 2008 happened to be very accurate. Watch and see for yourself.

I was on the road most of the year traveling to France, Spain, Switzerland, London, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Monaco, Nice, Tel-Aviv, New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Ottawa, Montreal, Bahamas, Arkansas, Boston, Houston, Seattle, Vancouver, and lots of other places I cannot name for confidentiality reasons.
Here is a mock-up of 2008 in videos and pictures:

Seattle in January

Later in January we had an important meeting in Mountain View:

One of best moment of 2008 was Barcelona GSM World Congress in February. I really had a great time with Jenny our COO, Bhaskar Roy co-founder of Qik, Paul Walsh from Segala, Loren Feldman video blogger 1938 Media, Jeremie Berrebi CEO Zlio, David Marcus CEO Zong, and Pat Phelan friend and business partner.

Pat Phelan and Bhaskar Roy

Vonx San Jose March 2008

St Patrick MaxRoam party



Circle Qik

April in Vegas:

You can admire Bellagio water show from one of their most prestigious suite

Cork, Ireland in April:





Tel Aviv in May where I received a nice gift from our partner:




And Monaco where Vodafone invited me to Formula1 GrandPrix :



And VIP access to Cannes Festival

Paris few weeks later in June with buddy Pat Phelan:

One of my favorite pictures in July. Our customer service team has a new silent tagline:



So I had to pray to make sure everything would work:


Jerusalem July 2008

Back to the Valley in August for a diner at Village Pub:


Jackie Danicki, Pat Phelan, Bhaskar Roy, Florian Seroussi

Highlight of 2008 was TechCrunch 50 in San Francisco:


Jeff Nolan, Pat Phelan, Florian Seroussi, Jackie Danicki

I must admit this was fun. Pat Phelan had the bright idea to offer free iPhone unlocking and he ended up by bricking Mike Arrington - CEO TechCrunch - iPhone. Funny part is that I was holding the iPhone when Mike walks back. Pat's face that day was just incredible. Watch this video:

Less funny - I had to go to New York and it happened to be the day all markets crashed.



Fall in Paris in October:



I'm just back from a short trip in the Valley:



For most of my readers it sounds like a dream - it's not. Jet lags, long flights, security hassle, packing unpacking, huge temperature difference, short nights, getting into a 4 hour meeting after an overseas flight, kids too far away....all those things are not on those pictures...but they exist.

It's my choice. I don't complain. Let's see how 2009 will be...

3 must have add-on for your Mac

Like many others I moved to Mac about a year ago after 25 years of Windows era. It was not easy and I think Apple could convert more users with some minor changes. First obvious change is the mouse. Windows users like right/left clicks. But Apple has decided NOT to change their strategy. On the contrary they went to 0 click on their new Mac...Good for some Mac junkies but very bad if you need to convince more Windows users.
On a software level here are 3 plug-ins Apple should bundle in OS X. A must have for ex-Windows_ers.

1. Email notification. Native mail app on OSX does not give you any notification of new incoming emails. Unless you check you masked dock every 10 minutes or so - you might not see an important email coming in. I use Mail Appetizer. It's free and does the job amazingly well.
2. Quicksilver lets you start applications (and do just about everything) with a few quick taps of your fingers. I really wonder why a company full of cash like Apple would not take their checkbook out and buy this first-class must-have add-on!!
3. Wireless panel on OS X is very basic. Too simple for most Windows users. We like to tweak and here we basically have 2 choices. Turn Radio on or off. Well try Air Radar. It has it all. Perfect to find a good hotspot while on the move.

By the way. Those 3 plug-in are 100% FREE and only ask for voluntary donations. We need to support them. Even $1 can help.
I could have listed many other apps/addons but those are so basic for me I wanted to keep the list short and relevant.
If you have some good tips about things I missed - please feel free to educate me :) I'm a new Mac user.

MoMa style

Babies at pool

Babies at pool
Originally uploaded by Florian SEROUSSI.

Sent via BlackBerry Bold from www.CelTrek.com

Positive beautiful commercial

So refreshing. Watch it twice to enjoy fully!

3 Free must have apps for BlackBerry

There are 3 applications you must have on your BlackBerry. And best there are FREE.

BerrySpeedy: BerrySpeedy is a free app that acts as a speed test for your BlackBerrys internet connection.


OTA Download: http://ota.deltatech.com.mx/

CaptureIt: It is a simple screen capture utility for Blackberry devices with 4.3 or higher. You simple assign the the application to a Blackberry connivence key, and press the key on the screen of your choice. this is very useful for tutorials, or just to capture you call log.


OTA Download: http://www.thetechmogul.com/CaptureIt/CaptureIt.jad

TinyLock: TinyLock is a small utility for BlackBerry, lock the BlackBerry keyboard when the backlight turns off. You can customize it as you wish. Saves your battery and accidental calls.


OTA Download: http://www.handrapid.com/download/tinylock.jad

I love this Motrin ad

I know a lot of moms didn't like the idea of this commercial but I really don't see anything wrong with the ad.
In my opinion we only hear moms that didn't like it - so I assume all the other ones were not opposed to it. That makes a lot of moms and Motrin should not have pulled it off.
What about dads and back pain?? Motrin you should make the same commercial with dads instead of moms. Men are usually more open moms than most moms :)
As often Loren Feldman made some good points in this videocast. Not exactly vocabulary I'd be using on my blog but his analysis is valid!
I hope this will not stop Motrin from trying to be innovative in their ads.

Blackberry Storm from Vodafone - How it works

Very nice video on YouTube on how to use the BlackBerry Storm. Well presented - it gives a nice overview of the Storm. Mine should be in my hands this week :)

If you never heard about recession...

You may want to get one of those.
Tag price: $2.3M

Why I love USA

Is there another country where presidential candidates can be that funny!!

New 4.5.0.03 OS for BlackBerry 8110, 8120, 8310 and 8320

Update on links for latest 4.5.0.93 OS for BlackBerry 8110, 8120, 8310 and 8320:

8110: http://www.mediafire.com/?w2nqgyay2d2

8120: http://www.mediafire.com/?eedn2olmyd3

8310: http://www.mediafire.com/?1mtkgi3wigm

8320: http://www.mediafire.com/?mtdnygyjwaj

Do you hate your iPhone?

Sometimes I hate my iPhone so much I feel like taking it apart. But unfortunately iPhone is made in such a way you can't open it. I found a little video online showing how to take it part. Very well explained. So if you are adventurous you may want to try it out...

BlackBerry Curve and Pearl OS 4.5.0.93

I know most of you are looking at my blog only for OS updates. So here you are:

8100: www.mediafire.com/?w3mt2e4jzg3

8300: www.mediafire.com/?zymitny2mgz

Do not upgrade if you don't know what you are doing. You have been warned :)

BlackBerry Storm - first real iPhone killer?

See this exclusive video footage of the Bold in action during a presentation to Vodafone executives. Media player looks very nice, widgets are also similar to iPhone. Check it out here:

What about voting for me??

Official OS 4.5.0.81 For 8300, 8310 and 8320

Stop looking for warez. Vodafone has released 4.5.0.81 here.



You still need to delete vendor.xml on your PC to be able to update.

Direct link: https://www.blackberry.com/Downloads/entry.do?code=B86E8D03FE992D1B0E19656875EE557C

BlackBerry Storm - I want one!!

I love my iPhone but i'm not using it. For many reasons - 1) no push email not just Yahoo! - anyway who uses a yahoo! email for business?? 2) battery...OMG this is really bad on the iPhone + no additional batteries 3) keyboard. I can't type with one hand like on my Bold 4) flaws and upgrade on the iPhone are legend. Can someone tell many how many firmware update we went thru with Apple in 1 year??

BlackBerry is coming out with Storm- a killer device to be launched maybe as early as November by Verizon. Very bad news for ATT who is to release the Bold in the next days. RIM should be very careful not fooling around with carriers. US is not Canada. We have competition down here Mr BlackBerry - watch out!!

iPhone did boost creativity from phone manufacturers. Finally our devices are becoming smarter, lighter, sexier and affordable. I remember the old days when a Sony Ericsson P800 was around 1000 euros...BlackBerry is among first to fight back, Nokia should launch their 'Tube' early October and HTC Dream G1 publicly available by October 22nd.

Anyway I want a Storm although it doesn't solve the keyboard problem. But I'll get my Storm like I got the Bold and the iPhone. Part of the geek syndrome. So far best device I had was BB 8320. Not perfect but a solid 90/100.

The F#ck you answer from Bill to Steve - AWESOME

Mac is cool and PC is stupid is finally over. Microsoft has intelligently responded to Apple in one of best ad ever. Simple. Nothing technical. HUMANS. Yes PC users may have glasses - so what Mr Jobs??!!

I think Microsoft has changed, obviously competition is driving the economy forward and Apple vs. Microsoft proves it again.

In the ad below, you will notice Eva Longoria, her husband, basketball star Tony Parker, musical artist Pharrell Williams and Bill Gates among a crowd of ordinary people. A must see.


Disclaimer: I stick with my MacBook Air for now but nothing is for definite in life ;-)

TechCrunch 50 is over. See you next year :)

I just spent a week in San Francisco for 2 events. TechCrunch 50 and CTIA Wireless Entertainment.



TechCrunch is an excellent start for entrepreneurs looking to test-drive their product or services. You must be fully ready to participate to the event. Some came with almost nothing and will certainly end up by folding their project very soon. But some others were really good at it.

Among my winners and interesting companies - no special order of preference:

Producteev - Social Project Management
PeopleBrowsr - Social network aggregator in a web app
Swype - new predictive touch key solution on tiny screen
TrueCar - change the way cars are being sold
Zong- mobile payment system enabling web publishers to bill
Popego - another web social platform.

Lots of people were complaining – including Robert Scoble – about poor execution of companies presenting at TechCrunch. I don’t think TechCrunch is to blame. The market is just saturated of low-ball ideas with lousy execution. I think TechCrunch took what was out there. I wonder how many ‘bad’ projects were submitted :)

The worst on stage was IMINDI. How did they make it to the stage? What happened there? I can’t believe Mike and Jason were reviewing this!

Anyway the event was a great opportunity to meet friends, colleagues and entrepreneurs – no preference in order of appearance:

Bhaskar Roy, Jackie Danicki, David Marcus, Jean David Benichou, Loren Feldman, Jeff Nolan, Loic LeMeur, Mike Arrington, Jeff Sass, Jeb Brilliant, Iain Dodsworth, Daniel Brusilovsky, Sol Lipman, David Speiser, David Smith, Christine Lu, Ouriel Ohayon, Jason Calacanis, Robert Scoble, Ilan Abehassera, Arik, Orli…

And of course my buddies Pat Phelan, Bernard Murphy, Marc Rochman and Chris Kennedy –special thanks to you Chris, you did a fantastic job.

TechCrunch thru my eyes on Flickr. And you must watch this exceptional moment when Mike Arrington found out Pat broke his iPhone:



Disclaimer – I’m a shareholder in Producteev. And I really support their dedication, execution and hard work.