There are Startup Weekends being organized in Stockholm, Lund, Oslo and Copenhagen in April.

Startup Weekend is a 54 hour startup event that provides networking, resources and incentives for individuals and teams to go from idea to launch. Get connected with local developers, innovators and entrepreneurs. Build Community. Start Companies. No Talk. All Action.

Stockholm, April 16 - 18, 2010
http://stockholm.startupweekend.org

Lund, April 9 - 11, 2010
http://lund.startupweekend.org

Oslo, April 9 - 11, 2010
http://oslo.startupweekend.org

Copenhagen, April 9 - 11, 2010
http://copenhagen.startupweekend.org

As a previous participant and organizer of similar events (Startup Sweden) I can tell you it’s a lot of fun, I promise!

Pranav presents in this (embedded) video how his project Sixth Sense brings the physical and digital worlds closer with the help of a device that has a webcam and a projector. It tracks your gestures and then follows the commands assigned to those gestures. It’s really quite amazing! Check it out for yourself.

I recently started joining classes on Startup School and it is very good. They are using Adobe’s Connect Pro Meeting, so you get a video feed from the lecturer and you get to interact either by typing or speaking/asking questions. See you in class!

Spotify has now been made available in offline mode. You have to be a Premium subscriber. A computer can have up to 3,333 songs stored at most.

They have also made it possible to pay for premium with Paypal. Only in the UK to start with though.

http://www.spotify.com/blog/archives/2009/10/01/spotify-goes-offline/

Here is also a list of new releases Oct 2nd: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tLvfG00kE3zSJr0F4802Jug&output=html

I recently found Quake Live. Okay, so I’m a bit behind on this one. The open beta launched February 24, 2009 on www.quakelive.com. As stated in this article, Quake Zero not actually in web-browser, it’s actually not running in the browser, but rather in its own window. To play you have to install a plugin. Currently, only Internet Explorer 7+, Mozilla Firefox 2+, and Safari 3+ web browers running in either Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS X 10.4+ (Safari only), and Linux are supported. -Wikipedia

In August, Microsoft unofficially (through a job post description) announced they are going to have a more widespread access to their gaming network:

The LIVE Engagement Team is looking for a LIVE Community Director to manage its LIVE community strategy and execution across a range of properties, from Xbox LIVE to Windows Mobile. This senior position will play a vital role in the community space as the LIVE Engagement team builds and program’s Microsoft’s next-generation, LIVE-enabled casual and social gaming platform across the Web, the console, mobile and beyond.

That is not to say they are going to have the actual games on there, but it’s sure a step in that direction.

At this point, a majority of games have an online multiplayer mode, so the transition would really just be a small step. Distribution would be free and much easier. And then there is the viral effect of social networks.

Update: Another interesting web-based game is Monopoly City Streets available on http://www.monopolycitystreets.com/ It makes use of Google Maps.

Seedcamp Week 2009 applications are open for the next wave of European web-tech talent to apply - 2 WEEKS LEFT!

Seedcamp Week 2009 is a weeklong programme from 21-25th September that connects 20 early stage web tech startups with over 400 highly experienced and sought after entrepreneurs, investors, marketers, product and developer experts.  The 20 teams do compete for seed funding, but most importantly, garner world-class connections and recognition in the European entrepreneurial ecosystem. At the end of the week Seedcamp will invest up to €50K each in 5 teams for a small equity stake (5%-10%).

Applications are now open and being accepted till August 23rd. More details are on our website (www.seedcamp.com) and blog (www.blog.seedcamp.com).

Marcus Zacco just launched a website with an interactive live cooking show every Sunday. It’s in Swedish. He starts out this Sunday (June 28) with making sushi. For the coming programs, he will be inviting professional chefs to cook.

It all starts Sunday June 28 @ 14:00 (2 PM) CET (GMT+1).

http://www.sondagsstek.se/

This blog post has been out there for a while, but nevertheless interesting. I like the metaphor with mountains throughout the discussion.

Imagine that products are mountains. To build a product, you will need to climb that mountain. Some mountains have a big pot of gold at the top, and some do not. In order to make money, you will need to pick the right mountain and then successfully climb to the top and gather up the gold. You can fail by choosing a mountain that has little or no gold at the top, or by dying on the way up.

Read more on Paul Buchheit’s blog: http://paulbuchheit.blogspot.com/2008/03/ideas-vs-judgment-and-execution_9197.html

A report by Taige Zhang on the European Web Startup Environment.

This presentation analyzes and ranks 32 EU countries based on three factors that make a country great for web startups: being tech-oriented, having an entrepreneurial culture, and possessing sufficient resources. The best places to start up in Europe are the following countries: Finland, France, Germany, Netherland, Sweden, and UK.

You can find it here: http://intelligentshare.com/2009/04/defragmenting-eus-web-startup.html

Are you swedish, or do you happen to pass by Sweden this summer? Then maybe you’re up for Sweden Social Web Camp.

Read more:
http://www.whatsnext.se/2009/04/22/arets-hajk-sweden-social-web-camp/