The Live Market is the name of the startup that I have been planning with my good friend Niklas Larsson (author of Is the coffee still warm?) since sometime around March. It’s the service that online vendors has been waiting for. They just don’t know it yet. Do you know anyone who is selling online? Tell them to sign up for our updates!

We will be posting these updates as we make progress. Go to TheLiveMarket.com and give us your e-mail address to be notified! You will also be invited to our private beta as soon as we get there.

The Long Tail by Chris Anderson

I got myself a copy of this book after being recommended by a friend today. “The Long Tail is revolutionising the way we live. Find out why the future of culture and business lies in a global network devoid of bestsellers, blockbusters and hits.” Sounds interesting, doesn’t it?

Getting Real by 37signals

It’s time to get real and stop wasting valuable time! This book is straight to the point. Skip the things that don’t matter. Stay focused. Two people who know what they are trying to accomplish will get there faster than 5 people with unclear motives and bad communication. I would highly recommend this book if you look to get there faster. You can find it at http://gettingreal.37signals.com/

GodEl is a Swedish electricity provider that donates its profits to charity. This summer, as part of a nationwide campaign, I will be heading a sales team in Karlstad.

I installed Google Notifier for Mac today. I know, it’s not brand new (I think), but it’s really useful. I can see new e-mail and get snippets from that e-mail directly from the menu. When you choose Compose e-mail you actually use the Mail app or you can set it to your preferred e-mail app. There’s a demo video on the page where you get it. Useful tool to go with Gmail!

Vector Magic

I found this great service that converts an image into a vector file. It was exactly what I was looking for. It processes the image in a few steps and you select things like what quality the original image was in, choose a palette and at the end of the process you get to download your image (once you have signed up). You get 2 free tokens when you sign up. One image conversion = 1 token. It really saved my day, so I wanted to share it.

I watched a re-run of Bill Gates’ speech and interview from the World Economic Forum in Davos. He talked about what he calls Creative Capitalism. I’m very much pro his efforts and vision. It is all about “how the power of the marketplace can help the poor.” Companies and governments should work together and provide knowledge + resources + cash within their specific areas of expertise.

Copenhagen

Last weekend was a very nice one. Went to Copenhagen with Helen and even though it was cold it was great. We took a history tour Saturday morning (History Tours) and got to see and hear much about the history of Copenhagen. We also visited Carlsberg Visitor Centre and Københavns Bymuseum.

I have been in touch with media about Startup Weekend and here are the results: http://www.idg.se/2.1085/1.145855 and http://www.barometern.se/nyheter/kalmar/hjarnstorm-ska-foda-webbforetag(493170).gm

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

For once I thought I would give you my view on a piece of tech news. Sony Ericsson just launched their Xperia 1. It seems to be a sleek - oh wait, no, not really - and useful mobile phone. I do believe it is a nice phone with many great features, but what really turns me off is the slideout keyboard and Windows Mobile OS. There are great examples of keyboards, such as the one on the iPhone or on the Nintendo Wii for that matter, where you can do it just as well without a chunky keyboard. They’ve got the big screen, so why not put it to good use? I have been using Windows Mobile for quite some time on my Qtek Smartphone and as much as I like the features there are still things I find very odd. For example, there are two menus in which you set current profile (headset/meeting/silent etc.) and it gets confusing. All in all, I will keep looking forward to when the iPhone reaches Sweden.