Today, the first new ‘Rijkspas’ was handed out to Guusje ter Horst, Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties).

This new card can (eventually) be used to access any governmental buiding, such as various Ministries. The introduction of this card was delayed by the fact that the chip that was proposed for this card, NXP’s Mifare Classic, was hacked and had to be replaced by a new type. So it has been replaced by an NXP Mifare DESfire.

Interesting to see is that the first headline showing up in Google News reads ‘New Rijkspas will also be hacked’. Hopefully this will take quite some time. Until then, the introduction of a uniform access card is a great improvement for civil servants who need access to multiple locations.

PS: I wonder what our Minister will actually do with the first Rijkspas. Apart from the inconvenient size of the card, based on the picture on the card, it doesn’t look like the card is actually meant to be used by her… Let’s hope that all future cards don’t have his security flaw.

We had a few beautiful weeks in Amsterdam. Clear blue sky, sun and, consequently, full terraces across town. So you’re organizing the Zuidas Run and dotting the ‘i’s these warm days and naturally think, if only……. lees verder…

Only 1 week left before the Zuidas Run. Great weather in Amsterdam, just got back from some practice and suggest you get out there as well!

These are difficult times for everyone. Every day I wake up and am confronted with news on how many people are getting fired from their company. It is very tough for everyone: losing jobs, living in uncertainty about their job or remaining behind to pick up the work from your colleagues who got fired.

However, a New Yorker came up with an inventive way of dealing with the lemons that life is handing them. He decided to make lemonade! He has organized an “Unemployment Olympics” for all the unemployed people in New York. Very inventive

Click for the article here.

Well, it looks like an official press statement (in Dutch): “TNT Post ziet vrije postmarkt met vertrouwen tegemoet”.

In this press statement, TNT Post (Dutch National mail services) announces the introduction of a mailbox that is protected with an RFID lock. The mailbox automatically opens when a TNT postman, equipped with RFID, is nearby.

According to the article, a nice way to keep out the cold of you house. And as a ’side effect’, also a nice way to keep out competetive mail services, such as SelektMail (by DHL) and Sandd. And newspapers.

I have no clue who would like to have a mailbox that doesn’t let in your daily newspaper and non-TNT mail (and has an ugly orange color).

UPDATE: Has TNT been inspired by US Patent 6957767?

UPDATE (April 14th): TNT has removed the official press statement. You can find a copy here. The subtitle ‘Free orange mailbox for all Dutch households’ -that was missing in the press statement on TNT’s own website- didn’t make it to the headlines in the press. Actually, the complete April Fool’s publication was hardly picked up by the press.

Yesterday evening I was again present in the home of Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, as a guest of the Next Web Salon. Also present, next to the usual suspects Patrick de Laive and Arjen Schat, was Andrew Keen.

In his first book,  Andrew makes mash potatoes of all driving forces behind 2.0: pro-am, citizen journalism, long tail, power to the masses. And he still does.
Yesterday, he claimed Web 2.0 was dead and looked towards the next big things. He loves Twitter, because it takes away the anonymity and there’s a natural selection process on following and followers. I still fail to see the big difference though: wasn’t web 2.0 all about natural selection as well? You choose who to follow and who to ignore, thus making only a few blogs really well read?
Now his new book is coming up and he will deliver a keynote at The Next Web conference. Subject:  the web vs. the ever increasing loneliness in society. He doesn’t blame tech, but is worried about the dangers that come these innovations.

I haven’t been that positive about Andrew in the past.  And still I lean a lot more towards the Cluetrain Manifesto/David Weinberger/Clay Shirky -camp than to pessimistic views.  But I have gotten more nuanced after last night, most of all because he has become so as well. Although arrogant, he showed yesterday he is a self critic by pointing out the flaws in his first book. Through his appearances, he pushes us optimists to be so as well.

**This is a re-post from jortpossel.com**