Archive by Author - Olivier Ezratty

Lancement du Parrot AR.Drone

by on January 7, 2010 at 12:10 am

Mardi 5 janvier à Las Vegas, la société française Parrot annonçait un jouet étonnant résultat de plusieurs années d’ingeniering et parfaitement dans l’air du temps : l’AR Drone.

Au moment où j’écris ces lignes, la presse mondiale en ligne a du déjà décrire le biniou. J’avais eu le privilège de profiter d’une démonstration de l’hélicoptère début décembre 2009 pendant la visite de Parrot à Paris avec les Travelling Geeks. Mais nous étions sous embargo jusqu’à hier.

Parrot AD-Drone shown at the CES Unveiled Jan2010 (6) (more…)

Leweb 2009 – Startups

by on December 19, 2009 at 4:59 am

Leweb 2009 Startup Competition

This is my late and last post covering Leweb 2009. Like every other year (20062007,2008), I will make a roundup of the presenting startups in the conference.

This year, startups didn’t have to pay to present, like in previous years. As a result, the competition seemed opened to more early stage companies and it did show. Only two had already got some VC funding and less than half had significant business angel back-up. There were fewer startups presenting: 16 instead of 30 last year. (more…)

Leweb 2009 – The Scorecard

by on December 17, 2009 at 4:12 pm

Loic and Géraldine Lemeur (3)It’s been a couple days now since Leweb 2009 ended. And I’m quite far from the “Real time web” with that report of the event, which as usual, will be split in a several posts.

This year’s edition was definitively a hit. The most important success factors of such an event are: do we enjoy these so-called “TED moments”, when speakers build an emotional connection with the audience, then, do we meet the right people there and at last, are the logistics doing well.

In the Leweb historical scorecard that I assembled below, it looks like the mix of this year’s edition has been the best so far. I just missed the first “Les blogs” in this series of events but it was rather small with only a few hundred attendees. And I don’t necessary recollect well the best “TED moments” from the 2007 and before editions. The number of attendees is an estimate. If it’s wrong, I will correct it. (more…)

Leweb 2009 – Gurus and illustrious speakers

by on December 17, 2009 at 4:12 pm

Let’s talk a bit about these “TED moments” from Leweb, when speakers really shake the audience and create a strong emotional connection. In most cases, it was with substance. There were at least 4 to 5 such occasions at this year’s Leweb.

It’s always amazing to watch the differences of communication styles between speakers. Corporate speakers tend to care about every word they say, keep a stable voice, and they avoid to hurt anybody as if their legal department was hiding behind the black stage curtain. Some were even reading their speeches, huh oh. On the contrary, good speakers move, shake hands, speak loud, use common sense, and they make a hit. Could you have both? I wish Corporation could. In the long run, they’ll have to. Otherwise, fireside chats with Loic were fine.

So, let’s look at the main session speakers in a decreasing impact order: (more…)

Leweb 2009 – Sponsor speakers

by on December 17, 2009 at 4:12 pm

lewebThere were many sponsor speakers at Leweb. Although they seemed to be everywhere in the agenda, there were hopefully more non-sponsor speakers!

Twitter was a preeminent company at Leweb since it was not only a sponsor but it had its CEO and founder Jack Dorsey talking. And it made a lot of sense since Twitter is a huge part of the real time web phenomenon. Jack spent also significant time in Paris, going to the City Hall for the “.paris” reception, meeting with Queen Rania, talking to @nk_m, etc. (more…)

Leweb 2009 – Weird stuff

by on December 17, 2009 at 4:12 pm

Osama Bedier from Paypal (4)Since 2006, I’m playing the photoreporter role at Leweb, on top of blogging and networking.

This year, I took with me my two Canon reflex cameras (DSLR) with a wide angle lense and a zoom lense. Every year, I learn the way to improve my shootings. This year, I got very nice results with using a mix of high ISO sensors (5D II), wide apperture lenses (2.8), fast speed (1/400s) and with caring about good focusing. My pictures are not retouched at all beyond basic RAW files processing using Adobe Lightroom, with some color balance and lighting adjustments. Despite the gear, I’m NOT a professional photographer. It’s just a hobby!

You’ll find all my pictures from this year’s Leweb here and there. (more…)

With the Traveling Geeks @ Orange

by on December 13, 2009 at 1:09 pm

IMG_9950This is the last part of my report of the Traveling Geeks tour in Paris before Leweb.

We met with Orange to have a glimpse of all the solutions they provide to their consumer customers: IPTV, mobile solutions, web solutions, tablets, etc. It took place in the Orange Lab situated at Chatillon, in the southern Paris suburb.

(more…)

With the Traveling Geeks in Paris

by on December 13, 2009 at 4:32 am

Dear reader, this is my first post in English. The reason is I participated recently to the Traveling Geeks tour in Paris and the rule of the game is to publish content that can be shared by its participants and within the Traveling Geeks web site. So, no other solution than English. Time to get really international!

In this first post, I’ll quickly go through the agenda of this tour and then talk a little bit about my fellow international Traveling Geeks bloggers. We’ve spent four days together, two in a local tour and two at Leweb. That was a good opportunity to get to know high-profile bloggers from other countries, not just the USA, and to share some views on digital innovation as well as on Leweb itself. I enjoyed a lot this experience. (more…)

With the Traveling Geeks @ La Cantine

by on December 13, 2009 at 4:32 am

This second part of my report from the Traveling Geeks tour in Paris is focused on the companies we visited during the first two days, Monday 7th and Tuesday 8th of December 2009. With startups with short presentations, startups with long meetings, then larger companies (Orange, Parrot).

I’ll start here with the startups we met at La Cantine. I realize I’ll need more posts for the rest of this two days visits. (more…)

With the Traveling Geeks @ Paris Incubator

by on December 13, 2009 at 4:32 am

IMG_0097The Traveling Geeks visited one of the five incubators from Paris Development, a joint venture between the City of Paris and the Paris Chamber of Commerce.

Paris Development has been in place for 10 years and has two goals: have foreign companies settle in Paris and help local startups. All in all, they incubate 100 startups representing 600 folks. 200 work in the “rue des Haies” incubator we visited, one that is dedicated to digital medias. But the presenting startups came from all the incubators from Paris. Incubated companies pay for staying in the incubator, although it’s quite modest in comparison with normal commercial offices price. And it includes all services (network, phone, welcome desk, etc). They have a long waiting list of startups and welcome only 7% to 8% of the candidates. Companies stay in the incubator for a maximum 4 years. (more…)