Blogging anniversary - 10 years of persistance at Zec Online Journal

You can't blog me away

Time to celebrate a bit. It's more than 10 years of my blogging with Blogger.com and Blogspot.com.

The first blog post is dated January 19th 2002. It was very revealing for me, I still remember those days.

It was real epiphany. Writing on the Web without any technical knowledge for HTML or web design. After setting up my blog, It took me only few moments to publish my first post. At first, I wrote in croatian, later on from around mid 2005 , I started to write posts in english.

I fell in love with blogging and ''everything blog''.

Throught the years, I wrote blogs with TypePad, Moveable Type , Blog.hr and many other blog tools. I become an expert for this. Later on, consultant for blogging.

The crucial moment for me was in the summer of 2003. when I got mail from Dario Markus, a young and talented IT journalist at the time, who had similar dreams to mine.

He wanted to start blogging service in Croatia. At the time, blogging was almost unknown in southeastern Europe ( even in Western Europe ).

So we did it. Blog.hr went public in 2004. and it was extremelly popular blogging service which eventually became one of the most visited websites in Croatia. Later, the blogging service was sold to an american company.

I feel proud for my persistance and endurance on this Blogger-based blog which I write to these days.

2011 Review

It was a great year. I don't count assholes on the road.

+ 10 340 points of experience. + 120 000 karma points. Health just fine. Got my mojo started in every corner of my zen interest. $$$$

Just great year, the best so far. And this year will be even better.

To say few things:

- done 21 live performances of folk music
- played guitar session with Slasgh
- had vodka with Ronnie Wood
- wrote 12 screenplays
- founded NLP cooperative
- worked as a waiter for many nights
- got my own apartment
- 3 days of full time nudism with great people
- brokered business for Qatar hedge fund
- consulted some of the top emerging entreprenurs in internet matters
- got published my short novel
- invested in social media PR agency with monthly growth of 130 %
- grow spiritualy, found my zen
- went to classes for connosieur
- organised 4 Web events
- wrote curriculum NLP for courtisans
- co-founded lounge music radio
- cooperated with UC University on Kansius machine
- meet some realy good people

And helluva more.

Kick the champagne ;)

Banking panic in Croatia is reality

One bank down, four to follow

My patience is over.

I have completely lost faith in croatian banks. More so, I have lost faith in Croatian Central Bank who failed to act properly on the recent Credo Bank banruptcy.

More so, I have lost faith in some croatian investment funds who never disclosed information that they had parked the money of their clients in no name - zombie banks.

The whole system is not stable anymore, although many state officials tried to calm down public and try to prevent panic.

Now we need to wait and see. Financial disease spreads faster than I thought before and in places where you wouldn't expect normally.

Extraordinary times, indeed.

Bank runs started in Europe ?

Siemens has no faith in European banks anymore. Siemens Bank roll on.

In a shocking representation of just how bad things are in Europe, the FT reports that major European industrial concern Siemens, pulled €500 million form a large French bank, which is not BNP and leaves just [SocGen|Credit Agricole] and deposited the money straight to the ECB.

What is it if it's not bank run ?

The implications of this are quite stunning, as it means that even European companies now refuse to work directly with their own banks, and somehow the ECB has become a direct lender/cash holder of only resort to private non-financial institutions!

As Bloomberg reports further on the FT story, in total, Siemens has deposited between 4 billion euros and 6 billion euros, mostly through one-week deposits, with the ECB, FT says, cites the person. It isn’t clear from which bank Siemens withdrew its deposits, per the FT... but it is hardly difficult to figure out.

BNP Paribas isn’t the bank involved, FT reports, cites unidentified person familiar with the bank. This story should be having far more impact on the EURUSD than any rumors about Greece lying it will fire all of its public workers only to make sure Eurobanks can survive one more day.

Croatia will see huge * Gamification *

Researching potential for gamification in Croatia.

Gamification is relatively awkard term for application of game play in various non-game situations.

Power Web User , game freaks and some social scientist are buzzing with this trendy term for some time.

It's usually very little understood. But it can be applied in e-commerce, news publishing, Web design, health, media etc.

I'm in contact with key people in Sillicon Valley who are main players in this buzzy field.

Saatchi S Gamification Study

View more presentations from Saatchi & Saatchi S

Uncharted Waters For Casino Capitalism

Financial english idiom. The comin of the new dark age

Tommorow, the global stock market will have to ''price in'' following facts and new realities:

- S & P's downgrade of USA top-notch credit rating

- European soverign debt crisis - Italy and Spain bonds

- First signs of global economic slowdown, possible signs of the new recession

- the dollar is, de facto, no longer reserve currency

- China becomes officially the mightiest global superpower

- The reality of the full multi-polar geopolitical order

If you're in uncharted waters, you are in a situation that is unfamiliar to you, that you have no experience of and don't know what might happen. ('Unchartered waters' is an incorrect form that is a common mistake.)

Source: english dictionary

The Fall Of Capitalism

Print more money ! Fast !


Another global stock market sell-off. The biggest daily drop of major indexes since February 2009.

Socialism failed, and now capitalism is going bankrupt.

What will be ''third way'' ? Next 20-30 years will decide.

Tofu: Almost Like Meat

Meat Substitute

Tofu or bean curd is a food of chinese origin made by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into soft white blocks.

It's what cheese is to milk. Tofu is often seen as meat substitute.

Soft, or silken, tofu can be used to make salad dressing, dips and pâtés, pie fillings, smoothies, and more. Crumbled and fried with herbs and vegetables, soft tofu makes a good vegetarian stand-in for scrambled eggs. Firm cubes of tofu, sautéed, can be a great addition to a stir-fry.

Here's plenty of Tofu recipes.

The market for Tofu products is booming.

In Germany, tofu is selling very well and the niche are dominated by small businesses like Taifun ( aus Freiburg ) or TofuTown. Key people to watch are: Bernd Drosihn and Wolfgang Rainer Heck.

Online Text Editor

Just Write !

It's about time. Few dispatches from the planet Earth.

Sitting in my situation room, with glasses on, listening Lejla song, eating Milka sponge cakes with orange jelly, drinking refreshing Cedevita and thinking about new text editor. Some 100 meters away, there's a football game of our local club, should be friendly match before the start of season.

I dislike using Word for writing articles. I am in a search for new text editor. It would be online one.
Used to write with Writer by BigHugeLabs. It's good and simple. GDocs text editor is option as well. Third solution ?

I hope I'll find one this afternoon. Tommorow I'll start my vacations 2011.

Euro - Game Over !

Deutche Mark - Welcome !

Don't tell me it wasn't predictable ?
European Monetary Union is dead as ''dead chicken ''.

It is still not clear will there be another collosal financial collapse aka Lehman-style ( only worse ).


Anyhow, time is running out for all those Bruxelles's fuckers and politicians. Party is over.

How to play markets in the coming months ?

- buy dollar/ sell Euro
- buy German Bunds
- sell Dax Index
- sell Swiss Franc
- sell Belgium share index
- buy European travel companies
- sell US banks

Yes, that's rock n' roll.

The Kings Of The Android SuperPhones For 2011.

Big Daddy Androids



The arrival of the HTC Sensation, or HTC Pyramid as it used to be known, has firmly formed a trio of superphones in the Android world.

With dual-core processors all round, seriously big screens and plenty of pedigree in the ways of Google mobile, it joins the Samsung Galaxy S II and LG Optimus 2X as the ones to consider if you’ve plenty of cash in your pocket and a phone contract that’s starting to run short.

The tricky part, is which should you choose?

Overall, the winner - IMHO is Samsung Galaxy S II.

Seeing Into The Future

Playing Alice In Wonderland

I'd like to think of myself as futurist, not merely trendspotter.

I've become aware of some of my basic methods for forecasting / predictions . Let's give a name to those methods and long remembering:



1. DELPHI

2. ANALOGY / MODELS

3. EXTRAPOLATION

4. STATISTICAL

5. CAUSAL

I won't go in details. That's what works for me. Period.
Apply with common sense. It's all situational.

And remember, nothing is as it seems ! Read Alice in Wonderland for more insight.

'' It's easy ''

** Tra-la-la-la-la-la. Easy like a sunday morning. **

When something is percieved as easy, one can fool himself into believing the action will be done without much effort.
That's common trap for most people. Even for Zec.

If you think that way, you'll have trouble getting things done.

Zec thinks he's good at writing. It's very easy for him to write blog post. His experience and knowledge gives him confidence he'll do it right, accurate and on time.

But then, he delays a little. Then he delays further, and now it becomes serious procrastination. Everything looked so easy at first.

But now he's having problem. A writer's block. The things are not done.

He sees his mistake and is ready to make correction. Hard work takes over. He's done. + 180 Karma points for a good job.
Well done !

Words don't come easy when they're not true !

Ultra Cheap Property In Florida

Property slump

Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA.
This property sold for $145,000 in 2006 and is now priced at $26,900.

iPad 2 & Competition

Recession-proof gadget

No other tablet PC comes even close to iPad 2. Forget tech specs.
It's about feel-good, design, getting things done, creativity, easy of use, situational experience and ...APPS ( 65.000 ) .

Storify Try

Money Cake

Happy Birthday !

Short Audio News

Tech news of the last 24 hours in a short audio format. What's not to like ?

TNWDailyDose 24-02-2011 by TNW Daily Dose

Let The Life Of Steve Jobs Be Inspiration For Solving Mystery Of Cancer

A global gadget's tax

Steve Jobs could be having his last days with us mortals on Earth. His last battle...

Such an extraordinary man, such visionary, problem-solver, industry leader...

I wish there's somewhere in the World, visionary in the life science industry , working on fighting cancer disease and succeding. A man with pure passion and determanation to find a medicine for cancer.

The cure for cancer is more important then all gadgets and technologies of the World.
Life is every man's right. Health is every man's right.

All of us knew somebody who's having this uncurable disease. Healthy man and then suddenly he disapears...I've seen a lot of people around me who dissapeared just like that. It's astonishing.

Reminding all of us about cancer:

Cancer /ˈkænsər/ ( listen) (medical term: malignant neoplasm) is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth, invasion that intrudes upon and destroys adjacent tissues, and sometimes metastasis, or spreading to other locations in the body via lymph or blood. These three malignant properties of cancers differentiate them from benign tumors, which do not invade or metastasize.

I have a proposal for the mobile and tech industry.
Let us Steve Jobs all remind about the strong determination, passion for technology and his personal battle for health, his personal battle for life.

Let every mobile phone sold in the World brings $ 1 - 3 of the selling price for the benefit of the account specially dedicated to cancer foundation for funding life science projects that are trying to find the cure for cancer.

Once and for all.

You can be billionaire or poor but what gives if your body and mind is attacked by such disease...


Updated on October 6th, 2011.

Steve Jobs ( R.I.P. ) once said:

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure -- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

Old-Fashioned Gilts & Treasury Bonds

The U.S. dollar depends on this market

I am talking here about the collapse of the largest bond market in the world – the market for U.S. Treasurys.
The chart compares the value of long-dated U.S. Treasury bonds (TLT) to the price of gold (GLD).

None of the government's bailout plans will solve any of the problems. Instead of bondholders and shareholders being wiped out, taxpayers are put on the hook.

Satisfied Employee

It's not only about paycheck.

There is more to employee productivity, efficency and satisfaction than good money alone. Good bosses know this very well, and behave accordingly.
It's employee's right to be assertive on this counts:

- Work / life balance
- Time for family / friends
- Training & specialisation
- Fairness, cooperation and communication among colleagues
- Flexible hours
- Challenging tasks
- Job autonomy ( Power & influence )
- Highly professionalism ( quality performance )
- Days-off
- Feeling of control
- Changing things & making difference
- Seminars & workshops ( job related )
- Coolness ( product & services )
- Recognition & acknowledgement
- Room for creativity
- milestones for promotion
- Non - bureaucracy
- Well defined organisation's structure and worker's roles
- Random Perks ( free coffee, dougnats, fruits, snacks )
- Security ( retirment & health coverage, life insurance )
- Fair compensation - Money & equity & bonuses
- Manager's support

CashBase Tracks Money

Web & iPhone app for simple cash flow tracking

Build out of frustration with available personal finance software , CashBase was made by Filip Chereches-Tosa and Radu Lucaciu from Romania with attention to detail and a bit of Web design philosophy preached by the folks at 37Signals .

It is indeeed very clean and simple Web 2.0 app for tracking your monthly earnings and expenses.
The principle is money-in / money-out, so it gives you clean picture about the cash flow.

Even the colors are right. Invitation button for sign up is blue ( blue's the color of finances ), earning side is green and spending side is red.

Sign up process is fast. !5 seconds later you're good to go.
Left side is for earnings, right side is for expenses.

The central point of the app is ''transaction'', whether adding or subtracting amounts.
It is possible to create many wallets or accounts and track cash flow for each account.
Each transaction tags with certain date or the range of dates so you can use analytics feature from the right menu and see the stat / graphical presentation of the cash flow.

More so, app is promising to be able to predict your cash flow in the future based on the history.

Mobile component is there as well. iPhone app is in the AppStore and allways in synch with Web version.

One important aspect of every money app is data privacy. CashBase does state full support for secure connection and data verified by GlobeSSl. The credibility could be easy lost with any mishandling of sensitive private data, so this is critical promise .

CashBase is nice little app, but it is still work in progress and it can be improved with more features or add-ons not compromising simplicity.

It left me with desire to have this few wishes: Terms of service ( my law opsession ) still not up, easier way for making new wallet/account ( not geeky syntax like @newAccount, deposit ) , stats menues should be more visible ( they're too grey ) , ability to calibrate your account for losses from the start, summary of all accounts/wallets, ability to add spending category/tag/label, different currencies etc.

I can easily imagine that this app could be one day with enhanced functionality offered on the market- premium accounts.
The base is certainly there.

Meet Windoro - A Window-Cleaning Robot

Windoro was created by Ilshim Global, a small company from Gyeongsan, South Korean and the Pohang Institute of Intelligent Robotics, or PIRO.
It will retail for $ 400.

iPhone 6

Vision Well Ahead. Enjoy

Mobile VC Investment

Mobile now represents 34 percent of all tech venture capital, according to research from CapitalIQ.

A kind of gold-rush fever seems to have hit the finance world, as consumer usage, mobile traffic and the number of advanced mobile devices have boomed. People are begnning to think of mobile as potentially the primary platform for computing and getting connected. As Rajeev Chand, head of research for Rutberg, notes: “What RIM did for e-mail, iPhone and Android are doing for all of computing.”

It has also helped that mobile’s developing a very strong track record for big exits. Witness recent deals:
—Starent (sold to Cisco for $2.9 billion),
—Atheros (sold to Qualcomm for $3.1 billion),
—AdMob (bought by Google for $750 million),
—Quattro (sold to Apple for $275 million), and
—ngmoco (sold to Japanese games company DeNA for nearly $400 million).

Pure Fun

Do you smell assholes and rats sometimes ? Hehehehe
Never stop laughing

Google's Shopping Spree In 2010

The following startups were all acquired in the year 2010.

1. Aardvark a Social Search company based in the US was acquired on February 12, 2010 for $50,000,000.

2. reMail is an Email Search startup based in the US. ReMail was acquired for an undisclosed price on February 17, 2010 and integrated with Gmail.

3. On March 1, 2010 Picnik a Photo Editing app was acquired for $5,000,000 and integrated with Picasa .

4. DocVerse , a Microsoft Office files sharing site was acquired on March 5, 2010 for $25,000,000 and integrated with Google Docs.

5. Episodic an Online video platform startups was integrated with Youtube. The company was bought on April 2, 2010 for an undisclosed price.

6. On April 12, 2010 PlinkArt a Visual Search Engine Mobile start-up based in the UK was acquired to be integrated with Google Goggles. Price undisclosed.

7. Agnilux a Server technology start-up was bought for an undisclosed amount

8. LabPixies developer of gadgets was acquired on April 27, 2010 for an undisclosed amount.

9. Bump Technologies a Canadian desktop environment developer was bought for $30,000,000 on April 30, 2010 to be integrated with Google Android

10. On May 20, 2010 Simplify Media a UK music syncing startup was bought for an undisclosed amount to be integrated with Android.

11. Ruba.com is a travel site and was acquired on May 21, 2010 to be integrated with Google. Price undisclosed.

12. On June 3, 2010 Invite Media an advertising company was bought for $81,000,000 for DoubleClick integration.

13. ITA Software a travel technology company was acquired on July 1, 2010 for $700,000,000.

14. Metaweb a semantic search company was bought on July 16, 2010.

15. On August 4, 2010 Instantiations a Java/Eclipse/AJAX Developer Tools company
was bought to be integrated with Google Web Toolkit.

16. Slide.com a social gaming startup was acquired on August 5, 2010 for $182,000,000.

17. Jambool a social gold payment platform was bought on August 10, 2010 for $70,000,000.

18. Like.com a visual search engine was bought for $100,000,000 on August 15, 2010 to be integrated with boutiques.com.

19. Angstro a social networking service was bought on August 30, 2010

20. SocialDeck, Inc. a Canadian social gaming company was acquired on August 30, 2010

21. Quiksee an online video site was bought for $10,000,000 on September 13, 2010 to be integrated with Google Maps

22. Plannr a schedule management company was acquired on September 28, 2010

23. On October 1, 2010 , BlindType a Touch Typing startup from Greece was bought to be integrated with Android.

24. Phonetic Arts a Speech synthesis company from UK was bought on December 3, 2010 for integration with Google Voice.

25. Widevine Tecnologies a DRM company was acquired on December 3, 2010 for Google TV integration

26. Google also acquired Zetawire a Canadian startup focusing on mobile payments transactions in December 2010.

Built-In Bullshit Detector

Progress, progress


The most clichéd and overused phrases for the past year using over 85 million LinkedIn profiles. Here are 2010 top 10 buzzwords used in the USA.

1. Extensive experience
2. Innovative
3. Motivated
4. Results-oriented
5. Dynamic
6. Proven track record
7. Team player
8. Fast-paced
9. Problem solver
10. Entrepreneurial

As Hemingway once said “Develop a built-in bullshit detector''.
Eh, human resources fans ;)

Via linkedIn blog

The Day Dollar Died

It's not anymore question of ''if'', but ''when''.

Nobody knows exact timing. Nobody knows exact consequences. Everyone who says he's smart enough to know about this, is a liar.

Why I care about all of this ? Well, the effect of this unfortunate event in USA will be felt all around the World. Immediatly. Remember October 2008 ?

This time will be worse. Here's a movie about one of those scenarios :



Most Americans are naive enough to believe that because the U.S. has survived for so long with such a huge national debt and continuous budget deficits, the country will be able to continue down this path forever without any consequences because after all, this is America we are talking about.

The truth is, US national debt has grown by 70.7% over the past five years, compared to 41.8% during the previous five years, and 14.3% during the five years before that.

Meanwhile, US GDP has grown by 17.9% over the past five years, compared to 27.5% during the previous five years, and 32.9% during the five years before that.

Americans gone from their GDP growing more than twice as fast as their debt, to debt growing at nearly quadruple the speed of US GDP.

A train wreck is getting ready to happen and this train wreck is literally unstoppable.

Nexus S

GooglePhone

It's gorgeous.

Second Leg Of A Global Bankruptcy

As much as Euro project is dead, there are another cracks in the global financial meltdown that started in 3rd quarter of 2008.

Bloomberg, the leading financial news provider, gets it right and in a plain language:

There will be a lot of grand rhetoric about the importance of the European project. Stern condemnations of the speculators will ring out across the continent.

Don’t listen to a word of it. The euro has turned into a bankruptcy machine. Once the markets have finished with Ireland, they will simply move on to Portugal and Spain, and after that to Italy and France.

There is a domino effect at work, and, with each rescue, the fault lines within the euro grow wider and wider. This process isn’t going to stop until the euro is taken apart.

Dear readers, I'll have to say this - Frankfurt now leads the main role in the finances and Germany got deserved satisfaction that Frankfurt was right from the start. In that name, I'll eat Frankfurt wurst , cheers !

Experience is your responsibility

Important laws of creativity

1. Ignore everybody
2. Don't use pillars
3. Freedom, liberation
4. Small ideas, bigger ideas
5. Put the hours in
6. Slowly & in pain
7. Experience is your responsibility
8. Day job / Sex & Cash balance
9. Individual vs. team player
10. Climb private Mount Everest
11. Tool - no correlation
12. Avoid crowds
13. Accept pain
14. Don't compare inside with outside
15. Not dying young
16. Echo chambers
17. Red line border
18. Watercooler gang
19. World's changing
20. Passion

Consulting Information Model

Making sense from information & providing meaning
/ specific / expensive/ niche -> information

- what works
- what's important / only important
- real usage / use
- identify alternatives
- assess risks
- give solutions
- identify trends / patterns
- key performance indicators
- ratios
- available raw statistics
- market making
- market research
- costs & prices
- information sources
- bibliography

Growth Mantra

What if...economic growth as a concept is overrated ?

The Western world economies are in impatient waiting for the new economic cycle to start. Growth will save them, conventional wisdom goes. Economic growth.

Plus 2 %. Plus 4 %. And every other year more and more. Again and again. Growth and profit.

Is this expectation realistic ? Is this expectation really needed ?

That's what I started asking my self after hearing BBC Business news. What if economies without growth ( or minimal growth ) is ''the new normal'' ?

How this relates to something some economists call sustainable economies ?
I don't have an answer yet, but try to look for that trend.

It is very interesting to see how Britain forms and supports so called Local Enterprise Partnerships

“The knowledge and expertise of the private sector, local authorities and their local communities will be crucial as we work to create a better environment for business and ensure that everyone has access to the opportunities that growth brings.”

Sharing: Creativity Manifesto

This was written and compiled by Hugh MacLeod. He's sharing it with the World. Grace and love be upon him.

6.HowToBeCreative

Nielsen & Budiu : iPad Usability

iPad Usability

How important will be Google Web Store ?

Google Chrome OS now makes sense more and more

I am excited about Google Web Store and the evolution of the Web.

First time I felt so much excitment about Web / Internet when I was able to write an URL address in the browser. It was a web page with simple navigation. Whole new world of information.

Second time I felt so much excitment when I visited Blogger.com and created account to be able to post my first blogging post. I created my Web.

( in the meantime , there was a story with ajax functionality, Gmail etc. We all felt hope that software will be delivered over the cloud and behave just like our deskopt apps )

Third time I felt so much excitment when Apple introduced iPhone App Store and when I was able to pull apps I was eager to use. On my mobile phone, and wherever I am.

Fourth time I was excited when I saw iPad and the iPad Apps.

Fifth time I am excited because of Google Chrome Web Store.

This is evolution of the Web. Your web page as an app. Yes, there were many those web apps in the Web 2.0 ecosystem. But this is bigger. HTML5 and standard web technologies are building momentum for revamp.

It's all about Web App.

Alberto Aquilani

One of the finest younger players in Europe.

Alberto Aquilani is on loan in Juventus Torin from Liverpool.

Juve won against Lecce 4:0 this weekend. Alberto Aquilani opened the scoring with a ferocious long-range strike.