Florian's Blog

Father of 5, entrepreneur, traveler, geek, curious about so many things.

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2009 in images

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

tags: 200 days traveling, 95 flights, kids, family, work, hypertension, headaches, joy, tears, love, hypocrisy, memories.

2009 had many ups and many downs. Hoping 2010 will be more peaceful.

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Posted in Family, Friends, London, Miami, New-York, Paris, Social Media, Twitter, Uncategorized, Video, World, kids | 3 Comments »

5 clichés I can’t stand listening to

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

We all have ours. Being French-Israeli residing in the US expose me to all sorts of comments I cannot stand anymore. Here are 5 annoying one:

-       Oh you live in Miami? Spring break all year long isn’t it?

  • NO – people don’t party all year long in Miami, we WORK in South Florida. In fact there is a vivid economy for startups nicely represented during our tweetups, Mobile Mondays or Bar Camp.Day 4/365
  • -       So you’re French – how is Carla?

  • How the heck would I know?? You don’t need an explanation for this one. Use your imagination J
  • -       Isn’t it too hard in Israel with bombs falling everywhere?

  • Ok, that’s a legitimate question if you think of Israel as a war zone. Actually bombs are not falling anywhere. It’s one of the most FUN country to live in. Israelis work hard and party even harder. You need to visit and you will see what they don’t show you on TV.
  • -       You fly so much, are you not afraid one day your plane might crash?

  • Duh. NO. Really – would you ask this question to a bus driver? Roads kill more every year. Statistics speak for themselves. Traveling by air is safe.
  • -       Hmm you fly business, you must be rich or stupid!

  • This one stays on the tip of the tongue every time I meet someone in an airplane. So let me put it this way – not that I need to justify myself- I fly around a million miles per year, buy most of my tickets in a cheap fare class and use frequent flyer upgrades to have a decent flight. When I don’t get upgraded I usually smack the airline agent buy the business class fare earning twice as much miles to finance my upcoming trips. Flying business is not a luxury when you get a red eye from Miami to London, land at 7 and need to be operational for a meeting at 8:30.
  • What clichés don’t you want to hear anymore?

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    Posted in Funny, Israel, Miami, Social Media, Travel, Uncategorized, World | 3 Comments »

    Nigerian Scam Boosted by Recession

    Thursday, October 1st, 2009

    Last Friday mailman was looking for a signature. He had important certified mail to deliver.

    scamenvelope

    Surprisingly it was a request for cash. One of our employees had a terrible accident in Lagos, Nigeria. Yeah…one of our employees we never had…was traveling to Nigeria…got hurt during a safari [lol], contacted a fellow American for help and now we should send an urgent Western Union to pay for a return ticket. Can’t stop laughing…

    Ok, now – who can fall for this? Who would actually send $750 via Western Union to Nigeria for an unknown/inexisting employee?! One other thing I still don’t get – certified mail costs more than an email. Why would they ‘invest’ in a hopeless scam?

    Beats me. I posted the actual scans because they are a real piece of [scam] art.

    scam1

    scam2

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    Posted in Artist, Funny, Uncategorized, World | 3 Comments »

    To Whom It May Concern

    Monday, September 28th, 2009

    Jealousy is simply and clearly the fear that you do not have value.  Jealousy scans for evidence to prove the point – that others will be preferred and rewarded more than you.  There is only one alternative – self-value.  If you cannot love yourself, you will not believe that you are loved.  You will always think it’s a mistake or luck.  Take your eyes off others and turn the scanner within.  Find the seeds of your jealousy, clear the old voices and experiences.  Put all the energy into building your personal and emotional security.  Then you will be the one others envy, and you can remember the pain and reach out to them.

    Jennifer James

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    Posted in Friends, Twitter, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

    New BlackBerry Messenger available Over The Air

    Saturday, July 18th, 2009

    If you have a BlackBerry its probably because you want to BBM your friends. RIM is working on a much better BBM version. Like always first private release has leaked and here it is for you.

    I took those links from the Internet.

    THIS IS BETA SOFTWARE, INSTALL AT  YOUR OWN RISK. I WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING LOST. MAKE SURE TO BACK UP YOUR PHONE FIRST.

    OTA for 4.5
    83XX/81XX
    IT JUST CAME TO MY ATTENTION IF YOU ARE RUNNING 83XX/81XX WITH OS LOWER THEN 4.5.0.131 IT WON’T WORK. HAVEN’T HAD ANY OTHER DEVICES TESTED LIKE 88XX

    OTA for 4.6
    OS 4.6

    OTA for 4.6.1
    OS 4.6.1

    OTA for 4.7
    95XX

    OTA for 4.7.1
    Tour

    THE 4.7.1 OTA WILL WORK ON 8900/9000 OS 5.0

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    Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

    Georges Bush ducks to avoid flying shoe

    Monday, December 15th, 2008


    Amazing reflex from Bush on this one. He is very calm and even stops a security agent running toward him.

    I think secret service agents will need to be much faster to protect Obama.

    Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

    Android on HTC Touch

    Friday, December 12th, 2008

    If you happen to have an old Windows Mobile HTC you can install Android on it. It works like a charm as you can see on this video.
    This install is a dual-boot WM and Android made possible by XDA-Developers.
    I was very active on XDA forums 5 years ago but I lost interest in Windows Mobile machines after my first BlackBerry. But if we can have Android on those devices…I might give it a try.

    Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

    Test of Insignia HD camcorder.

    Thursday, December 4th, 2008



    This test is not really accurate for the following reasons:

    - Original was an Avi converted in Mov via Quicktime
    - HD was lost in the conversion.
    - It was edited on iMovie and re-exported in mp4
    - All shots in this video were taken on bright daylight behind a tinted windshield.
    - Camera was not steady as I was holding it.
    - Road was bumpy at some point which caused some distortions.

    But overall it gives a good view of this tiny camcorder sold for $99 at Best Buy. It has a lot of potential and I will try to improve shooting and editing in next posts.

    Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

    2008 My Social Media Year in image

    Monday, December 1st, 2008

    This year was a tough year for everyone and the only person who knew something was happening was Jeff Pulver. Back on December 27th last year, Jeff hosted a SoFla [South Florida] social media breakfast and his prediction for 2008 happened to be very accurate. Watch and see for yourself.

    I was on the road most of the year traveling to France, Spain, Switzerland, London, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Monaco, Nice, Tel-Aviv, New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Ottawa, Montreal, Bahamas, Arkansas, Boston, Houston, Seattle, Vancouver, and lots of other places I cannot name for confidentiality reasons.
    Here is a mock-up of 2008 in videos and pictures:

    Seattle in January

    Later in January we had an important meeting in Mountain View:

    One of best moment of 2008 was Barcelona GSM World Congress in February. I really had a great time with Jenny our COO, Bhaskar Roy co-founder of Qik, Paul Walsh from Segala, Loren Feldman video blogger 1938 Media, Jeremie Berrebi CEO Zlio, David Marcus CEO Zong, and Pat Phelan friend and business partner.


    Pat Phelan and Bhaskar Roy

    Vonx San Jose March 2008

    St Patrick MaxRoam party

    Circle Qik

    April in Vegas:

    You can admire Bellagio water show from one of their most prestigious suite

    Cork, Ireland in April:

    Tel Aviv in May where I received a nice gift from our partner:

    And Monaco where Vodafone invited me to Formula1 GrandPrix :

    And VIP access to Cannes Festival

    Paris few weeks later in June with buddy Pat Phelan:

    One of my favorite pictures in July. Our customer service team has a new silent tagline:

    CelTrek customer service sends me a message :) on TwitPic

    So I had to pray to make sure everything would work:

    A holy night to remember on TwitPic
    Jerusalem July 2008

    Back to the Valley in August for a diner at Village Pub:


    Jackie Danicki, Pat Phelan, Bhaskar Roy, Florian Seroussi

    Highlight of 2008 was TechCrunch 50 in San Francisco:


    Jeff Nolan, Pat Phelan, Florian Seroussi, Jackie Danicki

    I must admit this was fun. Pat Phelan had the bright idea to offer free iPhone unlocking and he ended up by bricking Mike Arrington – CEO TechCrunch – iPhone. Funny part is that I was holding the iPhone when Mike walks back. Pat’s face that day was just incredible. Watch this video:

    Less funny – I had to go to New York and it happened to be the day all markets crashed.

    Fall in Paris in October:

    I’m just back from a short trip in the Valley:

    Rainy San Francisco on TwitPic

    For most of my readers it sounds like a dream – it’s not. Jet lags, long flights, security hassle, packing unpacking, huge temperature difference, short nights, getting into a 4 hour meeting after an overseas flight, kids too far away….all those things are not on those pictures…but they exist.

    It’s my choice. I don’t complain. Let’s see how 2009 will be…

    Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

    3 must have add-on for your Mac

    Monday, December 1st, 2008


    Like many others I moved to Mac about a year ago after 25 years of Windows era. It was not easy and I think Apple could convert more users with some minor changes. First obvious change is the mouse. Windows users like right/left clicks. But Apple has decided NOT to change their strategy. On the contrary they went to 0 click on their new Mac…Good for some Mac junkies but very bad if you need to convince more Windows users.
    On a software level here are 3 plug-ins Apple should bundle in OS X. A must have for ex-Windows_ers.

    1. Email notification. Native mail app on OSX does not give you any notification of new incoming emails. Unless you check you masked dock every 10 minutes or so – you might not see an important email coming in. I use Mail Appetizer. It’s free and does the job amazingly well.
    2. Quicksilver lets you start applications (and do just about everything) with a few quick taps of your fingers. I really wonder why a company full of cash like Apple would not take their checkbook out and buy this first-class must-have add-on!!
    3. Wireless panel on OS X is very basic. Too simple for most Windows users. We like to tweak and here we basically have 2 choices. Turn Radio on or off. Well try Air Radar. It has it all. Perfect to find a good hotspot while on the move.

    By the way. Those 3 plug-in are 100% FREE and only ask for voluntary donations. We need to support them. Even $1 can help.
    I could have listed many other apps/addons but those are so basic for me I wanted to keep the list short and relevant.
    If you have some good tips about things I missed – please feel free to educate me :) I’m a new Mac user.

    Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

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