today in brief

1. The Amsterdam we've missed on Queen's Day, yet will visit at some point this year. Photo by Mary.

2. Thailand is here, in Bucharest, at World Trade Center, between Friday 11th and Sunday 13th of May. 34 companies will sell a large variety of products from food to decorations, from clothes and beauty treats. Free access and great discounts promised.

3. What do you think of Google Gadgets? They feel a bit boring/ dusty to me.

4. BrandZ Top 100 Brand Ranking 2007 from Millward Brown Optimor (the brand finance and ROI unit of leading market research and consultancy Millward Brown) puts Google at # 1, where Coca Cola would normally be, moves Coca Cola at # 4, sees Nokia at # 12 only, and China Mobile as # 5. A more than interesting reading (PDF) via Razvan Matasel [RO].

5. The first blog, to my knowledge, that chronicles life after death, with super cool encounters between the author and stars like Francis Bacon, God herself, Mozart, David Ogilvy, or a show host at BBC Radio 5 Live. Meet The Dead Artist, via Russel Davies.

6. Great video, brilliant kid via Jobsessive [RO], used by Robbie Williams to promote his Rudebox album. From what I read, this is just an edited version of the short movie; eight movies have been commissioned to promote the album, yet made in a way that would allow each movie to stand alone and travel festivals. Where are the other seven? On a side note, does your browser also shrink when you click on share link of a YouTube video found on a blog? I hate that.

7. Have you seen Agloco? With its own the internet slogan, it's supposed to pay me as I surf, if only I download their browsing application (still unavailable) and invite my friends to join my network. We asked a simple question: The users created the community, where’s their share of the profit? It was from this question that AGLOCO set out to create the Internet's first Economic Network. It sounds to me a bit like Avon/ Amway networks, and I've had my share of those.

8. The website may not look tip top, yet aSmallWorld is supposed to be the social network you'd die to be invited to. Erik Wachtmeister founded it in 2004 as a private online community for like-minded individuals. [...] It offers trusted and select information. Most of our content is produced by our members who offer travel suggestions, feedback, lively forum discussions, and other topics of common interest. Features on the website include a forum of diverse topics, listings of events around the world, a personal messaging service, suggestions and user ratings for travel and restaurants, and city-based resources. My favourite line on their website is: If you have no friends who are members yet, please be patient. I'm patient; invite me, friends.

9. The reason why you're not qualified to be a manager is that you don't work to help other people succeed, that you don't have interest in people, that you don't have your ego needs under control, that you need to be right and smart and do it yourself and... if you read this far, see the five minutes video of David Meister and learn from the master of not being a manager.

10. Okapistudio from Bucharest (and San Francisco?) created a cool shelf concept that MoCo Loco covered. And guess what, Okapi won a Golden Effie this year (promotions FMCG non-food).