So my biggest frustration is that I’m still (we are living in 2012, the internet is around for over 20 years now!) unable to access certain content. Content that is available to roughly 312,928,899 people, but not to me.

Netflix:

Sorry, Netflix is not available in your country… yet

Hulu:

Sorry, currently our video library can only be watched from within the United States.

Amazon:

We have detected that you are not located within the US. Due to licensing restrictions Amazon Instant Video customers must be located in the United States when viewing videos online.

These are not the words I like to read when browsing the web. And, yes I know, Netflix, Hulu and Amazon had tough negotiations with book publishers, record labels and people from Hollywood to get the rights to publish their content in the United States. But don’t stop there. Netflix and Hulu are promising me to email me when their service becomes available outside the United States for almost 3 years now. And don’t get met started about Amazon. Amazon, you used to be the king of personalization and targeting. Why keep promoting a Prime account and after signing up let me discover I cannot watch videos, follow TV shows or even borrow books since i’m not located in the US? You already knew that.

Talking about this with other people, the most of the time offer me a solution: start using a American VPN to trick the system. But that doesn’t solve the problem. I want to same benefits and features on my Kindle as my American friends have (lending!). I dont want to wait months before a movies hits the theaters here in Amsterdam. I want to see the latest episode of Breaking Bad before somebody posts a spoiler on Twitter. I want easy access to content, everywhere. I want the promise of the borderless internet becoming a reality.

Sorry, this blog post is not available in your country. on Jelmer de Jong.

100 Things to Watch in 2012 on Jelmer de Jong.

Great documentary by the BBC: Steve Jobs – Billion Dollar Hippy.

Steve Jobs, the billion dollar hippy on Jelmer de Jong.

Great (and lengthy) presentation by Johan Ronsse about how to create user interface designs that just work.

Design for Developers (or for everybody, actually) on Jelmer de Jong.

With all objects in the world equipped with minuscule identifying devices, daily life on Earth would undergo a transformation: The Internet of Things, in a presentation by the Danish Board of Technology.

Internet of Things on Jelmer de Jong.

Sunday Inspirational: Getting creative as floodwaters rise in Thailand.

Sunday Inspirational: Getting creative as floodwaters rise in Thailand on Jelmer de Jong.

As a way to celebrate turning 100, Chevy has created this beautiful spot titled ‘Then & Now’ that depicts how we remain connected to the iconic moments, locations, and Chevy vehicles as if those moments were with us right here, right now.

Then & Now, 100 Years of Chevrolet on Jelmer de Jong.

Then Foursquare launched. Ignoring the past, Foursquare is about the present: where are you now? Inviting your friends to drop by and say hi. Having covered the past and present, it was only waiting for the new wave of social apps covering the future.

What are you up to?

When you see your friends party pics on Facebook the day after, you might think: I would have joined that party. And how many times did you actually went to a bar because one of your Foursquare friends checked-in? Most people didn’t and for the few times it actually happened, a big chance it was awkward (running into a breakup, or accidentally joining a business meeting).

Ditto
Ditto is trying to fix this. Founded by Jyri Engeström, who before Ditto was co-founder of Jaiku (acquired by Google), Ditto is about what you’re up to. Using Facebook to register for Ditto you immediately start of with your current social network. You can see what your friends plans are or share what you are up to. For example see a movie. Add a location and a small text (did you already see the latest Harry Potter?) and share this plan with your friends via Facebook and Twitter to get them to join your future activity and make it happen.

Forecast
Another notable example in the future check-in space is Forecast. As for Ditto, Forecast is now only available on your iPhone and is using the Foursquare API to build the future layer on top of the already existing and successful check-in network. Via Forecast you can let your friends know where you are planning to go and immediately check yourself in on Foursquare once you are there.

How sustainable is this third layer?

Don’t we have more than enough ways to connect with friends to make plans for the weekend? And aren’t websites like Meetup and Plancast – though always linked to events and conferences – already kind off covering the future space? Let alone the Facebook Events feature or, as some of my Foursquare friends tend to do: check-in an hour before with a short message “let’s meet here at 21h”.

Forecast, as already based on the Foursquare API, is a logical feature to add to Foursquare. Ditto is trying to be more useful to friends making plans by also moving in the recommendation space, helping you to find the best pizza place and adding features to make the planning process easy (which movie is showing where?). Features that are already available in dedicated mobile apps, only now being combined into one tool.

Jyri Engeström is definitely right, we have more than enough apps that cover the past and the present. And the ‘future’ market is not yet defined and dominated, so changes are there is place for another player. However, with Foursquare drastically improving the Explore feature, is there room for a dedicated app in this future space? Maybe a nice buy for Groupon – combining future planning with coupons

The Future Check-In. Up Next? on Jelmer de Jong.

Everything looks better in California, even the bare, lifeless streets of the Apocalypse.

Los Angeles Without Cars on Jelmer de Jong.

This weekend i’m attending Startup Weekend Amsterdam. After going through 74 pitches, 25 ideas where selected and we are working in different teams to build a concept in 54 hours. We are building Askbox, bringing you answers, instantly:

Have a question about plumbing? Trouble getting your application to work? Problems filling out your tax forms? Askbox is the number one application for peer-to-peer knowledge sharing. Use Askbox to share your questions with a crowd of leading experts. You’ll get high quality answers instantly using text, speech and images. Askbox is running on your smart phone, your tablet and in your browser.

Check out our website at http://getaskbox.com/ and follow us on twitter @getaskbox

Startup Weekend Amsterdam: Askbox on Jelmer de Jong.