Yesterday at Barcamp Gent we gave a presentation about our trip and a second one more specifically about ‘lifestyle design’

The people from Urban Station in Buenos Aires asked me to write a column for their eMagazine. A sneak peak below…

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Most people want to be rich. Not so much because of the money, but because of the freedom it brings along. We’d like to be able to work where and when we’d like. To travel to far away places, to count experiences instead of paychecks, to live rich & create boldly.

Ask me about my perfect job and I’ll tell you about a cool office, not too far from where I live, choosing my own hours & my own work. No traffic jams. No fixed office hours. No white space cubicles. One month I’d be working in Buenos Aires, the other near a beach in Cape Town, yet another in my hometown Ghent. But one thing will always stay the same: along the way I’ll be connecting with creative & innovative peers all around this globe.

The concept of work is changing.

With the advent of the paperless office & high speed internet, information is accessible wherever we are. So, we could be working virtually everywhere. True, some amongst us will still need a big desk with a lot of paper. But they are last men standing – information management is reaching new highs every day, and so are the number of digital natives.
True again, some critics will remind us of the past failures of teleworking. People don’t want to be locked up inside their homes, lacking all social contact. We don’t want to stay at home every day, just as little as we like to be stuck in traffic jam morning and evening. Not so much fun in that. But today, we’re no longer talking about teleworking. Teleworking is dead. Long live digital nomads.

Digital Nomads don’t think in terms of work/home. They are free agents in charge of their own time and – even more importantly – master of their own life. They like to create their own network freely, hop from place to place. All they need is a laptop, a cool place to hang out, brilliant people to meet. As much as they live hyperglobal – one day they’ll be living in Argentina, the other in Thailand -, they are characterized by an profound sense of hyperlocalness. Living, working & networking takes place just around the corner. Why spend an hour long in traffic jams to go to work if you can work in a cool office in your own neighborhood? Why eat vegetables from the other side of the world, if we can buy delicious stuff via your local urban farming community? Not only is it more fun, it is an interesting alternative in an ecologically ill world.

In each case, in the future we’ll navigate in between our urban stations.
And the good part of it? The future is now.

via joke

Career analyst Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don’t: Traditional rewards aren’t always as effective as we think. Listen for illuminating stories — and maybe, a way forward.

In a series of guest blogpost we want to feature some interesting people who we think are a beautiful example of lifestyle designers. The first in line: Jan Van Mol is the owner of Addictlab, a creative laboratory uniting creatives from all over the world and over 30 disciplines. Jan has been called a concept king, a brand guru, a renaissance man, a pioneer in the creative industry by the international press. And on top of that, we think he’s a beautiful example of a lifestyle designer. So we are very very happy to have him as a guest writer on our blog. Hope you’ll enjoy reading his post as much as we did!

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I’ll let you in on a little personal secret. Years ago, I wouldn’t want to commit to a marriage, for the inevitable consequence of mating: kids. Not because of dislike, quite on the contrary. But how on earth could I go and procreate, if I wouldn’t have all the answers needed to raise them properly? I knew questions would come, with every diaper, every tooth fairy and every dish of spaghetti squashed upside down on your child’s head.

In that time, and maybe to look for some of the answers, we had a clear program to explore the world out there. Celebrating my birthday in October would be in Guatemala, on the top of the Kilimanjaro, swimming with dolphins in Belize or paraglyding on île de Réunion. Asking my wife Petra to marry me, I’ve found it necessary to do so on an altar in the hidden city of Petra in Jordan. With all respect, but I thank god I didn’t have a girlfriend called Oostrozebeke.

And kids came. With them the building up of insane parental reflexes. People tell me I have a creative mind. You have no idea what burden that can be in view of imagining all that can go wrong for, with, and by your children.

The question, since then, remains the same: how do you do this? How do you raise your children with values you think are important, with skills you think they need? Because let’s face it. Not a posh educational book of some self-proclaimed guru, not even your own parents advice will do the trick. To cope with today’s changing society every advice is outdated the moment it’s uttered. You’re pretty much on your own.

Professionally, I had my advertising agency back then, and yes, it didn’t do too bad. With some pretty big clients, that’s a bit of an understatement. But in my naive thinking – sometimes creative minds should be protected against themselves, I know – I started the Addictlab concept. A vision to be able to attract creative talent from all over the world, to learn from them, to help them, accelerate them and create an added value in view of out of the box ideas, innovation and social change. So that from a consultancy point of view, you can deliver your clients a much more holistic approach on marketing and innovation. I believe creative thinkers have a moral duty .

So I needed to dive into other disciplines. In the fashion, art, design scene. I believed the step from a creative agency to a creative lab would make me richer. In both senses of the word. And yes, Addictlab has allowed me to meet ingenious people from all over the world. To travel and talk about my vision and work on projects from Shanghai, Helsinki to Melbourne. The money part, well, that’s another story. I probably made all mistakes one can make in setting this up. Although 9 /11 for Ad!dict inc in New York wasn’t really my fault, and a scam in Malaga or a prince of Kuwait that came along to invest in Addictlab (sic) came via friends working in venture capital who should have known better. We learn.

Moving to South -Africa was a possibility that came along via Petra’s work. And, well, it made an impression on me. It allowed me to test the concept of Addictlab in a virgin market. This opposed to Belgium, where people still think Addictlab is this magazine with a nude nipple on the cover. The book is only a tool in a process, and in South Africa, with the help of local labresearchers I’ve set up exhibitions and open labs, even did a TV show presumably watched by 13 million people, whilst doing consultancy for companies such as Danone.

Moving on, because of Petra’s next work assignment, we have now settled this last year in France, just outside of Switzerland, near Geneva. Addictlab ‘s main engine is our online activity, so wherever there is wifi, there is a future, be it in South Africa, in Geneva or, please, in Melbourne.

Yet it is a pity, too, since I had been building up a network in Joburg, testing the Addictlab concept in a very vibrant society. Today, with www.sowetolab.com I try to continue, but this seems difficult to do remote. Talks with local big shots are on the way to start thinking of a more sustainable growing process for Addictlab SA, rather than being a startup for the last 13 years. I believe an intelligent mix of online and physical presence of Addictlab in local creative hubs is key to future success.

Personally, I admit I miss Africa. And the children do too. The adventure, the discovery, the learnings, while traveling on a boat on the Okavango delta in Botswana, camping in the Drakensbergen or cruising through Namibia. Here in Geneva, we’re not (yet?) feeling that urge to go and discover the country and the region as we had in South-Africa. Time and budgets are obvious constraints. Comparing food prices between SA and Geneva, I don’t even want to go there, it’s just hilarious. But it might also be due to the fact that the culture is very familiar, thus reducing the urge to discover.

As for the children, after this one year, Emma and Lucas, already fluently in English, are now able to speak and understand French. They have adapted well to the new school, integrated rather well with our French neighbours – what am I saying, there’s a nest of 6 till 9 year olds taking over our house every weekend – and enjoyed almost weekly ski trips last winter.

The question probably is: what’s next? The answer is: we don’t really know. Is life a string of coincidences? Or is it make-able? And can you steer it in certain directions?

Definitely quite a while ago, Sony offered us some wireless bluetooth headphones + headset DR-BT101 to test. While they looked gorgeous and were very portable, for some or another reason they didn’t connect well with my iPhone for which I found the headphones a perfect fit.

That had all to do with Apple’s lack of support for the new Bluetooth protocol, it appeared. (When did Apple stopped pushing new technology??)
A true pity. Because, for me these headphones seemed a perfect solution as headset for my iPhone while being able to listen to music.
And it’s wireless aspect is just, well, great. Remember how many times you left your computer with connected headphones on? I do. I almost ruined a portable because of it.

It would have made a true match in the office for that reason alone. And that’s where it went a bit wrong for us. Admitted: they worked pretty ok on the Macbook Pro as headphones, but again, the lack of good bluetooth support made sure it is hard to use on Skype or as a headset. I had to choose between headset or stereo phones, instead of automatic switching. They kinda missed the point that way. Due to Apple, that is… So I didn’t use them enough to write a decent review.

When we left on part 2 of our nomadic adventure I decided to take them along anyway, as they’re do work fine as wireless headphones for the Macbook and, well… I didn’t find my other earbuds.

I hesitated back then, but now I couldn’t be happier. At this point we have a similar problem as back then with the e-Reader: who of the 2 of us is going to use it? As Catherine is the one loving music way much more and needs to be isolated from her surroundings, she’s the winner in this case (unlike last time..) She just loves it: puts it on as headphones and works, able to ignore the rest of the world. In other cases I manage to grab it. The headphones turned out a perfect fit for the iPad which seemed to have a whole less hassle with the headphones. Did Apple started to support the new bluetooth protocol? In any case: no more hassling: connect and they work. One way or another, it is just great: I put on the headphones, chose some music, hide the ipad in its cover and can listen for hours.

For hours yes. I have put them on on a 12 hours journey on a train, and while they didn’t last the whole trip, they did cover most of it. The iPad didn’t blink either, still being at 85% of its charge. Best of all: nobody noticed the iPad, because there was no plug. The earphones are wireless and in those cases its just a blessing. No white string showing off an iPod/iPhone. And while a closed lid of the macbook would stop the music, the iPad doesn’t. As long as you don’t get out of the reach of I believe some 10 meters, all keeps on running. Smooth. When you get disconnected, the iPad stops the music and spares the battery. Nice touch there, Apple.

Sound, you ask? I’m not an audiophile. I’m sure a lot of people can keep on going on sound quality, but for me the quality is quite ok. If not quite good. Sure, in ear Bose will be a whole lot better, but they cost a whole lot more too… Compared with 40 euro Nike in ear phones and the white Apple buds, these sound a whole lot better. Catherine backs me up on this one (she’s quite busy with it) and was stunned to hear the difference with her in-ear headphones. In favor of the Sony’s. We should compare them with Bose and others, but then again, it is fair to compare 60 euro wireless earphones with 200 euro wired top quality stuff? Bluetooth wireless is always giving up quality. Quality cables count for a lot in audio environments, every audiophile will tell you. Knowing that, I find the quality quite good, as said earlier.

What I like most about them is their wearability. I’ve tried quite some headphones, and most of them lack something. I definitely want on-ears as in-ears start itching after a while. Necklaces just suck (who invented those?) and a lot of on-ears are like your walking around with almost a helmet. I can walk with the Sony’s for hours and don’t feel bothered by it. And they even look ok :) Catherine finds the controls on the headphone rather useless, I do appreciate them. Especially on the iPad: no need to grab the thing to change volume or pause a song. You can do this on the headset itself. (A pity the song forward and backward are not working on it. Surely something Apple didn’t foresee. )

Anyways: I’m convinced by them. And definitely eager to test the them on the new iPhone4 to see if they fit there. If so, I have one more reason to buy it :) The iPhone4 that is. The headset is a keeper in any way! At their sharp price, there is just no reason to hesitate, knowing that more and more tools are using the latest bluetooth technology.

For those interested, Sony also has some other models with Bluetooth. We’re curious about these ones.

Disclaimer: Sony sponsored us for our trip. While we get some stuff for on the way, we’re entitled to write what we want. Which we do ;)

In this video – that has been around for a few years now – Steve Jobs shares 3 stories from his life. He talks about the importance to believe everything will turn out fine, to follow your intuition & inner voice instead of blindly following the well known paths. About how negative experiences & failures can end up to be the best thing that ever happened to you. And about ‘death’ being the single best invention in life.

If you haven’t seen the video yet, go and watch it – it’s more than worth it!

Don’t loose faith when life hits you in the face. But continue to try to find what you love. Keep looking. Don’t settle. Remembering that you are going to die, is the best way to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Have the courage to follow your heart & intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything is secondary.

The hipstamatic for iPhone is an application that brings back the look, feel, unpredictable beauty, and fun of plastic toy cameras from the past. Talking about a cool iPhone app for Urban Nomadz!

Being an urban nomad, my standards are clear.
I want quality. Quality of life.
A well-balanced mix of experiences.
Not the most expensive stuff, only the most interesting.
An unexpected thing from time to time.
Unique experiences without living the same over and over again.
I want design, but not without meaning.
Good food and nice places to hang out.
One day I might sleep in a luxurious design hotel.
The next one on a free couch.
Not one without the other.

As a photographer, people often ask me my opinion on camera’s.
‘Any camera is a good camera’ is a fairly accurate statement these days*.
So, giving good advice on cameras isn’t easy— it always depends on what you want to do with it.

I personally love the idea of ‘The best camera is always the one you have with you’; and for this reason, I like the portability of camera phones**. Many phones now have sufficient resolution for nice snapshots and small prints. But the quality is often what I don’t like — and they absolutely suck in low light.

I have a Nikon D700 myself, and while it is the best camera I’ve ever used, I hate the weight. I hate the fact that after only half-an-hour or so, my neck starts to hurt. And although the quality is stunning, I hate dragging it around on trips.

So, I started looking for something portable that gave me similar quality to a DSLR and would be equally wonderful to take along on trips. It turned out to be a difficult search.***

I tried the Canon G7, and hated it. The DOF sucked and low light performance was awful. I read dozens of reviews, and every camera lacked something. Most of all, I wanted good DOF. I was tempted to buy the Panasonic LX-3, because of the number of good reviews I had read about it. But I didn’t like the way it worked; I wanted the possibility of a ‘manual’ mode. So I waited with baited breath until the GF-1 was released.

Although I still had a few doubts — only half of the sensor area of a DSLR, no viewfinder, etc.— I bought it. I went with my gut feeling when testing the camera and comparing it with the Olympus EP-1. While I found the controls unnatural on the EP-1, the GF-1 felt ‘right’. I have to admit that I fell in love with it there and then.

The reviews all said the same thing; while it lacked some things from a technical point of view, it introduced an new way of taking pictures. And I couldn’t agree more. While I *hated* dragging the D700 around, my GF-1 is sitting in my bag all the time, and I don’t even notice it. Unusually for a snapshot camera, this one has manual mode — and it works well. The DOF (with the 20mm lens) is simply stunning compared to other snapshot camera’s. My Canon G7 didn’t even come close…And I have to admit that I often leave my D700 at home in favor of the GF-1. It’s just not worth the effort. The DF-1 also has a cute video function which I use once in a while, but it’s hard to edit because of the strange format.

Some extra info:

• I opted for the 20mm lens (which results in a 40mm, in fact) because of the beautiful DOF.
• My camera is ‘modded’; I bought a ‘leatherette’ for it, which I found on a forum, giving it the retro look of my old Nikon FM (I even modded the leatherette a bit to have it look more like an FM).
• I bought an adaptor, enabling me to use my old Nikon lenses on the camera (search for Lens Adaptor to GF-1 on Ebay) The camera is extremely versatile as regards old lenses. Be sure to checkout the DF-1 pics on Flickr. You can find incredible lenses mounted on it. All the old Leica lenses work on it, and other lenses with the same mount — old Canon and Nikon lenses too. You need an adaptor though, which are readily available on e-bay.
• I even found a stupid vintage bag for it (second hand) for €2, making it look old. I love it —it almost feels like my old Nikon FM.
• I love the thumbwheel; it’s click and turn. You can change functions in an instant. It’s clever — in fact, much smarter than the thumb and pointing finger system employed on DSLR’s. Really!
• I love the manual mode; it’s convenient due to the click and turn wheel.
• In fact I love the whole interface; it’s easy to understand and you don’t need to read a manual.
• I love the fact that my old lenses fit on the camera.
• I love its sturdy feeling.

While I thought I’d miss the extra megapixels, and be dissapointed by the ‘half-sensor’, I never noticed it in my results. I intentionally modded the camera — I was afraid of taking a professional camera to South Africa and having it stolen there. Making it look old definitely made me feel more comfortable with it hanging around my neck all day.

Some disadvantages:

• manual focus is something you need to get used to
• also the 2x factor is something to get used to.
• I miss the viewfinder and, although it is pretty expensive, I’ll definitely buy it.
• battery life is quite short compared to Nikon’s batteries.
• high ISOs are still a problem, but quite different from, let’s say, the Canon G10.

The camera doesn’t come cheap, and having approximately the same price tag as some DSLR’s, people might tend to buy the more advanced camera — in my humble opinion, they’re wrong. There’s nothing worse than walking around with a heavy camera on your trips, worrying if it will get stolen. The GF-1 fits easily in the daypack I always carry around, but I don’t feel it at all.

If you would like to see pictures taken with the GF-1, check out our pictures on Flickr
These, for example, are all taken with it — and so are many of these.

Some more pics of the *modded* camera here ….. and another interesting review here

If you are considering buying a GF-1 online, after this review, consider buying it through the following link.
I bought it there myself, after researching a lot and I figured out Pixmania/Pixmania-Pro was the cheapest on the 20mm version. Buying through this link also earns me some money, and indeed helps me to carry on writing interesting stuff ;) and, most importantly, it doesn’t cost you anything.

Alternative:
Fotokonijnenberg (Belgium) — also quite cheap, but has high shipping cost.

Enjoy the camera!

*As long as you stick to the known brands, that is.
**In fact, I will be buying the iPhone 4 for exactly this reason.
***People who know me, know how carefully I research stuff. I am not tempted by technical stuff too much. I want things that ‘work’ rather than megapixels. I bought a digital Canon, and worked with it for FIVE! years before changing to newer camera. I am convinced this camera will also last a long time.