Veni | Вени

You think it’s a joke?
You think there’s something wrong behind it? Well, guess what – it’s not wrong, and it’s not a joke. It was tested with Renault Megan 1.5dCi, 100 hp engine, on the road Sofia – Varna.

This happened during a test drive (with plain, usual cars, standard equipment, without using A/C) of two journalists from the Bulgarian Dnevnik daily. Their story is in Bulgarian, but you can still see the digits from the pump station! 2.9 liters for 100 km means exactly 81 miles for 1 gallon (3.78 liters are in 1 gallon).
Hello, USA – when are you going to start importing, or producing, cars that can do that?

Oh… and did I tell you that the polution is less with the new diesel engines? Or that they are always more economic than the gas cars? And the price – in Bulgaria, with all taxes, start from $ 18,750.

The French really know how to build cars! See my previous entry for more information. And the low consumption probably is a good reason why you can’t buy Renault, Peugeot or Citroen on the US market :-(

The New York Times (sigh… yes, again!) reported under headline “For Dream Jobs in Europe, the Line Forms in Bulgaria”
The NYT says, “Bulgaria, which is larger than Macedonia, is willing to grant citizenship to Macedonians who prove Bulgarian ethnicity. Doing so requires providing their family name and birth certificate, and completing complex paperwork. Under Bulgaria’s rules, perhaps two-thirds of Macedonia’s population of two million could be eligible for citizenship. Tens of thousands have applied, and at least 7,000 have already been approved.”
Here’s what is hiding behind all this: Read more…

Something is happening in the USA, and in the IT-world.

The New York Times reported that Dell’s shares fall nearly 10 %. Yahoo lost about 20 % last week, too.

Read more…

Steve Case, the once powerful AOL chairman, has said in an interview that he’s sorry for the 2001 merger of AOL with Time Warner. I met Steve in 2002 in Berlin, during the “21st Century Literacy Summit”.

At this point he didn’t seem to be sorry for joining efforts with Time Warner. You can see his interview at the NYT blog.

The 21st Century Literacy Summit was indeed a great event, and it published a wonderful White Paper. I have a hard copy, but today couldn’t find the electronic one. If someone from the readers can send url, I’d be thankful! (on the picture – I am talking with former State Secretary Madeleine Albright, Kathy Bushkin, Jacek Gajewski, Parry Aftab and David Hoffman of Internews (click on the picture to see it in a bigger size).

UPDATE from April 2008:
Goran will have a concert in New York City again – July 9, 2008.
Read more here.

Original entry: That was the music event of the month in New York.Goran Bregovic for the first time in New York.
The Lincoln center* was surrounded by people asking “Do you have a ticket”? And they were right to ask this, as it turned out after 2,5 hours of music… And what a music!

Performed to more than 2,700 people, in the heart of Broadway, New York, this music shattered the hearts of newyorkers – and they will remember every song, and every sound.

I’ve been to three of his concerts before – two in Plovdiv (the first one at the International Fair hall, and the second at the Roman Amphitheatre) and one in Sofia (at the National Stadium “Vassi Levski”).This one was by far the best. And what made it even more fun – we’ve met with Goran himeself!
Read more…

There are several people who have stated officiallly they are running for the ICANN Board:

My colleague from ISOC – Patrick Vande Walle.
The English journalist Kieren McCarthy.

Another American, with long history around ICANN has sent an e-mail to me and several other people, where he stated he’s running – I will. ask him if I can publish his name.

After my previous entry on this topic, I have no other comments. Good luck!

European Union regulators fined Microsoft €280.5 million, $357.3 million, on Wednesday for defying a 2004 antitrust ruling, and warned the company to comply or face bigger fines from next month.

The tough new penalty is the first of its kind and comes on top of a record €497 million fine the Commission imposed in its landmark antitrust decision against Microsoft in March 2004.

“Microsoft has still not put an end to its illegal conduct. I have no alternative but to levy penalty payments for this continued non-compliance,” Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said. “No company is above the law.”

The fine covers a period from December 16 to June 20 and was computed by multiplying 187 days of violations at 1.5 million euros per day. It fell short of a possible maximum 2 million euros per day.

Full story can be read at the IHT web site.

You can browse some of my entries, e.g. this one, or this one for older comments on the issue of Microsoft. The lost of value of the company is because their business model is wrong. And it becomes even worse, when they are under pressure – be that from competition or from governments.

July 4-5 was the day when nine executives from world-known organizations came to Sofia to meet the President, the Prime Minister, the Minister of IT and communications*, and members of the Parliament.

Topics of discussions were aimed at how to boost Bulgaria inot the world of the Information Society. Vint Cerf, George Sadowsky and Esther Dyson are member of the President’s IT Advisory Committee, of which I have the honor to server as chair since March 2002.

Vint Cerf, widely known as one of the “fathers of the Internet” was awarded with “St.St. Cyril and Methodius” in the Coat of Arms by the Bulgarian President at a wonderful ceremony at the office of the President.

See some more information about their visit, including pictures and explanation of what is achieved:

Read more…