Martin Varsavsky´s Ruminations

Fon Reaches Five Million Hotspots

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:32:32 +0100

Today, I am happy to announce that the company I started just over six years ago, Fon, has just passed the important milestone of five million hotspots.

Why is this important? Because while many have tried to build a large and global WiFi network, Fon has been the only company in the world to actually achieve this. No other network even comes close to us. Fon is everywhere, even in residential locations, where no other WiFi hotspots can be found. Brussels, Lisbon, London and Tokyo are completely covered with Fon WiFi.

We are growing so fast, that in 2011 alone we added two million new hotspots. This year, I predict that Fon will grow its number of hotspots by at least 50 percent, so there is lots of work ahead to make sure this happens.

I am proud of Fon and its large, global WiFi network. I started this company with a goal to create a truly global WiFi community, where everyone sharing a little bit of their connection gets free WiFi anywhere in the world in return.

Every day, I feel that we’re getting closer to this goal. The WiFi revolution continues.

We are all saints around here

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 22:11:33 +0100

We are all saints around here

Fon board meeting in NYC (Taken with instagram)

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 20:08:16 +0100

Fon board meeting in NYC (Taken with instagram)

The electrical grid is better understood as (Taken with...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:12:56 +0100

The electrical grid is better understood as (Taken with instagram)

At the Tumblr party at Red Egg :) (Taken with instagram)

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 03:32:21 +0100

At the Tumblr party at Red Egg :) (Taken with instagram)

Valentine’s dinner at Megu. Happy Valentine’s...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:48:18 +0100

Valentine’s dinner at Megu. Happy Valentine’s everybody! (Taken with instagram)

Just got these amazing wines as a gift. Very grateful! (Taken...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:30:25 +0100

Just got these amazing wines as a gift. Very grateful! (Taken with instagram)

Looking for a sofa, yes or no? (Taken with Instagram at Design...

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:55:47 +0100

Looking for a sofa, yes or no? (Taken with Instagram at Design District)

Technology Review: How Apple Can Revolutionize Television

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 13:57:22 +0100

Technology Review: How Apple Can Revolutionize Television

Walking around Miami Beach, South Beach, I started noticing...

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 01:35:31 +0100

Walking around Miami Beach, South Beach, I started noticing these trees who want so badly to grow that their roots rise through the concrete streets

This beach looks out of Boardwalk Empire (Taken with Instagram...

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:17:07 +0100

This beach looks out of Boardwalk Empire (Taken with Instagram at Continuum South Beach)

Kamasutra para padres: dedicado a Mia Varsavsky (5 meses)

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:15:47 +0100

Kamasutra para padres: dedicado a Mia Varsavsky (5 meses)

Jesus, was he the first pirate?

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:48:06 +0100

Jesus, was he the first pirate?

500px / Photo "Hot Fun " by James Khoo

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 03:07:44 +0100

500px / Photo "Hot Fun " by James Khoo:

Sometimes being poor does not mean being unhappy.

What happens when a country mostly gives up religion? As Spain shows, not much.

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:19:00 +0100

During Franco´s dictatorship Spain was a very Catholic country. After more than 3 decades of democracy, Spain is not really a Catholic country anymore. First, loss of religion became apparent with the legalization of divorce and contraceptives and the promotion of sex ed. This was followed by the decriminalization of abortion, the acceptance of drug possession for personal consumption (drug users are not criminals in Spain, but treated instead as medical patients) and a general acceptance of premarital sex. Later, gambling in public places became commonplace, prostitution was legalized and regulated and gay marriage became legal as well. So other than euthanasia, I can´t think of anything that the Church used to opposed that is not legal now in Spain. While 95% of the Spanish youth declared in the 60s that religion played some role in their life, now only a third do.

Religion in Spain is mostly becoming tradition. People marry in churches because they are beautiful and full of history, not because they actually practice. They still teach religion in most schools, but to most it is as if they were teaching Spanish history, the history of a country that used to be religious but is not anymore. Now the only religious group in Spain are Muslim immigrants, whose views on society are surprisingly similar to those of the Franco. Nudity, for example, was a big “no no” at that time and it continues to be so for Spanish Muslims. For others, nudity makes part of the daily press in Spain. Nudist beaches and regular beaches are mostly mixed, and most people don´t mind.

But not only is Spain liberal in most matters previously opposed by the Catholic Church. Spain is also tolerant in other unexpected ways. For example, in Spain the use of P2P programs to download music for personal consumption is not a punishable offense. In Spain, people openly use P2P for legal and what in other countries is illegal content without fear of being prosecuted. The only truly illegal activity is people who download music/movies, print CDs or DVDs and sell them. And this is but one example of a legislative system that, when faced with choices that involve tolerance vs restriction, it generally opts for tolerance, to the point that Spain has become one of the most tolerant countries in the world.

If anything, Spain proves that societies do not fall apart when they give up religion and almost everything that was illegal for religious reasons, becomes legal. For those, mostly in America, who believe that religion somehow makes countries more ethical, Spain proves the opposite. With a good secular and free Kindergarden to University education system Spain has less violent crime, less people in jail and certainly less policemen per inhabitant than mostly religious USA. And this is true at a time of a deep economic crisis, 22% unemployment and 50% youth unemployment. Spaniards have proven to be remarkably ethical and tolerant despite of an absence of religion in everyday life.

Genetic Testing for Health, Disease & Ancestry; DNA Test - 23andMe

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:28:05 +0100

Genetic Testing for Health, Disease & Ancestry; DNA Test - 23andMe:

I am an investor on 23andme. I have also taken the test of course. What I find fascinating is that you take the test once but more and more information comes to you as the data base grows and more is known about your genetic sequence.

A Tale Of Two Catalysts

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:03:51 +0100

A Tale Of Two Catalysts:

parislemon:

Amazon will announce their earnings later today. As I outlined in October, the results this past quarter will highlight the difference between Apple and Amazon.

Writes Tricia Duryee:

Here’s one data point: For the holiday period, Apple’s gross margin was an impressive 44.7 percent, up from 38.5 percent a year earlier. Meanwhile, analysts are estimating that Amazon’s operating margin will fall to 1.3 percent from 3.6 percent last year.

44.7 percent versus 1.3 percent.

What does that mean? It means that even though Amazon should report record revenues, their profit will likely be depressed — probably badly depressed. Why? Well, first and foremost, most of the goods they sell have low margins. But even the goods that should have high margins — hardware — have low margins.

Or worse. Take the Kindle Fire — Amazon’s most popular product (though don’t bother asking how many they actually sold) — it’s sold at a loss.

Like Apple, Amazon has built an amazing business that has revolutionized more than one industry. But context is important. Right now, Apple probably makes more profit in a day than Amazon does in a quarter.

Why Apple rules and Amazon not quite

felixsalmon: (via This Is Europe’s Scariest Chart |...

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:40:15 +0100

felixsalmon:

(via This Is Europe’s Scariest Chart | ZeroHedge)

The crisis of Spain is a crisis of imagination. There are few people in Spain able to turn an idea into a business. And this is the result.

This evening, when I came back from mountain biking in the...

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:17:01 +0100

This evening, when I came back from mountain biking in the sierra near Madrid, I took this picture of the beautiful sky at the entrance of our home.

I´ve read your Lumia post. Let me first tell you that I work for Microsoft. You state that the lack of front camera is Microsoft´s fault. Why is that? I´m not currently on the Windows Phone division, but for what I know, the latest Windows Phone update (Mango) brought front facing camera support for any hardware. The Lumia has Mango. And, by the way, there is some hardware out there (HTC Titan, for example) with front facing cameras.

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:25:12 +0100

A Nokia exec told me they could not put a front facing camera and I wrote that.