It seems that certain dreams are finally becoming a reality. Or at least, one-step closer. A Slovakian start-up company called “Aeromobil” promises to commercialize the first flying cars for consumers across the globe. What sprouted as an idea from researcher Stefan Klein, in formerly known Czechoslovakia during the 1990’s, has finally begun to take on serious forms. In co-operation with Slovakian aviation authorities the company expects to launch its first models for the public in the beginning of 2015.

Like a futuristic transformer, this high-tech piece of technology can transform from car to place with a simple touch of a button, in a bit less than 2 minutes. It can reach speeds of up to 160 km/h while driving on the road whereas in air a top speed of up to 200 km/h can be reached. Will this be the end of traffic jams? What makes it even greater is its ease of use; this hybrid runs on gasoline instead of kerosene, so owners can easily fill them up at regular gas stations.

Unfortunately, for now, a normal driver’s license isn’t enough to operate this type of bat mobile looking thing. A sport pilot license is required, which if you’re not careful will cost you over 10,000 euros alone. It consumes approximately 15 liters of fuel for a maximum flight time of an hour with a ballpark price tag 223,000 Euros for consumers.

With the use of YouTube the company has managed to accumulate over 2,500,000 million views with its latest promotional video of only 3,5 minutes. This has all happened in a time span of less than 5 days. Would you call this a successful marketing campaign so far? If this all sounds very interesting to you, please, proceed to the video underneath.

So today I found a very interesting video. I was going through our social media tool “BuzzSumo” when I found this. What is your opinion about it? Is there anyone who disagrees with these ‘wise’ words? I personally think that he nails it right on the spot. I mean, how much time do we normally spend on roaming the Internet with no clear or evident goal, as to what we’re going to be reading or watching? I see you. Besides the time we spend with our parents, work and school ofccc. I bet that I’m not the only one. Haha, hey.. don’t get me wrong. I do have a life you know. I guess it’s just an integral part of what we’ve grown accustomed to. The irony of it all is that I found this beautifully written piece of poetry with.. guess what? Surfing the Internet. Well, I’m glad I did. Your turn to pass it on now, off you go.

On a whole different side-note. If and if only you are able to get past the name of Dananjaya Hettiarachchi please proceed to watching the next video. He finished first place in the World Champion of Public Speaking in 2014. I love how he uses that rose as a metaphor for life. So deep. Dananjaya is a professional speaker , trainer and an HRD specialist working with some of Sri Lanka’s as well as Asia Pacific’s leading organisations in the fields of rapid competency development in adults and performance prediction. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: Sri Lanka’s finest.

The weather felt grim this morning, moods seemed sober. Is the Dutch Kingdom losing another one of it’s finest? This question pierced through the hearts of many. Confusion and bedazzlement is what must be going through the minds of the wealthy Heineken family. With a third place in terms of market share, SABMiller the #2 from South-African origin, has laid its eyes on those well known green coloured star bottles. You know, the company which sponsors the EUFA Champions league? They seek to takeover ‘our pride’ with the intention of increasing their own market share, as they in turn risk being gobbled up by the #1 in the market, the dreaded Belgians. The only thing which could prevent such a thing is by becoming to big to swallow, a commonly used strategy in the corporate world. Hence a desperate yet at the same time aggressive take-over bid towards Heineken. Will the firm stand its ground or will they gave away one of the last pieces of Dutch cultural heritage? This seems to early to answer, for now… All we know is that the Heineken family has resolutely thrown the first take-over bid into the garbage bin, The Netherlands 1 – 0 South Africa. So, for the time being the danger seems averted. Which companies have already walked down the road of no return though? In the past couple of decades we have seen the fusion of Air France with our #1 airline company KLM, our #1 oil company Royal Dutch Shell is now jointly owned by the British and the inevitable stands at our doorstep with Heineken. Our number one beer company! The question is what will happen when SAB Miller returns with the lines of “I will make you an offer you cannot refuse”. The Heineken family seems keen on maintaining the Dutch pride and identity, yet they will be confronted with their own inner demons: will it be passion or rationale when an improved offer comes in? In these dark times, we pray.

Having spent over a week with investigating the endless possibilities of “social commerce” (the intertwinement of E-commerce with Social media into an integrated unity) I must say that I have been pleasantly surprised. All three assigned articles: ‘Social commerce: Monetizing social media’ by dr. Paul Marsden and Syzygy group (2010), ‘Let’s Shop Online Together: An Empirical Investigation of Collaborative Online Shopping Support’ by Lei Zhu et al. (2010) and ‘The future of shopping’ by Darrel Rigby (2011) have contributed in an expansion of my knowledge (haha).

Not only do they raise awareness about the opportunities that lay in front of us, they inform and educate. The first two articles I believe offer very valid points. The second one offers irrefutable empirical evidence about the benefits of shopping collaboratively online. The SPSS analysis is solid and straight forward. With the first article at some point we reach the subheading of the six distinct dimensions for social commerce which seem detrimental to the success of your social commerce activities:

• ‘Social Shopping’
• ‘Ratings & Reviews’
• ‘Recommendations & Referrals’
• ‘Forums & Communities’
• ‘Social media optimisation’
• ‘Social Ads and Apps’

While publishing the author was kind enough to write down the most important companies that either stand out in this field of expertise, or the ones which we as consumers, entrepreneurs and alike could contact for own reasons. Incase we for example, would like to build on our social commerce activities. This is of great use. Lets say, we want to increase your market coverage, reputation and ROI through higher traffic? Proceed to the ‘Ratings & Reviews’ section. Here the author tells you to which paid/unpaid review sites you can easily go to: “Sponsored reviews”, “PayPerPost”, “USocial” and “SubvertAndProfit”. This is really helpful when you are lacking the knowhow of where to start with your social commerce strategy. So make sure to check that article out!

For the third article of ‘Social Shopping’ I would like to offer a critique. Although I agree that the future of shopping will develop itself in a more and more Omni-channel retail environment I place some question marks behind the older age cohorts of the present. More specifically, people that are above the age of 65+. From a personal experience I see lots of elderly people that get more and more isolated by these technological advances. Don’t you think that this will only become worse as time progresses? Lets all try to imagine our grandma and grandpa on this one. In terms of clothing stores aimed at the older age groups I’m of the opinion that much of it should be kept the same, at least for now…