Jules Ponsioens' blog

the digital era, social awareness, inspirational people. How the internet, Google, Facebook and Apple are changing our world.

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Things that interest me - the digital era, social awareness, inspirational people. How the internet, Google, Facebook and Apple are changing our world.

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New Post on Jules Ponsioens' blog

New Post has been published on http://blog.julesponsioen.com/health-food/

Our health and food

If there is one thing I think everybody should be thinking about, it would be our food.

Not only that it should taste good and look good, but if it’s food we should be eating at all. These days there are so many fanatics on both sides. You have the health freaks and the people who just don’t care and stuff themselves with junk food. I’m trying, but it’s hard to figure out what’s is the best choice?

You have all these labels with ‘healthy choice’ and ‘green product’, but these labels mostly are marketing stunts of the food industry. Text with ‘low fat’, ‘light’ and ‘less fat’ I don’t get at all. How much less fat than their own former product, or less fat than was normal twenty years ago? And will it be full of salt, sugar and chemicals? I get confused. Some people said to me: “if you start thinking about it, you can’t eat anything any more!”. Really? I mean seriously? You know your food is coloured, full of anti biotic, picked way before it was ripe, full of chemicals, sugar, fat, salt and so on? And you just say you can’t think about it?

I think we should all think about it and change our ways. Not saying you should never eat fish or meat, but choosing wisely. Maybe you should ask where the meat came from, how the fish is farmed of if the fruit is picked while it was ripe. Even if you buy processed food, why shouldn’t you be the one who adds the sugar or salt? Just start asking those questions, all of us should! It will push the industry to change their ways of production, the way they inform us and how much they sell. They care about sale and image. So if we say that we shouldn’t think about it, we leave it up to people who’s main interest is making money. If you get cancer of their product, they say that there is no proof. Just like the tobacco industry.

Two documentaries I recommend. They are both also available Netflix.

Forks over Knives gives different perspective on food and health.

FOOD, INC. is about the power of the food industry. Using their power keeping the truth form us.

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New Post on Jules Ponsioens' blog

New Post has been published on http://blog.julesponsioen.com/online-profile/

Your online profile

These days a lot of people seem to profile themselves online really well.

A Linkedin profile and a Facebook profile that says what you stand for and how involved you are in what you do. You have the opportunity to put yourself on the internet as you would praise a commercial product. An ideal person within your own parameters. You can promote the image you would like of yourself. You market yourself.

Of cause all these websites and search engines don’t mind how much you give away on the internet, they enrich themselves with all information you give them. Your ego builds up as others ‘like’ or ‘endorse’ your status, so you don’t mind as much yourself. You get eager to build up your profile to give more…

What you forget is, who are you giving your profile to. Because it is not you, but your profile what will be targeted for advertisement. It is the image you set for yourself that will be read as true by the marketing machine behind all these social media websites. And it can also be used by people that have different ideas than you have.

Don’t get me wrong, these days you need to show yourself online to help your career. But are we fully aware of all consequences. I bet the owners of these social media sites have given it a thought, but then again, they have stock holders…

If you find this interesting, I recommend you watch ‘Terms and Conditions May Apply’ This is the trailer, but the full documentary is on Netflix.

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New Post on Jules Ponsioens' blog

New Post has been published on http://blog.julesponsioen.com/steve-wazniac-inspiring/

Steve Wazniak - inspiring people

Most people know Steve Jobs as the face of Apple Inc. and not his co-founder Steve Wazniac. But without Wazniac we probably wouldn’t have smartphones today.

Woznaik is the brilliant technical mind that made the personal computer possible. Allthough it was Jobs was the one who made Apple this big company. It was Wazniac who made the first Apple computers. For those who don’t know him. I find him to be a very kind and an inspiring person. If you are interested in the beginning of personal computing and read Steve Jobs’ biography, this YouTube interview is a must see.

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New Post on Jules Ponsioens' blog

New Post has been published on http://blog.julesponsioen.com/ricardo-semler/

Ricardo Semler - inspiring people

Most people I speak to don’t know this man. Personally I love it when people see what is wrong with society and take action to change it for the good of society itself. Especially when those people succeed.

Well Ricardo Semler is one of those rare people that did it. He transformed a system that was dis functional and destructive to individual enthusiasm and creativity. He had put his ideas into his fathers firm when he took over from his dad. People thought he was out of his mind, making employees choosing their own tasks, managers and workload. Well he proved them wrong. The profits of Semco went from 40 million dollar to over a billion.

I find this man to be inspirational with  his vision on education, business and his outlook on life

If you’re interested, please watch the first video.

If you like what he’s saying, I recommend to watch the full interview, made by the Dutch documentary makers of VPRO Backlight.

Please give your opinion on this post

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Jules Ponsioens' blog

New Post has been published on http://blog.julesponsioen.com/chemicals-washing-powder/

Chemicals in our washing powder

About a year or two ago, I was listening to a radio-programme about people washing their cloths on 30 or 40 degrees Celsius. People were using more and more washing powder/fluid and using less water. This all to save energy costs and that’s fine. It’s good for our environment too, so who’s complaining?

Well there a downside. The washing powder we used to have wasn’t good enough to clean our dirty sweat marks at such a low temperature, so we started using fluid washing powder. We started using enzymes, making concentrated formula’s and adding chemicals. This was all done with best intentions. And the manufacturers are good at it, they all want to be the best, with the most aggressive washing capsules.

Of cause there is a downside. Our washing machines can’t get rid of all washing fluids, because of the low temperature. The same goes for the fabric softener, some stays in you washing machine and in you clothes. This will take a few years of your washing machines’ life, but that’s not the end of the world. The thing is, you take in left chemicals throe your skin. Some people say that’s a crazy thought. Well you can buy nicotine patches or hormone gels, so maybe it’s not so crazy. But even worst, if you put your washed in a dryer, you can breathe it in and that’s something to be concerned about. Specially when you or your kids sleep close to where the dryers blows it’s air.

So what can you do? Run an empty 90 degree Celsius wash once a week, or once every two weeks depending on how much you use the washing machine. Don’t use a lot of washing fluid, or use biological washing fluids. Think twice about using fabric softener, some people use vinegar. You might smell nice of the fabric softener, but it will be toxic. Use perfume, if you feel you should nicer. Do an extra rinsing cycle to wash more out of the fabric.

I’ve read somewhere that in the long run the chemicals can cause nausea, infertility, concentration problems etc. Just something to be aware of.

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Jules Ponsioens' blog

New Post has been published on http://blog.julesponsioen.com/apple-user-experience/

Apple and user experience

For me Steve Jobs has set the bar for modern user experience. He and his people made the products of Apple as an extension of the user. Aiming for a natural interaction between technology and humans.

Since I am a visual designer, I’ve been working with Apple ever since the Apple LC II. I did own a Atari before, and my little brother had an Commodore 64, just like some of my friends. But  when I used the Macintosh for the first time I was using it like we met before. As if I had been using one for a long time.

It’s like when you meet someone and you talk about things and you both feel like you know eachother for a long time. The Mac and I became friends instantly. Ever since I have become friends with most of Steve Jobs’ products. Yes, I said Jobs’, because I had a Mac that showed me little bombs all of the time (like Window had the blue screen).

This experience with the Apple Macintosh wasn’t experienced as something very special. At least, not by me. The first encounter was special, but became a very natural thing after the first thrill. I guess most people experienced this with their first iPhone, iPod or other Apple device. We have this same experience with using websites and when we experienced a web shop that felt very comfortable using, we tend to go beck there. Then user experience becomes a kind of a service.

The thing is, in our society we can’t go back. Once we have tasted the better, the former best seems as a distend memory. Same goes for cars, headsets, televisions, the service in a restaurant or the waiting line in the supermarket. And yes Windows users, sometimes we compromise in price. And yes ladies, with shoes you compromise in aesthetics.

I’d like to hear what you think of this article.

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Jules Ponsioens' blog

New Post has been published on http://blog.julesponsioen.com/nonsense-area-advertising/

No nonsense era for online copy

In online advertising and website copy most people are starting to understand that they should stop the ‘pretentious, sophisticated, metaphoric talk’ and talk business.

People don’t need to hear what they ‘should be’ wanting, your ‘companies DNA’ or ‘business philosophy’. People want the information they are looking for. Not guessing if they are ever going to find this information. Especially online! When we watch television, we might just take all the commercials for what they are, but online we have over a million alternatives in a few milliseconds.

People that are interesting do not talk to you like they talk in a commercial. Imagine you’re at a party and you ask someone: ‘what is it that you do for a living?’. And this person says: “In my line of work it is people we care about, with out products people don’t just have a product, but have an experience. We deal in happiness and comfort..” and so on. By then you’ll probably be thinking ‘I don’t even want to know if this dude is selling cars or tea’. Just think about it. If you were talking to a number of people who were talking like this guy, you’ll be happy it someone says ‘I’m a manager’, like that says anything. But seriously. I like to hear what people do and why they like it. So if someone says “I deal in classic cars. We buy them when they are almost gone and we restore them with care. We make a lot of custom parts and have ten people in our company that love to do this work”. See? Okay, I made up this sentence myself, but objectively, I am interested in what this guy does.

So why do people write complicated sentences and use words to sound interesting. This is the thing, in my opinion, that a lot of marketing people don’t see: people are interested in you when they found your link on a search engine, article on the web or a post on the web. So, you do not want to convince your visitors you are interesting! You should just tell them what you have to offer, that you do and how you do it. Just like you would tell someone it he asks you at a party.