I'm getting a bit annoyed by the useless security measures i see these days. You know you can call most mobile telephone providers, change someones address and order a new phone chip to that address. All you need to know is which provider someone has, their full name and their birth date. In some extreme cases their mother's maiden name. All this information can easily be plucked from sites such as facebook/myspace/hyves etc.

The world we live in has changed with Internet and social media, but the security measures many companies use are not updating. Even banks are lacking, sure its difficult to actually get money from a bank account but its quite easy to get information on how much money is in someone's bank account which could be very valuable information in some cases. Try and call your bank and ask when the last time was that you called and from which number

Another thing that annoys me is when a company wants to receive documentation by fax…. i mean, seriously, can't they just accept that the fax has gone the way of the floppy disk? Its a museum artifact! They claim its more secure than email and sure it is if you actually have one of these archaic machines hooked up to your phone line but what about all the free online fax services available these days? connect to the net via an anonymous proxy and send a fax via an anonymous fax service.. how is this any safer than email?

And dont get me started on so-called creditcard security…. *facepalm*

Been looking into a few different geolocation services. These are interesting for info on IP addresses but are also very usefull for multilingual sites to automatically display the correct language.

This one shows a nice google map with about the location of my webserver:

http://geotool.flagfox.net/?ip=194.109.217.182&host=www.thomassmart.com

Its actually the network provider's head office not the physical location of the server which is about 1km south from that, but still, pretty close

I spent some time with google this evening adding some analytics and listings for my new site.

Check my new google maps entry here

I did a photo-shoot today for professional violinist Armand. Photo will be used in his new website that i am working on. Also shot some video that i will be using. The photos came out great, very happy with the results.

This is my favourite one

One of my main clients has won the 2009 innovation prize for his museum (and website

Article (in Dutch)
http://www.vvvzuidlimburg.nl/nieuws/nieuws/nieuwsbericht.aspx?id=68

Some further exploits with my new Canon 5D Mark II can be seen on my new website:

http://www.thomassmart.com/PORTFOLIO/Current–Recent.html

My dashing new self-portrait included

I am currently in the process of turning one of my extra rooms into a small photo studio. Will have a nice little "limbo" wall. (a wall with all the corners smoothed out to create an "endless" effect. Like the videos on my website.)

First of all HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone! May it be a fantastic, exciting year for all of you and may all your dreams and goals be realised!

Some important changes coming this year, most important is, of course, that BE inspired is no longer mine! My company has been handed over to 3 of the employees who will continue the company with the style and quality the clients are used to. I will still be working for BE inspired on a freelance base so most will not even notice this change for a while yet

The reason for this big decision that we have been working on the last year is that I simply have had enough of running a company like BE inspired. It is time for change, for a new way of doing business and working, for new adventures! And yes I am very excited about this but also a little nervous. The stability I had with BE inspired has now dropped somewhat. I have been working hard on my network to ensure new projects next year and it t seems this is paying off as I am comfortably booked already until the summer. So no problems in the near future at least!

I am officially a Freelancer now and will be working on some interesting projects as well as a few websites to pay the bills. I will also be launching 2 new companies before the summer that I have been working on for the 16 months… more info on that soon!! The new website and style (as mirrored here in my weblog) has been launched! If you haven't already go have a look www.thomassmart.com. Over the next month I expect to make many changes in content and the backgrounds so keep an eye on it. I also have new business cards, email template and invoices to my freelance clients will now be from me instead of BE inspired.

Wish me luck and keep in touch!

A few weeks ago a new burger restaurant opened in Amsterdam near the Munt. I specifically call it a "restaurant" and not a "snack bar" or some such to convey the quality of the food. They are possibly the best burgers I have ever had. Takuya, a Japanese friend and connoisseur of burgers, wholeheartedly agreed with me.

Below is the menu, their website is burgerbar.nl and I can, with confidence, advise it to anyone who enjoys a quality burger.  Added bonus: the lady that works there has a lovely smile

Left for UK on Wednesday, Blaze hated to see me leave i felt terribly guilty about that…

Drove down to france where we got the ferry across to Dover were we stayed in a lovely Bed and Breakfast. The following morning started with an English breakfast :))))

Had an easy trip through the UK, there was a lot of media hype about the traffic but because of that the roads were empty, went from Dover to Devon in 4 hours. Stopped once for a drink and to get fish and chips! yaay :)))

Came by Stonehenge too. Was a wonderful trip.

Christmas eve we arrived, little family reunion. The classic boardgames, i beat my uncle in chess, played some "Dead or Alive" on xbox (Frank was quite good at it, beating me a few times). Danielle got her ass kicked by grandad LoL. And double LoL as grandad looked hilarious playing xbox

Also made a lovely Photo of sooty, my aunts dog, out on a hill in the sunset. With some help and tips from my uncle who is a pro photographer.

I have also borrowed a nice little canon wide-angle lens off my uncle which is much better for photos inside, i was struggling a bit with my zoom lens.

So now is Christmas day! time for an excellent breakfast, salmon and eggs. With the others also having champagne. And then after that it's present time!!! And after that awesome foodness time!!! we are having goose!