Today we have reached an important milestone in the history of openBC: we have broken through the 1-million-member barrier.

Since November 2003, we grow at an exponential rate, with thousands of new members from all countries of the world joining the network every day. Lars Hinrichs, founder and CEO of openBC, is thrilled:

The fact that the openBC network has reached seven figures is fantastic news for openBC and all of its members. Every time a new member joins the openBC platform, the power and dynamism of our online networking community grows, as the potential to connect, exchange and do business with trusted partners around the globe increases. openBC is by no means a database full of defunct profiles – it is a dynamic, vital business community.

Open, secure & glocal: the winning philosophy for 1 million users

Time for a coffee break...do some stretching, turn up the sound and move your head slightly to the music. Ready? Alright, Click here.

Scratch n Spin is a very amusing short video advert that combines footage of a DJ's hands working on a set of turntables with footage of a streetscene...(Thanks, boingboing!).

Have a successful day in the business world!

We made your individual data sharing on openBC even simpler!

1. Simply click on the "Edit shared personal info" option in the left-hand menu on any contact page you wish.

2. By clicking on the individual sub-headings here you can now gain direct access to be able to change all of these settings at any time.

3. Nope...nothing more to do :-)

It´s Monday and another great week is waiting for us, but hey, that´s not the news. Yesterday we celebrated Chinese New Year in Appenzell, Switzerland (I know, it sounds a bit weird) and welcomed the year of the dog! Thanks to Bill and his family for inviting us to this great event.

Therefore, from the whole team, we wish you all a great start into the year of the dog. For those of you who do not know if they were born into the sign of the dog, check here quickly: 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006). It´s your special year.

Our warmest regards are going to you and to all of our Chinese members all around the world!

Xin Xiang Shi Cheng - every dream will come true ;-)

Happy Chinese New Year!

Believe it or not this was the winning joke of an internet experiment called LaughLab five years ago. It was a scientific experiment to discover the world´s funniest joke. They´ve received over 40.000 jokes and about 2 million ratings. Respect! That really shows interaction.

A  couple of New Jersey hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn't seem to be breathing, his eyes are rolled back in his head. The other guy whips out his cell phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps to the operator: “My friend is dead! What can I do?” The operator, in a calm soothing voice says: “Just take it easy. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead.” There is a silence, then a shot is heard. The guy's voice comes back on the line. He says: “OK, now what?"

I must truly say: I´ve heard much better jokes :)! What about you? A good joke to tell?

Go ahead! :)

OK so we partnered with Skype...

The question I have heard from a few quarters is "What is the difference for openBC users except having a Skype download link?"

If you have a blank entry for Skype in your personal profile under;

Skype name

then the answer to the above question is "Not a lot to see here..." (Except Sally)

Now if you have downloaded and installed Skype and you have entered your Skype name into your personal profile, then you will see something, and here the key word is "something", again not very much.

You can also share you Skype name by simply checking the Instant messaging data check box on the profile of the person you wish to have see your Skype name and then clicking 'Save'.

Now if you have installed Skype and you have entered your Skype name and you have shared your  'Instant messaging data' with your contacts and they have  shared  their  'Instant messaging data' with you  then  you will see  our new Skype menu.
      

It may all sound a bit complicated now and in fact it is EASY;  just downlod Skype and install it, enter your Skype name into your personal contact info and share your 'Instant messaging data' with your contacts.

Then you can communicate even more easily and for free courtesy of Skype and openBC.
(Sorry guess that last line sounds like a sales pitch) :-)

The DLD06 conference must have been exceptional. Really. It is impossible to find someone who wasn’t and still is delighted about the high quality of the attendees, speakers, event and conference...simply about everything. Damn, and I missed it...

At least I can make myself comfortable now and listen to what some of the speakers have to say, such as Sarik, Loic and Lars (watch out, this one is in German).

Enjoy!

Ladies, who of you made it to the mic? :)

finally it seems we have a great international conference in germany. The DLD06 starts right now in Munich. I have the opportunity to speak about how europe is catching up - and europe is catching up in attitude. Stay uptodate by listening to the podcasts, view the moblog or pictures on flickr and read what is coming up with the Tag DLD06.

Curl up with a coffee and listen to Lars, (MP3-File - 24 min, 23 MB) interviewed by Nicole Simon for the upcoming DLD06 in Munich.

Find out what Lars means amongst other things by saying "putting the user into the driver´s seat", what´s the average age of openBC users, the difference between data protection in Europe and America, and why it is much more important in life who you know, than what you know.

I am off to London now.

Keep on reading and keep me busy by leaving your comments right here :)

I met Udo at an EO conference in St. Moritz which was sponsored by Udo’s former company UBS. He was introduced to me as the “world’s best connected banker” and we got talking – from networker to networker ;). Now Udo works for openBC and we’re fortunate to have him on the team. It’s not only the number of contacts and the number of important people he knows all around the world, that qualify his as the new “Chief Networking Officer” of openBC, Udo is one of the most interesting personalities I ever met and he can look back on a fascinating career. I asked him to introduce himself on openBLOG:

To become Chief Networking Officer of a company like openBC seems like a logic conclusion to me: My whole life and all my single career steps have amounted to my current position as a professional full-time networker. Because this is what I have been my whole life and my new position  is my first tailor-made job. I have learned that it’s possible to meet every interesting and important person wherever you are, it’s all a matter of networking. Until openBC has called me to Hamburg, Germany, I have lived or worked in Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong, Lausanne, Buenos Aires, Geneva, Santiago, Zurich and Rome. I studied business administration in Brazil and Argentina and hotel management at the worldwide renown "Ecole Hotelière des Lausanne" in Switzerland before joining the German Army, where I’m still active as reserve major and paratrooper officer. As a paratrooper you actually get to meet people up in the sky: I skydived with the King of Jordan, or with Israeli elite units into the Negev desert. The fact that I travel for business 6 months a year has brought me friends in over 100 different countries. I can truly say, that networking is more than a job for me, it’s part of my personality and a passion. And I’m more than happy to network for the networkers of openBC now!

I’m sure other companies will follow our example and employ their own professional CNO.  If you know of other Chief Networking Officers, please let us know - we need to get them connected for the betterment of your goals. Would be interesting to know what their job profiles look like...

Also read what Stowe Boyd and Social Twister have to say.

I am a mummy since 13 weeks now and let´s face it, not only my babygirl is growing, time flies at top speed!

Last weekend I really took some minutes off from changing nappies and removing stains, to give my contacts on openBC some extra (social) treatment. And whilst surfing openBC, I found this feature "contacts whose company or position has recently changed".

If you are busy like me (or even more ;) ), you will love that feature, promised! You can see at one glance what has changed...awesome.

It really rocks! Try it.

cheers, Daniela

...will be, among others, speakers at the Digital Lifestyle Day 2006 (DLD06) in Munich on January 22nd and 23rd.

Well I have to say that the online marketing initiatives for the DLD06 are going well because the preparation seems to be working out pretty good. At least it worked for me :) The topic has been popping up every time I was on the net and finally I browsed their website and they got me...

What a bummer that I can´t be there (off to London for a few days)! But hey, for people like me they did some interviews and even better, I can browse all the speakers´ info straight from my dining room table. Cool! :)

Who of you will makte it to Munich? Or are you missing the event too?

The Alpha Summit Europe is where start-ups meet experienced entrepreneurs, industry and capital. The event was co-hosted by Red Herring and more than 330 participants took part. The main goals were:

- Highlight top European technology start-ups.
- Establish best practice for building successful European technology ventures.
- Gain global insights from top entrepreneurs.
- Provide networking opportunities for 21st century entrepreneurs.

There were a vast number of speakers and among them were openBC’s Sarik Weber (who took Lars Hinrichs place) and Bill Liao. The summit was held on 6th/7th December at the Kempinski Hotel Airport Munich. The days were filled with panel discussions and speeches from keynote speakers. Sarik Weber was a part of the “Thinking different (e-commerce)” panel  and Bill Liao took part in the “More World Flatteners” panel and enjoyed it thoroughly, as you can see:

In Switzerland there are openBC events at least every week. In Zürich alone there are about 2/3 openBC events happening every month. On 29th November 2005 at 7pm the "openBC Zürich Dinner with a speech on Business Etiquette" was held at the Hotel Engimatt. The event was organised by Thomas Kappauf who is a part of  the openBC Meet Zürich. These events are a fabulous opportunity to meet and get to know virutal contacts in a relaxed atmosphere. The speech delved into the realm of business etiqutte and how important it is to maintain respect, achieve social acceptance and open doors of opportunity.

Mr. Kappauf carried out some interviews, among them were:
Alfonso von Wunschheim: Download interview_3.wmv
Dr. Peter Fischer: Download interview_4.wmv

(Thanks goes out to Mr. Pete Meyer from Videoquest who was kind enough to put together the media for us)

There is also a short film of the event showing just how enjoyable these events are, please click here to view the film: Download OpenBCzuerich.wmv

As mentioned there are many openBC events happening in Switzerland, in January alone there will be 6 events in 5 different towns and all are in a 75 minute travel radius of each other (which is an openBC world record!):

• openBC Meet Aargau - Argovialand, 09.01.2006 in Aarau
• openBC Bern Espace Mittelland regular's table, 11.01.2006 in Bern
• openBC Meet Zurich with speed networking, 12.01.2006 in Zurich
• openBC Zurich lunch, 20.01.2006
• openBC Central Switzerland, 22.01.2006 in Luzern
• openBC Meet Basel-Dreiländereck, 31.01.2006 in Basel
  

Start now!

Rule no.1 : work on your ego score... www.egosurf.org

Thanks Jaffe Juice for inspiration.

I know, I might be a bit late with this...but I really thought that this is a bad joke - and I still do!

Annoying someone via the Internet is now a federal crime. It's no joke. Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity.

Annoying? Shouldn´t that be a matter of personal tolerance and not of a state...

But see yourself what Declan McCullagh, CNET News.com's Washington, D.C., correspondent found out.

I have met Niklas Zennstrom on several occassions and I know he is like-minded to us when it comes to giving people what they want. In part this shared view has enabled us to form a close partnership with Skype and I have to say Tim von Toerne from Skype Germany has been working overtime to make it work. Further I can quote Niklas saying:

These guys have an excellent idea and it is great that we can work with them.

Networking and partnering are very close relations. openBC has a deep-seated belief in the power of open networking. To make open networking work requires a foundation of trust and also communication. We decided a long time ago that we would do whatever it takes to facilitate connections and communication for our users. So to partner with Skype to make better peer-to-peer communication possible would seem to compliment our system of safer open networking.

We also worked hard to develop our own communications system and eventually it became clear to us that it really did not make sense to continue in the face of the Skype superior technology and reach.

In the end it is the spirit of open partnering that has enabled us to take the step of cooperating with Skype and we look forward to it working for our users as well as our open networking does.

Read what Skype has to say in their blog plus the official joined press release.

We would like to convey our sincerest condolences for the loss of his highness Sheikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

The Ministry of Presidential Affairs confirmed that His Highness died earlier today, Wednesday 4th January 2006, during his trip to Australia.

Dubai has declared 40 days of mourning, during which all the UAE flags will fly at half mast and ministries and government organisations will be closed for seven days.

Lars Hinrichs and Bill Liao were in Dubai last year and they saw the impressive vision of His Highness for expanding Dubai. We would like to send our sympathies to the bereaved and we know that His Highness will be remembered for his generosity and as a historical leader, who dedicated his life to building the country and striving to do the best for its people.

We closed out 2005 with a really enjoyable meeting with Joichi Ito, arguably the worlds most famous blogger. We talked about what's hot and important next year, why open Networks foster democracies and the cultural differences in business networking Japan and Europe.

I invited Joi to his first "curry wurst" (curry sausages) with French fries (A classic German Delicacy) in Berlin's Tucher restaurant, right next the Brandenburg gate. It is amazing meeting someone in person, for the first time, having read their blog regularly for the last 18 months and it was great to find him as intelligent, interesting and amiable as his blog suggests. Joi was in Berlin for the 22C3 congress, an event from the Chaos Computer Club. I used to go there a few years back in time. After reading the agenda, I realised I missed some good new tech updates. See Joi's opening Keynote (starting 24:00), useful content to know e.g. why voice is more important than votes.

After Berlin, Daniela, Leni and I celebrated new year in Frankfurt with friends who also have a new baby girl (just 2 month after Leni). Welcome to family life in 2006!