Dineke (@dinadineke)
Somebody I probably met only once.
In one of the furthest outposts
Of the Go subculture
I was once part of.
Or maybe still am.

But, as one knows.
Social Networks have that strange habit.
Of joining up people,
Who don’t really know each other.

And thus when I saw a tweet.
By Pool legend @jtvanderlinde
I couldn’t help but press follow.

And fresh from Austin, Texas.
Or indeed Amsterdam-West
A singer songer-writer appeared.

Social-Liberal?
Shoe-addict?
Phonecover thief?
No one knows.

But she made this.
And that made me feel special.
And in these woeful times.
That’s just about the best one can hope for….

Completely in love



I just bought an iCade, and am now completely in love with it, finally playing Donkey Kong as intended, and the idea of having my own Dodonpachi cab, is such an amazing feeling


Games
pix'n'love rush DX just added compatibility
Other recommendations: Super Crate Box, League of Evil, Hungry Master
Compatibility list


Tools
BluTrol (jb) can convert lots of virtual joystick games
Ifunbox


Stu's articles
Half a dream fulfilled:
Home improvement:
Work avoidance continues:
Nearly there:

iMame: compatibility nv rams for Cave shooters
Dodonpachi:
Esprade

C64:
for those interested, you can games to the c64 emu in almost the same way as to iMame, with the exception that
a) each game shpuld have its own directorry
b) everygame is has a .plist file (to change it to your game, search->replace the game where you've taken it from with the name of the game/image..
More here
(although ftp there is not necessary when using ifunbox)

Tags: Jens

Success route for your mobility project

Ten years ago, the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management introduced subsidies for mobility projects. Over the past few years, the grants have been awarded through the Mobility Management programme. NL Agency, previously SenterNovem, administered the subsidies. Since then, things have come a long way and a great deal of information has been gathered from the projects that have been submitted. The Mobility Management programme has now come to an end and we need to hold on to the knowledge we have gained. This document sets out 10 lessons gleaned from practical experience. It covers aspects you need to consider when implementing your mobility project. And the do’s and don’ts to bear in mind for a successful mobility project.


Lesson 1: Combine and extend

The bike share system (or OV-fiets) is really nothing more than a hundred-year-old form of transport redesigned for today’s needs. But, in conjunction with an easy to use hire plan, and bikes available for a reasonable price on the right location, the OV-fiets has suddenly become an essential innovatory aspect of our after-transport services. And the mobility package Mobility Mixx is really nothing more than another way of offering travel information and public transport tickets. But it still opens up a world of sustainable travel for business travellers.

The best innovations of the last ten years were often not about innovative travel modalities but a smart way of pairing up or putting existing transportation modes to different uses. Innovations with the best chance of success involve a new organisation or different combination or use of transportation methods. In this way, the Lange Land Ziekenhuis in Zoetermeer combines making a doctor’s appointment online with transport arrangements. Patients who make an appointment on the internet can also organise transport to the hospital right away. Thus preventing a crowded parking area or arriving late for the appointment. The hospital is easier to get to and there’s less likelihood of delayed appointments.


Lesson 2: Forget supply – what’s the demand?

Many people with hire cars want to take the train now and then, but can’t because they have a lease car. Employers often feel it is too complicated and too expensive to offer other forms of transport as well. Mobility Mixx saw a gap in the market, and jumped in by acting as “service provider” on behalf of the employer. It has become a successful innovation because it meets a clear need.

Travellers want to get from A to B in comfort, and on time. At what point do travellers come into contact with your innovation? And what, at that particular point, are their needs? If this need doesn’t dovetail with your idea, reconsider the project. Carpooling never got off the ground because many innovators weren’t entirely clear about what people considered disadvantages: fear of social dangers, unwillingness to make detours (a frequent occurrence in the Netherlands) and the fact that many people far prefer driving alone.


Lesson 3: Look at the total range of activities

The company Besite created Tripticket, a website where users can book tickets for events, and the transport there and back, in one go. The traveller is thus encouraged to think about transportation beforehand, and make arrangements sooner. The combination of ticket, information and transport is making Besite a great success.

You might have devised a brilliant system, but it doesn’t end there. Your project or idea is just one small part of a larger whole. And more is needed to communicate your idea to the traveller. Take travel information systems, for instance. Information has to be gathered, processed and disseminated. And all these processes involve different parties. Good partnerships and the effective realisation of all those activities add to the value of your project and give you a competitive edge. Look at the example of Tripticket cited above. And the reverse is also true. Without good transportation there and back your innovative public transport project won’t be much of a success. Look at all the activities needed to make your project work well. Where is your project in all this? What makes it so unique? What other factors is your project dependent on? How can you enhance your project’s value through good partnerships? Make a sound strengths and weaknesses analysis. And avoid any nasty surprises later.


Lesson 4: The public transport world offers concessions

Many companies have ideas for great public transport services. At NL Agency there have been ‘flying buses’ and numerous projects mixing individual and collective transport. It wasn’t common knowledge that the public transport sector offers concessions.

The Passenger Transport Act 2000 (Wet Personenvervoer 2000) is in force in the Netherlands. Transport authorities offer a transport company a concession to provide public transport in their area, based on a set of criteria. A new service must meet those specifications. Apart from the question of whether some projects are technically feasible, and whether they have a target group, a new public transport idea must be analysed to see if it fits into the concession system.

If you have a new idea for public transport you need to be sure that it complies with the published specifications and discuss it with the transportation authority (at provincial or city level) at an early stage.


Lesson 5: Concessions come to an end

Hermes developed “Infotin”, a bus stop information system, which was successfully carried out in Limburg. It was well received in Almere, Eindhoven and Leeuwarden too. However, other regions worked to slightly different requirements and these “Infotins” didn’t get off the ground. When a different transport company began in Limburg, the “Infotin” disappeared from this region, too.

In the Netherlands, regional concessions for public transport are tendered every four to five years. A newly developed mobility project must be in line with a concession for public transport or target group transport, within the set statutory frameworks. And this is often the seat of the problem. Innovations frequently get left behind if concessions pass from one transport body to another. A new tender can, for example, result in a different transport company and different priorities. Transporters are not quick to invest in ideas if the results are only visible once the current concession has ended. After all, they’re not sure they’ll reap the benefits of it. What’s more, a project that succeeds in one region probably doesn’t fit easily, if at all, into a transport concession elsewhere in the country.

Fortunately, concessions are taking a number of mobility innovations into account more often. Nevertheless it is crucial to adhere to (existing) standards. This will prevent your innovative mobility project from overreliance on the duration of concessions.


Lesson 6: Be aware of existing agreements and how the money flows

Millennium Transport International developed a flexible bus system with the residents of medium-sized cities like Weert and Hoogeveen. The project failed. The bus collective bargaining agreement didn’t fit the bus drivers’ work rotas. And the existing counting method was unable to give an accurate idea of the number of extra passengers this flexible city bus could transport, in addition to the current city bus. A promising initiative thus went to waste.

Your public transport system may work beautifully but you’re in trouble if you don’t know in advance whether your system fits into existing structures (not only the collective bargaining agreement but the agreements made between the province and transport company). So make sure that your mobility project is in line with current agreements and that your project can survive without a subsidy. Making a business case of this nature often calls for more creativity than you might expect. But there are lots of options. An employer might, for instance, be very flexible about mileage and can decide how to allocate it. The Trappers project put this to great use and devised a unique bike incentive and rewards system to promote cycling to and from work. And more can be done in other areas. People often don´t like to pay just for travel information. But if you can integrate this information into an events transportation package, this “free information” is affordable. Which is exactly what Tripticket did.


Lesson 7: Double your planning

A bike shelter like the Velominck was designed as early as 2001. The first did not open until 2005 because of the sheer number of permits that needed to be applied for. A process that also turned out to be more complicated than expected.

Many innovators have a corporate background and are used to developing an idea and putting it rapidly into operation. But making a project operational often takes a lot of time and could require permits. This is why your planning should factor in a longer implementation time. This will ensure its smooth introduction. In our experience, 90% of the plannings are too optimistic. So make sure yours is realistic.


Lesson 8: Know your target group

Design bikes are cool. And often pretty expensive. Raptobike was founded by a guy who is passionate about recumbent cycling. He realised that the price and long delivery time were putting people off buying recumbent bikes. So he developed a successful, far cheaper cycle that focuses on the essentials elements, comfort, and an attractive price. And is deliverable within a week.

This example shows that you need to know your target group and that the parties involved in the decision to take the project further, know what to expect. This is clear from the numerous studies of the Peoplemovers project, earlier this century. Everyone was in favour until it was time to pay. The project was scrapped. So what is your market? Do you have a thorough knowledge of the group interested in using your bike shelter or information system? Can you get that across clearly to potential investors?

In short, you need to know who will be taking your project further once it has been developed.


Lesson 9: Timing is everything!

Thirty years after the white bike scheme, the bike share system (or OV-fiets) and various other bike sharing projects sprang up.

Make sure the timing is right for your project. Know your market and your target group. Look at technological developments, too. Ideas that didn’t work in the past can be a great success later on. Look at the public bike system.

An idea may be perfect but if the time or the market aren’t ready, it destined for failure. So respond to market demand and make use of new technological advances like the GPS location finder for travel information services.


Lesson 10:Get more support than just the director

The municipality of Haarlem and companies at the business park in Waarderpolder wanted to make the area more accessible. Everything seemed in place but the collective transport option offered by Zero Friction Mobility was underused. Employees simply didn’t use it.

Every mobility project fails if there’s not social or political interest. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a government or corporate idea. If a director has no interest in company transport, his employees may think very differently about it. If the plan doesn’t have their support, it will fail. And even if a municipal travel department is passionate about a mobility project it doesn’t mean it has political and social backing. Is the department indulging in hobbyism or does it really have the wherewithal to see something through? So be clear on any changes in behaviour that may be required, and why. Simply offering a cost-effective plan isn’t enough. You need a raft of incentives and disincentives to really make change work.

All photos

In one of the most difficult work trips to arrange.
We went to Örebro, in the middle of Sweden.
First a flight to Kastrup, Copenhagen's lovely new airport,
And then in a very small airplane.
Feeling one with turbulence
Towards an empty airport in the Snow.



I went with Jaap Schuurmans
Former soccer hero,
and now risk manager at Arriva.



The city was cute.
The vice-mayor lovely
And the congress a success.



Wit the VVCR crew, We watched Milan being humiliated.
In a stand, within a bar,
Filled with deaf -students.



And then we returned home.
With the train,
Through empty snow, and Malmö
Arriving at the outskirts of the Copenhagen Metro

Tags: Metro

It is a good Italian Tradition to write the name of the cycling "Campionissimo" you support on road where the Giro or Tour passes. Even 5 years after his dead, you will find Pantani's name written down. And Myself, coming from an old cycling country have always dreamt to see my name written down on the streets of the Gavia or the Galibier.

You can imagine how great it felt when playing the much-criticised cycling event on Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo, €49 incl WMP) and to see my name on the streets leading to the top of the mountains on Wuhu island - the resort in the title. Added to normal Mii-support (my wife in the audience, Osama as my basketball team mate), I felt at home.

Not many reviewers really understood Wii Sports. They complained about the lack of depth. For them "Depth" was the addition of lots of options to be tweaked, or a table or two. But the depth of Wii Sports was in allowing to constantly improve yourself, by giving you many different opponents.

And this depth has transferred to WSR, and to that it adds an island to link the sports together, and giving them a common theme. You skydive onto it, you wakeboard next to it, or you cycle through its villages and mountains. Furthermore it adds a lot of new sports.

And the greatness of these new sports, all implented in very different ways, while being true to the nature of the sport they represent, is another thing where WSR shines. There are not many more satisfying feelings, then waving your improved wiimote like someone from Kill Bill. You are almost like a conductor, waving your Hanzo sword around while chopping the hordes.

Archery is another highlight. The feedback of your bow has to be experienced. Table Tennis makes you forget you are playing on a console. Cycling is fun, because it is both tactics (recuperation behind other cyclist) and exercise. Wakeboarding makes you cheerful. Kayakking does the resistance of water impressively. And all those things are even more fun in multiplayer.

Sure I would like overall statistics, online play, and online tables, but as a true Wii game, as a sequel, and as multi-player experience, it is amazing. And for making on of my old dreams comes true, it deserves a statue.

Ranking: A 4.5/5
Wii Sports Resort allows you to experience sports you never did, and therefore makes dreamers happy, while providing multiplayer fun for the rest of us

Tags: Wielrennen

My first iphone/ipodtouch app!.. sort of. They have ported the Palm/mobile internet app Metro (which contains most public transport stations in the world) to the iphone, and i provided the utrecht database somether in 2002

Still, small claim to fame, as a user actually asked when meeting me "are you the rick lindeman of the utrecht database, thank you). The App is a bit dated now, still feeling like 2002.

Tags: Metro

Just look how beautifiul that screen looks.
It is from a game,with a 50s look
It is not retro but looks and feels that way
Stewarddesses aboard planes you have to land.
Many airplanes.
And then they crash.
Then it is over.

Maybe it is because i was born so near Schiphol
But It's more addicting than crack, flight control
My profile is here
5/5

When Tim Burton realised “The Nightmare before christmas” at the end of 1993. He succeeded in many ways. One of the most peculiar was people loving and even adoring a macrable black gothic vision.Fifteen years later a video game achieves this same feat, but it is only one of the reasons World of Goo just might just be the perfect video game. Read More...

All frankfurt photos

I've been to Frankfurt am Main for Link.
Well to the airport, famous for its integration with high-speed rail.



Although at night we went into the city, with the S-Bahn
Experience Local Cuisine.


Sachsenhäuser Wursteplatte

And the second day, i got to experience the Skytrain.


Skyline from Rick Lindeman on Vimeo.

I got fifa 09 now, which sees the Fifa series, after becoming acceptable again last year, making lots of progress. The new Team Be a pro mode, where you can be one player and your friends the others in a 10 v 10 match is excellent. I play in BeEx United

This goal is my most important, as it
A) won me and Roma the coppa italia
B) got me the achievement for heading
C) got me the achievement for wing play
D) and as a bonus got me the achievement for uploading a video.

I felt a bit like Maris Janssons yesterday.
He is the Latvian conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam.
Gramaphone declared it the best Orchestra in the world this week.

So this was a good thing.
I was waving my Wiimote.
And the orchestra played Carmen, the great Opera by Georges Bizet
My wife Celine played the Violin. Osama some horn and Zardoz did a bit of percussion.
I got 68 points, and was very happy.

Classical music sounds quite good in the Midi Nintendo chose.
Pop songs less.
But Midi makes the game flexible, allowing for all those instruments.

I say game, but i'm not sure of it.
It has three mini games: the aforementioned Orchestra, a standard rhytm game with cowbells, albeit with few songs and a Wiiplay-like quiz, making you choose Mii's with the right pitch, or putting them in the right order, which makes good fun.

But the main thing is just jamming.
While real artists frown upon Guitar Hero,
You have far more control there over a single instrument than in Wii Music.

The variety here, makes it fun though, and also the arrangements to make different songs of the same basics,
And playing all the different parts in a row.
One person on the flute, and one on the drums is excellent fun.
In a very different way than Rockband.
The drums by themselves are special too, as you use the Wii Fit boards as foot pedals.



Other good things: The first Wii game i have seem without a seperate friends list
Which i noticed when one of the world famous Pickford Bros appeared in my list.
Still, you can only send them videos.
Mii integration is as allways wonderful, Having a band full of people you know makes it a bit more fun

Bad things: You're not that much in control, I would love more Guitar Hero like stuff.
The music sounds rather bad, and the selection is very limited.
Surely Nintendo, with all that DS money, you could have licensed some songs.

A conclusion is hard to draw, and probably depending on your expectations.
If you're expecting Guitar Hero with Mii's you are going to be dissapointed.
If you're want to have some fun with friends making a song together, and actually learning a few things about music too, you're going to like it.
If you always wanted to direct a big orchestra like me, you're going to like it for some swallow fun.

Ouendan remains the best rhytm game in history, and Guitar Hero/Rockband do the rockstar thing miles better, but I've got a few nights of fun of it, and felt more that i was doing something with music than i did with the aforementioned games. I am happy that i overcame my doubts and spent 30 pounds on it. It's does what it sets do do rather well, and if you can appreciate that subniche of music games, i can recommend it. Some of you are going to hate it though.

790 bananas
3/5
7/10

All Innsbrück photos
Vienna photos

At the morning that Austria and Bavaria woke up after a day of shocking elections
I landed at Munich Airport.
Luckily, some traditions were still there, and all Mädchen were dressed as Dirndl



The train brought me in 2 hours to Innsbrück, on a journey filled with mountains
But we were not in the city themselves and were transported to Kematen,
A hamlet in Tirol

There we talked about Greener Fleets, and alternative fuels.
The night brought us a Tyrolean meal, with 8 courses.
Our Swedish partner was surprised at each of them.



After another day of meetings,
I went to Vienna,
Crossing the country in 5 hours.
Arriving at Westbahnhof, I took my tradional Wiener Schnitzel at Stephansplatz.
The next morning i went to the Bundesministerium VIT (Traffic, Innovation and Technique)
For a meeting for Link



Afterwards, I could do but one thing.
Visit the Holy place werehere Ajax conquered its 4th European Cup.

Tags: Link

I don't have words to decribe it, it reminded me of Deportivo-Milan, so over to correspondent, myoptika



Bloody hell, what a dramatic semi-final day at the BeeX Stadium.

After an action-packed "friendly" (I use quotation marks as I managed to get two players sent off) which finished 2-1 to myoptika's Forumites, we both had problems connecting to each other, which resulted in a bizarre situation where we both saw different teams on the same player selection screen and the game crashing out when the players arrived on the pitch! Read More...

Lego Indiana Jones

I went to Indiana Jones the other day.
The film wasn't as big a succes in the Netherlands as excepted.
So one could only see it in a cinema, tucked far away in Hoog Catharijne.
The horrible 60s shoppingmall of Traiectum ad Rhenum.
But hey, my father loves archeology.
Read More...

Tags: Films

The best way to view a football game is to go to a stadium. While watching a race or baseball might actually be more rewarding from your special 156" HDMI Bravia Super Flat Wide Turbo TV, for football you have to be in the stadium. And I'm not talking about the lovely atmosphere I felt when I was at the Curva Sud or in the Maracana. I'm talking about the overview you have when being on the stands. So why do most football games try to look like a footy match on TV? Read More...

Urban waste is one the largest problems in developing countries. Some time ago I wrote a study together with Katja Martins and Audrey Sluiter, about how to deal with this problem. As a case they take the city of Kumasi, Ghana. With a population of 1,517,000, Kumasi is the second-largest city in the country.It is located near the Lake Bosomtwe, in the Rain Forest Region about 250 km (by road) northwest of Accra. Kumasi is approximately 300 miles north of the Equator and 100 miles north of the Gulf of Guinea. It is popularly known as "The Garden City" because of its many beautiful species of flowers and plants.

You can find the report here


Read More...

This position paper shows the dilemmas facing the Dutch government and especially its agency on participating in European research and energy efficiency programmes. We will use the case of SenterNovem, the innovation agency of the Dutch ministry of Economic affairs to illustrate this. Read More...

Aangezien het nog niet bestond, heb ik hem maar gemaakt. Een CD32 versie van een van de leukste twee speler spellen ooit, Gravity Power

I made a cd32 combatible ISO for Gravity Power, a great freeware two player game
De CD-Image (iso) vind je hier
You can find the ISO here

Trains have held a fascination to me ever since I was a child. As my parents didn’t have a car, the train was our main form of transportation. When I was small, places like Groningen or Maastricht seemed to be exotic locations from the other end of the universe. Later we found ourselves in the great Termini of Europe: Paris Gare du Nord, Budapest Keleti or Milano Centrale. My dreams of travelling have always been connected to trains. Read More...

Tags: Metro

I wrote a new review for WOTR

Some people will tell you Basketball is a bit like football, where you score goals, and he, who scores the most goals wins. They are wrong. Basketball is more like a race, where you have to keep up scoring, and not fall behind. The individual goal is reduced to a necessity, instead of a moment of ecstasy. No Peter-Crouch-Robotic-dance here.

Read More...

I have been a Fluminense fan since i first heard of the legendary Fla-Flu derbies. In the early 90s there was no way of obtaining information about them in the Netherlands. Luckily, in 1994 Sensible World of Soccer arrived. the first great football game to include teams from all over the world. I played the Fla-Flu derby with heroes like Rogerinho and Ricardo Rocha.  Read More...

was in Vigario Geral, last month. It’s a favela – or shanty-town – in Rio de Janeiro, near to the International Airport.

In August 1993, 21 civilians were killed there, when a group of hooded, heavily armed men fired indiscriminately at residents for a couple of hours. The attack was carried out by military police officers in revenge for the killing of four policemen at the hands of Vigario Geral-based drug-runners. At one point, they gunned down a family of seven in their own home. Read More...

It was 1983. I had just turned seven. In the summer I went to my first Boy Scout camp in Den Dolder. It is a sleepy village near Traiectum ( Utrecht ) which is famous for three reasons. It is all nice and green. It has a large mental institution. It is ‘ Europe 's Sauce capital', its skyline being dominated by a large factory of Remia, a Unilever brand, which proudly boasts that claim. Somehow these facts seem to be related.
Read More...

Tags: Utrecht

I wrote my master thesis about the Urban programme. This is a programme of the European Union to renew cities. The cases were Utrecht (Holland) and Salerno (Italy)

The Report (in PDF) Read More...

Tags: Rome