The Second Jagiellonian Age

For the first time in half a millennium, Poland is thriving, says Vendeline von Bredow. 

Can it last?

“I AM PROUD of my country,” says Aleksander Kwasniewski, Poland’s president from 1995 to 2005. And well he might be when it is celebrating a series of happy anniversaries: ten years of European Union membership, 15 since it joined NATO and 25 since the fall of communism in eastern Europe. Not since the days of the Jagiellonian kings in the 16th century, when Poland stretched from the Baltics almost to the Black Sea, has it been so prosperous, peaceful, united and influential.

When the Iron Curtain came down in 1989, Poland was nearly bankrupt, with a big, inefficient agricultural sector, terrible roads and rail links and an economy no bigger than that of neighbouring (and much larger) Ukraine. At the time the ex-communist countries with the best prospects were widely thought to be Czechoslovakia and Hungary. Hopes for Poland were low.

But rigorous economic shock therapy in the early 1990s put Poland on the right track. Market-oriented reforms included removing price controls, restraining wage increases, slashing subsidies for goods and services and balancing the budget. The cure was painful, but after a couple of years of sharp recession in 1990-91 Poland started to grow again. It has not stopped since, and received a further boost when it joined the EU in 2004. Since then economic growth has averaged 4% a year. GDP per person at purchasing-power parity is now 67% of the EU average, compared with 33% in 1989, and the economy is almost three times the size of Ukraine’s. The country has redirected much of its trade from its eastern neighbours to the EU, started to modernise its transport infrastructure and restructured some of its ailing state-owned industrial behemoths. Read on ...

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This is a partial repost of an article that appeared on the Economist on June 28, 2014.

Four Startups Awarded by Hub:raum

By Adrian Senecki

The second edition of hub:raum Krakow WARP, one of the biggest acceleration programs for tech startups in Central and Eastern Europe, is over. The jury, consisting of the representatives of hub:raum Krakow and its mother company Deutsche Telekom as well as a variety of journalists and specialists, chose four projects out of over 250 entries.

The winners of this year’s hub:raum accelerator are Romanian startup Appscend and a project from Macedonia called KHAL. They were both invited to join the incubator. Two other startups, VORM from Poland and Croatian ThiefScry were given the opportunity to further develop their ideas for cooperation and success in European markets.

Appscend and KHAL, the two teams invited to hub:raum’s Innovation Center, will get to benefit from funding totalling €80,000 per project, professional mentoring, a free coworking space and access to Deutsche Telekom’s network of over 150 million clients.  Read on...

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This is a partial repost of an article that appeared on bitspiration.com on June 20, 2014

The Future of Poland According to Google

By Adrian Senecki 

Serious and the Not So Serious Future Predictions (with a Little Help from Uncle Google)

Did you know that one day Poland is going to be on top of the world as the biggest and wealthiest country? Or that the first person to set foot on Pluto will actually be a Pole? We’ve also just learned who will try to invade us and when and who’s going to be the prime minister in ten years. We found some really cool data about how the country is going to change by the year 2100. Where did we learn all that? Well, Google told us… 

What is this all about?

About three years ago Randall Munroe, the creator of xkcd, “a webcomic about romance, sarcasm, math, and language”, came up with a series of predictions about the future based on the almighty and never-ending data of Google. His method was very simple – he searched for phrases like “until the year of x….”. He received some most unexpected results. This year the Polish Society for Future Studies (PTSP), comprised of scientists with their minds set on, well, the future, decided to use the same approach to learn about what’s to come for Poland. It may have started as a joke, but the results are fascinating nonetheless.  Read on...

Thank you for reading another one of my posts done just for you!  If you liked what you read please share it by using one of the buttons up top and check out other posts in this blog.  I don’t want you to miss out on future posts so please follow me on Twitter @Eurodude23.  If you haven’t done it already, please like my fan page by clicking here!  See you next time!

This is a partial repost of an article that appeared on Bitspiration.com on March 3, 2014.

TechCrunch founder to launch the Next (R)evolution in Chat (K’Sup Exclusive report)

Paul Chen

Imagine if you can chat with anyone in any of the popular apps without having to go to any particular app.  Keith Teare, the co-founder of TechCrunch just showed me something that will revolutionize chat.  Later this week Chat Center will launch.  It is the latest project from Archimedes Labs, the group that brought you TechCrunch. 

What is ChatCenter?

It is the ability to chat with people based on a URL.  No apps needed.  You can do it on your PC and smart device. 

How do you use it?

You will have to choose a name. It becomes your personal URL for chat. You can chat from your browser or the Chat Center app. (Download here) You can even chat from other chatting apps by sending them a link and the link will open an in-app browser to chat. They are soft launching the app. But you can use the service right now. Just go to: chatcenter.me/download and install the iOS app. As long as the name you want hasn't already been chosen you will be able to claim it from within the app. This is the only way to claim a name. 

How is it different from the current chat services?

You can chat to others even while they are chatting on other apps.  You can do it from a simple browser.  If you use the app, you will be notified by your smart device but if you have your browser open, you will be able to see real time updates.   You will never need another app.  The service is cloud based.  All you need to chat with people is to open a bookmark on your browser.  So your bookmark folder becomes your friends list.  It is like having a phone number, but it is a URL. 

How do you chat?

You will just go on your friends’ URL and chat with them on the page.  In the app, there will be tabs of your friends in which you tap and then you will chat using the interface screen. 

How do you get messages?

If your browser window is open, you will get updates as they chat back with you. If you have the Chat Center app on your smart device, you will be notified. You will also get notified by email if you don't have any of the above opened.

Any other features:

You can Block unwanted people

Later you will be able to: 

Create Groups
Create Conference chats
Other chatting apps will be able to incorporate Chat Center into their service by using the open free SDK and using their API. 

How will the service monetize?

Businesses will be able to purchase premium branded names.  You can have multiple names via multiple devices.  Selling ads.  Offering Ad free versions.   

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European Startups: Admit Your Failures!

By Sylwia Wojtas on June 2, 2014

Hub:raum Krakow is a center of innovation backed by Deutsche Telekom and developed for the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Its work focuses on supporting innovative businesses in the CEE region through a combination of local teams, vision and expertise with the backing of one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies. These objectives are achieved by providing seed funding, co-working spaces, mentoring and access to the resources of Deutsche Telekom.

The innovation hub is organizing the second edition of hub:raum Krakow Warp – a turbo accelerator dedicated to early-stage startups and creative individuals who want to develop and grow their ideas fast. The name illustrates the power given to young companies through mentoring, workshops and financing. What’s more, the accelerator covers the costs of flight and accommodation for selected startups. The program will take place in Krakow from the 7th to the 14th of June.

We spoke to Jakub Probola, director of hub:raum Krakow, about why Deutsche Telekom decided to open its incubator in Krakow, which has its own characteristic startup stage in CEE, and how you can get 80,000 euro for the development of your business. Read On...

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This is a repost of an article that appeared on bitspiration.com on June 2, 2014

A New Way to Share: Introducing Sher.ly

By Anna Spysz on June 4, 2014

If you haven’t yet heard of Sher.ly, I won’t blame you. After all, the startup’s Kickstarter campaign only launched at 9 am this morning, Warsaw time, while their software is still in beta testing. Nonetheless, some eight hours later it’s already made it to Kickstarter’sdiscover page, and is trending at #2 on today’s top ten! Add that to the splash they made at TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin last year, and we’re looking at a serious competitor on the global stage.

So what is it, and why is it already generating so much hype on both sides of the Atlantic? To find out, I spoke with Sher.ly COO Marek Cieśla.

Bitspiration: First of all – what exactly is Sher.ly? Is it software? Is it hardware? Both?

Marek Cieśla: That’s a good question. Sher.ly is actually software that is like BitTorrent Sync but for business. It uses protocols that enable on demand channels between peers or computers to exchange data between themselves without the use of external servers or public clouds. That’s the first aspect.

We knew that the service itself was great, but of course it had some disadvantages. For example, if you’re using the software on your laptop and you switch your laptop off but still want to share your data with someone else, it’s inaccessible. That’s why we decided to create storage that will host and sync and do local backups of your files and your friends’ or teams’ files even when your laptop is switched off, like a normal network.    Read on...

Thank you for reading another one of my posts done just for you!  If you liked what you read please share it by using one of the buttons up top and check out other posts in this blog.  I don’t want you to miss out on future posts so please follow me on Twitter @Eurodude23.  If you haven’t done it already, please like my fan page by clicking here!  See you next time!

This is a partial repost of an article that appeared on bitspiration.com on June 4, 2014