The digital TV from UPC has arrived today adding another box around the tv set and of course another remote control. The ease of installation was great and the picture quality very good. In short a welcome addition to what I have around already with broadband and television from Versatel (settop and remote) xbox with remote, Cisco/Linksys Mediaadapter (wit remote), Sony Television and VCR (with remotes) and on and on.... Knowing myself it will not end here this year with promises from Apple around the corner, the xBox 360 just out, the PS3 still to come... In all I am very happy that I convinced Caroline to take the television out of the cabinet to cater for all the new editions. A central remote and more Scarts would be welcome editions....

Going to the market with Roderick is really great fun and ever increasing as he is discovering the world around him. After having seen the seals eat fish and yesterday visiting the zoo, fish is on top of his mind all the time. He quite likes fish too, which is of course convenient, on top of that he shares not liking squid with his dad. Coincidence?

the great thing being a friend of Artis is that you can visit the zoo all year long as often as you want. Even in winter it is great to go there with Roderick to see what is happening.

At the New Year's reception of the Chamber of Commerce of Amsterdam, I was asked to present The Dutch Creative Industry Fund and give an outline of the challenges and opportunities for entrepreneurs in the digital creative industries.

Joost Veenhoff of the Amsterdam Fashion week and I shared one of the session visited by some 150 attendees interested in the topic. We were both stood a little out of the crowd by our clothing. Joost much more then I of course with a suit made of jeans material from Japan and made by new tailor of Amsterdam. I was wearing a corduroy jacket....

Later we spoke to Bernadette Veenhof, an entrepreneur in the creative industry that shared some of her work with us.

2006 will have lots of opportunities for the creative sector and might transfer some of the innovation and flair into other industries.

The Dutch landscape and its preservation have much in common with the telecommunications sector. Sometimes a sector needs to go through some growing pains for the benefit of the whole of the nation. There will be many benefitting from a good telecommunications infrastructure in our country, not at least the creative industries.

We started the new year of by a visit to Texel. So much nature was overwhelming for all of us, especially all the animals we saw. Roderick was especially excited by the seals and Michael's dog.

The wheather changes faster than lightning nowadays. After the heavy snow yesterday with hundreds of people stranded, today it is rain again and most of the snow has been washed away.

The last day of the year of course offers a great opportunity to look back and forward. One of the highlights was the Blognomics activities, which we will take further in 2006.

As predicted all became white. Warnings not to travel are issued as we are not used to this kind of wheather. Roderick of course believes it is great.

The new Leica Dlux2, the successor to the old snapper Dlux is much more advanced. With different (a lot actually) features to play around with, this will be my new companion for point-and-shoot.

With Christmas we share the light and warmth with all our friends and family. The darnkness outside makes it even more special.

A gala evening to celebrate sports in The Netherlands. In an interesting and entertaining evening, the top of the Dutch sportsworld showed their qualities and selected the true champions among them.

Another interesting day today doing the 020-070-035 triangle on new and main stream media. Creating the right perspectives including balanced views and such is a challenge in a world that is so full of fast paced change. On the otherhand traction is being made on all fronts creating a good foundation for the Dutch (digital) creative industries.

In the evening a pleasent diner with the Creative Industry in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel. A group of around 30 influencers and key individuals from the sector came together to think about the Crossmediaweek which will be held in Amsterdam end of September 2006. The week will include a two day conference, a gamezone and many more elements geared at the international creative community.

The state of the Dutch Telecom sector was discussed and contemplated over at Telecomtime. Around 900 people attend the conference and exhibition. Key observations are that the Dutch market is still depending a lot on traditional mobile services (voice and text) being offered at more and more discounted levels to attract churners to either 3G or another network in a crowded market. On the fixed side things are moving along nicer with a very high broadband penetration and all players moving in triple play or more, based on IP. One thing lacking was some more advanced technology in use. Contrairy to for example LesBlogs, in this conference notetaking was done on paper rather then mobile devices.

Moving towards Christmas is wonderful. Even though a wet Christmas is more likely than a white Christmas, the atmosphere is nice and people are warm and cosey.

Being a friend of Eckart Wintzen is nice. Not only is Eckart an amazing creative guy, he also surprises with great gifts and attentions. For Christmas he has created a three way glass, which creates a challenging drinking experience.

The media environment is fascinating. Main stream media are being supplemented by participation media and further complemented by new media. In short for the Dutch Creative Industry there is a lot of excitement coming around. With the right people shifting gear, good traction will be created.

The difference between a view and perspective is subtle. Both were interesting.

Roderick has picked up a pair of funny glasses. Originally he was not interested in them at all, but after watching Harry Potter things have changed. He is keen to put them on and tries to be funny with them. A noble effort.

The same can be said about Nextstage, an organisation trying to help entrepreneurs in growing. At today's gathering some experts came around on informal 'business angel' financing. The message was not to get your hopes up too high if you're an entrepreneur trying to get money from them. Still there is money around throught different sources, so if entrepreneurs try, they probably find the right money for them, if the idea and execution are good enough. In the end we live in the real world....

125 is the addition of the three area codes that I visit most. Today for example was area code 070 again. My most frequented area codes in my life at the moment are 020 035 and 070. They represent the spread of telecommunications, media, new media and the public sector. Those were represented today too.