News archive
Informals investeren in groei Drillster
Na een succesvolle eerste fase onder regie van de oprichters, is door een groep informal investors een investering gedaan in het online leer en toetsplatform Drillster. Met deze investering zal de verdere groei van Drillster gefaciliteerd worden. De groep heeft een minderheidsbelang genomen. Drillster ontwikkelt een online leer- en toets programma dat door bedrijven en onderwijsinstellingen worden gebruikt voor het slim en efficiënt ontwikkelen, vasthouden en testen van kennis.
Sinds de oprichting is er gewerkt aan de ontwikkeling van het adaptieve Drillster algoritme. Dit algoritme zorgt ervoor dat gebruikers van Drillster sneller leren en de lesstof langer onthouden. Bovendien zorgt het ervoor dat indien kennis wegzakt, er een e-mail of SMS aan de gebruiker wordt gestuurd, zodat deze zijn kennis weer kan bijwerken. Dit maakt Drillster vooral geschikt voor kennisintensieve trainingen en opleidingen, maar ook voor bijvoorbeeld compliance training waar organisaties aan de autoriteiten moeten aantonen wat het permanente kennisniveau van medewerkers of studenten is. Na een uitgebreide testfase is Drillster inmiddels begonnen met het commercieel op de markt brengen van deze online dienst.
September 2011
Drillster is recruiting
Drillster is recruiting a sales executive and a software engineer (Java) that can help the company in its continuous growth. The sales executive will become responsible for the identification and closing of new business opportunities and the software engineer will be part of the development team that builds the innovative and creative solutions of the Drillster platform.
More information on the vacancies can be found on https://www.drillster.com/info/jobs . Do you want to work for an innovative and fast growing e-learning company and work together with enthuasiastic colleagues on the future of Drillster, then please contact Drillster at jobs@drillster.com.
July 2011
Drillster presents at eATP conference
Drillster will be presenting during the 2011 annual meeting of the European Association of Test Publishers (eATP) on Thursday the 29th of September 2011. Drillster will present about the combination of scientific research and innovative technology which has lead to the creation of the Drillster platform. Users of the Drillster platform obtain and maintain sustainable knowledge and this fits well within this year's theme of the eATP conference: growing talent.
July 2011
The Saints ontwikkeld beste applicatie voor Burgerparticipatie
Op de ICE Amsterdam conferentie begin maart werd de app "Verbeterdebuurt", ontwikkeld door The Saints, aangewezen als de mobiele applicatie die burgerparticipatie het beste ondersteunt. Dat kwam niet zozeer door de gelikte interface maar vooral door een goede koppeling met een aantal gemeentesystemen.
"Als je kijkt naar de extra dimensie die de app Verbeterdebuurt heeft ten op zichte van andere soortgelijke apps is dat Verbeterdebuurt als eerste een koppeling heeft gerealiseerd met het zaaksysteem waar de GovUnited-gemeenten meewerken”, zei Herman van Bolhuis organisator van de conferentie in een toelichting op deze uitverkiezing van Verbeterdebuurt als app met de grootste sociale impact. Verbeterdebuurt is een website en een app voor de Apple iPhone waarop burgers van 300 gemeenten problemen en ideeën in hun buurt op een digitale kaart kunnen zetten. De rode punaises op de kaart staan voor problemen zoals een gat in de weg, die als meldingen doorgestuurd zijn naar de gemeente. Ideeën zijn herkenbaar als lampjes en gaan bijvoorbeeld over een speeltuin die iemand graag in de buurt wil hebben.
“Door deze koppeling met GovUnited-gemeenten zie je dat meldingen die via een app als Verbeterdebuurt door burgers en bedrijven ingevoerd worden niet langer over de schutting gegooid worden maar ook een follow-up krijgen doordat deze informatie doordringt tot de backoffice van gemeenten. Het is een van de eerste apps die uitgaat van een ketengedachte”, aldus Van Bolhuis. Naast Verbeterdebuurt werd er ook uitgebreid ingegaan op de Buitenbeter app van Yucat en de Buurtwacht app van de politie Groningen waarmee burgers meldingen aan de politie kunnen doorgeven. De apps werden gepresenteerd op dinsdagmiddag 8 maart tijdens een apart lezingenprogramma rond Mobile Government. 's Avonds werd tijdens een diner de app Verbeterdebuurt als winnaar aangewezen.
March 2011
The Saints created Volkswagen App
The Saints created a Driver License App for Volkswagen as well as a mobile application to determine who is the "BoB", the person who cannot drink when going out with a group of friends. For all people that are busy trying to get their driving license this tool helps you tackle one of the exams. This mobile tool is made to practice your theory knowledge and also educate you on why answers are right or wrong.
It also includes a real exam with the right amount and type of questions with correct time limits. This mobile tool is part of Volkswagen Rijbewijs and we have made this mobile application in corporation with Achtung!the online agency for Volkswagen NL.
For more information have a look on the website:www.volkswagenrijbewijs.nl
For the iPhone version click HERE to go straight to iTunes.
March 2011
Drillster presentation at Nationale e-Learning Congres
A presentation on Drillster will be held during the National e-Learning Congres that is to be held in Eindhoven, the Netherlands on the 5th and 6th of April. A company and a school will hold a joint presentation on the results that they realized by using Drillster.
March 2011
The Saints develops App for GeenStijl.nl
GeenStijl, the best known Dutch weblog, has asked The Saints to develop Apps for the iOS (iPhone & iPod Touch) and Android platform. The Apps contain all GeenStijl news, comments and GS TV video content, which readers of the weblog expect. Making this content available anywhere and everywhere. If you see something worth sending to GeenStijl you are only a few clicks away from sending in your video, photo or link with the News Tip section.
January 2011
To really learn: quit studying and take a test
Taking a test is not just a passive mechanism for assessing how much people know, according to new research. It actually helps people learn, and it works better than a number of other studying techniques. A scientific research done by the University of Purdue (Indianapolis, USA), published online in January 2011 in the journal Science, found that students who read a passage, then took a test asking them to recall what they had read, retained about 50 percent more of the information a week later than students who used two other methods. Several cognitive scientists and education experts said the results were striking.
January 2011
Season greetings from Syllion
Syllion wishes all its relations a merry Christmas and a successful 2011. At the end of the year many people are overlooking the past year and looking forward to the new year. What will the world economy bring us? Will the economy finally recover or were the positive signs of recovery that we saw the last months just false hope? We will see and hope to work with all our relations in 2010 on a successful 2011.
December 2010
The Saints bouwt VI TABLET
Voetbal International lanceert vandaag de VI TABLET App voor iPad, De App is toegespitst op de specifieke kenmerken van de iPad en bevat zodoende een mix van tekst, foto’s, video en radio. VI TABLET bevat uiteraard het actuele voetbalnieuws, live scores van veertig voetbalcompetities over de hele wereld en speelprogramma’s, rangen en standen van de Eredivisie, Jupiler League en diverse topcompetities in Europa. De iPad App is gerealiseerd door The Saints, Resoluut en Woodwing.
De App, die te downloaden is in de App Store van Apple is toegespitst op de specifieke kenmerken van de iPad en bevat zodoende een mix van tekst, foto’s, video en radio. VI TABLET bevat uiteraard het actuele voetbalnieuws, live scores van veertig voetbalcompetities over de hele wereld en speelprogramma’s, rangen en standen van de Eredivisie, Jupiler League en diverse topcompetities in Europa.
De App is verder uitgerust met de mogelijkheid om VI Radio te beluisteren en bevat tal van video-items zoals samenvattingen van de uitzendingen van Voetbal International op RTL7, de bijdragen van de VI Clubwatchers Yoeri van den Busken, Martijn Krabbendam, Thijs Slegers, Peter Wekking en Simon Zwartkruis en de rubriek Tussen de Linies van verslaggevers Tom Knipping en Iwan van Duren.
VI TABLET heeft verder voor gebruikers de handige tool om het nieuws van je favoriete club te filteren en geeft altijd een actueel overzicht van de best gelezen artikelen. De inhoud van de visuele nieuwsstroom wordt verzorgd door de webredactie van Voetbal International. De printeditie van Voetbal International is ook digitaal beschikbaar voor gebruikers van het VI TABLET. VI-abonnees krijgen gratis toegang tot alle beschikbare weekbladedities. Gebruikers van de App zonder VI abonnement kunnen via de App losse edities kopen en lezen, bij lancering zal het kerstnummer, dat vanaf vandaag in de winkels ligt, te downloaden zijn. Tevens is er een gratis proefnummer te downloaden.
De App is voorzien van een uniek voor VI gecreëerde beleving waar de Digital Magazine reader van WoodWing onderdeel van uitmaakt. Dit is een geheel nieuwe benadering, waarmee we de kracht van de standaardoplossing voor het publiceren van digitale magazines koppelen aan de voordelen van een nieuwsapplicatie. De magazines worden via Pdftotablet gemakkelijk geconverteerd van PDF naar werkbare bestanden voor gebruik op de VI Tablet App.
December 2010
Drillster present at the 2010 Online Educa
Drillster, the e-memorisation platform for online distributed and shared learning, will be present at the 2010 SchoolForum on the 1st of December 2010 which will be held at the Online Educa expo in Berlin. Online Educa is the largest e-learning exhibition in Europe and gathers each year all important players in the field of electronic learning.
Drillster will present its unique memorisation and testing platform. A complete new release of Drillster will be released shortly prior to the Online Educa. Visitors can see a presentation of Drillster but can also experience the many functionalities of Drillster in a demo area where the capabilities of Drillster are continuously demonstrated.
November 2010
Technology Partnership The Saints and WoodWing Software
WoodWing Software, a supplier of cross-media publishing solutions for print, online, mobile and tablets, today announced a technology partnership with The Saints, the developer of innovative mobile software solutions and services. The Saints developed a solution that enables publisWoodWing Software, a supplier of cross-media publishing solutions for print, online, mobile and tablets, today announced a technology partnership with The Saints.
This solution consists of a free add-on for WoodWing's iPad Reader App, in combination with a Web-based conversion service "pdftotablet", also developed by The Saints.hers to convert existing PDF files of their publications into digital magazines which can be viewed in WoodWing´s Reader App on the iPad.
Conversion of PDFs into zoomable Digital Magazines
Publishers that are registered for the service just need to upload their PDFs to www.pdftotablet.com. After processing, they can download a digital magazine issue, which can be distributed via WoodWing´s hosted Content Delivery Service like any other digital magazine issue created with WoodWing´s Digital Magazine Tools.
Readers can zoom into the PDF pages of the digital magazines viewed in WoodWing´s Reader App. Additional interactivity through WoodWing's Enterprise publishing system, as well as search options in the app, will be available in the near future.
"At The Saints, we focus on the development of software solutions for mobile platforms like Apple´s iOS, Android, Windows Mobile and BlackBerry," said Andre Valkenburg, Managing Director of The Saints. "It was a logical step for us to contribute our know-how in the development of solutions for tablet devices. WoodWing is the leading supplier of cross-platform tablet publishing solutions, so we are very happy about this partnership."
"We are very pleased about the partnership with The Saints," said Erik Schut, President of WoodWing Software. "With this add-on to our iPad Reader and the service developed by The Saints, we enable publishers to easily re-publish archived PDF issues of their publications to the iPad. This is also a great solution as an easy first step for publishers to publish to the iPad with a smooth growth path to full interactive publications. Within one app, you can mix these PDF issues with full interactive Digital Magazines. From a technical point of view, this integration is a perfect showcase of the extensibility of our iPad app. This is one of the endless amount of things that can be done via our extensive APIs."
WoodWing customers have created more than 75 apps and produced more than 500 digital publications using WoodWing´s Digital Magazine Tools. WoodWing offers a continuously updated list of iPad apps created with its Digital Magazine Tools.
November 2010
Syllion sells its share in Docdata Payments
Syllion has sold its shares in the international payment service provider Docdata Payments to Docdata Nederland BV. Syllion took a share in this company in may 2007 when company still operated under the name of Triple Deal. Syllion has actively contributed to the international expansion of this payment service provider and has now sold its shares to Docdata Nederland BV who was already majority shareholder in Docdata Payments.
For over three years Syllion has provided management capacity to Triple Deal, that rebranded its name to Docdata Payments in 2008. The experience and operational and commercial knowledge of Syllion were used to expand the company from a local payment service provider to a pan-European provider that is now servicing corporate customers in many European countries.
November 2010
De webanalist en het einde van het web
Met websites en webanalytics wordt nog steeds geen droog brood verdiend. Met die constatering betoogde Avinash Kaushik tijdens de jaarlijkse GACP summit bij Google in Mountain View dat bedrijven en webanalyticsleveranciers nog steeds falen om webanalyticsdata op grote schaal naar business realiteit te vertalen.
September 2010
Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits
Every September, millions of parents try a kind of psychological withcraft to transform their summer kids into fall students. Advice is cheap and all too familiar: clear a quiet work space. Stick a homework schedule. Set goals. Set boundaries. Do not bribe. But is this the best way to study?
Yet there are effective approaches to learning, at least for those who are motivated. In recent years, cognitive scientists have shown that a few simple techniques can reliably improve what matters most: how much a student learns from studying.
The findings can help anyone, from a fourth grader doing long division to a retiree taking on a new language. But they directly contradict much of the common wisdom about good study habits, and they have not caught on.
For instance, instead of sticking to one study location, simply alternating the room where a person studies improves retention. So does studying distinct but related skills or concepts in one sitting, rather than focusing intensely on a single thing.
“We have known these principles for some time, and it’s intriguing that schools don’t pick them up, or that people don’t learn them by trial and error,” said Robert A. Bjork, a psychologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Instead, we walk around with all sorts of unexamined beliefs about what works that are mistaken.”
Take the notion that children have specific learning styles, that some are “visual learners” and others are auditory; some are “left-brain” students, others “right-brain.” In a recent review of the relevant research, published in the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest, a team of psychologists found almost zero support for such ideas. “The contrast between the enormous popularity of the learning-styles approach within education and the lack of credible evidence for its utility is, in our opinion, striking and disturbing,” the researchers concluded.
Ditto for teaching styles, researchers say. Some excellent instructors caper in front of the blackboard like summer-theater Falstaffs; others are reserved to the point of shyness. “We have yet to identify the common threads between teachers who create a constructive learning atmosphere,” said Daniel T. Willingham, a psychologist at the University of Virginia and author of the book “Why Don’t Students Like School?”
But individual learning is another matter, and psychologists have discovered that some of the most hallowed advice on study habits is flat wrong. For instance, many study skills courses insist that students find a specific place, a study room or a quiet corner of the library, to take their work. The research finds just the opposite. In one classic 1978 experiment, psychologists found that college students who studied a list of 40 vocabulary words in two different rooms — one windowless and cluttered, the other modern, with a view on a courtyard — did far better on a test than students who studied the words twice, in the same room. Later studies have confirmed the finding, for a variety of topics.
The brain makes subtle associations between what it is studying and the background sensations it has at the time, the authors say, regardless of whether those perceptions are conscious. It colors the terms of the Versailles Treaty with the wasted fluorescent glow of the dorm study room, say; or the elements of the Marshall Plan with the jade-curtain shade of the willow tree in the backyard. Forcing the brain to make multiple associations with the same material may, in effect, give that information more neural scaffolding.
Varying the type of material studied in a single sitting — alternating, for example, among vocabulary, reading and speaking in a new language — seems to leave a deeper impression on the brain than does concentrating on just one skill at a time. Musicians have known this for years, and their practice sessions often include a mix of scales, musical pieces and rhythmic work. Many athletes, too, routinely mix their workouts with strength, speed and skill drills.
The advantages of this approach to studying can be striking, in some topic areas. In a study recently posted online by the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, Doug Rohrer and Kelli Taylor of the University of South Florida taught a group of fourth graders four equations, each to calculate a different dimension of a prism. Half of the children learned by studying repeated examples of one equation, say, calculating the number of prism faces when given the number of sides at the base, then moving on to the next type of calculation, studying repeated examples of that. The other half studied mixed problem sets, which included examples of all four types of calculations grouped together. Both groups solved sample problems along the way, as they studied.
This new way of thinking has been digitalized in Drillster, the e-memorization tool that is gaining rapidly ground in the international e-learning market. Drillster is a Syllion company.
September 2010
Effecten van serious gaming
De afgelopen drie jaar is er veel nieuw onderzoek gedaan naar de effecten van serious gaming op het onderwijs. Games motiveren, ze helpen cognitieve vaardigheden te verbeteren, leerlingen kunnen er veel kennis mee vergaren en games kunnen zelfs positieve effecten hebben op de lichamelijke gezondheid.
Dit zijn de belangrijkste conclusies van het rapport dat Kennisnet recentelijk heeft uitgebracht. De kracht van games is dat ze ontworpen zijn om op een meeslepende manier, spelenderwijs, handelingen uit te voeren. Games worden nog niet veel ingezet in het onderwijs. Voorstanders van games zien dit as een gemiste kans. Zij bepleiten organisatorische en inhoudelijke veranderingen van het onderwijs om zo de mogelijkheden van games beter tot hun recht te laten komen. Veel leraren nemen een afwachtende houding aan. Zij onderschrijven de motiverende werking van games maar zijn vooral onzeker over de doelmatigheid en de opbrengsten van games voor het bereiken van de huidige onderwijsdoelen.
Drillster, een Syllion portfolio company, heeft een online memorization platform ontwikkeld dat in 2011 met een serious gaming aanbod zal komen. Hierbij worden didactische doelen, het goed en efficiënt leren van nieuwe stof, gecombineerd met een "fun factor".
(Bron: Kennisnet, juli 2010).
July 2010
Gaining Advantage Through Assessment
The European Association of Test Publishers will organize its second European annual conference in Barcelona this year. The conference will educate delegates on doing business in Europe, gaming advancements that benefit the testing industry, and meeting the challenges of change in assessment systems. Representatives of Drillster will attend this annual meeting.
One of the key features of the Drillster online memorization platform are its ability to continuously and online test people on the proficiency of certain knowledge. It enables to monitor progress in learning results for an individual as well as large and small populations.
The 2nd Annual European - Association of Test Publishers Conference will attract delegates from Europe and around the world. The purpose of this conference is to facilitate networks, encourage delegates to identify new business opportunities and inform industry professionals about the latest developments and research in the field of educational, employment, skills and performance assessment.
Programs being presented include such themes as: Detecting and Preventing Fraud in High Stakes Testing, Measuring 21st Century Skills, Meeting the Challenges of Change toward Computer Based Testing, Regulatory and Legal Issues in Testing, and many others.
July 2010
Decline foreign investment Netherlands
The number of foreign investments in the Netherlands has shown less decrease in The Netherlands than in other European countries. However, there are still worries about the attractiveness of the Netherlands for foreign companies.
Ernst & Young recently presented a survey for which they investigated the decrease of the number of foreign companies starting a business in The Netherlands as well as in the rest of Europe. Although the decline in foreign investments was less in The Netherlands than in other European countries, it is still valid to ask the question: “Are The Netherlands losing on opportunities?”. This question can be answered positively. Ernst & Young came to the conclusion that opportunities are primarily lost for attracting European Headquarters and companies in research and development as well as transport to the Netherlands. The decrease in the Netherlands was 7% in 2010 compared to a European average decline of 11%.
June 2010
iPad bedreiging voor boekwinkels
Als studenten massaal iPads aanschaffen, zal dit een grote bedreiging vormen voor de traditionele (educatieve) boekwinkels. Dit stelt Fortune deze week in een artikel over de populariteit van iPads onder studenten. iPad biedt namelijk direct toegang tot boekwinkels die digitale uitgaven verkopen en steeds meer uitgevers bieden hun boeken zelf online te koop aan. Een bezoek aan de boekwinkel is dan niet meer noodzakelijk.
In Amerika wordt de iPad al massaal door studenten ingezet. Op Princeton University hebben ze een hekel aan de iPad, niet vanwege de concurrentie met de campus boekwinkel, maar omdat de tabletcomputer voor storingen zorgt op het computernetwerk. Het Illinois Institute of Technology is niet bang voor de iPad en geeft alle eerstejaars er een cadeau. De universiteit wil hiermee digitaal leren en innovatie stimuleren.
May 2010
Dutch business promotions in China
Monday the 17th and Tuesday the 18th of May are the Dutch days at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. A large Dutch delegation will visit the World Expo that day among which are Prince Willem-Alexander and princess Maxima. Objective of these two days are to promote the Netherlands in China. Dutch investments in China are growing and China is considered an interesting potential market. All Dutch business that is promoted during the two Dutch days are linked with the theme of this year's expo: A Better City, a Better Life.
May 2010
Syllion attends World Expo 2010 in Shanghai
Syllion will visit the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai where Syllion will also make some visits for Drillster, the oline memorization tool that Syllion invested in two years ago. Over 70 million visitors are expected during the 2010 World Expo.
The theme of this year’s World Expo, the largest that has ever been organized, is “A better city, a better life” and many topics around this theme are discussed in the various pavilions. In the Netherlands pavilion, Syllion will meet various companies and talk about how investments in new technology can lead to a better city and thus for a better life for its citizens. Whether it is mobile technology for real-time communication, e-learning initiatives for remote learning or public space management services, all these technology driven initiatives will improve the quality of city life.
May 2010
Syllion supports PSMS BV in further expansion
Syllion will support Public Space Management Services BV (PSMS) in their further expansion. Syllion provides management support to further promote the commercial offering of PSMS in both the Netherlands and abroad. PSMS is market leader in the Netherlands for the delivery of public space management applications that are used by municipalities, utility companies and construction companies to manage road works within city boundaries.
PSMS is based in Hilversum, the Netherlands and in the 3 years that they have been developing the space management application, they have built up a dominant position on the Dutch market. The PSMS service has a real-time overview of all road works within city boundaries, something that is not registered in the Netherlands on a national basis. The services that PSMS offer help municipalities in the communication with their contractors but also in the communication to road users and any other stakeholders. The application that PSMS provides, called MOOR, has a dominant position on the Dutch market and will now be further integrated with traffic management systems and public information services of the various municipalities that use MOOR. Also municipalities outside of The Netherlands have shown interest in this innovative tool and Syllion will support PSMS in the further national and international expansion of this interesting managed service.
April 2010
The private equity market in 2009 and 2010
2009 was a difficult year for Private Equity firms. By every indicator, from investment activity to exit level, and from new fund-raising volumes to fund returns, the Private Equity market approached in 2009 its deep lows. But as the private equity market has entered 2010, activity has revived modestly.
What did we see happening in 2009?
- Private equity’s “golden age” of low interest rates, abundant leverage, mega-deal making and effortless returns is over, and will not soon return.
- Global private equity investments sank to a level not seen since the last downturn. All regions and industry sectors suffered.
- The dynamics underlying the decline differed by region. In North America and Europe, economic uncertainty and frosty debt conditions constrained deal making. In emerging markets, the massive dislocation of value brought about by declining economic growth and tumbling equity markets led to a mismatch of buyer and seller expectations. In both regions, the rapid rebound of equity markets did not give valuation and deal multiples a chance to reset.
- Private equity firms readjusted their investment focus to the opportunities 2009 presented, favouring carve-outs, growth equity, acquisition finance, balance-sheet restructurings and distressed debt investments.
- Fund-raising declined across all major private equity asset classes and was weak in every region.
- Despite their continued commitment to private equity, the “denominator effect” and the paucity of private equity distributions squeezed limited partners’ liquidity and impaired their ability to commit to new funds.
- The downturn forced significant markdowns in portfolio valuations, causing short-term private equity returns to decline by double digits; recent vintages were hit hardest.
- Still, private equity funds continued to outperform all major stock market indexes, helping to shore up limited partners’ portfolios.
- Leading private equity firms that laid the groundwork during the downturn should be positioned well for market conditions in 2010 and beyond.
What will we see in 2010?
But 2010 is the year in which the private equity market is expected to recover slowly from the 2009 disaster state. Deal activity is slowly recovering and the following characteristics are expected to mark the private equity market in 2010:
- Harsh conditions will mark this recovery. Credit markets remain strained; sensitivities about private equity ownership could reduce the availability of target companies; bargains will be hard to find.
- The debt markets’ limited capacity to absorb a growing supply of refinancings may crimp the borrowing needed to finance new private equity deals. The shortfall will begin to show up in 2010.
- Fund-raising will be anemic. Many limited partners are scraping against target allocations, there is a huge overhang of capital commitments already made and limited partners face an ongoing liquidity squeeze.
- Limited partners are becoming more assertive, but the best investors will still be rewarded. Limited partners recognize they don’t want to ruin what historically has been a good partnership.
- Returns on new funds formed and new investments made over the next three to five years will be several percentage points below their historic levels.
(Source: Global Private Equity report, Bain&Company Inc., 2010)
April 2010
Ricoh, Portbase and Numiq start e-invoicing pilot
Ricoh and Portbase start a pilot for e-invoicing in the Dutch sea ports and will use Numiq for the registration of the e-invoicing preference of senders and receivers of the digital invoices. This joint project will save the companies that are active in the Port of Rotterdam millions of euro.
Portbase offers the Port Community System to companies and governments that are active in the port of Rotterdam. E-invoicing is the latest project that is now added the suite of services that the Port Community System offers. Around 1400 national and international companies make use of the Port Community System where over 35 million logistic messages are generated on a yearly basis. Digital invoices will make the system more complete and will result in large cost savings for the many companies that are invoicing port related services products. In order to ensure that senders know in what format their customers can and want to receive their e-invoices, Ricoh and Portbase will use Numiq. For more information, see http://numiq.nl/nieuws/portbase-van-start-met-pilot-e-facturatie-in-nederlandse-havens/
April 2010
Numiq on Business News Radio
Numiq recently launched its commercial activities and explained how Numiq facilitates the adoption of e-invoicing on Business News Radio. Friso de Jong of Numiq explained in "BNR in Business" how the e-invoicing market is developing and what Numiq contributes in this market. A reason why many companies are still not using electronic invoicing is that they do not know how their counter part can or want to receive the e-invoice. Numiq provides the directory service where receivers and senders can express their preferences which the Numiq service will then match.
April 2010
The Saints introduceert Stretchpad voor iPad tijdschrijften
The Saints heeft woensdag 14 april op het Mediafacts-evenement "Uitgeven op de iPad" aangekondigd een platform voor uitgevers te hebben ontwikkeld voor tijdschriften op de iPad. Onder de naam Stretchpad bieden ze een oplossing op basis van pdf-bestanden. Een uitgever gebruikt een bestaand pdf-bestand van een magazine als basis en verrijkt dit met extra contentlagen zoals links, audio, video en social media. De extra content komt als een overlay op de pagina’s en wordt zichtbaar door deze te stretchen (uit te rekken). Op die manier kan een uitgever met bestaande content een iPad-applicatie lanceren. Uitgevers hoeven met deze oplossing niet opnieuw te beginnen, maar hoeven voor de iPad-applicatie alleen wat extra werk te doen om een rijke ervaring te bieden. Stretchpad is een laagdrempelige oplossing, bedoeld om met bestaande content ervaring op te doen. Opdrachtgevers kunnen de content zoveel verrijken als ze zelf willen, eventueel via latere updates. De publicaties verschijnen onder eigen naam en voor een zelf te bepalen prijs in de App Store, waarbij The Saints inzicht biedt in aantal downloads, gebruik en verdiensten.
The Saints start nu een pilotperiode die duurt totdat de iPad in Nederland gelanceerd wordt. Een beperkte groep uitgevers kan daaraan meedoen. Ideeën voor Stretchpad-applicaties zijn bijvoorbeeld autobladen, tv-gidsen, kranten, glossy’s, boeken, folders, reisgidsen, kinderboeken en educatieve boeken. De extra contentlaag kan bestaan uit video’s van autotesten, trailers van tv-programma’s of (bij kranten) extra content die na het drukken bekend is geworden. Bij glossy’s zou je kunnen denken aan extra Twitter-streams van celebs en bij reisboeken kun je interactieve kaarten meeleveren.
Zie ook http://www.ipadplanet.nl/3623/stretchpad-nederlandse-oplossing-voor-ipad-tijdschriften/
April 2010
Syllion invests in NUMIQ
Syllion BV, IMNederland and Factuurwijzer recently launched a new business activity: Numiq. Numiq provides a solution for companies that send and receive electronic invoices. Electronic invoices can be sent and received in a large variety of technical formats and senders of these digital invoices do not always know in what format companies would like to receive their e-invoices. Numiq provides the dictionary in which this information is stored.
The platform of Numiq was developed in 2009 and is now ready for commercial use. The first customers, among which are Ricoh and Portbase (Port of Rotterdam). Companies can register their preferences for the sending and receiving of e-invoices free of charge on numiq.nl and can then inform their suppliers of their preferences. Customers automatically receive a notification when their preferences in their Numiq profile are matched against those of a customer or supplier.
Numiq makes e-invoicing easier and is thus an important accelerator for the electronic invoicing industry. Numiq can be seen as the social network for online preferences of electronic invoicing preferences. The worldwide use of “universal addresses” for matching of preferences between receivers and senders of digital invoices will promote the development of the penetration of e-invoicing in national and international invoicing.
For more information: www.numiq.nl
April 2010
How are companies leveraging social media?
Burson-Martseller recently released a report highlighting the Fortune Global 100 companies and how they were using social platforms including: Blogs, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. A graphic of their most important findings is presented below. Twitter seems to be the biggest winner of this survey, with Facebook gaining popularity as well. Companies that are using social media, are also actively updating it on at least a weekly basis. What does social media do for your company?
March 2010
Drillster connected to Twitter
Drillster has now been connected to Twitter. New content that has been made public by Drillster users, will be broadcasted to the Drillster community that is following Drillster on http://twitter.com/drill_ster.
The community element of Drillster is very important. Drillster users can easily create, practice and share learning material. They can share this with friends, but they can also download learning material that has been made public by other Drillster users, into their repertoire. When people make their learning material public, they can now easily communicate this to other Drillster users through Twitter. Drillster will automatically announce the publication of a new public Drill on Twitter. This functionality ensures that Drillsters users are kept up to date on new learning material through various social media. Connections to other social networks are expected for later this year.
March 2010
Drillster attend11 s “IPON 2010 Education & ICT”
Schools and universities in the Netherlands are digitalising their way or teaching in an increasingly faster and innovative way. IPON 2010 is the yearly exposition that brings all stake holders of the Dutch educational system together in order to review ICT developments in the educational market.
Syllion is investor in Drillster (www.drillster.com) the company that has built a unique service offering that allows people to learn new material in a faster and more efficient online way. Drillster will also be attending the IPON 2010 which is held in Utrecht on the 10th and 11th of March. Besides many companies, schools and universities that present their view at e-learning in the expo, there is an interesting congress program during which stake holders in the digital educational market will present their view on ICT developments at schools.
March 2010
Younger people more willing to pay for online content
Market research company Nielsen recently investigated the willingness of people to pay for online content. The younger generation is more willing to pay for online content than the elder generation. Movies, games and music are the products that people are most wiling to pay for.
More than 27.000 people in 52 countries participated in the survey that was conducted by Nielsen. 60 Percent of the people that are younger than 20 years consider to pay for online movies and games. Up to 70% of this group is even willing to pay for online music.
This percentage is considerably lower among people of a higher age. People of over 65 years old are seldom willing to pay for online services. Nielsen stated that this conclusion may be surprising as the younger generation normally knows where movies and games can be downloaded for free. But Nielsen thinks that it is also the generation that has grown up with Internet: no difference is experienced in the various ways of watching a movie or playing a game. So having to pay for the experience, independent of the channel, is something that younger people are familiar with.
February 2010
Netherlands 9th on Global Investment Attractiveness Index
A new index that lists the attractiveness of countries for investors of venture and private equity has been published. On this Global Venture Capital and Private Equity Country Attractiveness Index, The Netherlands took the 9th position. In total, 66 countries participated in the research.
The Global Venture Capital and Private Equity Country Attractiveness Index was developed by the International Center for Finance Research of the IESE Business School in collaboration with Ernst & Young. It is the first time that the acctractiveness of countries for venture and private equity investors has been investigated to such an extent. The index helps politic leaders to influence economic circumstances as well as the vitality of their country.
The index is seen as an important tool to guide venture capital companies through the years of economic recession. The countries that are listed at the top of the ranking are countries that have improved the competitiveness, lowered market entrance barriers and increased the professionalism within their geographic territories. The five countries that head the list are 1. The United States, 1. Canada, 3. The United Kingdom and 5. Australia. Countries that are consider to have made a big progress are India, Poland and China.
February 2010
Drillster develops API
Drillster, the revolutionary online learning tool, just launched its API. This API allows content owners to easily upload content to Drillster. Training institutes, schools or universities can use the API to upload content which can then be used by students, either in an open community or in a closed user group. Educational publishers can easily create Drills and link them to the educational content in published books. Through the use of 2D barcodes, a link can thus be made beteen the traditional print and new ways of learning, using the Internet.
Drillster recently added many new functions in the online tool. The API will certainly add to the featur rich possibilities that Drillster can provide both people that would like to learn new material in a faster, more efficient and more fun way, and for content owners who would like to use new digitals way for their content.
February 2010
WorldClipExperience present at the National Symposium Makelaardij
FUNDA, the Dutch organization for real estate agents, organizes its yearly Symposium on Thursday the 19th of November 2009 in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. WorldClipExperience, a portfolio company of Syllion, will be present during this exhibition. WorldClipExperience provides clips made of photos and this application is widely used within the real estate market. During the 2009 symposium, WorldClipExperience will demonstrate the wide applicability of Clips when promoting real estate online or within the office of a real estate agent.
January 2010
Drillster has been granted a subsidy by SenterNovem
Drillster, the company that has developed a revolutionary e-learning tool that enable anyone to master new material in a faster and more efficient way, using the Drillster e-learning tool on a PC, laptop or a mobile phone. SenterNovem in the Netherlands grants subsidy to young, innovative companies in the IPC Program (Innovatie Prestatie Contract). This subsidy is meant to promote the development of new, innovative technology as well as the interaction between technology companies. This subidy allows Drillster to develop some proto types of new technology as well as to research jointly with other IPC participants new approaches in the e-learning market. The subsidy covers a period of 3 years.
January 2010
Drillster is looking for various trainees
Drillster, the revolutionary online learning tool, is looking for various trainees to help the company in various interesting research project. Drillster is rapidly developing its online learning tool and in trainees can support the company in research in relation to the following fields:
- Educational research in the field of effectiveness of online learning methods. This research could be done by a student at a Dutch university specializing in education;
- Legal research: this project could be done by a student studying law and wishing to complete a thesis on intellectual property;
- Commercial research: in this project the student will compare various commercial business models for online learning tools.
Students that are interested in a traineeship with a new and unique e-learning company can contact Thomas Goossens at Thomas@drillster.com.
January 2010