Festival Internazionale del Giornalismo: il mio contributo

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Livia Iacolare

In questi giorni sono entrata a far parte della piccola redazione che lavora alla produzione di contenuti online per il Festival Internazionale del Giornalismo di Perugia che avrà luogo ad Aprile. Si tratta di un evento – gratuito, è importante evidenziarlo – che di anno in anno assume sempre più una caratura internazionale, coinvolgendo professionisti ed appassionati di media, comunicazione, cultura, giornalismo e tecnologia. Sarò affiancata da collaboratori eccezionali e non vedo l’ora di entrare nel vivo dell’evento. Potete seguirci su Facebook e Twitter @journalismfest.

Why I love @Airbnb

Posted on December 11, 2011 by Livia Iacolare

I’ve been using Airbnb since August 2011 and there’s no way I’m going to rent a hotel room ever again in the future.

Yep… I just said that!

So far I’ve been using it in Barcelona, San Francisco, New York City, Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam and each experience has been absolutely mind blowing.

The awesomeness of this service derives mostly by the fact that it was conceived by designers and not by hotel-related businessmen. This is a key point: only people with different mindsets can come up with fresh ideas that revolutionize a market. Airbnb brings together the coolness and the social aspects of the couchsurfing experience and the quality standards of an apartment/room rental service.

When you step into an Airbnb apartment/room you feel like you’re entering a new world. A world of intimacy and sharing at the same time. You get to see the house of a person and start wondering about her personality. It helps you discover common tastes and start conversations about anything.

In order to be an Airbnb user you need to have a particular predisposition to handle unexpected things and a lot of curiosity. Airbnb is not for everyone. If you travel alone or with friends it is perfect. If you travel with your partner (and your partner is adventurous) it is fantastic. If you travel with your partner and your little kids it might be a bit challenging because adults adapt more easily to unexpected situations.

Last but not least, Airbnb is very inspiring when it comes to style and furnitures. I’ve found myself browsing all the coolest listings just to look at how people decorate and style up their homes. There are so many design apartments on Airbnb (incredibly cheap ones) that’s almost impossible not to bump into one and scream: “OMG I want this too!”.

Give it a try and you won’t regret it.

P.S. only on Airbnb you can rent something like this.

#LeWeb11 in a post

Posted on December 11, 2011 by Livia Iacolare

I’m back home after an exciting week in Paris. I was there to attend LeWeb (it’s my 5th time there!) and now that I think about it I cannot imagine being elsewhere on the first week of December. This time I won’t talk about logistics: LeWeb is a very well organized event and it improves year after year. Hats off to Loic and Géraldine for putting it up. What really struck me this year was the general atmosphere, which was extremely positive if you consider the hard times we’re going through.

As my friend Luca Sartoni pointed out in his podcast, I find interesting that most of the companies and products which had been talked about on stage this year are now deeply rooted in our daily life. Airbnb, Spotify, foursquare and Twitter are now 100% part of my reality and even the new apps (e.g. Uber) are so seamless that you can use them right away and still feel like you’ve been using them forever.

LeWeb also showed me that the startup ecosystem in Europe is changing. Until a few years ago it was all about London; now things are different because the Scandinavian countries and Berlin are becoming the new centers for innovation. Berlin in particular has proven to provide the right humus to grow a startup because of its cheaper cost of living (compared to other European capitals) and the cultural groove that makes it one of the top three most exciting cities in the continent along with Paris and London. If London is the European “New York City” Berlin is definitely going to become the European “San Francisco” in terms of lifestyle and opportunities.

The enthusiasm at LeWeb has always been contagious but this year I feel more optimistic about the future: it’s great to see that creativity and ideas can still capitalize and save/change the world. I’ve heard a lot of encouraging speeches about magic, passion, curiosity and hard work. They all came from successful entrepreneurs who really believed in the power of their ideas and somehow managed to turn them into great products. I was also very proud of my fellow Italian entrepreneurs who won the startup competition with Beintoo, a smart product that has a lot of potential.

That said, I can’t wait for the next edition to come!