The official blog of Stathis Kassios for Business, Media, Economics & Arts

The globally connected world is moving fast. Technology is everywhere, shaping our lives online and offline. The following trends are just the natural continuation of what has been happening in the world of tech the past few years. We can definitely spot an acceleration, market penetration and customer acceptance of new technologies. Some political and economic trends will also be discussed further down below. Smart homes using IoT (internet-of-things) have started being advertised on TV. Controlling your house through applications and interconnecting all devices will be the house of future, maybe closer than we think. What needs to be solved first is the protocol harmonization for the devices by various manufacturers. A standard protocol is needed so your house devices run smoothly when cooperating with each other thus securing the IoT system against external threats for example. AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality) have already started going viral. Think Pokemon G

My current read is ''The Price of Inequality'' written by Joseph E. Stiglitz (winner of the Nobel prize for Economics). I am sharing some excerpts from the book that I believe will provide some food for thought on global markets, their impact on local economies and why there is so much inequality  nowadays between rich and poor people,  stemming from bad government policies or market regulations that favor the top 1%. ''The theory that came to dominate, begininning in the second half of the nineteenth century-and still does-was called ''marginal productivity theory'';those with higher productivities earned higher incomes that reflected their greater contribution to society. Competitive markets, working through the laws of supply and demand, determine the value of each individual's contributions. If someone has a scarce and valuable skill, the market will reward him amply, because of his greater contribution to output. If he has no ski

Tips From A Local Expert: Explore Athens, Greece On Public Transit -  http://moovitapp.com/blog/tips-athens-transit/ Cloud office for Greek freelancers & small business owners -  https://sevdesk.gr/ The new world of mobility - https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/10/the-new-world-of-mobility/ Aspects of Internet of Things (IoT) -  http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2016/09/from-the-comments-on-cyberattacks.html Spotify in Talks to Acquire SoundCloud (Report) -  http://variety.com/2016/digital/news/spotify-soundcloud-acquisition-report-1201873039/ The Characteristics Of The Most Attractive SMB SaaS Companies -  http://tomtunguz.com/ideal-smb-saas-company/ Using behavioral science to improve the customer experience -  http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/operations/our-insights/using-behavioral-science-to-improve-the-customer-experience

Please introduce yourself to the readers of this blog and update us on your latest business endeavors Hi Stathis, My name is Bruce Bixler, seven years ago I lost my job. Everyone told me to get on LinkedIn. I got on LinkedIn and nothing happened. Went to several LinkedIn workshops and the only thing the speakers told us was how to set up a profile. I wanted to know HOW to use it. So I started doing my own presentations to show others how to use LinkedIn. I did land a job but kept on learning everything I could about LinkedIn. I started to get paid for my presentations and workshop. Now that I'm at retirement age I want to transition into doing LinkedIn full time and quit my regular retail job. Why have you focused specifically on Linkedin compared to other social media platforms available? I focused on LinkedIn because it was the most professional digital platform and it intrigued me the most. LinkedIn does not broadcast all it's changes so you have to either find it

The Economist: What history might tell us about AI:   https://soundcloud.com/theeconomist/babbage-what-history-might-tell-us-about-ai EVOO Virgilliant @ Hellene.gr:   http://hellene.gr/product/virgilliant/ Cloud Office for small business owners in Greece:  https://sevdesk.gr/ The End of the Euro?:  http://stathiskassios.blogspot.gr/2016/06/the-end-of-euro.html A plan to revitalize Greece:  https://hbr.org/2014/06/a-plan-to-revitalize-greece/ Web Design Studio Beautiful Pixels (use discount code ”BeautifulPixels2016”):  http://www.beautifulpixels.gr/ moovit newsletter May 2016:   http://us3.campaign-archive2.com/?u=c24727311fc31f651cff01770&id=949d7530a7 The story of Noowit: http://stathiskassios.blogspot.gr/2016/05/interview-with-nikolaos-nanas-co.html ebay launched virtual reality department store in Australia:  http://www.businessinsider.com/ebay-launches-virtual-reality-department-store-in-australia-2016-5?&platform=bi-androidapp If Amazon reaches $3 tri

One of the latest books I currently read is The End of the Euro - The Uneasy Future of the European Union by Johan Van Overtveldt, former editor in chief of Belgium's Trends and currently Minister of Finance. The chapters of the book feature a quite detailed narration of history of the European Economic Community (EEC) which brings us to today's woes over a possible Brexit and Greece's unsustainable debt. This social and economic distress, also spotted in other EU countries, is continued due to a central monetary policy that does not walk in line with a political union and general policies between the members states, that could optimize the EU system.  Some parts of the book I particularly distinguished as they can shed some light on Greece's ongoing economic problems and why  the current or past governments were unable to really change the course of the real economy or fantasized that they can by imposing more taxes & austerity. The author argues something

Please introduce yourself to the readers of this blog. What is the story behind Noowit? I am Nikolaos Nanas, co-founder of Noowit. Noowit’s history goes all the way back to 2000 when I started my PhD on Artificial Intelligence with a focus on Information Filtering and Content Personalization. I finished my PhD in 2004 and until 2010 I continued studying and improving the Immune-Inspired User Profiling model, which was the result of my PhD work. After confirming experimentally that it has the ability to learn and continuously adapt to a user’s (or a group’s) interests, I have decided to apply it to the real world. The development of Noowit’s Personalized News Aggregator started in September 2011 in collaboration with my business partner Christos Spiliopoulos. The first public beta version of the service was released on the 1st of July 2013 and has attracted international interest, which many characterizing it as a competitor to the popular Flipboard app. Although Noowit’s web ap

Gabriele & Spiros are running an Indiegogo campaign for kidney disease patients. If you know kidney patients or their friends, family & loved ones, please share this campaign with them and support it anyway you can. They have  worked tirelessly on pulling together the team and resources to create TROPHIN biscuits and to establish the TROPHIN brand. Watch & learn more details about their goals in the video below: Trophin Biscuits Indiegogo Crowdfunding Campaign from Gabriele Neumann on Vimeo . Visit & support the campaign here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/how-to-spread-the-love-for-kidney-patients--2#/

Why should I get a trademark registration? You can sell products or offer services in the EU without having a registered trademark. So you might ask, why should I register my trademark? There are several reasons why registering your trademark is a good idea. Rights Throughout the EU. By obtaining a EU registration of your trademark, you can have more confidence that you have rights to use your mark throughout the entire European Union, without worrying that your trademark rights will be limited because of someone else’s activities (because of that person’s legal rights in a trademark.). It is also wise to research whether someone else is already using a mark similar to yours by doing a comprehensive trademark availability search before applying to register your trademark. Working with Your Distributors If you plan to work with re-sellers or distributors to sell your products or services, having a trademark registration lets you control your own brand. Many times, a re-s

Hellene.gr has announced a new strategic partnership: ” We are glad to announce our new business partner & distributor in Sweden and Scandinavia, MED.Style! ” – Stathis Kassios (Hellene Co-founder) Read more here:  http://hellene.gr/news/hellene-gr-in-scandinavia-with-med-style/

According to Forbes among the top 10 cities around the world to launch your startup business is Sofia, Bulgaria. Behind the blare of Berlin, Beijing, Moscow and London, the Bulgarian start-up scene is set to become a center for seed investment and start-ups in South East Europe. A Bulgarian limited liability company can be incorporated within one week, with a minimum of one shareholder and one director, who can be of any nationality and place of residence. Conveniently, the minimum paid up share capital is only €1 and there is an option for a Client not to travel to complete Bulgaria business setup. Registering a business in Bulgaria enables Clients to minimize tax because: 1. Bulgaria’s corporate tax rate is a flat 10% on global profits, the second lowest in the EU. See the global corporate tax page for more details on corporate tax rates in Europe. 2. Withholding tax on interest payments is low at i) 5% within the European Economic Area and ii) 10% to all other countries unless re