Press Release - May 29, 2007

On June 1, 2007 Mark Hoekstra (geektechnique.org) will preview The Slurpr at The Next Web Conference in Amsterdam. The Slurpr is a high speed Wi-Fi broadband router that takes up to six available Wi-Fi channels and combines them into one free and ultra broadband connection. Fast and Free Internet Access with just one box! Now you can enjoy the great advantages and comfort that come with a high speed internet connection, all for free.

The Slurpr automatically connects to the 6 strongest available Wi-Fi channels in your neighborhood to give you unparalleled connectivity. To make this happen, 6 Wi-Fi adapters are combined in one small package. The six extra sensitive antennae give you an even wider range of connectivity.

The Slurpr will be on display and available for pre-ordering at The Next Web Conference.

Technical specs:

The Slurpr consists of a Six-channel wardrive-box broadbandrouter with 6 11/54Mbit fully configurable Wi-Fi connections bundled and redistributed to 9 wired ethernet connections. A 266MHz MIPS CPU with 64MB RAM with Linux installed on a 1GB Compact Flash card powers this extraordinary set-up.

Both the hardware and software of The Slurpr will be released under a Creative Commons license making it easy for users to build their own Slurprs and using and enhancing the software.

More information on:
http://geektechnique.org
http://www.slurpr.com
http://2007.thenextweb.org

How it all started:
http://www.bomega.com/2006/07/31/who-will-build-me-a-wi-fi-canalizer/

Read about it on:

Engadget:
The Slurpr WiFi aggregator promises “free” broadband — and jail time

Bright.nl
The Making of Slurpr

Watch this iChat Video interview with 5 Internet Influentials who answer 5 basic questions in almost 20 minutes. Tim O’Reilly from O’Reilly Media, Steve Rubel from Edelman and Micropersuasion, Matt Mullenweg the founder of WordPress, Marten Mickos the CEO of MySQL, Eric A. Meyer, CSS and HTML guru and Jay Adelson, CTO and co-founder of Digg.com all give their opinion and share their insights on what the Next Web will look like:

Graciously hosted by TV4B.com and Google.

And don’t forget to buy your ticket! because the conference is THIS Friday!

What others are saying about the documentary:

FrankWatching
Video: The Next Web documentary

Marketingfacts:
The Next Web Documentary

Mashable:
The Next Web Documentary

Digg:
Documentary: The Next Web

BlueAce:
Mini-documentaire over The Next Web

DutchCowboys:
Vrijdag: The Next Web (Video)

Bright:
Guru’s interviewen guru’s via webcam

Vecosys:
What will The Next Web look like?

PGGM Innovatie Blog:
The Next Web documentary

We are giving away 20 startup tables in the Startup Arena to the startups that might be influencing or building The Next Web. Together with Big Bang Ventures a selection of 20 companies have been made (out of 46 submissions).

There we go (in no particular order):

Tractis
Submitted by: David Blanco (CEO)
Tagline: We mean real business
Weblog: blog.negonation.com

bliin
Submitted by: Selene Kolman (CEO)
Tagline: YourLIVE!
Stage: Beta

Wixi
Submitted by: Sebastien Borget (Project Leader)
Tagline: All your media in one place… Share it anywhere!
Stage: Stealth mode

ZOOOF.COM
Submitted by: Jean-Paul Busker (CEO)
Tagline: The Family Network
Stage: Beta

Mailemotion
Submitted by: Ghandour Nassim (CEO)
Tagline: video mail communication web2.0
Weblog: http://www.zezel.net/blog

Wakoopa
Submitted by: Wouter Broekhof (Co-founder)
Tagline: Use it, track it, share it
Weblog: blog.wakoopa.com

Quintura
Submitted by: Yakov Sadchikov (CEO)
Tagline: See & Find
Weblog: kids.quintura.com

Fleck
Submitted by: Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten (CEO)
Tagline: Web Democracy
Weblog: blog.fleck.com

Tipit.to
Submitted by: Reinier Zwitserloot (founder)
Tagline: Like It? Tip It!
Weblog: fourstarters.com

Heeii
Submitted by: Edwin Kuipers (co-founder)
Tagline: Smart Surfing
Stage: Beta

PutPlace
Submitted by: Joe Drumgoole (CEO)
Tagline: Find, Organise, Secure and Share your Digital Life
Weblog: putplace.com/blog/

Zyb
Submitted by: Tommy Ahlers (CEO)
Tagline: Bring mobile data to life!
Stage: Beta

Swoot
Submitted by: Rogier Visser (CMO)
Tagline: Giving internet a new face!
Weblog: thewebforward.com

MobiLuck
Submitted by: Olivier Chouraki (CEO)
Tagline: People and places close to you
Stage: Beta

Twones
Submitted by: Diederik Martens (founder)
Tagline: What you play is what you are
Stage: Beta

Respectance
Submitted by: Richard Derks (founder)
Tagline: share your memories
Weblog: blog.respectance.com

Widsets
Submitted by: Kaj Haggman (founder)
Tagline: Mobilize your web
Stage: Beta

CVwarehouse
Submitted by: Inge Geerdens (founder)
Tagline: Where candidates meet companies
Stage: Beta

Mobiya
Submitted by: Sacha Vekeman (founder)
Tagline: Next Generation Classifieds advertising

DHL just delivered the N800 Internet Tablets for the Conference. Wow, they are cool!

This is the last call for entry for all hot startups out there who want to meet new people, connect with press, get appointments with VCs and get publicity. The Startup Arena entries will close this Wednesday (May 23rd).

Last week in San Francisco we were invited at Kevin Kelly’s place and had a very interesting conversation with him. I made some video footage of it. (the quality is not that good, but it is worthwhile watching).

Kevin Kelly was Keynote speaker at The Next Web 2006. He is Editor at Large (formerly Editor in Chief) at Wired Magazine and famous for his books: “Out of Control” and “New Rules for the New Economy”. Foremost, he’s a great and inspiring person with an extraordinary vision on technology.

As you might know there will also be an huge Next Web party the evening of the Next Web Conference starting at 8pm. It will be held in the Odeon which is a trendy club just a two minute walk from the Next Web Conference venue.

We offer a special Next Web Dinner Menu at the Odeon (starting at 6:15pm) and it would be nice if you could join us there. It is only €65 for a three course dinner including drinks. Most of the speakers will be there and it will be a great networking event.

If you want to sign up for that dinner please register here (only 130 places available!)

During the Conference we will be giving away several prizes to the ones who need them most…. Startups
So if you are a startup and use a MySQL database (which is probably growing very fast as your working with user generated content and your company is taking of) you can win a “MySQL enterprise platinum service and support account” for one year (worth 3995 Eur).
Furthermore, Nokia has this very cool new Internet tablet… the N800 and we will give away 2 Nokia N800 Internet tablets among the attending startups!
I’m glad I’m having a startup as well although I think the organization is not allowed to enter the sweepstakes…

During The Next Web Conference we will focus a lot on the networking aspect of the conference. Our goal is to make value for each and every attendee. Last year a lot of deals sprouted on The Next Web Conference. This year we will focus even more on getting people together. During the breaks and during the The Next Web Party. We will be walking around all day and if you like to meet someone, please tell us and we’ll try to introduce you to interesting parties.

For startups we even have a special program:
Startups mainly come across 2 problems (well a lot more but at least these 2 are known by all). Money and Attention. This is why we invented the Startup Arena where we give 20 startups a free standing table to promote their stuff during the conference. Next to that we also facilitate the Speedpitching session (speeddating with an entrepreneurial twist), where we hook up VC’s and Press with startups in 4 minute conversation. If this is not enough.. the venturepreneur sponsor Big Bang Ventures will select 2 startups to do a presentation on main stage.
The deadline for Startup Arena submissions is on the 22nd of May (so less than a week left). Big Bang Ventures will announce all selected companies for the Startup Arena one week before the conference.

So Startups, VCs and Press, sign up!

The Next Web Awards are the Awards for future accomplishments. Today we decided that it is rather cool to give away some future (not yet on the market) products. So now you can win an iPhone by casting your vote for The Next Web Awards.

What are you waiting for? Vote and win!