Royal Palace sprint in Stockholm
The snow has finally melted but they brought it back for the event. We swedes just can’t get enough of snow. Royal Palace sprint in Stockholm today. Part of the world cup and we get this prime view from our office window in Old town. Not bad?
Colour by Numbers at Telefonplan, Stockholm.
We don’t have that many hours of daylight in the Winter (the other way around in the summer though), but to compensate we’re the world champions of lightning! If you ever been to a Swedish home you’re very likely to see tealights, candles and number of lamps. And what about outside? Well actually you don’t have to worry about getting lost in the dark, so leave that flashlight at home. Streetlight 24/7 of course, but there are also innovative exceptions. At Telefonplan (“Telephone Square”) in the suburbs of Stockholm, where I live, there’s a creation that not only makes art out of light, but also let you alter it online! Telefonplan has been an innovative area for a long time. The area used to be the main location for one of Sweden’s largest companies Ericsson (widely known for the Sony Ericsson mobile phones). Now you find Konstfack or University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in the former factory premises.
You can actually use your mobile phone to control the lights in a permanent light installation in the tower at Telefonplan. The installation is called Colour by Numbers and is a collaboration between the architect Milo Lavén, the artist Erik Krikortz and the interaction designer Loove Broms. Check out that link and try to alter the tower. Not in Stockholm? For you’re convenience there is also a live cam.
Actually Sweden in you pocket is not far away. Earlier this year we launched the blog you’re now reading. Still some polishing left to do (please let us know what you think!), but at least we make some progress—one step at the time. The blog CMS (content management system) we’re using is WordPress, which makes it easy to install new plugins that makes the portal even better. If you have a smart phone your experience is something like below. To the left a mobile version or template and to the right the blog if you turn that function off (actually there’s a slider in the mobile template footer, so you can easily do it yourself) and blog is there out of the box sort to speak. Still looking ok, right? It’s partly because we’re on a mission to nuke flash on or websites and it’s going pretty well. The top navigation on both Sweden.se and this blog is now built-in HTML5. Sweden.se/watch is also in pipeline, so mobile film is around the corner.
Mobile blogs.sweden.se in an iPhone, using a mobile template to the left and Safari to the right.
If you’re still reading I would like to mention the RSS-feeds. They have had somewhat of a revival lately and they’re pretty much involved in everything that makes out the web of today. Below you se how our RSS feed can look. Actually the design it’s up to you, depending of the reader of your choice, but the point is that blogs.sweden.se is available however, whenever and wherever you want (even offline on a plane). Check out the “RSS feed for this page” link in the blog header and add it to your RSS reader (ie reader.google.com). Are there any improvements to make? Let us know!
The "apple-touch-icon.png" on an iPad
blogs.sweden.se RSS on an iPad.
New Director-General of the Swedish Institute Annika Rembe's first day at work
Annika Rembe did her first performance as Director General of the Swedish Institute this morning. Happy times for the employees at the office and one more reason for cake early in the morning.
If you just happen to stumble upon this blog, blogs.sweden.se (and Sweden.se) is a web portal produced, operated and developed by the Swedish Institute, a public agency that promotes interest and confidence in Sweden around the world.
Invasão Sueca ("Swedish invasion") ticket for the Taken by Trees and Anna von Hausswolff shows.
Invasão Sueca (“Swedish invasion) is a music project put together by the Swedish Institute. For the sixth year in a row a couple of indie bands tour in Brazil and put Sweden on the map. Friday night the pit stop was São Paulo and the venue SESC Pompéia. This night Taken by Trees and Anna von Hauswolff entered the stage in front of 700 people and the crowd turned out to be really excited. No wonder why because the voices of Taken by Trees (aka Victoria Bergsman) and Anna von Hausswolff respectively, are ones that are easily recognized.
Where Taken By Trees is gentle and catchy folk pop, Anna von Hauswolff’s music makes comparisons to singer/songwriter Kate Bush inevitable. Your expectations should be sky high and I’m afraid the clip below doesn’t make her justice 100 percent (listen to her on MySpace as well!). The sound is somewhat poor (recording live music is really tricky), but i hope it captures the atmosphere of her performing the song “Old Beauty, Du kan nu dö”. This tune is actually my favorite from her album “Singing From the Grave”.
…is Sweden.se’s very own outlet of individual opinion. We all work at the Swedish Institute in Stockholm, with our offices right next to the Royal Palace in the Old Town. But what is said here does not necessarily represent the views of the Swedish Institute.