Home Blog Page 713

No Weigh: Passengers Asked to Step on the Scales When Boarding Dutch Airline Transavia

Samantha Dixon 🇦🇺
-
0
No Weigh: Passengers Asked to Step on the Scales When Boarding Dutch Airline Transavia

Dutch low-cost airline Transavia is weighing passengers before they board their flights. But, before we all pick up our pitchforks, let’s take a deep breath: their end goal is reducing carbon emissions – and it’s entirely voluntary. 

The, um, inventive procedure is part of an experiment being undertaken by the Dutch airline. As passengers board their flights they’re asked to step on electronic scales, which then record their weight.

The magic airport elves behind the scenes then know exactly how much fuel to fill the plane with. The more exact the figure, the less weight, and the less carbon-emissions. Genius!

The experiment took place on five Transavia flights yesterday which departed from Eindhoven Airport.

“By a more precise determination of the weight on board, the fuel calculation can be performed even more accurately,” Eindhoven Airport tweeted.

What do people think?

Despite the airport and airlines justification, people on Twitter are skeptical that it isn’t all some elaborate plan for a discriminatory future:

And others thought it was all one big joke:

Eindhoven Airport is politically committed to reducing emissions and noise pollution over the next ten years, so let’s hold our breath (and maybe cut back on the FEBO). At this stage it is unclear if there will be more trials or full implementation.

Look, if it truly is for the environment we’re on board with that – if it’s another attempt to increase profits, maybe less so. But, let’s hear you weigh in (couldn’t help ourselves). What do you think? Tipping the scales in the airlines favour, or gravitating towards to the environment? Let us know in the comments below!

Feature Image: maxpixel.com / cc 0

Meet Rockboost! All you need to know about Growth Hacking in the Netherlands

Emma Brown
-
0
Meet Rockboost! All you need to know about Growth Hacking in the Netherlands

Growth hacking, it’s all the rage right now and there’s a good chance that you’ve come across the term once or twice at least when you’re looking for a job in marketing or wondering how you could double your profits. Good chance as well that you’ve just threw up your shoulders and went on with your life not knowing what growth hacking is. But it just so happens that some of DutchReviews friends work at Rockboost, one of the best growth hacking companies in the Netherlands, so we guess you’re about to find out everything about growth hacking in the Netherlands!

Growth hacking in the Netherlands

If you’re a business owner, working for a startup or looking to start your own business, you may or may not have heard of growth hacking. Growth hacking in the Netherlands is something which has become more and more prominent, Rockboost, based in the UNESCO World Heritage site Van Nellefabriek, has been helping businesses right here in Holland and is now one of the top growth hacking agencies in the world.

But what is it? And why should we be so interested in it?

We were new to growth hacking, so we checked out Rockboost in their trendy office at the Van Nelle, to find out more about growth hacking in the Netherlands.

growthhacking in the Netherlands Rockboost Van Nelle
One of the prettiest buildings in the Netherlands

What is growth hacking?

Growth hacking is a data-driven methodology and collection of smart marketing techniques focused on reaching scalable growth of businesses. Grow fast while spending less time and money – that’s what growth hackers do (in a nutshell). The formula for growth hacking success is based on continuous testing and optimising anything you do. Then you need to document all the learnings you’ve collected during this process to apply them to the next project (so you don’t make the same mistakes again!). Thanks to this approach you can unlock the potential to grow.

And skate in the office

Still not sure what growth hacking is? Nothing explains it better than real life examples. You can read about some of the most remarkable ones in this article. Even though growth hacking might look a lot like marketing at first glance, there are some significant differences. But what makes a growth hacker different from a marketer? Find out here.

growth hacking in the netherlands

So, how did Rockboost come to be?

This success story started with the failure from the co-founder of Rockboost, Chris Out. As a young entrepreneur, he was working hard on his startup idea. Back then he thought the concept was brilliant and that it would bring him piles of money. He hired the best developers to work on his platform and when it was nearly ready reality hit hard. It turned out nobody really needed his product.

Chris lost a painful amount of money (around 200.000 EUR – eek) and started a job at DotControl (a creative digital agency which is now a sister-company of RockBoost). His failure taught him something important: no matter how brilliant you think your idea is, the market will brutally verify that. Having this in mind, together with the founders of DotControl (Mark, Rutger & Marcel), he’s been helping their clients build products that met market needs.

But, the more clients that built websites and apps with DotControl the more Chris and his partners realised one thing: their clients had no idea what to do next. They asked for advice on how to use their brand new digital products to grow their businesses. Inspired by these requests, Chris, Mark, Rutger & Marcel decided to start a growth hacking agency. Back then (2014) nobody in the Netherlands had ever heard of that. Very excited about this idea, Chris attended a growth hacking conference in London where he met the father of growth hacking, Sean Ellis, who gave him the most valuable tips on how to run a growth hacking agency. Since that time RockBoost grew from 3-persons squad to a multidisciplinary, data-driven team of 15 growth hackers. A real success story.

Also, they have meetings in their shorts 🙂

Havi-connect: creating some serious innovative apps in the Netherlands

Rockboost, together with DotControl, created a smart app that is currently being used by over 5,000 stores worldwide. It’s called Havi-connect and was so good in fact, that they were awarded the Dutch Interactive Award. Read up about it right here.

Want to work in growth hacking?

Now RockBoost is at the stage of rapid growth which makes them experience growing pains and that’s why they’re hiring like crazy. Do you think you might be a match? Drop by for a cup of coffee at their fabulous office located at van Nelle Fabriek in Rotterdam which is listed as UNESCO heritage. Here are their open positions if you’re interested. We checked out their office for ourselves and it really isn’t a conventional office. With modern and trendy decor, glass booths and a swing, it’s certainly the place to get your creative juices flowing.

LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Do you know anything about growth hacking in the Netherlands? Let us know if you do in the comments!

Prinsjesdag (Prince’s day) is tomorrow and this is what will happen (as always)

Abuzer van Leeuwen 🇳🇱
-
0
Prinsjesdag (Prince’s day) is tomorrow and this is what will happen (as always)

The third Tuesday of September, a day of tradition is the Dutch State of the Union: the Netherlands’ speech from the throne and whatever they have for the annual-bored-to-death-by-boring-president speech in Germany and France.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, it’s Prinsjesdag and every year it is the same.

So unless a nasty political discussion disturbs the day or King Willem-Alexander decided to pre-game for this year’s edition, here’s what will go down today at Prinsjesdag, September 17, 2019.

#1 The snitch tradition – No news today

“Ah Abuzer, don’t be such a negative nelly, surely there’s something interesting being presented today.”

Every year, a few weeks in advance, all the fractions in the Dutch parliament get a USB-stick with all the government plans which ought to be presented at Prinsjesdag. And every year (and you can set your clock to it), the plans are instantly leaked to the media. It’s not even a secret or outrage anymore! Usually RTL television wins the ‘race for the plans’ every year and nobody is shocked in any way that this happens.

So all the plans are predictable as hell and already leaked to the press, what else is going on?

#2 There’s gonna be a carriage and a ride

This is how it will be:

Willy and Max step aboard the golden carriage and…

WAIT SOMETHING CHANGED!

Instead of the regular golden carriage with the slavery pictures on it, this year the traditional ride from the North End palace to the Binnenhof will go with the glass carriage. Well, finally something is done about the golden carriage with all that slavery praising going on it. Looking forward to what they did to them when it finally comes back in (maybe) 2021.

This ride to the Binnenhof will be the highlight of the day for us regular folks.

#3 The speech at ‘Prinsjedag’

So it’s finally happening. Our King, praised he be, will finally shower his people with all his wisdom. Surely what our King has to say has to be of some interest, right? Well, this whole little sour piece would be less sour if the King would actually sit down and write down his own speech.

But sadly, not only speechwriters do that for him, but the message is also dictated by the government so it will never ever be something original or insightful (it’s called ministeriele verantwoordelijkheid – lookup that Scrabble winner). Actually, I can already largely predict what will be said:

  1. The country is doing well on the economic front (which we are, purely money-making-wise)
  2. We should be an open and tolerant nation and come together as one people (let in some refugees, but not that much. Vote for mildly conservative folks like the VVD and not the creeps of the PVV)
  3. Trump is a lying idiot(it won’t be said, but writing it down made me happy for a second)

And you know it’s a shame because, in this day and age, the country could actually benefit from hearing the thoughts of someone who has it all and won’t lose his job when speaking out his mind.

Ah well, maybe next year. 

#4 There will be hats

Brace yourself, the ladies are wearing a hat to the ceremony and there will be gossiping and oooh’s and aaah’s about it:

Are you going to be joining the Dutchies on the streets to celebrate Prinsjesdag? Let us know in the comments below!

Feature image: Minister-president Rutte/Flickr

Dutch Youtubers arrested at Area 51 (No, they were not aliens trying to escape)

Kavana Desai
-
0
Dutch Youtubers arrested at Area 51 (No, they were not aliens trying to escape)

Aliens – do they exist, and are they hiding from us? Or they being kept from us in Area 51? These are the pressing questions that plague us today. Two Dutch Youtubers were arrested on Tuesday for trespassing on this secret test location. Were they trying to find the answers to these questions? We don’t know. 

Ties Granzier (20) is a YouTuber with around 735,000 subscribers and Govert Sweep (21) has around 307,000 subscribers. As they were Dutch, they could clearly read the “Do Not Enter” and “No Trespassing” signs that every visitor is greeted with outside of the Nevada National Security Site, a secured and militarised test location for the US Air Force.

They had already made it a few kilometers into the site before they were stopped and arrested by the police and detained in the Nye County prison near Las Vegas. After they found out that they were YouTubers, they searched their car to find cameras and a drone that already had some footage of the site.

This was the video released by the Nye County Sheriff’s office on their Facebook page:

Area 51: Storm it next Friday, according to the Facebook event

Were these YouTubers trying to find out if aliens were being kept there? Or were they trying to jump on the bandwagon, where hundreds of people have clicked “going” on a Facebook event to storm this mystery clad military base on September 20? So many questions, so few answers.

Were you one of the people who clicked “going” on the event? Or have you been like me, just enjoying the memes and GIFs that have come out of this? Let us know in the comments below! And supply some of that good quality memes while you’re at it.

Feature Image: Martin Str from Pixabay

Starting today, the Netherlands gets free exclusive access to Disney’s new streaming service: Disney +!

Freya Sawbridge
-
8
Starting today, the Netherlands gets free exclusive access to Disney’s new streaming service: Disney +!

Two months before the official launch date of November 12, the Netherlands can use Disney + streaming service for free! 

The Netherlands, along with US and Canada, has been chosen to trial the Disney + streaming service. From today we get free and exclusive access to enjoy movies like Iron Man and Avengers before the rest of the world. Yes, please!

What’s on offer at Disney plus in the Netherlands?

Most of the Disney films will be available as well as Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel. Movies can be streamed or downloaded in high quality.

Some films can also be watched in the Dutch version.

The upcoming (Nov 11) and highly anticipated ‘The Mandorlian’ series will not be available on the free Disney plus trial in the Netherlands, some other series won’t be there as well. But if we’re correct, you can finally binge-watch the Simpsons!

How much will Disney + cost in the Netherlands after the free trial?

After being privy to the first two months for free, the service will charge €6.99 per month or €69.99 per year.

Disney previously stated that those with an account can create seven profiles and that up to four devices can use the account simultaneously.

Where can you download Disney + in the Netherlands?

Here are the relevant links to download the service on your device:

Android (TV): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.disney.disneyplus 

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/nl/app/disney/id1446075923

PS4: shorturl.at/pzNX7

Xbos One: shorturl.at/auQ04

If you’re really eager to get Disney + but aren’t from the Netherlands then there is always a VPN service so that you too can enjoy the Avengers and use Disney + streaming service for free!

Excited? Check out this promo clip here:

Here’s one in Dutch:

And here’s some info on Disney plus in English:

Also, it’s good to know that we’re not sponsored by Disney but if you’re reading this we’ll happily go to Disneyland Paris for a review!

Have you already downloaded Disney + and signed up for it here in the Netherlands? We’d love to hear your experiences with Disney’s new streaming service in the Netherlands 🙂 (and since we’re not sponsored, feel free to complain as well)

Feature image: Abuzer van Leeuwen 

Shell and other multinationals to start paying income tax in the Netherlands

Kavana Desai
-
0
Shell and other multinationals to start paying income tax in the Netherlands

“Is the Netherlands a tax haven for multinational companies?” That was a question on everyone’s minds when it was first revealed in May that Shell was well within its rights by not paying corporate income tax. However, the government will be overhauling the tax payment schemes for such companies from 2021 onwards.

How did companies like Shell benefit from the tax system in the Netherlands?

According to reports, Shell did not pay any tax on their profits between 2016 and 2018. The official laws in the Netherlands gives multinationals access to “fiscal options”. They allowed for multinationals to make use of tax laws where they could declare foreign losses, like liquidation and termination of activities, as deductibles on their corporate income tax in the Netherlands.

Why would a country allow for such a law to be set in place? They were devised within the context of creating more jobs and investment within the country’s economy. These rules were set in place to attract more multinationals into the country, and give them enough incentive to stay here.

The Netherlands also serves as a valid alternative to other “tax havens” as it has low corruption, an exhaustive network of tax treaties, and minimal taxes on money passing through Dutch subsidiaries, which makes it easy for multinationals like Shell to operate internationally from the country.

According to NOS, with these changes, the treasury will see “several hundred million euros”. Up until now, they have not been paying any tax on the 1 billion euros profit they make each year. With the proposed new changes, they would have to pay around 250 million euros in tax.

Changes to the corporate income tax

Apart from not allowing multinationals from declaring foreign losses as deductibles, the corporate income tax will also be lowered from next year. However, the rate will depend on how much profit a company makes. According to sources who have informed NOS, companies having a profit of less than 200,000 euros will have a lowered rate. They are currently paying at a rate of 19%, which will be lowered to 16.5% next year, and subsequently 15% in 2021.

But for companies which make more in profit will not enjoy the same. They currently pay a rate of 25%, which will stay the same for next year. However, in 2021, this will be lowered to 21.7%.

Do you think these changes to the Dutch tax system will stop it being a tax haven for multinational companies like Shell? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Dutch doctor acquitted in euthanasia case

Freya Sawbridge
-
0
Dutch doctor acquitted in euthanasia case

A 74-year-old patient with Alzheimer’s was euthanised in 2016. The Dutch doctor who administered the drug was taken to court to challenge whether she broke Dutch euthanasia laws. The judge acquitted the doctor yesterday in this landmark case. 

The patient’s wishes

Just after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, the patient made a written statement expressing her wish to die if she ever needed to be put in a care home. She made it clear however, that she would like to decide exactly when she would be euthanised.

As the patient’s condition deteriorated and before the woman needed to be taken into care, the doctor deemed it appropriate to euthanise her. The decision was verified with two independent doctors who agreed with it.

The Prosecution

The doctor sedated the woman before administering the lethal drug that would end her life. The prosecution argued that a more current death wish should have been sought and by failing to do so, the doctor broke euthanasia law.

Judge’s ruling

The case focused on whether the patient could reasonably be expected to want to end her life given her state of mind or if the doctor should have kept consistently asking for consent. 

Prosecution service spokeswoman Sanna van der Harg states “A crucial question to this case is how long a doctor should continue consulting a patient with dementia, if the patient in an earlier stage already requested euthanasia,” the BBC reports. 

The judge, Mariette Renckens, told the court in The Hague “We believe that given the deeply demented condition of the patient the doctor did not need to verify her wish for euthanasia”, the Guardian reports.

A round of applause could be heard after the acquittal was announced.

The woman’s daughter agreed with the doctor’s decision and said the euthanasia “freed my mother from the mental prison which she ended up in” reports the Guardian.

Landmark case for the Netherlands

Euthanasia has been legal since 2002. Someone qualifies for euthanasia if they are facing “unbearable and endless suffering” and have asked to die “earnestly and with full conviction”.

This case sets a precedent on how to apply the euthanasia laws to people suffering from a mental illness.

Feature image: DarkoStojanovic on Pixabay 

Hundreds of passengers stuck on train for 3 hours between Breda and Rotterdam

Kavana Desai
-
3
Hundreds of passengers stuck on train for 3 hours between Breda and Rotterdam

Maas River may not be usable as drinking water source in near future

Freya Sawbridge
-
1
Maas River may not be usable as drinking water source in near future

A report, published by drinking water companies today, showed the Maas River may not be a major source for drinking water in the near future. This risks a shortage of water for over four million Dutch people.

The river supply

The river begins in France and stretches through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea. It runs for 925 kilometres.

The Maas gives tap water to around 4 million people, based predominantly in South Holland and Zeeland. It also provides water to over 3 million Belgians. The number of customers are growing and the demand is increasing, especially with record-breaking temperatures and the number of unexpected heatwaves we had during summer. The hot temperatures are creating a drought which reduces the flow of water.

Photo by Abuzer van Leeuwen

Report shows RIWA-Maas are concerned

RIWA-Maas (a group of drinking water companies in the Netherlands and Belgium) published their 50th annual report earlier today. The report in previous years addressed the quality of the water but now the focus has become a quantity issue.

Many drinking water companies that get their supply from the river are getting increasingly concerned. Some even fear the river will be unusable far earlier than they expect.

RIWA-Maas director, Maarten van der Ploeg, says there is a lot of pressure on the river “(there’s) not only people but also industry and farmers who need water in the summer. At that moment our system starts to crack. If there is an incident, such as an unknown contamination, drinking water companies will get into trouble”, NOS reports. 

Problems exacerbated

In France, new locks (a device used for raising and lowering boats between water of different levels on a river) are replacing worn out locks on the river.

Chairman of RIWA-Maas, Wim Drossaert, questions “The question is what remains for us if everyone tinkers a bit on the Maas”, NOS reports “we’re just waiting for the moment when not enough water comes out of the tap.”

Imagine one day if water just stopped flowing from our taps! Are you worried about this? Let us know in the comments below.

Feature image: kaboompics on Pixabay 

The first prefab hemp house in the Netherlands! A solution to the housing crisis?

Freya Sawbridge
-
1
The first prefab hemp house in the Netherlands! A solution to the housing crisis?

A Dutch company, Dun Agro, has built a prefab for a house* made entirely from cannabis. The hemp house is located a couple of hundred kilometres away from Amsterdam and is said to be more sturdy and affordable than traditional houses as well as earthquake-resistant.

How is this cannabis concrete made?

The process begins by making “hempcrete”. Hemp is a tough strain of cannabis that is already used to make a variety of commodities such as clothes, food and bio-fuel. Unlike marijuana, hemp does not contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) which is the psychoactive substance that gives you the high (so no you cannot have a mass weed supply by purchasing one of these houses).

Dunagro’s hempcrete is made by melting hemp, water and glue and then pouring the mixture into a mould to create the foundations of the house. It takes around three months to dry.

The solution to the Dutch housing crisis?

These abodes can be built in a much shorter time than traditional homes because the material is built beforehand meaning the house can be erected easily.

Based on the production of hemp farms in the Netherlands, Dun Agro believes it is feasible to make and sell around 500 of these homes each year.

A hemp house: Is it environmentally-friendly?

We will start with a basic biology lesson: Plants fix unusable and damaging CO2 from the air through absorption and conversion. Hemp is a “carbon-fixing” master-plant as it takes on 13,500 kilos of CO2 when it grows which is then utilised it the hempcrete. This is also known as a “carbon-negative” material which means more carbon is sucked out of the air when growing the hemp plant than is emitted through the production of the hempcrete.

There is currently 1100 hectares of land being used to grow hemp in the Netherlands. Hemp is an appealing and advantageous crop to invest in as it grows exceptionally fast, doesn’t require many pesticides or fertiliser and produces deep roots which create a sturdy ground.

“..industrial hemp is the highest biomass producer of all agricultural crops. Its growth rate outclasses that of trees: hemp produces per hectare in four months the equivalent to what trees produce in seven years” 

-source: ‘hempcrete factsheet’ by tom abbott

Does the shorter building time compromise the durability?

Nope! These homes are said to be more durable and even earthquake-resistant. Hempcrete is also great at regulating temperature meaning huge savings can be made on energy costs.

This prefab house was unveiled at the end of November 2018 and there are plans to produce another one soon.

If you’re interested in learning more about the miracle cannabis plant then check out our article on five myths about weed and the ultimate guide to smoking weed in the Netherlands. 

*please note the house picture is not the actual prefab house

Feature image: Skitterphoto and GDJ on Pixabay

1...712713714...733Page 713 of 733