Wotnews.com.au the news arm of Wotif.com has posted the 3 big stories of 2008 according to various CEOs, Gov and Industry leaders. My three were: The Death of Capitalism (as we know it) A defining year in financial markets with the emergence of a new species of company that will cause the re-writing of so [...]
We saved this guy from our pool after a storm last week. The kids kept him as a pet for a day and then we released him. We didn’t think we would see him again but we were cleaning up the vege patch last night and he was still right where we released him munching [...]
I have had numerous arguments with parents who I wouldn’t call tech savvy. Generally these are parents judging Instant Messenger, Facebook or MySpace not having really tried them and not understanding the nuances of the technology. Parents who don’t want their kids chatting or putting any information online because of online predator threats. Well this [...]
I always forget how to screen capture because I’m a bit of a Switzerland in that I like and use both Mac’s and PC’s. So this post is my quick reference guide. Let me know if you have any others? I’m a MAC Command + Shift + 3 = entire desktop Command + Shift + [...]
BarCamps are always good, always free and always inspiring. You find out stuff you had know idea about and debate with people on stuff you know a lot about. It’s a primordial soup of tech ideas and views without an internet filter applied. Top 5 tips for BarCamp 5. Have something to say, if not [...]
Grant Young and I made Smart Companies list today of Australia’s top web 2.0 entrepreneurs. I’m chuffed to be there and Grant who started Saasu with me would probably agree that we look up to our peers mentioned in the article so it feels a bit weird being there. Top Web 2.0 Teams would be [...]
I’m finding that I am using Google less and less. Mostly now for specific search such as a device driver update. I know that writing lots of specific keywords will retrieve lots of specific results. Targeted search – For knowledge and information I tend to hit Wikipedia, Google Blogsearch and Delicious Consumer choice – I [...]
Ironically, now that Federal Reserves are busy guaranteeing bank deposits they have created a whole new set of problems in the competition for capital. It would be easy to jump to the conclusion that banks should borrow money at the same rate the government does if it’s now the same risk. It’s not that simple. [...]
I noticed a bunch of devices Google is supporting for Gmail on Android. Yet again this reminds me of the big difference between the two strategic models. It will be interesting to see how having lots of licensed developers working with a single device (Apple) compares to having a smaller but arguably less constrained community [...]
Watching my 5 year old sons face as he watched this video on TED.com was priceless.
Who’s at fault in the financial crisis? I hate witch hunts, they always seem to burn the wrong person in the end. However I must say that I can’t disagree with restricting payouts to people leaving sinking ships. One party who needs to be held more accountable are the Federal Reserves. For at least a [...]
I’m really beginning to appreciate the lockin caused by browser plugins. It’s just simply easier to keep going back to my Firefox browser from Safari or Chrome to get some plugin love (time savings). Predominantly, this is a hassle-of-change lockin. Still it’s real. I haven’t done much research on Safari plugins, I’m sure there are [...]
Stop feeding the bears cry the Zookeepers!!! When regulators ban short selling do they have a legal liability to the mum’s and dad’s, fund managers and traders who lose money from this almost instant change in regulated markets? I’d love to see what some of the big legal firms think on this. (Update: Just read [...]
A friend of mine bought a property up at Old Bar in northern NSW and told me that he noticed some strange features in the landscape up there. Here they are and the links to check them out yourself. I love Google Maps, it reveals so much. Yes there is a privacy cost but if [...]
American tax payers are about to start bearing the burden of bad credit bets placed by big banks and insurance companies. I have been more than amazed by the events in the US in recent weeks during the financial crisis. Creating a pseudo guarantee structure for big American companies like AIG is just pure protectionism. [...]
The Myth of The Launch Seth Godin Transliteration – the Babel fish is here Alturnal Gen Y loves banking online using Web2.0 apps Fin Extra Setting Firefox to launch Gmail for mailto links Life Hacker Surfing Mice YouTube
Google Apps has added Google Video to the Premier paid version. Secure and private video sharing being the main pitch. This could be quite useful for Saasu given we have videos managed internally and would much prefer them to be managed by Google now that access controls look like being in place. Lots of implications [...]
I was playing with my iPod tonight moving the volume up and down with my thumb while I was listening to a Moby track. It was pure boredom that had me do it and it felt like working a turntable a little. My startup shoulder devil whispers two words to me. iPhone app. A DJ [...]
I received an email from Google Apps notifying us that we are getting a 15 day subscription extension on our Apps Premier account basis outages in August. We didn’t actually experience much of an outage outage at Saasu. Very commendable of Google and it totally maintains my trust in their brand and the SaaS model [...]
Kevin Kelly presented at TED on The One. It’s about the new Internet, the semantic web. Watching it, I couldn’t but help think Kevin Kelly was very aligned to the Gaia Hypothesis without realising it. Maybe he is, and just doesn’t mention it in his speech. Since reading Peter Russells “The Awakening Earth” back in [...]
Here’s the 2008 list of what countries have given in AID to the World Food Programme. What is amazing is that Iran isn’t on the list. Iran had an earthquake in 1962 which was one of the founding reasons behind the establishment of the WFP. Iran is making mega bucks out of oil at the [...]
I was reading through celebrity chef Benjamin Christies website tonight and found this post on How to Cook the Perfect Steak. Well I was hungry in just a nano-second after reading this marinating idea… dry marinate using sea salt, black pepper and macadamia nut oil Macadamia nut oil ! My friends and I have spent [...]
We are about to see the start of unshaped iPhone plan disasters reported in the Australia press and blogs over coming weeks. Shaping is when your Telco service provider cuts down the speed of your internet connection on your mobile or computer device. It’s an alternative to paying high excess usage charges on a per [...]
There are many business models emerging amongst iPhone developers. Many remind me of Google using Search (the drawcard) to pump their Adwords product (the money engine). Since learning that business model lesson back in the late 90′s I’ve always thought about what I call drawcards, and specifically in the tech space, drawcard applications. Browser widgets [...]
At the moment the emu is exactly the write emblem for Australia, I just wish the kangaroo would kick it’s head out of the sand. There wasn’t any substantial attention to tech in the 2020 summit from what I can tell/read (someone please give me hope for our country and tell me I’m wrong). Australia’s [...]
Simplicity is Sustainables Best Friend is an article I’ve just done for TheCalmSpace.com. Simplicity is a key area of interest for me on many levels, business and personal, so this article was a fun one to write. Society has somehow decided that simple is bad in many situations. There is a fight to give simplicity [...]
It was a spectacle with followers no different to sport or rock-star crowd pull. It’s simply about passion for something. That’s just how humans are. There’s nothing wrong with that in my book. I posted on SydneyNorg a citizen journalism website (love that concept) about the opening in a bit more detail. I met up [...]
Some time ago I wrote about transition time costs and how they are a big cost to personal and business efficiency. Problogger Darren Rowse was right on the money today in his post about batch processing tasks together to get efficiency in his blogging business. I think he misses the “why” it works but the [...]
I had an experience today reading a post in Google Reader which when I later opened the post on the bloggers website I realised it simply wasn’t as clear and easy to read as it was in Google Reader. Google Reader had cleaned it up quite well. So for bloggers out there it’s worth a [...]
Donkey prices are going through the roof. A good mate on the trading desk at Deutsche Bank I worked with sent me a hilarious news snippet (in a nervous laughter kind of way). For those who are wondering if there is inflation: the Turkish newspaper Zaman reported the price of donkeys in Yozgat district in [...]