?ic @TomorrowToday.biz

on November 17, 2005

in Connection Economy and Global View

. 0 Comments

Borat Yup it’s true a whole country is wanting to sue Borat, aka Sacha Baron Cohen, aka Ali G.

A spokesman has said the character is “utterly unacceptable” and plans legal action because the skit unfairly portrays the people of Kazakhstan.

Check out Cherryflava for full details. Its amazing how connected the world is today: A British actor, pretending to be a Khazakhstani national in the USA, has a global following and is supposedly ruining the good name of Khazakhstan because many people don’t get that its a joke. Should be fun to see how this one works itself out.

Technorati Tags: Borat, Kazakhstan, Ali G

Interesting Time magazine edition

Published

sonjab

on November 17, 2005

in Future Trends, General and Media tidbits

. 0 Comments

Time logo I just received my copy of the 14 November 2005 edition of Time magazine, and I must say it is one of the most interesting editions I’ve seen in a while. The theme is ‘What’s next’ and it contains several interesting articles concerning the future of the web and the increasing importance of being connected (there are some cool gadgets as well).

I especially liked ‘Place your bets’ on page 48 which is essentially about the Wisdom of Crowds as well as ‘Messengers of Cool’ on page 56 which is about a network of international trend spotters.

Vote for your favourite business book

Published

on November 17, 2005

in Book Reviews

. 0 Comments

Library books We’re taking a poll at our main website at the moment, on the most influential business book of our age.

You can go http://www.tomorrowtoday.biz to check it out, and add your vote. The poll is down the right hand menu of the main page.

See below for the list, and use this blog post to add your own entries if you think we missed one.
Continue reading ‘Vote for your favourite business book’

The best ‘i-something’ so far

Published

on November 16, 2005

in Future Trends, General and Technology

. 1 Comment

iWipe Since the birth of the iMac, we’ve seen about as many ‘i’ things as you can imagine, although there are still a few innovative designs coming through, and with the overwhelming success of the iPod I sense we’ll continue to see many new designs hitting the shelves for the foreseeable future.

But of all the ‘i-things’ I’ve seen, this has got to be the best of the lot - the iWipe. It’s owners describe it as an “apple-powered, wireless, portable toilet paper dispenser” There’s even a video clip of it.

I’ll bet Gates has one?

For a fairly interesting selection of ‘i-thingies’ click here.

A pension deficit disorder

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Continue reading ‘A pension deficit disorder’

on November 16, 2005

in Future Trends and Generations

. 4 Comments

I’ve written about this before: America’s ticking time bomb is its estimated $450 billion underfunded pension schemes. Many Baby Boomers are going to get horrific surprises when the pensions they’re relying on don’t materialise. Finally, the greed of the companies they’ve created will come home to roost.

This is a massive generational issue just brewing. Its going to explode in our lifetime.

There’s no new information in this post. But I had to write it because of the tagline CNBC have just given it. Don’t you love the title of this post?

So you think you know Seth Efriken TV?

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Continue reading ‘So you think you know Seth Efriken TV?’

on November 15, 2005

in General and Generations

. 1 Comment

SABC opening screen I can’t remember how I got there, but once I had started listening, my short cyber journey was forced out of the way by a massive invasion of 70’s and 80’s South African TV memories.

Mary Anne, your site (Pumamouse) made my day, and possibly everyone else who clicks through from here.

You gotta go…. NOW!

Sony and the ‘mother measure’

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in Connection Economy, Ripping and burning - Digital entertainment, Technology and The Quick and the Dead - case studies

on November 15, 2005

. 0 Comments

Excuse me for one last Sony post, but this is a beeooot.

A friend mailed me today (sorry if I got in first, couldn’t resist) to say that his mom had forwarded him a ‘Boycott Sony’ e-mail. His comment was wonderful:

Even my mother is getting this stuff… Sony is dead, when my mother starts checking them out…

How to generate goodwill after bad service

Published

Roger Saner

on November 15, 2005

in Connection Economy and Technology

. 4 Comments

A suggestion to Telkom - give people free usage of phones and internet based on how much they’ve been messed around by our Proudly South African company (well, they ARE the BEST fixed-line operator in South Africa…). After Typepad’s lack of good service during the last few weeks (Mike told me this morning that Missing Link were having Typepad problems) they’ve done exactly that.

Technorati Tags: Typepad, Telkom

Telkom sucks

Published

in The Quick and the Dead - case studies

on November 15, 2005

. 8 Comments

Telkom logo To all our non-South African readers, I apologise in advance for airing this dirty laundry in front of you. But, spending a lot of time in South Africa, means that I need to take the context of this country seriously.

In SA, we have only one fixed line telecomms provider, Telkom. They are making excessive profits. They charge more than ANY OTHER telecomms provider ON THE PLANET, and given the importance of telecomms to the national economy, they are holding back economic growth. That in itself would be indefensible, but now they’re treating their customers badly - even insulting us.

Next year, the long awaited second national operator (SNO) will finally open doors for business. I can imagine that Telkom are going to be seriously surprised at how much bad feeling exists towards them when people literally flock to the new company - JUST ON PRINCIPLE. Let’s hope the SNO brings real competition, and unlike Cell C (the third cellphone company) which simply joined the pigs at the trough and provided no real competition for price.

The lesson for everyone else works itself out in a company like Microsoft. As soon as we have a viable alternative to Windows, many of us will switch ON PRINCIPLE. A monopoly can screw you, and then when their monopoly is coming to an end, start to pretend to love their customers. But customers have LONG memories.

Back to Telkom. To read a great article about them at MarketingWeb, click here, or read it below.

Technorati Tags: Business, Telecommunications, Telkom

Continue reading ‘Telkom sucks’

How to really mess with your customers - The Sony Way

Published

on November 14, 2005

in Technology and The Quick and the Dead - case studies

. 0 Comments

Following up a post on ?ic about Sony over the weekend, here are some of today’s posts on various sites.

Sony logo * Wired News - Boycott Sony

After weeks of criticism, Sony has finally agreed to temporarily stand down on an abusive and likely illegal copy restriction practice. Hold the applause.

* News.com - Sony’s CD scheme backfires

Record label’s rootkit-like copy protection comes under more fire, as businesses consider banning CDs with it from office computers because of the security risk they pose.

* BoingBoing - Sony anti-customer technology roundup and time-line

Since Hallowe’en, we’ve been posting the details about he revelations relating to Sony’s DRM systems, which show jaw-dropping contempt for their customers, for copyright law, for fair trading and for the public interest.

* News.com - Sony’s new name, to some: ‘Sory’

Sony’s precipitous fall from grace in the last few years is beginning to feel like a Greek tragedy.

Nuf Sed

Think Sync!

Published

on November 14, 2005

in Connection Economy

. 0 Comments

We had another ‘human get together’ tonight for the Think Sync!community tonight. The group decided to explore what connections really translate into, from a value perspective, in an emerging world in which connections are becoming critical. There’s still no agreement as to how we’ll go about it? That’s the next ‘task’ for the group. It should be an interesting journey as we find ways to involve people in a broader geographical context.

If you ever wondered what the net result of cheating was?

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on November 14, 2005

. 0 Comments

Why on earth would you ever want to mess with anyone who feels this strongly about cheating? Click here!

SALT - here at last

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on November 14, 2005

in Future Trends and Technology

. 0 Comments

SALT This past weekend, the SALT was finally launched. SALT is the South African Large Telescope, based at Sutherland. It is the southern hemisphere’s largest optical telescope, and has some of the best further technical abilities of any telescope on the planet. Astronomers are going gaga about it. It will be able to see things never before seen by humans.

What caught my attention in the report over the weekend was this quote by one of lead astronomers: “We work all night, and in the morning we emerge into the infinity of the Karoo, populated only by a couple of springbok and one or two trees. It’s so silent, you don’t even hear an echo. You can lose your sense of balance here. It’s only when you’re in such a silent place that you realise how much of our sense of balance comes from sound.”

And someone else: “The unique feature of astronomy is its mixture of science and wonder; of heart and mind. As human beings we need to keep realising and appreciating the fascination of nature. Too many children are growing up in places that are so polluted that they never experience the poetry of the stars and the wonder of what is out there.”

As an aside, there are now plans for an 18-hole golf course and golf estate in the nearby town of Sutherland. Is nothing sacred?

Technorati Tags: astronomy

Sony and how NOT to do the customer experience thing!

Published

on November 13, 2005

in Future Trends, Ripping and burning - Digital entertainment, Technology and The Quick and the Dead - case studies

. 2 Comments

Sony How does a company who so often has been on the cutting edge of innovation and known for delighting their customers with some of the most amazing gizmos and gadgets get it so wrong? Personally I think they’ve moved a bunch of accountants and lawyers into their R&D labs and some of the crazies and hackers out.

We all know the media world is in crisis. People downloading their stuff all over the place, ripping, burning, copying, sending, and in the eyes of the media mogules, doing anything but buy their stuff. So they start to panic and freak out, and find new ways to do things (kudos to you for getting off your large, very wealthy butts). But instead of being the innovative and creative people we thought they were, many of them have chosen the route of criminalising their customers and potential customers. It’s beeeoootiful isn’t it.

Here are two new editions to this unfolding drama:
Continue reading ‘Sony and how NOT to do the customer experience thing!’

Dr Seuss goes where no man has gone before

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on November 13, 2005

. 0 Comments

Thanks Dave Fuller for uploading (transporting) Dr Seuss onto the Star Trek Enterprise…

Dr Seuss in space Picard : Sigma Indri, that’s the star,
So, Data, please, how far? How far?

Data: Our ship can get there very fast
But still the trip will last and last
We’ll have two days til we arrive
But can the Indrans there survive?

Picard: LaForge, please give us factor nine.

LaForge: But, sir, the engines are offline!

Picard: Offline! But why? I want to go!
Please make it so, please make it so!

Riker: But sir, if Geordi says we can’t,
We can’t, we mustn’t, and we shan’t,
The danger here is far too great!

Picard: But surely we must not be late!

Troi: I’m sensing anger and great ire.

Computer: Alert! Alert! The ship’s on fire!

Picard: The ship’s on fire? How could this be?
Who lit the fire?

Click here for the full script

Peter Drucker 1909-2005

Published

Aiden Choles

on November 12, 2005

. 4 Comments

drucker Sad day,

The world’s most influential business guru, Peter Drucker, passed away 11 Nov 2005.

Read about it on the Washington Post.
Continue reading ‘Peter Drucker 1909-2005′

Blogging seminar

Published

Continue reading ‘WAY Future’

on November 10, 2005

in Blogging

. 4 Comments

Today, TomorrowToday.biz hosted a blogging seminar. To be honest, it went further than blogs to social software.

Newbie (to TmTd and presenting), Mike Stopforth did a great job. So did the old lads, Barrie and Graeme (if I say so myself). “And a fun time was had by all”. Some of the legends of SA blogging were there, too.

Check out the real time blog we created during the seminar: http://bloggingseminar2005.blogspot.com/

WAY Future

Published

Green Eyed Bandit

on November 10, 2005

in Future Trends and Technology

. 0 Comments

Future Gadgets So you think you are a futurist huh? Keep up on these readings and you will stay ahead of the game.

http://www.gizmag.com is a blog about emerging technologies, gadgets and gizmos.

How to build profitable communities

Published

Green Eyed Bandit

on November 10, 2005

in Connection Economy

. 0 Comments

Don’t miss this article on how chat rooms lead to new innovation and jobs. The world has changed! Open sourcing and networking are taking innovation to new heights…

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,69394,00.html.

Continue reading ‘How to build profitable communities’

Is anyone in America listening?

Published

Green Eyed Bandit

on November 10, 2005

in Generations and Talent - Bright Young Things

. 0 Comments

Great article on Gen Y…I pray someone in America who is holding the reigns can hear this article loud and clear:

Gen Y for Dummies Generation Y: They’ve arrived at work with a new attitude
By Stephanie Armour, USA TODAY
They’re young, smart, brash. They may wear flip-flops to the office or listen to iPods at their desk. They want to work, but they don’t want work to be their life.

This is Generation Y, a force of as many as 70 million, and the first wave is just now embarking on their careers â€” taking their place in an increasingly multigenerational workplace.

Get ready, because this generation â€” whose members have not yet hit 30 â€” is different from any that have come before, according to researchers and authors such as Bruce Tulgan, a founder of New Haven, Conn.-based RainmakerThinking, which studies the lives of young people.
Continue reading ‘Is anyone in America listening?’

Your company’s problem: YOU!!!!

Published

Aiden Choles

on November 9, 2005

in General and Organisational Design

. 3 Comments

despair Fast Company - Soul Assassins

Consulting: If You’re Not Part of the Solution, There’s Good Money to Be Made Prolonging the Problem
Meetings: None of Us Is as Dumb as All of Us

These are some of the blurbs in the posters that Despair Inc. are promoting in their Radical Demotivation campaign. In challenging the motivation industry, the trio of Justin and Jef Sewell, and E. Lawrence Kersten are challenging the noble employee myth so that we can realise just what our company’s problem is (US!) and just how we can let them know about it!. From the horse’s mouth:

“Look,” Kersten says, “obviously some people can be highly fulfilled by their jobs. Doctors, for example: It seems like saving lives would be highly fulfilling. Building bridges, building businesses — a lot of careers can fulfill a person’s inherent passion. But I don’t know how passionate you can be about processing paper. The point is that most people should work to make money. They shouldn’t expect a company to make them happy. A company can be friendly and good, but it can’t really make you happy. At the same time, it shouldn’t insult you. It shouldn’t say, ‘We’re a family and have values,’ and then act like Enron.”
Continue reading ‘Your company’s problem: YOU!!!!’

CEO Succession

Published

Aiden Choles

on November 9, 2005

in Leadership and Talent - Bright Young Things

. 0 Comments

shoprite This week I wrote about how CEO evaluation is not geared enough towards talent attraction, development and utilisation. Read it here - Chicken or Egg. Talent or Profit?. So, in keeping an eye out for CEO evaluation content I found an article in the October 26 FinWeek that profiles the role of succession planning as a key criteria for CEOs.

The core of the article is about how CEOs should be focussed on succession planning, which then has an impact on developing internal candidates, which then in turn results in spotting talent. Shoprite CEO Whitey Basson said something interesting,

But we must expect to train more than we lose …

This approach is most unlike most CEOs views. Often the excuse leaders use when faced with BYT’s leaving their employ is this, “Why should we throw ourselves at a sinking ship?” Perhaps Basson’s view is more of what need if we’d like to create envirnments in which our talent will choose to stay with us?
Continue reading ‘CEO Succession’

Blogging Seminar 2005 - last call

Published

Mike

on November 9, 2005