Communications
Archived posts from this Category
The online business world - about time and culture
Posted by MattE on 21 Aug 2008 | Tagged as: Communications, Web
I was reading a blog about how the world was no longer round, it was flat.
This was written from a marketing and branding approach and used McDonalds as the example. No matter where you go there is a McDonalds - a type of constant on a world of changing cultures and beliefs.
Which started me thinking about how the internet fits into all of this.
When I first heard of the internet, when really he only think available were those old-fashioned BBS services, I was fired up at the thought of being able to access NASAs site and look at their pictures of Mars.
New Canberra service offers an ‘ear to the ground’
Posted by MattE on 15 Aug 2008 | Tagged as: Communications, consumer engagement
A new service launched in Canberra this week offers companies and associations with a cost effective solution to their political monitoring and analysis needs.
The “Canberra Listening Post” allows companies to keep an ear to the ground in the area of collecting information on Federal Government policy and regulatory issues which affect their interests and helps them make timely analysis for strategic decision-making and lobbying.
Director of the service, Philip Eliason, said often companies and associations lacked the resources to maintain an adequate watching brief on changes to the government’s agenda.
How Australia can reduce the price of petrol
Posted by MattE on 17 Jun 2008 | Tagged as: Communications
The rising price of petrol is hurting. It is hurting a lot. This is evidenced by the average speed of motorists - they are driving more slowly in an effort to conserve fuel. People are also driving off at petrol stations without paying.
The Labor Government has had a tinker around the edges with possible ways to reign in the price of petrol.
The National Fuel Watch Scheme may or may not work. It does not work for Shell Australia who publishes their fuel prices on their website every day for branded Shell outlets. But I know that there is one Shell outlet in my city that runs its own pricing policy.
TelePresence Holographic Video Conferencing
Posted by MattE on 31 May 2008 | Tagged as: Communications, Web
If you are into seeing the future early, have a look at the video linked to from the site below.
Cisco On-Stage TelePresence Holographic Video Conferencing
The ‘Cisco On-Stage TelePresence Experience’ was an ambitious collaboration between Cisco and Musion Systems, which took place during the opening of Cisco’s Globalization Centre East in Bangalore, India.
Musion seamlessly integrated their 3D holographic display technology with Cisco’s TelePresence’s system to create the world’s first real time virtual presentation.
The 2020 summit - how it could have been better handled
Posted by MattE on 21 Apr 2008 | Tagged as: Communications, consumer engagement
I have been expecting this sentiment to be expressed about the 2020 Summit:
Many delegates at Sundays communities session appeared frustrated with the lack of progress on reaching a consensus on what ideas they would put forward.
Fellow co-chair of the communities stream Tanya Plibersek said it was always going to be a challenge, but she was adamant progress was being made.
How delegates could have expected to have their ideas heard and any semblance of fleshing them out during a two day workshop is beyond me. I think many of us have been to two day workshops and find:
A viable alternative to Microsoft Office hits the market
Posted by MattE on 17 Apr 2008 | Tagged as: Communications
A viable alternative to MS Office hits the market
If you are like me, you have an out-dated version of Microsoft Office on your computer. It’s not that my computer is old, it’s just that at nearly A$1000, a new version of Office seems way too expensive and my current version does all I really ever need.
However I am starting to get documents sent to me in later versions of Word that I cannot open.
So I started looking for alternatives to the Microsoft Office suite and believe I have found what is a great alternative Microsoft Office for under $150. The really good part is that they can read all Microsoft Office documents and save as Microsoft Office documents as well., something free products like Open Office simply cannot do.
Mobile phone increasingly interruptive
Posted by MattE on 19 Feb 2008 | Tagged as: Communications, SMS
160Characters Association reports that
the mobile has penetrated so deeply into our lives that one in ten Brits would answer their mobile while making love. Mobiya have called this a new form of contraception ‘Mobilus Coitus Interruptus’.
In a recent study from Mobyko.com - men came off worse in the ‘love stakes’ as 15% more women openly confess to taking a call on their mobile whilst performing ‘bedroom athletics’. Overall, one in ten Brits openly admits to having answered their mobile phone during sex – and cutting the act short.
The research also went on to look at adult content stored on our mobile phones. It found that over 70% of mobile users in the UK confess to having ‘adult’ content photos, videos and texts saved on their mobile phones – which they wouldn’t want anyone to see.
Mobile internet access growing fast - some interesting stats
Posted by MattE on 14 Sep 2007 | Tagged as: Communications, SMS, Web
The following stats come from this post Google’s Mobile Ad Distribution - Free Until November 18 which talks mostly about how internet access from phones is booming. The stats are used to put mobile usage into perspective. Must admit - I’m impressed. The original article where the stats came from, with more discourse about them can be found on the Communities Dominate blog.
* Worldwide there are about 800 million registered automobiles
* Today there are 1.3 billion fixed landline phones in the world
* Today there are about 1.5 billion TV sets in use in the world . (TV is often shared, especially in Asia where families are also large. So you might easily have 6 or even 10 watching the same TV show. The reach of TV is much beyond the 1.5 billion sets in use.)
* Today 1.4 Billion people carry at least one credit card.
* In most countries it is illegal for under 18 year olds to have credit cards
* There are about 850 million PCs
* In total over 750 million people access internet content via a mobile phone today
* About the total PC population or about 850 million people, access the web via a computer.
* During 2007 the first cross-over from PC to Mobile phones will happen, with more users accessing via phone than PC.
* The total shipped PDA population is about 85 million, most which are replacements.
* Thre are 85 Million iPod in use
* DVD recorders/ PVR shipments are under 100 million.
* Camcorders, are under 100 million total shipped (many as replacements).
* Gaming consoles have shipped near 200 million units, out of which 150 million are second generation (PS2/Xbox) or newer.
* The (stand-alone) digital camera has achieved shipments of near 300 million.
* There are 2.7 billion Mobile phones shipped (technically 2.7 billion in January, not December). They sold 950 million phones last year and the total worldwide mobile subscriber base grew from 2.1 billion to 2.7 billion.
* Phones are replaced every 18 months (and this is still shrinking)
* USA has reached 75% penetration for mobile phones
* The Western European average per capita penetration for mobile phones is already 110%
* Italy, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Israel have penetration rates at about 140%
* China adds 6 million phones every month, India adds 7 million phones every month.
* Finland, Norway, Denmark and Portugal - each countries with 120% or more penetration rates - Mobilephones are less than 6 million units total.
* SMS Messaging Is Biggest Data App On Planet
* On the internet there are about 1.5 billion e-mail boxes, maintained by about 800 million people.
* 1.8 billion people are doing SMS texting.
* Last year over 42% of Americans were active in SMS already
* E-mail is opened in 24 hours and replied to in 48 hours.
* SMS is read within 15 minutes on average and responded within 60 minutes.
* 65% of e-mail is spam, less than 10% of SMS is spam.
* In South Korea five separate credit card services are available on the three mobile networks
* In South Korea almost 100% of credit card based point-of-purchase sites accept payment via mobile phone credit (and charge) cards
* Two years from launch almost 10% of South Korean phone users watch digital broadcast TV on their phones
* The Pop Idol formats have earned a windfall of over 700 million dollars out of text messaging votes
* In 2005 already half of all phones sold were cameraphones so cameraphones outsell digital cameras by more than 4 to 1 .
* There are 3.2 Billion to 3.8 Billion radio users.
* 73% of the population now uses the mobile phone as their portable clock.
* 2.7 Billion phones in active use. There is a subscription for 40% of the planet’s population.
* The mobile telecoms industry earned 725 Billion dollars last year.
* Global music industry earns 16% of its revenues from mobile phones (mostly ringing tones);
* Videogaming earns 14% of its global revenues from mobile.
* Mobile telecom growth in dollar terms, from 2005 to 2006, was 105 billion dollars.
Timeline software creates great results
Posted by MattE on 06 Aug 2007 | Tagged as: Communications
Every so often a piece of software comes across my desk that literally shouts LOOK AT ME
One such title is Timeline Maker Professional. What it does is creates a graphical time-line representation of a series of events. In its most elementary form this allows an easy visualisation of events.
The application get really interesting with its ability to embed other files into the time line. These could be photos, audio files or even video clips.
Getting the information into the software is not hard either - if entering data from scratch then simply use the interface that is styles on MS Excel, or use the import filter to bring in data from other applications.
Some good advice on making blog entries
Posted by MattE on 09 Jul 2007 | Tagged as: Communications, Web
I was reading Matt Cutts blog (something I get around to every few weeks) and saw a rather nifty post on company blogging.
Its all about what to write and what not to write on a company blog. Of course company blogs are an odd beast…needing to be both representative of the business, but also having the personality of the writer. However while he tries to link it to a controversial blog entry made by a Google blogger, most of his discussion is not related to company blogging at all. But the advice is good for all bloggers.
So these are the main points Matt makes in his blog post in bold. See his blog for his own expanded thoughts) and my notes after:
The easiest time to make a blogging gaffe is when you’re starting out - this is like anything new. Slow and steady till you find your feet. There is nothing more dis-spiriting than getting negative feedback on your intial forays.
