Is Telkom taking on Google and Skype?

So Telkom has a VoIP solution called TelkomInternet Communicator. But here’s what I don’t understand….

* It’s essentially the same product as Skype or Google Chat. Why are they doing this? Did they pay someone to develop a product that is the same as Skype?
* While software like Skype and Google Chat are for everyone and anyone, Telkom is offering their product to their customers only? Why? You can communicate with the world through Skype, but only with other TelkomInternet users with their ‘Communicator’. Am I missing something here? Clearly.
* Is Telkom going to take on Google?

I visited their faq and found the following. Clearly they’ve tried to make their service offering so simple that people will flock toward it…

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The dawn of the iPub

I’m always on the look out for new ways people are viewing and using the world (paradigm shifts). In a world of discontinuous change they’re happening all around us. It’s in these spaces that we see new innovations as people’s minds are opened up to possibilities never before imagined, or if imagined, often ahead of their time.

It’s happening in Chicago, and it wont be long before it’s also happening in a pub near you. People are leaving the Juke Box and turning to the iPod. Here’s a great story, of a few pubs that allow customers to connect their iPod’s to their sound system in order to share their music with the rest of the pub. I’m not sure how it’s managed and if they have to bring in extra bouncers? Certainly some of my mates would require protection if they played their music in a public space.

The jukebox at the bar Brian Toro manages isn’t gathering dust just yet — but it may only be a matter of time. The popular nightspot is among a growing number of places across the country where people can bring their iPods and other portable music players and, for as long as the bartender allows, share their personal favorites with the crowd.

Yes puleeeze

Get outta the way, here comes Google

Like me, you’re probably bored of another Google ‘the destroyer’ story. But I found a great few paragraphs on Wired tonight outlining some of Google’s expansion and a brief summary of what they’re up to and who’s in trouble if they manage to Googalize the world. Click here for the detail.

In less than a decade, Google has gone from guerrilla startup to 800-pound gorilla. In some ways, the company is a gentle giant. Whereas Microsoft infamously smothered new and open standards, Google is famous for supporting them. And the firm is softening its image, launching a philanthropic arm, Google.org, with nearly $1 billion earmarked for social causes. But that doesn’t reduce the fear factor, and Google knows it. Omid Kordestani, the company’s global sales guru, said at a recent conference, “We’re trying to find ways so we are not viewed as a gorilla.” Given its outsize ambitions, that’s one search Google might not be able to handle.

Internet driven Hugs – anyone want one?

If you’ve read what we have to say about the Connection Economy then you’ll know that we’re moving toward the 3rd human frontier. At the end of the Industrial era we’d mastered the physical, we’re currently mastering the mental and we’re now entering the frontier of emotional. Hence the ‘Connection Economy’. An economy/society in which connections will dominate. This is how you’ll differentiate yourself going forward. Go here for more detail.

If we look at some of the ‘absurd’ inventions and developments around the emergence of both the physical and mental economies, then it’s not going to surprise you to read of ‘Internet Driven Hugging’? Or is it? If we’re going to explore what it means to connect emotionally, then we’re going to have to move into the realm of ‘internet driven hugs’ and beyond. To places no person has gone before. We are the bold navigators discovering new spaces and places. And if you think I’m being a little dramatic and over the top, then do me a favour and ‘watch this space’. This is just the begining.

An idea: Free airlines

I have been on too many planes in the last 7 days. Probably a total of 40 hours actually sitting in the plane, let alone the airports and taxis. While doing so, I was reading an article about how TiVo 9and similar technologies) are causing great concern amongst advertisers. The ability for people to digitally control their TV watching, choosing to fast forward (or not even record at all) the adverts, is worrying. Early plans include paying people to watch adverts (or giving free TV to those who choose not to block out adverts).

Then, one of the pilots abused (!!) his position, and promoted a calendar through the PA system (OK, it was for animal welfare, but it was still abuse of his position). Then, a great thought came to me. Why not sell advertising on plane flights? You have a captive audience, most of whom have nothing better to do. Most adverts are better than the rubbish they normally show on short flights anyway. Why not designate certain flights on certain routes as “adverflights” and make them much cheaper than usual – advertising revenue pays the difference.

Hey. Whatever. Its just an idea, OK. Use it. Don’t use it. But if you do, remember that you heard it here first.

The World is Flat in Open Source

Social software (see http://www.tomorrowconnecting.biz for a full introduction) is the set of technologies allowing people to collaborate online. Wikis are online tools that allow any registered users to update, add or delete content in a document. All changes are tracked, and old versions archived.

Now, Thomas Friedman, author of The World is Flat (buy online from Amazon.com or Kalahari.net), wants to put the book’s final edition online as a wiki, and allow readers to interact with the content directly, adding to his thesis about the effects of technology in leveling the global playing fields. This is a case of the medium truly being part of the message. Of course, his publishers must still approve, but it sounds like a great idea.

Read more about the story from FT, here.

Google books is doing something similar, of course, by putting as many out of copyright books online as they can. See previous post on this.

Also check out our Reading Community at TKB (TomorrowKnowledge) and read Friedman’s book with us.

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I told you so

I warn you once again that if you’re not interested in cricket, or are bored of my obsession with Jacques Kallis… just ignore this post.

Let’s review his performance in India. He batted in only 3 of the 5 games (one washed out, one the openers did their job).

In his first innings, he came in with us chasing a low total. He hit a very streaky four past a vacant slip area of the 3rd ball. Then scofred another 2 runs off the next 3 balls. So, he had 6 off 7 balls. I wonder how long you think it took him to get his next 2 runs? The answer is…
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If I ran a business like this, I’d be out of business

I know that posts on this Blog have hammered Telkom (South Africa’s only fixed line telephone operator) recently. And I know that much of South Africa’s online community is doing the same thing. And we all know that they deserve most of what is being written about them. This is another dig at them, but from a slightly different angle.

It’s not about the exorbitant prices, or the monopoly they enjoy, or the lack of speed and bandwidth, or their bully-boy tactics. This is about customer service, call centres, and back-to-basics staying in touch with your business.

I’ve been living in Johannesburg for a little over 2 months now and this weekend saw the 4th big rain since my move. Every time we get a big rain my phone line goes down along with my ADSL connection. And once the storm has passed and I’ve discovered that the line is down I end up phoning Telkom’s call centre.

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The World Really Is Flat

This morning I was in London at Heathrow airport (I am not anymore, and that’s also part of this story). I was buying a an iPod for a friend. A few SMS’s flowed as we selected colour and accessories. Then, when the deal was done, I took a picture of it with my camera phone, and MMS’ed it to him.

He was driving in Johannesburg traffic, but took a moment to take a shot of himself doing a thumbs up, and MMS’d it back to me with a quick “thank you” note attached.

The funny part is that right now, he is unable to send an receive email from home because his Telkom-driven ADSL is “down” (again!!). Some companies and technologies gets that the world is flat. Others just don’t!

What next? A body cavity search?

There is a trend in shops which is really starting to irritate me. I’m referring to the habit of installing security personnel at the entrace/exit of a store with their primary purpose being to scan your receipt and ensure that you aren’t carrying out an unpaid-for plasma tv screen with your purchase of underwear and a chocolate bar.

The inference in this case is so explicitly clear – ‘we think you’re stealing from us’. A great way to build customer relationships in a connection economy!

understand that they all experience certain levels of pilferage. But I’m sure that most of it is an ‘inside job’ by their own staff or related suppliers’ staff. The percentage of actual theft by ‘paying’ customers cannot be higher.

And yet they insist on inconveniencing me everytime I choose to spend money at their store and not a competitor. And they reward my loyal patronage with a cursory glance at my receipt, a scratch around in my packet and an official looking stamp or signature on my receipt.

I don’t know if this is a form of job creation which the government is enforcing on retailers. But I strongly suspect that it is easier to employ someone to do this than to address the more serious issue of your internal security issues. Why enforce draconian measures and treat adults as cheating children when it’s about establishing a healthy relationship of trust and mutual respect between management and staff?

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Do Microsoft Really Believe It?

Microsoft South Africa are currently running a series of radio and print ads. The theme is how “risky” it is to have unlicensed software. The pic attached here is of a shop left unattended and the door open. The radio slots include a person phoning a friend at the top of his voice and getting his bank card access PIN number shouted for everyone to hear. There are other similar ones, all related to being at risk.

You’re encouraged to ensure your software is licensed legally by going to a particular website. While I obviously believe that it is correct to have legal software (I disagree vehemently with the price one has to pay to GET legal, but that’s a different story), I cannot believe that the marketing crew at Microsoft genuinely (excuse the pun) believe that this ad campaign will elicit action. Seriously? Is it REALLY “risky” to have unlicensed software?

Why do companies think we are so stupid as consumers that they can tell us anything and we’ll just believe them?

Clearly the concept of having genuine software is a good one. But don’t insult my intelligence while telling me about it.
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X-Box 360 launches… fizzle, pop, ftthhhhhpphhhh

So X-Box 360 has launched. I’m not sure what kind of hype came with it in the Northern Hemisphere, although clearly there are some that weren’t impressed, but down here in the south there’s been nothing, nada, zip, zero? Why? PSP launches around the world and we’re all over it. X-Box 360, we don’t hear anything. I’m not sure what Microsoft are thinking, but it’s seems a touch strange to me? Surely this was a great opportunity missed in SA?

The launch claims to have been the biggest gamer party ever, held in the Mojave Desert. Click here to see the video, or here for other links around the event.

If you’re looking for a write up on the X-Box 360, click here.

The question that remains is, whether or not X-Box 360 will be able to make significant in-roads into Sony Playstation’s dominance during the lead time they now have before Sony Playstation 3 is launched?’

Gotta Love Joburg

excuse me being sentimental, but I happen to really dig the city I live in (at least when I’m not travelling): Johannesburg, South Africa.

Here’s my story today: It was an horrific landing, right into the heart of a Joburg thunderstorm, late this afternoon. Rain thudded down on the roof of the Joburg International airport carpark as I trekked to my car. I could hardly hear myself think as I drove out into the storm. Then, just as I crested the hill at the Barbara Road offramp on the R24, the rain cleared (or had been left behind), and there in front of me was as stunning an African sunset as you could wish to see, perfectly silhouetting Africa’s greatest city. The attached photo hardly does justice to scene that forced me to stop, pull over and grab the digital camera that was in my boot. This is Joburg as I always want to remember her.

There’s a lot of muck we still need to sort out in this city, but it has serious potential, and it gets into your soul!
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Google Book Search – Librarian Revolutionaries

I have just been playing around with Google’s online book search & it is awesome.

They have indexed the actual content of millions of pages of books. When you run a search it actually returns the book to you. You can then go to the physical page in the book where the info is and read a few pages before & a few pages after [I think it is a total of 15 pages that you are able to view per book per search]. They are basically in the process of making libraries redundant.
To get to these pages [still in development form] run a normal search in Google and scroll to the bottom of the page. Click on the link that asks if you want to run the search in Google book search.

To quote Ace Ventura….”Yummy”

Business Benefits for a new type of employee

The Herman group send out a weekly trend tracker. This week’s deals with the new types of benefits companies will need to offer in order to attract Talent. You can sign up for the weekly newsletter here Herman Group Trends

Herman Trend Alert: Aggressive Benefits Will Woo Workers November 23, 2005

We have already seen the return of concierge services. This benefit will be offered by large companies with in-house and contracted services. National and local providers will sell concierge services to smaller companies, as well, challenging concierge firms to be more creative, stronger in their outreach, and more responsive to needs and opportunities of valued employees. This field will soon become even more competitive, including numerous home-based businesses.
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Don’t flysaa.com

I had a query about an international ticket with SAA, so I phoned 0861FLYSAA and this is what I heard …

10h34
(Ring -ring) Thank you for choosing South African Airways. All of our sales agent are presently occupied. Please try again later. (Click)

Being a stickler for instructions, I did so.

16h45
(Ring-ring) Thank you for choosing South African Airways. All of our sales agent are presently occupied. Please try again later. (Click)

I’m now thoroughly confused.

What do you pay Symantec for?

The world’s foremost security expert, Bruce Schneier, writes about the Sony DRM rootkit controversy – and what the interesting questions are which we should ask. To summarise: Sony bundles a rootkit on their music cds which secretly installs itself on buyer’s computers (without telling them) to prevent them copying the cd more than 3 times (i.e. the product they’ve designed to protect copyright infringement may itself have infringed on copyright). However, a rootkit is malware (not nice software) and can correctly be classified as a virus.

In response to a blogging-led outcry, Sony has shown its disdain for its customers (“Most people don’t even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?”), has barely scraped together an apology and its software “fix” doesn’t remove the rootkit, only its ability to hide itself. However, they have agreed to stop manufacturing cds with this software on it as well as replace all infected cds. But, according to Schneier, that’s not the real story…

The heart of it is this: given that the rootkit has been “in-the-wild” for over a year – and it’s infection numbers make it one of the most serious internet epidemics of all time – what do you think of your antivirus company which hasn’t detected it? After all, this is what you pay them for, right?

Technorati Tags: rootkit, virus, Sony, blog, antivirus

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“How to get free food at Mugg & Bean”

Posted on behalf of Glenda & Nicky –

In CT, most times when we need to have a meeting, our place of choice is Mugg & Bean. However, after my experience today, I might think twice about going to have something to eat there.My colleague, Nicky and I decided to share those really nice beef and chicken pockets – Jean from Pretoria introduced us to it. Fortunately Nicky is watching her weight and didn’t want to eat all the pita. She carefully opened the pockets and removed the filling – and then – BANG – there it was – roasted to perfection – one big green fly.

Yuk!!! We were already half way through our meal and actualy didn’t know how many (if any) we consumed. Well, we certainly made our voice heard and stated that we weren’t paying for it.Now I’m wondering if a thousand apologies from M&B can erase the memory of that green fly nestled in the inside of the pita bread?? No, I think the memory will always be there – and we’ll keep the memory alive by telling the tale (for a long while) to whomever we have a meal with.So, a word of caution “Don’t go to M&B hungry and check your food before diving into it”

The Bottom Half of the Pyramid

Michael Goldman, Lecturer in Marketing, Innovation and Strategy with the Gordon Institute of Business Science, wrote a brief piece about C K Prahalad’s concept of reaching the world’s poor in MarketingWeb. Read it here.

The key is a radical rethink and some serious innovation, especially around the “price-performance” ratio. “This kind of innovation requires an ability to discard traditional approaches to price-performance improvements. It means a relentless focus on tailoring the specific value offering to the needs and context of this market, while rethinking the delivery of the offering to the consumer in order to provide value at a significantly reduced cost.”

Prahalad’s book, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits (buy it at Amazon.com or Kalahari.net), suggests 12 innovation principles that every business should consider. See the summary below.
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I hof to tell the world…

I was asked last week to lift my game a little when it came to my recent posts on this blog. I was deserving of the request. But at the risk of dropping my game all over again, I’ve just go to share this with the world…

In July I posted some thoughts on the ‘Hof People’. Who are they? Where do they come from? Well tonight I found out where they send their stuff! If you have any interest in the Hofmeister, you gotta take a look. Click here for ‘hassle free Hof browsing. Thanks Dave.

Absolut Entertainment – well sort of

I’m always impressed with a web site that can keep my attention for more than 30 seconds, especially when it’s keeping me through pure entertainment and not because I’m necesarily interested in the subject matter.

Absolut Vodka is one of those brands that you get to read about when discussions of ‘brand breaking conventions’ are talked about. Well Absolut has a ’second skin’, and it’s probably not even worth your while going to have a look at it. But then I like christmas caroling plastic bottles doing their thing.

If you can do this with a plastic vodka bottle, then imagine the places you’re alowed to explore when you consider your own brand?

Absolut-ly

Family connections

I read a really great column on Fast Company (“Why I wouldn’t want my sister to marry you”) about making time for families. We are always talking about this being “the connection economy” … well, that shouldn’t just be a buzz line that we use in business.

It should apply to all aspects of our lives.

The column may appear a tad “sexist” (the assumption is that the worker is male and the home maker is female) – but I think the sentiments and message apply to anyone.

Read it here at:
http://www.fastcompany.com/resources/leadership/goulston/112105.html

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More on presentations

Following up on my recent post Why your conference sucks, here is a great list of tips and hints for presenters. There are a couple of reasons I think the source is cool – I found it via Steve Rubel’s blog, illustrating how social software often digs up “gem” resources out of nowhere (i.e. I would have never found this web page if not for Steve’s blog). Secondly, it is pretty old – ten years old I think – which explains the reference to the overhead projector. And yet, these simple principles are so often overlooked by even the best presenters.

Hope you enjoy it…

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An interview with Jackie Huba

I recently got in touch with Jackie Huba of the Church of the Customer blog following a comment I made on the blog about her already infamous Apple Vlog. Jackie is an influential business speaker, trainer and writer. She recently co-wrote Creating Customer Evangelists (buy at Amazon.com) with Ben McConnell and received rave reviews from both the New York Times and Harvard Business School. Together, they pen regular columns for MarketingProfs.com and speak frequently at industry, association and company conferences. They also facilitate the creation of customer evangelism plans inside organizations.

In the course of our conversation I asked if she’d be willing to grant a short interview on her subject of expertise. She graciously accepted, and you can read it here:

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Why your conference sucks

Ok. I should have said, “Why your (and sometimes our) conferences suck” – it would have been less direct, but also long and boring. Now I have your attention.

Companies spend hovels of cash on conferneces, seminars, summits – call it what you like. You’ve been to hundreds, and it’s always the same…

Tables lined up in parallel rows, chairs evenly spaced apart. Pencil, notebook, businesscard, empty glass tumbler (with mandatory jug of ice water), and the bowl of assorted mints / sweets. Endearmints if you’re lucky. Flipchart and markers in the corner. Some guys stands up, switches to his first PowerPoint slide, and almost simultaneously, you switch off. Finally, as Anne and Fiona so politely put it, you leave with nothing.

Seth Godin, marketing guru and uber-blogger of note, recently published a post entitled “How to Run a Useless Conference“.

In it, he laments the reality of an depressive, global corporate seminar dullness, and offers some insights as to how we can all improve the seminar experience for customers and staff alike. His message? Simple, be atypical.

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Kazakhstan to sue 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

 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

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.
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The best ‘i-something’ so far

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

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?

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