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and so my hero adele barlow is SUPER close to finishing her thesis... :)

and i'm excited for her.

$10,000 to IT Professionals

IT Rock Star is giving the opportunity for an IT guru in NZ to win a trip to an overseas conference valued at $10,000.

Cool. But why?

putting it in perspective

When I go for a drive I like to pull off to the side
Of the road, turn out the lights, get out and look up at the sky
And I do this to remind me that I'm really, really tiny
In the grand scheme of things and sometimes this terrifies me

But it's only really scary cause it makes me feel serene
In a way I never thought I'd be because I've never been
So grounded, and so humbled, and so one with everything
I am grounded, I am humbled, I am one with everything

Rock and roll is fun but if you ever hear someone
Say you are huge, look at the moon, look at the stars, look at the sun
Look at the ocean and the desert and the mountains and the sky
Say I am just a speck of dust inside a giant's eye
I am just a speck of dust inside a giant's eye

Great lyrics, courtesy of Kimya Dawson...

more excuses

and so Facebook now have an INSTANT MESSENGER. (as of April 23)

as if i don't have enough excuses not to do whatever it is i need to be doing... i refuse to log onto msn for this very reason. but the facebook one is so... cute. i'll use it for a while. and then i'll try and figure out how to turn it off.

Interestingly the connection doesn't appear to be SSL so it might be possible for bad guys to sniff any conversations with your friends.

Also - it's not clear how big corporations and businesses will deal with the new chat service as it's so well integrated it may not be an easy task to block without blocking the whole of Facebook.

i miss the coffee in wellington

one thing i love about our country's capitol is that you only have to walk a few hundred metres or less and you are in the presence of great coffee.

auckland doesn't offer such abundance of high quality coffee or cafes.

and so i have an idea to create a cafe in auckland that sells wellington-esque coffee. it could offer a selection of all the different coffee-beans that one would find in wellington and the customer would have the choice of which beans to use in their espresso.

brilliant!

we'll call it 'capitol' or something.

free.your.voice

I've been a loyal Jajah user for the last 6 months or so and have great pleasure in introducing a number of people to this wonderful service. Now it's your turn...

Do you use Skype? I used Skype. But I had to download Skype. And then I needed a headset. And then my headset broke. And then I discovered Jajah. And now you are about to discover Jajah.

http://www.jajah.com - what is it?

In my own words, Jajah allows me to call my friends and family phone-to-phone for next-to-nothing. I type in my phone number and my friend's phone number (it doesn't matter if it's cellphone or landline or where they are in the world) and Jajah magically connects my phone with their phone.

In their words, JAJAH is a new type of phone company. We are dedicated to providing our customers with phone calls at a better price. It's that simple. "The internet has touched us all. It's changed the way we do everyday things. It's changed the way we stay informed, the way we shop for the products we want, even the way we find and listen to music. In the same way, JAJAH will change the way we all use the telephone".

JAJAH is dedicated to bringing the world vastly improved telephony solutions at a fraction of the traditional price. We want to provide basic phone calls for free - and we truly believe it's possible. We believe that by bringing together the best of the internet with the best of the traditional telephone industry we will be able to provide our customers with unique new solutions, solutions never before possible, at a price they'll find irresistible.

Unlike other companies that are trying to replace the phone with the computer, JAJAH believes that phones are great the way they are. Phones work. People are not interested in headsets, downloads or hotspots. They simply want to make a call. And we completely agree.

why always the bad stuff?

i know that whilst we shouldn't live in a fantasy world where everything is wonderful and happy - we also shouldn't be constantly reminding ourselves of how so many things are screwed up.

perhaps if we focused more on the good stories... on the people who are achieving and who are helping to make good out of less-good situations... then it would give people that 'feel good' feeling like one gets when the weather is good. (how many times can i say 'good' in one paragraph?)

i recently spoke with a woman in wellington who has an idea to help young kiwis shine and reach their potential by making it easier for them to connect with funds and/or people who are willing to offer funds. this could have an astonishing effect... currently i feel as though some opportunities for young people are limited to the 'disadvantaged' or the 'super elite/wealthy'. i like the idea that an average person who needs some help to get to the next stage of their life (whether it be personal development, education, travel, business idea, equipment, etc) can apply in a 'no-criteria' space and then people with money who want to contribute to the growth of NZ and help to maximise the positive impact and potential of young people can choose where to put their money and see the direct impact of their contribution.

obviously the idea is in early stages, but i think it's fantastic. i'll keep you (oh faithful reader / darkness of cyberspace) updated...

"A summit of ideas was always destined to produce a mixture of the practical and the out-of-the-box. But the surprises are joyous. Fitting the latter was the bold proposal from National Australia Bank's chief executive Ahmed Fahour for a government-created, private-sector-backed fund for micro-financed non-profit loans. Mr Fahour, putting money where his mouth is, has backed his own idea by committing $30 million of his bank's cash."

-from the age.com.au re: 2020 summit in australia... cool.

was at the airport the other night, about to leave to wellington. as always, i wandered into whitcoulls to source some good reading material for the trip. I was actually hoping to grab a copy of steven carden's new book 'new zealand unleashed'. They didn't have it. (what's going on steven?) Brian Sweeny found it though:

"My daily foray into Unity Books at 57 Willis Street has just yielded the sort of book about New Zealand that curls your toes up with anticipation. “New Zealand Unleashed: the country, its future and the people who will get it there” by Steven Carden (with Campbell Murray) is a geo-bio-histo-psycho thriller about the emergence of New Zealand in a pan-global sweep through nature and technology. Rooted in the biological science of complex adaptive systems, “Unleashed” is sectioned into “The end of certainty,” ”How to build a successful society,” “New Zealand’s DNA” and “Ideas for a more adaptable New Zealand.” A sped-up world and how we need to face change are key subtexts."

I might head that way now and pick it up. I suggest you all do the same.

It always makes me laugh though, when i see how many business books manage to get published. "Grow your business" "Be the next Starbucks" "how to spot a good idea" "small is the new big" etc etc. seriously.... ?

Anyhow, onto business. NZ released it's digital strategy draft on monday. I have actually read the entire thing. And I'm not sure what to say about it... I am interested to see what the 'public' says about it (if anything...)

Came across this article the other day. They have a great paragraph defining social enterprise..

Now a new style of “hybrid” technology organization is emerging that is trying to define a path between the nonprofit world and traditional for-profit ventures.

They’re often referred to as “social enterprises” because they pursue social missions instead of profits. But unlike most nonprofit groups, these organizations generate a sustainable source of revenue and do not rely on philanthropy. Earnings are retained and reinvested rather than being distributed to shareholders.

Pretty much sums up where yMedia was at at the end of last year: defining that path between non-profit and for-profit. It's a tricky path... with no legal recognition, it's difficult to be able to define a business as a 'social enterprise'. It's currently very much a buzz-word that various groups throw around willy-nilly (guilty...) It's a very sustainable model however, I mean it just makes so much sense: Take a traditional non-profit organisation... relying on grants, other companies, fundraising etc in order to exist. Their 'reach' goes only as far as other people and organisations are willing to dig into their wallets. If those people or companies decide to cut funding - the non-profit ceases to exist.

Now what if that non-profit could find a way to generate revenue themselves? Not to make wealthy owners/ceos - but simply to be able to stand on their own feet and determine their reach themselves. No-longer are they at risk of sudden extinction. No longer are they waiting on other people to determine whether they are a worthy cause to support. arghhh it just makes so much sense. check out ENP, a vancouver based company that i visited with in january... cool man.

And so that's all for now. I'm in wellington - meeting with lots of interesting and inspiring people. Oh - i'm also presenting at the engage your community conference next week in hamilton. I've been called on last minute because someone pulled out - so i've got all of 3 days to really prepare something interesting... that's what plane rides are for though right?!

p.s has telecom bought the iPhone? anyone?