Apple has responded to being listed as the worst PC manufacturer from an environmental standpoint, releasing a long blog-like piece called A Greener Apple. Interestingly, Apple wasn’t listed as worst because their practices were necessarily the worst, but because their cult of secrecy meant that they didn’t talk about what they were doing. Further commentary at The Apple Blog.
I don’t trust this seagull
CeBIT: yet another disappointing trade show
Why do I bother going to trade shows? My friend and colleague Zern Liew and I went to CeBIT this afternoon, and while it was great to catch up with Zern I certainly didn’t experience “3 days [or even half a day] that will change the way you do business.”
Actually, there was amusement value… and if you read to the end you’ll see that I did find some products and services of value to my small business clients. But I reckon the most useful aspect of trade shows is seeing what everyone reckons is “the cool stuff”. And right now that appears to be software as a service (SaaS) and Voice over IP (VoIP).
As usual, I had to queue to get my name-tag manually changed to show my actual name. While waiting, I found I could easily read the credit card numbers of the people ahead of me, displayed on screen as they registered. The surfie boy staffing the desk didn’t seem to care — but then on minimum wage why should he?
I found a computer components company at stand X20 (pictured right). I reckon they need to change their name, don’t you? Very unfortunate.
But I shouldn’t give them too hard a time, because the little companies are worth looking at. Big companies already have plenty of profile. If Google does anything interesting it’ll be reported widely. I won’t bother with their trade show stand. And besides, the big companies are usually the ones that spend too much time on hype and generic wankwords.
The Wank
Too often, corporate tag-lines are full of generic, abstract words which don’t tell me what they do.
An example:
Accumulate’s single focus is to help companies motivate people to achieve performance improvement. We design and manage Recognition, Incentive and Reward solutions that drive results.
Yeah, but what do you do?
“Limitless Possibilities,” boasts Asterisk Integrated Telephony. No, that’s a lie. If my desired possibility is, oh, spaceflight to Mars or a decent grilled tuna steak, you can’t help me. Why not just say you’re an experienced developer of premium digital telephony systems? “Limitless Possibilities” is the kind of bullshit language that real estate agents use when they can’t think of anything positive to say about a property.
The Cool Stuff
ThinLinX make paperback-sized Linux thin client devices, perfect for setting up things like call centres where you don’t need a full PC for everyone. And they come in different colours.
RosterOne is a web-based system for rostering staff, with plenty of useful features. I’ll be looking at this for a few clients. Stay tuned.
Melbourne-based AME System make very cool computer workstations — from single-user desks a graphic designer might like to control room set-ups.
utbox combine both fax gateway and SMS gateway services in the some company. Both have existed before, of course, but it’s good to see them integrated. The guys I met seem to be genuine geeks, not marketing droids, which is reassuring.
Meaningless IT marketing words
The following words are meaningless and should never be used in marketing material: world-class, solution, business-grade, leading, flexible, fully-featured, next generation, multi-tiered, dynamic, intelligent, unique, client-focussed, integrated, complete.
Kafenes Greek Restaurant
If you ever eat at Kafenes Greek Restaurant on Enmore Road, make sure you’ve got a big appetite. Last night the mixed dips followed by the mixed grill defeated both me and my accomplice — and the complimentary dessert almost killed us. Thoroughly recommended.
Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch unveiled
Given my comments on the Torch of the 2006 Commonwealth Games, which was later revealed to be little more than an elaborate USB data key, I supposed I should say a few words about the recently-announced design of the torch for the 2008 Olympic Games to be held in Beijing (pictured left).
Actually, I quite like it.
Which is more than I can say for the slogan “Light the Passion Share the Dream” — but then such slogans tend to be collections of relatively meaningless nice-sounding words that couldn’t possibly offend anyone.
But back to the torch…
Fortunately, despite being designed by computer company Lenovo, there don’t seem to be any lame technowank features like built-in webcams. However the propane burner only has enough fuel for 15 minutes in good wind conditions — which means there’ll be a lot of these torches lighting each other and being passed along.
“The Torch incorporates technological innovations to be able to remain lit in winds of up to 65 kilometres-an-hour and lit in rain of up to 50 millimetres-an-hour,” says another media release. “Other technological advancements prevent colour discolouration and corrosion around the cone from which the Flame burns. The Torch construction is also environmentally-conscious. The materials are recyclable…”
… though I can’t see too many of these sought-after souvenirs being melted down for scrap!
So, folks, what do you think?