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.
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.
Good old unreliable Telstra
Last Wednesday 11 April, a Telstra chap called to discuss my telephone account. I happened to be at a client’s office so couldn’t talk, but told him Friday would be good to call because I’d be at my desk all day. That was last Friday. He hasn’t called. Which is a shame. Because I was wanting to tell him that Telstra’s crappy service and support was why I’d already moved my mobile phone to Vodafone and I’ll be moving my landlines away from Telstra as soon as I’d figured out how to do that and retain my phone numbers.
I need a hand…
I don’t have time to learn and understand everything. Who does? Me and my business need various skills to make things happen more quickly — now. So if you know anyone who can help, put them in touch.
I need a telephone geek to get my Nokia N80 and 3G network stuff working more efficiently. A workflow from the phone through to WordPress and Flickr would be nice.
I need another telephone geek to re-organise my business phones. Telcos are useless — they just want to sell products. Maybe someone who knows Asterisk is the answer?
I need a web developer who can work in XHTML/CSS code (no Flash or Dreamweaver muppets!) with excellent attention to detail and, ideally, a knowledge of WordPress and proper object-oriented PHP. We don’t do complex work, but we do want quality. I’ll be advertising this soon.
I’m still looking for a good technical support human who’s actually human. This is a full-time job.
A junior systems administrator wouldn’t go astray. This would suit a student who’s familiar with Linux, has run a website or two and needs a few hours paid work a week.
A techno producer who can work in a minimalist German style for a crassly commercial music project.
A graphic artist/designer who can do finished artwork for print as well as basic web stuff. We sometimes end up doing a full corporate image for clients. We need someone for the grunt-work, like doing ten newspaper adverts to a pre-existing style, or preparing fifty product shots for a website.
I’ve had it with dodgy “web designers”
The web is a shoddy piece of work, as any real information professional will tell you. The two incidents I’m about to relate are pretty typical — and in my opinion they’re also clear examples of unprofessional behaviour bordering on the unethical.
So why are web designers allowed to get away with dodgy work which in other industries would get you driven out of business?
The Cult of Accountancy
If you thought Ernst & Young was an accounting firm, think again. As this video shows, they’re some sort of weird cult.
Johnnie Moore and Hugh MacLeod say everything that needs to be said about this. Scary.