Guide to pants off living
May 2007
The World Is Flat
Tuesday, 29 May 2007
One of the most interesting books I read last year was Tomas Friedman's "The World Is Flat". And since a whole bunch of my longtime-listeners have been raving about some other recent recommendations, I thought I'd shove this out there for them.
This was definitely one of the most optimistic books I've read recently. Friedman writes excitedly and openly about the changing nature of business, economics, trade, employment and (most of all) technology in what he calls "the fourth flattening" (I think, if I remember correctly, and I usually don't).
It's also a great book to read if you're afraid of losing your job (or business) to India and China as a result of out-sourcing; if you're smart, you won't. There are many reasons to be excited about being an Australian, and there are a few answers to my recent questions about me and my buddies not being entrepreneurial enough.
The "entrepreneurial" factor may be important for Australia in the future. We should do the best we can to re-ignite our "can do" ethos. I think it might mean the difference between us being left behind and becoming a cheap labour force of our own and really making it in the flat world.
Posted by travo at 4:08:52 PM
JPG Magazine rebels against its parents
Wednesday, 16 May 2007
I was a little sad for Derek and Heather Powazek when I read their story of birth and separation from JPG Magazine yesterday. I'm still processing it (as will be everyone else over coming days, possibly weeks). It seems to me though that this is a clash of ideals - pre-dot-com versus post-dot-com.
In short, Derek and Heather were founders, along with Paul Cloutier of a unique publishing company -- 8020 Publishing -- which invited individuals to post material for a magazine of photographic material, the first six issues were compiled by them and published through Lulu .
The opportunity came for those guys to scale up, and a revolution in social media and publishing was underway. If you've not heard about JPG Magazine in relation to Web 2.0, media and publishing, that's okay; it's been pretty significant but in a way that these revolutionary things are.
But it seems that things have turned a little icky at 8020 Publishing.
Derek and Heather are out, the history is being rewritten and in an ironic twist, the authenticity is being removed from an authentic content publishing house.
Posted by travo at 9:21:39 AM
I wanna be a microgenerator!
Tuesday, 08 May 2007
Just got a chance to see an episode of Catalyst about Microgeneration. Very, very interesting - it's a great example of how Flannery's book has had a massive impact on this country. It's should be distributed to every home in Australia.
The premise of the article was about mass micro power generation - every home having some form of renewable power generation (usually solar) and using that for the household needs, surplus gets fed into the grid.
This idea of course is not new, but I was surprised to learn that there are only 4000 homes in Australia which do this. That's hardly any.
Read the article - it mentions the tariffs and incentives that exist in other countries such as Germany, where people are paid for the kilowatts that they feed back into the grid. In the long term this would provide a much better case for homes to consider installing solar panels than the single $4000 rebate.
What would it take for you to become a microgenerator?
Posted by travo at 1:43:21 PM
Not your parents album release
Wednesday, 02 May 2007
I've been keeping an eye on the growing excitement around the release of Nine Inch Nails new Album "Year Zero". 37Signals have a great summary of the marketing techniques used to promote the release of this album.
In all honesty, I'm still trying to put my finger on what it is that a record company needs to do these days to remain relevant. I think my old company and in particular the Hound-dog James Young, "got it" best when they realised that marketing and the surreptitious release of music or a band in the form of a brand is really a viable business idea (I'm not sure the success James had with the likes of Osterberg would warrant the suggestion that it was a viable business model).
Bands can still create a ground-swell on their own, but it takes an enormous amount of time and resources. Often these resources are people-based networks that the bands don't have access to, whereas marketing agencies, on the other hand, have strong networks that integrate not only strong industry links but also other brands associated with the agency.
It's worth keeing an eye on James Young too, I hear he's moved on from SEE.
Posted by travo at 9:14:26 AM