A Donkey on the Edge

Scoble wants us to link to this

He's got a point, this is potentially very worrying (and is also something I just wouldn't have guessed would happen):

This is a fight for the Web. We all just crawled inside a box that locks Google out.
Don’t believe me?
Go to Google and do a search for “Le Web 08.�
Do you see a Facebook entry there? Nope. Google is locked out of the Web.
This has created HUGE value for Microsoft and has handed Steve Ballmer an Internet strategy which brings Microsoft from last place to first in less than a week.
Boom!

Scary stuff indeed...

Hey, we've just had a long and very informative post from Matt, a Luton-based Openreach engineer. I hope this really is an engineer speaking and not some perverse item from a 'guerilla marketing' agency subverting from within. He describes some real horror stories, if you're interested in the BT thing it's well worth a read:

I was on a fault last week and the customer drop-wire from the pole to the house was rubbing through trees so I replaced it only to get a phone call the next day from my manager asking why I hadn't charged the customer as the trees were on his property--this is the level that they are stooping to.

Do they care? This thing has been simmering for a while now, I wonder at what point a BT pr person is going to chime in?

Is BT still shit? (A Donkey on the Edge)

Get ready for a crackdown on broadband use

Man, this pisses me off. The only person who gets to decide the value of a good or service I invite into my space is me.

Right now, my ISP isn't providing me with value, not even close as my connection rarely gets over 64k (yes, k not m) and the damn connection won't come up after a router power cycle or other network crash.

If the service was a little closer to what was advertised I could start building my own value with it. Because I work in the internet industry, there's a really good chance my connection to the cloud allows me to create stacks of unique value. You know, just doing a quick mental calculation I'd be happy to pay my ISP say £40, £50, maybe even £75 a month.

Of course given past performance, I'd say the chances of my ISP being interested in understanding how I create value are pretty much next to nil.

When are businesses gonna get on the damn bus?

Apple says get a Mac So you know, I replaced my lovely 12" iBook with a lovely 12" powerbook back in 2006. Since then, I've travelled miles and miles on motorcycle and Eurostar and the whole time my mini workstation has been powering through... I tend to have Virtual PC, Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, Omnigraffle, BBEdit, three or four browsers and Omnioutline all running at the same time (while downloading podcasts and listening to iTunes) with snappy response and power to spare...

Now, I know that's no big deal in modern laptop terms but for me (as I create my own unique value in partnership with apple's products) it's both great and exactly what need. Unfortunately, everything is beginning to run on Intel macs, Adobe CS3 looks like Leopard only so if I upgrade I'm also gonna need a new system... add to that the running Windows without VPC and I really need to update my Powerbook.

So, dammit Steve, I thought you were going to anounce the new 12" powerbook last month, but nooooo, you had to go and do the Air™ thing:-(

Steve, this is a machine I cannot use. For starters, I don't need thin, I need small. I need bounce-resistance (speed bumps and motorways) and I need crush-resistance (as I get kicked out of the conference room again and hastily stuff reports and coiled cables into my already overstuff laptop bag).

So where does that leave me...

I need a new laptop with an optical drive, an ethernet, an intel processor and a 12" form-factor. I need it soon, so if I can't get a 12" Powerbook, what are my options? I may actually have to shudder switch to a PC and go with a Dell or a Toshiba...

Well, I'm glad I'm not the only consultant out there to get into trouble with Tagged.com. The more I look, the more I find people sharing similar experiences

So here's a public service anouncement.

If you're pissed off at receiving the damn emails, why not threaten, or at least hurl abuse at, the VCs behind tagged.com? Here are some bits to get you started:

enjoy :-)

So it's Red Nose Day again:-) Clemmie had to go to school in big clothes today. I think that means wearing my shirt so we'll see how that works out. In the mean time Clem asked me to wear these noses.

(the bike is curently wearing the smaller stick-on variety)

So I got the Greenpeace spoof site link on Viralmonitor this morning. Lovely idea, it'll be interesting to see if, and how fast Apple comes down hard on it. Just in case, I've grabbed their home page. If you click on the smaller image below you'll get a full-size screengrab.

The site is surprisingly deep, and this being the era of value co-creation, Greenpeace is collaborating with its supporters. The user-generated section allows the visitor to design t-shirts, write an alternative Steve speech and design the obligatory television commercial using existing greenpeace footage.

Very nice work, am off to put words in Steve's mouth...

Tags: greenmyapple, apple, greenpeace

One of the guys in strategy just sent this around. Apparently the Masturbathon is to support the Marie Stopes reproductive health charity.

They're absolutely serious and go into some detail about the logistics:

Once you have checked in your belongings please find your place in the relevant area for you. There are four main areas: The Comfort area, Women only area, Men only area and a mixed area. The areas are separated and you will not be able to view single-gender areas from the mixed area. We recommend that you spend some time in the Comfort area, which is a no masturbation zone, to acclimatise and get comfortable before proceeding to one of the other rooms.

The style inside is a comfortable Moroccan theme with plenty of pillows and recliner cushions. There will be relaxing music and plenty of visual stimulation to help you get in the mood. The environment is clean and padded with places to lie back all around the room. There are individual cubicles for those who prefer privacy. Fresh disposable paper sheets will be available for every participant. So will extra batteries and plenty of ID Lubricants.

Goodness:-)

Just moderated a talk over at the Lecture List. The event is called Tsunami +200 days and looks worth a look.

Shivrenda Sharma, Director of PlaNet Finance India will highlight the role of microfinance in long-term community building in the Tsunami affected areas in South Asia.

PlaNet Finance an NGO based in France with offices in the UK, will be holding an event on the Monday the 28th November from 5.30pm-8pm at the Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Law Firm, 65 Fleet Street. London.

A family friend, Lauren Ingram has set up a fund to help with the relief work. She's focusing on collecting smaller amounts of money and quickly distributing it to the right people on the ground using an extensive network of trusted local contacts.

She is keeping a blog her progress.

If you'd like to send cash in the knowledge it will go straight to the front line, here are Jim Ingram's (Lauren's dad) instructions:

If you would like to contribute to Lauren and Tamur's 'fund', please make a check out to Dr. Tamur Mueenuddin, mail it to me at James E. Ingram 3036 Cambridge Place, NW, Washington, DC 20007 and I will deposit it to a separate account set up at CitiBank here in the US.

Tom Hough recently commented on an older post about BT.

As with a lot of the “enraged mutton” posts, it was a bit of a venting session, but I’ll reprint the BT phone number here. I can’t garantee it’s still live, but here goes nothing;-)

…a very nice lady called Alita calls you and gives you a phone number (an 0800 number no less) that gets you straight through to customer care—no queue, no delay, no option-3, just straight through to the nice lady.

So got a problem with BT? Need to vent? Here’s the number:

0800 800 871

That ends this public service announcement…