I stumbled across this the other day, the guys behind Sproutit are touring the continental US with a workshop aimed at showing small business how to use Web 2.0 applications to help run their companies – called the Simple Business Workshop. This is a great idea and an awesome way to match the great work coming out of Web 2.0 focused companies and the small business owner who is too busy working in their business (instead of on it) to discover these applications.
What use is this to us in far away NZ? Well if you are new to these new companies and applications it is a good introduction to the half-dozen they have chosen to show off as productivity apps for small biz. Look at the list on the bottom right of the page and follow the links if you are not familiar with any of them. It includes: Sproutit, Blinksale, Dabble DB, DropSend, Fluxiom, and Shopify.
And if you haven’t already, check out Sproutit’s product “Mailroom“. It looks like an excellent application to help any small business with limited resources that communicates with customers via email. The demo is amazing – these guys do an excellent job of presenting (they just need some more help making it more polished).
I’ve shared my love of Threadless before. I’ve now been introduced to a European site modelled on Threadless (I assume) called The Derby. Judge for yourself the quality of the t-shirt designs but I feel the overall experience at Threadless is a little smoother and better designed. Happy t-shirt buying.
Currently available in German, French, and English…
As you may know, we are looking to hire a few people at the moment at work. As the CVs have started to roll in I noticed one was 9 pages long. I immediately thought back to all the tutoring we had on this subject in high school and university where the mantra was always “one page plus cover letter”. So I commented to my manager about how long this particular CV was and whether anyone could bother reading nine pages.
In comparison, he felt it was a really good CV and helped describe the work this candidate had done as well as sell himself as a potential employee. He also thought 1 page was far too short for a CV. There are 3 of us in the team I’m in that went through tertiary education at roughly the same time. ALL of us had been taught to stick to that mantra of “one page plus cover letter”. So we ended up discussing this at length.
I know with the CV I used to apply for my current job I used 2 pages plus my cover letter. When I created it I did remember that one page mantra but deliberately chose to ignore it (hey, that’s what rules are for), but I would still feel 9 pages is excessive.
What were you taught? How many pages long should a CV be? Indeed, how long is your CV?
I had to write a job advert last week. It was a really interesting exercise trying to write copy to advertise for people like yourself. As a company we’ve done a lot of recruiting since I’ve been there and this means we have a lot of existing templates and written ads. In the end I thought the best route to take would be just to introduce a little bit of humour… Have a look at the ad on Seek and let me know what you think.
Incidentally we’re always looking for talented people at Intergen. Especially designers and front-end developers in the team I’m in. Specifically (as you’ll see in the advert on Seek) I’m looking for an intermediate CSS guru/developer.
So, if you’re looking or know someone who is, get in touch through me. It is a competitive marketplace we’re in at the moment for labour – but we’re definitely worth a look. Come and have a chat.
David Seah hits the nail on the head when it comes to TV addiction:
“it’s just so easy to get into the groove and watch a half-dozen documentaries and dramas. I tell myself It’s OK…you’re learning about human psychology! You’re learning about WWII! You’re getting new ideas that spark new ideas!”
“If I want to go get new ideas, I should go out and meet ACTUAL PEOPLE in INTERESTING PLACES I’ve NEVER BEEN TO.”
Update: My own TV habits are probably somewhat different but I can empathise with the quote made above. For me now, the only time the TV goes on seems to be the weekend. Otherwise there is far more interesting stuff elsewhere (in books, on the net, outside, etc). I could never justify spending money on a Sky subscription either.
I used to be someone who would lose several hours to the telly each night but I found that that changed dramatically when I moved to Wellington. For a start I was spending more time at work which meant there was less time to spend on other personal things, and well, TV just started to suck.
I have a problem with the broadcast model that TV operates under. I don’t want you to tell me what I can watch and when. I want the control, not you. I can’t remember how many times I’ve missed a show and then grabbed it (illegally I might add) from the net to catch up. You’re missing out on those advertising dollars because you are choosing not to be flexible for me.
One thing I’m finding extremely interesting is how much time I’m spending on You Tube and indeed other online video sites. This is time I’m spending at the cost or detriment of TV. If you look at the content on the two models, it is inherently different. On You Tube, its content is generally low quality, low budget and short but it also holds content that would never make it to broadcast TV.
Consider this small video of Steve Jobs presenting to his local city council. This would never justify making it to broadcast TV and yet it is an excellent example of Steve Jobs’ presentation abilities, something many people would learn from and find useful (myself and over 17,000 other people included).
I’ve been meaning to design this blog since I started it about 18 months ago. When I first installed Movable Type the only thing I did was stick a banner-like image up the top to brand it. Since then it has been on my list of things to do. Glad I can now scratch it off.
I aimed to focus on creating something that was essentially simple. Not sure if I’ve achieved that well as I feel it is simple but a little cluttered. Might feel the urge to make tweaks to it in the coming days.
Anyone subscribed to my feed would’ve seen 4 posts come up – these are just pages in the new design. I figured adding them as posts would be an easy way to add them and make any future edits to them.
Have a look, let me know what you think or if there is anything that goes awry. I haven’t fully browser tested it yet so if you’re an IE user you may see the odd funky thing. If there is anything it should be resolved soon.
And now back to your regularly scheduled programming…
1. Wellington Wellington is just an amazing city. The city is wedged between mountains and a gorgeous harbour with little cheap land available that prevents suburban sprawl. The result is a compact city “pretending to be a village” with good public transport and a high quality of life. It is probably the most urban city in Oceania and subjectively, the easiest to live in. Come have a look for yourself.
2. Powerbook G4 + Mac OS X
Now almost 2 years old, it has been the best and most reliable computer I’ve ever owned or used. Anyone who knows me knows of my affinity with Apple computers thus it takes second place. It’s a gorgeous computer that is a pleasure to use and a delight to show off.
3. iPod
I’ve owned 2 iPods and they’ve been one of the most “ME” objects I’ve ever owned. Like with the Internet, I struggle to remember what it was like without one. My current favorite is the Shuffle – holds enough music for a long flight but is small and light enough to run with, without noticing it. Possible this should have been merged with the above point.
4. Icebreaker
If you haven’t heard of Icebreaker yet chances are you soon will. Icebreaker makes suburb clothing from NZ high-country merino and is a model NZ export business (representing Wellington!). Jeremy Moon who founded Icebreaker was also a graduate from the same university as myself. He presented to us while I was studying and it was a great opportunity to hear about the company and the progression it had made.
5. Viva Spanish
It has been a long-time goal of mine to learn another language. I decided on Spanish wanting to spend some serious time in America del Sur. I would wholeheartedly recommend Viva Spanish if you wanted to learn Spanish in Wellington. Adriana (who hails from Argentina) is a very patient and personal professora and the class sizes are small and friendly.
6. Satay Palace
Now moving in the food section (a topic very dear to me)… Satay Palace is your quintessential cosy immigrant Malaysian restaurant on Cuba St. Somehow this family can serve me dinner in a matter of minutes for $7. I love it, it is suberb. The owners have a great memory as well… Oh, its the one next to Floriditas.
7. Coffee32
Wellington is insanely good at coffee. However if you asked me a while ago where the best coffee in Wellington was I’d be surprised (just as much as you) to say The Terrace. A middle aged couple run this small but busy cafe in one of the more corporate parts of the city and yet they exude authenticity with the best coffee in town and immaculate presentation – you can tell there is love in the coffee. Another owner with an AMAZING memory. Situated at 32 The Terrace (surprising really…).
Hi, my name is John. I’m a 20-something year old married to a girl who’s way way way out of my league. We live and work in Wellington, New Zealand.
I work at a start-up called Ponoko where I spend my days talking to our users in my role as Community Manager. We launched Ponoko at TechCrunch in San Francisco in September 2007.
Before moving to Ponoko I worked for a software development company called Intergen, on their creative team. Previous to that I ran my own company (now sold) called iVISION and was involved in two others, one that is still going and one that isn’t. Even earlier you would’ve found me as an undergraduate at the University of Otago School of Business studying marketing and IT.
There are a number of things and areas I am passionate about and this blog is my vehicle to format and share these thoughts and ideas. I write about all things Wellington, IT, business, marketing and innovation, design and advertising, personal productivity and Apple Computer. Oh, and it wouldn’t be complete without a little bit of travel logging.
This blog uses Movable Type, and is hosted on a Powermac G4 sitting in my apartment next to the TV. Unfortunately this is hosted on a 128k/bit uplink due to the shoddy sad state of NZ broadband This blog uses WordPress and is hosted somewhere in Hong Kong.
Note: Comments have been disabled on this entry due to masses of spam. If you want to leave a comment for me – just click through to any other page or entry and you will be able to leave a comment.
Umami is a japanese word for that savoury taste that is now generally regarded as a basic taste (the fifth taste alongside sweet, sour, salty and bitter). The characters when translated literally mean ‘delicious flavour”. It was Professor Kikunae Ikeda who isolated umami early in the 20th century.
However the western world didn’t really acknowledge the existence of umami to begin with. Primarily because it didn’t fit the tongue maps we’d all been taught at school but on which rests very very little actual scientific foundation. Go figure!
If you would like to contact me, leave a comment in the form below. It won’t be published but your message will reach me. It may take a day or several for me to respond.
I can also be found on MSN using this address: firstname.lastname@intergen.co.nz
Need my first and last name? It’s on the top right of this page… or the bottom right.
Just found Houtlust which is an blog on nonprofit and social campaign advertising. I think this is where the best stuff in advertising happens – the most amazing mind changing stuff. Its probably because its the “edge of marketing and activism” that makes it so good… consider:
Hoorah! They’ve put the Webstock sessions online. They’re hosted by CityLink so most Welly businesses should have an excellent connection to them, there’s about 25GB in total. As I mentioned in my wrapup post, Kathy Sierra and Darren Fittler were highlights for me, as was Tony Chor – check out their presentations.
I stumbled across this the other day, the guys behind Sproutit are touring the continental US with a workshop aimed at showing small business how to use Web 2.0 applications to help run their companies – called the Simple Business Workshop. This is a great idea and an awesome way to match the great work coming out of Web 2.0 focused companies and the small business owner who is too busy working in their business (instead of on it) to discover these applications.
