following the chinese hack attakcks google has decided to change operating system internally from MS windows to mac OS or Linux operated computers.
read the FT article here .
Now i wonder why Google is not using its own operating system internally, instead of using others. During a bug fixing process it would seem most logical to use the os internally in order to test and feel the product before (finally) launching it.
Dont you think?
During the last weeks before the world cup, the Germans were hit hard by the football god. now 5 of the nominated national players are injured and unable to attend the world cup.
“best wishes for their quick comebacks”
The greatest loss, or lets say the one with the most coverage, was the injury of the captain Michael Ballack after a brutal foul of Ghana’s Kevin Prince Boateng. Delicately KP. Boateng has German roots, his mother is German, and is well known in Germany for being a bad boy on and off the pitch.
Now the whole nation blames KP Boateng for his actions and a his brutal foul.
A mobile phone carrier picked up this wave of anger and turned it into a very nicely thought through marketing campaign.
it says – Tell KPBoateng how you feel about him. call within Europe for just…” and shows the number of KP Boateng’s current club , FCPortsmouth.
This campaign is similar to the one that Sixt rental cars had done during the E’uropeanflight chaos caused by the Eyjafjalla volcano.
this picture says:” don’t go into the air because of the load of ash.” where don’t go into the air can be translated to ” don’t lose your head over it” and ash can also mean money in German. Therefore we can turn it into down loose your head over flying for megabucks, rent cheaper with sixt!
it remains to be sad that with this quick and, lets face it, pretty simple marketing activities both examples have not only gotten news coverage in Germany but have also gone viral. on Facebook, VZ and Xing, the three biggest German socials
i was just in the webinar of local elements concerning their approach to social media.
i will share the most important information with you in the following:
first of all, obicously local elements introduce themselves by noting that they have the software and the background/ knowledge in order to perform an extensive service level for marketers concerning social media.
they believe in the approach of seting the company blog first - meaning that from the blog the social networx should be updated. From the social networx they are to be driven back to the company blog - where subtle calls to actions are to be embedded.
Calsl to action can be - having your fanbase re sharing your information to make it viral, or that they join a webinar or enjoy a free demo in order to experience the product and then share their experiences with others.
But still, selling in the social networx is a tabu.
nothing attracks followers like content – elements local joel book
A few tools that are mentioned in order to track socials.
i have signed up to foursquare and downloaded my app for the iphone just now…
Here in Germany we have the problem of not being well connected to these “where are you – location tracking” services that are more popular in across the atlantic ocean. The nagative attitude towars the knowing of your wherabouts of others is deeply installed into our DNA.
Sure there are some privacy issues, but there are also a lot of advantages, and at the moment my mind believes that these advantages outnumber the disadvantages and concerns.
the only problem: there are alomst no services availible.
Sure foursquare is availible but only in its starting slots and the other service aki aki is already overpopulated with unbelivably annoying teenagers.
lets hoep that foursquare will establish itself here – I will do my best to make sure that it does.
the qwerty keyboard layout, as we use it today, was invented by christopher Latham Sholes in 1874.
the invention set the path to the keyboard as we know it know. The typewriter model was sold to remington, the same year and was made famous with the remington No. 2 of 1978. Myth says that the letter of the word typewriter are all aligned in the top row in order to assure a good demonstration of typing speed to customers and interests.
see wikipedia for more info.
one of the USP’s of the remington No. 2 was to avoid the common typebar clashes. therefore he lay out the letters E T O A N apart from each other, as they are the most used letters in the english language. the rest of the keyboard was then filled up with the remaining letters whilst the combinations of HE TH an ND were carefully avoided in order to slow the tpist down, resulting in less clashes of the typebar.
now, why do we still use a keyboard today, when typebars are no longer a problem, wouldnt ist be easier to set up an alterante keyboard set up?
bad timing for everyone who has a good idea they wish to sell and need vatnure capital in order to finance their startup… as sit seems the venture capitalists are in a period of serious “significant recalibration and restructuring”. As the investors blog click has now published.
But not to worry, on techcrunch new startups with new great ideas are introduced almost daily. so, again , as in many cases of this great “depression”, this is most possibly only one perspective of looking at the matter.
The way I see it, classical venture capital enterprises will be in a consolidation period, as their field of engagements rested on the markets as they were known in 2008, before the great “depression”.
Nobody to blame here, controllers and financial analysts only plan max. 5 years ahead, and as we have learned nobody was able to predict the great bust in 2009, except those responsible!
Point is, as these VCs as they are operating today need to consolidate and rethink strategy as markets have changed, but that doesn’t mean that there is less chance of getting money for your startup. bedcause of bigger established VCs slowing down, in their regrouping phases it opens up the chances of other VCs, younger ones that are already comfortable with the market siutation as they don not know any better.
“A great depression always makes room for new chances!”
Here is a useful report on different social media tracking programs (in German). Several programs are tested and their strengths and weaknesses are explained and covered.
Can the CeBit fullfill this years expectations?
For many businesses the CeBit has become less important espcially as enterprises try to save money and do not like to spend Ticket and travelling expenses for a nonprofit show – especially not for a “lite” Version of CeBit.
There are less registrants coming in, and less exhibitors showing off… maybe due to the fact that prices for attending and exhibiting, have remained the same compared to last year, even though now we are in recession.
In addition to that it is more than difficult to track your lead Gen on the Cebit, and that is whay i am happy not to go to this years CeBit… We are using the budget for a roadshow, bringing the product to the customer, not he other way round, and due to the fact that registration is run completely via our website, i have full track of who is coming and who is not.
The most important part of strategies tactics and goals are setting the right goals. Frank Wilde, a German mental and management coach said about goals:
“Do not set your goal too Low! reach for the stars!”
Goals need to be well thought through, as they create the basis to your further movement within strategies/ tactics.
In this context it is also important to stress, that our goal should be clearly communicated to partners your employees and your network. This way it’ll be easier to receive feedback, new ideas and a higher degree of motivation from your network which finally concludes in a higher degree of quality of product / project outcome.
Think of this as a pyramid with lots of feedback input threading into each other – and all leading up to the peak of the pyramid, the main goal. The Essence: communicate your goal!
for Platforms and social networx freaks this is great. Mr. Arrington of Techcrunch moderates a roundtable with reps from Twitter, myspace, ning, linked in, and facebook. Various Topics are discussed, Conncetors to those platforms are in particular talked about.
another topic discussed is the Apple iphone app store!
Personally, would have loved to be there!
