tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83172567558724954902011-10-18T14:18:01.501+11:00An Experiment in the BlogospherePaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.comBlogger411100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-75997099340762977192010-07-24T11:30:00.024+10:002010-07-24T23:30:32.534+10:00

I saw a retweet from @hollingsworth this week. "RT @kcarruthers: who do you think has best use of social media by legal firm in Oz? /cc @mysocialpolicy @radhikar @ Rachael Falk (Telstra)"Naturally, I responded by pointing toward @nortonrose_au. I was the Communications Manager for Norton Rose Australia from 2008-2010 and drove the firm's on-line activities.But it got me thinking, unless you're in

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-82986707340657639052009-07-08T21:15:00.014+10:002009-07-08T23:05:55.646+10:00

The second thing that occurred to me today when I read about Google's new Chrome operating system was, do we really need another OS?ZDNet Australia's news editor Renai Lemay had a similar thought. Renai knows more about Linux than I and about Unbuntu in particular (although I was responsible for IBM's Linux PR in Australia for three years from 2001).I arrived at the same question as Renai for a

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-24129630106235254402009-04-17T18:40:00.004+10:002010-07-25T09:51:47.198+10:00

<!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-AU X-NONE X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-64557925885055786322009-04-14T17:30:00.001+10:002009-04-14T17:30:00.722+10:00

Was reminded today of something one of guests on This Week in Tech said recently: "people are much more critical of you when they think you are not listening."That sounds like commonsense but it is often forgotten in the business case for organisations participating in social networking.If there's a better reason for communications people to understand Web 2.0 and make sure their firms do too I

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-10543462354058164182009-03-15T20:00:00.013+11:002009-03-16T09:54:42.185+11:00

If you were at SXSW Friday and saw an unfamiliar hashtag #soundrelief trending up you might have wondered what it was about. After you checked Wikipedia, you could perhaps have been excused for changing your status to "thinking it might be more fun to be at an outdoor concert in Australia than indoors at #SXSW" (unless of course there was another Sarah Lacey/Mark Zuckerberg incident to keep you

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-12517874819582635722009-03-03T16:10:00.007+11:002009-03-15T20:45:13.895+11:00

Just back from Frocomm's 2nd Annual PR & New Media Summit where I was on a panel with Steven Noble, Walter Jennings and Nick Hodge talking about how the Web is changing communications for PR practitioners.An interesting session (wish I'd had time to stay longer) but I'm afraid we didn't get round to talking about some of the questions raised so, since I haven't blogged quiet in a while, I thought

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-20066936257751282112008-10-21T20:30:00.010+11:002008-10-24T07:39:05.417+11:00

Interested to read this post from Steve Rubel. From what I understand RSS is one of the foundations of Web 2.0 so it's surprising to me that it 'don't get more respect'.Approving adding RSS feeds was one of the first thing I did after I joining a law firm in January. At the time I think we were one of only two Australian law firms who had done so. To me it seemed like no-brainer, what better

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-72242892163117178412008-08-11T17:25:00.005+10:002008-09-27T18:16:18.368+10:00

Am a little late to the party but I agree with Kevin O'Keefe from Lexblog again here regarding video blogs for law firms. The concept is seductive of course, and I'm hearing it raised more and more often lately, but in practice the devil is in the detail.I'll offer one additional reason here Kevin doesn't -- you can't skim a vlog. Unlike written communication, if you are going to watch a video

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-34416942429415130832008-06-22T20:20:00.010+10:002008-06-22T21:54:28.534+10:00

Wow, doing a little rough and ready competitive intelligence just got a whole lot easier. I've been playing round with new Google Trends for Web-sites and, just for kicks, plugged in the home pages of Australia's five largest law firms.Although numbers are too low for the tool to graph (as you might expect for law firms) it does provide some interesting comparisons of visitors from each State and

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-52162501617304867882008-06-06T08:00:00.007+10:002008-06-08T12:52:39.620+10:00

To co-incide with World Environment Day Dell overnight announced it had recovered more than 102 million pounds (ie 46 million kilograms) of computer equipment worldwide in 2007 -- its most ever in a single year and a 20 percent increase on the previous 12 months.I say well done all!I know I've said it before but, having been involved in the issue, I've seen plenty of commitments and good

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-71053743344948689042008-06-05T21:00:00.015+10:002008-06-08T12:54:23.905+10:00

You know, there are times I miss working at Dell -- and today is one of those. Take a look at this story from the Wall Street Journal but don't just read what the journalist wrote, read the comments like:"Lionel Menchaca, and the rest of the Dell blogger team, are the best example of consumer outreach and engagement."I've read dozens of comments like that in blog posts, stories about social

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-82039760058994633492008-06-04T19:00:00.004+10:002008-06-04T19:44:36.658+10:00

Kevin O'Keefe, who runs a prominent law blog in the US, contacted me recently about Deacons' social media work and so I've been reading his site.Found lots of interesting posts but one in particular -- a story about US law firms and Linked-in, argubly the leading social networking site for business people.LexBlog: Largest law firms all have expanding firm profiles at LinkedInI thought it might be

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-88827978260273994262008-05-27T16:30:00.006+10:002008-08-25T16:00:00.912+10:00

Just back from the PR & Corporate Communications Summit and an interesting presentation from Gerry McCusker of the PR Disasters blog. What was most surprising was the response from the audience to a question Gerry posed.Who is blogging? Gerry counted six hands out of around 120. I found that astounding!Granted, I'm far from the world's most regular blogger and, though I wrote my first blog post

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-13016042979434067702008-02-14T12:25:00.012+11:002008-02-16T15:33:31.391+11:00

Yesterday morning when I got into the office (having walked through the crowds in Martin Place) I made my own personal 'sorry' declaration on Facebook via Twitter (I appreciate doing that achieves nothing in a practical sense but yesterday was all about the symbolism, right?).When I next checked back at the end of the day I found lot of my friends had done the same. I can't recall having seen

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-5963717272042636182008-02-07T08:15:00.001+11:002008-02-17T14:34:25.600+11:00

To echo Josh Bernoff's disclaimer, I'm not an economist, but I'm pretty sure I don't agree with his reasoning in this Groundswell post (and I may be wrong but I think the Tech Wreck was well underway before September 11).I do agree some things are different now -- one key point Josh doesn't mention is that on-line advertising is far more mature now, and so capable of demonstrating value, than it

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-51285882168453362242008-02-05T23:37:00.000+11:002008-02-07T21:03:35.400+11:00

Since I'm now with a law firm I'm watching with new interest as lawyers David Drummond at Google and Brad Smith at Microsoft trade barbs over the latter's proposal to buy Yahoo.If Google is successful I suspect we'll start to see more large firm's senior lawyers engaging in public debate -- though not if the Economist's speculation over MS's motives turns out to be right.

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-17944598241158719422008-01-31T21:22:00.000+11:002008-02-07T14:11:35.930+11:00

Two years ago I saw video that gave me first goose pimples about technology I've had in years (and that's includes a period where I've been exposed to some pretty amazing innovation from IBM and Dell).It was Jeff Han demonstrating the high-resolution multi-touch computer interface that's since become known as Microsoft Surface at an event called TED (Technology Entertainment Design). Bill

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-21388169360004800862008-01-25T19:00:00.000+11:002008-02-05T18:21:15.016+11:00

Found this today and I think it's great!

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-501010065613388712008-01-24T23:14:00.000+11:002008-02-02T16:48:24.515+11:00

Just when you thought you were getting used to Web 2.0... here's Bill Amelio, CEO of Lenovo (and former President of Dell APJ, so for a time the boss of my boss) doorstopped by blogger Robert Scoble at the Davos forum using live streaming video from a mobile phone!I know Robert Scoble's been doing these videos for a month or two but this is the first time I've really grasped the impact.Granted

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-78205483389326563112008-01-19T10:26:00.002+11:002008-03-10T15:37:20.717+11:00

It will be interesting to see if the ACCC is successful with this action (I don't know the facts of the matter of course) but at the very least it is a reminder to organisations of the need be able to substantiate green claims -- and for consumers to not to take them at face-value.It's tempting and comparatively easy to claim 'green-ness' -- you only have to look at the avalanche of people

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-13201712645113873712008-01-16T21:31:00.000+11:002008-01-27T20:09:36.415+11:00

Interesting post today on ITWire from Stephen Withers -- I wrote something along the same lines in a post back in December but think Stephen really nailed it with his Goldilocks analogy.It will be interesting to see whether or not the news interest Apple's new MacBook Air attracted today translates into sales -- comments on the gadget sites like Gizmodo and blogs like TechCrunch have been

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-9559695698082206352008-01-15T19:46:00.000+11:002008-01-27T20:11:57.042+11:00

One of the last things I was able to achieve before leaving Dell at the end of 2007 was to take a small number of journalists to visit the facilities of Dell's recycling supplier, MRI. Some early takes:Liam Tung at ZDNetKylie Field at Sustainability MattersCharlie Brewer at news.com.auPersonally, the lasting impression I had from my I visits to MRI is just how much manual work in involved --

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-84008126422659801112008-01-14T22:15:00.000+11:002008-01-27T20:10:12.487+11:00

If December is the time for year-in-review features then January is predictions month and Conrad Walters, the Herald's innovation writer, looked into the crystal ball in ICON today and made one prediction that I sincerely hope will come true in 2008:"Gadgets turn greenConsumers will become not only conscious of the environmental effects of technology but more demanding in what they buy.

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-24144083889529457952008-01-06T11:15:00.000+11:002008-01-27T20:11:05.111+11:00

Pleased to see my former colleagues at Dell unveil the new Crystal display on the eve of CES -- have to say I've been looking forward to this one since it was first shown off behind the scenes at the event in 2007. It's another sign of the transformation at Dell.

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-17862298757708669422008-01-03T12:33:00.000+11:002008-01-27T20:19:39.464+11:00

In any large organisation you'll meet lots of people -- some of whom you think are smart and others less so. And working in public relations you'll quite often listen to one of those smart people make a speech, give a presentation or do an interview based on ideas from an even smarter person.Very occasionally you'll get to meet that person -- the guy (or gal) with the original idea.Over the

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-89865535493946678962007-12-22T15:38:00.000+11:002008-01-27T20:15:40.743+11:00

Woke up this morning knowing my days at Dell are behind me rather than in front -- it's a curious feeling and one which will take some getting used to. My initial thoughts are that I'll miss it -- no company is perfect but I can say with all honesty that I loved working at Dell.Looking back I've been incredibly fortunate since coming into IT in late 2000. I've had the opportunity to work at

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-85039416902594460942007-12-18T20:01:00.000+11:002008-01-27T20:16:38.055+11:00

Interesting article about disruptive technologies from Henry Blodget (must confess I'd not read anything of his but followed a link from Scobliezer) -- reminded me of they way Linux was referred to as a disruptive technology five or six years ago.It also reminded me (albeit tangentially) of a thought that occurred to me recently, which was how the old saying 'one person's trash is another's

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-56987452977757256472007-12-16T12:11:00.001+11:002008-01-27T20:21:04.386+11:00

So begins the commerical for Acer's for Gemstone consumer notebooks running on Australian FM radio at the moment. The speaker, who goes on to promote the sounds features of the model, doesn't give his name (perhaps he's a dentist with a journalism degree from the Ponds Institute) but it's not a voice I recognise. It's not the first time a company has used an actor to play a professional in an

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-22969263208528110782007-12-15T22:29:00.000+11:002008-01-27T20:23:15.223+11:00

This is my second blog -- started my first some time in 2003 from memory but shut it down when I changed companies a year later -- but I'm a novice of novices at this point so I was interested to read these Top 10 Hints for New Bloggers in Wired marking the 10th anniversary of the term 'weblog' which was coined by the author of the article, Jorn Barger. I suspect I've unwittingly broken almost

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-43532574505901033222007-12-12T21:32:00.000+11:002008-01-27T20:22:42.277+11:00

Who needs the WGA, I think this video is more entertaining than a million years of Everybody Loves Raymond (not me). What was even more interesting was the argument it generated over the use of an unattributed photograph. I suspect this wont be the last time the point's debated.

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-25644826325782336472007-12-08T10:45:00.000+11:002008-01-27T20:24:04.180+11:00

Don’t want to give the impression that I’m critical of the Eee PC per see -- since I work for a competitor any critique may sound a little hollow –- but some elements of the attention it has been getting recently perplex me.First was the heated response of readers to this seemingly innocuous blog by Adam Turner for the Age recently (and on which I’ve posted earlier). There was also this earlier

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-28448880919048751612007-12-06T13:38:00.000+11:002008-01-27T20:25:05.305+11:00

Been following Australian IT journalist Adam Turner recently on his quest for the on-line office (in fact I think Adam could claim credit for inspiring me to try the idea) but ran into the Internet connectivity issue all too often to make it practical -– until I got to play with a notebook with integrated broadband one weekend recently.Personally, I’m now convinced the fortunes of these two

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-88644204448447779772007-12-04T21:26:00.000+11:002008-01-27T20:25:52.602+11:00

Interesting post-election column from Gerard Henderson in the Herald today. Will be interesting to see what direction this new Government takes and what influence that has on the country as a whole -- particularly on the generation of adults who've never really known an Australia without John Howard as Prime Minister (have trouble remembering it myself).

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-27491644762465329802007-11-26T22:09:00.000+11:002008-01-27T20:26:56.689+11:00

Adam Turner at The Age wrote an interesting blog today about the Asus Eee PC. Since I work for a competitor I'm not going to comment on the product itself but this point caught my attention."Of course at these prices you'd throw it away after 12 months and buy a new one."If that's the case I hope that Asus will soon live up to its responsibilities and offer Australians a simple, easy to use free

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-68996010586827977982007-11-25T11:00:00.000+11:002008-01-27T20:27:43.643+11:00

I think there's an interesting lesson in last night's Federal Election victory by Labor -- and it's about issues management/competitive positioning.As the campaign progressed, many journalists and commentators spoke of Labor's (uncharacteristically) disciplined campaign, and in particular their refusal to be baited on issues which have historically allowed the Government to marginalise them with

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-69336508815134173342007-11-20T21:00:00.000+11:002008-01-27T20:28:54.561+11:00

Must say I'm puzzled by some of the responses to Dell's XPS One announced today, specifically comments on some blogs saying citing 'lack of expandability' and the integrated, non-upgradable display (which I would have thought was the point of an all-in-one). Am puzzled because there is another device with a fixed display and limited upgrade options for memory, storage and optical -- it's called a

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-8341451242524991522007-11-19T09:03:00.000+11:002008-01-27T20:35:03.037+11:00

First Apple's PR machinery caught on tape then Apple’s Social Media Hell - Why it Needs to Repent.NB: In the interest of disclosure, I work for a competitor.

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-75869109684683202912007-11-13T10:07:00.000+11:002008-01-27T20:31:30.196+11:00

I may be the latest person in Australia to hear about this but I discovered Plugger, a useful aggregator of Australian business news on-line, on the weekend.

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-80464512303016370812007-11-10T10:03:00.000+11:002008-01-27T20:32:09.370+11:00

Now, I love News Radio and its continuous news but this rambling interview with John Howard yesterday morning had me half wanting to drive the car into a power pole.For me, it underlined just how much Howard's lost touch (duh) but also what's wrong with some media/journalism at the moment.After describing the debate over whether the Prime Minister did-didn't-or-should-have-said 'sorry' for this

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-86792188064224761542007-11-09T16:47:00.000+11:002008-01-27T20:33:00.886+11:00

Interesting article from Wired. If I was being funny I might say Canadian's should pay more for gadgets, call it a tax for Celine Dion, but what I thought was interesting with the way the journalist pulled the punch at the end, saying "one piece of speculation is that Apple generally sets their international prices once a year."Somehow I very much doubt that's the problem.

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8317256755872495490.post-66788408953012299652007-11-01T10:30:00.000+11:002008-01-27T20:33:53.022+11:00

Whether it’s our traditional distrust of authority or a symptom of the tall poppy syndrome, it appears bloggers are Australians’ least trusted information source. A September study by the local arm of Edelman PR found Australians regard bloggers as far less trusty-worthy than mainstream or Web-based media with a rating of only three per cent (interestingly, it’s silent of the subject of surveys

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10342769958755826066noreply@blogger.com0