This is something that happens in the background but that you may not know about… before each football match in the 2010 FIFA world cup, the airspace is patrolled by the South African National Defence Force, reducing the possibility of an infringement occurring.

Amazing photo by Frans Dely/Avpix.co.za

I really love this headline on the front cover of the New York Post!

We just built a photo wall of the Google logo using 884 photos…

More info at http://www.claybavor.com/

A quick post about transparency – the good and bad implications – my  blog post on AIIM Communites

By default, in the Mac finder you can see the size of individual files but not folders (unless you click on “get info” for each one.

However it’s easy to set the option to see the folder size. Just go Finder, View, Show View Options, and select the “calculate all sizes” box.

Bear in mind that the reason this is deselected by default is that performance may become slightly degraded when it’s switched on. Personally I see no difference but bear it in mind.

This is amazing… living life to the max…

It’s been weeks since I officially joined Google, and the fact that it’s taken me this long to write this is testament to how busy things have been. What’s my job? I’m covering the Regional Marketing for Google Enterprise in the UK, Ireland and Benelux (Google Enterprise = Google Apps, Google Search Appliance, Google Earth & Maps,  Postini)

New Googlers are called Nooglers (New Googler) – and so far this has been a pretty good experience. There is definitely a rapidly emerging “Frequently Asked Questions” with some common themes:

• What’s it like to work at Google?
• How does it compare to Microsoft?
• Do you have to go on a course to perfect your Barista skills?
• How do I get a job at Google?
• Tell me about the Google culture

Too much to answer in one post… so I’ll cover some of these over time… however here are the headline answers…

• What’s it like to work at Google? It’s great – they look after their employees unlike anything I’ve ever seen! Further specifics to come in later posts
• How does it compare to Microsoft? This is the question I get asked MOST. There is lots different and lots in common – could write a book on this but will start with a few blog posts.
• Do you have to go on a course to perfect your Barista skills? Yes – along with  lots of other stuff in the “Noogler training” – there are some great onboarding ideas that can be learned from G
• How do I get a job at Google? With difficulty and patience – this could be another book in itself.
• Google culture: there is something called “Googliness” that defines the Google culture… it just is what it is and there is no actual definition. I will try to provide some examples of Googliness to give an idea of what it is. By the way one of the most important things in getting a job at Google is to be quite Googly… as per other points above will require some dedicated blog posts on the subject.

Anyway – so far so good – it feels very much like a startup (a well funded one that is)

Today, Google announced Google Buzz which is their play into the social web.

Here’s a look at how it works.

On the face of it, the simplicity of it seems similar to a microblogging tool such as twitter (you have a space to write your update). However, it is embedded in the gmail interface,  making it easy to transition between your email and buzz. You also have a notification bar just below the text box, telling you important updates (in this case if you have new followers, whether or not you are already following them, and a link to find new followers; a very simple, clean, logical design.

What takes it way beyond something like twitter, is the ability to add pictures, video etc. into the post so it’s a lot more like blogging in that sense (yet a lot simpler). In the screengrab below you see a post from Ed showing the snow in Oslo. Also notice the ability to reply with a chat message… so very good integration with both gmail and chat. Also notice that the Buzz has been posted as publicly visible, you can also post it privately to only your chat contacts.

As you can see, you can like, comment, email and reply by chat to a particular “buzz”

You can also take other actions such as linking to a buzz, viewing all buzz from that person, stop following that person, or muting that conversation which will make it disappear from your feed.

A pretty useful thing is that it can analyse your communication habits in order to suggest people to follow. As Google Buzz grows, this will help you by suggesting people that you already communicate a lot with (via chat and email).

Openness is an important aspect, and connectivity to other online tools that we use is available. The screenshot below shows some of the initial ones such as Google chat, Google Reader, twitter, picasa, flickr etc. but this list will grow and grow. This means that your actions in these other social networks will automatically update your buzz.

An added benefit is that this should also play into Google’s social search, which will show you more relevant search results on google.com based on things that your own personal network are sharing and find useful.

In conclusion – a great start with a good clean design. Twitter have not really innovated much since they launched so it’s great to see Google driving some new ideas into the world of the social web.

I recently stumbled across this old article from Harvard Business Review written by none other than Michael Porter and some of his Harvard colleagues, containing some important lessons for CEOs that are new to the role:

• First, as a new CEO you must learn to manage organizational context rather than focus on daily operations.
• Second, you must recognize that your position does not confer the right to lead, nor does it guarantee the loyalty of the organization.
• Finally, you must remember that you are subject to a host of limitations, even though others might treat you as omnipotent.

They talk about “seven surprises”… things that a new CEO may expect until reality hits…

1. You can’t run the company (The sheer volume and intensity of external demands take many by surprise. Almost every new CEO struggles to manage the time drain of attending to shareholders, analysts, board members, industry groups, politicians, and other constituencies)
2. Giving orders is very costly (No proposal should reach the CEO for final approval unless he can ratify it with enthusiasm. Before then, everyone involved with the matter should have raised and resolved any potential deal breakers, bringing the CEO into the discussion only at strategically significant moments to obtain feedback and support)
3. It is hard to know what is really going on (Certainly, CEOs are flooded with information, but reliable information is surprisingly scarce. All information coming to the top is filtered, sometimes with good intentions, sometimes with not such good intentions)
4. You are always sending a message (A CEOs words and deeds, however small or off-the-cuff, are instantly spread and amplified, scrutinized, interpreted and sometimes drastically misinterpreted)
5. You are not the boss (Although the CEO may sit at the top of the management hierarchy, he still reports to the board of directors. At the end of the day, the board—not the CEO—is in charge)
6. Pleasing shareholders is not the goal (CEOs must recognize that, ultimately, it is only long term value creation that matters, not today’s growth expectations or even the stock price)
7. You are still only human (CEO Should recognize he needs connections to the world outside his organization, at home and in the community, to avoid being consumed by his corporate live)

Africa is one of the richest continents in terms of natural resources, yet most of it is steeped in poverty. In the third world countries there are many basic things needed as a priority over Internet infrastructure (like food, water, shelter), however in a “semi-first-world” country like South Africa, the economy would benefit immensely from the basic business infrastructures that we take for granted here in the UK:

• pervasive, high performance Internet
• a fast, reliable postal system (and yes I am indeed referring to Royal Mail – don’t sound so surprised)
• reliable utilities (water, electricity)

Just the presence of good internet and postal system creates a platform for thousands of online retailers to exist. If people don’t have Internet access they can’t buy online, and without a cost effective, reliable postal system, whatever you buy will be more expensive than on the high street, and probably never reach you. As for reliable utilities, during a recent series of power outages in SA, a friend of mine who runs a furniture factory was out of production for 3 days in one month which cost his business about £600K.

So how far behind is a country like South Africa when it comes to Internet usage? If you visit as a tourist, your impression will be one of a first world country and you’d expect it to be quite high… but take a look at this graph showing the massive gap between SA and USA/UK. It really illustrates how much of the country lives in poverty without something that we take for granted as a staple component of our lives…