Beyond Branding Blog removed from Blogger today

As of tonight, the Beyond Branding Blog, where I first cut my teeth blogging, is no more.    The posts are still there, but no further comments can be entered on to the site. The nearly four years of posts remain as an archive of some of our branding thought of that period.    The […]

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More Buzz, a small buzz, and my real and virtual lives meet

My friend Pete informs me of his Google Buzz experience, and it’s not positive, either.    He is no stranger to technology and is more expert than I am on these matters. He had turned off Buzz, and was surprised to find that it was still taking his information and publishing it to his followers. […]

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The 10 types of Twitter account I am unlikely to follow back

I’m getting fussier about whom I follow back these days on Twitter, and have noticed myself removing some people I followed.    Initially, my rule on Twitter was to follow back only people I knew in the real world. Eventually, I opened that up and even went back among the following to include people I […]

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I don’t have Gmail. So how did I get a Buzz account again?

Can someone please explain to me how I have a Google Buzz account?    Yes, I know, all those people complaining about Google Buzz found that their Gmail contacts where, all of a sudden, added to the service.    And Google, this week, apologized for messing up.    Well, Google, please explain my scenario, because […]

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Wellington wants free wifi

While I’ve been a LinkedIn member for many years—my LinkedIn ID has six digits, which gives you an idea of how long ago—I have to confess that I did not browse the brilliant Wellington, New Zealand group till quite recently.    And free wifi is being talked up there, too, as something Wellingtonians genuinely want. […]

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More Google privacy breaches in Reader?

Tonight, I removed every single blog I followed—including my own—from Blogger. My de-Googling continues. I’ve also taken myself off as an author on some Blogger blogs as of tonight, as an intermediate step of ending my association with Blogger altogether.    I had hoped that deleting my Blogger reading list would get me off the […]

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I do not stand for John Key’s defeatist talk

I’ve heard it all before. In the 1980s, the New Zealand Government promised that, with the introduction of Goods and Services’ Tax (GST), people would be better off, because it would mean more money in our pockets.    With the proposal to hike GST to 15 per cent under the current government, Prime Minister John […]

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Toyota’s troubles stem from forgetting its principles

I was surprised to learn that Toyota still has not issued a worldwide recall of its troublesome Prius NHW30 model, even though one had gone out in New Zealand.    In layman’s terms, the brakes allegedly don’t work when you want them to. In more complex terms, the software has trouble distinguishing between different types […]

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The small things spoil the flight

We might get critical over the upcoming uniforms, but the service on Air New Zealand that I experienced was very good. The staff was brilliant (deserving of whatever award was given to them), and the personal screens remain a lifesaver for in-air boredom. (I was surprised that Lufthansa, an airline I used to enjoy flying, […]

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Taxis signal how a local car industry is going

When Fiat was in the poo, I remember heading in to Italy and the cabs were a mixture of German and French cars, with a few Italian ones. Generally, it was a reflection of the state of the local motor industry: cab drivers are, perhaps subconsciously, patriotic and quite traditional. If they reject the local […]

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