Weâre probably far enough along from the event for people not to know which one I am referring to, as Iâve no wish to embarrass the organizers.
Earlier in 2021, we saw a weekend event that would take place at the âJohnsonville Community Hubâ. No address was given other than that. Both Duck Duck Go and Google seemed to think this meant Waitohi, the new library and swimming pool complex.
We arrived there to find that no one knew of this event, but maybe we could try the community hall next door?
No joy.
There was the Collective Community Hub on Johnsonville Road but their website made it clear that it wasnât open at the weekend.
We hung round Johnsonville for a bit and decided we would check out the Collective place, just to see it up close.
Sure enough, thatâs where the event wasâit was open at the weekendâand we got there after everyone had packed up.
They were very apologetic and we told them the above. They had noted, however, that there had been more information on Facebook.
To me, thatâs a big mistake, because I donât know what their Facebook page is, and even if I did, there was no guarantee I would see it for a variety of reasons. (Try loading any fan page on Facebook on mobile: the posts take unbearably long and few people would have the patience.) A search for the event on both Duck Duck Go and Google never showed a Facebook page, either.
A similar event posted its cancellation on Facebook exclusively, something which we didnât know till we got there, and after getting puzzled looks from the party that had booked the venue, I randomly found one organizerâs page and clicked on his Facebook link. Again, nothing about the event itself came up on Duck Duck Go or on Google.
In the latter case, the organizer had the skills to make a web page, a normal one, so was it so hard to put the cancellation there?
You just canât find things on Facebook. They donât appear to be indexed. And if they are, theyâre probably so far down the resultsâ pages that they wonât be seen. If youâre organizing an event, by all means, post there to those who use Facebook keenly (a much smaller number than you think, with engagement decreasing year after year), but it is no substitute for getting it into properly indexed event calendars or on to the web, where regular people will put in search terms and look for it.
Facebook is not the internet. Thank God.
Archive for the ‘New Zealand’ category
Ingredients of leadership
17.12.2021My friend Sarah Jane Adams is undertaking research on leadership and asked for what people thought being a good leader meant. Here are 10 that I gave her on her Linkedin. They are in no order and are the first 10 things that popped into my head. Not saying I’ve managed to do all of them consistently, but I try.
Recognize every individual for who they are and what they bring to the table.
Acknowledge your own limitations.
Donât assign someone something you arenât prepared to do yourself if you were in their shoes.
Work with people who can think beyond themselves and who can look at the bigger picture.
Communicate clearly and succinctly. Jargon is for losers.
If you have a good team, being transparent with them is a good thing.
Do not put up with anyone who thinks they can hold you to ransom or to hold up your work. Replace the buggers.
Are you instilling love or fear? If itâs the latter, you havenât led.
Do what you love. Itâs easier to lead when you do.
And donât be a dick.
Tags: 2021, Aotearoa, business, leadership, LinkedIn, management, New Zealand
Posted in business, leadership, New Zealand | No Comments »
Some surprises on day one with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 5G
07.12.2021
Top: Decent enough specs for the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 5G. Above: Very respectable download speeds (in the header) as the phone updates 71 apps.
My Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 5G is here, and itâs proved better than the reviews suggested.
First up, kudos to the seller, YouGeek on Aliexpress, who not only double-checked to see that I wanted the Chinese version, but was considerate enough to send me, without any prompting, a New Zealand power adapter. The wrapping was the most secure Iâve ever seen from any Aliexpress vendor, like a hefty transparent Michelin man.
DHL did the delivery two days ahead of schedule, which pleased me no end.
The phone itself surprised me. I imagined 6·53 inches would be too big and 199 g too heavy, but neither has come to pass. Itâs marginally taller than the outgoing Meizus but not ridiculously so, and as I have large hands, the width is fine. I havenât noticed the weight increase, either.
The blue finish, which isnât available on the export Note 9T 5G, is probably the best colour of the three on offer, and frankly I donât care if the back is plastic or metal. As long as it keeps the bits inside, itâs fine.
What also isnât on offer for export is precisely these specs: MediaTek Dimensity 800U running at a maximum of 2·4 GHz, 6 Gbyte of RAM, and 128 Gbyte of internal storage. The model code is M2007J22C.
Other surprises: itâs Android 11 (security update, October 1, 2021) running MIUI 12·5. Now, whether it was straight out of the box, I canât swear to, since it prompted me to do an update not too long after I switched on and logged in.
It did try to get me to give a voice print to unlock its features by saying four Chinese words. Naturally I said them, but it seems Xiaomi doesnât recognize Cantonese! The fingerprint scanner wasnât that easy to set upâit took numerous attempts before it recognized my fingerâbut I got there, and now itâs programmed, the home screen does launch quickly.
The first order of business was to take myself off ad personalization (so easy, they even take you to the screen during set-up), then download Bromite as the browser, to stop using the clumsy default; and replace Sogou keyboard with Microsoft Swiftkey. The rest was getting the apps to mirror the old phonesâ, which was pretty simple thanks to various APK sites such as APK Pure. The only one that did not function at all (a blank screen after the logo) was Instagram, but you expect Facebook, Inc. products to be buggy. An Uptodown download of a version from June 2021 solved that.
Despite what other reviewers found, I discovered that the watermark on the photos was switched off by default. Iâve seen the grand total of one advertisement on the default apps, so the notion that Xiaomi is heavily ad-driven doesnât seem to be the case with mine. There is a possibility that the combination of Chinese spec, English language, and a New Zealand IP address isnât one that advertisers want to reach. There are far fewer app notifications than I got on the Meizus.
After updating the OS, there were 71 apps that also needed the same treatment. Those came down at lightning speeds, even on wifi, at over 20 Mbyte/s.
Iâve synced my messages, call logs and contacts, though surprisingly the phone could not work out that the New Zealand 02 numbers were the same as +64 2, and those had to be manually added. The old Meizu M2 Note had no such trouble back in 2016.
The default typeface choice in MIUI is much easier on the eyes than the default Android fonts.
Interestingly, the default music player here also fails to pick up local music on an SD card, rendering it useless, much like Meizuâs (are they copying one another, to have the same bug?). Once again, it was InShotâs Music Player to the rescue, and it works fine here. Sadly, I do have to relink a lot of the album covers.
Screenshots arenât as intuitive, as the volume control invariably appears if you do the powerâvolume switchesâ combination, but a screenshot feature in the pull-down menu does the job.
The battery life is interesting, as Iâve used it for about six hours since it was charged up to 100 per cent, and it fell to 65 per cent in that time. That tells me the 5,000 mAh is good for 18 hours of sustained usage, which included setting up, Bluetooth-linking it to the car and the M2 Note, running apps, using Here Maps for some navigation, and using some mobile data. I havenât viewed any videos yet, and I donât play any games. Iâll be interested to see how it fares on a more regular day: earlier reviews had led me to believe it could last over a day. Iâm sure it can without the heavy use Iâve put it through in its first six hours.
I understand that with the pace of change in China, this phone, launched this week one year ago, is already obsolete, but as far as Iâm concerned, I hope Iâm future-proofed for another six yearsâthatâs how long the M2 lasted before things like its short battery life and inability to receive some calls became an issue. (And this was despite the M6 Note having come into service from 2018 with a short break to get serviced at PB.) Itâs been a very pleasing first six hours, without the stress of having to put on a Chinese OS myself, and continuing to be Google-free.
Tags: 2021, advertising, Aliexpress, Aotearoa, cellphone, China, Google Android, language, Meizu, New Zealand, privacy, review, Shenzhen, technology, typography, Xiaomi
Posted in China, design, internet, New Zealand, technology | 1 Comment »
Targets painted, opposition misses again
03.12.2021Our governmentâs response to COVID-19 has been better than many nationsâ, but it is far from perfect, as Ian Powell points out in a well reasoned blog post, and in his article for Business Desk. Itâs backed up by a piece by Marc Daalder for Newsroom. To me, Powellâs piece makes a great deal of sense, and for those who feel the new system feels, instinctively, politically driven, then they are right. He says, inter alia:
At the time I thought that the traffic lights system had been initiated by the Ministry of Health (experts outside the Ministry were not supportive). Subsequently, however, according to senior Health Ministry officials privately, it came from the Prime Ministerâs department.
This helps explain the working it out as you go along approach that is causing confusion among many. Jacinda Ardernâs claim of the system being world leading is overcooked.
He cites Daalder, who writes:
While the outbreak was expected to have a long tail, the Government fully intended to return to zero cases and even to maintain an elimination status after reopening the borders in 2022.
Just two weeks later, Cabinet threw in the towel on elimination.
We know that the government is working on overdrive through this whole pandemic, but it seems there are areas where the experts are being overridden.
But what does our opposition do? Instead of firing at the targets that Powell and Daalder have helpfully revealed, new leader Christopher Luxon repeats the ad nauseam cries of his predecessors to open up, to put Auckland into the âgreenâ. Any expectation that National had found pragmatism with its new leadership vanished in smoke mere days after Luxon took the helm.
This is the identical complaint I have over Sir Phony Blair over in the UK with not only missing the targets painted on the Tories by themselves, but turning 180 degrees and firing the other way.
We need an opposition that holds a government to account but it seems Luxon, who bafflingly refers to Simon Bridges as having âintellectual heftâ, might be yet another ideologue, importing more of the same but in more hidden, calm language than his predecessor.
Are there any pragmatists left in politics, or is everyone following ideology these days?
Tags: 2021, Aotearoa, Auckland, blogosphere, COVID-19, health, Labour, media, National Party, New Zealand, Newsroom, pandemic, politics, TÄmaki Makaurau
Posted in media, New Zealand, politics | No Comments »
December 2021 gallery
01.12.2021Here are December 2021âs imagesâaides-mĂ©moires, photos of interest, and miscellaneous items. I append to this gallery through the month.
Notes
Roger Moore and Ford Fiesta Mk I, via George Cochrane on Twitter.
More on the Volkswagen Fox in Autocade.
More on the Ford Consul Corsair at Autocade.
The Guardian article excerpt, full story here.
The devil drives Kia? Reposted from Twitter.
Audi maths on an A3, via Richard Porteous on Twitter.
Christmas decoration, via Rob Ritchie on Twitter.
Back to the â70s: Holden Sandman used for Panhead Sandman craft beer promotions.
GeorgiaâPacific panelling promotions, 1968, via Wendy O’Rourke on Twitter.
Ford Cortina Mk II US advertisement via the Car Factoids on Twitter.
Bridal fashion by Luna Novias, recently featured in Lucire.
Deborah Grant in UFO, with the VWâPorsche 914, which would have looked very modern at the time.
Freeze frame from episode 1 of The Champions (1968), with William Gaunt, Stuart Damon and Alexandra Bastedo.
Our rejected greeting card design, with a picture shot at Oriental Parade, Wellington.
Ford Taunus GT brochure spread via the Car Factoids on Twitter.
My Daddy Is a Giant image and UK measures, reposted from Twitter.
Richard Nixon attempts to appeal to younger voters, 1972. Simple, modernist design using Futura Bold.
A 1983 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am advertisement.
Mazda Savanna brochure via George Cochrane on Twitter.
More on the Renault Mégane E-Tech Electric in Autocade.
Lucire issue 44 cover, photographed by Lindsay Adler, layout by me.
Tags: 1960s, 1963, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1970s, 1971, 1972, 1980s, 1983, 1988, 2000s, 2006, 2021, actor, actress, advertising, Aotearoa, Audi, book, Brazil, car, celebrity, Christmas, COVID-19, design, election, electric cars, fashion, fashion magazine, film, Ford, GeorgiaâPacific, GM, graphic design, Holden, humour, ITC, Japan, JY&A Media, Kia, Lindsay Adler, Lucire, magazine, marketing, Mazda, media, modernism, New Zealand, newspaper, Norway, photography, politics, Pontiac, Porsche, Renault, Roger Moore, The Guardian, TV, Twitter, typography, UK, USA, Volkswagen, Wellington, Whanganui-a-Tara
Posted in cars, culture, design, gallery, humour, interests, media, New Zealand, politics, publishing, TV, typography, UK, USA, Wellington | No Comments »
What succeeds my Meizu M6 Note?
29.11.2021My Meizu M6 Note has had to be retired, due to an expanding battery, something which I probably shouldnât have tolerated for so long (it began happening months ago). I only made the call to stop using it last week after the volume buttons could no longer function, and I probably should have stopped earlier still* as it would have been easier to get the SIM and micro SD cards out!
My original plan was to go slightly newer and opt for a Note 9, and I had located a vendor on Aliexpress who was prepared to send it to me with the Chinese Flyme OS installed. But my sense is that Meizu is now past its prime, and everything seems to be shutting down.
I had been logging into the app store daily for over a year to earn points, but Meizu informed us that it would cease to record log-ins, and we had to redeem what we could by January. Its now-useless default music app Iâve already blogged about. No one answers international queries any more and from what I can tell, official Meizu reps seldom frequent the Chinese forumsâwhile the international forums consist of frustrated users talking among themselves.
And this is coming from a self-confessed Meizu fan. I chose the M2 Note back in 2015â16 and if it werenât for the damaged screen, I might never have bought the M6 Note. For now, Iâm back to using the M2, which is slower, and the battery doesnât hold its charge quite as well any more, but at least everything from the M6 Note has synced to it. With my app usage lower than it was in 2012, I donât notice any real lags in performance within the programs I do use, something that I couldnât say even two years ago when I was still popping into Instagram daily. Only the camera gets annoying with its slowness. I have gone away from the Swype keyboard though, as Swype no longer sends verification codes to your email to sync your custom word dictionary. Iâm muddling my way through Microsoftâs Swiftkey, which has proved a tolerable successor (the chief gains are the ability to access en and em dashes and ellipses from the keyboard without switching languages). It seems to forget that youâve pressed shift in order to write a proper noun (you have to do this twice for it to stick!) but it is learning words like Lucire and Autocade as well as my email address.
Readers may recall that after I had the M2 Noteâs screen repaired, it would no longer charge, except at the store in Johnsonville (Repair Plus) that fixed it! The lads there would never tell me why they could charge it and I couldnât and just grinned, while I told them how patently ridiculous the situation was, that even a new charging cable could not work; in fact none of my chargers did. They didnât seem to care that this was the predicament they put me in. The issueâand I donât know if they are to blameâis that the charging port is looser than it was, and it needs a very decent micro USB connector. That was thanks to PB Tech for telling me the truthâand a thumbs-down to Repair Plus for not even trying to sell me a better cable! Moral of the story: use people for the one thing that can do, but donât expect much more from them, not even basic after-sales service.
With its âfaultâ remedied about a year and a half ago, I had a phone to use once I put the micro SD and SIM cards back in, though Amanda isnât able to hear me that clearly on it when Iâm at the office, and Iâm sure Iâve missed calls and SMSs probably due to limits with the frequencies it uses (though I had checked six years ago it would handle the Vodafone 3G and 4G frequencies).
So a new phone is needed because the “phone” function of the M2 isn’t up to par. I donât need the latest and greatest, and thanks to the pace of development, a phone launched in 2020 is already obsolete in China. It seems that if Meizu is on the way down that I should go to its arch-rival, Xiaomi, and get the Note 9âs competitor, which roughly has the same name: the Redmi Note 9.
The Xiaomi names are all confusing and the Indian market has different phones with the same names, to add to the confusion already out there. I donât profess to know where the S, T, Note, Pro, and the rest fit, but letâs just say Iâve been led to get a Redmi Note 9.
PB had first dibs but as the salesâ rep could not tell me whether I could easily put the Chinese version of MIUI on it, in order to rid myself of the Google bloatware, then I couldnât safely buy one. I wasted enough time on the M6 Note on that front, and my installation of its Chinese OS could well have been down to a fluke. He also refused to tell me the price difference between the sale units and the shop-soiled demo ones other than it was small, and, âYou may as well buy a new one.â
Thereâs no irony here with privacy: Chinese apps at least tell you what legislation covers their usage, unlike western apps which donât mention US Government snooping yet Google passes on stuff anyway. In all the years Iâve used the Meizus there has been nothing dodgy in terms of the data received and sent, as far as I know, and thereâs nothing questionable constantly running such as Google Services that transmits and drains your battery.
There are some great sites, a number of which are in India, that teach you how to turn off some of Xiaomiâs bloatwareâs notifications, but they seldom annoyed me on the Meizu. Iâll soon find out first-hand how good they are.
Why the Redmi Note 9? It was one of the few on Aliexpress that I could find with the Chinese ROM installed, saving me a lot of effort. I wonât have to root it, for a start. When your choice is down to about half a dozen phonesâAliexpress and Ebay vendors are so keen to get export sales they make it a point not to sell Chineseâyouâre guided on price and your daily usage. Iâm a firm believer that a phone should not cost the same as a used car. Bonuses: the big battery and the fact it isnât too bright (thatâs just me); detriments: 199 g in weight and a humongous screen.
The vendor (YouGeek) was conscientious enough to send me a message (along the lines of âAre you absolutely sure you want the Chinese version?â) which cost me a couple of days since I donât always pop back to the site (and you canât read messages on the phone browser version anyway). Now weâre on the same page, theyâve dispatched the phone. Weâll see how things look in a couple of weeks. Thereâs no turning back now.
* PS.: From How to Geek: ‘Once you notice the battery is swollen or compromised in any way, you should immediately stop using the device. Turn the power off, and above all else, do not charge the device. Once the battery has reached such a point of failure that the battery is swollen, you must assume that all safety mechanisms in the battery are offline. Charging a swollen battery is literally asking for it to turn into an exploding ball of noxious flammable gas right in your living room.’ I wish I was told this when I first went to PB months ago when the battery began expanding and I enquired about phones.
Tags: 2020, 2021, Aliexpress, cellphone, cellphones, China, India, Meizu, Microsoft, PB Technologies, retail, software, Xiaomi
Posted in business, China, India, New Zealand, technology, Wellington | 1 Comment »
My tribute to David MacGregor
28.11.2021
Digital art by David MacGregor
I hope the media will say more because David MacGregor had packed so much into his 50-something years on this planet. Here is my tribute on Lucire. Not everyone can claim to have discovered Rachel Hunter, created the Family Health Diary TV commercial format (and others), founded the first online men’s lifestyle magazine in New Zealand (Emale, or to give it its official form, eMALE), conceived and co-founded Idealog, and won a heap of advertising, marketing, and magazine publishing awards in the process. A brilliant man who never stopped creating.
Tags: 2021, advertising, Aotearoa, Auckland, friends, friendship, marketing, New Zealand, publishing, TÄmaki Makaurau, TV
Posted in business, internet, leadership, marketing, media, New Zealand, publishing, technology, TV | No Comments »
The post-Panel podcast
16.11.2021Taking some of the themes today on RNZâs The Panel with Wallace Chapman (pre-Panel here, part one of the show here, and part two here), I offer a bit more commentary. Todayâs topics: the COVID-19 mandate for schools; quitting drinking; Finland planning to let people see othersâ salaries; the level of spending above New Zealand Superannuation; Countdownâs toy gifts; and the multi-modal commuter.
Big thanks to Amelia, Wallace and Julia today for a very enjoyable hour and 15 minutes!
Please note that this podcast is not affiliated with Radio New Zealandâthis has been done of my own volition and from my own inspiration.
Tags: 2021, Aotearoa, Finland, life, New Zealand, podcast, politics, Radio New Zealand, society, Wellington, Whanganui-a-Tara
Posted in business, culture, Hong Kong, New Zealand, politics, technology, UK, Wellington | No Comments »