It's that time of year where we round up all that went down over 2009, and all that'll be surging down the pipe during Twenty-Ten. So here's a very short summary of the excellent year which was, and a few tip-offs about the promising year which is to come -- despite the obvious onset of worsening economic conditions wherever you live.
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It's been a trying week chock-full of technical mishaps and PC operating system roadblocks that's prevented me from issuing daily dispatches, so kindly excuse the short delay. I've finally kicked the can and upgraded to Windows 7, and a very good riddance to the most annoying Vista! Since the summer of '08, I've experienced nothing but trouble with the latter -- from the very first week I'd been using it -- so I'm absolutely over the moon to see it go. How about you? Any Vista troubles you
Continue Reading »It's been a trying week chock-full of technical mishaps and PC operating system roadblocks that's prevented me from issuing daily dispatches, so kindly excuse the short delay. I've finally kicked the can and upgraded to Windows 7, and a very good riddance to the most annoying Vista! Since the summer of '08, I've experienced nothing but trouble with the latter -- from the very first week I'd been using it -- so I'm absolutely over the moon to see it go. How about you? Any Vista troubles you
Continue Reading »I just completed Max Lenderman's Brand New World: How Paupers, Pirates and Oligarchs are Reshaping Business, which somehow strikingly reminded me of Vijay Mahajan's Africa Rising: How 900 Million Consumers Offer More Than You Think, a title I'd polished off earlier during 2009.
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It took me an extra couple of days over this year-end Holiday Rush, but I finally managed to catch the entirety of Jon Reiss' BOMB IT!, an independently-produced, guerrilla-marketed documentary about the phenomenon of "tagging," "piecing," and grafitti writing all around the globe (US, The Netherlands, Germany, France, the UK, South Africa, Brazil, and Japan).
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Panda hugger? Dragon slayer? What in tarnation am I on about?
Well, it's connected to one of my long-standing pet projects, a field I've been spending a considerable amount of time on these past few months: the Sino-US relationship. Through my humble efforts, this here crazy Canuck is trying to help the two sides see clear through to each other's intentions in the lead up towards what's shaping up to be this century's new policy of détente.
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For the world's China watchers, like myself, there's a new dynamic duo in town, the Swiss authors of Serge Michel & Michel Beuret who have recently signed their John Hancocks to their fresh-off-the-press China Safari: On the Trail of Beijing's Expansion in Africa.
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What delicious irony!
So I'm working my aging muscles at the gym this morning, buzzing in my zone, collected within my own thoughts and space, when on the overhead radio blares the news from the Climate Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark and then...followed by a sound bite from the Secretary of State -- Ms. Clinton -- about how "climate change not only affects the environment, but it affects our economy and our security."
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In between the other stuff I'm doing, I've been gradually scrolling my way though an excellent new Seth Godin eBook entitled What Matters Now.
Continue Reading »What might China have been like had the KMT had won?
What if Chiang (Kai-shek) had played a slightly more offensive role than his traditional defensive game and taken the fight to Mao's Communists instead of laying back in wait, following Bruce Lee's famous dictum about water:
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Global brands like Nike, Apple, Adidas, Burberry, Gucci, and Tag-Heuer are justifiably very concerned about Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian, and Brazilian product piracy, but according to author Max Lenderman, they shouldn't be all that concerned.
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Twitter's great because it acts as a kind of triage mechanism for new books I'd like to read. Several of my friends are avid readers -- surprising given their time commitments to their professional and family duties -- and one of them based in Shanghai recently suggested I have a look at Mike Walsh's Futuretainment.
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I've been slowly making my way through Chris Brogan and Julien Smith's superb Trust Agents over this weekend. From what I can make of the book so far, the key to increasing the amount of trust people place in you online revolves around how much stuff you put out there. By being a prolific content provider and by demonstrating how competently you speak about a particular topic online goes a long way to building a loyal online and offline following.
Continue Reading »Jeremy Gutsche, head honcho at Toronto's Trend Hunter, recently published his company's 50 Top Interviews of 2009. Interviewees ranged from new media to old media types, women and men responsible for generating memes and spotting trends who provided brief but candid responses to a series of repetitive questions asked -- with minor variations, according to their respective industries -- by Gutsche's Trend Hunter team.
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It's great to be back in Prague again after a long stint abroad and on the road. China and Romania were superb, as always, but there's nothing quite like home...I think?
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Most of my listeners and viewers are already aware that I began my Web 2.0 "career" as a podcaster (and here). I'll still occasionally record an audio piece when I have something interesting to say (hehe) though these days I remain an avid supporter of others' online works. Lately, my show selection is limited by the amount of time I have available to listen to longer-form material in light of how much of it I've lately been devoting to perfecting my video craft. Being thusly hogtied, I try to…