Category Archives: Technology

IT, Technology

Why less is more…

I always wondered about the total number of hit in a Google search. The Google Operating System Blog explains the process in more detail; Google Finds Less Search Results.

The surprise to me was here:

“When you perform a search, the results are often displayed with the information: Results 1 – 10 of about XXXX. Google’s calculation of the total number of search results is an estimate. We understand that a ballpark figure is valuable, and by providing an estimate rather than an exact account, we can return quality search results faster.”

I’ve seen business plans based on that estimate. That it is;

  1. An estimate.
  2. Likely to radically change overnight.

is shocking. Just proves that you should never assume.

IT, Products, Technology

Enterprise Software Too Boring: Oh do come along…

SmoothSpan has a good review of the spat that Scoble has created around his comments about ERP software not being sexy. You read Scoble’s comments here.

SmoothSpan does a good job of defending the ERP cause pointing out that this is probably because Scoble doesn’t know enough about ERP software. But that misses the larger point…

Most of the products that bloggers and journalists are reviewing they know little about and don’t understand the user case for.

A good example of this is the Kindle that was the subject of last week’s blog battle started by Scoble. Most of the people that wrote the Kindle off are not big book readers. They are big PC users and didn’t understand why anyone would need an eBook.

If you’re in front of your PC all day why would you need a Kindle? Doesn’t mean that there is no market for the product, just that you’re not part of it.

Back to ERPs. Most A-list bloggers work in small organizations or are freelance. Why should they see the benefits of an ERP? Any freelance that installs an ERP is mad; however it doesn’t mean that it isn’t useful software.

IT, Technology, UK

Woman found canoeist photo via Google

Woman found canoeist photo via Google | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited
What a fantastic advert for Google and the internet. The best part is that you can do the search yourself.

Searching the internet is going to become a job description sooner or later.

IT, LeWeb3, Products, Technology

Fon does it right again!!!

I love Fon, I got my first router via LeWeb3 last year and it’s been on in my appartment ever since. I’ve also had great fun giving invitations to friends in three different countries.

Then they go and do this for Christmas…

SEASONS GREETINGS

WE’RE GIVING YOU THREE FREE FON ROUTERS TO CELEBRATE THIS HOLIDAY SEASON OF SHARING!

Fantastic idea! I’m now having fun deciding who I’m going to give them to.

France, IT, LeWeb3, Technology, UK

My view on LeWeb3 2006: Part I

If you were on another planet you might have missed the fact that there was a controversy at LeWeb3 last year. I was there but didn’t have a blog at the time; I now have a voice.

The best summary in less than 10,000 words can be found here: LeWeb3 is actually “Loic for president” at blog.forret.com. Loïc wrote the 10,000-plus word version of events with his response here.

Here’s my view…

First, I had a fantastic time last year. Except for a couple of speakers, mainly in the group discussions, who were more interested in promoting the company logo than being interesting, it was well worth my time and money (I took vacation and paid for myself).

Second, I’d not been to any of the previous conferences and therefore wasn’t looking to replicate something from the past. I’m interested in politics, technology and just about anything that I don’t know. As it turned out, two of the best speakers were not IT speakers at all; Hans Gosling was amazing and Shimon Peres was inspirational and got a standing ovation. There were another ten presenters who were well worth the two days on their own.

Now to how I perceived things. I was sitting at the front at the left and it was very clear that something was happening on the other side of the room as early as the mid-morning on day one. This was before the announcements that supposedly sparked all the controvosy.

When changes were made to the program I just held onto my hat and thought that at least I was seeing something new.

However, when I got home to wi-fi that worked after day one the blogs were very negative and it seemed that I was the only happy customer in the room. By the end of day two the blogs had gone into meltdown and the end of the world was iminent.

The aftermath of the conference was the end of TechCrunch UK v1.0, discussions about starting a “real European conference in the UK” and even the end of Loïc’s career.

I can’t help feeling, even a year later, that most of the fuss was generated by a small group who had a hidden agenda. Conferences are big money and I think that last year was the last chance for someone to get a rival conference off the ground.

We’re now twelve months on and LeWeb3 is back and even bigger, I’ve not heard of any massive life changing conference in the UK and Loïc the poor man seems to have the hottest startup around.

So what was wrong with last year again?