University of Western Police Brutality - YOUTUBE = NEWS

Prior to the internet how long would it have taken to get a news event out? A couple of hours would have been considered fast. In the time of news print, it would require the effort of a team of people to get a story ready and run the printing press to release the 'special edition'. An example of this is highlighted in the TIME article from 1945 . Today however, news can be spread by one individual around the world in a matter of seconds.

The recent incident on the campus of Western University highlights the power of the individual in a world revloving around technology. Of course these youtube news events aren't without its drawbacks. For example, we don't know the whole story, but what we do know is that the police were taking no prisoners when this guy would not "stop resisting".

News can spread like wild fire and eyes are everywhere. The video below is what was released about 20 mintues after the event took place and quickly captured the attention of tens of thousands of people.



Now I am not the biggest fan of authority figures either, but this guy is clearly going to have strong views against authority after this event. There is clearly more to this than we see, but what we can see from the video is how perceptions can be made from partial information. The UWO gazette cover the arrest in more detail.

In the world today it is important to realize how businesses can communicate across borders and retrieve news events relavent to its industry quickly and efficiently. No longer is it difficult to obtain news from any corner of the globe. The internet in all its awesome power has made e-business possible and the possibility for individuals to report their own news events.

I'm going to coin a new term which I think is very true and relates to this post it is e-news. The ability for the  individual to post news electronically from anywhere in the world.

So keep those cameras rolling, because you never know when you will have the next big story.

Let's push things forward

Focus on the future don't dwell on the past, learn from our mistakes and more importantly the mistakes of others. As Issac Newton said "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants". What can we take from this?

Well for starters, there is no way in our lifetime that we can make all the mistakes that we would require to get everything right. What I mean by this, is basically, to learn from the mistakes of others. Whether that be other companies, other friends, our parents or role models. By learning from others we can make improvements on their methods, thus pushing things forward.

Keep moving forward, grow, learn and develop. We are constantly learning in our lives, and if not, you better start. Life evolves and we need to be constantly adapting whether that's in the business world or otherwise.

I recently attended a dinner/awards ceremony for I.E. Canada and they were awarding companies for improving process for export, greening the supply chain and leadership. They are recognizing the individuals who are moving forward.

Life can throw some tough times at us and although living in the present is very important and appreciating what we have, it is just as important to focus on the future and where our hard work today will put us in the future.

So I urge all of my readers, keep moving forward and live in the now, think in the future. 

Human Resources? What human resources?

Human resources, where do I begin????   How about I don't !  Sounds like a good idea to me. I don't want to be one to preach to the masses but as the flobots so eloquently put it in their song 'handlebars' (which you should definitely check out), they say " I can lead a nation with a microphone".  Now I'm not saying I can lead a nation, heck according to my followers only 14 people really care about what I have to say, but I digress.

Human resources, not something we consider all that often, however, aparently HR takes up 70% of the expenses of a company to pay wages. blah blah blah. But seriously, just for a moment, human resources is something that every business needs to consider, especially when sending employees overseas. I am reading a book right now that makes you think about human resources without you even knowing it. On the Wings of Eagles, is a book written by Ken Follett, lately a personal favorite of mine. Without getting into too much detail it's about executives of an american company working in Iran, confusion ensues and the executives are thrown in jail. Then the company organizes a team of people to secretly go and break them out - as a friend put it after my explanation ' it sounds like a guy's book'. I'd probably have to agree. But it makes you think about the elements to consider when working on international assignments which are related to human resouces.

So what do you know, I guess I do have to consider human resouces down the road. But no matter the business, whether online or 'brick and mortar' the people outside - the customer keep you in business and the people inside - the employees run the business. Therefore we can't avoid the human element, thus making HR relevant to all of us.

Oh, and yes I can ride a bike with no handlebars.

Question! How do we feed 9,100,000,000 people?

People say I eat a lot, this could be true, however, I don't waste my food and I live to eat as well as eat to live. I am very fortunate to be living a life where I don't have to question where my next meal is going to come from, even though I am a student, I still get my food. However, there is a growing shortage of food around the world.

Recent BBC reports have suggested that food production needs to increase 70%, WOW. Are you kidding me? Well, no, I'm pretty sure they are not and the people that are suffering from food shortages are the same people who struggle for water. We complain about the price of gas being too high and then we rush out and spend $1.50 on half a liter of water. Have you considered what kind of a mess we could be in if gas prices were that high for us?

What we need to recognize is that those suffering from food and water shortages are also the individuals that we are so keen on getting computers into their hands and the internet at the tips of their fingers. I am all for the development of the web and trying to reach the far corners of the globe and involve them in the tech generation, but first we need to FEED them. Companies need to focus on ways to feed the future. If as much attention that is put towards food and feeding the world as is put on technology and what it can do for us, there just might be 3 billion other people that can contribute to the betterment of the world.

Smart Phones for Smart Companies...coming up next, Smart people

It's a berry good thing that we like technology, because technology, in its own messed up way, has a method to making our lives easier.

Smartphones are fast becoming the way to stay connected to the web. Businesses all over the world are turning to blackberries, iphones and also the windows phone, yes there is a phone with the windows O/S. Even the president of the United States, Mr. Obama has the blackberry to get those important emails when he needs them. We thought that with wireless internet we would always be connected, then they introduced cell phones with web capability. It was the "in" thing - to be able to surf the web on your phone.

Of course we have come along way from checking movie times and the score in the game. Now we have nothing short of a computer literally in the palm of our hand, which we are now sticking into our ear. This is ofcourse in an attempt to increase the handsfree capability. Which is great, because companies are not going to want their employees crashing, trying to reply to emails or make the important call while driving in the rain. Some new technology on the market which has identified this need of handsfree has introduced a nifty product that will read your emails to you via bluetooth and also reads the news and weather and everything the primative web capable phones did, but wirelessly and handsfree. It's the iLane.

The cool thing with technology is that companies can now be even more connected. They can really be an e-business. Technology is great and is helping us in ways we never even imagined, I mean the internet and web are pretty sweet and its off this technology that grew e-business, and the whole wireless world.

TEXTING, DRIVING and $500

We all now how dangerous it is to text and drive. It's almost as stupid as not wearing your seatbelt.
I mean would you ever jump in a roller coaster ride without buckling up? I'm gonna go with NO. But tell me what is the difference between a roller coaster and a car that has just crashed and flipped moving at about 100 kph.
I'll tell you what the difference is - NOTHING. You'd probably get killed in that roller coaster if you didn't buckle up, but you do because you know it's gonna be a crazy ride. Well for those of you who have been fortunate enough to not experience a car accident it is just as crazy a ride. So to cut a long story short (too late I know), we buckle up.

Well to move on to my second point. Why do we think it's okay to drive and not look at the road? Last time I checked if someone is considered legally blind they are not allowed to drive. Well an individual who is legally blind and looking at the road is probably the same as someone is has perfect vision and not looking at the road.
To put it another way, if you can't see what's coming you can't do anything to avoid it. Therefore, WATCH THE ROAD DUMBASS, NOT YOUR PHONE

Finally, the MTO has decided to do something about it (not much). As of October 26th 2009, the province of Ontario and Quebec are making it illegal to use a cellphone or ipod or anyother device that is not handsfree.
Not a bad idea, I mean there will be people who will still try, but at least now they are going to be penalized if they are caught. Oh, but wait, the MTO knows how DUMB we all are and how it takes a long time for us to grasp these complicated concepts of EYES ON THE ROAD, so we have a 3 month 'education' period, and not until February 1, 2010 will we be slapped with a ticket.

But come on folks do we really need the threat of a ticket looming over us to know that we can just wait until we are not driving to check the phone, or for goodness sakes, pull over and do what you need to do.

HOW MUCH IS YOUR LIFE WORTH TO YOU? Be smart and drive safely.

THANKS

So in an effort to create some interaction on my blog I had a poll going. The poll was related to a previous post with regards to backing up your work and I was curious as to other peoples habits.
The resutls came back and although it was hard to imagine the overwhelming response (10 votes total) it still showed that we back up as often as possible.
Thanks again for taking part in the vote.

Britney Spears, Megan Fox and Princess Diana. What do they have in common?

Societies addiction with celebrities is insatiable. We can't have it so we want it even more. Pictures, gossip, anything. Social networking sites has made this common place even within our own network of friends. Almost everything we know is fed to us through the media and online. Now we probably take most of what we hear with a grain of salt, but we still think there is some truth to what is being said.

Alison Jackson, a very well established artists is well known for her uncanny look-a-like celebrity photos. Making people believe that what they are seeing is real.


But what is real? When it comes to media and on a broader scale, the internet it is becoming harder to discern the boundaries of fiction and truth.

We are able to follow celebrities on a daily basis. Where the tabloids once stood we now have twitter, facebook, youtube and personal blog sites that are practically glued to the celebrity. The news tabloids and papers are still around, but its the internet that increasing celebrity exposure exponentially and making it even easier to spread gossip faster than a California forest fire.

According to AOL search terms, Britney Spears was the number one searched female celebrity in 2008. Megan Fox has been making waves with her films and looks. And what about Princess Diana? Well if you believe what Alison Jackson has so say, Princess Diana might be still alive...if you believe the pictures.

So where am I going with this? Well we need to scrutinize our sources and double and triple check our information. Businesses are able to fabricate and lead us to believe something that isn't true through a fancy website or product 'reviews', so don't trust everything you read, and in this age of digital magic, keep your eyes peeled.

P.S. Would you have read this if I hadn't mentioned celebrities in the title? You thought you'd satisfy that craving for celebrity gossip, eh?

BACKUP...SEND BACKUP!!

DON'T FORGET TO ANSWER THE POLL QUESTION :) THANKS

With the revolution of the internet, we are becoming more dependent upon it.We see it all around us and the potential impact it's going to have on the future of businesses is huge. So we better make sure that we can keep up and not get lots in the bites and bytes of cyberspace.

With technologies there are bound to be setbacks and technical difficulties. But we better figure out a way to minimize these 'technical difficulties'. I mean imgaine you are in the middle of a super important web conference or writing a major report or compiling financial data from the quarter and the sh*t hits the fan with the comptuer system-can you say system crash?!

We do what we can to avoid these computer hiccups impacting us too much, with constant backups and the 'crtl + S' feature when writing the documents we think we are safe. But as we become more reliant on the web and business are exposing themselves (in a manner of speaking) to the public what are they going to do to protect themselves?

I don't know the answer to these questions or maybe I do and I'm too tired to include them in this post, but regardless, we need to be vigilant. With technology things will go wrong. So make sure you call for backup BEFORE its too late.

For the sake of interest I'm running a little poll on the side. So you tell me how often you backup your work.