- Stifling bureaucracy,
- Stagnant labour market,
- Unwillingness of employers to give chances to young job applicants (...) because of attitudes often criticised as rigid,
- “In France if you read classics and history at university you can become a teacher, but not, say, a banker. Things are more flexible here (in London)",
- “People here can laugh at themselves, it’s part of good manners, but people take themselves a lot more seriously in France.”
Sunday, February 04, 2007
French join exodus for la vie en rosbif
Sunday Times article that perfectly summarises my feelings and the countless conversations I have with young French "refugees".
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Google to loose "Gmail" in Europe?
German entrepreneur Daniel Giersch trademarked "G-Mail" in 2001 for his company doing emails... After a court case and failed talk of a settlement, Giersch was awarded the right to use "G-mail". He plans to bring the matter to the European court to validate his claim across Europe. In the meantime, Google will have to use "Google mail". Article in French.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Wikipedia issues warning to PR agencies
About writing about clients they represent on Wikipedia (or paying others to do so). "If it persists they will be banned". Front page of PR week UK.
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Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Scoble Not Getting Attention
A most bizarre post from Robert Scoble about one of his stories on Intel not being linked by Engadget. Interesting insight into the mind of "A-List" bloggers. Seth Finkelstein's comment: "It must be very nice to be an A-lister. Then even your complaints about not getting enough attention get lots of attention."
Monday, January 29, 2007
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Bebe cat begs
We "cat-sitted" over the new year for a friend and ended up with "Bebe", a very talkative cat. It travelled all the way from Hong-Kong with its owner, survived its quarantine in the UK and learnt a few tricks on the way to get its favourite tibbits. Couldn't resist posting it.
Judy, if Bebe becomes famous, let's say we settled for 25% of direct income and royalties...
Judy, if Bebe becomes famous, let's say we settled for 25% of direct income and royalties...
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Friday, January 26, 2007
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Rent a protester
Young, good-looking, and available for around 150 euros (£100), more than 300 would-be protesters are marketing themselves on a German rental website.
Via BBC
Via BBC
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Boo Box: Is Pay-Per-Post getting increasingly popular?
My friend Guy forwarded me this post from What'snext on Boo Box , knowing that it will upset me. A "boo box" is a button you place on your blog in or next to your reviews. If your readers decide to buy the product you describe, you get a share of the sale. BL Ochman thinks it's "a cool idea, as long as bloggers behave ethically with this tool". I am going to bang my old drum here. As a blogger, I am suddenly incentivised to write positive reviews that sell so I can generate more income... Therefore as a review seeker, I am suddenly incentivised to look elsewhere for genuine unskewed reviews. Ethics v. economics.
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Tuesday, January 16, 2007
France's second largest TV channel partners with Google video
France 2 partners with Google video on a dedicated website to cover the 2007 French presidential election.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Mel Gibson's Apocalypto is a cinematographic triumph
I saw Apocalypto last Sunday with my wife. It is one of the best movies I have seen in ages (and I am a movie buff). Apocalypto is a phenomenon: it has a very simple story, it is a different setting to what you are used to, you really care for the characters (no A, B or C-lists actors here but real local casting), it has superb pictures and you are glued to your seat for 138 mins wondering what is going to happen next. This is story telling at its best. And Mel Gibson got a #1 in the
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Can web 2.0 companies build competitive advantage?
Can they create it and sustain it? How?
That's what I am trying to find out in my management report (final year Executive MBA "thesis" at London Business School).
I would like to interview marketing or management executives from the likes of Bebo, Myspace, Facebook, Kaboodle, Linkedin, Match.com, Friendster or start-ups in the field (relying on attracting and maintaining a critical mass of members to succeed).
I am keen to get a better understanding of the industry; the strategies used by major players and identify the golden rules for success. Interviews will be highly confidential and all data will be presented in aggregated format.
That's what I am trying to find out in my management report (final year Executive MBA "thesis" at London Business School).
I would like to interview marketing or management executives from the likes of Bebo, Myspace, Facebook, Kaboodle, Linkedin, Match.com, Friendster or start-ups in the field (relying on attracting and maintaining a critical mass of members to succeed).
I am keen to get a better understanding of the industry; the strategies used by major players and identify the golden rules for success. Interviews will be highly confidential and all data will be presented in aggregated format.
Benefits for executives are:
- Instant feedback/ideas from social media / online PR expert (and MBA student).
- Receive a copy of strategic overview when report is compiled.
- Open up a contact with London Business School (useful for future recruitment, interns and so on...)
- Doing a good deed
I can provide further details and my research tutor's contacts and references. Any help is much appreciated.
Thank you!Thursday, January 04, 2007
Counting the real Second Life population
As of today, Second Life counts 2,341,910 residents, as defined as "uniquely named avatars with the right to log in to Second Life, trade currency and visit the community pages". Critics make the distinction between registered users and active users, using a 10% conversion rate (confirmed by Linden Labs). This puts the number of Second-Lifers in the 200,000 to 230,000 range only. See CNet article.
GigaOm commented on the topic a while ago. Read the comments.
GigaOm commented on the topic a while ago. Read the comments.
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Tuesday, January 02, 2007
French protest against 2007
Hundreds of protesters in Nantes (France) marched in the New Year waving banners reading: "No to 2007" and "Now is better!". Give it a few more days guys, the government will cave in and roll back the year.
Via BBC.
PS: Happy New Year to all my readers. Thank you for keeping up with my erratic posting schedule.
Via BBC.
PS: Happy New Year to all my readers. Thank you for keeping up with my erratic posting schedule.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
'Paris Syndrome' strikes Japanese
Dozen or so Japanese tourists a year have to be repatriated from the French capital, after falling prey to what's become known as "Paris syndrome"...
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Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Pay per post is a no go
My friend Farhan forwarded me a link to Rockstartup (web 2.0. reality TV…). They are following up “the Internet's next monster company” payperpost.com “from its initial concept to international fame.”
I do not like the concept of pay-per-post at all.
If you are a business, you cannot win. A blogger can trash your product and get paid for it. A blogger can rave about your product but who will believe what he/she says? They are being paid after all. There is an irreconcilable conflict between providing independent opinions about a product and being paid to talk about a product. You just cannot be independent if you are paid by the company those products you are reviewing. As a customer, who are you going to trust? If there is no trust, what is the point to get bloggers talking about your product? The whole think sounds desperate. Are your products so bad or insignificant that you need to pay people to talk about them? If you want to be seen on blogs, join a blog advertising network or Adsense.
The only upside is that you get nice text links in context to your site, thus boost your search engines ranking. Other than that: avoid.
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