In Finland, it’s the government.

First, it was banned inside public buildings and work. Then it was banned outside, in bus-stops and inside restaurants. Advertising cigarettes is absolutely illegal and has been since forever. The new development is heading for an absolute ban of selling cigarettes. Supposedly it will go through some stages, first stripping the brands from the packets, leaving just a text of the brand on an all white-packet. The effects of such a ban can be seen in the selling of snuff, which is still available in Sweden and from which the Finns get theirs regularly and deal it under the counter in several places. It is out of sight and out of mind, but not out of reach. It might very well be that the cigarettes will suffer similar fate. The government will miss out on the tax revenues, but they can do the maths. The tax revenue pales in the face of the cost of treating the symptoms.

Have you seen this sign?

15% of the population are smokers in Finland. Out of those, most agree that making them stop is a genuinely good thing. There are those who dislike the patronizing, but to be honest, some nudging is needed. Today’s society is based on the gentle guidance of those who are wiser. A government acting against the citizens would never ban cigarettes. Finland, like many other European countries, has a substantial portion of the population reaching retirement age while the recession has wrecked the pension funds. Financially, in the short term, it would be wiser to just let go of the booze and cigs taxes and deny healthcare for those opting to puff or quaff.

Finns however, do care about the citizens and are taking the route that they know is the right way to go, no matter how hard it is. Just like the superfast-broadband-for-everyone law, the Finns are ploughing the way. Just like after the winter war, they are doing what needs to be done, not because it is easy, but because it is necessary. I think it is all because of the location. It must beneficial to exist in between Sweden and Russia. Looking right, where the Swedes are constantly doing everything West, one can seek for inspiration in handling the policies.   Peeking in the east though, where the Russians are always doing things wrong, is a sobering example of what not to do.

Lenovo U350

Having once spent a better part of the year to research this issue, I can now tell with utmost confidence. The very short answer would be that I do not know. The laptop market has a very vivid life to it and all you can tell for certain is, that you do not know. Do a bit of research and remember that the glove has to fit the wearer. Basically, there are three measuring sticks one normally uses when bying products: price, availability, quality

In laptops however, the yardsticks that they are made by are: weight and size, price and performance

Which are somewhat different from the yardsticks the consumer uses

1. Recommendations by friends or trusty experts or stores
2. Colour of the laptop, as well as the overall esthetic appeal
3. Price, sticker price or monthly, for however many months

And what one should look is

1. Pennies per day, how much does a day of this thrill cost. The laptop will be old after six months and obsolete after 18 months. It will last 36 months with 75% chance, but it will not be any fun.
2. Fitting the role, is this really what you want. Have you really seen it? Fiddled the keys? As everyone who ever bought a car knows, this is an important factor and you cannot read it in the brochures.
3. Headache factor, how well it does its job, without breaking down. How easy it is to get fixed, when something happens.

Just to make it even more interesting, I can guarantee that there is no way for a consumer to get what they want to have, need for their use or the exact perfect fit for their purpose.

I had to check the calendar, to make sure it wasn’t the 1st of April.  I am quite fond of the services of Google normally, but there is always that tiny voice at the back of my head, saying something about global domination being bad. Having a significant portion of the traffic on the internet already, hoarding more emails than any other and basically dictating what is (found) on the Internet and what is not. This is all fun and games when compared to the newest thing, Google public DNS.

This effectively not only logs all your activities in the internet, it also gives Google a power to decide what page opens, when you go to any site. Now this is actually bad. This is truly not good in the sense that the fun and games are now over.

This is the hot potato. SMEs especially are asking this all the time, as they are struggling and are looking for the “way out” of the recession. They want the answer to be: “Yes and it is the fast lane out of the predicament. Join now, quick  and be one of the success stories.” I’m sorry to say this, but that is not the answer.

I just came from a conference where the question was asked time and time again, but never really answered. I did not contribute to the answering at all, for very simple reasons. My little sister asks my advice every now and then. I give it to her and she ignores it. Some time later she comes and tells me off for knowing what trouble she is going to get into, yet letting her get into it. It is all fun and games, as long as it is family, but I cannot afford that in business.

Instead of answering, let me ask three questions:

1. Do you know what you are getting into? This is a commitment much bigger than you think. The community is there 24/7. If your website was last updated months ago and the plants at the office are dead, I’m sorry for the plants, but get your website done first.
2. What are your expectations? Be careful what you ask for. This is not the buffet of free lunches and while you get a lot of data, it has to be formed into information. If you put an ad on the front page of the Times, you better have people to answer the phone.
3. Is your business ready? Can you handle the feedback, communicate it within your company and act accordingly, fast and decisive. Do you have the resources to do what needs to be done, to ride the wave?

Community is like fire, you need to sit by it, but in essence, the recipe is simple. It basically needs four things:

• Burning material. Except you have to tend the material, as people throw toxic plastics on there too.
• Heat. Enough buzz to keep it going, not too much to keep it under control.
• Oxygen. Sometimes it needs a huff and a puff.
• Continuous chain reaction. It needs to be tended to keep it going, but not to burn your business down

Now then, is this social media for your company?

The coolest gadgets breaking ground right now are keeping you connected and they know where you are. This enables quite a few things that were previously not relevant or were simply impossible to bring forward. While fearing the loss of privacy, there is a lot of good that can come out of this.

What is there around you? As it is knows where you are, searching what is around you become infinitely easier and faster, as 99.9999% of the available data can be discarded as irrelevant. Only what is around you, right now, is relevant.

Not only can you find the restaurants nearby, book a table or see the menu, you can also see which ones are the highest rated right now, in real time. The menu can be updated when they ran out of the crab, that night. Not only can you see which of your friends lives nearby and contact them (all) with the touch of a button, but you know who is there, right now. Regardless of where they work or live.

Which of your friends are in the cafe, and which are in the gym? Is the gym crowded? Is there a traffic jam? Is the tube late (and how late)? What was that loud noise, where was that police car gunning with the sirens wailing and has anyone told the council about this hole in the pavement? Who won the pub quiz and how much cheaper is a pint of lager and packet of crisps in the other pubs in the area? What is the local theatre showing now, is the viewing full and how was the film rated?

Privacy is lost, but so much is gained. Is it worth it?

right now = the entire lowdown neatly compiled, from data available in realtime.
was = still past tense, but only some seconds past. Treat almost like is.
is = truly present tense, within some seconds from now.

Now, I am not the biggest fan of fitting the whole online world into one slot or a category. Like, for example, announcing that it is now Web 2.0 without even defining it. When I first heard the term Web 2.0, I thought it was there just to make the subject line of an executive summary describing of “what on earth is going on out there” more inviting. I still think that, so here is my attempt at defining it…

Past

Web 1.0 was about reading whatever the content was, on the web. There was and has always been a lot of content online. During the 1.0 era, most of the content was created by companies and organisations. The typical personal page was poorly written, had screaming colours and flashing pictures. Pages whose hit counters reached four figures (in their lifetime) were considered to have “made it”. The shared content was in newsgroups and we talked only on IRC (Internet Relay Chat). A lucky few had the ability to go online at home, but only for a limited time, as online time was charged by the minute.

Present Past

Web 2.0 is about people stuffing their own content online. Posting messages, pictures or videos from low-cost always-on, fairly fast internet connections coupled with easy-to-use, free publishing systems. There are way too many to go into, but sites such as Facebook and Twitter are usually mentioned around about now.

Internet is available in most households, a vast number of people can go online wherever they are, and most companies have a broadband connection and a webpage. Some teens are actually suffering from withdrawal when you take away their internet and mobile phone privileges.

Future Now

Web 3.0 is about us all collaborating, networking, talking and laughing, searching, citing, criticising, learning, studying, sharing and showing, mind-melding and creating together. Exactly which sites we use is not be all that relevant anymore, though I believe sites such as wave.google.com or foursquare.com will become strong players. Users have various devices and different applications to enable their connection to the online society.

Online societies are very intensively involved in projects, realising the scrum master’s wet dream of super-productivity when collaborating on their personal projects. The companies that have jumped on this train form pacts with their developers and users, promising to listen, respect and reward. Products will thus be developed according to the actual needs and wants of the users. Those companies keeping these promises will thrive.

Internet access will be a constant, with no extra cost. (We’re not quite there yet with this one.)