Being Mark Cohen

This article running on the homepage of the Sydney Morning Herald outlines the cost management measures that Fairfax Media is pursuing to continually manage their structure and related costs as the media industry heads into what has been described as uncertain times.  These cuts appear to primarily focus on the print media businesses, from what is stated in the article.

Key points quoted from the article:

<snip>Fairfax Media will axe 550 staff in Australia and New Zealand, or about 5% of the company’s total, as part of a plan to bolster profitability.</snip>

<snip>Fairfax’s announcement comes as the global media industry attempts to manage a shift in advertising revenue and readership from traditional media, including newspapers, to online and other emerging platforms.</snip>

<snip>"There will be criticism from some, inside and outside the company, that these changes, particularly in editorial, will compromise quality and critical mass in the metro mastheads and their mission.  We reject that," the emailed statement said. </snip>

 

I’ve yet to see optus zoo working. That must have been sold as a key benefit for optus in having the iPhone in Australia. Every time I’ve tried I have got an error. I wonder if there’s anything good or useful hiding in there. Like the ability to check your data usage during the month.

I’m trying out the worspress iPhone client app for this post and the screenshot is captured by pressing and holding the menu button and tapping the power / sleep button.

I nicked this awesome little cartoon from xkcd.com – one of my favourite “entertainment” blogs.  I think I love it because it’s just so true.  More often than not we regret the things we didn’t do.  This holds true for ski trips (even if they hospitalise my team members ) as much as work or social interactions or one-off opportunities.  Especially one-off opportunities.

Tony Robbins, on of those “Life Coaches” who used to be all over TV a few years ago used to say that it’s all about taking a step.   Then it’s al about taking the next step.  and so on.  If you have a goal, and commit to taking one step a day to get closer to it, you’d be surprised how far you can get in a month.

Here’s his video from TED in 2006.  Check it out.  the guy he engages with in the front row is Al Gore

On Gaping Void, Hugh Macleod has a post about a Microsoft employee getting the Blue Monster tattooed onto himself.  First reaction: Wow, big move for a branding icon. 

You’d have to ask yourself: What makes someone buy into a brand to this level?  It’s not just fanaticism – I haven’t seen any obese people wandering around town with the golden arches tattooed on their biceps.

Hugh quotes the tattooed employee:

While I can never forget how much I love this company and all of the great things we do, I wanted a daily reminder of the fact that I, as a Microsoftie, need to change the world every single day. That is why, as part of MGX this year, I decided to fully embrace the Blue Monster and all it stands for. That is my very own Blue Monster tattoo (and yes, he is real!). He’s there to make sure I don’t forget why I am here and what it is that I am doing — changing the world

<humour>An observation that is particularly interesting to me: the word “branding” applies to corporate identity logos as well as to the mark applied to cattle to show who owns them. </humour>  

The Afrikaans / Dutch word for burn is “brand”; German for burnt is verbrannt; and Merriam Webster define “brand” as having the following etymology:

Etymology: Middle English, torch, sword, from Old English; akin to Old English bærnan to burn
Date:before 12th century

I ask myself why someone would “brand” themselves with a symbol.  I think it comes down to this: Dan Woodman might be a zealot or he might be a pragmatist – I have no idea which.  Either way, if someone will voluntarily tattoo your branding onto their flesh they must have a very enduring and permanent belief in what that symbol stands for.  More than who you as a company are, it must be about what the symbol says to them.  ”Change the world or go home” is a very personal message with personal meaning and personal objectives.  It rings true for a lot of people who want to change the world.  Guy Kawasaki’s blog is called “How to Change the World“.  

It’s all about Passion.  Belief.  Purpose. And little Blue Monsters.

Google has launched Streetview in Australia, and it’s awesome.  Their coverage in Sydney and suburbs seems good (I haven’t seen specifics of coverage yet).  I’m looking forward to seeing how it gets used specifically on real-estate sites.  No more of agents not showing the front of a property because it looks old and dodgy.  The face-blurring technology seems reasonably good.  I think it may be a bit overzealous as I did spot some trees which had been blurred out, as well as blurring on the back window of my car parked outside my house

[EDIT: As of 05/08/08 only Domain.com.au is live with streetview, it appears that realestate.com.au and homehound.com.au (the other two major real estate portals) are not yet ready to embrace it.  I'd guess this is due to realestate.com.au having way bigger things to worry about right now.  Check it out by searching for any property in sydney on domain.com.au and looking at the map on the property details page, or in the image gallery.  Disclosure: I work for the owners of Domain]