It is time to introduce …
… our top three interns: the following three young ladies have done an exceptional job in working for us over the past months. Liz Lum, Natali Kakovska and Frida Oey have each started in March and learned quickly how to business network.
Dozens of Applicants for ZaaBiz Internships
They each run their own business group, have invited and connected with many interesting new contacts and have started to publish their own posts on our blogs.
Well done girls, awesome job done so far.
Michael
The addiction I don’t want to kick
The biggest economic news in the last week has been the Australian GDP’s 0.4 per cent growth in the last quarter. Meaning that despite the amount the ‘R’ word has been bandied about; we are still not technically in a recession.
Despite the proliferation of financial columns, websites and TV segments promoting financial responsibility, we haven’t quite forgotten how to spend. Which, judging by the national sigh of relief that came with the announcement of that 0.4 per cent figure, isn’t such a bad thing. And if my own credit card activity is anything to go by, I think its because we’ve picked up the spending habit and its one addiction we’re not quite ready to give up on.
Supplementary to this, a recent study has found that when given a list of things that they could change about their current financial situation, a third of 1000 Aussie respondents answered ‘clear credit card debt’.
Perhaps our new spending habits should gravitate toward lay-bys and quality purchasing (often the best brands to ride out economic hardship are the high-end luxury brand, as people would prefer to save for excellence in quality, than spend on something less ‘worth while’) rather than this instant, fast and hard spending attitude I know that I, at least, have been sticking to.
Signing Off,
Louise.
What happened to real news?
Susan Boyle and the chk chk boom girl have inundated our news headlines and online social media for a couple of weeks now. With almost 20,000 fans of Clare Werbeloff (chk chk boom girl) in a Facebook group we must wonder: what has happened to real news? The whirlwind of sensationalised social media has never been so explosive and unavoidable.
I want to hear more about continued sustained business efforts. Have you heard about Packer recently opening a $2.95 billion dollar casino after six years in the making? Or Microsoft unveiling a new search engine called Bing after a reported $US100 million spent on advertising.
Don’t you find these more interesting? Why don’t you keep updated in what’s happening in the business world at our groups; Business people in Sydney and Australian media.
The Networking Wave
Last week Google launched an amazing communication tool called “Wave”. The API is set to change the entire scenario of Email and Instant Messaging. The launch video is about 1hr and 20 mins but the product was tempting enough to hold me for a very long time. The most surprising factor was to see Stephanie Hannon - The product manager/co-presenter at the developer conference during the launch of Google Wave.
I am a regular at the ZaaBiz Networking events. At one such event last year I happen to meet Stephanie the guest speaker for the meet. She not only talked about her experience at Google but also discussed how passionate is the entire Google Team in Australia. It is fun to meet such professionals at the networking events and that is what I feel is the real advantage of networking.
Coming back to the Google Australia Team it is great to know that “Google Wave” is a genius product and the applause goes to the entire Australian Team with special ovation to Stephanie and Larz Brothers of Google Maps fame. It seems as if Australia is now the hub of innovation at Google and I hope that it remains so for the coming years as well.
/Dushyant.
The day of Water News in Sydney: from Google to Bellevue Hill
This must be the day of water related news in Sydney.
Firstly I learn on the news that the Rudd government has purchased 240 billion litres of water entitlements from NSW’s Twynam Agricultural group for just over $300m. This purchase is aimed at redirecting these billions of litres from agricultural use to environmental flows for the Murray-Darling river system. Water rights are complex issues here in Australia and one thing is for sure: there will be hefty criticism from the opposition and the big politics of water access rights will have a renewed public stage in the coming days.
View across to Bellevue Hill
As much as this subject is instrumental for many businesses in Australia’s South East, Sydney itself faced a massive outburst of water last night. Since about 8pm last night, precious litres of this scarce liquid have pumped out of a burst pipe in the Eastern suburb Bellevue Hill. A 25m crater exposed, cars washed down the road, an electricity pole unearthed - this burst of water certainly took its toll. Many businesses and private households will be without water today. The only happy ones will be the kids from the adjacent primary school - no school today for them.
And just as we start thinking of how many litres of water are now wasted, Australian engineers of internet search engine giant Google reveal the next Wave. Google Wave is the newest feature presented in San Francisco right at this time (early morning AEST) at Google’s developer conference. Classic ways of stacking your emails will be substituted by Wave - a combination of email, instant messaging and the sharing of all sorts of documents, images or video.
With the way Google’s products have captured the global online audience we can be sure that the latest Google wave is not a waste like the water in Bellevue Hill.
Anabel
