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PayPal has announced a limited release of PayPal Mobile, which enables you to send money via your cell phone.

Read more about it here (PayPal) and here (PC Pro)

roar at roarweb dot com

Now you can run Windows XP on a Mac.

I wonder if that will change the customer experience???

roar at roarweb dot com

The HD and Blu-ray DVD format discussion debate will likely go on for a while. Each format seems to have its advantages.

To help, or take advantage of (depending how you look at it), customers who will face a period of frustration with competing systems, LG has now promised a dual player system. Read about it here.

Problem partially solved!?

roar at roarweb dot com

An IT Business Edge e-mail showed Web 2.0 as a KEY ISSUE.

The e-mail list links to articles like Online onslaught: Upstart companies disrupt the market for business software, From Bubble to Breakthrough and

Creating real business value with Web 2.0 by ZDNet’s Dion Hinchcliffe — “I run into a fair number of people who are skeptical about the actual business value of Web 2.0. Sure, they usually agree it’s a terrific new movement in online software that encourages social collaboration, two-way use of the Web, services that are open and repurposable, Web-based applications, and more. But can you build and grow a real business with these ideas?”

Great reading! I really enjoyed the FindTech Insight Keyword search feature. It produced a long list of web 2.0 reference articles. I especially liked the article comment/intro that said:

Many people are still struggling with established phenomena like blogs and wikis, so why spend time on the more esoteric concepts of Web 2.0 like “architectures of participation?” This writer, although rejecting “New-Age-y” visions of Web 2.0, provides some strikingly unpractical reasons why it matters.

roar at roarweb dot com

Sxore goes beta:

This good news from Sxore was posted on February 16th. At that point I chose not to write about it. Why? Because I feel Alpha testers should have been given this knowledge before it was made public!

Maybe not a big deal you might say. You are right. But sometimes it is the small things that makes a difference!

Today I received an e-mail from Sxore and decided to give it a few lines. This e-mail was sent to those of us who subscribes to the sxore development list. Attached was 7 documents. My initial test feedback, dated December 15th, was among these.

In December, after testing sxore, I uninstalled the alpha version from my blog. It had a few bugs that I could not live with while waiting for them to get fixed. Good thing I did - today was the first time I heard from them since a “thank you for your feedback” e-mail came in mid December.

While I’m planning to give sxore another try in the near future, there are a few process issues I’d like to look at with regards to their test program. The bottom line is that I feel there was a few steps missing:

• Ongoing feedback to testers is important: We’re more likely to continue to test if we hear from you!
• Tell us BEFORE you launch the next phase: That way we can be ready - and even help you spread the word through writing about it! [Note: The attachments shows that they sent out an announcement on Feb 16th - but I never received it! And I think they should have told us BEFORE it was posted on their site!]
• Help us help you! If we had know BEFORE and been able to download and launch the BETA before it was publicly available, Sxore would have had a series of blogs to point new users to. This would have given each of us some exposure - a bit for each individual blog, lots for sxore!

We believe in providing legendary customer service and are looking for creative, team-oriented stars who work brilliantly, meet deadlines and live to innovate.

I did not find Sxore able to live up to this Sxip quote. Personally I look at the small things when looking at Information Technology companies. And customer service processes are very important to me.

If they can’t get a simple customer service process right, how can I then trust them to get their code and functionality right?

Hmm, I wonder if the job of Product Manager for Sxore is still available???

roar at roarweb dot com

I think the latest Microsoft TechNet mailer show that they don’t understand the new realities of the “conversation“.

I recently received a marketing piece for TechNet Flash from Microsoft Canada. I looked at the copy on the front and thought “Wow, they just don’t get it!”

The copy read:

Some people believe it is who you know that gets you ahead.

When I opened the piece I saw that it wasn’t as bad as I first thought:

Members of TechNet Flash believe it’s what you know, too.

The “too” at the end made the difference. While “what” absolutely is important in the technical arena, the Cluetrain Manifesto showed us that “who” can be even more important.

As a provider of technical knowledge TechNet tries the typical approach of making their stuff “the most important thing since …”.

What’s wrong with that you might ask? Well, to really show their class I think they should have acted differently. By wording their marketing piece differently they could have acknowledged that they understand the importance of the “conversation” - and at the same time underlined the importance of technical knowledge.

Let’s face it. With 95% of all jobs never advertised you need to know somebody. Without contacts you are stuck! Thus the importance of “who”. When you know somebody you have the possibility to get ahead - if you know “what”.

So, while Microsoft got both of the elements in their message, I think they should have stressed the overall importance of “who” much more, and then played the “what” card.

One possible option:

Networking expertise is important. It is who you know that might get you ahead!

Networking expertise is important. Do you know what to do to run your network properly?

Any other ideas? Suggestions welcome!

roar at roarweb dot com