War in the land of the E Books...

Ok ladies and gents, we've covered Apple, we've covered taxes, we've even covered wifi on the beach, now it's the turn of the publishing industry. So a long long time ago there was the printing press, then came along the supermarkets getting into a price war with good old Waterstones, but hey Waterstones fought back! Waterstones jumped up and down, took a few cues from Daunt Books and shimmied up its image, (just like Starbucks of late). But was it enough? Clearly not because there's a Goliath in town - and it's called the E Book. 

Actually scrap that it's not called the E Book, it's called the evil eye behind the E Book, the multiple eyes who are intent on one goal and one goal only - WINNING. Forget the authors, forget the craft of writing, forget how damned hard it is to get published anyway... No - now it's all about selling off a download for the lowest possible price known to man - Hey well it's not on paper anymore is it? That means... We can sell it as cheap as chips - because the words, well they're the lowest common denominator between a book and, well blank paper right? 

Now look, don't get me wrong. I love my tablet, I love downloading, I love reading occasionally when there isn't a proper book to hand, but in no way does the experience of holding mimic holding a book. For one you read 11% faster reading on the printed page. Yes that's right! Say it takes you three days to finish a book (we read fast here at The GWG), at a daily rate of three hours, that's twelve hours over the course of the week - 11% of twelve hours is: (have to get my calculator out now...)  is 79.2 minutes. so say you read a book a month (stay with me), that's sixteen hours per year wasted by reading a tablet. 

Say you're an avid reader and you devour a book a week, that's 68.644 hours over a year - that's almost three days! Ok point made. Now back to the price war - some E Books have recently been reduced to a shocking 20p - yes! You heard right, 20p!!!!! Who were the offending parties? Sony and Amazon (slapped wrists all round), though the authors are certainly not complaining as the trend propels them to the top of the Bestseller list faster than you can say 'Conspiracy of The Casual Vacancy,' but anyway Peter James for example - author of the thriller Dead Man's Grip (in seventh place on the list) was certainly not complaining because Amazon and Sony still paid his royalties in full - yes as if the book were sold in hardback in Waterstones (to come full circle). So what's the problem I hear you ask? The problem my dear friends is that we (the public) get ever used to buying E Books, for less than the price of a Twix. What's wrong with that? I hear you ask... The years of labour, the value of art, the simple fact that we need writers to uphold the cultural institution that is well, writing...

Without royalties and book deals and the public behind them - they can't eat. And if they can't eat, they can't write and if they can't write - there's no one to write the books in the first place, which would admittedly be quite a sad state of affairs.

Google, Apple and Facebook; all in the naughty corner...

Well what a week it's been. I have to say ladies and gents there are times when I struggle to think of what to write about and then there are times when there's such a deluge of web related shenanigans I hardly know what to do with myself...

So it's been a few weeks since I talked about Apple; I came, I saw, I ranted, and then I finally moved onto another subject. But in the last few days, the technology giants, have, once again hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Apparently it wasn't enough to park 74 billion US dollars offshore, losing the US economy 17 billion dollars just at the time when it was most needed. No, no, Apple are now following the same business model on the shores of our beloved British Isles; using Ireland as the tax haven to end all tax havens and losing HMRC £570 million of taxable income in the process. How? Apparently this is all 'legal' (Ireland has a significantly lower rate of corporation tax, don’t you know), whether it’s ethical is another question...

Sadly Facebook and Google are following suite, (I know, I know – I lauded Google in particular in last week’s column, I hang my head in shame). Is it a wonder then that Google’s share price dropped yesterday by 20%? Is it really due to a drop in advertising (people waking up to click fraud – perchance?). The timing may have been a blunder (a printing company employed by the search engine mistakenly let a press release out of the bag; no doubt there are some knuckles being rapped down at that company). Facebook in particular paid only £238,000 of corporation tax last year in the UK on estimated revenues of £175 million. Hmph, is all I have to say about that.  Oh and one post-script; if these technology giants just paid their taxes in full like the good honest citizens they target, their profits might just be even higher than present; for companies motivated by greed, that’s got to be an incentive...

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On another note – yes there are always several... This week brought to light an ingenious new app (soon to be released to IPhone users and already available on Android); say hello to Cate; the app that allows you to create a secret log of calls and text messages, perfect for keeping prying eyes away from the sensitive data on your smartphone. Now I know it might initially seem like a James Bond Gizmo at the service of adulterous husbands and wives worldwide, but there is an alternative use that might be more useful; privacy (for individuals and government organisations). In the age where sites scour the web aggregating information from a plethora of sources, privacy is starting to look quite attractive. Which brings me to my third and final point:

What on earth is going on across the web? Sites such as Pipl, Peepl, Zoominfo and the French version; Yatedo are crawling the Internet and aggregating free information on everyone on the planet and then creating a profile based on whatever they can find. Since some of this material is old cached pages you’ve tried your darnest to erase, this can prove quite frustrating to say the least. Google yourself now, to see if you’ve fallen pray to the grave diggers of the web – and if so, take action accordingly, by requesting for the profile to be removed, and then contacting Google to have the cached page wiped at webmaster tools.

And remember – the power of the dollar vote; it's quite literally all we have.

This is Cybergirl, signing off.

'The Google Philosophy'... Apply it at your leisure...

Now I know I said I'm going to talk about apps (and I promise I am getting to it) but last's week's blog on the merits of Google, got me to thinking... Why on earth is it that the world's smartest search engine has become such a Goliath? What are the exact cultural conditions that have created the optimum environment for Googlers to thrive, and how can we use this very specific information as a template for excellence, growth and innovation in our every day lives? Yes it's all about 'mirroring' ladies and gents (i.e. stealing Google's top tips for personal development):

1. 20% of your time should be dedicated to new ideas. Down at the Googleplex this means that every single member of staff is given a 20% window of time out of their working week (whether they want to use it as a single day or collect the units for a longer sabbatical). A whole host of ingenious ideas implemented by Google, came directly from staff members tinkering away on their own supposedly 'little' projects. Now just think what would happen if we all did the same; if, instead of just 'keeping up' with our weekly work load we carved out 20% of time and devoted it to looking ahead, planning, foraging and dreaming up a master plan for the next year or two - the best possible antidote to stagnation.
2. Work should be FUN! Yes the Googleplex was created in the spirit of JOY; a decision underpinned by the very real observation that workers are much more productive in a 'playful' highly stimulating environment. Ergo the Googleplex is more akin to a college campus (with gadgets, entertainment and toys aplenty); the theory being that a) people will work longer hours in an environment that truly inspires them and b) that increased levels of productivity will therefore contribute to an increased share price. Which brings me to....
3. Design; how does your working environment look? Is it somewhere bright and breezy - or is it a desk piled with empty coffee mugs and unpaid bills? Just see the difference in your productivity when you plant your brain in a colourful hub of creativity instead of a tired old shed of an office. The founders of Google never balk at the amount of money they invest in creating clean, colourful, high tech offices that contribute to the 'hot house' of ideas that make Google one of the most successful companies in the world. Take this to heart - if you really want to invest in your work (and your future) rent a desk at one of the legion of work hubs cropping up across the City. We simply love.
4. Dangle a carrot - yes the large majority of staff down at Google are given stock options as part of a 'golden handshake' on joining the company; what impact does this have? A) It binds them to Google b) it gives them a personal stake in the success of the company, both of which can't help but incentivize them to succeed on Google's behalf. How can we transpose this to our every day lives? If you don't own stock in the company you're working for, look into acquiring it and see how your whole attitude towards the company changes.
5. Invest in health - Google is renowned for providing its employees with the freshest, most nutritious food around? Why? Because this investment is the gift that just keeps giving; productivity is boosted through improved brain function, and the Googlers feel cared for, loved and cherished, meaning they work harder to boot - making it win win all round. Even better Google significantly reduces the legions of lost time accrued when employees leave the Google campus to source food. Last but not least, the communal lunch tables are the source of many a great idea developing in the Google consciousness; we don't doubt some of the search engine's best features originated over a plate of steamed Seabass. Take this theory into your own life; and just see how your productivity sky rockets.
6. Every minute is valuable. When the great minds at Google noticed how much time employees were spending commuting to the Googleplex from San Francisco to Silicon Valley, they immediately provided a coach service complete with Wi-Fi. This (some would say) hefty financial investment, paid dividends; not only were employees chatting, surfing and generating ideas, they were inadvertently investing more time in Google rather than in navigating transport requirements; plus the employees felt taken care of and were therefore more loyal as a result. What's the moral of the story? Time is money and anything that is going to save it, is definitely worthy of investment.
7. Open plan, is the way forward; the Googleplex is well known for its very specific design aesthetic; one in which 'cubicles' is a dirty word. No segregating staff like battery hens, the offices are designed to generate an endless river of ideas. Everyone’s chatting, everyone's communicating - this is where Google's innovation comes from. When someone has an idea, it's jumped on 'now' - not tomorrow or next week... Another benefit of working in a hub if self employed. Which brings me to:
8. If it's worthy of doing, do it now. This idea is central to the Google ethos. Don't delay - procrastination is the death of art, and the search engine is nothing if not an art form.
9. Your friends are who you become - surround yourself with those who inspire, challenge and motivate you to see spectacular results; this is an age old theory, but Sergey Brin and Larry Page have certainly taken in to heart; which is why even with close to 1000 employees they take a decidedly personal approach when it comes to hiring. They know full well that it isn't enough to be good at your job, for Google to truly excel; you need to inspire the person sitting next to you.
10. Forget about money - it's all about the idea and developing it. One of the major USP's of Google is the idea of 'being of service'; how can they improve the life of the average human for the better - mirror this in your own life and see how quickly it improves.
11. Wear what you want - smart casual is the way forward! Yes comfort is key - Google is all about confidence and your most cherished items of clothing are all part of the creative culture that will help you to thrive.

So there it is; the very specific cultural conditions that lead to one of the greatest online success stories of all time.

Right - now to the apps! They're here, they're there; they're everywhere - how much time have you spent ladies and gents 'deapping' recently? For me it's a good ten to twenty minutes every two weeks I would say. I hear about them, I download them, I'm usually disappointed - and then it's time to ditch them. Yes the love affair with the humble app can be incredibly short lived. But the real issue is do apps actually save us as much time as we think they do? Jus to weigh up the pros and cons, here's my app timetable:

·      Wake up at 7am - ten seconds gazing blearily at my alarm clock app. Set another alarm for ten am, that's thirty seconds in total.

·      Then it's onto Tech News Tube (my handy little tech info buddy), browse on that for a good ten minutes, saving myself a good hour surfing all the disparate tech sites such as TechCrunch and Mashable.

·      Next it's time for Wunderlist - input today's most important tasks and review any tasks frown yesterday that didn't get finished. Exciting, I know. Two minutes as opposed to twenty searching for my handwritten list from yesterday and scribbling it all down again.

·      Need to make a transfer - Barclays 'Ping It' does the work in a fraction of the time it would take to log onto Internet banking and fiddle with the card dongle (has anyone come up with a name for it yet?)

·      Next I get on the tube and head to an interview. En route I decided to spend a little time recording the events of the last week in the handy Evernote, my much loved diary - 20 minutes; an entry complete with pictures (that's Evernote 1, Moleskine 0).

·      Oh God lose my IPhone - ahhh, find it again in thirty seconds with the 'Find my IPhone' app - two minutes as opposed to - well how long is a piece of string?

·      Waiting for said 'meeting' to arrive - download The Times - thirty seconds as opposed to five minutes walking to the local newsagents...

·      Am stood up! Right need to connect with some form of human life in the cosmos - hence it's time for Twitter, FB and a bit of Pinterest. Fifteen minutes as opposed to a good six hours spent actually meeting people or speaking to them on the phone - a false economy perhaps?

·      Last but certainly not least, I have to send some rather large files - Dropbox and Google Drive come in handy. Five minutes uploading time as opposed to a courier’s two hour trek across the capital.

Phew! It's no surprise that most of the day has been taken up with apps; opening them, closing them and fiddling with them. On calculation, the tasks as outlined above would have taken at least nine to ten hours longer had I resorted to conventional means. But what about the human interaction part? The Newsagent I didn't speak to because I downloaded The Times instead of buying it hard copy. The work contact I didn't run into because I wasn't on the corner of that road, at that time, on that day; because as apps innovate so too do they isolate - when you can effectively run your entire world from your smartphone you lose the rich fabric of everyday interaction that makes the world a colourful place to be. But then again - boy do you save time doing it.

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On another note: (yes there are always several). One of my parting shots from Thailand was a visit to the Jim Thompson House and Museum. Jim was an American silk entrepreneur who dedicated his life to reviving the age of art of silk weaving in Thailand, he was also a collector of rare Thai art and architect of the most beautiful house in Bangkok Cybergirl has ever seen.

In 1967, whilst on a trip into the foothills of the Malaysian Highlands he mysteriously disappeared, never to be heard from again. No definitive clues have ever surfaced as to his whereabouts. Why is this important to Cybergirl? Mortality of course - mortality and the power of the Internet. Had Jim been living in the age of Sir Tim Berners Lee, there would have been a web trail indicating his last movements; would this have helped in the search for his elusive fate? Who knows, but one thing is for sure - there would be more clues than are to date. But what of the downside of a paper trail across the web - are some things are better left unknown? What happens to all the information on Gmail, Facebook, in Private messages, on Twitter when you die? That question and more will be dealt with next week... Till then, this is Cybergirl signing off.

The Goliath that is Google and a postscript on relationships...

So ladies and gentlemen; yes I’m still in Thailand (about to visit Phi Phi Island – made famous in Hollywood film THE BEACH!) – but I’m not going to provoke any more holiday envy; instead I’m going to let you in on a bit on my top tips for holiday reading. Now I know I said I would focused on our love/hate relationship with apps, but unfortunately this very worthy subject matter has been usurped by the giant that is Google; yes it’s time to catch up on the USP’s that have made the search engine the Goliath to Internet Explorer’s David.

Now we all know the powerhouse has gone from strength to strength in the fourteen years since founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page dropped out of grad school at Stanford University (check out The Google Story by David A Vise, What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis and finally The Search by John Battelle), but what always baffles me about the world’s greatest search engine, is that it is so much more than the sum of its parts; the sheer variety of features available is just staggering – particularly since the brilliant minds down at Googleplex are constantly adding, refining and thinking up new ways to daunt us with their sheer technical wizardry. In light of this it’s time for a little summary of what’s available – because just as we only use 5% of our brain’s capacity – so too do we use a fraction of what’s available down at Google:

1.    1.     Books, books, books and more books; go to books.google.com and find extensive information from a huge archive that Google has scanned into its database.

2.     It’s is also a dictionary; just type in your word and watch as the definition comes up with lightning speed.

3.     Looking for a phone number? Then type a person’s name, city and (if in the US – state) into the search box and Google will ping you their phone and address listings.

4.     Lost your calculator? Google will do the maths for you.

5.     Looking for a map? Just type the address or city straight into the search box – you’re one click away from a map of your destination.

6.     Search up to date information on politics, business or any subject your heart desires – if it’s been covered by an online publication – it’ll be on Google News.

7.     Weather – it’s all there. Just type ‘weather’ into the search box and then follow up with the location.

8.     Want help with in depth research? Go to Google Scholar (scholar.google.com) to access a whole host of scientific and academic journals. Don’t stare too long though – you might fall in.

9.     Need access to the stock market? For an instant quote just type a stock ticker symbol into the search engine (for example Google’s is GOOG – stock currently trading at $756.99 don’t you know?).

10.  Need a translation? Forget going to a specific site just head straight to Translate under the More tab and you’ll have it done in seconds.

11.  Need a calendar – Google’s is one of the best around.

12.  Google Drive – we thought Dropbox had cornered the market, but Google Drive takes web storage one step further…

13.  Wallet – one place for online and in store shopping.

14.  Reader – oh the joys of being able to keep up with multiple online publications without having to visit the sites themselves – just load up your sites and Google will update reader every time a new post is added; much like Flipboard but especially handy for those of you who haven’t succumbed to the smartphone/Iphone/tablet obsession quite yet.

15.  Google + and Google Circles – (to Cybergirl at least) seems much more complex to use than other social media platforms. The theory is robust; multiple circles of contacts for friends, acquaintances and employees and a facility to easily share information, photos and other digital media at the click of a mouse, but the reality seems a little more mindboggling – try it for yourself or view the following YouTube offering for a simplified explanation: 

For a comprehensive list of features click here. I know it’s akin to reading an instruction manual – but believe you me, the time investment will more than repay you.

On another note – Cybergirl has been thinking a lot about the web and relationships this week. Yes I am on holiday with ‘The date’; for those of you who have been avidly following this blog (many thanks for your support), you’ll know that ‘The date’ is the superhero who saved Cybergirl from a very nefarious burglar in ‘Blog One’. Well ladies and gents – there’s trouble in Paradise; why? 1. The Web, 2. The Internet 3. You get the picture. Yes Cybergirl is a proper out and out addict; not just through passion but through necessity – which unfortunately does not go down well with said ‘date’ whilst on holiday. Every few days the conversation goes something like this:

The Date: We’re going to (INSERT BEAUTIFUL SECLUDED THAI ISLAND) tomorrow! Are you excited!

Cybergirl: Yes!

Cybergirl looks slightly perturbed at thought of Island floating in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand miles from the mainland.

The Date: What’s wrong?

Cybergirl: (considering whether to say this out loud) Errrrr – will there be Wifi?

The ‘Wifi’ conversation becomes something of a running joke; but there’s a very serious undertone both for Cybergirl and ‘the date’. Cybergirl’s thought process goes something like this:

‘ahhhhhheverythingwilllgowrongworldwillcaveinLIFEWILLIMPLODEIFWEDON’THAVEACCESSTOWIFI’ 

(not particularly balanced you might say). The Date’s on the other hand is; ‘Jeez Louise this woman can’t switch off for one minute, she doesn’t really want to be here, she’d rather be head down in front of her laptop than contemplating a pristine white sandy beach with my gorgeous self.’

The women reading this blog will mutter about ‘multitasking’ (I know, I know – of course we can do both), the men will most likely echo 'the date's' sentiment, but at the end of the day – not logging on for a week or two just cannot have the detrimental effects as outlined above. Is it too much to say that the web has become a sort of ‘addiction?’ In The Google Story, David A. Brise attributes the following quote to Sergey Brin; ‘We spend most of our time trying to get Internet access. it’s an invaluable tool... It’s kind of like a respirator now.’

Is this really what it’s come to? That we literally can’t breathe without the web? Take a deep breath and consider if this is a world you want to live in?

Next week I promise it’s back to the apps…! Love/hate/timesavers/timewasters – you decide… This is your intrepid web explorer signing off – I promise.