Andy Hadfield

In the last post, I was quite excited by the application of location-based services in a community that has the infrastructure to generate enough traffic. I’d like to temper that exuberance with some considered thinking. It involves a good story, and a not-so-good story. And one word, for which I have my “banking” experience to […]

Checked into my first hotel in Austin, a little one night stop before hitting the Hampton Inn and Suites with the rest of the SA delegation. My bag didn’t arrive — which carries on a long and stormy relationship I have with baggage. And airlines. Ahem. Delta. Anyhoo, the Delta Airlines lady was wonderfully pleasant […]

So I’m winging my way off to Austin, Texas for the SXSW Conference. I’m on the connection flight via Atlanta, blogging this while 30000 feet or more in the air. Yup. Go Go Wifi on Delta flights. I’ll do a speed test ;) (Update: Speed Test gave me over 100 kb / second — that’s […]

And we’re off. I’m sitting at OR Tambo airport, having a farewell Castle Draught before embarking on a mind-numbing, Stillnox induced flight to Atlanta and then Austin. Bumped into Mike Stopforth. He was having lamb shank. Something I don’t know? So here’s the deal for SXSW (follow the #sxswSA tag on Twitter). I’m going to […]

I do get tired of the frantic “trending” that occurs at the beginning and end of every year. Hence, I tend to sit back, take it all in and try give a summarised, more considered view a month or so later. Call it cutting through the clutter, if you will … So, without any further […]

Fleishman South Africa were kind enough to lend me a Nokia N97 for a couple of weeks. This phone was coming into focus for me as an upgrade competitor to the iPhone 3GS. Add to that, a fairly nifty digital marketing campaign and my interest was piqued. Straight into it then … The PROs * […]

I had the opportunity recently to have a text exchange (read: questions by email — the interview style of the time-pressed blogger) with Jake Larsen, head of the Nokia Music Store (Middle East and Africa). I was interested in how the Music Store has been doing post launch as it always takes a while for […]

We’re really proud to announce the next step in our digital journey at FNB — the launch of the brand spanking new website. The website relaunch has been a project of mammoth proportions, with amazing collaboration between teams from all over the bank. As I blog this, the guys from the online team are still […]

Nokia’s Teach the Technophobe: Eight brave Nokia fans have signed up to help some close friends and family join the messaging generation using the E75. Their technophobes will negotiate various hurdles and challenges. The one who finishes this training to the best of their ability will win their coach the opportunity to trial five E75s […]

I’ve been victim (stupidity or entrapment, I’m not sure yet) to a couple of mobile subscription services recently. Browsing any old half-decent mobile site only to be hit with a 5 euro/month charge that apparently I opted into once downloading the content. And no. It wasn’t THAT kind of content. It brings to mind the […]

It’s been a long time coming in this country, and another proud move towards a true virtual community. Today, FNB launched How Can We Help You, a niche social network centred on financial content. And I’d like to think we really are first to market here. Corporate brands can easily become “social” for social’s sake. […]

I’ve been catching up on my RSS feeds lately. A new thing for me. It has actually been a fairly disappointing experience. Well over half my RSS feeds are truncated, forcing you to click through to a site. I tend to browse most of my feeds using Google Reader mobile on the Nokia E71. This […]