Andy Hadfield

“The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.” -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Writing this post has taken a long time (and it’s a long post). It’s one of those opinion pieces that moves dangerously between industry comment and personal insight. Add to that a healthy dose of consumer sceptism for banks in general, and you have the ingredients for a tricky piece of writing.

The stuff I’d like to share with you today is around the new online sales platform project at FNB – of which I had some intimate involvement. The project was internally labelled SSA (Single Sales Application), with the word “single” being the operative part. To you, it would just be: getting a bank product online. But getting behind the scenes of what actually changed in this version unravels the bank’s fascinating attempt to push the online sales experience into the new web world.

Current situation for financial applications in the online space? Long, boring, uncreative,…

Its taken quite a while to distill all the content we took in at the SXSW Interactive Conference in Austin, Texas. Hope this is worth the wait. 5 easy themes to apply within your business. There are no easy answers to digital questions anymore. Gone are the days of "jump in", "get wet" - now you've got to worry about expectations of delivery, reputation damage and that's before you hit GO!

Nonetheless - corporate South Africa will need to find the answers. Here's where I'm starting:

SXSW 2010 Interactive. Insights and Trends for Business.View more presentations from Andy Hadfield.

So Android really hit SA yesterday with the launch of 3 new HTC phones. The one that interests me is the HTC Sense (or Smart - the press release is confusing) and I'll tell ya why.

"The new HTC Sense experience continues to focus on improving interactions with the users’ most important people.  This begins with a new HTC application and widget called HTC Friend Stream that seamlessly aggregates all social communication including Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr into one organised flow of updates. This simple aggregation makes it easier than ever to focus on what friends are doing as well as to view the images and links that they share.  In addition to Friend Stream, people can be organised into specific social circles, such as groups of friends, colleagues or any other way that makes sense."

What on earth happened to FriendFeed? It was one of the first big lifestreaming apps to penetrate a mainstream tech market. Got bought by FaceBook and has pretty much disappeared into th…

It's with a bit of mopey-sadness that SA Doc (the anonymous thought leader on All Scrubbed Up) and I have decided to close the blog down. Site what you like... we're getting older. SA Doc ran out of inspiration. Goal posts moved. Too much other work.


It's always sad to close the door on a project.

All Scrubbed Up was an amazing experience. I'll never forget that first flood of traffic from the Using Ubuntu Linux to Solve Medical Problems post. The Digg'ing. The Reddit'ing. The finding out that Digg'ing and Reddit'ing yourself was not the done thing!

Blogging is addictive, and no matter how big you get, or small you stay - that first bit of interaction with a strange and foreign community is what gets most people hooked.

The stats:

Started August 2006228 postsIncome +- $400 total (yeah, don't think you'll get rich quick, even on niche content!)Onto bigger and better things then?
Check out my latest project - Jou Meme (said in your best Western Cape…

My next speaking gig, probably insights from SXSW will be end of April at the WTF Media Conference in Cape Town.

From their PR:

“Early bird offer - WTF Media Conf Book for the WTF Media Conf (http://www.wtfmediaconf.co.za) before April 16 and qualify for the early bird discount offer.

Shel Israel of Naked Conversations and Twitterville is the keynote speaker. He is accompanied by more than 40 of South Africa’s most knowledgeable speakers on social media, mobile media and cloud computing. Integrate old school knowledge with new ways of doing business.”

The Twitter Wine Review Social Experiment. I never understood wine reviews, the classy ones. Sure - 3 stars, 4 stars, but when they got to acidic bouquets and well textured noses. They lost me. Here's a social trend: man-in-the-street wine reviews, from someone who knows what he likes, probably knows what others would like, but refuses to hoighty toighty it up.

Enjoy!

My Twitter Wine Review List for February 2010:

2005 Cloof Pinotage. 15.5% packs one big whalloping mulberry punch. 8/10.

2002 Lanzerac Cabernet Sauvignon. Smelt like tangy old people. Gave me sticky teeth. Too matured maybe? 4/10.

Wine sites and communities on the Interweb - and a great Veynerchuk video - http://bit.ly/biZIlq

2004 Raka Biography Shiraz. A spicy meatball. Too spicy perhaps. 5/10.

2008 Eikendal Sauvignon Blanc. Like biting into a young green lemon. Skin. 5/10.

2004 Welgelee Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. The bottle says coffee and toast. I get black wine gums. Ok. 6/10.

2008 Boekenhoutskloof The Wolftrap.…

The Twitter Wine Review Social Experiment. I never understood wine reviews, the classy ones. Sure - 3 stars, 4 stars, but when they got to acidic bouquets and well textured noses. They lost me. Here's a social trend: man-in-the-street wine reviews, from someone who knows what he likes, probably knows what others would like, but refuses to hoighty toighty it up.

Enjoy!

My Twitter Wine Review List for January 2010:

2005 Bellingham Cabernet Sauvignon. Splash of Cabernet Franc. Heavy oak. Really heavy. Original though. 7/10.

2009 Durbanville Hills Sauvignon Blanc. Delicious. Peachy. Perfect Thursday night vintage. 7/10.

Kanu Bin 33 Blend. Pineapple. Like in Liqui Fruit. 4/10.

Kanu Bin 45. Simple but tasty. Good bin. Better than the 6/10.

2009 Boekenhoutskloof Porcupine Ridge Sauvignon Blanc. Quite naas for an el cheepo. 5/10.

As the "Eugene Terblanche murder vs Julius Malema singing his struggle songs" story broke (rumour has it 1 hour earlier on Twitter than mainstream) last weekend, I watched a pretty scary flood of communications roll out.

We all know that citizen journalism is all about man-in-the-street opinion. That's logical. And we also appreciate how much context citizen journalism or any social commentary can add to a news story. But when the news spreads via social means, and a certain communities first contact is public opinion rather than verified fact - well, that's a scary thing indeed.

Some examples, if you will... I've removed the poster's name for obvious reasons.

RT @--- Etv reporting that the police has confirmed the murder of Eugene Terblanche. Julius, you r in kak my friend. #willhecare


ANC hate speach has claimed the life of Eugene Terblanche. The writing is on the wall people, whites get out or be murdered.


RT @--- **Fuck that racist cunt! Eugene se moer man!**…