Andy Hadfield

Phew. I'm exhausted writing this. Which means my teams at Prezence and Quirk must be equally exhausted. And it's only Thursday. Had to schedule this post because tomorrow, I drive up to the Clarens Beer Fest to launch MyBEER with our brave and pioneering sponsors, SAB. I wanted to give you some behind-the-scenes context on this blog. So, no official schwarmy press releases, just some cool insight about a product that we're all really proud of. By now, you're wondering if me and my team are starting to become booze hounds. Perhaps. But alcohol is an amazing product category, one where we need to be responsible - but also one where we see more product loyalty and engagement than most. As with any social product, you need to have a topic that people want to talk about, a vertical that people want to engage with. Engage with more than once. I love toasters. But I'm not sure I'd check into one :) The other thing you will have noticed is that Real Time Wine wa

In a bumper episode of the ZA Tech Show (1 hour and 24 minutes to be exact), Brett Haggard gets together with Real Time Wine’s Andy Hadfield and Connect Magazine’s Adam Oxford to discuss the past week’s tech news. Topics on the agenda include: E-commerce heading on over to Twitter; What would make for an awesome next-generation gaming console; Where Valve thinks gaming market is headed over the next few years; The ‘BMW Genius’ initiative; Mailbox.app for iOS (we’re still waiting for our invite #justsaying); The sellout of the MS Surface Pro and Blackberry Z10; and the fact that Ubuntu Phone Edition is coming soon. Our technology picks of the week are: Andy Hadfield picks Google Groups and picks-on Rwanda (or more specifically, the Rwandan domain registrar); Adam Oxford picks MOOCS (Massively Open Online Courses) and www.coursera.org; and Brett Haggard picks Adobe Creative Cloud. Our listeners pick: Alicia Keys’ tweet from her iPhone (she’s Blackberry’s worldwide c

I've been thinking about this for a while. The Internet (especially social media channels) are just too damn loud . Messaging overload is an understatement. We're deluged with communication. Multiple social networks, multiple messaging platforms, emails, phone calls, voicemails, advertising, television, radio - it's a little scary to be honest. And brands have to play in this mess. They have to find a way to stand out, to "cut through the clutter" as the saying goes. How? By being valuable and useful - sure. By being emotional, remarkable, fun... Sure. But when everyone is trying to be that, it's hard to tell the good from the bad. Which makes it hard to care. Which makes it hard to engage. I don't know how to solve this problem. Yet. Couple of years ago (back in FNB days) I wrote a strategy which included the trend "Retreat to Niche", where consumers, desperate for value would retreat to smaller communities with more manageable communication

I remember having this debate on the ZA Tech Show when Siri came out. Were we moving into an age of vastly different interfaces into technology. Mouse became touch became voice. But voice doesn't work everywhere - imagine repeating your request for Siri to deliver a certain sports score, 3 times at high volume in the middle of a crowded restaurant. Still a way to go. But touch could very well become gesture. Not on a tablet, but in the air around you. Whatever happens, one thing I know, is that the mouse has really been iterated in 20 years. Sure touch is good, but the vast majority of us still use a mouse/trackpad for 90% of work activity. It's ripe for a change. Enjoy this MindBullet from the FutureWorld Group . Always available to host keynotes, facilitate or consult on your business and the future. NOW WE ALL TALK WITH OUR HANDS Sensor technology changes social behavior Dateline: 30 July 2016 Once we used to tease Italians for talking with their hands. No