Fruitbowl - Fresh Ideas from Hawke's Bay

I am all for technology – not for the sake of it, but only if I can see real value in how it can make things better and more efficient. The iphone has been one of these revelations for me, from been able to read the news to checking in to catch a flight without having to print anything. Another bit of technology that will change our households significantly is Microsoft’s ...Read more

The first day Xero switched over to XT Telecom’s mobile network was the day of their first big outage in mid December.  I know we are big phone users but we were assured it wasn’t us. The second recent outage makes it hard for people to say they like the network – but I do. I’ve been a Vodafone customer since the Bell South days and been generally happy. I especially ...Read more

Well, it’s finally here: http://www.apple.com/ipad/ To my untrained eye, it looks like a giant iPod Touch. So you would need a pretty big pocket to put it in. Or would you have to lug it around in your bag? Would you replace your laptop/notebook/netbook with something this size? Or is it a new class of product completely? The price point is pretty sweet. What do you guys think? Would ...Read more

Apple is announcing a new product later this month. It is top secret, but for information, speculation, and rumours, follow these links: http://www.pcworld.com/article/187217/the_mythical_apple_tablet_rounding_up_the_rumors.html http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/jan/20/apple-tablet-reader-launch http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10437328-71.html ...Read more

Google have been slowly beefing up their directory products, and have recently introduced Google Local Business center. This allows small businesses to enter in more specific information about themselves (like opening hours etc) and control how they are presented in Google. This is a great way for small businesses to promote themselves. Authentication is by a phone call which usually happens ...Read more

Just sitting on a conference call to the UK with 3 Xero staff  - one at Waimarama (hee hee), one in Hamilton and one neck deep in snow in the UK Midlands; and a business partner we are working with.  We had a normal international conference call number set up and started the call. On the conference call we are paying for 4 legs – 2 of those from the UK to New Zealand.  The call quality ...Read more

Whether you are using social media or not chances are your employees or business partners are. One think to think about and put in place are some guidelines around social media usage. There are many ways that social media could damage your business, from the obvious to the not so obvious. Employees chatting about what they are working on or who they are meeting could provide valuable intelligence ...Read more