by Vaughan Rivett on January 28, 2010
Once a week I travel from Auckland to Wellington for the day. For the most part I use the same airline and usually have a reasonable flight with reasonable service. However, there are a few things that could be better, such as the seats in the last three rows being so close that I cannot get the seat tray down past my stomach! Yes, I know that I am overweight, but, really, I am not THAT much overweight!
Anyway, if I flew the same airline today, a ticket was going to cost $700.00. However, Pacific Blue had tickets for $200.00, a $500.00 saving. I got a Pacific Blue ticket half expecting the condition of the plane to be poor and the service to be slack.
I was impressed. Pacific Blue had much more comfortable seats, really friendly and helpful staff. Not only that, but their even seemed to be more room between the seats.
I would recommend Pacific Blue to anyone looking to fly around New Zealand
by Vaughan Rivett on January 27, 2010
Some people are really good at picking up on trends. This book store could see heaps of potential back in the days of Lotus Notes/Domino R6.
Take a look, they still have some stock available:
Lotus Notes reference materials selling fast
This photo was sent to me on Facebook by David Vista.
by Vaughan Rivett on January 24, 2010
I thought that it was interesting to find a news article in which the Pope has directed priests to make use of technology to proclaim the Gospel.
There are several reasons for this to be of interest to me. Over the past few years I have been trying to get the leadership of my church (The Salvation Army) to use Social Networking as a way to present the gospel into the living rooms of most New Zealand houses. However, this is something that has just fallen on deaf ears. Most of us would consider the Catholic church to be rather traditional, however I think that this is quite different.
My wife was just talking about blogging and social networks. She made reference to how William Booth (the founder of The Salvation Army) made use of what were modern was of sharing the gospel. In his day it was rather radical for a church to have a brass band. In fact, William Booth did not like the idea, until he say the crowd that formed as a result of the noise that it made. Over the years this has been a vital part of street outreach. However, times have changed and The Salvation Army here in New Zealand doesn’t do this as often. In fact, it has become less than effective.
Now we have a way to actually get into peoples homes. Not only that, but at their invitation! We are able to share the story of Salvation through the death and resurrection of Christ. However, we are letting the opportunity pass us by.
by Vaughan Rivett on January 20, 2010
I can remember the day that I sent my first fax. I had to use someone else’s fax machine and I even had to pay them 50 cents for something that didn’t actually cost them anything, not that I knew that at the time. I was really impressed with the way a piece of paper almost physically (in my mind) was transported from one place to another. It was amazing.
A few years latter businesses everywhere had a fax machine. I remember arriving at work in the morning to see faxes all over the floor. There were even special offers sent through which seemed to be “exclusive” to people who had a fax machine. Most people seemed to welcome them. I think in the age of email we call this SPAM.
A few years latter I got my first email account. It was an internal email account using an early version of Lotus Notes. Everyone in the physical office could email each other. A few months latter, just the managers got the ability to email outside companies. I was never one of these privileged people. However, about one year latter I got myself a dial-up connection and an email account.
The first time I sent my first email I only had about two people I could email. Not so long after that I found more people in other countries. This was incredible technology. It is now something that I take for granted. Email seems to be with me all of the time. I go to a meeting after clearing my in-box and by the end I have another 10 – 20 messages to deal with.
It is hard to imagine that email could possibly be on its way out. That within a few years it will be like a fax machine is today, hardly ever used. Some people will be reading this thinking “yeah right, like that will ever happen”. Well it is!
I know of people who no longer use email at all, and yet they communicate more effectively than ever before. Some people now live in social networking sites such as Facebook or Bebo. If you are a regular user of these sites then consider how much you use email now. Your usage may have gone down. It hasn’t changed for me yet, but it is moving that way. Teenagers are a very good example.
This is what we call “disorganized collaboration”. People get to contribute information in many different ways, but at the same time people can get to it when they need to.
One of IBM’s best selling products is Lotus Connections. It is basically Facebook for internal business use. With the use of this technology I can engage my team in being able to share ideas around projects and the way we do things. They can read what others think, they can peer moderate. Everyone gets a say. Think about the potential.
by Vaughan Rivett on January 20, 2010
