Both new and used books in Fiji are ludicrously expensive. Unfairly so, I think. A friend of mine who runs a resort in Fiji told me about a huge amount of books and other reading material he sourced from a school in the United States a few years back. His intention was to distribute the material to a local primary school in the village near his property. When the container arrived into the country, Fiji's tax authority insisted he pay thousands of dollars in duty to clear the shipment. He refused and thus began one of those island experience odysseys all too common in this country. In the end, I believe he told them to either burn the entire lot or just let him have the books. Someone, somewhere, must have finally realised the ridiculousness of the entire drama and let it all through...but as usual, I digress...
I'll estimate the average new-release soft cover books available in Fiji run FJ$40-60 with new hardcovers almost double that (easily $90-120)...yes, they can be found for cheaper but not typically the stuff I want to read. Not surprisingly, there's a healthy trade circuit among the expatriate and local community and I think books are among the fastest items to disappear when someone migrates out and sells their stuff.
For my kids, however, the situation is more dire. The quality and selection of books they can get here seems entirely crappy. There are one or two decent bookstores to choose from but given the voracious appetite for reading that my kids have (which I'm quite happy about), I can't easily drop thousands of dollars per month on literature. The Internet has certainly made things a bit easier when it comes to reading material but the side effect to that is less actual book reading. In my house, my kids have read and re-read their books a number of times. Some months ago, I walked in on my 10 year old, Ethan, reading a dictionary. He was up to the letter M and it made me feel like shit or, more appropriately in terms he might be able to understand, MANURE.
Last month, Amazon released their global KINDLE edition, and in a single split instant, everything changed. I had been waiting for this product for years and was always impressed with the reviews I've read about it. Although I very much enjoy reading, I wouldn't call myself a crazy bookworm. If I have books, I read them. If not, I might think about reading but I don't always have to have something in my hand. The KINDLE, however, always struck me as a perfect solution for the developing world reader. Ease of use, simplicity, content...
Before a trip back to the states in January, I ordered one and had it delivered to a friend's house in Los Angeles, where I was stopping off before heading to the east coast. I wasn't really expecting to get so attached to it myself, actually. I like good design and was keen to see how how it was developed as a product but I think I truly intended for the kids to take advantage of it. When I arrived in LA and opened up my new toy, I was immediately sucked into being a believer.
The Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) launched their new branding and vision yesterday (10 June) after more than 40 years living with the previous logo mark. The launch event was an intimate and very Fijian affair with the Prime Minister as the chief guest, the board of FNPF, some guests and the majority of attendees made up of FNPF employees. I actually thought that was a nice touch since the soul of any rebranding effort are the people that work at the organisation. After all, they're the ones who are expected to drive change. From my perspective, there was a heightened level of excitement around this launch driven, in part, by all the new uniforms staff will get.
The event itself, as written, was very Fijian with the first hour or so taken up by a lovely sevusevu with all the usual adornments including a massive pig and an even more massive trunk of kava bigger than a redwood. Although the ceremony is conducted entirely in Fijian, I never get tired of listening and watching the ritual unfold. There were then a handful of speeches and the new logo was launched.
Incidentally, the new logo and branding was done by Art & Soul, a Suva based creative agency. Oceanic has been working with the new brand for the past few months during development of the fund's new website. At this point, the the new site (located at www.myfnpf.com.fj) is primarily a new foundation for future functionality and outside of a new design and information architecture, does not differ wildly insofar as functionality goes. Although I know that might disappoint some people who expect to see account management functionality, I do believe that's in the cards for the organisation. In fact, it has to be at some point.
There has been a lot of content development taking place as well and I see that growing significantly in the coming months as old material is updated and new messages take its place. I still see work needed in this area but as content creation is consistently one of the biggest client challenges, I think FNPF has done a good job in putting themselves on the right path. They are very aware of their content's importance, too.
There's a lot that can be said for the launch of any new brand and the website is just a single facet of a larger strategy. Not surprisingly, I tend to put a lot of faith in its role as a real game changer insofar as the fund's ability to reinvent itself for its members. I believe there is definitely interest on the part of FNPF to begin exploring the online channel for quality member support and that will likely be the next phase implemented, I think.
Please take the time to visit the new FNPF website and keep your eyes peeled for some of the new feature changes in the coming months.
Last week, Vodafone Fiji passed me along a BlackBerry Storm. I don't know anything at all about how they'll be rolling the product out to the public or when this will happen, though. In fact, this "mini review" is really not about Vodafone Fiji at all but I do need to tip my hat and thank them for the opportunity to play with new technology. Much appreciated...
On that intro note, perhaps it's appropriate to start any mention of the BlackBerry Storm with a few comments about its performance on Vodafone Fiji's network. Without a doubt, this is the best sounding BlackBerry I have ever had and Vodafone's 3G service pairs beautifully with it. Audio is crystal clear when making calls. So much so, that I was amazed I was even noticing it. I wish other BB models followed suit. Browsing the web was also quite pleasing and I have no complaints at all about that.
I promised myself one week with the new model. I would put down my Bold and use the Storm for a single week since I knew that there would be some kind of learning curve with a phone that relies on a touchscreen. I gave up after three days. In the end, I realised that whether I had the phone for an hour, a day or a week, I would never get used to fighting with my phone and that's exactly what I found myself doing.
It's not all crap...just most of it. I liked the updated 3.2 MP camera a lot. I also liked the form factor of the Storm with its slick and curvy shape. Unfortunately, it felt slippery and heavy and unlike some of the other BlackBerry models, the Storm didn't feel as if it would be so forgiving if dropped. I didn't test that theory, however, even as I wanted to smash the unit against the wall a number of times. The only other praise I can give the Storm is for the screen. It's very bright and colors are very vivid. However, I was constantly having to clean the thing of fingerprints.
I've become pretty impressed with Facebook over the last year. Yeah, it's an oft-annoying, time-wasting mound of crap a lot of the time but if nothing else, it has enabled me to reconnect with people who were important to me a long time ago and for whatever reason, have dropped off my radar.
Much has been both said and written about the randomness of friend management. The most popular question people have when wondering whether they can give their Friend-list an enema and remove undesirables, is whether people will know it has happened. This has obviously been something the powers-that-be at Facebook understand.
Here's the friend removal dialog box as it currently exists:
Nice and simple.
The usability foresight Facebook developers have shown by communicating to the user that their "friend" will not be notified is impressive and accurately captures the very essence of non-confrontational behavior in today's online world.
What I've learned, however, is that there is an inherent flaw in this user experience design because the de-friended individual in question can simply request being a friend again. At that point, the person who was doing the de-friending needs to confront the situation again.
Therefore, there's a single logical solution to this Facebook design flaw, presented here:
This checkbox addition would send a notice to the person being de-friended, letting them know that they have been de-friended and to not bother the person who did the de-friending. It would really save a whole lot of hassle.
I think this is a legitimate user interface update to social networking applications.
[Thanks to my friend Naomi who is graciously allowing me to demonstrate with her profile. I would never de-friend her (at least not until Facebook implements the aforementioned UI update.).]
Scientists in Kamakura have developed a botanical interface which allows plants to post their "thoughts" online. Apparently, bioelectric currents traveling along the plant's leaves change depending upon what's happening around the plant. Temperature, humidity, vibrations, people nearby, etc. all impact how the plant is feeling. An algorithm was developed to translate those feelings into Japanese sentences.
The first blogging plant is named Midori-san. Visitors can give her a dose of fluorescent light (for which she will promptly thank you). A more complete description of the experiment can found here. Midori herself and her blog can be seen here.
No word yet when they'll turn the comments field on because I disagree with a lot of what Midori-san is writing (especially about greenhouse gases).
It's been months since I came across an activity I wanted to doom you, the reader, to.
It will take a bit of patience in the beginning but if you're like me, you'll have completed the first level in just under four hours. I despise this activity. Despise it intensely.
The goal is to build a little contraption which pulls, pushes and drags a wheel into a special area, at which point you win that level. If I've done a bad job explaining it, it's because I despise this activity. Intensely.
The Olympics start tomorrow and I'm looking forward to finally being in a nearby time zone so I can watch many of the events on TV. FijiTV has even secured the rights and have stated their commitment to broadcast many of the games. That's great. On the Chinese side of things, I've been in absolute awe of what that country has built to prepare for these games. The newly designed facilities are truly incredible and amazing examples of architecture. I could stare at the "birds nest" all day.
Great controversy has dogged the build up to this year's Olympic summer games more than ever before, though, and that was to be expected. The crackdown on Tibet in March thrust China's human right's record back into the spotlight but in my opinion, the country shined when it came to their response to the massive Sichuan earthquake in May. I'm not referring to the government's reaction to the quake or even the cause of so much death (apparently, from shoddy construction). What I'm referring to is the way the Chinese people themselves responded.
This is so great.
Great to see the kids at Wainivilase Village get a little face time (around 1:24). I watch this kind of thing and can't help to be reminded how important it is to get out there, see the world and realise how alike we all are. My favourite part has to be the Papau New Guinean tribe (around 2:10). Just excellent.
It's been a while since I posted an activity. This one can last for months, if it doesn't drive you crazy first. I'm warning you in advance to cancel all activities for the next several hours if you click the link and begin playing this friggin' activity. Should you lose the skin on your fingers, don't come crying to me. If your partner leaves you, don't blame me. If you find yourself a bubbling mess of damaged jello, sitting in the corner of a room batting away invisible insects and screaming things like "watch out for the spikes! watch out for the spikes!", it's not my fault. You've been warned.
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