Month: November 2008

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Budapest via Australia odyssey begins

Yep, it’s been a long time in the making but we are finally off tomorrow morning to begin our two month around the world ramble which will see us eventually relocating to Budapest for a while.

Credit-crisis? Global warming? Yes these are all concerns but sometimes you just have to say what the hell and run for the sun. I am still planning to do some assignments and try and pick up some interesting blog material along the way – there are some very cool geothermal projects happening in New Zealand and Fiji that I would like to check out. But mostly it’s a chance to just to escape the gloom and doom with some hard-core mooching.

The flight/travel itinerary goes something like this:

Nov 16 – London to Hong Kong 

Nov 21 Hong Kong to Darwin (Aus)

Nov 26 Darwin to Alice Springs

Nov 30 Alice Springs to Cairns

Drive Cairns to Byron Bay

Train Byron Bay to Sydney

17 Dec Sydney to Christchurch (NZ)

Drive Christchurch to Auckland

31 Dec Auckland to Nadi (Fiji)

11 Jan Nadi to Honolulu (Hawaii)

14 Jan Honolulu to London (back on 15 jan)

18 Jan London to Budapest

Facebook is probably the best place to catch-up with where we are but I will be updating this blog with anything journalism or blog related I get around to over the next 8 weeks or so.

Going to be back in London for two or three days when we are back but then we are off to live in Budapest for 6 months or longer – depending on how it all works out and whether this freelance thing is really possible from anywhere.

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Is Google playing fair in Africa?

Just been at a really interesting event at Chatham House in London called Technology: A Platform for Development. (ZDNet.co.uk is one of the media partners). The conference had lots of very interesting speakers from NGOs and development agencies as well as lots of vendors who are keen to show their philanthropic sides whilst also getting very excited about how much dosh they can make out of growing markers such as Africa and India.
During the obligatory coffee break, I got chatting to someone (journalist ethics and Chatham House rules prevent me from saying who) who does a lot of tech-related work in Africa. He brought up the subject of Google and how from his perspective, it’s “Don’t be Evil” motto is not quite standing up in Africa at least (just as it was put under considerable strain over censoring in China).

My coffee-partner claimed that the line between the philanthropic side of Google, managed by the marvelously named Dr Larry Brilliant, and the commercial Google, appear to be blurring in Africa. And it goes beyond the normal branding exercise that a lot of tech companies go in for when it comes to doing good deeds, but actually seems to involve Google using its philanthropic work as a shoe-in to organisations who might be future clients of Google Inc – even down to data/leads changing hands betweem the two.

Now I can’t stand any of this up you understand, so it might be complete rubbish, but this guy was one of the speakers at the event and someone who should know what he is talking about. Even if there is any truth in it, then I am not sure how hard we can be on Google as other companies are certainly guilty of using philanthropy as a loss leader.

Take Microsoft’s international student discount iniatives which creates long term demand for their apps, or the companies Digital Pipeline iniative to help send refurbished PCs to the developing world – which mostly (it would have been exclusively but MS couldn’t argue the charity commission around) have Windows and Office preloaded.

The truth is that just as green IT goes hand in hand with cost savings, philanthropy for most tech companies has to have some profit generation effect to – even if its just a marketing one. As I said, it might not be true, but I thought better of Google but maybe that’s my problem.