I got an email this week (that I almost missed in my travels) from Aldi asking for my permission to quote me on their upcoming Motorcycle Gear Sale Flyer for their UK sale on 11 March

Of course I agreed, and guess that I may have one or two visitors to the blog over the coming week or so, who want to read my entire review. So rather than making people search through my archives, I thought I’d stick a sticky post on the front page with the direct link to that post, and others I’ve done on Aldi motorbike gear.

The original (& quoted) post is here: Review: Aldi Motorcycle Gear – Cheap as Chips or Great Value? This reviewed the gear I bought in August 2011 shortly before the August 2012 sale. So gear may’ve changed, but it is a good long term use review.

I also did an in-depth review on the Bauhn Bluetooth Headset here: Review: (Aldi) Bauhn Bluetooth Stereo Helmet Headset – in a word, don’t buy it. Spend more, or do without

Also, I gave a brief review of the kit that I did buy in 2012 on Advrider.com here: http://rog42.tv/aldi-1203

I will do a review of the stuff I did buy this year (jeans, gloves, socks, textile jacket, textile pants) in due course.

The Gloves

Also, if you’re here because of my quote in the flyer about the gloves, I’m still wearing the original pair (2011). I.e. I’ve put another 12,000 kms on them and use them daily. The replacements I bought never worked out (one of the seams stuck into one of my fingers). I’ll probably replace them this year though.

Get to the Store

At the end of the day, for the money, the gear is good. There is better gear on the market for sure, but at the Aldi prices nothing comes close. Some of the stuff (gloves, socks, jeans etc.) is great for daily use, and some good for emergency personal, or occasional pillion use (jackets, helmet etc.)

Please Share with your Mates

If you like these reviews, please share with your mates on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and other social media. Also, I’d love to hear about your experiences, please comment on the posts, I always reply (note, I won’t reply to spam or salesy comments – they’ll be deleted )

But wait, there’s more…

…Motorcycling Goodness

If you’d like to read more posts about my experience with motorbikes, gear, tours etc. check out my Motorbike Category This includes my recent & most popular post on the Top 20 iPhone Apps for Motorcyclists

Thanks for reading, and keep the rubber side down…

Those of you who’ve followed my biking exploits over the last couple of years know that almost a year ago I upgraded to the Ducati Multistrada. It’s an awesome bike, that I’ve ridden in all terrains and put 16,000 kms on in 10 months.

Last year to celebrate the bike, it’s success in the Australian market, and to give riders an opportunity to use their bike in all conditions, Ducati put on the Multistrada Experience. Like the BMW TS and GS rallies, this is an exclusive event. You have to own a Multi to register. (or be close enough to an owner to ride pillion for the week-end)

It was an awesome experience, with 80 Multi’s and 85 Riders & pillions. We stayed at Jaspers in Mount Seaview, at the base of the Oxley Highway. This road boasts 283 corners in 45 kms, followed by 62 kms of highway grade straight into Walcha, interspersed with 15 kms of dirt. Ducagasmic!

Well, it’s on again, and I thought I’d put a little teaser together for this years event, which with the new 2013 models, more owners, and located at Falls Creek in the Victorian Highlands should be even better….

Buy a Multi…

Become Legend…

Register here!

For an innovative company like Apple, they often perplex customers and analysts with their feature design choices. Especially in the iPhone. I remember well denigrating the original iPhone, on my blog, and publicly in conferences. It didn’t have a replaceable battery, a decent camera, camera flash, or a physical keyboard, and it only sported 2G connectivity.

Of course history proved me wrong. Not only did the iPhone absolutely dominate the smartphone market, but they fundamentally changed smartphone design. Despite a decade of the Palm, Windows CE, and Blackberry devices, 2007 marked the shift to all premium smartphones sporting capacitive touch screens as their primary IO interface. Over the following years all competitors scrambled to create an app store on the phone, making it easy for customers to buy applications. But none have toppled the dominance of the App Store.

Even so, it remains that iPhone’s, and Apple products in general, often don’t lead with emerging technologies. They weren’t the first with 3G, 4G, and now with NFC. Why is that?

1. Customer experience is king

There is a reason that Apple has fans, from the rabid “campers in the launch queue” to the busy “it just works” executive. A great experience that doesn’t depend on technical knowledge.

Putting a connectivity technology into a phone before widespread adoption would cause a frustration and annoyance that is the antithesis of the Apple experience.

2. Don’t follow the crowd

As mentioned above, the original & current iPhones don’t sport features found on many other phones. Even today, you can’t replace the battery on the phone. This is one thing that sets the company apart. Whatever you say about Apple, you can’t say they’re a “me too” company. Even when they do choose to make something others have made; and let’s face it they weren’t the first company to make desktops, laptops, MP3 players, smartphones, or slates; they revolutionise the design.

3. Invest in technologies that will become standard

There are too many emerging technologies and competing standards for Apple to make a long term bet too early in the design phase. How much did it cost Microsoft to adopt HD-DVD on the Xbox 360 instead of Blue Ray? Even Blue Ray hasn’t taken off like DVD did. Apple has simply ignored both of these formats betting on the longer term future of downloads.

Because of the first, two principles, Apple considers emerging technologies carefully, waits for the adoption of a dominant standard, then revolutionises the design.

Near Field Communication – Close, but no cigar

Let’s face it NFC is still not that widespread. Even where it is in shops, adoption is really limited. And there are hardly any consumer electronics devices actually in the market, let alone peoples’ homes, that have a significant benefit with NFC.

My technology friends would disagree with me of course. And the geek in me agrees with them. NFC is really cool technology, and it would be wonderful not to have to carry a wallet with bank cards, or even a house key.

I could rig that up at home, which puts me as 1 of less than 100k people in Australia that could.

But there are 23m people in Australia, and these are the Apple market.

Watch this space

I have no doubt that NFC will find widespread adoption. It’s based on RFID, which is used in a number of industries from manufacturing & logistics, to toll roads. The one emergent consumer adoption of the technology is in the automotive industry. Already my bike has keyless ignition, and the technology is growing beyond just the premium market.

Like all new technologies though, there’ll be teething problems. Already you can get cases in Asia for Android phones that stop people stealing from the bank cards on your phone. And what happens when your phone battery goes flat when you need to pay for fuel, or unlock your house?

But like pairing on Bluetooth, security on WiFi, and privacy on Facebook, I’m confident we’ll overcome these.

What about the next iPhone?

I reckon it’s still only about 50% odds that the next iPhone will sport NFC. Not only do we need to see more widespread adoption of NFC, we need to see this in the USA. Whether we like it or not, this is still Apple’s primary market. Those of us in the Antipodes will probably gnash our teeth in frustration.

But then we have about 6-9 months until the release of the next model, and in tech, that’s an age.

I am interested to hear from those with Android and other phones that do have NFC though. Do you use it a lot? If so, what for?

This is a rehash of my blog post of last year. I presented this as a a Pecha Kucha Presentation at Mobile Monday Sydney this week & promised to upload to Slideshare. Well, here it is

Happy 2013!!

I’ve been cleaning out storage devices, rationalising to create a comprehensive backup system for the home. In my shifting of files I came across this great little video I shot of Robin Dickinson, of RADSmarts fame, almost 3 years ago. In the video he postulates that you need just 3 things for a successful business.

Check it out

I love the advice for it’s focus, simplicity, and ultimate truth.

Are you over-thinking your business (work, relationships) this year?

Project 2012: Day 366

This is it, the last day of 2012. I wish you a fantastic 2013 filled with hope, joy, love, and peace.

Of course this is the time of year where people set a New Year’s Resolution. I don’t do that. Or at least I don’t set a goal for the year, but rather a daily challenge.

My daily challenge is to do at least one thing every day that I love doing, that makes me happy.

It doesn’t have to be for long. 10 mins will do. And it’s not about improving myself, or for anyone else; God, Lucy, the girls, my boss. This is simply something I do everyday to put a smile on my face. If I can do that, then no matter my success of failure in any other endeavour, I know that tomorrow I’ll be happy.

Even if for just a short while.

Good thing I ride a motorbike

I do also set a couple of annual challenges. I choose one major fundraising charity event that I generally organise a team for. These could be one of:

• Shave for a Cure
• The Black Dog Ride
• Movember
• CanToo

Then there’s a goal to travel to new places. This year was Vancouver, everywhere south of Seattle (except LA), & Hobart.

I try to learn something new – a work skill, personal skill, or musical instrument

Work needs to constantly improve – seniority, excellence of my work, and expanding my network.

I like to support everyone in the family as they learn something new.

And finally try to do at least one thing that is “Out There!” In:

• 2009 I bungy-jumped off of a 219m bridge & rode a camel at the Pyramids
• 2010 I visited Auschwitz
• 2011 it was diving in Sodwana
• 2012 I spent 10 days motorcycling down the West Coast of the USA.

So what does 2013 hold?

For 2013 I’m planning a bigger motorcycle adventure. One that I’ll combine with my charity challenge…

…The Ride to the Top of the World.

I’m looking for 8 or so motorcyclist buddies to join me late September in the Himalaya’s as we ride to the highest village in the world.

If you’re interested in doing some good and conquering the world, ping me!

And 2013 for you

Whatever your resolution, goals, or challenges are – All the very best!!

2012 has been a blast, thanks for coming along on the ride, I hope you’ve enjoyed the blog in some small way.

I’m always up for a coffee, beer, just to listen and reflect, and of course a ride

Have a great 2013.

Project 2012 “Blog every day for a year” Challenge Completed.

Project 2012: Day 365

Ok. This isn’t just a Christmas holiday recipe. It may not even be a South African recipe. And it certainly isn’t one we’ve had yet.

But it is easy. It sounds yummy. And I plan to indulge this holiday season.

Banana & Blueberry French Toast

Ingredients

• 4 slices white bread
• A good handful of blueberries
• 1 banana
• 1-2 tablespoons honey
• 4 eggs (roughly 1 egg per slice of bread)
• Some milk
• Natural yoghurt or creme fraiche, to serve

Method

• Pop a frying pan onto medium heat, either with a dollop of butter, or some oil
• Mash the banana in a mixing bowl
• Mix in the blueberries & the honey
• Beat the eggs in another (shallow) mixing bowl and add a little milk to the mixture
• Soak the bread in the egg mixture allowing it to soak up.
• Place one slice of bread on a board & smear the fruit mixture over the top leaving a space around the edges.
• Pop another slice on top of the first to make a “sandwich”
• Whack it into the frying pan, pressing down with the egg flip
• Fry until golden brown on both sides

Serve hot with the yoghurt, and preferably a side of bacon.

Nom.

I’ll let you know how they were in 2013.

“Learn like you’ll live forever!”

Mahatma Ghandi

Most people do the opposite. But don’t fall into that trap. Live life, fully, extravagantly, enthusiastically, as if this will be the last time you’ll see your wife, your kids, or eat an ice cream.

Continue to learn, to study, to practice your art, as if in time you can become the Master.

This wraps up the Personal Success Category for Project 2012, my challenge to blog every day for a year. Hope you’ve enjoyed it.

Ping me if there’s any posts you enjoyed, or topics you want to explore.

Project 2012: Day 363

“If not now, When?”

“If not you, Who?”

This is a quote from Meg Whitman (arguably not original) in all of her talks to staff as she turns HP around and builds a company for the next 70 years.

I like it because it’s inspirational. A strident call to action.

Let’s talk about the trends you should capitalise on for next year:

1. SW as a Service

IaaS is quickly becoming a commodity, not to mention highly contested market. Yet ISV’s are still struggling to adapt to the cloud. Commercially they’re re-engineering internal compensation and revenue recognition models. Technically they have to re-architect applications to SOA, multi-tenancy, and provide a way to provision, metre, & bill their enterprise systems.

Largely this work has been conducted over the last 3 years. In 2013 more SaaS providers will emerge for a number of services including: Payroll, HR, Records Management, SW Development (ALM), Project & Portfolio Management, Logistics, Staff & Scheduling Management…

2. Data Sovereignty Becomes a Non-issue

Partly because more people shift to SaaS, partly because cloud vendors are onshore, partly because organisations have a more mature approach to the cloud, and partly because the US Government will strike a deal with Australia. I foresee less people being hung up about where their data resides.

This will finally catalyse mass moves to cloud delivery models.

3. Apple Continues to Out-Innovate the Competition

In early January we’ll have the Consumer Electronics Show, with far fewer true tablets, and far more hybrid machines (laptop/tablets, phone/tablets) A week or two later Apple will have a conference that launches yet more products that out-innovate their closest competition.

Already no-one can deliver devices with the display, performance, battery life, or pure aesthetic of Apple. By January there’ll be yet more products that outshine the current stable.

Where will they go next?

• Flexible displays
• Wearable computing
• The Television

Who knows…

…what I do know is: Apple will launch a product; this will be derided by the digirati press; the product will outsell the market and the previous version.

Other technology vendors, HP, Samsung, Sony are all placing their bets on Microsoft for Ultrabooks & Tablet Hybrids, and Google for Tablets. This strikes me as a particularly fragmented strategy that makes it hard for a customer to determine what to buy. This will drive a price war.

I think we will see the rise of the “slate PC” in businesses with Enterprise Agreements. Here the HP Elitepad 900 & the Microsoft Surface Pro are the contenders for the crown. Both of these are only launched in January. It will be interesting to see what both Apple and Google do to head off this threat.

4. BYOD, OS to the Internet & the Personal Cloud

The continuing appeal of new, connected devices will drive more people connecting their own devices to work networks. Whether IT approves this or not. IT needs to find a way to accommodate and enable the business.

The other impact of lower power, & functional devices will be to drive applications, or entire desktop OS’s to the cloud. It is feasible for SMBs already to run their entire business via a browser.

Up and coming will be the Google Chrome OS, but I don’t see this as a major competitor for another year or so. Currently the functionality of native apps over online apps, at least on the desktop, is still too familiar to people, and entrenched in business licence agreements to change soon. But as more people bring their own devices, and choose a mobile platform from Apple or Google, the applications ratio will shift away from Microsoft Office.

5. The Competition will be for your Pocket

Mobile devices provide a shop front to vendors in your pocket. The iPod, iPhone, iPad, all provide a shop front not only for music, books, and content; but also for applications. The Kindle series provides a shop front for Amazon, essentially for content & physical products. The Nook does the same for Barnes and Noble.

Besides the other major smartphone vendors, Google and Microsoft, even more handheld devices like the Sony & Nintendo personal consoles will be introduced or changed to provide this market.

Windows Phone 8 will fizzle along, and potentially gain some traction. Its battle is against a very entrenched and highly loyal customer base. These, for iOS at least, have a large investment in applications that either don’t exist on the new platform, or require more investment that people are unwilling to make.

Blackberry will either die an ignoble, protracted death, or be bought out by someone. Potentially a niche player looking to expand out of the developing world.

Windows RT won’t gain much traction against the likes of Android, iOS, and even Microsoft’s own Windows 8.

Android will gain even greater market share, especially in developing markets. They will provide good competition to Apple, but ultimately won’t be as profitable due to the lack of the eco-system and their indirect revenue model. They aren’t a shop front (directly) for Google, but rather an advertising platform.

Apple will find even more ways to sell to their customers everywhere and all the time. It’s interesting that you can now buy an Apple product, or accessory, directly from an Apple device. Even in an Apple Store you can scan & purchase any product without the need to speak to a shop assistant. The friction to purchase is non-existent.

6. Networks will be Upgraded

The vast amount of unstructured data (video, photo, and audio) will continue to increase as more people become comfortable with these technologies. So networks of all sorts will continue to be upgraded.

With Cellular we’ll see widespread adoption of LTE & 4G networks. To homes roll outs like the NBN in Australia, & the UFB in New Zealand, will continue. Even without these efforts businesses will update their Wide and Local Area Networks.

All of these are passé, almost obvious, here’s some out there predictions

7. The Social Network gets Corporatised

Already we’re seeing bets being made on Facebook. It strikes me that there is a proven collaboration, Identity & Access Management, and communications system that reaches most people with access to the Internet.

Why wouldn’t Facebook work on a walled garden version for corporate clients? Especially at Public Cloud prices (or free with advertising) this would gazump other collaboration and messaging providers. It’s an offering waiting to happen.

Will a vendor like Microsoft, HP, or IBM with deep business relationships, benefit from partnering here?

8. Augmented Reality becomes Mainstream

From in-car navigation & telemetry systesm (Heads Up Display) to smartphone recognition systems to wearable computing (glasses, touch devices, in-ear). At the end of 2013 most people will be using some form of Augmented Reality in their daily lives, and not realise it (much like cloud today).

We don’t call a road sign Augmented Reality, but it is. Computer mediated AR will be as seamless to our lives

9. Education gets flipped

Rather than being taught in school, and studying at home, more people & increasingly children will use Pod & Vidcasts to be taught at home, then study under supervision at school.

This will affect Universities as their 600 year old approach to education, not to mention the cost of  that education, is threatened by ultra-low cost models.

10. Less Jobs, More Businesses

More companies will struggle to survive through the diseconomy of their size. At the same time, more individuals will make money online selling their individual skills. Over the next year more jobs will be shed from downsizing companies. More services will be outsourced to niche, low cost, online players.

From a career choice perspective you’ll want to be in a role that cannot be dis-intermediated through automation (computers.) An example is the check-in clerk for Qantas – all gone and replaced with kiosks (& mobile apps.) Nurses are still in demand though.

Happy New Year

Ok that’s it for the CTO Category for Project 2012. Next year I won’t be taking on such an onerous challenge (to blog daily) – but if you’re interested I’ll keep blogging about technology on a regular (perhaps fortnightly or weekly) basis.

Project 2012: Day 362

Where will the hungry market be in 2013? Here’s my take –

1. Integrating Systems of Record with Systems of Engagement

It’s not just about automating paper based processes (like Shoeboxed) any longer, nor just about mediating engagement (like Instagram). There’s a huge market, mainly in enterprise, where integrating these two systems will accelerate in 2013. E.g. Bring up a record of a contact, and have the tools to communicate with them. Accept a call from a customer, see all of their records in the same view.

2. Trust engine

I first heard of this need back in 2011 from Rachel Botsman in one of her talks on Collaborative Consumption. But this is no less true today, if not more so.

In short there are an increasing number of applications that vet the trust factor of users. Think eBay. Buyers and Sellers are rated by Sellers and Buyers of their products. These ratings then influence your decision criteria as to whether to transact with them. Over time, trusted sellers can set higher prices, and trusted buyers can negotiate cheaper ones.

Except that you have another trust factor on LinkedIn for jobs. Yet another one at your bank. Plus a credit rating. And we haven’t even broached AirBnB, Couchsurfing, or Uber.

There is a huge opportunity for someone to solve this problem. To create a multi-faceted trust engine that works across all of the communities you work in.

This is probably something that is best incubated in a bank, a telco, or perhaps a government organisation – or perhaps in a coalition with such organisations.

3. Augmented Reality & Physical Driven Virtuality

From “Light by MooresCloud” & Philips Hue to Zappar & Aurasma the combination of smartphones, cheap cloud computing, and tagging technologies has created a massive opportunity for innovative ideas.

Start deconstructing platforms, e.g. put an Internet connected camera on your clothing, and image recognition can drive all sorts of applications. Like say, facial recognition that matches your Facebook friends, and tells you their name and latest status via a Bluetooth headset. Brilliant for conferences.

Also look not only at augmenting reality by putting a virtual item in your field of view, but look at physical driven virtuality, where the placement or telemetry of a physical object drives your online experience. Like say, where you are determining what music to play automatically: In the gym, play your gym play list, on the road in the morning, and play latest news podcasts.

4. Machine to Machine (M2M) – Automate Everything

This is still a burgeoning technology, and still very much in the enterprise domain. But there is a huge opportunity with affordable technologies for start-up businesses. Look at RFID, NFC, and IP controlled technologies here.

Note, very few of the ideas will be new. E.g. home automation is hardly new, but ubiquitous broadband, smartphone adoption, and integration of communications technologies into appliances will provide significant opportunities that were only in the domain of the geek until recently.

Systems to automatically order consumables or commodities. Systems to power down devices based on electricity consumption. Systems to water the garden depending on the weather.

5. Scaled Multimedia

The Khan Academy, and Udemy have proven the model. But there is still massive opportunities in online training and education. Think about everything you do each day, there are millions of opportunities to create training, or review, videos.

The opportunity here is to use the Cloud to scale this in untapped markets. From developing nations to organisations.

Hybrid models are available here too, think virtual training in a simulated environment, assessments, tours.

What Are You Waiting For?

This year will bring even more innovative technology (for my predictions, read tomorrow’s CTO post), more current technologies will become mainstream. This combined with the fall out of the GFC, pushing everyone on the planet to find ways to do more with less, provides the perfect storm of opportunity

"Do not seek to understand, just do. In the doing comes the understanding.”