by cameron | Jul 2, 2009 | Brisbane
I’m very excited today to release the news that I’ve partnered up with ourbrisbane.com to co-produce the "Brisbane Confidential" series that I’ve been talking about for the last year. Brisbane has a surprising number of cool, funky places and I want to show them to you. Each week the series will showcase some of the funkiest cafes, bars, restaurants, boutique stores and events in Brisbane. New episodes will be available each Thursday on ourbrisbane.com, BrisbaneConfidential.com and through iTunes.
Partnering up with ourbrisbane.com is exciting because they are THE site to tell you about what’s happening around Brisbane. They have huge reach in Brisbane, about 500,000 people visit their site each month. When I made a decision to move up here early last year, the first site I ended up on to learn more about Brisbane was ourbrisbane.com and I remember thinking at the time "I wish they had some podcasts".
Well, now they do. 🙂
by cameron | Jun 25, 2009 | Brisbane, Uncategorized
I just got off the phone after a very annoying phone call with a Three "customer support" person.
The guy was just rude, obnoxious and uninformed.
I’ve had a 3G card from 3 for the last 18 months and never used it. But I’ve paid my $29 a month – so they have done very well out of me.
When I did try to use it a couple of days ago – because my TPG account has been capped for a couple of days – the throughput on the card was terrible, I’m talking single digits. I rang 3 support and was told their network is overloaded in my area (inner suburb of Brisbane) and that it might take a month to resolve.
So I rang them back today and asked them today to cancel my account – and was told there would be an $80 charge! When I explained they are not providing me with the service I signed up for, the guy on the phone had the temerity to try to tell me that it is MY FAULT because I recently moved house!! And that just because they agreed to give me coverage in one location, didn’t mean they provided access across 100% of the country!
I explained that I’m not in Alice Springs – I’m in an inner suburb of Brisbane where they normally DO provide access but they haven’t provisioned their network sufficiently.
But he just kept talking over me, not listening at all. I had to raise my voice for him to even stop talking for a second to let me finish my sentence.
Eventually he went and "spoke to a supervisor" and agreed to cut my cancellation charges in half. I said that I refused to pay them a cent more and asked to speak directly to a supervisor. He said someone would call me – WITHIN 48 HOURS.
It takes 48 hours to get someone to call me back?
What kind of operation are they running?
Network is down.
48 hours to get a call center supervisor to call me back.
Pathetic.
They have made $522 bucks out of me on this card and provided ZERO SERVICE.
by cameron | Jun 23, 2009 | Brisbane, capitalism, Podcast
My guest on today’s show is Michael Doneman – one part business coach, one part social activist, one part guru.
Over the last few months his name has come up in a startling variety of conversations I’ve had with people. These people have a few things in common – they are very bright, have a sparkle in their eye, are entrepreneurs, think they can change the world – and they are students of Doneman.
Michael explains the basis of his business / school, Edgeware, where he teaches something he calls “ethical entrepreneurship” and we discuss the future of capitalism.
This is also the first interview in my series where I intend to interview Brisbane’s Best Minds. If you want to nominate someone to be interviewed as part of this series, please submit their details here.
Further links:
John Gray video
Edgeware site
Follow Michael Doneman on Twitter
Do you want an independent media?
Abigail Washburn & The Shanghai Restoration Project
“Sala” (mp3)
from “Afterquake”
(Undercover Culture Music)
Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at Rhapsody
Buy at Napster
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at Puretracks
More On This Album
by cameron | Jun 8, 2009 | Brisbane, Podcast
Yesterday afternoon I was sitting in a cafe here in Brisbane, reading, thinking about how unlikely it was that Chrissy and I were both in Ajaccio at the same time last year. How, statistically, we should never have met. And then I started thinking about what lead me there… about all of the little events that happened over my life that put me in Ajaccio in July 2008. So I started to jot down this mindmap, tracing each event back in time to the event that had to happen, HAD TO HAPPEN, in order for me to end up in Ajaccio.
Listen to the podcast if you want to know more.
Are you a member of the TPN500?
by cameron | Jun 5, 2009 | Brisbane, Podcast
After a year of talking about it, I’ve finally decided to launch a podcast about Brisbane – Brisbane Confidential. The goal is to produce a weekly video magazine highlighting some of the best bits of Brisbane – the cafes, bars, restaurants, clubs, gigs, boutique shops and people that are making Brisbane a cooler place to live.
by cameron | Jun 3, 2009 | Brisbane, Podcast
For the last six years, Dr Paul Twomey (born in Dalby QLD, raised in Brisbane) has been running the interwebs. SRSLY. As CEO / President of ICANN, he’s been the guy who makes sure all of the tubes and pipes are clean and smooth. I got to chat with him for 15 minutes last week about the biggest surprises and challenges he’s had while in the job. If you’ve never heard my interview with Vint Cerf, ICANN founder and one of the guys who literally invented the internet, check it out here.
Paul Twomey
