Just ordered my new MacBook Pro today. I promised myself I would wait as Apple always bring out something better about 1 month later, but I couldn’t resist. I’ve currently got a 12″ G4 and before that I had the 17″ which was just way too heavy to carry around the world, but I reckon the 15″ will be juuuust right. Apparently I’m not the only one, as it looks like it is going to be awhile before it is shipped, but I’m happy to wait as I know it will be worth it.

Just got this from New Zealand Trade & Enterprise. Welcome news, as it has historically been very difficult to get assistance with sales and marketing in new markets.

The government has released the new budget this afternoon. Part of this new budget is a change to the Enterprise Development Grant ‘Market Development’ component (EDG-MD) scheme. The EDG-MD scheme is to receive a substantial increase in funding next financial year, which starts in July. The annual funding for the scheme will increase from $6.1 million to $25.9 million.

How does the grant work?

The ‘Market Development’ component of the Enterprise Development Grant provides financial assistance for New Zealand businesses to undertake international market development activity.

Specifically, this fund covers up to 50 percent of a firm’s eligible market development expenditure that is related to developing new markets and improving current market positions offshore. Eligible projects include market visits, in-market representation, advertising/promotion/marketing collateral, exhibiting at trade fairs and events, and some market research. For a more detailed list of eligible activities please see attached pdf file.

Companies need to be undertaking a new market development strategy or a strategy in a new market; the fund cannot be used for business as usual. Retrospective costs (i.e. costs incurred by the applicant prior to the completed application being received and accepted as complete by NZTE) are not eligible. For a more detailed list of ineligible activities please see attached pdf file.

How much funding can applicants apply for?

A company can apply for up to $100,000 per July-June financial year in eligible costs, which the firms must match. As a minimum, the smallest amount a firm in the scheme must spend on its eligible market access activities is $40,000 – of which $20,000 may be reimbursed by NZTE under this scheme.

When can businesses apply?

From July 1 application details will be available from NZTE’s website (www.nzte.govt.nz/edg). Firms that are in the standby pool from the last round of applications will be contacted by NZTE and given priority.

Media release

Kevin Roberts, Saatchi uberboss and Sisimo guy said this recently at a conference in Montreal this month. Kevin, I entirely agree, and in fact I am betting my entire business, career and reputation on this being the case. Kevin, I hope you’re right, otherwise I’m screwed!!

Thanks to One Degree for this.

Finally, a banner ad worth clicking on.Thanks BannerBlog.com.au.

My daughter is nearly 2 years old. Taking her to see a doctor goes something like this:

Doctor examines her for about 60 seconds

“She either has a) [insert vague/common illness here] or b) [insert alternative vague/common illness here]. It is very hard to diagnose a young child. I would just give her some baby Panadol and plenty of fluids.”

Errr, thanks buddy. I could have put her symptoms into Google and got a multi-choice list of possible answers. I came to you so you would tell me with some inkling that you might be confident in your conclusion.

My parent’s generation deify doctors and when you’re a kid you look at them in much the same way. The day you realise that they are just everyday people, albeit more highly educated than me, it is a little frightening.

It has been a while since there were so many options for gamers. Xbox 360 is out now, PS3, is months away the absurdly named Nintendo Wii will not be far behind. Then you’ve got portable options in the PSP, Nintendo Game Boy and Nintendo NS.

Price wise you are looking at (USD $):

Xbox 360 - Core System $299
Xbox 360 $399
PS3 - 20GB Hard Drive $499
PS3 - 60GB Hard Drive $599
Wii - $250 (rumoured, TBC)

So what do people think about the price? Check out the comments on Engadget.com they are very funny. Short story, is that people think the Wii is still expensive given that it will have lower spec hardware and not as many good games, PS3 is way too expensive, and some people question if Sony have actually lost the plot following Xbox 360 to market with an extremely high price point.

As for me? I just love PlayStation and have a natural affinity with the brand, I’ve been gaming on this platform for over 10 years now, however, the key to success is going to be 1) games (Xbox has got Halo 3 and GTA IV) 2) online communities. I think the second one is probably going to be more important, the vendor with decent game servers with loads of gamers is definitely what we all want.

I’m living in NZ at the moment so I’ll wait and see what the local pricing looks like before making a decision.

Check out this video of the PS3 interface, very familiar if you’ve seen a PSP.

I’m currently evaluating a replacement metrics and reporting system for our website clients have looked at three alternatives so far.

Click Tracks
Web Trends
Google Analytics

So far, suprisingly, Web Trends seems to be the best option in terms of features and pricing. Google Analytics is free but has some short comings and I can’t see how they can always provide this for free and still only provide 5 sites per account. I have to make a decision this week really but I’m still not sure.

This is a good blog on Google Analytics.

The other day I was carrying my daughter, my Toshiba notebook, my Apple PowerBook, my daughter’s bag, my keys and trying to talk on my cell. Oh yeah, and it was raining. This didn’t really work. What I need is to ditch my PC and have everything I need on my PowerBook. It looks like the good folks at Apple have finally come up with the solution:

Boot Camp

Haven’t actually tried this yet as we only have one Intel Mac in the office, but it would definitely be ideal for me, assuming it all works. I’ve found one person that has found an annoying bug but hopefully this will get fixed soon. It might be better to wait until the next release of OS X, which I believe will allow you to switch between the two operating systems instantly, without having to reboot.