Culture
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25 April 2013 at 14 : 23 PM
Gringoes: why would you live in Brazil?
I'm a regular reader of the Gringoes.com website. It's a magazine for foreigners living and working in Brazil and the downsides of being in Brazil are a regular theme of articles and discussion, particularly in the associated Facebook group where readers can vent their opinion openly without the need for an editor to approve what they submit to the ...
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14 April 2013 at 15 : 49 PM
Greater UK ‘Soft Power’ Thanks to Iron Maiden?
I was recently invited to attend a Wilton Park round-table discussion titled "Applying soft power: the Brazilian and British perspectives" in São Paulo. Wilton Park is a think tank funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to explore policy issues that affect the UK in various ways. My own contribution focused on how social media and popular culture ...
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26 March 2013 at 15 : 10 PM
When Did You Last Switch Off Your Smartphone?
How often each day are you truly disconnected from the internet? If you have a smartphone then it's probably not very often at all. If you take a flight then it's likely you might have to endure several hours without social network updates - though many airlines are now offering wifi access on board leading to many inane Facebook updates saying little ...
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26 September 2012 at 15 : 34 PM
How Twitter Saved Bletchley Park
Dr Sue Black is an internationally-known computer scientist. She is is a Senior Research Associate in the Software Systems Engineering group in the the Department of Computer Science at University College London and a Senior Consultant with Cornerstone Global Associates. Dr Black visited Brazil recently and toured the country lecturing on Bletchley Park ...
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20 September 2012 at 15 : 25 PM
Who Moved My Job?
If you have dug around in my past then you will be aware of a book I wrote back in 2008 called Who Moved My Job? Perhaps you even bought a copy or borrowed it from a friend -- if you did then thank you. The book was short and to the point. It was a story of three English sheepdogs who found their place on the farm usurped by foreign breeds of dog who ...
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13 September 2012 at 15 : 45 PM
Embracing the Shifting Challenges of Retail
The world of retail is changing fast as we have seen this month with the opening of a new flagship Marks & Spencer store in Ellesmere Port. The new store features online hubs, sales assistants with iPads, and free wifi throughout. These innovations allow the staff to offer better information to customers, customers can check price comparison sites using ...
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5 September 2012 at 15 : 28 PM
How Will You Be Watching the Rio Olympic Games?
How did you watch the London Olympic and Paralympic games? Did you follow the coverage on TV offered by the BBC and Channel 4 or were you watching on a phone or iPad, catching video clips offered up from various social networks? London 2012 was the first Olympic games where social media and mobile devices played a big part in the experience. Don't forget ...
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9 August 2012 at 15 : 21 PM
Is the Customer Always Right?
The customer is always right. So says the old expression relied on for years to indicate that when it comes to customer service, customer demands should always be met, no matter how unreasonable. But things don't always go to plan and when customers feel let down they have always wanted to express their disappointment. This has now become easier with the ...
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13 July 2012 at 12 : 38 PM
Brazil starts free broadband tests
The Brazilian government will start testing free public broadband this coming Saturday (14). ...
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8 May 2012 at 15 : 44 PM
We Are Chained to Work 24/7 by Social Media
Last week I was presenting some social media disaster stories at a conference hosted by the customer care people Teleperformance. You can guess at some of the brands I talked about - when I asked the audience to suggest a few ideas of online disasters they called out about half the companies I planned to focus on. I was paired with two partners from law ...
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