Wiggly Wigglers, a natural gardening mail-order company (which specializes in vermiculture: composting/gardening with earthworms) has won the 2008 Global Dell Small Business Excellence Award. Wiggly Wigglers were chosen to receive this prize for their innovative use of podcasting, wikis, and social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

Along with the recognition and accolades, the Dell Small Business Excellence award carries with it a $50,000 technology prize.

Headquartered on an actual farm in rural Herefordshire, England, Wiggly Wigglers have grown a worldwide customer base they’ve estimated at 90,000 people. Using new and social media to attract new customers and build a sense of participation and community among their established customers, the company has reduced its advertising budget by 80 percent.

Wiggly Wigglers (@Wiggled on Twitter) advocates an environmentally sustainable lifestyle, and engages its followers and customers with a broad mix of new and social media. In addition to the Facebook presence, the company also blogs, and uses wiki input from the community to determine which products will be featured in their catalogue.

Most relevant to readers at Podcasting News, the company also has an entertaining weekly podcast, hosted from the “Wiggly Sofa,” about gardening, sustainable culture, and life on the farm. Shows are typically about half an hour long and topics range from the serious to the sublime (from biodiversity to hedgehogs

Heather Gorringe, founder of Wiggly Wigglers,says, “Small businesses need to realize there are online conversations happening about their brand every day, and they are more likely to be positive and have impact if you’re part of them.”

She continues, “Social media can be time consuming but it is really valuable, has better longevity than traditional media, and it is a lot of fun. We are thrilled to receive this award and can’t wait to start blogging and podcasting with our customers all over the world to let them know.”

(And, just a note from the Editor, here: I’ve had the opportunity to hear Heather speak, with Anna Farmery of the Engaging Brand at a Podcasting Summit in London. For all her knowledge, and great business success and innovation, she is also just an incredibly nice person. We (Heather, Anna, and I) also spent a very entertaining “hen’s night out” at the Portable Media Expo. She is as engaging in real life as she is on the podcast and on speakers’ panels. You really ought to give her a listen.)

Running for five years in the United States, in partnership with the National Federation of Independent Business, and in its first year as an international program, the Dell award “solicits and recognizes small businesses for their innovative use of technology to improve their customers’ experience.” Chosen from a dozen national winners from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States, Wiggly Wigglers will receive $50,000 in Dell technology and services, a lifetime membership to the International Council for Small Business (ICSB), and engagement with Endeavor’s network of business leaders and high-impact entrepreneurs in emerging countries worldwide.

In conjunction with the Dell / ICSB award, research was released yesterday that underscored Wiggly Wigglers’ strategy for success, that “the No. 1 reason small businesses worldwide invest in technology is to better serve their customers.”  Additionally, two of the top 10 issues driving small business’ IT investments are “enabling online communications and building tools for community and conversations with customers.”

Heather encourages other small businesses to apply to compete for next year’s award.   If you own a business with fewer than 100 employees and are interested, visit www.dell.com/ceaward. 2009 applications open February 2, 2009.

The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg has a provocative review of Dell‚Äôs XPS One desktop today, saying that “has the guts, design to compete with iMac.”

He explains:

“This new Dell is no mere iMac clone. It makes its own style statement, even though it shares the same 20-inch widescreen display and a similar Intel dual-core processor with the base-model iMac. Where the iMac is squarish and silver, the XPS One is all black and rectangular, with speakers attached to the sides and a wide glass base. It looks more like a small TV set than a computer and, in fact, comes with a built-in TV tuner.

The Dell XPS One is the first Windows all-in-one desktop I’ve tested that I believe matches or exceeds the iMac in hardware design. That’s no small feat, especially coming from Dell.

Unlike the Apple, for example, the Dell has a built-in slot for camera memory cards. It comes standard with a wireless keyboard and mouse, which cost extra on the iMac. Its screen can be turned off with the touch of a button without turning off the computer itself. Its USB and headphone ports are arrayed conveniently on the side, instead of mainly at the rear, as on the iMac.”

It’s great to see Dell coming out with hardware that can give Apple some competition.

There’s no competition, though, when it comes to deciding what’s the best platform for new media.

Macs Own New Media

Apple is on the rise because they have a great operating system and because they are perfectly positioned to capitalize on the growth of new media. Macs ship with software for making audio and video, and their integrated cameras make creating Internet videos a no-brainer. Macs tend to be more stable, too, because of the Unix-based operating system and Apple’s tendency to use high-quality components in its computers.

As a result, it’s becoming more and more common to go into a coffee shop and see a wall of Mac laptops. Go to a conference, and you’ll see a wall of Macs. Hit the beach, and you’re likely to see someone updating their blog on a Mac.

In fact, it’s getting harder and harder to “Think Different”, when when everybody’s blogging, podcasting and vlogging from a Mac.

While Mossberg liked the new Dell’s hardware, he still recommends going with a Mac. He offers a few reasons why:

• Apple‚Äôs operating system, Leopard, is superior to the new Windows Vista operating system, the only choice on the XPS One.
• Apple‚Äôs built-in software, especially the iLife multimedia suite, is superior to the Dell‚Äôs built-in software.
• The XPS One, unlike the iMac, came with a bunch of craplets ‚Äî trial software like Yahoo Music and come-ons for online services like NetZero.
• The iMac, unlike the Dell, is immune to the vast majority of malicious software floating around, so you don‚Äôt have to run annoying, memory-hogging security programs. Mossberg notes that “The first time I turned on the beautiful Dell I was met with a warning that I had “multiple security problems,” and was led to install a security suite in a complex and tedious process.”
• The iMac costs less than the XPS One.

For people working in new media, Macs are especially compelling. The iLife suite is free and offers great tools for getting started with podcasting and video podcasting. And two of the best audio and video apps, Logic and Final Cut, are Mac-only.

Dell has a problem. It’s got great hardware, but it’s stuck with Windows Vista, a mishmash of third-party apps and craplets.

And you can’t do new media on crapware.

Image: j2dread

Dell has announced that it has entered into an agreement to buy privately-held ZING Systems, a company that focuses on always-connected audio and entertainment devices. Dell plans to use ZING and its capabilities to continue improving the entertainment experiences it provides its customers.

ZING introduced itself in June of 2006, stating its plans to build “an audio and entertainment engine to drive a new generation of always-connected, mobile digital devices.” Since then, it has announced agreements with Sirius satellite network, FON, SanDisk and others.

While Apple has used a computer-centric model for its mobile media player development, ZING has focused on developing independent wireless functionality.

“Today‚Äôs portable audio devices are tethered to the PC and focused mostly on playback, limited in choice and personalization,” said CEO Tim Bucher. “What people really want to be able to do is enjoy digital content from one device, wherever they are. When you are always connected, the way you listen to music will dramatically change. ZING brings digital content to you and lets you stay tuned.”

Apple’s emphasis on devices that sync with computers has proven beneficial to the growth of podcasting. It’s created a very popular portable media platform that has very low barriers to entry for content providers. ZING’s platform may prove to be a more challenging environment for podcasters, because it emphasizes¬†satellite and streaming radio, which currently have higher barriers to entry.