I've written before about how newspapers are reacting to the changing media landscape. Every so often, I spy something that reminds me just how far they need to go in order to fully "get" the web. This latest example is from the Financial Times. I have huge admiration for the FT. Their reporting is usually spot on, their website is mostly excellent and their mobile site is very credible. But take a look at the bottom of this story. See Page 2 Those words "Network Envy, Page 2 - BT Under…
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A quick explanation of how I integrated AudioBoo and Phreadz with Dabr. I'm a big fan of AudioBoo - for those who don't know it, AudioBoo allows you to record some audio on your phone and then publish it to the web. It's like instant podcasting. Originally only for the iPhone, AudioBoo now works on Android and there's an S60 version comeing out "soon". I'm very proud to announce that as of r260 - Dabr now support AudioBoo! It all started with a tweet from David Carrington (creator of Da…
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When I was younger, I was taught that a roll of papyrus in ancient Egypt cost the same as the monthly wage for the average citizen. Nowadays the cost of paper is negligible. That's how it goes with new technology - it's frightfully expensive to begin with, but after a while it's as ubiquitous and disposable as paper. Ebook readers are the latest in a long line of "written-word" technology. From clay tablet to papyrus to the printing press, humans have always found better ways of displaying w…
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If you're the sort of person who reads the Financial Times, you probably already have a good idea of who Capgemini are and what they do. That's just as well because their advert is almost illegible. Take a look. Capgemini Advert in the FT Lest you think I've been monkeying around with screensizes, let me assure you that the image above is at exactly the same resolution that it appeared on my BlackBerry Bold. One of the most popular business devices. Let's take a look at the advert by…
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Amazon's mp3 store on mobile Music is a huge seller in the mobile marketplace. Why carry a walkman or a discman when your phone can deliver high quality music to your £3.99 headphones? Hear a song you like on the radio, in a concert, from a busker singing - a few clicks and it's on your phone ready to play. At the moment, MNOs* rule the roost in terms of mobile music sales. Customers don't want to type in their credit card number on a phone's keypad. They're also wary of risky premium rate…
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Ahhh.... Nokia. Remember them? Once upon a time they were a global power-house. But now, with BlackBerry, iPhone and Android nipping at their heels, they are a shadow of their former self. I mean, Nokia "only" have a market share of 38% - and they "only" sold 108 million devices in the last quarter.... Hmmm.... Still - you know what will kick the arses of those American and Canadian rivals? A Kick Arse Advertising Campaign! That's pretty strong stuff. For those of you with poor…
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(This post started out life as a comment to Robert Brook's Not Everything Is a Game post.) I remember when I stopped beating my wife. I used to beat her regularly without ever wondering why. Without really considering how it made her feel, the effect on our relationship or the effect it had on me. Beating her was just something I did. I didn't take any particular joy in it. I wasn't experiencing huge emotional relief after she was beaten - I didn't feel smug, self-satisfied or powerful. Deep…
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BBH Labs - a marketing agency's "Skunkworks" - recently blogged about using QR Codes to send messages via Twitter. There approach was interesting, but as I commented, there are ways to improve it. If you scan in the above QR code, it will take you to Twitter and pre-populate your status with "@edent". You can, of course, set it to be any message you like. There are two key things to remember with QR codes. Keep the information in them short to ensure readability. The more characters …
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After my previous post about the Sudokube, I decided to build one as my father's birthday present. A quick recap, a Sudokube is like a normal 3x3 Sudoku, except the numbers wrap around the edges of a 4x4x4 cube. Clear? The Finished Result The cube took a few hours to build, hence my slightly frazzled state in this video. The Puzzle I'd scoured the web for ages until I found a suitable puzzle. There's a surprising lack of them out there. Sudokube (C) Uwe Wiedemann Uwe Wiedemann has a …
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Ahhhh! The BBC. Shining bastion of purity in a sea of commercial malaise. Nothing can spoil its lustre. Well, for those of us in the UK. For the poor sods who find themselves living in the wilderness of ROW (Rest Of World) this is their BBC experience... BBC With Adverts The reasons for me seeing this are rather complex and involve VPNs and a co-located BES. Regardless, what's this advert like? The text is small and indistinct. The purpose of the message is rather vague. There's no…
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Edit! I've uploaded the clip as it's no longer available on iPlayer https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/I-am-the-Cheese-Lord.mp4 A few weeks ago, I blogged about seeing Russell Howard's Good News. I was (only slightly) gutted not to have appeared on the broadcast version of the show. Then, this morning, one of my colleagues stopped me in the lift... Hey! Saw you on TV last night talking about Dorset Blue Vinney. And so he did! You can watch the full episode for the…
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When I was a student, I had a brilliant idea. Why not have a stand at every train station where you could sync your Palm Pilot with the latest news? Insert a pound in the slot, press the button for The Times, aim your handheld's IrDA at the blinking light and ZAP! All the latest news for you to read on your train journey. It's just as well that my idea never got out of the paper prototyping stage. While BlueTooth has supplanted Infrared in the majority of modern phones, it is network p…
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