As you may recall from previous instalments of my thrilling blog, I'm trying to find the location of every polling station in the UK. This is proving to be rather tricky - if not impossible. The data aren't centrally held and, in any case, polling stations aren't announced until an election is called. So I went for the next best thing. Using the wonderful What Do They Know site to make a Fr…
Continue reading →customers marketing · 2 comments · 550 words
Where in the value chain are you? This is a question that we're constantly being asked. When a customer is doing something, who is she doing it with? Who is she doing it for? With whom does she hold the relationship. Above all - Who Owns The Customer? This sort of thinking always bothers me - I don't see anyone as owning the customer. Yesterday, on the train home, I saw a person using …
Continue reading →Book Review books feminism review · 1 comment · 650 words
A small disclaimer. My mother & the author's mother are great friends. I remember going round to play with Ellie when I was 7 and she was 8 and a half. Back then she towered over me with the intellectual and physical superiority that only children recognise. I was terrified of her. Ellie Levenson has written a book about moden girls and feminism. Take a look at the cover of this book. Pink,…
Continue reading →design food restaurant · 4 comments · 1,750 words · Viewed ~1,141 times
I'm a huge fan of TasteLondon. Their card gives discounts in hundreds of restaurants around London. It's saved me quite a bit of money and I really recommend the service to anyone who likes eating out. TasteLondon Logo There is a small problem with it, though. The directory of restaurants it covers is a fairly heavy paperback book Rather inconvenient to carry around on the off chance that y…
Continue reading →700 words
If you really don't want people to download your app - put as many barriers in the way as possible. BlackBerry's Facebook app is a classic example of this. A brilliant application ruined by the rigmarole of actually trying to download it. Let's take a look at what a customer has to do in order to get the app on their phone. I'm on Facebook on my BlackBerry. It's a nice experience, but I want …
Continue reading →camera security · 1 comment · 600 words · Viewed ~217 times
Monitoring your home or business used to mean having an array of unsightly camera feeding grainy, washed out pictures into a row of VHS machines. In recent years we've seen the move to digital pictures, infra-red beams for night vision and, most recently, viewing over the Internet. What's the next logical step? Viewing on your mobile, of course! Two British companies have come up with some…
Continue reading →HulloMail spinvox vodafone voicemail · 2 comments · 750 words · Viewed ~1,018 times
(Usual Disclaimer - I work for Vodafone, but I do not speak on their behalf. Other mobile phone providers are available. I know some of the people at SpinVox and I have an account with them. All biases are my own and should be taken into account before you make a decision.) There has been a lot of talk recently about alternate VoiceMail Providers - especially those who transcribe or otherwise…
Continue reading →2 comments · 600 words
An inspiring day. There were, I think, two main points of contention. 1) Information wants to be free - but personal information wants to be private. 2) Raw Data Now. Should we wait for standards - or just make them up as we go along? As for (1) I'm happy for everyone to see my data if I can see theirs. Might reduce hypocrisy. I'm aware that I'm in the minority here. There are a lot of …
Continue reading →3d android games linux · 2 comments · 100 words
Feast your eyes on these beauties. Amarillo Roll is a 3D game in the same style as Super Monkey Ball. You tip your phone to move the armadillo around the course. The graphics are stunning. Reminiscent of early Xbox games. The one thing the photos don't do is convey the speed of gameplay - it's fast! The game is a tech demo from Qualcomm. You can download Armadillo Roll directly from the…
Continue reading →Alan Turing BigGeekDayOut Bletchley Park computers history WWII · 550 words
Bletchley Park stands as a testament to the power of mathematics. It represents the idea that brains, not brawn, are vital to winning any conflict. Like many Brits, I learned about the Second World War at school. I devoured books - fiction and non - about the war. What interested me wasn't the tales of derring-do, of men fighting for their lives, bombs, guns, bullets and knives. No, what…
Continue reading →android qr code YouTube · 5 comments · 150 words · Viewed ~916 times
I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere else. It would appear that the mobile version of YouTube now includes links to QR codes, so you can share the video with your friends. I've only seen this using the Android browser, I'm not sure if it's available on other devices. Browsing http://m.youtube.com/ at the bottom is a new link A link to a QR code Clicking on it takes you to a QR code The QR …
Continue reading →#cbc09 connect cwu prospect unions · 2 comments · 350 words
I'm still writing up my notes from the Connect Biennial Conference in Blackpool which I hope to turn into a full post this week. However, I found an anonymous article in the Socialist Worker decrying the merger vote. Socialist Worker accept comments for publication in the paper, but not on their website, so here's the response I emailed them. Dear Sir, I was a delegate at the Connect…
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