Several years ago, I was wandering round the Louvre on a wet Parisian afternoon. I turned a corner from one gallery to another when I saw a painting which would change my life forever. Like a good many of you, I was completely unaware of Íñigo Melchor de Velasco, the 7th Duke of Frías. But then, how many of us know the person we are destined to become? Looking at the picture, staring into those familiar eyes, I felt like I was looking into a mirror. A mirror which showed the future. I wa…
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I've just come back from a delightful weekend in Paris. Delightful for me - not so for my wife. Rather than quietly admiring the artwork in the Louvre, I ran around gawping at the huge range of 2D codes on offer on the streets of Paris. There are some great examples of how to do 2D code marketing - and how not to do it. I'd like to run you through a few of examples I found. I've enhanced the photos to make the codes a bit more obvious - that should make scanning them easier. QR QR Codes…
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Census time is coming around - which brings with it the tricky question of religion. Regular readers will know that I self identify as an apathist - a peculiar sub-branch of atheism. Those with longer memories will have seen me self identify as a Jedi (Dark Side). So, when the 2011 census rolls around, how should I identify myself to the state? (more…) …
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🔊 Luncheon voucher boo🎤 edent 💾 Download this audio file. Hello, AudioBoo and Internet World. I'm just weirded out. I've been sent as payment for a small project I did... Luncheon vouchers! I know it's churlish to complain when people pay you, but I've literally in my life, in 31 years of living on planet earth, I have never even seen a Luncheon Voucher. I thought they died out in the 80s, but I'm here with £14 worth of 50p luncheon vouchers. I don't know if I have to use them indivi…
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It's great seeing QR codes going mainstream. First ASDA, then ITV2, now Tesco are creating print adverts with QR codes. After years of me banging on about how they were poised to take on in the UK - it looks like they've made it. The advert is a pretty good start. I'm a bit confused about why it says "Use your iPhone or Blackberry to scan the barcode" when both Android and Nokia also have barcode readers (I guess Windows Phone 7 will have one too). I left this comment on the site. Looks…
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Almost a year ago, I postulated a way to turn the tables on the News International paywall. After playing around for a bit, I discovered that it was easy to block The Times from reading a blog, but I couldn't find an easy way to disable the paywall on receipt of payment. So, I've set up a voluntary paywall. It's in the sidebar - and looks something like this... This was partly a way for me to play with the Google Checkout API - which is surprisingly easy to integrate and works flawlessly …
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...And ITV2 screw them up... I wasn't allowed to watch ITV as a kid. More out of a desire to keep me from pestering my parents for He-Man action figures than a commentary on their shows. But my old biases have stayed with me. I rarely venture on to ITV - except for nature documentaries. The Only Way Is Essex I've no idea what "The Only Way Is Essex" is. Frankly, I've no desire. It confirms all my worst prejudices about ITV. Cheap and tawdry trash. What does interest me, it their use…
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QR Codes are big news at the moment - both Google and Bit.ly announcing URL to QR services. What's interesting is their differing approach to error correction. From the creators of QR Codes, Denso Wave QR Code has error correction capability to restore data if the code is dirty or damaged. Four error correction levels are available for users to choose according to the operating environment. Raising this level improves error correction capability but also increases the amount of data QR Code…
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Two of the biggest "mass market" brands are using QR Codes in their advertising. ASDA - the UK arm of Walmart - and Martina Cole - one of the UK's best selling authors. Here's the poster in situ Here's a close up of the code It's a reasonable physical size and the information density isn't particularly high - so well done on that front. I'd place a bit more whitespace around the code - but it scanned easily enough on my phone. The website itself is ok. Nothing stunning. It's a great…
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Sometimes a mobile advert is just so bad that you wonder what drugs the people who commissioned were on. Easy A is new film aimed squarely a the youth market. Perfect fodder for mobile advertising. Cute little advert, doesn't say what it will link to, but other than that, not bad. So let's click through and see what happens. Sweet! YouTube has an excellent mobile optimised site. The ability to share the video on Facebook and Twitter is sure to make this baby go viral. Right? Right? As t…
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Way back in 2010, I was sent a Nokia N8 to review. It was dreadful. Simply one of the worst devices I've ever used. My original ranty blog posts have been lost from tumblr, so I've reposted it here as a single post. It is pretty slapdash. I've added some commentary. Warning! There be swearing ahead! On signing in to the N8, I was prompted to log in with my Ovi account. I have an account, but I can't remember the password. In order to retrieve it I must prove that I am human. Oh, cool! A…
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I gave a quick talk at BarCamp Brigton about how to hack the Amazon Kindle 3G. These hacks come in two flavours - easy and very easy. Very Easy - Pictures Wouldn't it be great to view pictures on your Kindle? Well? OK - pictures, perhaps not so much - but comics? Yes please! For best results, image files should be the same resolution as the Kindle. 600px * 800px - and grey-scale. Let's use the XKCD comics - mostly because they're already the right size and mostly in black and white. And …
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