I was recently invited to the Windows Phone 7 Mango preview (no, I didn't get a free phone) - here are a few thoughts. The first thing to note is that WP7 still looks gorgeous - the front tiles (aka widgets) are smart and add a real feeling of fluidity to the phone. Juicy The second thing is rather more depressing. Windows is still playing catch-up. It's a standard joke that neither the…
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It looks like the next big thing in Kindle-land is - depressingly - advertising subsidisation. the world's first ad-supported Kindle, going on sale within Target and Best Buy locations for $114. That represents a gentle $25 savings compared to the price of today's cheapest Kindle, but those 2500 pennies don't come free -- you'll be asked to endure "advertisements on the bottom of the device's…
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My new project - QRpedia - gets its first official outing at Derby Museum's Backstage Pass this Saturday. Do come along if you're in the area. Before then, I thought I'd give you a sneak-peek at what's happening. In February, there was a discussion on this blog about using QR codes in museums to link to Wikipedia pages. Things have rather snow-balled from there. Working with Roger Bamkin,…
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For years I was a BlackBerry fanboy. I remember snatching a departing colleague's 6710 and lying to the IT department that I was authorised to have my email on my phone. I never looked back. Despite a brief flirtation with the Nokia N95 - I was a BlackBerry Boy through and through. Until this happened. In early March 2010, my beloved BlackBerry Bold took a tumble out of a cab and died. …
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Here's the introduction I gave to London Web Standards for their State of the Browser conference. Slideshare seem to have screwed up some of the formatting, but here are the slides. State of the Browser - London Web Standards from Terence Eden Full details of the day on Lanyrd. Thanks to Nick and the rest of the team for inviting me. It was an excellent day full of demos,…
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It looks like the Government is to force cigarettes to be sold in plain packaging. QR codes on packets of coffin nails have appeared before as concept advertising. I thought it would be interesting to see if QR codes could be used for good. Here's my attempt (I'm not a graphics designer!) Original image via WeMadeThis. The first QR code goes to Direct.gov.uk's mobile friendly Smoking…
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Like many people, I no longer wear a watch. I've got a phone which tells me the time and data - why do I need something cluttering my wrist? The Evolution of the Watch I wasn't always this way, I used to love high-tech watches. Throughout my teenaged years I had one of those calculator watches - enabling me to add up my pocket money and write "5318008" for instant humour. In 1999, I…
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Oh RBS! Is there anything you touch that doesn't turn to shit? You take our money, lose it, then pay it out to yourself. Still, at least your latest advert contains a QR code. Bet you haven't managed to screw that up. Oh... On the back page of the 25 February 2011 edition of the City AM newspaper, is this lovely specimen. Thankfully, City AM have placed their paper under CC BY NC. Let's…
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It's nearly time for Mobile World Congress - the glittering jewel in the European mobile tech scene. I'm going along with WAC and will be presenting and schmoozing on their behalf. This blog post - and all others on this site - is personal commentary and does not reflect the opinions of WAC or its members. With that said - here are my top five predictions for what we'll see at Mobile World…
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Last year I gave a presentation at PayPal to show how charities could harness QR codes. I'm not sure if Oxfam were in the audience that day. But if they were, they missed the point. QR codes are a solution for quick interactions with mobile phones. Let's investigate the Oxfam QR code seen in Metro. The Advert So, can donate by scanning the code? Well, it's not really made clear what the…
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I'll preface this by saying that Wonga's lawyers are far better than mine. Wonga, the payday loan company, has found itself in a bit of hot water recently. They've had an Advertising Standards Authority adjudication against one of their adverts and they have raised the ire of Stella Creasy MP over their sponsorship of the Tube on New Years. Even London's mayor has said people should be aware…
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Another day in London - another sighting of a QR code! This time, on a poster for high-brow art-house flick The Mechanic. Quite close to the bottom of the poster - so low, I had to kneel to scan it - is a QR code. Scan it and it takes you a mobile friendly trailer on YouTube. Issues It wouldn't be a Terence Eden blog post if I didn't criticise the approach taken by the advertisers. QR …
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