The Computer Says No… So Do I

I’ve just spent an hour on the phone with Barclays Bank and I accomplished nothing, except making my mind up to change banks. I won’t go into details, except to say that in May last year I applied to have a couple of ISA’s transferred from Barclays to Santander. It’s now February and Barclays have […]

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Is 2011 The New 1984?

It was broadcast just once during the 1984 Super Bowl, but that’s all it needed, as when Ridley Scott directed Apple’s iconic and multi-award winning 1984 advert, he created an advert that captured the very essence of what Apple was at that time. The underdog, fighting against the tyranny of the corporate machine, hoping to […]

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eBooks Outselling Paperbacks

Last week Amazon announced that it is now selling more eBooks than paperbacks (already 3x as many hardbacks). Amazon predicted this would happen in Q2 of 2011, but sales are obviously wildly beyond Amazon’s own predictions! Amazon.com is now selling more Kindle books than paperback books. Since the beginning of the year, for every 100 […]

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The Insanity of Book Publishers

Einstein’s definition of insanity is “Doing the same thing again and again, but expecting different results” I read this morning on the National Post that Canada’s largest book distributor (HB Fenn and company) has declared bankruptcy proceedings. In the statement, H.B. Fenn blamed “the loss of distribution lines, shrinking margins and the significant shift to […]

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Park Chan-wook is Hooked on iPhone 4

I’m a fan of Park Chan-wook work, I think his vengeance trilogy of “Sympathy for Mr Vengeance”, “Old Boy” & “Lady Vengeance” are fantastic films, I appreciate they’re not to everbody’s taste, they are very dark in nature, but they certainly make you sit up and think. Now he’s done something rather different, well for […]

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The Verizon Waltz

It wasn’t long ago that Verizon were parodying Apple’s “There’s an App for That” adverts, in order to gain subscribers from AT&T to their own network, but it appears the two network giants have made up and become friends in their latest joint advert! Or maybe they’re both worried about the latest T-Mobile advert, which […]

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What is Being Creative?

creativity is no longer a word reserved for the musician or artist it’s something you can find in anyone it’s the ability and urge to make something of value it can be big it can be small but making something new something different something that surprises something that makes you think something that makes you […]

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Instagr.am

A while back I waxed lyrical about a fantastic Photography iPhone App named Hipstamatic, which I use almost daily and used extensively on my recent trip to Cambodia. Well I’ve just stumbled across another App named Instragram (a mash up of Instant and Telegram). Unlike Hipstamatic which adds the effects to your photo as you […]

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The End of the Paper Notepad is Nigh!

I appreciate this is a concept rendering, but if the NoteSlate uses the Kent Display technology, then the promised sub $100 price point should be achievable, after all, the BoogieBoard, which uses the same screen technology retails for only $40… although the lack of a save function on the BoogieBoard is a major drawback, but […]

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Twixtor

A friend posted the BMX video below on Facebook yesterday, all shot with a Canon 7D at 30fps, but with clever use of After Effects, notably the Twixtor plugin and a little 3D particle animation, this guy has created something incredible. I looked up the slo-mo filter he used and found numerous examples, but one […]

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It’s Not Just a Matter of Perspective

Usually when entrepreneurs start a business, they’re careful when it comes to expanding and appointing new employees, everything is risky, money is probably tight, but the workload is becoming too much, how do they decide when to employ someone else. Friends and families often help out to start, but eventually these favours can no longer […]

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Android 3.0 Honeycomb

It would appear my previous post about 20 tablets so far being announced at CES was premature, apparently there’s been over 200 so far! So there’s no doubting that 2011 will be the year of the tablet, but what isn’t clear just yet, is who will be the winners and who will be the losers […]

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Hey Man, You Wanna Buy Some Tabs?

Is there a single large electronics company NOT announcing a Tablet at CES this year? I’ve read about 20 so far and the numbers keep growing! There’s dual screens (NEC Cloud Communicator, not good), one with a coloured e-ink display (Pocket Book Mirasol, I’m really interested in that one!), one using a LED / eInk […]

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Homeless Guy with Golden Voice

I saw this video on Phil’s Unionversity website yesterday and was blown away by this guys voice, the voice just doesn’t go with what you’re seeing, he’s amazing! Drugs and alcohol have taken their toll on his life and he’s fallen on hard times, but the social web has shown it’s a force for good […]

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2010 in review

I doubt you’ve missed me, but I’ve spent the last month backpacking around Cambodia (I shall blog about that soon) I received an email from WordPress a few days ago summarizing my blog for 2010 (below), but upon further investigation what I found interesting was that my page impressions remained the same even when I […]

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Who Trusts You With Their Name

This was originally written Wednesday 1st December. I’m currently on my way to Heathrow Airport… I received a phone 4hrs ago, I had no idea at the time that it would result in my being in Lisbon this evening. I won’t go into details, suffice to say, a colleague I’ve not seen in ages, has […]

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A Bitter Pill

A week ago I purchased Malaria tablets online, unfortunately my GP got the amounts wrong on the prescription, he made it out for 24 tablets but I need 36, so he made an additional prescription today for 12 tablets, but I’m flying this evening, so there’s not enough time to order more online. So I […]

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Linked In or Locked Out?

I’m not a regular user of Linked in, but I decided to update my profile a couple of days ago and use the service to see if I could find some old contacts I’ve not been in touch with for ages by importing my various address books, 5 minutes later I had 300 plus recommendations, […]

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Google Editions

Although 6 months behind schedule it appears that Google are about to roll out their commercial eBook store Google Editions. As promised, unlike other stores that tie you into using a single eReader platform ie eBooks purchased on Amazon only work on a Kindle, B&N only on a Nook, Apple only on an iPad etc […]

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Project iPad

Rupert Murdoch is probably pretty pissed off at Richard Branson right now, as he’s just released the first daily magazine for the iPad, named Project, months ahead of Murdoch’s very own daily, to be named The Daily You can download the app for free today, then pay a monthly subscription of £1.79 / £$2.99, for […]

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The Barnes and Noble RootColor

That didn’t take long I jokingly surmised a few weeks ago that the NookColor could become the Android hack platform of choice, after all it is a very affordable 7″ LCD touch screen Android device for only $250, well it looks like the Dev community at NookDevs now have root access to the device! If […]

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Bailout Karma

It is a slow day in a little Irish town, the rain is beating down and the streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit. On this particular day a rich German tourist is driving through the town, stops at the local hotel and lays a €100 note on the desk, telling […]

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Air BnB

I was in Boston for a Medical Conference last week, but I wanted to stay on for a few days as I’d not been in Boston for almost 15 years, but I’m not a great fan of faceless hotel chains, so jumped on Google to see what I could find, then I stumbled on AirBnB, […]

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The Boston Beer Party

I’m sorry America, I owe you an apology (but it’s one I’m happy to give) I’ve been back and forth to the States for more years than I care to remember, but it wasn’t until 3 or 4 years ago when I was in Washington and I had the good fortune to knock back a […]

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CNN Augmented Reality & iPads

Noticed this on the Engadget website… CNN using Augmented Reality to present statistics of the recent midterm elections… it’s a little information overload, but it’s interesting to see the compare using an iPad to pull up data on screen as he speaks. Video on engadget other posts about Augmented Reality AR in Magazines AR Business […]

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James Bond Novels Go Digital

It’s not the only time this has happened in recent months, but this time it’s a high profile brand, James Bond. The Ian Fleming estate has announced that it are releasing all 18 Bond titles as eBooks this week on Amazon and Waterstones, but they won’t be released through their current print publisher Penguin (as […]

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Is The Times Paywall Paying Off?

Just how good are the Times and the Sunday Times online figures? Here’s what’s on offer Online access at £1 for a single day or £2 for a week, £10 for a month using the iPad app, if you’re a weekly paper subscriber you get online access for free. Going by the figures released, 100k users are […]

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That’s Brevity With An i

Today, the publisher of the national newspaper The Independent launched a newspaper named “i”, retailing for a mere 20p (The Independent costs £1). This is the first national newspaper to launch in the UK in 24 years (the last being The Independent in 1986). What’s interesting is how the marketing and PR reiterates that the […]

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DVD Zero, Downloads One

Apple today showed off their latest bit of techno-lust, the MacBook Air and I must say it’s rather gorgeous. It’s lighter, slimmer and more powerful than ever, and it even costs less! Also worth noting is that they no longer give you the option replacing the harddrive with a flash drive, as flash drives now […]

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Practise What You Tweet

I read this article yesterday about Evan Williams, co-founder of Twitter, and how he rarely tweets, sure enough he only has 128 tweets! which was a little surprising, especially as he’s now head of product development… but as he says he uses Twitter for consumption not broadcasting… although he follows just 1,284 users, while he has […]

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The First Car Recycling Drop Box

Here’s a terrific idea by Volkwagen’s to market their Polo “Our task was to tell people that the new Polo is produced out of 95% recyclable materials. People in Germany are used to recycled glass, paper and plates. So we just had to expand this matter of course for the new Polo.” Source Design Made […]

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Tiny Ant People Build City

Jay’s done it again, he just sent me another amazing looking video. The way this has been achieved is by using high vantage points with a shif-tilt lens, which gives the impression of the whole thing being a model with the people ant sized… but it’s all life size! more info at Coachella here’s some […]

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Behavioural Dynamics Methodology Explained

Here’s a great video explanation of Behavioural Dynamics given by Nigel Oakes “The BDI Methodology was originally developed in response to the need for an empirically-founded and demonstrably effective model of communication. The resulting Methodology takes a behavioural approach which focuses on influencing groups.” Behavioural Dynamics Institute Animation by Cognitive Media

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The Name Game

I’ve previously posted with best practices for naming your company, but I just stumbled across this article on Startups.com with 17 (18 actually!) suggestions of things to bear in mind when naming your company, definitely a good read if you’re in the market for naming a product or company

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