Trimming in Public – Part 2

I’m publicly sorting through my RSS feed, ten feeds at a time.
Background (and part 1) posted last week.

Next ten, here we go –

501st TK Project
We’re into part two and we hit the first of my geeky/arty subscriptions that help connect things in a different way. The 501st TK Project is, believe it or not, an entire blog dedicated to Stormtrooper Helmet mods. No, no really. IT IS AWESOME. Well, it was. The last post went live on Christmas Eve 2010 and there hasn’t been one since. I’ve no idea why. Sad really. The blog is still live so you’re still able to check out the community submissions however, for the purpose of this exercise, it’s time to cut.
Decision: Remove 

76square
Ha! Hilariously this is the ex-tumblr of one Stefan Constantinescu – the chap that originally inspired this series of posts (and someone with whom I’m now podcasting – more on that, later) God knows when he stopped tumbling, but it looks like the blog is dead. So… even though it started out well… it’s time to say goodbye.
Decision: Remove 

:: gia’s blog ::
Gia Milinovich is a lovely woman. I first met her at the original Tuttle club (or maybe perhaps through Seesmic, I forget) and the soft, warm american drawl had me at hello. These days, she’s known as Mrs Brian Cox (something she’s written about also) but having worked on everything from X-Files through to Indiana Jones (and a fair bit inbetween) her blog is quite frankly, excellent.
Decision: Keep

a binary life (aka ‘the typing monkey’)
The blog of my friend Ana Bee. Ana and I met on the now-defunct (but fondly remembered) Finnish social network, Jaiku. A former Londoner who now lives back in her native Poland, Ana’s distinct point of view on the world is one that I quite enjoy. That as well being quite bonkers means that her blog gets to stay.
Decision: Keep 

a Brilliant Blog
Brilliant by name, brilliant by nature – I met Jeb Brilliant at Mobile World Congress several years back. We’ve met up several times since then, even managing to work together on both Mobile Geeks of LA + Las Vegas, and he’s a great guy. A massive mobile head, like me, his opinions often jive with mine – so I like to read them.
Decision: Keep 

A smidge of what I fancy
I love Peter Hay. The end.
Decision: Keep

About Foursquare
When I was working at the ‘heads (and constantly getting my inner creative technologist on), being on top of the latest and greatest developments across multiple social networks was part of the game. About Foursquare, the unofficial source for all things related to the location-based service, was one of my tools (and it helped). Lately, it’s mainly been about badges and promotions but, that aside, it’s still a good way to keep an eye on what brands are doing in this space. It’s rare that anything gets missed, and on that basis alone, it stays.
Decision: Keep 

Adam Greenfield’s Speedbird
Futurologist, ex-Nokian and author (of the fantastic ‘Everyware: the dawning age of of ubiquitous computing’), Adam Greenfield is one helluva smart guy. I saw him speak once, at Nokia Open Labs 2008, where he discussed how the line between man and machine will continually blur over the coming years and used the humble contact lens as his example. While he doesn’t blog that much these days, he’s still an engaging writer and, when he does put e-pen to e-paper, I’m all ears / eyes.
Decision: Keep 

adliterate
The blog of Saatchi & Saatchi strategy director, Richard Huntington. I like it.
Decision: Keep 

AdVerve
Creative inspiration from Darryl, Bill and Angela. I found this blog after following Darryl there after he left his switched from Brandflakes for Breakfast (another great source of interesting advertising stuff). There’s a whole bunch of cool stuff that gets chucked out several times a day. Good to keep an eye on what’s going on out in the industry. Especially good for ‘Yeah, been done’ conversations.
Decision: Keep 

Part two finished. Part three coming at some point in the future.
Meanwhile, while we’re sharing, do have any suggestions for blogs I should be reading?

Let me know.

Muchos gracias.

 

Minty

01022011810

Moleskine entry: January 5th, 2011

I have a new Moleskine.
This makes me happy.

It was a gift from those lovely folk @ Mint Digital (more than likely, orchestrated by my dear friend Utku), to mark the start of 2011*
Thanks Utterz. I like it.

So. Plans for the year then? I have two. Travel and dance. Doing more of both. The former I’m working on, the latter also.

I guess if I’m completely honest with myself, one underlying goal for the year ahead would be not to share as much. For the last two years (more so than before at least) I’ve lived my life openly, on the internet – and decorated it accordingly. In the same way that one would in his own house, I shared my happiness, my joy and my deepest loves on the walls around me.

If it made me smile, or if I thought it would do the same for someone, else then I shared it. But now…?

Now the largest piece of that puzzle has disappeared and, whenever I visit this place I once called home, it is not long before I wander into a memory of times gone past. It’s not like I can even show people around; an image here, a link there, an oblique reference off to the right – it happens.

This year, whatever comes my way, I’ll be keeping a fair amount of it back (more than I did before at least anyway).

For now, that’s how things have to be.

James Whatley
5/1/11

Minty Moleskines...

1000heads: Solidarity

Our very own Thom James shared this with us last week and we loved it so much we thought we’d put it on our blog –

“A clever use of ‘message as the medium'” – as Thom so rightly put it last week.

Powerful too. Good stuff.

Rough translation via Google Translate:

“On the occasion of World Water Day, BDDP Unlimited partner NGO Solidarity International, which specializes in coverage of basic needs (including water supply), has created an unprecedented public event: to better detect bystanders, the agency has devised a poster of a new genus, using water directly as a medium. A wall of water events was set in the very heart of Paris and delivered messages for one week causing the awareness of pedestrians on the damage caused by the non-potable water in the world.”

STOP PRESS: ShoZu to start charging!

Really Mobile’s favourite sharing application announced today that “going forward”, it will begin charging for its initial download…

There’s a lot going on today at the Really Mobile offices, what with the recent N97 shenanigans and the Mobile Web 2.0 Summit to cover, there’s a lot for us to get through. I myself have two (actually make that three) stories/features that I need to write up and to be honest, there really doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day!

How much will you pay?
Stay connected, but at what cost?

However, sometimes something comes along that simply bumps everything else down the line. Something so important that you simply have to drop everything and get the news up on the site. It happened a few weeks back with the Palm Pre, and today it’s happened again with ShoZu.

That’s right, ShoZu.

Really Mobile’s favourite sharing application announced today that “going forward”, it will begin charging for its initial download. The news, arriving via email this evening, sparks what would seem like a new attempt at monetization from them.
It goes:

Hello,

We’d like to start by saying thank you for using ShoZu. We have had the pleasure of communicating with several of you who have told us about your experiences using ShoZu and your thoughts for improving the service moving forward. That feedback from hundreds of ShoZu users has led us to develop a series of new features and changes to both the ShoZu user experience and the manner in which we distribute ShoZu. We wanted to let you know about a few of these updates.

You’ve got lots of flexibility in using ShoZu to upload photos and video. In addition to using the ShoZu mobile application, you can now use ShoZu to upload in new ways via:

  • picture messaging (MMS)
  • mobile email
  • PC and Mac Desktop application
  • any PC or Mac email client or webmail service

ShoZu’s mobile application takes the uploading experience to higher levels of functionality and two-way interactivity, with:

  • the ability to receive updates as well as read and reply to comments directly on your phone in near real-time
  • the ability to geo-tag uploads automatically
  • the ability to update your status, download feeds, and add tags and descriptions before or after uploading

Going forward, we will begin charging for the mobile application. If you’re already a ShoZu user, you’ll be happy to know that there’s no charge to continue using it. If you’re new to ShoZu’s mobile application, then there is a one-time charge to download the application and join thousands of happy ShoZu users.

ShoZu’s mobile application is available through our website, www.shozu.com and mobile website m.shozu.com, in Apple’s iTunes Store and will be available soon from other leading mobile application stores. We hope you continue to enjoy your ShoZu experience. We look forward to hearing your thoughts and suggestions.

Many Thanks,

The ShoZu team

So there you have it, ShoZu have made their move. As soon as I saw the news I threw it out onto Twitter to get some raw and instant reaction, the verdict?
Nicht Gut.

“Pixelpipe FTW!!!” – Ricky Cadden, Symbian Guru
Nice knowing you, ShoZu” – Carlo Longino, Mob Happy
“I’ve pretty much replaced it with Pixelpipe anyway” – Kevin Neely, Astro Turf Garden
What do they mean by “going forward”? Surely they mean “€5 on Ovi Store now” – Conor O’Neill, Louder Voice
Need it to be stable first guys” – Kip Hakes, KCJH Design

At the time of writing you can still download the app for free from http://m.shozu.com. The iPhone app store also currently lists the app as ‘FREE’, although this may change over the coming weeks. Within the Ovi Store, however, it’s a different story. A quick search returns no results, even though Conor, quoted above, reports that the app is already available for €5. See compare and contrast images below, (we can save the comment on Ovi Store for another day).

Where do we go from here?

This is a shrewd move from ShoZu. Timed with the launch of the Ovi Store, it seems like they wish to capitalise on the global roll out of Nokia’s much commented on venture into the application market. Fingers crossed it’ll pay off for them. We all love them and – in fairness – they do state quite clearly that:

If you’re already a ShoZu user, you’ll be happy to know that there’s no charge to continue using it.”

No doubt if you’re reading this, you’ve heard of ShoZu before. Maybe, just maybe you’ve downloaded the app already.
For you? No charge. Newbies coming in? €5 or, if my memory serves me rightly, £4 in the UK.

Pixelpipe have been mentioned as up and coming competitors and, what with their rather awesome Share Online integration, I’m not surprised.

Only time will tell who will win out.


Comments?
Thoughts?

Ladies and gentlemen the floor, is yours.