Category: Geek

Hanging out at the #GoogleHouse

See what I did there?

GOOGLE_HOUSE_2013-23

Last week, a friend of a friend at Google invited me along to find out how Google will change the future. The pitch?

Let’s face it, we’re all busy. Whether you’re plotting the fastest public transport route across London, trying to order a drink in Paris en Français, or cheating at a pub quiz, Google is there to help you get the information you need. Fast. We’d like to invite you to Google House, where you’ll see first-hand how Google can help make the lives of you and your customers easier.

And they weren’t wrong. But first, let’s take look awesome #GoogleHouse is (or was).

GOOGLE_HOUSE_2013-21

The Kitchen

GOOGLE_HOUSE_2013-1

The Teenager Bedroom

GOOGLE_HOUSE_2013-14

The Living Room

Basically, this beautiful four storey house in London’s Fitzrovia was turned into a Googley-fied house of the future.

And it was awesome.

Glass.... and me. #googlehouse

Obligatory ‘Whatley wearing Google Glass’ photo.

Three things I learnt:

  1. Google Chromecast? I want one of those. It’s a bit cheeky of Google to demo a product that isn’t currently available in the UK (EDIT: Amazon UK has Chromecast available now!) but still, it was really cool.  In fact, any of you reading this in the US, I’ll PayPal you the money right now. Come on, let’s do this.
  2. Google’s voice-activated search and translation is incredible. It’s unbelievable how much it has come on over the past year or so and it easily blows Siri out of the water. Everything from contextual awareness re previous/current searches, through to actually translating a conversation between two people, LIVE, is amazing. Very, very impressive indeed.
  3. Google Glass was cool, but not for me (yet). I used someone else’s set, and it was a noisy room, and they weren’t connected to my device (which is a key part of the experience). So yeah, not yet.

Overall? I had a LOT of fun and it’s great to see Google step up their game in the consumer-facing market here in the UK.

Long may it continue.

—
PS. Big love to the amazing guys over at the Sorted Food. They ran the Google/Kitchen demo and I’ve been watching their videos ever since. Check them out.

PPS. More photos over on Google+ (natch).

 

What phone should I get?

Someone recently asked me:

A good pal in the pub asked what was the best phone apart from the iPhone. What do you think? James Whatley you know about these matters. What’s the best out there on balance?

My response?
_____________________________________

If you’re not looking for an iPhone. Then your choice is Windows Phone or Android. If you want amazing photos, look at the Lumia 925 or the Lumia 1020 (see yesterday’s post for more on that one). The latter outperforms the former in the photography stakes, however the 925 has a more aesthetically pleasing industrial design. 

If photography isn’t your number one reason for having a phone (oh and if, like me, you can’t get on with the Windows Phone 8 OS) then it’s a tie between the Samsung Galaxy S4 or the HTC One – I own and adore the latter.

Finally, if budget is an issue, I’d look at the Google Nexus 4. It is, at the time of writing, Google’s flagship device and is merely an astonishing £159 SIM free on Google Play.

That’s all I got.

Whatley on a phone
_____________________________________

Disagree with this? Let me know.

But while you’re at it, let me know which phones you recommend when people ask you this same question. Those of you that don’t reply with ‘Let me ask Whatley’, that is…

 

I got an @Autographer to play with

LOOK!

Autographer

OoooooooooOoooo…

I know, right? A wearable camera that I AM TAKING ON HOLIDAY*.

TOMORROW.

YES!

Also: I unboxed it…  USING VINE

(I am too cool)

More to come on this, VERY SOON.

(if you can’t wait to hear more, there’s a teeny tiny segment on what this is, what it does, and how I’m going to use it, about seven minutes into Episode 59 of The Voicemail). 

 

*Where am I going? First to Scotland, for comedy-based shenanigans at the EDINBURGH FRINGE festival and then, after that, straight onto Finland for much musical merriment at FLOW FESTIVAL.

Amazing.

 

See you on the flip side gang…

 

 

Stuff I’ve been reading lately

In lieu of rebooting Five things on Friday (not happening), here’s a round-up of some of the more interesting things I’ve been reading on the web this year –

Screen Shot 2013-01-09 at 21.32.51

1. Magic pickpocketry
Apollo Robbins is the world’s best pickpocket. You’ve never heard of him but, within magic circles and beyond, he is somewhat of a legend. Neuroscientists, the military and anthropologists have all worked with Apollo to try and discover how he creates his particular form of distraction and extraction – this New Yorker piece is a great read.

On an encounter with Penn Jillette (of world-renowned double act ‘Penn & Teller‘) at a recent Las Vegas magician’s convention –

Jillette, who ranks pickpockets, he says, “a few notches below hypnotists on the show-biz totem pole,” was holding court at a table of colleagues, and he asked Robbins for a demonstration, ready to be unimpressed. Robbins demurred, claiming that he felt uncomfortable working in front of other magicians. He pointed out that, since Jillette was wearing only shorts and a sports shirt, he wouldn’t have much to work with.
–
“Come on,” Jillette said. “Steal something from me.”
–
Again, Robbins begged off, but he offered to do a trick instead. He instructed Jillette to place a ring that he was wearing on a piece of paper and trace its outline with a pen. By now, a small crowd had gathered. Jillette removed his ring, put it down on the paper, unclipped a pen from his shirt, and leaned forward, preparing to draw. After a moment, he froze and looked up. His face was pale.
–
“F***. You,” he said, and slumped into a chair.
–
Robbins held up a thin, cylindrical object: the cartridge from Jillette’s pen.

Amazing. Read the whole thing –
(then watch this video from 2:12 onwards)

2. Wi-Fi on the Underground
This year it’s pretty much free to use for Orange, Vodafone, EE and T-Mobile customers. Except, no one seems to have told T-Mobile.

‘Hey left hand, what you up to?’ – ‘Sorry right hand, can’t tell you’. 

3. What three completely unrelated movies can you put together that if the story lines continued would make a good trilogy?
The above is one of the best questions I’ve seen on reddit this week, my favourite response so far?

‘Home Alone / Saw / Cube. It’s the story of a boy who takes booby trapping his house to more and more ridiculous extremes.’

Brilliant.

4. More Blues Brothers
After MEETING JOHN LANDIS at the tail end of last year, I’m even more into my Blues Brothers than ever before. Big love to Terence Eden for shooting this Vanity Fair article – ‘Soul Men: The Making of The Blues Brothers‘ – my way.

With quotes such as –

It is 1979. Rare is the actor who doesn’t snort, pop, or guzzle. Landis, a teetotaler, misses the bigger picture. “We had a budget in the movie for cocaine for night shoots,” Aykroyd says. “Everyone did it, including me. Never to excess, and not ever to where I wanted to buy it or have it. [But] John, he just loved what it did. It sort of brought him alive at night—that superpower feeling where you start to talk and converse and figure you can solve all the world’s problems.”

And –

Three months later, Belushi’s first movie opens. This is Animal House. Belushi, having played Bluto, the gluttonous rascal who rallies Delta House to glory, becomes a Major Movie Star.

This is good. During an out-of-town car trip, Belushi asks Aykroyd to stop the car, saying, “Watch this! Watch this!” Aykroyd recounts that “he gets out of the car and starts knocking on the ground-floor windows of this primary school, knowing he’ll get a reaction. By the time we left, all the windows are up and the whole school is chanting, ‘Bluto! Bluto!’ ”

It really is a fantastic read and worth at least 20mins of your time.

bluesbrothers

5. The Basement
‘Somewhere in Portland, there’s a very old building, and that very old building has a very, very old basement. An incredible basement, a video-game-level basement, a set-decorator’s dream basement.’

It’s a short story, in a way. More of an exploration… of history. The clues, the stories, and the secrets. It’s quite the photo journal and, again, well worth your attention.

That’s all I got.

For now.

 

My best things of 2012

Let’s do this!
____________________________

Best Comic Book – Hawkeye

Screen shot 2012-12-31 at 12.07.18

(followed by Saga and maybe New 52 Batwoman too)

Best Blog – Super Punch
(with Marginal Revolution and Screenrant also getting worthy nods)

Best Music – we’ll ask Last.fm ———–>Screen shot 2012-12-22 at 12.54.00
(which is plugged into my Spotify and probably knows my music tastes from the year behind better than anything else)

Best Friend – Jennifer Miller

Best Place – Venice

Best Fancy Dress – Wolfmother

Best Film – Skyfall
(followed by Looper and Avengers)

Best Play – Hedda Gabler
(it was SO good)

Best Musical – Sweeney Todd

Best Premiere – Dark Knight Rises

Best Book(s) – Done that already (what’s yours?)

Best Day – August 17th
(I found out I won my first pitch for the big O just I was boarding a flight to Cape Verde for a (well-deserved) holiday with the girl; it was perfect timing. December 30th comes in a close second, see next item)

Best Celeb Spot -  JOHN LANDIS!

Best Event – TEDxObserver
(small mention on Five Things, but I still have ALL my notes to write up)

Best Coffee – Foxcroft & Ginger
(with an honourable mention for Taylor St. Canary Wharf)

Best Presentation (that I got to give) – Word of Mouth Marketing at SOF, Slovenia

Best blog posts (according to stats)

  1. Marvel: Disassembled
  2. Review: The Amazing Spider-Man
  3. On Facebook? I can see your private messages
  4. DRIVE (posted last year, but still top-billed)
  5. Review: Skyfall

Best blog posts (according to opinion)

  1. Current attempts at television-based social media integration are failing, hard.
  2. the pressure of immediacy
  3. Never-ending enjoyment (for a limited time only)
  4. 2013 Social Media Predictions
  5. In defence of Superman Returns

Best overall stats – Jetpack did that for me

Best New Personal Projects – Five things on Friday and The Voicemail

Best Blogger Engagement – Tsingtao, Motorola and Visit Switzerland

Best Food – Spuntino – I love it there
(Hakkasan comes a close second)

Best App – Paper by Fifty-Three (example output)

_____________________

Bit of a random list all in all, but hey – it’s my list and I can do what I like. This past year has been an astonishing year for stats and stuff, YOY growth has been mental –

Screen shot 2012-12-31 at 13.10.06

I’m putting this down to two things. First, a solid commitment to blogging; this year I published 164 new posts. That works out at an average of just over three posts per week. Having blogging projects to work towards helped with this a lot. If you’re looking to grow your readership, I’d recommend this.

Second, StumbleUpon. This year, I started sharing my links to the social/interest/serendipity-led search engine and my YTD referrers put SU in at the number two position (with Search coming first and Twitter coming third).

Finally I put a lot of my 2012 reflection stuff into my last Five things on Friday post so, instead of going over similar ground, I just want to say a big thank you – all of you – who have stopped by to read, comment on, or share anything you’ve found on this here blog of mine.

I really, really appreciate it.

Happy New Year to you and I’ll see you in 2013!

😀 😀 😀

 

 

Three things arrived in the post today

First, a rather super-awesome Superdry hoodie from those kind folk at Cult Clothing. Not only does it fit, but it’s also perfectly timed as I AM ILL RIGHT NOW and being cosy and warm helps me feel better.

Look – ILL

Superdry Hoodies

Second, an actual Amazon Kindle Fire HD gifted to me from Dolby, via Kred Rewards. I am both amazed and massively thankful. Plus (and I really hope my Mum isn’t reading this) that’s Christmas all wrapped up for a certain relative of mine, definitely.

Stunned.

In-kred-ible even (sorry, couldn’t help it).

Third and finally, a selection of digital goodies from Neil Gibson Comics / T-Publications. I love a good comic book (you’re in shock, I know) and well, I rarely venture into new territories without muchos research beforehand. This, amongst others, has come my way so I’m going to read it. Easy.

What did you get in the post today?

Scottevest FTW

Meet Scott Jordan –

Scott Jordan - aka @scottevest

I was first introduced to Scott way back when I was just about to embark upon my Lucozade Energy Challenges…

No. Wait.

First you need to know what the hell a ‘Scottevest‘ is.

Well, the best way to describe it would be to call it ‘tech-enabled clothing’ for the tech-travelling geek. Imagine a really nice/well-made jacket for example, that can carry all of your tech.

You’re a blogger, geek, tech-head. You’re carrying an iPad, a phone (or three), a USB cable (or seven). You don’t want to carry a bag because you always carry a bag. Well, what if you didn’t have to? What if you could wear a jacket, or a fleece, or a pair of trousers that could carry all that for you - in comfort.

Well that’s Scottevest.

And it is awesome.

Example?

Let me get back to my story, back when I was about to embark upon my Lucozade trip of epicness, fellow video-blogging buddy Christian Payne – aka @Documentally – reached out to Scott and asked him to send me some stuff to use while I was away – ‘He’ll do something cool,’ he said. In return I told Christian I’d give Scott the rights to use any photography that I took while away…

And that’s exactly what I did.

Like a pro...

Sandboarding in Namibia, head to toe in Scottevest gear, natch.

Turns into: free photos of yours truly with any Scottevest purchase! 😉

Whatleydude, on a sandboard, wearing Scottevest

Throw in a bit of climbing, some mountain trekking and a spot of safari too, and you have yourself quite a nice selection of Scottevest-in-action poses!

Anyway, for the past three years Scott and I have been following each other on Twitter and last night was the first time we got a chance to meet… and what a genuinely nice guy he is! Filled with stories and laughter, he was a great host for a lovely evening of tech geekery and smart clothing (not a combination you hear every day).

Seriously, follow him on Twitter [and tell him I said hi] and perhaps, this Christmas, you might want to gift your favourite geek with some badass Scottevest gear for his/her tech.

Oh, and as a final FYI – for my fellow Brits – Scott was in town last night to tell both a) catch up with his UK friends and b) give us a sneak preview of new and upcoming products.

That blue shirt he’s wearing above is on my shopping list already and, when it launches, Scott’ll be putting everything on Amazon.co.uk too – making it all much easier to purchase.

Win!

 

2013 Social Media Predictions

Some trend analysis for your oculars…

Earlier this year I was tasked with doing some analysis that ended up not being used, so I’m printing them here. They’re not really Social Media predictions per se, more consumer/industry/technology focused trends.

Either way, have a read and let me know what you think in the comments –

— 2012/13 Technology Trends & Predictions —

The outsourcing of community management to emerging markets

The online/social-media-based customer care business is booming. Social network CMS platforms, such as Buddy Media, are being bought and sold quickly to larger and larger businesses and, as a result, more investment is going into building highly-powered software to monitor and measure the social media interface between brand and consumer. This is not news.

However, what is news is that brands will soon realise exactly how much they are spending in this area. First on their agencies, handling it for them. Then internally, when they start training up their existing customer care staff. Which, in turn, points to a time when brands (large and small) will soon outsource their social media customer care to indian / emerging market (read: cheap) ‘call’ centres. Easily equipped with 140 character long scripts, this new group will gladly speak in the authentic voice of the brand for a mere fraction of the price of the existing agency/care dept.

This will happen.

—–

2screening + Advertising

This is an immediate + obvious choice. The growth of this particular area, as consumers become more and more accustomed to seeing hashtags on their TV screens (related to the content they’re viewing), means that advertising will soon follow suit.

Super targeting is one thing, but soon smart media-planners will force Twitter to allow time-sensitive promoted tweets, with time-focused twitter ads designed to populate at specific times – down to the very minute. Whereas the traditional consumer used to put the kettle on, today’s viewers are now turning to Twitter (and away from the ads), the industry won’t put up with this for long.

This trend will travel.

Hashtags will appear in store, and on shelves. A walk through a furniture store, for example, will soon see shop owners proudly display the amount of likes (or Pinterest shares) each sofa has gained over the past week – encouraging sales and driving further online/offline integration.

Finally, as we’ve seen with Xbox SmartGlass and Wii-U, 2screening will cross over into the gaming world. Unifying the under-the-TV box into one, core multimedia system. Zombie-U, from Ubisoft, has sections in the game where the player must ‘view’ the TV content through their second screen, highlighting previously unseen areas and bonuses.

Speaking of bonuses, this gaming innovation also will also make way for a hidden benefit: broader consumer acceptance of augmented reality.

—–

4G networks spurring further innovation

The USA has had its version of 4G for a little under a year, while the UK has even yet to discuss licensing. Like the future, 4G is already here, it is just not evenly distributed. As mobile growth continues at an exponential rate across the globe, mobile networks will look to ‘leap frog’ in strong 2G markets where the jump to 4G will not only be immensely attractive to consumers but will also come with tax deductions from the local governments.

Again, we see emerging markets being a core area here, especially Russia, and Africa, where the large expanses mean that a single 4G tower can provide high speed downloads for the many who live nearby. Coverage isn’t an issue when each connected device can itself turn into a 10MB internet hotspot.

The end result being that previously unconnected nodes suddenly gain access to the worldwide web, allowing all kinds of new connections and data points to become accessible. Questions such as ‘What is the price of meat in the next village?’ or ‘What are the whereabouts of our town’s first aid packages?’ and ‘How’s uncle?’ will be answered quickly, confidently and, in some cases, visually – with video calling.

—–

Bonus round: [App] Eco-systems within [app] eco-systems

Foursquare apps within apps. Spotify apps within apps. Facebook apps within apps.

Eco-systems are IN and they’re only going to evolve. Internet fridges are a joke, but linked up technology, software and – dare I say it – the Internet of Things really aren’t that far away.

—–

Your thoughts are welcome –
–

19 Batman things of AWESOME

So I’ve been hoarding a metric ton of Bat-related stuff for some time now…

And it’s about time I posted it all really.

Let’s do this –

1. Awesome Bat Converse (for me)

New shoes for moi

As spotted at the Converse store on Carnaby St.

2. Bat-leotard-tastic

For my Olympic gymnastics routine

3. Retro-Bat Dress FTW

For the girl

Both spotted at Lazy Oaf, Carnaby St.

4. A Red Carpet Giant Cowl of EPIC proportions

Red Carpet! :D

5. Holy Flaming Bat Symbols Batman!

6. Yeah, this is my Tumbler

New car

Yeah, I know. OK, so that last batch was from The Dark Knight Rises premiere… and yeah, it was pretty damn cool.

7. Nokia Maps 3D Gotham City

January 19th 2011. That was the day I first wrote the words ‘Nokia Maps: 3D Gotham City’ in my Moleskine —

Found it

July 5th 2012, this video dropped –

Then on July 6th, it went live. 18mths of hard work from a multitude of super-smart people and the dream became real. It still makes me smile.

8. Hanging out on the Batman set

Well, kinda.

The above image is taken form Batman Begins. It was shot on the grand staircase at the GORGEOUS St Pancras Renaissance Hotel… and here’s the GF hanging out on said staircase.

The Grand Staircase at the St. Pancras

Winner.

Ps. You HAVE to stay at this hotel. It’s one of the best, if not THE BEST that London has to offer.

9. Behind the scenes of Batman, 1966

Big up to Michael for putting me onto this. The photo above is great, but the rest of the set is awesome.

10. Amazing Dark Knight Rises Wallpapers

This is just one of many amazing TDKR wallpapers that are available to download. iO9 has the set.
Go, get!

11. Dark Knight Rises Reactions
I wrote a spoiler-free review of TDKR straight after seeing the premiere, but the film itself sparked a whole ton of various reactions, eclipsing even those inspired by PROMETHEUS.

To my mind, Comics Alliance posted the best collection of TDKR reactions to date. Seriously. My note on this one said — ‘Best post ever (may save back for a bat-post of some kind)’

12. Batman Maybe
A Batman-inspired version of Call Me Maybe? SIGN. ME. UP.

CONTAINS MASSIVE DARK KNIGHT RISES SPOILERS 

There are no words. No Batman-stache. 

13. Batman: Dark Knightfall
This super high quality six minute STOP MOTION ANIMATED Batman film has to be seen to be believed..

14. A Lego Tumbler? OH GO ON THEN

H/T Rodakk

15. David Cronenberg ain’t a Bat-fan

“I don’t think they are making them an elevated art form. I think it’s still Batman running around in a stupid cape… [A] superhero movie, by definition, you know, it’s comic book. It’s for kids. It’s adolescent in its core. That has always been its appeal, and I think people who are saying, you know, “Dark Knight Rises” is, you know, supreme cinema art,” I don’t think they know what the f**k they’re talking about.”

Fact.

16. History through Batmobiles

A quite frankly beautiful photograph, used to help tee up the Batmobile Documentary.. Amaze.

17. Super cool Batman Spray Can Art is super cool

I love this so hard

18. New Mondo Batcave poster

The mood (and detail) of this is fantastic. Good job.

19. Shanghai Batman

Shang. Hai. Bat. Man.

…and Bane.

…and Catwoman.

HIT. PLAY. NOW.

 

…and I’m spent.

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