[A rollercoaster review ‘unboxing’ of the SGSII, shot with a ?]
Brilliant? Yes. Familiar? Slightly.
Admittedly they went one better, with this –
[A skydive review ‘unboxing’ of the SGSII, shot with a ?]
Well done.
Imagine my surprise when, today in 2012 this appeared on TV for HTCÂ –
[A free-fall fashion shoot with the HTC One, shot with a ?]
Amazing. Not.
Seriously, three years of this now… come along guys, at least try to do something different. It genuinely doesn’t matter who had the idea first or even who managed to push it to the next level. All we’re asking is for some originality.
It started back in 2008 when David Carrington, mobile developer hobbyist extraordinaire left this comment on the then SMSTextNews website, Mobile Industry Review. I replied and then we took it offline. From there, ideas started firing back and forth right up until the end of the year.
Three months later, in January 2009, I signed on as official strategic advisor and since then, we’ve grown the service massively. As of August 2011, the open source code has been downloaded 27,000 times and, even as far back as 2010, our user numbers and stats have been fairly impressive (which reminds me, I have an update from 2011 to put up on the blog).
Originally built for alpha-numeric keypad devices, such as the Nokia N95, Dabr now caters for screens big and small, with touchscreens and without, sometimes even stretching to devices that aren’t even phones!
Being open source means that guests can add their own code to the story and Terence Eden‘s contributions were so damn good that David asked him to become the third member of our team. It’s only a part-time project (we all have day jobs) so the more help we can get, the better. Terence’s contributions have been fantastic. In fact the last overhaul (when we switched servers) included a whole host of features that were mainly based on his awesome developments and iterations.
Thanks to our successes on the user number front, we had to introduce adverts to help pay for new (and better) servers. Fortunately, the users that we’ve done this for have been both supportive and loyal throughout this time and our numbers have stayed steady. Ads are in, the users are happy and the service still lives on.
Next time you’re on Twitter, have a look for the tell-tale sign of ‘via Dabr’ at the end of someone’s tweet, that means they’re using one of the best free web-based Twitter apps available today.
So, as well as going back and updating my original post, I thought I’d publish it here for all to see.
Inspiring new forms of creative expression through mobile devices
From iPhones through to space rockets and back again via Instagram’d monastic rooftops – this is how mobile is changing the way we create.
My work with 1000heads is mentioned, as is some Nokia stuff too aaaand, to top it off, my friend (from said train journey) Ben Wallace manages to make an appearance too.
Having just seen this on the tellybox, a few things spring to mind –
I ❤ Wes Anderson (who shot and directed the above ad).
You have to applaud Sony for going in this direction: basically saying ‘Look, most phones do the same things, we’re not going to sell you the features or the whizz-bangs, we’re just going to sell it to you’ .
It’s an Android phone. The robots in the clip look a little bit like the Android brand. Accident? Maybe. Maybe not.
The kid’s voiceover is a little on the contrived side (the word ‘device’ clunks, terribly), but believable nonetheless.
This won’t make me buy the phone, but it has made me want to know more (which is pretty unheard of for a Nokia purist such as I).
Last night, while wondering the streets of Soho, I passed this colourful boarding on Lexington St –
No other branding or logos exist on the boarding, just multiple shades/shapes of green and of course, the fish. However, instead of eyes, the fish have QR codes!
Huzzah!
Give them a quick scan aaaaaaand… what?
It took me to a [mobile optimised] webpage for Yoobi Soho, a new sushi bar coming soon.
 However, the cool thing wasthat not only rewarded my curiosity with an invitation to the free opening party of the establishment in question, but also the offer of a free sushi roll at any time during the first week of said opening.
Why is this cool?
Key sentence from the above: no other branding or logos exist on the boarding. QR codes, by their very nature (and if used correctly) are esoteric and alluring. By NOT putting anything else up on the screens, I’m intrigued.. I’m enticed to GO THROUGH THE DOOR as it were, of the QR code. What is it? What’s it hiding? What happens when I click?
The rewarding of curiosity. The celebration of your captivation. The entertainment given from exploration. This is QR done right and this is QR done WELL. Better yet, it’s building advocacy.
We were talking about alternative [read: cheap] ways to build engagement recently. Something tangible, that you can see, feel or hold physically. Like stickers, for example, they’re easy and silly – but what kind? And also, what type of community would they address?
The English definition of ‘currency’ (outside of its obvious monetary connotations) is ‘The fact or quality of being generally accepted or in use‘. Keeping this in mind (and given the universal habit tagging of all things technologically vital and important), laptop stickers could therefore be construed as a currency of the blogging community
If that’s so, then why not make some of those? Good ones mind. Not just your logo on a white background.
Something interesting.
Something better.
Something that will spark a conversation.
This thought process is not new, we used to talk about this kind of community currency back in my SpinVox days: what was it about a certain place or a group of people that would always get them talking and, better yet, what wouldn’t.
A recent video from Heineken was what got me thinking about this again (and what prompted the tweet above, too). Have a look, we’ll regroup on the other side –
Right. Let’s deconstruct this for a second. First off, as I asked the team at 1000heads last week; is this cool?
The general consensus was no, it isn’t. It’s a good video, yes. But using technology for technology’s sake is never a sound strategy for success and alas, that’s exactly what’s going on here.
“Why is this Heineken? Where is their connection?” were other recurring questions. You could argue that the new brand message of ‘open your world’ underpins this whole activity somehow, but you have to look quite hard to see it. And anyway, that much at least is besides the point.
Could this have been done better by taking a closer look at the reality of a festival currency?
Festival currency: what it isn’t
.
Before we get into what and what does not work around QR codes, let’s first establish that I genuinely do buy the idea that they act as a conversation starter. That’s great in fact. Any excuse to start talking to a new person at large social events is welcome. Well done.
However, as anyone who’s ever been to a festival will tell you, the genuine currency of the modern day festival-goer is communication. To stay in touch, you need that most precious of camping-based premiums: mobile phone battery life.
There is a whole other blog post to come about how the success of the next generation mobile hardware manufacturer depends on this particular aspect of their devices (and breathe), but that’s not for today. Today is about realising that festival-goers aren’t going to spend precious battery life on QR code snapping, especially when it’s the only thing keeping them connected.
Back to those QR codes, hands up who’s got a phone that can scan a QR code out of the box? OK, next question: hands up who’s got a phone that can scan a QR code out of the box that you know about? See what I mean. Shocking.
QR codes are great, but there’s stillsuch a large education piece to be done before anything like this creates any real traction [note: the video proudly points out that 5000 ‘U-Codes’ were printed, not how many were actually scanned].
Taking all of the above into account, it’s clear that the modern day festival goer needs to remain connected, visible and contactable.
Festival currency: what it could be
.
Flags. This isn’t my idea, first off. Scroggles planted this particular seed when we were working with MTV’s Staying Alive Foundation a few years back. At a festival, if the currency isn’t anything mobile-related (or at least, related to draining mobile power) what else is there?
FLAGS.
Think about it.
Print your own message on a [Heineken-branded] flag and suddenly you have something that you can wave to find your friends, stand near or under as a meeting point and ultimately, personalise as much as you like within your own artistic boundaries.
No messing about with esoteric QR codes, no imposing your brand onto that super-valuable phone battery; just simple, visible and useful branding.
Flags, as currency for festival goers.
Laptop stickers, as currency for bloggers.
Choosing Windows Phone as the last, great, mobile operating system to support, Spotify prepped itself for the promised masses yesterday afternoon (after a preview some six months ago) and boy, is it a beautiful app to use.
First, some caveats:
Spotify mobile is only available to premium subscribers
Premium is £9.99 a month. A small price to pay to NEVER PAY FOR ANY MUSIC EVER AGAIN.
I’ve tried Zune* and, until Spotify dropped, that was fine (if a little alien).
So, to the app itself.
The good stuff:
WP7 app design: oh my God this app is gorgeous.
Scrolling, sharing, syncing: all of it rocks my face off.
It’s Spotify, on my mobile.
The stuff needed in the next update:
Background colour options
Windows Phone offers either ‘dark’ or ‘light’, white on black or black on white respectively. Spotify should either match its app’s skin accordingly or at least offer it up as an in-app option. Strangely, while the app offers the light variation, the desktop client offers dark.
Last.fm integration please
Syncing tracks listened to in online mode and remembering then uploading my tracks listened to in offline mode.
Offline playlist filters
Yeah, love that but, any chance that you filter the playlists by DOWNLOADED FIRST? Having to scroll through all of them in order is a pain.
Album art on lockscreen
I mentioned I was on Zune before, one thing that the WP music player does nicely is show album covers on the lock screen while playing music. It’s a nice touch and adds to the overall experience. Spotify should do this too. See below.
 Florence playing through Zune
 Florence playing through Spotify
Overall, great work guys, it’s an awesome service and I’m a big fan. Having it running on my Lumia makes me a very happy bunny indeed. Good job.
Please, continue to iterate, improve and impress.
Danke,
James.
*I signed up for a Zune Pass about a day after first getting my Windows Phone. I like that it covers my Xbox too, but I already have Last.fm there. So it was only really the mobile music angle I needed to cover. Now Spotify is here, I just don’t need it.
He and I had met before but it’s always good to refresh connections and, a month or so later, he asked if I could take part in a new MEX pathway entitled ‘Inspiring new forms of creative expression through mobile devices’.
“Sounds great Marek, but I’m off to Siberia next month and well, I won’t really be around to contribute properly.”
“That’s fine.” he said “Just present at the event when you’re back in May.”
So I did.
And in fact, I probably gave a better presentation because of it: chilled out (after a whole month away from the internet), wearing a t-shirt and – probably for the first time ever – presenting in trainers.
Getting back to the event, the questions Marek posed as part of the pathway were as follows:
How does ubiquitous access to new sensors such as touchscreens, gestural input and location tracking change the expression of human creativity?
What does artistic experimentation at the boundaries of digital technology teach us about mainstream user experience requirements of the future?
How does mass person-to-person communications facilitate new creative experiences through co-operative working?
Will person-to-person communications enriched with new channels, such as haptics, emerge as a new form of artistic expression in itself?
Are the text-based ‘Status Updates’ espoused by Facebook and Twitter the zenith of emotional expression or can human moods be better expressed?
My presentation (and the ideas around the answers I gave) can be seen in full below but, I implore you, click through to the actual Slideshare page so you can read the corresponding speaker notes. It doesn’t really make sense without them…
One thing I do want to focus on, however, is slide 17, MEX Pathway point number three [quick click through]:
How does mass person-to-person communications facilitate new creative experiences through co-operative working?
The answer I gave in my talk (or at least the one word that came to mind when I the question was posed), was ‘Meme‘. The two slides that followed explored the idea of the web-based meme going mobile. To quote:
“What about memes on mobile? I snap this, send it you, you change it, send it back.. An instant meme app? Yes please. Where do I sign?”
Alright, so perhaps it isn’t exactly the meme-based application that I was hoping for and/or predicting, but it’s pretty darn close. Theme-based sharing even. And, if you recall what the original pathway set out to cover – Inspiring new forms of creative expression through mobile devices – this app nails it.
Bizarrely, for an app developed by Google, it’s only available on iPhone right now, but I’m sure this will change over time. And when it does, I’ll be ready and waiting – because having my friends help drive my mobile creativity is something I’m really actually quite looking forward to.
I’m going to make a few assumptions (and do please, correct me if I’m wrong); if you’re a Zune user – aka ‘a Zuner’ – you’re probably American and you may’ve even bought, and perhaps even still use, the original Zune machine handheld thing that was never launched over here in the UK.
However, you may also be a Windows Phone (WP) user and/or an Xbox owner. All of these things I expect to influence your response to this following, secondary question:
Is it actually any good?
Now please. Before you move forward with your answer (either in the comments field below or in fact perhaps, with your own blogged repost) please take into account that your opinion may bias towards the positive as you’ve made such a chunky investment (especially you original Zune hardware owners). So please, give full and valid responses – warts an’ all, if you will.
Why am I asking this question? Well, I am an Xbox Live Gold subscriber, soon-to-be Windows-Phoner and avid Spotify fan. The latter of the three costs £9.99pcm and allows me all sorts of awesome music-based fantasticness. Treats such as:
Access to an almost infinite amount of music
Downloadable content that I can play offline, both on my desktop and on my mobile
Sharable cross-platform playlists of awesomeness (that can be locked down or collaborative)
Thanks to the marvelous integration on both Spotify and Xbox Live, I can stream my most listened to tracks through my Xbox using the Last.fm application available through Live Gold
Understand that your answers will help inform my decision on whether or not to drop Spotify for Zune (when WP finally launches on Nokia’s devices). As it stands, I’m reliably informed that Spotify is coming to WP with the next software update (aka ‘Mango), but because I like things to just work – I’m tempted to move for the full Zune offering.
Friends, Zuners, fellow tech-heads and audiophiles – it’s over to you.
There are times in my life when I love my job, there are times in my life when I hate my job, there are times in my life when my job opens my eyes to something so freakingly awesome but no matter what happens, I can never tell anyone.
Friends ask me often if I enjoy what I do, whether I’ve seen anything cool lately and/or if I can tell them of anything I’ve seen – “Y’know, blogger to blogger?”
More often than not, I respond with the following – “It’s like the old joke…”
A preacher who liked to play golf every Wednesday at a modest public golf course was standing on the elevated tee at the sixth hole of that course...
He took a few practice swings, and looked across the river to the immaculate private country club nearby.
“Just once I’d like to play at that gorgeous course,” the preacher said to his foursome.
Another player spoke up:
“My company has a reserved tee time at that club for us every Sunday morning, and it’s all paid for, too. But all of a sudden yesterday the boss says we have to travel out of town for a week. It’s a shame to let that tee time go to waste. I could give you a guest pass and you could have it all to yourself. Would do you say?”
Of course this was a dream come true for the preacher, but it put him in a terrible predicament. If he accepted the gift, he would have to miss Sunday worship. He thought to himself,
“I haven’t missed a Sunday service in 17 years of preaching. A sin to be sure, but I am after all just a man trying to do my best like all the rest.”
He succumbed to temptation and accepted the invitation.
On Sunday, the preacher awoke, called his deacon, and said, “I’m terribly sick today, and will not be able to offer service.”
“Well, we surely hope you are feeling better soon,” said the deacon. “What matters most it that your health is blessed, and we shall all pray for you today.”
This made the preacher feel a little guilty, but it was a beautiful clear cool morning, and promised to be a beautiful day. He opened a box from under the bed that had a new folded golf shirt, his cleaned and polished golf shoes, and he put them on instead of his usual clothes.
Later, on the beautiful practice green, the preacher fit right in but couldn’t help feeling conspicuous. At that exact moment up in Heaven, Saint Peter was looking down. He said to God,
“Do you see what is happening down there? I’m very disappointed in this preacher. Surely you are going to do something?”
God replied, “Don’t worry Pete, I’ve got it all figured out.”
St. Pete knew it was best not to question any further, but to just wait patiently and watch for it all to play out. He watched the preacher walk confidently to the first tee, a short par-4. The preacher teed it up, and hit a pretty fair drive, low and straight.
But just then, God waived his hand and created the perfect little wind. The wind carried the ball as if in the hand of God and lifted it down the fairway. The ball took once bounce and landed on the green, kept rolling, swung to the right, barely crept up to the hole, and fell in. It was beautiful.
Up in heaven, St. Pete was very upset.
“An albatross! Are you kidding me? Here is one of our own preachers committing this sin, on a Sunday no less. Just when I’m certain that you are going to offer up the perfect punishment to befit the sin, you instead go and reward him with a once-in-a-lifetime shot?”
God says, “Yes, but calm down Pete. Who is he going to tell?”
I love my job.
I get to see the coolest things in the world before anyone ever will.
My eternal curse is that 99.99 times out of 100?
I’m never going to be able to tell anyone.
Damn.
whatleydude.com 