“Greetings from Barcelona. I am loving Mobile World Congress seen a lot of cool stuff. Hanging out at the SpinVox stand and hanging out at the Nokia stand. Going out for dinner with the SpinVox crew now. Make sure you check out spinvox.com because we’ve re launched the website. I haven’t got internet access in my room so hence me blogging through SpinVox.”
spoken through SpinVox
Tag: Blogging
SpinVox 4 U
This piece first appeared over at the SpinVox Blog in the early hours of this morning. But upon re-reading it this afternoon I figured I’d publish it here too on my VOX as I don’t consider it a just another ad for them but rather a personal recommendation of some of their FREE services.
And anyway, it’s my blog, I’ll post what the hell I like!
😉
As ever, all comments welcome.
Enjoy..
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SpinVox For You – YES YOU! – cross-posted from The SpinVox Blog
That’s right! You! There! Reading this!
🙂
So I was chatting away to one of my peers the other day and I happened to mention I worked for SpinVox and their immediate (and rather dismissal) response was:
“Oh, that Voicemail thingy?“
And I said:
“Well… Yeah.. but NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO! As well..“
Y’see – Whilst I do agree that one of the killer applications of the SpinVox product is Voicemail… (we’ll come back to this one another time – it really has saved my life on more than one occasion) …there are still SO MANY other ways you can have SpinVox in your life.
Allow me to outline three that I personally use quite regularly…
1) Ok. Let’s start with group text messaging. Know what that is? The ‘one to many’ thing yeah? No? Well look, let me tell you about Blast.
Blast through SpinVox has two cool benefits: First up, (which I think is just damn cool on its own), you can speak a text message. That’s right. SPEAK. A. TEXT. Cool as.
The second benefit is not only can you speak your SMS but you can also set up a predefined list of up to TWENTY recipients. That’s right, Twenty.
That is cool. I honestly had no idea it was that many… (I thought it was like five or something) …I think I’m going to have to review my account definitely.
I only have the numbers of a couple of loved ones in my group at the moment. Maybe I’ll delete them and create a new group of blast buddies: “Pub friends” – yeah, that’ll work. 🙂
2) Next – You’re out and about and you remember – (like me) –
“Damn, I must remember to pack that thing for tomorrow“
So what do I do? I call my Memo through SpinVox number, leave myself a little reminder message, and then – when I get home – it’s there in my email inbox:
“Dude, don’t forget to pack that thing for tomorrow“
Cool? Maybe.
Handy? Hell yeah!
Especially if you like to keep notes throughout the day and don’t have time to write anything down.
3) Finally, one of my favourite applications of the SpinVox product: Blog through SpinVox.
Admittedly, something I’m yet to demonstrate on this blog – (we’re currently midway through redesigning the place – I’ll activate voice posting after that goes live) – but I have used it before on my own blog and I’m glad to report it works very well.
You can literally blog from anywhere. Well… anywhere where you can make a phone call anyway… Mount Everest for instance!
Thing is, and this is what makes it a ‘must-have’ instead of a ‘nice to have’:
With Blog through SpinVox the ‘I was’ becomes ‘I am’.
And that, to me, is just SO powerful.
Try it. I dare you.
😉
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EDIT:
Early reports say that that ^ reads like a SpinVox ad.
Meh.
Balls to it! (a Whatley rant-a-thon) Part 2: Facebook Events
WHY OH WHY can I not just hit ONE BUTTON and sync my events on Facebook with every other sodding calendar I have to keep?
See Plaxo/Yahoo/Google/iCal/And any bloody S60 calendar app I tend to be running on my N95 right now…
WHY?!
Talk about a blinkin’ walled garden. Apparently the walls are coming down. Well blow me if that’s not about time. I wrote a piece (that I never published here but hacked it to pieces, updated it and edited the mobile parts of it together here for smstextnews) wayback in September detailing what a pain in the ass backside this was/is.
The piece (entitled ‘Think of the Children’) talked (well – the unpublished parts did anyway) about Jaiku and Twitter and how they can happily ‘co-exist’ within the industry… Hang on – Let me go get the quote:
I’m sorry if this is out of context – but you’ll get the idea:
The walled garden appproach that these services offer mean that interoperability between the competition* (*my definition of competition is anything that competes for my spare time – my Nintendo DS is competition for the book that I’m currently reading for example) is impossible.
Imagine if you will Yahoo Mail refusing to send your emails to a Hotmail (sorry – Windows Live) account and/or a Gmail account.. Ridiculous huh? But this is what is happening currently with MySpace/facebook..
The Operators/Carriers of this world have finally come round to the idea that interoperability is the way forward. A quick glance at any website proves this as I would imagine you’d be hard pushed to find a tariff that doesn’t include Xnetwork minutes. Of course, this has not always been the case… but, eventually they (the operators) sat up and listened.
This is what the social networking sites of today should be working towards...
I’m a big fan of the micro-blogging service known as Jaiku. But more so am I a fan of one of the co-founders – Jyri Engelstrom.
He believes [or at least I think he does] in complete and open syncronosity across such services..
This is evident not just through recurring themes on his blog but also whenever he is asked the question:.
‘Which is better; Twitter or Jaiku?’
.
You would think that, if pressed, he would of course say ‘Jaiku’. He would have to! Right? Wrong.
No. Jyri is an evangelist of co-existence… What do I mean?
Twitter works. Jaiku works. Why shouldn’t they work together?
Why insist that the user must choose one or the other and not both?.
Taking this theme and expanding on it… – Why can’t I send a message from my facebook to my friend’s myspace?
If I tag a photo on flickr why aren’t my bebo friends notified?
One day, I hope, this will be the case… much like, as mentioned, how Xnetwork minutes are now ‘as standard’…
So yeah – interoperability (or lack thereof) really hacks me off..
But hey – while we’re still on the subject of facebook (ish)…
Cont in Part 3…
Christmas on Canvey
Believe it or not – I am.. in fact.. originally.. from Essex.
An Essex Boy in fact.
I like to think I hide this little known (well – not any more) very well.
What with the accent only creeping out on occasion and only slipping back into my native tongue whenever I cross the border…
Not many people seem to pick up on it.
All this aside – it is actually nice to get home every now and then.
As much as I could never live back in Essex ever again – (or to be more precise; back on Canvey Island in Essex), I do have a few, very dear friends who still live there.. and along with some of my family – they always give me an excuse to head home.
I moan and bitch about the place but secretly, I actually love it.
There’s no train station, (you have to get a train to Benfleet then get a bus/cab/lift onto the Island itself), there’s one cinema, one McDonalds, three schools and a lake…
It’s in the Thames Estuary (just before Southend) so therefore people speak with the ‘Estuary English’ twang – aka ‘The Essex Accent’ – the place has it’s ups and downs and it ain’t perfect but I guess it’ll always be home.
🙂
One thing I tend to do whenever I go home is take a walk along the sea wall – if the tide is in I’ll walk out into the sea along the old sea wall and stand in the middle of it. It’s one of the most calming things in the world a is one of my ‘secret places’. The place where, when things are stressing me out and the world is feeling heavy on my shoulders, I can just go and be.
Stand. Breathe. Take it all in. Y’know? Let everything go out into the big blue.. (or grey/brown).
Christmas has been good so far. Caught up with my best friend.. I call him my best friend.. he’s more like my Brother to be honest. My brother from another Mother if you will… But yeah – saw him, his family. Saw my family too. Still at my Mum’s at the time of typing – heading back tomorrow. Drunken Boxing Day Karaoke to tackle first!
Hehehe…
Cannae wait to get back to sunny Teddington… I don’t have many friends back here at ‘home’.
I’m reminded, as I write, that it may well have been a contributing factor as to why I moved away in the first place… Which is fine – I know who my friends are and I love them very much.
There just isn’t a large collection of them on Canvey.
So much to blog…
..and yet so little time!
I’ve got SO MUCH to write about… stuff like:
- Going to the FOWAs and all the awesomeness that came with that.
- Meeting one of my all time industry heroes, Jyri Engestrom of Jaiku, (so stoked!).
- Then there’s the launch of Mippin (which was the last thing I worked on before I left Refresh Mobile)… Gotta hand it to ’em – they’ve done a great job.
- But before that I need to mention my first ever proper podcast interview thingy!
Download it HERE care of Ricky Cadden of Symbian-Guru. - Of course I need to spend some time talking about the next Mobile Geeks of London event:
Mobile Geeks of London II – which is gonna ROCK!
…even though I can’t make it – BECAUSE:
I’m of to San Francisco on Tuesday! Wooo!
Off to not only go to CTIA but to also launch some SUPER exciting stuff with my new employer SpinVox.
Anyone who’s been following my Tweets, Jaikus and Facebook updates will probably have a jolly good idea as to what I’m working on – but all will be revealed next week!
So… all of that and probably a whole lot more.. coming VERY soon!
Promise!
8 Random Things About Me – Blogtag!
My dear friend Helen – aka Technokitten – has just taken my Blogtag cherry… I say ‘just’…
Helen actually gave me a shout back in July, but I’ve been so sodding busy I just haven’t round to doing it…
However! As I’m off on my hols this week and I’m desperately trying to do anything BUT pack – I thought I might actually give this a go…
But first – here are the rules:
- We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
- Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
- People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
So – without further a do – here we go!
- I am a Hugger. A Free Hugger in fact. I own two ‘Free Hugs’ T-shirts, a ‘Free Hugs’ hat and I even have a few ‘Free Hugs’ badges that I give out on occasion. I bought my first shirt on a whim earlier this year and now wear it quite regularly – in fact – I even set up the facebook group – ‘Huggers Unite‘ – where I organise the odd ‘Free Hugs’ event around the streets of London… Why not join the group and come to the next one? I believe a hug can make you feel so much better. The first event we ever did in Covent Garden was only supposed to go on for an hour – but we were there the whole afternoon – one of the most satisfying things I’ve ever done.
- I’m a geek. No really. Not in the mobile sense like you’re all thinking right now. But in the “I-own-comic-books-and-I-collect-the-figures-and-sometimes-I-don’t-even-take-them-out-of-their-boxes” kind of way. There. I said it. Ahem.
- I once fasted for seven days. That’s right. SEVEN DAYS. Not a single morsel passed my lips for a week. Detoxing in Thailand at the Spa they have on Koh Samui. Changed my entire life. Everyone should do this at least once… It sorted my head out, put my career on track and as and an added bonus – I lost about two stone in weight!
- I used to be an accountant. Say. No. More.
- I studied at Drama School, (see above).
- I’m a gamer. I love Nintendo through and through and have owned pretty much every system they’ve produced at some point or another in their patchy history… I bought a Wii on day of release and people are STILL struggling to get their hands on them… This fact I like a lot. :o)
- I can dance like a Cossack. Like.. properly. Strange old family tradition. We can all do it. Are we Russian at all? No. But if you’re REALLY special and if I like you an AWFUL lot – then I may consider wheeling it out for you at your next party… for example – the wedding I went to at the weekend… my thighs are killing me now… aargh! Yeah – so don’t ever let me get involved in a dance off – (it’s been known to happen before).
- I’m a married man. Got hitched in June 2005 and it was all over by March 2006. The best part of it all? I wouldn’t change a single thing. Without it, I would not be person I am today… and anyone who knows me knows that I am one happy fella!
So who do I tag?
Well – I think eight random things about the following people would make a good read:
- My good friend (and new blogger) Will,
- Fellow Nintendo fan Neil,
- My Jaiku/Vox Nokian buddy Carol,
- New friend Melissa,
- Taptu demon Vero,
- Founder of Refresh Mobile – Scott Beaumont – link as soon as I have it (I know you’ve got a blog somewhere Scott), EDIT – Thanks Scott
- Good buddy and ex colleague of mine – Prash
- Aaaaaaaaand… last and by every means least – Mobile9 King: Abul. ;o)
By the way – the photo on this post? It’s a pic of eight random things that are closest to my desk!
A prize for the person that can name all eight…
EDIT – Scott came back with his link – it can be found here: http://scottbeau.blogspot.com and also – as for the picture prize competition – name as many as you can…
Prize goes to the person that gets the most right…
SMS Text News – UNLIMITED DRINKS
Me and and buddy from Team Mippin went to this lovely little soirée last night, and very good it was too.
Ewan and his team from SMS Text News were great hosts and it was fantastic to meet them all at long last.
They’ve already said “Thanks for coming!” and there’ll be a main review coming later I’m sure…
😉
Just a quick note…
…to say that just because Glastonbury is over – does not mean this blog is coming to an end.
As I’ve mentioned previously – I’ve got plenty of stories and pics from my friends to upload yet. And then, once that’s all done.. I’m SURE I’ll still be uploading content from my mobile as often as possible.
Ideally i’d like to keep a theme of some kind.. I’m not sure I’m a large enough festival-goer to warrant a ‘festival-theme’ per se… So what about a music theme maybe?
I dunno..
All suggestions welcome! …in the meantime, watch this space, more Glasto-blogging to follow..
And.. Just so I’m keeping in tradition.. See below for a late night ‘from a distance’ pic that I took of The Killers just before one of their speakers went down and ruined the whole set… 😦
Yawn
Hello folks,
New readers and old.
The blogging has begun (somewhat in earnest) again.
Today is Monday.
The time is 13:26.
I’ve had a weekend busy doing nothing.
*yawn/stretch*
Back to work today and I’m looking around thinking:
“I really want to be in bed…”
But never mind – gotta work, gotta pay those bills.. not forgetting the fact that I love my job of course.. Heeh – makes getting up in the mornings oh so much easier.
Made this thing the other day – check it out – anyone who’s followed this blog from the beginning will remember that it started out as a ‘detox diary’ – well, I’ve taken some of the best bits of that blog and compressed them down into my own mini-blog for consumption on your mobile phone!
ANYONE interested in trying this out for me (anyone folks – this should work on whatever phone you have in whatever country) should direct their handset’s WAP browser to:
The thing’s called ’10 Days in Thailand’ – I’ve put it on mine and it doesn’t look too bad.
All feedback welcome folks!
In the meantime – take it easy.
Blogging to improve on the whole very soon.
It’s good to be back.
Laterz.
whatleydude.com 
