No really, I have… It’s part one, (if you ignore my random posts from the weekend) of my uber-blogathon attempt to catch up with all my content from the past six weeks…
So, without further ado, here’s the first batch of footage that I’ve managed to throw together…
Hope you like it and, if you make it to the end…
The whole thing rocks in at about 11mins approx and it gets quite geeky in places 😉
…please leave a comment and let me know what you think.
What with this being my first proper attempt at this whole video-blogging malarky and y’know, all feedback is very, very welcome!
Howdy folks, Whatley here,
Haven’t written anything for a while, but this is something I just had to share.
I just got back from filming the latest edition of the Mobile Industry Review Show (live from the T-Mobile event) and I was about to go to bed when I found this video in my Google Reader from one James Burland, he of (the quite frankly awesome) Nokia Creative fame.
The man has got the iPlayer up and running on his N95!
Awesome!
So I did a little digging and then I found this piece over on Symbian-Freak about how to install etc and, as well as finding the actual file there, I also found out a few other facts.
I’ve poked a few friends of mine at the Beeb to see if we can talk to some of the techies there, fingers crossed we’ll be able to bring you a follow up piece over the next few days outlining some of the finer details.
So what are you waiting for? Download it now and let us know what you think!
Whatley out.
September 10th, 2008.
08:24
One year, to the day that I started my employment with a little company called SpinVox and… Wow, what a journey it has been so far…
The view you see before you is the view that I have right now, as I type this post from the departure lounge of Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 1, (looks familiar huh?). As you know some time ago I got ‘the call‘ and lo and thusly I am on my way to Finland.
But we’ll come back to that…
What I want to talk about, if you’ll indulge me for a moment, is the amazing journey that I’ve been over the past year. Personally, professionally and of course geographically.
Working backwards, I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever been so well travelled, (although quite how you can be less travelled I don’t know – heh), with my work so far taking me to such places Barcelona (beautiful) San Francisco – twice (one of my favourite places in the world and a potential base for me the future for certain), Las Vegas (ugh)… and, as we speak, Helsinki.
There of course being no rest for the wicked, straight after this trip I’m headed out to New York then onto Las Vegas once again and by the looks of things Frankfurt too before the year is out.
I used to mock my friends when they used to get the work trips abroad, accusing them of ‘going on a jolly’ and basically being a bunch of work-shy sun-seekers. But guys, if you’re reading this, I take it back. I now know… It’s relentless! Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love it – wouldn’t change it for the world in fact. But jeeez… talk about taking it out of you! This time round I’ve prepared. Both physically and mentally.
Bring. It. On. 🙂
Which dovetails nicely back into the professional part of my journey. So, as I said, one year ago I joined SpinVox. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready for whatever they had to throw at me.
Having initially secured the interview after being told by a recruitment agent that I was ‘definitely a SpinVox person’ I was taken onboard to apply some ‘Digital Native’ thinking, if you will, to an already rock solid proposition…
Six weeks later I was on a flight to San Francisco after launching Social Networks through SpinVox.
Awesome.
I’ll never forget rocking up to my first CTIA in torn jeans, flip flops and my now trademark MASSIVE white sunglasses adorned across my brow and being told almost immediately:
“Oh, you’re ‘The Web Guy’. You’ve got the look for sure.”
HA!
You’ll be pleased to know that I’ve since smartened up my act somewhat (although the Sunny Gs remain) and I’m now ‘The Social Media Guy’.
Which kind of, in a sense, further demonstrates the journey: Starting with Social Networks through SpinVox, then getting Big Talk (the SpinVox Blog) off the ground, working on and around the digital propositions…
All of which meant that in February of this year I was part of the team that flew out to Barcelona to represent the big SV at Mobile World Congress (MWC – previously known as 3GSM).
This is when my entire world changed.
Suddenly, almost overnight, there was this paradigm shift in how I saw the industry around me… and it was changing. Mobile is my first love and always will be, but in Barcelona the power of Social Media and what it actually means really hit home.
Walking the floor at MWC, finally meeting some of the big names in blogging face to face… Shall I list them?
…
…
Nah. If you’re reading this and I shook your hand in Barcelona, then I’m talking about You 🙂
I was saying; Meeting you guys and gals face to face made me understand the enormous sense of community that lives and breathes in this new world of ours… and the enormity doesn’t just stop there either, it also applies to the immense importance that we place on this community as well.
We, you, me, them, us… We are right here, right now. Carving out and pioneering a new digital age for our children to grow up into. What you think and say about this whole space will define how the rest of the world interacts with their digital media for the next 10-20yrs, if not more.
Social Media ‘happened’ (for me at least) this year; I’m going to be able to look back and say ‘Yep, I was there’ …well, you were there too. It’s happening Right Now.
And listen, without getting ranty, understand this – what I said up there – is paramount to any and every business today. It really is.
Arriving back from Spain after the conference finished, with the support of my boss, I got to work on a Social Media Strategy doc that, with the help from the team, would define how SV as a business and as a brand would operate in this space… and so far, it’s playing out nicely.
So yeah, we’ll see on that one shall we? 🙂
Building that thing up and playing it out through the year as we have has been an awesome experience. Learnings on the way of course – some things took a while, some things took off straight away and some things you just can’t predict..
Hence the journey I guess. But I tell you one thing, in this job I don’t think I have ever been happier.
And in fear of being a complete link-monkey, ‘not ever being happier’ leads me quite perfectly into the “Personally” part of this little trilogy.
A few of you reading this may follow me on Twitter or even chat to me on Jaiku, in which case you know that most of the time I am of quite a cheery disposition and I take pride in the fact that I truly enjoy life to the fullest. Now I’m not big on sharing personal stuff online.
Not at all.
Gotta keep something back, y’know?
But anyway – the fact of the matter is, right now, for the first time in a long time I am happy.
Truly and utterly.
And I love it.
Thanks to you guys, for all of your kind words, support and just general awesomeness over the past year.
I’m looking forward to the next one with immense relish and I’m rubbing my hands with glee…
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Bring. It. On.
😀
Thanks for reading…
Oh yeah – and there was that small matter of being in Finland.
Guess it’ll have to wait until my next post, (tomorrow – promise).
😉
P.S. It’s taken me all day to get this post up, I’m now in Helsinki and a very happy Whatley indeed.
September 10th, 2008.
20:49
…I’m off to Helsinki to talk Social at Nokia with some of the best in the business.
If you’re one of the lucky few who are going, I guess I’ll see you there.
If not, watch this space – no doubt I’ll write some of it up 🙂
More to follow…
Alrighty,
Whatley here – I just got a call from our man on the street, Dan Lane –
(that’ll be the new version of Nokia PC Suite)
Bless Dan – I almost feel sorry for him.
After hearing that the Apple Store might have some iPhones to sell – our hero decamped to Regent Street to see what he could lay his hands on.
Turns out the answer is NOT MUCH.
Dan is still queuing.
The o2 servers have gone down.
he Apple Store hasn’t sold an iPhone for the last TWO HOURS..
Shocking.
Can you say: “Worst. Launch. Ever???”
Apparently Apple have drafted in o2 staff to do manual sign ups as the o2 systems couldn’t handle the load.
Brilliant.
Bet you wish you’d waited now. Heh.
Oh and by the way, I’m hot-desking at the Mippin offices in Fulham today (Hi Guys!), and I’ve just taken delivery of a brand new Nokia N78 + MD4 speakers from those lovely folk at WOM World.
Expect a review in a couple of weeks.
…and I didn’t even have to queue.
or – “A rant about convergence, or lack thereof”
Right, if you’re reading this and you have any idea of the kind of person I am, you know how I feel about my mobile phone. You know I love it, you know I’m never far from it and you know that above all, if I could, I’d use it for just about everything.
This last point is the kicker for me.
To give you a rough idea of what I’m talking about, here are just some of the things I use my phone for:
Because I carry my N95 8GB (pictured above) in my pocket, quite a small device take note, I don’t have to carry an iPod, Nintendo, TV, Camera, TomTom, PC, map… the list goes on.
All of these things (and many others) are no longer clogging up my pockets thanks to this rather awesome little handset.
Why?
Well this is, in part, down to the innovations of the team at Nokia. However it is also owes a lot to my own personal preference; Nokia have enabled me to do all these things and have by doing so have also empowered me to stop carrying all of the other devices.
I don’t like carrying lots of things in my pockets. At best, I will leave the house with my keys, my phone and my bankcard. That’s it. Only those three items.
Right then. Keeping all of the above in mind, let’s direct our attention for a moment to this thing:
– Barclays PIN Sentry –
Could it be…
My First Calculator?
The latest toy from The Early Learning Centre?
Or maybe even a band new phone maybe?
No. No. And No.
That, there, is Barclays ‘PIN Sentry’.
Excusing the ridiculous name for a second, let’s take a look at what it’s actually for.
Any time I want to log into MY internet banking, I have to put my Debit Card into that contraption, enter my PIN number and then, and only then, will my bank allow me to log into MY account.
First up, the whole sodding point of having internet banking, to my mind, is so that I can access my account from anywhere where there is INTERNET.
Until they truly crack mobile internet banking (and trust me – on the basis of this – we’re going to be waiting a long time), then this really is the only option for anyone wanting to access their account anywhere… (short of actually going into a branch, but really, does anyone do that anymore?).
Second, I get the whole security aspect of it all, really I do, but do I actually need this thing as well?!
I already have a unique 12 digit unique ID number, an 8 digit secret password and a five digit passcode.
Do I really NEED more security?
Surely there has to be line drawn between security to entry and barriers to entry? Right?
…sigh…
Next point – it is clear, from the points laid out above, that I like convergence. I want one device to do everything for me…
…Of convergence, I am a fan.
I do not want to be carrying that stupid, stupid piece of plastic around with me everywhere I go just in case I might want to log in to my internet banking. Idiots. Really.
Just no joined-up thinking whatsoever.
Finally… This post has been a long time coming; Barclays started introducing this towards the end of last year, (as did a few other banks, so I’ve been told), so I apologise if it seems a bit late in the day as it were… But yes, the final point –
I’ve actually spoken to Barclays about this and I’ve outlined my point of view. As a result, I have now been opted-out of this new system and my PIN Sentry is happily gathering dust in a draw somewhere in my room.
WOO!
If you’re a Barclays customer and you find this idea as absurd as I do then I would strongly urge you to do the same.
Call your bank, tell them they’re idiots and get yourself opted out. The opportunity cost of this, just so you know, means that you will be unable to set up any ‘new payees’ via your online banking. I’m happy to live with this. I don’t often pay new people and if and when the situation does arise I can simply call the bank and get them to do it for me.
Here endeth the rant.
……..
On a lighter note – have been working my backside off lately, (super exciting new project for SpinVox), so next weekend I’m going to head off down to Pilton to a little music festival you may’ve heard of…
Next weekend I’m headed back to Glastonbury.
And I can’t WAIT!
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Read about my Glastonbury Mobile Geek plans over on SMS Text News and yes, you guessed it, just like last year, I’ll be blogging the whole thing from my mobile phone, (although I doubt very much I’ll be doing any internet banking).
😉
Last week I was fortunate enough to be invited along to take part in a new food-based event rather amusingly entitled: ‘Nom Nom Nom‘.
The brainchild of London Underground blogger, Annie Mole – Food 2.0 Nom Nom Nom (to give it its full title), was a LOT of fun.
I was there in two capacities. First as a representative of SpinVox (lead sponsors of the event), and second, as a competitor.
The event you see was the online/digital version if you will, of Masterchef.
As one half of GO TEAM SIX (the other half being my good friend Ribot, foodie, photographer and a mobile UI designer to boot), the challenge was twofold.
First to create three dishes (one of which had to be cold) for four people in just under two and a half hours. The second to create ‘output’ for the Nom Nom Nom blog pages.
Ribot and I, being the mobile geeks of the group, Qik’d and photographed EVERYTHING. I went armed with my trusty N95 8GB, my spare N95-1 (packing an 8GB Micro SD), and also my rather snazzy Nokia Tripod.
After reading a blog post by a fellow contestant – one Russell Davies – I had an idea for the day’s content. As well as Qikking left, right and centre and of course, snapping anything that moved I decided to set my N95-1 to SEQUENCE MODE.
What is this crazy mode of which I speak? Well, at first I had no idea. I even put a call out to try and find some software for my phone that would allow me to do this… One email conflab with Mr Davies later and it turns out that this mode is right there!
And what’s more – it’s been there the whole time!
Look!
I never knew it was there. I had to be told about it. That’s right. The first Mobile Geek of London didn’t know about sodding sequence mode!
(but it’s OK I did my research and not many other folk knew about it either)
Moving swiftly onward I popped my N95-1 into the tripod (as shown above), and set sequence mode to go off at 1 minute intervals…
Over the course of the afternoon, while Ribot and I put our chosen dishes together, my cheeky little handset took 154 different photos, and to what end?
Well, with the content that came out of it, I was able to create the following video:
Shot on a Nokia N95-1, standing on a Nokia Tripod and edited together using Windows Movie Maker, (who needs a Mac anyway?)
I know this ain’t ‘news’ per se. But it’s a feature I didn’t know about and it’s made me look at my N95 in a completely different light.
I thought I’d share it and show you just what’s possible.
The original N95 still manages to surprise even me.
Brilliant.
Greetings one and all! I’ve just got back from the States and I am shattered.
UK –> Dallas –> Las Vegas –> San Francisco –> UK
…and breathe…
Had to fly to Las Vegas for a work thing see…
via Dallas.
Rather amusingly, it being the first ever flight from LHR (London Heathrow) to DFW (Dallas, Fort Worth) the Boeing we travelled in was given a welcome ‘hose down’ by the airport’s fire trucks…
I didn’t get a picture of that – but I found another example
Anywhoo – Vegas.
Woah…
Nice place to visit and wotnot but I’d never wanna live there. Jeez.
I stayed at The Palms Hotel/Resort/Casino… The one where we held Mobile Geeks of Las Vegas… aka Mobile Geeks of London ON TOUR. What a fantastic night THAT was. Huge props to Mr Jeb Brilliant of Brilliant Expos for making that happen… and for also swinging it so we could just walk straight into the club/bar in the next tower. Nice work.
So yeah – What else did I get up to?
This was me, on the last day of the show, having just sat down and relaxed for the first time in about five days…
Not soon after this pic was taken I flew to San Francisco…
There’s more to come soon, I just need to get some shuteye…
Night night.
Zzz…
whatleydude.com 