Tag: uk

5 things on Friday #13

Five things of note for the week ending Friday March 30th, 2012

1. How to peel a banana like a monkey
Mind. Blown.

2. A new UK Bank Holiday?
An online petition has appeared recently pushing for the UK to have an extra Bank Holiday (this time in November), but with a twist. As the website says –

“If we get an extra bank holiday, the public will be urged to do something kind on this extra day, each year, to support their local communities…
…it will be a ‘Pay It Forward‘ bank holiday”

Whether or not this will go ahead remains to be seen, but still – it’s a nice idea.

3. Spotify on Facebook
The deadline for brands to make the switch to Facebook Timeline is upon us and while there have been some awesome case studies recently, Spotify have come out and pitched their own ‘history of music’ – superb work indeed. Worth spending some time digging around for some aural beauties? I think so…

4. Slovenski Oglaševalski Festival (SOF)
Last year, when I attended the Weekend Media Festival in Croatia, I was asked if I would be interested in attending (and speaking) at the 2012 Slovenian Advertising Festival. ‘Of course!’ I said, ‘Email me!’ – and in January this year, they did! Fast forward a couple of months and here I am, in the gorgeous coastal town of Portoroz, giving a talk about word of mouth marketing. Lovely stuff.

Why?

I wore red (like last time), I had a lot of fun fun aaaaand, on top of that, I managed to mix things up a little bit with a careful sprinkling of pandas too – so, all in all, I think it went well.

Big thanks to UrÅ¡a Pučko and her team at Pristop for inviting me in the first place, being such great hosts and, of course, organising everything so perfectly. All I can say is – thank you! And to anyone reading this: Visit Slovenia!

5. A real superhero
This story is incredible. First, some background –

Yeah, this actually happened.

Now, I know a few of you are probably already thinking about how freaking awesome this is… right? Right. Well, it gets better. This guy – real name Lenny B. Robinson – is a bonafide superhero. An A-grade, first class, inspirational figure.

Why? Take a look for yourself.

Incredible.

Bonuses – the bizarre world of video game sexual content bureaucracy; the new Superman logo (from the upcoming Man of Steel film) has been revealed; and Maxim needs to remember what year we’re in. 

 

 

Nokia N86: Coming to Vodafone this Summer?

The N86 on Vodafone: Will they or won’t they?

Regular readers of my personal blog will know that - pre-Really Mobile launch – after discovering the N97 was due to be launched on Vodafone UK later this June, I happened upon a rather sumptuous nugget of information regarding another much anticipated device…

Chatting on the phone with Vodafone’s customer services, I thought I’d bring up the subject of the Nokia N86.

The conversation went something a little something like this:

Have you seen this phone?

“Do you have the N86?”

“Well it is here, but it has a question mark next to it.”

“Oh. Is that bad?”

“Oh no Mr Whatley, it just means we’re still testing it. I can’t confirm that we are going to get the N86 in stock but I can tell you that we have it here internally and we’re testing the software to make sure it works correctly “

Great stuff…

BUT as yet still unconfirmed.

Soon after the above post went live, I heard from a number of sources that I may very well be incorrect, the N86 would not be coming to Vodafone and, that just because Vodafone are doing the testing, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be doing the selling.
 
For example, Voda may very well be putting the phone through it’s paces on behalf of Phones4U, who coincidentally were first to market here in the UK with the Nokia N85.

So, who to believe?

Well this morning I get another tick in the ‘Yes they will’ box via a source inside a Vodafone store who said that they’d had a Nokia rep in-store this week who had informed them that yes indeed they would be getting the N86 at some point this Summer.

Another phone call to Vodafone this afternoon and the customer service rep I spoke to could find no longer find any trace of the device on their systems.

The plot thickens…

Why am I so excited about this phone? Well, this 8 megapixel beauty took me completely by surprise at Mobile World Congress three months back and, although originally pitched as the successor to the much-overlooked Nokia N85 (the N86 test model above was in fact labelled ‘N85 8MP’ on its debut in Barcelona), to my mind the N86 is the true replacement for my much-loved N95 8GB. 

What’s the deal Voda? Are you or aren’t you?
If you are, then sign me up! I’m in… and I bet I wouldn’t be the only one either.

*sigh*

In the meantime, according to our friends at World of Nokia you can now pre-order the N86 from Play.com SIM free, for a paltry £399.99!

Are you getting one?
I know I am.

I’d just like to know where from…