this is my happy place
Pixelpipe – the multi-platform media/file sharing app – has a new version on the horizon and Brett Butterfield, CEO and Founder, pinged me last night with some exciting news… Not only a special preview version of the app to use on my Nokia C6, but also a 7min HD video of how the app will work on the Nokia N8.
All the juicy details and that video after the jump…
Continue reading “Sneak Preview: New Pixelpipe for Symbian [Update: Now with download link]”
There now follows a minor rant by James Whatley…
‘Here in the UK, festival season is kicking off a plenty and with the great and the good outdoor musical bonanzas just ’round the corner it falls to the mobile industry to produce a veritable banquet of hand-held software and hardware to help the savvy, mud dwelling, sun-loving festival fan this season.’
You’ll probably be reading this kind of opener quite a lot in the national press over the next month or so. Both online and off, journalists and bloggers alike will extolling the virtues of what you should be packing in your tent-rammed sack this year
So, instead of doing the same old, same old – I’m just going to offer some pointers. Having done the mobile festival thing a couple of years running, and having also sent a few tweets from the middle of the Namibian desert, I’d like to think I can offer a bit of first-hand experience when it comes to travelling light while maintaining a degree of connectivity.
Continue reading “Festival season and mobile: The ugly truth”
Today I read a fantastically thought-provoking piece from Robert Scoble. Yes, that guy. Love him or hate him, he is talented and he definitely knows a thing or two about tech. We’ve had our fallings out over mobile from time to time, but overall – he’s a good guy.
The post in question, entitled Location 2012: Death Of The Information Silos, talks about what the geo-location-based/cache world of tomorrow could look like by the time we hit the Olympics. The key word here is could.
Continue reading “Dear World (and especially Robert Scoble)”
The last great MP3 player (and I’m obviously talking about phones here) was the N73. I’m not talking about any old N73 either. I’m talking pre-internet edition, pre-music edition, I’m talking the original, the beautiful N73 v2 firmware.
Why? Because this player gave you a glimpse of the future – as well as the present.
But why is this important? And how does it relate to the question of the title?
Allow me to explain…
I was invited to attend today’s M-Publishing event (thank you CamerJam) but alas work commitments have kept me in the office. However, that didn’t stop me throwing together a few thoughts this morning on my way into work… For me, the key question you need to answer is ‘why’?
Forgive me if this seems a bit scatty, it was an early morning brain-dump somewhere under London.
Last night, as I was leaving the office to go play football, word was spilling out onto the interwebs about a brand new Google service.
“Social features!” some said, “Keep your friends updated”, whispered others but, it was only when I saw the sad, inevitable combination of words that make up the phrase “Twitter Killer” did I finally switch my Mac off and head on out. Buffoons.
90mins later, post footy, I left the pitch and decided to upgrade my Google Maps and – to my surprise – buzz was there, but at the same time – not there.
Around London of late, LG has been rolling out some rather large adverts for its latest low-to-mid range device – the catchily-named LG GD510.
The first time I saw the ad, I chuckled, brushed it off and moved on. The second time I saw it, I was with company and asked out loud; “Look! What’s wrong with that picture? And that there – what does that even mean?!”
What am I talking about?
This:
The headline promises a ‘small phone, big experience’
Well yes, quite.
While I am still yet to experience any of the promised big experience that the GD510 keeps in its little pockets (the phone might be amazing, it probably isn’t), I really must take issue with a couple of things here.
Hands up, I’m a mobile geek. There are some things that such an affliction a gift can help with and some not. While it’s great being able to spot and name 90% of mobile phones from a standing start, said geek-brain can’t help itself when it looks at a poster like the one above.
My first thought is; where are the third party apps? There isn’t a single application shown on that handset that speaks to me as a consumer. Where’s Spotify? BBC iPlayer? ANYTHING that an everyday chap looking for a phone might want.
Sky TV maybe?
No. Nothing.
Look, LG. If you’re going to show off all the ‘apps’ (if we can call them that) on your new device, at least put some in there that we might recognise. I know what’s on show isn’t technically an app-based phone, but the way it’s pitched says otherwise.
“But James! Look at the poster again, can’t you see it says ‘Facebook’ on it?”
Yes, I know it does. And that brings me to my second point.
WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!
Seriously. Think about it.
Why is there what can only be described as a Facebook sticker just thrown on the end of that ad? Does it mean that the phone is presented in association with Facebook’? Or maybe… no, maybe what? There’s nothing it could mean!
Stupid, stupid, lazy advertising.
Dear LG,
Your Facebook reference is meaningless.
Do better.
Lots of love,
James.
Rant over.