Things to make and do…

So I’ve kinda got the blog-bug back again.

I don’t know why it’s back, or where it’s been etc…
All I know is that I’ve got a bunch of stuff I want to write up.

I could just mass-post the lot, like I did last time, but I think too much content is a bit of overkill.

So here’s just a quick list of things I’d like to write up:
(thanks to Mr Lloyd Davis for the photo too by the way)

  • I was in a cabaret show the other day. Must blog it.
  • The BBC interview I did. Must blog it, (properly).
  • Some general life things, 6mths with SpinVox etc.
  • The (self-imposed) T-Shirt Challenge
  • San Francisco (I covered Vegas already)

And I think that’s it…

I’m going to try and cram everything in over the coming days. But it won’t be more than one post a day… Can’t suddenly increase the words for my loyal readers!

Thanks by the way – whoever you are…

On that note. I’m painfully aware that only VOX members are able to comment on my posts. Which is kinda sucky. So I’m moving… not yet, but soon… to a decent blog-hosting page etc.

A good friend is helping me sort it out at the moment, once we’ve got the template finished, then starts the massive (again, self-imposed) job of consolidating.

I’ve been blogging all over the place for the best part of three years now. So I’m going to go way back to my very first blog and pool all my posts together under one roof…
Like a back catalogue see?

Cool. Expect that sometime before the Summer… (hopefully).
In the meantime – if you want to comment and you’re not a member of VOX, then just drop me a text and tell me what you think… my number is +447774898681.
Looking forward to hearing from you…

And finally…

I got my ticket to Glastonbury! Wheeee!

Kinda has some special resonance on this here VOX as Glastonbury was the reason why I started here, remember?

πŸ™‚

EDIT – This is a re-post from VOX so you’re looking at my new home now -Woo!

The Readius

Sleeper hit of Mobile World Congress

Google it – it’s amazing.. If I could have one now, I’d get one.

Ewan’s written about it over on SMS Text News and on the right of this post there are two shots that I took next to my E61i for comparison etc…

Not soon after that I bumped into Jonathan Greene from Atmaspheric Endeavours – heΒ  had heard about this amazing device too so I took him round to take a look.
He took liberty of shooting a Qik video…

You really do have to see this thing in action to believe it – It’s all kinds of awesome! πŸ™‚

Nokia Webcast – Live Post!

I’m sitting here RIGHT NOW at the Nokia Webcast in Hall 8 of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona…

Soundbites so far:

“35millions GPS devices to be shipped in ’08.”

“Nokia Maps 2.0 launched – Now includes ‘Pedestrian Navigation’ …Barcelona tours already planned via Nokia Maps…”

“Nokia N78 – follower of the N73 – shipping Q2 2008… includes FM transmitter.. Geotagging included..”

“The N95 user’s behavourial activities define the changes of consumers. The phone reinvented convergences… “

“N96 introduced. Iconic slider included… Kick stand included [like the N82] – shipping Q3… 550e.”

This last one is a bit pants if you ask me.
Looks too much like the N81, which is a horrid device… Meh… Full flash supported which is lovely but to be honest I’m not a fan…

More to follow…

Balls to it! (a Whatley rant-a-thon) Part 1: Gizmodo

Hi Guys, when I originally wrote this rant on my (now-defunct) VOX Blog back in January of this year (2008), I posted it in one big massive lump.

This time round, for the ‘re-print’ as it were, I’m going to break it up into easily digestible sections…

I hope that’s cool?
So… Without further a do… Here’s Part 1:

WELCOME!

Right – excuse me for a minute – I need to rant

I tried to make this blog more about ‘me’ but that was because I was saving my mobile mutterings for my column over at SMS Text News. Well – that’s fine – but I still have a lot to say on sodding social media tools – so excuse me while I just get a few things off my chest –

…as well as deliver some well-deserved self back slapping because this year, so far, has been friggin’ awesome.

And yesI KNOW I’m yet to write up a whole load of stuff that I’ve been promising for AGES!
Well y’know what? Here’s a summary:

San Francisco was awesome. You should all go. End of.

Social Networks through SpinVox – I made it. It’s mine.
Get it now -You can SPEAK to your Facebook, Dammit!

Mobile Geeks of London III – I’ve lined it up for the end of Feb and will be issuing deets shortly.

Job done.

NEXT!

Right – here are some things that have been pissing me off annoying me (around the web) of late:

1) Gizmodo’s Prank at CES.

This involved going round the event with a gadget that turns off TVs and ….turning off TVs. Which is all well and good and funny the first two or three times. After that it becomes irritating. Annoying in fact. Special sympathies go out to the poor Motorola guy trying to give his presentation while some idiots continually turned off his plasmas. As much I can’t stand Motorola handsets (they are rubbish), no one deserves this.
Not only that – but also apparently some key members of the blogosphere are NOT happy:

Already finding it difficult to gain respectability at these trade events it must be pretty frustrating to find you’d been given a bloody nose by the very people you’d count amongst your peers. I wouldn’t be surprised if CES bans bloggers next year… Which would be a huge shame.

Anyway – the backlash against Gizmodo is already happening apparently – I’m just adding to it.. so let’s see what the outcome is…

They have apologised.. but whether that counts for anything now remains to be seen.

Cont in Part 2

Hey – I’ve been busy!

To paraphrase an old friend during a power outage:

Window Reflections“I’m holding a phone! I work with phones. That counts as work”

Anywhoo – if that’s the case then that’s me over there

———————————>

Being busy.
:p

Ok ok ok – so I’ve been neglecting my blog a little bit of late. I’ve had some good reasons mind. Most of which will hopefully become clear by the time you finish reading.

Er… that is if you finish reading at the end of this post. Not if you finish reading NOW for instance.
That’d be rubbish.

So let’s crack on shall we?!

Right – the ‘to-blog’ list from my last-but-one post read a little something like this:

So let’s address each one shall we:

First up:
My business trip to San Francisco
I’m going to duck out at this point at say that it deserves a post all to itself. So I’m going to cheat a bit and defer that to another post. Not the best of starts.

Next:
Social Networks through SpinVox
Again – saving this for a separate post – it’s a bit of a SpinVox love in to be honest – and I can’t wait to share it!
(the news and coverage falls into this too)

What else:
Mobile Geeks of London III –
The plan was to get this out and done by the end of November – but what with it being two days until December you and I both know that that just is not going to happen. However, the ONE PERSON who I was waiting for DID get back to me – and we’re making plans to get it up and running early 2008. So watch this space.

Finally:
The couple of other blogging projects that I’ve been working on – this is the thing that’s been taking up my time – hence the VOX neglect – but hey – I’m back now huh?

First up – Remember how I told you that you could Blog through SpinVox?

Well – NOOOOOOW – Yours truly is now officially ‘Editor-in-Chief’ over at the new SpinVox Blog.
Wheeeeee! Which is just cool.
(remind me to change my email sig – hehe)

It’s only been going for a little while now and, although I’m still finding my feet a little bit, I’ve got some great support from the team around me and hopefully it’ll go from strength to strength. Got some great ideas for the next three months or so…. so do me a favour and add the SpinVox Blog Feed to your RSS reader today!
(and if you don’t like the content – at least you know who to complain to!) πŸ˜‰

Ok – so now – onto my other blogging project – and this kind of ties into my last post too – in that you’ve probably been waiting for ‘part 2’ of the review. Well – sorry to break it to you – but part 2 isn’t coming…

What happened was my mate Ewan Macleod, Editor over at SMS Text News, saw my “Future of Mobile – Part 1” post (which I did, live, from my N95 – thank you VOX – haven’t done that for a while), and dropped me a sneaky text asking if he could have a full write-up.

“Sure thing” I said. So he wrote a leading piece and then I followed it up with the full write up.
πŸ™‚

All of which seemed to go down pretty well. Ewan’s a top guy and I’ve done some things with him in the past so it was nice to actually sit down and properly contribute to his, quite frankly, fantastic site.

Anywhoo – this lead onto another conversation which in turn resulted with the following question –

“How about doing it regularly? Not reporting per se, but more of a weekly opinion piece… ”

So with SpinVox’ blessing (thanks guys!) “Whatley Wednesday” was born.

Subjects covered so far: Flashmobbing and the Nokia N81 8GB.
Again – quite a new project – but regular Whatleydude content, week in week out?! You can’t complain!
πŸ˜‰

So where does that leave my personal blog?
My SpinVox-y chatter has found a home and now it seems my Mobile chatter has found a home too.

Well as I’ve already said – I’ve still got stuff I want to write up – but if you remember – I originally started this site so I could blog the Glastonbury Festival LIVE from my mobile.
And even though that had geeky overtones – it was still more of a personal thing.

So… I’m gonna try and take this blog back to its roots!

After all – the address is on my Moo Card so I best make sure the content is up to date!

Until next time….

Kew Gardens

Managed to swing by Kew Gardens at the weekend… and very beautiful it was too.

A bit hot for my liking and I wasn’t there long but a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon definitely…

All pictures taken and uploaded c/o my N95.
(sod being the landscape gardener there!) πŸ™‚

And for all those Apple fans out there – more iPhone loveliness coming soon!

PROMISE!

iPhone, uPhone… wePhone!

OK, at last I’ve got my hands on an iPhone… I’ve only had a quick play but so far… It’s.. er.. ok!

Nothing uber-amazing.. It’s fun to play with and stuff.
The features are cool etc.. But practically? We’ll see..

As I said – I’ve only had a quick play so I may yet be turned from my N95 (yeah, right)…

Check out the very messy/scrappy video of me having a look at this very blog, care of the iPhone’s Safari browser…

Bit if a Pants iPhone 1.0 Video from James Whatley on Vimeo.

Leave any questions/opinions in the comments below…
See ya!