Stage One Of Experiment: A New PC For Nath

Today I burnt the credit card and bought Nathan the gaming PC he wanted for Christmas. We went to PC World and chose a good spec'd PC. We needed at least 3GB RAM, 500GB+ of Hard Disk, a minimum of 512MB of on board video RAM on the video card. I knew this sort of PC was going to cost me more than 700 GBP. Which it did, we went for a HP Pavillion Elite PC. That came with 4GB RAM, 1TB of Hard Disk and 1024MB (which is a Gig) of on board video RAM. The only thing was that being an ex-display model (which meant was cheaper) there was no monitor. So we ended up getting a Samson 20" one.

This system should be good enough to allow Nathan to not worry about the hardware side of things when he wants to by a PC game. He normally plays the C&C games, or Star Wars ones in the same vein. He's also a big fan of the Battle For Middle Earth games, well you get the idea, basically the C&C style genre.

The PC also came with no speakers so I had to get some of them as well. So I went for a mid range set from Creative Labs (glad to see they are still going after all these years).

Other nice features of this new PC are that it comes with a Blu-ray player, has built in wifi, and the keyboard and mouse are wireless as well.

Next month I will be getting a web cam and setting Nathan up with Skype. Why? Well the intention wasn't just to buy a gaming PC but also something that Nathan could use to keep in contact with me after I move out.

While I think of it I will have to subscribe to a service like the Go To My PC so that I can do remote admin on Nath's pc after I move out. But I will investigate what options are out there in the next month.

Merry Christmas

I'd like to wish a Merry Christmas to all my friends and family, and to all the readers of this blog.

I hope that Santa has not disappointed with the presents that he has delivered during the night.

I'm off to watch some cool super high def movies (Iron Man and The Dark Knight)on my Blu-ray player also called a PS3. Yes some folks out there don't realise that the PS3 can play Blu-ray movies. I may also play a game or two of Bejewelled2 on the iPhone (kinda addicted to it at the moment).

Anyway have a great day, enjoy the Christmas lunch and don't forget the new Dr Who , and Wallace and Gromit this evening.

iPhone Boob App!

Just go here and view the movie of the iPhone app that you know you want but will never be approved. It made me laugh.

"Boob App on the iPhone is Obviously Called iBoobs, Obviously Not Approved"

Sky+ Idea

This blog posting came about as a result of a phone conversation I had with my friend Duncan yesterday.

Duncan and I were discussing pvr boxes, and the natural leader in the UK Sky and their Sky+ box.

One of the impressive features of the Sky+ box is the series link. Basically you select a program to record and then hit the series link button. Which when it records the program selected it will automatically set itself up to record the next program in the series. Which it will keep doing either until the series ends or you tell it not.

This is so handy because it means you don't have to remember to record the next program in the series. It's done for you.

However there is the problem of missing the start of a series when it returns. This can happen, especially if you do not visit a channel regularly except when you are watching a series. This happens to me a lot for E4 and Living. On E4 I watch Smallville, on Living Greys Anatomy and Criminal Minds. When I am following those series is the only time I go to those channels. So when a series comes to an end, I often miss when it starts up again. It has happened for Greys Anatomy season 4. I have missed most of it now.

So why can't Sky implement something like iTunes/RSS for following a series? With RSS I subscribe to a program when ever a new episode is released I never miss it. Doesn't matter how long the gap is between seasons, I get the new episode when ever it is available.

Surely it wouldn't be hard for Sky to produce similar functionality for tv programs on their planner.

They could have two feeds. One for new episodes and a second for repeats. That way I wouldn't miss an episode again. What a great selling point that would be to Joe Public.

You could argue that the tv channels wouldn't like it. But at the moment they have lost a viewer because I have stopped going to their channel and decided to either get the episodes on-line or hire/buy the dvd box set. At least with this "amazing" idea of mine they get to keep a viewer. Which after all is the important thing if they are selling advertising.

Wordpress Plugins That I Use

Over at my other blog (whitespider1066.com) I have just upgraded to the latest version of Wordpress which is 2.7. But that reminded me that I had promised myself that I would list the plugins I use on that blog. With whitespider1066.com being a self hosted Wordpress blog it means I have no restrictions on the plugins I can use. If I can download them and ftp them across then I can use them.

Anyway here is the current list of ones I use:

• Akismet - this is a default one and has to be switched on. It keeps the amount of spam that appears on the blog down to zero.
• Audio player - I installed this so that I could embed mp3 files into a posting. Only used so far to play the recordings of bats I did on a Bat Walk round Fleet Pond.
• Blog Metrics - if you remember an article I linked to in a previous posting on Blog Metrics. Well this plugin produces those figures.
• Contact Form II - I use this on my contact page to allow folks to send me an email if they wish.
• FeedBurner FeedSmith - I started using Feedburner to track the true number of RSS readers I have (Google Reader will give you a figure for the number in Google Reader you have), and this plugin helped move folks over.
• GeneralStats - another blog stats plugin.
• Global Translator - I added this to cater more for the international readers of my blog. Why shouldn't they be able to read it in their own language?
• Google Analytics For Wordpress - made integrating with Google Analytics so simple.
• My Link Order - allows you to set the order in which links and link categories will appear in the sidebar.
• ShareThis - not sure if anyone has ever used this. But it is there at the end of all posts just incase some-one wants to share the stuff I have written easily.
• Similar Posts - Currently I'm not using this. I may switch it back on. Will run a poll with my readers to see if they used it. No-one has complained since I stopped using it!
• StatPress - Real time blog stats. Very interesting to see what folks are currently looking at.
• Subscribe To Comments - a requested feature. Which I think folks do find very very useful.
• Wordpress Automatic Upgrade - a behind the scenes plugin that makes upgrades so so easy.
• Wordpress Mobile Edition - I must try this sometime. But it is there for folks if they are viewing the blog via a mobile device.
• WP-Polls - Embed polls in your blog. I've used this a few times. Great little plugin.

So for my fellow Wordpress users what plugins do you use? What have I missed out?

N97 - Too Little Too Late?

Last week before I became ill Nokia announced to the world the output from two years of hard work by their top brains. They called that hard work the N97.

For me the N97 is too little too late.  This phone should of been announced a year ago. Now it is only one of the supposedly "iPhone killers". But I'd say it is more aimed at the Google Android platform than the iPhone considering the form factor. It certainly looks more like a polished Google Android phone than an iPhone.

Nokia claimed 15 million N95 sold since 2005 making it the best selling smartphone in the market, which sounds impressive. But when you consider that the iPhone has sold over 10 million in two years, it shows Apple are on target to capturing that title.

But lets look at why I think Nokia won't knock Apple off it's perch with the N97.

With over 10,000 apps, and millions of downloads, the Apple App Store can be only considered as a resounding success. Not bad for a phone that has only had apps for a year, and the dev environment is only on the Mac (free). Nokia or any other mobile company has not even come close to achieving these sort of sales or even number of apps for their platforms.

Nokia need firstly to somehow get developers to develop for their platform in large numbers. Which frankly I think they will find hard to do. Nokia will be the third platform of choice. Firstly developers will develop for the iPhone, then the Blackberry, and/or  for the Android. After that they may choose the N97 or possible Windows Mobile.

The funny thing is that EPOC is a stable multi tasking OS that has been capable of this touch interface for years. EPOC doesn't care the interface is just an abstracted layer for it, sitting on top of the real clever bits. Shame it has taken Nokia this long to start thinking of interfaces properly. Nokia and Symbian should be ashamed how they have let EPOC become an also ran OS for mobiles. They squandered a massive lead. Originally EPOC had Palm and Windows Mobile to compete against. Arguably it was the best of the three. Palm has died off, Windows Mobile has grown but not improved much. EPOC hasn't gone on and done great things in the meantime either. The Blackberry OS and iPhone OS have come up from nowhere and become dominant with a third contender coming fast up the inside as well in the form of Google Android.

Phone updates. This is a biggie. Apple release an update everyone who has the phone gets the update, regardless of carrier. It means that the platform developers write for is consistent across the globe. Nokia and others (happens a lot with Windows Mobile phones as well) release updates but they can be region specific, rely on the carrier to pass on (who do not always pass these updates on). Frankly who wants to develop for such a patch work platform, look at the problems developers have with PC's. They don't want that hassle with mobiles as well.

Nokia need to make their dev tools available for free, not only on the PC but on the Mac and Linux as well. IIRC the Nokia/Symbian dev kit needed Microsoft dev kits to work. Which as we know costs. Which discourages that healthy development community.

Nokia are releasing the N97 in the first half of next year. Why not now? By the time they release the N97, Apple will be announcing and making available the next improved iPhone. Which will have cut and paste, a better camera etc etc. Apple have all this ready they just don't have to release it, as there is no pressure from the competition yet. Which must scare Nokia and the others so much.

Finally Nokia need a version of the App Store that is as easy to use, integrates with the phone just as easily. Without what apps they do have will not stand a chance. The App Store makes it so easy to buy apps, and cheap as well. I suspect that Apple have a really high user buy rate that others would just love to have.

Anyway this is why I think Nokia has made it just a little too late to make the N97 a success. What do you think?

Simpsons Mock Apple

Proving even I a recent Cult-of-Mac convert can laugh at himself, I found this posting from Engadget about the new Simpsons mocking Apple and it's clips very very very funny indeed.

The Simpsons Mock Apple

5 Free Google Tools For Webmasters

This is as much for me as for you, but I decided to summarise the current crop (hopefully haven't missed any) of free Google tools that are out there for folks running Websites/Blogs etc.

You will need a Google account to use these, but then that is free and not much of a hassle. Especially when you consider these cool tools you get access to.

• Google Search-based Keyword Tool (Beta) - Instead of me rehashing the words on Google, why not read this great posting about this new tool Google’s New Search-Based Keyword Tool Tells You What Keywords You’re Missing.
• Google's SEO Starter Guide - To use Google's own words from the page "So, the next time we get the question, "I'm new to SEO, how do I improve my site?", we can say, "Well, here's a list of best practices that we use inside Google that you might want to check out.""
• Google Webmaster Tools - Provides you with detailed reports about your pages' visibility on Google.
• Google Analytics - The one everyone will of heard of. Get stats on your site.
• Google Website Optimizer - Website testing and optimization tool.

If you come across any others let me know, and I will update this post.

A Linky Post Of Good Reads

In a previous post I did a case study on my friend Tony's blog. This is a kind of mini follow up with some articles from various places on the net that I think he will find useful reading.

How to Grow Your Business in 3 Months via Social Media Marketing

How to spy on your competitors

The Power of Blogging with A Long Term View

free 22 minute audio program: How To Build a Network (you are following this guy aren't you Tony?)

DAB Radio Not Relevant

I was discussing this with my friend Mark yesterday as we walked my dogs, and decided it would make a good posting for here. So here you are...

The main point of my argument is that DAB has already been replaced. I don't think that DAB had much of a chance and at best was a stop gap technology.

Let's look at how I came to this conclusion.

The first is that I think it has already been replaced. With what? Streaming radio over the internet. Using my iPhone, or any other smart phone I can stream radio over the internet to my phone. But it doesn't have to be just radio, it can be tv, such as clips off YouTube, or whole programs with the BBC iPlayer.

Mobiles have a better signal coverage than the DAB network. I live in according to the maps of signal strength for DAB signals, a very strong area for the DAB signal. Yet using a portable DAB radio I was unable to listen to the radio on the way to work, and at work. Yet using my mobile I can do just that. So why would I use a DAB radio or even buy one? Another factor is that mobile coverage is constantly being improved by the phone companies. Sadly for DAB they are not improving the coverage, or signal strength nearly as fast (it is very slow).

Mark pointed out that there has been a lot of people buy DAB radios. I would argue not nearly as many that have a mobile that is capable of streaming radio over the internet. Therefore the market is already larger than the DAB one and this functionality hasn't really been pushed yet on the phones. Which it will as the phone companies look at ways to try and bring revenue in.

If DAB when it first came out had overcome the hurdles of cost (radios were really expensive) and improved the signal strength, it may of got a faster uptake, and been more relevant. But while it was trying to get it's act together, the fast world of mobiles and the internet have left it in the graveyard occupied by Betamax, HD-DVD, and other also ran technologies.

Tech Cheats Get Their Comeuppance

Just some examples of how tech can really drop you in it. Well if you decide to be silly and use it to cheat on your partner what do you expect?

"A couple have divorced after the wife saw the husband having online sex in the virtual world of Second Life..."

Or this one is even more surreal. Just how dum do these guys think their partners are?

"Strange Iphone Bug" and here is the Apple Support forum response

FOM Misses Point

FOM or Future of Mobile as it is known is currently going on in that hell hole known as London.

The great and the good of the UK Web 2.0/Mobile/whatever are there.

I've been following bits of it via Twitter. It's the poor mans way to attend an event without having actually to be there or pay the high fees (which are in place to deter plebs like me).

Anyway the point is I see events like this irrelevant. There is no point discussing bringing the web to the phone, or location based services, or mobile app development. Why?

Well there is one thing that needs solving pretty dam fast or this whole thing will hit a brick wall and go no further.

What is that then? The battery life of the phone itself. The phone is now a convergent device. It is a phone (naturally), GPS, camera, video camera, diary, mp3 player, movie player, it has Wifi, Bluetooth. You can surf the net, play games, twitter, access Facebook and loads more. If you can get it as an app and install it, you can do it.

But all this eats up the battery like there is no tomorrow. Long gone are the days of having to only charge a phone once a week, with the new "smart phones". If you use a lot of the functionality of these phones, like the mp3, or watch a tv program, surf the net. In no time you are out of power and searching for some way to charge your phone again.

I don't think that the public will put up with this for long. Then what? Will the market collapse? I don't know. But I do know that the FOM should be looking at what happens if the battery life doesn't improve.

Web 2.0 Slow On The Uptake

Over on the Outdoors Bloggers Forum there is an interesting thread of discussion (still in early days) around the following point (made by Duncan):

"Why do blogs allow, or even inspire, such use of different media?

We rarely see such in wiki's or other Web2.0 formats. "

He also added:

"But why are other web2.0 formats slower to change? To adopt, adapt, improve?"

My initial reply was:

"Well for a wiki, that is a group collaboration tool, so therefore it's not really suitable for audio/video.
I could see a logic for including sound or audio clips in something like wikipedia in an entry. Ie including the sound a bird makes etc.
But the point is a wiki allows folks to work on something together, and video and audio just can't be edited that easily by others.
Something like Twitter or "micro-blogging" it already allows people to embed links to video and audio, as well as photos. And people do that.
Social sites like Facebook/MySpace lots of people use video etc on their pages.
So I think your argument is only valid for a wiki."

Duncan responded with the following that expands the scope a little:

"There is nothing to stop people using wikis or forums with videos, but when was the last time you saw even the hint of thought from a retailer's website?

Some highstreet shops websites don't even have photographs of their products, let alone video clips or instructions.

It's another example of the "Long Curve", I think."

I agree with his point there is little to stop wikis or forums using video. But the point of a wiki is to enable a group collaboration on a subject/project. As I pointed out in my response I could see a use of video or audio. Just as photos are used now. But for a wiki the written word is the best medium for it to use, as this is the easiest way to have multiple people work, review and make edits to a project/entry.

Now it was also raised about forums, and why they don't use video etc. I think forums could use video and audio, some blog comments are allowing audio/video submission. So yes there is no reason why forums should not be allowing the same. I can see why from the owners point of view they would not want it (storage, bandwidth etc). Or even from the members why they would not (ie loss of spontaneity of response, ease of use, time to upload etc).

When the argument is expanded to include web sites and in particular retailers, I think Duncan has a point to some extent. But do we include web sites as web 2.0? For the sake of this argument we will.

I think retail web sites have shied away from "fancy" stuff in their online stores, mainly because they have had their fingers burnt in the past. There have been one or two spectacular failures that tried using all the latest tricks of the time. But they failed because the technology wasn't there to support them, and less people were on line. So I think that there is a little reluctance from retailers because of these past failures, despite those obstacles no longer being there.

I also think there is the over head, and investment that would be required by the retailer to produce all these videos etc of the goods on their sites, would just be prohibitive.

As for the photographs there is no excuse for not at least having a picture of the product on the site.

Anyway there are some of my thoughts on the subject. What do you think? Who is right? Do we both have valid arguments? Have we missed something? Leave a comment and let me know.

Flip MinoHD Coming Soon

For those that follow my other blog (whitespider1066.com) they will know that I use a Flip Mino to film video for it (I produce video evidence of my stove fetish over there).

So you can imagine my excitement to find out that soon I will be able to film those stoves in HD!

According to the article the MinoHD will produce 720p HD video. So not the full 1080p, but still HD video footage of the stoves and the TGOC would be amazing.  Naturally the storage capacity of the Flip has been increased to cope with the increase in data it will have to store. Still giving the same 60 minutes of video, in glorious 720p-o-vision.

Now all I have to do is try and justify to myself getting one ;-)

Read more here at Gizmodo.

My Biggest Web 2.0 Experiment Ever

With a title like that, this post has a lot to live up to.

In January I move up North to live nearer the mountains. Which means I leave my son behind down in the South with his Mum. The whys and how's aren't really relevant to this blog.

However I do have the problem how do I keep my relationship with my son going over such a long distance?

Yes I can use the phone. But 15 year old boys are not always the best conversationalists. Plus I need to engage him in stuff he likes to do.

Like all 15 year olds he is a keen gamer. Luckily for me I also like the odd video game.

So in my new home I will be mirroring the game consoles we currently have. The modern consoles like the Xbox360, PS3 and Wii all have to some degree a social media element. Which allows communication, online co-op games etc.

It seems to me that when people talk about social media they miss out these online communities that have developed on the consoles. You have friends lists, you can send messages and game invites, you can see what your friend is playing, how well he is doing. But because it is a closed platform it gets overlooked.

By using the social media element of these consoles I will be able to keep in contact with my son, play games with him, chat to him using voice chat (like VOIP I suppose) while we shoot aliens to pieces.

Before I move, I will also be getting my son a PC to play games on. To which I will add Skype, set him up on Facebook and Twitter so that I can communicate with him that way as well.

So by using these "Web 2.0" technologies I hope I will be able to keep my relationship going with my son. Now you can see why I call this my biggest Web 2.0 experiment ever. It not only is that, it is also my most important one.

Over the coming months I will be documenting this experiment, how effective it is, and it's short comings.

Another Great Blog Link From Twitter

Another great find off Twitter(Jay Oatway found this) this time it's an article on Twitter in business 50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business.

What can I say about this? I'm not going to give my thoughts on it in this post, I need time to digest it all first. But I will tie this post in with my previous one and the advice I gave my friend Tony. This is another great example of expanding your knowledge by following the right people.

If I hadn't been on Twitter and following Jay, I would not of found out about this great blog post he came across.

Hopefully my contribution/pay back is this blog post letting folks know about it and giving credit where credit is due.

Case Study: A Friends Small Business Blog

Three or four months ago at a joint friends birthday party I was discussing with my friend Tony how a blog might help him in driving traffic to his online web store.

The problem Tony had was that along with many others he was a reseller of products from a company called Neways. Along with those others who sell that product they paid for a hosted web store solution. Which if you ask me is a rip off, but hey ho it's not my money.

Tony went off and set up a blog on blogger. Which was great, or so I thought. When I visited the blog  Tony seemed to have missed the message I had been trying to get across.

Where do I think that Tony went wrong?

Content

The first thing I think Tony did wrong was his content. It wasn't by him, it is reproduced articles (which I am assuming are from Neways). So there was none of Tony's personality coming through the writings that people could warm to, and like. Even with commercial blogs I think that there needs to be that personal touch that gives it that feel that it is not just a place for the hard sell.

I'm also not sure how expert Tony is in this area, but he needs to be able to demonstrate his passion and expertise in this area. Which frankly re-posting some-one else's words does not do.

 

Marketing Opportunities

I think Tony is missing a trick or two with his blog by not making it easy for folks to get a little free sampler pack from his blog. But this all ties in with the next point as well on contact details.

He should also be running a competition each month to win some of the products he is selling. This gets people trying his stuff and hopefully liking it enough to buy some from him in the future. It also has the benefit of giving folks a reason to return to his blog, apart from the great content he will be posting.

Contact Details

There is a mailto link hidden away on the profile. But this needs to be more prominent on the main page. 

The sort of contact page they should have on the blog in my opinion is more like the page they have on their web store. Which has a their address, phone number, and an email form for request further info etc. But this is not an easy thing to do in Blogger.

Book, blogger, and expert will tell you time and time again that people should be able to contact you easily.

Online Communities

To my knowledge Tony doesn't participate in online communities that are based around the products he is trying to sell. So Tony needs to get out there commenting on blogs, posting on forums etc. But what he must not do is just try and promote and sell stuff. Making it obvious in any profile who you are and have a link to the blog. But all the posts should be adding something to the conversation going on. Eventually folks will get to know him, and respect what he has to say. Which will hopefully mean they will read his blog, and from there down the road buy from him.

Free Tools

For Tony stats are important, they allow him to see how much traffic he has, and if it he is passing traffic on to his website. He currently uses Google Analytics, but he should also be using Feedburner for his RSS feeds. Which will allow him to gain some stats about those that subscribe to his feed.

There is also another free tool from Google Webmaster Tools, which will show him how people are finding his blog, which he can tie in with his Google Adwords. This will then allow him to fine tune the Google Adwords he uses.

Improve His Knowledge

I think also that Tony should visit Amazon to get some of the books I listed in my previous posting Blogging/Web 2.0 Reading List. He needn't spend a fortune on these if he uses the Amazon New and Used section. This often works out cheaper even with postage than the Amazon price. Particularly I think he should be concentrating on the Web Analytics books and the Google SEO one, with maybe the Problogger book as well.

Following the right people on Twitter and reading the right blogs will also help Tony get up to speed fast on an ever changing area. If he starts following Jim Connolly on Twitter and reading his blog also, Tony won't go wrong. Jim has a great blog full of help information, and on Twitter is a great networker, helping folks connect with each other. Jim gets Web 2.0 and Social Media. So Tony should be learning from Jim. From there Tony should look at who Jim follows on Twitter and pick out ones that look interesting and follow them, and also add those blogs to his follow list. But Tony needs to remember he needs to put back into the community as well (see above comment).

Move The Blog

Considering the needs of Tony, my final recommendation is probably the most radical of them all. I'd kill off the blog on Blogger and go for a self hosted Wordpress blog. Yes it would cost him a little bit of money each year, no more than 30 GBP if he shops around. But this has the advantage of the fact he has more control over the blog. He would be able to utilise plugins that could give him a contact form, add polls, track blog stats, add advertising links to RSS feeds, etc.

Over To You

So what do you think of my advice for Tony? What have I missed? Am I totally off the mark? Leave a comment with your thoughts on the matter. Please nothing about the products or the company. I understand how they work, and where the real money is made in this sort of "opportunity". But a friend is a friend, and I would like to see him succeed.

Blogging/Web 2.0 Reading List

Below is a list of books I recommend to read about blogging, Web 2.0, and SEO even Web Metrics. Some of these are clearly aimed at the corporate/business reader. But some of the points and suggestions still hold true for the regular blogger as well.  BTW these are not in any particular order of preference.

1. Wikinomics - by Don Tapscott  & Anthony . Williams

Publisher: Atlantic Books, ISBN-10: 184354637X , ISBN-13: 978-1843546375

2. Blogging Heroes - by Michael A. Banks

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, ISBN-10: 0470197390 ,ISBN-13: 978-0470197394

3. Naked Conversations - by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ,ISBN-10: 047174719X ,ISBN-13: 978-0471747192

4. The Corporate Blogging Book - by Debbie Weil

Publisher: Piatkus Books ,ISBN-10: 0749927437 ,ISBN-13: 978-0749927431

5. Get into bed with Google - by Jon Smith

Publisher: Infinite Ideas Limited ,ISBN-10: 1905940491 ,ISBN-13: 978-1905940493

6. Tribes - by Seth Godin

Publisher: Piatkus Books ,ISBN-10: 0749939753 ,ISBN-13: 978-0749939755

7. Problogger - by Darren Rowse, Chris Garrett

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ,ISBN-10: 0470246677 ,ISBN-13: 978-0470246672

8. Groundswell - by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff

Publisher: Harvard Business School Press ,ISBN-10: 1422125009 , ISBN-13: 978-1422125007

9. The Blogging Church - by Brian Bailey and Terry Storch

Publisher: Jossey Bass ,ISBN-10: 0787984876 ,ISBN-13: 978-0787984878

10. Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics - by Brian Clifton

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ,ISBN-10: 0470253126 ,ISBN-13: 978-0470253120

11. Web Analytics: An Hour a Day - by Avinash Kaushik

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons; Pap/Cdr edition ,ISBN-10: 0470130652 ,ISBN-13: 978-0470130650

I have a few more on my bookshelf that I would recommend and I will list them in a future post. I've not said anything about each book, follow the links to find out more about each one. The links can say so much more than I can about them.

If you have any recommendations or think I have missed one please leave a comment.

Remember in these tough economic times don't pay full price use the Amazon New and Used section to make BIG savings.

iMovie '08 Copying Audio

For one or two of my up and coming video projects for whitespider1066.com I needed to find out how to take audio from one clip and use it in another. So a quick Google and I managed to stumble upon this great iMovie '08 site called Unlocking iMovie '08. It looks like the blog hasn't been updated for a little while but the information is still there and useful.

The tutorial/posting on this blog I was reading to achieve what I wanted is here. While I'm also doing links you might find the following little video on the Apple website useful as well "Apple Audio Editing Clip".

PS I heard that iMovie '06 is available for download and is free. Apparently you can have this installed alongside the '08 version. Why would you do this? Once again apparently there are some features not available in '08 but they are in '06! But I can't confirm this because '08 is the first version I have used (I'm relatively new to the Mac). (Download iMovie 6 here) Also cool article "Make iMovie ’08 work your way" that touches on this as well.

PPS Can anyone recommend a good iMovie '08 book?

UK Gov Announce 700 GBP Handout To Get Low Income Families Broadband

At the New Labour Party Conference this year there seems to have been an announcement from the Government that did not get much press coverage at the time, except on Radio 5 where I caught it.

The announcement was about plans to give 700 GBP to low income families to get broadband in their homes. This money it was said could be spent on getting a pc of some description as well.

It could be argued that most households these days have a pc of some description in them, even low income households. I would also suggest that a fair number may also have broadband as well.

But the Government has to be applauded for this initiative if it sees the light of day.

700 GBP in this day and age is more than enough to kit a family out and get them online in the digital world.

But I got thinking what would I recommend to these families to spend their money on?

I would start off by suggesting that they purchase one of the sub 300 GBP Windows XP Netbooks. These can be picked up from PC World or Tesco (who are selling one in stores at the moment for 248 GBP).  Basically all a teenager needs to be able to do is do course work, surf the web, and let them use whichever chat client their friends are on. Oops and use Skype to keep their mobile bill down when they are at home. We will cover games in a bit. To do all that you don't need hundreds of pounds of computer. This is why Netbooks are perfect.

On this Netbook I would put OpenOffice, which is Office compatible and free. Along with any of the IM clients they require to chat to their friends.

I would pick up an inkjet printer, you can get decent ones for under fifty pounds these days. Which brings me on to a very non eco friendly tip. When the ink runs out, bin the printer and buy a new printer. It often works out a lot cheaper than buying the new ink cartridges.

On to the gaming side of the equation. With services like Xbox Live, that has to be subscribed to, or the Playstation Network, these are almost social media sites for gamers. But within the budget given I would pick up an Xbox360 for under two hundred pounds. The benefits of using a dedicated games console is that the arms race of having a pc powerful enough to play the latest games is avoided, and the hassle of installation as well.

I do think that this initiative from the Government does miss one important fact. One of the most costly things that a low income family will come across is the cost of repairing a broken system. You can take out insurance from places like PC World, and I would probably recommend that this is done. PC World charge a fortune to repair stuff. Local PC repair folks are just as expensive and charge as if they are plumbers etc. Having astronomical call out fees, and then hourly rates are as equally as bad.

So there you have it, a system at home that should allow the kids to do school work, get on the net, and play games.

iPhone App Store Addiction

So how addictive is buying apps for the iPhone? Very, since getting the iPhone I have bought several apps from the iTunes app store.

The latest being Pano that allows you to take panoramic photos with the iPhone camera.

Sadly for Apple they forgot (I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt here) to add demo version functionality to the app store. So it helps that a lot of the apps you can buy are low cost, or even free.

The same simple click and buy that was there for music is now there for apps. So it becomes very easy to purchase stuff as you browse the app store.

What has surprised me is the high quality of some of these apps. As I have said in a previous post I actually prefer to access Facebook via the iPhone app than using the web site. 

Compared to my old T-Mobile rebadged HTC phone running Windows Mobile, where the apps seemed very hit and miss. The iPhone apps are a dream. You actually feel you are able to do tasks effectively on the road without fighting the hardware you are using.

Maybe the mobile road warrior will be a reality in the future, something to think on.

WEB BASED GAME: Mr Mucky Pest Controller

Well here is another little benefit of Twitter you get put onto fun little games like this one from time to time. Reminds me of a Robotron type game (see that dates me immediately). But this one is simpler in game play, and just one of the many casual games you can play on-line. Not too sure about the Sexpest level and the way that the flashers attack. Is it because I am a prude? But fun none the less if you want to be entertained for five minutes pop on over and have a game or two.

UK Government Wants To Be Bigger Than Big Brother

Wow Terrorists could be using Social Media sites like Twitter to plot the next attack. Well I have news for you they are also using the rest of the Internet as well, along with probably encryption software. They probably use VOIP, instant messaging, mobile phones, land lines, cars, planes, boats and bikes. I heard they even buy food and eat it as well.

But does this warrant an ever increasing invasion of our privacy by the British Government? There are plans as reported in the BBC news story (if they have their facts right, which they may not always have, as they proved at the weekend, but that is another story) for the British Government to store even more data about us in a big central database. This time to monitor web sites visited and all phone calls made.

But let's face it the British Government hasn't exactly proved it is trustworthy with our private data and keeping control of who has access to it, or how these laws to fight terrorists are kept in check.

In the last year I have lost count the number of times that Government departments or their contractors have lost vital personal details of thousands of people. Data that if fallen into the wrong hands could allow these people to be victims of identity theft. I don't remember it being reported that those responsible for the loss of the data being sacked (which would of happened in the real world). There just seems to be no accountability within the Government or their departments.

There have also been cases when local councils have used laws designed to fight terrorists to spy on members of the public. Some of the cases reported were to catch benefit fraud, others litter droppers, dog fouling or anti social behaviour. Not exactly what the law was intended for I think. So why hasn't the Government cracked down on this? Why hasn't the law been changed to protect the people from this intrusion?

So with a proven track record of being incapable of  looking after important data, and not able to protect the public from inappropriate application of the terrorist laws. Can we really trust them to look after any new database, and control how that information is used, or who has access to it?

I also fear that these measures will also create a two tier Internet. The hacker/IT aware user and the Joe public. Yes I know you can argue that it already has that. But it will be even more obvious. The hacker/IT aware would use anonymous proxy servers etc to hide where they have been on the Internet etc. While the Joe public will have all their Internet usage monitored, recorded and used against them.

But also what is stopping the terrorists from using the same technology as the hacker/IT aware to hide their tracks? Nothing. So once more the database becomes useless for it's alleged intended use, and more a database that can be used against the very people it is meant to be protecting.

With that scary thought I'll leave you until next time...

UPDATE: Just came across this other BBC story "You can run... but can you hide?" that delves into how easy it is to access all this data the UK Government has on us. If you missed the Panorama program last night like me, you have seven days to catch it on the BBC iplayer.

Blog Metrics Article - A New Way To Measure Blogs?

This is the article I referred to in my my reply to a comment left by Andy Howell for why I use a Blog Metrics plugin on my self hosted wordpress blog whitespider1066.com  "Blog Metrics: Six Recommendations For Measuring Your Success".

At the moment this little experiment I am running over there is in early days. But I'm sure I will report back on it at sometime in the future.

In the meantime have a read, leave a comment. And we we can have a discussion about it.

Interesting Article On Social Media Consultants

Maybe it's just me because I want to be employed in this area of the industry, or as an online community manager. But I found the following article "The True Value of Social Media Consultants" very interesting, and thought it would be of value to folks in decision making positions to read.

Blogger Less Than Perfect

I've added a contact section on the right. But it's not perfect. In fact just to get that was a hassle.

The widget that is available is unusable and complains that the email address is not valid in an annoying dialog box that won't go away.

So you have to resort to hacks, which are less than perfect and mostly rely on third parties. I don't like relying on third parties for something so important as this (I know I using a third party to host the blog).

In the end I had to hack some JavaScript I found on the web to get what you see now. So you get a form, that then makes a call to your default email client to populate an email for you when you click submit. Which you then have to click send on. What a pain. I can see myself taking the template and then hosting pages on the whitespider1066.com site to give me functionality I can't have on Blogger like pages, and contact forms!

So what's all this about not having pages in Blogger? Really this is a basic functionality that should be available without having to fiddling it. Placing a post in the far and distant past and linking to it is not good enough.

Oh well what did I expect for a free service?

Dimdim Free Online Meetings

See there is a positive side to following people on Twitter. If I hadn't been following Kathy Johnson I would of missed finding out about this great open source site for those that want to host web meetings called Dimdim.
I've been thinking of this sort of thing since Leo Laporte started running spots for a sponsor of his shows called GoToMeeting. You can sign up for a 30 Day Free Trial etc. But there was a nagging doubt about just what, how, could I use it? That put me off signing up. I just didn't want to waste the free trial period.
From the look of it Dimdim looks a great alternative. All I have to do now is work out how I can use this technology that works for my needs at the moment.

PS. Looking at the GoToMeeting site they also do another useful product called GoToWebinar for Webinars. I wonder if there is an open source version of this in development?

Motorola Google Social Network Phone

Yesterday the online buzz on the tech news blogs was all about the planned new social network based Android phone (Gizmodo story) due out sometime next year.
But surely this phone already exists, just it doesn't use Google Android, and it's not from Motorola? Yes I'm talking about the iPhone. With a couple of free apps off the app store the iPhone can be transformed into a social network platform that is a dream to use.
Ok I give you that the Motorola phone will have these apps most likely installed and ready for use out of the box. However it's not a hardship to get the apps from the app store now is it?
Before I got the iPhone 3G I hardly used Facebook, was struggling with Twitter (especially after they switched off the SMS service in the UK) and had only just discovered LinkedIn.
The apps I installed Twitterrific for Twitter, the Facebook app, and the LinkedIn app have transformed the way I use these social networks. The O2 plans you sign upto all include unlimited data so Twitter once more becomes a useable service in the UK with the iPhone and Twitterrific. Feed your Twitter feed into Facebook, and it looks like you are also a Facebook addict. But in reality I nearly am, because the iPhone Facebook app has such a great user interface that I don't mind using Facebook now.
If the Motorola apps match the iPhone ones then I think they will have a winner on their hands, that may just compete with the iPhone as the mobile social network platform of choice for people. In the meantime there is in my opinion only one platform for mobile social networking and that is the iPhone.

First Post

Welcome to this new blog, which is "yet another tech blog". Yes I know just what the world needed on the interweb.
There is a logic behind this for me starting a tech blog up. I couldn't talk about it on my other blog, which is all about the outdoors (whitespider1066.com). It would just be out of place.
So from time to time you will get me commenting on Tech stories that inspire me to have a say on them. I'm not sure how often I will update this blog. I have a couple of post ideas already. But after that who knows.
Please bare with me as I find my voice and style on this blog. Hopefully we will have some fun and laughs along the way.

Catch ya later...