David Pogue is writing a book. Well actually he is not writing the book as such, he is compiling it from twitter posts. It actually sounds quite feasible.
Post a tweet and if included you get a copy of the book.
Pay Per Tweet was an April Fool joke only a year ago. Now it is a business. Isn’t the Internet wunnerful.
Posted in Still-coding | Leave a Comment »
With a blindingly simple idea Magpie are doing something with twitter, that twitter are not – making money.
Sign up with them, and they insert an ad in your twitter stream – say 1 in 10. You choose the frequency and get paid something. They are a bit vague about how much.
Posted in Still-coding | 2 Comments »
I just sent out a newsletter coving the jargon du jour – Cloud Computing. I missed this classic for inclusion in the mailout. It is Larry Ellison on the subject. Quote
” The interesting thing about cloud computing – it is either going to be or already is the most important computing architecture in the world because we’ve redefined cloud computing to include everything that we currently do. So it has already achieved dominance in the industry – I can’t think of anything that isn’t cloud computing with all of these announcements.
The computer industry is the only industry that is more fashion-driven than women’s fashion. Maybe I’m an idiot, but I have no idea what anyone is talking about. What is it? It’s complete gibberish. It’s insane. When is this idiocy going to stop?”
Go Larry!
Posted in Technology | 2 Comments »
Kier Thomas took a good shot at Firefox in his blog last month. I agree with him. Firefox has turned into bloatware and Google Chrome has taken over as the browser I reach for if I want results fast.
The main problem I have with chrome is that the view-source actually reloads the page. This may be fine, but sometimes you want to see the real source code not the code you get when you do a reload (which might be different).
Other than that it is lightning fast and clutter-free.
Posted in Still-coding | Leave a Comment »
I see Robert Dyas has a windows netbook for less than £150. The catch – it is running Windows CE, the operating system aimed at mobile applications and very much not Vista.
So here are the main candidates for your netbook next year:
- Windows XP the clear leader at the moment, but for how long as it becomes seen as obsolete. The other issue – it won’t run on the new ARM processors for netbooks.
- Windows CE – somehow I don’t see it.
- Windows 7 starter edition which will run a maximum of three applications at any one time. ‘Starter’ in this case meaning you will end up shelling out for an upgrade to full-blown Windows 7 within weeks. This is, I suspect, a good option but expensive. Also it won’t run on the ARM processor.
- Linux – My favourite for the long run as it will run on any processor and has lots of good office applications courtesy of Open Office.
- Coming up on the stand site – Google Android. This is being hyped as an option. But will it run Open office? There is not a lot of talk about this in the Open Office community as it is seen as a mobile device operating system.
Posted in Technology | Leave a Comment »
From my latest newsletter.
I have commented before about the impact of netbooks, these small cheap laptops that you can buy in Robert Dyas for £167. This type of device is new and the technology is changing fast. It is worth keeping an eye on it.
They are about the size of a Filofax and generally come with a 7-10 inch screen that gives about 800×480 resolution plus a proper keyboard – albeit small. They have an Intel Atom chip, a low power processor aimed at small computers and PDAs. They often come with flash memory (the kind you find in a camera) rather than a hard disk. They run Windows XP or Unix (Linux inevitably) but not Vista. The also come with built-in wi-fi. Expect mobile internet connectivity to be built in when more upmarket devices become available.
Posted in Still-coding | Leave a Comment »
Nothing. And I can prove it.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t have an opinion about the main technical errors that print designers make when designing for the web. These are all real and I have seen them repeatedly.
- Font too small. Sorry guys; at 75dpi these tiny letters are indecipherable.
- Lack of colour contrast. Light gray type on a slightly lighter grey background may look cool on your Mac, but on a clapped-out PC it is unreadable.
- Forgetting that we need real content. Design bearing in mind the real content. A sample layout that look great with ‘welcome John Smith’ on it may break completely when we have to welcome William Fortescue Smithe Junior
- Assuming everyone has a giant screen like them. Don’t run anything essential (like the main menu) down the right hand side of the page. A punter with a 800px wide netbook will not see it. Menus to the left and top please. Yes I know that every site is like that and it is boring. Get over it.
- Assuming we all have Mac fonts. We don’t. learn to love Arial.
Posted in Still-coding | Leave a Comment »
I just received two newsletters in the last two minutes:
The Dark Side of Twitter: What Businesses Need to Know
Driving Traffic with Twitter
OK so twitter is hot.
I have been tweeting, but frankly is anyone really interested that I just scratched myself? If I had the time and talent to generate witty and interesting tweets on an hourly basis (i.e. if I were called Stephen Fry) I can see that it would work. But for the average punter it is just more spam into the ether.
So with all due regard to those who are trying to generate business with twitter, I tweet my last.
Posted in Still-coding | Leave a Comment »
I have been twittering but is anyone really interested.
Stare here and check out Doonsbury this week (keep pressing next) .
Posted in Still-coding | Leave a Comment »
Bob Browning's blog 