Top draw scribing:

No, I don’t have shares in Apple. I came so close to buying some as an act of defensive defiance in the early 90s when every industry insider and expert in the field agreed that Apple had six months to go before going bust. But I didn’t. If I had done I could now afford to buy you all an iPad. Yes, I do like and have tried to champion OpenSource software. How can I square that with my love of Apple? I’m complicated. I’m a human being. I also believe in a mixed economy and mixed nuts. I love our National Health Service and the National Theatre, but I also love Fortnum and Mason’s and Hollywood movies.

A very intelligent, very well written look at the iPad after SF's return from SF.

Saturday Morn in office.

Been messing around shooting whiteboard as I work with remote on camera.

Extra large 'original' size on flickr reveals secret plans for where I'm hoping to take DigitalAgency and clients in social media, ish. ;-

Of course in some respects what I'm advocating is old news, and I didn't invent anything, rather I rediscovered a bit of social media history from one of the most visionary people in our business.

Way back in 2007, Hugh MacLeod had a brilliant original insight into what he described as 'social objects'.

It had a profound effect on me, even more so today. Because way back then, and indeed in the years that followed, not enough people, particularly brands were/are taking notice.

Luckily, some clients are beginning to wake up, yay!

But maybe not enough know about Hugh; Boo!

In my small way I'd like to rectify that.

Wannbe social media stars, if you didn't know already, I urge you to check out Hugh's site here.

Online social networks are changing the way people communicate, work and play, and mostly for the better, says Martin Giles (interviewed here)

Jan 28th 2010 | From The Economist print edition

Illustration by Ian Whadcock

 

via economist.com

 

Apple Competitors Voice Pessimism About the iPad

In the immediate aftermath of the Apple iPad announcement, high-ranking executives at notable companies — Apple competitors in some aspects — are publicly voicing their pessimism about the device.

 

Executives at Netflix, Nintendo and Microsoft are among the notable figures already weighing in on the iPad — which has split the Twitterverse — and their words are far from kind. Even Amazon is taking Apple to task — with fourth-quarter Kindle figures.

This is a very, very big deal.

IMHO.

Oh, and did I say I think it's a big deal.

My feeling is that it will not only encourage more people to sign up and use social sites, (because the Google search returns will act as a kind of 'ad' for the benefits of engaging more in sm.) But also brands will see how they benefit from this and the whole aspect of trusted sources.

Consequently more brands will 'get' sm and community management, and ramp up their engagement in the social space.

Apple - QuickTime - Apple Special Event January 2010.

Love it. Want one.

Will get one, (or two. I'm thinking of @carolcoulter wanting her own. Why can't the woman soldier on with her iPhone. Need I remind her the expression is 'toys for the boys.'?)

I can see why Steve Jobs considers it one of most important things he's ever done at Apple.

But.

From the noble business/marketing/sales perspective of a device to sell stuff for, rather than it's in-built tech. (Which isn't a criticism by the way.)

A Kindle killer no doubt. Great gaming, mobile internet, comms, music, video, app sales. Brilliant.

My only reservation has to do with me. And the number of times I've dropped my iPhone.

When carrying my MacBook around, it has the heft, and screen/keyboard at right-angledness that I grab on to.

But this little puppy is going down in my hands.

Watch for insurance compaies offering high premium iPad dropper products.

;-

This pretty cool, grid view for Google Docs. I'll still be using Evernote in the main, but for my Google Docs resource this is a neat addition.

"New technology spawns new ways to tell stories. That’s the really exciting thing here. Not the tablet itself, but what it means for news, for entertainment, for literature. Gasp. Geddit? Is the f***ing light going off yet? This is what Anton Chekhov meant when he said that the medium is the message. This is why the Tablet is so profound.

There is no point in moving to digital readers if we’re just going to do what we did on paper. That’s why Kindle is such a piece of shit. All they did was pave the cowpath. And that’s why we’ve held back on our Tablet — not because the technology wasn’t ready, but because the content guys are such f***tards that they still can’t create anything that makes it worth putting the Tablet into the world."

The advertising industry is shrinking. Literally. The number of employees in the sector decreased by nearly 2,000 last year. Everything's getting smaller, from the budgets to the fees to – inevitably – the teams producing the work.