O2 Joggler - interesting move from O2

For a very brief time, I worked on the O2 account. This is the sort of thing I wish they'd have been receptive to when I was working on it.

It's not something I'd want (because it's not techy enough), but this is certainly interesting. They've taken the idea of those wireless things you could buy a few years ago (name escapes me) that ran widgets, tarted it up, and synced it with your O2 account. Access to an O2-hosted calendar (could be its downfall) is a nice move; tying the family element in, as is the 'show your pics and vids and play music from your home PC'.

I can't think of much worse than being tied into something so very bespoke (what will you do with it in 3 years time when the campaign idea hasn't panned out, it's no longer being updated and you've got a useless digital picture frame?), but then again it's not aimed at me (even though I'm an O2 customer) - more to the... digital family, I guess.

Still an interesting, and particularly bold and aggressive move by a brand.

Read the official O2 page about the Joggler

Google Wave - Google mashes up new conversation method

What is it?

• It’s a communication and collaboration tool.
• A ‘Wave’ is a collaborative conversation, but way more advanced than a simple group IM or email.
• It uses real-time all-party data to update info for all participants.
• They’ve only been working on it for 2 years.

So?

• It’s open-source, allowing anyone to develop extra bits for it.
• Developers already have open-source accounts, so when it launches there will be a ton of extras already.
• It’s like having IM in an email thread, except it shows character by character, rather than “Leon is typing…..” for 5 mins and then showing the message
• Join/be added to a conversation half-way through, and see all the stuff that’s gone on
• Reply to a previous part of a conversation – all participants see your input, even though it’s late
• Watch ‘conversations’ like video, viewing the playback of how it got to where it is
• Add music files, video files, images to a conversations, all people see them. No uploading to flickr & sending a link for example
• It seems massively extensible: do a google search from within the Wave and add the link/image etc without needing to go off to a different site and copy things over
• Add Google Maps to your conversation, change the zoom etc after embedding and it updates in real-time for all participants

Further reading…

• More info: http://wave.google.com/help/wave/about.html
• Really long (1:20:00) presentation here: http://wave.google.com/
• APIs: http://code.google.com/apis/wave/
• Learn about the open-source protocol: http://www.waveprotocol.org/

Sky player on the Xbox 360

Microsoft make a $126 loss on every Xbox they sell (http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6140383.html). Why? Because their intention was never about gaming; it was always about getting into the family room in a guise other than a beige PC (http://www.iese.edu/en/files/6_19121.pdf). They’ve moved 1 large step closer with this now as they have tied up with Sky & launched the Sky Player directly into the Xbox Live service, meaning you can watch Sky archived content on your TV. http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/909139/Skys-video-on-demand-service-moves-Xbox-LIVE/ Next stop? Probably the iPlayer if the Beeb has their way: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2008/04/bbc_iplayer_on_play_station_3_1.html

Wonderful kayboard blog interface

Cracking idea this & so simple. It's a blog site, so obviously has post entries. Down/Up jumps you through them on the page, left/right moves you on or back a page.

Simple. Effective. Me = thinking where I can use it :)

Visit Dropular and try it out.

Georgia guidestones

I read this a couple of weeks ago and it's really stuck with me. It's a fascinating tale of mystery and warnings.

It's a wonderful story: a strange man who admits the name he gives - R. C. Christian - is not real. He asks a granite finishing company to build a series of 20-ton granite obelisks, each engraved with a series of messages. The plans he leaves to guide the development are so complex that the company has to hire an astrophysicist to help them. The messages are written in several languages, and are instructions for the re-building of civilisation following its demise. The stones have holes cur in them that mean at 12 noon every day, the sun shines on a calendar showing the correct current day. That's just one of the features - read on at Wikipedia for more. It's great stuff :)

Check out the site on Google Maps: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=34.231984%C2%B0N%2082.894506%C2%B0W&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl

Read more about the Georgia Guidestones.

They finally did it. Video in DM...

The cost per pack must be astronomical :)

mushrooms

mushrooms
Originally uploaded by ukleon

Been growing mushrooms (just chestnut, nothing magic ;) ) this year. This is the 1st batch, played with some aperture too.