I was going to start this off with the obligatory “I’m sorry for not blogging for a while…” paragraph but I am a firm believer in blogging when you a) want to and b) when you have something to say. Suffice to say, I’ve been busy beavering away with the team at Mindshare, away [see left] and just generally thinking about where everything is going.

I decided to get away from London for a while – one can only take so much rioting – and went to Paris.  I rode, I walked, I did the tourist thing but generally I people watched like never before.  I just stopped.  I observed how people interacted with the technology and world around them. From tourists to residents, young and old. I just grabbed the iPad, added some dark glasses, un Coke Light and observed.  My gawking was shameless. From the tourists taking holiday photos with their phones rather than a digital camera, the mum using her smartphone to pacify a child at a table, the QR code tour of the Latin district,  to an old couple asking a pair of young people for directions -

Read the rest of this entry »

Been reading a lot (more) lately (likely to do with the iPad 2 I snagged myself from Curry’s on TC Road – top tip btw!) but a few things stuck out over the past few days that I recommend you read – lots of interesting stuff going on that will have ramifications down the lines…

Facebook sidesteps ‘the great wall’ in China by partnering with Baidu.

Interesting rift on whether the iPad will become the Sunday Paper.  Kind of is already for some…

Augmented Reality makes further steps to becoming really useful.

Analysts lining up to sign the praises of iPad 2 until 2015 it seems.

Facebook is pushing for more and more relevancy - changing page types is now possible.  Better for you, better for users – win!

Trade pubs are merging.

8-18 yos talk about their media habits – some will shock you.

More debate on UGC and copyright – this time it’s Twitpic.

New Photoshop apps could change everything for PR – is it not THE device to own if you’re a pro?

‘The Twitter Revolution Must Die‘ by Suny Oswego

‘Commerce gets social : How social networks are driving what you buy‘ by David Rowan / Wired

‘Trust Barometer 2011‘ by Edelman

‘Amnesia : A magical interface for dragging files between mobile devices‘ by Razorfish

The short answer is yes, although it’s a bit more complicated per ReadItLater’s blog.

The basics are that iPad readers generally read what they have saved at night, iPhone users generally after 6pm and increasing as the night goes on, general computer users are reading all through the day (with a lull at 5pm).  Pretty standard stuff so far but in this infoglut world what does it mean?  Well we’re overloaded for one – we’re likely not processing things deep enough either.  What IS interesting is that more and more people are choosing to ditch their PCs for mobile devices and consuming more on them.  That is a big trend to watch.

Read the rest of this entry »

You’d expect nothing less than something spectacular from a former Senior Editor of Tank magazine who has also contributed to the likes of L’UOMO Vogue, Monocle, i-D, AnOther and Acne Paper throughout a plus ten-year career in the publishing industry. Xerxes Cook (apart from having a superbly awesome name) is, in addition to curating art and fashion exhibitions and editing bespoke print publications, a consultant copywriter for companies on behalf of the Gucci Group and Lipman NYC who just put out the much acclaimed ‘POST‘ magazine on the iPad…and only the iPad.  I wanted to find out what made Xerxes tick and where he thinks content is going – some interesting and unexpected answers.

Read the rest of this entry »