Ewan MacLeod
Editor of Mobile Industry Review, The Pursuit of Quality and a Global Mobile Warrior.
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Tweets
- "I have now lost two suits on the train!" is on @spreaker, tune in now! http://t.co/jLa9TDPr
- A video by the editorial team at Venturebeat! --> Sh*t startup people say http://t.co/gqEnPCgM
- @bensmithuk I followed some of it I was disappointed to miss it :|
- @mrjefster nicely put!
- Just looking at Dress2Kill's bespoke suit service, clicked on their Twitter, noticed they hadn't posted since 2009 and thought twice
- @bensmithuk BEN SMITH IN BLACKBERRY-LOVE SHOCKER; ADMITS HE WAS WAY WAY WRONG ON PLAYBOOK
- @stephenmel apparently yes!
- @weirdhongkong ha ha love it!
- Simply brilliant --> Smart E-Book Interface Prototype Demo http://t.co/YAm8kJbN (via @ilicco)
- @gfreemom that is a good idea!
- @stevekennedyuk nice idea!
- I have just been admonished by a florist for suggesting you buy your loved one a Kindle rather than flowers this Valentine's Day
- Another iPad success -> How the Austin Convention Center saved $50,000 by deploying iPads and Filemaker Go http://t.co/vlu6RA76
- Almost 8m iPhones sold in Q4 --> AT&T: Eighty percent of smartphones sold in Q4 2011 were iPhones http://t.co/JTDcT2zR
- By 2020, the planet will have 24 billion connected devices – Infographic! | Mobile Industry Review http://t.co/UeUNWji5
- @paulswaddle that was a brilliant phone about 6 years ago........!
- @sergiosilvestre congratulations on the panel participation!
- @paulwebster very good point
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Info
- Mobile & Innovations; Editor of Mobile Industry ReviewTelecommunications | Slough, United Kingdom, GBSummaryMOBILE:
I'm founder and editor of Mobile Industry Review (MIR) and Mobile Developer TV (MDTV). I'm steeped in the mobile industry -- very well connected -- and very well read. MIR & MDTV feeds are integrated into the intranets of some of the largest players in the space.
DEVELOPER:
I'm really good at web development -- and I'm particularly good at listening to a problem or issue and creating a web portal (for example) to provide a fix. I typically work with PHP and MySQL on top of a LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP). I'm completely fluent in XHTML, CSS and their related technologies and applications.
VIDEO:
I regularly produce video for Mobile Developer TV and other companies as required. For example I recently created a video for Samsung Mobile demonstrating the features of one of their handsets.
ENTREPRENEUR:
I've participated in -- or, in some cases, founded -- quite a few companies, mostly in the internet space. A good example is Eventscope -- www.eventscope.co.uk -- which provides online networking for the conferences and events industry.Specialties: blogging, content creation, media creation, video, programming, php,Experience- Apr 2009 - PresentFounder / Mobile Developer TVProfiling the movers and shakers across the mobile applications development industry. I thoroughly enjoy capturing smart people and innovative services on camera.
- Jan 2006 - PresentFounder & Editor / Mobile Industry ReviewNews and perspective for 250,000 mobile industry executives. I'm the Editor -- or in effect, 'chief blogger' because although the site does occasionally feature content from others, I'm the prime author, particularly of the opinion pieces.
- Sept 2005 - PresentCo-Founder / EventscopeProvides Eventscope Online Networking services to conference and event companies.
- Apr 2008 - Mar 2009Innovation Consultant / First Data CorporationResponsible for providing and promoting technology innovation, rapid application development and mobile technology services to the business.
- Apr 2006 - Dec 2008Co-Founder / Interactive EnergyProvision of the online community, interactivity and blogging services.
- Jan 2006 - Sept 2008Editor & Co-Founder / SMS Text NewsFounder and chief blogger of SMS Text News (www.smstextnews.com) covering the mobile industry, 180,000+ readers a month
- Jan 1998 - Jun 2007CEO / Neo OneAt one time, the UK's leading provider of moderation and content control services, working with Teletext, Flextech, BSkyB and Disney.
- Jan 1999 - Sept 2003Co-Founder & CTO / Liv4now.comVenture funded daily entertainment online community and magazine aimed at the UK's 18-25s.
Education-
1996 - 1999University College LondonBSc in Information Management
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1989 - 1996Mayflower County High School
Additional Information-
Websites:
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Interests:mobile, technology, gadgets, connectivity, cinema,
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Photos
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Poppy
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My General Location
- Ascot, Windsor and Maidenhead SL5, UK
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Posts
- Jan 27, 12I like the way this advert from Amazon speaks directly to me. Valentine’s Day? Nice reminder. Gift? Yeah I need to think about that. Oh, a Kindle? Good idea! I like buying technology. That said my wife already uses the Kindle app on her iPhone. But maybe she needs a stand-alone device? It’s better than flowers…
Posted via email from MIR Live
- Jan 26, 12
Here’s a useful case study on how the city of Austin’s Convention Center team have used iPads to replace their old paper folders. It’s yet another example of the consumerisation of the information technology departments.
The city of Austin’s Convention Center waves goodbye to over-sized, overstuffed paper binders by deploying iPads and developing custom apps with FileMaker Go.
via How the Austin Convention Center saved $50,000 by deploying iPads and Filemaker Go | TabTimes.
This paragraph in the post specifically caught my attention:
In previous iterations, the organization attempted to use Windows-based tablets by Motion Computing and Samsung’s Q1 device. Both proved too cumbersome. A second attempt at mobilization using Dell’s Windows Mobile Axim Pocket PC also fell apart. “There were too many steps involved in turning on the device and using it,” Moore explained.
There’s such pent-up demand for mobilised strategies in enterprise. Since the days of the Compaq iPad (and before), organisations have been trying to implement mobile strategies, but as the chap in this piece points out, it’s always been a little bit too difficult for anyone but the most committed.
- Jan 26, 12
The pre-MWC drinks reception with Hotwire PR took place last night in London. It was absolutely fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to meet everyone and discuss MWC.
There was a simply brilliant array of vendors and brands represented, from e-commerce platforms to aggregators, digital service providers, mobile advertising, telecoms — indeed the selection of innovative mobile companies present was really encouraging.
Perhaps predictably, there was strong enthusiasm for MWC — and I must say a shout-out to James Body of Truphone for having attended 13 MWCs (and 3GSMs as they were own) so far. There were also some MWC-first-timers so I did my best to offer some useful advice.
What was clear from the discussions last night is that there’s a real mix of companies exhibiting this year — not just the usual suspects — so this certainly suggests that MWC will have quite a different look and feel this year.
Given the fact MWC has been pushed back to late February this year, I think it’s fair to say that quite a lot of people are a bit late to the game this year. Some companies I’ve spoken to recently are only JUST getting round to planning things. It’s getting late!! If you’re in need of a bit of assistance for the show, do consider talking to Hotwire. They’re task masters when it comes to MWC so if you’d like a warm intro, please let me know or give Annette Leach a call (+44 207 608 2500) and tell her I sent you.
Thank you to the Hotwire team for hosting the event and taking care of the drinks.
If you managed to make it down, thank you for coming!
- Jan 26, 12
It’s Infographic time thanks to the team at the GSMA. They’ve completed a study of the wide array of product announcements at CES earlier this month. The study shows that more than half of the devices launched are ‘connected‘ in some way (i.e. 3G/4G/WiFi). This is super news for the wireless marketplace. In specific categories, the GSMA noted that more than 90 percent of TVs, 70 percent of automotive devices, 44 percent of healthcare devices and 30 percent of cameras are connected.
We’re not quite there today in terms of ensuring everything will intelligently connect, but I don’t think we’re very far away from that. Witness, for example, the GSMA’s prediction that by 2020 — that’s less than 8 years away — the world will have a networked ecosystem of 24 billion connected devices!
I’m particularly interested in the segment below on automotive connectivity — I think that’s due for quite a renaissance over the next few years. My Range Rover, for example, has a built-in car phone system. So that does count as ‘connected’. But can you imagine if the car had an iPhone or a BlackBerry integrated into the dashboard? The possibilities and use-cases would be far, far more exciting. I’m looking forward to something like that.
There’s a lot more information at the association’s Connected Life website. Here’s the infographic:
- Jan 26, 12I met this company at the UKTI MWC event this week and was thoroughly excited by the possibilities of their offering. I’m having a crazy day today so here’s their press release. Have a read and see what you think:
Stream Communications announces the launch of freeflow, a new extra fast 3G service and SIM for iPad and Smart Tablet users.
Users of freeflow will experience web page download rates over Stream’s 3G network up to 50% faster than could be experienced from a typical ‘consumer’ 3G SIM. In addition, because of the way Stream manages the connection between the tablet PC and the mobile network, users will experience overall faster downloads up to 80% of their total connected browsing time.
Stream Communications further augmented its existing mobile infrastructure, originally developed for ultra-reliable machine to machine communications, to meet the specific needs of iPad and Android tablet users in the UK. Anyone with an iPad or tablet PC running a freeflow 3G SIM will be able to experience a vastly improved experience, both in terms of reliability and download speed.
Nigel Chadwick, founding Director of Stream Communications said: “Users of iPads and Android tablet PCs, particularly business users and entrepreneurs, value the reliability, knowing that they will be connected wherever they are, and that faster download will enable them to focus on their core business whilst on the move. Consumer 3G services rarely deliver this level of reliability, but Stream’s freeflowservice can – our customers benefit from a vastly improved experience both in terms of speed and connection up-time.”
“Stream’s bespoke infrastructure enables tablet users to improve download times vastly – in many cases being up to 50% faster. freeflow reduces the frustration felt, particularly by business users, who want to be connected more consistently but frequently experience issues around 3G connectivity and download speed. Stream’s unique advanced network management and infrastructure means minimised downtime and significantly faster downloads. Customers trialling the service liken freeflow to using WiFi not 3G.”
Stream’s freeflow service will fully launch to coincide with the World Mobile Congress event in Barcelona, late February.
Posted via email from MIR Live
- Jan 25, 12
Kantar Worldpanel ComTech just released their quarterly update showing operating system share of smartphone sales. Their stats always make interesting reading.
Here’s what Kantar has to say:
Apple’s iPhone 4S launch has helped the company regain global momentum with the US driving growth, according to new data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. In the latest 12 weeks of sales*, Apple’s share was at 44.9% while Android took 44.8% of the US market. Apple also increased its share of the British smartphone market from 22.0% a year ago to 34.0%.
Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director, explains: “Apple has continued its strong sales run in the US, UK and Australia over the Christmas period. Overall, Apple sales are now growing at a faster rate than Android across the nine countries we cover.”
Windows 7 is yet to break past a 2% share in any country despite the media attention gained by the new Nokia Lumia range. The Nokia Lumia 800 finished quarter four just outside of the top 10 smartphones sold in Great Britain.
Dominic continues: “BlackBerry remains the brand of choice in the smartphone gifting market, 57% of BlackBerrys were purchased as gifts in quarter four. This rose to 76% during December and a whopping 55% of recipients were under 16, indicating BlackBerry’s hold on the UK youth market.”
Looking at Latin America, it is clear that Android is starting to make a big impact. Although the smartphone market is still in its infancy, Android took a 28% share in Brazil and 20% in Mexico.
Dominic Sunnebo comments: “Brazil and Mexico have a combined population of over 300 million, meaning that the mobile opportunity is huge. By staking an early claim on the smartphone market in these countries, Android is laying important groundwork for future sales from the increasingly affluent middle classes. Over the next few years, Asian manufacturers such as Huawei and ZTE are likely to focus smartphone sales on these regions. Their ability to offer prices under $100 will be crucial to their success.”
In Great Britain, smartphones made up 70.7% of sales over the 12 weeks, meaning that 48.9% of the British population now own a smartphone.
When considering a brands performance, it is important to bear in mind that all countries covered in the survey are experiencing strong smartphone growth, meaning a share decline does not necessarily correspond to a drop in actual sales.
* 12 w/e 25 Dec 2011
And here are the actual statistic breakdowns. Click through to a larger image:
- Jan 25, 12
There’s a mini firestorm brewing this morning around o2 UK. Earlier this morning, Matt Brian over at The Next Web broke the story about a ridiculously shocking privacy breach by o2.
Here’s a bit of Matt’s story:
If you reside in the UK and you are one of the millions of subscribers to mobile operator O2, you may be alarmed to learn that the carrier is sending your mobile number to every website you visit on your mobile phone.
The issue was brought to our attention by Lewis Peckover, who created a simple webpage to check the information that a mobile browser would send to a website when it requested data.
The story is still developing, however it’s clear that o2 has been passing your phone number to every website you visit. It’s passed in the headers — which most sites will ignore. Indeed, if your server isn’t looking for the field, then it’ll simply ignore it.
This is clearly a mistake and certainly not normal practice. If anything, I suspect it’s a misconfiguration or a standard configuration on a particular server, gateway or system at o2.
o2 will be horrified.
It’s going to be fascinating to see how they handle this. People are still hugely attached to their perceived privacy and the knowledge that every website you’ve visited via your phone could have retrieved your phone number will be massively discomforting.
The real problem is if the mainstream media pick it up. It looks like a bit of a slow news day — and it’s a terribly sexy issue, this, especially in the context of phone hacking. The headlines boiled down will make highly frustrating reading. I wouldn’t be surprised to see headlines like, “o2 exposes your phone number to every website” or “o2 gives your phone number to spammers” appearing shortly in the mainstream press.
o2 need to respond very, very quickly. I think they’ve got until midday to deliver a formal response. It’s 11am now. After midday the story could potentially gravitate from a Twitter firestorm into mainstream consciousness.
Can you imagine the implications of an adult website claiming that [insert famous person here] has visited their site 100 times in the last 2 days — and they’ve got the logs to prove it? Ooof!
What should o2 do?
Well I think that depends on how the media treat the issue. If it’s picked up by the Daily Mail anywhere near their front page, then they’ll need a mega response. Definitely.
Normal mobile users on o2 reading the story will go nuts. Folk will want to do something in response to the perceived privacy invasion, even if it didn’t actually affect them. The first instinct will be to cancel the line and churn to another network. The next instinct will be some kind of recompense — a free credit, some extra text messages or something like that. Quite possibly legions of users will demand that their phone numbers be changed.
Goodness me. It’s a bit of a mess.
There’s not much o2 can do, I don’t think, that would appease me as a normal user. I’d probably react very, very negatively to a £5 credit offer (“Is that what my privacy is worth?”).
The underlying issue here is the break down of trust that many o2 consumers will feel when they read the news. I think o2 should act decisively, positively — and if anything, they should over-react. Do everything. Offer everything. And put the CEO or a C-Level executive on camera right-away to speak to the media.
Of course we’re going to want to know how long this flaw has been live on the o2 systems; how many users have been potentially compromised and so on. That could take days to determine. So an immediate response is required now and then hourly updates should be issued throughout today and, say, tomorrow, until all the information is in o2′s hands.
We shall see.
If anyone can handle this kind of challenge, it’s o2. The team there are seriously capable. If anything, I think they could possibly use this as an opportunity to engage brilliantly with their customers and boost loyalty even more.
Bring it on, o2!
Update: Matt is back with a related post – How O2 could unwittingly help spammers conduct a nasty phishing campaign that’s worth a read.
Update 2: o2 has posted a public announcement on the matter (thanks Adrian)
- Jan 25, 12I can’t stand to see folk wearing Bluetooth in-ear microphone headsets out-and-about. I really can’t. It’s one of those things that seriously winds me up. I have no problem whatsoever with people wearing them for work purposes — delivery drivers, plumbers, you know, folk who have a specific use-case requirement. Sitting on the train wearing one is entirely unacceptable. By all means use one — but IN the office. Or, even better still, when someone is on the phone wanting to speak to you. I know its illogical. It just winds me up.
Posted via email from MIR Live
- Jan 24, 12
It’s been a little while since I sat down and wrote an operator innovation post. Today I’m doing a lot of speculating. I’m wondering just what it will take for true, exciting services to be offered by an operator.
I don’t mean unlimited texts, or fancy calling plans — I mean absolutely new products and services that really make you sit back and think, “WOW”.
Why are operators so horrendously rubbish at delivering anything new into market?
Well there’s a whole load of reasons. You can blame the top management. I do, regularly. You can blame the jobsworths sitting having lots of meetings with each other and doing nothing. You might look at the obsessive focus on minutes, texts (and more recently, data revenues). There are hundreds of valid explanations for why comparatively nothing has changed in the operator landscape for years.
Today, however, I’d like you to join me in reading this post by Matthew panzarino at The Next Web: “This is how Apple’s top secret product development process works”
If I’ve held your attention this long, please click on the link, read it, and then come back here.
Right then.
Fascinating, isn’t it?
Look at the company’s tenacity and focus. I love each and every single concept. The “new product process” roadmap. The EPM mafia… LOVE that. Someone who’s actually IN control of the project and answerable to the direction team? Genius. I very much like the “Rules of the Road” too, detailing out every single significant milestone with — crucially — a DRI (“Direct Responsible Individual”).
If you’ve ever worked in an operator, or if you’re sitting there employed by one at the moment, I’m willing to bet Matthew’s post will have had you salivating at the possibilities. Can you IMAGINE what it’d be like to work at an operator where the Apple approach was used?
Can you imagine the creativity? The excitement? The flippin’ brilliant innovation that could be delivered?
Of course, you’ll also understand in absolute terms that something like this COULD NEVER HAPPEN HERE.
Unfortunately it seems like most operators are built to make any kind of change or update impossible, usually because of a lack of balls on the part of senior management. Dated billing systems, crippled networks, antiquated budgetary demands, the whole thing is super-depressing.
I routinely sit and listen to many talented folk from the Western mobile operator community describe their complete inability to actually do anything in their roles beyond smile, attend ‘nothing happens’ meetings and send emails to each other.
Over the years we’ve seen glimmers of hope. It’s not all bad. Entire divisions have been established to help boost this kind of thing. However, invariably, the division that’s busy doing all the cool stuff doesn’t ever get the attention of the mothership. Because the mothership’s leaders are either numbskulls, career minute men (obsessed over the sale of minutes) or simply way, way out of their depth.
It does get rather depressing.
It’s not all bad, though. I’ve seen some encouraging signs from one operator group. Another is sort-of getting there.
One of the most interesting moves in recent months came from the freemobile.fr chaps (here’s the FT overview). I’m hopeful that they’ll get the French industry out of it’s current funk and, if we’re lucky, the fever of panic will spread abroad.
One can but hope..
- – - – -
Here are the previous posts in the Operator Innovation series:
- Operator Innovation: Isolate me from the pain of hardware responsibility
- Access any airport lounge with T-Mobile GlobalPlus+
- Let me access my SMS everywhere
- One number for all my voice calls
- Fancy a MacBook Air, iPhone, iPad for £100/month?
- Why can’t my operator talk to my bank when my card declines abroad
- Taxis, baby, Taxis! - Jan 24, 12
It’s time for the next episode of the 361 Degrees podcast!
[ Direct MP3 download - 34MB ]
In our first episode of 2012 we wonder what this year might hold for mobile and offer some predictions:
- Ewan thinks this will be the year m-commerce goes big.
- Rafe thinks this is the year the smartphone market gets really competitive.
- Ben thinks this is the year operators start running additional services ‘over the top’ of their existing network to differentiate.
There are lots of ways to follow or subscribe to the Podcast using iTunes and other popular services.
- Jan 24, 12
I’d like to lighten the load for the marketing team at McDonalds. They’v been dealing with a bit of a TwitterStorm relating to their #McDStories outreach concept. The background to the story is nicely laid out in today’s Financial Times.
The FT reports that McDonalds bought two promoted tweets from Twitter encouraging users to contribute their (positive) stories about the brand. Then all hell broke loose. Folk started using the same hashtag to discuss their McDonalds horror stories. Not good. Especially when you’re aiming for some positive reinforcement.
Is all press good press though? Quite possibly.
Reading the news stories about the ‘storm’ I was prompted to think of my own reaction to McDonalds.
I’m not ashamed to say it’s a wholeheartedly positive reaction.
Not only does the company employ legions of people worldwide and from what I can determine, if you work hard, you can earn well and be promoted. The UK MD of McDonalds has regularly been in the press talking about aspects such as the economy and I found him smart and articulate.
So here, then, is my McDStory:
My base relationship with McDonalds is consistency. I like consistency. I don’t like exceptions. That’s not to say I’m uncomfortable with change — I very much thrive on it — but, when it comes to food, especially in foreign climes, I like having my expectations either met or exceeded.
True, it’s perhaps rare to be blown away by a Big Mac meal.
But sometimes, McDonalds is what you need. Especially when you’re in the arse end of France or the Czech Republic, shivering, hungry and panicking about trying to speak the local language. Many times I’ve walked into a McDonalds somewhere on the planet and instantly relaxed, safe in the knowledge that “I know how this works” and that, all-things-being-equal, the food should be ok. You can’t really screw up french fries. Especially since almost every McDonalds planet-wide uses the same equipment.
You don’t need to speak the lingo. You just need to be able to gesture politely to whatever burger or meal is being advertised on the signs above the counter. Then, if you really don’t speak the language, you need to say words like “grandeyyy menoooo” and the other magic phrase, “Coca Cola”, and you’re done. The chap or lady serving you will parse that into a numerical total. Hand over the cash and receive.
I take huge, huge satisfaction and confidence from these kinds of experiences. Let me tell you why.
Years ago, YEARS ago, I went on a school trip to Israel. My school had decided to try and expand their trip horizons beyond the usual France or Germany and put on a trip of the ancient holy lands. I was into Roman history (still am) so opted to go along. Plus my mother co-opted my dad into coming along as well (parents were encouraged).
I think I was about 17.
This, by the way, was when Israel and Palestine were exceedingly calm. You could easily cross between the two countries. Relations between the two countries were so easy at this point, our trip was based out of a hotel in Bethlehem.
At this point I had a limited range of dietary options. I liked burgers, chips, pizza, crisps, ham sandwiches. I avoided everything else because I could and my teenage body was burning calories like no tomorrow.
So if you asked me to try new things — such as local ‘delicacies’ the answer was always a flat, direct NO.
Everyone else on the school trip was getting stuck into all sorts of local food. Me? I preferred to pop across the road from the hotel to the little shop and buy kitkats and twixes. And Coca Cola. Anything, basically, that was made by a recognised global brand whereby I could guarantee some level of quality control.
After a few days of kitkats I decided I needed some real food. I knew there was a McDonalds in Jerusalem. I’d looked it up before I left the UK. So I took a cab to Jerusalem. It’s only 8km or 18 minutes away. I had think I ate 2x Big Mac meals and I got a cheeseburger ‘for the road’. Needless to say: Delicious in the context of a kitkat diet.
My dad? He decided to try the local delicacies. This unfortunately put him out of action for 3-4 days almost immediately due to a rather serious case of gastro-enteritis. Whilst I was taking care of him and plying him with water, I was also popping out every afternoon to McDs in Jerusalem for sustenance.
So there’s one way in which McDonalds helped me.
Over the years I’ve made serious use of McDonalds regularly in a business context. In the UK they were one of the first chains to ‘get’ the concept of WiFi. Here’s a story I wrote over 3 years ago about the company introducing Free WiFi into their Oxford Street restaurant. Back in 2007, whilst on business in Hartlepool I had a serious issue with their rubbish BT Openzone connection (that’s when McDonalds WiFi was a premium service).
It’s difficult not to underestimate the huge value I place in knowing that if-all-else-fails, wherever I am, the local McDonalds will have decent quality WiFi. Countless times I’ve been on location somewhere in the UK (or in the States, actually) and found myself suddenly needing good quality WiFi — and my first stop has always been McDonalds.
I always buy something too. I think it’s only fair.
And now let’s get to the food issue. I don’t think that eating a McDonalds burger every day is very healthy. Neither, I’m sure, is eating a Byron Burger every day. Or a Dominos pizza. But nowadays there’s no excuse with McDonalds. They have salads. They have healthier options. They’ve fruit. They’ve orange juice and water. They’ve got all sorts of rolls and sandwiches. And they’re pretty direct with their calorie counter labels next to every product just in case you’re trying to ignore them.
Their McFlurries rock too.
For me, though, the value with McDonalds is always being able to get a connection. In today’s rather annoying ‘data crunch’ world, you really can’t rely on your operators to be able to deliver consistent high-speed internet in many metropolitan areas at peak time.
And when I’m abroad (not speaking the language), out of town and not wanting to be adventurous or seriously stressed with work having not eaten anything for what seems like days, a quick stop at McDonalds fixes things.
Note: That picture above appears in my McDonalds post from May 2008. I took the photo with a Nokia E90 — here’s the original photo on Flickr. It seems like DECADES ago!
- Jan 23, 12
Having used the Spreaker iPhone app to tell you all about my Don Fernando iPhone m-commerce experience (highly positive, by the way), I then thought I’d check out the Spreaker desktop version.
I have to say, it’s rather cool. You can immediately start broadcasting your own ‘radio show’ live, which is then archived and presented as a podcast.
This is me playing with Spreaker’s console…
- Jan 23, 12
I’ve been testing with Spreaker. It’s a podcast app/service that enables you to immediately and easily broadcast a live show from your handset — or from your desktop.
I thought I’d try out the iPhone app by describing the mobile commerce experience I had at my local tapas restaurant, Don Fernando.
Care to listen? Woop:
- Jan 23, 12
It’s not long until the pre-MWC drinks reception on Wednesday night in London! Are you coming? It’s being hosted by Hotwire PR — and I’m going to be there to provide my perspective on the world’s largest mobile event. Principally I’ll be talking hints and tips — as will the Hotwire PR team as they know the event like the back of their hand. So this evening will be especially useful if you’re working in the PR/marketing function of a brand or service provider.
I strongly encourage you to come along for a few drinks — it’s going to be a super-relaxed evening. I’ve had a look at the guest list and I am confident we’ll have some brilliant conversation and some excellent networking taking place!
It’s all taking at Zebrano Bar on Greek Street, Soho — so if you’d like to come, please do RSVP right-away with Fiona at Hotwire and tell her I sent you (here’s her email).
- Jan 23, 12
I’m going to try virtualising my Windows desktop. I want it to run in the cloud — fast — and I want to access it wherever I am on the planet.
I want my desktop to persist, though, when I’m not online. And I don’t want to mess about hosting it and then having to apply all sorts of gizmos to make it work. I want it done by one single provider.
So I’ve a look at Desktone. They appear to be having some good success in the market with their DaaS (“Desktop as a Service”) initiative. For instance, Thames Water swapped thousands of employees using Desktone.
I’ve filled in the form asking Desktone to call me. I also tried out the 7-day trial but unfortunately that wasn’t long enough for me to get organised enough to properly try it.
I’ve also taken a look at the hosted virtual desktop offering from Rackspace. It promises a 30-day trial so I’ll let you know how that goes.
Do you have any suggestions for companies I should look at? Please do let me know.
Initially I want to try it all out on me. Then I’d like to recommend the solution(s) to some of the FTSEs I’m working with.
Do any of the operators offer this as yet?
Update: I talked to the team at CyberlinkASP who are the partner behind the Rackspace offering (Rackspace provide the server infrastructure, CyberlinkASP do all the virtual desktop goodness.) I came away rather impressed from the call. They seemed to know their stuff. This was also upheld by the simply superb experience I had with the test VDI instance using Citrix Receiver. It all just worked. I’m going to do more experimentation shortly.
Update 2: CyberlinkASP also tell me that anyone who’s a big fan of the Rackspace “fanatical support” approach to business will rest easy with them — Cyberlink offer their very own version of that: Their services come with full help desk and call centre support. This is critical if you’re looking for a rounded solution as apposed to a functional service. Indeed many providers I’m seeing in the marketplace simply offer the bog standard basics leaving you to figure out everything from setting up Citrix Receiver to sorting out printer installation. Cyberlink do it all. Plus, if you’re looking to do a small amount of users (e.g. 1-5) they tell me they’d be delighted to help.
Our help desk/call center comes with our product, and all users take advantage, from help loading the Citrix receiver, setting up printers and anything in between. Most of the guys out there are lacking in support if they offer it all. Also, we’ll take 1 to 5 users anytime
- Jan 23, 12
It’s been much discussed but now apparently it is shortly about to arrive: WiFi when you are 200ft underground waiting for the tube. Provided it’s good quality, I’m a fan… What about you? Will you be making use of this?
Posted via email from MIR Live
- Jan 20, 12
Last year I went along to the UK Trade & Investment pre-MWC press event. It was a super, super way of meeting all the UKTI supported companies heading out to Mobile World Congress. I was able to talk to each of them and decide which I really wanted to cover in more detail. If you’re part of the media heading out to MWC, I strongly recommend attending. It’s happening on this coming Monday afternoon.
Here’s the overview from the UKTI team:
On 23rd January UKTI is holding its pre-Mobile World Congress media event. Essentially, 20 UK companies will be showing off their innovation in advance of the show. The companies are diverse: from infrastructure to apps and from hardware to services. They all have two things in common: they are British and have fantastic mobile innovation.
All media, bloggers and freelance writers with an interest in mobile can attend. To do so they just need to let us know on chris@xl-comms.com. For the media it is a chance to get a load of stories in advance of MWC and from companies that they would probably not get time to meet at the show. For the companies, they have the chance to raise their profile with the media – often the thing they need most.
The event is at 1 Victoria Street in London and media can attend from 1pm to 3pm.
- Jan 18, 12
Carlos Eduardo is a rare breed in Europe: That is, he’s a venture capitalist that doesn’t suck.
The overwhelming majority of VCs in Europe are utter idiots. I say this a) from direct experience and b) from inherited experience (on the boards or advising startups who had the stupid, stupid idea of dealing with a clueless EU-based VC).
Most VCs will happily take you for lunch, smile at you regularly, then after 6-months of screwing about, tell you it might be better for you to borrow some money from a bank
Far from sucking, Carlos is well known across the community as a chap who’s got his head on properly and, further, someone who won’t waste your time.
He’s got a lot of experience at some bigger firms in the industry — and now he’s doing seed investments as a Partner at the much lauded Seedcamp, probably about the only decent thing happening in the European investment community at the moment.
Carlos has answered the question that many executives thinking about starting a company pose to me regularly: How does an early-stage investor value a startup? He’s provided a nuanced break-down of the various factors that usually apply — so if you’re thinking of getting stuck into a startup or if you’re on the mind-numbing European-startup-circuit wondering why the majority of investors you’re meeting are absolute tools, you will get a lot of value from the post (and, by the way, the rest of the output on Carlos’ site).
Have a read… Nice work Carlos
One of the most frequently asked questions at any startup event or investor panel, is “how do investors value a startup?”. The unfortunate answer to the question is: it depends.
via How does an early-stage investor value a startup? | the drawingboard [dot] me.
- Jan 18, 12
Rumour, rumour and thrice rumour.
More people are repeating the rumours of last week. And the week before. So. It must be true.
And somebody’s mate reckons it’s definitely true.
Meanwhile, hold off on that iPad 2 purchase for a little while, right?
You can read BGR’s latest ‘reportedly’ post here.
- Jan 17, 12I’m delighted to say that Envirofone received and processed my old Three iPhone 4 within 48 hours. Super fast. If you want a no-nonsense, reliable phone recycling service, I thoroughly recommend them.
Posted via email from MIR Live
- Jan 17, 12
So I estimated it would take about 20 minutes for me to cancel my old iPhone 4 account. I wasn’t far off! It actually took just under 17 minutes to complete the termination.
(You can read the background here.)
The chap I spoke to in “Customer Options” — I think it was called — was rather shocked that the 3UK store told me to take out a new contract to get the iPhone 4S.
“We could have upgraded your existing line!” he cried.
Yup.
So we went through the standard rigmarole and eventually, I got the cancellation figure (£163) which was £196 in total.
Fine. Job done.
That’s me content. I’d have liked to have done things faster though.
[And for the avoidance of doubt, I'm still definitely a Three customer -- with a nice new iPhone 4S instead]
- Jan 17, 12
I’m about to phone 3UK.
I have to cancel my existing iPhone 4 account. It’s got about 8 months to run and I need to simply pay off the balance and close that account. Because I opened another one to get an iPhone 4S last month. I wanted to extend the existing one, however the chap in the shop (obviously) didn’t want me to do that. Another connection is good news for him, I suppose.
The problem I’ve got is that I need to invest around 20 minutes doing this. Possibly a little longer. I need to explain to the 3UK Indian call centre why I wish to cancel whilst still in commitment. I then need them to process that I am *fine* paying off the balance — I’m concerned, or, at least, my expectations lead me to believe that this will be a big ask for them.
I then expect to have to do the yes-really dance with the various teams there at 3UK’s customer services.
I’ve been putting it off.
I just don’t know if I can be bothered. The inefficiency of it all really bugs me.
Still.
What do you think?
It could be a really simple, pleasant experience. You never know.
This got me thinking.
How much would I be prepared to pay to speak to a British fixer? You know, someone who simply listens to my 10-second request, taps some stuff into the system and tells me, “That’ll be £200 to fix.” I can then respond in the affirmative and be done with it. Job done. Simple. We move on.
I think the answer is £35. Or maybe £25. Something like that. I’d pay a premium to speak to a fully trained British chap or lady who would be available immediately to resolve my query in this particular regard.
Further, I’d probably pay extra per month to have this kind of “consider it done” service integrated into my contract.
Am I alone on this?
No.
On the face of it, probably yes. In reality, if it was branded properly — I would pay something like £5 per month extra to have the 3UK Premier Service that gets you immediate access to an “account manager” who handles everything so you don’t have to think.
What do you think? Have I got my head in the clouds?
- Jan 16, 12
If you’ve been following my interactions with 3UK, you’ll know that in order to get an iPhone 4S, I had to take out a new contract with them, rather than upgrade the existing iPhone 4 agreement that still has about 8 months left until it expires.
This is all well and good.
It’s just a bleedin’ annoyance.
I no longer require the iPhone 4. I still require the 3UK service. So we’ve a natural way ahead, right? Why don’t you just give me the new iPhone 4S, charge me a reasonable amount and take the old one — the iPhone 4 — back and credit me the 200+ pounds of value from that.
No.
3UK isn’t built to work in this manner.
So I took out the new contract, got the new iPhone 4S in return for about £279 up front.
Then I got the iPhone 4 valued by Envirofone at about £218 if memory serves.
So that means it cost me £61 to upgrade to a new iPhone 4S, effectively — if I ignore the outstanding line rental on the existing iPhone 4 I’ve committed to.
Why couldn’t 3 have just charged me £61 to upgrade? Because their accounting and financial bods don’t view it this way. It’s not a big problem. I’m just highlighting the arse required to play the contract game.
I’m now going to use the £218 to pay off the outstanding line rental on the old iPhone 4.
This will involve quite a lot of heartache speaking to their call centre who will be horrified. I wonder what they’re going to say when I explain that I’m not actually leaving, that I’ve already got a new contract and I just need to kill the existing one? Perhaps they will be content.
I’ll let you know how I get on.
- Jan 16, 12
Have a read of this text from The Telegraph — Matt has picked up the various iPhone 5 rumours flying around. The Mobile World Congress mention caught my attention:
When users will find out for certain is also subject to debate; a March launch has been suggested for the iPhone by a number of blogs, who have also suggested it for the iPad 3. Hexus, however, has claimed that Apple could make a rare announcement at February’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Generally speaking — and famously — Apple never bother with conferences unless it’s got “Mac” or “Apple” written on it.
I don’t see them breaking the habit and exhibiting at MWC any time soon.
However, I do think that it would be very, very smart if Apple made an announcement either the week before or during Mobile World Congress — especially if it was iPhone-related.
Apple already did this to an extent with CES — however, the iPhone and the mobile industry are a seriously different kettle of fish.
If Apple really wanted to upset the existing world order (and the millions upon millions of Euros being invested during Mobile World Congress), they should call a “Let’s talk about iPhone” press conference for the first Monday of MWC-week.
Goodness me.
Can you imagine?
Just speculating brings me out in goosebumps.
The world’s consumer media (mainstream and bloggers) will be flying into Barcelona on Sunday evening to record their “here’s a new Android” segment for 30 minutes on Monday morning, before flying out same-day. [Of course, the trade media will be there for the duration].
Can you imagine the shock if Apple made the media choose? Either you cover our keynote about the new iPhone in San Francisco. Or you go to that also-ran in Barcelona.
To be clear, I’m certainly not labelling MWC thus! That was me putting fighting words in Apple’s mouth.
Sparks would fly though.
And there’d be no choice. The media would flock to San Francisco. The anchors, the editors, the pundits — they’d all be in California and MWC would either be ignored or
The ramifications for the industry would be profound. Of course the mobile industry now exists in Apple’s shadow. But not officially. Not, really. And certainly not at MWC. In Barcelona, the operators can freely strut their stuff and the other platforms can have a bit of time in the media sun. Apple is always in the back of everyone’s mind at MWC, but it’s possible to suspend reality for at least a few minutes.
And it’s in this limited reality that the rest of the industry gets to pretend that it’s still relevant, that things are still the same as they were pre-iPhone. That nothing has really changed.
Look at the keynotes at MWC over the last few years since the iPhone’s announcement. iPhone and Apple has been largely irrelevant — the industry’s still under the impression it’s in control.
A serious tub-thumping press conference from Apple timed to remove all attention from MWC would illustrate the new world order nicely.
I’m a fan of this kind of hard ball because it’s one of the only measures that might prompt the rest of the mobile marketplace — the operators in particular — to actually get off their arses and start innovating properly.
Anyway.
Perhaps Apple will be too polite and give-way.
- Jan 13, 12
Here’s an example of Apple’s Siri being used to totally control a home environment — from heating to lighting to home entertainment.
Have a watch of the video:
Simply fantastic.
We are really not that far away from being able to do the equivalent of Star Trek’s “COMPUTER: LIGHTS” commands. This real working example (covered in Mashable) uses some Creston AMS-AIP home automation equipment with an intermediary proxy server to handle the connectivity to Siri.
How long before Apple release a fully approved, fully managed home automation/API product/service?
How long before folk will be buying houses and asking if it’s Siri-compatible?
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Posts
- Jan 03, 12
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- Jan 03, 12
I’ve been having a browse around for some really good cufflinks in our continuing Cufflinks series. I came across this ones recently and was thoroughly surprised and delighted. At first, I thought they were simply featuring standard handprints meant to remind you of your children. However when I visited the Gift Wrapped & Gorgeous website, I found that they’re entirely custom!
That’s right! You can get your child’s handprint impression on some cufflinks! As you can see on the image above, each cufflink has the child’s name and their handprint. If you’ve two children, you can opt for one imprint on each cufflink (more expensive) or you can simply opt for the default — the same imprint on both.
The cufflinks are Silver (plated, I assume?) and of course, there’s a bit of homework involved: Rebecca from Handprintz will send you a “non messy” (good) kit to easily take the handprint. Return that to her and she’ll produce the resulting cufflinks.
I absolutely love it!
You should allow 28 days for the whole process — that’s understandable.
I reckon this is one of those gifts that’s nigh on 100% perfect for a wife to give her husband [partner/etc] because it’s the sort of thing that can be done during the day when they’re at work — so it’s a real, super surprise. On the other hand, it’s something that you can instigate directly.
I would imagine that these are both eye catching and touching — suitable to accompany a high-powered pinstripe in the Square Mile or during a relaxed weekend.
The total cost all-in? £130.
Visit the Gift Wrapped & Gorgeous website’s Handprintz entry for more information and ordering details.
- Jan 03, 12
Next week is CES week — and that means that almost every single consumer technology giant you can think of will be showing off their latest devices and services. I can’t wait to see what they’ve got for us.
Meantime, if you’ve been in the market for a TV, you might give some thought to LG’s all new OLED TV. It’s the largest of it’s type — 55 inches — and is a ridiculously amazing 4mm thick. Simply fantastic.
What’s interesting here is that the picture quality is technically impossible to achieve with other technologies. So, depending on your viewpoint, your current TV is now a pile of smoking dung. Here’s what LG’s blog has to report:
Such color capabilities are technically impossible with LED and LCD display panels. And at 1,000 times faster than LED/LCD displays, LG’s OLED TV shows crystal clear motion without any blurring or bleeding.
I like this phrase, too:
…And at only 4 mm thin and a mere 7.5 kg, LG’s OLED TV practically blends into the wall
Yes please.
You can read all about the TV in a little more detail here. It’s due to be launched formally next week. In terms of costs, The Telegraph’s Matt Warman points out that previous OLED TVs from Sony have retailed for around £2k (and that was for an 11″ version!) so set your price expectations to medium-high.
How much would you pay for something like this? 55″ and more or less completely flat? £3,000? £5,000?
That said, I don’t think this will be in the B&O @80k territory. (See my Bang & Olufsen post).
- Dec 21, 11
Now and again I am required to commute back and forth into the city for extended periods of time. For instance the projects I’m working on need me to be in Richmond-Upon-Thames daily. Our recent house move made the commute rather simple: 30-odd minutes on a train that typically 90% full.
On the way back in the evenings at peak time I don’t usually get a seat until a few stops have come and gone. This is entirely doable. And it’s all standard class.
A couple of chaps I know don’t stand for this. They always travel first class. There’s certainly a cost differential, but in the fullness of time and on the basis that you can (in many respects) offset the expense against tax if you’re a contractor, these chaps think it’s a good deal — they always get a seat.
I’ve no trouble with paying for first class. If I’m traveling on a long train journey — to Newcastle, Manchester or somewhere, I always book ahead and always select first class.
But day-to-day? I’m not sure if I see the value for a 30-minute journey.
The one guy I know who always travels first class explains to me that he simply doesn’t want any hassle at all. He likes the idea of never, ever having to stand. He regularly reads and sometimes does the crossword and occasionally he’ll use his laptop. However the value for him is the more or less permanent service level: A seat is virtually guaranteed. (On his line, I should point out). He also travels about an hour each way.
I’m typing this on my MacBook Air on one of the seats in the ‘quiet carriage’ on the South West Train service from Reading and I have to accept that I’m reasonably content. This morning I’m not traveling at peak time either so it’s nice and easy for me to use the laptop. At peak times it might be a little more difficult.
In terms of cost for me, the standard return journey is £14.40. First class is £24.40. An extra tenner.
And what do you get?
On this train line, you just get a dedicated seating area and, I imagine, less turnover of passengers so there’s less disruption if you’re trying to work.
I’m not sold on the value, I don’t think.
[And then my train stops at Staines and fills up with what feels like 100 chattering school children everywhere!]
What’s your view — if you commute, do you do standard or first class and what’s the cost difference?
- Dec 15, 11
Until my good friend presented us with some Montezuma chocolates when he and his girlfriend popped over a few weeks ago, I’d never heard of the brand before.
My wife knows it well though — and, after consulting the website, it seems it’s me who’s rather out of date: They’ve got quite a few stores across the South of England.
I’m pretty particular about my chocolate (especially truffles). Either I want some overtly commercial Galaxy or Cadbury’s, or I want some proper chocolate. I can’t stand the stuff that pretends it’s good but is actually utter tripe. I remember buying some Champagne Truffles from a reasonably well known high street brand and not bothering finishing them as they were so rubbish.
Montezumas is fantastic. I found them fresh, stimulating and thoroughly wholesome. They’re big, you see — and that’s what you want in a truffle — a good big size with excellent flavours. The Grand Collection that my friend selected contained a brilliant array of different types. I even enjoyed the dark chocolate and coffee ones (I am, by default, a milk chocolate only chap). And that, dear reader, is saying something. Normally I avoid those ones like the plague because they’re usually rather poorly done — but the Montezuma ones were excellent.
So, if you find yourself looking for a decent gift that will work for any occasion, head over to Montezumas and take a special look at their Grand Collection.
(You can, of course, order online from their site.)
- Dec 12, 11
I’ve long held the view that proper work shoes — those that go nicely with a smart suit — do not turn up off the floor at the front, nor should they be pointy.
If they’re pointy then your feet will only fit into the main forward section, leaving the rest of the front to turn upwards. It looks shocking.
Hardly a day goes by when I don’t see somebody wearing these kind of shoes.
There’s nothing wrong with doing so. It just doesn’t strike me as professional. Using the traditional footwear of Court Jesters and Santa’s elves is not professional.
It really does wind me up to see them.
I’m guilty of this though. I hate to admit it. A while ago my wife made me buy some utterly shit £300 pair of “smart shoes” (to wear at the weekends). I ended up with this shocker of a pair that she thought looked cool. Me? Well I felt like a fraud, even at weekends. And I was slipping all over the place in them. I was wound up even more given the fact these shoes were piss-poor quality. Made for a tenner and branded at £300. They started to come apart after a few months.
I shouldn’t argue. I hadn’t been organised enough to go to Trickers and sort out some better casual ones so I ended up in Selfridges browsing these abominations.
Casual footwear is, I suppose, ok, when it comes to Court Jester pointy-turn-up-at-the-front shoes. But in a business context? It’s the equivalent of arriving at a meeting in a £75,000 sooped-up 1987 Ford Fiesta: Certainly expensive but fundamentally at the bottom of the rung in quality terms.
My preferred choice for footwear is Trickers — but I’ve had reasonable experiences with stuff from Churchs (is it Churches? Church’s?).
Where do you get your shoes from? And please, dear reader, tell me you don’t own a pair of pointy-lift-off-the-front shoes?
- Dec 08, 11
I was struck by this opinion post on The Telegraph this evening. The author, Martin Stephen, was High Master of St Pauls (School) from 2004 to 2011 and knows a thing or two about education.
His main contention is that the scandal which alleges that teachers have been able to — in effect — buy the contents of upcoming exams in order to better their students’ results. Martin then goes on to point out that this is hardly reassuring for today’s youngsters. Not at all.
Back in my day — I’m 34, so my ‘day’ was around 1995-ish — I studied hard for my GCSE exams. If memory serves me right, I was the second year that went through the new fangled GCSEs as apposed to what was known as ‘O Levels’. Even then, I remember reading about exams getting easier. Since then it’s been a perennial favourite of the media every exam season — the usual suspects trot out declaring that things are getting far too easy. Then, to make matters worse, some of the donkey questions are then included.
I remember experiencing utter blind panic during my GCSE Mathematics exam. You’re constantly reminded that if you start the wrong exam paper, tough. You can’t go back. You can’t change half-way through the exam and so on. So I checked-and-re-checked my paper before I began. I was absolutely horrified to find a question at the end of the paper that read like this:
“Jack is wondering how much paint he will need in order to cover the bottom of his swimming pool. The pool is 6m long and 2m wide. What is the total area in metres Jack will paint?”
Something like that.
I immediately turned to the front of the exam paper to check I was working on the right one. How could a stupid question like this get into the paper?
I wasted 10 flipping minutes on that one, sweating — I do mean full-on-palm-sweating style panic.
6 times 2.
2 times 6.
12.Surely it’s not that simple?
I remember remarking that, yes, I suppose it is important that you do actually confirm that anyone doing a mathematics GCSE should be able to calculate ‘area’ correctly — but, seriously — does the task need to be that simple? Surely finding the area should have been included in a larger more complicated task. Surely finding the area is a given — if you got through X years of decent education, this should be, well, assumed.
I ended up actually drawing out a 6×2 grid and counting the flipping squares on the back of a spare piece of paper to check I wasn’t missing something, I was that worried about misinterpretation.
I’m happy to say that things worked out. One of the rather stimulating geeky things about a mathematics exam is that you can more or less work out your score there-and-then. For instance, if you’re one of the lucky chaps who happens to know that length by width equals area, you’re good. Job done. That’s a win. And if you can go through your paper evaluating each answer in this way, you can work out your rough score.
So I was proud of my results. In total I think I got 6x As and 5x Bs.
I was especially proud of my two A grades for English Language and English Literature. Genius. The virtues of a Scottish (i.e. proper) education, I remember telling myself. When I moved from Scotland to England at age 9 I was astonished that my peers couldn’t write properly. We was. You is. I are going this way. That sort of thing.
I could spell, too. The rest of the class had been brought up with the it will come philosophy. In Scotland, you got a big red pen through the misspellings. There were serious spelling tests every week.
And when it came to maths, I remember people staring at me in awe for the first few weeks when I was able to — magically, as far as my peers were concerned — produce multiplication answers in my head. I was ace at 6 times table. I had everything below that automatically locked and loaded. I was nifty with most of the 7 and 8 times tables. And I just had to think for a few moments about 9, 10, 11 and 12. My peers all used calculators.
So where did this leave me? Well I was hugely unimpressed when one peer at GCSE level got an A*. They were introduced in my GCSE year: One better than A. The student couldn’t spell to save her life. I mean, seriously. She couldn’t spell the word Catholic. Or Protestant. The teacher used to keep the words on the board during history lessons so this student would stop asking how to spell it. Her written prose looked and read like that of a 7 year old. She was not deficient in any way. She was highly skilled and intelligent to speak with. Just not when it came to writing.
How did she get an A*?
Because the examiners were told to avoid punishing students for actually getting things wrong. If you knew what the student meant, that was fine. Petty things like spolling, gramma and punkty-ashin were deemed petty. So no wonder my peer got upgraded.
Me? As far as the examiners were concerned, I delivered a pedestrian performance. I did give some thought to sticking in a catalogue of stupid grammatical errors when it came to my A Level English exam.
So I was flipping annoyed with my ‘A’.
I didn’t really want to be measured against that scale. If I look back and carefully parse my experiences and reactions, I think I was rather embarrassed at the A grade in both English subjects. Because this was telling prospective employers that I was almost good. Not quite brilliant. Not quite capable.
You might argue that the introduction of A* was the beginning of the end in terms of standards. Grade inflation and so on.
Have exams been getting easier?
Well, I suppose you have to look at school league tables. Those were established to help give parents and idea what to expect in terms of a service level. If 70% of children leave a school with grades A-C in English, that’s probably good, right? But a school where 95% leave with an A-C grade in English, that’s even better, right? So goes the logic with league tables.
So Head Teachers and local authorities naturally need to make sure their statistics look good.
So there’s pressure on teachers to deliver a service level measured by exam performance.
And those teachers naturally will naturally seek to deliver as many students into the top mark brackets as is possible.
And an exam board — a commercial entity, wanting to flog exam ‘services’ to schools — has a serious interest in keeping the attention of teachers.
You might say that the whole system is self-fulfilling. It’s in everyone’s interests to see grades go up. Questions need to get easier to keep everyone happy. Or, as the Telegraph has pointed out, teachers need to get access to rather accurate ‘pointers’ to help them coach their students to the necessary service level.
So if, almost 20 years ago, I was feeling a bit shortchanged with my A grades, goodness knows how students are feeling nowadays. I remember getting rather annoyed by the constant media buzz about ‘exams getting easier’ back then because I’d put a ton of work into my results. A serious amount of effort! The last thing I wanted was this effort degraded.
When it comes to quality, then, what is the way forward?
If we assume for a moment that the practice of allowing teachers to pay to attend exam briefing days where they’re more or less hinted in the precise direction of exam content, what does this mean for the current generation of students? Or the students entering high school education next year?
GCSEs are still very much an important reckoner in society. Although I do wonder how employers feel about them nowadays.
How valuable are they, really?
And what’s the solution? Given our son is 18 months old right now, it’s quite far from my immediate concerns but soon I’m going to have to give it all some thought.
I’ve heard of some friends with older children who’ve either exclusively focused on International Baccalaureate and dumped GCSEs entirely or done a mix of GCSEs, AS Level and IB — dumping A Levels too. Who knows?
I’d very much appreciate the perspective of parents reading, especially those with children facing (or about to face) this exam issue. Are you concerned by today’s revelations? And from a quality perspective, what’s your view? Keep chugging away with GCSEs and A Levels? Has anything really changed?
- Dec 08, 11
Right then welcome to the first in my series on Cufflinks.
I’m a big fan of Cufflinks — I think they complete the ensemble. Rarely will you see me without cufflinks. However I have to say I’m not much of a fan of silly ones. Homer Simpson, you know, that sort of thing. My preference is something a little more refined. Anyway standby for a regular post highlighting a pair of cufflinks that’s caught my attention recently.
The first entry in the series is from the jewellers, Dominic Walmsley. Dominic’s celebrity clients tend to be of the more intellectual types and include Antony Horovitz, Helen Mirren, and Coffie Annan however Kylie was featured in Hello wearing one of his diamond shoe pendants.
These caught my eye: Veni, Vidi, Vici (as pictured above)
There’s something about the succinct statement that appeals — it’s especially fitting if you’re complimenting them with a super-sharp suit. It was supposedly made by Caesar regarding his short war with Pharnaces II of Pontus in the city of Zela in Turkey: I came, I saw, I conquered.
Love it.
And you can have that phrase immortalised on your wrists thanks to Dominic Walmsley. You can order online or pick them up in his Sevenoaks store.
They’re silver sterling and priced at £75. They’re also available in Gold.
- Dec 07, 11
I just caught this on Amazon and thought it might be useful for anyone who’s been reading my The Bluebeard’s Revenge shaving posts. The gift set
represents rather fantastic value as you get the shaving cream, post shave balm, a shaving brush and the rather scary Scimitar razor all for £16.99. That’s not only a rather attractively priced deal but I reckon it’s a present that’ll work for almost any chap!Good deal!
- Dec 07, 11
So I’ve been shaving with The Bluebeard’s Revenge shaving kit for about a week now. The team there very helpfully sent me over both the ‘luxury shaving cream’ and the ‘post shaving balm’. (Read my original post on this subject).
The kit also included a funky shaving brush which I’ve been using to apply the cream.
Apart from being a luxurious experience, the major concept behind The Bluebeard’s Revenge product range is helping you seriously reduce the ‘desperate-dan’ look by 5pm. Here’s the science bit:
Designed by a real life Blue Beard who was bored to death with being a Desperate Dan look-alike, the flagship product in The Bluebeards Revenge™ range is a paraben free, premium quality shaving cream with added ingredients to specifically combat tough stubble. It has been formulated to our unique specification in one of the UK’s premier male cosmetics laboratories who are renowned experts in the field of shaving cream.
Decelerine™ contains a mixture of active ingredients that delay hair growth, reducing the frequency of shaving and depilation and at the same time providing a recovering effect on the skin.
I have to report that one week on, I’m feeling good. My skin is surprisingly soft after the shave and for most of the day — but what’s more interesting and a touch exciting, I have to say, is that my ‘beard’ (i.e. growth by say 7pm) appears to be a lot softer than I would have otherwise expected. I think the Decelerine is working! At least, it feels this way.
By way of balance I should point out that my shaving regime is slightly different than two weeks ago. Previously, I was simply using Gillette’s latest and greatest foam (PowerProExcelPlus Mach 9++ or something) along with an equally expensive Gillette blade. I’m still using the Gillette blade but I’m now applying The Bluebeard’s Revenge shaving cream with the brush and then using the post shave balm. I have not yet plucked up the courage to consider trying The Bluebeard’s Revenge Scimitar shaver.
I recognise that it’s all very much subjective however I reckon my shaving experience has improved 100% over the old regime. I do genuinely feel better in the morning and throughout the day as a result. As for the expense, well, The Bluebeard’s Revenge shaving cream and post shave balm each retail at £9.99 vs the old Gillette Shaving Foam at £4.09 (current price from Boots). So you could certainly argue that the cost for this experience is significantly higher. I’d estimate that the cream and the balm will last a lot more than the Gillette stuff, if only because I don’t feel I need to use so much of The Bluebeard’s Revenge product.
You can order direct from The Bluebeard’s Revenge website or pick their products up from Amazon. If you’re an Amazon Prime customer, delivery is free:
Thank you to the team at The Bluebeard’s Revenge for the opportunity to trial their products!
