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So the web is currently going into meltdown over Google's social layer on top of Gmail.
Rumours of the death of Twitter and Facebook are flying around all over the place...especially on Twitter and Facebook.
I think that's the problem. I like Twitter and Facebook. I don't like Buzz.
It's too centered around the content rather than the message, and I've never looked at my email account and said; "I know what I want to do, send out a public email and have people comment on it."
Plus, we've seen Twitter stutter in the face of growing apathy from those that either don't get it, or don't find it useful. All of us on the microblogging site know why it's useful to us, but the vast majority of people don't like it/know what it is.
Why would they choose to use a service in an email inbox, with people they don't know watching what they're saying when they could be using the more insular (and altogether more socially rewarding) Facebook platform?
Buzz wont destroy Facebook, in the same way that FriendFeed didn't either; it's a nifty feature if that's what you're into, but it doesn't bring anything particularly new to the party for the users that actually matter.
I'll probably be dis-proven on this, Buzz will take over all of social media and I'll be left with proverbial egg on my face...
This post has 1400 characters, and was posted by @stevefarnworth
Free Ad Spot!
The big, horizontal, banner at the bottom of RandomlyAccessed has gone kaput, which means we're now open to offering a free advertising spot to anyone with something to bring to the table!
The last one (FailStickers) supplied me with a stack of stickers, so that's the kind of tie-ups I'd like to make. RandomlyAccessed isn't my power-play, so I like to keep cash off the table, but we always like playing with new things, so if you have something a bit interesting to offer - pitch me!
Ideally, I'd like an ad implemented by the end of the day, as I'm interested to engage the people who read it who might benefit, but don't like redundant inventory.
It'd feature on the bottom of the home page (above the footer) as well as on each of the article pages, but no serious agreements can be accepted as we might need the spot in the future for a more comprehensive tie-up.
Same goes for the remaining 3 125x125 spots on the right hand side - although you do need to have some interesting creative, nothing dull!
Drop me a mail if you're interested.
This post has 1164 characters, and was posted by @stevefarnworth
Drop IE6? Depends.
Google has sent designers into a tizzy today by announcing that from March 1st, they're going to stop supporting Internet Explorer 6 in Docs and Sites.
It's the first in a very long row of stepping stones before the death of one of the most polarizing (and hated) pieces of software of our time can finally be put to rest.
However, should designers throw IE6 support out completely? No. If you're designing a site for a client, it needs to be tailored to their specifcation, not "web concensus". Sure, it takes a lot of effort to hack a site to work nicely on IE6, but if the client requires it, it's...well...a requirement.
Say the client has 10% of users still rocking IE6, but they get 100,000 uniques pcm - that's 10k people that would get the chop (that's actually a realistic figure by the way).
Most people on IE6 either don't know anything different (in which case, polite flash-message reminders to upgrade would work), or are large corporations that will keep their implementation until they feel the time is right.
Cutting IE6 support should be based on a case-by-case basis, not a lock-stock decision. Again, say a large corporation wants to check out your portfolio, they go to some sites on their IE6 window, see them all as ugly and move onto the next designer who's made theirs work for the target market.
Just because Google's begun removing support for it from some of their web properties (which really couldn't be used in IE6 anyway), doesn't mean it's going to disappear from the web altogether. If they were announcing they'd cripple anyone's search ability if they were rocking it, it'd be a different story.
This post has 1727 characters, and was posted by @stevefarnworth
Flight Control coming to the iPad
Firemint, the company behind the popular iPhone and iPod games Real Racing and Flight Control, has just announced that they're already planning on bringing their popular franchises to the new iPad device from Apple.
Here's their statement;
"This morning, Apple revealed a magical and revolutionary device. We're delighted that we can now make our own announcement: we will bring an optimised and re-imagined version of Flight Control to iPad. Like almost 140,000 other apps on the App Store, Flight Control will work perfectly on iPad without any changes from us, but we want to ensure a delightful experience on iPad that feels just right.
We started developing Real Racing before the iPhone 3G was announced. Similarly, we are already building our next generation of games for higher definition, more powerful devices than are available today. We like to imagine what the devices of tomorrow will be capable of, and invest in bringing our games to the next generation of hardware. The iPad announcement and Apple's A4 chip have come at a fantastic time for us. We are working on some incredibly fun and exciting games that will look amazing on iPad and take full advantage of its features, as well as working brilliantly on iPhone and iPod touch."
This post has 1295 characters, and was posted by @stevefarnworth
PR wording FAIL
An (I thought) hilarious comment from a press release during the night regarding a new type of software that allows parents to "define cryptic abbreviations that may be used by their child" and monitor that childs entire usage on their PC and net connection;
"From a parent’s point of view, the blocking feature can be used to stop a child....engaging in sexually charged online discussions with girlfriends, boyfriends, or even troublemakers from school."
Quite why someone would be engaging in sexually charged conversations with a troublemaker from school is anyone's guess.
Will be writing a non-immature-joke laden post for RandomlyAccessed on the software soon though, looks interesting as it helps decipher certain key phrases that some parents/guardians may not know.
ROFLMAO.
This post has 851 characters, and was posted by @stevefarnworth
Celebrity Big Brother
Well, that time of the year has come around again where a bunch of washed-up celebs perform a rather worrying portrayal of themselves in front of several dozen cameras for what seems like a hundred-million years for the enjoyment of people who are; a) stupid, or b) complaining about the programme the whole time.
Social media will once again play a massive part in the process - I didn't even know it was on until the tweets started rolling in about the creme-de-la-creme of the Z-List, and I will try my best to avoid all of it (unless there is a hilarious cock-up somewhere), and will instead watch from the sidelines as people tweet their disgust and sign up for Facebook groups supporting their "favourites".
Although this is the last CBB, I'm not looking forward to the next c.12 weeks of shite that Channel 4 has commissioned that displaces surprisingly few Friends re-runs nowadays.
Whilst I still enjoy watching Friends (if for the 18th-19th time), it is quite shocking how the once-flagship show for the network is relegated to behind another repeat of a 90's sitcom.
I was never a fan of the show, although the first series did pique my interest all those years ago, and cannot wait to see it be removed from the airwaves...
...more than likely to be resurrected in a few years time to re-energise and milk some more cash out of a dying format. Predictable, but a horrific image of the future all the same.
This post has 1484 characters, and was posted by @stevefarnworth
Talking of Expndr...
I've been working pretty solidly on the first "proper" version of Expndr over the past few weeks (in between posting a lot of news on RandomlyAccessed), and I have to say, it's looking pretty tasty.
When will it be ready? Not sure, but I'm aiming for an extended beta in March, so I'll let my Twitter followers into the early beta sometime before then.
The features that I'm working on at the minute should help us differentiate from the other micro/mini blogging services out there, but if there's a specific service you'd like integrated, drop us a line at suggest@expndr.com
We'll start teasing you with glimpses in the next few weeks, and whilst it's quite a departure from the current form, users of the current iteration should hopefully feel at home.
Thanks to everyone that has used the open-alpha in the past 6 months, it was great to get some ideas as to how people wanted to use the service, and we hope you enjoy using the full version of Expndr when it launches.
This post has 1075 characters, and was posted by @stevefarnworth
SEO is dying
It was reasonably funny to see the SEO industry clamouring at anything to try and prove Robert Scoble wrong last night about the death of SEO, and whilst I don't think it's gone yet, it's going the way of the Dodo.
Think about it; word of mouth is much more important for most people, and seeing how everyone will have a voice on the web within the next few years, the time for search-engine optimisation will be fading. The only way to get anywhere in Google will be to have organic back-links to your page, relevant meta-data (which, whilst it doesn't influence rank, does help users with checking out your site), tweet mentions, Facebook likes and all sorts of other, new metrics that are much more infuential than some link spamming, keyword spamming and Google-gaming.
The basics of SEO are good web-design sense, and so these will be kept, but should be implemented by a sites' creator, and the spammy part will die a horrible death, and in its place will rise the power of the social media metric.
This post has 1034 characters, and was posted by @stevefarnworth
The last Bah Humbug before Xmas
Well, we're nearing Christmas day, and to keep myself in the festive mood from tomorrow onwards, I shall have a bit of a moan now :)
+ Food shopping. I managed to avoid food shopping this close to Xmas last year, but being back in the homeland I ventured out after the ice had melted and found myself in Asda. Well, apart from the numerous people walking slower than sin, we had to queue down fully one and a half aisles before we got to the tills, and when we did, the people in front didn't have enough cash to pay for their food.
Now, I did feel sorry for them...before the woman kicked off and nearly assaulted an elderly shop assistant and apparently scarpered with half the stuff she should have given back.
+ Traffic. Seriously, why the hell are there so many people shopping this close to Christmas? Be more prepared people, please. Driving in traffic destroys my left knee, which really isn't pleasant.
+ Sick people. Please elderly woman, toddler, fat woman bustling past, cough more. Oh, and don't cover your mouths either - you don't want those germs staying near you, do you?
+ Weather. Well, we've gone from snow to ice, to rain, to sunshine, to rain, to hail and now (unless my ears deceive me) thunder.
Atmosphere, pick one, m'kay?
That's about it for the time being, but I have until 12am to moan, before the yule tidings kick in and it's light and smiles all around :)
This post has 1483 characters, and was posted by @stevefarnworth
Pathetic BA Industrial Action
Another rant for the day here;
Didn't BA Cabin Crew learn from the Royal Mail strikes earlier this year? Pissing off the entire nation (and a lot of non-nationals flying BA in this instance) will only alienate people from your cause, resulting in lost business for the airline, and thus more budget cuts further down the line. Which means, oh, more jobs lost and more people asked to work part-time.
Industrial action and unions were developed when people were in serious risk at work and needed to take action, whereas that's not the case today. A 2-week bout of strikes that'll affect tens of thousands of innocent citizens, for what?
Angering an entire nation, ruining peoples Christmas holidays, casting a potential disastrous blow to your employer as well as making it more likely you'll lose your job further down the line.
BA Cabin Crew are really f**king bright, aren't they?
This post has 935 characters, and was posted by @stevefarnworth
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