Category Archives: Just being me

The ultimate try before you buy..

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People who view my ‘non CIO’ blog – RockandRoll Football – will know that I stumbled across spotify earlier this year and love it.

So I was excited to hear today that a deal has been struck between Spotify and 7 Digital that will see a ‘Buy From 7Digital’ option added to the right click menu inside Spotify and will cover a six million strong catalogue of tracks. Now for the iTune haters amongst us – and there are many – this is just fantastic news as 7Digital also delivers its content at ear embracing 320kbps bitrates.

But is this the ultimate try before you buy experience ??  In the past you were only able to hear a few seconds of poor quality audio before making a purchase decision on a particular track. Now you get the whole track, superb quality, arguably better performance than on your local device (see my comment on iTunes performance vs Spotify) and all this before hitting the buy button. Is this the future for other consumer items ?? What d’ya think ??

In related news, I also heard that Spotify are finalising an iPhone / iTouch solution that will be available from the app store. Will Apple really let this go out unencumbered and embarrass their belover iTunes ?  Indeed, if you can get Spotify quality streamed to your device and the buy from 7Digital – why would you use the iTunes store at all ? This one will be interesting to watch.

Does everything have to do everything nowadays …

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Time was when being unique was a bit special; when being different was something to be celebrated. It seems now that when it comes to social networking solutions and tools, everyone just wants to be the same.

A few weeks back facebook announced that they were opening up their status API to “… make sure the ability to share this content was available through our standard APIs….. and opening new APIs for you to post links, create notes, or upload videos etc”. So there you go then, in no way a response to the mega growth of twitter and its impact on the usage of facebook.

Earlier, and in a move that angered many users, LinkedIn added a status element (aka “what are you doing now”) to their offering, mirroring both Twitter and Facebook

Today we hear that social contacts platform Plaxo “…is adding two new stream aggregation features to its stream service Pulse which tries to build a social network around third-party data, allows users to stay connected to their friends’ updates” – sounds familiar.

More worrying though is the conundrum that may soon face many software developers. Is there any value in being unique and developing something new or do you simply just throw something together based on what already exists? What sustainable value is there in being new and first anymore? Don’t get me wrong, mash-ups are cool and many of the best ones work because, through a combination of different solutions and ideas, you actually do create something new. It seems to me though that the current trend in social network solutions is just to do more of the same and shamelessly steal from the competition.

Oh well – looks like everything really does taste like chicken

JMHO

Google flexes its considerable muscles

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In a move that some would say smacks of an excessive show of strength, Google have pulled music videos from the UK version of YouTube as part of an ongoing dispute with the Performing Rights Society.

YouTube claim that the new charges from the PRS, following the expiry of the previous deal, are excessive and for their part the PRS claim that Google’s actions to pull videos from YouTube came in the middle of ongoing negotiations.

Whatever the rights and wrongs here, this one looks like its gonna run for a while and, once again, the only loosers are the UK music loving consumer.

Come on – sort it out girls

Click here for the full article from The Guardian

Are Sky going after SlingBox ??

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As many of you will know I’m a big fan of slingbox – I love technology that just works and from the day I plugged in my first slingbox I’ve never looked back. Where ever I am in the world I can access my Sky+ box to either watch live or recorded programs on my laptop or even my WinMo device (damn, I’ve even been known to simply change the channels whilst abroad to upset the kids – but that’s another story).

Now it seems that Sky are possibly targeting this market by “untethering” the sky player from the sky dish – or so says on-demand director Griff Parry in an interview with Paid Content…

image• The strategy is twofold: First, Sky Player is now untethered from the satellite proposition – meaning new, online-only customers can join despite not having a dish on their home. Second, nevermind Slingbox; for those who are Sky satellite subscribers, Sky Player is all about place-shifting – free to those who also take broadband or multiroom, the service’s 18 live channels are available not just in rooms beyond the lounge, but anywhere there is an internet connection; there’s also VOD content from across 23 TV channels, too.

“Long-term, by nature Sky is a platform operator, an aggregator and a retailer – what we’re trying to do with Sky Player is broadly replicate the proposition you would get on a set-top box. We’re reaffirming ourselves as the natural aggregator of TV, online.”

I’m not ditching my slingbox just yet

A bitter taste ..

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It seems its not just the financial, media and tech sectors that are being “crunched”. Celebrity chief  Gordon Ramsey’s empire is feeling the pinch according to the FT.

“Accounts filed by Gordon Ramsay Holdings this week showed that the group had breached its banking covenants…..  financial statements for the year to August 31 2007 – which were filed eight months late – revealed that the group was in the process of renegotiating the terms of its facilities with its bankers.

The group, which has been dogged by rumours that it is experiencing financial difficulties because of the economic downturn, has insisted it is trading well.”

After dodging the Icelandic banking collapse it looks like Gordon may have to add improved financial control and management to his extensive (and expensive) menu.

More on offline being the new online

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… from TrustedReviews.com – now Opera implements google gears to allow offline browser accces.

“Gears enables compatible web applications such as Gmail, YouTube, Picassa, Remember the Milk and even WordPress to be accessed seamlessly when offline. It does this by caching data which ultimately means you get all the benefits of Cloud computing when connected to the Internet (anywhere data access, fast operation, online storage/backup) combined with the availability of a locally installed desktop application even if that connection breaks. ”

I use it with gmail and its great

Have you tried it yet – what d’ya think?

Customer sues mobile provider …. and wins !

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Picked this up from Trustedreviews.com this morning through apparently it was also in ThisIsLondon

“..Orange subscriber Tom Prescott successfully sued his network over a lack of signal. Prescott had asked Orange to cancel his 18 month contract after discovering he had no reception at either his Richmond home or place of work. He has received £500 and had the contract annulled.”

Click here for full aricle

If I was T-Mobile (formerly one to no-one), I’d be bracing myself about now.

Dramatic increase in the number of proud parents whose sons ‘do something with computers’

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The government has been criticised for cutting the number of staff working for the British Jobs Survey, and relying instead on information gathered from the elderly parents of those in work.

The latest figures based on this method of collecting employment data has seen a dramatic rise in the number of people who ‘do something in computers’ with the encouraging news that 100% of them ‘are doing very well.’ Other jobs that were revealed to be on the increase were ‘working in London’, ‘something to do with money’ and ‘in a very smart office’. According to the survey of parents, not a single individual was reported to be working as a ‘senior financial advisor to systems analyst set ups’ although this may have been covered by the wider demographic described as ‘working for a big firm who are one of the top ones.’

‘It is ridiculous to attempt to rely on this sort of vague and ill informed data,’ said Professor Sally-Anne Donohue, Senior Statistician at the British Jobs Survey.

However her authority to comment on such matters was brought into question by her official entry in the Elderly Parents’ survey. According to the latest information ‘Sally-Anne’s still working at the moment, yes, which is a shame. I think she’s a secretary or something. But these days it’s actually quite common for a girl to work for a little while before you start a family.

I expect she’ll meet a nice man soon and be able to stay at home. Our Bryan’s doing very well though. He’s something to do with computers…’

…..another gem brought to you by newsbiscuit

Can you really beta a car !!

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…. apparently you can according to a post in the FT which explains that the electric car company set up by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk has been struggling to produce an advanced transmission for its hotly anticipated sports car. To avoid further delaying the launch, it has now opted to launch a “beta version”.

This is how new Tesla CEO Ze’ev Drori explains it:

To help speed delivery of cars, we will begin production in 2008 with an interim transmission design. These transmissions will meet high standards for reliability and durability, but the car will not meet the original performance spec for acceleration, reaching 60 mph in 5.7 seconds instead of the promised 4 seconds. When the final transmission is ready, we will retrofit all cars, at Tesla’s expense, to meet the promised performance specifications.

Its a good job that its primarily Silicon Valleys finest – like Larry Page and Sergey Brin from Google – who are at the top of the Tesla waiting list. They’ll know all about living with beta products

You couldn’t make it up 🙂