Sir Clive Sinclair and his flying machine

In an interview on Radio 4, the very splendid Sir Clive Sinclair said that we’d all end up with our own personalised flying machines. So I’ve created an artistic impression of what it might look like if the Cambridge-based boffin decides to do it himself.

He also said that he never uses the internet - even although he’s the man behind the ZX Spectrum which gave most of us geeks our first taste of coding.

I love this guy. He’s a genuine fruit-loop. And he’s had a track record of failure that would put Edison to shame.

.com, .org, .whateverthehellyouwant

In Paris this afternoon, the people that run the internet made a bit of an historic decision. They unanimously agreed to open up the current domain system to allow people to create their own TLDs ( that’s the bit after the last dot in a web address). If you have enough money to buy one that is.

So next year, when it all happens, you can probably expect a flurry of new corporate web addresses like .coke, .bmw and .virgin. And a load of entrepreneurs will doubtless invest in TLDs that they think they can make money out of. I’m sure we can expect another sickening gold rush of stupidity on the web. Meanwhile, the public will carry on using .com as usual.

You can read more about it on the BBC news site

Too much data is a bad thing

I recently got engaged. My fiancée is nearly as geeky as me, so we changed our Facebook profiles to say that we’re engaged to each other. That seemed like the right thing to do. So now whenever we go into Facebook we’re faced with ads like the one above. And I hate it.

I object to my data being used like this. I know the argument is that I’m seeing advertising that’s relevant to me, so it’s more likely to be useful. But it just makes me feel as if I’m being stalked. It feels a bit like a total stranger coming up to me in the street and telling me that he knows where I live, what my favourite food is and that I like to dress up in ladies underwear when I’m home alone.

Creepy.

Anyone fancy a thought shower?

I’ve never been a fan of brainstorming. I think they are the refuge of the talentless. And I think I should expand on that in another post.

So I was interested to hear that a local council has succeeded in getting rid of them for good. But only by changing what they call them. They thought that the term ‘brainstorm’ might be offensive to epileptics and people with mental illness. So they decided to call them ‘thought showers’ instead. Which offends me. I prefer to take a bath.

Read more about it here.

Ten ways to get internet TV

I’ve been trying to write this post for a while now – but I’ve been too busy to get round to it. A lot of 2008 predictions said that this year would be the year of TV on your computer. So I thought I would list and review some of the options available at the moment to see how it’s going. The list isn’t exhaustive, it’s in no particular order and it’s heavily biased for the UK. Most of the options work on both PCs and Macs – and some of them on other devices too. So let’s get started.

Joost
Yeah, I’m sure we all know about this one. It’s been (over)hyped as the TV killer. It’s pretty good – but doesn’t quite have enough interesting channels on it yet – unless you’re into World’s Strongest Man competitions, Guinness Book of Records curiosities and old editions of Jongleurs comedy gigs. One of the interesting things for advertisers, though, is its incredible range of options for advertising on the channels and hitting very specific demographics. I used to think Joost was the way most people would get into IPTV but with more options available that play directly from your browser, the fact that it’s a separate application may work against it.

Zattoo
I like Zattoo. It streams broadcast channels directly to your computer. I didn’t have any digital telly in my house for a while and this gave me access to live BBC digital channels. They’ve recently also added ITV, Channel 4 and Five – along with news channels in German, French, Polish (I think) and Arabic. They’re in their Beta stage at the moment but it’s definitely worth downloading.

Firebrand
If you want to react against the plethora of advert-free content, you can always go for content-free adverts on Firebrand. This channel-in-a-webpage has presenters showing you the best new ads from around the world. It’s temporarily down just now - but if you’re into your TV ads, bookmark it and check back.

TV links
If you’re looking for a variety of familiar content, sites that link to content rather than host it are another option. The original tv-links site was shut down last year and the guy behind it was arrested. But the internet is always good at finding a way around a problem – and the site seems to have been replicated outside the jurisdiction of British courts. So if you want access to your favourite tv programmes, and aren’t that bothered about HD quality, this is a good resource. Another option that is slightly better designed but does the same thing is TVokay - so if the quality’s not good enough on one site, try the other.

VBS
VBS is a web tv channel from the guys behind Vice. Because of that, it’s a bit blokey and hip. But they are trying to compliment their knucklehead testosterone content with some more serious stuff from around the world. I think you still need to be skating and listening to over-produced rock music to really be taken by it though. It’s ok in small doses for the rest of us.

Real Super Pass
Real Networks are offering ‘TV quality broadcasts 24 hours a day’ from the likes of Al Jazeera, CNN and the BBC. I’ve looked at the demo and it seems to be alright. But not exactly TV quality. Unless you’ve got a really shit, low resolution TV that occasionally breaks up in a horrible digital way. And in competition with all these other free options, they‘ve decided to charge the horrendous sum of £11.99 a month. And they helpfully point out ‘That’s less than £3 per week!’ If you’re the kind of dumb ass who thinks AOL is a great way to access the internet, this is the choice for you.

BBC iPlayer
The BBC have done an amazing job with their iPlayer. It is convincing the masses that online TV is quite normal. With just about the entire BBC schedule on there, it’s got great programmes for everyone. And they’re continuing to make sure it’s as easy to watch for as many people as possible by developing it for the iPhone and the Nintendo Wii.

Itv.com
It’s quite similar to the iPlayer but it runs on Silverlight instead of flash. Silverlight is supposed to offer better video quality but I don’t notice any improvement. It has quite a lot of the ITV programming schedule on it – which just isn’t as good or broad as the BBC. And, of course, the programmes are still riddled with adverts. But I suppose it’s OK if you just can’t do without those trashy talent shows or Coronation Street.

Channel 4
This is just to show that I’m being fair. I’ve listed the other main UK channels and C4 have only just launched their player. The problem for me, though, is that it only works on a PC. Hopefully they’ll sort that out soon. Or even better the much anticipated ‘Kangaroo’ player that will include all the terrestrial channels in one player. C’mon Channel 4 – sort it out, will you?

Watch Movies
This just has movies on it. But the good thing about it is that it gives you a number of links to each movie and users rate them for their quality. Most of the stuff is still pretty ropey though.

If you’ve got any other options, let me know and I’ll add them to the post. Happy viewing!

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ADDITION:

For those in the US, there’s also the wonderful Hulu with loads of TV programmes on demand. Including some good ol’ vintage TV series. Unfortunately, it’s not available outside the States, Bugger!

Sports-loving PC owners may also be interested in MyP2P where you can view live sports events and other stuff. However, as a sport-hating Mac user there’s no reason for me to ever go there!

How to write persuasively

Dearly belovéd, it’s time for me to preach again. Gather round and hear the word of Dave.

I’ve just added a new page to the blog with a document I wrote a few years ago when I was deputy CD at Mr Smith. I wrote it because I was frustrated with creatives not understanding that their job was to sell.
And it ended up being passed around a number of agencies who handed it out to junior creatives. A lot of the stuff in there is blinkin’ obvious - but at the time, I felt it needed to be said.

Feel free to disagree with anything in there and give me your comments.

I need to learn how to do this

If you’ve read the ‘about me’ section of this blog, you’ll know that I worked as a musician before I stumbled into the world of advertising. And one of my main things was playing slide guitar. In fact, I paid my way through university by busking in the style of Ry Cooder in the streets of Glasgow. These days I can hardly find the time to play and my shiny metal dobro sits at the side of the room gathering dust.

But I’ve just rediscovered this old dude on YouTube. He’s called Hannes Coetzee and he plays a really original style of slide guitar by sticking a teaspoon in his mouth. I’m going to have to try it this weekend.

Now it’s even grimmer up north

I’ve just read that Poulters’ holding company have shut them down. And that’s a bit of a shame. As far as I was concerned they were a shining light in the north of England. I particularly loved the stuff they did for the Vegetarian Society a few years ago. You can see it along with some of their other nice work at Luerzers Archive.

Goodbye Poulters. And good luck to all their staff.

PowerPoint, SchmowerPoint

There have been a couple of web releases this week that I’ve been really impressed with. The first is a full screen windowless browser called PlainView that was created by the Barbarian Group. It was put together to let them present work to clients directly from the browser rather than having to bugger about with PowerPoint. A brilliant idea. And in a spirit of free love, they’ve decided to share it with the world. Get a copy for your Mac right here.

The next is a web based presentation app called 280 Slides. Think of it as Keynote (Apple’s much more elegant version of PowerPoint) in a browser. I wanted to test it out, so I did a presentation of yesterday’s ‘What makes a Viral’ rant. It really is lovely to use and gives you a great result. You can even download your presentation in PowerPoint format. if you so wish. But what I like best is that you can direct people to a URL where they can see your presentation in their browser.

See for yourself. Click on the image below to view my incredible handiwork.

Thanks to Knotty and Andy Whitlock

The biggest drawing in the world

You’ll struggle to do a bigger drawing than this. Some dude has used GPS to do a self portrait of himself using the entire world as a canvas. Pretty impressive. If you want to beat him you’ll need to have a word with NASA.

See more about it at biggestdrawingintheworld.com

Amazing surreal Japanese comic strip

I love this comic strip. It looks like it’s been drawn by an incredibly talented, druggy, damaged, psychopath. It just gets increasingly messed up as you scroll down. Brilliant!

You still won’t catch me wearing a football shirt and hanging out in the pub when there’s a Premiership game on Sky Sports

Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m not a football fan. I just don’t understand that whole mentality. I was invited to a Peterborough game a few years back and I just sat in a hospitality box eating sandwiches and talking to bored women.

However, I think this Nike ad may just be one of the best bits of football film ever. I almost understood the schoolboy fantasy that lives inside the head of so many grown men. The whole thing is shot from the viewers point of view and it’s just incredible. Watch and enjoy. Even if you hate football as much as me.

Good luck Poke

It’s the D&AD awards tonight and Poke have a few nominations.

It’s also the highlight of SImon Waterfall’s year as D&AD president.

Whatever the outcome, I expect lots of sore heads in the morning.

Good luck Pokers!

Even in marketing honesty is the best policy

Well marketers, you’ve only got another month or so to lie, cheat and deceive people online. After that you’ll actually be committing an offense you can get done for. Good! In my (occasionally) humble opinion, we have a duty as an industry to be responsible in our communications - and anyone that isn’t deserves everything they’ve got coming to them. So here’s what you can get done for as from May 26th:

• Seeding positive messages about a brand in a blog without making clear that the message comes from, or on behalf of, a brand.
• Lurking around forums and other online social spaces dropping messages without disclosing that you’re actually a brand ambassador.
• Seeding viral ads on the internet in a way that implies you’re just an everyday member of the public.

With any luck, this new legislation will protect the world from online disasters like WalMart’s campervan tour and Sony’s ‘I want a PSP for Christmas’ blog. I’m just wondering what the sentence will be for any transgressors that get caught. Maybe forcing them to use dial-up for six months would be painful enough to make them change their nefarious ways.

Virgin Media give me a surprise

I got a phone call from an unknown number on my mobile this morning. It was a Virgin Media engineer asking if he could come round in an hour. He actually arrived in just over half an hour, fixed my phone and sorted out my broadband so that it would be faster and more reliable. Isn’t it amazing what a Facebook group can do?

So far, the experiment has worked out OK. But it’s only over when they’ve made me truly happy and sorted things out for the other complainants on the Facebook group.

Power to the people!

How I found the search

Last week I got my username and password to try out the beta version of SearchMe - the new visual search engine. And, naturally, I’ve had a bit of a play with it. I’m trying to overlook the fact that my antique Mac is a bit glitchy and juddery, so I’m not getting the best experience. But what I’m taken by isn’t the coverflow-style of scrolling through the page previews - it’s the contextual filter for your search. Unfortunately they’ve made it look as if it’s for primary kids by adding some irritating little icons for them.
On the whole, though, it’s a pretty interesting product. And it’ll be so much more useful when they’ve indexed a few billion more web pages. Go and register for the beta version and see for yourself. If you’ve got a relatively new computer, that is.

Face #71

More news from the MoMA

I meant to blog about this last week - but better late than never. My fellow Poker, Nik Roope, has something else to be proud of at the moment. He has a product design company called Hulger which has a couple of pieces at the Design and the Elastic Mind exhibition at New York’s MoMA gallery. This is a pretty prestigious exhibition. The two pieces he’s got in are his plumen lightbulb (above) and his classic phone design. Well done Nik. You bloody genius.

Gordon Brown gets creative

I read in Campaign that the government is going to put some serious investment into the nation’s creative industries. They have plans to make the UK the “world’s creative hub”. I bet you international readers are quaking in your boots now.

They have 22 proposals to help us improve our creative output. And none of them include beer, recreational drugs or common plagiarism. They include:

• A “new enterprise capital fund” for start-ups
• Encouraging employment of minorities
• A digital media college
• A creative apprenticeship programme
• A creative economy forum

Look out world! The UK’s coming to kick your creative ass. Or maybe just disappear up it’s own one.

Enforcing good design work

I like this. Join the Design Police.

Download their sticker kits and start dishing out your judgement on every piece of work that hurts your eye or your brain.