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Archive: My blog has now moved to here December
2005
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31st Jan 2005 - Makes you want to scream Perpetuating the nagging sense that a lot of blog content is passed around by people spending too much time reading each other's blogs, this is something that caught my eye on Gareth Kay's site, Brand New. The screambody (the first of the series of "Wearable Body Organs"!) is a design progect from someone at MIT
You can watch a movie of it in action here. Complete madness really. Could even be a spoof. who knows. Like to comment ? (top)
27th Jan 2005 - Six degrees of washing Interesting stuff from P&G in the US.
Tide Cold Water is, as the name suggests, a cold water clothes detergent. In itself, I find that as interesting as it is counter intuitive (there may be something similar in the UK, but I've not come across it). And it does suggest industrial strength chemicals in there somewhere to do the cleaning. An unfair conclusion maybe…but it does seem a tad suspicious. In a way though this is offset by their pitch. They're focusing on the social and environmental benefits of washing with cold water - because it uses less energy it cuts bills significantly (good for low income families), and is far better for the environment obviously. What is also interesting is their communications strategy. To generate trial, they are using an internet-based, word-of-mouth driven challenge. This creates a network of advocates, all based on the six degrees of separation theory, with progress plotted on a handy map.
All rather interesting really, and does show it's good to talk. Like to comment ? (top)
19th Jan 2005 - Reality working I'm not a great fan of reality TV. But there's a new show out that's bucked this trend. Called Dragon's Den (although the pedant in me would point out that lions live in dens, dragons in lairs), the idea is very simple - a panel of highly successful and very rich entrepreneurs, with wads of their own cash to invest in new business ideas pitched by a succession of (often hapless) hopefuls. The only rule - convince some or all of the dragons to stump up the cash you need, and you get it. Fall just £1 short and you get nothing. Most though don't get past the ritual abuse stage.
For anyone who's ever been to a pitch/creative presentation/interview, it's toe-curlingly compulsive viewing…which may well also poor bucket loads of cold water on any half-baked ideas you have for doing your own thing. Or maybe there's a market in selling the TV rights to the next meeting you expect to go really badly. At least you get an upside! Like to comment ? (top)
10th Jan 2005 - Indie downloads In the rosy glow of my adolescent memory, two things seem to dominate my teen music buying experiences of the late 70s and early 80s. Taping John Peel from a transistor radio in may bedroom. And heading down my local independent record store the next day to buy the latest seven inches of joy from Half Man Half Biscuit, because the quality of my recording was so bad. Oh, and the fact that my unsuccessful bedroom experiences were somehow killing music.
But I never really bought this. After all, when I did buy something, I made sure my money went to the indies (although they tended to be the only people who stocked what I wanted anyway). Plus, I do seem to remember some kind of compromise, with a tariff being placed on blank tapes as reparations to the music industry. Or that may simply have been me trying to justify my nefarious activities. Which all goes to show that things never change. Now though, it's downloads that the industry fat cats say are killing music. But the big difference this time round is that there is no independent alternative if I do want to buy something - Virgin and HMV dominate the high street, Amazon is the only option on-line, and iTunes has commercialised downloads anyway. Which is why Tune Tribe should be welcomed with open arms.
It is the Rough Trade shop of the 21st Century. Run by Tom Findlay of Groove Amada, Tune Tribe promises to cut out the middle men by putting artists directly in contact with consumers. Designed for unsigned bands and independent labels, it puts the artist very much in the driving seat. They set the download cost. And get 80% of revenue. It's still only in beta testing. But it has lots of funding. And is definitely something for music lovers out their to support. The redefinition of how we, as producers and consumers, do business continues. Like to comment ? (top) Comments...
7th Jan 2005 - What we're interested in For the trivia fixated amongst us, the end of year reports are just in from the major search engines. And a sad indictment of our surfing behaviour it is to, with Britney and Paris (Hilton rather than France…or even Texas) coming through consistently on top...so to speak. For those who like this find of thing, you can compare and contrast here… And just out of interest, if any one knows how you can get hold of the data behind these top lines for a bit of more tailored analysis, I'd love to know. Like to comment ? (top)
Being a law abiding citizen, I can't endorse this obviously. But if there is a frustrated graffiti artist in you, hampered by an inability to wield a can of spray paint with any real effect, you may want to check out Stencil1.
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