I found myself launching into a bit of a rant on Twitter yesterday. I fear this might become an increasing problem as I get older. The thing that set me off this time was an advertising billboard on an empty building near the Reading campus where I work proclaiming "flexible office solutions". There are two … Continue reading The problems with “solutions”
Category: Themes
I was shopping in Kingston upon Thames and seeing the newly branded EE shops touting their network's new 4G services, it struck me that the mobile network current known as "3" is about to look very dated. Contemporary naming of brands is a risky business, as there is always going to be a factor of … Continue reading Anachronistic nomenclature
There's a report published by Ernst and Young that I've just being reading coverage on CIO.co.uk which, quite frankly, has depressed me. The headline is that CIOs are "struggling with cloud computing, social media and mobile risks", and the paragraph that has particularly got to me reads: Use of social media in business is prevalent, but … Continue reading Social networking accountability
I wrote a couple of weeks ago to revisit some thoughts about how native apps on devices can differentiate themselves significantly from "mere" websites. I've been refining that thinking in advance of a workshop next week to that will help people define and refine concepts for consumer-facing apps. The starting point is to have a … Continue reading When to app – the customer view
Recent announcements at Apple got me thinking as to whether the sometimes derided skeuomorphic approach to much of their software will soon be a thing of the past with Jony Ive taking control of software as well as hardware in the new world. It seems that I'm not the only person thinking that - see … Continue reading The end of the skeuomorph?
...well, assuming you're in London. Things in my diary in the next few weeks include: Talking at the IT in Housing event at Olympia http://www.itinhousingexhibition.co.uk/ Running a "When to app..?" workshop at a big Huddle that Mindshare are running next week Talking to http://www.the-partners.com/at an internal event they're running And also taking part in a Tigerspike … Continue reading Appearing at an event near you soon…
I've been reading a lot of Windows 8 reviews over the past two weeks. One thing that I don't think I've seen mentioned at all that has changed in the new OS is the audio cues - sound alerts of things happening in the system have all changed, and as someone who is fairly auditory … Continue reading Auditory preferences
Working on some content for an appearance next month at the National Housing Federation's IT in Housing Conference and have been trying to distill down thoughts on how the world of IT is changing into as few, but coherent, points as possible. There is a plethora of the usual IT buzz-word nonsense in the field, and … Continue reading The twin forces: commoditisation and consumerisation
OK, here's a piece of idle conjecture... One of the things that has surprised me a bit in my time since joining Microsoft has been how hierarchically deferent the company seems in comparison to previous employers. It's the first US company I've worked for, and have been quite taken back by how status and power … Continue reading Does more labour law lead to stronger companies?
A little later this week I’m going to be speaking to kick off a hackathon event taking place at the retail institution that is Marks and Spencer. Here’s the gist of what I’m going to say (spoiler alert – if you are attending the event, this really is pretty much is what I’ll be saying … Continue reading Innovation in retail
mmitII 