There was coverage on this week's Material World programme on Radio 4 about some recently published research from Northwestern University into behaviours seen on reverse auction internet sites. It showed that (from analysis of a mass of publically available data) that just about everyone who takes part in such auctions (where a relatively high-value item … Continue reading Marginal value
Category: Themes
In talking yesterday about the challenges of keeping our living room clean, it got me thinking about the incredibly competitive battle that seems to be revolving around control of the screen that, still, most people spend most time in front of - the television. There's been lots of talk from Microsoft over recent years about the … Continue reading The third screen
We've got a relatively new, Samsung LED TV in our living room. It is covered with toddler fingerprints. We can't find anything that seems to remove the smudges and the marks, and it somewhat distracts from the beautiful, bright, HD image. One of two things, though, is going on to cause this greasy destruction: either … Continue reading Touch expectations
I had the great pleasure yesterday of being a member of the interviewing panel at the British Computer Society’s The Graduate event. Aimed to give under graduates and recent graduates a visceral trial of the beast that is known as the recruitment assessment centre, 32 people put themselves through a psychometric test, interview panel, group … Continue reading Standing out
Achievements this week included: - just about staying awake long enough on any one day (bar Monday) to actually get some work done. Yucky virus passed on from the kids... - completed a final version of Developer Journeys work which will now feed into the new financial year planning processes - some interesting thoughts about … Continue reading Weeknote 91: battling viruses
Every once in a while I take a diversion from my usual topics, and that usually results in a rant. This is one of those posts. There has been a great deal of coverage about the current government's plans to inject more private enterprise into the publicly funded healthcare system in the UK. Let me tell you … Continue reading Welcome to the world of public private healthcare
Achievements this week included: - getting my head around the MS IT version of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview - continuing to get people to buy into the developer journey concept - making a couple of connections to get more ideas on Green Field IT concept - great conversation with Matt @ Berg London - … Continue reading Weeknote 90: getting to grips with a new OS
I'm working on a article for a white paper at the moment, and there is a lot of talk in the rest of the content about technology having become democratized in recent years. I've been trying to put my finger on why that term sits uneasily with me, and think I've worked it out: democracy … Continue reading The Anarchization of Technology
A couple of weekends ago I was lucky enough to have a long weekend in the Portuguese city of Porto. Set in the north of the country, and spanning the deep valley of the Douro River, it's a stunning (UNESCO-protected) location, tinged with a certain beguiling faded glory. For Britain, Porto is known for two … Continue reading Learning from past experience
What I am about to talk about is probably going to sound deeply mistimed in our current age of austerity, double dips and general woe. But hey, humour me for a moment... In the past few months I've been giving a lot of thought to what the management of IT would look like if one … Continue reading Chief Playfulness Officer
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