I think that one of my motivations in this mobile-only experiment is the attitude that persists in some parts of the IT community, and that was prevalent when I arrived for my short stint at Microsoft back in 2011 - that mobile phones are "content consumption" devices, that couldn't be used for "proper" computing. That … Continue reading Going Mobile: Day 2: “Proper” computing
One of the things that has come up a lot from others when launching into this mobile-only experiment is that the screen on a mobile phone just isn't big enough to completely replace a laptop. Screen size is subject to two measures - physical screen size, and pixel size. The Nexus 5 that I have … Continue reading Going Mobile: Day 2: screen estate
So I've just about completed my first day of my mobile-only life, and I didn't resort to tablet, laptop or desktop all day. If I was going to crack, I figured this day, working from home, would be the one where it would happen. Very early on I realised that using my phone with a … Continue reading Going mobile: Day1: it’s all in the detail
Last week I got a peculiar invitation to connect on LinkedIn. It was from someone who I had never heard of, apparently holding a senior HR role in a multinational law firm. A few other people I knew were connected to him, but it didn't feel right. I pinged off messages to those I knew … Continue reading The power of the network
So I'm at the beginning of the mobile-only experiment. Alongside the phone and keyboard, I've a charger and a Powergen Mobile Power Pack. That latter accessory is nothing new - I've become accustomed to having to lug that spare battery around with me as usually by lunchtime on a trip into London my phone is … Continue reading Going Mobile: Day 0
Last week I got hold of a cheap Bluetooth keyboard to use with my laptop. Then I had an idea... why not use it with my phone and see whether the time is right to be able to ditch the laptop entirely? This isn't a unique experiment. My long-time chum Euan Semple experimented with an … Continue reading Going Mobile
Things I have learned this week: - interesting start-ups seem to come out of anywhere but Shoreditch (notably http://wearebeem.com/, http://buyerdeck.com/ and http://pinipa.com/) - RBS's credit card has its very own online service (who knew! Been using their online banking for as long as it's been around and I didn't) - Sir Humphrey is alive and … Continue reading Weeknote 206: cashflow
In Dan Pink's wonderful book To sell is human there is a chapter that describes six ways to pitch an idea, a product or even yourself. The one that I found most interesting was what he called the Subject Line Pitch. Imagine the best email subject line in the world, and Pink argues it will contain three … Continue reading The one thing that all LinkedIn all-time top ten posts have in common
"#HR needs to stop reporting and start predicting" - Michael Carty, twitter.com/mjcarty The quote above from Michael on Twitter this morning (you can see the full thing here https://twitter.com/MJCarty/status/493812100138287104) got me thinking. It mostly got me thinking about how I seem to be developing a particular breed of Big Data iconoclasm these days. The reason Michael's … Continue reading Big data: The tyranny of the past
I got into an interesting discussion last week about an incident in a friend's local supermarket. An elderly neighbour had locked herself out of her house, and in a state of distress went to the supermarket (a small branch of one of the massive chains) to ask to use their telephone. The request was flatly refused. … Continue reading The power of authority
