Windows Phone 7

By far this was the most interesting and exciting aspect of the conference. I was lucky enough a couple of months ago to see a developmental build of Windows Phone 7 and have to admit I met the project with cynicism. I will be the first to confess that Microsoft will need to go beyond expectations in order to bite a market share from the likes of Blackberry, Apple and Android.

The Windows Phone 7 device revealed at the Conference was vastly different from the developmental builds. The project is so far ahead from what Microsoft has done in the mobile arena before that many will find their perspective of Microsoft change. In all honestly (and I wouldn’t write this if I didn’t mean it), Windows Phone 7 is an iPhone killer. Although to call this device an iPhone killer doesn’t really give WP 7 the credit which it deserves. This smartphone looks like it has come from the future and when compared to my 3GS (running iOS 4) it makes the iPhone look quite dated.

I’m not going to go into aspects of WP 7 now as I will be reviewing the device in a month’s time (hands on). This is thanks to the fact Microsoft employees will all be receiving the device next month, even the interns! What I will say at this time is that Microsoft have a variety of exciting launches this year and WP 7 has the potential to change the mobile arena drastically and deserves the iPhone 4’s slogan ‘This changes everything… again’.

Microsoft Kinect

If you are a gamer then you would have needed to be living under a rock for the past couple of years to have missed the news of Project Natal, now known as Microsoft Kinect. A full lengthy explanation of Microsoft Kinect can be found here.

I had the opportunity to play around with Kinect before the conference and I must say that it was an odd but entertaining experience. The reason I say odd is due to the purpose of Kinect. To have the ability to interact with games without the need of a controller. This has never been done before. Every console released has needed some sort of controller, a device to hold so that the gamer can interact with the digital world. Kinect gives you a direct experience with a game – more direct than touch sensitive screens.

The Kinect cameras have the ability to detect the 3D depth of a room and recognise image qualities. This means that every body movement you make can be detected by the console. Even gently leaning back and forwards – no body movement is missed.

I had the simple but enjoyable experience of playing a game called Kinectimals. A game designed for young children (perhaps more focused on young girls) who can interact with a digital pet on the screen. This game gave me a good introduction to Kinect and there is no doubt Kinect will be a huge success. It is too good for any Xbox owner to miss.

As for Kinect’s stage time? Gold medal Olympian, Colin Jackson, demonstrated Kinect Sport. He claimed during the interview afterwards that he could implement the same running techniques he had learnt over the years into the game. Quite incredible.

The closing

In the evening the conference concluded and Microsoft held an indoor private funfair for their employees. Wacky huh? Definitely didn’t see that one coming. The funfair was held inside and had a range of different fairground rides and entertainers. Of course lots of free food and drink as well.

In conclusion… I had a brilliant time.

If you are a student then there are many benefits for building apps for WP7. For a start you will be able to earn extra cash from the sales of your app (although you can also choose for your app to be free), a successful app on WP7 could give you industry recognition and developing apps for WP7 is quicker than building for Android.

To get your free software simply visit the Microsoft DreamSpark programme. You can sign up in a variety of ways (I just used my University email address) and then download away. Currently you can download 20 different pieces of software. You can also deploy your WP7 apps for free through DreamSpark.

You may already know but you can follow Microsoft Students on Facebook and feel free to visit Twitter and follow Academic Developer Evangelist, Ben Nunney.

Hope you all find this information useful!

Please welcome the newly erected ‘He would say that…’ tag as I tread the highly competitive waters of technological alliances. You only have to read the book ‘No Logo’ by Naomi Klein to know how dangerous brand alliance can be. Indeed how false branding is; especially in a technological world where many companies have various contractual agreements to construct the newest gadget.

This post isn’t about fruity Apples (I like those) but the American Apple. The multinational corporation that has, admittedly, revolutionised the relationship we have with our technology.

I have owned iPods. One of the mobiles I use is an iPhone 3GS. During my studies I have had to use eMacs and iMacs. Despite these mostly wholly positive experiences concerning my consumer relationship with Apple this post tackles a deeper problem. That I believe Apple has as a company in the technological world.

Like everybody else today I wait with baited breath for the new iOS4 release for my iPhone. As I am an iPhone 3GS owner I receive all of the benefits this software comes with. However, unlike everybody else I can’t say that I am willing to generate hype about the software. Apple seems to have the power to delude people so much into their products that people cease to recognise the obvious flaws.

Over the years I have owned a number of mobiles; Nokia, Sony Ericson, Siemens. All of these phones have had the capability to multitask, have folders, change wallpapers and a couple even allowed multiple email accounts to show as a single account.

I am simply not impressed. As if my opinion is worth anything but Apple, in my view, relies on a consumer market that is absolutely delirious, ignorant and uneducated about other gadgets.

The hype that surrounds each product release can only be likened to a mass cult following. There is one simple reason for this; Apple has a brilliant Public Relations team.

Apple’s Digital Public Relations

Other software companies like Microsoft (sorry Microsoft), HP, IBM, Acer, Asus, etc, just release their products into the market. There is very little ‘baited breath’, more of a traditional press release and the reliance that nerds will be seduced by high flying specifications. What we have seen in recent years is that technology is no longer about the specifications. I would hazard a guess that the majority of people who own mobile phones and computers know very little about the inner workings of each device. Instead they care about the device’s aesthetics, how it will enrich their life and the price.

Apple understands this and instead works to release products through a series of controlled leaks. They might act as an individual to say that they claim to have found the new iPhone’s accessories in China which suggests the general layout of the device. A prototype might be left in a bar somewhere. Various rumours will be circulated.

The trick Apple play to sell a product is to create a sense of desire in the consumer. This desire (in my opinion) is mostly irrelevant on the actual merits of the piece of hardware. Each time Apple release a product its hardware specifications are never very high, unlike the price but still people buy.

For those of us who don’t worship Apple we can clearly see this. There are many pieces of technology in the world. Apple is but one company, an interesting one but just another technological multinational.

They have some problems…

As much as Apple is prosperous now I believe the multinational will, in a few years, suffer massive problems regarding its consumer relationships. Whilst controlled leaks are now effective, eventually people will stop caring about the hype generated by this. The only reason controlled leaks currently work is because thousands of people are prepared to be vocally opinionated.

This will coincide with the fact that Apple products largely sell themselves off their design. Make no mistake. When Jonathon Ives joined Apple he designed revolutionary ergonomic aesthetically pleasing designs. Like all designs though eventually Apple products will look extremely dated. Their designs have already changed over time but there will be a summit and a drop.

The support for Apple products varies quite a lot. iMacs are typically known to be good for graphic design. Little do many realise that it isn’t actually Apple software used for graphic design, Adobe produce the software. Oh wait. Isn’t Adobe the company that Apple has fallen out with over flash? Oh yes! Can’t Adobe products also be found on Microsoft Windows? Yes! Then why do graphic designers bother buying Apple? I still can’t work this out. You save money by not buying Apple, end up with quicker hardware and an operating system (Windows 7) that has far more support from software companies compared to Leopard.

Conclusion

I’m sure people at Apple are already fully aware of these points and are mind mapping their way out for the future. Apple is a great company but they are not perfect. Their Digital Public Relations strategies are clever, not revolutionary but some flaws still exist. It will be interesting to see how the market continues to change as time goes on.

With HTC products on the rise, Android continually gaining market share and the Windows Mobile 7 launch later this year – competition has never been higher. I just have a feeling that iPhone 4 is below-par this time and the company will lose valuable market share because of this.

The Microsoft Pink Project was first mentioned early last year and at first nobody really knew what it was. The secrecy that has surrounded the Microsoft Pink Project has been immense. Although Microsoft still has 95% of the Operating System market, the company has still not taken hold of the mobile market in the way Apple or Blackberry have.

A couple of days ago the veil of the Microsoft Pink Project was lifted to reveal a new identity, Kin. A family of mobile phones that are to be released by Microsoft this year on the Vodafone network.

Essentially the Microsoft Kin takes social media to a new level. In my opinion it would be unwise to compare the Kin with any other smart phones on the market. The home screen of the mobile presents the user with something called the ‘loop’. A selection of social media accounts which present recent updates. From this screen it is possible to contact your friends.

One of my real problems with websites such as Facebook is the inability for the interface to understand that we have different friendship groups. There is no system of categorization. The updates that my school friends see are the same updates my work colleagues or family can see. Where this problem may become more of a threat is the problem of picture tagging. I’m sure we have all heard horror stories of people not getting employed because of their enlightening online photo collection.

The Microsoft Kin understands these different social groups and allows you to communicate with people accordingly. You can share information with select groups of individuals. Essentially the mobile phone is built focused on how we live our lives rather than what technological eye-candy which can be offered.

Having said that the menu system the Kin uses is completely original. Without actually having used the device yet I cannot comment on the usability but it is different. An array of images and blocks which can be shifted across using the swipe of your finger.

I am so excited to see this device in the flesh and despite its failings (eg. no support for 3^rd party apps) this will continue to bring more competition to the mobile market.

If there were ever an example of parliament not listening then watching the progress of the Digital Economy Bill pass through the House of Lords, House of Commons, to then be granted Royal Assent has to be the pinnacle. The Bill has received much attention from industry experts but was never granted a debate despite the pleas of lobbyists and opposing MPs (ie. The intelligent Ones).

For the hardcore readers among you the full details of the Act can be found here. The Digital Economy Act is aimed to continue upgrading Britain so that we may remain a country focused on digital industry.

The only problem with this, at first, brilliant tribute to securing Britain’s digital age is that the Bill was constructed by out-of-date sage’s and probably money pilfering entertainment bosses. It might be that because the Bill is so up-to-date that it was eagerly nodded through parliament by the people who can only smirk at the digital age before confessing, “I am too old to learn about that”. Don’t think that our political system is full of bright, reasonably, charming people – in many cases we are discussing the very idiots who used to sit next to us in school.

The Bill has two key areas of concern; the ability for OFCOM to get involved online and piracy strategies. Of course the Bill covers many areas such as the future of radio, broadband penetration and the role of Channel 4. As reported by the BBC, “The government says it wants to protect the UK’s creative industries, which it says is under threat from piracy.” It strikes me that the Act will proceed as a double edged sword, both protecting and harming the creative industry.

It is perilously simple to write clauses, a certain strategy of rules which the Act seems to be, but far more complicated to actually carry out procedure. Under the Digital Economy Act copyright holders will be able to complain to ISPs to report illegal file sharing of a user. Such allegations require evidence and such evidence can only mean following the footsteps of a user’s IP. IP stands for Internet Protocol, not Intellectual Property! IP addresses change (although changes are easily tracked) but cannot act as solid evidence. If somebody were to access my wireless router to download copyrighted material illegally then my IP address would show up. Thus insinuating that I should be to blame for the illegal downloading. However, I wasn’t torrenting but the ISP would still label me as a pirate, a hater of the creative industry and I would be charged accordingly.

Such piracy measures are unnecessarily heavy handed and will not protect the industry but instead harm it. It is wrong to label those who ‘illegally’ download as criminals. Stealing a handbag is not the same as downloading copyrighted material. There is ethically a vast difference which supporters of the Digital Economy Act must be blind to understand. In many ways downloading copyrighted material is done by those who love film and music. Perhaps students who don’t yet have enough money to purchase but as they get older, earn money, will built up a huge music or film collection completely paid for. Furthermore, if ‘illegally’ downloading content widens a customer base then technically should cause more sales in the long run. In many ways torrenting could be a great (but uncertain) marketing activity. Extremely counter intuitive in the short term but certainly something that deserves a little bit of research.

We are fortunate that although this Act could potentially leave its mark on the way the United Kingdom use the internet, it will take at least 2 years for anything to happen. Within the Digital Economy Act it has been said that although ISPs will need to mediate between OFCOM and the internet user, that OFCOM will need to write its own industry code for consumers.

In the mean time the internet’s landscape will continue to change. The websites that are popular today will not be the same in 2 years time and new websites shall emerge. This, without a doubt, will leave a written Act looking dated.

The best thing about the Digital Economy Bill is a website that informs you of the vote of your local MPs. Turns out that my local MP (although technically during the dissolution of parliament there are no MPs) in Cheltenham, Martin Horwood, didn’t bother voting for the Bill whilst my local MP in Surrey, Paul Burstow, opposed it. Martin, having not bothered voting, has given me even more of a reason to vote for Mark Coote on the 6^th May.

The Digital Economy Act could be a real threat to the development of the internet. Pushed through parliament by wealthy creative industries without debate. I do not believe the measures within the Act can be fortified in reality. The Act deserves a debate and it is certainly worthwhile for everybody to call for a #deact.

Last month I did a video interview for WinkBall.com when not only did I share my views on the lack of understanding concerning the NUS Vote for Students Pledge but also how social media will play a part in this year’s General Election. Due to the brevity of the interview I wasn’t able to express  in full detail.

Since Labour first came into power in 1997 the country has changed a lot. Industry has changed immensely with many factories closing down and our trading increase as the world becomes a physical global village. Britain is moving towards becoming a leading digital economy. A controversial document at the centre of Britain’s change is the Digital Economy Bill. A document that is suspiciously kind hearted towards the multimedia industry with its piracy clauses and deserves a debate to uncover the consumers’ opinions. Despite this the bill does contain a heap of wondrous ‘developmental clauses’ that will continue to push Britain forward.

Britain has been moving along digitally and technologically for a long time. Too much has happened in the last 13 years to list but I will focus on Facebook and Twitter, both of which were set up in 2006. Both of which could be considered harmless websites for simple, fun, communication. In reality political parties and hardcore supporters will be lathering themselves with all of our posted information to gage the progress of the election battle.

The main battle this general election will take place online. As always, parties will need to tread carefully during this month but this election even more so. We have all seen what happens when many disapproving enthusiastic people meet up on Facebook. In many ways this will be the first digital general election, at least the most influential.

Two of the highest treading hashtags on Twitter will probably be #GeneralElection and #Labourfail. The three main political parties will be tweeting, along with their personable members, local members, supporters, journalists, columnists, celebrity figures and most importantly… us. No doubt about it. Twitter will be a battle ground of opinions and perhaps the occasional fact. I guess the general election on Twitter will be the UKs get-back for all the tedious iPad coverage.

Of course, people like me will be writing silly little blog posts, filled with ill-informed opinion. The most popular blog posts will work their way up Google, the comments on said posts will lead onto other (perhaps lesser known) bloggers and you will find yourself lost in a forest of political opinion. Heck, bloggers have already been given access into Westminster Parliament.

The government is worried about people not voting. In many ways social media will either put people for life off voting or force them into a trolling session to actually brave the great outdoors, away from the computer and tick their piece of paper. That will be a thumb down for that annoying YouTube member.

YouTube is already being used to make fun out of the conservatives, Gordon Brown manages to make fun out of himself and just who is Nick Clegg? Local PPCs are already using YouTube to upload their election videos, along with the website WinkBall.com (which I mentioned earlier) which is one of the main political video hubs to visit.

Due to the realities of modern politics and the social side of social media, there is no doubt in my mind that this election is going to be more of a question of ‘vote for this person’ rather than ‘vote for the party’. The most interesting aspect of social media this election will not just be the tactics implemented but the outcome. Will social media make a positive difference? Does social media portray accurate public opinion?

One of the companies I had an interview with was Microsoft. At 7:15pm last Wednesday I got an unexpected call from a lady at Microsoft informing me that I had managed to get the job.

I have to admit that my reaction on the phone was at first quite hesitant. Shocked! The bad phone signal my end didn’t help. I know that the phone call from Microsoft in the first place should give me a clue if I had got the job or not. In my head I have always seen a phone call as an acceptance and an email as rejection. I know that those forms of contact are not always generally true but that was the way I saw it. Having said that I would hate to have got my hopes up and felt crushing disappointment. Whatever the response I was happy to have heard from Microsoft as it took a weight of my mind.

To submit your CV, complete an online mathematics test, pass through a 45 minute phone interview, then be invited to an assessment day with other candidates and then get the job. These are stepping stones few are able to all tread and I consider myself lucky to have done so.

I’m not entirely sure where the term ‘blue chip company’ comes from. I can only assume that ‘blue chip’ comes from a game of Poker where the blue chip usually holds the highest value. Nevertheless, for my internship next year I never imagined to be working for a ‘blue chip’, possibly the biggest blue chip of all, Microsoft.

Microsoft has decided to select me for a Marketing job. The contract will take a few days to come through but I am literally over the moon.

Little known to Microsoft, when I received their phone call I immediately had to contact another very large, brilliant, company and decline their offer for an interview. So pleased with how everything has worked out and I wish others in my class the best of success as some of them continue searching.

Cheltenham’s social media conference, the #AddMe conference, will play host to some of the country’s most prominent social media speakers.

The conference has been set up by me as part of my role as CIPR Student Representative for the University of Gloucestershire. Open to students and businesses alike the #AddMe Conference aims to tackle the key questions of how to create, manage and utilise relationships online. To highlight the significance of creating relationships online keeps the #AddMe Conference open to a wide range of topics.

The conference will highlight the significance of creating relationships online and will explain the continually adapting communication landscape for industries. The evening will begin with a talk from David Phillips who is an active PR practitioner, has been involved in the communications landscape for 20 years and is the author of three books about online public relations. He will be followed by Alex Sass, named “Best of British: Entrepreneur” by Attitude Magazine and currently heading up the digital team at Renegade Media. He will cover methods of digital PR, social media marketing and a warning to the industry.

The keynote speaker of the evening will be Aren Grimshaw. His roles include lead organiser of the Cornwall Twestival events, founder of Cornwall Social Media Cafe, marketing director of Tonick Media, publisher of Business Cornwall and consultant to a range of clients. He is a regular speaker on the subject of social media and its role within business.

The event will take place at the University of Gloucestershire, Park Campus on Wednesday 10^th March at 7.00pm until 10:30pm. Normal tickets cost £5 and student tickets cost £3 (using promo code STUDENTDISC). Refreshments will be available on the evening.

Further information and ticket sales can be found at: http://www.addme.mikewhite.co.uk/

You can also follow the event on Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/Addmeconf

Originally published in issue 3, vol 10 of Space Newspaper. The University of Gloucestershire’s student newspaper.

It is understandable that when AC/DC stand on stage crowds will emphatically cheer enthusiastically. Not surprising at all. However, I do cringe with an expression that only a cat’s arse can imitate when Google announce a new product to a crowd of developers who respond with more vigour than the standard rock crowd.

The Google I/O Developer conference took place around the end of May this year. As I wasn’t invited I had to watch announcements on YouTube and follow discussions on Twitter. On day two of the conference Google announced their new project, Google Wave. Google Wave has been dubbed ‘The communication tool of the future’ and is headed by project leaders Lars and Jens Rasmussen, the same individuals who led the Google Maps project.

Google Wave was developed within Australia, not the outback but in Sydney. Geeks have been working hard to produce a system which is to rival the current archaic way to send electronic mail and to build a platform with the ability to merge social networks. Taking aspects of many social media sites which we have seen develop in the last 10 years Google have successfully produced a product which is truly breathtaking.

An email, as you will all know, provides you with an address line, subject line and then the message body. Google Wave works by creating new Waves. These could be likened to the message body of an email. You can add users to each Wave conversation by dragging and dropping your contacts to the conversation. The body of the Wave then acts as a giant tool of collaboration. Uniquely in the sense that each body of a Wave accommodates the ability to feature media formats such as picture and video. The days of attaching files to an email are over with the possibility to simple drag and drop content from your computer onto your web browser into a Wave conversation.

To list all the abilities of Google Wave would exceed my word count and would cause me to shake so violently with excitement to cause accident and risk to my housemates. Why Google Wave is better than email in simple respects is down to its format. When you send an email to multiple recipients your message is copied individually to each of them. In Google Wave there is only one copy of the message. Recipients then only respond on that Wave conversation. This keeps conversation consistent, clear and allows for document collaboration.

Those who are users of Windows Messenger will know that when an individual types a message a status appears declaring “so or so is writing a message”. In Google Wave you can see each character being typed of a word. A real time feature which has required a change in scripting standards.

The features don’t stop there. It is possible for each Wave to feature separately built applications. One of which includes an automatic hyperlink feature which notices Twitter accounts and instantly links them to the social network. Another application allows messages to be translated from your mother language to another desired language.

For those who have used the system it is difficult to remember that the whole system is built upon HTML5. What makes the product frustrating for us geeky students is that you can only get a Google Wave account through invitation. The same method Google had in the early days of Google Mail. Fortunately I received my invite last month. If you are interested with anything to do with Google Wave then visit http://wave.google.com.

Back in 2006 publishers and authors gathered together to file a class action lawsuit against Google Books. It is easy to see why, digital downloads are threatening the music industry and books could be perceived to becoming under the same threat. Just as Google revolutionised the way we navigate the internet, they are now assisting the future of books.

Today the Twitter stream is ablaze as Mashable has spread the news of #GoogleNowOffers. Quite simply Google have announced that they have reached “Our groundbreaking agreement with authors and publishers”. In a much needed celebration you can now ‘Download Over a Million Public Domain Books from Google Book in the Open EPUB Format’.

Of course you will no doubt have noticed that Sony released their “Amazon challenger” a couple of days ago. In some circles it has been announced as the Kindle killer. You may have seen my post ‘Future of Newspapers: eReaders?’. Amazon has been working their socks off to try and release the Kindle internationally and Sony have now given them some healthy competition.

So this news of Sony releasing their Amazon challenger, Google offering 1 million books for download, has come just after Sony is to ‘back open e-book format’. Notice a link between these three stories? No doubt Google’s ePub download offerings will be an outcome with an agreement with Sony. Oh wait! Sony and Google have made a deal.

Without any question of doubt I am very excited by this news. Suddenly the Amazon store is over shadowed by Google’s hoarded book collection and the Kindle’s wireless device is now no longer unique. Sony is now said to be in discussions with newspapers to get digital subscriptions sorted. We are truly witnessing history in the making.