Steelso V6.0

This time of year you can see a whole lot of tech bloggers go all misty eyed and reflected on what the big thing was in 2007. The iPhone got some love from Time, and the BBC team passed on their thoughts. One thing that I thought was a huge game changer and that I’ve not seen any mention of is inclusion of a flat rate data plan for the iPhone.

Sounds pretty dull doesn’t it?

Mobile data and the way that it’s charged is a bit like the situation that the wired Internet went through 10 years ago. You had to pay a monthly charge (I was with Demon, £15 per month) as well as paying per minute for your phone bill. You could do all sorts of cheeky measures to reduce your cost per minute but it was still a costly affair. One eye on your screen, the other on the clock.

Then came Freeserve. Freeserve was a game changer. No monthly charge, you just paid through your phone bill. If you were on for 5 minutes you were charged for 5 minutes at a very, very low rate. It meant that a whole new audience could go on line, those people who wanted to dabble on-line rather than commit. Internet growth during that time climbed. Then unmetered access through dial up came about but never really took off.

Then came unmetered broadband. And that took Internet usage in the home through the roof. Why? Well the experience was better (freed up your phone line, speed) and as you paid a monthly amount it meant that you could plan what you could spend. Internet connectivity had become a utility service.

Mobile data is still in the early stages. Previously I was on a monthly contract that gave me 5Mb of data free on my phone then charged me about 85p every additional Mb. That could get pretty expensive for me. Though on my Nokia N80 it was hardly the best experience. And getting a wifi connection was painful and then even connecting to it was a nightmare.

Since the introduction of free wifi with The Cloud and connecting my home Internet connection to BT Fon means that I can get pretty good wifi access quickly when needed too. Since moving on to the iPhone data package I’ve saved around £75 of data in a month. This totally changes the way that I’m using data on the move. I’m looking at the screen and not with one eye on the costs. I’m using the mobuile Internet all the time now for updating things, maps, all sorts. It’s pretty liberating.

I’m not sure if O2 are planning to roll this package out to all their calling plans regardless of which phone you’re on. For me it has been a big step for casual computing and the most important step forward in making mobile Internet a real, everyday occurrence, it’s as big as the way that broadband revolutionised Internet use in the home.

Steelso :: Dec.28.2007 :: Thoughts, iPhone :: No Comments »

Nintendo started it all really with the idea of casual gaming, giving a gaming gaming experience to those outside the general gaming stereotype. It worked. Really well with Amazon sell 17 Wii’s every second. When they had them in stock.

So what’s casual computing? For me it’s about doing information related tasks such as catching up with friends, getting directions, etc that can be done through a web browser and eventually will do small transactional tasks such as pay for travel passes, get your coffee, etc. These devices won’t be super powered, they’ll be cheap, have a great screen,  good data connections, almost instant startup times, possibly incorporate GPS and very focussed on their intended tasks. Devices like that kind of exist, most notably the iPhone and the Nokia N800.

After a month with the iPhone I see it as an evolutionary step in the field of Casual Computing. I’m using it more as a easy way to get information. I’m catching up with my Twitter feeds through the browser, viewing Google Reader on it and checking out Facebook through my iPhone rather than firing up my laptop. It’s quicker and a lot more convenient.

None of the websites that I’m viewing carry any ads, the screen and experience has been streamlined to be a quick and easy download. I’m enjoying that but I know it’s a matter of time before the ads are going to be creeping in. It’ll be interesting to see how Google will use location based services to deliver ads based on what I’m looking at and where I am. So if I’m searching for a good pen (which I have been) then it will deliver an ad for a pen company that is in my geographical area rather than just being a company that’s based through the Internet.

It’s not got to the point where I can buy my pen using the iPhone but it’ll happen.  It’ll be so easy to use that my Gran will want one.the blockers that I see are that the devices will be too tricky to use, that there will be a hundred standards that block these devices talking to each other and data coverage will be patchy.

Seems that casual computing will be a talking point in 2008 with Apple leading the charge.  Buzz is going around for a new type of laptop to be launched next year and the always insightful John Dowell talks about Apple wanting to help you get a coffee quicker.

Steelso :: Dec.28.2007 :: Learning, Nintendo, iPhone :: 1 Comment »

I’m a very lucky boy, I have all that I really could wish for and because of that I’m really looking forward to Christmas. I think I have some good presents to give though every Christmas becomes more precious as the kids get older. Danny is already giving the great inquisition about Santa, Jake just doesn’t care. He’s just waiting for the ‘best day of his life’. The Doctor Who Christmas special is already making me and the kids wet ourselves, I’m making custard with the kids tonight and I am definitely the worst gift wrapper in the world. Tomorrow I’m eating everything I love from about 7.30 am. Perfect!

No matter where you are, no matter what you wish for I hope you get everything you wish for this Christmas.

Steelso :: Dec.24.2007 :: Happy :: 3 Comments »

Fun. Vital in an agency both for the team and for the clients. I’ll explain why in a minute.

First though a clarification. My old father has a saying. “Fun’s fun but to hell with nonsense”. To be clear we’re talking about fun. Nonsense has its place but for me and for this entry we’re talking about good, wholesome fun.

I’m a great believer on making learning fun. After all during the most intensive learning period of your life, when you’re getting to grips with language and movement and balance we’re presented with a whole regime of fun, amazement and learning. Learning wrapped in play, in fun.

The older we get the more the fun is replaced. Certainly in my childhood anyway and, to a point, understandably so. It was only when I could chose my own path, when I could get involved in things that I wanted to do did I start to see the fun in things again. And that element of fun, especially when working in theatre doing 15 hours days in not the best of working working conditions, is vital to doing the best that you can. No fun means no enjoyment which means no passion which means no point.Any time that I’ve stopped having fun in my place of work I’ve known that it’s time to move on. It’s a great barometer for me and I’ve been right to move on every time I’ve felt the fun fade away.

Why is fun good for an agency? Apart from the benefits of learning through fun I also believe that having fun is the first step to having passion. If you have fun, enjoy what you do then the next step is having passion. I’ll be going into passion a little later but I don’t feel that you can have passion for something that you can’t have fun about.

Fun also makes more a better working environment. If everyone is stressed and miserable then it doesn’t become a fun place to be. And who wants to be in a place that isn’t fun?

For clients the benefits of an agency that embraces fun are huge. Firstly I believe that creativity stems from fun. You can be creative while being serious but never if you’re not enjoying what you do. Also I feel that clients enjoy having fun about their brand. of course their objectives are serious, it can mean heads on the line, but if you can have in coming up with a creative solution to meet those objectives the likelihood is that the client will have more of a buy-in to those solutions.

You can’t have passion without fun which is why fun is so important to the workplace. You having fun? Does your job suffer if you do have fun? Is your job fun and if not, why not?

Steelso :: Dec.24.2007 :: Good Agency :: 3 Comments »

This isn’t coherent. It’s a brain dump. I apologise, I may come and edit it as I go but at the moment… Well you’ll have to read on…

Just to recap recently we had an away day at Equator and James did a bit about the elements that he felt make Equator a great agency. I reflected on this and thought I’d add my thoughts. I’m certainly not saying the Equator are the only agency that have have these elements or that it is just digital agencies. I just want to explore it further and hopefully see if you agree no matter what line of work you do.

In a lot of ways the theme that of ‘Obsessive Insight’ surprised me. Not that I didn’t believe it, more that it was something that I knew but wasn’t aware of. Thinking about it for a couple of days it seems very, very obvious.

To do your best work you have to be curious. And that curiosity has to stretch into a whole range of areas. In a digital agency you have to be curious on technology, on advertising, on people, on clients, on your colleagues, on how your kids use the Internet, how your Gran uses the Intertubes, looking at new things, looking at old things. The list goes on and on. You need to stick your nose in and learn.

In a lot of ways obsessive insight is what makes a comedian great. Any great comedian will use obsessive insight to present something that’s everyday, almost mundane and then make it new, fresh and funny. Billy Connolly is a genius at that, Eddie Izzard is also in that same league.

Those extremely talented guys give us insight into everyday things that make us laugh. An agency’s job is to be as talented in providing insight to their clients. Our job is to show a client that something that seems to them everyday, mundane and give them an insight that makes astonished. And to get that insight you have to be curious, you have to be interested and it certainly helps if you love your job.

An example? Well, one of the most recent examples of great insight comes from the recent Sainsburys campaign (thanks for the great article NP) that focuses on an overall objective, learning about their customers then creating a campaign that would engage them. The beauty of the Sainsburys campaign is that it seems such a simple idea, so obvious. It’s the insight that makes it so.

Working in digital gives you a great opportunity to pour over details. We get so much stats about users, referrals, time on site, CPA, OR, etc, etc, etc. This is all good, it gives an insight. However you have to understand people to make the stats come alive, to give you real insight. Stats tell you what people have done but they tend not to tell you why they did it. For that you need insight.

One of the most exciting parts of my job is that I get to learn about new industries, new approaches in other comapnies. By offering insight we can be part of an overall solution. I’ve got a great opportunity at the moment to learn more and more about our clients. I’m reading blogs about their sector, I’m getting Gogole Alerts about what they’re up to, I’m looking at new thinking. I love it, I’m throwing myself into it becuae the more knowledge I have the more insight I can provide our clients and the greater the chance that I can make them astonished. Great job. Love it.

So. What about you? What you thinking?

Steelso :: Dec.18.2007 :: Good Agency :: 3 Comments »

This really serves as an introduction to a five posts I’m going to write that have been inspired by our away day last week. In a number of ways this probably just isn’t just about what makes a good agency but what makes a good workplace. I’m also not suggesting that you’re going to get any great insights but I really felt energised about the presentation last week and wanted to explore them in a little more detail.

I’d like also to get your views on the points I’m making. Equator listed four things that make a great agency and I’m adding one more. It starts tomorrow!

And Olivia Newton John makes me go funny in my head.

Steelso :: Dec.11.2007 :: Good Agency :: 1 Comment »

It really has been a great time to start work at Equator. Yesterday was the company’s away day and rather than the usual ra-ra-ra about targets and motivation and all that it was a good grounding in the company, its values and its principals. It was pretty inspirational stuff and I was delighted/relieved that the company had the same values as myslef.

The next few posts are goign to be about these values. Firstly because I think they spread across any company, not just a digital agency and secondly because I feel like I’ve taken these values or granted and I want to explore them a little.

Finally I’m going to be making some changes to the blog probably starting in the new year. Nothing too crazy, juts trying to get a focus on what I want to write and why I want to write. I enjoy writing, I find it a good way to clear the head but I need to put some focus on what I do here and why I do it. Going to do some work on that over the next couple of weeks but if you have any suggestions or ideas on what you want to see here please leave a message in the comments.

Steelso :: Dec.08.2007 :: Equator :: 1 Comment »

To celebrate the festive season the team at Equator created a cheeky wee sing song. Over the next wee while have a look at our little Christmas Celebration.

I’m giving a sort of 10 day review of my time at Equator on Sunday. It’s a great place, I really think that I’ve “come home”. Part of the reason is things like our little Christmas thing. I’ll write more on this later.

Steelso :: Dec.07.2007 :: Equator :: 2 Comments »

I’ve had my iPhone now for 10 days. Overall I love the phone, I love the simplicity. I was shown how to work my new work Blackberry the other day and it scared me, it all seemed so tricky and complicated. My mind is now melded into a lovely, push icon simple mushosity and having to go back into menus and obtuse iconography makes me feart.

That’s not to say it’s not perfect. No way. It’s tiny things, small details that annoy me. What frustrates me more is that some of the details of the iPhone are amazing. Things that are currently ripping my knitting are:

• Lack of multi send on SMS.  Never thought I used it before I noticed I couldn’t do it on the iPhone.
• Safari crashes quite often as does the iPod software. Very annoying.
• Camera isn’t great. Not that I take a lot of images with any camera phone but I really don’t like the camera
• SMS takes an age to access for some reason
• No copy and paste. Again not a big deal until you find you can’t do it.
• Lack of to-do syncing between iCal and iPhone
• Notes is just way to awkward to use and I’m not entirely sure you can sync between iPhone and Notes on my Macbook
• The EDGE network isn’t brilliantly fast, I miss my 3G.
• It’s not the Internet if I can’t use Flash or Java

I could go on. But all these issues are tiny compared to the actual joy of being able to read Google Reader anywhere. I love the fact that I can catch my messages while listening to music or not if I go into Airplane Mode. I am now viewing all my constant websites via iPhone specific versions which is fine and actually preferable than their fully inflated big brothers. I adore how easy it is to share a call, I had Sam on the line and Sean on another line so we could both congratulate him on his new job. It was great. And easy.

So do I recommend one? Yes. Yes. If you have the money. If you use a lot of Internet on your phone (I’ve saved a fortune thanks to the unlimited data plan and lovely wifi coverage, at least £25 in 10 days), if you like gadgets and if you enjoy the new then yes. That’s not a great, overwhelming reason I know but it is good enough to me. It’s just joyous. And, as another gadget fiend put it more eloquently than I, that just can be enough.

Steelso :: Dec.02.2007 :: iPhone :: 1 Comment »