Random links… not necessarily about mobile

In fact, not about mobile at all, but more of a case of me keeping a track on what I’m looking at so I can find the links again! But rather than keeping it private, I like to share, so here you go…

Whilst in Spain, I was very spoilt with great coffee every day. You can’t go to a cafe in Spain and have a bad coffee. At least I didn’t manage to with Cafe Cortado coming out tops everywhere. But it’s not always guaranteed here in London. So I’m on a mission to find decent coffee shops and plan to work my way around some of the suggestions on this list here from Time Out. Then pal Carlo Longino of Mobhappy fame pointed me to this recent article from the New York Times so I have even more to check out. Now where’s the app where I can sort out all the places I want to go to at some point rather than the ‘where shall I go to today?’ and ‘what’s near me now?’ type app for my Nexus One or N95 8GB (yes, I’m using both simultaneously – I’m not ready to be weaned off my beloved N95 yet). 

Who knew there were so many legal freebies out there on the interwebz…? Well maybe you did, but I didn’t. This is all news to me. Well, not quite true, I knew it was kinda out there but didn’t know where to find it, but now I do. So I’ve been dipping into some of these selections which are just too good not to share.

http://www.openculture.com/2009/11/free_movies_online.html – I’m a big Cary Grant fan so very pleased to see some of his movies in the list.

http://www.openculture.com/2007/07/freeonlinecourses.html – just a great resource to learn about a huge range of things. No excuse to not expand the mind.

http://www.openculture.com/2006/10/audio_book_podc.html (actually, I’m enjoying some free audiobooks on my Nexus One too with the nattily named Audiobooks application).

http://www.openculture.com/2006/10/foreign_languag.html I say this every year after I’ve been at Mobile World Congress, that I really must learn Spanish. But I’m going to do it. I need to be able to ask for more than a beer, a coffee and some tapas. So I’ll be looking at some of the Spanish options available. It’s going to require some concentration to do this, but I’m willing to give it a go. The challenge will be turning everything else off so I don’t get distracted reading an email or web article in English when I’m listening to Spanish!

Right, back to the grindstone….

Technorati Tags: linkage,coffee,Spanish,language courses,podcasts,audiobooks,free films,Cary Grant,openculture.com

Where mobile meets media…

It’s a big topic. We’re led to believe that the mainstream media world is in trouble with declining advertising revenues and difficulty in matching available revenues with cost of production. And not only that, there’s a whole new world of mobile and social media out there with unclear revenue models. Where do you place your bets? Do you knock down your existing business to create the new one? Do you wait before making your move but risk missing the boat altogether. These are all questions the answers to which are still unclear.

So with this in mind, I’ve pulled together a few links which may help shed some light if you’re mulling these kinds of questions over too.

There’s the FT Digital Media and Broadcasting Conference which was on yesterday and today. Although I’m not there, and despite the distinct lack of women speakers (i.e. only one across two days – Jeez, is this really 2010?! Come on FT.com – you can do better), nevertheless I’m following some of the tweets from it and there are some gems in there. Have a look for the hashtag #FTMedia10 and follow FTDigitalMedia on Twitter. I’m sure there’ll be some news and blog coverage coming out of this conference too, so watch this space.

A *must read* article is this one Understanding the participatory news consumer – a comprehensive breakdown of the latest Pew Internet research showing what the US digital news consumer is up to on their mobile phone. I’m not going to repeat what the article covers, but it shows that mobile internet users access the internet more often than their fixed line counterparts:

“On-the-go news consumers:  Who are they?

The typical on-the-go news consumer is a white male, age 34, who has graduated from college and is employed full-time.  Given their younger profile, it is not surprising that 40% of this group are parents of young children (compared with 30% of the general adult population), and 32% have never been married.  One in three (32%) live in households with incomes of $75,000 or more. As a subset of the broader mobile internet population, on-the-go news consumers reflect many of their characteristics (see table below).

Not surprisingly, on-the-go news consumers maximize their cell phone use.  They are 67% more likely than other cell phone users to text message, more than twice as likely to take pictures with their phones, and four times as likely to use their phones to instant message.  They are also especially heavy internet users—80% of this on-the-go group are online on a given day, compared with just 67% of other internet users—and they engage in activities such as blogging (20% v. 11%), using social networking sites (73% v. 48%), and using status update sites like Twitter (29% v. 14%) at significantly higher rates than other internet users.”

And this topic or where mobile meets media was also on our minds in Barcelona during Mobile World Congress where the UKTI hosted a Mobile Monday London panel session discussing this very topic. Paul Skeldon from Telemedia 360 took some video of it, the highlights of which you can see here. It's in four parts with Russell Buckley, VP of Global Alliances at Admob chairing, and Chris Boden from Lonely Planet, Lucie McLean from the BBC, Steve Ives, CEO at Taptu and yours truly on the panel.

Is Traditional Media Dead?

Is Advertising Dead?

Are Applications Dead?

Will the iPad Save Us?

Paul also covered the panel session in this month’s Telemedia 360’s PDF newsletter which is worth a read if media and mobile is your game. [You can download a free copy from their website.] I am widely quoted in the article but to get the full context, it’s probably best to view the videos *and* read the article too to get the whole picture.

If anyone else out there has interesting links to share around the topic of where media meets mobile, then please do share in the comments below, or email me and I’ll add them to the article.

Technorati Tags: mobile,mobile media,barcelona,mwc10,mobile world congress,Russell Buckley,BBC,Lonely Planet,Taptu

Some links for your delectation

New slides from Comscore’s GSMA Mobile Media Metrics (MMM) Mobile World Congress Seminar http://bit.ly/cXBF4A – good to see this initiative for measuring audiences and mobile marketing and advertising at operator level. One to keep an eye on.

John Strand on Nokia "....Bees don't go for the biggest garden, they go for the most beautiful flowers," http://bit.ly/aQ4t9m – a look at smartphone operating systems and who might win the race. (Thanks to Russell Buckley for the tip-off.)

Is a 21-hour working week a real possibility? Well the NEF seem to think so. And although I missed the event yesterday lunchtime at the RSA, the free accompanying report ‘The 21 hour society’ is worth a read. I’m eagerly awaiting the audio of the event to listen to.

My favourite post about Mobile World Congress 2010 from Tim Green at Mobile Entertainment Magazine ‘The Muggers have got into La Fira and stolen all the minutes from operators’.

Technorati Tags: linkage,mobile,MWC10,MWC,Mobile World congress,Comscore,Nokia

Ada Lovelace Day Potluck Unconference

This sounds like it could be fun. If you’re in London Town on Wednesday 24th March and are interested in helping women do more in technology, then why not join the fun? Maggie Philbin and Suw Charman-Anderson will be on hand to kick start the proceedings and then it’s up to the attendees to chip in with what and who they want to talk about.

The potluck bit also refers to the self-catering aspect of it. There won’t be any refreshments provided but everyone who attends can bring their own food and drink to share.

Schedule

6.00 pm: Arrival, drinks, networking, attendees sign up to talk if you want to.
7.00 pm: Introduction by Suw Charman-Anderson, Maggie Philbin talks about her inspiration
7.15 pm: Unconference! Those who signed up can give a short, 3-4 minute talk about their tech/sci heroine.
8.00 pm: Drinks and networking.

It’s being held at the Centre for Creative Collaboration which is near Kings Cross. Find out more about the event and RSVP here.

Technorati Tags: Ada Lovelace Day,women in technology,events

Is the touch web the new black?

Well maybe. It appears that touch friendly mobile websites are more prevalent than mobile applications. Or at least that’s one of the findings from recent research by the lovely folks at mobile search specialist, Taptu. They have done some sterling research into the touch web and they’ve produced a free report which is a *must-read* if mobile is even 10% of your game as it shows us how important touch-friendly sites are amongst smartphone users. And it’s full of lovely stats, facts and figures. And I know how y’all like those.

As a follow on from that report, Peggy Anne Salz is collating research from all and sundry on their thoughts on the touch web and needs your input – deadline today. Yes, I know I’m a bit slow on this one. I’ve been away you know! Anyway, read a summary of the report and find out how to get involved here.

Technorati Tags: touch web,mobile web,mobile applications,mobile internet,research,report