USEFUL OUTLOOK TIP..

Now here's a strange thing. And a problem. And a solution to the problem.

All in one blog post.

Can't be bad?

I use Outlook to collect my work emails like a lot of people. Today I created a message and saved it to the draft folder as I wasn't sure I wanted to send it (it was a rant!).

Then I carried on working. Something went wrong and I had to restart my PC.

When I loaded up Outlook all was ok and I was happily receiving and sending out mail. However, when I clicked on the 'Drafts' folder where the saved message was it froze Outlook.

The only way out was to hit Ctrl+Alt+Del and force the Outlook process to end. It did the next time. And the next time.

Stuck in a loop (even after another reboot) I didn't want to not have access to the drafts folder. I often save messages down to calm off and then decide whether to send them or not!

A solution was found. If you are ever in the same pickle you need to know it (if not stop reading now obviously, but remember where you saw this issue last!).

The solution is to start Outlook in safe mode. By that I mean
go to the start menu (bottom left)
select Run...
type "outlook.exe /safe" (without the quote marks!)

Then you should be able to navigate to the offending folder and delete the offending message. Don't forget to then go to the 'Deleted Items' folder and delete it a second time - if you don't it is likely that next time you go to the deleted items folder to clean out your system Outlook will crash once again.

Solution disseminated. Good deed done for the day. I'm off to the pub.
 

MERCEDES CHICKEN CLASS

The title of the blog just about says it all really. 

Mercedes. Chicken. Class.

Class engineering that is.

Such a great ad concept.. Mercedes engineers observe the natural world and incorporate it into their suspension/body control.


Got to hand it to German engineers.. ENJOY!
(& thanks to Mrs P for the link!)

Advert details
Advertising Agency: Jung von Matt/Neckar, Stuttgart, Germany
Executive Creative Director: Peter Waibel
Creative Directors: Robert Herter, Lukasz Brzozowski

Art Director: Lucas Osis
Production: BIGFISH

Director: Daniel Warwick

And here is the youtube video that shows the latest S Class technology that came from studying chickens..

iOS7 - Iconic?

Before I start on this iOS stuff, I'd like to put a plug in for a great Blog that should interest any of you that have any feelings whatsoever for Manchester. Manchester UK that is, not Manchester, Ontario or Manchester, New Hampshire or any other part of the world that shares a city or town with the same name. 

It's called Skyliner. Written by someone I don't know personally but regularly read - great stories of little known parts of the city, buildings and long lost moments. If you live in Manchester, I'd say you need to have a browse through it. It will change your view of the city.

So, on with iOS7.

The download? Where to begin?

I know I live on a far flung hill, high above Manchester and the internet connection is as good as it gets for the peace and quiet it affords (actually not so bad these days at 1 Mb+ down) but how long?????? It took from 8pm last night to 11:30 for the upgrade to come in and install itself. You have been warned.

As you can imagine I was expecting a fanfare when it re-booted and some sort of dancing ladies show.

The very first thing I really liked about iOS7 is the fact that they have enhanced 'Find My iPhone' - the iPad I use cannot now be reset or cleared without using the password that only I know. I'm sure there will be ways around it for the most hardened thief and their gangs, but if you ever lose or have your device stolen it should serve to make accounts secure for a while longer whilst you go in and reset the passwords.

Didn't get the fanfare though.

However, the icons and the colour gradients are (mostly) beautiful. Operating systems have long been stuck in trying to make every icon and menu item look as shiny as possible with eliptical layers but not iOS 7. Instead they have gone arty and 'flat'. Gradients and colour phasing is everywhere. I like it I must say. Here's an example.

They have also simplified the look of almost all icons too. I'd say successfully. Some might take some getting used to, but in large part, they are still very obvious what they relate to though one or two are too simplistic and miss the point. Example 2 here clearly is about Videos? 

But why oh why didn't they include a play symbol like all other video/mp3 icons everywhere on the web? After all, the play button has been around a long long time.

That would surely be better?

One icon I really REALLY (get it Google?) don't like now is the one for Google Chrome that I use rather than Safari - being mainly a PC user and having an Android phone - it has a white background and when sat on the quick launch bar at the bottom simply looks out of place. I'm sure that will change quickly.

SHAPE SHIFTING - OR AT LEAST A LITTLE NUDGE?

The one change that I didn't get straight away was the fact that someone has come up with a great idea to slightly shift the background image if you move the iPad. This creates a 3D illusion effect. Just as 3D TV is going out of fashion (did it ever really come in?) Apple have decided to bring their home screens to life. I like it, not necessary, but aesthetically very pleasing. Design for designs sake almost - not my usual reaction to this - but I just keep finding myself wriggling the iPad slightly to witness the effect. It is probably better on my setup as I have a close up photo of grafitti on a wall so the icons literally look like stickers on the wall. With a photo of a cute dog or a family snap it probably doesn't work?

USEFUL NOTIFICATIONS - AT LAST!

Apple had never managed to match Android on the use of notifications but iOS 7 now allows you to swipe the alert from Facebook or Gmail and go straight to the app. Finally, don't just tell me about it, let me do something about it.

The notification panel is a bit too much for me, but I'm sure some will really like the integration - and apparently it is better on the iPhone with missed calls/texts etc. I like the inclusion of weather - though it isn't a patch on Android tablet offerings to be honest.

The bottom swipe panel is also much much improved. Now you can swipe on the iPad and turn bluetooth or wi-fi on and off quickly rather than having to resort to settings all the time.

The AppStore or clunkily named iTunes Store 'look and feel' is brilliant - you can tell this is where they make that recurring income!

There's more, much more - like the ability to shoot square Instagram friendly photos... I'll be back to review the deeper things I find in a few days time.

ANNOYING WEB ADS...

I posted a few years ago about how to block most ads from messing up the pages you were browsing..

Time moves on, the advertisers find new ways of annoying us. So, it's time to take a refreshed look at the best sites and methods to get the most out of the web without being tempted to spend on your credit card...

Let's make one thing clear - there are two aspects to protecting yourself from adverts. Turning off the ads is one thing, but some like to be sold everything connected to where they've been. So, the second aspect is managing cookies. Ads very rarely appear when you are browsing these days without a knowledge of what else you have been doing on the web. This information they get from cookies stored silently on your browser hardware (phone, pad or PC etc).

In what follows I will take you through blocking ads. But turning off various cookies is a more powerful way of browsing and for that you need to review my earlier post - which I have summarised in the dark box at the bottom..

1. AD BLOCKING

GOOGLE CHROME
Ad blocking is free if you know where to go and what browser settings to look for.. I mainly use Google Chrome for every day web browsing. It has a third party extension called AdBlock Plus - when loaded you can make it as complicated as you want with subscriptions to 'ad blocking lists' that others have put together.. The link for that library of useful content is here. If you go to the Spanner / Tools / Extensions menu in Chrome you will see AdBlock Plus there once installed. Click Options and you can set which AdBlock list to use - the default will be English ads and some basic setup blocks. If you browse Italian, French or other language sites regularly that's where to use the drop down list and add the regional filter for your language.

AdBlock is also available to install for Firefox and Safari (for you Mac and iPhone users).

The best feature of AdBlock is that if it ever misses an Ad and it creeps onto your browser, you can right-click on the ad and select "AdBlock Plus: Block image"; this will allow you to create a custom filter blocking that ad and ads similar to it.

FIREFOX
Firefox is the easiest browser to block ads in because of its massive support for add-ons. The only setting up you need to do with AdBlock Plus is select the adblocking filter you want to use - these are pre-defined lists according to where the browser is being used - or technically where it's being pointed at. English ad blocking won't block Chinese ads for example.

You need to select one of the filters to use. Unless you know what you are doing, just leave it at "EasyList" and click "Add subscription". You do this by following the menu list: "Tools" -> "AdBlock Plus Preferences..." -> "Filters" -> "Add Filter Subscription..."  It should install with EasyList and English subscriptions. Leave it like that unless you really do browse a lot of other language sites.

Right clicking is available in Firefox as already covered in the Chrome section above.

Some Firefox users install a plug in called NoScript. This is not really the correct way to block ads - it blocks all java and scripts running in the browser window. That's not good as a lot of websites still use javascript code to make your experience better. I use it on some sites I've done to generate fading images for example. If you switch it off, you'll only ever see the first one!  Lot's of sites use it to generate games boards, user feedback and things to play with whilst on site. You will only be getting a half of what they thought you might like by blocking their scripts..

INTERNET EXPLORER
If you have Internet Explorer then blocking ads is a bit more complicated as Explorer has no AdBlock Plus-like plugin.Plug-ins do exist for IE but the free ones are nowhere near as good as in other browser technologies.


Internet Explorer's InPrivate Browsing - the mode that makes sure no browsing data is stored on your computer - has a feature that allows users to filter content. This filter can be used to block ads. A user on DSLReports forum created an XML file out of AdBlock Plus's list of ads to block and this XML file can be imported into InPrivate Browsing's content filter.

This filter uses AdBlock Plus's filter list so you will be blocking the same ads as people using other browsers with AdBlock Plusd installed. Neither do you have to be in InPrivate Browsing mode for the ads to be blocked. Ads will be blocked like normal as long as you have "InPrivate Filtering" enabled ("Safety" -> "InPrivate Filtering").

The biggest hassle is that you must turn on "InPrivate Filtering" every time you run Internet Explorer. For me, it's just too much hassle and you are likely to forget. If you insist on this route there is a registry hack to enable InPrivate every time IE is run - google it and you'll find, it's much too complicated for this blog and the sapace I have here..

OPERA

Opera is a bit like IE. Blocking ads has up to now been quite complicated.

Before Opera 11 the best way to block ads was to use the browser's built in content blocker (similar to IE's InPrivate Filter) and an add-on to block Flash ads specifically. However, ever since Opera introduced extensions (Opera 11 onwards) third party developers have started making add-ons available. Opera Adblock is one of the most popular.

Opera Adblock makes it extremely easy to block ads. Similar to Adblock Plus for Firefox and Adblock for Chrome, Opera Adblock uses ad filter lists to block the ads. In fact, it uses Fanboy and EasyList which are the same as AdBlock Plus. The best part is it is extremely easy to setup and use - just install Opera Adblock from Opera's extensions website and you are automatically covered.

That's about it. Hope you find this guide useful.

2. COOKIE CUTTING

The DART cookie used by Google is the widest used cookie you'll probably want to switch off - so check the link in the dark section below (towards the bottom).
____
Here's the original anti advertising links if you can't find them:

Ads on the web are served to your browser based on a number of settings and your location, history of other websites you've visited etc.  Basically, tailoring ads to your preference.

Or that's how the advertisers like to market their tracking tactics, always watching where you've been and which sites you use.

Now I'm not paranoid and I'm happy to share my recent web history with everyone (on most days at least!) but the use of tracking cookies to tailor ads - or make more money for the advertisers - sits a little uneasy with me.

There is a light at the end of the ad tunnel.  You can frustrate their efforts!

Most (reputable) ad serving businesses allow you to opt out of the tracking cookie and therefore of targeted ads that are much more likely to lure you in.  No matter how web experienced you are, and how many browser add-ons you install ads will still get through and you will click on one at some point. It's just the way of the web.

So, here's where the main ad-tracking opt out sites are for (mainly my) info..

Doubleclick's DART cookie opt out page

   this is the one owned by Google and therefore the most widely used on the web.

   Go there, have a read, click the bottom link if you want to cookie-block.

24/7 Real Media Opt Out page

   A large network, useful to opt out of this one.

Network Advertising Initiative Opt Out page

   One of the larger opt out networks, a network of networks really.

   From here you can opt out of many many different ad networks.

   After Google, the most useful opt out page on the web.

Problem with all this activity though is that you need to re-do all the opting out if you clear your browser's cookie/history files.. bah!

If you use Firefox (and if you don't see an earlier post!) or IE (why?) then life is easier to block the DART cookie at least - go to the Google Permanent Opt Out download.

Unfortunately, Google Chrome users cannot use this opt-out for obvious reasons that Google don't want you ruining their commercial value.

3D EVERYTHING??

We are now used to having an enormous amount of data in our pockets.  The iPhone has boosted this enormously, and Android users are adopting GPS based mapping, location tweeting and facebook check-in's too.

I happen to think mapping related software is brilliant. I would, I use a high end Geographic Information System (GIS) almost every day in my work to visualise data and inspect options for putting together reports for my clients. It is often much better than Excel and pie or bar charts. Though those that know me, know I do like pork pies... oh, that sort of pie.. focus Polko..

Otuside of the world of work and expensive computers and software, it doesn’t matter where you are in the world a handheld GPS or phone can find stuff. Quickly. (except in one of Britain's many wi-fi/data blackspots of course!).

We are all used to Google maps on our notebooks, tablet PCs and desktops too. I also use these at work extensively, and have started to explore Bing maps as these seem to be a little better visually. Give it a go. See what you think. The 3D rendering on Google Maps and Google Earth are generally good – although sometimes the light makes for a poor photo and lack of clarity in tight city and town centre fly overs.

However, a new development by Apple is on its way - the new maps on the iPhone and pads etc will be available in 3D format. See the video here for an example, a video fly-through of Oslo. The 3D mapping has been created from fusing satellite data, photographs and - it being Apple - some head-working crazy algorithms for height and depth information.



So, for those that are looking for the next big thing to show off to friends, or those who can't quite read a flat map (and there are too many of you out there!!!), you don't have long to wait before Apple gives you another helping hand.  I'm sure Google will follow very quickly.

WINDOWS 7...

Slowly getting there with Windows 7 that all our new workstations have.  I was looking forward to an all new 64-bit operating system that would whizz along and cause little problem. We bought and installed massive graphics cards, the machines had 6 Gb memory and quad-core CPUs.  Real monsters.

..but then the machines arrived.

To be fair, it's not been all that bad.  The updating process worked a little odd.  A few times the machines seemed to hang on the Windows logo when they were started up? A hard reset was needed by pushing the on-off button and holding.  Next time the machine would boot ok after checking the hard drive for error. Odd but not critical.

One of the main issues we had was that the graphics look and feel was poor for our use.  We are power users and want to simply get to the files we use rather than see all the animations and whizzy Aero interface that Windows 7 ships with as standard.  So switching off Aero and choosing Windows Standard is always going to give you a better performance however much RAM and however good your graphics cards are.  I'd recommend it, it gave us back oodles of RAM!

The Windows 7 OS seems to run a whole heap of services that most will never need though.  It's here that the main speed and performance tuning can be done.  So, here's a list - for our sakes as well as yours - of all the services that are probably unnecessary in Windows 7.  The choice is whether to DISABLE or switch the service to MANUAL (hence it is not run on Windows start-up). Your choice.  afely set to Manual or Disabled.


It is more safe to set Windows 7 services to manual rather than disabling them - some times windows may needs a service due to a new install or something new that you are attempting to do.  It can start it by itself only if it is set to MANUAL. If you disable the service altogether Windows 7 cannot start it.

1. Application Experience
2. Computer Browser (If your PC is at home & does not connect to a network)
3. Desktop Window Manager Session Manager (If you don’t want the aero effects)
4. Diagnostic Policy Service
5. Distributed Link Tracking Client
6. IP Helper
   
7. Offline Files
8. Portable Device Enumerator Service
9. Print Spooler (If you do not use a printer)
10. Protected Storage
11. Remote Registry (You can safely disable it for more Security)
12. Secondary Logon
13. Security Center
14. Server (Mainly home users - where PC does not connect to a network)
15. Tablet PC Input Service (unless you have a tablet PC!)
16. TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
    
17. Themes ( If you want Aero and good visual appearence (classic theme will be applied))
18. Windows Error Reporting Service
19. Windows Media Center Service Launcher
20. Windows Search (If you rarely use Windows Search feature )

Go ahead, experiment. Do try and remember which service you are switching and test each one as you step through.  That way, no harm can come your way.

99 PROBLEMS...

 
A growing trend on the web / social media globe is the 99% website.

It's a tumblr blog that hosts people who upload a picture of themselves and their pitiful downtrodden story of how life's hard at the moment.  You get the idea... The website intro says it all, including..

"We are the 99 percent. We are getting kicked out of our homes. We are forced to choose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care. We are suffering from environmental pollution." and other moans.

There's been a lot of press coverage of the blog and how it's a great example of social media enablement of 'the people', ordinary people who want to tell their story and make their voice heard. The 99% of people who do. Apparently.

Trouble is, not many people are listening.  Neither are 99% of people so motivated to try and stand up for things around their world.  We see this every day - how soon the UK riots and the issues they threw up have been buried into the midst of time?

There's a good analysis of it on The Economist's own blog site here.  Basically showing how people are very ready these days to find the facebook page and hit the 'like' or 'become a fan' button.  By doing so, they think that they are making their mark in history.   In actual fact they are probably just making one Mark a very rich man by adding to the masses of data that facebook hold on everyone's likes and dislikes - valuable data to sell on to those who want to sell us something.

A better indicator of social concern the article argues is the #hashtag trend.  If people on twitter are marking up their posts with a specific hashtag, then that must be an indicator of rising popularity. Trouble here too though as people change the hashtags as things get subjectified.  What started as #UKriots might become #Manchesterriot or #riotpictures #rioterspics #cleanuptheriots etc etc  The trend moves and becomes less easy to follow as time evolves.

The 99% website may be better.  To upload you have to upload your photo, type your story into the browser and have in the pic your story actually written in ink (shock horror).  Not many of the pics are in legible writing of course given that they are mainly from people who spend 99% of their time tapping on keyboards rather than with pen in hand (I must also take some of the rap for being like that these days - though anyone who went to school with me will tell you my writing is and always has been pretty crap - left handed you see, that's my story and I'm sticking to it).

So, if it picks up the pace.  If 99% of people do make tracks there and start writing about how their life is crap, it might just make it as a social phenomenon. Me, I'm not putting any money on it.

WAVEJET mini jet pod ?

  

Here's an (at first) interesting concept..

It's called the Wavejet and it looks like this..

A jet-powered surfboard can add between 6 and 10 knots to your speed in water along with 7 kilograms of extra weight, which is not always a bad thing in the water. The extra speed when surfing seems a bit unnecessary with the kinetic energy of a wave, but if you are interested in paddling a long distance - to surf a specific spot that has no beach access or to make it out past impossible breakers for example - this PWP (personal water-propulsion) device might just come in handy. Steve Walden, shaper and craftsman of longboards (some know him as 'the father of the modern day longboard'!) says, “WaveJet’s propulsion drive will dramatically enhance when, where and how we surf due to conditions and location."

The Wavejet can be built-in to nearly any flotation device with enough flat surface area, including stand-up paddleboards, rescue boards, kayaks and even boat tenders. The unit is powered by a lithium ion battery pack with twin drives, unlike the dangerous internal-combustion engine propellers of motorized surfboards from the past. It’s capable of 20 pounds of thrust, has a continuous run-time of over 30 minutes, activated through a wireless wrist controller and recharges in a standard wall socket.

Wavejet inventor Mike Railey of Del Mar California breaks it down like this..

Q. What is the technology that WaveJet is built on?
A. Patented Personal Water Propulsion (PWP) technology invented in the US is a revolutionary, one-of-a-kind system. It’s a clean, quiet, battery-powered miniature jet drive that can be plugged into any WaveJet-ready personal watercraft, including surfboards, standup paddle boards, kayaks, inflatable’s, belly boards, DPVs and operated with a wireless controller (wrist).
Q. How fast is a WaveJet?
A. Manufacturers will be able to offer boards that run about an hour and fifteen minutes and those pods will have a top speed of about 6 mph. There is also a higher performance pod with a top speed of 10 mph that will have a run time of about 40 minutes.
Q. How much does a WaveJet weigh?
A. A WaveJet pod will add about 14 lbs to a surfboard. Surfers that are testing WaveJet powered boards say they love the additional control and balance they get from the additional weight. If you think about it, boards float on water, so once you put 20 lbs of thrust in a board, weight becomes your friend and the WaveJet becomes your jet powered assist.
Q. How does a rider control the board?
A. We put leading edge wireless technology developed by WFS Defense into an oversized wrist control. The system is very unique because the signal must travel under water. If you fall off your board the WaveJet powers off.

$3,500 though. Guess the beaches won't be stock full of people riding along on the Wavejet just yet?


more info at www.wavejet.com
 

SIMPLE IDEAS..

  
I have woken up with three presentations in my mind for the end of the month.. at least!

Trouble is.. I only need one.  If I have the time, this is going to be great.  I'll just do all three and then see which works best on friends or something.

But the theme is the same, the style is the same.  Very very simple story, translate the simple story into whatever the audience needs to know.  Three or four simple rules or lessons that are the same for the story as they are for the audience.

That's it. Nice and simple.

And the tool to get it across - again if I have the time - is not going to be Powerpoint.  A friend nodded me in the direction of prezi.com last week and I'm real impressed by it.

Take a look at an example presentation here.

Death of PowerPoint (PrometisDesign.com) on Prezi

And another simple thing - in the vain of 'each one teach one'which if you do know me I am forever chanting is the following product I picked up the other day.  Simple. Brilliant.

Have four on charge and looking good.  Quick search on any amazon shop should bring them up.  Costco are also selling them for £9.99 for four.
  

HERE'S A PREZI...

  
Powerpoint is dead. Long live prezi.

Prezi is a new presentation system - anyone can use it after thinking through what you want to say. I'm completely converted and looking forward to the gasps and awe of people I present to (lol).

Here's a great example with a great content.

The root cause of our failed economy on Prezi

The one thing I like about this though is it will make someone with little to say look a complete fool!

At the end of the day, a good presentation is one that is delivered by somebody with something to say and who knows their onions.  It'll sort the fakers from the gurus this. I like!
  

GOOGLE DOODLE DO.. OR DON'T?

 
Now the warm weather is back with us. Well, warmer weather at least.  The question must be asked.  Are Google running out of ideas?

I don't mean the entire google organisation.  I'm sure they are brimming over with new ideas for us all - Google this and Google that.  I am referring to the people at Google Doodle.  These are the group (or maybe just one person) who Google pay (I'm sure handsomely) to sit and dream up new variations on their logo for the main search pages of the world.

But I have noticed this week that they have been playing around with the Google logo to celbrate Jules Verne's 183rd birthday and today it's the turn of Thomas Edison, who if he had managed to invent a time freeze machine would today have been 164.  Although he wouldn't would he because time would have frozen and I assume he would be as old as he was when he invented the machine? Anyway.. here they are..

Now I love Google Doodle's and think they serve a useful purpose of edutainment, but the point is these are not really valid celebratory events are they?

True I would celebrate if I made it to my 164th birthday.  But my guess is nobody else would care too much?

So, come on Google less is more.  Surprise us, entertain us, amuse us even.  But please don't start changing your logo just because you've found some obscure relevance to the day..

 

WHAT A DIFFERENCE..

  

..a day makes?

I have set up my Google home page with a widget that tells me on this day plenty of events happened in history..

1791:     Bill of Rights adopted

1890:     Sitting Bull killed while being arrested

1891:     Canadian J. Naismith invents basketball

1892:     Oil magnate and author, J Paul Getty born in Minneapolis, Minnesota

1994:     Netscape Navigator 1.0 released

Anyone remember Netscape Navigator 1.0?  I do, it revolutionised my life at the time, massive improvement in graphics rendering for the few pictures that were out there on the web.  Great search box. Oh those days....

The other stuff is, as usual, very USA-centric.  If anybody knows of a good widget that reports 'on this day in history..' global info drop me a line.  There's also a lot of USA based ones for Android devices and, I am sure, for the Apple iPhone too.

I should, of course, go out and write the app!

15 minutes of fame and all that.

But I probably won't.

 

ONE GIANT LEAP?

  
Today has been a day of waiting.  Waiting for my hearing to come back - which it didn't.  Waiting for the postman - who decided to turn up at the completely inconvenient hour of 2:30 given he had a cheque I wanted to bank today.  Waiting for a new BIG announcement from facebook. Which they delivered at around 18:30 our time.

The latter is probably about as important as life today gets.. so I'll just re-gurgitate from a site I've just read it on.

----

Facebook announced a new e-mail service today called "Messages," though they're insisting that it's not e-mail.

We are also providing an @facebook.com email address to every person on Facebook who wants one. Now people can share with friends over email, whether they're on Facebook or not. To be clear, Messages is not email. There are no subject lines, no cc, no bcc, and you can send a message by hitting the Enter key. We modeled it more closely to chat and reduced the number of things you need to do to send a message. We wanted to make this more like a conversation.

The service will also be organized around your friends, putting their e-mail, or messages or whatever, into one inbox, and everything else into another. A different version of Google's "priority inbox" they introduced recently. Facebook is also saying they will store all your messages, forever, from whatever source, be it SMS, chat or e-mail.

I'm intensely jealous of the next generation who will have something like Facebook for their whole lives. They will have the conversational history with the people in their lives all the way back to the beginning: From "hey nice to meet you" to "do you want to get coffee sometime" to "our kids have soccer practice at 6 pm tonight."

They're going to be rolling out the service over the next few months, you have to wait for an invite, and then you'll be able to invite your friends. Now we get to see who Facebook thinks is important.

I'm waiting on my invite then. Come on FB!!

 

PLAYING SAFE...

 
Only a little post today, call it a Public Information Film web-style...

If you are not using the latest versions of internet browser, you’re putting yourself at risk. Most banks, PayPal, gmail and most other web-based email providers all support the next generation of web browsers.  These have anti-phishing technologies built in. The new generation of browsers make it easier to spot web forgery of sites id's (“phishing”) and alert or block you from entering personal information that could lead to identify theft.

Firefox 3 upwards, Google Chrome and the latest versions of Internet Explorer (version 8+) have built-in features that alert you when you're on a fraudulent site. This means if you accidently click on a fraudulent email, or mis-type a site address you'll be alerted and warned before the page opens.

To check whether you are using the latest version of Firefox, Chrome or Internet Explorer click the browser's 'Help' button and select 'About'.  It should be Firefox version 3.x or above or Internet Explorer version 8 and above.

If not, you are ready for an upgrade, you should download a latest browser technology...

Since I use Firefox and think it eats Internet Explorer for breakfast... here's a link to that download.

There's nothing wrong with Chrome either (only I didn't really like the first generation version I tried out so a link is not here!).  Feel free to google that and download if you want to. Just do something and update!
  

TWIT ON TWITTER?

For those that haven't yet found me.. I am now also on Twitter.

• Your username: iPolkoPolonsky
• Your profile: http://twitter.com/iPolkoPolonsky

Though I must say I am beginning to think it a bad idea, one more account to track, edit, update and check on...

Digital life is hard work!

AUGMENTING REALITY..

Years ago (and it is years now) if you used a computer, you sat at your PC desk somewhere at work or at home and typed away, pushed your mouse around and generally enjoyed face-to-screen interaction. And that was it.

Early adopters or people who were always pushing boundaries then bought a webcam and in the late 90s a whole host of websites sprang up using cameras to show a virtual peep-hole into another users world (actually webcam sites were among the first things I was turned on by on the internet back in 90/91 when the web was little more than an academic network - in those days it was all weather cams and vending machines). I had lunch with a friend of mine last week and he told me he'd still got the webcam on a stick that we used to set up our first rooftop cam site in 1997.. fond memories..

Then came the rise of the notebook and portable was everything.

Then mobile cellphones appeared and data was inside them too, directions to the nearest pizza takeaway beamed direct into our hands wherever we may be.

And then we get to Augmented Reality, AR, a concept that started out in high end research in the early 90s, mostly engineering applications - overlaying data onto schematic drawings or photographs to label up parts, explore design adjustments, etc

These days augmented reality is fast becoming part of real reality, so much that most people haven't stopped to think about this. Layers of data and information are where it's at on mobile phones, Google Earth applications and even on adverts where computer generated images blend seamlessly with real world car adverts or children playing alongside animated characters on ads for crisps or drinks. In my business we could overlay data onto property development photos in an interactive format - now there's an idea! Kids know all this stuff already of course. Playstation and Wii cameras allow them to drop into the game as if their middle name was Tron (not that they know who he was!)


Eat your heart out Roger Rabbit!

So, where is it going? The marketing field is all over augmented reality, launching Doritos packs in Latin America with codes to a website where you upload your image and choose a Chilli Lover that then plays around on the image, gets stored on the website and even interacts with other's uploaded photos (click here). Car ads are liberally splattered with animated sections of cars, cut-away computer generated engine parts. In this world a company called Total Immersion are the undisputed kings - click here and take a look at an example if interested.. You'll be 'seeing' a lot more of them.

The best development I've seen (and best is a very very subjective word in this blog - see my final comments) is this: Mattel is using the same type of 3-D imaging augmented reality in “i-Tag” action figures for James Cameron’s new movie Avatar. The toy includes a card containing a marker, which is projected as a 3-D action figure on a computer. This way, children can battle each other’s virtual characters on a computer screen.

And look out for AR in your mobile phone soon. Apparently, “In 2010 every blockbuster movie is going to have a mobile AR campaign tied to it.” Mobile treasure hunts linked to the latest movie when walking around a city?

Future? Glasses or mobile phones that constantly alert you to your surroundings by using pre-loaded data or downloading augmented data as you move through real reality. Go shopping, wander past people and see their facebook profile as you pass them, have animations spring to life and alert you to offers as you pass that aisle, the uses are endless. (Here's a great youtube app demo - available now. if you live in Amsterdam that is)

I have only one question.

Will our brains be able to take this level of overload? For years we have been feeding ourselves an abusive mixture of pesticide and additives in our food and we wonder why kids are larger, why cancer and other invasive disease rates are higher, why stress levels and associated medical conditions are costing us our future. Crime rates on the person higher than ever before.


While all this technology is leaping forward and we 'interact' with it in ever newer ways I can't help but notice that as a society we now interact with each other less than ever before. We love our technology and twitter and facebook away to lots of online contacts daily, but how many of us really take time out to be with other humans, to interact with people rather than 'contacts'. If we did more of that it's my belief that we'd be a better society for it.

And the ultimate question must be: What is Augmented Reality going to do to the one most important thing that regulates our body and health?

Asylum anyone?