Forget 2mb broadband, how about 4G mobile?
Mobile is going bonkers right now. The Palm Pre getting some good reviews, and the big one, the iPhone 3G 2009 coming in the next few weeks (we hope).
The Digital Britain report and a whole load of media reporting is focused on providing 2mb wired broadband for everyone in the country, and the BBC had a big piece on excatly this last week.
Now, as most of you know, I am disgusted at the way the UK is so behind in terms of infrastructure, but I am just starting to think about something …. If the UK becomes so focused on wired broadband with a massive weight placed upon companies like Virgin and BT, we may be missing a trick.
What is really happening in terms of web trends?
Mobile is happening, and it is not going away. So, rather than getting broadband fixed, what about getting the networks sorted out. Perhaps 3, Orange, Vodafone and O2 et al should be getting some heat, and help in progressing a really fast 4G service?
The future is phones, smartphones, tablets, touchpads, netbooks – all portable devices which want to feed off fast networks. People want access from wherever they are, and not have to wait an age for email and web access.
So, forget broadband, and that paltry 2mb, lets get 4G and 5G up and running. What do you think?
Blogging and SEO from Matt Cutts
Matt Cutts works for Google, and has a great reputation as a good guy, and a VERY clever guy. He is currently head of Google’s Webspam team.
He has just added a superb post on his blog here, which is a presentation on Blogging and SEO – All you need to know from Google. He presented at Wordcamp in SF yesterday. I highly recommend you to watch it 
New hardgraft blog and a rather nice competition
As some of you may know, hardgraft is one of my fave brands. A combination of quality, luxury and design for your iPhone, MacBook, Kindle or Blackberry.
They’ve just launched a new blog which you can find here >>> click and they have a competition going on right now, where you can just leave a comment and you may win one of their super-sweet sleeves! So, what are you waiting for, have a look now!
Do you backup?!
I’m doing a little slot on the radio this evening talking about backup strategies for your computer. Please help me out by filling in the form below!
Thanks!
Weekend Catch Up
So, where precisely have the last 2 weeks gone? Where?
They have flown past in a wave of car journeys, pitches, airplanes, super speedy broadband, exciting projects and a black tie event. Having had the chance to find my feet and start catching up, I am feeling a little more relaxed!
So, a few things that you may, or may not be interested in!
Neat Receipts for Mac
This arrived a while ago and I’ve just started using it properly. I’ve been fed up of the amount of receipts and paperwork I tend to file on a weekly basis and having seen one being used, I thought I would give it a go. Setup is a breeze and it works very well, (when you figure out the right way up for the item you’re scanning!). The OCR (Optical Character Recognition) works ok, not brilliantly but mostly fine, and the software provided is typically Mac-like, easy to use and effective. Overall a big thumbs up!
Hardgraft iPhone Case
I’m a big fan of Hardgraft, not only for the design, but also the quality. All their gear falls into my buy the best, and save money mantra (i.e. buy cheap, buy twice). The iPhone fits perfectly and whilst it may not offer perfect protection, it looks very slick, and matches the Air’s sleeve I got earlier.
Moleskine – Rare editions
I use a Moleskine most days when working, with clients, out and about, and I saw these on a blog a while ago, and decided to order some from Hong Kong. They are rather cool, and no, I have not opened them yet!
Misc Links for you
WordPress 2.8 is coming soon – check out the preview here.
New Google Adwords interface – now this looks very, very nice and is something I will be looking at closely. Check out the overview video below:
New jeans – I’m pretty fussy about jeans, but if you want “the perfect” pair (IMHO), then do order some of these from howies. Brilliant, feel good jeans, and you’re not supposed to wash them for as long as possible…. 2 weeks and counting!
A few things I’m looking forward to ….. iPhone OS3.0, a new iPhone 
and Snow Leopard.
And lastly, a quick thought on something that happened last week. Myself and a few colleagues worked are wotsits off over in Stockholm, and we did a solid, creative, and well-reasoned proposal. It rocked, and we had very little time. It ticked all the boxes, provided solutions and it would have really worked.
Without going into 2 many details, all I want to say is that sometimes, whatever you do, come up with, envisage or propose, you are sometimes on a very different page to your client or prospect. In fact, you could be reading a different book, perhaps in a different language. If you propose and truly believe that your solution would do the very best for them, and you didn’t go for the safe, not-as-effective option, then you have done the right thing. That is exactly what we did, and we should be proud of that.
A personal, private, mobile WiFi hotspot
Now this is impressive. The MiFi.
MiFi represents the industry’s first Intelligent Mobile Hotspot, a new category of mobile broadband that lets users put their world of content, services and connectivity in their pocket. Featuring an internal battery providing over forty hours standby and up to four hours of active use on a single charge, the MiFi product line enables users to access high-speed Internet from anywhere there is a cellular connection, including moving vehicles where multiple passengers may need Internet access.
This is a very clever bit of kit, although, simple in terms of use, could be really, really useful for many people. Just imagine, no more faffing about with dongle’s, you just have the MiFi on in your laptop bag picking up the 3G network (if only we had good coverage in the UK), and all your other devices are connected to it via WiFi – Air connected,, iPod Touch connected and iPhone connected. Very swish indeed.
I hope it comes to the UK! The NYT has a good article and video on it here, and thanks to Richard to letting me know about this!
Blogging has been a rare activity this week and will probably be the same for the next few weeks. It is sheer madness at the moment, but some wonderful projects and people!
