Ged Carroll

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  • Microsoft Windows event

    I’ve been in-and-out of meetings that prevented me from reflecting fully on the Microsoft Windows 10 event of October 7, 2015. Microsoft put a lot of content out there which is worthwhile picking through. I have put these items in the order that they occur to me rather than an order of importance.
    Windows 10 : Everything You Need To Know About

    Microsoft Windows 10 is designed to run on a wide range of devices, a by-product of this is that the PC on your desk maybe a phone connected to a screen and keyboard. Now this may not work for all applications, but it could be enough for browser-based needs. It also means that bring-your-own-device could move beyond having your email on your phone.

    The Surface Pro 4

    Whilst Microsoft has undergone a regime change since the launch of the original Surface, somethings haven’t changed. I think that the Surface Pro 4 represents a continued effort to decapitate the Microsoft PC eco-system. The targets in the frame are devices like:

    • Lenovo La Vie Z
    • Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro
    • H-P Spectre 13x 360
    • Dell XPS 13

    All of these devices broadly fit into the 13 ultra notebook format that Apple plays in, but I think that the goal is to maximise Microsoft’s revenue share of the Windows eco-system. The hardware design hasn’t done the wider Microsoft brand any harm at all.

    New Lumia devices

    The 950 and 950XL put Microsoft in the game, at least from a hardware perspective with the Android eco-system, comparing favourably on hardware specifications with the likes of Huawei, LG and Samsung. What I found more interesting is the allusion in Microsoft’s own commentary of the event that the phones would face a gradual rollout in markets and Microsoft wouldn’t be rolling it out to all markets in Europe.  Don’t necessarily expect to see these handsets being rolled out in multi-national companies without an extensive availability and support network.

    Whilst mobile network providers would like a third eco-system to reduce the power of Android and iPhone, there doesn’t seem to have been universal carrier acceptance of the devices. This maybe partly due to the tighter integration of Skype in the Windows 10 OS?

    Xbox on Windows 10

    Xbox need to bring more customers on board and having backwards compatibility with Xbox 360 games provides a more cost effective gaming experience thanks to eBay and other used console game exchanges. It also does beg the question about possible non-gaming or even enterprise use that could be made of the new Xbox (beyond running Linux on them).

    Rolling out an OS so universal as Windows 10 is an interesting move. It presents some risks:

    • Compromised user experience due to different user contexts (gaming, business desktop computing, consumer PC usage, tablet experiences). A touch orientated interface on a laptop is sub-optimal for content creators who can touch type for example
    • Bloat due to the ‘Swiss Army knife’ requirements catering at a core level for different form factors and displays

    More information
    The Secret of iOS 7 | I, Cringely
    Final 2014 prediction: the end of the PC as we knew it | I, Cringely
    Thoughts on Microsoft Surface | renaissance chambara
    Skype in Windows 10 Preview: Built into Windows 10 so you can do more with friends across devices | Big Blog (Skype owned blog)
    Windows 10 Devices: a new chapter | Microsoft News

  • Half of Google searches + more

    Worldwide, More Than Half Of Google Searches Happen On Mobile | SearchEngineLand – this is really big. A few thoughts on this:

    • Half of Google searches will be about very different things, for instance searching for things like coffee shops in the vicinity of the searcher
    • Advertising is likely to see a higher amount of real world performance marketing solutions. This also counteracts Amazon becoming the default product search engine for a lot of web users
    • It means a move away from organising all the world’s knowledge. There will be a move to national language search and probably taking away Boolean from power users who make up way less than half of Google searches
    • This is a big step in bringing what I call the web of no web into being; where the real world and digital world provide a symbiotic experience. More related content here.

    Light’s L16 is a DSLR-quality camera that fits in your pocket — for a stiff price | ExtremeTech – interesting idea

    Apple: Semi Advisors Ponders Fallout from any Potential iPhone Battery Issue – Tech Trader Daily – Barrons.com – it’s possible with different tape-out and manufacturing processes I guess?

    Sony may consider options for struggling smartphone business | HKEJ Insights – will Qualcomm help them with market access? Interesting example of the commoditisation of Google Android’s eco-system

    Amazon launches marketplace for handmade goods | RTE – Amazon wants more of the consumer spend and is going after craft shops and Etsy to get more of the hipster dollar

    China launches international payment system | Shanghai Daily – competition with Hong Kong ramps up. By regularising this, it also give the government a chance to regulate and prevent irregular outward capital flow

    Twitter’s new Moments spotlights events as they unfold – CNET – its about getting users moving from casual to serious, an ‘on ramp’

    “Just Googling it” is bad for your brain | Quartz – Google is killing your memory

    Apple Watch releases a new series of short ads, emphasising functionality | Creative Review – these are stylish, looks as if I am not the only person who was wondering what the use case for an Apple watch was

    YouTube Goes To War: The Dangers Of ‘Radical Transparency’ « Breaking Defense – it looks like the US military is starting to consider the impact of smartphones in a combat zone

    Review: SIG Sauer Introduces The Legion Series & The New Legion P-229 – The Firearm Blog – this almost feels like SIG Sauer is positioning their product (and that of collaborating partners) as a luxury product

    Facebook | Atlas Solutions – interesting piece about Facebook’s Atlas model

    Apparently Porsche thinks Google’s Android Auto asks for way too much sensitive data | VentureBeat | Business | by Michael de Waal-Montgomery – Google scraping compete data?

    Quentin Tarantino: Netflix isn’t for the famed Pulp Fiction director | BGR – artefacts and the peculiar version of serendipity you get in ‘crate digging’

    Thin blue likes: Four Facebook lessons Hong Kong cops can learn from police around the world to make friends online | South China Morning Post – Hongkongers are big fans of the social media site – there are more than 4.4 million Facebook users in the city according to the company, one of the 10 largest usages in the world per capita (paywall)

  • Gundam themed advert + more things

    Toyota have made a Gundam themed advert for the Japanese market. It is interesting that this Gundam themed advert is a Japan only creative. It might be intellectual property rights. I think something like this would be popular abroad as a Gundam themed advert would tap into Cool Japan.

    In many European countries Toyota’s safe but boring line-up would benefit from the uplift provided by tying into Cool Japan. The reason for these boring product lines is free trade agreements and import quotas.

    Japan now means quality, engineering, design and is generally very much appreciated with a lot of goodwill. More Japan related content here.

    ISART digital animation school students came up with this great short film about a gravedigger and his son. It’s as good as anything that’s been coming out of the likes of DreamWorks animation.

    London DJ Kid Batchelor and E-Mix on this 1989 mix at Confusion de Londra, Shaftsbury London. It’s hard to understand now how much of the early house seen was built by the likes of Kid Batchelor in central London clubs. Now culture as moved away from the centre as property developers have moved in.

    NOTCOT.ORG | Rhei electro-mechanical clock with a liquid display – From an economic point of view this makes no sense. There are much easier ways to solve this as an engineering problem. But I can’t help but love the sheer bloodymindedness that underpins this as a project. More design related posts here.

    Parks and Pickering did a slow tempo mix with tougher beats of Imagination – Just An Illusion, but this uptempo live version kills them all. I’m surprised that there was never a more uptempo club mix of it as it sounds like a classic house track. Another Imagination track Changes was remixed by the legendary Larry Levan. Leee John is still very underrated as a performer.

  • Outlook for Mac + more

    Use Outlook for Mac? Don’t upgrade to El Capitan | The Inquirer – yet. It looks like the Microsoft dev team for Outlook for Mac have more work and testing ahead of themselves.

    Read our lips, no more EU roaming charges* | The Register – surely this would be pre-dictated on their network footprint? Would this mean that Vodafone Germany could sell me one of their SIMs in the UK?

    Attention! Facebook is losing its footing – Fanpage Karma Blog – as a service platform, it wouldn’t surprise me as Twitter’s context in this regard makes more sense, though I know people like BT have invested in customer services on Facebook (and in their case it makes sense due to the universal nature of their brand)

    The Surprisingly Traditional Media Path of Razor Clubs | L2 Inc. – I suspect down to needed authoritative endorsement?

    Why are luxury brands poaching leaders from the mainstream | Marketing Interactive – will this bring an existential crisis about what luxury means?

    Georgia Tech Pumps Water Through Silicon for Chip Cooling | Hackaday – this sounds really impressive. More semiconductor related developments here.

    What We Know About the Secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership that Was Just Signed | Motherboard – it makes some interesting reading

    Digital Ads Sell Candidates and Causes, in 15-Second Bursts | New York Times – short-form political campaigns

    Is the dotcom bubble about to burst (again)? | The Guardian – The issue that I see is that lack of liquidity in the market for $200M+ valued companies. There will be a series of events that cause more people to turn their non-public large tech holdings into cash than available buyers. This is not materially different from the repo market which caused significant issues in 2007/2008

    Study: Brands that message more, sell more | Venturebeat – just don’t piss off the customer

    Didi Kuaidi buys stake in Indian ride-hailing group Ola – FT.com – interesting international expansion moves, a coalition of the willing against Uber

  • 25 things you wished clients knew

    25 things you wished clients knew was crowdsourced from friends in the industry. A few points where consolidated from multiple people saying the same thing. The names are concealed to protect the guilty – enjoy.

    Advertising / design

    • No I don’t want to whip a complete campaign for a client (re)pitch just because X agency told you that they’d do it for free – its one of the great lies along with ‘I love you’
    • The principle of negative space, having your logo fill it won’t have the effect that you want
    • Out of the three design choices you will get from me, only two are viable. Whilst I want you to feel in control, I have gamed your selection in favour of the two concepts most likely to work
    • Your mother, wife or child isn’t a viable focus group / definitive form of research. There is an industry term for this it’s called HIPPO syndrome

    Client services / account planning

    • I am not your friend, at some point we may become friends despite our client / agency minion relationship
    • 3am in the morning in my time zone is not an appropriate time for a conference call
    • Unless the agency minion is dedicated on one client, they will have other demands on their work day in addition to your business
    • No I don’t want to over-service your business (that is work more time on the business than we are paid for on a regular basis)
    • I don’t feel that it is appropriate to spend two hours discussing your lanyard strategy as it relates to internal communications and change management (true story)
    • A recent case study of your rival doing exactly the same tactics does not mean it will work for your brand
    • Only in an exceptionally few cases is ‘everybody’ a target market, even then you will want to prioritise

    Public relations

    • Off-the-record is not off-the-record
    • Journalists generally won’t allow you to pre-approve their copy unless you are paying them (its native advertising / advertorial) or its a top tier celebrity / sports star interview
    • A strap line from advertising is not your PR messaging
    • The messaging workshop you’ve been invited along to is likely media training for people who feel that they don’t need media training
    • Unless you’re Samsung (in Korea) or a few other select advertisers, you withdrawing ad spend won’t affect editorial policy towards your company in a positive manner
    • In a disagreement with a journalist / publication you won’t get the last word
    • You aren’t spending enough on measurement of your programme (allow 30 per cent of your budget)

    Social media marketing

    • Viral videos are a myth, roughly half the views are bought on the most successful examples
    • Social reach is best achieved through paid means, it won’t nearly be as big if you rely on earned alone
    • Generally speaking, consumers haven’t been gagging for the opportunity to engage with your brand content
    • Social media is not some that you should just leave to the intern
    • Celebrities will generally want money to plug your product or service on their social channels
    • Klout scores have no place in any serious social media-related discussion
    • More followers is not a social media strategy

    Ok, your turn what things you wished clients knew would you include?

    More information

    Don’t Attempt to Create a Viral Video Unless You’re Willing to Pay for Distribution | Ad Week