MarCom Professional

Here’s a quick project I’ve been meaning to write up since I first trialled the 3G dongle from 3mobilebuzz.

The ability to eliminate the physical connection between a PC and the internet enables a whole range of applications. I’ve used it to check email on the move, web browse, upload images to flickr, post blog postings and demo web application in press meetings.

But my favourite use is a web cam. Using TinCan a £10 capture and upload application, I set up a web cam on my PC to upload images to my personal web space (image above shows a view over the City of London from the south). More...

Last weekend I happened upon this book in a junk shop. I recognised the cover instantly. It was one of my favourite books when I was a child.

Published in 1981, when I was around 8 years old, it contained, to my infant mind some pretty cool stuff. One of the pictures that I remember really firing my imagination at the time was the description of a pocket computer of the future.

Having paid 50p for the book, I went straight to the page, and there it was. Reading the captions and looking at the image, I was instantly struck by the fact that, actually, that future had come and that in my pocket, in the shape of my smartphone, was a device, that almost word for word, feature for feature matched the description written some twenty five years earlier. More...

Transport for London is reportedly hacked off at users tinkering with their Oyster Cards. Techy Londoners are dunking their cards – used to access the bus and tube in London – in acetone, removing the chip and inserting it into other more familiar objects such as watches or wallets.

Unlike recent Oyster Card hacks this one doesn’t have a financial impact on Transport for London but the transport authority is clearly sensitive after recently published flaws in the Oyster Card’s security scheme. More...

How often do you check your email? When you install email software, such as Microsoft Outlook, it is set up to automatically check for new messages every 10 minutes. Few people change the default settings, so most people get used to emails popping into their inbox regularly throughout the day. It becomes the norm to keep on seeing that inbox grow.

But wait a mo....! When you didn't have email, did you check your postbox every 10 minutes for physical mail? Or did once, or perhaps twice a day, do?

A new study by AOL has revealed we are becoming ever more addicted to email. According to the research, almost half (46%) admit to being hooked on email. More...

Brand: Cuil (source) Agency: Manning Selvage & Lee The Blog PR community has been feverish about the launch of Cuil - tauted by press as 'a Google-Killer' (yawn). One blogger goes onto ask - Wow, How Did Cuil Get So Much Publicity on Day 1?!

Well here's my hacked up answer:

1. Timing- let's face it, we're pretty bored of Google, aren't we?

2.  The guys who set it up are Ex-Google, giving the press a nice 'Son of Google' story.

3.  It's the revival story from the Seven Basic plots - my Bible for PR stories.

4.  Conflict- the press were happy to say Cuil is a Google-Killer.  See other things such as BlackBerry-Killer, iPhone-Killer, etc. More...

3mobilebuzz wants the 3G broadband dongle back that I’ve been trialling for the last three months. I really can’t bear to part with it. It's superb for travel in terms of the reliability and data speed – I’ve completely given up on wi-fi away from home or the office. And we've had a lot of fun as a family at home with mobile web cams and web conferencing.

In fact I’ve decided that I’m going to give it up. I like it so much I’ve asked the 3mobilebuzz team if I can sign up on a contract.

Tags: 3G, broadband, dongle, mobile More...

I tracked my journey into Oxford Circus this morning by scooter from Ealing using an i-gotU GPS tracker. It's a tiny device weighing about 20g that's about half the size of a matchbox and logs GPS data at intervals of between 5 and 60 seconds. The integrated lithium battery lasts between 20 and 40 hours.

It's an extraordinary piece of kit more likely to be found in the hands of James Bond or Spooks' Adam Carter. In fact the manufacturer cautions that if you wish to use this device to track another individual or their vehicle, you must do so with their full consent and knowledge.

You suck off the data by plugging it into your PC and using an accompanying software application to display or fly-through data points on Google Maps. More...