Every single day I see some kind of link to a program or a device that removes the need for you to store data yourself. ‘Cloud’ seems to be the buzzword of the moment, with applications offering to host your data so you don’t take up well needed space on your device. Very clever indeed, but this got me thinking.

I’ve always owned a lot of stuff. Piles of records, piles of CDs, piles of computer games and DVDs, piles of books - thinking to myself that I need to invest in a 1TB hard drive because I have that much data gives me an odd sense of satisfaction. Anything physical that I own, I’ve bought, it’s there for me to look at, touch, and to fill up gaps in my house. It’s a daily sign that I own stuff, I have collections of things that I’ve taken time to purchase and physically own.

I never buy MP3 albums online. If I do, it’s because I can’t track down the CD. I have hundreds of CDs stored away that I’ve literally plonked into my computer, burned, put back in the box and never opened again. Even if I always listen to the MP3s, I know in the back of my mind that I have the physical thing there, somewhere. Data can disappear in an instant, it would take a physical act to destroy a CD. Even if my data disappears, I can revert back to the physical and enjoy my music.

I know that my worrying ability to hoard stuff is part of my character, and it probably says quite a lot of negative stuff about the way I am. But we seem to be entering into a generation of people that don’t appreciate owning something real, something tangible. I still get excited about getting stuff in the post, something real to look at, touch, and then hide away. Indeed, Bandai’s Peri Peri keychain recreates the feeling of opening an envelope whenever you want. It’s interesting that they felt the need to replicate something so usual in a mocked up, part digital format - a gimmick, or a slight nod to the fact that people are relying on data more than real items?

There’s going to be an entire generation with no physical music collections, no games, no books, no DVDs. Does this matter? Probably not, but it does take away the idea of protection from the owner, and places it with a 3rd party. If you lose a CD, it’s your fault. If Spotify goes down and you can’t listen to that album you wanted to listen to, it’s Spotify’s fault. We’re starting to trust companies to provide stuff on tap, with no real thought to what would occur if they can’t provide it one day. We’re starting to live in a much more accessible society, those with decent net connections will soon have instant access to the latest games, films and music. Those words I said so much as a kid / teenager: “I’ve got that”, will soon be non-existent.

http://www.flashbulbinteraction.com/WTS.html

Working Through Screens is a multi-platform reference guide for teams in the initial stages of devising new applications. I’m hoping to have some time to be able to read through the document soon, but what really grabbed my attention was the design of the document and the accompanying illustrations.

Simple instructional graphics and a nice colour coding system make this a really nice reference document. It’s available as a series of flash cards, a full book in PDF format, or a mini-website.

The graphics themselves have a really nice flow to them, and work nicely as a visual reference to the text. Simple, understated lines and minimal colours make them very easy to follow and understand (well, for me anyway).

I’ve spent a bit of my day off doing some minor site tweaks in preparation for a visual overhaul in the coming months. I’ve decided to scrap a few bits of information and pages from the navigation bar that aren’t relevant any more, integrated an RSS feed from my blog onto the home page, added google analytics, and a couple of other minor bits and bobs.

Ever since starting work at MOO I’ve been fascinated with how the internet can boost brand credentials, and alter public perceptions. I’ve just bought a few books around this subject (as well as some random ones), hopefully they’ll be interesting reading.

The Pirate’s Dilemma: How Hackers, Punk Capitalists, Graffiti Millionaires and Other Youth Movements are Remixing Our Culture and Changing Our World

What’s the connection between the nun who invented disco, and the effect of file sharing? How does hip-hop manage to be an underground movement and a hugely commercial business - at the same time?  And how are pirates, of the kind who started commercial radio in the twentieth century, changing society in the 21st?

Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide

“Convergence Culture” maps a new territory: where old and new media intersect, where grassroots and corporate media collide, where the power of the media producer and the power of the consumer interact in unpredictable ways.Henry Jenkins, one of America’s most respected media analysts, delves beneath the new-media hype to uncover the important cultural transformations that are taking place as media converge. He takes us into the secret world of Survivor Spoilers, where avid internet users pool their knowledge to unearth the show’s secrets before they are revealed on the air. He introduces us to young Harry Potter fans who are writing their own Hogwarts tales while executives at Warner Brothers struggle for control of their franchise. He shows us how “The Matrix” has pushed transmedia storytelling to new levels, creating a fictional world where consumers track down bits of the story across multiple media channels.Jenkins argues that struggles over convergence will redefine the face of American popular culture. Industry leaders see opportunities to direct content across many channels to increase revenue and broaden markets. At the same time, consumers envision a liberated public sphere, free of network controls, in a decentralized media environment. Sometimes corporate and grassroots efforts reinforce each other, creating closer, more rewarding relations between media producers and consumers. Sometimes these two forces are at war.Jenkins provides a riveting introduction to the world where every story gets told and every brand gets sold across multiple media platforms. He explains the cultural shift that is occurring as consumers fight for control across disparate channels, changing the way we do business, elect our leaders, and educate our children.

The Future of Ideas

The Internet revolution has come. Some say it has gone. In The Future of Ideas, Lawrence Lessig explains how the revolution has produced a counterrevolution of potentially devastating power and effect. Creativity once flourished because the Net protected a commons on which widest range of innovators could experiment. But now, manipulating the law for their own purposes, corporations have established themselves as virtual gatekeepers of the Net while Congress, in the pockets of media magnates, has rewritten copyright and patent laws to stifle creativity and progress. Lessig weaves the history of technology and its relevant laws to make a lucid and accessible case to protect the sanctity of intellectual freedom. He shows how the door to a future of ideas is being shut just as technology is creating extraordinary possibilities that have implications for all of us. Vital, eloquent, judicious and forthright, The Future of Ideas is a call to arms that we can ill afford to ignore.

Interesting use of QR codes, and interesting colour matching. Apparantly it links to the umbro website, not the most conceptual use I can think of. Codes could have been player specific, and a web prescence could have been built around the codes, rather than relying on content that’s already there (and probably quite irrelevant to the original garment).

I’ve decided to test out the Wordpress application for the iPhone to see if it makes me post on here a little bit more. First thoughts - easy to use interface, decent access to Wordpress admin features. I’m intending on posting a fair bit of content while on the move, then writing up a decent review.

As I have an interest in RFID applications but unfortunately no technical skills to code or program, I’ve bought myself a Mir:ror from Violet to see if I could actually integrate the use of RFID into my everyday life. I’m limited to the applications that Violet offer via their web interface, but I’m preparing a few experiments over the next few weeks to see if it could make my life a bit easier. More on my investigations as I get round to them.

I’m being sent an E71 to trial from the lovely people at WOMworld. It’ll be interesting to compare the ease of use after a good few months having the iPhone as my primary handset. Bit more on this as and when I receive the phone, probably mid next week.

Regular readers of my site will know that some time last year I was working with UK based company Tie Rack on a rebrand. Well, many months passed without hearing anything and it now appears they’ve gone with another agency for the rebrand. Without going too far into it, they seem to have lost the ‘radical’, ‘fresh’ and ‘colourful’ words I heard so much, and have done a good job of playing it very, very safe indeed. But enough on that.

Because of this, I’ll be posting some of the work I did for Tie Rack on the research stage of the rebrand in the coming few days - both on the blog and more permanently on my main site, alexjarvis.co.uk.

I’ve decided that over the next few weeks I’m going to try and migrate most of the content from my main alexjarvis.co.uk site over to this blog, and use this as my main source of updates. It seems like the easiest way for me to keep adding content.

In other news, what have I been up to? Well, I’ve been working on a lot of graphical stuff for MOO, including some illustrations for the inside of our 200 Business Card box and an instruction leaflet for the very swanky Mosaic Frame.

I made a post a good few months ago now about the switch from buttons to touch panels in phones, and how I thought the iPhone would leave me unsatisfied and how the physical process of pressing a button is an enjoyable experience.

Nokia seem to have latched on to this, and are working on some ‘Haptik feedback’ touch panels, that provide the sensation of pressing a button with the flexibility of a multi touch panel. It’ll be interesting to see how this develops.

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2007/11/06/nokia-shows-off-haptikos-tactile-touch-screen-technology/

Most of my time these days is taken up with working for MOO, however I still try to keep up to date with as much mobile interface work as I can. The first Android powered phone was announced the other day - the T-Mobile G1. The handset (in my opinion) is nothing special, but I did notice a few interesting ways of looking at ’standard’ applications…

The phone should allow users to link to-do notes to GPS locations. For example - set a reminder to post something, tag the location as the post office near your work, and the program will call a prompt when you’re close to the post office. I always seem to rely on alarms to remind me to do things, which quite often get lost or forgotten about during a normal working day. The integration of GPS to a relatively common smartphone function shows a definite sense of progression - something that the iPhone has the ability to do, but restrictions stop from happening. It also allows you to set certain phone functions depending on GPS locations, so choose a silent profile at your work location and it will automatically switch when you reach the destination. S60 had a few applications that did this, but relied on phone location based on network data instead.

It will be interesting in the next few months to see how apple react to android, hopefully we’ll start to see some real use of GPS in conjunction with other applications. Imagine texting a friend to say you’re at the train station every morning, just by travelling to the train station. There’s obvious issues with allowing your phone to carry out scripts without confirmation, but the possibilities are almost endless. Exciting stuff.

And the fact that they rarely have ANYTHING interesting to say. I have the WOMworld rss feed chucking stuff into mac Mail every single day, and to date I think I’ve counted about 3 interesting articles. I intend to write more about this when I’m not so irate and / or trying to eat lunch, right now I’m going to delete / ignore all those super interesting posts I’ve made about phones and UI before.

Another thing I’ve been up to in the last few weeks, some new signage for the front door of the office.

For the last week or so I’ve been working on some graphics for the inside of the new MOO office. Our meeting rooms are now Cyan, Magenta and Yellow (not my decision), so we have some lovely panels on the window of each room.

We also have new signage on the front door, but I will post pictures of that when I take a good camera in to work.