Random links… not necessarily about mobile

In fact, not about mobile at all, but more of a case of me keeping a track on what I’m looking at so I can find the links again! But rather than keeping it private, I like to share, so here you go…

Whilst in Spain, I was very spoilt with great coffee every day. You can’t go to a cafe in Spain and have a bad coffee. At least I didn’t manage to with Cafe Cortado coming out tops everywhere. But it’s not always guaranteed here in London. So I’m on a mission to find decent coffee shops and plan to work my way around some of the suggestions on this list here from Time Out. Then pal Carlo Longino of Mobhappy fame pointed me to this recent article from the New York Times so I have even more to check out. Now where’s the app where I can sort out all the places I want to go to at some point rather than the ‘where shall I go to today?’ and ‘what’s near me now?’ type app for my Nexus One or N95 8GB (yes, I’m using both simultaneously – I’m not ready to be weaned off my beloved N95 yet). 

Who knew there were so many legal freebies out there on the interwebz…? Well maybe you did, but I didn’t. This is all news to me. Well, not quite true, I knew it was kinda out there but didn’t know where to find it, but now I do. So I’ve been dipping into some of these selections which are just too good not to share.

http://www.openculture.com/2009/11/free_movies_online.html – I’m a big Cary Grant fan so very pleased to see some of his movies in the list.

http://www.openculture.com/2007/07/freeonlinecourses.html – just a great resource to learn about a huge range of things. No excuse to not expand the mind.

http://www.openculture.com/2006/10/audio_book_podc.html (actually, I’m enjoying some free audiobooks on my Nexus One too with the nattily named Audiobooks application).

http://www.openculture.com/2006/10/foreign_languag.html I say this every year after I’ve been at Mobile World Congress, that I really must learn Spanish. But I’m going to do it. I need to be able to ask for more than a beer, a coffee and some tapas. So I’ll be looking at some of the Spanish options available. It’s going to require some concentration to do this, but I’m willing to give it a go. The challenge will be turning everything else off so I don’t get distracted reading an email or web article in English when I’m listening to Spanish!

Right, back to the grindstone….

Technorati Tags: linkage,coffee,Spanish,language courses,podcasts,audiobooks,free films,Cary Grant,openculture.com

It’s Monday, there must be some (mobile) stuff going on

It’s Monday night and normally at this time, I would be concluding our Mobile Monday session in anticipation of chat and mingling at the bar afterwards. However, due to an inordinate amount of snow (there’s over a foot of it in my garden in South West London) and a distinct lack of public transport available, we’ve had to postpone tonight’s event until next week. So rather than deprive you of your mobile fix entirely, I thought I’d share a few things I’ve been reading about mobile-wise of late.

Long form video content appeals which surprises those who are still fixated on the ‘snacking’ element of mobile entertainment. Of course there is still a case for ‘snacking’ on mobile, but much mobile internet usage, especially since the advent of the iphone, is actually at home and complementing other media usage. There’s more discussion about there being more than one mobile context here.

If mobile entertainment, video or otherwise, is your bag, then you could do worse than head to London to see Ralph Simon in action at E.Factor’s event on 23rd February. It’s free for members to attend and £28 for non-members.

Tonight, we *had* planned to talk about the role of widgets in the future of the mobile web. Instead, you’ll have to make do with Vodafone Betavine’s widget competition. Betavine, a Vodafone Group R&D lab, is offering mobile developers a chance to win £20,000 in a new mobile widget competition. The competition opens today and runs until 30th April. The rules are very simple and seems like a great opportunity to me.

Opera claims that 9 out of 10 mobile internet users are male. I think this research is somewhat skewed. Research I’ve been looking at shows that smartphone usage, including the iphone, is heavily male skewed which probably explains the figures that Opera is reporting. Overall, however, the mobile internet is older and more female than you might expect. At least that’s what the nice people at m:metrics shared with me recently.

And last but not least…

Despite the snow, my friend, Oli Barrett, made a valiant effort at the crack of dawn to launch his Make Your Mark With a Tenner competition. Possibly not the best day of the year to choose to launch your new campaign, but nevertheless, it’s got picked up on by The Telegraph. It’s a really simple premise, 25,000 kids will get given a tenner and a month to go and make money with it. Oli explains it all here.

Technorati Tags: mobile,opera,opera mini,statistics,report,video,entertainment,mobile content,links,linkage

Eight Random Things About Me

I got tagged by Thayer on this a couple of months and thought it was about time I responded. I'm pretty sure I've had this meme before but it's probably quite a while ago so probably time for a new one. So here are my 'Eight Random Things About Me'. Sorry it's taken me so long Thayer!

1. John Archer gave me chicken pox. Yes, that's right, as in John Archer, from BBC Radio 4's long-running soap The Archers. The actor who played him, Sam Barriscale, was in youth theatre with me and we were both in Peter Pan. I played Slightly Soiled and he played Tootles. Anyway, young Sam had been given the all-clear from the doc re his chicken pox. Only the doctor got it wrong and Sam gave three of us chicken pox, right in the middle of rehearsals. It was touch and go whether we'd be well enough to go on, but we made it!



2. I run a brownie pack in Tooting. And my brownies love doing all the same things that I used to love doing when I was a brownie. Very reassuring in this digital day and age.

3. I'm good with a needle and thread. I started making clothes for my Sindy doll when I was about 7 and then started making my own clothes when I was 10. The first proper garment I made was a blue floral cotton A-line skirt. I did this at school and really enjoyed it. So much so, that my father bought me a sewing machine. I've been sewing ever since, although I don't have the time and space to do this much nowadays.

4. I have a left ear advantage. That means I hear better in my left ear than my right. This is common in women apparently.

5. I have a thing for shoes. I'm trying to control it. It's hard!

6. Barcelona is my favourite city outside of London. Many a good time to be had in that city and many wonderful people to meet and hang out with. Including the inspirational women at Linqia.

7. I had my first TV appearance when I was 6 on Pebble Mill at One. My moment of glory was blowing a whistle to camera to get the litter picking started. (My primary school were drafted in to kick start a pick-up litter campaign).

8. I've ridden an elephant in the Thai jungle and got attacked by ants as a result as the elephant decided to disturb an ant's nest in marching its way through the trees.

9. My favourite place on earth is Port Erin in the Isle of Man. I wish my family still had an apartment there. I miss it. This is me, aged about 6, in Port Erin with my big sister.



10. I spent a summer in Great Yarmouth when I was very small. This is my favourite picture of that summer, taken by my father.



As for tagging other folks, I'm going to leave it to my readers to be proactive and pick up on the thread as they see fit!

8 Random things about me blogtag

Like Xen, I've been tagged before for the 5 things blog tag and now she's tagged me for the 8 random things blog tag so as it's a rainy afternoon in South London, I thought I'd do the honours. However, I believe my original 5 things are much more interesting but in the interests of the game, I'll dig up some new, very random, stuff about me for you.

So, here are the rules of the new 8 Random Things tag game:

• We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
• Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
• People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

So, let's see.

1. I love a good festival - namely Glastonbury and the forthcoming Electric Picnic this year. There's something very appealing about hanging out in a muddy field full of music and random folks enjoying themselves, very often wearing wellies. I reckon I dance better in wellies than high heels anyway!

2. I like hats and at the weekend went to deepest Deptford with pal Lisa Devaney for a Cat in the Hat photoshoot courtesy of photographer, Rebecca Portsmouth, and much fun was had by all.

3. I have size 5 feet. I'm not sure why you'd want to know that, but it's random so there you go.

4. I've just started getting weekly deliveries of organic veg to my home so I've been experimenting more with cooking. And I'm very pleased with Farmaround's service, including their lovely driver who delivers to me every Friday morning.

5. I'm an ENTP - well at least I am according to a couple of tests I took on t'internet this week. I don't think many of my friends will be the least bit surprised by the results.

6. I own 2 tents. One is green and supposedly a 3 to 4 person tent but actually accommodates 2 girls and their kit (just) and is extremely comfortable for one girl and her kit, and the other is blue and a cosy 2-person tent so it's really only big enough for one. See point 1.

7. I don't like marmite, goats cheese, mayonnaise or savoury egg dishes. However, I do like my Mum's homemade vegetarian soups *a lot*. She also somehow manages to cook potatoes much better than I do and I've never worked that one out.

8. I was bridesmaid to a stripper in 1996 at Hedonism II in Jamaica during a body art convention. I met Sarah, the bride, when she was my next-door neighbour when I lived in Wood Green. At the time, she was a wig maker and then switched profession to be an "exotic dancer" at a clip joint in Soho as it was seriously better money and a better work environment than making wigs in Covent Garden for the theatre. Anyway, the marriage didn't last, and the now ex-husband, Simon, was featured on a documentary series, Pleasure Island, all about Hedonism II on the tellybox a few years ago.

So, who do I tag.. I reckon random stuff from Lloyd, Deirdre, Sheila, Tom, Sergio, Whatleydude, Lisa and Rachel will be worth a read.

Ever wondered what to do with an old computer keyboard?

Well, I've been wondering. Not least because I've had a dead keyboard sitting in my kitchen for 6 months or more as I'm not allowed to put it in my normal household rubbish, and the other options are to take it to the local recycling centre (that's half a day out of my life to get there and back without a car) or to pay the council £5 to pick it up! It seems my local electrical retailers have not heard about the WEEE directives around electrical and computer waste nor have my local council thought about creating recycling bins for this stuff so as a result lots of computers, tellies, toasters and the like just get dumped on the street.

Anyway, I'm not going to do that. I think I might do this or this instead. Now, just need to clear some space and time so I can go off and be creative...