As expounded elsewhere, last year brought with it a slew of mad and bad ads for techy products. Nintendo’s Wii campaigns for Animal Crossing and Mario Kart Wii were plain embarrassing. Meanwhile, PC World’s spots for its range of bog-standard laptops addressed their audience like remedial children in attempting to hoodwink us into believing that being able to surf the web, while playing games and listening to music was a bold step into the future.
However, with the year but days old, the new ad for Microsoft’s challenger to Garageband might just have trumped last year’s efforts in a trice. Don’t believe me? Have a look for yourselves.
See what I mean? What in the name of arse has possessed Microsoft? Rather than actually making an ad that might impress us with the product’s functionality, they’ve instead made an ad so appalling that it seems that they’re hoping that we’ll buy Songsmith just to make them stop showing it.
What’s appears to have happened is that the agency creatives pitched an idea to make the ads really kitsch. That actually might have worked. But somewhere along the line those good intentions were focus-grouped into oblivion, so what you’re left with is a spot where you can no longer tell whether the cheesiness is intentional or otherwise. Thus, instead of Songsmith’s ad (there’s a spirit-sapping four-minutes of it!) being so good it’s bad, it’s so bad it’s unwatchable.
We’ll be keeping an eye out for shonky ads as the year goes by and naming and shaming the worst at the end of the year. Think of it as a public service. But if you, dear readers, espy anything before we do please send them to digitalmanblog@hotmail.com and we’ll put them to the sword. Keep ‘em peeled.
Monday, 12 January 2009
Friday, 9 January 2009
M15 isn't interested in your e-mails - get over it.
Today civil rights campaigners are up in arms about new rules that compel internet service providers to keep details of all e-mails sent in the UK. The crux of their beef is that this is a severe infringement of our civil liberties.
Here’s what the Earl of Northesk, who sits on the Science and Technology committee at the House of Lords, had to say on the matter.
"This degree of storage is equivalent to having access to every second, every minute, every hour of your life. People have to worry about the scale, the virtuality of your life being exposed to round about 500 public authorities.
"Under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, privacy is a fundamental right... it is important to protect the principle of privacy because once you've lost it it's very difficult to recover."
Does he have a point? Is this obloquy justifed? Not for me. After all, what's actually being stored by ISPs is the time and date of e-communiques. The content, and ergo anything that might actually prove incriminating, remains private unless appropriate licences are obtained.
More importantly, it seems like real hubris on the part of the man in the street to assume that M15 would be at all interested in his life. I mean aren’t 99 per cent of e-mails concerned with the tedious details of our lives, such as what to have for tea tonight and when we’re meeting for a grown-up lemonade? Only fantasists who regard themselves as Alan Parker-style urban warriors and teenage anarchists could really find anything to object to in having their inane wibblings on file.
More importantly, the Home Office is claiming that the data will be helpful in combating crime. I for one am prepared to take their word for it. I know that M15 used e-mail to trace would-be Jihadists who were involved in the bombs at Glasgow Airport. If e-mail logs are going to keep us safer, I’m happy to have them monitored.
Here’s what the Earl of Northesk, who sits on the Science and Technology committee at the House of Lords, had to say on the matter.
"This degree of storage is equivalent to having access to every second, every minute, every hour of your life. People have to worry about the scale, the virtuality of your life being exposed to round about 500 public authorities.
"Under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, privacy is a fundamental right... it is important to protect the principle of privacy because once you've lost it it's very difficult to recover."
Does he have a point? Is this obloquy justifed? Not for me. After all, what's actually being stored by ISPs is the time and date of e-communiques. The content, and ergo anything that might actually prove incriminating, remains private unless appropriate licences are obtained.
More importantly, it seems like real hubris on the part of the man in the street to assume that M15 would be at all interested in his life. I mean aren’t 99 per cent of e-mails concerned with the tedious details of our lives, such as what to have for tea tonight and when we’re meeting for a grown-up lemonade? Only fantasists who regard themselves as Alan Parker-style urban warriors and teenage anarchists could really find anything to object to in having their inane wibblings on file.
More importantly, the Home Office is claiming that the data will be helpful in combating crime. I for one am prepared to take their word for it. I know that M15 used e-mail to trace would-be Jihadists who were involved in the bombs at Glasgow Airport. If e-mail logs are going to keep us safer, I’m happy to have them monitored.
Thursday, 8 January 2009
Which? recommends PC owners become Super Smash Bros
In the movie Logan’s Run, humans who hit 30 are disposed of by the totalitarian regime. It’s a harsh way to go once you're no longer useful. But on the face of advice given by Which? Magazine, a similar fate is awaiting the nation’s computers.
The consumer journal has highlighted the problem of fraudsters and crims getting info from hardrives which have been abandoned at landfills. After running wiping software on eight drives, the mag then found it was still able to recover information that should have been gone forever. And amazingly it has concluded from its research that the only sure-fire way to put a stop to it is to take a hammer to your computer.
"PCs contain more valuable personal information than ever as people increasingly shop online, use social networking sites and take digital photos," said Sarah Kidner, editor of Which? Computing.
"Such information could bring identity thieves a hefty payday. It sounds extreme, but the only way to be 100 per cent safe is to smash your hard drive into smithereens."
Given the huge readership of Which? it’s not hard to see the article resulting in mass smashing of hard drives up and down this fair sceptred isle in an orgy of ultraviolence. But is all this really necessary?
I’m not so sure it is. My suspicions were raised in particular by the fact that free software was used by the mag to wipe the drives. Surely, this is a pretty foolhardy move? As any fule kno, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. And equally there’s no such thing as effective wiping software for free.
I'd say that investing in some effective wiping software is the best way of staying safe. Unlike Which's recommendations this approach won't deprive charities and schools in the developing world of vital second-hand computers.
The consumer journal has highlighted the problem of fraudsters and crims getting info from hardrives which have been abandoned at landfills. After running wiping software on eight drives, the mag then found it was still able to recover information that should have been gone forever. And amazingly it has concluded from its research that the only sure-fire way to put a stop to it is to take a hammer to your computer.
"PCs contain more valuable personal information than ever as people increasingly shop online, use social networking sites and take digital photos," said Sarah Kidner, editor of Which? Computing.
"Such information could bring identity thieves a hefty payday. It sounds extreme, but the only way to be 100 per cent safe is to smash your hard drive into smithereens."
Given the huge readership of Which? it’s not hard to see the article resulting in mass smashing of hard drives up and down this fair sceptred isle in an orgy of ultraviolence. But is all this really necessary?
I’m not so sure it is. My suspicions were raised in particular by the fact that free software was used by the mag to wipe the drives. Surely, this is a pretty foolhardy move? As any fule kno, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. And equally there’s no such thing as effective wiping software for free.
I'd say that investing in some effective wiping software is the best way of staying safe. Unlike Which's recommendations this approach won't deprive charities and schools in the developing world of vital second-hand computers.
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
Hippies - can't live with 'em, can't shoot 'em
Glastonbury we’re told is one of the most spiritual areas of the UK. This in part due to it being where Albion’s leylines converge. It’s also said to be where King Arthur is buried and even apparently played host to the Son of God when Joseph of Arimethea brought his Holy relative over for tea and cakes. Whether 5,000 were fed that day is, alas, unrecorded.
It’s perhaps not surprising that a place which is so steeped in history should be resisting the relentless march of modernity. This became apparent this week when the Glastonbury Why Wi-Fi Campaign hit the headlines in a (quiet) riot of lurid tie-dye and patchouli oil. The protestors' concerns focussed in part on the old chestnut of radiation emissions from the nearby Wi-Fi network. And while their concerns about the effects on people's health of the radiation may prove valid – although we should note that a ream of reports suggest otherwise - , they're also using all kinds of New Age unscientific to justify their oppostion. And natch this ia a lot harder to stomach.
Apparently, Wi-Fi signals are disturbing the “positive energy flows” of the area. You read that right. Matt Todd who makes it his business to campaign against electro motive forces is so convinced of this that he’s “started building small generators which he believes can neutralise the allegedly-harmful radiation using the principles of orgone science”. These devices “use quartz crystals, selenite (a clear form of the mineral gypsum), semi-precious lapis lazuli stones, gold leaf and copper coil to absorb and recycle the supposedly-negative energy,” the Telegraph reports.
The sad thing is that should the hippies win the day and cause the £35,000 scheme to be scrapped, there’ll be a host of losers. Young people will miss what had been a cheap way of getting online, while local businesses will also incur extra expense of having to pay for broadband. The real loser though will be science, as all the empiricism and learning of the modern world gets sacrificed on the altar of the Neo Pagans.
It’s perhaps not surprising that a place which is so steeped in history should be resisting the relentless march of modernity. This became apparent this week when the Glastonbury Why Wi-Fi Campaign hit the headlines in a (quiet) riot of lurid tie-dye and patchouli oil. The protestors' concerns focussed in part on the old chestnut of radiation emissions from the nearby Wi-Fi network. And while their concerns about the effects on people's health of the radiation may prove valid – although we should note that a ream of reports suggest otherwise - , they're also using all kinds of New Age unscientific to justify their oppostion. And natch this ia a lot harder to stomach.
Apparently, Wi-Fi signals are disturbing the “positive energy flows” of the area. You read that right. Matt Todd who makes it his business to campaign against electro motive forces is so convinced of this that he’s “started building small generators which he believes can neutralise the allegedly-harmful radiation using the principles of orgone science”. These devices “use quartz crystals, selenite (a clear form of the mineral gypsum), semi-precious lapis lazuli stones, gold leaf and copper coil to absorb and recycle the supposedly-negative energy,” the Telegraph reports.
The sad thing is that should the hippies win the day and cause the £35,000 scheme to be scrapped, there’ll be a host of losers. Young people will miss what had been a cheap way of getting online, while local businesses will also incur extra expense of having to pay for broadband. The real loser though will be science, as all the empiricism and learning of the modern world gets sacrificed on the altar of the Neo Pagans.
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
Broadband New Deal - Too Little, Too Late
This week Gordon Brown hinted that the government could be prepared to fund the development of a next-generation broadband network for the UK. It was a move welcomed by ISP’s shareholders, who are fearful of the impact that financing such a network would have on their dividend, and rank and file employees who are fearful for their jobs.
It was also embraced by economists on the grounds that the government is displaying foresight to recognise the importance of a next-gen network to the nation’s economic health and is ensuring the UK’s competitiveness in the global economy in years to come. Prudent Gordon we’re invited to believe is some sort of economic next-gen visionary who sees high-tech industries as the salvation of our economy. You’ll forgive me if I demur.
Surely if this were the case he’d have impressed upon telecomms the importance of a fibre-optic network more vehemently over the past five years. Instead they’ve been offered scant financial incentive to invest and have come under even less in the way of coercive strong arm tactics. The result is that the much-touted roll-out of a fibre optic network has been a total non-event. What’s especially galling is that had they been legally compelled to start committing money to the cause at a time when their incomes were booming it would have been less of a challenge to meet the £30 billion cost of construction.
Instead what’s happened is that we’ve had to wait until the country is on the verge of economic meltdown before any action has been taken. This leaves taxpayers bailing out companies who until recently had been enjoying huge profits from us as a result of the UK broadband boom.
These developments have however left one ISP looking like a shining model of virtue next to its peers. Virgin Media has funded its fibre optic network at huge expense and is now offering 50Mb to over 1.5 million homes with 12.6 million in line for the service by summer this year. In contrast, its larger rival BT, which has repeatedly dragged its heels over committing funding, emerges with its reputation, for me at least, eternally sullied.
It was also embraced by economists on the grounds that the government is displaying foresight to recognise the importance of a next-gen network to the nation’s economic health and is ensuring the UK’s competitiveness in the global economy in years to come. Prudent Gordon we’re invited to believe is some sort of economic next-gen visionary who sees high-tech industries as the salvation of our economy. You’ll forgive me if I demur.
Surely if this were the case he’d have impressed upon telecomms the importance of a fibre-optic network more vehemently over the past five years. Instead they’ve been offered scant financial incentive to invest and have come under even less in the way of coercive strong arm tactics. The result is that the much-touted roll-out of a fibre optic network has been a total non-event. What’s especially galling is that had they been legally compelled to start committing money to the cause at a time when their incomes were booming it would have been less of a challenge to meet the £30 billion cost of construction.
Instead what’s happened is that we’ve had to wait until the country is on the verge of economic meltdown before any action has been taken. This leaves taxpayers bailing out companies who until recently had been enjoying huge profits from us as a result of the UK broadband boom.
These developments have however left one ISP looking like a shining model of virtue next to its peers. Virgin Media has funded its fibre optic network at huge expense and is now offering 50Mb to over 1.5 million homes with 12.6 million in line for the service by summer this year. In contrast, its larger rival BT, which has repeatedly dragged its heels over committing funding, emerges with its reputation, for me at least, eternally sullied.
Monday, 5 January 2009
Swoopo: The Con Is On
Recently it’s been de rigeur for newspapers to publish credit-crunch beating tips. You know the sort of thing: “Why not make your own chocolate cakes for Birthdays?”, the writer rhetorically asks. Adding that all we need do is “Simply buy some Green & Blacks bars and some Tesco Finest Almonds and follow this recipe“. I’ll tell you why not. Because your DIY, Blue Peter-style approach to saving money actually costs more than buying something sticky and lovely from high-end bakers Patisserie Valerie.
Anyway,in this spirit of debunking the Ivory Tower-ed mend and make do mentality, we move seamlessly onto a site called Swoopo.co.uk. This touts itself as an auction site which offers users the chance to buy sought-after electrical goods, such as Nintendo Wiis, PCs and laptops, for a fraction of the high street cost. Sounds too good to be true? My, my you’re a smart one. That’s because it is.
Swoopo.co.uk works by users buying the right to bid on an item, with each bid priced at 40 pence and increasing the cost of the lot by eight pence. Each bid then adds a further 20 seconds or so to the auction time. If you’re lucky enough to be the person placing the final bid you win the right to buy the lot at the final price. The cash accrued by the site from the process means that they receive many times what they paid for the item and enables them to sell the item at discounts of up to 70 per cent. Thus, we’re led to believe, the buyer gets a bargain.
Indeed, some testimonies from users bear out that cheap goods can be secured in this way. However, judging by the majority of reports on message boards what is happening more often is that bidders very rarely get win items and are spending vast sums of money on bids only to come away with nada.
That’s because they are in effect gambling, with the likelihood of winning being determined by lottery-style chance. You're unable to see how many other people are bidding, so are throwing money into the web ether blindly. If you’ve any sense you’ll give Swoopo the widest of wide berths.
Anyway,in this spirit of debunking the Ivory Tower-ed mend and make do mentality, we move seamlessly onto a site called Swoopo.co.uk. This touts itself as an auction site which offers users the chance to buy sought-after electrical goods, such as Nintendo Wiis, PCs and laptops, for a fraction of the high street cost. Sounds too good to be true? My, my you’re a smart one. That’s because it is.
Swoopo.co.uk works by users buying the right to bid on an item, with each bid priced at 40 pence and increasing the cost of the lot by eight pence. Each bid then adds a further 20 seconds or so to the auction time. If you’re lucky enough to be the person placing the final bid you win the right to buy the lot at the final price. The cash accrued by the site from the process means that they receive many times what they paid for the item and enables them to sell the item at discounts of up to 70 per cent. Thus, we’re led to believe, the buyer gets a bargain.
Indeed, some testimonies from users bear out that cheap goods can be secured in this way. However, judging by the majority of reports on message boards what is happening more often is that bidders very rarely get win items and are spending vast sums of money on bids only to come away with nada.
That’s because they are in effect gambling, with the likelihood of winning being determined by lottery-style chance. You're unable to see how many other people are bidding, so are throwing money into the web ether blindly. If you’ve any sense you’ll give Swoopo the widest of wide berths.
Friday, 2 January 2009
Clockwork Remote Control Bringing Steampunk To Mainstream
A few months back the Guardian ran a piece on the burgeoning steampunk scene. It's a niche Science Fiction movement that fetishises the look of Victoriana and age-old technology such as steampower and imagines how more modern tech might have appeared had it been invented at this time in history. Take for example this natty looking PC which has been modded for Steampunk effect:
What a beauty, no? But strictly science fantasy, surely? Hmmm...yes and no. Earlier this week, for instance, everyone from Gizmodo to the Sun ran pieces on a remote control from ethicalsuperstore.com that does away with batteries in favour of a wind-up, clockwork mechanism. And while its none-more-grey styling is, in truth, pretty unlovely compared with some of the elegant wonders that Steampunk modders have come up with, the incorporation of archaic tech suggests that some of the movement's ideas have gone mainstream. You can see it below:
In the light of the acres of press coverage this has received it seems like huge sales for the remote are something of a given. Especially since it chimes perfectly with growing eco awareness. Similarly the device will also resonate with the new mood of econodriving that the credit crunch has induced. Going back to the future for now at least seems to be the way forward.
What a beauty, no? But strictly science fantasy, surely? Hmmm...yes and no. Earlier this week, for instance, everyone from Gizmodo to the Sun ran pieces on a remote control from ethicalsuperstore.com that does away with batteries in favour of a wind-up, clockwork mechanism. And while its none-more-grey styling is, in truth, pretty unlovely compared with some of the elegant wonders that Steampunk modders have come up with, the incorporation of archaic tech suggests that some of the movement's ideas have gone mainstream. You can see it below:
In the light of the acres of press coverage this has received it seems like huge sales for the remote are something of a given. Especially since it chimes perfectly with growing eco awareness. Similarly the device will also resonate with the new mood of econodriving that the credit crunch has induced. Going back to the future for now at least seems to be the way forward.
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