Category: Blog

The role of a critic

To function as an evangelist, the critic needs, above all else, to write well. A badly written book review is worse than a badly written political speech or greeting card or poem; a badly written review is self-canceling, like a barber with a terrible haircut. The best way to establish critical authority is to demonstrate, in your own prose, a vitality at least equivalent to that of the book you’re writing about. There are other ways to do it, but that’s the most immediately convincing.

via bookdepository.co.uk

There is something important and meaningful in the quote above.

Thinking about buying a new smartphone, think again

Owning a smartphone is becoming a norm for an information professional (or for that matter a lot of us). Buying a smartphone is not the end of the expense but rather a beginning. With more and more smartphones arriving in the market and people wanting to try new gadgets, switching smartphones running on different platforms is going to become increasingly expensive.

The three major platforms are Android, iOS and Symbian that Nokia uses and the up and coming Microsoft Windows Phone 7. All these platforms have their own marketplaces where application developers can sell their apps.

When we buy a smartphone, we primarily pay for:
  • the phone itself (outright or through the contract)
  • data and phone call usage
  • applications and subscriptions that run on the smartphone
  • accessories
People are spending more and more time on their smartphones doing productive things apart from calling and responding to calls. And they are doing so by using applications that run on their smartphones. A lot of these applications cost money. The challenge is that these applications like any desktop application is platform specific. So an application developed for an iOS device is not going to work on an Android based device or a Windows Phone 7 device and vice versa. So when people have spent 100’s of dollars on their smartphone apps to make themselves most productive while on the run, buying a new smartphone on a different platform will become an expensive affair for them as they will have to spend money again to buy apps so they can play same games, use productivity and utilities apps again on the new smartphone.

I have idesk at home [iPhone, iPad, iPod and Macbook] and don’t intend to buy a smartphone on a different platform anytime soon, but if I decide to buy a smartphone on Android based platform, it will easily set me back by few hundred dollars just on getting similar applications.

Switching from iOS to Android is not going to get any easier if I have subscribed to newspaper subscriptions or to magazines like Project which at the moment only work on iPads.

If you have switched between smartphone platforms, what was your experience?

How to use Twitter

OM: So how do you think people should think about Twitter? Like electricity — you don’t even think about it; it’s just there?

Ev: [Laughs] I would like people to know they’re using Twitter but they shouldn’t have to think about *how* to use Twitter.

via gigaom.com

That last sentence from the interview is well said. Everybody should think for themselves as to what they want from the tool (Twitter) and how to get the most out of it. After all everybody’s needs are different too.

From $30.00 to $90 million in half a decade.

As his company’s RetailMeNot site was snapped up by emerging US media player WhaleShark Media for around AU$90 million, Guy King and co-founder Bevan Clark became two of Australia’s newest multimillionaires.

Guy King and Bevan Clark

Bevan Clark (left) and Guy King (right) (Credit: Stateless)

Speaking with the entrepreneur this morning, it doesn’t seem to have sunk in yet.

“When I launched the site, I honestly didn’t even consider that I’d be able to make any money from it,” King said. “It’s quite surreal.”

via zdnet.com.au

These Aussie Guys did what they loved the most and did it with dedication.

DO YOU KNOW ANYBODY WANTING THIS FANTASTIC JOB

Regular readers know that I’ve run a few free instensive education programs in my office. You can see details about them here, here and here.

Starting in four weeks, I’m trying a different approach. A paid 7 month gig helping me build a significant new publishing venture (I’ll be announcing the details of the venture here on Wednesday morning).

I’m looking for two or three people to work with me in my office outside of New York, engaged in every element of the project, from copywriting and editing to social media to business development to promotion. My goal is to offer you a hands on experience with full exposure to the market, to technology and to shipping great work out the door. When we’re done, I think you’ll be qualified to start your own gig or find a great job in media.

There’s an online application, then an in person interview for a few people in mid-December and we start January 4th. Obviously, this means you’ll need easy access to New York, valid work permits and fantastic verbal, technical and writing skills. I’m offering each person as much education as I can, along with a $25,000 stipend in exchange for their work.

If you know someone who can use the boost that this might offer (and can do the work) I hope you’ll share this with them. Applications close on December 10th.

Sent with Reeder

Sent from my TPad

“Social Media” + Email

I use Twitter, I use Facebook and I also extensively use my Email. While there have been articles/reports and research produced in the past which said that Social Media sites are replacing email in a lot of instance but I find myself using my email a lot more because of Facebook and Twitter [they are a big part of "Social Media" sites for me]. Instead of commenting on a post by visiting Facebook, where possible I comment from within my email, I upload pictures from my email and I forward and respond to lot of messages that originated from Facebook. On discussing on Twitter, when conversations get serious, they continue within my email inbox. I use Gmail as my primary email. And when I get messages from Twitter and Facebook, most of the time Gmail's Priority Inbox does a good job of marking important and not so important messages originating from these sites.

Email is not going to go away anywhere for a long time to come. If anything, we will see improvements happening in this space.

So how long before Email gets well integrated into a Social Media site such as Facebook? I could have seen that happening faster if Google Buzz was a bigger success for Google. How long before we use a "RockMelt" like version of a "Social Media" site where email is in the centre with all other aspects of social media cluttering it on the borders. I think this has already started with add-ons within Gmail where it displays information relating to your contacts from "Social Media" sites and other places. But how long before it comes mainstream?

This can happen more faster if the lines blurred with so called 'Social Networks' and 'Other Networks' and it all becomes just networks within which we distinguish between professional interactions and interacting with friends.

But I have been wondering few things lately?
  • How long before the word "Social Media" fades away?
  • Is Facebook still a Social Media site? I see a lot more professional activities happening on Facebook now.
More on this in future posts.