Disqus - Latest Comments for DigitalSignals

Re: Digital Signals: Nexus One - The Android phone I've been waiting for?

Ed Richardson — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 08:34:20 -0000

I'm glad I'm not alone in this conundrum!

Yep any info would be gratefully received!

Both of the other HTC phones look nice, I thought Google had stolen the march but at this stage who knows.

Thanks for the comment Juls and Happy New Year!

Re: Digital Signals: I've changed my Twitter follow policy and some thoughts on Twitter lists and the infamous retweet

Ed Richardson — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 05:07:50 -0000

Cheers Leigh and Happy New Year!

I can see some of the benefits of the new RT, it will certainly allow Twitter to track it's use a lot more effectively.

But to loose the ability to edit content really devalues the comment aspect of RT'ing, which in turn adds more debate to content online.

Lists are great, it's just finding the time to create and update them!

The Sin Bin idea is fun and at the end of the day we should be allowed a little fun in this social media world. I'm generally a "fun" person and I should be expressing this in my online persona.

Cheers for comment again and here's to another good year on and offline!

Re: Digital Signals: A punters view of the smartphone options - Is the N900 going to challenge the iPhone?

Ed Richardson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:33:48 -0000

I think the increase in contract length with most carriers has altered a lot of peoples thinking on mobile choice.

Most carriers still offer free upgrades after the contract expires, but this isn't the case with the higher end phones such as the iPhone.

I travel a lot and access to my online content during this time would be most helpful.

My gym is the Peak District's fells, I like to hear the wind and the wild when I'm excising!

Thanks Vincent!

Re: Digital Signals: A punters view of the smartphone options - Is the N900 going to challenge the iPhone?

Ed Richardson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:13:02 -0000

Quite, although I'm personally not really put off by the price of the iPhone.

I think we all need to change our thinking about phones as disposable devices that we renew every 6-12 months and start to think of them as closer to investing in a laptop or netbook.

As far as the features and functionality are concerned, yes, we all pretty much want those core features and it's surprising how long it taken anyone to really come up with an option other than the iPhone that really answers them well.

Come on Nokia, HTC et-al . . .

Cheers for taking the time to comment again Vincent!

Re: Digital Signals: It's all about communication

Ed Richardson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:09:03 -0000

Cheers thanks!

The fun starts here with two of them I tell you!

Re: Digital Signals: A punters view of the smartphone options - Is the N900 going to challenge the iPhone?

Ed Richardson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:38:46 -0000

I still own a Nokia 6300, which works very well as "what it says on the tin", a mobile.

The interface is intuitive and that's something I've always found with Nokia's.

Obviously your experience with the E71 is different! Perhaps this was Nokia finding their feet with devices that offer more than the traditional phone requirements.

Rather than saying I don't want an iPhone . . .

I want a phone that allows me to access the internet and online applications with ease and the functionality to switch between portrait and landscape view.

This would be helped by having and active and dynamic applications development market/community for what ever OS the devices runs on, fulfilling my need for specific app requirements before I realise the demand.

I want to be able to sync with all of my existing content for contacts, calendar and music in some form from my Apple G5 at home.

I want reliable connectivity for the internet, but most importantly for phone calls.

I need an easy keyboard to use that allows me to work fast when needed.

I need a decent camera, but nothing ground breaking that allows me to share imagery with social applications easily.

I'd like it to look nice, fit in my pocket comfortably and generally have a good degree of durability.

Thanks for the comment Vincent!

Re: Digital Signals: A punters view of the smartphone options - Is the N900 going to challenge the iPhone?

Ed Richardson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:15:38 -0000

Hi,

Thanks for taking the time to write such a lengthy comment, they are always appreciated.

Additionally such an insightful post is always great to read and informative to me.

I agree the iPhone has been readily adopted by the mass market and is a more restrictive development environment and generally less adaptable.

But it's popularity has been driven by its ability to really change the phone market with something so innovative and new and additionally aesthetically pleasing that it's competitors have been left standing a little.

Now that the smartphone market is maturing a little, I see new more capable phones hitting the market that are aimed at more technical users.

The iPhone is very convenient and intuitive, hence it's rapid adoption, but as you mention it might not lead to the greatest level of choices.

I didn't know that Maemo had been around longer than Android, but I did know that there may have been an aversion on the behalf of Nokia to get into bed with Google with regards to their phones OS.

It was interesting to read on the umpcportal link you shared the support for capacitive screens with Maemo 6, something I'd like to see. I wonder if they'll do a new version of the N900 to support this.

Sitting on the train last night going home and someone was using an N97 keyboard and I must admit I was struck by the speed with which they were able to type . . .

Well after such a thoughtful post I am now back to square one!

Do I hang fire and wait for the N900 . . .

Thanks for the comment!

Re: Digital Signals: Digital Production Management - Risk vs Value

Ed Richardson — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:20:56 -0000

Hi Rob,

First, sorry it's taken me so long to reply I've been a little busy recently.

Yes, I find risk assessment a valuable process on all projects to varying degrees.

Often some factors are missed, such as staff holidays, so considering all factors is important.

The diagram above is a very simple diagram that illustrates how easy some risk assessment can be rather than more complex processes that can be daunting.

Thanks for your comment and good luck with your future projects!

Re: Digital Signals: It's all about communication

Ed Richardson — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:14:09 -0000

Thanks!

He spends most nights communicating to us in his own language at some hours that others would call rude.

But we love him.

Thanks for the comment Vincent!

Re: Digital Signals: Twitter link bait - Is it worth it?

Ed Richardson — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:38:03 -0000

Yeah, I would be inclined to agree that makes up the majority of content on Twitter.

I think the community/collaboration aspect of Twitter is growing daily though, and this falls into the controversial stuff.

Some of the recent live/event hashtag activity that has been going on has been very valuable for me, although this really falls into the former category it can also lead to the latter.

There is a growing use of link baiting on Twitter though, obviously there is the use of Twitter for spam, which usually uses some form of link bait.

But also the intriguing leads from some of the stronger (right term?!?) users of Twitter to articles they maybe promoting.

The use of persuasive copy/links has been a popular tool since marketing began, I can see it making an exception for Twitter, in fact quite the opposite.

To be honest my own use of Twitter has evolved slightly since I wrote this, although some would beg to differ!

Cheers for the comment Wayne!

Re: Digital Signals: Twitter link bait - Is it worth it?

Ed Richardson — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:30:04 -0000

Hi Matt,

40% is quite an impact, I get no where near that.

I don't share content with Facebook, I've always kept the two rather distinct. One family/personal orientated and then other parties more work orientated.

Although I have been thinking about adding my Twitter to Facebook recently as I rarely update my Facebook status.

Others however take full advantage of Twitters link sharing role and I was interested to see the (I think) Mashable article on "Is Twitter the future RSS".

Anyway, we'll see.

Thanks for the comment and good luck with the blog.

Re: Digital Signals: There is no substitute for hard work

Ed Richardson — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:58:35 -0000

Hi Clint,

It's inevitable that we as a society highlight the overnight millionaires, it taps into our human nature and intrigue that I spoke about last week.

No one is excited to read about the guy/girl that worked all their lives to get to the top of his/her industry. It sounds far too much like hard work!

But the reality is that's what it generally takes.

If you really want to be a success, you'd be better focussing on hard work than trying to guess the lottery numbers each week.

Thanks for the comment.

Re: Digital Signals: Comments on blogs - An online visitors book?

Ed Richardson — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:29:23 -0000

No worries.

Sometimes you need to take some time off a particular personal project to re-realise the value and reason you started it in the first place. Then return ready to go.

Cheers, will let you know how it goes.

Re: Digital Signals: Comments on blogs - An online visitors book?

Ed Richardson — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:23:03 -0000

Interesting, thanks for that Mark. I get a reasonable amount of traffic from Zemanta links so had always been curious as to the functionality.

Your IAMM work sounds interesting, its hard sometimes to summon the motivation to work on these personal projects when putting so much energy into some many things at the same time.

I too have several projects on back burners or in a semi developed state, including a rebuild of site/blog which is well overdue.

I'll drop back and have a proper play on IAMM at sometime.

Thanks again.

Re: Digital Signals: Comments on blogs - An online visitors book?

Ed Richardson — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:36:22 -0000

Hi Mark,

Thanks for that, appreciated.

I took a wander over to your site, out of interest do you manage your own Zemanta links after a suggestion process?

Thanks again for taking the time to comment.

Re: Cloud Computing – a Capital Idea?

Ed Richardson — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 09:30:44 -0000

Interesting read and I agree whole heartedly with the sentiment and also the fact that this is now a common practice.

The issue often lies with the CFO rather than the CIO, with the financial management team taking a particular opinion of different types of investment and budgetary requirements.

Leasing costs can often be "absorbed" into the general day to day expenditure of running an infrastructure framework, were as capital costs require business justification, budget planning and approval processes.

Ironically as expenditure increases on op-ex costs to offset the requirement for further cap-ex requests, we also a diminishing number of capital assets to list on company papers, effectively further increasing the total realised costs of infrastructure.

The occurrence usually happens when an CIO's opinion/requirement for technology funding for the year exceeds that of his/hers financial counterparts. Instead of pushing back on cap-ex requests a CIO can seek other methods of acquiring the seemingly much need technology.

What would be better for all would be an appreciation of the real need for business investment in technology costs at a cap-ex level, in addition the understanding of CIO of the real costs to the business of almost stealth expenditure on op-ex investment.

It might find its way all the back to the old argument about business justification for a none fee earning department (technology often still regarded as such) demanding such a percentage of total business expenditure.

Heaven bid for company to reel in, what are for all intents and purposes, op-ex costs of other fee earning departments, such as expenses.

Thanks for the post, it's good to put my old infrastructure management hat on every once in a while.

Re: Digital Signals: The future of digital - So where do we go now?

Ed Richardson — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:33:00 -0000

Hi Thomas,

I agree their can be a too much focus on answering one question without looking if you can answer multiple questions with a whole new approach to technology adoption.

Most of the time I guess it comes back to brands wanting to ensure their time and investment is focussed on what they do best rather than spending the R&D on really new concepts.

I'd love to come over the Viscom conference and hear what's happening in the visual communication technology sector. Sadly I doubt my budget will allow.

I will however keep an eye on the site and feel free to contact me with any interesting content that you think might interest my readers.

Thanks for the comment!

Re: Digital Signals: Twitter - Use it as you see fit, but don't expect us all to like it!

Ed Richardson — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 04:08:55 -0000

Thanks Jez. As you say, it is easy to forget something that other may wish to use something we use regularly for something completely different.

As you say Twitter is many things for many people and that's one of the beauties of it. To try and dictate how everyone should use it would lose some of it's flexibility, something that I am sure it's creators are wary of.

Thanks for the comment!

Re: The Truth About Star Wars and the Matrix

Ed Richardson — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:09:13 -0000

What about David Niven in the original Casino Royale? A classic surely with so many good scenes to remember . . .

Re: The Truth About Star Wars and the Matrix

Ed Richardson — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:02:21 -0000

I can't believe this was ever up for debate?

Who could have believed anything else.

There are numerous attempts to replicate greatness in these fictional characters, but genuine genius can't be just knocked up . . .

I like David Carradine defence of Superman as the best superhero in Kill Bill. At the end of the day, Superman wakes everyday and has to put on a costume to become Clark Kent, all other superheroes do it the other way around.

Re: Digital Signals: Deep web searching - The next step to achieving better quality from the internet

Ed Richardson — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 05:54:54 -0000

Hi Ted,

Sorry its taken me so long to reply.

Yep, DeepDyve does seem to be making itself more accessible and hopefully this will improve the general awareness of deep web searching.

It's a powerful addition to existing web functionality, one that will bring far greater value to online content.

Thanks for the comment!

Re: Digital Signals: Deep web searching - The next step to achieving better quality from the internet

Ed Richardson — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 05:50:57 -0000

Hyperlocal and real-time attributes certainly do add significant extra value to deep web searching, expanding research down to a macro level.

As we see more hyperlocal and real-time content the benefits of deep web searching will improve for all.

Real-time content is still evolving it's relationship with search at the moment though and we are all still catching on to the benefits of hyperlocal content on the web.

As search evolves and our adoption of the two grows and think we'll see this science take leaps forward.

Thanks for the comment!

Re: Digital Signals: Book Review - Agile Project Management with Scrum

Ed Richardson — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 05:30:12 -0000

Glad you liked the book, I enjoyed as well.

Have you implemented Scrum within your business?

If so, how's it gone?

Thanks for the comment.

Re: Europe no longer matters to lead position in mobile

Ed Richardson — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:49:28 -0000

I think your right about Nokia underestimating the market, but I see this less of a European issue and more of a brand issue.

Believe me we would all like to move on from texting and I've been waiting for Nokia to bring something out that can compete with the iPhone, but I've been waiting . . . and waiting. I've been waiting so long that I've written about it twice in the time it's taken for Nokia to release the N97.

I'm still hoping that Nokia have something under their cloak that they are going to pull off.

But it's not just the manufactures that are to blame, but the networks too. Orange my current provider have been terribly slow at their adoption of decent smartphones, leaving me with only the option of moving networks.

But to be honest I'm disappointed with global uptake of the Android OS, which I see as a really exciting prospect. A real Open Source OS for mobiles.

Equally, other than the iPhone, name a really good smartphone to come out of the States? Sure the iPhone is great, but I'm not sold on the RIM products any more.

So don't blame us European's stuck in texting rucks, we all want to move on. Blame our manufacturers and network providers and thier slow adoption. This is not a consumer issue, it's further up the tree . . .

Re: Exploring Degrees of Online Sharing

Ed Richardson — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:21:57 -0000

Interesting stuff the principles of viral adoption or network theory.

What's more effective is the combined effect of the generally more tuned/focussed audience that you get with social media, that is then combined with the network effect to multiply a quality lead.

Well that is if people don't just follow everyone!

Nice charts too Samir, thanks!