Disqus - Latest Comments for SMSblack

Re: MIR Show goes to Rome and finds locals using N73s

SMSblack — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 08:16:13 -0000

Me too :)

2009/2/3 Disqus <>

Re: MIR Show goes to Rome and finds locals using N73s

edgar1013 — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 08:09:33 -0000

i was just being a wise ass. :)

Re: MIR Show goes to Rome and finds locals using N73s

SMSblack — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 04:19:42 -0000

Edgar - it was a Saturday. Although I'm sure he had one with him just in case of emergencies ;-)

Re: Normob is ‘ugly word’, use ‘people’ instead

SMSblack — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:34:59 -0000

Ah, the fun of language. You can be almost certain to offend someone, even if you don't mean to.

Personally I have no problem with the term 'normob' (and I don't think my mum would either). But I understand Matt's point as it can appear to be a pejorative term. I'm sure you don't mean it like that Ewan and as you rightly point out 'people' just doesn't work.

The trick is to divide us (the readers and those who are more au fait with mobiles) and them (those who are less au fait with mobiles) without insulting either ... tricky.

Re: Youth: Text in Knife Crime Concerns

SMSblack — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:03:09 -0000

Samantha, the scheme seems to have been successful and has been extended - http://smsisthenewblack.co.uk/2009/01/15/text-t...

Re: Who does T-Mobile UK whitelisting?

SMSblack — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 08:49:47 -0000

Oh Lord won't you you buy me a James Whatley?
My friends don't use social media, I must make amends ...

Re: Sms Or Die - Mobilestorm Whitepaper

SMSblack — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 14:57:11 -0000

Unfortunately I think the whitepaper is far too simplistic and is a FAIL: http://smsisthenewblack.co.uk/2009/01/10/sms-or...

Re: The Toleration Of Public Transport

SMSblack — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 14:34:41 -0000

Great post and Oh, so true.

It can be like this in the mobile industry too, especially for pre-paid. I've already paid for the service - so why is it *sometimes* so poor. If I'm paying good money for the service I don't expect dropped calls etc etc.

Part of the problem is that at the root of all of is is a disregard for basic customer services in this country. Almost anywhere you go people do not consider customers to be special - yet we are the ones that pay your salary.

In the distant past I worked in a restaurant in Canada and I know that it's possible to serve people well (very well), without being servile or subservient. Unfortunately that culture doesn't exist in the UK at the moment.

Re: Got my Mobile World Congress press credentials

SMSblack — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 14:21:59 -0000

See you all there!

Re: Interesting Facts From Around The World!

SMSblack — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 14:08:52 -0000

Love some of those images :-)

There's also a scheme in South Africa using SMS to help stop the spread of AIDS http://smsisthenewblack.co.uk/2008/10/27/one-mi...

Re: How good is Google getting? ;-)

SMSblack — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 08:03:15 -0000

Ewan, I love the fact that whenever I'm in my spam folder, Google tries to advertise recipes for Spam Fritters to me!

Re: Amy Cope added to the Who’s Who

SMSblack — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 10:15:25 -0000

It wasn't Amy, but the eForum jumped into action to respond to my recent post:
http://smsisthenewblack.co.uk/2008/12/31/vodafo...

Re: A Twitter Debate with James Whatley

SMSblack — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 09:00:53 -0000

My 2p worth - http://smsisthenewblack.co.uk/2008/12/28/12-day...

Re: Texperts sold to 118118 owners kgb

SMSblack — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:21:02 -0000

Any update on that?

Re: Texperts sold to 118118 owners kgb

SMSblack — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 08:57:17 -0000

Nice comments by Colly Myers, CEO of AQA here: http://smsisthenewblack.co.uk/2008/12/19/colly-...

Re: TweetMinster brings your Twittering MPs on to one screen

SMSblack — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:59:19 -0000

Ewan, while I think it's great that MPs are trying to communicate more with their constituents, I still think that there are a number of other channels that would get the message across to more people, more effectively.

Maybe they should take a leaf from the Thai PM's book and send 'illegal' text messages to all: http://smsisthenewblack.co.uk/2008/12/18/new-th...

Re: Texperts sold to 118118 owners kgb

SMSblack — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 10:17:43 -0000

So is this a sign that Texperts is great, or that the 118118 service is not that great?

Re: Mobile Industry Review is the 18th most clipped site on the planet

SMSblack — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 10:14:40 -0000

Awesome, well done!

Re: Smartphones are shit; I’m going back to a real phone

SMSblack — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 10:06:07 -0000

Ewan knew you were going to say that.

Re: My arse with Twitter. Help.

SMSblack — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 08:19:17 -0000

By the way Ewan, what did you have for breakfast?

Re: Help, I’m stuck up a Spanish mountain

SMSblack — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:14:31 -0000

Don't forget the story of the life-saving surgery by text message - http://smsisthenewblack.co.uk/2008/12/04/sms-sa...

Re: Condom sales sore in India because of ringtone

SMSblack — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 16:28:27 -0000

I'm not sure I'd want a ringtone that said that, but if it works ...

In the UK, they want to start texting sex advice to teenagers:
http://smsisthenewblack.co.uk/2008/11/16/teenag...

Re: SpinVox vs HulloMail — they’re not competitors

barneyc — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 09:18:05 -0000

It's a term I coined in response to one made about wide receivers a while back (and have been meaning to publish something on it).

Essentially most social network sites are trying to play the role of a wide-receiver. They want as much of your attention as possible, dragging in your feeds and those of others and effectively acting as a personal portal (oh yeah Web 1 here we go again). Think FriendFeed, FB et al. They allow me to create content but only within their own walls.

Now the quarterback is far less attention grabbing but IMHO more important. It is the point of dissemination, the personal content router if you will. You may create content within it, or indeed suck in content created elsewhere, but it is at the quaterback you define rules, preferences and such to create routing for your stuff. It doesn't pretend to be a social network nor does it seek to be, it's more about giving the user control over what goes where and to whom.

So Ping.FM is an early example of a quarterback in the making, as is tarpipe (yahoo pipes for social media).

Re: SpinVox vs HulloMail — they’re not competitors

SMSblack — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 09:00:35 -0000

Love the phrase "social quarterback".

Re: SpinVox vs HulloMail — they’re not competitors

barneyc — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 08:28:47 -0000

Thanks. I'm not sure that Spinvox lays claim to any ownership of the VM, but certainly I'm with Ben on the mashup thing - indeed I mentioned a part of this to Andy last night.

From a user perspective the content of the VM is mine and indeed the senders. As such through the intermediary service we should be able to take the content, mark it up how we see fit and disseminate to services of our choosing.

For instance one scenario which I could foresee is with Spinvox and the posting to SocNets. Currently this is fairly clunky and fire & forget. In an ideal world I should be able to use Spinvox as my social quarterback, throwing content at them, logging into their service, choosing individual posts, marking them up with useful information (tags, routing rules etc...) and then letting Spinvox push them out the door to places of my choosing.

This is a very small but conceptually different usage of the toolset but I for one would actually pay for a more personalised and flexible service.