Whatever...

Kindle schmindle

By Dom Walsh

When I got married, we decided to use my grandfather’s Bible for the reading. It was given to him in 1922, and was already a decade old.  It’s survived poverty, bombing, children and living in Manchester.  The text is still clear, none of the pages have fallen out and the binding’s holding up perfectly.  It also has a full index and nice, helpful numbered pages as well as being a convenient travel size.  All in all, for a piece of technology coming up on its centenary, it was ideal.

Now, by way of contrast, let us consider Amazon’s latest effort to revolutionise the world of reading: the Kindle “electronic book”.  Amazon have grabbed some fantastic press over this, with acres of coverage for the launch.  Sales have also, apparently, been brisk, with the Kindle selling out on its initial (no doubt limited) release.  Of course, the Sega Dreamcast did similar business, and look what happened to that…

There have been criticisms over its looks - understandable, considering it would have been rejected by the Blake’s 7 prop department for being too cheap and tacky-looking.  And unlike an mp3 player, you can’t just copy your existing books onto it.  This looks likely to be a major setback in encouraging uptake of electronic books of any sort, as it’s a costly inconvenience to have to download works that you already own just for the pleasure of reading them on a device that’s even more embarrassing to expose on the train than an adult edition of Harry Potter.

On saying that, there are markets where a device such as the Kindle would be, if not invaluable, certainly welcomed.  The legal industry, for one, would benefit from a reduction in the huge number of tomes currently required by practitioners.  Students could also benefit, enabling a huge number of reference works to be carried around at once, with the initial high asking price ($400, around £195, or 39 copies of ‘1984’) being offset both by convenience and hopefully the ability to download books at a greatly reduced cost to their paper versions.

For the average reader though, I don’t see that electronic books have any advantages over the traditional type. They’re certainly less durable and less replaceable – a lost book can generally be rectified with a few pounds and a trip to Oxfam, rather than the high cost of replacing a Kindle.  And while portable, they are no more so than an average paperback.

But there is also the aesthetic aspect to consider.  Books have been a popular, successful design for centuries, whether disposable entertainment or impressive piece of home decoration. They are recyclable and extremely durable as well as being highly tactile and easy to use.  And after the robots have risen up and kicked us out of our homes, we’ll still be able to read them or, at the worst, use them for fuel.

I just don’t believe that electronic books will ever replace traditional literature, Newsweek hagiographies notwithstanding.  And I’m pretty sure that my own grandchildren will still be able to interface with the same Bible I did if they want.  Of course, whether they’d be more impressed by an electronic book – or PlayStation or iPhone – is quite another matter.

Keep it simple (not stupid)

By Mike King

Last month, I spoke at an eMarketing conference in Dublin arranged by Enterprise Ireland.  The focus of the event was on how companies could develop an online presence that promoted their brand and increased international business.  Sounds like a broad subject, but much of it covered and emphasised the importance of the practical elements of building an effective website.

A lot of this was basic common sense – know your audience and write the site for them, not for yourself; keep it short, succinct and to the point; and provide very clear, concise information so that visitors can quickly and easily see exactly what you do and what you stand for.

But there were some other interesting tips that made me stop and think.  For instance, these days, there’s no need to say “click this link” or “welcome to our website” – and don’t mess around with intro pages that visitors will invariably skip as soon as they can. 

Of course, the key is that the internet should be about fast access to clear information.  Anything that detracts from this just gets in the way and annoys us. 

Check out the Ryanair site for an example of a site that is totally focused on its purpose.  Not a site that is likely to win any awards for creativity, but that isn’t the point.  It says, “We sell cheap flights” and is a massive part of Ryanair’s success.

One of the speakers talked about the work of web useability expert Jakob Nielsen, who says that there are four absolutely fundamental requirements for any website: quick download, easy navigation, relevant content and frequent updates. 

Without all of these elements, any website is simply a waste of time.  It does seem obvious, but just look at how many fall at this basic hurdle. 

If you are interested in hearing more, podcasts from the speakers at the conference are available here.

FOOTNOTE: unfortunately, it looks like a lot of UK businesses are still in need of this type of guidance.

The sordid life of Second Life

By Alexandra Radius

Recently, an episode of the show CSI:New York featured a cross-over between the show’s fictional reality and the virtual reality site Second Life.  As well as watch the programme, viewers were encouraged to also enter Second Life, enabling them to chase the killer into a virtual world and solve the investigation in a virtual Crime Lab.

It’s a great promotion for CSI, helping to maintain viewer attention during the broadcast episode, and bringing CSI younger, hipper fans in Second Life… But is this just another example of bringing onscreen violence even further into our homes?  Is the gap closing between reality and imagination?

Some recent incidents in Second Life show that the borders between fact and fiction are getting increasingly blurry.  When the Front National, the far-right French political party, set up a presence in Second Life, protesters showed up and soon turned to (virtual) violence.  As the players can't actually hurt each other, weapons were mostly meaningless, but the protesters managed, through force of numbers, to bog down that part of the world – a denial-of-service attack carried out in real-time.

Worse still, certain users of Second Life have been engaging in paedophile acts during the game and exchanging real child porn images.  I could go further and imagine Second Life being used to plan a terrorist attack... I am just wondering what will be the next sordid story to emerge from Second Life.

In Second Life, there is no police force to control the abuse of people.  One solution could be to establish an external body that sets boundries or obliges users to provide a certain amount of verifiable personal information in order to access all the functionalities of Second Life.

The concept of TV/internet cross-overs is still interesting because it potentially opens up a future of real interactivity – however, I still think we need to put certain barriers in place to make the virtual world a better world to live in!

STOP PRESS: Looks like one police force in Europe is taking virtual crime seriously!

Is technology really the root of all evil?

By George Mensah

The Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil, with greediness and corruption surely not that far behind in being responsible for the inequalities that exist in the world.  But this sadly is not the view of the IMF (International Monetary Fund), who have recently argued that technological innovation causes economic inequality.

To me, this seems like a narrow minded and rather bizarre viewpoint, as there are much greater issues than advancing technology widening the demarcation between the modern day bourgeois and proletariat.  But let’s address the further accusation made that it’s those people who possess technological skills who are somehow to blame for economic inequality.

Quite frankly, were it not for innovation who of us can be 100% sure we would be here right now?  For the IMF to suggest that we were better off as a society when we had marginal advancement is hypocritical.  We need technologically-oriented minds to solve a lot of the social problems we experience today.

For instance, discouraging scientists and engineers with anti-technology bias is certainly not helping us to address the numerous ailments and diseases that still afflict our society.  And if students are being steered clear of these disciplines when considering higher education, then what will the future be like in a few years to come?

It’s often easy to forget the immense benefits that great minds and the technology they’ve created have delivered.  Just one such example is the impact of the Cell Broadband Engine, originally developed for high-performance processing in PS3 games consoles, but now being used by scientists to make greater progress in the study of protein folding and its link to diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and certain forms of cancer.

True, inequality does exist in this world - but technology is far from being the main culprit. 

The Tricksters

By Tom Kirkham

Having named their last record ‘Hail To The Thief’, Radiohead has embraced this concept yet further by inviting music listeners all over the world to relieve them of their new album ‘In Rainbows’ for nothing - no alarms, no surprises.

Actually, you do have the option of paying a nominal sum if, like me, you still harbour the deranged notion that artists should be financially rewarded for their efforts.  But in allowing the listener to name their price, Radiohead is being credited with revolutionising music distribution and turning the download industry on its head.

Of course, it’s also rather brilliant PR!  The story has appeared in every broadsheet, tabloid and business journal in the country, giving the band greater exposure than a conventional CD release and eliminating the need for a costly advertising push.  Everyone knows the album is out there now, so Radiohead has maximised its potential audience and shown itself to be a ‘thought leader’ (ahhgghh) in its sector.

Interestingly, the tide has begun to turn slightly of late, with some reports now claiming that Radiohead's bold move has been a bit of a let down, suggesting that almost two thirds of so called buyers didn't actually pay a thing for the download.

But has this whole exercise just been about revenue generation in a digital age?  There’s another aspect to the In Rainbows campaign that seems to have escaped the media’s attention, and suggests that the band aren't likely to sulk too much about stingy freeloaders…

When you order the album online, a closer look at the terms and conditions reveals the following:

“By registering with the shop, w.a.s.t.e. products may use your e-mail address to send you Radiohead news, updates, ticket info etc.”

Radiohead now has one of the biggest, most accurate marketing resources of all time.  Rather than the usual list - heavy on outdated information, horrendous typos and dead people - In Rainbows has given the band a fitter, happier, more productive database, one on which practically every single person can be considered a fan.  Clever, huh?