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A trip down memory lane – 90s tech nostalgia

Last week, Microsoft released a new advert for its flagging flagship browser, Internet Explorer.  Aimed specifically at ‘90s kids’, the ad “takes a trip back through everything that was popular back in the land before iPods, including Pogs, bad haircuts and, well, Internet Explorer” in an attempt to win back the hearts of IE’s previously loyal users.

 

The ad inspired us here at Johnson King to take a trip of our own down memory lane – to a time when press releases were still sent out by post and a cloud was just what you gazed up at as you lay in the grass – and reminisce on 90s tech which fills us with the most nostalgia. Here are our top 10 (disclaimer – just like pogs and bad haircuts, these technologies are by no means the “best” of the 90s – just the ones we look back the most fondly on!): 

1. Discman – there was a heated debate in JK towers as to whether this really belongs in the 80s, but this trusty portable music player definitely reached its peak in the 90s – before
MP3 technology wiped them out! 

2. Nokia bricks – specifically the 5110 and 6110, these early mobile phone models came complete with now-mythical antennas on top. But at least they both had Snake!


3. Gameboy – ahh the classic handheld gaming device. Who needs a colourful screen when you could enjoy monochrome Tetris?

4. Encarta – the Wikipedia of the 90s. Our very own Lindsey was even bought Encarta as her parents thought the internet was too dangerous a world to let her loose in! And yes kids, you had to install it using this ancient device called the CD-ROM…

5. 'Hi-tech’ toys – The Dream Phone (“a dating board game for girls”) and Skip-It (an apparatus attached to the ankle to record the number of skips jumped) were JK favourites, and while we may be pushing the boundaries as to what counts as technology, perhaps these were the predecessors to online dating sites and Nike’s Fuel band? 


6. Electronic organisers – while some of us at JK were busy with our Dream Phones and Skip-Its in the 90s, the older and wiser of us were already playing with corporate toys like electronic organisers (arguably not much more technologically advanced than the Dream Phone!). 

7. Amiga 1200 – this was the computer to have back in those days, and while it could only hold 2MB memory, it came complete with a super-duper advanced Floppy disk drive!


8. WordArt – while the WordArt function is still available on Word, there has never been a decade more filled with ugly title pages and headings than the 90s. Whether on school projects or corporate documents, we can’t look at any of these “WordArt styles” without thinking back to those days!

9. Playstation – the original PlayStation (the PS1) brought gaming to mainstream audiences, and one of its most popular early games – Wipeout – used licensed music in a way we hadn’t seen before. Now you could play games to a backing track of the Prodigy and Chemical Brothers – The PlayStation was a phenomenal success in bringing gaming to the masses. 

10. Millennium bug – much of the 90s in the world of tech revolved around dealing with the all-encompassing paranoia of the Y2K scare. Thankfully, it never materialised, but just hearing the words “Millennium bug” certainly gets us all misty-eyed thinking back on an era in tech before the real crisis of the dot-com crash. 

What 90s tech brings back the most memories for you? Drop us a comment! 

Sorry, which of you does what?

By Aislinn Collins

Last week I went to meet some friends for a drink.  One is in the business of website advertising, the other works for Google, with me working in tech PR it’s become a hazard of our friendship that we often discuss what some would deem ‘geeky’ subjects.  There was a trainee divorce lawyer there too, but she wasn’t particularly interested.  It was the day after Facebook had announced it was spreading its wings and swooping into the field of search and what ensued was an interesting debate on whether web 2.0 companies (and Apple) should stick to what they’re good at or battle it out to the death.

So Facebook wants to be a search engine, of sorts.  The thought of being able to search for people (or being searched for) based on various criteria on Facebook scares me.  Probably because of the way this article describes it, I find the whole thing a little personal-space invading.  The website advertiser thinks it’s exciting and only going to get more so as, she believes, it’s only testing the water before it rolls out full search engine functionality.  The Google worker thinks it’s outrageous that they would even think to head into the world of search (hello Google+, pot, kettle, black?) and it will never work.  The lawyer asked for another glass of wine.  

I think I may feel the same way as my Grandma did when the butcher, baker and greengrocers down the road shut-up shop and a Tesco Metro appeared in their place.  Yes, it’s much more convenient to only have to go to one place to get everything I need, but is what I’m getting going to be the same quality if they have irons in every fire?  A prime example in two words: Apple maps.  I still haven’t updated my iPhone to iOS 6 in case I find myself submerged in water, when all I wanted was Lakeside shopping centre.  Maps just aren’t their thing, and on the subject of things that aren’t a company’s thing, since when did Google start making hardware? Since when did Twitter have a photo editing function? In fact, things are getting so crazy that Apple even wants to tell us when we need new shoes and Facebook may even put recruitment consultants out of a job! 

It could be the modern cold war.  Each company trying to be the first to offer something new, then the others scrambling to offer the same, only bigger and better and there will be an eventual winner.  Or, Apple Maps will teach them a lesson and they will go back to focussing on what they are good at, living in peaceful, eharmony together.   Whichever way it goes, I’m sure there will be plenty more to discuss on the subject over drinks.  That and the lawyer will be politely declining my invitations in the future, but at least I can find new friends with similar interests in my local area thanks to Facebook.  

New year, old debate

By Bex Surtees

“So...what exactly is it you do again?”  It’s a question I get asked all the time – by family, friends, even the bemused car insurance advisor – in spite of the fact I’ve been working in the PR industry for five years now.  If I was a teacher, a doctor or even an accountant I wouldn’t be writing this blog, but I’m not so, lucky for you, here we are.

I work in Public Relations, specifically dealing with clients in the B2B technology sector.  I am known as a ‘tech PR’, a ‘PRO’, a ‘PR manager’, or – it seems most controversially these days – a ‘PR professional’.  Just so we’re clear, I’m not ‘in marketing’ though. 

Earlier this week an age old industry debate resurfaced, once again questioning if PR can call itself a ‘profession’ or if it’s really more of an ‘art’.  In short, the (latest) brains behind this suggest that, as an industry, we are ‘obsessed’ with aligning ourselves with the corporate world.  PRs have become so blinded by the corporate light, that we’ve all forgotten what creative, mystical creatures we are and lost touch with our inner artist (of course, I paraphrase).

Well, this all makes me rather cross.  I consider working in PR to require a number of skills – from top notch written and verbal communication to a knack for all things digital, plus a mix of organisational, creative, and crisis management expertise.  Not forgetting a lot of patience and, quite crucially, an understanding of how the business world (or corporate, if you like) works in order to provide the best level of service for our clients.  Essentially, it’s one big balancing act.

I’m not disputing there is an ‘art’ to PR at all; the ability to craft messages, build insightful campaigns and consequently make them a success does take talent.  It would just be difficult to achieve without the right knowledge and awareness of the business or sector in question, and the simple gumption and professionalism to challenge clients’ thought process when necessary. 

It’s the combination of all these elements that make PR such a diverse profession to be in.  So, instead of putting the ‘profession stuff’ on the backburner, perhaps we should think about shifting this debate there instead. 

Big changes due for the little screen

By Jonathan Mathias

This time every year we’re treated to a whole host of new tech at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas (hat tip to RR for this excellent photo history).  Most of what we see on the news involves weird, wonderful, but pretty silly gadgets like Hapifork, although I personally think this ‘Pebble’ watch, which is something of a Kickstarter success story, has more potential than most.

Underneath all that, there’s usually one or two more sensible, established technologies that the big players are looking to make disruptive updates to over the next 12 months.  Whereas in recent years it’s been all about smartphones, this year TV – although it’s always on the agenda – seems to be resolutely where it’s at.

At first thought, TV technology hasn’t really changed a great deal in the last century, but being old enough to remember having a black and white TV (some 13,000 of us still need to upgrade) with only four channels and a tuning dial, today’s LCD TVs with built-in streaming services are already a world apart – but what next?     

While Samsung has thrown weight behind smart-TVs, Sony is punting ‘4K’ HD, but it’s Apple, conspicuous by its relative absence in the market, that is being looked at to make or break the pathway for TV technology development during the near future.  There have been any number of analyst and editorial reports pondering what delights will come out of Cupertino this year, some even suggesting that Apple absolutely must take ownership of our living rooms, lest the likes of Google stake a big enough claim first.

As for what precisely we’ll see, one would hope for something to make as ground breaking an impact as the iPad did; any tablet doubter perhaps silenced by news that Asus and Acer have gone as far to ditch netbook production.  With the iTunes library as a resource, and so many compatible ‘i’ devices in the wild, there’s certainly potential for something interesting.  With ITV already being taken, maybe the biggest challenge will be working out what to call it.

Jump into Christmas

By Jacqui Booker

Ah, the humble Christmas jumper. Until around twelve months ago, these were the much scorned Christmas gift – the item that everyone dreaded as much as novelty ties or socks.  Say Christmas jumper, and frankly the first thing that entered my mind was copious levels of embarrassment.  Today, however, the Christmas jumper signifies that cool, must-have Autumn/Winter 2012 accessory.  The Christmas jumper is IN, and if you don’t believe me, believe the sales figures.  “News” articles have documented high sales figures, with Asda reporting sales of 10,000 Christmas jumpers in the past two weeks alone.  Yes my friend, the Christmas jumper has made the transition from embarrassing outfit/guilty pleasure, to officially cool.

Now, I’m not just writing a blog about my love of all Christmas jumpers – much as I’d love to wax lyrical about the nylon fabric that most are made of.  No, this week’s blog is dedicated to the sterling efforts of the team at Johnson King who today have donned their most impressive Christmas jumper attire – some to meetings (awesome dedication people) – all in support of the Save The Children Christmas Jumper Campaign.  With such an impressive array of jumpers, we really are spoilt for choice.  On display today we have Santa, Rudolph, snowmen, penguins, a lot of reindeer, an elf, tinsel, fairy lights (we’re standing by with the extinguisher) and a jumper conveying all the best bits of Christmas (turkey, presents, pudding and sleep).  So with no way of picking the best jumper, I wanted to use this opportunity to showcase all our efforts.

Check us out! Bravo JK-ers for doing this for such an amazing cause!  

JK skates at Somerset House

By Flora Haslam

First up, apologies, this post is going to give you very little insight into technology or PR, but it might shed some light on the people at JK – at their competitive best!

To get us in the festive spirit this week, several of us headed off to London’s Somerset House or a spot of ice skating (or drinking mulled wine while taking in the pretty lights as it was known to some of the party).

It’s fair to say that some of us were better than others... OK, I was clinging to the side for the longest while Lindsey was off warming up for an axel/lutz/lunge, but an entertaining evening was had by all.

Here we are in action (I can only apologise that our official photographers failed to capture any good falls!)...

How Black Friday could become Bieber Friday (or something thereabouts)

By Richard Scarlett

So as America’s Christmas warm up event has come to an end, the last of the pumpkin pie has been eaten and another year’s Black Friday has been dubbed success for retailers across the country.  Let the analysis begin – with a full on media round robin of sales figures and footfall metrics aplenty. 

However, an interesting trend is starting to emerge. Black Friday – once reserved for those of a US persuasion – is becoming more of a global affair, with international retailers trying to cash in on the Black Friday phenomenon in other countries. For instance, this weekend saw UK retailers including John Lewis and Currys open their virtual doors to customers with ‘amazing’, ‘price crash’, ‘astronomical’ November sales, even including some goodwill reductions from the usually aloof Apple.

Cyber Monday has long been the Black Friday of the internet world, but with this fast developing global movement (yes, global movement), it seems that a long-standing tradition could be changing.  Will Cyber Monday become the new Black Friday, or vice versa, will we need to find a new name for this digital merger – Cyber Weekend, Black Cyber Friday, perhaps Blyber Friday (which could, by some ungodly force, end up becoming Bieber Friday)? The possibilities are endless.

The point is, with so much available online – at the same reduced prices as in-store – do people really need to queue from the moment they finish the turkey to the break of dawn on Black Friday to score a shiny new waffle iron that is ‘half off’?  I mean, one minute you are sitting with the family to give thanks, and the next minute you could find yourself here. Unfortunately, flash sales all too often prove to be an underwhelming anticlimax – just ask anyone who ventured to Comet for the highly publicised ‘massive stock liquidation, everything must go’ debacle.  Throw in the fact that we now have aggregator sites offering comprehensive directions to the best online sales, which often start earlier than Friday, and this could really be the beginning of the end of Black Friday. 

For some, it is a tradition that will refuse to die, much like the Boxing Day sales elsewhere.  However, I predict that in a few years, the high street chaos will slowly tail off and move online – most likely resulting in post-Thanksgiving retail coverage being more about the security risks to online shoppers than backslapping over staggering in-store sales figures. 

Did I really say that?

By Oliver Fischer

You learn a lot of interesting stuff when you are working for an international PR company.

Obviously, the day-to-day work handled by our French, Germany and UK offices, such as drafting press releases and articles, varies greatly in style. Even some typing conventions aren’t the same – at first I thought that double spacing between sentences was a mistake…

But perhaps one of the biggest differences between media relations here in Germany and in the English-speaking world is around quote approval. Indeed, I was quite surprised when I first learnt that this practice isn’t very common outside of Germany.

The fact that German newspapers and magazines ask for authorisation of quotes before publishing them doesn’t mean that entrepreneurs and politicians get to censor their texts. Here are some interesting examples from Handelsblatt and taz of how journalists treated over-enthusiastic/self-appointed ‘editors’. Cases like these make quote approval a regular topic of discussion in the German media and when the New York Times announced it had had enough of US politicians insisting they should sign off their quotes, several journalists once again expressed their views on the topic.

These opinions are quite diverse, with those on both sides of the argument making good points. But there are two things I found especially interesting about the debate: firstly, only journalists have expressed their opinions and, secondly, there seems to be more or less no middle ground between those who are for and those who are against the practice.

So I wanted to use this opportunity to express my point of view.  Quote approval is both a tough and delicate job for PR professionals. We obviously have to do the basics, like check our own notes from the interview to see if the content matches, as well as do the fact checking – which is especially crucial in the field of tech. We also have to liaise with every relevant person and department at our client to ensure they’re all happy with the content. This can be a lot of people, especially if it’s a public enterprise: management, marketing, tech specialists and, in some cases, the legal department.

During this process we sometimes have to justify every quote. Everyone likes to tinker, but if too many people want to make edits during this approval process, the quote can soon become completely unrecognisable, with new phrases inserted and sentences that were said struck out. But just as unforgivable as rewriting a journalist’s work is allowing them to publish an interview containing factual errors. This means there can be no shortcuts when it comes to the approval process.

Personally, I still think the practice of quote approval is a good thing but it will always mean us PRs have to tread a very fine line between making sure our clients aren’t misquoted or misunderstood, while at the same time not telling journalists how to do their jobs.

Is print media about to be thrown a lifeline?

By Aislinn Collins

In May of this year, the UK daily newspaper market was down 7.6 per cent from April 2011.  We’ve also seen a vast number of titles move to online only to cut costs and others put up online paywalls in an effort to boost falling profits.  Technology it's said is partly to blame, as people look online for the content they would traditionally have found in print.  However, in an unforeseen twist of circumstances, technology now has the potential to entirely change the fortunes of print media.

The technology is augmented reality.  Using a nifty phone app like a QR code scanner, an image can be scanned and brought to life, allowing added content to be built into printed pages.

One such app that is currently brewing up a storm is Blippar and in the last few weeks alone its technology has been used on the cover of Shortlist magazine, for the re-launch of New Look’s Marble Arch store and even in Obama’s presidential election campaign. 

It is said that AR could be the turnaround in fortunes that print needs.  In fact, Blippar brand ambassador Dan Sodergren made the bold statement to an Irish Times journalist that “it will revolutionise the print media.  Print advertising is going to be turned on its head.  Blippar is going to offer magazines and newspapers a lifeline.”  Strong words indeed.

The reason for this confidence is advertising revenue.  The income that print media outlets previously received has been lost as companies plough their funds into cheaper digital forms that have the potential reach a wider audience and are fully trackable.  But by adding AR to print, consumers are taken to a world half way between the two where print adverts become digital adverts at the click of a button.  It gives advertisers the ability to apply the click-to-buy concept to print and greater scope for impulse purchasing, while also making adverts ‘fun’ and interactive for the consumer.  On paper, it sounds like a great concept and one that could pull print media back up from its knees.

On the other hand, could this be just another passing fad?  To me the whole process of moving between print and digital in this way seems clunky, particularly from an advertising perspective.  In an age where if we can skip through adverts we do, will consumers actively go out of their way to view more advertising?  The novelty factor of AR is likely to see it have some success for a while, but I’m not sure it’s going to “revolutionise the print media”, as Sodergren so robustly put it.

What’s in an age?

By Amy Turner

A recent story in the Times has questioned whether seven is too young for a child to be writing a blog, which led me to think about how many children are now expressing their views online and the impact this is having.  Take, for example, nine year old blogger Martha Payne who’s daily school dinner updates achieved widespread coverage back in June, eventually gaining over five million viewers and raising over £100,000 for charity. 

Nowadays, it seems that young children are becoming so accustomed to social media and the internet that it’s now not uncommon to hear of these child literary sensations. As such, this is having a huge influence on what this generation considers to be personal or private information, and what is acceptable to share online.  Many children and teenagers are now comfortable sharing almost all aspects of their lives and their opinions on places such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. 

It’s now accepted and often celebrated that the internet has given a platform to many whose opinions would otherwise not have been heard, but does a child of seven understand the potential repercussions of their actions?  During Obama’s first Campaign for the presidential election a seven year old boy blogged his support for the now President, going  on to receive a letter from Obama himself. Huge amount of coverage has been dedicated to the influence that Twitter had in this year’s US presidential election. With this in mind, how will online actions of today’s children help to structure future political campaigns? 

Do these technologies encourage young people to share too much information about themselves or does it instead serve as an educational purpose, teaching young people about the power of voicing their opinions and the difference they can make, by using the internet?