Logan Paul’s Video Of Suicide Victim - An Unfortunate Metaphor For The Future Of YouTube
Logan Paul’s disgusting video showing a suicide victim shows 2018 is a year YouTube needs to change or risk (ironically) killing itself.
Mobile World Congress Proves That Smartphones Are Boring - We Deserve Better
There are no two ways to say this - smartphones are boring and Mobile World Congress has exposed this. If the biggest news story coming out of Barcelona is the return of Nokia's feature phone, then we have a problem...
Lord McAlpine, You Cannot Sue Every Twitter User
Can you imagine what it must feel like to be publically branded a pedophile? That's exactly what happened to the former Tory party grandee Lord McAlpine. Is it any wonder he wanted to clear his name. In the past, if your reputation was injured the law gave you the chance to sue for slander,or in this case libel. The problem is, how can you sue tens of thousands of people who use Twitter? Obviously you can't, and that's where the problem lies.
Editorial: Slender Is Not Scary
I followed the advice: play Slender at midnight wearing headphones. The psychologically troubling atmosphere and sheer tension my friends described was enough to excite anyone who thinks of the original Silent Hill as one of his favourite games.
I take a second to prepare myself, and I play, only to find a disappointly tame experience. Why?
Why I'm Not Buying The iPhone 5, And Why You'd Be Wise Not To Too
A year ago, the feverish anticipation built up for the latest Apple conference proved unsubstantiated. With many expecting the long-awaited unveil of the iPhone 5, the reveal of a slightly-updated iPhone 4 with voice assistant Siri meant many were left a little cheated. As is tradition, sales told a different story, with consumers lapping up the 4S in droves despite such minute changes over its predecessor. Tomorrow, the cycle starts up again.
How Tech Companies Are Turning Planned Obsolescence Into Planned Success
Planned obsolescence is far from a new idea in the world of consumer electronics – GM Motors were the first to introduce it to us in the 1920s, home-owners have been cursing the life-cycle of their washing machines ever since – but it’s becoming ever more of a distraction, at least for myself, where yearly release schedules contradict the hyperbole that works its way around the tech world, immediately following a press conference for the next big thing. Technology is no longer built to last.
A Tumblr Is Not A Blog
So the general trend of Google search results seems that Tumblr is going to eclipse the general term 'Blog' before the end of 2012, cementing its meteoric rise to the most popular blogging platform.
But in the grand scheme of things, I find it difficult to classify Tumblr as a blogging platform.
Editorial: Twitter Is Not A Social Network
So Twitter CEO Dick Costolo sat down for a conversation with All Things D's Peter Kafka at D: Dive Into Media on Monday night. They discuss the recent outrage against Google's 'Search plus your world.' However, in his calm response, he answers another question we've been asking: exactly how will Twitter be defined?
Editorial: Why Nintendo Would Be Wise To Re-Brand The Wii U
Wii U. To you and I, Wii U may just appear to be two meaningless, mono-syllabic terms seemingly conjured up from the most uncreative product marketers and head honchos at the games industry's most cherished company.
Editorial: Open Graph Apps contradict the point of Facebook
So Facebook rolled out the full launch of it's Open Graph at their keynote this week. 60 Open Graph apps have been announced to inspire developers to adopt the new platform: implementing 'verbs' to better literate what you're doing, and unique designs to individualise their presence within the realm of your timeline.
Editorial: Smart TV is not a smart move
So a great deal of the buzz at CES this year has surrounded the idea of 'Smart TV,' as every company fell over themselves to try and create the competition to a product that we don't even know for sure of it's existence, the real Apple TV.
The vision behind this year's movement is that of convergence. Some have gone the Google TV route, whereas others have gone for a proprietary interface (LG's gone for a Wii-style control system), all options implementing instances of the internet, the participatory nature of web 2.0, and technologies more computer-esque. Of course, if Vizio's CTO Matt McRae is to be taken at his word, the prediction is that we'll see an internet TV service provide 50-100 channels in 18 months time (interviewed by The Verge), making the 'web connected' part of my argument completely pointless.
But the idea of a TV is not due for a further 'smart' revolution, because as consumers, we (well...I) don't want it to be.
Editorial: The Android design guide is not enough. Close the OS
So the Head of design at Android, Matias Duarte, officially unveiled the Android design guide via a live Q&A session on The Verge: a set of in-depth guidelines for app developers and OEMs alike to keep within sync of the design language of Android 4.0. Instantly, this is already a much better direction, with an aim of ecosystem defragmentation in mind; but then we began to think of what we thought to be the failings of Android phones we have owned in the past.
Editorial: Why Social search may not be such a good idea
So it's probably been made abundantly clear, via multiple news stories and finding the functionality yourself as Google presents search results via it's Google+ service, that search has expanded to social, titled 'search, plus your world.'
And we also know, as the BBC reports, that Twitter isn't such a fan of this integration by Google, going so far as to say it is a "bad day for the internet." These comments have been made for the public facing reason of Twitter being a source of real-time information, which should be there for the user who wants the most relevant and up-to-date content. The more behind-the-scenes reasoning probably relates to their network not taking any precedence on the search, due to their partnership with Google ending quite a while ago.
Social networking strops aside, points have been made on both sides, and it's why I think Google's expanded social search isn't the best idea they've come up with, for both non-users and users of Google+. It's not going to benefit the people because it contradicts the foundation of such an impactful product as search. It does this in two ways.
Editorial: Call of Duty is not respecting it's duty, calling the shots in the video game industry
I put it to you, that since the later stages of Modern Warfare onwards, Call of Duty has defecated all over the games industry, and encouraged one its biggest threats, perhaps ever.
Editorial: Spotify is not winning with Facebook Open Graph
So Facebook released it's first batch of early results for the Open Graph integration into social music apps. While the numbers maybe positive (I pick on Spotify because they are absolutely crushing the competition in terms of numbers, probably because users are forced to login with Facebook), this is merely a quantitative result, whereas more qualitative data (meaning my opinion) would beg to differ.
Editorial: How to stop the choking of mobile phone contracts
So we've all probably notice all the major phone carriers recede from unlimited data plans, opting instead to tell consumers to resort to their home wi-fi networks and use the 250mb (on average) of data they receive on their contract 'as a back-up.'
There is, however, an option to this: we take it all back to how contracts were.
Pay for what you use. Charge by the minute, by the text, by the megabyte. Sounds scary doesn't it.
Editorial: 3D retrofitting. A Sinking Ship?
This week, Avatar and Terminator 2: Judgment Day director James Cameron invited specialist press to a special 15-minute demo screening of his latest project, Titanic 3D. Cameron, who has been an advocate of the move to 3D ever since Pandora was but a whisper of an idea, follows Pixar (the Toy Story trilogy) and Disney (The Lion King 3D) in bringing the 3D treatment to his 1997 box-office juggernaut.
Editorial: Shut up Michael Pachter. Nobody cares and you're wrong anyway.
For those uninitiated, Michael Pachter is a high profile gaming research analyst who provides opinions and predictions as to how the video game market will metaphorically swell and fade.
I have nothing against the man himself, I think his Twitter argument with Jamie Kennedy was hilarious. There is, however, one issue. Built upon the foundations of a business M.B.A and years of credibility gaining with Forbes, what you find is someone who has managed to make a worthwhile living through either stating the obvious or being wrong.