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nlovell

Listed below are comments made by nlovell between Friday, 13th March 2009 and Friday, 21st August 2009.

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Read the manual? Never! 10:22am on 21 Aug 2009 It is a very big problem. In a recent survey (I think that this was before the latest version was released), Microsoft asked its users what features they wanted in the next version of Word. The vast majority of features were already there (I think it was 90%). Microsoft had an extensive help section - the modern equivalent of the manual - and still people didn't know about the features.

So the upgrade to Word added few features but made it easier for people like you (and me) to find what we want intuitively.

And it's a big step forward.
Medical records via Google or Microsoft? 5:39pm on 06 Jul 2009 Is the BBC allowed to call them Speedos? The Today programme quoted Milliband as saying that it is hardly a national secret that the head of MI6 wears swimming trunks on holiday.

On that occasion, I fear that the BBC's need to avoid brand names changed the entire quote. I, personally, am very afraid about a man so stuck in the seventies that he wears tight swimwear to the beach.
The App Economy 4:31pm on 20 Apr 2009 The challenge for single developers is how to stand out from the crowd. In the games section of the AppStore, there are 6,700 games, 2,000 of which are free.

To get good sales, you need to get your game onto a recommended list, on which there are a limited number of slots.

The odds are not as bad as playing the lottery, but it's still tough.

For the iPhone (and other smartphones) to remain a viable option for independent developers, the AppStores need to develop a much better search, discovery and recommendation system than the one in place.

But in the meantime, kudos to those who are experimenting and innovating on these exciting new platforms.
The battle over content 12:34pm on 08 Apr 2009 The intriguing thing is that YouTube is only replicating the model that MTV has run for years.

MTV gets free content from the record labels (music videos with high production values that minute-for-minute are some of the most expensive televison on air).

Then it charges the record labels if they want to advertise around the content that they have already paid for and created.

It's a brilliant business model that emerged because the record companies weren't paying attention while MTV created an audience and said to them: "hey, you can put your music videos on our channel without having to pay a dime".

Now, amazingly, they let Google do exactly the same thing.

In the end, the labels realised that they needed the promotional oxygen of MTV more than anything else.

Odds on, they'll conclude the same with YouTube.
Who owns the train times - or the news? 4:48pm on 24 Mar 2009 A key difference with the train times, as you point out Rory, is that surely train timetables are, essentially, an advert for a train.

Charging people to get access to news about your service - that seems pretty stupid to me.

Finding a way to monetise content, that's clever.

So make the iPhone app into an easy e-purchase system, fine. Charging for access to a timetable seems blinkered.
This is a viral blog 3:05pm on 13 Mar 2009 I think that there are two issues.

Marketing departments talk about a video "going viral", meaning that they hope to create a video cheaply and then reach thousands or millions of viewers cheaply, because their content is so good.

Only it rarely is, so the same department than spends lots of money on media to achieve the same reach. It makes them seem cool, but instead of being a new (and cost-effective) way of reaching an audience, it's just an ad. A cool ad, but an ad nevertheless.

On the blog side, I feel a blog needs to be open, honest and prepared to be 2-way (via comments). Too many corporate blogs read like press releases. And a press release is a press release, no matter what you brand it.

FWIW, I think dot life is a blog, but not viral...

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