Author Archives: ScarletGeek

Mar 22 2011
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Charity, Fun Stuff, Interesting stuff

The Snaggletooth Splat; a book for brainstrust

This is the most exciting thing I’ve worked on in the last year, not only is it for a great cause but I got to work with some exceptionally talented people and friends. Winner all round.

It’s also my first published piece (eek) so I’m doubly proud to be working with brainstrust on it. brainstrust is a UK-based brain cancer charity, dedicated to improving clinical care for brain tumour sufferers and providing coordinated support in their search for treatment.

I remember the afternoon the idea first came to light, Will (Communications and Development person at brainstrust) and I were having a pint at our local and he was talking about the brainbox that they were launching, a tool-box shaped ‘brain box’ containing a number of essential things to help brain tumour patients and their carers such as: A brain book, A ‘Have You Lost Your Way?’ booklet, A copy of the ‘Living with a Brain Tumour’ book and A pill-box… all amazing stuff but we felt that was something more we could do for children.

It was at this point we thought it a great idea to write this book which would be designed to explain to children who have just been diagnosed with brain cancer, what a brain tumour is and how the doctors and their carers will fight it and provide brain tumour support.

And so the Snaggletooth Splat was born.

I got to collaborate with Jase, an amazing illustrator (check out his blog here), to whom I am so grateful for bringing the words to life, and also with Andy Lodge who helped get the final product through print and thanks also to Chris Leah for the shots (below). You can read more about it and learn more about brainstrust here.

It’s been a real pleasure and I look forward to working with these guys more.

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Mar 03 2011
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Mobile, Search, social commerce, social media, social networking, video

Passion verses Fame: The Vimeo v YouTube debate

It’s often perceived that Vimeo is for people with a passion and YouTube is for people who want fame and popularity (cough, cough Mr Bieber), but lately the conversation has come up time and again both from a business point a view, a personal preference and just use as a technical platform.

Vimeo for me personally has always been slicker, cleaner and more professional, but then I work in digital marketing so I also see the benefits to clients of the traffic YouTube receives.

Going back a little to the earlier days, I remember YouTube storming the ranks but never really succeeding in impressing. 2008 saw YouTube really start to make improvements to its offering but it seemed they were always that one step behind on quality. For example; when they launched the 1GB upload they had a few thumbs up but hard-core users were still after more in the way of HD support and optional download links, again resolutions that Vimeo already offered. When they randomised the thumbnail options (eventually not leaving us stuck with the 25/50/75 rule) Vimeo were already offering at least 15 thumbnail options and if you weren’t happy with those you could choose and upload your own.

But then in YouTube’s defence they did improve and they offered more for free than other platforms. You could have a Vimeo plus membership and not really get more than you would with a free YouTube account.

Now, when you research YouTube you learn that 35 hours of video are uploaded every minute, YouTube is localised in 25 countries across 43 languages with a broad demographic of 18-54 year olds and in 2010 YouTube reached over 700 billion playbacks. YouTube partners with Disney, Turner, Univision, Channel 4 and Channel 5, it monetises over 2 billion video views per week globally and the number of advertisers using display ads on YouTube increased 10 fold in the last year.

If we consider a more social angle with YouTube we’d mention things like: over 4 million people are connected and auto-sharing to at least one social network, YouTube mobile gets over 100 million views a day and across the channel more than 50% of videos on YouTube have been rated or include comments from the community. Sounds a bit like a corporate giant doesn’t it? Well I guess that’s because it is.

Vimeo on the other hand haven’t ever really lost their personal touch, which I like; by fans, for the fans. They introduce their team and their background and have nice rules to adhere to so you don’t upset people whilst you’re on there like; be nice, keep on topic, don’t Spam and respect the Staff… by doing this they become approachable yet still remain professional. It works for me.

So in summary I guess I’d personally continue to use Vimeo, it’s still cooler (sorry YouTube), but if a client wanted heaps of traffic, something that could be on brand and be managed by an office intern, I’d go with YouTube.

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Feb 03 2011
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A geek moment

Girls can be geeks too

This morning I was in Stockholm, a taxi ride, flight and three trains later I’m almost home, its 23.12 GMT. Yawn, I’m past tired, out comes my laptop.

Over the course of today I reckon I’ve passed thousands of people, made contact with hundreds and spoken to at least a dozen of which, two engaged me successfully in conversation.

It starts with people looking me up and down, business dress, heels, bit of lippy, you get the idea, well-groomed woman and she’s on her business travel. I settle down and whip out… my magazine and immediately feel eyes on me trying to sneak a peek at the headlines, is it Vogue? No! Is it Heat? Hell no! It’s Wired. Now why may I ask does that trigger the eyebrow flicker followed by frown facial dance? Should I have slicked hair and triple glazed glasses, fall over my laces and not be able to interact with other humans (unless distinctly leaning towards cyborg territory) to be allowed to read this most wondrous publication?

One Swedish guy I was trying not to talk to even ventured so far as to say ‘it was perhaps a little technical’, really? People don’t buy Wired to read about technology? I felt compelled to explain to him why I found it more stimulating to read about how the US Air force built their fastest supercomputer for the Department of Defence using 1,760 PS3 consoles, rather than how big Jordan’s boobs are or who she was screwing this week. Long pause, not much said, he moved on.

I’m tired; I admit but still, give me a break – Girls can be geeks too you know.

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Jan 13 2011
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Google, Mobile, Search

Goggley Eyes

I was trying to explain to someone new to search engines (yes these people do, apparently, still exist) how the various tools across Google work; predictive search, social, geo-targeted and so on.

This led into chats about Google Goggles at which point, his eyes glazed over and he seemed to stare through me. This reaction led me to believe it would be a great topic for my fellow geek readers.

Google Goggles is a downloadable image recognition application meaning through us, Google has eyes in every orifice and intimate corner we search for and from.

Snap happy researchers using the app send a collectively huge bank of images to a series of backend engines coordinated by Google’s Superroot Server which, identifies the source as either; text, geographic location, QR codes, corporate identities, products… you get the idea. All similar images are tagged and confidence scored* for future use.

As the database of images builds so will the use and accuracy of the app, making it easier to search for things that are difficult to summarise in text through traditional keyword search (wow, keyword search has been around so long now it feels normal to call it traditional- in web life anyway).

So the next time you’re out and about and you take a picture of a restaurant you want to dine in, you’ll know what happens behind the scenes to serve you the results that appear.

Simple really, thanks Google!

*Confidence scoring considers various weighted validation parameters such as quality and source, to determine the accuracy of the data held in the image.

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Jan 06 2011
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social commerce, social networking, strategy

Social Commerce

First came the Social Network (thank you Mr Zuckerberg) which, connects over half a billion users. Now the big chiefs of the online world are all competing to be the first to properly monetise these social platforms and evolve them into revenue streams.

Currently there are strong influencing factors online that persuade us to purchase (or not). Take Amazon as an example, long have they recognised the successes in recommending products based on your purchase history, viewing activity and the trends of like minded shoppers. It wasn’t long before this simple model was adapted and adopted by many other commerce platforms and now we’re seeing this evolve to include more personal input; take Google’s search tool launched last year, this pulls through recommendations and reviews from your friends and family around the term you’re searching for. Admittedly it didn’t spread like wild fire but the theory is strong.

If you’re looking to buy a film and Amazon or Google tell you via Facebook that your friends think it’s ace, you’re more likely to buy it right? In fact, according to last years Econsultancy survey 90 per cent of purchases have some level of influence from the social arena.

The bit that seems to have everyone up in arms is the public display of your spending habits. Tools such as Blippy publish your transactions in real time encouraging those in your social circle to view and comment. The question is: Is this an honest and open way of sharing your trends, habits and interests or, is it really just a way of bragging about how you splash your cash? Is it about status or is it about making informed decisions in the impulsive world of online commerce and then seeking the reassurance you’ve made the right choice?

Do you really want people to know you get your knickers from M&S and not Agent Provocateur?

Either way, 2011 is marked to be the year that bucks the Social Commerce trend so, if you’re serious about your business stop waiting in the wings and get yourself a strategy… Fast!

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Dec 17 2010
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Digital, General, Interesting stuff

Digital to Analogue

I was sat with my grandfather  the other evening putting the world to rights over a glass of Cotes Du Rhone. Fed up with the crap on TV we started trying to fine tune his relic of an analogue receiver, this lasted about  five minutes before I got annoyed and fired up my laptop.

I suggested perhaps now that he has his own laptop (there’s got to be some bonuses from having a geeky granddaughter right?) we try streaming something through the internet which, returned rather a blank expression. (Worth noting at this point when I first showed my grandfather how to work his laptop the first question asked was ‘where does the paper come out when you print these ‘email things?’)

Never the less, it took less than an hour to get him set up on iTunes and creating playlists of all his favourite artists and minutes later we were ordering speakers from amazon.

This got me thinking about just how much we’ve progressed in the world of digital audio. Its usefulness in the recording and quick mass-production of sound has made distribution of music across the internet staggeringly easy.

(If you find this interesting read on, if you don’t skip to the last paragraph for the happy ending…)

With an analogue audio system, when sound is created it’s done so as a physical waveform which moves in currents across the air, to capture that sound you have to transform the waves into an electrical representation via a transducer where it will be stored or transmitted. Then to re-create into sound, the process is reversed through amplification and then converted back into physical waveforms via speakers.

With digital audio you take the analogue sample and convert the pulses/ waves into binary signals which are then normally further encoded to allow modification and enhancement. This digital audio is then far simpler to transfer, transmit or store and from today’s wild variations of music you will know that filters and effects are commonly applied too (think N-Dubz, Gorillaz etc).

Once all this fancy pants wizardry has been applied the digital audio is ready to be distributed, which is significantly easier and cheaper as audio data files rather than as physical objects e.g. CD’s (or records if you’re my grandfather).

To be honest I lost him the second I started chatting about waveforms, but the story ends with a happy grandfather with the complete works of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven all for less than a fiver.

Sorted, thank you digital audio.

 

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Nov 25 2010
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Search, social media, strategy, video

Video Marketing (VSEO)

Online Video Marketing has vastly become the coolest and most engaging way to effectively expose relevant content to your audience online.

Everyone’s heard of YouTube and we’ve known for a while it’s the second biggest search engine in the world so with video sites continually growing in popularity there can’t be much more  to convince you about, is there?

The main stumbling block for big brands and businesses is ownership. The bottom line is though, you no longer own your brand, your consumers do (I talk about it more in my post on ‘The value of digital to brands today’). So whether you have your own slickly executed high-end film cuts or a D.I.Y example, it’s your first step to engaging and informing your audience further.

So what makes a good video?

The success to any video lies within whether it is unique, funny, engaging and thought-provoking enough for everyone to pass on and therefore make it viral, more commonly known online now as ‘creating buzz’. Sounds simple when I put it like that but in short; make sure your concept is a good one, that it sits with your target audience and is executed in the relevant way; ‘Guerilla marketing’ if you want to coin a phrase from none other than Jay Conrad Levinson.

And once you’ve created an amazing video, where should you put it?

Video advertising can come in an array of formats; In-Video, In-Stream, Click to Play, Around Video and Video Search and there are more and more channels within which you can seed video content, the most popular of which I mentioned above; YouTube. If you’re a brand it’s worth setting up (or asking your agency to set up for you) a customised YouTube channel, this way you’re closer to your audience and have ample opportunities to engage.

So what are you waiting for, get shooting and get seeding!

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Nov 12 2010
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Apple, Mobile, new technology

Spending money is now even more fun!

All you need is an iPhone, the iOS credit card reader and your finger.

The idea behind making the transactions mobile and easy is to open up the payment system for small businesses. This means they will be able take a payment anywhere without the stinging cost traditional card readers incur at the moment. As business owners you won’t need to set up a merchant account and pay any annual fee, this process is clear and transparent.

To the user it’s also quick and easy as the lengthy process of dialling through a land line is redundant too.

If this catches on, queues and impatience will be a thing of the past so I for one, am on board from both sides of the fence.

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Oct 28 2010
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Google, Search

Google’s going places

Following the recent rebrand of Google’s Local Business Center to ‘Google Places’ (initially developed to help local businesses gain more visibility in search engine marketing through free listings) the search engine is now adding in over 50 million locations in order to expand their database further.

This means that when you search for something fairly generic such as ‘Indian Restaurant’ it will return local place page listings for you (which will be plentiful for that term as I’m writing this from Brick lane).

This added feature is built into the existing Google search functionality and listings will now pull in groups of relevant links and information such as; reviews, hints and tips, travel and so on. This development dynamically links millions of websites and ‘real-world’ locations, so numbered are the days of ‘+ Shoreditch’, another great step forwards for predictive search.

I wonder how long it will be before Yelp, Google and Foursquare get together…

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Oct 14 2010
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Apple, Content, Google, new technology, www

Google TV – better than Apple?

With the recent announcement of Google TV, closely followed by Sony announcing their new series of HDTV sets with Google TV built-in, the buzz around the agency is not surprisingly, all about internet TV.

This isn’t the first time a TV-connected computer has been attempted; Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation both dominate this front room experience (albeit more reputedly in the gaming world). There are more attempts in the archives that never made it to mainstream too but most notably was the recent Apple TV (basically a simple media streamer with access to on-demand television and movie rentals) and superseding all of that of course was the Microsoft Media Center.

So what does everyone think of Google’s attempt? There seem to be a few opinions:

On one side of the fence are the group that feel Google TV really isn’t much more elaborate than plugging your computer into a TV, which they deem neither  ‘clever nor desirable’.

“I can’t think of anything more boring or anti-social than having to watch somebody else browse the web. And if you need to use a keyboard to find content then I think you’ve failed.”

Anon: Technical Architect

Fair enough I suppose this concept doesn’t particularly take me by storm either.

On the other side are those that feel Google TV will outshine Apple because of their attitude towards what they deliver…

“It will all be about the content offered to viewers. Whichever service/device provides the best content will win out and since Apple probably won’t put porn on their offering my money is on Google.”

Anon: (Another) Technical Architect

By using that quote I’m possibly opening this post up to a digression however, a valid point; Content is still King.

Generally overall I think there is a resistance (as always) to the latest technology trend, people want a cinematic HD widescreen experience at home and don’t necessarily relate that to surfing the web. In this generation though I think that’s naive, you only have to look at the number of people who have their laptop out or are tweeting from their phone and so on, all whilst watching the box…

I’m sitting on the fence (for now), it could make multi-tasking simpler but then, it could reduce my in-home cinematic experience. I like the idea of being able to combine the web and TV experience, but only if I’ve got control of the remote… I’d be most annoyed if the other half decided to load The Gadget Show halfway through my Monday date with my TV boyfriend from Spooks!

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