Technology Archive

Great reviews here and here!

Who needs an iPhone?!

New figures from the IAB show yet again that the online advertising model is no flash in the pan….

Banners, skyscrapers and rich media saw a staggering 45% growth last year, showing agencies and advertisers are obviously seeing the benefit from a branding and, in some cases, a direct response effect. 

The old stalwart “paid search” is apparently “maturing” but still growing, keeping its number-one-slot at 58% share or £1.6B – a colossal 39% growth.

Apologies for all the hyperbole, but as my US colleagues would say I’m super-invigorated by this news.

I don’t see mobile figures in the report, but that’s going to be big this year given the uptake of the iPhone, and the announcement last week that Microsoft will be updating its mobile browser so users can view fullscreen web pages and multi-media more easily.

The future’s bright……but is it mobile?

The Telegraph reports today, just how toxic mobile downloads can be to the wallet if you, or your wife, are not careful!

It’s sad how a ridiculous case like this, is what it takes to strengthen the resolve of the powers-that-be to put a stop to the outlandish roaming fees the mobile operators get away with…..

Sorry I meant “Microsoft Acquires Danger!”

Check out Microsoft’s Mr Mobile who has some info and a video on the T Mobile SideKick device….

I read earlier this week with great joy, that a company called MyQBuster is set make stressful nights out in busy British hostelries a thing of the past.

The technology is mobile-based and very easy to use. You simply text your drinks order to the bar from where ever you’re sitting, a pin code authorises payment from you pre-registered mobile phone, and for a 10% tip, the drinks are swiftly delivered to your table.

Sound good? I’d like to take it a few steps further…

Getting off the tube at Piccadilly to meet some friends in Soho:

• I want to search for a pub or a bar within a ½ mile distance using GPS so my device knows where I am.
• Because the service I am using is connected to the EPOS (Electronic Point of Sale) or cash registers of bars in the area, I can further refine my search to a bar that’s not too busy because the system can tell that at that moment there’s not much business going through the register. 
• I’d like the place to be a little upmarket, taken from average price of drinks served at bars/pubs participating in the initiative.
• I’d like there to be a 70/30 female/male split, again assessed from the types of drinks being served.
• I want to be offered an incentive to go into any of the shortlisted bars or pubs. 1st round free!?
• And I’d like to have a table ready for me and my friends, after our devices lead us there with directions spoken through stereo speakers, in the voice of Austin Powers.

We can then order drinks through our phones, leaving less time waiting at the bar, and more time to flip open our laptops and talk to each other via Facebook!

Some good ideas? Or are they totally legless?