Dear Twitter
September 24, 2008
Dear Twitter,
I have had a great idea…
I suddenly realised that over here in the UK you have no offline presence at all. No skyscraping head office, no billboards and no sponsored parks or roundabouts.
How could this be? Especially with you being such an incredible international social media tour de force.
This got me thinking. I believe I have one of the most sociable cars ever built. It also just happens to be ‘Twitter‘ colour. As the car is so rare in the UK people already stare as I drive by. Wherever I park, people approach to find out more. What is it? Where is it from? Why do you have it?
Imagine how different the questions would be if my car had Twitter emblazoned down the side…
What is this Twitter car? What’s it all about?
It would be a cinch to also have real-time, location based tweets scrolling across the rear window.
Social media folk know all about Twitter. Let’s make social media even more sociable by reaching out of our echo chamber and into the wider world.
I am happy to be the driver/chauffeur/pilot of the ‘Twittermobile’. I could even do interviews in the back seat.
Talk to me and lets take twitter offline and into the minds and streets of the British people.
If you are not following me already on Twitter i am @Documentally
Random donations are always welcome and deeply apreciated on my support page.
An Ultra Sound Day
September 20, 2008
This morning we saw our little baby for the first time.
On a square screen in a darkened room we looked upon the surreal sight of a grainy monochrome child wriggling in ultrasound.
Nothing has been real until this moment. Now I can safely say, We are having a baby.
On entering the room, I was full of questions about the high tech kit. As soon as the screen flickered to life I was stuck dumb.
Smiling and staring, staring and wondering what this little child is and what it will become.
In these last few years online, keeping a portion of my private life private has been relatively easy. My Wife Jess works long hours and I am left working from home, creating social media mayhem whilst at the same time doing my best to protect her from any of my internet shenanigans.
I feel that pretty soon, we are to experience a convergence..
Watch this space…
PICNIC’08 - A meeting of creative minds.
September 4, 2008
“From 24 to 26 September 2008, thousands of creative minds from all over the world will come together in Amsterdam for the third PICNIC. …”
So how does one particular creative mind get to this kind of event on a budget? It looks huge, expensive dripping with free bars and full colour laser projection backdrops.
Yes, I am talking about me… I am just putting my feelers out there at the moment but it looks like a fantastic event that I could get so much out of as well as (I hope) add something too.
Not Just PICNIC, I also plan to get over and talk at Podcamp Hawaii. This could all be pie in the sky as quite obviously all these events cost money. If I got to go to all of the worldwide social media events I have my eye on, I would never be home. More to the point I probably wouldn’t have a home as I’d have to sell it to fund all these social media miles.
It was the day after I got back from the New Media Expo in Las Vegas that I spotted Picnic08 online.. It talked about the worlds top creatives, networking, melding ideas and pushing the boundaries in all forms of media.
This was for me.. in fact, how could this go ahead without me? 
Ahh.. then i saw the costs involved.. (£1013 for a full conference ticket), Hmm it appears it is not just for creative minds.. It’s for rich creative minds. “OK..’ I thought. “Don’t let that dissuade you from going..”
It may not be the kind of event I am used to.. Free like a podcamp or a max of $400 for NME, but surely this event is not just limited to those who have already made their name in the business world, the established minds of the corporate elite who would not think twice at bunging 1000+ euros at a networking event in Amsterdam. What if i forked out the money and then, as with many other events, found the value in the corridors and hidden spaces. The places where the unconventional unconferences dwell?
Shortly after deciding to lay off the photography and venture into the social media mayhem, I manage to go to SXSW, Podcamp NYC and then recently the NME Las Vegas.. All with relative ease. In most cases I was asked to go and my costs covered by either sponsors, or clients. I would like to think some apps were well tested, some profiles raised and decent content made in the process. There were definately connections and contacts made.
But here we are, the most local of all the bigger, massivly funded events.. specialising in my main passion (creativity), just a mere hop across the water and it may as well be a million miles away.
I’d Love to get sponsored to attend Picnic08, there is little chance I could raise the funds in time otherwise.
Like many of my social media friends, I am a hand-to-mouth blogger, vlogger and multi media mongrel. Things continue improving the more projects I get my teeth into, but it’s looking like I would need in excess of 2000 euros to attend this event and I just don’t have the ready cash lying around. *checks the mattress*.
All these ideas and inspiration to share.. Just no piles of hard cash.
If this were an advertisement attempting to sell my services in exchange for passage over the water to Holland, I would ask anybody who does have the spare cash to contact me and find out what I can do for you in exchange for sponsorship. I would talk about the seemingly endless provision of creative content, coverage and exposure..
I would say get in touch through Twitter or through this website (top right envelope).
But this is just another blogger talking about being on the edge and in the middle of this strange warping world of social media..
If you have just arrived at this site and are not sure what I have been up to recently.. check out:
my blogging on http://www.Creative-Choices.co.uk
Some of my video content in other places..
I use Qik A podcast I did for the United Nations in Jordan.
..And here is a channel on Phreadz I contributed to for the New Media Expo.
In many ways you have to be a creative mind yourself to see the value of content creators working within social media networks. It is still a new field and the role is evolving all the time.
It would be bloody great to go to PICNIC’08 and I will keep my bag packed just in case I need to make a last minute hop across the water.
Still, I have a back up plan..
Another meeting of creative minds, an imagination collaberation in Birmingham on the 26th. Far closer to home and as cheap as a drive up the motorway,
These are the new generation of networking meets.. No stareing bleary eyed into a cold egg as a cushion cover embroider trys to sell to you over the dawn chorus. No costly subscriptions and suits are most certainly optional. This is truly a meeting of minds where creativity and inovation is quenched in coffee as the future of media is forged from white hot ideas.
These are exciting times. Lasers and robots, holograms and segways. Even with the big social media events grabbing the attention of the corporate world.. a pot of coffee is all you really need to attract a meeting of creative minds.
Roberts SolarDAB Radio (Review)
August 31, 2008
I’m back in love with radio.
Although I have a radio in the car and another in the kitchen I have been re-enthused into actually listening to the good old radio over my iPod by the Roberts solarDAB. Maybe it’s the ease of use, maybe it’s the form factor, perhaps it’s just a really cool gadget.
I have another Roberts radio and respect their workmanship and heritage but since breaking the power adapter I have to keep recharging the hulking batteries every so often. This has made me conscious of how much I am using it and that when the batteries run down it’s at least 24 hours till I can listen again.
Another small bind is that it’s a standard analogue radio and I find myself having to adjust the aerial when moving from station to station, or if I move the radio, to get the best reception.
Enter my new purchase.. The Roberts solarDAB freeplay powered digital Radio.
I managed to pick one up from Currys in Milton Keynes. The manger gave me his own staff discount to see I left the store happy as I had originally gone in for a cheaper solar/wind-up radio, which was out of stock.
This is my first DAB radio (Digital Audio Broadcasting) as I have held off for a while, worrying that I may not be able to receive many of the channels.
Well I needn’t have worried. Straight out of the box I pressed the scan button and had 20 stations picked up and auto programmed into the dial.
The overall form factor is compact, 190mm(w) x 110mm(h) x 80mm(d), easy to move from one place to another and my particular model is white plastic with soft touch rubberised ends and controls.
It’s also available in black, pink, red or green, has a built in rechargeable battery pack and although has the solar panel on top It also has a mains lead which in my dark cottage is going to be a necessity in the winter months if I am to want to use it for any great period of time.
OK, lets look at some of the features.
Interestingly as this is intended to be a radio carried around inside and outside the home, the telescopic aerial is detachable and can be stowed in a little slot on the back. I also imagine this is pretty easy to replace should it be lost or broken. It is totally rubberised when closed and as yet, in my location, I haven’t noticed any need to have it fully extended.
It has an 80mm 1 watt speaker which is really quite good. I was a little shocked at the clarity when I first turned it on as it gives out much more than you would expect from a radio this size. As you would imagine, this to me is the most important detail here. The sound. It has more than enough volume for inside the house and I could see it seriously annoying fellow campers or neighbours should you want to take it out and about.
Speech is crisp and music is rich. I love the way that the display shows you the data rate in kbps for each station (i.e. TalkSport 128kbps and Classic a whopping 160kbps).
As this is meant to be a power efficient device I am not surprised to see the small display. It seems to have all that is needed though. Along with signal strength, station id and selectable data such as time, frequency, network and data rate the display also shows the current battery power and a nifty little solar meter telling you in bars how much light the top mounted solar power is receiving.
At first glance I thought it was too small to be of any real use but it seems Roberts have done a good job at making this unit efficient.
According to Roberts if your bars are up to half way then the internal batteries are being assisted and you can expect about 27 hours before they go completely flat. If you have more than half the bars lit then you are running the radio from the photovoltaic cells and trickle charging the batteries too.
I was reluctant to leave the radio outside all day as being a typical English summer It was raining and although the unit looks pretty sealed, I was not sure how weather proof it was. For the few hours I did manage outside under the overcast sky I noticed no depletion on the battery meter.
For a longer test I left the radio on my dark cottage window ledge for a few hours and moved it around the home using it continually at a decent volume. With the little sun it received through my little windows it ran for over 20 hours before giving up the ghost. The solar panel is really quite sensitive and I could see the radio running continuously should you leave it in a greenhouse. I may well just try that.. I just need a greenhouse.
On the back of the radio is a power port for the 9.5 volt adapter, a headphone socket and the really welcome addition of a line in port. In the not to distant future when the new family of super sensitive photovoltaic cells on the market out I would love to see devices like this fitted with an additional power output port, so on particularly sunny days you can also charge your other devices i.e. phones, ipods etc.
That said, it feels great knowing that should I ever find myself in the gutter, batteries are not one of the expenses I will have to worry about when rocking out in my cardboard box.
As far as cost goes, I am more than happy with this radio, but then I didn’t pay full whack for it. I think £70 is a little expensive, but imagine it won’t be at that price for long. We should not be made to pay a premium for tech just because it is ‘Green’. You do pay a little extra for Roberts products and normally it is because you are buying a wood and leather, chic, retro unit crammed with top components. Yes this does look a little like a toy but it feels well made, is easy to clean if dropped whilst gardening and is easy to operate.
Regarding the tech behind it. I could probably knock up a solar powered dab radio with an existing cheaper model and a small panel from Maplin but it would be a botch job and I feel the more solar devices we see being offered the better. Going into the electrical store and seeing solar devices on the shelf gave me hope. I feel a little sick inside every time I throw away a handful of batteries and feel we should be way more advanced in this day and age.
We all need solar power and radio is bloody great entertainment but don’t buy this because you think it looks cool. Buy this because you need a new radio, you have good digital reception and you want one that can recharge itself naturally.. And when the rechargeable batteries have done their thousand cycles it will still work in sunlight without them!
This I hope is just the beginning. If I made a solar powered DAB radio, I would want it firmware upgradable (to be ready for DAB+).. I would like it to have FM as a back up, an SD card slot for playing mp3’s and recording radio through, a lead to power as well as play my ipod and as I said before, a socket through which I could use the solar panel to charge other devices.
But that’s just me. I always want more.
Conclusion.
It’s the best solar powered radio I have seen on the market at the moment. Providing you have decent digital reception where you are (check this site) and can afford around £70.. it’s a good buy.
(This is an independent review and my own personal opinion I am in now way connected to Roberts and have no advertisements supporting this website. If you enjoy reading OurManInside.com please feel free to show your support by clicking this link)
Less is more: The 12 second blog killer
August 26, 2008
I am finding it easier and easier to just click record and speak my thoughts into some form or video blogging application.
It all began with Seesmic and now in addition (especially when wanting to cross post and use multimedia) I also use Phreadz. For live streaming (in my opinion), there is still only Qik.
The more I used these places the more I noticed a dip in my frequency to blog and podcast. It’s just too easy. If I have a question, thought, idea or master plan I would like to bounce off someone, I just press a button, speak my mind and before I have time to log out, I have an inbox full of answers replies and comments.
Coupled with the bind it can sometimes be to actually write a blog post and I am amazed these pages ever change.
Don’t get me wrong.. I love this Wordpress template. It has enabled me to cram all kinds of content onto the front page of my blog. It’s well laid out and easy to use.
Many of the settings lie dormant beneath the surface as I don’t feel the need to use all the whistles and bells at my disposal.
I love the integration of the images to highlight the articles on the front page but if I originally thought I would take my time to grow into this blog template, I am now finding that I’m taking too much time to do each blog. As a result I write less as I can’t just ‘bang out’ an idea and make it live. Not like I can when posting a video.
Just as I have massively reduced the production time on my podcasts by keeping it simple, maybe I can do the same here? Instead of having to upload two new and unique graphics every time I do a new blog, I think if I already have a selection of stock avatar-type images to link to on my server I am more likely to want to drop little ditties, thoughts and ideas onto a web page.
Sometimes I feel you have to worry less about how it looks in order to get the content out there. I guess I realized this a while ago. Maybe I just didn’t want to let go of my initial way of doing things.
Our Man Inside on 12seconds.tv
Now with the emergence if 12 seconds all hell has broken loose in my video blogging world. I’m not sure what it is that I find compelling.. Perhaps it’s fitting stuff within the time constraints.. Maybe it’s the distillation of peoples humour and the visual snippets of their lives? It’s all so easy to digest in small bitesize chunks without feeling that you should be doing something else.
No one rambles. There is no feeling of time-suck, your life ebbing away as you wait for someone to make their point. I guess this sounds selfish but when you surround yourself with creative minds, absorbing their media all day, everyday, be it blogs, podcasts or videos, you sometimes just want a mini media snack, not a full blown mind meal. If you do not limit the time you put aside to take all of this media in.. before you know it, the day has gone and you are wishing you turned off hours ago.
I don’t get that with 12 seconds, at least not at the moment.. Who knows where it will go. I guess I kind of like it being a different beast to the other places I frequent. If I want threaded conversation (..and i do.. often) I have those places. If I want a 12 second stand alone snippit.. it’s perfect.
Maybe we will soon see replies and threading, perhaps it will become more of a video-Plurk rather than a video-Twitter.
Part of me hopes not. Comments are enough for me right now and I think I would like to see 12seconds evolve along it’s own pedigree, not cross breed into another social media mongrel.
Only time will tell.
Episode 44 - Kiss Privacy Goodbye
August 10, 2008
Back on June the 25th, for the second year running myself and Dr John Perivolaris, visited George Orwell’s grave for his birthday.
This year we were accompanied by Phil Campbell and Brian Jones and as we picnicked in honour of Eric Arthur Blair, we also discussed our ever diminishing civil liberties, asking what is public and wondering If George Orwell could ever have known that it would not be the tyranny of socialism but the triumph of capitalism which is making us kiss our privacy goodbye?
If you have not subscribed to the podcast (free) in Itunes already, you can listen to the mp3 here
And if you would like a visual referance to the day, check out these great little films of the day made by Phil Campbell .. This one in HD and this one shot on the Flip Ultra
Thanks for stopping by.
Phreadz and the New Media Expo
August 7, 2008
I was having a quiet night in on the net, flitting from one platform to another, posting a video here and a tweet there.
The chatter in the networks was all about the upcoming New Media Expo in Las Vegas. Having missed out on the Boston Podcamp while on a photo assignment I felt a pang of longing and posted this video..
Apparently I was not clutching at straws.. an hour later I was looking at an email from an anonymous donor pledging me the ticket money to the Vegas NME, providing I did what I said I was going to do, that is, utilise Phreadz in the perfect environment and demonstrate it’s potential.
Apparently there are some serious lurkers out there that really want Phreadz to be pushed more on the international tech circuit..
For me it’s a no-brainer. I have been a Phreadz Phanboy since February 08 It is the only thing on the web that does what it does.
Since I lost my Video blogging cherry to Seesmic I have dabbled in all kinds of online video platforms. Each have their own niches. If i want a large unknown mystery audience I post to seesmic. You never know what you may get back. If i am feeling spontaneous and creative i may blurt out a few 12 second video ditties on 12Seconds.tv
The thing that attracts me to Phreadz right now is its seemingly unlimited ability to show off any content I throw at it. If I want to post video, audio, photos, text links or even a slideshow presentation it will happily suck it all up in just about any format I can chuck at it. It can either be uploaded into the main time line or into one of the many custom channels that have been made.
Recently my very own Geeknbury festival had its own channel. I was really chuffed with this and the channel allowed this small geek festival to exist outside of the field it was born in and be enjoyed internationally. It even had its own musical continuation in the shape of a gig by Steve Lawson and Lobelia played and streamed from their very own living room right into the Geeknbury channel.
I don’t even need to sit here on my minimal countryside bandwidth waiting for files to upload as I can cross post with URLs from countless other video platforms including two of my favorites, Qik and Blip.
Where I feel most at home though is within the virtually instantaneous video conversations occurring across all channels, from either mobile or off my laptop.
Although still in a closed beta (soon to open wider, I hear), Phreadz founder Kosso, has not only concentrated on content but he has ensured community still plays a major part in Phreadz. Occasionally new channels appear out of the blue and, as users, we all quickly embrace another place we can express ourselves. After all, it is still the user who makes the content in Phreadz and because of this the conversations are always rich. Channels have allowed any exasperated rant or heartfelt tale to live side by side without content clashing, or meaning and context getting lost in the ever increasing flow of new and interesting dialogue.
One place on Phreadz I’ll be sure to spend some time next week will be the New Media Expo Channel, created as an experiment to cover The New Media Expo hosted in Las Vegas by brothers Tim and Emile Bouquin.
So although I will be in the channel, thanks to my mysterious ‘Angel’, I will also actually be in Las Vegas, creating content, networking and showing anyone that loves new media an innovative tool that has not only indirectly given me this opportunity but that also inspires, homes and houses so much of my online existence.
The New Media Expo Channel is at http://newmediaexpo.phreadz.com and is open for all to see.
If you want to know more about Phreadz and want to join in with the beta testers, why not drop the site an email HERE
If you are an investor, contact the site as it is ripe and ready to take the net by storm, Kosso just needs smart folk with money.
And if you really want to help out right now.. make a donation to the chip-in on the front page here.. It’s worth it.
I am off to pack and charge geek stuff.. If you are going to the NME in Vegas let’s connect on Twitter
UPDATE: Anyone in Vegas sending New Media Expo content to nme@phreadz.com automatically gets an account!!
Tweet Generation
July 28, 2008
Tweet generation is a book being put together by Butterbeep, (Dave Goodchild) about the power of social media and the people who use it as a enabling tool and a way to create wide-reaching and potent connections. The book, which touches on a number of social networks and prominent posters, geeks and visionaries, is different from many books about tech in the desire to capture the intersection of art and science, the heart and the mind that is so prevalent in these emerging communities.
Can these tools, in the right hands, be a force capable of reclaiming the human heart and placing it smack bang in the middle of the technosphere. Who knows.. but it’s going to be a lot of fun finding out.
If you haven’t already.. anyone can contribute to the book by going to http://butterbeep.com/tweetgeneration and sending in their quotes, experiences and thoughts. Not every upload will make it - think of them as frenzied spermatazoe on their way to the ovum. Make them fertile and fast, and you are in with a chance.
Dave plans to have the book finished by August 28 2008 and final submissions will be accepted up until August 15.
He has put in loads of work so far and peoples comments, feelings, favorite tweets will all go to glaze the cherry on top.
I have dropped in a line or two but may have another go as everyday my networks amaze me.. It’s all moving so fast. So much of what we do passes our eyes in the flicker of a monitor, I will be surly ordering my own copy of the finished book and if that solar flare does come to erase all our data.. At least I can thumb through the pages of Tweet Generation and remember.
Happy posting!
That link again.. http://butterbeep.com/tweetgeneration
Note: this blog post was hacked together with slolen words from Daves own site. It’s late.. i am tired.. and it looked better than just posting a link.. 
Happy Birthday WordPress!
May 27, 2008
WordPress is five years old today! ..and although i haven’t even been using it five months I feel it only right to say not only congratulations, but also Thank You.
I was always a ‘Blogger‘ user and before that i just made my own random pages and stuck them out into the ‘tubes’ not knowing if anyone actually read anything until i upset them.
I do believe though that I am now hooked and unless something pretty drastic and/or amazing happens.. I will be here for a good time to come.
So why do i like WordPress so much?
I guess mainly it’s because there are so many people I have met through social media that use and understand the importance of such a powerful tool and enabler. Seeing others using this blog software as effectively as they were (and still are) drew me into having at first a peek.. and then jumping headlong into this bandwagon. A bandwagon (assuming this once was a reference to a vehicle of some kind) that at the click of a button can be a small pizza delivery boy on a bike.. or the next moment, a thundering juggernaught.
It is this flexibility and customisation that has hid from me the fact that, without knowing it, I seem to have always been drawn to sites using WordPress. Far more than sites incorporating other blogging platforms.
I love the flexibility to have a site in almost any shape or form, compatible with no end of open source plugins, costing as little as nothing, up to a nominal fee for something a little more in depth. All of this is easily accessible to people not at all versed in code and programing.
I threw myself in at the deep end with this ‘Revolution‘ theme and decided to splash out £40 even though I had never even tried to play with the free themes. Before i knew it, WordPress was installed and with the help of some online friends showing me the ropes and pushing a few buttons.. I had a site up and running that I had never dreamed of having just a week before.
We tend to bang on and on about how important content is but let’s not forget that it’s delivery is equally important. Thanks a lot WordPress and Happy Birthday!
Many thanks to Derek Mantle, Annie Boccio, Steve Purkiss and Phil Sorrell for their superior WordPress and CSS knowledge.
A moment ago I threw out a question onto Twitter asking who was using WordPress and got these links back..
Click on every one.. Go on.. I dare ya..
http://www.ethosmarketing.co.uk
http://jestercreative.com/wordpress/
http://geekgrls.wordpress.com/
http://thegirlinthez.wordpress.com/
http://heavensgame.wordpress.com/
http://www.thebillblog.com/billblog/
http://amedievalhand.wordpress.com
http://www.kittenfluff.wordpress.com/
http://www.bigtalkproductions.com/blog/
http://www.thealbumchartshow.com
http://www.claritypartnership.co.uk
http://www.blog.edgarwrighthere.com
http://www.normanscoachsoho.com
I see a theme forming..
OK guys.. I have linked you.. now link me back!
Jeffrey Descovic at Podcamp NYC 2.0
May 6, 2008
Of all the memorable moments of Podcamp NYC 2.0 an impromptu meeting with Jeffrey Descovic touched me the most.
Jeffrey has an amazing story well documented HERE on his website and here on InnocenceProject.org In addition Jeffrey’s myspace page is HERE.
I was introduced to he by Rox from BeachWalks.tv and a few minutes later i was doing an interview using Seesmic.
At the same time as we Seesmic’ed and Qik’ed.. Phil Campbell recorded on HD.
The Innocence of Jeffrey Deskovic from Phil Campbell - England on Vimeo.
View the full interview on Seesmic with the thread here.. http://seesmic.com/v/OGHBz3SDbT
..and just as a footnote.. here is a photo of me and Phil on Chris Brogan’s blog and some more podcamp action from the podcast Push My Follow..
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