Showing posts with label IPhone 5. Show all posts

A Round Up of 2012... And some seminal trending photos...


Oh what a year it’s been ladies and gentlemen, and of course in the world of web one week adds up to a lifetime, so what were the seminal moments of 2012. Just for a bit of nostalgia, here are Cybergirl’s top five moments (with a few seminal ‘trending’ FB images thrown in for posterity):

1.    Tax avoidance – yes 2012 was the year that Goliath companies such as Google, Starbucks and Amazon finally got called to account over their corporate (read tax avoidant behavior) – what was the result, tentative boycotting of Starbucks and their resolution to pay 20 million pounds worth of corportation tax over the next two years, well aren’t they admirable. Next time Cybergirl goes for a large Americano – there’ll be soe negotiating at the till let me tell you. On the plus side, is the tide finally turning? Has the subject that Cybergirl has been banging on about since this blog first started four months ago finally caught the public imagination enough to warrant winder scale boycotting?
2.    The launch of the IPhone 5, it came, it saw, it conquered with 5 million sales and counting, and then well everyone realized that it was almost identical to the iPhone 4S – surprise surprise (ditto for the IPad mini).
3.    Hoaxes dominated Facebook, if Cybergirl had ten pounds for every time a copyright statement/human rights infringement/ridiculous legal terminology was posted, reposted and then went onto insight general hysteria across the world’s largest social networking site, well Cybergirl would be a very rich woman indeed.
4.    The Kindle Fire hit the shops! Yes at last there was a viable contendor to the Apple Monopoly (see point 2.) By October the device was said to be ‘the best selling product on the company’s website.’ Which can’t be said for the IPad Mini.
5.    Gangham Fever spread like wildfire across the world… Yes if you had a beady eye on what it takes to constitute a viral hit – well just rethink that, multiply it by 100 and add a dance akin to a horseback rider swaggering into a western bar.
6.    And last but certainly not least the tragedy that was Apple Maps. In the 24 hours since Google Maps was released for the IPhone it was downloaded 10 million times – a statistic that surely speaks for itself.

So there they are; our top five web related news stories of 2012. What lessons can be learnt from these archane and yet often completely revelatory stories? 1) Fame is a heady mix of electro beats, canny marketing and strange dancing – yes it’s all about luck at the end of the day. 2) no matter how badly Apple behave people will still buy their products (sad but true) and finally 3) if it’s a written in a status update the majority of people will believe it – use this at your peril…

Now for those images - my favourite of 2012:











Till next year ladies and gentlemen. Merry Christmas from all at The GWG...

Cybergirl goes travelling... A trip across The World Wide Web...


Ok boys and girls, I’m about to provoke a bit of serious travel envy; Cybergirl is officially on holiday ladies and gentlemen! 

And where am I writing this handy little blog from? Vong Duan beach in Southern Thailand..
Yes I am logged on, booted up with my feet dangling in the water – ahhh the genius that is the world wide web – the genius of Sir Tim Berners Lee. See this is where technology really comes into its own, when a voyage of over twelve thousand miles is reduced to the instantaneous click; when the world becomes a mobile office, when you can be sitting with your feet in the following position…
And still be logged on!

Yes this is where we’ve got to - the world wide web still accessible, even on an Island five miles from the mainland. I even downloaded the Sunday Times (it’s the tenth anniversary of the Style Section don’t you know). But what are the downsides of the web’s global domination – of the fact that even on a secluded beach in Thailand I am still accessible?

I can check on things of course, keep some semblance of control – but what of the fact that I never really switch off? There’s simply no respite; no breathing space for those much needed brain cells to multiply like a hungry little embryo desperate for new and enlightening experiences.

Yes the emails are still flooding in, the Wunderlist is still growing like a Jenga skyscraper and that sense of detachment, that remote cut off point that announces itself like a guillotine after a sixteen hour flight, with a new and fascinating culture – well it just isn’t there. Why? Because I still checked The Daily Mail Online this morning (I know, I know – it’s an addiction) I still checked FB (another uni friend’s wedding I wasn’t invited to grrrr) and I’m still wondering why a certain person hasn’t replied to my email  – it’s 9.35am for Christ’s sake. See I shouldn’t be thinking this – I should be head down, feet massaged, contemplating James Corden’s Autobiography and whether to commit to a Pina Colada or a Gin Fizz – that’s what holidays are for, for submerging your toes in the water...
That’s the investment (money and time) that directly correlate to your coming home revived, refreshed, alive joyous and free! But it’s just so argghh hard when every single café on the beach sports wifi!

 

Not logging on is a literal test of endurance! How to do it…? When I’ve cracked the answer to that question I’ll get back to you.

On the other hand the web’s global reach also has its upsides; I was wandering down the beach last night and took the following photograph:
Ok it’s a little dark, but I was moved to see a young Thai man of no more than eighteen teaching himself to play Guitar on Youtube; his fingers strumming the chords, his face crumpled in concentration – wifi on the beach - one man’s meat, another man’s poison.
________________________________________________________________

Now on another note (there are always several) I’ve been absolutely baffled by the sheer speed at which the Thai counterfeiters have managed to copy the IPhone 5, yes barely has it been out a week and malls in the province of Bangsaen are awash with handsets proffering to be the long awaited and much lauded next generation of superphone. Unfortunately the counterfeiters haven’t quite got the hang of putting the touch pad on the right way up...
Plus at a retail price of well over £700 it may be cheaper to buy the real one…

 Now for a quick note on IOS 6 (I know I know I just can’t help myself) but please humour me – because (drum roll) I’m actually about to say something positive about Apple! Yes it came, it downloaded, it kind of conquered – IOS 6 is here and (apart from Maps) it’s a well thought out, handy and best of all completely free update to IOS 5. I like it – I like it a lot, why? It certainly doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does add handy little features that will make you smile (but honestly how long did it take to Integrate FB? Blackberry were doing it years ago). I like the ‘Do Not Disturb’ facility, the refined graphics, the mail facility is definitely better, I love the multiple time zones (handy for the world wide work addict – I mean traveller) and best of all shared Photo Streams. Overall the software is much improved – though the maps – Jeez – according to Apple I am currently floating in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand, wifi or no wifi - this humble little Island literally does not exist.
And last but certainly not least I just have to give a huge shout out to the organisers of the DLD Cities conference which I attended last week. The event was just the most incredible example of what happens when innovation meets excellence. My favourite event was the Start Up Bonanza – where three founders of genius start-ups spoke to an assembled crowd of technophiles on the merits of their respective technologies. Rian Liedenberg of Recce, Pilgrim Beart of Alert Me and Marley Fabiesiewicz of Unlike, spoke about the incredible journey they have all been through developing apps that will seriously improve the way we interact with our environment. Check out Recce in particular for an alternative to both Google and Apple Maps.

Another highlight included a unique talk from DLD chairman Yossi Vardi; a web pioneer if ever there was one (with a wicked sense of humour to boot), Yossi pointed the audience towards the Israel, yes if you’re looking to invest in the next big start up – chances are that’s where it’s going to come from. In Yossi’s words, it’s a city where ‘like in LA you have waiters who are all actors, in Israel every waiter is the founder of a start up.’ Keep your eyes and ears peeled ladies and gentlemen… There word on the ground is that there’s another dot-com boom just around the corner. You have been told.

Over and out – next week it’s the turn of the apps – are we becoming a nation that is app obsessed? Are they more of a help or a hindrance? All this and more travel photos :) Till next time, this is your intrepid work/web explorer singing off.
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)
Blogger Template by Clairvo