Linktastic on a Tuesday

Here’s the lowdown on some of the things I’ve been thinking about recently that I thought were worth sharing.

Bees

Tweeting bumblebees. Just brilliant. A great project encouraging bumblebees to nest to arrest their decline in our urban and country habitats and learn about bees – both individuals and groups. And one of the outputs is tweeting bumblebees. What’s not to like? Check it out and I defy you not to be charmed by the project. http://niksargent.com/bumblebee

A framework for thinking about mobile apps – it’s not a comprehensive list, but it’s a good starting point. The comments are worth a read too. http://cdixon.org/2012/05/21/four-use-cases-for-mobile-apps/

Music and the planet

Your favourite track may destroy the planet. Or the environmental impact of streaming digital music. I wonder if this is music industry propaganda or if it’s actually grounded in fact. Forgive my cynicism, but the music industry is well-known for pushing its misinformed propaganda and treating music fans with disdain. Interested to hear your comments and thoughts on this one. http://www.2degreesnetwork.com/groups/information-communication-technologies/resources/your-favourite-track-may-destroy-planet_2/

Data vs. Emotion – A Media 360 Thriller

There’s a new debate in town which will run and run and it’s big data vs. emotion. No longer will we need to discuss the hackneyed web vs. apps story. We have a new one! Seriously though, this article really got me thinking. Marketing is both art and science and shouldn’t be mutually exclusive, yet they seem to be. This article sums up the debate succinctly http://mediablogged.mediaweek.co.uk/2012/05/23/data-v-emotion-a-media360-thriller/ and by chance I stumbled on another related article on being data-informed rather than data-driven http://andrewchenblog.com/2012/05/29/know-the-difference-between-data-informed-and-versus-data-driven/ . I’m a creative soul at heart so I hope that emotion wins out, but sadly, I fear data will be the ultimate victor. I just hope that doesn’t mean we lose out on serendipity and emotion. And maybe, just maybe, this is our chance to reinvent marketing altogether and combine the best of both worlds. Or is that a utopian dream?

NFC Ticketing Trials

Stagecoach is staging NFC trials for bus ticketing in Cambridgeshire. It’s a 3-month pilot programme in conjunction with Everything Everywhere to look at the validity of contactless payments for tickets. If it works, they will look to roll out in 2013. My initial reaction was, but what happens when your battery dies, but I’m reliably informed that the NFC chip will still work, it’s just you won’t see your app being updated at the same time. And my second reaction is, but what about pickpockets? We’re always being told to keep our mobile phones safe on London Underground. If we’re whipping out our phones to access the tube, then everyone will know where our phones are. Both points are probably irrelevant, but there’s still some way to go with this. I love my Oyster card, but I never use contactless payments for anything else – even though I could if I wanted to and even though I’m usually an early adopter of these things. Also, according to Dean Bubley’s tweets from today’s Open Mobile conference, NFC on mobile is still too slow and too clunky for mass adoption and is a technology that’s never going to happen. I think Visa and MasterCard would beg to differ so let’s see.

The Growing Epidemic of Page Bloat

Don’t do it. That is all! [Read this article if you need to add fuel to the fire] http://gigaom.com/2012/05/23/the-growing-epidemic-of-page-bloat/

And now for something completely different

Five secret London spots http://now-here-this.timeout.com/2012/05/18/annie-mole-of-london-blog-going-underground-chooses-her-five-secret-london-spots/ as spotted by my friend Annie Mole.