The Kids: they’re laughing at us.

Compared to when I was growing up and a crappy Gameboy or impossible to tune in b&w portable telly were the heights of the technology accessible to the average teen, kids these days “don’t know they’re born” with their infuriatingly flippant use of PS3s, iPhones and what-would-until-recently-have-been-considered-witchcraft wireless broadband.

 Recently doing the rounds is a fascinating US study by The Pew Internet & American Life Project which “studies the social impact of the internet, focusing on topics including health, teens, and broadband”.

 It shows that kids are always online but instead of blogging they are on social networks such as myspace (come on, they’re too young to know better).

But does this herald the end for blogging, or is it just that they’re er.. kids, and  haven’t really got enough life/work experience to blog about yet? Plus they’re not in a boring full-time office job which is the time when grown-ups suddenly discover blogging and spend all day reading everyone else’s blogs and writing their own in a desperate attempt to distract themselves from the pointlessness of existence. Right?

Eventually the younger generation (x, y or z? I lose track) will get fed up of status updates and LOLCats and the like and get the sudden desire to sign up to a WordPress account and vomit out a lengthy essay about a minor indie band or technological development that interests only them for 3 of their mates to skim-read. I mean, why WOULDN’T you want to be a blogger?

They will realise that there is more to life than uglifying their myspace page with more useless flashing widgetry than a Dixons store in the run up to Christmas, and instead do the grown up, professional adult thing and sign up to a LinkedIn account that will forever lie eerily dormant like a cyberspace metaphor for their own stalled careers.

The kids aren’t using Twitter either. Some journalists seem to consider this as irrefutable proof that Twitter is uncool. I beg to disagree – surely it’s possible that us adults, though clearly cripplingly uncool in almost every way, with all that laughable experience, expertise and accrued knowledge, might actually know something that the kids don’t?

Yes that’s adults – that much ignored demographic, which the BBC’s iPhone department have conveniently categorised as:

Mobile First (aged 30-40), Social Animals (18-30), Mobile Lifestyle (25-40) and the Addicted (30-40).

Via The Register  (As The Reg point out, they didn’t mention what happens after 40 – presumably once over 40 people are too preoccupied with their impending death to have any interest in iPhone apps)

You see, these youngsters just haven’t realised the genius of Twitter yet. But they will. They will realise that they have wasted most of their life so far making inane X-Factor orientated chatter with their moronic friends, and instead sign up to Twitter where they can look at pictures of Demi Moore’s ass courtesy of her adopted son Ashton Kutcher or be the first to know that Jordan is auctioning off her collection of Peter Andre’s chesthair on Ebay.

So either you can read the report as:

• proof of a future where all adults will be perma-teenagers content with bullying, teasing and flirting with their peers on social networking sites from birth to infinity and beyond

• or you can see the differences as part of an overall pattern of people growing up and either settling for a cosily predictable Facebook account showing photos of their kids and weddings, or starting their own ineffectual digital megaphones through which they howl disaffected obscenities into the infinity of cyberspace (yes, a blog like this one).

And in the case of both, generally settling into life as a slavering, bedridden, and fundamentally uncool adult person.

Of course the internet is still in its infancy itself, barely old enough in the grand scheme of things to even have a bebo account. So all this is yet more pointless conjecture about what might or might not happen. Which let’s face it, is 90% of what blogging consists of. Maybe that’s why it’s going out of fashion.

Today Google launched Buzz. On the face of it, it’s a fairly small (and pointless) update to make their gmail service more social. With the ability to update your profile from within your email provider, t’s a direct attempt to compete with Twitter. However what it clearly shows is they also feel a huge threat from Facebook, who are rumoured to be launching their own email service soon.

The full extent to which the big tech companies are fighting for control of the web has only recently become apparent to me. It might just be that I’m a newbie in the tech world, or it might be that the companies are showing their teeth more and more in the battle for top dog.

It’s easy as a consumer/user of their products to see these companies as benign. Many people fall in love with their products due to the positive effects they have on their lives, and their simplicity and ease of use. I for example, find Google apps extremely useful. Gmail works like a dream compared to hotmail (though I still use both), I use Google Reader for most of my online reading and google docs enables me to easily access pdfs and my own writing wherever I can get online.

I love buying physical books from Amazon because it’s such good value, it’s quick and they have pretty much every book I could ever want. And as you know, I enjoy using Apple’s products because of their slick, simple interfaces which are geared towards creativity (however since my Macbook died on me at the weekend I am beginning to like them a lot less!)

Facebook is ok I suppose. I’m not a massive fan of the overcomplicated interface, much preferring Twitter for its easy real time conversation, but it is convenient to be able to maintain an ongoing, “ambient” connection with friends and family who you might otherwise not see or directly contact very often (note: I have quite strict privacy settings in Facebook as I use it exclusively to connect with those people I actually know face to face in real life). But it is becoming so popular, especially with the younger generation, who reportedly rarely visit blogs etc but find all the info through Facebook that some have suggested it may effectively replace the rest of the web in the future. This I find extremely scary.

And so clearly, do Google. If people start using email within Facebook, and searching for info within Facebook, they may never leave and therefore Google’s market share would wither and die. 

The basis of capitalism (put very simply according to my basic understanding) is that everyone benefits from competition as it leads to more choice, as well as increasing value and decreasing prices. But there can only be one market leader in each field. Now I would like Apple and Google to continue to work together – having Google search and Google maps as the default on the iPhone works wonderfully. But with the launch of Google’s Droid OS and now an actual phone, and with Eric Schmidt leaving Apple’s board last year, there are rumours that soon Bing will replace Google as the default search. Certainly Steve Jobs makes his views of his competitors clear in his post-iPad rant as widely reported by the tech blogs.

Personally I would rather each company stick to what they do best and co-exist peacefully. Of course, they have to acknowledge each others existence and provide linked services because that’s the way the web currently works. But when companies get to this size, they have their eyes on the ultimate prize – taking over the world. And so Buzz doesn’t provide any integration with Facebook, though it can be linked to Twitter.

Below is a chart showing what I perceive to be the places where the battle lines have been drawn. As I’m mainly concerned with the web, I’ve not gone into the hardware side of things in any detail (I’m least knowledgeable when it comes to Microsoft – they are clearly still leaders in terms of hardware & software sales despite being somewhat of a lumbering dinosaur when it comes to innovation.)

Also it was put together fairly hastily so please let me know if I’ve left anything out.

Related articles elsewhere:

Google Just Declared War On Social Startups – Who Is Going Down? Via The Next Web

Facebook is the new threat to Google via The Guardian

Google Buzz: What It Means for Twitter and Facebook via Mashable

 WHAT IS IT?

 A huge bloody big iPhone (well actually iPod Touch as it has no phone or camera). It looks a bit daft held up, but it looks pretty cool on your lap pretending to be the New York Times.

 WHAT’S IT FOR THOUGH? I ALREADY HAVE A BLOODY IPHONE.

 Good question. Nobody really knows. Some have said it’s an upgrade of the portable TV. Some say it’s useless cos you can’t view porn.. I mean ‘flash’ on it.

I say, it’s a portable storefront, a touchable shop window, for Apple to sell you crap. If the iPod was their way to sell music on iTunes, the iPhone their way to sell you widgets and games via the app store, then the iPad has been designed to sell you both of those plus reading material via the iBooks store.

 My favourite sci-fi blog io9 called the iPad  ’Crap Futurism’ and much of what they have to say rings scarily true. They quote sci-fi author Karl Schroeder who says “what Apple has done (again) is seize the moment with a combination of a device and a business model . .” and the writer of the piece agrees that “the iPad isn’t so much new technology as it is a shiny, pretty doorway to a mall where you can buy everything from books to movies.”

 Not only that but as the article also points out, the focus is very heavily on consumption, not creativity. Lots of people are worried that if this is the future, it’s one controlled by Apple. The iPad will allow for very limited customisation and won’t run any of the programmes used by creative professionals such as adobe creative suite, or even the iLife suite which, though basic, made my MacBook such an attractive purchase. Twitter programmer Alex Payne agrees, saying that he probably wouldn’t have become a programmer if he had owned one as a kid.

 Let’s face it though, Charlie Brooker is probably right as always. 

 ”I don’t want to hear how the iPad is going to make my life simpler. I want to hear how it’ll amuse and distract me; how it plans to anaesthetise me into a numb, trancelike state. Call it the iDawdler and aggressively market it as the world’s first utterly dedicated timewasting device: an electronic sedative to rival diazepam, alcohol or television. If Apple can convince us of that, it’s got itself a hit.”

NEVER MIND ALL THAT, HAS IT SAVED THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY OR WHATEVER IT WAS YOU WERE WITTERING ON ABOUT IN THAT REALLY LONG AND POINTLESS POST YOU PUBLISHED THE OTHER DAY?

 Not that I can tell. It doesn’t seem, at first glance to offer anything new for the publishing industry, as in fact it makes web browsing so easy that it might even do away with the need for a lot of the paid apps necessary on the iPhone due to the small screen.

 According to Simon Jenkins in the Guardian, the death of printed reading materials has been greatly exaggerated, and Peter Preston for the same paper reckons the iPad is destined to be landfill, like so many ‘revolutionary’ gadgets before it.

 A PAD IS FOR WRITING

Clearly, this video by Peter Serafinowicz is a p*ss-take. But personally, I think the iPad might be quite good if you could write on it.

A decent handwriting conversion programme does not to my knowledge exist yet, but if I could write notes using a stylus that were cleverly converted to digital text (which could be used by multiple apps like iWork, Simplenote, WordPress etc), I could really see the iPad being useful for writers & bloggers, freeing us from the tyranny of the RSI inducing keyboard and mouse (multitouchscreens are probably even worse for RSI) and thus being more than just another way of consuming the web.

However the fact that a keyboard dock has already been announced makes me think this is some way off.

FiNALLY

As for its other obvious fault, apparently the ability to use more than one app at once may be on the way in the next iPhone upgrade (and therefore the iPad as they use the same OS).

So, in conclusion, do I want one? Yes. Do I need one or can I come up with a justifiable reason to get one? Not really.

Finally, Patrick Jordan of Just Another iPhone Blog, who I’ve written for in the past, was interviewed on ABC news before and after the announcement, alongside a couple of other Mac bloggers. I think he did a cracking job. And he’s already set up a sister site called – yes you guessed it, Just Another iPad Blog – so I will be reading that with great interest in case they can come up with a decent excuse for buying one…

Michael Caine: photographer unknown

Print newspapers, it seems, will soon be no more than a minority medium, and so owners of the big news brands are wondering just how they’re going to make money once their main outlet is via the internet – whether it’s accessed via a computer, a mobile device or one of the fancy new touchscreen thingys such as the Skiff or Apple’s new tablet which is expected to be announced next Wednesday (27 January).

Skiff Reader

 Clearly most of the big name news organisations will survive in some form or other, and will either monetize their websites through advertising (which clearly is a difficult business model to sustain) or, like the New York Times have decided, and Rupert Murdoch’s News International are reportedly planning, will charge a subscription fee for their content.

In the UK Murdoch’s plans will also be difficult to sustain whilst the BBC make so much news content available for free online, but he may well persuade David Cameron to do something about that once the Tories get into power (probably).

 Take Your iTablets

 Although some sectors of the publishing industry are hoping that Apple’s new device and others like it will give them a new multimedia platform which will enable them to charge a subscription for their content, it will need to be something special and not just a bigger shinier version of the current iPhone if it is to offer something extra than the current apps such as available from the Guardian, New York Times and Time Magazine.

Apple Tablet mock up

The Guardian’s iPhone App

 The one UK newspaper I read regularly is the Guardian (despite its shameful lack of Scottish news, but then I am heavily involved with Scottish news all day at work). I mainly read the sections that interest me, such as its excellent coverage of culture, media and technology, which in my opinion is only rivalled here in the UK by the BBC.  And  I read it entirely online, either by RSS or on their impressive new iPhone app.

 The app costs a couple of quid, but then you have access to the latest and most popular content from the Guardian, and the ability to save certain sections and content as favourites which you can then access offline.

 There are some limitations – the share function is currently limited to Facebook and email as opposed to the app from the New York Times which has multiple sharing options including Twitter, and there is currently no way to access comments or make a new comment. However these could hopefully be added as time goes on.

Guardian iPhone app promo video (with annoying voice-over)

 What Was That About Print Media Being Dead?

 It is in this climate that I’ve perhaps foolishly decided to put together a pilot issue of a Products of a Gaseous Brain fanzine, something I have been meaning to do for a long time. It will be available both as a downloadable pdf and a print version – watch this space for more details!

 Related Reading:

This article by Jonathan Fields is an interesting take on the latest developments, and continues the ongoing debate around ‘Free’ which Chris Anderson’s book recently sparked off. Whether you’re talking about newspapers, music, or any kind of creative endeavour, it’s a fascinating debate because no one really knows how things will develop yet.

Former Manchester Evening Times writer Ian Wylie, who was made redundant in October last year, has written a very thorough report from a recent conference called ‘New Ways To Make Journalism Pay’. It’s lengthy, but well worth a read if you have any interest in this topic. 

 However Martin Cloake argues over at The Media Blog that what we should be concentrating on is message rather than medium. 

 For a pretty comprehensive run down of news mobile apps see the Online Journalism Blog

And finally, a good overview of what’s likely from Apple’s new tablet from the Guardian (no, I’m not an employee, unfortunately!)

Detail from letterpress Aisle One calendar (click for link)

So here we are in the future. 2001 may have been a year that resonated with sci-fi fans everywhere for obvious reasons, but in terms of actual futuristic shit going down, it was pretty much a disappointment. But 2010 is a different story.

 Not only do graphic design geeks love the fact this year’s digits look incredibly cool typographically (or written out in full as above), we are also living in a world which has changed dramatically from the one I grew up in. At the age of 32, it’s weird to be part of the last generation that grew up entirely without the internet in a world where it’s now so prevalent.

Poster by Paul Sizer (click for link)

 Ok, so we don’t have the jetpacks and the flying cars, but technology has already completely transformed the way we live. It’s hard to believe that YouTube only came into existence in 2005, and remember dial-up internet? How did we cope?

In the last couple of years with laptops, wifi and handheld computers (aka smartphones) becoming commonplace, if not de rigueur, the mainstream western world is now totally, totally wired (as Mark E Smith would say).

The Geeks Shall Inherit The Earth

 I’ve been described as a geek on more than one occasion, and even have the badge to prove it. But really, in a world where almost everyone uses the likes of Facebook and most have a phone that surfs the web, the only distinction I have is that I actively seek out the new stuff earlier (if I can afford to) and having lived without this kind of cool stuff for so long, fully appreciate it for the massively exciting opportunities it brings.

 Everyone except the most stubborn luddite now knows that newspapers and books as we know them now are on the way out sooner rather than later, as new contraptions such as Amazon’s Kindle and other ebook readers, the aforementioned smart phones (or superphones as Google would have it) and the new Apple Tablet, bendy Skiff and numerous other products make an early bid to becoming the new way of consuming content. Ok, these overpriced gadgets may only be adopted by the technological elite for now, but where they lead, everyone else quickly follows.

 The Web Is Not Enough

 But as excited as I get about developments in media and technology, there’s no doubt that the world is changing in other, more fundamental and terrifying ways, specifically with the threat of climate change. All of our incredible scientific and technological progress may be for nothing, if we humans destroy the very world we have been lucky enough to inhabit. If we don’t consider this seriously now, in 2010, it could well be too late.

Time Magazine: The New Age of Extinction

 Even our use of the web is contributing to this destruction, with every google search and every video uploaded to YouTube using up a lot more power than we assume – it’s not limited to the minimal impact on our individual electricity bills – there are massive server farms full of computers that power our online adventuring, and it’s ultimately as unsustainable as indiscriminate air travel and petrol-fuelled cars.

 Of course those who worship at the altar of progress believe we will find a technology to save us from the near-certain ecological doom of our own making, but too often their optimism is fuelled by personal/economic interest.

 The Copenhagen Climate Summit of 2009 proved one thing- the politicians aren’t going to save us. And it’s been proven time after time again that they aren’t going to ‘Make Poverty History’ or ‘Give Peace a Chance’ either. These are topics so overwhelming that to consider them fully leads to a feeling of deep powerlessness and despair. No wonder those of us who live in relative prosperity bury our collective heads in the sand, turning to the quick fix of entertainment and the heavily skewed/selective 24 hour news cycle. Or booze, or drugs, or sex & porn.

 Human nature can be massively positive, leading to amazing creativity, scientific and technological advancement. But our insatiable desires for more, more, more are also ultimately massively destructive. Trying to change the fundamentals of human nature may be a waste of energy, but those of us who have the luxury of free time, free choice and freedom of speech have to stop kidding ourselves  and face the reality of what’s going on in the world head on. 

 Here, now, in 2010, as we rush headlong into the cutting edge of the future, would be the ideal time for a massive ‘pattern interrupt’ for the human species. Whilst that would take a miracle, it is surely at least possible to take a look at our own lives and ask,

“if this year was our last chance to do whatever we could to help save the world, what would we do about it?”

Whew! Quite an eventful year. I’m not going to try and provide an exhaustive summary of world events here, instead I thought it would be a good opportunity to give a brief rundown of my favourite posts of 2009 on this blog, whilst also including those events that were most important to me personally.

Whilst this is still a tiny blog in the larger scheme of things, it’s been exciting to gain readers each month and to have more people commenting, and I really appreciate every single person who subscribes or visits regularly, and who has emailed or commented or took part in my daft poll earlier on in the year – every single bit of feedback is appreciated. 

Also an apology to those whose gigs I didn’t make it to, or whose emails I haven’t yet replied to. I’m still finding it difficult to juggle a busy day job with this blogging lark, and deal with all my own bad habits, procrastination, laziness/bouts of depression/agorophobia and general disorganisation. I’m working on it, promise!

So Happy New Year folks, and I hope it’s the best yet.

I Hear a New World

Though the column and podcast went on an extended hiatus this year, I still managed to squeeze in an interview with Will Oldham aka Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, as well as with Sean Michaels of the ever-popular mp3 blog Said The Gramophone, and a couple of friends who contribute massively to the local music scene, Matthew from Song By Toad and Dave Kerr from The Skinny.

The podcasts also featured a bunch of great tunes from the likes of Grizzly Bear, Jeffrey Lewis, Camera Obscura, the Japanese War Effort, Ish Marquez and many more. You can still hear them all over on the podcasts page.

And don’t forget the  I Hear a New World Ten Tracks bundle is also available now for only £1!

 Travel/Personal

I fulfilled a lifetime ambition and went to New York where I played at the infamous Sidewalk Cafe antifolk open mic and also shocked myself and my long-suffering girlfriend by finally getting engaged: New York Travelogue

Technology

I bought an iPhone, and became a tiresome bore about it and my other favourite invention of the year, the new music streaming service Spotify:

The Gaseous Brain Guide to the iPhone (which was also featured on Just Another iPhone Blog’s best iPhone laughs of 2009)

Why I’m a Paytard

Why you need Spotify’s free music streaming service

Spotify for iPhone is here – bring on the cheese!

Gigs

I went to my first ever Fence Homegame festival, which was absolutely brilliant, and made a video about it: Fence Homegame 6 – Video Diary (some very selective personal highlights)

A few other gigs I enjoyed:

Found, Meursault & Panda Su @ Roxy Art House, Friday 4th December

The Cave Singers & Espers @ The Electric Circus, Edinburgh Nov 14th 2009

Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard @ Cabaret Voltaire, 31 Aug

Retreat! @ Bristo Hall, 16 Aug

Playing with the Past

A Weekend in Fife, featuring The Three Craws

Peaches @ Webster Hall, NYC

My friend Stu also contributed a couple of excellent gig reviews:

The Flaming Lips @ The Glasgow Academy, 15th November 2009

Review of Frightened Rabbit live in Edinburgh, 18th August 2009

Record reviews

As a recovering ex-music journalist just the thought of writing reviews and having to give them a star rating brings me out in a cold sweat, so this year saw a drop in my output when it comes to writing reviews.  But there were a few releases this year which had me relapsing due to their sheer quality: 

 King Creosote – Flick The V’s

Daniel Johnston – Is and Always Was

James Yorkston & The Big Eyes Family Players – Folk Songs

The Japanese War Effort – King of Poland

Withered Hand – You’re Not Alone

Meursault – Nothing Broke EP

Sleep The Winter – eagleowl

Found Can Move

Edinburgh band Found deserve their own category this year simply for having made the most danceable song of the year with Let Fidelity Break:

Video: Edinburgh band ‘Found’ provoke outbreak of crazy dancing

Found Play Let Fidelity Break to the Kids in Central Park

as well as wowing us all with their Cybraphon creation: Robot Love in Edinburgh – Cybraphon & ASIMO

Scrobbling Off:

I probably listened to cheesy pop music this year more than obscure indie (again, you can blame Spotify). Here’s where I ‘came out’:

Scrobbling Off: Where’s Your Favourite Place to Find Party Mixtapes?

The obligatory Wacko Jacko post-mortem blog post

Scottish Blogs

Finally, this year really did see an explosion in the number of Scottish music blogs and other music sites. It’s led to a great sense of community, culminating in the BAMS awards at the end of the year. I see this blog as a companion to all the others out there who also provide tons of great content, and recommend you check them out if you haven’t already.

Sexy New Scottish Blogs

I Hear a New World July 2009 – Recommended pod/vod/webcasts

Tis The Season of The Lists – Best Albums of 2009 and The Decade

The Internet & the Age of Information Overload

The same goes for the other blogs I’ve linked to on this site over the year which aren’t necessarily Scottish or about music.

I have to admit it, my internet addiction has shown no signs of abating in 2009. I started up a weekly web trawl of the best articles I found online, which then became the Random Reading List.

My attention was all over the place, including technology, music, eye candy (ahem) and just about everything else under the sun. If you’re looking for a whole library’s worth of interesting links, you can find them all here.

Phew! Here’s looking forward to 2010

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It’s November. Howdahelldiddathappen?

I’ve been unwell and off work for several days which means I’m missing the Gothenburg Address play at the Electric Circus tonight. Whatdahelliswrongwidme?

I’ve managed to weakly click on the share button for a couple of things though, go see over at my google reader shared items or below if you are visiting the site. They include Shakira being amazing in the bedroom via Portiswasp, the above robot being grumpy and mildly annoying like me, fruit bat fellatio (I kid you not) and Just Another iPhone Blog, who I write for from time to time being featured on Lifehacker.

Shameless self-promotion: Here’s my latest post for them: Newsy.com brings bite-size nuggets of news to the iPhone

Surprise: David Lynch’s Sandworms Were “Too Phallic” [Dune]
io9.com

Fuller: content is king in digital age
guardian.co.uk

Twitter for TV lovers: who to follow
guardian.co.uk

ROPID the adorable humanoid can jump 3-inches into the air, sweep you off your feet
engadget.com

NSFW Science: Fruit Bat Fellatio
feeds.boingboing.net

Cool Video: Apple’s Design Guru on Design Principles, iPhones, Macs, More
justanotheriphoneblog.com

Now There Really Is an iPhone App for Everything
justanotheriphoneblog.com

NSFW: Halloween in San Francisco and the gathering clouds of a location-based privacy storm
techcrunch.com

Is World Journalism in Crisis? The podcasts
rss.feedsportal.com

DOOM now available in the App Store!
thenextweb.com

POLL: Illegal Downloaders Buy the Most Music
mashable.com

Brush Your iPhone’s Bezel to Hide Scuffs and Scratches [IPhone]
feeds.gawker.com
Nice to see the Just Another iPhone Blog get featured on Lifehacker!

SHAKIRA – DID IT AGAIN
myportiswaspsays.com
Shakira being amazing in the bedroom. And just amazing in general, as usual.

Guilty Pleasures
thesteinbergprinciple.wordpress.com

Above picture by James Christopher via my Tumblr 

So, as promised, more random links. Was very chuffed this week to get a mention in this splendid article by Glasgow Podcart which also bigs up a bunch other blogs I enjoy, many of which I’ve mentioned here at some point. I think each of the blogs mentioned bring their own unique style and content to the table, and Halina who wrote the piece is a very passionate and generous soul who has been very supportive of me even when I’ve gone off on incredibly geeky and obscure tangents, so cheers Halina!

Random Links From Google Reader

Monday 25th October marks ‘least productive’ day of year
go.theregister.com

Geocities closes tomorrow. Last chance to save your rubbish old website
thenextweb.com

My Latest Novel, Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh – 24th October 2009
thesteinbergprinciple.wordpress.com

How To Get Past The Blank Page By Creating Urgency
problogger.net
Blogging for masochists

Ever wonder how much electricity it takes to run the Internet?
thenextweb.com

Spike Jonze Explains Why Kanye Pulled ‘Fairytale’ Video
therapup.uproxx.com

Historian slams ‘absolutely crazy’ UK time zone
go.theregister.com

How The iPhone Is Blowing Everyone Else Away (In Charts)
techcrunch.com

How to Write a Novel in 30 Days
writetodone.com

AppsFire Launches App Star Awards To Find The Next Great iPhone App
techcrunch.com

An Interview with Dan Pink
lateralaction.com

Random Links Direct From Twitter

This is all that remains of my first ever webshite, for my band Swivel Chair: index http://bit.ly/2Hu6bh #geocitiesgraveyard

RT @seaninsound: RIP John Peel who passed away 5years ago today. Here are a bunch of Peel playlists @spotify http://bit.ly/3d5QjU

Quality remix of Yeah Yeah Yeahs Heads Will Roll via @FridayMixtape http://bit.ly/3uMnr7

RT @mybitofsky: RT @eagleowlattack EP now sold out – the digital download version is now available from http://eagleowl.bandcamp.com/

RT @jonathanfields: RT @CaliLewis: Did you guys see this about the 27″ iMac? http://bit.ly/4kskFv

• Paytards are stupid for paying a premium price for something they could easily get for free and for signing up to locked-in systems which purposefully restrict users freedoms (e.g. most Apple products!)

• Freetards are stupid for wasting a lot of valuable time messing around with illegal downloads and inferior products when they could just pay a reasonable price for a product which works well out of the box – and in the case of a locked-in system, works seamlessly as part of a larger whole.