tenuous link

Like a hyperlink one just more vague*.

I gave this presentation at work today in a show and tell. I like show and tells.

*No one says hyperlink anymore do they? Shame. I quite liked the sound of "I'll add a hyperlink to your site from mine".

Salma's idea. A book of random faces.

All collected in Hong Kong and Beijing.

My recent trip to Beijing was with an organised tour group from Hong Kong. I was a bit sceptical about what this would be like (probably because of the British obsession with independant travel and discovering authenticity) but I loved it.

Because your doing things in bulk it's cheap as chips. £200 for flights/ 5 star hotel/ all entrance fees and excursions and all meals. How does that work?

You get to meet loads of new people you wouldn't have met otherwise.

It's incredibly stress free. All you have to do is get on the bus and get off it.

It actually felt like a holiday.

Because your doing things in bulk you save on resource hence helping the environment. Kind of.

You get to do four or five things in everyone day as everything is worked out before hand.

Adversely I felt you get more of an authentic experience on tour than you do independantly following the same tour book that everyone else is.

We went around someones house in the old Hutong's to look at their family photo albums and see what they were having for dinner for example.

It's fun being the tallest person by quite a bit.

I went to see Be Kind Rewind last night. It's a great comment on our current obsession with UGC/ mashup/ community/ re-inventing our reality. Except they call it sweding.

They've even sweded google. It was worth the wait.

A while ago Ben wrote something about banks and how they could improve their services. I chipped in my two penneth about analytics type stuff and moodstats type stuff.

I've been thinking about it some more lately and now I really want a service that does this. I'd even pay for it.

Basically I want to see how I'm spending my money at any one point in time and over a set amount of time, I want to see how my pensions are peforming, I want to see how my shares are performing, I want to see how much money I still owe on my mortgage.

And not just money stuff. I want to see how much electricity I'm using like my last bill showed me but over the last five years/ my whole life.

I want to see my exact carbon footprint and I want to be able to do this like Adil has.

I want a cross between mint, moodstats and google analytics.

I want it all. And I want it now.

Now that I'm in the soft drinks game I've always got my eye out for new stuff. Like this little phenonemum in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong has lots of road side fruit stalls like any where else in the world. Maybe more.

They sell fresh fruit. Naturally.

The interesting bit though is that almost every single one does a side line in freshly made juices.

You just say what you want, they take the ingredients from the stall..

Juice and blend them up in front of you.

And you've got a very fresh customised juice for under £1. Even if it does live in a distorted dimension.

Who better to sell you fresh juice that a fresh fruit stall?

I found this bit on infux yesterday.

2.Attention Spikes
It’s now clear that agencies are competing on something of a level playing field in the war for attention. They don’t have the luxury of just hoping to be best ad in the pod or best in the break; it’s now about the most viral idea of the moment on any medium. It's now clear that television isn't the only way to do this. This year, Fallon’s Gorilla for Cadbury and Crispin’s Whopper Freakout showed us how.

I was thinking about something similar lately around the idea '48 hour campaigning' based on the fact innocent got 1590 entries within 48 hours to a write something for the bottom of our smoothie bottles competition we did on our blog the other day.

What an MTV generation we've turned into eh?

While I was in Beijing we went to have a look at the birds nest stadium. What I found most interesting about it was that although it is now one of Beijing's top tourist attractions the only way to see it is from the side of the nearest motorway.

As no one can offically stop there you get dropped off while your bus driver does a couple of laps of the block to come and pick you up again with the speed of exit like an army lift. It just seems strange that no-one has really considered the viewing part of it as an attraction.

It's the exact same problem that David Rockwell solved at ground zero with a bit of common sence and a lot of determination (see his talk at TED here for more on this).

For me it all come back to this.

People are inherently nosey, they want to see the process as aswell as the finnished product. Sometimes the process even more. So why not just accomodate this in everyones favour?

Give me access to a free buffet breakfast and this is what I'm doing every time. Raspberries and baked beans on the same plate? Too right, I'm getting my monies worth even if it means feeling nautous at the back of the bus for the rest of the morning for four days straight.

I always thought Chinese people that look like this only existed in films and Monkey Magic. They're real though and I was asked to strangle one.

Miyagi sets the scene with a dance and some grunts.

He didn't want to get his beard caught up in it all. Wise move.

Heave hoe. I'm obviously not strong enough for Miyagi so have to take assistants from the ring master.

It's all too much. Miyagi goes down. I make my exit while the going is good.

facebook

Salma's idea. A book of random faces.

All collected in Hong Kong and Beijing.

on tour

My recent trip to Beijing was with an organised tour group from Hong Kong. I was a bit sceptical about what this would be like (probably because of the British obsession with independant travel and discovering authenticity) but I loved it.

Because your doing things in bulk it's cheap as chips. £200 for flights/ 5 star hotel/ all entrance fees and excursions and all meals. How does that work?

You get to meet loads of new people you wouldn't have met otherwise.

It's incredibly stress free. All you have to do is get on the bus and get off it.

It actually felt like a holiday.

Because your doing things in bulk you save on resource hence helping the environment. Kind of.

You get to do four or five things in everyone day as everything is worked out before hand.

Adversely I felt you get more of an authentic experience on tour than you do independantly following the same tour book that everyone else is.

We went around someones house in the old Hutong's to look at their family photo albums and see what they were having for dinner for example.

It's fun being the tallest person by quite a bit.

sweding

I went to see Be Kind Rewind last night. It's a great comment on our current obsession with UGC/ mashup/ community/ re-inventing our reality. Except they call it sweding.

They've even sweded google. It was worth the wait.

life tracker

A while ago Ben wrote something about banks and how they could improve their services. I chipped in my two penneth about analytics type stuff and moodstats type stuff.

I've been thinking about it some more lately and now I really want a service that does this. I'd even pay for it.

Basically I want to see how I'm spending my money at any one point in time and over a set amount of time, I want to see how my pensions are peforming, I want to see how my shares are performing, I want to see how much money I still owe on my mortgage.

And not just money stuff. I want to see how much electricity I'm using like my last bill showed me but over the last five years/ my whole life.

I want to see my exact carbon footprint and I want to be able to do this like Adil has.

I want a cross between mint, moodstats and google analytics.

I want it all. And I want it now.

juiced up

Now that I'm in the soft drinks game I've always got my eye out for new stuff. Like this little phenonemum in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong has lots of road side fruit stalls like any where else in the world. Maybe more.

They sell fresh fruit. Naturally.

The interesting bit though is that almost every single one does a side line in freshly made juices.

You just say what you want, they take the ingredients from the stall..

Juice and blend them up in front of you.

And you've got a very fresh customised juice for under £1. Even if it does live in a distorted dimension.

Who better to sell you fresh juice that a fresh fruit stall?

attention spikes & 48 hour campaigning

I found this bit on infux yesterday.

2.Attention Spikes
It’s now clear that agencies are competing on something of a level playing field in the war for attention. They don’t have the luxury of just hoping to be best ad in the pod or best in the break; it’s now about the most viral idea of the moment on any medium. It's now clear that television isn't the only way to do this. This year, Fallon’s Gorilla for Cadbury and Crispin’s Whopper Freakout showed us how.

I was thinking about something similar lately around the idea '48 hour campaigning' based on the fact innocent got 1590 entries within 48 hours to a write something for the bottom of our smoothie bottles competition we did on our blog the other day.

What an MTV generation we've turned into eh?

having a butchers

While I was in Beijing we went to have a look at the birds nest stadium. What I found most interesting about it was that although it is now one of Beijing's top tourist attractions the only way to see it is from the side of the nearest motorway.

As no one can offically stop there you get dropped off while your bus driver does a couple of laps of the block to come and pick you up again with the speed of exit like an army lift. It just seems strange that no-one has really considered the viewing part of it as an attraction.

It's the exact same problem that David Rockwell solved at ground zero with a bit of common sence and a lot of determination (see his talk at TED here for more on this).

For me it all come back to this.

People are inherently nosey, they want to see the process as aswell as the finnished product. Sometimes the process even more. So why not just accomodate this in everyones favour?

an english man abroad

Give me access to a free buffet breakfast and this is what I'm doing every time. Raspberries and baked beans on the same plate? Too right, I'm getting my monies worth even if it means feeling nautous at the back of the bus for the rest of the morning for four days straight.

doing a job on mr miyagi

I always thought Chinese people that look like this only existed in films and Monkey Magic. They're real though and I was asked to strangle one.

Miyagi sets the scene with a dance and some grunts.

He didn't want to get his beard caught up in it all. Wise move.

Heave hoe. I'm obviously not strong enough for Miyagi so have to take assistants from the ring master.

It's all too much. Miyagi goes down. I make my exit while the going is good.