Blogs

A Web Certificate for Privacy?

Please! by Josh Hallett

Privacy is at the top of people’s online agenda. As an investor in businesses with specific offerings around people’s online data and digital data, not surprisingly it is at the top of my agenda too. I believe that the industry needs privacy definitions and principles that the average Internet user can understand, not shrouded in legal or technical jargon.

In my recent post on Privacy for a Facebook Generation I proposed that businesses should operate on six easy to understand levels of privacy:

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Digital: The new king of content

Ghostly hands by Michael Hashizume

The realm of online copywriting has upped its game, gone are the days of dumping regurgitated written copy onto web pages to fill in the gaps.

Nowadays it’s all about content in a much broader sense of the word and the candidates are certainly proving this to be true with up to 73% of our traditional copywriters, registered in the last year possessing additional digital content focused skills.

So what does this mean for the traditional copywriter?

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Do Your Bit, Vote for the Brits in the SXSW 2011 Panelpicker


SXSW 2010 Interactive Programme by Sam Michel

There's just a couple of days left to add your support to the Brits who have submitted panels for the massive digital shindig and Digital Mission destination that is South by South West Interactive 2011.

The Panelpicker lists all of the 2,410 submissions to the conference section of the event with audience votes comprising 30% of the decision-making progress, so those votes are crucial.

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BIMA Awards Deadline Extended

BIMA Awards 2009

It's 25 years since the first BIMA Awards and this year's shindig promises to be a bustling affair with over 1,000 digital types getting together on November 25th. We're delighted to be working with BIMA as a media partner on this year's awards.

There's still a chance to enter the awards, the deadline has been extended by a few days to 24th August (next Tue), so you'll need to get your skates on.

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Google Caffeine Boosts Coffee Sales for SEOs

They've Got an Awful Lot of Coffee in Brazil by Giuseppe Del Monte

There have been some quite big changes in the way search engines work over the past 6-12 months, mainly due to Google rolling out what they’ve nicknamed the Caffeine update.

All this means that SEOs now need a lot more coffee so that they can stay awake all night long wondering how the heck to optimise their clients’ websites. 

So what is this Caffeine? In a nutshell, it is a new web indexing system that means that the crawling and indexing of web pages now happens in parallel (in the past these were two separate things). The impact this has is that the current index (and thus the search results you see) are now far closer to real-time. Gone are the days of waiting for your latest blog post to get indexed; this has probably already happened by the time you’ve boiled the kettle.

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Summer BBQ - 26th August - Discount Tickets Still Available

Burgers on the Grill by Don LaVange

We didn't take much persuading by the folks who'd been on the Digital Missions that a gathering might be in order to mark the end of the Summer. 

We've hooked up with the Digital Mission alumni and Bootlaw regulars to gather, mingle, chat and sup a cold beverage. Let's face it, we don't need much of an excuse and it's a great opportunity to meet interesting people doing interesting things.

Tickets cost £15 (+VAT and booking fee), but there's still a few tickets available at the discounted rate (use code: 'dm' to get a 3rd off), but they're being snapped up quickly. At the time of writing there's already 100 people on the list, so make sure you grab your ticket soon.

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Help Build Megalist of British Panels Submitted to SXSW

SXSW 2010 Interactive Programme by Sam Michel

Can it really be that time of year already? The PanelPicker for South by South West Interactive (SXSW), the annual mass-gathering of digital types in Austin, Texas is open for votes and we're building a list of all the panels submitted from the UK.

The lengthy journey to Austin hasn't deterred an increasing numbers of Brits from making the trek, with initiatives like the Digital Mission to SXSW organised by Chinwag, which involved nearly 100 companies this year mixing with over 14,000 delegates from the US and beyond.

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Brands will struggle for standout as Twitter grows

Twitter by Jeff Turner

Recent news that Twitter has reached 20 billion tweets is a major milestone. However, for brands looking to harness this channel for business, the opportunity for standout will only get harder as the service grows.

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The evolution of on-demand TV: Digital designers cash in on Project Canvas

Television by *USB*

Project Canvas, a partnership formed by some of the biggest names in broadcasting and digital, has recently received its backing from the BBC trust. The project could change the way in which commercial entities communicate with consumers and the scope for digital content development and interactive services could be huge. So how can digital designers attempt to capitalise on this new venture? And how will it change the market place?
 

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Thinking Digital Conference Videos Online

Thinking Digital Conference Videos

My annual trek to the North East for Thinking Digital is always a treat. Organised by Herb Kim, recently named #83 in the MediaGuardian Top 100 and his team at Codeworks, the event promises much and delivers.

The event takes place in the futuristic surroundings of Newcastle's re-developed quayside using the photogenic Sage and Baltic venues and features a wide range of speakers from tech-heavy to the unexpected.

The videos from this year's event have just been published on their website. My favourites...

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UKTI Tokyo Games Mission Application Deadline Extended to Friday

Tokyo Game Show 2007 Day 1 by VideogameVisionary.com

After lots of requests, we've managed to get The deadline for the UKTI mission to the Tokyo Games Show extended until this Friday, the 6th August.

The trip which includes industry briefings and round table sessions with experts from the Japanese games industry including leading games magazine publisher, Enterbrain also features a reception at the British Embassy.

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Win Stand Space at Mobile World Congress 2011

Japanese DoCoMo phones by James Nash (aka Cirrus)

It's like a never-ending stream of free stuff round here at the moment. First the Hubbub competition, next up Shell LiveWIRE for young entrepreneurs and now the chance for a mobile SME to score some high-profile stand space at Mobile World Congress.

The Digital Communications Knowledge Transfer Network (DCKTN) and UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) are running a competition for lucky UK-based SMEs with an innovative new mobile or wireless solution or product to showcase their wares.

The UKTI stand will be located on the Avenida at the Mobile World Congress, Barcelona from 14 - 17 Feb 2011 and offers amazing chance to target more than 60,000 key industry decision makers that are expected to attend.

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Japanese Games Mag Publisher, Enterbrain Joins Japan Games Mission

Tokyo Game Show 2008 by kanegen

There's still time to get an application in for the UKTI Mission to Tokyo Games Show designed specifically for UK-based games companies targeting the Japanese market with a detailed insight into the challenges of working in Japan, and highlighting the opportunities available.

The team in Tokyo have confirmed that Enterbrain (Wikipedia entry) who publish Weekly Famitsu, Famitsu Xbox360, Famitsu PSP+PS3, Famitsu DS+Wii as well as compiling retail games charts will be attending the roundtable session and the British Embassy reception.

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£10,000 Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur Competition Opens

Shell LiveWIRE Awards

Is there a competition season? If not, maybe we've identified a trend here. Next up on the award trail is the Shell LiveWIRE awards which is now open for entries, and the £10,000 up for grabs is not to be sniffed at.

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The Hunt for Europe's Best Mobile Startup

Arm Player Controls

€150,000 is up for grabs in the Vodafone Mobile Clicks competition running across the Netherlands, Portugal and the UK. The contest is open to any start-up with a great idea for a mobile site, service or application.

Each entry will be judged on five criteria: originality, creativity and innovation; technical and operational feasibility; economic and financial viability; value to end-users; and finally, on the quality of the management team.

The judging will take place over three rounds, the first of which is being coordinated by the organiser's of Mobile Monday London, who will put together a shortlist, from which a winner will be invited to represent their country in a live final at the PICNIC Festival in Holland on September 24th, 2010.

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