Released just over a year ago, Chrome is fairly new on the browser scene. It’s a rethink of how browsers work and in typical Google style it’s upset the entire market, having already overtaken Apple’s Safari. Google are obviously pushing Chrome with a big campaign, and well they should. For the world’s biggest Internet company there are a lot of advantages to having their own browser.

Chrome is built to work flawlessly with all Google services, automatically extending their hold on the web ecosystem to users’ desktops. But, maybe more importantly, the high profile of Chrome pushes progress on greater standards compliance in all browsers. Something that can only be good for a company whose business is building for the web.

Demonstrating Chrome’s advanced features with simple animations

Google also recently introduced Goggles; their visual search technology. The tech here is stunningly clever (another Google tradition), allowing you to search based on images and locations instead of typing in text. Just imagine going shopping with a whole Internet of price comparisons available to you at the click of a shutter!

With Google virtually owning the index to the Internet they’re the gatekeepers of this kind of technology. This is enormous power when you think about the potential nefarious applications for visual search tech.

Introducing Google Goggle’s: a visual search application for Android phones

It seems like day by day Google is slowly taking over the world, everything they touch turns to gold and every market they enter is shaken up. But should we worry about the power that such a fast growing company wields? Or should we trust Google and their corporate motto; “don’t be evil”?

I’ve been looking for a new stereo for a couple of years, it’s not that I’m fussy, just…particular. It had to have an auxiliary in and DAB radio, but above all it had to look great. So it was with great delight that I found the Revo Heritage.

The Revo Heritage grille

Described as a ‘deluxe table radio’ the Heritage really looks the part. With a styling that echoes classic 60s designs but finished in aluminium, rubber and a walnut veneer it’s a looker. It’s not just a pretty face either, with more modes than you can shake a stick at:

• DAB radio
• FM radio
• Internet radio (11,000 stations)
• USB input
• 3.5mm aux input
• Wireless UPnP audio streaming
• iPod docking
• Last.fm integration

Sure, there’s no CD player, but when was the last time you used one of those old plastic discs anyway?

Now, back to the outside. The control system is based around a surprisingly intuitive joystick with added buttons for presets, modes, sleep alarm and play controls. There’s also a wonderfully tactile rubber volume knob. The front panel is set with a frankly stunning white on black OLED display (which dims when the unit is powered down). The sound is good as well, it’s not as room filling a sound as you would undoubtedly get from a Hi-Fi separates or mini system but for a bedroom it’s perfectly adequate.

The OLED display

There are a couple of minor improvements I would make, these are all small gripes in a great system though. While optical out is provided there’s no optical in, this would be a great touch. There’s no mute button, a petty quibble I admit but I’d use it. Full iPhone compatibility and control would be lovely, although I understand why it’s lacking (there is standard compatibility, of course). More alarms please, it only has two.

With so many options I’m finally listening to music I like and discovering new stuff too. I charge my iPhone over night, wake up to DAB radio, stream Spotify for a quick fix of something specific, and use the Last.fm connectivity to search out new music. And when I glance over it still looks great.

You may have heard that Apple announced a new product last night – the iPad. While it was heavily rumoured before the event we weren’t sure exactly what Apple wanted the device to be.

The Apple iPad

Well, now it’s announced this is what we know:

• It’s a touchscreen tablet device with an LCD colour display. It doesn’t have the e-ink display used in many eBook readers which provides a reading experience close to paper and better battery life.
• It’s based on the iPhone operating system, this means it’s not a computer in its own right and still syncs with your main computer just like an iPod or iPhone.
• All current iPhone applications will work but they’ll be double sized to fit the screen, developers are able to create or adapt apps specifically for the iPad though. It also uses the same App store.
• One of the standard apps will be iBooks where you are able to download and read books. They’re partnering with various publishers and offering books in the store using the same micro-payment system that iTunes uses.

More interesting though is what it doesn’t do:

• There’s no multitasking. Just like the iPhone it can only do one thing at a time so you can’t have email open, last.fm playing in the background and your browser loading a page.
• No support for Flash. This means no web video, no Flash websites.
• No camera. Given that every other Apple device has a camera this is a strange thing to leave out.
• No GPS, no HDMI out, no USB.
• 1024×178 display. This isn’t widescreen (so you get black bar on movies) and isn’t HD. This doesn’t make it great for watching video, one of the things showed off by Apple.

No Flash on the Apple iPad

So what uses does the iPad have? Well it’s not intended to replace a laptop or a phone, but instead to exist in addition to these. I can see the iPad being a casual home device; something you have lying about the house to read books on, surf the web in front of the TV, and watch the occasional video. I don’t think it’s going to be great as a computer-like device, it’s not versatile and able to ‘do anything’ like a laptop or desktop.

As one commenter put it; “Apple has basically moved into the bedtime reading market today.”

I want an Apple tablet so bad!

We’re pretty sure the ‘iSlate’ is coming and as with any yet to be released Apple product I want one already. But I’ve got to ask; where does the tablet fit in?

The new Apple tablet has arrived (via Rego Korosi)

We know it’s going to be bigger than a phone (a 10 inch screen is rumoured) and that it’s not going to have a hardware keyboard. So, we’re going to have a portable that won’t fit in your pocket but is still as impractical for serious use as the iPhone. That seems like an uncomfortable fit between a phone and a laptop, and I already have both of those. It just breaks out of the three screen model:

• Entertainment. The sit back, relax, big screen.
• Work. The lean forward, concentrate, medium screen.
• Mobile. The on-the-go, always-on, small screen.

The lines have been blurring though, we enjoy more entertainment on-the-go today and we’re now always connected to the office. So maybe it’s time for Apple to revolutionise another market, even if it’s one they’ve had a shot at before (with the Newton) and one that others have consistently failed in.

Are we looking at a product which will be your ‘one device’? An easy on-the-go computer, an entertainment device, a phone (with headset of course) and something that’s powerful enough to be a desktop replacement when docked? Well, actually, that sounds awesome. As I said; I want an Apple tablet so bad!

Christmas is coming and the digital marketing industry is getting into the Christmas spirit (thanks to all the cherry brandy liqueurs), so here’s what every geek wants in their stocking…

Elf Yourself is back for Christmas 2009 and now it connects with Facebook to save you some of the pain of finding photos. They’ve also added new tools to better fit faces to elves and even more dance and music styles.

Ogilvy have created (possibly) the first ever agency Christmas iPhone app (slightly less imaginatively) called White Xmas (iTunes store link). With the tag line “it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”, the app allows you to snap a photo which it then sprinkles with computer-generated snow. A neat idea, wonderfully atmospheric and pretty innovative.

AIS have been warming their vocal chords with a Christmas sing-along. Choose a song and control the good people of AIS while they sing it for you! The controls are a little hard to get a hang of but those with nimble fingers will be able to produce a good tune.

Elfquilibrium is an addictive little Christmas game. Guide Santa along a precarious rooftop by helping him balance out his somewhat drunken gait. But keep on your toes, you’ve got to deliver presents down all the chimneys, too.

YouTube are running a YouTube Carolling competition in the US this year. People can record their rendition of a choice of 4 carols (2 traditional, 2 original) and upload their video. There are $100 gift cards for 15 runners-up and the overall winner gets the $5,000 grand prize! There are some frankly ridiculous entries so far, this being my favourite by far.

What’s your favourite bit of seasonal digital?
Merry Christmas!

There’s nothing like a warming soup on a wed and windy winters day. The pumpkin has to be the king of winter soup vegetables and this is my favourite recipe for it. The addition of the roasted seeds gives a slight nuttiness to the creamy pumpkin and it’s great to use all the pumpkin. Try this soup next Halloween!

Pumpkin Soup with roasted seeds

Ingredients

• 3 kilograms Pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and chunked
• 0.25 kilogram Chantenay carrots, chunked
• 2 Onions, diced
• 4 Cloves of garlic, crushed
• 4 tablespoons Olive oil
• 1 tablespoon Coriander, ground
• 1 tablespoon Cumin seeds
• 2 teaspoon Marjoram
• 1 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
• 1.5 litre Vegetable stock
• Salt and pepper

Directions

For the soup:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190C.
2. Deseed and peel the pumpkins, reserving the innards. Then chunk the carrots and pumpkin flesh.
3. Coat the carrots and pumpkin chunks in half the oil and season generously. Spread them out evenly on a baking tray and roast for 25-30 minutes until soft and lightly browned.
4. Gently roast the coriander, cumin seeds and marjoram in a dry frying pan until they become fragrant, but be careful not to burn them. Remove from the heat and reserve.
5. Peel and finely chop the onion and crush the garlic. Fry gently in the remaining oil until transparent.
6. Add the reserved spices and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.
7. Add the roast vegetables and stock, stirring well. Simmer for 20 minutes.
8. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Blend until smooth.
9. Simmer for 10 more minutes before serving. Be careful to put a lid on when simmering this time, it’s like pumpkin lava!

For the seeds:

1. Separate the seeds from the pumpkin innards – the only real way to do this is to slowly pick through the gunk – then wash them.
2. Spread the washed seeds evenly on a large baking tray and lightly salt them. Roast for 10 minutes.
3. Drizzle very lightly with oil and sprinkle with cayenne pepper. Roast for another 10 minutes.

Notes

(Serves 8)
Blend a few of the roasted seeds in with the soup and serve with a few scattered on top.

• Download the PDF
• Download the MacGourmet file

The latest microsite I’ve been working on is for the new Ford Ka. This is another huge campaign targeting younger (prospective) small car buyers across all the usual channels; TV, print, email, mobile and (most importantly) web and social media.

The campaign is all about discovery – it’s called Go Find It – and the online activity reflects that. There are two sections to the microsite; product – exploring content to do with the Ka – and campaign – discovering cool and interesting things to see and do. Both sections are presented as a map you can explore, with Google Map style functionality; the product section is an imaginary town whereas the campaign section is a map of Europe.

In the product section you can explore the car and it’s features as well as find other cool content like wallpapers, there’s also lots of gems to find – can you see the lightsaber battle or Big Daddy? But it’s the campaign section where it really gets exciting.

The Find It portal

The campaign site lets users explore what’s cool and happening in their area, from street art to music, marked by ‘pins’ on the map. As well as finding content users can contribute it too. The site is powered by the Socialight platform – a location based content network – and in partnership with Multimap. There’s also functionality to search, bookmark and share all of this content too!

The site is active in 22 European countries although the user content is only available in 6. It was also extremely complicated to localise and deploy, there were 3 phases with various permutations across the different local sites.

Have a look at the site and explore (hey, you may even like the new Ka).

I’ve had two weeks with the new iPhone now – long time admirer, first time buyer – and I’m pretty impressed. Actually, I’m more than impressed; it is every bit the brilliant nugget of technology it has been promoted as.

What stopped me getting one before now wasn’t the stills-only camera, the lack of MMS, or even no copy-paste. It was the capacity. I wanted the iPhone to be my personal technological convergence, my single device, my ‘one ring’ and without that “32GB” label it could never be that. For me it’s simple math:

iPhone = phone + iPod + camera + DS + laptop

Except it’s not. With my iPod I could get through a couple of days of moderate use, my old phone only needed charging once a week and I went a whole holiday on a single charge of my DS and camera. This thing sucks power like it’s trying to reanimate Frankenstein. But it’s not just one of those devices, it’s all of them and it fits in my hand, you can’t blame the little thing for being a bit power hungry.

The new features – video camera, compass, voice control – are surprisingly useful. There are some great apps to make use of all the shiny too; Maps now lets you orientate yourself using the compass and Doom Resurrection really tests the speed and graphics bump.

Doom Resurrection

One thing I wanted to do was use my iPhone for work, the Exchange support makes that easy; It syncs perfectly and plays nice with MobileMe as well. But for business use there are (in my opinion) some crucial features missing:

• Tasks and to-dos – I rely on the great to-do management in both iCal and Outlook. Just a simple app sync with these would surely be a boon for any business user.
• Flagging emails – All email clients and protocols support this, it’s basic. Implement it already!
• Email signatures – Why can’t I have separate signatures by account? Silly.

I admit these are all minor gripes and it’s only because of the near perfection of the iPhone that these stick in my throat.

The iPhone has delivered on it’s promises, I can see now why it’s been such a game changer for the mobile market. Its strength is in its versatility; it can be anything and provide everything. With it in my pocket I feel invincible; wherever I go and whatever I do I know where I am, I carry all my media and all my important information, I’m always connected and I have the entire internet at my finger tips. That’s a powerful thing.

Paris is absolutely freezing in February so god knows why we chose to go then! But it was fantastic to go back to Paris; to see the Eiffel Tower, to eat great food, to offend French people. And as always we had a mission: to compile Fifty Facts Française and make a video.

You’ll have to wait a little while for the video (it’s still being edited) but check out the photos below (all beautifully graded by Iain).

Paris 2009

UPDATE: The full site has now been decommissioned (the part with the mashup content) but the barebones concept of the site is still there.

So here’s what I’ve been working on.

This is just part of a huge Europe-wide marketing campaign for the new Ford Fiesta. The campaign is the culmination of about 3 years of work at the heart of which is digital and this site is the hub for everything. There’s masses of media out there; billboard, poster, TV, e-mail, WAP, SMS, viral, social out-reach (blogs, Twitter, Flickr)…and web.

The idea behind the site is that it pulls together everything you love – it’s all about ‘mashing up’ content and creating something unique. It is designed to appeal to the 17-29 demographic and is all based around ‘Now’, making the user feel unique and cool! So it’s all definitely about the experience.

The Fiesta portal

The ‘Create’ section of the site streams content from 3rd partie sites – Flickr, CondeNet, GQStyle, Last.fm, Blink box – and creates a Fiesta from the content. You can then mark the bits you like (and don’t like) and your Fiesta will be automatically customised for you using the categories and tags on the content. You can also create you own mashup (video of your Fiesta content) and rate other user’s mashups – all of which appear in a gallery. You can also add your own content to the Flickr group and have the chance of it being pulled into the site (it’s moderated first). It’s totally immersive and interactive – engaging users and making them feel special!

I think it’s an absolutely fantastic site and a great concept! I hope you enjoy it, and please hit up all the links and feel free to repost.

Here’s the links:

• The site
• Flickr group
• Twitter
• Blog
• Facebook