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RT @monkchips: "Honey, I Broke The Runtime. From Flash Lite To Flash Like http://www.redmonk.com/jgovern... thoughts from #adobemax"
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09Oct
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09OctMy son says this morning: "Dad, Gary is your middle name. It is really not cool at all. Just not cool." Ouch via a 3.5 yr old :/
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09Oct
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09Oct
As part of its Electric Revolution series, the UK’s BBC has shown a fact-based drama, Micro Men, looking at the early 80s period when Britain was arguably leading the world in home computing. The heart of the story was the personal rivalry between Clive Sinclair (Alexander Armstrong, pictured above right) and Chris Curry (Martin Freeman, pictured above left), whose Sinclair and Acorn companies led the battle to get a computer in every home.
The story begins with Curry failing to persuade electronics guru Sinclair that home computing is the way of the future (Sinclair being more interested in developing his infamous C5 electric car). Curry then breaks away with friend Hermann Hauser to form his own company, Acorn, which begins work on the Atom computer.However, while Curry recruits a team of computer enthusiasts working to produce a high-quality machine, Sinclair changes his mind and decides to get to market first with the ZX80, with the main selling point being that it’s the first home computer to cost under £100 (roughly £458 or $726 in today’s money.) The drama’s central theme of quality vs quantity is best shown in scenes at a trade fair where Curry is boasting that his machine has double the memory of Sinclair’s – a mammoth 2k – while Sinclair confesses to a journalist that there is a significant issue with attaching a RAM expansion pack to the ZX80, but that it’s easily fixable with a piece of Blu-Tack.
The crescendo of the conflict comes when the BBC decides to produce an educational TV show about computing and license its name to a special machine for the product. With free national TV advertising and the potential for sales to every school in the country, the race to win the contract is hotly contested. Curry eventually wins through a wildly ambitious pitch, leaving his team to produce a working prototype of the BBC Micro in just four days.However, while both men go on to success (Sinclair making millions from the ZX Spectrum), they both have a change of principles. Sinclair despises the way his machines become popular for gaming and puts his efforts into the upmarket QL, which fails to make a dent in the business market. Curry responds to the lack of games for the BBC Micro by producing a cheaper, slimmed down model, the Electron. In the end, he is left with tens of thousands of unsold models as the home computing “fad” passes, replaced by the CD player as the must-have gift.
As a drama, this was somewhat like revisiting the ZX80: awful, but entertainingly so. Given the genre, it had its strong points, notably in the use of archive news footage where Armstrong and Curry’s faces had been skillfully superimposed. That helped avoid a common problem with such docudramas where real footage appears and shows the disparity between the actors and the people they portray. However, other elements were clunky, most notable a ludicrously unbelievable scene in which Sinclair is driving his C5 down an empty road only to be overtaken by trucks belonging to Microsoft and HP. Talk about a clumsily unsubtle metaphor.
As a piece of history, the show was questionable. It came across as remarkably one-sided in favor of Curry, to the point of making you wonder if that was down to his side being more cooperative with the programme’s researchers. However, as a piece of nostalgia, the show is a solid hit.
Micro Men will be available to viewers in the UK via the BBC iPlayer service for another six days. It is possible it will appear later on the BBC America station, though this isn’t confirmed. In the meantime, non-UK readers may well find it isn’t torrentially difficult to get their hands on a copy. A UK based proxy could also be used to listen to the show with the BBC iPlayer.
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09OctI just want to give a huge "thanks!" to @bradneuberg. With impeccable timing he has stepped up on @ajaxian just when I have a new baby.
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09OctDan Moore has updated his GWT Crypto library http://www.mooreds.com/wordpre...
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09Oct
Yikes, this is probably one of the coolest and most frightening things I’ve ever heard. Just try to imagine your piano doing this at home while you’re alone. Instant insanity!
[Via Neatorama]
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- Improve your Health with the Piano Stairs
- 12-year-old gives pro-environment speech at UN Earth Summit 1992
- Five tips to nailing down that speech or audio presentation
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09Oct
The other day, we published a headline that failed.
It happens to everyone, even those of us who consider headline writing to be a primary skill.
In this post, I’ll show you one way to avoid a headline fail when using one of the more powerful headline formats.
I’m talking about the “question” headline.
How to Effectively Use a Question Headline
As I said, the question headline is very powerful. When used properly, it creates an almost irresistible draw to prospective readers, no matter how busy they are.
Occasionally I’ll hear someone say that a journalism professor or writing coach told them never to use a question – whether in the headline or otherwise. This is terrible advice, because it’s only half correct.
The true rule is that you should never use a question that the prospective reader can answer with a no. If you ask that type of question, you’ve just failed… because you gave people a reason not to read your content.
The proper way to use a question headline is to ask a question that your readers can’t answer. In that sense, your question (like all good headlines) becomes a compelling promise to the reader that they’re about to discover something they didn’t know before, if only they keep reading.
Let’s look at examples of the right way and the wrong way to use a question, thanks to my own headline fail from earlier in the week.
How We Screwed Up a Question Headline
You know a lot of different people contribute to Copyblogger. And it’s probably no surprise that we assist with editing content from our guests in order to make it as engaging as possible.
One thing we do more often than not is tweak or rewrite the post titles (headlines). This works out to everyone’s benefit, since the stronger the headline, the more traffic to the post and more exposure to that specific writer.
So a couple days ago, we ran a post about backing up your claims with proof by Sherice Jacob. It’s a really solid post, so if you didn’t read it, you really should.
The original title of the post didn’t work as well as we thought it should, so Sonia rewrote it. After that, Sonia queues the post in WordPress for my final approval and publishing.
I look at the headline, read the post, and think, “This looks good.” The headline had a provocative edge to it, which should have helped the post spread rather nicely.
Except it didn’t.
An easy way to gauge the response to a post in real-time is on Twitter. The number of retweets and clicks on the link (via bit.ly) will give you a general picture of how well a piece of content is doing relative to how things usually go day-to-day.
It quickly became clear that Sherice’s post was under-performing, and I couldn’t figure out why. And then it hit me.
A Failed Question Headline (And the Fix)
Here is the headline we published:
Are Your Readers Calling You a Liar?
Do you see the problem?
Taken literally, the answer to this question for most people is simply “no.” As ornery as blog comments can get, it’s likely most people have never been flat-out called a liar by a reader.
But because the content of the post makes it clear that you might not know if people are doubting whether or not you’re telling the truth, the headline wasn’t even a good match for the post. The real killer, however, was the ability to answer the question with a “no.”
Total headline fail.
Later in the day after discussing it with Sonia, we changed the post title to this:
Do Your Readers Secretly Think You’re a Liar?
Do you see why this is much better?
The question can’t be answered, because you have no way of knowing what your readers are thinking unless they tell you. And the use of the word “secretly” adds an additional compelling element that makes it clear we’re talking about something your readers aren’t telling you.
Learn from My Mistake
Even though the title was changed, most of the damage had been done. The email had already gone out, the post had been tweeted, and I have no idea if the title ever updated freshly in feed readers.
So it’s important to look for potential headline fails before you hit publish. Which is what I usually do, but everyone has off days.
And hey… it gave me something to write about for today. Hopefully you find some value in learning from my fail.
Because from now on, I’m covering up all my mistakes.
About the Author: Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger and co-founder of DIY Themes, creator of the innovative Thesis Theme for WordPress. Get more from Brian on Twitter.
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09Oct
Thanks John!
[Via IMgur]
Related posts:
- Google: Don’t be Evil?
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09Oct
Powermat has just released its lineup of wireless chargers last Wednesday. Their first online ads are out, and they’re pretty darn hilarious. Check them out!
(Warning: Video contains strong language)
The Powermat Wireless Charging System provies a simple, fast and efficient way to keep all your favorite personal electronic devices charged. Enabling your devices with Powermat Receivers allows you to drop and charge them on any Powermat mat to experience wireless charging.
Related posts:
- Deal of the Day: Sennheiser RS120 Rechargable Wireless Headphones – $69.99, Shipped
- Wireless networks face off in electronic reader battle
- Parking Goes High-Tech with New Wireless Sensor System
