When the iPhone first came out, MobileMe was essential to squeeze as much functionality as possible from a device that was still very limited. But that’s not the case now:

• MobileMe’s email service is pointless when Gmail is free.
• For photos I’m enamoured with Google’s Picasa right now.
• For contacts, well, I think there are plenty of options out there and simplicity is key. Duplication of contacts on the iPhone is a real problem for me, and cutting MobileMe out will be a relief, especially with the MobileMe Sync Conflict Resolver being so buggy and tiresome.
• iDisk isn’t a patch on DropBox for Windows users
• and the Personal Domain thing? That’s so 1999…
• The last thing really is Find My iPhone, which is now free.

MobileMe has definitely run its course.

Marketers used to be able to create a brand and move products by clever story-telling, largely with TV advertising. This is no longer enough. The brand mask is falling away and people now demand authenticity. They want to buy from – and work for – brands they trust.

Brands that can engage in honest, spontaneous conversations are Winner Brands. They genuinely care about people and are actively involved in making the world a better place. Winner Brands are not afraid of mistakes. Mistakes are an opportunity to talk to consumers and employees and to create life-long bonds.

Consumers know that marketers want to sell them our products. Employees know that we want to make money for share-holders. Brands needn’t – and shouldn’t – deny this, but it’s not an excuse to make it their only focus.

So how does a business make this step? By turning its focus from selling to listening: listening to employees and listening to consumers. By building trust through dialogue.

What a useless gadget that was. To make it work you have to press so hard on the screen that it seems infeasible that it’s not going to crack. It doesn’t crack, but it hardly makes for a pen-like experience, and is useless for drawing. I miss my old stylus from the Palm days, and since I moved over to iPhone my handwriting has got worse. I do like using my finger but sometimes only a pen will do. Are there any other options out there?

I was just wondering last week who would be the first to make templates for the new Facebook profile hack craze that Alexandre Oudin started. Lo and behold, I discover today that there are already lots of tools that do the job in minutes, plus Photoshop templates aplenty:

• Profile maker is a slick Facebook app that works perfectly
• Your new profile has its own website and has the potential of scaling up to provide profiles for other platforms in the future
• As for Photoshop templates you can’t go wrong with the one provided by FatWalr.us
• reface.me has a whole load more ideas

Glenfiddich has teamed up with Richard Hawley to offer 3 free MP3 downloads. No data collection involved, but bizarrely the downloads are initiated by a Flash movie. You can download them by right-clicking:

In A Barrel

Opening The Bottle

The River

Richard Hawley is quoted as saying “I’m passionate about this country’s history and enjoyed the time I spent in Scotland learning about Glenfiddich’s pioneering approach to whisky making and talking to people who have worked there for years. It has given me some wonderful ideas for new songs.”

Such a mistake to place the videos as a Flash-only closed format on the website though. Hosting them on YouTube would have allowed for some sharing.

Actimel has an on-pack promotion to win skating, skiing lessons, Christmas market trips and more. Entry is online. After you enter your unique code, you’re asked to provide an email address, and then your full details: name, date of birth, telephone number, address, postcode, gender and number of adults and children in your household. This seems pretty excessive as a data gathering exercise in itself, but then you’re asked some market research questions. I provided all this, to be told that I hadn’t won.

Actimel is owned by Danone, who also own Volvic, Evian and Activia. Danone’s advertising agency is RCKR/Y&R.

I love what StickyBits are doing with barcodes right now. They understand that barcodes are currently the best way of creating a common media currency for the Internet of Things. StickyBits could come to dominate this concept. They’ve just added the facility for every user to have their own barcode. This will be huge.

Carlsberg have a promotion on their 8-packs to win a Sky 3D package every week. It’s an exciting prize consisting of a 47 inch LG 3D TV, a Sky+HD box and a year’s Sky subscription. It’s a ‘No Purchase Necessary’ promotion, so all you have to do is text the word ’3D’ followed by your name and address to 82199. You can enter once every day until 7 January 2011. You’re charged the standard network rate + 25p for the confirmation message. Additionally, the promotion is open to web users at www.carlsberg.co.uk/ProbablyTheBest3dMoment.aspx. All you have to do is enter your ideal 3D moment. Continue reading ‘Win Sky 3D with Carlsberg’

Don’t read newspapers; read old papers.
Don’t make connections; make interruptions.
Don’t build websites; build opposites.