Would you give your services away for free?

Chris Anderson’s long-awaited follow-up to the Long Tail has just hit bookshelves. Entitled Free: The Future of a Radical Price the book argues that abundance is causing prices to fall effectively to zero. Here the psychological advantage of giving something away for free actually benefits the producer – through wide-spread take-up that can lead to [...]

Does digital make physical information obsolete?

I was always a hoarder. Tidying my flat yesterday offered a reminder of this – old mobile phones; broken sunglasses; shoeboxes of sampler/demo CDs. And magazines. Lots and lots of magazines.
However, that was me. I’m not sure if it still is me.
There were several reasons I kept and stored things – laziness, the chance they [...]

Don’t replicate; interpret, iterate and improve

I’m currently pitching for a project that would carry out some research in the UK market that has already occurred in the US.
The easiest thing to do would be to recreate the US study. It makes the data more relevant to the UK market, and would offer an interesting comparison between the two territories.
But that [...]

Would you compromise on your TV picture?

A project I recently worked on looked at the concept of IPTV and web-enabled TV services. It was a great project that, since it was commissioned and thus proprietary, I sadly can’t go into details on. However the issues involved are fascinating, and pose some difficult questions for companies looking to operate in this space.
Background
Traditionally, [...]

Why do business cards still exist?

I don’t have business cards. I don’t want business cards. And I don’t need them.
Business cards are a remnant of a bygone age. Where people stayed with the same company, with the same job title, for many years. Where business was analogue rather than digital. Where the Rolodex were a staple of the office stationary [...]

Filament magazine – for the female gaze

Filament Magazine – “the thinking woman’s crumpet” – has launched its debut issue. A 72 page quarterly, it contains erotica aimed at the female gaze. Some might consider it a brave time to launch a new print magazine given the current economics; can it succeed?
(Disclosure: The editor – Suraya Singh – and I are former [...]