Nerds rule at dConstruct 2010
![IMG_1387[4]](http://ubelly.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/IMG_138741.jpg "IMG_1387[4]")
I can’t think of a better way to spend a Friday ‘at work’ than going to dConstruct 2010. The day’s been filled with fascinating talks on creativity and how to consistently create the best digital experiences. Favs were Brendan Dawes and Tom Coates but all were inspiring. Kudos to uber nerd Merlin Mann and his definition of geek versus nerd, which went something like:
A geek will fix your computer – whereas a nerd can fix your computer too, but will talk to you for ages about the pros and cons of your software before even thinking of fixing it
So which are you? Answer on a postcard to…
The video from today plus a montage of pics of some of the dConstructees will be live next week, so make sure you come back to check them out!
Sell to my friends? Hmmm, well – OK, if I’m going to get paid for it….!
The days of people holding Tupperware parties – or your Mum’s friend knocking on the door trying to sell Avon to their neighbours are coming to an end (can’t say the same for Ann Summer’s parties, but that’s a different story). That’s not to say the days of selling to friends and family are over – the opposite is true in fact. Now more than ever all of us get the chance to promote films, clothes, music, applications – whatever grabs us – and shout about it to our online community without feeling we’re directly selling to them.
Capitalising on this idea of sharing what you love, Loved.by is a site that rewards members for promoting products – essentially you get a cut of the sale if a friend buys a product. Sounds great, as long as it doesn’t mean I get friends ramming the latest products down my neck trying to persuade me to buy them (I could lose some friends pretty quickly!). But hey – if I happen to send some emails gushing about the latest ‘super expensive’ products I’ve found on the net, who can blame me…? 
Twitter Authentication is Dead – Long Live OAuth
Don’t lose that app! If you haven’t updated your Twitter app to use OAuth, it won’t work any more. In order to increase security, Twitter has killed support for all basic user authentication in favour of OAuth from today, that many are wittily calling the ‘OAuthcalypse’. Twitter has posted a help page for anyone needing support in updating their app, and many devs have been working over the bank holiday (nothing new there) to ensure their precious work isn’t lost.
Twitter has also posted an article on the demise of basic authentication to explain the change to all Twitter users.
The world’s first digital camera
This week at Underbelly towers we were updating our AV camera kit. Many mega pixels with many zooms, lots of gigs and many other clever things. So when I saw this picture today, I was more than a little tickled. I love the cassette tape on the side, I love that it took 23 seconds to record an image to that tape, I love that this was being worked on 35 years ago.
Go over to Kodak.com and read the full story about the invention of the digital camera.
Epic Win!
In essence, this is a glorified to-do list, but that glorification turns chores into rewarding gameplay. I might actually get round to shaving the oven this weekend after all.
An easy sell… sneak preview of new Windows Phone 7 apps
Imagine taking a picture of something and checking your phone to see if eBay has something similar – or taking a picture of what you want to sell and uploading it directly onto eBay… rumour has it that eBay is building an augmented reality (AR) application for Windows Phone 7. Full details are being kept tightly under wraps until the launch of the phone, but I’m enjoying guessing.
In the meantime, if you fancy getting around London on the new Barclays sponsored bikes for hire but have no idea where to find them, 18 year old Daniel May has developed an application to help you find the nearest cycle hub based on your location. Sounds good to me!
CycleHubs WP7 preview from Daniel May on Vimeo.
Dunno about you but can’t wait to get my hands on one of those phones…
Games on the internet, games on my phone (don’t tell my boss)
So, we’ve had confirmation of the game titles that will be ready for the launch of Windows Phone 7. From the classic “Earthworm Jim” to titles sounding a bit more 21st century such as “O.M.G.”. Awesome. See the full list of Windows Phone 7 game titles here.
Also, gaming news in from Germany…at Gamescom 2010 (the world’s largest gaming conference), Microsoft announced the return of Age of Empires Online, a re-invention of a classic with a new, socially connected experience. Check the videos and sign up for a beta play over here: http://www.ageofempiresonline.com/. Bring it on!
Facebook – dislike scam and oversharing hilarity
2 items of Facebook related news here for you, there’s a rogue Facebook ‘dislike’ application doing the rounds, don’t get fooled, full story from the Beeb – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10987725
In other news, do you sigh when friends update with messages like ‘Eating soup!’ on Facebook? Well, Pringles is sponsoring a campaign to Help the Oversharers. Get involved.
From the folks over at Microsoft’s Live Labs who brought you Photosynth and Pivot, they have now launched zoom.it – a free service for viewing and sharing high-resolution imagery. Give them the link to any image on the web, and they give you a beautiful new way to experience it — along with a nice short URL. Check it out for yourself – zoom.it
A Facebook campaign to get the voice of Brian Blessed onto Sat Nav devices has suceeded. Device manufacturer Tom Tom have responded to the 25,000 people who joined the Facebook group, a fine example of social media in action. http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=3234333
To celebrate both of the above, here’s Brian Blessed. Zoomed.
http://zoom.it/9bZn
IE6 Must Die? UK Govt disagrees…
Some time ago we published an article called ‘IE6 Must Die’, explaining the pitfalls of using 9 year old software. There have been numerous calls for IE6 to be buried, both from inside and outside Microsoft itself. The best so far was from Microsoft Australia who compared keeping IE6 with drinking 9 year old milk. Even Long Life milk wouldn’t last that long…
So you can imagine there were some deep, long groans in the office when we learned the UK Government rejected calls (a petition from 6,000+ UK citizens, no less) to dump IE6, no doubt mirrored by many a developer and designer who has struggled to ensure their brand new perfect looking application works well in a 9 year old browser. Of course it all comes down to cold, hard cash – and there’s no doubt it will cost money to upgrade to IE8. However I’m sure that some of the thousands of brilliant, helpful developers out there would be prepared to give some time up to help test Government applications work properly IE8 in order to encourage their employers and customers to do the same.
