becky POWER

[FullSIX France]

Ommmmmmmmmm

I am writing this from a beautiful, serene space with nothing to distract or disturb me. No Twitter feeds, no Facebook updates, no emails. There is calming music and my keyboard is giving me harmonious sounds of approval as I type.

It’s lovely here.

I’ve been put in a mood where I don’t even want to type ‘hate’ but if, like me, you hate Word and its ugly formatting, you will love this new software called OmmWriter. It has just three font styles and sizes, three soothing backgrounds and a choice of sounds. You don’t even see the menus while you’re writing.

It was developed by Herraiz Soto & Co who wanted to help writers to concentrate, it works brilliantly and it’s free. This is the best type of innovation – no fancy gimmicks or unnecessary functionality, just the things that genuinely help you focus and write in peace.

ommwriter_grab

Unfortunately, it’s Mac only at the moment – if you’re using a PC beg them to make a version for you.

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23 November 2009

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iPhone + Book

= the charming little ‘PhoneBook’.
It’s a really simple idea (essentially a cardboard box with an iPhone sized hole!) that combines print and technology beautifully. I wish I’d thought of it.

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16 November 2009

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He said what??!

speechbreaker400

British politicians are more than capable of making themselves look stupid but when ‘Speechbreaker’ is so much fun, it’s hard to resist giving a helping hand. Created by Lean Mean Fighting Machine for the Liberal Democrats, it allows you to remix speeches by David Cameron and Gordon Brown and post the results on YouTube. It has a simple, user-friendly design and is so easy to use that you can post things like this within a couple of minutes:

When you get to the Nick Clegg section, you only have the choice of a few words – ‘Choose’, ‘the’, ‘Liberal’, ‘Democrats’ – and some applause.

I like the way LMFM have looked at this brief from a different angle and that they (and the client) have been brave enough to go with a solution that doesn’t actually generate any content for the Lib Dems. Instead, they have reminded everyone of the nonsense that they have heard from the other political parties and shown them who not to vote for while making the Lib Dems seem young and challenging.*

*Although I have to say that, for me, the inclusion of the ‘C’ word wasn’t necessary and its inevitable overuse kills the fun (or maybe I’m just getting old?!)

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19 October 2009

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Nivea cosmetics revealed in Paris

When I saw this Nivea ad (from Draftfcb) I thought it was pretty cheesy. But the response from people walking past was really positive – they were standing and watching it for ages and saying ‘Wow’ a lot. I don’t know if that’s because there isn’t a lot of bespoke outdoor in Paris yet or just because, sometimes, cheesy works.

Nivea Cosmetics Ad

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7 October 2009

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Perfect podcasting from the Big British Castle

Adam and Joe

I have been an Adam and Joe fan for many years so there is no particular reason for the timing of this post, except that the lovely boys are back on air after their summer hols and I was reminded of how brilliant their podcast is.

A BBC podcast is hardly news but the A+J podcast is a weekly masterclass in editing, audience participation and use of digital channels. While most of their peers lazily find the best bits from their shows and add a few transitions, A+J create specific introductions and podcast-only jingles (my personal fave is the Beck one). And by allowing podcast listeners to retrospectively take part in the features from the live broadcast they have created themselves a second audience.

They don’t just ask people to participate by text either – they have started using jingles created by their listeners, there are loads of video entries to their Song Wars competitions on YouTube and they have even started a bizarre craze for shouting ‘Stephen!’ at concerts.

It’s a great demonstration that a podcast can be so much more than just ‘highlights’ and can increase your audience significantly.

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4 October 2009

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