Tidying things up

After using the e-volutionary.net email accounts for years, it’s time for a clean up. So, if you are trying to contact me, email me at

colin_AT_colinsweetman.com, replacing _AT_ with @

Living with the Ipad

I’ve been using my Ipad for a couple of weeks now, and thought it worth writing a little about the experience.

When it was first launched, I commented that “it’s just a big iPhone”, and that it really needed some killer apps and multi-tasking to take off. Well multi-tasking won’t arrive until IOS4.0, but there are some killer apps out there (for me, anyway). The first is Flipboard, which scrapes and aggregates content you are interested in, integrates tweets related to the content, and presents it in a very stylish, magazine type of interface. And it’s free. So far so good, for the user.

However, the sites where the content is scraped risk losing advertising revenue, because you may read their content through Flipboard without ever visiting the pages where it originally resided. And many of the organisations that own those sites are not happy at all.

Flipboard plan to generate revenue through their own advertising in the app, and offer a form of revenue share with content owners. If I was one of those content owners, I’d be pretty irritated by the deal. Visit the app store or the Flipboard site for more information.

Another superb app, although pretty pricey at £15.99 is the official Formula1 app for the 2010 season. I can’t really do it justice with words, but it provides almost real time telemetry from the cars (about a second faster than the BBC tv coverage via satellite), presented via timing screens exactly the same as the ones you see in use by teams on the pit wall. It also provides a gods eye view of the track and car positions, excellent when the tv is covering one car and you want to watch something else developing on the track. I used it during the Hungarian GP while watching the race on TV and it is superb. The telemetry is provided during all practice sessions as well as qualifying. http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2010/5/10829.html has more info.

Oh, and by the way, this post has been written on the Ipad using the excellent free WordPress app.

An initial opinion on the V1.0 iPad

It really is a big iPhone, for now. When multi-tasking and a range of killer apps appear, then things will probably be different.

A game changer? not yet, but neither was the iPhone when it first appeared.

(postscript – 23 July 2010.  But, having used a couple now, I’ve ordered one.  It will be interesting to see how that investment pans out).

Steve Jobs launched the iPad

Twitter DDOS and the press

Just a quick update. Did a telephone interview at about 5pm last night with a journalist from AP on the breaking story – at that time, there was no hint of the Google/Facebook/Twitter tie up and the Georgian activist.

I duly spend time explaining DDOS and DOS for non-techincal audiences, and explained that this wasn’t Hacking, and was more often the work of younger “script kiddies” – the resulting headlines?

“Twitter site crippled by kid hacker” and “Teenagers blamed for Twitter attack”. Be warned, never expect to be quoted accurately by the average journo. Some are excellent, but many are not. Sigh…

Me in the media (archive)

Thursday 14th August 2008 – ITV News - I was asked to provide background analysis on an Internet betting scam thought to be a factor in the deaths of two Chinese students in Newcastle.

Tuesday 15th July 2008 – BBC Three Counties Radio – I was interviewed by Jonathan Vernon-Smith on the consumer show regarding the proposal by BT to rollout fibre optic broadband to 40% of homes in the UK.

Friday 20th June 2008 – City Talk Radio Liverpool – Live radio interview on the history, use and future of blogging.

Thursday 12th June 2008 – Readers Digest – Interview for the September edition on why humour works on the Internet.

Tuesday 20th May 2008 – Lincolnshire Echo – Feature interview on the future of technology over the next 20-50 years.

Thursday 10th April 2008 – BBC Three Counties Radio – I was interviewed by Jonathan Vernon-Smith on the consumer show regarding the urban/rural divide in broadband provision.

Thursday 3rd April 2008 – Yorkshire Post interview – I was interviewed by the Yorkshire Post regarding the security of children on social networking sites, in light of a recent Ofcom report.

Monday 29th October 2007 – BBC Three Counties Radio – I was contacted by the BBC to discuss email overload on the Nine O’Clock Show with Ronnie Barbour.

Thursday 2nd August 2007 – BBC Three Counties Radio – I was contacted by the BBC to provide expert analysis on consumer broadband in the UK.

Saturday 19th May 2007 – Dail Mail front page
I was contacted by the Mail to provide a background to the phenomenon of typosquatting.

New Blog, a WIP…

Well, after struggling with 1-2-3 register.co.uk for months to sort out login problems with my existing blog, I can take no more.  So I’ve jumped ship to WordPress.

My time is very tight, as anyone who knows me will testify, so it will be a little while while I transition across completely. But this will be the place where I’ll keep things updated from now on.