Remember "Friendster"? I think Hi 5 is still alive but am not quite sure... MySpace!!! Is Facebook "Jumping The Shark"?
Before we go any further I have to disclose that not only am I on Facebook...but I AM ON FACEBOOK 24 hours a day, or at least it seems. Out of all the social networks I love the fact that everyone I know is on there. I have all my friends, (and some people who are sort of friends, and some I just used to go to high school with and I haven't seen in 25 years), all in one place and I like seeing what they are up to and being able to communicate with them. I am organizing a school reunion off Facebook. I get it, I like it, I think it works. The last sentence though might be the first sign of Facebook's demise. Remember when MySpace was cool, and everyone you knew was on MySpace? Then suddenly people started trying to friend you that you didn't know are really didn't want to know. It became the... Read more
Archive for Malcolm Bird 
The Rather "Grey" Black Card
Isn't ego a wonderful thing? I may, on a few occasions have been accused of having one! AMEX captured the ego centric upper income level consumer by introducing the "Centurian" card. It truly is what it makes itself out to be. You cannot apply, you must be invited and American Express will not release the criteria for being invited. There is a hefty annual fee to maintain membership of this exclusive club. The card isn't plastic, it's metal, and whenever you shop with it, it reminds me of the scene in "Pretty Woman" when Richard Gere takes Julia Roberts clothes shopping on Rodeo Drive, there's a lot of sucking up!!!
Recently Visa have dipped their toe into the "exclusive" card market. The "Visa Black Card", is supposedly an exclusive card limited to 1% of the population. It's annual fee is $495 a year and you can apply for the card and do not need to be "invited". The thing is, the card may be Black, (and made of snazzy carbon), but the deal is really rather grey.
When the card arrived in its small, smart, matt black box, it had the credit details…my "exclusive" Black Card had a $5,000 monthly credit limit. The 1% of the population they were targeting, apparently... Read more
The iPad
All hail the iPad! Anyone slamming the iPad better wake up and smell the coffee it's brewing (iPad version 4.0 coming in 2013…). Nearly one out of every three hundred Americans now owns one of these snazzy multimedia content delivery toys, and while I'm not saying you have to think the iPad is the second coming, it does irk me when I read of people complaining that the iPad doesn't replace their laptop. It's not meant to!
We all know it looks beautiful, but what Apple product doesn't? The thing about the iPad is that it's a game changer. Yesterday I watched Jamie Oliver's new ABC show on the iPad's ABC player, and it was AMAZING! The stream had seamless ad insertion, spectacular quality, and the screen size wasn't a drawback. Whilst watching the show on the iPad, my friend e-mailed me (from the iPad) to say that he was watching a stream on the iPad, while flying to London. The device opens up the content consumer world. When my 3G iPad arrived I must admit I had real hesitation over AT&T. We have all witnessed either first hand or from friends the somewhat "patchy" 3G reception and loading speeds, but so... Read more
