Goodbye Bauer Media - hello Brando Digital

I'm delighted to say I start a new job on Monday October 27. I'm leaving my role at Bauer Media (formerly Emap Consumer Media) to join the world's largest full service Social Media agency network: Brando Digital.

Brando Digital is a start-up with truly global reach, based in Camden, London.

I'm going to be Director of Social Media and work with a team of brilliant people to take companies, brands and organisations on their journey through and to the networked world.

I believe that listening to, learning from and participating in the networked world are the keys to understanding it, benefiting from it and becoming a humanised part of it - and so does Brando Digital.

You'll be able to learn more about Brando Digital on our website (Brando-Digital.com) when it goes live. It's a holding page at present - that's how new we are. Brando Digital is part of Brando World - of which more, here.

One of the big reason's I'm joining is the enlightened attitude of the organisation: They've been happy to recruit me on a four-days-a-week basis.
My fifth day (in a kind of self-funding google 20%-rule-model) can be used to take me outside the silo - doing my own consultancy work: from advice and analysis to workshops, speaking and conference organising. More about that will be published at http://fasterfutureconsulting.com when that url goes live in the next few days.

In the meantime, if you want to contact me about either working with the most faster-future-thinking, most globally networked* full-service social media agency there is (that's Brando Digital folks!) or about FasterFuture Consulting, drop me a line at: davidpcushman AT gmail DOT com

*Brando Digital has community and blogger outreach capabilities in EMEA, North America, Central and Latin America, Asia and Oceania; across English, Spanish (Catalan/Basque), Italian, French, German, Portuguese, Chinese (Cantonese), Russian and Arabic languages.

Cool is in your interactions, not in the phone you carry

An interesting battle is emerging in the mobile world. The G1 google phone was announced yesterday. The iPhone we already have. Touch screen, app-laden rivals are popping up left right and centre.

The first battle was about coolness of device. The iPhone is winning that hands down. The G1 looks less sex on a stick and more sack of spuds. And everyone else's efforts at out appling apple mean look-a-likes.

But the hardware may be a smaller influence on the outcome than many imagine. (image by ceekay via flickr)

Yes, I get that our phones are personal, always with us, an expression of self. Well, I get that they always were. But as they become more and more a true expression of ubiquitous computing, some of those computing requirements look like gaining the upper hand.

Your Mactop may be prettier than my pc but, what if no-one will buy it because you can't attach a web cam? (You can, I know... but you take the point?)
The iTunes store doesn't allow any apps which use the iPhone's camera... you have to jailbreak to be able to use qik etc

Is that wise?

There has to be good-enough software available for macs in order for apple to sell its computers. And there is. But in the computer world it's clear pcs have won on a global scale. They've won on price and because software for one runs on all (pretty much). More developers therefore create for the pc than the mac.

Simply, the pc can do more things because more people develop more things for it to do.

That's the route google is taking with the G1. Android is more open than the iPhone.
(But it ain't that open. An open phone wouldn't be locked to a network. An open phone would allow me to put any sim I like in. What gives here google?)

Anyway, what I mean to say is the battle for dominance in mobile will not be about who has the coolest handset, but it may be about who has the most effective way for developers to monetise their efforts - because that is the route to making your hardware do more.

And the closer your phone gets to being your primary point of entry to the internet, the further the hardware gets from being an expression of self. That's because the greater part of the expression of self will be happening digitally when you make your entry to the internet (ie you manage your reputation through each interaction on social network after social network.)

Cool is who you are in each interaction, not what phone you carry.

G1 Google phone specs leaked. Watch announcement live today.

The tech specs of T-mobile's google phone, the G1, have been leaked ahead of official announcements. And the spec has caused a collective... so what?

You can watch the official launch live from New York at 10.30 EDT here.

According to Tech Ticker among many sources; the Android-powered device includes:

• One touch access to: Search, Maps, Gmail, Youtube, Calendar, and Google Talk
  (Gmail account and data plan required)
• GPS
• 3.1 mp camera,
• no video recording
• No stereo bluetooth (A2DP)
• Dimensions: 4.6 x 2.16 x 0.63 in
  
• Weighs 5.6 ounces (~160 grams)
• 480×320 65K color screen
• 5 hour talk time, 130 hour standby time
• Expandable up to 8GB

We'll soon see exactly how serious google is about the mobile internet - and its expectations that more revenues will come from mobile advertising than fixed line within a few short years.

Daddy, is that your googlemaps?

My 3-year-old daughter pointed to the sat nav in my car this morning and asked: "Is that your googlemaps daddy?"
I told her it was very similar.
She said that when she is an adult she wants a car with googlemaps.


I told her it was possible there would be no cars when she is an adult (what with the price of oil, global warming et al) and that she might have to use something different.

Her answer? "No! I don't want a lorry".

The future of tech-driven personal transport sits beside me...

Searching together: The biggest challenge yet to SEO?

This video, from Techcrunch, shows an experimental version of google which includes digg-like social search functions.
Quite a challenge for traditional SEO? It seems like a huge one to me.
Would love to hear some thoughts from anyone in SEO - and from anyone else!
It's clearly a huge step forward from google's previous efforts in social search.

Google thinks I'm a virus

I was innocently searching for Paul Isakson's blog on google when I got this response from google: (click the pic, right, to see a larger version).

I guess it beats being denied access to my own blog because its robots thought I might be writing a spam blog.

I owe it all to you - seriously.

As this blog teeters on the brink of a 100 ranking on Technorati (it was 99 last time I looked... hoping the trend is up!) I'm thinking of suitable ways to celebrate this with you. Every link here and every visit has contributed to that ranking - so it's fair and right that you share in this small success.
The best way I can think of is to compile one huge list of links-out to those who have linked here.
Technorati tracks some of this, google some more. But some (eg) I just may miss.
And at the top of the list I want to place the blogs and sites that include fasterfuture on their blogroll or list of recommended links in any way.
I want to make sure I haven't missed you and get the opportunity to return the favour in my own 'recommended blogs' list (see left column).
I work on the theory that if you're interested, you're likely to be interesting.
So if that's you, don't be shy, please add a link in the comments below.
And if you've linked here in any other way, share this, too.
Many thanks.