I don't completely agree but...

Tasty pieces of Apple

It's always with a slight thrill that you discover something reasonably secret about Apple. The company spends so much time hiding things, that a free morsel tastes so much sweeter. It's like being given a crisp from someone's packet - 300% tastier than if it came from your own.

There have been a couple of great insights into Apple's ongoing product development this week - at extreme ends of the spectrum.

First, the tablet rumours are hotting up, with the expected 'Three Chinese manufacturers receive huge and mysterious orders from California computer company' headlines and the unavoidable (and often desperately hopeful and hopefully desperate) mocked-up images.



Further down the scale of excitement was AppleInsider's discovery of a patent for 'touch and go' USB devices. Obviously many of these patents are filed well in advance of any actual product plans, but the thought of being able to release a USB drive without the fiddly eject step is a nice idea that would give me a few microseconds back to my day.



Not sure why I felt like sharing. I'm not a fanboy or anything.

(Perhaps you got a slight thrill too?)

Monday Metro mirth

I can't decide which story I like best in today's Metro.

A) German guide 'insults' Essex - a German travel guide, found in a Colchester chip shop, contained filthy jokes about Essex girls and the revelation that the men 'wear white tennis socks and zoom around in a souped-up Ford XR3i breaking the speed limit'. Did it really say that? Do Germans know what a souped-up Ford XR3i is?

B) A face for the top job - Vauxhall commissioned a study by Kent University to find the characteristics of the best bosses. Apparently it's all about foreheads, lips and eyebrows. Cue computer-generated images of the blandest people who (n)ever lived, and completely risk-free quote from a college Professor.

C) Naked rival to Facebook unveils itself - quote a disappointing headline (and no pictures) for an amazing story about how a 24 year-old has created a social network for nudists. 'The site was created after a group of students stumbled on a nudist beach' (as a joke, then). There are now a staggering 6,000 members. Not long to go before it rivals Facebook's 200 million.

Where it all started

This is where LEWIS started in 1993, hiring the whole of 34 Great
Queen Street for £2,000 a month. (I just found that out.)

Where it all started,
originally uploaded by PR Ge

I can't help but watch

I accidentally followed a blatant Twitter marketer.

You know the type. Not the nice PR geek, network builder or gentle social influencer. The hardcore, pyramid scheme-style, in-your-face, get-1,000-no-10,000-new-followers-RIGHT-NOW-or-you're-an-IDIOT type. Also one that hides their true raison-d'etre in a normal-looking Twitter stream.

So I got sent a link (which I will link to in this post now, just once) with a guy telling me, direct to camera, how I could learn the secrets of finding ten to fifty new leads a day for my business.



Man, he is frickin' awesome. I think it's something inside me that draws me into late-night shopping channels. As the ad for the Zick Zick Chopper draws to a close I always vow to go to bed. Then, out of nowhere, I'm half-way through Easy-Yo dried yoghurt mix or the Bissell Proheat. Hours later, I'm still frozen in awe.

I think it's the ability for a human being to be so incredibly convincing about a subject that's so blatantly a load of old b*****ks. Their complete and utter devotion to being honest, endearing and motivating is so fake that it becomes hyper-real. The entire performance is like nothing you'd ever see on stage or screen. I spend at least two-thirds of my time watching these things imagining the people in their normal lives, saying normal things to their friends or family.

If you could bottle what this guy has and sell it, you'd make a fortune. Probably on QVC.