Be careful what you wish for!

Neville Hobson FIR Cut: Starbucks Twitter hashtag hijacked by critics Overflow from FIR #683 on December 24, 2012. Mashable: Starbucks Twitter Hashtag Campaign Becomes Forum for Brand-Bashing Telegraph: Starbucks Twitter campaign hijacked by tax protests Twitter: #Sp…. View or comment on Dani??l Crompton’s post »

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Flipboard for Android

Flipboard for AndroidLast week Brad Chasenore asked me to quickly review the new Flipboard for Android. So I briefly wrote it up: I have a cheap, slow Polaroid (MIDC010PR001) tablet I’m trying it on, and on there it’s pretty responsive. The navigation is intuitive within seconds I was zooming out of articles flipping through pages. On the tab I have issues with browsers, they mostly lock up, and that happens here too. It was easy to link Twitter and Facebook to Flipboard, they are presented on the first page. However when I first tried linking Google+ the app crashed, this is could be due to the fact that the tablet is not very good. A restart proved me right, although the app was a little less responsive than while linking FB & TW. The first time I was able to add Google+, logged in, verified, etc, it didn’t add Google+ to FlipBoard. The second attempt at linking them brought up the Google 2 step verification window again, which I had asked it to skip the first time I signed up. On this attempt it linked the accounts. Compared to the other Google+ readers FlipBoard makes it easier for me, FlipBoard plays with layout which allows me to engage with the content, and it doesn’t get in the way of reading which is what I want to do. I did have some other issues, for some reason it had given me the Content Guide Edition for the UK, I assume it read it from my locale – language settings – en_UK. Changing this in the settings to Netherlands didn’t make a difference even though it’s a menu option and I refreshed a number of times and even restarted without result. Changing it to US also doesn’t remove the UK politics from headlining the Politics tab. And as I said I use 2 step verification for Google and despite trusting the computer it didn’t seem to skip step two after adding Google+ a second time, or another Google app to FlipBoard. Browsing Google+ was FlipBoard was refreshing, and I see why Scoble is such a fan of FlipBoard. I am certainly happy with it, although I will have to find the killer reason to use it for more than just browsing headlines on a Sunday afternoon. Nice to play with, will keep. Flipboard: Your News Magazine Flipboard brings together world news and social news in a beautiful magazin… View or comment on Dani??l Crompton’s post »

HootSuite Auto Scheduling using Google Docs #twitter

I like using the HootSuite bulk uploader, and round the time I posted the post HootSuite Bulk Uploads I had set up a Google Docs file to produce the csv file it requires as input. It can simply be made by uploading the example provided by HootSuite to Google Docs and using that as a template.

As I was explaining the features of HootSuite to my mother, including the bulk uploader, I suddenly realized that I could make my spreadsheet more valuable for myself and others by adding a check to see whether it has 140 characters. I wasn’t able to use the regular Docs Data Validation, so I decided to roll my own in the script editor, which meant adding a Trigger to the script so it is called after the spreadsheet is edited.

Customer Satisfaction – Instant Feedback #geolocation

Last year I was so happy to see this instant feedback for the toilets at Schiphol I thought about the ways in which I give instant feedback for a job done. I send the occasional Thank You card, and on occasion hand deliver them to the person in question. This is not instant. How can I give somebody instant feedback?

In a food service establishment, such as a café or restaurant it is customary to leave a tip, for shops this is not as customary and it still only allows the employee to see the appreciation for the service performed. Location based recommendations with a geolocation service, such as foursquare, is ideal although this is unlike a tip that it only promotes the establishment and there is no feedback loop within the establishment. Service cards or books, a mainstay of hotels and small catering services also don’t entirely cover it. And naturally this example has price as the prohibiting factor.

How would you get instant on- and offline?

Image source: me

Painful Facts For Developers #programming #foss

I recently saw a note from the Tech Journalist Russell Holly who calls on the Scumbags of the Internet to stop making demands of developers from whom they get their free software:

You don’t demand ETA’s on shit you aren’t paying for. You don’t get angry when something doesn’t work quite right on an Alpha or Beta build of something you didn’t pay for. You don’t start shooting off at the mouth about how you are going to move to someone else’s free software if this developer doesn’t fix the software you didn’t pay for.

I was naturally in agreement with the spirit of what he said. And I think that he and these developers miss a number of simple facts:

HootSuite Bulk Uploads #twitter #facebook

In December of 2010 HootSuite enabled bulk scheduling^[1] of messages to FaceBook, Twitter and the other services it supports. This was during my HootSuite hiatus, which means I missed it. I think it’s such a cool feature that I wanted to spend some time on it. It’s so easy to schedule future messages by creating a .CSV file, as the example below:


18/05/2011 12:00:00,Your message here,http://specialbrands.net/
25/05/2011 12:00:00,Your next message here,http://specialbrands.net/


Go to the compose message and press the calendar icon, which opens the calendar (image on the left). Press the Schedule in Bulk button to open the uploader (image on the right). Here you can select a social profile and upload a correctly formatted .CSV file with up to 50 messages. HootSuite will schedule these messages for this profile. Any errors are concise, they usually relate to problems in the file due to invalid input or duplicate messages.

1. Batch Scheduling and Feature Trials ~ HootSuite Release with Something for Everyone

meetSue this Sunday #networking #event

Tomorrow from 17:00 to 20:00 I’ll be at an event called meetSue. It’s a networking event for different walks of life, I just received a preview of the guest list and I’m impressed. Aside from people I know there are a wide variety of people from all walks of life: coaches; directors; lawyers; graphical designers; art dealers; artists; trainers; clothing designers and retailers; and healthcare, merchandising, public relations, marketing and sales professionals.

Besides from the guests there are some exceptional entrepreneurs whose task is to inspire, tell their story, share their knowledge and expertise, and answer questions.

There is still time to register so you to can join the fun in the baggage hal of Loods 6 on KNSM Island in Amsterdam. Come for a drink, a snack and expect an inspiring evening.

_{Guests are kindly requested to donate for the continuation of meetSue.}