Have Facebook created the future of mobile phone software or just a good looking app?

Let me just start off by saying how great I think Facebook Home looks. Ever since the Facebook Camera app and more recently with the News Feed redesign Facebook have shown a great new mobile design ethic. Moving away from the clunky, out dated layout that has plagued the desktop version of Facebook (and for a long time the mobile app) towards a simple and elegant look is a strong move for the team. Home amplifies this on mobile and truly shows that they are now firmly a mobile first technology company… in theory. They of course do a lot more behind the scenes. I do think however that there are some issues that I will outline further down.

I actually think their more comedic (and true to life) ad that they showed on the live stream demo was a better advert for the new product but they haven’t made it available yet.

Design

As I mentioned in my opening paragraph, Home is beautiful piece of software design. I’m not just talking about the bold way it uses imagery either. Chat Heads is such a brilliant, entertaining and unobtrusive new way to handle messaging and notifications are equally great. Both of these features show a real maturity when it comes to the way Facebook approach mobile design and I hope other tech companies have taken notice.

TechCrunch have a great piece that quickly sums up Facebook Home’s four advantages over stock Android.

Facebook Mobile App

I actually think that Facebook have designed a far better version of their mobile app with Home.The new News Feed looks great but frankly this blows it out of the water on the design front.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see that those who adopt Facebook Home spend more time in there than the Facebook mobile app. This could well then cause the FB team to rethink their mobile app again and redesign all versions of their mobile app to look more like Home (if they aren’t already). In the demo that they showed moving from cover feed to Facebook mobile was quite a jarring visual experience.

Cover Feed Relies On Your Friends

I have a real bug bare with these tech demos, they aren’t realistic. Everything we have seen uses Facebook’s very strong visual design for photos and videos. The slightly washed out, high res, enhanced eyes (sometimes with a dog or cat) smiley people imagery is wonderful to look at…but very few of my friends, and I am going to guess very few of yours, are that good at photography or have access to the equipment to help them get those effects.

Cover feed will make some of those bad photos look better, much like Instagram is able to make a photo of my feet at a train station look arty and cool, but it won’t be great for everything. Memes, babies, food, nights out, babies, that weird moment when a friend caught another friend pulling a strange face…and babies…will be front and centre. This isn’t a bad thing and I’m not really complaining as I enjoy seeing most of those things, but I know people who do complain and unless they exercise that ability to hide people from their News Feed, they aren’t going to enjoy cover feed as much as the team at Facebook would like. However there is that there EdgeRank that could fix this potential problem. I’ll get on to that in a bit.

Of course this is also one of the great things about Facebook Home. Putting your friends right at the very start of every mobile experience you have and getting to see what they are doing is very powerful. Work productivity may take a hit…

Changing The Way We Use Mobile

The design stuff is ultimately superficial. What this really represents is Facebook’s attempt to change the way we use mobile phones. By placing our friends, family and other things at the very heart of the devices rather than within an app (or series of apps) allows us to get to what matters to us as individuals, as human beings.

Now this isn’t a big shift. We all tend to go straight to messaging or social applications before any other on our mobile devices. What Facebook are doing is creating a better experience. Your friends are right there from the beginning, you don’t need to find the app and scroll through. It is seamless and in a way an extension of their concept around frictionless sharing. Open your phone and see what your closest friends are up to.

You can bet this is only the beginning however. What’s to stop Facebook from adding cover feed customization? Showcasing news from your favourite website? It is quite a compelling use case to place a better version of the News Feed right in front of you at all times.

Also what about mobile commerce? Sure there are plenty of companies vying for a piece of this pie, but by putting themselves at the core of the mobile experience are Facebook placing themselves in an even better position? Perhaps Home will one day even react to your surroundings and provide updates about the store you are in or a restaurant you might like.

EdgeRank

I’m interested to understand a bit more about how cover feed selects what you are shown. It absolutely is not going to be everything from your News Feed. From what I understand it will be taking only updates with imagery into your cover feed but even then I think it will use a harsher version of EdgeRank.

My thinking around this is I believe Facebook will only want to serve up the content that you are really, really interested in and not things like that weird update from a friend you haven’t seen in years. The friends and family who are your ‘close ties’ according to EdgeRank and the pages you interact with most will likely be the only things you see. Perhaps it will be more relaxed than that but I do not think it will show much else.

Ads

Facebook will be placing ads within cover feed. They haven’t shown what they will look like or if there will be any notable difference from your friends updates, but they will be in there eventually.

From an individual users perspective this isn’t the best of news. It also will not help Facebook’s reputation with a user base who already do not like the way Facebook places ads in their News Feed. Ultimately however there hasn’t been a mad rush to leave Facebook because of the ads and so the biggest social network will continue to move forward with their money making concepts and plans.

Personally I do not mind the ads but I am aware that my job likely shows where I may have bias, despite trying hard to keep an open mind and view things from the point of view of people outside the marketing world. Speaking with my brand/marketing hat on I believe it is our job to do the best we can to ensure that users/fans get the best experience and we don’t place ugly designed and poorly worded ads and pieces of content in their News Feed. I hope Facebook will not allow brands who do not create great content to appear in the cover feed. We need to work hard to create great and relevant content that doesn’t look out of place. I think Sponsored Stories will likely play a key role in this as we know Facebook want to move towards a Page content first ad strategy.

Following on from this, again this wasn’t shown in the demo, all brands Page content will need to have a strong, mobile first, design edge. Zuckerberg only hinted at Page content showing up in the feed at the start of his presentation but it will definitely be there. Those brands who put a lot of time and effort into designing relevant and great content will again come out on top.

Young People

I think the HTC First (nice name by the way) is aimed at teenagers. This is just my first thought from seeing the design of the device, so I will be interested to see how they market it.

A lot has been made lately that Facebook is not really attracting, or if it does it isn’t retaining, young people. Teenagers are increasingly more attracted to the likes of Tumblr, Instagram and Snapchat. Strong visually based, expressive forms of online media that allow teenagers to feel like they own, or are in control, of their online presence. With Facebook Home and the HTC First I believe Facebook are attempting to show young people that this is where they should be spending more of their time. Whether or not this will work is yet to be seen.

The Competition

Will Apple, Google (Nexus) or Microsoft allow Facebook Home on their devices? Of course they won’t. But you can bet that they are about to beg, borrow or steal some of the ideas. I think in the first instance we’ll be seeing something very similar to Chat Heads turning up on all mobile operating systems in the near future. Whether or not Apple or Microsoft will allow even further integration with Facebook’s underlying API will be interesting to see. I’d put a bet on iOS 7 having some kind of Home like experience integrated with Facebook and Twitter.

If you think Google will allow Facebook Home on their Nexus devices I think you are very mistaken. The flag ship devices for the big G are built for the “pure” Google experience. Google+ will likely have some further integration with the next version of Android. Also there will likely be some conversations over the next few days between Google, device manufacturers and mobile carrier execs to ensure that Facebook Home doesn’t become a dominant force over their own social integration.

In Closing

I like Home. I think it is a great product and a fantastic way to further integrate the platform in our lives. Windows Phone may well have boasted about putting “what is important” at the centre of your mobile device but I think Facebook are the first to do something significant and really push this concept with this excellent piece of software.

Mobile is incredibly personal. It is a one on one experience with you and a device, a device that many of us feel an odd feeling of loss and disconnect when we misplace it. Facebook needs to enhance that personal experience by heavily filtering what you see in cover feed so that it is just the stuff that matters. It needs to make Home a product that we will love and want on all our devices in the future.

Facebook’s first big job is now to convince people that they need Home in their lives. Bring on April 12th.

Whilst you wait check out the below videos from The Verge. The first a quick recap of the event and the second a great in depth look at Facebook Home.

Just a very quick update to say I’m really happy to be able to announce that on Monday 4th March (tomorrow) I’ll be starting work for Activision as their new Social Media Marketing Specialist. I couldn’t be more excited about this opportunity to work for such a huge company and the fantastic video games that they publish. Those of you who know me will be very aware of how especially excited I am about the new Bungie project, Destiny.

I am of course sad to be leaving Lawton Communications Group where I have worked for two of the agencies, Headstream and Five by Five, over the past three years. The people are amazing and I’m looking forward to seeing what they produce in the future. I’m glad to have made such great friends there.

Now though onto the future and a whole new chapter in my life. Right now I don’t really know what to expect, I am just incredibly excited and can’t wait to get stuck in and be a part of the Activision family.

Watch this space!

Turns out sometimes my jokes are funny…I said sometimes ok! Thanks to the folks at Daily Rehash for the shout out. First time I’ve seen the show and I enjoyed it. Reminded me of likes of Tosh.0, Web Soup and The Soup. Anyway enjoy:

Go.

If you have the opportunity, go.

On the 11th January 2013 at 9:30pm I got on a plane to travel half way around the world to visit a dear friend and the country that they have adopted as their new home. And wow, what an incredible country it is. I only got to spend three weeks out there, which I would suggest is the minimum anyone should stay to visit, but they were three fantastic weeks seeing some incredible sights around the north island.

I’ve never experienced a place quite like it. Huge mountains, volcanoes, lakes, winding rivers, massive waterfalls and acres upon acres of countryside and thick forest. It is really quite beautiful.

The people are potentially the most friendly and inviting I have ever met. Although I am sure there are some rude people I certainly didn’t meet one of them and everyone seemed to want to have a chat and help you out. This was a breath of fresh air compared to some across the UK, it saddens me to say. Their way of life is very relaxed and chilled out. It takes some getting used to but once it clicks you realise that this is probably how we should all live.

I have heard some people say it is like stepping back in time ten years, I’m not sure I agree on that point. There are some things that are missing (central heating, double glazing and some roads need some attention) but largely it is a thoroughly modern country. Shops, restaurants and bars tend to open later and shut sooner than I am used to, which was frustrating a couple of times, but then that was really just my problem and something I had to work around and be understanding of as this is part of the more relaxed way of life.

Aside from the huge number of sheep and cattle and the odd horse and pig here and there, New Zealand is full of weird and wonderful wildlife. For the squeamish you might not be too keen on the odd array of bugs on offer, especially the Weta, but you can sleep easy knowing that none of them can kill you…they might give you a nasty nip but thats about it! I got to see a few Kiwi’s including a rare white one in captivity. They are possibly the oddest creature I have ever seen, scurrying around digging for food covered in what looks like fur rather than feathers. New Zealand is home to some fantastic zoos and nature reserves so there are plenty of chances to see the different animals up close.

If you ever get the chance to go to New Zealand here are my top tips:

• Save – NZ is more expensive than you might think despite the favourable exchange rate
• Stay for a minimum of three weeks, aim for a month or more if you can
• If you want action head to Taupo for about a week and book yourself in for all the different activities
• If you want to relax and enjoy incredible scenery and a great beach culture go to Raglan… actually go there whatever as it is gorgeous
• LOTRs geek? Go to Hobbiton in Matamata and Weta studios in Wellington
• Get advice from New Zealanders on what to do. There are a lot of tourist spots that are just that. If you want the real NZ and to see great things speak to the locals
• Visit the museums and get to know the rich Mãori culture
• Hire a car and travel at your own pace – there are plenty of motels and backpacker hostels around to stay in
• If you want some real fun get to Wellington during the rugby 7s tournament and bring your best fancy dress
• Aim to get there during the summer months – December, January, February
• Wear sunscreen all the time. You will burn (my poor ears)

I can certainly say I really enjoyed my time on holiday in New Zealand and I am definitely going to go back. Next time I would like to explore the south island as apparently it is even more stunning.

I completely understand why people move there…

It might just be me, but I have noticed lately that I keep making a similar mistake or rather, I keep expecting to be able to do something.

Over the last few months I have started typing friends names into the Chrome address bar when I have wanted to see an online profile of theirs or send them a message. This is something I know doesn’t work and as a techy person I am surprised that I keep making that mistake. It usually happens if I am slightly tired or “in the zone” surfing the web and doing work, I’ll think of someone and immediately start typing the first few letters of their name into the address bar. It is a select group of people (Paul Adams would call them my close ties) who I communicate with often and want to be able to share something with them as quickly as possible.

Am I doing something abnormal and just being weird (a distinct possibility) or is this something we can expect to be able to do in the future? I imagine that with Google+ and the Chrome OS this could well be a function that is added into the Chrome browser and also adds weight to a Facebook browser argument. What I would ideally like is to have Facebook, Twitter etc plugged into my browser and be able to pull up all the different ways to contact my friends and family. This also highlights just how much time I spend in the browser now compared to other applications on my laptop.

Of course this is only really a PC browser issue as I have not found myself doing this on any mobile browsers which is probably due to the silo type behaviour that occurs when using mobile apps. As in you are concentrating on one specific task rather than doing true multi-tasking.

So yeah there you are. Is it just me? Would you like to see this type of functionality?

Today a lot of people, understandably, got upset over the updated Instagram Terms of Service. Specifically this section (Rights point 2 & 3):

Some or all of the Service may be supported by advertising revenue. To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you. If you are under the age of eighteen (18), or under any other applicable age of majority, you represent that at least one of your parents or legal guardians has also agreed to this provision (and the use of your name, likeness, username, and/or photos (along with any associated metadata)) on your behalf.

You acknowledge that we may not always identify paid services, sponsored content, or commercial communications as such.

Now, I believe this is in reference to a Sponsored Story or Promoted Post/Tweet/Trend style advert that will sit within the photo based social network. This would fit with its parent company’s current style of advertising. I don’t think we’ll be seeing Instagram images appearing on the side of buses, in TV, YouTube or banner ads across the web…however it is certainly open enough to allow that. Perhaps this is intended to allow for a fire hose type deal with brands and developers like the one that Twitter offers. I have seen Tweets used everywhere and I’m pretty sure the Tweeters weren’t notified, a fact perhaps more people need to think about (and when you read the Twitter ToS below you will realise just how similar they are).

This isn’t really the point though. People are upset because they love Instagram, it was the social network that allowed them to express themselves (whether artistically or not) through images and wasn’t one of the big tech corporations who people have recently been finding it harder to trust. Now with this change in the ToS (that will come into affect on January 16th 2013) the ball has dropped that now Instagram is truly part of Facebook and is mixing it up with the likes of Twitter etc.

On a further note Instagram still makes it clear that you own your content.

If you thought it was all about the Photo Filter Wars you may have been mistaken. This is the data wars and the users are providing the ammunition.

What struck me today was really how little people seem to know about all the online services legal terms. Instagram’s ToS update would appear to have woken some people up to the fact that it is increasingly important to read through and check what you are signing up for and importantly what you are signing away. So I have gone through different terms provided by some of the most popular services and pulled out sections to highlight what we are signing up for. To remain on topic I have picked out sections to do with peoples content. (Word of warning, this is a very long post as I didn’t want to take anything out of context or misinterpret. What follows is copied directly from these companies ToS).

Facebook:

You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings.

When you publish content or information using the Public setting, it means that you are allowing everyone, including people off of Facebook, to access and use that information, and to associate it with you (i.e., your name and profile picture).

Google:

Some of our Services allow you to submit content. You retain ownership of any intellectual property rights that you hold in that content. In short, what belongs to you stays yours.

When you upload or otherwise submit content to our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide licence to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes that we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content. The rights that you grant in this licence are for the limited purpose of operating, promoting and improving our Services, and to develop new ones. This licence continues even if you stop using our Services (for example, for a business listing that you have added to Google Maps). Some Services may offer you ways to access and remove content that has been provided to that Service. Also, in some of our Services, there are terms or settings that narrow the scope of our use of the content submitted in those Services. Make sure that you have the necessary rights to grant us this licence for any content you submit to our Services.

Many of our services let you share information with others. Remember that when you share information publicly, it may be indexable by search engines, including Google. Our services provide you with different options on sharing and removing your content.

With your consent - We will share personal information with companies, organizations or individuals outside of Google when we have your consent to do so. We require opt-in consent for the sharing of any sensitive personal information.

Twitter:

You retain your rights to any Content you submit, post or display on or through the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through the Services, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute such Content in any and all media or distribution methods (now known or later developed).

You agree that this license includes the right for Twitter to provide, promote, and improve the Services and to make Content submitted to or through the Services available to other companies, organizations or individuals who partner with Twitter for the syndication, broadcast, distribution or publication of such Content on other media and services, subject to our terms and conditions for such Content use.

Such additional uses by Twitter, or other companies, organizations or individuals who partner with Twitter, may be made with no compensation paid to you with respect to the Content that you submit, post, transmit or otherwise make available through the Services.

We may modify or adapt your Content in order to transmit, display or distribute it over computer networks and in various media and/or make changes to your Content as are necessary to conform and adapt that Content to any requirements or limitations of any networks, devices, services or media.

You are responsible for your use of the Services, for any Content you provide, and for any consequences thereof, including the use of your Content by other users and our third party partners. You understand that your Content may be syndicated, broadcast, distributed, or published by our partners and if you do not have the right to submit Content for such use, it may subject you to liability. Twitter will not be responsible or liable for any use of your Content by Twitter in accordance with these Terms. You represent and warrant that you have all the rights, power and authority necessary to grant the rights granted herein to any Content that you submit.

Tumblr:

Subscribers retain ownership of all intellectual property rights in their Subscriber Content, and Tumblr and/or third parties retain ownership of all intellectual property rights in all Content other than Subscriber Content.

When you transfer Subscriber Content to Tumblr through the Services, you give Tumblr a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable, transferable right and license to use, host, store, cache, reproduce, publish, display (publicly or otherwise), perform (publicly or otherwise), distribute, transmit, modify, adapt (including, without limitation, in order to conform it to the requirements of any networks, devices, services, or media through which the Services are available), and create derivative works of (including, without limitation, by Reblogging, as defined below), such Subscriber Content. The rights you grant in this license are for the limited purpose of operating the Services in accordance with their functionality, improving the Services, and allowing Tumblr to develop new Services. The reference in this license to “derivative works” is not intended to give Tumblr itself a right to make substantive editorial changes or derivations, but does enable Tumblr Subscribers to redistribute Subscriber Content from one Tumblr blog to another in a manner that allows Subscribers to, e.g., add their own text or other Content before or after your Subscriber Content.

You also agree that this license includes the right for Tumblr to make all publicly-posted Content available to third parties selected by Tumblr, so that those third parties can distribute and/or analyze such Content on other media and services.

Note also that this license to your Subscriber Content continues even if you stop using the Services, primarily because of the social nature of Content shared through the Services – when you post something publicly, others may choose to comment on it, making your Content part of a social conversation that cannot later be erased without retroactively censoring the speech of others.

Pinterest:

Pinterest allows you to post content, including photos, comments, and other materials. Anything that you post or otherwise make available on our Products is referred to as “User Content.” You retain all rights in, and are solely responsible for, the User Content you post to Pinterest.

You grant Pinterest and its users a non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable, worldwide license to use, store, display, reproduce, re-pin, modify, create derivative works, perform, and distribute your User Content on Pinterest solely for the purposes of operating, developing, providing, and using the Pinterest Products. Nothing in these Terms shall restrict other legal rights Pinterest may have to User Content, for example under other licenses. We reserve the right to remove or modify User Content for any reason, including User Content that we believe violates these Terms or our policies.

LinkedIn:

You own the information you provide LinkedIn under this Agreement, and may request its deletion at any time, unless you have shared information or content with others and they have not deleted it, or it was copied or stored by other users. Additionally, you grant LinkedIn a nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual, unlimited, assignable, sublicenseable, fully paid up and royalty-free right to us to copy, prepare derivative works of, improve, distribute, publish, remove, retain, add, process, analyze, use and commercialize, in any way now known or in the future discovered, any information you provide, directly or indirectly to LinkedIn, including, but not limited to, any user generated content, ideas, concepts, techniques or data to the services, you submit to LinkedIn, without any further consent, notice and/or compensation to you or to any third parties. Any information you submit to us is at your own risk of loss as noted in Sections 2 and 3 of this Agreement.

In order to deliver relevant and valuable ads to you and your network, LinkedIn may use your name and profile photo in connection with social advertising based on content shared on LinkedIn. This advertising may include the fact that you have recommended or endorsed a product or service on LinkedIn, followed a company, joined Groups or conversations, established or added content to your profile, etc., and will only be displayed to your LinkedIn network. You can opt-out of allowing your name and/or profile photo to be used in social ads here.

Soundcloud:

Any and all audio, text, photos, pictures, graphics, comments, and other content, data or information that you upload, store, transmit, submit, exchange or make available to or via the Platform (hereinafter “Your Content“) is generated, owned and controlled solely by you, and not by SoundCloud.

By uploading Your Content to the Platform, you also grant a limited, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, fully paid up, licence to other users of the Platform, and to users of any other websites, apps and/or platforms to which Your Content has been shared or embedded using the Services (“Linked Services”), to use, copy, transmit or otherwise distribute, publicly display, publicly perform, prepare derivative works of, make available and otherwise communicate to the public Your Content within the parameters set by you using the Services. You can limit and restrict the availability of certain of Your Content to other users of the Platform, and to users of Linked Services, at any time using the settings on the sound page for each sound you upload, subject to the provisions of the Disclaimer section below.

YouTube:

You retain all of your ownership rights in your Content, but you are required to grant limited licence rights to YouTube and other users of the Service. These are described in paragraph 8 of these Terms (Rights you licence).

When you upload or post Content to YouTube, you grant:

to YouTube, a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable licence (with right to sub-licence) to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform that Content in connection with the provision of the Service and otherwise in connection with the provision of the Service and YouTube’s business, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of the Service (and derivative works thereof) in any media formats and through any media channels;

to each user of the Service, a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to access your Content through the Service, and to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display and perform such Content to the extent permitted by the functionality of the Service and under these Terms.

Before I continue I cannot recommend more highly that you go through these terms of service yourself (each heading is a direct link) to get an idea of where these sections sit and what exactly the platforms are saying. Hopefully I haven’t taken anything out of context, however if I have I apologise and will rectify any errors that you may spot and wish to flag with me.

Recognise anything in those paragraphs? I think that Twitter’s ToS especially reflects Instagram’s recent updates which highlights for me what many have been saying for a while and that is that Instagram is the visual version of Twitter. The major difference is of course that Instagram have been extremely explicit in their language about their intention to potentially use an individuals images in advertising products. This is actually quite refreshing if not alarming for many users.

People definitely are more protective over their images than their words. This is why Twitter has been able to operate in the way it has been for a long time now with little backlash from the mainstream audience. It is also why they will be able to operate in the same way with the images that people increasingly will upload directly to Twitter’s servers, people are used to the idea that their Twitter content will be repurposed by brands and other companies. Instagram has a harder battle to get to this stage.

What I would like to see is a program from Instagram similar to the YouTube Partner Program. Instagram seems to almost constantly refer to itself in interviews as ‘Facebook’s YouTube’ so perhaps a revenue sharing program with people who post the most popular images is on the cards in the future.

One final note. After going through so many Terms of Service (I would have posted Flickr’s but I got lost in their legals ramblings…I might try again when my headache goes away) I must say that Facebook’s ToS is the clearest, most concise and easiest to understand (in my opinion). Tumblr, Twitter and Pinterest also do a good job of translating what each section means to the individual. Considering how often Facebook seem to come under pressure about privacy and their terms it is no surprise that perhaps they are the ones who have the most concise ToS.

So what do you think? Will there be a mass exodus from Instagram or is this just another moment where people get upset but quickly move on?

Further reading – check out these articles from Wall Street Journal, New York Times and finally this very thoughtful Google+ post from Wil Wheaton. Another article worth reading is from The Verge.

Update – It looks like Instagram might be having second thoughts.

Update 2 – Kevin Systrom has just posted this blog post.

“I’m writing this today to let you know we’re listening and to commit to you that we will be doing more to answer your questions, fix any mistakes, and eliminate the confusion. As we review your feedback and stories in the press, we’re going to modify specific parts of the terms to make it more clear what will happen with your photos.”

“…it is not our intention to sell your photos. We are working on updated language in the terms to make sure this is clear.”

P.s. Yes I know Flickr has a different rights system.

This is without doubt my favourite time of year.

Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night and Firework Night, is an annual commemoration observed on 5 November, primarily in Great Britain. Its history begins with the events of 5 November 1605, when Guy Fawkes, a member of the Gunpowder Plot, was arrested while guarding explosives the plotters had placed beneath the House of Lords. Celebrating the fact that King James I had survived the attempt on his life, people lit bonfires around London, and months later the introduction of the Observance of 5th November Act enforced an annual public day of thanksgiving for the plot’s failure. – Wikipedia

As I sit here listening to what my CoD tuned ears recognise as a war zone, I can’t help but think about how much I love this time of year. The cold weather meaning you have to snuggle up in warm clothes, the hot food and warm drinks, the EXPLOSIONS, the warm fire and friends and family gathered around…oh and did I mention EXPLOSIONS!

Once upon a time this was the time of year when people would celebrate the idea that Guy Fawkes failed to blow up the houses of parliament. I think that meaning has long since been burred and forgotten with it becoming a time for celebration and enjoyment.

One of my favourite things to do is find a high vantage point and look out across the night to see if you can spot any flashes of light from a rocket or roman candle. It is a lot of fun and this year as I was walking home I couldn’t help but keep my eyes pointed towards the sky as fireworks went off all around me.

It was a beautiful clear night this November 5th with the half moon sitting just over the horizon. I glimpsed three lanterns floating across under the moon and could clearly see most of the constellations and a few planets.

What topped it all off happened a little earlier when I was with my parents. All three of us just happened to be looking up at the sky when all of a sudden a shooting star shot across. Summed it all up rather nicely.

gif source: guide me threw

“I have story treatments of 7, 8 and 9.” – George Lucas

I KNEW IT!!! My 10 year old, Star Wars obsessed self screamed on hearing Lucas say that quote in this video, released to coincide with the Disney acquisition of Lucasfilm. Being so young I of course absolutely believed the rumours that somewhere in the world was a set of scripts for episodes 7, 8 and 9, and there was no way they were anything but amazing stories.

Star Wars played a big part of my childhood…teenage years…early adulthood… oh ok so Star Wars is big part of me as it is with many others around the world. I have however, always found it amusing that my first experience of Star Wars wasn’t exactly the norm. I didn’t sit down with family, or friends, and watch the films, oh no that came later. My first experience went like this:

I must have been around 5/6 years old and my parents were out in the garden doing pruning and planting. I was supposed to be outside with them but I was feeling mischievous and didn’t particularly want to go outside with Mum and Dad that day. So sitting in the living room, randomly on top of the table that I used to eat my dinner on (I have no idea why), I switched on the TV.

Now then boys and girls these were the days when you could only get four channels. Yes that is right, you didn’t misread and that isn’t a typo, four channels. BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV and Channel 4. I can’t remember which channel it was that I flicked to (I’m assuming ITV) but greeting me, right there, was an epic world of white snow. Strange men riding around on snow dinosaurs, a weird looking meteorite bug thing, a scary monster (the Wampa petrified me), one particularly hairy bear on top of some big truck, shiny funny robots, weird gadgets and a pretty lady. It was amazing. I was hooked. I clearly was not supposed to be watching this.

With one eye on the window to the garden, I wondered how long I could keep ignoring my parents and watch more of this amazing TV show.

I remember feeling tense watching the upside down guy as he was reaching for his metal stick. The scary moster was getting closer and I wanted the man to run away and be ok. Then he somehow made the metal stick fly into his hand, flip down to the floor and with his laser thingy cut the monsters arm off! AAHHH! I hit the green off button on the remote of our little TV and ran outside. Of course I only wanted to be out there with my parents and it wasn’t at all that I felt I had been naughty and seen something I shouldn’t have seen.

And that was that! My first memory of Star Wars. I like the fact that it was such a funny experience and I had no idea for at least a year until I did sit down with my parents and watch all the movies properly that that was what I had seen.

So now the count down begins. Episode 7 is being planned for 2015 and I for one cannot wait to see the new trilogy. I want to see where the movies go in the extended universe and I’m looking forward to see what this new generation of film makers can do with the franchise.

If I was working in the industry I know full well I’d be doing everything I could to get on that set as I am sure many individuals in the movie biz are currently scrambling to do so. For the haters I shall leave you with this, Disney brought us the Avengers.

May the force be with you, always.

P.s. Han shot first.

On November 24th 2006 I signed up to Facebook, I remember my initial reaction quite vividly, “so when am I going to use this”. Apparently irony really does know no bounds as my current job relies heavily on Facebook’s existence and the innovation that the company has brought to our world.

Mark Zuckerberg confirmed on October 4th 2012 what many had suspected for a while, that Facebook had reached the 1 Billion active user mark. Which is such a mind blowing number I don’t think anyone can really compute in their head just what that means.

Facebook, or The Facebook as it was at the time, launched on February 4th 2004. It is hard to believe just how much the world has changed, from technology to politics, within those 8 years. Which by the by have flown past way too quickly for my liking! Because of this momentous occasion I thought that I’d take a trip down memory lane and pull out some of the news stories that have happened from Facebook’s day 1 to the 1 Billion mark. I thought it would nicely highlight just how much has gone on in it’s relatively short existance. Click on the years for the Wikipedia pages of all the major news from those years and watch the JibJab year in review videos for a lighter take on it all.

2004

Global population: 6.38 Billion

• Feb 4th: Facebook Launches
• Mar 2nd: NASA’s Opportunity rover confirms there was water on Mars
• May 1st: The EU’s biggest expansion takes place with 10 new countries joining
• Jun 16th: 9/11 Commission issues it’s initial report of its findings
• Jun 21st: SpaceShipOne becomes first private spacecraft to take flight
• Aug 13th: the Summer Olympics in Athens begin
• Sep 22: The first episode of Lost airs
• Nov 21st: The Nintendo DS is released
• Nov 23rd: World of Warcraft is released
• Dec 8th: Lenovo announces plans to purchase IBM’s PC business
• Dec 14th: The world’s tallest bridge opens in France
• Dec 26th: The Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami hits killing 227,898
• Dec 31st: Taipei 101, the (then) world’s tallest skyscraper opens; 1,670 feet

2005

Global Population: 6.45 Billion

• Jan 14th: The Hygens probe lands on Saturn’s biggest moon, Titan
• Jan 20th: George W. Bush is inaugurated for his second term as the 43rd President of the United States
• Feb 8th: Google Maps launched
• Feb 14th: YouTube is founded
• Feb 16th: The Kyoto Protocol is brought into being (without the US or Australia)
• Mar 3rd: Steve Fossett completes fastest, non stop, non-refueled solo flight around the globe in Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer
• Apr 27th: The Airbus A380 makes its first flight
• May 5th: Tony Blair/Labour wins third successive general election
• May 15th: Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is released
• Jun: Reddit launched
• Jun 10th: Batman Begins is released
• Jul 8th: Live 8 concerts around the world take place
•  Aug 13th: The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is launched
• Aug 17th: Google buys Android
• Aug 29th: Hurricane Katrina hits the Gulf Coast of the USA. 1,836 die
• Oct 1st: The Bali bombings happen killing 26 and injuring 100
• Oct 19th: The trial of Saddam Hussein begins
• Nov 13th: A British man is the first reported to be cured of HIV
• Nov 22nd: The Xbox 360 goes on sale
• Nov 30th: Worlds first face transplant takes place

2006

Global Population: 6.53 Billion

• Feb 10th: The Winter Olympics begin in Turin
• Mar 10th: The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter enters Mars orbit
• Apr 5th: First case of ‘Bird Flu’ is discovered in the UK
• May 27th: 6.3 magnitude earthquake hits Jave, Indonesia killing more than 6,000
• Jul 15th: Twitter is launched
• Oct 10th: Google buys YouTube for $1.65 Billion
• Nov 5th: Saddam Hussein is sentenced to death
• Nov 11th: The Playstation 3 is released
• Nov 19th: Nintendo Wii is released
• Dec 13th: The Chinese River Dolphin becomes extinct

2007

Global Population: 6.60 Billion

• Jan 1st: Bulgaria and Romania join EU
• Jan 9th: The first iPhone is announced
• Jan 16th: Netflix announces instant streaming service
• Feb 27th: World stock markets plummet after less than expected growth reports from China and Europe
• Apr 23rd: Boris Yeltsin dies
• Apr 24th: Gliese 581 c, a potentially Earth like planet is discovered
• Apr 27th: Tumblr launched
• Jun 1st: 2,100 year old melon is discovered
• Jul 7th: Live Earth concerts take place across the globe
• Aug 9th: BNP Paribas withdraws from three hedge funds in the UK. This signals the beginning of the global financial crisis
• Nov 5th: The Writers Guild of America goes on strike
• Nov 19th: The first Amazon Kindle is launched
• Dec 25th: BBC iPlayer is launched

2008

Global Population: 6.71 Billion

• Jan 2nd: Price of petroleum hits $100 per barrel for the first time
• Jan 21st: Stock markets plunge amid the fear that the US is falling into a recession
• Feb 5th: Dow Jones Industrial Average falls 370 points
• Feb 7th: Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on a mission to deliver the European built Columbus laboratory to the ISS
• Feb 22nd: Northern Rock becomes first bank in Europe to be taken into state control
• Apr 28th: India sends 10 satellites into orbit, a new world record
• May 2nd: Iron Man is released
• May 3rd: Cyclone Nargis, the deadliest natural disaster since the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004 hits Burma, 133,000 killed
• Jun 13th: The Incredible Hulk is released
• Jun 27th: Bill Gates steps down as Chairman of Microsoft
• Jul 14th: The Dark Knight is released
• Aug 8th: Beijing Summer Olympics Begin
• Sep 10th: First protons fired around the Large Hadron Collider
• Sep 28th: Private space vehicle SpaceX Falcon 1 becomes first to successfully make orbit
• Oct 22nd: The first Android handset, the HTC Dream, is released
• Nov 4th: Barack Obama is elected the 44th President of the United States
• Nov 27th: The QE2, the longest serving ocean liner in history is retired
• Dec 11th: Bernard Madoff is arrested for the largest financial fraud in US history

2009

Global Population: 6.79 Billion

• Jan 26th: Icelandic government and banking system collapses
• Mar 7th: NASA’s Kepler Mission is launched from Cape Canaveral
• May 8th: Star Trek is released
• Mar 11th: Foursquare launched
• May 27th: Google Wave launched
• Apr 3rd: 21st NATO summit is held
• Jun 1st: Air France Flight 447 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean
• Jun 11th: H1N1 or “swine flu” is declared a global pandemic
• Jun 25th: Michael Jackson dies
• Jul 22nd: Lasting 6 minutes and 38.8 seconds, the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century happens over parts of Asia and the Pacific Ocean
• Aug 4th: Google announces it is suspending development of Google Wave
• Oct 1st: The oldest known human remains are discovered, Ardipithecus ramidus
• No 10th: Sesame Street celebrates its 40th Anniversary
• Dec 11th: The first Angry Birds game is released
• Dec 16th: The exoplanet GJ1214b is discovered on which astronomers believe water could be

2010

Global Population: 6.89 Billion

• Jan 4th: The Burj Khalifa in Dubai opens. It is the tallest building on Earth
• Jan 5th: The Google Nexus One, Android based mobile phone, is released
• Jan 12th: An earthquake measuring 7.0 magitude hits Haiti killing over 230,000
• Feb 9th: Google Buzz launched
• Feb 12th: 2010 Winter Olympics begin in Vancouver and Whistler, Canada
• Mar: Pinterest launches
• Apr 3rd: The first iPad is released
• Apr 26th: Iron Man 2 released
• May 12th: Steam released for OS X
• May 23rd: The final episode of Lost airs
• May 24th: The final episode of 24 airs
• Jun 17th: OnLive launches
• Sep 24th: The Social Network is released
• Oct 6th: Instagram launches
• Oct 22nd: ISS becomes the longest continuous human occupation of space
• Nov 21st: Eurozone agrees on a financial rescue package for the Republic of Ireland
• Nov 28th: WikiLeaks releases over 250,000 American diplomatic cables
• Dec 18: The Arab Spring begins

2011

Global Population: 7 Billion

• Feb 26th: The Nintendo 3DS is released
• Mar 11th: A 9.1 magnitude earthquake and then tsunami hits the east coast of Japan killing 15,840 and leaving 3,926 missing
• Apr 21st: Thor is released
• Apr 29th: An estimated 2 billion people watch Prince William and Catherine Middleton get married
• May 1st: Osama Bin Laden is killed by American Special Forces
• Jun 28th: Google+ launches
• Jul 7th: The worlds first artificial organ transplant takes place
• Jul 19th: Captain America: The First Avenger is released
• Jul 21st: NASA’s space shuttle program is completed when the Space Shuttle Atlantis lands safely at the Kennedy Space Center
• Aug 31st: DC relaunches their entire comic book universe, dubbed ‘The New 52′
• Sep 17th: The Occupy Wall Street protests begin
• Oct 2nd: The first episode of Homeland airs
• Oct 5th: Steve Jobs passes away
• Nov 26th: Curiosity, NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory is launched
• Dec 15th: Google Buzz discontinued
• Dec 15th: The United States declares an end to the Iraq war

2012

Global Population: 7.07 Billion

• Jan 23rd: The EU adopts an embargo on Iran for the countries continued efforts with uranium
• Feb 6th: The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II
• Apr 11th: The Avengers (Avengers Assemble) is released
• Apr 12th: Facebook acquires Instagram
• Jun 6th: World IPv6 launch day
• Jun 24th: The last Pinta Island Tortoise, Lonsome George, dies at the Galapagos National Park. This makes the subspecies extinct
• Jul 4th: A new particle is discovered, with properties resembling that of the Higgs boson, at the Large Hadron Collider
• Jul 16th: The Dark Knight Rises is released
• Jul 27th: The London 2012 Summer Olympics
• Aug 6th: Curiosity successfully lands on Mars
• Aug 31st: The first bionic eye implantation takes place
• Sep 30th: The 24th season of The Simpsons begins
• Oct 4th: Facebook announces 1 Billion active users

And there you have it, pretty amazing how much has happened in the relatively short time that Facebook has existed.

That was AMAZING!! How often are we going to get watch something like that?! From the point the balloon and pod started ascending to the moment when Felix was stepping through the doorway my heart was in my mouth, but I couldn’t look away. Red Bull Stratos was must watch TV…on my laptop!

Huge congratulations have to go out to Felix Baumgartner, everyone at Red Bull, Joe Kittinger, Luke Aikins, Marle Hewett, Art Thompson, Mike Todd, Jonathan Clark and Andy Walshe. This was a culmination of a huge team effort and a single dream that brought together so many people across the world. Most were probably watching like my Mum through their fingers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7BFkOrlTVM&feature=plcp

This seemed like a real watershed moment for live broadcasting on the internet. Last I saw 6.5 million had simultaneously tuned into the YouTube live stream. I don’t know for certain but I’m pretty sure that is a new record. Update: Found out it was 8 million people and yep that is a new record.

Although it wasn’t completely smooth sailing on YouTube with many moments where I felt like this:

But even though I knew that some TV stations were carrying the live video, it just felt right to keep watching it online.

The fact that this was a live global audience suggests to me that we may well be seeing many more live broadcasts on this scale (perhaps not with people sky diving from 128,000 feet). Perhaps some studios may begin to use YouTube as a way to target a global audience rather than only allowing certain countries to watch videos (well I can dream can’t I?).

I hope that many people in the audience who may have been new to watching a broadcast quality show online will now explore the channels available on YouTube (Geek and Sundry, Nerdist, and The Verge are my favs).

Don’t be surprised as well if we start seeing even more brands look to boosting their own YouTube presence. For a long time companies have started up YouTube channels but not really taken full advantage. I would imagine this will change now.

Most of all I hope this has inspired the kids who watched the jump to go out and experiment with science, to make their own online video/blogs/etc, to be courageous, to not loose sight of their dreams and to work together with other kids to make stuff happen. It really was an incredibly inspirational moment.

2012 certainly has been a crazy ride!

This awesome gif was submitted to reddit by aertime.

Highlights video: