Episode 6 – July 2010 - “Smartphone Suicide, Subconscious Salespeople, & The Importance of Networking Your Business” (17m 6s)

In this episode, I talk about smartphone suicide, how Google has now discontinued plans for both the Google Nexus Two, and even the current Nexus One. I’m also giving my take on the situation with Apple and the iPhone 4 amongst ‘Antenna-gate’; and I’m talking to Stefan Thomas from No Red Braces, who’s giving us an insight as to why all businesses, both micro and massive should be networking now more than ever

It’s 6 days to go until the iPhone 4 will be in my hands. I’ve been thinking today about how it will change my existing user experience, new features that I will start to use, how it will change or enhance the functions I already enjoy using the iPhone for. Just how different is it likely to be?

I suppose really, the first question would be, when are you getting yours? I’ve seen today that o2 have stated that only existing o2 customers will be able to buy the new iPhone 4 at launch, as they have priority, with new customers coming to o2 not being able to purchase until at least the end of July. That’s great news for me, as I’m an existing customer; hopefully it means that they WILL have some handsets in my local o2 store next Thursday, so I can walk away a very happy customer!

With all the new features that Apple have crammed into this new unit, what do you think you will use the most? Has it really enhanced what you already use it for? I know I for one am looking forward to the built in HD camcorder, with the ability to publish immediately to youtube; instant video blogging! It doesn’t get much more powerful than that in my opinion!

Taking photos on my existing iPhone has always been a drag, with there only being a 2MP camera on the 3G unit. Pics are ok, but any movement, or anything less than bright sunshine and they look hideous. a 5MP camera is a very welcome addition for me.

Facetime, the video calling functionality between iPhone 4-iPhone 4 calls, is an absolute revolution. The picture quality seems much higher than anything I’ve seen with other 3G phones offering similar functionality. Of course, this is only enabled via a wifi network, but I’m sure as the carriers progress, we’ll be able to see it appear on 3G signals in the future. (Eventually). Of course, this isn’t anything that I’m expecting to utilise all the time, just a nice feature for when the need/want arrives.

The battery. Oh….the battery. Yes I’ve had some very long love affairs with my power cable of recent. I’ve been using it quite a bit, so have often had to top it up whilst I’ve been working at my Mac. I’m told by a friend of mine who has a 3GS currently, that the battery was significantly better in that unit – plus now in the new iPhone 4, allegedly 40% increase in battery storage, I should have a very nice surprise by the time I come to get mine! Hopefully I won’t have to spend as much time plugged in as I have been so far. The phone, that is.

So what about you? How will this change things for you? Bring on your specifics!

Richard Heathcote, Voice Over Artist

**PRICING UPDATE** – o2 have now finally released all their pricing for the new unit, as of today at 14:15.

As any Apple follower will know by now, we have the imminent release (June 24th) of the much-anticipated iPhone 4, the fourth generation iPhone (not 4G as many people have been stating, as it still runs on 3G technology, carriers can’t currently handle 4G).

I, for those that know me, will know that I’ll without question be buying my iPhone4 on launch day (not that I’m counting down the days!) With the new hardware and software included in this new unit, it’s a phenomenal device. As Steve Jobs in his keynote speech said, this is the biggest leap in technology since the original iPhone.

However, I have a bit of a quibble. Apple today have released the price of the sim-free device, £499 for the 16GB and £599 for the 32GB version. That’s all fine, and it’s the pricing for people that want a sim-free unit to use on whatever network they want, especially if they’re already in a contract they can’t get out of.

I’m not one of these people. I’ve been a customer of o2 since the launch of the original iPhone. I’ve always had good service from them, and overall have no complaints. I’m one of those people that want the new iPhone as an upgrade unit, therefore I’ll just start a new 18 month contract with o2, and get the unit for a lower price as it’s part subsidised by the carrier. I remember when I had the new iPhone 3G, I had the free upgrade to the 8GB unit, or I could have paid for the 16GB model. I’m more than happy to pay for the new unit, given the amount of technology packed within it – the trouble is, the pricing hasn’t been released yet. How will I know what to do? Whether to change providers? To see what pricing all the networks are offering.

Back at the point of the 3GS release, all the figures I seem to remember were all released at the same time, giving people all the information, all the options available. I still don’t know how much I’m going to have to fork out on June 24th. I like to know these things in advance! Is it just all the carriers holding on seeing what the competition are going to offer it for?

Am I the only one that’s infuriated by this? Please say I’m not! Come on o2/Orange/Vodafone et al, give us a clue what the pricing will be so we’re all informed in good time!

Come on o2, your comments here would be much appreciated!

Richard Heathcote, Voice Over Artist

I’m fairly certain you can’t have escaped the news that Apple and Adobe are having a fairly big spat, over Apple’s refusal to incorporate Adobe’s Flash technology within their mobile devices, most notably the iPhone and new iPad, plus the iPod Touch. Currently, if you come across a Flash video on the iPhone or iPad, you’ll just get a little ‘can’t display this video’ icon where the video should be.

There’s lots of debate either side of this argument, a lot of it I barely understand. For the most part, I believe Apple refused it based on Flash’s processor needs, which are unrealistic in mobile devices, it’s just too hungry for processors and battery life etc. This is where things like HTML5 I imagine are improving things, making it a more even playing field when it comes to online video.

All that said, Adobe recently launched a campaign expressing how they feel. And here it is:

An Apple fan somewhere in the world has come back with their own rebuttal. Quite amusingly, this:

Nuff said!

Richard Heathcote, Voice Over Artist

Hopefully destined for a Sky TV channel, this is a TV promo that I recently voiced.

Richard Heathcote, Voice Over Artist

Right Click To Download Episode 3 – Feb 2010 - “Top Sales Tips, The iPad, & New Mobile Tech” (26m 24s)

This episode we’re talking to Gary Gorman, a sales expert from Paradigm Training, and getting his top 5 sales tips to make you more effective in your business. We’re also talking about the new revolutionary device from Apple, the iPad, and how it could influence the tech market. We’re also taking a look at the new mobile devices from Windows and Google. Will they be game changers and be true competition for the iPhone? You decide.

Richard Heathcote, Voice Over Artist

Well folks, the time has arrived, 2010 is now upon us. I for one will welcome this new year in gladly, as for me I think it’s going to be a year that will absolutely rock, work-wise. Things over the past year have been picking up very well, word has spread, and the marketing efforts both online and off are really beginning to pay off.

It’s just the most satisfying feeling when you can see the results happen in front of your eyes. Long hours have been spent travelling the country to various networking meetings, and online, using social media like Twitter, Facebook and the like; but you know what – it’s all been absolutely worth it. Even at the times when you don’t think it will, you’ll get that random enquiry in either over the phone or through Email. Of recent, I’ve even had some come in through Direct Messages on Twitter, from people wanting quotes for upcoming work. This kind of phenomenon 10 years ago was just unheard of.

We’ve moved into a much more interactive world, where questions and replies can happen virtually instantly. I had an enquiry two days ago on Twitter, and within a minute they had in their inbox all the information they required, with a rate card of my prices ready for their upcoming projects. I absolutely love this phenomenon, it just speeds the whole process up no end, and makes things move in an extraordinary fashion.

Online marketing has been the big thing for me in 2009, and I think it will only grow in 2010. It also makes me think, when it comes to return on investment in your time – where are you reaping the most rewards when it comes to your marketing efforts? Are you overlooking the power of what can happen in the online world? Are you giving it at least a try, to get your feet wet and see what it could lead to? I for one was sceptical in the early days, but am a complete convert for how powerful these tools are. They certainly shouldn’t be underestimated by any stretch.

Ultimately, you have to concentrate your efforts on what you feel is right, and what brings you the most reward. My top tip for the near year is to experiment with everything that is out there, as you never know how surprised you might be when finding where your next pay cheque is coming from. Always be open to new avenues of income, especially in the online world. You never know where it might lead…..

But most importantly, have a positive view on the upcoming year ahead, and do all you can to achieve your dreams whatever they may be. Bring on 2010, we’re ready for you….

Wherever you are in the world, whenever you watch the news nowadays, you’ll very rarely find an article that is uplifting, or just something that makes you think ‘whoah, that’s quite impressive’. Well, certainly I don’t anyway. That’s why generally speaking, I try not to watch the news that much anymore; it’s just far too depressing.

Not that I spend my entire life living on YouTube either, but more often than not, on there I regularly find some incredible videos of great human achievement, perseverance, and effort, that you just know a lot of work has gone into getting them where they were when they filmed it. So, on that note, here’s a small selection for now of videos I just like, for various reasons, of people with great talents and achievements.

I’ll be bringing more of these sorts of videos on a regular basis, as and when I find them, as I think even if they just simply bring a smile to your face, it’s done it’s job.

So, no matter where you are in the world, find something that uplifts you, and pass it on.

Last Friday was the global launch of Apple’s new operating system, ‘Snow Leopard’. This has already sparked controversy with the techie people I’ve been talking to. Responses like “Oh they’re just charging you for a service pack update” and “it’s not a full OS, it’s hardly an upgrade, but they charge you anyway”.

That’s the kind of response I’ve been hearing over the last week. Not from everyone, though, certainly not from people that actually know what this new release was all about.

For a start, Snow Leopard technically IS a whole new OS, as it can be installed on a Mac from fresh, not just upgrading from Leopard to Snow Leopard. What Apple have done, (from what I have read, and in my opinion) is exploiting the new technology that is around, and the new technology that they’ve invented to make it much better.

Leopard was already a fantastic OS that didn’t really need to be ‘fixed’ as such, as some techies have said that it’s just a “bug fix, and I didn’t think Macs needed bug fixes” (they said sarcastically.)

Snow Leopard has been totally reworked from the ground up, meaning that when you install it (through a regular upgrade, no wiping involved), instead of piling on lots more GB of information like many other OS’s, this actually gives you back around 7GB of hard disk space! (I’ve also known other people get more than that). To me, that is incredible for such a powerful operating system!

So, in my humble opinion, this isn’t a ‘fix’ as has been labelled, but an opportunity to install a much faster OS, with lots more features, that gives you back hard disk space which is all too important, because Apple have made use of new technology to make it happen. And would I pay £25 to have that? Yes I would, and yes I did!

I’ve been running it now since last Friday, and I have to say I’ve been exceptionally pleased with the new updates. My systems, a 2 year old iMac (white) and 1.5 year old MacBook Pro run even faster than before, (and MBP was running very quick anyway as earlier in the year it had a RAM upgrade to 4GB). With Snow Leopard, it’s turbo charged both my Macs even further, meaning productivity increases, programs load much quicker, and all in all, I think that’s a very good thing.

To anyone thinking about upgrading to Snow Leopard, just make sure you back up everything on your computer beforehand, as you can never be too careful, plus check your printers etc have the right drivers to operate as normal after the upgrade. All mine were perfectly fine but my sister’s printer, which is about 2 years old, doesn’t yet work under SL as HP haven’t released the update yet. (Although I think in HP’s case it has only affected a very small number of models). So if you have important things you need, and don’t want to wait until the manufacturer releases the driver update (which could be a month or so) then hold off installing until you know you’re ok.

Try Snow Leopard, I don’t think you’re going to be disappointed….

Podcast 2 – August 09 - “Time Lords, Averting Backup Disaster In Business, & Google Chrome – The OS Killer?” (13m 11s)

This episode we’re talking about being a Time Lord, how backups are vitally important in businesses, plus I’m talking to Gavin Moorhouse from Lucid Computer Solutions who’s going to be talking us through the best of the bunch for backups, and Google Chrome – is it going to be the OS killer?

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