I like to think that I am reasonably immune to advertising, but the advertisers are getting cleverer in a way that may breach my defences. As I was having a quick peruse of Facebook over lunchtime I noticed an advert inviting me to sign up with a legal recruitment agency that specifically mentioned the firm that I currently work for. I believe this is an example of "ad-tech", the method by which internet sites are able to track all sorts of information about, your likes and dislikes, what you talk about with your contacts and then use that information to tailor advertising to you every time you are on their site. An example of this would be if someone announced they were engaged then they would start to see adverts for wedding planners.
This sort of thing has been going on for a while. If you buy a book through Amazon or Waterstones they then offer you books of a similar genre on subsequent visits to the site. That is probably acceptable to most people, indeed if you have a specialist area of interest then it is quite helpful. However, there is surely a line to be drawn and people will need to be careful about what they say and look at on sites such as Facebook. This does also beg a wider question of what else the social media sites will do with this information they have on you.
So yet another reason for the social media sceptics to steer clear of these sites. I remain a fan - I think these sites are a great way of keeping in touch with friends and contacts and also of staying up to date with the news - but you do need to be careful how you use them.
Friday, 22 July 2011
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
Clegg's tragedy
Mr Clegg must be kicking himself. Just imagine the field day he would be having if he was in opposition at the moment. On this issue the Lib Dems could genuinely claim to hold the high ground, given that both Labour and the Conservatives have paid homage to the court of Murdoch for years and they have not. All the plaudits which are now going to Ed Miliband could well have gone to Clegg. Just think how the Lib Dem opposition to the Iraq war gave them a real voice and a bounce in the polls.
Instead Mr Clegg is forced to defend the Prime Minister for something he and many others advised him against him doing - hiring Andy Coulson. Indeed all of the Lib Dem members of the government must feel in a pretty difficult position at the moment. It is interesting how Vince Cable has kept reasonably quiet - he must secretly be pleased with the lessening of Mr Murdoch's influence.
The tragedy for Clegg and the Lib Dems is that this is the type of situation where they would be at their most effective. Although, Mr Clegg is probably enjoying the fact that Mr Cameron is feeling the heat for once. For a lot of his time as Deputy Prime Minister, he has been taking the heat for the whole government, leaving Mr Cameron sitting pretty. That said, Mr Clegg must be hugely frustrated that he has to sit on his hands on this issue and remain loyal to his master.
Instead Mr Clegg is forced to defend the Prime Minister for something he and many others advised him against him doing - hiring Andy Coulson. Indeed all of the Lib Dem members of the government must feel in a pretty difficult position at the moment. It is interesting how Vince Cable has kept reasonably quiet - he must secretly be pleased with the lessening of Mr Murdoch's influence.
The tragedy for Clegg and the Lib Dems is that this is the type of situation where they would be at their most effective. Although, Mr Clegg is probably enjoying the fact that Mr Cameron is feeling the heat for once. For a lot of his time as Deputy Prime Minister, he has been taking the heat for the whole government, leaving Mr Cameron sitting pretty. That said, Mr Clegg must be hugely frustrated that he has to sit on his hands on this issue and remain loyal to his master.
Friday, 15 July 2011
Welcome India!
On the day that India start their tour of England with a warm up match against Somerset, some words of welcome to our friends from south Asia. I am sure cricket fans up and down the land are as excited as I am about seeing the glittering array of talent that the Indians possess in their squad take on the Ashes winning England side. There could be some great moments in the upcoming series, especially with the little master Sachin Tendulkar poised on 99 international 100s (51 test centuries and 48 one day centuries). Surely no England fan would begrudge Tendulkar number 100 at Lord's next week, a ground on which he has yet to score to Test century.
India has a population approaching 1.2 billion. You can bet that a large proportion of its people will be eagerly following the series. In fact as cricket is practically a religion for many Indians, they may be talking of little else over the next few weeks. The passion of the Indian fans has long impressed me and I am sure those lucky enough to get tickets to the games will bring great colour and lots of noise to the occasion.
As for my predictions, I think England will win the Test series 2-1 and India will win the one day series 4-1. I would back India to win the Twenty20 game as well.
India has a population approaching 1.2 billion. You can bet that a large proportion of its people will be eagerly following the series. In fact as cricket is practically a religion for many Indians, they may be talking of little else over the next few weeks. The passion of the Indian fans has long impressed me and I am sure those lucky enough to get tickets to the games will bring great colour and lots of noise to the occasion.
As for my predictions, I think England will win the Test series 2-1 and India will win the one day series 4-1. I would back India to win the Twenty20 game as well.
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
Take care of the pennies ...
We all know the expression "take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves". Given the inflation we are experiencing at the moment the expression is perhaps not as true as it once was. However, I was thinking the other day (actually when I was being handed a pocket full of coppers in a shop that had run out of five and ten pence pieces) what would happen if everyone raided their small change drawer at home, collected it all up and deposited it at their bank.
If every person in the UK were to deposit just £1 that would equate to roughly £60 million. I am no economist, but surely it is better to have that money sloshing round in the financial system rather than gathering dust at home. I doubt that you would ever hear a Chancellor of the Exchequer stand at the dispatch box and encourage the nation to dig out all its small change - you can picture the derision from the opposition benches and imagine the "penny pinching chancellor" headlines - but it would surely make a difference.
Recently I have also come across the charity Pennies (www.pennies.org.uk), which allows shoppers to donate a few pennies to charity when they make payments with debit or credit cards. Given the number of card transactions that go through every day, the pounds certainly would take care of themselves if everyone were to support this initiative.
If every person in the UK were to deposit just £1 that would equate to roughly £60 million. I am no economist, but surely it is better to have that money sloshing round in the financial system rather than gathering dust at home. I doubt that you would ever hear a Chancellor of the Exchequer stand at the dispatch box and encourage the nation to dig out all its small change - you can picture the derision from the opposition benches and imagine the "penny pinching chancellor" headlines - but it would surely make a difference.
Recently I have also come across the charity Pennies (www.pennies.org.uk), which allows shoppers to donate a few pennies to charity when they make payments with debit or credit cards. Given the number of card transactions that go through every day, the pounds certainly would take care of themselves if everyone were to support this initiative.
Thursday, 7 July 2011
Historians of the future
I find myself wondering what it will be like to be a historian in the future. If your period of interest is say the 2000s or the 2010s then, thanks to the internet, you are going to have more sources than you would ever be able to get through in a lifetime. Say for example you were covering the current phone hacking scandal there would be reams of material to read through. I guess future historians will have to become even more specialist in a particular area and selective in what they chose to read - otherwise they will have no hope of covering all the sources.
Journalists have to spend large amounts of time reading what people are saying over the internet, especially since the creation of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. There is apparently a constant supply of young budding journalists keen to do this work for not much pay as a means of getting a foot in the door of the profession. A historian of the future covering events in the internet age will surely need a similar army of researchers to help him/her wade through the material? Whether he/she would have a similar number of youngster willing to work for low pay to help out is another question.
There is no doubt that historians of the future will also have to have excellent IT skills. The ability to focus in on the relevant sources will be particularly important given the vast number out there. I am certainly no technology expert but I would imagine that, for this reason, search engines will have to become ever more sophisticated so as filter out material that is not relevant.
Whilst feeling a little sorry for future historians because of the amount of material they will have to work through, there will certainly be no shortage of interesting events and issues for them to write about!
Journalists have to spend large amounts of time reading what people are saying over the internet, especially since the creation of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. There is apparently a constant supply of young budding journalists keen to do this work for not much pay as a means of getting a foot in the door of the profession. A historian of the future covering events in the internet age will surely need a similar army of researchers to help him/her wade through the material? Whether he/she would have a similar number of youngster willing to work for low pay to help out is another question.
There is no doubt that historians of the future will also have to have excellent IT skills. The ability to focus in on the relevant sources will be particularly important given the vast number out there. I am certainly no technology expert but I would imagine that, for this reason, search engines will have to become ever more sophisticated so as filter out material that is not relevant.
Whilst feeling a little sorry for future historians because of the amount of material they will have to work through, there will certainly be no shortage of interesting events and issues for them to write about!
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