June 8, 2010 Posted by alan jones

“It’s like GPS for people who can’t drive” – Bedroomphilosopher.com

I can count on two hands the number of times I’ve liked an advertisement so much I’ve embedded it in a blog post. And since I practically lost my thumb in that regrettable Masterchef-worship incident, that leaves only 9.5 things I can count on two hands. So take it from me: this ad from Melbourne public transport agency Metlink, artist Justin Heazlewood and  agency Currie Communications is... read more

November 18, 2009 Posted by alan jones

I don’t want more iPhone apps, I want better iPhone apps

Fred Wilson writes in The Power of Instant Approval that Apple is risking its lead in the smartphone app market by forcing app developers to wait on approval from Apple before publishing their apps on iTunes Store. It’s a growing industry concern — does Apple risk being overtaken by competitors? I think Apple understands the consumer relationship better than any competitor in the smartphone market... read more

July 1, 2009 Posted by alan jones

How the iPhone changed my life

As I said in the presentation, when I say “changed my life” I’m not talking about any single seismic change, but a significant change in my life brought about by dozens of small, incremental, important improvements in my day. Here’s a few examples of what I... read more

June 24, 2009 Posted by alan jones

Presentation: how the iPhone changed my life

I’ll be presenting this short talk at an Optus event, hAPPlication, in Sydney, all about launching the iPhone GS and iPhone 3.0 to Optus customers and press. It’s 2:48am now and the event is happening this evening (oh my! I must go get some sleep now) but here’s the presentation… How the iPhone Changed My Life View more PDF documents from Alan Jones. And here’s the... read more

March 19, 2009 Posted by alan jones

Mouth off: fun for kids whose parents have an iPhone

In these busy times, most parents of young children spend at least some of the time wishing they could give their kid something that would keep them amused in those interstitial periods waiting to be seen at the doctor’s surgery, waiting for a train or in the car. Problem is, there’s guilt attached to the purchase of a Nintendo DS. So I think there’s a soon-to-boom market for... read more

March 17, 2009 Posted by alan jones

iTunes 8.1 update fulfills my desire for “social music”

“With iTunes DJ, iPhone users that have Apple’s Remote application installed can request songs to be played. Users can also vote to control when songs are played. The DJ feature even has its own preferences, so you can send a welcome message to users and control whether voting is turned on or off. You can also require users to type in a password to access iTunes DJ’s features.”... read more

November 17, 2008 Posted by alan jones

iPhone apps that help me mock Blackberry users

  So far I haven’t written much about iPhone apps, considering they’ve changed my life, and all. They help me get more productive, stay organised, record thoughts, check directions, split bills, mock Blackberry users and fill in the many interstitial moments of nothingness in my day that I should really spend focusing on remaining in the present, observing my ahamkara… rather than... read more

November 10, 2008 Posted by alan jones

HTC’s Android handset: the little droid that can’t

I’ve got no mobile clients at the moment but I’m a mobile geek so I’ve been watching with great interest to see what the market makes of the first handset to ship with Google’s Android mobile OS. I’m not surprised that it’s gotten a rave review by people who like to overclock their PC and a ho-hum review from people who just want something as easy to use as the iPhone... read more

September 4, 2008 Posted by alan

iPhone App-onomics and prospecting for gold

Thirty minutes after installing 2.01 on my iPhone 2G I had purchased and downloaded 21 new iPhone apps. The whole experience – from finding to buying to downloading and installing – was so quick and easy that my credit card barely warmed up as the money drained away. I had to force myself to stop before I blew it. It was clear there was going to be quite a market for iPhone apps. Later, I was... read more

August 27, 2008 Posted by alan

Juley* I’m back!

*”Juley” means “hello” in Tibetan. I was on a speaker panel at Mobile Feast today so I suppose I can’t pretend to be in the Himalayas any longer! Yes, I’m back, though it took me a week to complete triage on 1900+ unread emails and deal with a pile of bills and other snail mail. I’m still in the process of uploading some 8Gb of photos I took while in the... read more