Owing to spam, this thread will now be closed down. If you came here from the web site, go back there, and search for "new mousehole" and follow the new link, please.

 I think The Mouse's original story has a link to Marti's summary of the economics.

In it he suggests he has good stats:

Look at the logs of any web site that runs advertising, and the rate of blocking. A 2001 survey showed a rate of 1%, and it hasn't moved. I once asked for anyone to post a rate of even 5% on any site, no matter how nerdy, and got nothing. Compared to the other problems of running a web site, ad blocking is noise. That offer stands. Show me any site with 5% blocking, even if it's patchouli-scented-dvorak-keyboard-review.com.

I'm amazed that almost no-one uses Ad blockers, Guy. Like you, I feel it's a waste of my time, my bandwidth, my electricity, and my disk space to d/l ads - I didn't ask for them, and as for any economic problems they might cause - well, that's THEIR problem, not mine.

But I mustard mitt that I assumed a healthy proportion of users did use them. Do we have stats?

M

Your piece on advertising

I hadn't thought about it for a PC, althjough now you mention it there is a degree.

BUT on a wireless connection wh=ere you *DO* pay per MB (or if not, you have a relatively small usage limit that gets full...) then it really, really matters.

Or if you are on a 'unlimitted' plan. then that advert is costing the mobile operator a lot of money to transmit.

Grisoft bugging about upgrades and the generally slow performance of AVG 8 free, made me dig out the AVG 7 free install file, which with updates is now working just fine without the nauseating nags. I only changed to 8 because Grisoft said they wouldn't be supporting 7 past mid 2008. Finding the v7 install file can be difficult though, with most links ending with v8

Not so fast, Sherriff...

Went to the race track. No sign of Lewisham Ilton in Docklands, but plenty of Boy Racers...

Is the new Celeron really speedy? Does it need a speed limit? Clamps?

Hello Mouse

I still think you should try out the IMS show. Not relating to mobile is their mistake, and things do change.

see my story for OhmyNews with more detail.

http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/ar...&no=381242&rel_no=1

Guy, I'm here today but not checking the web all that often.

Also here tomorrow afternoon, and in Albion soon after it closes around 4.

Head towards Hammersmith, cross the road at some point.

Nothing mobile here except the prizes. A Wii from IBM for example.

Snooping on your friends?

This little snippet made us giggle...
 

Which day you going, will?

MyNews India have now published my story.

http://www.mynews.in/fullstory.aspx?storyid=1351

First time I used their site so I failed to hide the html. Works ok though. They just got it up quickly. So there could be some feedback for an OMNI version in about ten days time. There could be other stories on related themes.

The mobile aspect is no less interesting because there is not much at the event.

Hello Hunky Mouse

Online Information is next week. And the famous IMS show, which is about tech stuff for librarians etc. I think you should be there because most of the kit assumes a central IT department and somebody should point out that most people have mobile devices and find information from all sorts of sources.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ah78wfp3rm6x_115g4km35

I am working on a Google doc to become a story for OhmyNews. Hope to find an email to invite you.

Anyone else interested please request

Will

Hi! Nice site!

+á+Â+á+Ã+à+Õ+à+Å+à+

Guy -

I created this when I worked at Alteon. It wasn't an advert and was never used publicly. I was merely fooling around with Photoshop and headlines with one of our engineers on a Friday evening. We had a good laugh about this and he asked me to send it to him. I did. And he sent it to everyone I knew. Selina had a fit and scolded me (I was lucky to retain my job as I'm not that employable). We also received LOTS of accolates from a wide range of breastfeeding groups who applauded our beatiful depiction of what is a natural activity. Needless to say....i still get in trouble for this to this day. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED. So now you know. Thanks for getting me in trouble ALL over again :) dc

Edited by author 09-26-2007 01:24 PM

OK, OK, that's what the full advert looks like...

Now go back, and read the story again!

Full size advert is here [sigh]

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 :

warning fair, this may be quoted

Oh, and the lynch mob. This is pure ego-pumping on my part, but heck, it's my blog:

http://www.newswireless.net/index.cfm/article/3559

the heading 'news' still appears, but it may be a blog.

Nothing against a blog of course. But what about the claims for proper journalism that sometimes appear in print?

------------------------

hello mouse

are you back from holiday?

So the question is, will the Albion still be there in December?

Albion, towards Hammersmith opposite side of road from Olympia

Further to phone call, a Google doc exists. I may publish it later when there is more content. If so I will put a link here. Mouse and Guy invited to edit. I am still reading "Everything is Miscellaneous" and may show a guide or summary.

I think the Thursday could be the best day for the IMS / Online Info show. Blogging is added on to the end of the agenda and by then the blogs will have revealed what went on at the opening part of the conference, including keynote.

http://www.online-information.co.uk/online07/conference.html

Suggestion for proper journalists. People from Information World Review concentrate on the IMS, the techie bit at the back, and people from IT Week visit the content stands.

http://blog.iwr.co.uk/

Mouse on holiday!

However, he should be around Wednesday, at the Great British Beer Festival. If you come, ring me on my mobile once you get to Earls Court, and we'll hook up!

07971 16 1234

Just seen a copy of Personal Computer World. The view from Guy Kewney is much the same as in IT Week. When was the world of user generated content agreed to be a nightmare? Too many assumptions in my opinion.

Could it be that the knowledge of an expert such as Guy is recognised as something, while the outcome of instant discussion is something else? By the way, will the Mouse join in soon or else I shall just rave on by myself.

A printed version of Information World Review has arrived, dated for July and August. The opinions are a bit exetreme in my own view. Web 2.0 is linked with the words "wicked" and "culture killer". That is just the splash on the cover. The review of the book "The Cult of the Amateur" by Andrew Keen is headlined "The monkey cult destroying the temple of knowledge". It opens by comparing the web to "infinite monkeys ....perpetuating the cycle of misinformation and ignorance". The recent views in IT Week from Guy Kewney seem fair and balanced by comparison.

In an interview with Mark Chillingworth, Andrew Keen said "We need to re-install a principle of authority. The mainstream media and experts can civilise the web."

Strangely the same Mark Chillingworth writes an editorial about a recent discussion panel on Web 2.0. "My hat goes off to the information professionals....who put their hands in the air and admitted they didn't fully understand the technology and the issues it presented to their working lives."

So what sort of authority do they have? There could be some sort of dialogue with the people who have been using the web in ways now described as Web 2 or whatever.

I am not sure who finds this topic. There seem to several routes from the Newswireless pages. So here is a link to my own blog, which may be more likely to be updated-

http://www.learn9.net

I am beginning to think about the Information Management Show again. The Mouse missed it last time. It is alongside Online Information. Maybe Guy should go and look at the information issues.

Recent comment in IT Week-"UGC makes these people think they have a point worth making and allows them to make it. This is a recipe for mob rule, not intelligent consensus." There are other bits I could have selected from a finely balanced piece but someone put a headline on it - "Warning: user-generated sites may contain nuts. Real news and informed opinion are being drowned out by conspiracy-fuelled drivel."

http://www.itweek.co.uk/itweek/comment/219...ser-generated-sites

Of course this is not a reference to the contribution made by the public to NewsWireless. But it is a similar line of argument to some statements by publishers of academic journals about the stuff on the web, even the free versions of papers that have yet to be officially published.

However there are signs of a change in academic thinking. The Guardian reported Dr Timo Hannay, director of web publishing at Nature Publishing Group, which runs Nature Network, as saying-

"We are increasingly seeing the online world with its informal rapid communications complement the slower, more formal communications of academic journals. There should be a way of measuring the impact of a scientist who posts comments on a site like Nature Network. These could be added to their publishing record for the research assessment exercise [in which every active researcher in every university in the UK is assessed by panels of other academics]. I think the funding bodies will see that these contributions add to the scientific knowledge base."

So somewhere around the show there will be a discussion about knowledge and authority for news and journals.

There is usually very little about mobile devices or e-paper. But this is a mistake.

http://www.ims-show.co.uk/
http://www.online-information.co.uk/

Hi
You are The Best!!!
G'night

Hellohsd - this is just a testing, don't worry about it

All these testers, one, two, three.

I don't mind tester three. I think tester two is OK. But I'm a bit anxious about testerone...

Helloaho - this is just a testing, don't worry about it

I haven't gotten much done these days. So it goes. What can I say? I've just been letting everything pass me by. Basically not much going on lately, but it's not important. I've basically been doing nothing worth mentioning.

Hellojvv - this is just a testing, don't worry about it

What about Contact Joost?

Will, give us a call! I'll try to catch up...

Anybody would think we were as hopeless as a PR agency at keeping track of our messages. Talking of which:

Joost for foon?

I've been trying to find out about Joost with a singular lack of success.

Is it a "stealth launch" do you think?
:-)

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gosh, missed all these. Sorry. I'll go wake up the Mouse...
-Guy

Well there were a few of us at the Albion but no sign of the mouse so things continue online. I thought BETT was an excellent show, a rare chance to see computing in a full scope. I have done a report for OhmyNews

http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/ar...?no=340214&rel_no=1

Not much sign of wifi. Handhelds were mostly to vote about issues defined on enormous whiteboards. Leaving the learner alone to wander about with unlimited web access is not the current aim of educational professionals, it seems.

Maybe someone should go next year to check out mobility and paper-like display. As with the Online Information show this stuff will fit in eventually.

Please post here if you would like invite to edit doc in previous message.

I have done a Google doc as a sort of agenda or alternative format for people who can't be there.

http://docs.google.com/View?docid=ah78wfp3rm6x_16dxtgfm

Don't suppose the Mouse will be at BETT but some form of link may be added in future to whatever turns up.

The Acrobat User Forum is more or less moribund but we plan to have an informal meeting at the Albion on Jan 11 around 6 after BETT at Olympia as PDF may be part of the show and one of us is showing off video anyway.

http://www.acrobat-services.co.uk/auf/#albion

There may be more detail later

The Mouse tried to buy us all a drink some time ago. This could be another chance if he is anywhere nearby.

Meanwhile Adobe announce Mars, apparently an XML version of PDF. This is more in line with where the AUF discussion was going some time ago.

Still a need for devices and display on screens of some kind so links are welcome if you can't be there.

I have done a draft for next year

http://docs.google.com/View?docid=ah78wfp3rm6x_14hf2vnh

Ohmynews is for citizen reporters, really anyone with news or an opinion. Not sure if the Mouse is paid full time.

So far the idea of looking at London shows in reverse order for 2007 is making some sense so don't worry about any deadlines at all.

Basically, the year starts from a sound base.

I've been out. I'll get the Mouse onto it, now I'm back!
:-)

The OhmyNews story on Online Information is now published

http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/ar...&no=332841&rel_no=1

There is a bit about IMS

I left a link in to newswireless.net as a placeholder for the Mouse to add something to the Google doc. For some reason the OhmyNews editors have left this bit in.

Something better should happen before next year. There is a link with mobile devices and better screens. The Online Information crowd are moving on from books and journals but this has taken a surprising length of time.

Oh dear, trouble with the boss.

I have done a report for OhmyNews, draft at
http://docs.google.com/View?docid=ah78wfp3rm6x_10cm3tvn

There is an invite on the way so you could edit the Google doc
I will probably send a version to OhmyNews Monday evening

almost nothing at the show about mobile devices and only one mention of e-paper

so there is a lot to add

Will

PS feel free to use any of the report if it fits somewhere

Edited by author 12-01-2006 07:08 AM
I was planning on going. The Boss said he'd go, because it was co-located with IMS Forum. Then he asked me to go. Then I checked and discovered the Sad Truth.

If it isn't wireless, I tend to drop out. Was The Boss pleased?

Apparently, I did the wrong thing!

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Mouse,

This is really a technology bit for a content show.

See IWR blog at
http://blog.iwr.co.uk/2006/11/are_you_going_t.html

Any news on e-paper? Most of these people are still putting most of their trust in books. That is my assumption anyway. Things may be changing.

It will be interesting what technology turns up as the content is high level. Stanford are moving journals onto mobiles or something like that. I have got as close as Easy Cafe on High Street Kensington. Maybe more later.

I went on google specifically looking for a page with a forum on verizon wireless broadband experiences to tell you all THEY'RE REALLY PISSING ME OFF haha. I signed up a very long time ago and still have not received service. Ok, I've spent too much time on this and must go to work. If you are a working professional, Go with Cingular.

International sniggering happens all the time. Guy - you and I are among the last hacks who remember the amalgamation of GEC and Plessey, under the name GPT. Apparently French schoolboys were doubled up in mirth over a company called J'ai pete (acute accent) which translates as 'I've farted'.
Chris

Looking back on this Acrobat Connect discussion I think Guy is getting close to making the Adobe point for them. Unless I have got this wrong, video at both ends will make it clear when an insult is a joke and so on. So adding Connect to commenting in Acrobat would definitely be an advantage.

But why has video conferencing not been taken up that widely? Is it just expense? Maybe people don't like communication in real time. The ancient spirit of the bulletin board was based on editing text over as long a period of time as felt comfortable. And still is, of course.

Much collaboration based on text is cheap or free. Google docs for example. So although there will be a free offer on Acrobat Connect for a while, I don't think it will be used that much.

Frankly? I don't think there's anybody there.

It's getting silly.

---

You still think you can make those pings work, huh?

Smell the coffee, sniff sniff

I'm still waiting, Technorati...

Re Thomas Geitner as CTO of Vodaphone .. it was announced back in September that Steve Pusey (formerly head of EMEA at Nortel) was getting the CTO role.

So I don't know exactly how this firing worked.

Vroom, vroom!

Can it really be true that Vodafone top execs are losing their dual Aston perqs?

And what is all this "pasta" fetish at Vodafone? And Carphone Warehouse?

I'm sorry if you felt upset.

I don't like the therms of this discussion: "In a non-Dilbert world, of course, the bit where Scott read my piece is the point where his PR company would have phoned me and said: "Have you actually used Connect? Would you like to?" and we would get on with our lives. (I wonder whether Scott simply can't believe that the phone number at the bottom of this page will ring if he dials it...?)"

Sorry to be so late arriving: been interviewed by Aljazeera about Google vs YouTube...

:-)

Yeah, wireless, radio, stuff. I was at Churchwood Valley if you want to find it on the map. It really is a black hole, but even so I would not be surprised to find that the local radio station can be heard there. The thing is, how would I know, without the Internet to point me at it?

Comments in PDFs - yes, it irritates me too. Frankly, I'd want them to not only permit them, but archive them centrally. Why not? I'm suggesting just such a mechanism for Book Bank when that gets going, so as to keep track of marginal notes made in e-books...

Interested in recent post about Acrobat Connect. I have linked here from a page complaining about the lack of chances to comment.

http://weblogs.macromedia.com/sfegette/arc...whatpc_on_acrob.cfm

My question is whatever happened to PDF as a comment mechanism? Adobe seem to have left LiveCycle as a forbiddingly expensive server option for those who like security and signatures. 'Acrobat Connect' may confuse some people. This is a Flash future. I liked all the comment potential in Acrobat but I fear it will not be promoted even for those who can afford it. How many people who paid for Acrobat 7 realise they could enable comments in Reader? My guess is about 7%.

By the way, Guy, have you heard of radio? Recent PCW report on your holiday implied you had no way to check a weather forecast deprived of the web. Not sure where you were but Radio Devon has pretty good coverage. Do drop by Life Bytes in Exeter, Sidwell Street opposite the Odeon. Someone would guess the weather for you even if you are taking a week offscreen.

Lame, because in the UK they will tell you 2GB, 5GB, 10GB, etc. If it's 5GB, state it. I would definitely argue away the $175 early termination, and threaten small claims if they wouldn't budge.

General CashMyCzech

Remember the Goon Show and the spoof Taiwanese general? Ah well, perhaps you don't. But Cringeley has discovered an equally stupid scam - by Verizon...

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Edited by author 09-05-2006 04:12 PM

Ha. That's not my style.

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I'm a Hunky Mouse. Not a titmouse!

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Edited by author 09-05-2006 03:59 PM

Viral marketing?

This image was generated (an experiment) bycrustydemons and the text reads: Hunkymouse!

Anyway, to the matter in hand: do you fancy going to Cannes?

Is it hunky time?

We're hoping that we can discuss the weirdnesses of the mobile and wireless industry, here. Sorry about the spam... no doubt the spammers will find this too, but hopefully, not for a while.