August 5th, 2010 by Wadds

Mucking about on the river

The Speed crew escaped London to spend a day on the river in Cambridge yesterday during which:

  • one of our number took the nautical fancy dress theme a little too far
  • we sneaked into a item that a BBC crew were filming for BBC Breakfast
  • we narrowly avoided a five-punt pile up as we navigated the Fen Causeway
  • but eventually, with the addition of paddles, we all got to grips with controlling a punt and managed to line up our flotilla of six punts under the bridge behind King’s College
  • spent a glorious afternoon enjoying the hospitality of the Granta, a very splendid river side pub

Company away days are variously billed as team building exercises or bonding sessions. But for us it was simply an opportunity to spend time together and kickback after working bloody hard during the first half of the year.

Thanks to Abbie and Sonia for first class organisation.

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August 2nd, 2010 by Wadds

Book review: Twitchhiker

The friendship and goodwill of strangers is a necessity for any traveller. Writers from Peter Mortimer to Michael Palin have all recorded its importance.

But relying entirely on Twitter users for your transport and lodgings is entirely novel. That’s what Paul Smith, perhaps better known as Twitchhiker, did last year. You can follow him on Twitter @twitchhiker.

Now he’s documented his 30-day journey in a new book of the same name.

We met very briefly at Tyneside Twestival in February 2009 shortly, as it turns out, after the fateful trip around Tesco in Gateshead, that provided the inspiration for his trip.

Twitchhiker’s goal was to travel to Campbell Island, near New Zealand, on the opposite corner of the world, using the goodwill of Twitter to propel him in his bid to raise cash for charity:water and prove that the  world isn’t full of “bastards and rapists”.

It makes for a great story.

In the book Twitchhiker takes you with him on his journey from its start point in Newcastle, to Amsterdam, Paris, New York, Washington and Chicago. The list goes on until Twitchhiker reaches New Zealand.

Each step of the way you are introduced to the new friends that he meets that help him along his way and provide hospitality.

In places it’s extraordinarily candid. Twitchhiker isn’t frightened of sharing his fears or his failings with his audience.

But it’s also really well written. I guarantee you won’t be able to put it down and that once you’ve finished it you’ll be reaching for a map or even Twitter to plan a journey of your own.

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July 25th, 2010 by Wadds

Engaging with Mad Men’s Don Draper ahead of Series 4 launch; but UK fans will need to wait

Series 4, the new season of Mad Men, the cult drama about life in a 1960s New York ad agency, premiers on US TV broadcast networks tonight.

There’s not a lot that a 50-year old creative agency could teach about social media you’d have thought. But you’d be wrong.

Characters from the show have been tweeting in the run up to the launch of the new series. Its a delightful social media execution that is completely on-message for Mad Men.

Here are a couple of tweets that I’ve exchanged with the show’s Don Draper and Peggy Olson.

Unfortunately the show’s promotional strategy doesn’t extend to its digital rights management. Anyone outside the US is blocked from viewing trailers for the new show via the Mad Men web site.

In the UK, Mad Men which won a BAFTA for best international show this year, is broadcast on BBC3, but there’s no news yet of when the new series will air.

Update: Thanks to CorpComm’s Helen Dunne for straightening me out this story. The Mad Men Twitter feeds are independent of the TV show and have been in existence for a couple of years. Peggy Olsen’s tweets won their author a Shorty award last year.

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February 3rd, 2010 by Wadds

Geek cufflinks

New cufflinks from Swagger & Swoon (@swaggerandswooon)

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January 10th, 2010 by Wadds

This Too Will Pass: Half time at St. James’ Park

North East photo blogger Charles Bell posted this snap of me on his This Too Will Pass photo blog after I joined him for my first trip to St. James’ Park to see Newcastle beat Middlesbrough at the end of last year. He even bought me the scarf as a present.

He also accompanied my daughter Freya and I for the Whitley Bay Boxing Day Dip and shot this wonderful series of photos.

Thanks Charlie!

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January 10th, 2010 by Wadds

Trendwatching on ten trends for 2010

trendwatching

Trendwatching on ten trends for 2010 (via James Gordon-MacIntosh at Seventy Seven).

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January 8th, 2010 by Wadds

Introducing the Grumpy Environmentalist

The Greenbang team has kindly indulged me with an occasional column called the Grumpy Environmentalist in which I plan to write about my family’s efforts to renovate our 300-year farmhouse in the Northumberland National Park around eco-principals.

Grumpy Environmentalist because two-years in we’re struggling to balance eco with archaeology, bats, heritage, planning and cost.

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January 8th, 2010 by Wadds

Crowdsourced ideas for a weekend in London

lottafizzgreenwellysGabbiCahaneearlcmccruddenbrossdowMarkPinsent

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January 7th, 2010 by Wadds

Instructables pallet sledge


Sledges have sold out across the UK. But you can make your own by following this ingenious Instructable (via Makezine).

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January 6th, 2010 by Wadds

Sky News on #arcticmyarse stunt in Trafalgar Square

Sky News’ David Williams has posted a Qik video of Speed staffer John Brown’s (@brownbare) lunchtime #arcticmyarse stunt.

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January 6th, 2010 by Wadds

@brownbare takes direct action with #arcticmyarse stunt in Trafalgar Square

It started as a discussion yesterday in the office about the UK’s over reaction to the recent snow flurries in the South East and the impending “arctic conditions”.

Today self-proclaimed attention seeker and Speed staffer John Brown (@brownbare) took direct action by sunbathing this lunchtime in Trafalgar Square.

He inevitably caught the attention of citizen journalists, bloggers and innocent passersby as well as the local Heritage Wardens. And the odd hack.

More images on my Flickr site.

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December 3rd, 2009 by Wadds

Speed blog community: Twitter as a consumer rights tool and digital insight on Katie and Pete

Here are two really cracking posts from the Speed blog network.

In a story that will bring a cheer to anyone that has tried to contest a parking fine Laurena launched a personal Twitter campaign against Lewisham Council. It was successful and her fine was overturned.

laurenaClare has an itch. She thinks the ongoing Katie versus Pete saga is an orchestrated campaign aimed at driving the profile and earning power of the tabloid duo. Now thanks to a planning exercise she has the evidence to support her claim: 1+1 equals a lot more than two.

clare

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November 30th, 2009 by Wadds

Brief encounter with lighting exhibit

The giant turntable at York’s Railway Museum is being illuminated until January by Brief Encounter, an experiential light project, created by KMA. The snap shows a silhouette of my daughter being projected across the first of 11-displays in the exhibit.

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November 9th, 2009 by Wadds

Watched the TV show, bought the Airfix model kit

I wonder how many people hunted down an Airfix Spitfire kit to build with their kids after being inspired by James May’s Toy Stories: Airfix.

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