via @smashingmag

It was looking at my iPhone that got me thinking, is the name of this device the biggest thing holding it back. Will Apple have to change the highly successful name one day to allow the “phone” to grow and to make consumers see this as more than a phone.

Yeah yeah, I know that might sound like a crazy statement. What is in a name? We all know how great this device is, I don’t need to “blah blah” on about it … so if you own one, can I ask do you just see this as your phone? or is it more than that?

The reason I ask this is because could the fact that the word ‘phone’ is in the title is the main reason some people find it hard to see it as anything more. We’ve all been mobile phone users for over a decade now at least, we’ve seen the evolution from crappy phones to mediocre phones to now phones that have a feature set similar to a personal computer.

There are people I know that are iPhone owners who often frustrate me with comments like ‘Oh I’m not paying $12.99 for that game, its just expensive‘ yet they will happily pay $59.00 for a similar game on another portable device like the Nintendo DS or PSP.

A game that I’ll use as an example is the (sort of) new racing game for the iPhone, Real Racing, developed by Melbourne based gaming company Firemint. This game that plays extremely well, has impressive graphics and that could easily be sold for five times the price on any stand alone portable gaming device is yours for the price of discounted b-grade Disney movie from JB Hifi. Yet … ‘this is to expensive’ for some.

The logic still baffles me, considering that with any iPhone game you’ve got the extra bonus that you’re able to purchase this game without leaving the house, have it with you anywhere you go without needing to take a cartridge or disc with you, receive updates and advancements to the game allowing the game to always stay ‘current’- yet it is still seen as a ‘questionable purchase’. This doesn’t even take into consideration the cheaper games that are a few dollars. Those few dollars some will happily throw to a busker on the street singing a terrible version of Cold Chisel’s – Khe Sanh, yet will take hours or days to think about spending that $2.49 on an app that developers spent weeks or months building so that you can use it anytime, anywhere as much as you like.

Does this mentality stem from our history with gaming on our phones? Are we still bitter about those terrible games we spent money on to play a crappy golf or Tetris game on our Nokia 6120 back in the early 2000′s? I know it’s hard to move on people, but I think we can now. I think we have to start seeing mobile games in a different light. It is no longer the fact that the games that are being developed are less than great and aren’t worth to be in the same price point as Nintendo DS or PSP games. Mr and Mrs iPhone consumer it is time  we got that idea out of our subconscious – this is not just a phone that can play games.

The fact is, everybody that has an iPhone will always say “Oh this is more than a phone, its got my email, my IM clients, my web browser, it’s camera … etc” … so why can’t it be also classed as serious portable gaming device too? Something that is seen as an equal and the price of the games are seen as equal too. Now Im not saying that EVERY game is super amazing, there are a lot of shit games (and I’ve purchased my fair share) but with the App Store only being around for a year so far we are still in early days and within those early days there have been many amazing games released amongst the hundreds of less than average ones.

So if you’re reading this and you’re offended that Im calling you cheap for not wanting to a) pay for any apps or b) not pay for apps over a certain price, then perhaps the problem isn’t mine and you should really ask yourself – what is the iPhone. A phone? or something more?

How can this mentality ever change?

Does this mean that in 12 months time when Apple are (hopefully) to release a new version of the phone that we will see an entire new name? It is a logistical marketing nightmare that it seems Apple have backed themselves into. Unlike the iPod that was ambiguous with its naming it had the freedom to evolve through different phases, what started off as a music player, then turned into a video/music/photo/gaming device and then also eventually evolved into a touch screen device with a whole range of new features. All still known as being part of the iPod family.  I think it is fair to say that to majority of the public out there, as it stands the iPhone will always be seen as simply a phone first and other devices second due to its name.

Just after the release of their 2001 record, Amnesiac, Radiohead performed this one off show in their hometown in the UK. The concert was recorded live and webcast via XFM Live. It is a beautifully constructed setlist, taking fans through their entire back catalogue with the ‘new’ songs of the time sitting perfectly next to the new renditions of the older work.

The artwork for the show was create to tie in with the name of the concert, played in a large open park in Oxford and also tied into Radiohead’s appearance on the TV show: South Park.

Download: Radiohead – Live In South Park Oxford July 7th. 2001

(This will only be available until for a month, so that is until  the 23.07.2009)

Using the web app @ twitterscribe I can back up old tweets to PDF.

I began to find that I was simply adding people that added me, take them for a test run and then decide to continue or not. I notice a lot of users having near on equal amounts to how many people follow them to how many they follow. I began to realise this wasn’t for me.

Looking at this it is an interesting statement on people using Twitter, it can be customised to be what YOU want YOUR Twitter to be. Over the weekend I caught up with some a few close friends I’ve known online for many years. One of them being the person that introduced me to Twitter. So it got me thinking, I started to use this just to follow the people I knew in real life or long time friends from different haunts from around the world, why have my twitter habits suddenly changed? Why did I feel the need to follow everybody that followed me?

I made the decision at that point, to drop some new and long term Twitter followers, it was a very hard decision to come to. These are people I added years ago and was just keeping as ‘followers’, sure I enjoyed reading the tweets but I would often be more interested in the updates from my well known close friends in my life.

Im really sorry, if you’re reading this, and you are one of those people I unfollowed. It’s not you, it’s me. This is a change for me, I’ve enjoyed your tweets, but now it’s time to move on for me. Find new people to follow, people outside of my hometown … I’ve begun to see life as something all about new experiences. This is a small step in not ‘holding’ onto things just for the sake of it.

Catch you on the twitters … maybe.

Would you like to know ‘the super magical awesome way’ how to gain 10 followers in less then a minute?

Simple, get mentioned on national radio. After a simple tweet reply to the lovely Rosie Beaton being read out on air across the nation … I had just over 10 followers add me within less then a minute. So there you have it, want the followers, get on the traditional forms of media … crazy huh? I should have pimped my twitter all those others times I was on there for Ozphoria (shameless pimp: @Ozphoria)

So big thanks to @SuperRequest for embracing the twitterverse and a big ‘HELLO’ to my new followers.

(PS – Please take this with some good humour and do not take this seriously as a way to ‘increase your followers’ … I’m so over reading those lists.)

Day 001 of Project 365

In 2008 my wife, Bree (aka Pants), undertook the rewarding project of taking “A photo a day“. The idea behind this is to document the year of your life, whether you were sick, at work, on holidays or just not in the mood to deal with other people – you still have to take that photo. As 2008 has now finished we both spent last night looking back at all the photo’s from the year, and it reminded us of some amazing times from the past 12 months.

Whether it was meeting Jimmy Chamberlin from the Smashing Pumpkins, flying to New Zealand for my cousins wedding or packing our belongings to move into our new house, this project gave us both an amazing way to remember everything we did this year.

So I’ve been inspired to document my year of 2009 . I’m undertaking the project myself (along with a few hundred others via Twitter/Flickr) … one day down, 364 to go.

(I’ll try to look a bit happier in the rest of the photos)