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- N97 gets touch screen - but here are 10 reasons the iPhone already sucks compared with the N95Yesterday
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Nokia have unveiled the N97 and Robert Scoble makes a compelling case for its superiority over the iPhone. Curiously, many of his points mirror ones I had prepared in a blog post comparing the iPhone to the N95, giving me the perfect excuse to finally publish it.
The iPhone is overrated. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Yes, it’s got great usability, but for a journalist it just doesn’t compete. And here are 10 reasons why:
- A crappy camera. 2 megapixels is terrible - the N95 has 5. Not to mention auto-focus, flash, etc. etc.
- No video camera. Inexcusable in the YouTube age. Yes there are workarounds but…
- You have to jailbreak the iPhone to use streaming services like Qik. Installing Qik (or Bambuser, or Shozu) on the N95 is pretty straightforward. The fact you have to jailbreak the iPhone at all says a lot about Apple’s attitude. Nokia’s Symbian operating system is open.
- You can’t save webpages. Once again, you can on the N95.
- No alternative browser. Opera Mini is great on the N95.
- Battery power. You can at least have a spare battery for the N95.
- No recording of audio. You can on an N95, and email it to Posterous for instant podcast.
- Walled garden for apps. Apps on the N95? Get t
- 3 wishes for social media in 2009Yesterday
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This was published as a guest post on Shane Richmond’s Daily Telegraph Technology blog:
Media organisations are still barely getting their heads around social media. They look at a conversation and see ‘vox pops’; they look at a community and see a market. They ask for ‘Your pictures’ and then complain when they get 1000 images of a mild snowfall.
They ghettoise viewers into 60 second slots at the end of the news bulletin, or ‘Have Your Say’ sections on the website. They can see the use of blogs and Twitter when they can’t access a disaster area and are desperate for news, but the rest of the time complain that they’re ‘only for geeks’ or ‘full of rumour’. And they advertise, when they should socialise.
So my first wish for 2009 is that media organisations stop complaining and start building the frameworks for a genuine participatory media. If they want good quality blogs, then show people how to blog. If they want to be able to spot breaking news, then show people how to Twitter. If they want user generated content then provide training.
The rewards are clear: if you teach a man to fish, they not only eat for a lifetime, but you’ve just created a market for fishing rods, bait and angling magazines. When the story breaks, they come to you. And if news organisations are hoping to replace the thou
- Blogging journalists survey - the podcastsYesterday
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I’ve produced a series of 5 podcasts talking about the results of my survey into blogging journalists. You can hear the first 3 on the European Journalism Centre’s website (embedded in the outside column) - the final 2 are set to go live in the following weeks.
Related posts:
- Blogging journalists: survey results pt.1: context and methodology Back in June I distributed an online survey to find...
- Blogging journalists pt 6: Blogging and the audience relationship: “The best stories are a result of incredible conversations” The 6th part of the results of my survey of blogging...
- Journalist, search engine optimise thyselfDecember 2
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Successful journalists not only know where to find the great stories - but how to make great stories find them. They know lots of people, and know the right people; they hang out in the right places, and they make themselves available.
On the internet you’d call it search engine optimisation (SEO), but while many news organisations now focus on optimising stories for search engines, most journalists fail to realise they should also be search engine optimising themselves.
A search engine optimised journalist is findable, connected, and visible. Your sources and potential sources are moving online - and what’s the first thing they do when they want to connect with someone about a particular issue they feel is becoming important? Google it. Or failing that, they go to their social networks.
If you don’t have a strong presence on either, you’re missing out.
Related posts:
- Search engine for your site - or sites There’s an article on sister blog Web and New Media...
- My new search engine friendly URL As if to make a point about writing for the...
- Is networked journalism more passive?December 1
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Last week I spoke at the BBC College of Journalism’s Future of Journalism conference about the future newsroom, and the News Diamond specifically. Chair Louise Minchin asked the following question: did these new production processes mean journalists would become more passive?
It is a great question. On the surface that’s what would appear to be happening: in posting alerts and blog drafts you are inviting the input of the audience and therefore being more reactive.
But that’s only half the story. Journalists who grapple with social media have to be more active in many other ways: digging up stories and leads remains important but thinking you have the definitive version is increasingly problematic.
Posting Twitter alerts and blog drafts rather than just a finished ‘package’ means a little more work, a little less passivity. The payback is feedback.
Ultimately the production team has become increasingly porous, involving experts, witnesses, accidental contributors, and anyone else who can add something valuable (what I’ve