quicklink | http://www.krcs.co.uk

due to my good friends at krcs nottingham i managed to pick up the 4th generation ipod touch when it was released a few months back (feels like a few months anyway) and i wanted to do a blog post about how i'm getting on with it.

firstly let just tell you what i came to find about krcs.  they are a family run business in the victoria centre in nottingham - the only place i know that is an apple reseller in the city (which is a bit weird - guess they do not have enough of a footfall to have a store here - they do in brum?) - the store has been put together in the same style as a normal apple location with everything put in rows and some tasty bits of kit are on display.  i've had the pleasure to get to know the staff and i'm not kissing ass here the staff have been awesome, in fact they have really been on the ball when i need kit and equipment.

right, so to the ipod touch.

when i bought the tough for just over £250 i had been saving up my cash for well over a month - when your selfemployed/employed purchasing things like an iphone4 or smartphone are quite a big deal and can mean a couple weeks month or a chunk of your monthly wage.  as i'm effectively unemployed getting the iphone4 was never going to happen - plus i really do not want anything that has to have a contract.   not that i could get anything with a contract anyway because i'm effectively off the grid right now.

step in the ipod touch 4th generation with a fairly decent front and back camera, wifi, ability for me to do my audioboo and no contract or monthly fees to worry about.  yes, using this with a three mifi device gives me pretty much all the features of having a contract iphone4 - even down to making calls by using skype and other calling tools.  

for day to day wear and tear i have to say it has been fantastic.  it's has a very robust build quality to it and i find the battery life amazing now that apple has the fantastic a4 chip at the helm.  can you imagine what they might do with that chip in years to come.  i can definitely see a fusion device between tablet and macbook air with multiple a4 chips or even a laptop with an a4 chip onboard too that will give you access to existing apps in the app store but running on your hybrid machine.  a fantastic future of applications ahead.

after selling my iphone 3g after nearly eighteen months of service that was getting a bit slow and had a few logic boards replaced in that time.  the ipod touch latest generation feels like a device they have always been trying to build.  i think they have absolutely cracked it with the ipod touch.  battery consumption is optimized, the retina display is simply stunning and i've had no problems with the audio interviews i have done with it.  that said, i think the iphone4 must have a better microphone because i'm not totally sold on the quality of the itouch here and my xlr converters no longer seem to work which is a bit of a shame ;(

the three mifi and the ipod touch are THE perfect combination for each other.  a one click on with the mifi and you have a wireless network between the mifi and the ipod touch.  your ready to do everything you would as if you were on a fixed wifi.  this opens up other areas that normally operation of an ipod touch would not normally allow - you basically can go mobile internet with it.  taking photos and posting with instagram, recording and posting audioboo audio interviews and using skype to either send sms text messages or place calls with.

now with the nomadjackets it's about time to upgrade.  not to an iphone4 but probably just to purchase another ipod touch 4th generation unit to go on the front of the jacket - you still need another device to be able to tweet with while you running a conference centre looking for people to interview.  if you have not seen the jackets you really should check out this audioboo i did the other day with the tailor of the nomad jacket, jamie.  he's a real talent and i'm looking forward to getting something awesome of the ground with him that will be selling jackets to the US.

sorry.  off topic.

so yes, the ipod touch was the right investment.  the retina display for me more than anything is the best thing to happen to the ipod touch in a long time and the fact that getting access to content now looks super sweet and has the added features of taking photos or doing facetime chat is a boon.  if you have been looking at an alternative route to getting a smartphone with apple but without the expensive of a contract the ipod touch 4th generation is something you should be seriously looking at.

i was going to get his name and the stand and tweet it but as we were there for a client it would come across that it was their opinion and would have been out of context.

some of the things to note with using cuecards to prompt people about the media you are making. .

put a note on the card that it is free
you could see in most peoples faces that the one of the main concerns that a cost may be involved. one of the major draws were our client involved but also that it was something they got for free.

to put the average viewer stats for client
the majority of the time people have no idea where the content you are producing is ending up, this is scary for people who do not engage with digital spaces on a daily basis like the connected always on spaces in which some of us live.  alerting people to the viewership numbers of your clients portal or website can be something that people understand in terms of general conversation.

that they can embed on their blog
mention that they can repurpose that content where they see fit on any website they wish and give them a short audio/video link on how to embed the content.  this is great for building a relationship with those you interview and gives your some great SEO linkback.

think people not at the conference
some of the people i tried to interview presumed that i was getting paid for the content or were concerned in some way that i was maybe trying to do a certain number of recordings for other purposes.  i was very clear to people about what the media did and that people were listening in from outside the conference or maybe people who never got around to seeing all the exhibits would look around the internet for context on a brand.  the little audio snippet of an interview could be sometimes be the difference between someone engaging with them or searching further.

that it is a podcast
a lot of people do understand the term podcast now because of the way that celebrity podcasts have made the process of download/paying for audio content that you listen to as part of a series that is delivered to your ipod/iphone or general smartphone.  make them aware that it is effectively a live podcast from the event and that you are streaming or uploading it live.

marketing manager
lots of the stands pushed me to their marketing manager and the ones that were worried about who was the best speaking person was on the stand did not always mean that i got the right person for the job.  try to find the marketing manager as they normally have the passion for all areas of the business. clearly define what you expect your listeners to be interested in.

               multiurl - ep507   |   soundcloud - ep507   |   audioboo - ep507 

in this episode we have. ..

http://www.alfredapp.com
- loved quicksilver, alfred could be the new butler

http://www.flipboard.com
- if you have an ipad you already have this

http://hacknmod.com
- a great site for hacks and mods

http://cssnature.org
- need some inspiration, check out cssnature

http://www.mixcloud.com
- a great music/remix/mashup site with great social features

http://activitystrea.ms
- will this format be the one that sticks.  activity streams.

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also follow my audioboo profile
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i haz donation?

audiogravity is something that i love to do because i like to share what i find, i think that time i spend has some value.  even just the price of a pint or maybe a snack.  i spend hours looking for these links.  a donation of some kind would be awesome but not expected.

i'm using twitpay for collecting donations via paypal.  if your logged into twitter i have made some ultra easy quick pay buttons for you.  you should already be following @twitpay ideally for this to work!

donate ftw

beer, coffee, tea , cookie, cigar, sarcastic penny - make sure you follow @twitpay to make this work ;)

you should search for audiogravity for more audiogravity shows.

               multiurl - ep506   |   soundcloud - ep506   |   audioboo - ep506 

in this episode we have. ..

http://www.anttenna.com
- mobile microlistings

http://thenextweb.com/google/2010/07/09/google-lets-you-earn-parking-karma-with-open-spot-android-app
- car parking karma with open spot

http://thenextweb.com/apps/2010/07/09/rich-text-signatures-for-multiple-emails-addresses-finally-come-to-gmail
- rich text signatures in gmail ftw.

http://yubico.com/home/index
- authentication key for simple and secure access

http://www.utorrent.com/labs
- loving griffin, falcon and pheon

http://nonsociety.com
- lifecast using tumblr themes but niche for make believe web celebs?

http://clickontyler.com/incoming
- a twitter search client designed for power users.

subscribe to receive these audio podcasts direct to your
itunes

also follow my audioboo profile
http://audioboo.fm/profile/philcampbell

i haz donation?

audiogravity is something that i love to do because i like to share what i find, i think that time i spend has some value.  even just the price of a pint or maybe a snack.  i spend hours looking for these links.  a donation of some kind would be awesome but not expected.

i'm using twitpay for collecting donations via paypal.  if your logged into twitter i have made some ultra easy quick pay buttons for you.  you should already be following @twitpay ideally for this to work!

donate ftw

beer, coffee, tea , cookie, cigar, sarcastic penny - make sure you follow @twitpay to make this work ;)

you should search for audiogravity for more audiogravity shows.