SanDisk
August 12, 2011 by Gordon
Filed under Copywriting
Following TomTom’s kind decision to allow me to reveal my copywriting for the company, SanDisk has proved that – much like buses – good things come in pairs. I regularly produce copy for the company’s Channel Flash industry magazine and occasionally write all editorial content. Find a sample below (click to enlarge) and downloadable features from the links below.
As always, if you are interesting in hiring me to produce copy for you click this link to my Contact page.
TomTom
August 12, 2011 by Gordon
Filed under Copywriting
As a freelance writer and journalist I do not often promote my copywriting skills. This is often due to non disclosure agreements or enforced anonymity. Kindly breaking this cycle is TomTom. I produce a great deal of the company’s US b2b marketing material, from which you will see a sample brochure below (click to enlarge). Downloadable PDF links are posted here for additional samples.
- Maps & Enhanced Content Brochure
- Mini Brochure: Business Intelligence
- Mini Brochure: Public Sector
- Mini Brochure: Fleet Logistics
- Mini Brochure: Insurance
If you are interesting in hiring me to produce copy for you click this link to my Contact page.
Why The Vilification of Social Media Has to Stop
August 12, 2011 by Gordon
Filed under Copywriting, Features & Editorials
Nationwide riots have exposed the gaping holes in our leaders’ understanding of social media. Read an extract from my latest opinion piece for TrustedReviews below. You’ll find a link to the full article at the end.
Why The Vilification of Social Media Has to Stop
- By Gordon Kelly
- 11 August 2011
Bans, aren’t they brilliant. Websites,Internet Access and now social media. There have been similar thoughts in the past, they involved book burning – so it is probably a good thing they’re going digital.
“Everyone watching these horrific actions will be struck by how they were organised via social media,” said Prime Minister David Cameron, speaking on Thursday to a specially reconvened parliament after a week of London riots. “Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill and when people are using social media for violence we need to stop them. So we are working with the police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality. I have also asked the police if they need any other new powers.”
Presumably some of those powers would include stopping potential rioters sending SMS, writing on online forums, using telephones and the postal service. Perhaps he could ban access to word of mouth, or would that just be silly?
The sad truth is what Cameron says is no less silly. Much as MP3, eBooks and AVIs are digital music, books and films; Facebook, Twitter and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) are digitised communication. It is no easier to ban access to them than to ban free speech itself. A new Twitter account can be created in under a minute while the free fall of RIM from the boardroom to the street means pre-pay BlackBerrys can be bought in little longer. Furthermore acquiring both can be done without divulging your real information. READ ON
Why WiFi Must Bridge the Gap to 4G
August 6, 2011 by Gordon
Filed under Copywriting, Features & Editorials
As 3G networks continue to falter the aged WiFi hotspot looks set for a bigger role than expected.
Why WiFi Must Bridge the Gap to 4G
- By Gordon Kelly
- 05 August 2011
Last month we asked What’s Really Wrong With UK 3G Broadband? This month its shortcomings are being highlighted once again as Virgin Media announces its vision to install city wide free WiFi…
The backdrop is simple. On Wednesday Virgin confirmed it is in “quite advanced negotiations” with London councils to equip the UK capital with blanket WiFi in the “not too distant future”. Unlike rivals such as BT Openzone and The Cloud, Virgin would make the service free. Virgin customers get access speeds of up to 10Mbit, non-Virgin customers get 0.5Mbit.
Virgin Media CEO Neil Berkett described the plans as “a punt” which will cost the company “a few million pounds” and “keep them [BT] honest”. In truth the strategy is far more than turning up late to the party. Instead it is a potential masterstroke by Virgin to cash in on the deep routed flaws in the UK’s 3G network. The move comes down to two things: speed and timing.
Virgin Media has speed to burn. Its expensively assembled optical cable network consistently outperforms rivals and its customer base is spending ever more. The problem is the number of Virgin customers is falling and it needs a differentiator to not only woo them back, but win favour with the masses. This is where timing is crucial because it determines the target and right now there is no easier dead horse to beat than 3G… READ ON
Tragic Irony: The Lost Opportunity In Blocking Newzbin
July 31, 2011 by Gordon
Filed under Copywriting, Features & Editorials
As copyright holders and politicians celebrate censoring the Internet, they have missed a glorious opportunity for progress. Read an extract from my thoughts for TrustedReviews below.
Tragic Irony: The Lost Opportunity In Blocking Newzbin
- By Gordon Kelly
- 29 July 2011
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Voltaire’s famous quote attacking censorship is well known, but would you believe it was once preached by the RIAA? “The Founding Fathers knew what they were doing,” it argued. “They believed in the power of ideas and debate, not censorship… In the world of music, the censorship effort repeats itself virtually every generation. Music is an especially easy target when legislators are looking for cultural scapegoats. In the tempest of the times, it’s easy to condemn that which shocks.”
These extracts come from an article published on the RIAA’s website in 2002. Unsurprisingly it has since been deleted, but The Wayback Machine keeps a copy which gives remarkable and damning insight into how the attitude of copyright holders has since changed. This week the u-turn was complete. Under pressure from the Motion Picture Association (MPA), the RIAA’s Hollywood cousin, the English High Court ruled British Telecom must block access to Newzbin 2 – a pre-eminent Usenet aggregation site. It was achieved under section 97A of the Copyright Act and in doing so swept away key safeguards. It ruled ISPs are not actually ‘service providers’, that unlike Royal Mail they are not merely a conduit and they have a duty to monitor users surfing to enforce censorship where appropriate.
“[BT] knows that the users of Newzbin 2 include BT subscribers, and it knows those users use its service to receive infringing copies of copyright works made available to them by Newzbin 2,” concluded Mr Justice Arnold. BT accepted the verdict and the MPAA is expected to use the landmark decision to now pressure smaller ISPs and draw up a long list of sites. Presumably that would include Newzbin 3 (v3.newzbin.com), which has been in service for well over a year.
“Almost every ‘infringing’ search result found on Newzbin2 can be had from Google, we just do it much much better,” said Newzbin in a blog post which claims it was not invited to attend the case. It also promised to break any blocking technology BT imposed. “[Copyright holders] regard anything new as a threat, when it always eventually turns out to be their greatest and most profitable opportunity: the VCR, DVD, CD, cassette tape, pianola-roll, Caxton printing press etc.” Its argument has unnerving similarities to the now deleted proclamations of the RIAA. FOR FULL ARTICLE READ ON
Necessities of Evil: The Changing Face of Google
July 27, 2011 by Gordon
Filed under Copywriting, Features & Editorials
How the search giant lost its innocence to become one of the most powerful companies in the world…
The Changing Face of Google
- By Gordon Kelly
- 22 July 2011
On Thursday Google announced it is shutting down Labs. “While we’ve learned a huge amount by launching very early prototypes in Labs, we believe that greater focus is crucial if we’re to make the most of the extraordinary opportunities ahead,” said Google SVP for Research and Systems Infrastructure Bill Coughran. He justified the decision saying the company was now “prioritizing our product efforts” wanting “more wood behind fewer arrows”.
Dodgy metaphors aside Labs’ experimental features will remain in Gmail and Maps, but the wider closure is just the latest example of a sea change going on at the company. An evolution from the fun loving, trend setting, hippy business that started its life in a friend’s garage and down a path determined to emphasise corporate accountability and responsibility. The change has been coming for some time.
The hints first came with Chrome. Google’s browser had been on the market for just 100 days when it was launched out of beta in December 2008. Contrast that with Gmail which took five years and three months to toss its beta tags – some seven months afterChrome. The intention was clear: corporations don’t like beta products and their approval was now paramount. Google VP Marissa Mayer admitted as much speaking to Le Web in 2008. She confirmed the motivation was to enable OEMs to ship Chrome preinstalled on PCs. If Google was to appeal to corporations it needed to behave more like them. READ ON
What’s Really Wrong With UK 3G Broadband
July 22, 2011 by Gordon
Filed under Copywriting, Features & Editorials
The BBC this week launches an investigation into the problems of UK mobile phone coverage. In my latest feature for TrustedReviews I explain why it is looking in the wrong place. Find a sample below and a link to the full article at the end.
What’s Really Wrong With UK 3G Broadband
- By Gordon Kelly
- 21 July 2011
If you have been paying close attention to the tech news this week you will see the BBC has launched an ambitious project to map the state of mobile phone coverage in the UK. The Beeb will ask Android smartphone owners to download the UK 3G survey app (QR code below) which will run in the background to measure signal strength around the country and whether a 2G or 3G signal is available.
“Coverage is the number one issue for consumers,” said Gavin Johns, chief executive of Epitiro – the developer behind the app. “Our coverage app will provide the information consumers need to see if 3G services are available and from which mobile operator. As mobile broadband is important to many of us, we hope people volunteer and make the project a success.”
The argument behind the project, which is funded by the taxpayer, is no independent survey has ever been carried out into signal strength – something networks admit. “There is no common standard for measuring coverage and some operators tend to grossly exaggerate,” said Phil Sheppard, director of network strategy at 3. “We like to manage people’s expectations.” This confusion can easily be seen when comparing carrier figures with those of Ofcom. The regulator claims the UK has just 76 per cent 3G coverage and 91 per cent 2G coverage (no UK carrier claims less than 99 per cent 2G UK coverage). It all sounds very noble, but there is a problem: the BBC is asking the wrong question… READ ON
Who Is ZTE & Why Are Rivals Running Scared?
July 16, 2011 by Gordon
Filed under Copywriting, Features & Editorials
The patient rise of the Chinese telecoms company is now putting the squeeze on its rivals. Read the extract from my latest feature for TrustedReviews and find a link to the full article at the bottom.
Who Is ZTE & Why Are Rivals Running Scared?
- By Gordon Kelly
- 15 July 2011
On Thursday ZTE started revealing its master plan. The Chinese telecoms giant announced its first self branded products would be sold in the UK. It followed this up in proclaiming that by 2015 it will be the world’s third largest phone maker. In 3 ½ years it believes only Nokia and Samsung will be selling more handsets. For a company most people haven’t heard of that’s a big claim, yet for its rivals it is also a hugely concerning one.
To understand why requires a small history lesson. ZTE was founded in Shenzhen (HQ pictured) back in 1985 by Hou Weigui. It rose from a group of state-owned enterprises with ties to the government’s Ministry of Aerospace and specialised in telecoms. In 1997 it had its first IPO on the Shenzhen stock exchange with a second on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2004. By this point it was the second largest telecoms equipment vendor in China, selling base stations, switches, software, broadband networking gear and handsets.
That year sales grew 35 per cent to $4.1bn, but more importantly it took advantage of China’s growing relations with the West to begin exporting heavily around the world. By the end of 2004 exports had skyrocketed 170 per cent. And you still hadn’t heard of them. The reason why is… READ ON
Why Google Must Get Google+ Right
July 4, 2011 by Gordon
Filed under Copywriting, Features & Editorials
The launch of Google+ is more than an attempt to catch Facebook, it is central to the company’s future. Read an extract from my editorial for TrustedReviews below.
Why Google Must Get Google+ Right
- By Gordon Kelly
- 04 July 2011
Add a profile picture, write a short introduction about yourself, start posting status updates and start looking up your friends. Can you really find the motivation to join another social network? Google is counting on it…
This week the search giant, Android and Chrome creator unveiled Google+. It is the latest attempt to rectify Google’s biggest and most pressing Achilles heel: social networking. Previous attempts have ranged from the unappealing to the outright offensive, but this time it seems Google is no longer dabbling, it has jumped in with both feet and will stake a significant portion of its future against it.
The official announcement itself was a radical departure for Google. “Among the most basic of human needs is the need to connect with others. With a smile, a laugh, a whisper or a cheer, we connect with others every single day,” said Google engineering senior VP Vic Gundotra. The language was a million miles from the mathematical, almost surgical precision with which Google is famed. It was speaking with emotion about emotion… READ ON
WiGig: Tech’s Most Exciting Wireless Technology?
July 2, 2011 by Gordon
Filed under Copywriting, Features & Editorials
Will this ingenious new wireless technology get the industry adoption it so richly deserves? I interview WiGig’s Group Chair Mark Grodzinsky for TrustedReviews to find out more…
The Exciting Potential of WiGig
- By Gordon Kelly
- 30 June 2011
It is called WiGig and on Tuesday the WiGig Alliance announced the publication of its certification-ready specification. In other words: the process for partners to build WiGig products and ensure they are fully interoperable with existing standards is nearly there. This is crucial for manufacturers so they can quickly and easily adapt new and existing products for WiGig. Will this ingenious new wireless technology get the industry adoption it so richly deserves?
“We’re getting beyond the technology development, specification writing and industry alignment phase,” explained WiGig Alliance Marketing Work Group Chair Mark Grodzinsky. “We are at the real product development, interoperability and deployment phase. Where WiGig is now more mature than Draft N wireless when it was certified [and products started to appear on shop shelves].”
More remarkable is WiGig has gotten to this stage in little more than two years (802.11n WiFi ratification took seven years) and at just version 1.1. In passing its latest IEEE vote it attained 93 per cent of the vote. Meanwhile the WiGig Alliance membership roster reads like a who’s who of the technology sector. Intel, Dell, VESA, NEC, Nokia, Panasonic, Samsung, Toshiba, Nvidia, AMD, Texas Instruments, Atheros, Marvell, Realtek and Broadcom are just some of the companies attached. The Alliance itself was only formed in May 2009.
So what has gotten everyone so excited? In short: speed, flexibility and compatibility. READ ON