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Marc Holmes

The Unauthorised Autobiography of Marc Holmes

Microsoftie thinking about dialogue with developers. Brit in Seattle. Windswept and Interesting.


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Filed under: life

Not watching the telly

Having just bagged a house means deciding on installing cable TV and all that. Or not. The ‘triple play’ offers (that’s TV, Internet and Phone) in the US are fairly expensive ($100 per month), TV is so lousy (advertising crapola mainly), and who needs a landline anyway, that I’ve decided to eschew all that stuff and buy a Roku box. (I’ll probably get the Media Center working when the “boat with all our stuff on” turns up in Seattle).

So, I can pay for Netflix and Hulu Plus on a monthly basis, and then Amazon Instant as I need it (amongst a bunch of other stuff) and move into an on-demand, content-rather-than-channel world. When I can’t fully see the new world, I often think about my daughter’s view of it: her life of touch interfaces and only on-demand content is her basic expectation (as a 3 year old). She just doesn’t understand that some screens don’t respond well to her slapping and swiping them, and that Waybuloo “just isn’t on at the moment”. 

Generally speaking, it means I’m not watching half as much rubbish as I normally would, which is A Good Thing, as this infographic from Dataviz demonstrates:

Media_httpwwwclickerc_stsar

Lost in the Future

Thefuture

Just had to grab the Technology page from BBC News today. (I’ve linked it, but hey it will have changed by now).
Sometimes, we think that the future is just around the corner, and it’s never quite arriving.
But then I was taken with this particular cross-section of editorial today – some interesting stories but really it’s about the picture as a whole.

The future is around the corner, but we live there too.

Back!

Yup, that slightly chill wind and dull aura you can feel can only mean one thing: after a refreshing week off I’m back baby! It’s taken almost the whole day to get the inbox back under control which is not too bad.

I spent a few of the days (minus kids!) up in Dolgellau in Wales doing a bit of walking. If you’re up there then I definitely recommend staying at Ffynnon Townhouse – excellent place run by Steve and Debra.

So, what’s been happening? Hmm... well, the gang have been talking about:
A quiet week then.

A Penguin

Mobile_photo_6_jul_2010_11_21_

I’m delighted with this effort from my daughter Evan. She’s made loads of bits of art before, but this was the first time that she’s sat down with a blank piece of paper (well, magnadoodle) and decided “I’m going to draw a penguin”.

Not bad for 2 and a bit year old I reckon. I’m very proud.

See The Difference

I was delighted to see that See The Difference is now up and running on Azure.

I spent a bit of time with Dom from the team not so long ago talking about audience matters (he kindly offered some help on some stuff I was working on). He’s got a lot of experience in with traditional media but particularly now as he seeks to deliver on his plan to “
engage supporters with a diverse range of projects from all around the world, through a video-based site that uses ‘digital storytelling’ to promote projects and, very importantly, to show donors just what a difference their support has made” (UK Fundraising 2009).

I guess the real challenge for the team - and therefore the real value to the charities - is delivering difficult and complex messages to data-snackers. Here’s an example for Macmillan.

It’s a great idea to drive greater awareness and understanding of a vast array of charity projects and I wish them all the best in their efforts.
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