I was under the impression that T&C's/marketing boxes that users tick and you can then get access to their data had to be opt-in (i.e. they have to tick them to proceed), but someone mentioned to me today that they don't have to be and can be pre-ticked. Is this the case?

Saw this online but not much since 2013:

http://www.out-law.com/en/articles/2013/january/consent-from-pre-ticked-boxes-should-generally-not-be-valid-under-new-eu-data-protection-regime-says-mep/

Anyone know if T&C/marketing boxes have to be opt-in to tick in the UK?

Ed

Are there any plans to mobilise th3core? Tough to read and go through threads here on smartphones (I'll add writing messages to that list as am doing this from my Galaxy and it's scrolling sideways forever!).Happy to donate to the cost of it and maybe this thread others could pledge donations if it's something they also want? Ed

I stumbled across a game called Ingress the other day on Google Play. Turns out it's very interesting on many levels.

First, to my knowledge it's the first augmented reality game for mobile phones. Not just real-time but real-space.

Second, it's run by Google.

Third, Google are now starting to market it after a year in beta. They're bundling promo stuff about it with new Android phones.

Fourth, given there are already a good number of people playing it (in Bristol, UK, where I live the main areas around town are live battlegrounds) you can bet your bottom dollar Google will start trying to make advertising money from it at some point.

Fifth, until they start making advertising money from it there are opportunities to get free marketing for your local business by setting up a portal next to your premises.

http://searchengineland.com/ingress-googles-ar-game-a-stealth-local-data-effort-175417

Ed

PS It's also a very addictive game. I feel like James Bond sneaking around hacking into portals.

Any support ticketing systems that you can buy off the shelf that people recommend?

Cheers,

Ed

Came across a site called Kaggle yday after reading about it in New Scientist.

Love the types of competitions they're setting up and the success they're having. Has amazing potential imo.

http://www.kaggle.com/competitions

All a bit brave new world, but the numbers signing up suggest there's traction:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/nov/11/online-free-learning-end-of-university

Plus if Sebastian Thrun is willing to give up work on Google's self-driving cars and Google Glass's augmented reality - two of the hottest topics in the world right now - you have to think something might be brewing.

Anyway, I'm keen to see what the standard of courses are so have signed up for a few at Coursera (which to me look like they have the best courses right now):

https://www.coursera.org/course/innovativeideas
https://www.coursera.org/course/GTG
https://www.coursera.org/course/gamification

Let me know if anyone else joins up for any of the above as always good to compare notes!

Can't see any of it being free for that long - maybe a year or two? - so might as well enjoy what looks like first-class education for no outlay 

Ed

Can anyone recommend a good book on how to manage people effectively that they've read?

Cheers,

Ed

What a cool dude...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tzga6qAaBA

How many SEO experts does it take to change a light bulb lightbulbs LED bulbs garden lighting neon lights cheap lightbulbs free hardcore porn facial.

If you were going to build and run a bespoke affiliate program for a big company (financial sector let's say) what would you use to build it?

HasOffers.com got a couple of good reviews online I see.

Always an option I guess to just use an affiliate network like Affiliate Window...

Cheers,

Ed

When putting together a reasonably complicated website, in what order do you tackle things?

In the past I've listed the functionality I want the website to have, then mocked up web pages by hand and sent them to a designer. Then when the design would come back, I'd send the Photoshop files to a programmer to hard-code and turn them into an actual website via a particular CMS.

I'm not sure this is the best way, however, for a bigger project. Especially when you want the website to process more technically difficult things like logins, database retrieval stuff etc. Should the order of events instead then be: 1. Define functionality 2. Test functionality via coding 3. Design 4. Coding ...?

Be interested to hear how people go about planning and building a reasonable-size website taking in aspects such as functionality, design and coding.

Ed

Interesting reading, especially the comments below the post:

http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/9202-eu-cookie-law-three-approaches-to-compliance

What are our thoughts in how this is all going to pan out?Most of the suggestions in the comments section of the econsultancy post seem over prescriptive to me. I know you have to obey the law but whacking up massive overlays asking people to opt-in seems a bit overkill.

Anyone on Pinterest? Thoughts? Ways to play it?

Anyone had any success getting their PR into media stories using HelpAReporter.com (US) or ResponseSource.co.uk (UK)?

Anyone know if an email capture pop-up is more effective when someone enters your site or when they exit it?

Or does it depend on the website and the pop-up?

I know the only sure-fire answer is to split-test, but just wondering what other people had found.

Really enjoyed this article in the Economist about how Ernest Dichter, an acolyte of Sigmund Freud, revolutionised marketing.

http://www.economist.com/node/21541706

I really must listen to 4Eyes when he keeps telling me to sell emotion and not reason 

Picture the scene. I'm in "Snooker City" on a Friday night, playing on the quiz machine. A gaggle of obese middle-aged women are playing skittles 10m away from me. Young lads in shellsuits stagger past to be sick in the toilet. I'm one question away from winning £5 when the following comes up on the screen:

Q. Which of these countries does not border the North Sea?

A. Germany
B. Denmark
C. Sweden

I have 20 seconds on the clock. Immediately I think Germany does border the North Sea, Denmark does, and, er, Sweden does also. Hmmm. 10 seconds left. Ok, Germany definitely does, Sweden definitely does...maybe, just maybe, Denmark doesn't? I press Denmark.

Incorrect answer. My final Try Again is gone.

The machine is wrong I say to myself. This is a fix. I'm utterly convinced both Germany and Sweden border the North Sea. I picture a map of northern Europe in my mind's eye. Yes, they both border the North Sea. 100%.

5 seconds left. Well, as the machine is obviously cheating I'll go for the most obvious country that borders the North Sea. That way I may win. I press Germany.

Game Over.

I walk back home from the snooker parlour bemused. When I get home I immediately load up Google and check their maps section. This is what I get:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&...-8&sa=N&tab=wl

As I thought...all three countries border the North Sea. Scumbag quiz machine.

Maybe I'm missing something I think. I go to the North Sea Wikipedia entry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sea

One line sticks out: "In the east, the North Sea connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively."

The what? I zoom in on the Google map. And again. And again.

Oh bollox, the straits of Skagerrak and Kattegat suround the west coast of Sweden. That means it's not touching the North Sea. Turns out the machine was right. Still, I console myself, no one in Britain would know that. I was effectively diddled.

Half an hour later my Dad calls up. After some chitchat I relay the question to him. His immediate answer: "Sweden as it's blocked by Skagerrak and Kattegat. Yes, we learnt that at school."

And that's the moral of the story. My private school education in the 1990s was poorer than my father's state-school education in the 1950s. Or more likely, he listened in school and I didn't.

There's very few public figures that I give a second thought to when they die, but Christopher Hitchens is one of them. The world is a poorer place in my opinion without his presence today. Agree or disagree with him, he was a powerful intellectual and moral force and his writing was out-of-this-world, although I guess I'm biased as I did agree with him on a lot of issues.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011...ary?intcmp=122

If you get an hour free sometime, watch this famous debate between Hitchens and Tony Blair on religion. It is almost embarrassing to watch how easily Hitchens pulls apart Blair's arguments one by one and the former PM - who, let's face it, will clearly go down as one of the most successful British politicians ever - is left with playing to the crowd for cheap applause.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3kHRTUUJAI

Be interesting to see if this takes off...

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228405.900-presocial-network-finds-you-friends-in-your-hangouts.html

Ed

Which of you reprobates is on Twitter? Will follow you if you follow me 

@bestmanUK