Claire and the Giant Apple [Product Recall]

I remember the day I bought my iPod – it was the first day that I remember owning a piece of “hot technology.”  I’ve aways been a geek at heart, but I was never an early adopter.  Simply because I couldn’t afford to be.

So back in 2005, with my student loan burning a hole in my pocket, I decided I’d treat myself to the brand new iPod Nano.  I also remember having no idea how to work it.  It was new, selling out everywhere, and I simply had to treat myself.  Six years on a couple of the buttons didn’t work, the battery life was minimal, but I still used my first generation iPod Nano every single day…

The first generation iPod Nano was sold between September 2005 and December 2006

But back in November an email landed in my inbox from Apple telling me that my faithful mp3 player could catch fire and therefore was subject to a global product recall…

I dutifully sent for the returns box, but I was torn.  It might sound silly to admit that I had an emotional attachment to a gadget – but I did!  My iPod had helped me select the tracks that featured in my wedding, it had helped friends celebrate graduation, and had provided an escape bubble when I went through some tough times, so simply slipping it into a pre-paid jiffy bag seemed somehow unceremonious.

I understand the need for the recall, however I feel that Apple could have handled it better.  I accept that my attachment to my iPod may not be normal, however I do know that I am not the only first generation iPod Nano owner who has been disappointed by Apple’s level of communication.  I sent my iPod back to Apple in November and since then, aside from the first email I received that directed me to the Apple website, all of my knowledge about the recall has come from whispers shared in blogs and forums.

At first I was worried that my package to Apple had got lost in the post or in Apple’s system (the instructions said that Apple had to receive the returned item within 10 days of me registering for the recall, but it had taken 9 days for me to receive the return envelope), then I was worried that I was looking on the wrong area of the website, maybe I had the wrong repair number.  I then worried that my replacement had been delivered to my office under my maiden name, and might have been returned by a colleague…  But as the weeks ticked past I gradually stopped worrying.  A quick Google search lead me to handfuls of forums where other Apple customers were in exactly the same information-lacking boat.

So the reason I’m writing this blog is for all those UK participants of the first generation iPod Nano recall who are still waiting in the dark: there is light at the end of the tunnel.  I received a package on Friday.

My new iPod Nano

Over two months since I last heard from Apple I was finally sent a replacement iPod – and it seems that the whispers were true, for I haven’t received a refurbished like-for-like first gen 2gb iPod Nano, my long-awaited box contained a (I suspect refurbished)  sixth generation 8gb model.  So is it not only half the size of the one I sent them, but has four times the storage.  Not bad.

But whilst I’m happy that I’ve finally received a replacement (and I hate to think how much the recall is costing Apple), it really is disappointing that for such a huge organisation their communication has been so poor.  I didn’t even receive a dispatch notification when my replacement was sent, and my “repair” on the Apple website hasn’t been updated either…  Apple has always been about innovation, and as a brand has tapped deeply into the gadget-loving geek mindset, and yet they haven’t been utilising any communication control.  If they can’t get their internal communication processes in check then I have to wonder whether the global recall has been so expansive that any attempt at social media and forum monitoring would have been deemed too costly, hence the information blackout…

But what ever the reason, I am pleased to confirm that it seems that the cogs are still moving in the Nano replacement programme – even if it’s at a snail’s pace.

From Rags to Riches – The Rise of the Charity Shop

I remember many hours as a child where I would trudge around the shops after my mother bored utterly silly.  I was never a huge fan of clothes shopping as a nipper (I had a bit of an odd podgy shape as a pre-teen), but shopping with my parents’ was worse than having my teeth pulled…  At least if I hit the high street with my friends I could lurk by the rails in New Look or TopShop looking wistfully at the clothes I’d never fit into – but my Mum was attracted to another type of shop entirely.  One that I just couldn’t understand:  The Charity Shop.

I remember how charity shops started to spread rash-like through the village as the smaller independent shops on the fairly disused high street collapsed under the weight of a new “Outlet Shopping Village” full of big name brands.  But I just couldn’t understand what my Mum’s fascination with “un-fashion” was.  To me everything from the charity shop looked as bland and as old as it smelled.  And nothing could reach through my cloud of sulking and feet dragging to tell me otherwise.

But, a decade on, my attitude has changed somewhat…

This weekend I found myself tasked with a plethora of charity shops to explore, but this time it was Mr D’s turn to follow on behind as a dashed excitedly from one to the other hunting for bargains.  I’m proud to say I came away with a skirt (£3.99) and a very nice LK Bennett blazer (£7.99).

Modelling my recent charity shop acquisitions

And that’s the thing – far from the disgust I felt as I teen now, I actually take pride in my finds.  When I wore my new outfit to the office today I couldn’t help but gloat – sharing with my colleagues, not just  it’s humble origin but also the price I paid.  I have to wonder what changed my mind so dramatically.

I don’t remember an eureka moment when suddenly charity shopping made sense, nor am I in such a tight financial pickle that I can’t afford to treat myself on the high street – the thing is I now actively enjoy the treasure hunt.

The smell may still be exactly as I remember it from my childhood, but today’s charity shops are functioning in a very different world then we were in a decade ago.  The economic slump is biting hard, but personally I think the rise in popularity of second hand goods also has a lot to do with the rise of the social web – or if not a direct correlation, it’s certainly been facilitated by it.

It might seem strange to associate the dowdy atmosphere of a charity shop with the fast paced online world, but over the last 10 years with the rise in popularity of sites like ebay and Amazon our homes have slowly been filling with second-hand goods without us really realising. How often did I buy a book off ebay at university for a few pence as it was much cheaper than buying it in the campus shop, or purchase a “nearly new” DVD from an Amazon seller?   Slowly the second-hand culture has seeped into the shiny dynamic world of the internet, and there it is flourishing.

Facebook groups are now popping up across the country specifically for people to list their unwanted items and there are dedicated sites such as Freecycle offering us recession-battlers a forum to find unwanted items for free.  There’s no need to advertise your old sofa in your local corner shop window – the nature of the internet and social networks to allow people to easily connect with strangers without even leaving the living room (and you’ll probably be reaching a lot more people than would have walked passed any shop window).  Second-hand shopping has become so much easier.

You can never wholly predict what you will find when you start rummaging through a charity shop’s stock, which is rather trying to predict online interactions and who you’ll meet online – so maybe it is this very nature that makes both quests exciting.

Or… all high-brow speculations aside, maybe I just got old enough to appreciate the value of a good bargain.

What’s black, white and read about all over?

You can’t have failed to have noticed the arrival of two immigrants this week as they settle into their new home in Scotland; the little faces of Tian Tian and Yang Guang have been selling papers.

Yang Guang settles into his new home

Ever since the news broke that the two bears would be setting up home in Edinburgh Zoo the panda PR machine went into over drive.  Just since leaving China the two eight year olds have been in the hands of two separate PR agencies.  And they’ve been working them hard – this week the media has been fed with so many panda images you would be forgiven for thinking that your television was still a black and white set.

The FedEx Panda Express

Last year I was lucky enough to visit China, and having stayed in Chengdu, the home of the Chengdu Panda Breeding Centre, I can completely understand why the media is a-buzz with what the pair’s arrival could mean for Scottish tourism.  Chengdu is a city that is built around it’s relationship with pandas – even the traffic signs are in the shape of the fuzzy creatures – so it makes me wonder what Scotland could have in store.  The duo’s arrival on the “FedEx Panda Express” was just the beginning of the marketing  and PR opportunities that the giant pandas inhabitants of Edinburgh Zoo will offer Scotland over the next decade.

I love them, but I won’t forget that pandas are PR animals.

Me at the Chengdu Panda Breeding Centre, Chengdu, China

Google+: Are we riding the wave?

Google+ is everywhere.

Everyone wanted to be on it.  We grovelled for invitations, longingly staring at our inboxes with the impatience of children on Christmas Eve.  We read article after article, preparing ourselves for the new tools, familiarising our tongues with new terms and limbering up our profile writing skills.

So now that Google+ has hit 10 million users are we actually using it?  Apparently not.  According to Experian Hitwise the average user spends only 5 minutes using the new social network.

But why?  Google+ seems to have everything you could want from a social network.  You can divide your connection into private communication circles (a bit like Facebook groups), you can follow people you have never met in real life (like Twitter), you can video chat (like on Skype – and now Facebook), and businesses have be promised special company pages (once again like Facebook).  It even seems to encroach a bit on Flickr’s territory with a smattering of photo sharing, and just last week Google announced its release of some Foursquare-like badges earned from searching.

From the outside Google+ and its related tie-ups seem to be the full package.  With so much technology and integration it’s been purpose built to link up your offline experiences with your online life.

But I suspect that this is actually the problem…  How are you actually meant to use Google+?  Is it a professional platform or a personal one?

Technically if you use circles correctly if can be both, but I suspect Google may be trying to spread itself too thinly.  It’s not that the tools aren’t up to scratch – in fact, aside from an early bug or two they seem pretty stable – instead it’s that users just aren’t sure exactly how to approach the network.

I’ve seen many people flock to the site, scramble around create a few Circles, post the “Wow, isn’t Google+ really cool” first update, and then go quiet, slipping into the shadows of the social network watching and waiting to see how other people use it.

Some people thought that Google Wave was going to be huge, until is crashed spectacularly onto the shores of the social web and vanished… The positive for Google+ is that is seems to have found a foothold with it’s integration, but it needs its users to actually use its functions for it to really succeed and make a lasting impression.  And for that, only time will tell…

Childhood and Performance: Forming my Offline Social Network

I’ve not posted a blog in a few weeks.  Normally I’d feel a sense of crushing guilt that I was somehow wasn’t exercising my creativity or the pressure of a wave of anxiety that I was being swamped with my day-to-day work to allow myself to structure my thoughts into writing.   And whilst I have been somewhat busy in the BOTTLE office, it’s not my 9 to 5 that’s been causing my blog silence for the last month.

The last twelve months have been full of change for me in many ways – I’ve changed jobs, I’ve moved to a new town, I’ve lost a dear friend – and I’ve been pulled along in the swells of emotion that goes with all of it.  My job is very social, I work with some very energetic and exciting people, and I spend my day building relationships online, but even still, I’ve felt very isolated and strangely static. So at the end of last month I decided to make a change.

It might sound a little cliché, but four weeks ago I decided that it was time to become more proactive and to shake off this ‘comfortable’ funk that I’d settled into.  So instead of spending my weekends padding around in my PJs drinking endless cups of tea, I decided to push my boundaries.

Me, age 4, preforming in the school Christmas play

When I was a littlun’ I loved performing.  I remember standing up in my grandparents’ living room serenading my family with ballads and writing plays with my friends.  My love of theatre translated into a Drama GCSE, and then a few years later an A level in Drama and Theatre Arts.  However for whatever reason when I went to University that part of my life was retired, and the closest I got to performance was karaoke on a Thursday night after the student pub quiz…  So, when I decided that I needed to shake up my outlook, I couldn’t think of anything better than to revisit my childhood passion.

Having not performed in any form for at least 5 years, and having the grace and coordination of a fairy elephant, I decided to dive in head first and turned up at a rehearsal for an amateur production of Jesus Christ Superstar.  And it really was the best thing I could have done.

I fully meant to work backstage, maybe helping with costume changes and organising props, or possibly front of house selling programmes and taking tickets, but somehow, just two weeks before opening night I ended up being pulled into the scenes, my photo was taken for the programmes I thought I’d be selling, and I was absorbed into the cast.

The WYSPAs cast of Jesus Christ Superstar 2011 (I'm the second angel on the left!)

So the reason for my lack of blog over the past few weeks has been down to my frantic swotting over the Really Useful Group score, attending rehearsal, organising PR for the show, and finally performing four nights of Jesus Christ Superstar – and I’ve loved every second.

It’s been like a wake up call. I have experienced a lot of change in the last year and have been using the social web as an anchor on this fluctuating tide, but being reacquainted with my childhood hobby has given me a new appreciation for the psychology of the social web and how I build relationships online.

We engage in behaviour in our online social networks which is unlike any behaviour that we would conduct in our offline social lives.  Ultimately we’re being constrained by the limitations of each network, and we’re being forced into whatever template we’re given to interact within and to therefore build our relationships around.

So if relationships spend their childhood online, (whether these relationships are between individuals or between brands and fans) they ultimately need to be given a connection to the offline world.  It can only make them stronger.

The Guardian Asks Some Questions… #meme

I’ll be honest.  Until Friday I was a MeMe virgin.  That was until Nicki (@NickiCawood) tagged me…

So, any way, here I am (just a few days late) sitting in my garden enjoying this strange April sunshine reflecting all about myself.  For people who read my blog you’ll know that it’s a bit of a mish-mash –  a lump of social media insight, with a sprinkling of film reviews and a dash of day-to-day ranting – but very rarely do I sit and think about myself in my blogs.  I’m usually more a conduit to let some angst about some topical subject flow through.  But it’s been really refreshing to sit and think a bit about how I’ve got where I am.  So thanks Nicki, this has been a jolly interesting couple of hours in the sun!

Questions about Me.

Which living person do you most admire, and why?

I’ve sat and racked my brains and I just can’t think of an individual.  There are so many people who I admire, and not for a life of fame or celebrity.  The people I admire I’m honored to consider friends.

When were you happiest
Usually sitting with a cup of tea/nice cold cider(depends on the season!), chatting with friends watching the world go by.  The world of work has confined these occasions to just rare weekends now, but at university I remember there was chase for this every day.  No special occasion, no reason, but for the simple pleasure of enjoying someone else’s company.

What was your most embarrassing moment?

I am a very sensitive person, but I do have a tendency to fail to engage brain before opening my mouth. 

My first “proper” job was as a Real Life Features journalist, I’d have to “chase” down stories and interview people and then get their stories into national magazines and newspapers.  I met some absolutely amazing and inspiring people whilst I did that job – some people who had been through absolute hell, and were willing to talk about it in order to act as a warning to others.

I won’t go into details, but the first every story I got published saw me speaking to a woman who was talking me through a horrific ordeal.  Unfortunately my brain didn’t stop my mouth when it tried to make light of the subject and I said something that was possibly ever-so-slightly inappropriate (I completely blame my rooky status) – thankfully the lady took it quite well, but I spent the rest of the week I could hide under my desk.

Bad mouth.

Aside from property, what’s the most expensive thing you’ve bought?

Having never bought any property, (not even a little caravan or rainbow-bedecked beach hut I dreamt of as a child) I can easily say that the most expensive thing I have ever bought is my little VW Polo called Percy.  He’s lovely and had a happy little flower that sits on the dash-board.  He doesn’t even complain about my terrible taste in music on the drive to work…

What is your most treasured possession?

I treasure my memories.  More than anything.  I’m a bit of a sentimental fool, and so what I deem to be treasured possessions a lot of people would deem to be tat.  But to me it’s the small things that provide a solid base for my memories to hang on:  My stuffed Care Bear that I’ve had since my second Christmas (somewhat thread-bare now, and eyeless…), a wooden heart that was given to me by a teenage Mr D, and a plastic headband with fluffy cats ears, handmade 18 months ago for Halloween, the first blanket I ever knitted (and am still knitting) and a used New Look gift card – the last birthday present I’d ever receive from one of my best friends.

Where would you like to live?

I’m not too fussed about where I live as long as I can be happy and I can spend time with my friends and family.  Although, a beach would be nice.

What’s your favourite smell?

Easy! Laundry. 

Specifically the inside of a washing machine or the fumes given off by tumble dryers (yes, I am a little bit strange).

Who would play you in the film of your life?

Johnny Depp. Obviously this would have to be an “inspired by” interpretation of my life, but  I’d love to see him attempt my old Real-Life Features job.

What is your favourite book?

I have an English Literature degree and so this question is always thrown up in job interviews!  I hate it!

 I can never pick a favourite book, it’s completely impossible!  I love the works of Margaret Atwood if I’m fancying a bit of dystopian explorations of femininity, and I love the familiar rhythm patterns of Shakespeare.  But equally I enjoy the epic fantasies of Robert Jordan,  the insights of Greek Myths and even guilty pleasures of JK Rowling, Tamora Pearce and occasionally even the ridiculous dreaming of Wilbur Smith (honestly, hilarious if you’re a woman!). 

What is your most unappealing habit?

Not thinking before I speak (see above).  Bad move.

What would be your fancy dress costume of choice?

Another easy one!  Rainbow Brite!  80s children’s TV legend, and the reason I am RainbowClaire.

What is your earliest memory?
Being put into my cot – I remember it was brown, and that there were new people down stairs and that I did not want to be in said cot.  I’m pretty sure I didn’t get what I wanted.

What is your guiltiest pleasure?

That would have to be my terrible taste in music.  I can’t help myself.   Whilst I have a wide range of music I enjoy I love nothing more than blaring out some really terrible tunes as I drive, or turning up the volume and spontaneously bursting into dance in my living room.

I find myself apologizing if anyone listens to my iPod…  there’s only so much Spice Girls/B*Witched/Steps that you can cover up. 

What do you owe your parents?

I’m lucky in that I know my parents will always support me.  No matter what I do.  I can’t imagine owing anyone anything more.

What or who is the greatest love of your life?
The man I married.

 

What does love feel like?
It’s being comfortable to talk about anything and everything.  To enjoy spending time together even when you’re doing nothing, or different things.  To feel safe and secure and warm, like curling under a blanket, or wiggling your toes into cool sand.

What was the best kiss of your life?

This one:

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

On text messages and online I am a bit of a smilie fiend. 

Oh and exclamation marks! Love those!  Never have too many! (Okay, I fully accept that you can and I’m working to curb that… but seriously, it’s like an addiction.)

What is the worst job you’ve done?
£2 an hour working in a fish and chip shop.  Cleaning out a potato chipper and certainly change a person – honestly, the smell… blerg.

If you could edit your past, what would you change?

I wouldn’t consciously change anything.  My life has made me who I am today.

But I would make the most of every moment, and never take life for granted – so I’d probably say “no, not today” a lot less…

.

What is the closest you’ve come to death?
Luckily this is something I’ve never actually experienced personally.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

I’ve always ben rubbish at telling people what I’m good at.  So I asked Mr D…

  Here are some of the things he reeled off: My English Lit degree, my CIM qualification, my job, transforming our university student newspaper, getting married, walking the Great Wall of China…  Although my favourite from his list had to be:

“Successfully completeing a transaction in a tiny shop in China with a man who spoke no English and with no understanding of the currency.”  I have to agree – that was pretty impressive.  You should have seen the sign language.

When did you last cry, and why?

Last week.  Driving back from the supermarket.  Sometimes things just make you remember, and you know you’ll never forget.

How do you relax?

Either curling up watching some brainless telly (I love a bit of Charmed/Buffy!), or being creative – usually writing poetry.

What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Probably losing a bit of weight – I lost 2 stone a couple of years back for my wedding, and it’s slowly crept back on…  I’m not huge, but I can feel unhealthy so I know I’d have more energy and would do more… but at the same time I’m not ready to do a big diet right now.

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Make the most of every second and never take anything for granted.

Now the bit I’m never very good at.  Tagging people.  The thing is, I always hate being tagged in notes on Facebook but for some reason I feel that blogging may be just a bit different. 

So for that reason, I’m tagging @SillyBry and @ThatJoEden, cos I know they both want to write more and that they enjoy a good bit of blogging on the quiet – and they make me laugh.

And I’m also going to tag @MattRobinson87 who is amazing, and needs to know it.

Don’t hate me guys – feel free to blog away if you wish!

 

 

What’s to like about Google’s +1?

You’ve heard of ‘Check-ins,’ ‘Likes,’ and ‘Re-Tweets’ now Google wants us to embrace their new social recommendation tool the ‘+1.’

Now, aside from the silly name (“I plus-oned that website” sounds down-right daft), I have a few issues with Google’s answer to the Facebook ‘Like’ button.

Currently +1 requires you to have a public Google profile, (you can try out +1 by activating the service on Google’s search experiments page), so only once you’re up and running will you see a +1 button next to every search result.  Essentially, if you like a result, click +1 and you’re done.  All of your recommendations will show up under your public profile so you can share with everyone in your Google Social Circle (that’s your Google Talk buddies, your Gmail contacts and anyone else you’ve linked with your Google profile) what you think is worth looking at.

However, here the current version of Google +1 comes a bit unstuck…

How can you know you want to recommend a page without visiting it in the first place?  Once you’ve followed a Google listing, you’re directed away from Google (and subsequently away from the +1 tool).  This means that at the moment Google is relying on users remembering to backtrack and retrospectively recommend the page…

Apparently there are plans to eventually allow web developers to embed the +1 button on their own pages, but with no date for this set it seems like, for the moment at least, Google are working with a bit of a clunky system which isn’t going to make it very popular amongst early adopters.

Secondly, it’s simply not clear as to who is actually in your Google Social Circle… unlike Twitter, Facebook etc there is simple list of friends that you’re linked to – and, in a set-up similar to that of LinkedIn, you are linked to not just your direct contacts, but also the people who are linked to them… meaning that your Social Circle could be huge.  So you never really know who you’re recommending things to!

At the moment Google +1 simply has a long way to go before it rivals the Facebook “Like” button, currently it seems to be positioned in a no-mans land – projecting recommendations willy-nilly across the internet, but not fully embracing the impulsive “I like that!” sharing culture that seems to be shaping the way we engage with the internet.  Google +1 either needs to be streamlined, or to expand (I can’t decide which)… oh, and it also needs a new name.