Dec 09

@RoyalMail prove themselves to be bad sports with a little customer service Twitter fail! I was waiting for a very important package to arrive at the office today - and it was in the hands of The Royal Mail, the mail service people in the UK love to hate, but are stuck with. We all love to watch brands make a social media faux pas on Twitter and Facebook but today I found myself at the receiving end of a little abuse from the customer service rep closest to the keyboard when I voiced my dissapointment at their failure to deliver my package. You can see the offending twitter reply in the pictures below but in case it isn’t working, let me tell you how it went…

@tommyjames: Just for the record @RoyalMail, @TNTExpress wouldn’t have let me down!

@RoyalMail: Just for the record @tommyjames , the SD guarantee has been suspended since Wed 1 Dec: http://bit.ly/brgwRT

A little sarcastic and rude if you ask me. Usually I wouldn’t care, but I had to bring up the point that this is Twitter…they have over 5000 followers, I have nearly 500 and this blog sees over 6000 readers a month - which means their ignorance is being broadcast to over 10,000 (usually unhappy) customers and badly damaging their already badly torn reputation.


Good work Royal Mail.

Tom Cleeland for The Cool Commentator.

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Feb 01

How not to make a flashmob…by Doctor Pepper.

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Jan 27
The Apple iPad has been launched…major success or huge fail? The Cool Commentator isn’t so sure. We covered the event live, amittedly through second hand sources (thanks you gdgt.com) on Twitter and found the excitement of the initial launch start to evaporate as it dawned just how pointless the iPad really is. We like a good bit of tech here at The Cool Commentator but we think Apple could have done something a little less ecstravagant, and gained a better response. The new iPad sits between a laptop and an iphone. “Apple has taken the middle ground, but ground not walked upon before,” claimed Steve Jobs as his company launched one of the most anticipated products in years. The new product is set to bridge the gap between smartphone and netbook, but has it managed to succeed? It seems unlikely. The device does it all - internet, email, apps, itunes, games and even e-books - but one key feature that many are complaining about is the lack of multitasking. Something that will become very irritating very soon after you start using the iPad. Jobs reckoned it will do it faster and better than any other product…this may be so, but if it cannot do it at the same time then why do it at all? The iPad is due to go on sale in the UK in March. It looks like an oversized iPhone, but houses a 9.7-inch LCD display. However, continuing the mantra that thin is best, it has a 0.5-inch girth and weighs 700g. It’s “thinner and lighter than any netbook” claimed a proud Jobs. The device runs on a 1GHz CPU which Apple developed in-house. The chip, claims Jobs, delivers “the best browsing experience you’ve ever had”, and showed how the screen’s multi-touch sensors and accelerometer play their parts. And, as expected, Apple was keen to show off how these specs affect the ability to view newspaper and magazine pages online. The iPad even does what the Kindle does, but better. One of the most important features of the iPad will be iBooks - Apple’s own digital, colour e-book application, which uses the open-standard ePub file format. This means books you’ve already purchased from the likes of Waterstones.com will be compatible with the iPad. The company has signed deals with five major partners, including Penguin, HarperCollins and Macmillan, to bring digital bookshelves to the device, and of course, there’s a new iBookstore for buying books. Now this new application is one of the most impressive new products to be launched today. The interface is slick and easy on the eye and the amount of books available is incredible. You can even swipe your finger across the screen and turn the pages one by one. Lovely. But can you really choose this over the tactility of a real book? I’m not so sure. Another major feature for the iPad is iWork. Apple has developed a new version of iWork specifically designed for the iPad’s screen and interface, and it includes the major apps: Pages, Keynote and Numbers. These will cost $10 (about £6.20) each. It is a novel feature that you can download the apps individually instead of in a bundle. If, like me, you are not a fan of pages then you don’t have to spend money on it. I would download Keynote straight away. The iPad comes with up to 64GB of flash memory, supports all existing iPhone applications, supports 802.11n Wi-Fi, stereo Bluetooth and GPS. A version with 3G wireless will also be available for use on any network but with a new, smaller type of SIM card (that virtually no networks use at the moment) and not outside of the US until June 2010. Google Maps, YouTube and a whole host of Apple’s own productivity apps - calendars, iTunes, Mail, Safari etc - have been re-written to take advantage of the device’s TFT display. But ultimately, they remain far too similar to the original iPhone versions. There is just not enough difference in them to warrant paying more for a device like this. Now down to the nitty gritty…PRICE! It’ll start at $499 (about £309), and it’ll be on sale within the next two months, worldwide. This brought a smile to most peoples faces…yes the iPad is cheap but that is for a very basic, non-3G model. If you want a full spec product you will be paying in excess of $899. Apple went on to introduce some accessories for the iPad. The first being a keyboard dock that basically turns your iPad into a desk top computer…so why buy an iPad in the first place? For portability? Well, an Macbook Air does more and weights not much more and isnt too much more bulky so why not get yourself one of them. Trying to edit documents and type long emails using the iPad on a train or plane, unless you are reclined fully with your knees up, will give you repetitive neck strain without a doubt. I love Apple and its innovation. Apple rule my life to some extend but I can’t help feeling that they should have left the Tablet to someone else and simply updated and redesigned the iconic iPod Touch - bigger screen, better usuability, modern uni-body aluminium design, e-book reader etc. It would have cost less to develop, cost less to manufacture, have a lower price tag and would most definitely attract more buyers. To conclude, the iPad is an impressive, innovative piece of kit but it fails on far too many levels (we will go into these failings in more detail tomorrow). The Cool Commentator suggests a Macbook Air to be a far better investment if you want to surf the net, email and work on documents on the move. Stick with your iphone for apps and the rest.

The Apple iPad has been launched…major success or huge fail? The Cool Commentator isn’t so sure.

We covered the event live, amittedly through second hand sources (thanks you gdgt.com) on Twitter and found the excitement of the initial launch start to evaporate as it dawned just how pointless the iPad really is. We like a good bit of tech here at The Cool Commentator but we think Apple could have done something a little less ecstravagant, and gained a better response.

The new iPad sits between a laptop and an iphone. “Apple has taken the middle ground, but ground not walked upon before,” claimed Steve Jobs as his company launched one of the most anticipated products in years. The new product is set to bridge the gap between smartphone and netbook, but has it managed to succeed? It seems unlikely.

The device does it all - internet, email, apps, itunes, games and even e-books - but one key feature that many are complaining about is the lack of multitasking. Something that will become very irritating very soon after you start using the iPad. Jobs reckoned it will do it faster and better than any other product…this may be so, but if it cannot do it at the same time then why do it at all?

The iPad is due to go on sale in the UK in March. It looks like an oversized iPhone, but houses a 9.7-inch LCD display. However, continuing the mantra that thin is best, it has a 0.5-inch girth and weighs 700g. It’s “thinner and lighter than any netbook” claimed a proud Jobs.

The device runs on a 1GHz CPU which Apple developed in-house. The chip, claims Jobs, delivers “the best browsing experience you’ve ever had”, and showed how the screen’s multi-touch sensors and accelerometer play their parts. And, as expected, Apple was keen to show off how these specs affect the ability to view newspaper and magazine pages online.

The iPad even does what the Kindle does, but better. One of the most important features of the iPad will be iBooks - Apple’s own digital, colour e-book application, which uses the open-standard ePub file format. This means books you’ve already purchased from the likes of Waterstones.com will be compatible with the iPad. The company has signed deals with five major partners, including Penguin, HarperCollins and Macmillan, to bring digital bookshelves to the device, and of course, there’s a new iBookstore for buying books.

Now this new application is one of the most impressive new products to be launched today. The interface is slick and easy on the eye and the amount of books available is incredible. You can even swipe your finger across the screen and turn the pages one by one. Lovely. But can you really choose this over the tactility of a real book? I’m not so sure.

Another major feature for the iPad is iWork. Apple has developed a new version of iWork specifically designed for the iPad’s screen and interface, and it includes the major apps: Pages, Keynote and Numbers. These will cost $10 (about £6.20) each. It is a novel feature that you can download the apps individually instead of in a bundle. If, like me, you are not a fan of pages then you don’t have to spend money on it. I would download Keynote straight away.

The iPad comes with up to 64GB of flash memory, supports all existing iPhone applications, supports 802.11n Wi-Fi, stereo Bluetooth and GPS. A version with 3G wireless will also be available for use on any network but with a new, smaller type of SIM card (that virtually no networks use at the moment) and not outside of the US until June 2010.

Google Maps, YouTube and a whole host of Apple’s own productivity apps - calendars, iTunes, Mail, Safari etc - have been re-written to take advantage of the device’s TFT display. But ultimately, they remain far too similar to the original iPhone versions. There is just not enough difference in them to warrant paying more for a device like this.

Now down to the nitty gritty…PRICE! It’ll start at $499 (about £309), and it’ll be on sale within the next two months, worldwide. This brought a smile to most peoples faces…yes the iPad is cheap but that is for a very basic, non-3G model. If you want a full spec product you will be paying in excess of $899.

Apple went on to introduce some accessories for the iPad. The first being a keyboard dock that basically turns your iPad into a desk top computer…so why buy an iPad in the first place? For portability? Well, an Macbook Air does more and weights not much more and isnt too much more bulky so why not get yourself one of them. Trying to edit documents and type long emails using the iPad on a train or plane, unless you are reclined fully with your knees up, will give you repetitive neck strain without a doubt.

I love Apple and its innovation. Apple rule my life to some extend but I can’t help feeling that they should have left the Tablet to someone else and simply updated and redesigned the iconic iPod Touch - bigger screen, better usuability, modern uni-body aluminium design, e-book reader etc. It would have cost less to develop, cost less to manufacture, have a lower price tag and would most definitely attract more buyers.

To conclude, the iPad is an impressive, innovative piece of kit but it fails on far too many levels (we will go into these failings in more detail tomorrow). The Cool Commentator suggests a Macbook Air to be a far better investment if you want to surf the net, email and work on documents on the move. Stick with your iphone for apps and the rest.

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Nov 14
TWITTER #FAIL Twitters automating the RT function…I have been selected as one of the “beta testers” and right away I am thoroughly unimpressed! This function should remain with the users…they are even replacing “RT” with an icon…this is not good! Twitter will not be the same…I would rather have pay per click advertising smothered all over my twitter pages instead of this henous new addition! SORT IT OUT TWITTER!

TWITTER #FAIL

Twitters automating the RT function…I have been selected as one of the “beta testers” and right away I am thoroughly unimpressed! This function should remain with the users…they are even replacing “RT” with an icon…this is not good! Twitter will not be the same…I would rather have pay per click advertising smothered all over my twitter pages instead of this henous new addition!

SORT IT OUT TWITTER!

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