LEWIS 360°

The Yenni tech round-up

I've been meaning to jump back into the blogging fray for some weeks now, but the darndest thing happened - the clouds parted, the tulips bloomed and premature summer erupted all over London! Less concerned was I with Steve Ballmer's latest antics or the newest start-up on the block, than gazing wistfully onto the Thames, dreaming up weekend excursions. Then reality hit. The rain moved in, the temperature plummeted and I find myself back at my desk, digging through RSS feeds and getting my hands dirty with the business of technology (how would I ever get any work done if I lived in say, Maui?).

On that note, I'll leave you with a few interesting highlights from the last couple of days...

If you were President Bush, you might be looking forward to being able to jump back onto email after eight years without having fired one off. Apparently, the secret service deemed email usage a 'security threat' and forbade the practice. In his own words?: “I can remember, as governor, I stayed in touch with all kinds of people around the country, firing off e-mails at all times of the day to stay in touch with my pals. One of the things that I will have ended my public service time with is a group of friends, a lot of friends. And I want to stay in touch with them, and there’s no better way to communicate with them than through e-mail.” (Did you know the Oval office doesn't even have a computer? What a world...)

If you were in San Francisco, perhaps you caught the Churchill Club's 'top tech trends' dinner event, with the world's leading technology investors in attendance (among them Steve Jurveston and Vinod Khosla). The folks over at Barron's Tech Trader Daily to a great job of summing up the conclusions with ten of the most promising items discussed. Among them? The idea that 'demographics are destiny'.

And lastly, a perfect summation about why the Internet rules all: anything is possible.

Imagebank Widget

Check out our new Imagebank widget on the right hand side. Easy access to photos of your choice. And what's more, you can now add this widget to your own blog or website. Just go to this website and copy the HTML code. Couldn't be easier.

http://api.lewisimagebank.com/widget/

Please give generously

On the weekend of the 7th and 8th of June a team from LEWIS PR will be taking part in the 3 Peaks Challenge in Aid of CARE International.

I'll come onto what the challenge involves in a second but the really important thing here is that CARE International is one of the largest relief organisations working in spite of the Burmese regime to take much needed aid into that part of South East Asia.

Year-round, CARE works tirelessly in much of the developing world but the crisis in Burma is a timely reminder that there is much we can all do for people less fortunate than ourselves.

...now, back to this Challenge. A team of five from LEWIS will be covering a distance of 40km (climbing through a total elevation of 12,000 feet over the three highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales respectively. To make matters tougher it is a race against the clock to complete the Challenge within 24 hours, including travel time between the well-dispersed peaks!)

We have set a target of £6,000 which we are hoping to raise and having met all costs ourselves we're delighted to say that every penny raised will go towards the work CARE does. So please dig deep and give whatever you can by visiting our JustGiving web page.

PoGo stickers

The pogo is back. And I'm not talking about the Flybar 'thruster', as featured on p3 of Friday's Metro.

No, I'm talking about the Polaroid PoGo. Hell bent on finding new in-roads to the consumer gadget space, Polaroid has been seen making LCD TVs, printers and digital cameras. But so far, in my view, they've been on the cheap side of average.

But the PoGo seems really interesting - and one of those 'disruptive' gadgets that looks like it's going to make waves.

All Polaroid needs do now is work out how to get the price down...

Facebook in Reality

So true. Does your social media make you feel like this?

LEWIS Imagebank: Pic of the week

The UK has been a hotbed of political activity today and yesterday – and quite frankly, I'm rather disgruntled and disillusioned with it all.

So for our first ever LEWIS image of the week, I've chosen a pretty picture of a petrol pump: a great unicorn chaser, if nothing else.

This photograph came from LEWIS Imagebank, our online library of over 3,000 royalty-free, searchable shots. If you can't find what you're looking for, Hannah will be glad to help!

There's a word for people like you

In certain media analysis circles the phrase 'animal porn' is used to describe the obligatory daily picture (normally) on page three of the Daily Mail or page seven of The Telegraph featuring some kind of cuddly animal whose story will appeal to readers.... and maybe make them go 'awww!'. It's the meeting point where lazy, space-filling journalism collides with a UK public accustomed to the phrase "I love animals I do".

However, the BBC has really pushed the boat out, or rather some scientists with a camera may well have done.

Story of the day is undoubtedly the breaking news on the BBC (yes, the BBC of all places) that an Antarctic Fur Seal has been 'caught' trying to have sex with a King Penguin.. or a "...'king penguin" by the time his seal friends start pulling his fin about it.

According to the BBC "Sexual coercion among animals is extremely common".

"Extremely common"? It's downright slutty!

The Beeb adds: "Why the seal attempted to have sex with the penguin is unclear. But the scientists who photographed the event speculate that it was the behaviour of a frustrated, sexually inexperienced young male seal."

That's his reputation shot to pieces then.

Spare a thought for the penguin though. What a day he's had.

It makes you sick, doesn't it...

From the Daily Mail: "Computer keyboards can harbour more harmful bacteria than a lavatory seat... according to the consumer group Which?. It warned that 'qwerty tummy'... could sweep through workplaces after tests on equipment in its own London offices showed alarming results."

Eh? Because now it is known about, it becomes more virulent?

How does that work?

Surely more likely this has been the case for as long as keyboards have existed but daily exposure breeds immunity, hence we've not all been vomiting at our desks?

But of course 'Keyboard bacteria won't make you sick' ain't such a good story.

Grand Theft Auto IV

Today sees the launch of the new Grand Theft Auto game: GTA IV by Rockstar Games. With each game being more ground-breaking and controversial in equal measures than it's predecessor, this latest incarnation is set to be top contender for game of the year and draw many new people into the realm of the latest next-gen consoles.

One of the few gaming series to get as much press as a blockbuster film, the Grand Theft Auto franchise has spawned a whole new genre of video games. It's place in history is already set, but with GTA IV out today, and eager to both thrill and disgust anyone who plays it, it looks like it's not ready to stop shocking people just yet.

What is a pseudo event?

Followers of the Flat Earth News debate - or those of you who attended our 'Media Accused' event - may already be familiar with the phrase 'pseudo event' - a photo call or story contrived around an apparently newsworthy event but essentially possessing all the substance of fresh air.

But if you're unfamiliar with the phrase, or should you be looking for clarification or an example, check out this story from the BBC, which is online and also featured heavily on Breakfast News this morning.

"The Metropolitan Police has recruited students from the London College of Fashion to help design a new uniform. A range of new clothing is being trialled by specialist officers... Deputy Asst Commissioner Steve Roberts said: 'We want to retain the traditions of the Met while ensuring our uniform is fit for 21st Century policing.'

The public will be asked its views of new designs to ensure they are thought fitting for British officers, he added."