December 2009 - NevilleHobson.com

The Hobson and Holtz Report – Podcast #513: December 31, 2009

Content summary: FIR 5th anniversary show on Monday; next FIR Live on Jan 23; Dan York says goodbye to 2009 and looks forward to the Tens; the Media Monitoring Minute with CustomScoop; News That Fits: how should government address information security and the TSA example of how not to do it, a really bad pitch from Ross Torrosian, 2010 gears up for an explosion of 3D, the PRSA controversy; listener comments discussion; music from Amanda Bloom; and more. Get FIR:…

Navigating sat navs, settled for a Navman

One mobile device that ought to be added to any list of gadgets that epitomizes the Naughties (and there are lots of lists) is the portable satellite navigation device, or sat nav for short. I first used a portable sat nav in 2005 with a rental car in Amsterdam, then bought my own in 2007 and, yesterday, purchased a new device (the one you see here, attached to my car windscreen), something Iâ€™ve been umming and aahing about for weeks…

The Hobson and Holtz Report – Podcast #512: December 28, 2009

Content summary: Comments for the first FIR Video; fifth anniversary show on Jan 4; next FIR Live on Jan 24; Michael Netzley reports from Singapore on the top ten stories from Asia during 2009; discussion: the ethics of non-attributed posts to Posterous; the Media Monitoring Minute with CustomScoop; News That Fits: more trouble for AT&T as company turns to celebrity to improve employee morale, just because you only met social media idiots does not mean that everybody is one; listeners’…

Avatar: telling an old story in a new way

We went and saw Avatar yesterday, the film thatâ€™s getting a lot of attention for a variety of reasons since its release on December 17: the amazing digital effects, the dramatic and epic scale of the story, the $400 million budget, the groundbreaking 3D version. We saw it in 3D at Cineworld Brighton, a multiplex almost right on the seafront (not a fun experience getting there on a freezing windy December evening) at the Brighton Marina. But it was unquestionably…

FIR Videos: PR Disasters – December 24, 2009

Using VodBurner, we have produced our first FIR video, a Skype call between FIR’s co-hosts. We’ll work on improving the quality, adding visuals and the like, as time goes on, but for our first effort on Christmas Eve, we opted to just use the VodBurner output as is. We’ll also look at adding these videos to the "everything" RSS feed but, for now, we’re just embedding it here. We’re anxious to hear what you think! (Cross-posted from For Immediate Release,…