December 2014 - NevilleHobson.com

The Hobson and Holtz Report – Podcast #788: December 29, 2014

Next week’s episode marks the start of our 11th year of FIR: would you like to contribute to the show? Quick News: TripAdvisor fined in Italy for failing to prevent fake reviews, Coca-Cola dumps voicemail, Facebook finds that not all users want to review their year, Google and Microsoft join forces against Marriott’s wifi blocking hopes; Ragan promo; News That Fits: Influencers are burned out on influencer marketing; Dan York’s Tech Report: Watching via Twitter as North Korea’s internet goes…

The shape of movies to come

So The Interview got its public showing on Christmas Day in the United States in spite of hacks on Sony Pictures’ computer systems, angry denials by the North Koreans that they were behind the hacks, and intervention by the US President. The political comedy film stars Seth Rogen and James Franco as journalists who secure an interview with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (played by Randall Park), and who are then recruited by the CIA and instructed to assassinate him.…

Goodwill 2014

Greater love and understanding for other people – these aren’t bad sentiments this Christmas 2014 when you consider some of the recent events that have caused such grief and anguish around the world. “Peace and goodwill to all men,” is a verse in the King James Bible often quoted at this time of year. While there may be precious little going on in the world to encourage belief in the meaning of that phrase, it only needs each of us…

The Hobson and Holtz Report – Podcast #787: December 22, 2014

Intro: Contributions for the January 5 (10th anniversary) episode, recording of Cision/Vocus webinar “Social Media Marketing vs Social PR” available; Quick News: PCs are still tops for video viewing, Doximity the ‘LinkedIn for doctors’ has signed up more than half of US physicians, bad web bots account for one in three visitors to sites, Microsoft free again to ignore Internet Explorer rivals in Europe; Ragan promo; News That Fits: Dealing with harassment and abuse online: the role for communicators; Michael…

Making a QR code useful isn’t rocket science

A technology that’s often subject to much criticism is QR codes, those square symbols that enable a barcode scanning app on your smartphone to interpret the data they contain and deliver information to you when you scan them Much of the criticism is about how QR codes are presented by those who create them, often in ways that are simply lame or even mind boggling. But when you see a great example of how a QR code is being used…