My Five: Five things worth sharing from the last week (or so), brought to you by a different member of the Browser Media team every Friday.
This week’s My Five is by Alex.
1) New iPad
Apple oftens causes unrest amongst its fan base, bringing out new products with a steady frequency that makes it hard for consumers to keep up. Arguably, not every new product is groundbreaking, but the sheer style and gravitas of the Apple brand makes their products some of the most aspirational out there.
The latest reveal is new iPad Air – the fifth generation of the tablet – which is said to be the thinnest in the world at only 7.5mm thick (20% thinner than it’s predecessor). It’s also 0.4lbs lighter than the current series, weighing just 1 lb, and has a significantly smaller bezel (43% smaller), allowing for a 9.7-inch Retina display. Although it has the same internal architecture as the new iPhone 5 series, there’s no camera or fingerprint sensor, which were features predicted by many. Well, they have to give you a reason to buy more than one product…
Released on November 1st with no option to pre-order as yet, who’s planning on getting their camping gear out?
2) British Gas
This past week British Gas has made not one, but two epic social media fails. On the break of the news that prices are being hiked up by a whopping 9.2%, the company holds a Q&A session on Twitter, opening themselves up to the inevitable backlash of criticism in such volume they can’t keep up. Follow this nicely with a Facebook ad promising they are here to help…. Cue public rage cranking up several notches. Our Account Manager, Sophie, takes a closer look at the situation in her blog British Gas and the Social Media Snafu. Will they make it a hat trick?
3) LinkedIn Intro
Last year, LinkedIn acquired Rapportive – a plug-in which added a panel into your Gmail emails showing you details about the person contacting you. Then Gmail introduced the preview pane, and Rapportive stopped working.
Now, however, LinkedIn has launched LinkedIn Intro – a mobile product that works with iOS mail to enhance incoming message with details of the sender straight from LinkedIn, including photo, work experience and other background info. With half of all emails read on mobile devices, this is designed to add authority and trust, especially regarding those emails you may get out of the blue from someone you don’t know personally.
However, the major sticking point here is that LinkedIn Intro uses a third party – LinkedIn – meaning that email security comes into question. Unfortunately companies which have sensitive email content that should never be transmitted via a proxy server probably have a fairly high overlap with the types of professionals targeted by LinkedIn with ‘Intro.’
Regardless, adding giving access to a third party that even temporarily handles your email is not a good idea – especially if the company who runs the server has been the victim of a) an enormous data theft hack and b) previously transmitted emails, names and notes from users calendar in plain text, both in the last 18 months.
At a time when there is hypersensitivity to brand transparency and security of personal data online, will this issue hold back the potential of LinkedIn’s latest creation?
4) Anchorman 2 trailer and Ben and Jerry’s
For anyone who has seen and loved the film Anchorman, it’s great news that Anchorman 2 will be released this coming December. And Ben & Jerry’s have jumped right onto the fan bandwagon with the release of a new flavour; ‘Scotchy Scotch Scotch’, to honour the newscaster’s love for scotch whisky. Shame it’s only be available in the US.
5) Halloween nail art + pumpkin carving comp
It’s Halloween next week, possibly the oddest festival of the year. Borne from mix-match of beliefs, no-one really knows why we celebrate it, especially by dressing up as scary things and spooking each other. But nevertheless we will celebrate with gusto. We’re having an office pumpkin carving competition and bake off, to see whose skills reign supreme. Next week, hopefully we’ll bring you the results, but in the meantime, here’s some pumpkin carving inspiration.
