But does it make coffee?

Every week there’s another smart phone, we were just debating Dell’s latest entry to the market and who’s making it for them (Taiwan or China).  And then at the end of a fun-filled couple of rather intensive days here in technology PR land, a Twitter buddy spots this Xphone and it cheered me right up!

I don’t think they quite explain how the fission reaction is contained in such a slim-line device but hey, I’ll believe anything these days.

Yes kids, that time of year has rolled around again. Once again several brave souls, Alex, Darren, and WAG Roger, have opted to push hair out of their faces for prostate cancer charity.

You can quickly and easily donate online to their cause by clicking their names, above, or you can donate to the entire team by clicking here.

Don’t worry; it’s a thoroughly reputable site that’s been doing this for years. And we promise not to sell your details to Russian fraudsters.

Well, maybe a few.

The theme for this year’s Movember Gala party will be…. well… actually never mind. All you need to know is that we’ll be going in drag.

Darren's got started on his outfit early

In the meantime, I have to immediately work out a half-baked excuse as to why we’re allowed to blog about Movember, when this blog is officially about Technology PR.

Without further delay, I therefore present to you, a picture of a robot with a moustache….

… or some such jazz. Meh.

The point is, EML is a thoroughly charitable company that gets behind several worthwhile causes every year. Alex, Darren and Roger would be delighted if you’d take the time to donate as much as you can spare to the cause.

Mo photos soon, you lucky people.

When PR stunts go wrong

There have been some truly memorable PR stunts that will stick in the mind forever and that raised the awareness of a particular campaign or company beyond all expectations. The tourism Queensland advert for the ‘best job in the world‘ being one. However there are some that should never have left the meeting in which they were conceived.

The latest attempt from Latvia falls into the latter category.

A mobile phone operator decided (for no conceivable reason) to hoax a meteorite crash which resulted in the military and emergency services being called out to investigate. The company said that the stunt was intended to ‘distract attention from the country’s economic crisis and give people something ‘creative and exciting’ to talk about.’

Well they’ve certainly done that.

The Latvian Government didn’t see any funny side though and have cut its ties with the company and the police have said they will be launching an investigation that could result in criminal charges.

I’ll admit that in various brainstorms at EML we’ve come up with some pretty daft ideas that we’ve all had a giggle at. But these ideas were just that, daft and instantly filed as such. Instances like this make you wonder just how the idea got all the way through the company and approved by those at the highest level without someone thinking it might just not be such a good idea.

Journo updates

Plenty of updates on the journo listing page here including John Walko retiring after countless years in the business and changes at the French technology magazine Electronique

Spark to the imagination

A picture may paint a thousand words but what I enjoy are the images that spring to mind from snippets read in a newspaper, and this week I have had two corkers.

The first was a letter in the Telegraph on the subject of what grandparents are called by their children’s children. It was an ongoing chain of letters that only DT readers (and Wogan listeners) could come up with.  However, the one that made me chuckle was the computer literate grandmother who was known as ‘technogranny’ to her nearest and dearest. Robotic granny on speed is the image firmly planted in my brain on this one.

The other was the poor lad in Luton with his 14” TV and wonky aerial booster in his bedroom when he receives a visit from Ofcom. Apparently it went onto a frequency that was blocking communication between planes landing at Luton and air traffic control.  He now has now television but at least he does not have a garden full of Airbuses.