However, few mainstream video websites have taken advantage of this - probably due to the larger video files that are needed and the average speed of a users broadband connection making them slow to download. That is, until recently. Back in December, YouTube announced full support for HD on their site, allowing users to upload HD videos. Then, just this week, both BBC iPlayer and the Amazon Video on Demand service announced that they are also offering an HD option.

This is great news, as web video has been tradionally dismissed due to it’s poor quality. Now with these big players adopting HD format, we can start using it for our own projects. Users will become increasingly familiar with great quality video on the web, shifting the opinion towards it.

This is also good news for the education sector, meaning they can start to put more and more video online, instead of sending out DVDs. This will make it easier (and cheaper) to deliver content to even more people.

That said, Becta have now managed to sign up all of the major whiteboard manufacturers, and even have European support for the standard. Having looked through the technical specification, it does look rather limited. What it should be useful for though is making it easier to create downloadable versions of our flash content, as this is able to be embedded as a media object using the new standard, so allowing users of all IWB’s to access our activities.

All we need to do now is wait for the manufacturers to start supporting the standard, and away we go!

At the time of writing this post things have got even worse for Monster. As you can see from the screenshot below the site is now completely unavailable.

What went wrong?

Perhaps Monster’s major mistake was basing their site launch on a very strict launch date, further hyped by a countdown timer. This was no doubt due to some very black and white deadlines they had and no doubt a marketing campaign around it. However, if the site wasn’t ready then Monster should have taken the embarrassment of removing the counter and then waiting until they were ready to launch before they did the switch over. I imagine now there will be thousands of job hunters who will be having a very frustrating weekend.

However well you prepare for a site launch there is always a possibility that something may go wrong from server issues to demand levels (this has also been seen this weekend with the launch of Windows 7 beta which is no unavailable due to too much load on their servers). For this reason we always advise clients not to launch sites out of core business hours and weekends because unless your development team is available 24/7 then it is very difficult to quickly rectify any problems that may occur.

This very high profile disaster has really highlighted the importance of handling web launches well. Deadlines do sometimes slip for a whole range of reasons but the balance of launching a great site that works and meeting clients external deadlines is a difficult one.

I will watch with interest and update you on what happens.

After much reading over the last couple of months I have noticed an increase in chatter about Location Based Services (LBS). This is all about providing and aggregating content that is relevant to your location. For instance you may wish to find out where the nearest cash machine is to your current location or to track friends, colleagues and even children! It can also be used by businesses to provide location-based mobile advertising (something which has been done previously with varying success with Bluecasting).

A key enabler of these new services is GPS. Previously the size and cost of GPS receivers had ruled out their use in mobile devices (a rough location could be estimated by the cell site it was connected to) but now that are almost ubiquitous in new devices on the market. And with the explosion of the GPS enabled iPhone 3G and the Apple Apps store have exposed a huge number of people to LBS and created a real buzz. T-mobile’s G1, Blackberry and touch screen Android (Google’s phone operating system) based phones are following closely behind.

Who should we be watching? There are numerous LBS’ out there with huge variations in their usefulness but the following is a pick of what I will be watching:

Brightkite – A location-based social network which allows you to meet people around you and keep track of your friends. You can also post photos and notes to a location (geotagging). You can use the information posted by others to find out information and explore a new place.

The service has just come out of beta and is starting to get quite a following so certainly one to watch.

whrrl - This is a very similar service to Brightkite and is described itself as a ‘social discovery network’ allowing you to not only stay connected with friends but to discover places and events. I first came across whrrl at FOWA London 2008 and was impressed by what I saw. However, there are very few users in the UK at the moment so it’s full potential over here won’t be realised for some time.

Whrrl has some serious weight behind it with large sums of money being invested by T-Mobile and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The chief-exec, Jeff Holden is also an ex vice-president at Amazon and the man behind the hugely successful recommendations system. Will this experience lead them to really push location-based advertising, watch this space.

Mexens Technology – They have previously developed a software-based system which uses mobile phone masts and wireless networks to calculate your location – Navizon - but the guys at Maxens haven’t stopped there. There latest project is one that I am following with interest as a Community First Responder. They are developing a non-GPS positioning system that will work indoors. Initially this is being developed for medical emergency first responders to locate the exact location of a person in a room.

They are also working on Mobifindr, an application that can locate a lost phone and alert you via SMS. I’m not sure how this will work because what will you receive the SMS on?

Orbster – For the gamers out there Orbster has already created a LBS game, GPS Mission, where users can create and play location-based treasure hunts. Perhaps this will finally allow hardcore gamers to get some fresh air and daylight!

Facebook – There is nothing from Facebook to say they are venturing into the world of LBS but I would be surprised if they hadn’t plunged into this space before the year is out. If and when they do they will blow the likes of Brightkite and whrrl out of the water.

iPhone Apps – There are hords of LBS apps on the Apps Store already, too many for me to try so give them a go and let me know if you find any good ones.

Fire Eagle - I couldn’t talk about Location Based Services without quickly mentioning Fire Eagle. Yahoo launched Fire Eagle back in August as middleware for LBS. Users log into Fire Eagle and update their location in a single place. This can then update their location across multiple sites. Services already using Fire Eagle including Twitter and Flickr. It’s another excellent web service from the Yahoo Developer Network and makes it easy to build location-aware services.

I’ve only scratched the surface and there are lots more great services out there. I will follow these across the year and see if my predictions are correct!

In a news item appearing in Marketing, CEO of The Partners Jim Prior provides an excellent and highly topical case study of the consequences of disjointed branding by analysing the decline of one of the long familiar faces on the high street, Woolworths. The article is worthy reading material on several levels. Even if all it does for the reader is reaffirm the need for brands to behave in a ‘joined up’ fashion, then it does this in a succinct and persuasive manner. Prior writes: ‘[Woolworths] is a proposition of authenticity, of democracy, of variety, of carefree, guilt-free indulgence… a proposition that everybody wanted but that just never got delivered against. It went unnoticed by the management of the company who, instead, pointlessly fragmented the brand into the Big W warehouse stores and a wholesale distribution business. Did anyone there have any idea what Woolworths really was?’

Prior doesn’t allow Woolworths the luxury of economic downturn as an excuse for the decline which does, granted, seem ruthless, but again he has a point. The weak spot much of the UK had for Woolies just wasn’t enough to compensate for the meagre experience of visiting a store. Do many of us actually know anyone who shops there regularly? Probably not, and there’s a reason for that. To what extent can a couple of generations’ nostalgia for pick n mix sustain a business that actually has little to offer to most shoppers?

I wouldn’t like to claim that IE’s branding experts could have saved the long-ailing Woolworths had they been brought in to do so. However I do think that in the current climate, where already-stretched businesses are competing for the few pennies their customers can afford to part with, an identity crisis – where tone of voice, visual signature and customer experience simply don’t correspond – represents a lot more than just a hindrance on the path to marketing bliss.

As with any new term there are many different definitions of exactly what it mean and I liked this one from Web Pro News

Social media describes the online tools that people use to share content, profiles, opinions, insights, experiences, perspectives and media itself, thus facilitating conversations and interaction online between groups of people. These tools include blogs, message boards, podcasts, micro blogs, lifestreams, bookmarks, networks, communities, wikis, and vlogs.

Still unsure? The following YouTube video does a great job explaining the term (even if the guy commentating does have a pretty annoying voice!)

You only need to watch the ad once to gain an understanding as to why the response was so strong. Yes, the ad is distressing – but what it does manage to do with some success, I would argue – is communicate the underlying message with clarity, which is vital to any campaign with the primary goal of awareness-raising. The ad only airs after 9pm – not a slot ideally placed to be accessible to young children, one of the demographics most likely to be ill-equipped to deal with its content. An issue like child abuse is unpleasant to confront, so why should its treatment in the media be lighthearted? Many of us claim to be virtually desensitised to what we see on our screens. If so, perhaps this ad is an example of when so-called ‘shock tactics’ are necessary if not just.

In 30 seconds I managed to kiss Kate Silverton, Sarah Falkland and receive – on behalf of the IE team – ‘The Creative City Award 2008/9’ for ‘Best Brand’! Not bad going.

We’re a familiar sight at ‘The Creative City Awards’ – shortlisted 4 times for awards – and now winners!

It was a great night. Certainly the best of the past 4 years – not least due to the excellent work of Aquila, whose video work, graphics and titles all added an additional splash of style to an already glamorous evening. Video due to be uploaded today.

IE were also shortlisted to win the ‘Outstanding Innovation Award’ for our work on ‘Periscope’ – IE’s online studio management system, launched just a few weeks ago at the Plus International Design Festival. Find out more and get yourself a 40 day free trial at the Periscope website.

It’s been great to see Birmingham waking up, over the last 5 or so years, to the importance of its creative sector – an industry that now accounts for nearly 10% of the city’s economy.

Alongside our ever-increasing strength in web and interactive media, branding has always been right at the creative heart of IE’s service offering. To win an award for our own brand is genuinely flattering. It’s one thing to successfully build our client’s brands but so many creatives neglect their own.

A strong IE brand means a more visible business and that means it’s easier to reach our clients and easier to recruit great creatives. Competition is fierce and knowing what we stand for – innovation and excellence – really makes a massive difference.

IE was born and bred in Birmingham. To stand amongst the 400-or-so members of Birmingham’s creative community attending the Creative City Awards 2008/9 and be celebrated as an example of excellence was almost as exciting as kissing Kate!

Voice is a great medium for input when you take into account the speed of transmission; most people can speak faster than they can type, and in terms of accessibility, those with physical impairments can accurately and quickly dictate their intentions. On the flip-side, how does your website cope with multiple languages, accents or even speech impediments? Can you afford to add voice functionality to your application, as well as maintaining standard keyboard and mouse inputs?

To happen in the next five years I think that developers need to do a really solid job of applying the technology, or it’ll enter the already laughable realm of automated phone lines such as ticket booking lines or change of address systems - that’s right TV licensing, I said the number SIX three times and you still didn’t get it!

I think the most fundamental question, one everybody can answer, is this: If the web could talk to you, would you talk back?