This was in comic sans. Comic sans!

Customers service,

Dear Sir.

( Investment inquiry on behalf of my first party client )

 

In view of the urgent and private nature of our intentions to go into a joint investment programme with your establishment, We wish and request that you forward to us the direct contact to the CEO of your Establishment.

 

I am soliciting your humble attentions to this matter as we will like to discuss the terms and conditions of his investment policies before we can commence with the perfection of documentations that will assume this venture the beneficiary of the investment funds.

 

My clients (Savimbi family) has in their the disposal the sum of twenty five million united states dollars that they wish for your venture`s co operation in securing and investing these funds into the financial system of your state without any complication, We have confidence in your investment opportunities to withstand the value of those funds for the required period of time we agree on.

 

I will also like you to treat this my humble request with integrity and confidentiality as the political system in my nation demands that we secure and invest those funds now without delay.

Please be fast to forward his e-mail addressee, mobile phone number, and direct fax line so that we can communicate with him without further delay.

We also expect you to inform and alert him of our mail.

 

Thanks and always remain blessed.

Johnson Douglas (Esq)

lugard solicitors & notary public

(On behalf of the Savimbi family)

+4470111…

Mobile Ad Choices App Debuts | Adweek

The mobile counterpart to the ad industrys ad choices self-regulatory program that allows consumers to opt-out of online-targeted ads is finally here. And yes, theres an app for it.Called Ad Control, the app gives consumers a way to opt out of cross-app advertising. Developed by Evidon, the app is now available in the Apple App Store. An Android version will be available later this month.When the Digital Advertising Alliance announces in two weeks its mobile privacy standards, Evidons app will allow for compliance.The DAA rolled out its ad choices program two years ago in response to growing concerns at the Federal Trade Commission and in the government that consumers needed to be given a choice to opt out of behaviorally targeted ads. Though regulators seem satisfied that the industry is working to protect consumer privacy online through self-regulation, theyve been pressing for a mobile solution, which the industry has been promising to deliver for more than a year.

via Mobile Ad Choices App Debuts | Adweek.

Apps providing spin-off opportunities for popular magazine brands | Technology | guardian.co.uk

A great article on how some publishers are looking to bespoke apps and experiences to monetise mobile rather than replicating the magazine format on tablets and mobile.

… a new app released by Dennis Publishing’s male health mag aims to change that, although it’s no digital replica. Men’s Fitness Cover Model Body Plan is a spin-off: a £1.49 paid app offering workout plans promising “you’re just four weeks away from a physique worthy of the cover”.

While I mull the prospect of a “V-shaped torso” by Springtime, the app’s release also made me think about the market for these kinds of spin-off apps for magazine publishers, as they slice and dice their archives of articles and photography in new ways for smartphones and tablets.

Much of the focus on magazines and apps has been on the replica editions, whether offered through aggregators like Zinio, or as standalone apps in the app store newsstands of Apple and Google.

via Apps providing spin-off opportunities for popular magazine brands | Technology | guardian.co.uk.

Hey, Apple and Google: Stop trying to wolf the whole mobile pie • The Register

“Apple is a terrible Google, which is a terrible Amazon, which is a terrible Apple.”

It’s become a truism that the way to win in mobile is with an end-to-end, hardware-to-software-to-cloud strategy. I just wish this were as good for consumers as it seems to be for vendors. If I could get any wish fulfilled for 2013, it would be to have Apple and Google, in particular, go back to doing what they do best – rather than doing “all the things” in an attempt to squeeze out maximum value from a captive consumer.
via Hey, Apple and Google: Stop trying to wolf the whole mobile pie • The Register.

Sitecom adds Do Not Track to its routers | bit-tech.net

Networking specialist Sitecom has announced an extension of the security software running on its top-end router models, adding support for the Do Not Track flag to all client devices.

Introduced in the latest version of desktop browsers, and slowly making its way to mobile devices, Do Not Track is a flag which tells sites that the user does not wish to be tracked between visits. Privacy fans claim its an important step in improving the state of the web, while advertisers have decried the technology by claiming it will limit the availability and diversity of Internet content and services for consumers.

via Sitecom adds Do Not Track to its routers | bit-tech.net.

The Death of Display As We Know It? (Again)

Yes, Display Is Dying A Quick DeathYes, the banner ad as we knew it is no longer, and thank God. Remember those pixelated 728×90 leaderboards with static images for online adult chat sites that had absolutely no relation to any of the content on the page? Or those flashing online casino banners that just blinked blindingly quickly, almost screaming for your online attention? Or the first animated interactive game banner with the fly-swatter that moved every time your mouse moved? That was pretty novel at the time.We’ve come a long way baby Ahem … pardon the dated 1960s ad slogan reference. I’m clearly a product of consumerism. Today’s rich media ads and those annoying screen-takeovers are paving the way for tomorrow’s new crop of ad units, social ads and mobile banners. People have now gotten smarter, and so have the ads. Many believe that this new direction is changing and redefining the game for brand advertisers. Yes, according to several ballers in the ad industry I know, it’s time for celebration, and I may need to break out my pack of Virginia Slims to celebrate.

via The Death of Display As We Know It?.

Apple Adds iPad Mini, its First Actually Mobile Tablet | Digital – Advertising Age

Up to now, advertisers have talked about how iPads are typically used in a lean-back setting; Apple ads even pictured users’ feet up. That, in turn, has informed the type of ads that marketers distribute to tablets: often magazine-style, whole-screen takeovers and ads that drive people to e-commerce experiences made for browsing.

At the other side of the spectrum are advertising strategies for mobile phones, which are focusing more and more on location data, with the belief that the person viewing the phone is on the move and looking for something to do or buy.

via Apple Adds iPad Mini, its First Actually Mobile Tablet | Digital – Advertising Age.

Plan to test mobile phones on the Underground

Transport for London (TfL) had appealed for telecommunications companies to come forward for a trial on the Waterloo & City line but have drawn a blank.

The aim of the test – originally scheduled for 2008 – was to find how out technically and commercially viable a scheme would be.

All I can say is thanks god – it’s one of the few places where you get peace and quiet from people on mobiles. I commute using the trains and so sadly don’t get the luxury of not being in contact on my way to and from the office.

Still we know it’s possible as mobile operator O2 already offers mobile phone access on the Glasgow Underground. So really it is inevitable that eventually there will be a London trial on the tube.

Google Contacts Nightmare

So a slight problem recently with contacts.
I use a number of tools and web apps in my daily life to keep things organised beacuse I work for myself I use a number of machines in a number of offices so it’s easier to rely on web applications for some tasks.

30 boxes (30boxes.com) for a calendar as this also allows my partner to add events and we can keep track of what nights we have free for stuff which is nice.
Gmail (gmail.com) for email as it’s usually reliable and has heaps of storage space and I like the search
plaxo (plaxo.com) for keeping my contacts up to date
linkedin (linkedin.com) for business contacts
mobile me (me.com) because it came free with my iPhone and works with my MacBook address book

The problem I have now is syncing al the data.

This used to be easy as every now and then I would sync with plaxo to my work machines and that would pick up new contacts and I would dump them into Gmail manually. Not too painful and simple.

Now though the iPhone sync has got the better of me. Gmail has a whacked-out idea of contacts management in that email addresses are automatically added to your contacts list each time you use the reply, reply to all, or forward functions to send messages to addresses not previously stored in your contacts list. Sounds great in theory. In practise I don’t actually know a lot of those people and I may not want them in my contacts list.

iPhone has imported contacts from Gmail bringing all this random data and that has synched with mobile me and now my phone has 1800+ contacts only around 300 of which I actually added myself.

Google what are you thinking adding all these people to my contacts list without asking me?
Apple what are you doing allowing me to sync with data that is so different from my original set without setting off alarm bells somewhere.

Gah!