Earlier today, Adii posted the email interview he did with Gregor and I regarding the launch and strategy behind The Times.
This is the first interview we’ve done since the launch and I think Adii’s questions were very well constructed. Hopefully our responses will help shed some more light on the new publication, and what we are hoping to achieve in the immediate and distant future.
Well-done to Adii for the excellent series of interviews that he’s currently conducting with well-known players in the Internet and Media space…
Time.com has posted an excellent cloud-map (contextual analysis) of Paris Hilton’s first interview since producing her get-out-of-jail-free-card with Larry King on CNN. On their site is a flash app which allows you to hover over each word to see the frequency it was used by Miss. Hilton in the interview. The end result speaks for itself.
I think this is an excellent addition to a news site, which adds an extra level of context and insight and really showcases what is possible and unique to the Web. I’m sure we will start to see a lot more of this sort of thing accompanying big stories in the future.
[Thanks to Lu for the link]
I’m not sure if I should be enraged or flattered by 5FM’s decision to call their new social networking site Youngblood 5. This was cunningly orchestrated on their behalf so as to harness the strong brand recognition and popularity of this blog and make bucket-loads of money off me in the process. If you don’t believe me, click on this link to go to a Google SA search of the term “youngblood” and you’ll notice that I’m #1 ahead of Youngblood 5, so who’s riding who? Mwahahahahahaaa…
I’m watching you 5FM and so far I’ve given you the benefit of the doubt, but just you try and name your next social media project “Colin Daniels 6″ and I might not be so forgiving….
This is what I found outside my house this morning at 8am:
I believe it was even colder in other parts of the country. See here, here and here…
Granted, this is not breaking news, but it’s the first opportunity I’ve had to blog about the recently re-designed myadsl.co.za portal. First impressions are very positive, and Rudolph, Cara and the team must be commended for overseeing a successful re-launch and the way they’ve transformed a popular technology forum into a fully fledged ICT news web site with a wide array of high quality content.
The design and layout are clean and a tasteful light blue has been adopted as the site’s spot-colour. There is also a definite hierarchy on the front-page which makes it quick and easy to scan through the latest news (for the many readers who still don’t use the site’s RSS Feeds) and find the regular features such as most popular/highest rated and polls for example. Adopting a wider format fixed-design was also a good choice in my opinion, since myadsl.co.za’s target audience are largely tech-savy users’ who run high-resolution displays. This also allows them to fit more content on the page without the need for extensive vertical scrolling.
One noticeable difference to the previous site is the addition of rotating advertising on each page. Although there are a number of adverts on the site, they are cleverly positioned and relatively non-obtrusive. i.e at no point do you get the feeling that you are being “boxed-in” by advertisements. They also seem to be working effectively, as The Times has seen a number of click-throughs originating from our various banners on myadsl.co.za (screenshots below):
I touched on the high quality content issue earlier, but I think it needs a further special mention. I have been particularly impressed by the addition of blogs and podcasts (Toys and Technology) which, incidentally, is one of the best local podcasts on technology and a compulsory listen for anyone involved or interested in business or ICTs.
In a nutshell, and without continuing to state the obvious, the new myadsl.co.za site is a great example of a modern news site with a specific focus featuring an active user-community and it’s definitely given me some inspiration for the future.
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