Joanne the Coach

Competition: Win a Dancing Danni MP3 doll worth £40 COMPETITION CLOSED

THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW CLOSED. DON'T LEAVE A COMMENT, IT WONT BE COUNTED

I'm very excited about this competition prize because it's a mix of classic toy meets modern technology, designed to encourage kids into active play. I have a big interest in children's play - that's why there's a chapter about it in my book, Toddlers: An Instruction Manual- and particularly how technology can support it. I think this toy does that very well. And she's cute too.

 

THE PRIZE:

One winner will receive a Dancing Danni doll. Dancing Danni (pictured here) is a new doll from Zapf Creation designed specially for music loving children. 

Dancing Danni comes with her own pre-recorded music, which has been carefully chosen to inspire children to dance.  She responds to the beat of the music by dancing away just like a real toddler – moving her knees, waist and body in time to the music. 

You can also plug in your MP3 player to Danni’s heel and she will dance along to your child’s favourite songs.  Identifying the frequency of each melody means she can get into the groove and dance differently to each song.

Dancing Danni is suitable for children ages three and over, RRP £39.99.  Available at all good toy shops. MP3 player not supplied.

 

HOW TO ENTER:

As Danni likes to dance to music, leave a comment in the comment box below telling us what's your favourite song to dance to?

 

EXTRA CHANCE TO WIN:
You can have an optional extra entry if you like this blog on Facebook, so say when you leave your comment if you're claiming an extra entry.

 

RESTRICTIONS:
UK Residents only

 

CLOSING DATE:
Competition closes at Midnight on Tuesday 15th May 2012 and the winner will be chosen at random as soon as possible after that.

You can find more competitions to enter at ThePrizeFinder - UK Competitions and Loquax Competitions

WH Smith Kobo eReader or Amazon Kindle - which is better?

 

Kobo eReader meets Amazon Kindle

Much as I love my Amazon Kindle, it's not perfect. I'm now on to my third as it's stopped working twice within a year.

So when I was offered a loan of the Kobo eReader to try out, I was intrigued to see how it would measure up. You've probably seen the Kobo on sale in WH Smith - in our local branch, even the staff are wearing Kobo t-shirts, so keen is the store to promote the brand.

What I liked about the Kobo eReader:

• It's very pretty
  As well as the regular black, the Kobo also comes in silver, blue and light purple. The soft rubber outer casing has a nice feel to it, especially with the quilted effect on the back
• It's a touchscreen device
  Sometimes the clicking of the buttons on the side of the Kindle to turn the page can be distracting, so it was nice to turn the Kobo pages with a silent tap of the finger. Don't read when you're eating toast though, it makes the screen too greasy.
• It reads pdf files
  Some libraries will now lend ebooks in pdf format - you would have to convert these if you wanted to read them on a Kindle, whereas with the Kobo you can download and read straight away.
• Reading community included
  The Reading Life function is a giant online bookclub, and seems to work like a combination of Goodreads and Facebook.
• It's very simple to use
  I had to go to the Kobo setup website, download some software, but it was all pretty simple and all done in under 10 minutes. From there, once you start buying books they're downloaded on to the device with seconds. 
• Extra functions
  Tucked away in the menu I found a drawing function where you can draw pictures on the screen with your finger, and a Sudoku puzzle option. Hours of fun, who needs reading?

Apart from that it's all very similar to the Kindle - you can either buy books via your PC or directly from the Kobo when you're out and about via wifi; you can share ebooks with other devices via a dedicated app and it can hold more books than you could ever read in a lifetime. As you can see from the picture above, the screen size is the same for both.

 

What I didn't like:

• Less book choice than for the Kindle
  They didn't have my book on Kobo format - quelle horreur! With over 2 million Kobo titles available, mainstream books are well covered, smaller titles less so. There are a wide range of free and self-published titles (with some of the worst cover designs I've ever seen). If you're the sort of person who can generally find a book you like in a large branch of WH Smith, then you'll be happy with the choice available for the Kobo.
• Home screen advertises books you haven't bought
  Whereas the Kindle only shows the titles in your library, the Kobo shows other featured titles you might enjoy. Some may find these suggestions helpful, I found it irritating.

Colour options for the Kobo

 

 

In conclusion:

The Kobo eReader is a good, though not perfect alternative to the Amazon Kindle. I think it'll be most suited to people who are used to touch screen devices; anyone who reads fairly mainstream books; and teen girls who like the purple and silver styling.

If you're already used to buying your books from Amazon, then the Kobo is of less interest. But for people who are new to ebooks, the WH Smith connection gives the reassurance of a familiar brand. I can see a lot of aunties and in laws getting this as a gift.

The option to share your reads via Facebook may also appeal to younger readers who aren't yet in Amazon's clutches - my 12 year old bookworm daughter was very keen on the Kobo and didn't want to send it back.

The facts
The Kobo eReader ranges in price from £59.99, compared to entry level for the Kindle at £89. It's available online and instore from WH Smith.

Tesco robots - Just say no

 

Well, I finally did it. I had been building up to it for a while, and today was the day.

I was in Tesco waiting for a till, when the man behind me in the queue indicated that the unmanned, self scanning checkouts were free. So that's when I snapped and said out loud: No thank you, they're evil.

I had been saying it in my head for a while. The man did a double take, then sailed past me to use the *spit* automatic checkout. He didn't ask for more clarification, but if he had then this is what I would have said:

• I prefer to deal with a human being
  Not everything in life has to be automated. Christ, even Starbucks want to know your name these days.
• They squeeze out jobs
  What happens to checkout operators if a computer can do their job? And who tends to do those jobs? Women and students mainly. People who need more opportunities, not less.
• They don't work
  I've seen people stabbing buttons, scanning and re-scanning and getting stressed. Doesn't look like progress to me.
• They're evil
  As I may have mentioned

Of course it's entirely possible that I'm just being a bit of a luddite and resistant to change. But I've got an iPhone, three Twitter accounts, two blogs and a Kindle. I may not understand how they work, but I am definitely in the geek corner more than anywhere else.

But I don't like these computerised tills and will always choose to Vote Human, even if it means a bit more hanging about in the queue until a person rather than a machine is available. It's a mini-protest, but it's mine. Or I could just avoid Tesco altogether.

Every little helps.

image credit:  Power is a state of mind

Social media for journalists: Part two - using LinkedIn, Facebook and forums to get work

Following on from the post about how journalists can start using Twitter for work, this is part two of my presentation to the Guild of Health Writers - here we're looking at other forms of social media including LinkedIn and Facebook.

(It was at this point in the presentation that I realised I had far too much to say.)

Using LinkedIn to get work as a journalist

• Fill in your profile to get your name at the top in Google searches
  LinkedIn ranks incredibly highly in search engines, so if somebody Googles your name (and editors will), your profile will pop up at the top. Particularly useful if you don't have a website for your journalism work (though frankly, you should). 
• Link your profile to your Twitter feed
  If you're using Twitter to circulate case study or other requests, link the two so both networks will see it.
• Ask for recommendations
  Get people you've worked with to fill in a LinkedIn recommendation to add to your credibility.
• Include keywords in your profile relating to services you can offer
  Recruiters are searching, so make it easier for them to find you. Nobody can offer you work if they don't know what you've got to offer.
• Join groups relevant to your specialism
  There're thousands of professional groups on LinkedIn, so there's bound to be a special little haven for you.
• Check out potential clients
  If you've got a meeting coming up with an editor, check out their LinkedIn profile to get the cut of their gib. *stalker alert*

 

Social media for journalists: Part one - Twitter for beginners

These notes are extracted from a talk given to the Guild of Health Journalists on 14th September 2011. If you're interested in this subject then you might want to also have a read of the post about 10 things Twitter can do for journalists.

We started with some general points about using social media:

• It's a conversation, not a broadcast
  Don't just pump out updates -  talk to people, jump into conversations, retweet their messages and see it as a two way flow.
• Look for personal connections and work will find you
  If you go in explicitly and solely looking for work, you'll probably be disappointed. See it as a source of new contacts and ideas and the opportunities will occur.
• Use your own name – that's your brand
  As a journalist, your byline is your brand, so don't tweet as your dog or your porn star name. The exception to this would be if you have a blog with an established name, in which case you might want to create a specific Twitter account just for that.
• Keep your photo consistent
  It's all about establishing you as a human being that other human beings will want to connect to and work with, so use the same photo across all social media and don't change it more than twice a year. Using the Hipstamatic App will produce the most flattering photo you've ever had.
• Klout.com will track your progress
  If you like statistics, Klout will track how your social media network and influence is growing - useful if you're worried that you're wasting your time.

Social media mythbusting

I had a spiffing time last night talking about social media for journalists with the Guild of Health Writers in the (frankly rather elegant) surroundings of The Medical Society of London.

The thing that struck me when talking to peole who don't use Twitter or other social media tools was that it's the myths that seem to put people off. Myths including:

• You have to be a tech-y gadget freak to make sense of it
• It uses up all your time
• Why would I be interested in what random strangers have for lunch?

UPDATED: A beginner's guide to the Amazon Kindle

 

I've been using my Amazon Kindle for about 10 days now. Here's what I've discovered:

• Set up and book buying couldn't be easier
  You will be good to go in under a minute. Don't be scared of this device if you're a technophobe because it really is extremely easy to use. You do need an Amazon account to operate, but if you're buying a Kindle then you're probably no stranger to The Big A anyway.
• You could spend a frickin fortune if you're not careful
  I had assumed that ebooks would be a lot cheaper than the print versions, since the production and delivery costs are so much less, but that's not the case. Many best sellers are a fairly similar price whatever version you choose. Somebody's making a lot of money out of Kindle books, and I suspect it's not the writers.
• But you'll still be seduced
  It's the instant delivery to Kindle that's so seductive - you can think of a book, buy it with one click and be reading it in under a minute. So if you're in a field and you fancy reading some Rilke - away you go. You can see why it's caught on.

Guardian Careers webchat on how to get a job in journalism

I'm taking part in another live webchat for The Guardian's careers site today. I've done a few of these before and they've always been incredibly interesting and packed with useful tips. The focus of today's q & a is how you can use online tools and tehniques to get a job in journalism, so this will include Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn, Youtube etc.

No matter what your level of journalism experience is, I think you'll get something out of it. I am nominally part of the expert panel, but I'll still be turning up to learn as well as give advice.

To join in the chat you'll need to register with The Guardian's website, but you can do this anonymously or under your own name.

Some people are already posting up questions, and the discussion proper gets under way from 4 to 6pm today. You'll find all the details here.

Do you want to be a TV tech presenter?

Becoming a TV presenter is an incredibly popular career choice amongst bears of little brain, but the opportunities to do it are few and far between. So I thought it was worth highlighting this opportunity from Channel Four. Especially since in this one, you get to use your brain - what a treat!

They're after somebody who can talk knowledgeably but in an accessible way about technology and gadgets for a new TV show

 

I won't be applying myself - they say they're after a "fresh face" and mine is anything but. Plus I still do a happy dance if I manage to successfully send a text, so I suspect my tech knowledge is rather less than what's required. But you guys with the gizmos should definitely give it a shot.

The First Rule of #Blogcamp...

...is that you have to blog about BlogCamp.

My day didn't start well when I realised too late that I was wearing the same blue top/black cardie/typewriter necklace combination I've got on in that picture on the right.

Holy crap, I've come as my blog I thought I am a 24 carat loser for sure. But then somebody came over and did the Be Seeing You peepy eye/hand gesture (as also modelled to the right) and said Is that you? So I did it back at them and said Yes it is.

Brilliant. My day brightened considerably from there.

And here are some of the things I learned at BlogCamp for starters: