For Blogging Out Loud...

Nick and Rick (not related) have given their versions but both failed to spot the eerily emptiness of the world whilst the Google cars were doing the rounds. Must have been when Jeremy Kyle was on TV - its the only possible explanation.

Eerie 1 - An eerily empty Lou Macari's Fish and Chip Shop on the Chester Road


Eerie 2 - Fitzroy Tavern on Charlotte Street minus the punters


Eerie 3 - My local Woolies open for business.... *choke*


And not forgetting Camden Lock bridge minus the pushers. Seriously eerie.

So, Google has launched the UK version of it's controversial StreetView project. Now, like our friends in the States we can re-trace that drunken night out, check out our new neighbourhood or spy on our other halves...

The Google street cars have been trawling the nations highways and byways for months and the finished article is impressive with 360° horizontal and 290° vertical camera pictures.

Following legal discussion faces and numberplates are blurred.

How to use Google StreetView;

• Go to Google maps at maps.google.co.uk
• Zoom in on a major city
  
• Drag the yellow man left hand side onto a street on the map. If the street is highlighted blue StreetView is active
  
• Drop the man at the point you want to view from and you will switch to the 3D image.
• Play!
  

There's some pretty amazing stuff out there that impresses me, partly because it takes a little vision somewhere down the line to come up with the simplest idea, but mainly the belief (and balls, mostly) to see a vision through.

Impressively inspiring speech over with, imagine the original pitch for their idea went the other way, or that the decision maker in each case had got out of the wrong side of the bed - luck clearly plays a part here.

So, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, I give you "Great conversations that could have happened, but fortunately didn't"...

Google - Larry Page and Sergey Brin
"What, so people search for something and then get advertising for different stuff alongside their search results?!?! Have a word with yourself Sergey, it must be those pills you're on for your ADHD"

iPod - Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive
"Just so I''m clear on this Jonny boy, it plays music WITHOUT CD's?!?! Get back into the studio you little muppet, it'll never work"

Yahoo - Jerry Yang
"Mr Gates, I hear what you're saying but I'm not gonna cut you a deal at $50bn - it's completely out of the question..."

More to come!

There's a type of ego in the industry I work in - its one of assumption. The assumption that everyone knows what you're talking about, the assumption that everyone is as intelligent/proactive/quick as you, and the assumption that everyone knows their own target market.

Stepping back and taking stock is one of the hardest things for me to do.

When I speak to friends, I may feel that 'they' are stuck in the caveman era (relatively), and that I need to justify that 'manipulating Google' is indeed more than a full-time job. While I feel as though I am dumbing everything down for them, I completely understand the trading of stocks, the selling of houses and graphic design - or whatever it is that they do for a living.

The fact is, 'digital' moves that little bit faster than the rest of the world, therefore we, as digital marketers are, by nature of our foresight and challenges, impatient people.

We want things now - that's why we are always connected, with a BlackBerry, an iPhone, a laptop, home and mobile broadband, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, RSS feeds, the list goes on.

Is it possible digital is moving too fast for the rest of the world?

It's true we transact, connect and generally live a valuable portion of our lives through the lords own interweb - but we're unique and we don't realise it. There are still a lot of people to educate, they still don't "get" online, and they are likely the ones who, once you explain what you do for a living, answer with "this web lark is amazing innit".

Is it too much to fathom that there are probably more of 'them' than there are of 'us'?

Digital marketers of the world unite, take stock. There's plenty more hard work on the horizon...

Let's get things straight, when it comes to anything 'shiny shiny' I'm an "early adopter". This is marketing-speak for "a chancer". I am the Betamax to your VHS, the Sega Saturn to your PlaystationOne and the HD DVD to your BluRay.

There's always one and the large conglomerates can always guarantee a few first-day campers arrive before the ink on the marketing budgets are dry. And it's normally yours truly.

On the odd occasion that I get it spot-on, I never fail to blow my own trumpet. I was an iPod 1st generation owner, iPhone 1st generation owner and, erm, the rest are a little embarassing...

What can I say, I'm a stubborn so and so, and I love to say "I told you so". Every so often I see something shiny and I have to have it. Myself and the other half have the same conversation every time this happens, and invariably I win - with the old adage; "Christian Louboutin will miss your business if you play this game with me, sweetheart".

Anyhow, I am about to spend a credit-crunching £19.50 on this, the John Lewis CEC7CJLU Egg Boiler. This sounds simple, it boils eggs. As a big fan of breakfast myself (and a lazy one at that) pressing a button and waiting for my boiled or poached eggs to arrive in a couple of minutes - seriously turns me on.

I am told something like this was on Dragons Den and got completely slated by the panel.

Is this likely to stop me? Hardly.

Does it use water? I've got no idea. Admit you're jealous...

Every so often you are handed a resource that saves you time and effort, is informative and ticks every box. In digital media, I find I dedicate a lot of my time to educating people, in Layman's terms - concepts that are difficult to explain at the best of times - often resulting in frustration for all.

So that's why I give my ringing endorsement to Elliance, who have produced a series of SEO Infographics to hit each of these nails bang on their heads.

From the most basic SEO concepts, through to integrating with PPC and Social Media - this is an extremely valuable resource. If a picture is worth a thousand words, this is an invaluable way of saving time (and for me, my hair!)