After spotting the soon-to-be-released new Swatch Gent, I spotted these little gems on Hypebeast today during my morning Flipboard session:

Like wearing candies on your wrist - back to the old days of shocking with a splash of colour peeping out from that shirt sleeve

They're made of silicon and just slip on and off of the wrist, are waterproof and are beautifully minimalistic. Available in 3 sizes, you can wear yours how you like - tight, loose or "almost lost"!

Nice.

ps: There's a post coming about Flipboard... watch this space!

Firstly, you may ( or may not) notice that I've renamed the "Facebook/Twitter" category on this blog to "Social Media". Why? Read on...

I have been involved in the development of Facebook Applications for what seems like an eternity. In fact, my first Facebook App, Garfield Photo Invader*, dates back to November 2007!

My presence on Twitter started also quite some time ago and I've sent out 4,909 Tweets to date - not a huge amount by some people's standards, but still indicative of some level of engagement ;-)

None of this makes me a "Social Media Guru". If anybody ever calls me a "Social Media Guru" I will probably not have very kind words for them - it's a stupid and meaningless title. What I would say is that I'm a sociable person - both online, and off. Social Media has brought me into contact with many people whom I would never have met otherwise - particularly in Switzerland, where I live.

What I've now started to do is to try out other forms of Social Media. That's why the category name has changed. It's about more than just Facebook and Twitter. It's also about DailyBooth, Flickr, Foursquare and (dare I say it) Ping.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be working with all of the above to see how they can enhance my life. It may be that they don't. They may just become distractions and demand too much of my time.

This is what I'm calling my "Social Media Experiment". It might seem a bit late for some of those reading this but I am somebody who only uses any form of technology, hardware or software, if it's of any use in enhancing my life. The result of the experiment will be that I'm either more present in more ways on these platforms - or that nothing changes. We'll see!

There will be posts here relating to the experiment and to any conclusions I have made along the way. Please feel free to come back and check, comment or compare your experiences!

Meanwhile... see you on the interwebs!

* Sorry - it's offline now :-(

Cartoon credit: HubSpot on Flickr

These new Swatch Gent models look fabulous - a return to the aesthetics of the early models but with a difference - they're larger!

From pure white to beautiful black, with some wicked colours in-between, these new models are very tempting:

According to various sites I've found that mention these watches, they're available for pre-order on Colette but I couldn't find any mention whatsoever of these watches - or Swatch, for that matter!

If anybody sees these then let me know or, better still, get me both the black and white models (and maybe the green to boot, if you're feeling flush) and I'll be a happy bunny!!

Thanks to the wonders of Twitter, and a tweet from @yuccatree, I found this wonderful video clip from 1964. The clip, filmed the year before I was born, shows Arthur C Clarke predicting a future which would have seemed incredible, even preposterous, for most people then. His predictions have, however, come true in many ways - 1:32 into the film and things get spooky.

Watch and enjoy:

Anybody care to predict what the World will be like 50 years from now?

After today's Apple Keynote, a few thoughts struck me and I had to get them down in writing. Not just notes, but a script...

(pardon the rather traditional and totally politically-incorrect role models... it just seemed to fit with the picture...)

scene 1:

Enter the Husband, stage left...

Husband: "Honey, I'm home!"
Wife: "Darling! How was your day?"
Husband (falling, tired, into the soft leather of the sofa): "Tiring, but look: I saw some really cool shoes that I just know you'll love.."

He takes out his iPhone from his pocket and turns on the small and almost unnoticeable Apple TV, cleverly hung on it's "iTVHook" from the widescreen TV on the wall, with the "Remote™" App. Flipping effortlessly through his photo collection, he arrives at the video of the shoes taken only minutes ago...

Husband: "Well, what do you think".

Wife: "Ooooh, they're lovely! I just HAVE to have them."

She reaches excitedly for the iPad lying on the sofa next to her and, lo and behold, her doting Husband has already sent her the link to the shoe website in her email!

Two clicks and she's bought the shoes! (wow - they had "one-click"™ buying...)

Husband: "Now you've got those sexy new shoes, what's for dinner?"

Wife: "Well, I tried out a recipe from that fantastic new Jamie Oliver™ iPad™ recipe App you bought me - and that new kitchen iPad stand you bought is just great! "

He sits at the table... she disappears into the kitchen and emerges carrying a fabulous roast butternut squash and thyme bake (well, what did you expect?)

fade to black...

fade to next scene:

It's after dinner, the kids are in bed listening to their favourite stories being streamed to their AirPlay™ speakers from Daddy's iPhone™.

(OK, enough of the "™" already.. assume it's there form now on.... Ed)

Husband: "Darling, would you like to watch that movie you were talking about yesterday? I hear it's available for rent on iTunes."

Wife: "No, I don't really feel like it tonight... why don't we just get comfy on the sofa and surf a bit of YouTube?"

Husband: "Hm, ok (hoping she'll fall asleep so that he can try that new iPad multiplayer Project Sword game he's heard so much about)"

They settle down to zap their way through YouTube on the Apple TV, jumping from clip to clip with Remote on the iPad...

Wife: "Hey, are you asleep?"

Husband: "zzzzzzzzz"

Wife (smiling, satisfied with herself for winning some "me" time!): "Great! Now I can get some serious FaceTime™ (oops, there it is again) with that dishy guy I met in the cafe today. At least HIS life isn't ruled by geeky gadgets!"

...

Domestic bliss, made possible by Apple™ Come on - you know you want it...