Well as 2012 fast approaches and we review the last year, our thoughts turn to the next year and how we can improve.
For some of us, it will be to diet or stop smoking maybe. Whilst for me, I’d like to do a weekly review, weekly! I have been an interested student of Getting Things Done (GTD) by David Allen for some time, but, one of the hardest things I’ve found has been the weekly review.
Today I spent 5 hours doing my first real weekly review, hopefully future reviews will be a lot quicker! The past 12 days have also been spent on “my system” and that’s for another post.
So have a great New Year!
The Queen’s Christmas speech is to be released as a free download for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader following its broadcast.
The retailer secured access to the transcript after approaching the Royal Household with the proposal.
The arrangement is an e-book exclusive although the text will also be made available at Facebook and the Royal Household’s official website.
Book industry watchers described the move as a “coup” for Amazon.
In addition to this year’s speech Kindle owners will be able to download the Queen’s previous Christmas messages dating back to 1952, the year of her accession to the throne.
“The Royal Household is content for other organisations to take this content and make it available on as many other platforms as possible as long as the content is not altered or presented out of context,” a spokeswoman at Buckingham Palace told the BBC.
“We would like The Queen’s Speech to be broadcast or read as widely as possible, and allowing Kindle to make the text available is just another example of this.”
Tech-friendly
The Royal Family has long taken advantage of technology to communicate with its subjects.
In 1878 Queen Victoria tried out Alexander Graham Bell’s invention, the telephone. The Queen later wrote in her diary: “A Professor Bell explained the whole process which is most extraordinary.”
In 1918 the Monarchy used lithography to reproduce a letter from George V which was then distributed to returning prisoners of war after World War I.
In 1932 King George V made the Royal’s first Christmas broadcast via radio. Five years later the Coronation of George VI became the first televised outside broadcast.
In 1957 the Queen made the first live Christmas broadcast on television. Nearly half a century later, in 2006, the speech was podcast for the first time. Then in 2007 it was shown live on YouTube via a dedicated Royal Channel.
This year will mark the 60th Royal message released on Christmas Day. All have involved broadcasts with the exception of 1969 when a written message was released.
Marketing
The arrangement with Amazon marks the first time the speech will have been made available in e-book form.
“Millions of people across the UK, and the world, wait with anticipation to hear The Queen’s Christmas broadcast and we’re delighted to be able to make transcripts of Her Majesty’s annual addresses, past and present, available to download for free in less than 60 seconds,” said Gordon Willoughby, director of Kindle EU.
The Queen’s e-book has been given a minimalist cover designAlthough Amazon is not charging for the service, technology watchers say it may still benefit the firm’s bottom line.
“It gives people a reason if they just got a Kindle as a present on Christmas morning to work out how to download an e-book that afternoon,” said Stuart Miles, editor of Pocket-Lint.
“If they like the experience they will download more. It’s also a great way to turn people into evangelists for the system as they will have a reason to show it off to friends on Boxing Day, potentially leading to more sales for Amazon.”
‘Smart move’
Book industry watchers were also impressed by the arrangement.
“I think it is an exceptional coup and not surprising for a business like Amazon to do that,” said Philip Jones, deputy editor at trade newspaper The Bookseller.
“But I hope that other e-book sellers such as Waterstones and Kobo quickly phone up the Palace so they can compete because it seems an otherwise unfair advantage for Kindle to have. But it’s a smart move nonetheless – good for them.”
The Royal Household confirmed it was not ruling out similar deals with others.
“We would be happy to discuss a similar arrangements with other outlets,” a spokeswoman for the Palace said.
“We have chosen ones that suits us, but if other companies approached us we would be willing to consider those as well.”
The spokeswoman added that it was not public information if any members of the Royal Household owned a Kindle or other e-book reader.
The Queen’s Speech will be broadcast at 1500GMT on BBC1 on 25 December.
I’ve just downloaded a new App on my iPhone called ‘Waze’. its a Sat Nav with great social elements that make it useful and fun to use.
It uses information from other i=users to build up an automatically picture of current traffic conditions and then uses that infer to workout your route. You can also give updates on traffic, accidents, police trips etc all in real time. You then get points, Its a great way to have fun whilst on your normal daily commute.
A challenge for many GTDers, me included, is how to have a trusted system among several discrete software systems. Typically the situation arises in the workplace where either Outlook or Lotus Notes exists, plus other systems that may be CRMs, databases, or dashboard and reporting tools. Additionally, the workplace systems might not be convenient or available for one’s personal life.
I have been using Omnifocus for a good year, but the fact that my work environment is Windows has made the use of the Mac based Omnifocus unavailable. If they had a Web-based interface this would help.
So I have been researching an new system, and at the moment, the leader has to be Toodledo. it is mainly web based but has clients for all platforms, Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Android, Windows Phone and many more. It now also has Locations that on the iPhone alert you as you approach that location.
It was an early start on Saturday, as we made our way to Langley Park Rally School for my Rally Taster Experience, which Katrina gave me for my last Birthday.
Although the day was misty and cold, it was a great experience. I had a go in a Front Wheel Drive Ford Escort and a Rear Wheel Drive Vauxhall Astra. It is a lot hard than it looks but i can highly recommend power slide round a 160 bend!
I thought i was doing well until the instructor then gave a demo ride, Wow I have a lot to learn!
A great Day well worth it.
Welcome to my new blog and my first entry. This new blog is the start of a ‘review’, a ‘re-calibration’ of my life and my systems. I’m a firm follower of David Allen’s system, GTD, Getting Things Done workflow methodology and if I’m honest my system has recently gone of the rails. Having a blog allows me to put done my thoughts and in a way helps with reviewing how I’m doing.
The key to any good GTD system is the system itself, It needs to be simple, quick to use and most importantly reliable. Over the past year I have been using Omnifocus and although the software is very good with many useful features. The fact it only works on Apple products has become a issue. Sure, I’m a true Apple fan, I have a MacBook, iPhone, iPad so the system works great in the personal environment. The problem comes at Work, being a Windows environment and that has been the sticking point. I don’t have an easy way to access my system, OmniFocus, on my work computer. Yes I can access my next actions via my iPhone and I can email next actions into the system, but that seems to add a layer that is just to much. A good system has to be seamless, working for you and not you working it!
To that end I’m now in the middle of finding a new system.
