Exact Target is a web-based email creation and distribution system I have used at work for some time. The software is excellent. I also like the organisation's take on corporate websites - as they have chosen to replace their website with a series of Blogs written by their employees. However, the following is a classic example of "loving the sound of our words" triumphing over "common sense" and succeeding at "making no sense whatsoever" - in an article ironically titled, "Thomas Paine and The Common Sense of Software Driven Marketing (more…)

Just been given a new IBM laptop for the job I’m starting in a few weeks.

No grumbles at all about its performance or spec, but I do have an issue with the keyboard!

What a stupid place to put the Function (Fn) key. EVERY other keyboard has the Control (Ctrl) button at the extreme bottom left of the keyboard, and I’ve just realised how often I use it - or in the case of the IBM laptop, how often I try and use it and hit the Fn key instead…

A quick Ctrl+C to copy some text, and then Ctrl+V to paste it…only to realise that I have actually been pressing Fn+C, so I didn’t copy anything in the first place.

What is the logic behind the keyboard layout? Same goes for the lack of the Winkey, which I also use a fair bit. I suspect this is some sort of statement by IBM to Microsoft - but it’s annoying. I’ve had to map other key combinations to take place of the missing Winkey.

IBM - sort it out. Please.

Too many rock band websites focus on gimmicks, unecessary Flash animations, unintuitve menus, huge dark moody graphics that take an age to download - even on a decent connection.

Now I understand they have an ‘image’ to maintain, and they’re not a dull blue-chip organisation. But come on fellas.

Fans come to sites to find out about new albums and singles, latest tour dates, see what the band is up to, etc. Maybe download some video or images from a recent gig. Whilst doing that, I’m sure some nice design is more than welcome, but not when it gets in the way of what the visitor is after.

Accessibility and usability are thrown out of the window more often than not. In fact, to say they are thrown out of the window probably suggests that they were even considered in the first place.

I’ve picked out two band’s and their respective websites, to show how it can be done.

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Motorway Traffic Officers - what a complete waste of a fleet of Range Rovers!

You can’t have failed to see them on the Motorway. They’re usually parked-up with safety-lights flashing behind some unsuspecting motorist who happened to have the misfortune of braking down on the hard-shoulder. You see them, smiling, chatting like charity collection volunteers - armed with a clip board. They push their good intentions on people - offering road safety advice; dishing-out foil blankets. Fashion tips and cricket scores would probably be more benefit! But let’s face it, most of us would rather they went away so that a more useful service - such as the AA or RAC could come by and get us going again.

But the worse thing is their vehicles which, like a sheep in wolf’s clothing, aspire to be Police cars. And don’t they Lord it over the rest of the traffic by insisting on driving at a steady 55mph on motorways. Surely they must realise that it turns once free-flowing traffic into a dangerous jam, and then causes frustrated drivers to tear-off at break-neck speed when they realise they’re not the police after all!

Has anyone actually received any real benefit from being attended by these do-gooders I wonder?

There I am. Innocently watching a repeat of QI on UK Gold or some similar channel, and it goes to the adverts.

I start to leave the room to pay the little boy’s room a visit, when I hear an advert for Direct Line - you know, the insurance firm with the annoying jingle and red telephone on wheels.

Well, I was astounded to hear that they’ve changed their name.

No longer are they Direct Line. No they are now ‘Dirrect Line’. Since when has the word direct been pronounced d’-rect instead of dai-rect in the UK?

Why are we adopting the American English pronunciation?

Soon we’ll be using aluminum foil in our kitchens, wearing fanny packs, and watching the England soccer team lose on PKs in the sem-eye finals.

Go figure.

Congratulations to Paula Radcliffe on the announcement that she’s got one in the oven.

The only down side is that she won’t be running for a while, and won’t be showing the world yet again that she’s the best female long-distance athlete ever, and Britain’s finest athlete of all time.

She breaks the women’s marathon record by a country mile, and proves herself time and time again - and yet people only want to criticise her and bring up her poor performance in Athens in ridiculous conditions when she shouldn’t have been running anyway due to illness.

The critics complain that she let her coutnry down, that she quit! They also bring up those heartbreaking 4th place finishes on the track -saying that she is always the ‘also ran’.

What are they on about? Have any of them ever run a marathon? Any of them done the 100+ miles a week that Paula does in her training?

World’s best ever long-distance female athlete?

Let her country down??? She is the BEST athlete we’ve ever had. Have a look at her personal bests:

• 8 km road - 24:05+ (World Best)
• 10 km road - 30:21 (World Record)
• 15 km road - 46:41+ (World Best)
• 10 mi road - 50:01+ (World Best)
• 20 km road - 1:02.21+ (World Record)
• Half Marathon - 1:05:40 (World Best)
• 25 km road - 1:20:36+ (World Best)
• 30 km road - 1:36:36+ (World Best)
• 20 mi road - 1:43:33+ (World Best)
• Marathon - 2:15:25 (World Record)

From the 8 Km up she is the best female road runner there has ever been!

It’s a shame she’s not going to be running in the European Championships next month, but I hope she is back running soon - and in Beijing 2008 I want to see her with that Olympic Gold round her neck.

She deserves it.

You can forgive aerials, cables and phone masts for being messy, because in all their unsightly glory they are least fundamentally honest.
Satellite dishes and TV aerials on our houses serve to remind us that communications are being beamed into our private space by an external force; and so we are aware of the potential for propaganda in the messages we receive.

Power cables weave above our countryside supported by gigantic pylons and remind us that there are environmental costs to be paid for our energy consumption demands.

In my view this is all good design. Its obvious presence empowers a balanced view by prompting us to consider the negative aspects along with the positive.

But the latest design of the mobile phone masts is yet another example of more spin. It’s a double whammy in that not only is it an attempt to gloss over our concerns related to mobile phone safety - out of sight is out of mind – but it also attempts to leverage the strength of the tree brand to suggest that these masts are more natural, can be trusted, and are safe.

When is a mobile phone mast not a mobile phone mast? Never! It should always be a mobile phone mast, and until concerns over potential health risks are addressed, the sight of them should always make us feel uneasy - now design it like it is!