Did you know that your internet access is under serious threat?

If you use the internet for work, study or pleasure, big changes are afoot. Not everyone is aware that our online freedom is being eroded every day.

Too dramatic? Read on and make up your own mind. Media coverage of the issues below has been patchy at best, so we’re bringing to your attention seven of the internet’s worst enemies – some you may already be aware of and some may come as a shock.

1) Theresa May, UK Home Secretary

Tuesday May 1st is “CC all your emails to Theresa May Day”. Why? Because the Home Secretary wants to pass a law that will mean every email we send will be stored in a huge database by the government. If you think this is an outrageous breach of privacy, check here on 1 May when her email address will be revealed. Copy it into the CC field every time you email someone. If she wants to read all of our emails, so be it!

How you can help: share the link with everyone you know and help create 24 hours of spam at the home office. It’s only a small step but the campaign could potentially generate media coverage if everyone takes part.

2) CISPA

CISPA stands for Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. CISPA will give the US government a free pass to access any online interaction in the US, setting a precedent for the rest of the world’s governments to be able to access data about everything you look at online.

The US Center for Democracy and Technology said it was “disappointed that CISPA passed the House in such flawed form and under such a flawed process.” President Obama is also against it, however CISPA passed the first stage of government on 26 April.

How you can stop it: the next stage is for CISPA to go before the Senate. If you live in America, sign the petition against CISPA now. If you don’t, share this post with someone who does!

3) The European Union

Everyone knows it’s bad to double dip. If you’ve ever watched someone dunk a breadstick into some hummus, take a bite, and then smear the saliva coated end back into the pot and bite it again, you have pretty much witnessed what greedy bankers and governments have done to our economy. The UK is feeling pretty despondent right now with the news that we’re back in a recession, but there’s always hope for the digital marketplace, which is still doing pretty well for itself, right?

Wrong. On 26 May 2012, a law passed by the EU will come into force that will require site owners to get users to opt-in to every single piece of ‘cookie’ information stored by the website. The user needs to be informed of what the cookies the site employs are used for (including 3rd party cookies). This is completely unnecessary and will seriously hamper our enjoyment of the internet, because the only way to do this will be to use popups on every site. It is also predicted to cost businesses in the UK’s digital industry £10 billion.

4) Mobile

Turns out that if you love something, it’s bad to try and keep it in your pocket. By next year, more people will use mobile and tablet devices to access the net than real computers. You’d think that increased accessibility would be good for our beautiful internet – but unfortunately not.

Browsing on a mobile or tablet is a very different experience – devices are ‘tethered’, which means you can only see the internet through apps permitted by the manufacturer of your device. If this sets the standard, we could one day soon find ourselves without the ability to go ‘off-road’ online. Content is gradually getting skinnier: every time an article is put into app form and not online, we lose a whole load of information that once would have been available on a web page.

5) Facebook

Have you tried to read an article posted on Facebook and been forced to register for a spammy application? Facebook’s increasing role as a micro-internet feels safe and familiar to many users. However, to stay within the safe walls of the Facebook garden means you’re basically relying on a giant database to provide you with content. Facebook’s policies omit anything that it considers to be bad taste – a staff guidebook leaked to the public shows that “images of breastfeeding would be banned if nipples were exposed, but deep flesh wounds and crushed heads would be OK.”

6) Famous People

Back in February, we blogged about how celebrities and politicians have been trying to make Google remove objectionable material from the web. When ex Formula One boss Max Mosely got caught with his Langhosen round his ankles in a Nazi-themed orgy with prostitues, he campaigned against Google for not removing the video. When people are allowed to remove content from search engines, the flood gates are opened for a whole world of censorship.

7) The British Government (Again!)

Not just content with monitoring your emails, Her Majesty’s government also wants to keep tabs on everything you look at online. If you think this would only be bad for people who have something to hide, try writing down every web page you view in a week. Most people probably confide in the internet more than their own families.

Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the internet, said that by monitoring someone’s online usage; “You get to know more intimate details about their life than any person that they talk to because often people will confide in the internet as they find their way through medical websites … or as an adolescent finds their way through a website about homosexuality, wondering what they are and whether they should talk to people about it.”

To coin author Jonathan Zittrain; we need some angry nerds. There has been a lack of media coverage of these issues – if you feel uncomfortable reading this information, please help spread awareness by sharing this post and raising the alarm before it’s too late.

Henry must raise £2000 in sponsorship money to take part. He’s already found over £1000 worth of sponsorship, but time is running out fast and he needs your help to meet his target!

LOROS (the Leicestershire and Rutland Organisation for the Relief of Suffering) is a local charity providing care and support within Leicestershire and Rutland.

LOROS offers a free service to people in the local area regardless of their ethnicity or faith. The Charity relies upon donations to provide its services.

To sponsor Henry, please visit his fundraising page, it only takes a second and you can choose to donate anonymously and leave as much or as little as you like.

Henry has somehow managed to run between 25-35 miles per week since November despite having a full-on schedule here at Zeta, and we’re all extremely proud of his efforts. Henry is a bit like a dog with a bone when he gets an idea in his head – he refuses to let go until he’s made it happen, so this determined streak has probably helped a lot!

However, the main reason for running the marathon is to honour the memory of his auntie, who spent her last few weeks on Earth at LOROS. Henry speaks highly of the care that they provided to both his auntie and members of the family: running the London Marathon is a way for him to show his appreciation of their work and to help give something back.

To get behind Henry and support LOROS, please follow the link below.
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=HenryWaterfallAllen

To find out more about LOROS visit their website: www.loros.com.

Google has just revealed a groundbreaking new product which could change the way we see the world. Project Glass has landed – augmented reality glasses that let you do all the things a smartphone would and more, right in front of your eyes and without having to lift a finger.

The glasses work on a similar voice command principle to the iPhone 4S’ Siri, but with way more integrated features. Google’s demo video shows how the glasses (previously dubbed Google Goggles) can be worn throughout the day, allowing the user to send instant messages, take and share photos and schedule reminders; all via voice commands. They integrate with Google Maps, allowing the wearer to be guided to their destination whilst listening to music, video chatting with friends and taking photos along the way.

Google’s Vision for Augmented Reality

Google’s demo makes pretty impressive viewing; although be warned, the actors may suffocate you in a cloud of smug. Several parodies are now doing the rounds on YouTube.

In the demo, the glasses direct the user through the city, helping him meet up with a friend and share photos on Google+. The climax of the video sees the wearer virtually ‘meeting’ his girlfriend at the top of a skyscraper via video messaging. Her image appears in front of his eyes on the glasses and he serenades her on a ukulele whilst showing her the sunset view of the city. Ok, so it’s totally cheesy but it’s still hard not to be impressed by the possibilities of the technology.

Virtual Insanity?

Have you ever accidentally mistaken someone talking on a handsfree kit for a crazy person? We foresee this being a big hurdle to this technology. Many critics are also saying that the Project Glass design can’t live up to the hype created by the video. According to wired.com; Google has refused to reveal any specifics of how the product would work (although this isn’t exactly surprising if they are trying to protect their ideas). The glasses feature a frame with a tiny screen above the right eye – so presumably the wearer would have to be looking up towards the right corner the whole time. Also, it looks as though the social networking integration could be limited to Google+, a definite downside.

The aesthetics have come under fire too: at the moment, the glasses aren’t exactly the hippest of fashion accessories – they’re a sort of NHS version of the ones that Geordi la Forge wears in Star Trek. Hopefully the finished product will be better looking post-prototype stage. One Zeta team member suggested that the aesthetic could be improved if they were fashioned into a monocle: technology for the discerning gent or gentess of the 21st century.

Project Glass in Action

Google founder Sergey Brin was seen wearing the glasses at a conference last weekend. The glasses don’t look quite as sleek as the pair shown in Google’s demo, but apparently they were fully functional – although according to reports, only child Brin refused to let anyone else have a go on them.

In its current guise, Project Glass seems more of a novelty than a life changing technology, but we’re looking forward to more news releases – we’ll keep you posted.

Would you wear these glasses? Let us know in the comments or tweet @ZetaAgency / @Amy_Maslin

This is the first time we’ve put ourselves up for scrutiny by the Drum Design 100 top agency register, so we’re pretty chuffed to have been ranked as no 71 in the UK. The Drum 100 list recognises industry leading agencies and is compiled according to fee income – so we’d like to say a very big ‘thank you’ to all our clients for being part of the Zeta success story and helping us make the listings.

We’re looking forward to being able to make some really exciting announcements later this year so watch this space to discover how one of Zeta’s own apps is about to hit the big time on the Spotify platform!

To experience how Zeta’s down-to-earth, results driven approach puts us in a different league, call us today on 01202 912416.

What can design do for you?

Imagine you are a product designer trying to come up with a ground breaking new concept that will revolutionise the way people live and work. Would you know where to begin?

When designing digital and mobile products, there are a number of factors at play, but the first is always to work out what the problem is that you are trying to solve.

Are you looking, for instance, to increase conversion for a particular product, raise brand awareness or build a community? Whatever the aim, the design of the actual product needs to take the end-goal in mind for it to work.

At the Cape Town Design Indaba conference, there were plenty of examples of function and form coming together. Designers from all over South Africa showcased their solutions to different problems: solar powered lighting to address environmental concerns; recycled plastic bags made into colourful vases; laptop bags made out of discarded cement bags: not just to protect your machine but to make you smile.

16 800 pencils; one question

However, the burning question for the city that has recently been nominated World Design Capital for 2014 is to identify what the clear issue is that it needs to solve. For the Cape Town Partnership, the organisation leading World Design Capital 2014, Indaba was the perfect place to ask this.

And so, a mass of pencils and post-it notes encouraged visitors to answer the question: ‘what does design need to solve for you…?’

Bulelwa Makalima-Ngewana, Managing Director of the Cape Town Partnership overseeing the project, explains what the 2014 proposal is about. “We want design to be about transforming lives… apartheid was designed, it didn’t happen by accident. And integration also needs to be designed. Once you get the infrastructure right you are one step closer to social cohesion”.

To date, some of the themes that have been coming out are around sustainability, transport infrastructure and social cohesion post-apartheid.

One bid; multiple solutions

The projects that formed part of the bid illustrate how design can be used to solve some of these issues. For instance in order to tackle violence in the townships, streets are designed with clear visibility and signage that helps prevent people getting lost. The question of overcrowding in low income households has been alleviated by stackable bunk beds and the Integrated Rapid Transit System (IRTS) aims to increase social mobility by bringing different people to and from different areas.

Each project has clear, identifiable goals. So for Cape Town as World Design Capital for 2014, the first step, as with any design project, is identifying the problems that need solving, and that’s just what the Cape Town Partnership is doing.

Our work demands and client list are growing and we need a front-end developer to code our standards-compliant, responsive websites. You need to have a good understanding of the web to help our project team deliver flawless products to our exacting standards.

We are looking for someone who:

• Can code standards compliant (X) HTML and CSS
• Knows HTML5 & CSS3
• Loves jQuery (and Javascript in general)
• Has a burning desire to code beautiful responsive websites
• Has good Wordpress skills
• Has a real passion for the internet and digital technology
• Likes keeping up with the latest developments in web technology

It would be great if you:

• Work with CSS frameworks
• Have knowledge of PHP; able to work with existing code/templates/etc
• Know PhoneGap
• Know mobile JS frameworks
• Are familiar with Zen Cart and Magento
• Have experience in a digital agency environment
• Can hack some Flash when required

If this is you – and you’re up for working with one of the best agencies since sliced bread – then drop us a line.

Our head office is based in Poole, Dorset: just 10 minutes from Bournemouth and two hours from London. This is where you will spend most of your time working. Although you may have the opportunity to work in our London office from time to time.

We also have a dead friendly team that is fanatical about everything digital. They’re a lovely bunch and will make sure you feel right at home. They’ll also make sure you get everything you want out of your sparkly new job.

The salary depends on experience but it includes a bonus and benefits – and you get free breakfast and as many cappuccinos as you can drink. Make sure you let us know your salary expectations so no-one is left disappointed.

We’d guess you’ll have some good experience in doing the things mentioned above. We’d also imagine you’re extremely ambitious and hungry for a role that grows quicker than you can say “Digital Superstar”. You may have a degree, but we’re not that bothered really. We just want to know you eat, sleep and breathe HTML.

If you’re still reading then we’d love to hear from you. Send us your CV, but make sure you mention anything you think we’d like to know about you in your covering email (especially the items on our nice-to-haves list) and don’t forget your salary expectations, some examples of your code and a link to your blog and twitter profile.

On 30 March, Facebook will be rolling out its new Timeline feature for brands, but you now have the opportunity to get your business’ page looking excellent ahead of the compulsory change. The Timeline layout has the potential to be a really useful asset in your marketing toolbox, so it’s well worth investing a bit of time to make sure you get the most out of it.

In fact, it’s a surprisingly quick and easy way to build brand loyalty and tell your company’s story to customers. It’s also fun – engaging positively with staff to add important milestones to the Timeline is a sure fire way to create a buzz in the workplace.

Sharing is Caring

So what should your business share on Facebook? Here at Zeta, a very stripped-back version of our social networking strategy goes something like this:

Facebook = a behind-the-scenes peek at our internal culture
Twitter = a blend of serious announcements and exciting project news (in our daily team meeting we ask the question “has anyone done anything amazing to tweet about?”)
LinkedIn = serious news and comment only, a place to showcase the individual industry credentials of our team
Pinterest = a place to share our creative side

Facebook’s Timeline is definitely geared towards allowing brands to let their personalities shine through. It’s a really good opportunity to showcase the human side of your brand and show how proud everyone is to be a part of the organisation.

Main Differences Explained

So how is the Timeline different? Perhaps one of the most obvious changes is the cover image – Facebook has done away with customisable landing tabs for brand pages in favour of a large image at the top of the page. There are strict rules about this – covers may not include company information information or calls to action, so a certain amount of creativity is required in choosing an image that works for your brand.

The new format also gives marketers a lot more control over posts from other users – particularly useful if your brand has ever attracted negative press coverage. A new filtering function allows page owners to block posts containing certain keywords and review posts before publishing. Basically, Facebook has taken measures to enhance the user experience by making brand interaction less spammy and more about positive engagement.

5 Steps to Marketing Heaven on Facebook

If it all sounds like a bit of a minefield, here’s our quick and dirty guide to joining the top brands who are choosing to go live with their timeline before 30 March.

1) Keep it visual: Try to accompany every status update with a relevant image or video, and aim for one engaging post every day (overkill will just annoy your page’s fans).

2) Take a trip down memory lane: I asked my Zeta colleagues to send me the date they started work here with a picture of themselves to add to our Timeline. I also added important milestones such as our office move, and interior makeover by a graffiti artist.

3) Get to know your way round the analytics feature: – it can give useful insight about when your followers are most active, and therefore more likely to see your content.

4) Be savvy when it comes to choosing a cover image: get to grips with Facebook’s rules and find the best way to circumnavigate these to get your message across. Hint: there’s nothing in the rules that says you can’t upload a picture of your product or service. Images should be uploaded at 851×315 pixels.

5) Pin it! This feature allows you to keep important announcements at the top of the page for 7 days, allowing your product announcement or press release link to gain maximum attention. To pin a message, simply hover over it and click the pen icon.

For a comprehensive overview, check out this brilliant guide to Timeline for marketers. We’ve enjoyed updating our Facebook page ahead of the big switch over on 30 March – why not have a look at our handywork and drop us a comment?

If you don’t have the resources to create your Timeline or would like some help managing your social media strategy, give Zeta a call on 01202 901145.

It’s early spring, and that means that the mountain is besieged by thousands of cyclists panting uphill and then whizzing down with fixed grins, making you feel inordinately lazy as they train for the upcoming Argus Cycle Tour. The Argus is a 110km race event which attracts over 35,000 people to cycle around the Cape peninsula.

As a technophile, I can’t help but be intrigued by the tracking technologies that are helping to ensure that the race is as safe as possible. Here’s a brief rundown of the apps currently being used:

Digicore
Like most runners, I’m familiar with being encouraged by Paula Radcliffe on Nike + and am used to getting competitive with the social side of Endomondo. However, my interest was piqued with the great piece of technology provided by NBC during last year’s Tour de France.

Digicore’s GPS tracking of the race might not compare with the NBC app put out for the 2011 Tour de France (which claimed to allow you to track individual competitors) but it’s a great blend of technology, sports and social responsibility. By tracking different vehicles, Digicore are able to ensure that there is enough medical back­up in the right area at any one time.

What you can use
So this is all very well for sports events on a big scale…but what can you use to help track your own training?

Sports and fitness companies have grasped the potential of the app market. Now you can choose whether you want something to help you count calories, time your runs, build muscle or simply monitor your distances.

Here are some of the best apps that we’ve found, all of which use GPS technology found in your smartphone:

Strava
Strava ­is a tool used mainly by triathletes. Runs, rides, skis and more can all be monitored and compared with those of your friends. It provides a wealth of data and evaluates your performance from a ‘leisurely’, to ‘epic’ scale. It even keeps a check on the wear of your own sports equipment for you, letting you know when kit should be replaced.

Nike +
Unsurprisingly Nike was ahead of the game with tracking devices. With LED flashing lights, it looks like it came straight out of Star Trek – they have done it again. This ’sport­ tested accelerometer’, tracks pretty much all activity, is water resistant and pleasingly goes from red to green as you track your progress against your daily goals.

Sports Tracker
Sports tracker offers to turn your phone into a ‘social sports computer‘, so will appeal to those who are currently all over Pinterest. One of the beauties of this baby is that you can sign up using your Facebook account, thereby avoiding one of cyber life’s little annoyances of having to register for yet another app.

Pump One
Pump One is an app that lets you choose from a list of training goals whether these are strength training, core, pilates, golf or just burning fat. Created by Declan Condron, an exercise physiologist, the programmes can be researched by muscle group, effort level, type of equipment or goal (such as speed or strength). It also lets you enter the number of reps and the weight used.

Smheart
If you really want to push it there is always Smheart Link ($124.95) which makes a heart monitor that links to an iPhone. Smheart Link works with four apps that allow gym-rats to arrange a display screen to show what they want, like calories burned, average heart rate or elapsed time. It also links to sensors on indoor and outdoor bikes that measure cadence and estimated speed and distance. Hard­core riders can attach a power meter that measures the watts a cyclist generates; a measure bikers often use in competitive training.

New Leaf
For precise data, you can visit a New Leaf-trained technician, who employs metabolic testing
equipment to measure your heart and lung efficiency in a grueling aerobic test (average cost $175-$200). Using that data, New Leaf sends custom exercise programs to your phone and works like a virtual personal trainer, telling you how high to push your heart rate, when, and for how long.

It also tracks results through the Smheart Link heart monitor. New Leaf detailed reports show
how many fat, carbs and calories you have burned, and how much time is spent in each of five heartrate zones.

So the question now is what technology will the Olympics bring?

Despite the Department for Work and Pension’s attempt to make us think only a small minority of extremists are against Workfare, there are people all over Britain from varying backgrounds who oppose the controversial scheme. Something isn’t working…

A Revolution from Below
Whether Workfare is good, bad or just plain ugly, it has highlighted two significant issues. The first is the shortsightedness with which the government, Tesco and other large companies embarked upon a scheme which was almost guaranteed to get people’s backs up, seemingly with no strategy in place to communicate the scheme positively.

The second is how social media is causing a revolution from below and shaping the way democracy works in this country. Many of the original participating companies have abandoned Workfare under pressure from the public making their voices heard online. This just wouldn’t have happened before the rise of Facebook and Twitter.

Six Ways the Government and Tesco Could Have Used Social Media to Promote Workfare

1) Joined up communications. A joint PR and social media strategy, led by the Department for Work and Pensions, could have helped organisations participating in Workfare deal with negative press attention. Instead, affiliated companies are bailing like rats on a sinking ship. Awkward.

2) Don’t get tarred with a bad brush. Signing Tesco up sends out a strong message that the scheme is going to be more about supporting big business than helping young people.

3) Show the benefits. Social media could have helped underpin the scheme with positive messages. The government could have helped benefit claimants tell their story on Facebook and Twitter, helping the scheme’s reputation and also helping participants benefit from improved online reputation to employers.

4) Don’t slag off the opposition. The government shot itself in the foot by accusing Workfare opponents of being ‘job snobs’. This instantly turns it into a class issue instead of focusing on the possible benefits of the scheme – making contacts, getting a foot on the ladder, learning about the structure of employment. Political point scoring is an instant turn off and discredits your policy.

5) Have a crisis plan. When there are legions of angry customers baying for your organisation’s blood on Facebook, the worst thing you can do is ignore the situation and delete their comments (*cough*) (*Tesco*). This isn’t a job for your customer services team – key messages should have been agreed beforehand and delivered strategically. Tesco’s only effort to recover from the crisis was to issue a press release almost a week after it all kicked off. The release didn’t directly address social media users, and completely skirted round the issue – no effort was made to explain why a major organisation should profit from what is essentially free labour.

6) Invest in CSR. Show them you care with an injection of corporate social responsibility: Tesco could have clawed back some respect by making charitable donations to a relevant cause. They could also put in place a scheme to provide training for people who were unsuccessful at getting a job at the end of their Workfare placement.

If your social media strategy could do with a boost, or if you need some advice about handling an online crisis, give Zeta a call on 01202 901 101.

It happened to me the other day – I wanted to find out why the moon is more visible at daytime in winter. I began to type ‘why is the moon…’ and was surprised to see that, as if by magic, Google seemed to have guessed what I was thinking – the rest of the sentence appeared in the search field before I had typed it.

I knew this must be something to do with Google’s algorithms and not an act of witchcraft – but then again, it was a dark and spooky night on a full moon – could it be that my browser was haunted?

Is Google Haunted?

Last week, our very own Brad Fry debunked the myth when he was approached by ABC News to comment on the search engine’s ‘psychic’ powers. The article gives focus to the amusing / insulting phrases that are generated when one types ‘Barack Obama is..’ into Google.

Speaking to the US news channel, Brad explained that Google’s search suggestions are not a result of mind reading powers, but in fact are generated by the things that other users around the world have been searching for: “The Autocomplete suggestions are not manually influenced by Google except in extremely rare cases”, Brad told them. “Google is a machine that reflects the activity of its users.”

To read the full article, click here