This poor blog. It’s been woefully neglected. The last quarter of 2011 was a bit wurgh with deadlines, travel and child-related sleep deprivation. Hopefully 2012 will be better.

What’s going on? I currently have three main things I do: The Guardian’s Apps Blog, music industry publication Music Ally, and its spin-off site/newsletter The Appside. But I also write about apps for Stuff magazine, and do a weekly mobile games column for the Sunday Times – the latter two are both in print rather than online. And I talk about apps on the radio – Lauren Laverne’s 6Music show – every Tuesday morning.

I’m currently getting set for the Mobile Games Forum and Midem conferences, mulling whether to go to Mobile World Congress or SXSW, and trying to keep the balance between writing, thinking and actually responding to calls and emails rather than watching them slide by unreplied to while feeling slightly panicky (See: 2011).

Anyway, this week so far: the 6Music show with Huey Morgan sitting in was fun, talking about the Brit Awards, Cupidtino, Burns Night and Numberlys among others (it’s about 1hr 10mins in). There are Apps Blog interviews with Toca Boca, The Economist and Appillionaires author Chris Stevens.

Music Ally is busy, although most of my work is behind its paywall – stories on HMV’s Listening Post app and Yamaha’s NoteStar app are free-to-access though. And The Appside is going well: it’s a site but also a free daily bulletin about what music, film/TV, books and games companies are up to in mobile, as well as startups, social services and brands.

The problem with personal blogs is they feel like pure self-promotion – all of this post for example. I’ll try to think of things to write about more from now on.

Oh, one last bit of self-promotion: SAY Media interviewed me, about mobile and music in 2012. Thankfully they went with the big Bjork picture rather than my mug.

I’m working on something new, which has been a bit stealthy until now. It’s called The Appside, and it’s an offshoot from Music Ally. In its initial form, it’s a daily email news bulletin covering the apps world, with a specific focus on what entertainment and media companies, brands and app startups are up to.

You can read today’s Bulletin here to get a sense of the tone and content. It’s free to sign up and receive it (as a business, The Appside will be making money from other areas). If you like it, sign up!

As part of this, I have moved on from Mobile Entertainment. It’s in safe hands with editor-in-chief Tim Green and new staff writer Zen Terrelonge, though. Besides The Appside, I’m still writing for The Guardian’s Apps Blog, Music Ally, the Sunday Times and other publications.

Here is ‘the blurb’ for The Appside:

“The Appside is a business intelligence service. Our aim is to make sense of the apps space for brands, agencies and entertainment companies. By apps we mean native and browser-based mobile apps, but Facebook, Connected TV, cars and other devices will also fall under our remit.

It’s an offshoot from Music Ally, which has been offering editorial, consultancy, data, research, training and events to the music industry for more than 10 years, with a focus on digital and new business models.

Apps is a massive growth area – real growth in terms of downloads and revenues, but also hype fuelled by bullish analyst predictions and media froth. Brands, agencies, record labels, book publishers, games companies and others are investing heavily in this area, and need to cut through that hype to build their strategies.

The information out there is fragmented and often general. Companies want to know the top-level market size and consumer behaviour data, but they also want to know how much their rivals are spending and making back, and which developers they should be talking to.

The Appside will do both. We’re starting with editorial products, including this website and a daily news bulletin. Over time, we’ll also be working on premium reports, training, events and other services.”

It’s only fair, and might make ‘Taggart’ less annoyed…

1. Say something sounds interesting and then not write about it. Usually because it does sound interesting and I intend to write about it, but then things come up. Sometimes that’s justified – a big story breaks that knocks something else off the end of my news list. Other times it’s not – a story that I meant to write up falls through the cracks. Somewhere, a client is probably shouting at their PR either way. I think I need to be better about saying ‘That does sound interesting, I’ll try to cover it, but…’ to be upfront.

2. RSVP to events and not turn up. Very seldom: actually, I’d usually send a shamefaced email on the day saying ‘I’m really sorry, but I can’t make it…’ – but am guessing it’s just as annoying. Sometimes this is work-related – deadlines falling around me – and sometimes family-related, but I can imagine if someone has said ‘Oh yes, he’s coming’ to their client, and then he doesn’t, they would curse me.

3. Not reply to emails or voicemails. Some days I hide from my inbox and my phone. I really do. Usually because I’m focusing on a longer article, or panicking about multiple deadlines. Or because I’m out, and my inbox has exploded. A lot of my email management involves putting things straight into folders: ‘Music Ally Bulletin’, ‘Mobile Entertainment News’, ‘Cool Apps for Guardian Apps Rush’ and so on. That means they’re to hand when I’m doing whatever daily piece, but also means they don’t always get replied to to say ‘yes, I’m using that and it’ll be live…’

4. Forget embargoes. Not in terms of breaking them – it’s happened once or twice by accident, but generally I’m okay at that. But in terms of someone sending me a release two or three days ahead of time, and then by the time that day comes around, it’s slipped down my inbox / memory, and I forget to write it up. So someone has got me news early, and I end up posting it a day late. It would annoy me if I was the PR. Now when I get sent embargoed stuff, I try to reply saying ‘can you give me a nudge the day before?” This sounds really lazy, but it means the email gets boosted back up my Gmail folder so that when I’m doing that next day’s news/apps/etc list, it’s visible.

5. Not saying thankyou. I do try: if an interview piece goes live, or something that’s exclusive/interesting, I try to at least email with the link and to say thanks for setting it up. I’m sure there are lots of times when I haven’t, though, due to getting sucked into other things. When someone has helped me out and the result is a piece I’m proud of, I would always want to say thanks.

6. Forget developers. This is an app-specific thing, but often the PR person sending me a release about a new branded app will be working for the company that made it – the developer – rather than the brand. And sometimes, I forget to mention that developer, which is a.) polite and b.) usually relevant. Again, am trying to be better at this.

7. Call at the last minute. Often I need a picture or an interview NOW when if I’d thought to ask two days before, it would have been Much Less Hassle. Guilty. Am working on the whole forward-planning thing, but when I don’t get it right, it’s other people who suffer (this applies to all manner of areas outside work too…)

Anyway, enough MEMEME for now…

Earlier this week, I went with a couple of other journalists to Skywrite to be grilled by a room of PR graduates on what journalists do and don’t like about PR. And to have some more rounded stuff to say, I asked other tech journalists on Twitter for their key annoyances. The floodgates / can of worms opened wide, and I thought it would be worth publishing the responses in one place.

Before that, though – there was a specific brief here to focus on what annoys journalists, because that’s what would be most useful for the graduates. Please don’t take this as a ‘PRs are REALLY annoying’ post from me, for that reason… There is plenty to say about what makes tech hacks really happy when talking to / dealing with people in PR (and yes, an equally long list of ‘things that annoy PRs about journalists). I’d love to read the latter if anyone’s up for compiling it.

Update: Also, sorry, something that didn’t come through because I worded it badly above:  the session at Skywrite was about lots of stuff – how journalists work, what makes a story, what they find helpful. It was mainly positive stuff rather than moaning – the moaning part was what I solicited from Twitter though. But the reason I went along is I get on well with Skywrite and Hotwire, and it seemed like a good thing to take part in. In other words, NO AXE TO GRIND HERE! ;o)

Anyway, I’ve just copied and pasted these all in – Deadlines are looming today, so apologies for not attributing each quote. But thankyou to everyone who contributed. The tweets are grouped into a few key themes, with any extra thoughts from me in italics.

Also, this blog post and this blog post also have some really good information on this subject. And here is my follow-up on the things I do that really annoy technology PRs.

Not researching the target

“Anything that starts ‘Dear blogtitle’ – I really like your blog so could you cover something irrelevant for a client?”

“PR by mailing list. PR by followup phone call to mailing list. PR that doesn’t look at what journalist writes/broadcasts abt.”

“not having any idea of what our mags are about or the type of content we include. at least flick through an issue!”

“When the PR has very little idea of what kinds of stories we cover”

“bog standard press releases sent without any thought as to whether it’s appropriate or not”

My comments: I find it hard to get angry about emails / releases that aren’t relevant, having hopped between different industries, I’m still on a lot of mailing lists that don’t apply any more. A couple of minutes in the morning and afternoon is enough to delete everything that isn’t useful. The problem is more that there isn’t time to reply to all of those saying ‘thanks, but sorry, it’s not my bag…’ It’s more intrusive when it’s a phone call and the person on the other end launches into their pitch before you can say ‘Wait! Wait! I don’t write about that!’ Some journalists are better at doing that quickly / forcefully than me, I sense…

Not following through

“Spamming out releases but not being able to give you any access to a spokesperson”

“The worst thing is when a PR doesn’t understand their own press release. Also, issuing release then quickly buggering off.”

“Ones who continually send shit your way and then never respond when you ask them a question. (i.e. throw-at-wall PR)”

“1. Details not in email body 2. Sending release, ignoring reply 3. Offering pics etc “on request” (URL ffs, are you the CIA?)”

My comments:Yeah, this can be frustrating, although I appreciate that a PR person working on a bunch of clients is as likely to get sucked into non-responsiveness as I am with deadlines *peacemaker face* – definitely agree with the last point though, I often write at strange hours of the day (e.g. cueing up Mobile Entertainment stories for 8am and onwards the next day late at night), and sometimes you’re writing at a time when you can’t call or email to get pics straight away.

I’m a bit pot and kettle here – I regularly say ‘yeah, that’d be interesting..’ and for one reason or another don’t get round to writing a piece. Which then leads to…

Hassling

“Hard to beat the old chestnut: ‘did you get our press release?’ Story’s either good or it ain’t. A phonecall won’t change it”

“Only thing more annoying than follow-up call about e-mailed spam is call about irrelevant e-mailed spam . . . know your market”

“”just calling to check…” a) “is it OK to send u press release” b) “did u get press release” c) did u do anything with that”"

“follow up emails to press releases. If I didn’t respond the first time I’m simply not interested.”

“Phone pitches. I rarely have time to listen, and my first instinct is always that I’m being sold a pup.”

My comments: Talking to people, the real problem here is that a follow-up call about a relevant thing when you’re not on deadline is A Good Thing. A follow-up call about something not so relevant when you’re busy is not. Hassling is in the stressed mind of the beholder (or something). That said, it’s about politeness on both sides – ‘Do you have time to talk now?’ and ‘Actually, I don’t, but this time might be better’ seems like a friendlier way forward.

Another thing: the ideal call from my point of view is ‘we have this company, they’re doing x, might that be relevant?’ – literally two or three sentences, as a lead-in to either me asking more questions, or asking for the release etc. I get the impression with some calls that people have been told they have to give me the full five-minute pitch – even if 10 seconds in I say ‘that’s good, can I get the release?’ or ‘No, I don’t cover that’.

Picture not-so-perfect

“”We’ve sent a press release. It’s attached as a 10.5 MB Word DOCX file inside a RAR file!” Fuck! OFF!”

“Couldn’t agree more. I get little PR but unsolicited email with >2Mb attachment = autoblock”

“High-res kit images. Just put the fucking things online! Don’t hide them! Don’t watermark them! Don’t send shit JPEGs!”

My comments: Yeah! An efficient online press-image site with a choice of pics for print and web journalists is a goldmine. Spokespeople too. Anything that means I don’t have to go Googling. Also, I use Gmail – I think a lot of freelance tech hacks do – anything that keeps me from having to bump up against the storage limit is welcome!

Standing on the shoulders of giants

“Piggybacking on the release of a rival company”

“Sending over clients’ comments the day a story is in the paper”

My comments: Haven’t really got angry about this – if they’re interesting comments they might get used, if not, they just get filed or deleted.

Other comments from Twitter

“Good PR is reactive, responding to requests. It provides access to relevant interviewees, info and imagery… So, bad PR is opposite :)”

“Faux embargo breaks. When PR company gives an embargo but gives one outlet the green light to release early.”

“Also: our client has [huge customer] but we can’t tell you who [huge customer] is … (why bother then?)”

“”wanted to invite you to party… tomorrow. No, really, it’s not because someone more important couldn’t make it at last min”"

“The backstabbing blame game a lot of the PRs play when their client is unhappy with an article / “result”.”

“Lets all ditch traditional email press releases for tweets on company twitter feeds most journos don’t read!”

“Too many PRs play massive favourites based on some occult calculation that’s not simply readers/viewers.”

“also, flakey wifi at your event.”

“Lack of timeliness. If you say you’re going to do something by a certain date, then do so. I’m helping YOU sell YOUR stuff.”

Hi. My name’s Stuart, I’m a technology journalist who’s paid to know about geek stuff, and I’ve used the same password for pretty much every web service for the last 12 years. *sits down perspiring*

Yeah, all the big ones. Gmail, eBay, Amazon, iTunes, Flickr, YouTube. Oh, and Sony’s PlayStation Network (PSN) too, for which I registered using my Gmail address, which is also the address associated with all those other accounts. Which is (I suspect) the reason why not long after midnight last night, someone or something logged into my Gmail, sent spam links out to a good portion of my contacts, and then stuffed the evidence into my Bin folder.

As you can imagine, I had a fun morning. And to add insult to injury, it wasn’t until this afternoon that I got the ‘oh, by the way, your account may have been compromised’ customer email from Sony.

The company is currently facing the PR nightmare to end all  nightmares, with as much focus on why it took so long to admit to the scale of the ‘external intrusion’ into PSN as on how it happened in the first place. And the kneejerk response from many people (myself included) is to start waxing lyrical about how this is a disaster for cloud services in general, and Sony’s in particular.

I’ve calmed down now. This isn’t about ‘the cloud’ so much as it’s about basic principles of security – or to put it another way: ‘Don’t use the same password for everything you blithering idiot’. With a side-order of ‘do you know which sites you’ve stored payment details on you numpty?’, and a healthy dash of ‘when was the last time you backed up all that stuff spread across various Google services you dolt?’

My wife is far less geeky than me, but she uses a different password for everything. She also had the admirable foresight to cultivate a lifelong belief that console games are shit, which helps. But if she can create security silos for her web services, why couldn’t I?

We’ll presumably find out what the weaknesses were in Sony’s PSN network in due course, but we already know one of the biggest ones: human beings. And that’s why a bit of cooldown time this afternoon has warned me off pontificating about The Dangers Of The Cloud. That’s not to say we shouldn’t be asking hard questions about whether all the data these services are storing on us is necessary, or how secure it is, of course.

But this whole affair isn’t just about nasty hackers or incompetent Sony. It’s a sharp wake-up call not to ignore basic security principles as more of our work and play moves into the cl… Well, moves online.

I’ve just realised that this blog hasn’t been updated since February. This is because I waste all my best lines on Twitter (and to be honest, they’re not great lines anyway).

People are coming here because I was on the radio this morning, anyway – a very exciting new weekly slot rambling about apps on Lauren Laverne’s 6Music show. As first appearances on live radio go, it went well I think. At least, well enough to not be slung out of the building and told never to come back.

Anyway, I write lots of words elsewhere, for the Guardian Apps Blog, Mobile Entertainment, Music Ally, CNET and the Sunday Times. But I’ll try to be a bit more regular on here too.

App recommendation of the day: iA Writer. It’s a minimalist writing app for iPad that’s designed to let you just tap away without being distracted by other elements on screen. Nice typography too. I am geek.

I took my son to see Mike & Andy’s Big Box of Bananas this weekend. Bishop’s Stortford could do with some work on its tourist hotspots… No, it was a very good show for kids, starring Andy from CBeebies and his friend Mike. I’d definitely recommend it.

Anyway during the interval, I ate some ice cream while my son played Angry Birds on my iPhone. It made me think, and not just about why I wasn’t playing Angry Birds while he ate ice cream. See, the girl sitting next to us was also playing the game on her Dad’s iPhone.

He didn’t have ice cream, but my smugness was cut short when I realised that his daughter was pretty good. Well, better than my son, who is still stuck at the ‘fire Angry Birds the wrong way and laugh like a drain’ stage.

The point (there is one) is that kids love Angry Birds, even when they don’t fully understand the mechanics of it. I’m undecided whether it’s the gameplay or the characters, although the fact that my son has invented his own Angry Birds song to sing while marching around the room with an AB plush toy hints it’s the latter.

He’s three and a half now. In a year’s time, he’ll have obliterated my Flight Control score. I’ll still be putting away more ice cream than him though.

As you can tell, this site is a bit bare-bones at the moment: I’ve just reinstalled WordPress to start afresh. Soon, it will be fully whizzy with plug-ins, posts and information about my work. So please bear with me, and in the meantime listen to some music…