Android on the up

Interesting to see that, during the period July - September, Samsung overtook Apple to become the world's biggest seller of smartphones.

This obviously doesn't account for the launch of the iPhone 4S, but it's still tempting to paint this not as a blip but rather as Android taking control of what has become an increasingly bloody battle. 

I say this in relation to the recently released Steve Jobs biography, which contains the revelation that the Apple boss was furious at what he saw as Google pilfering features from the Apple iOS software. Jobs reportedly vowed to do everything within his means to destroy Android after last year seeing features in HTC’s Android 2.1 phones.

All in a good cause

Quick plug for Bank Machine, which is inviting Britain’s charities to sign up for a scheme enabling charitable donations at ATMs.

Charities can register an interest before the end of November. The donations option on the LINK ATM network is planned to go live during April 2012. Bank Machine’s managing director, Ron Delnevo, says: "We fully support this superb initiative. We believe many millions of pounds can be raised for good causes and we want to give as many charities as possible the opportunity to apply to participate at Bank Machine ATMs. We will select from those charities that apply directly to us.”

"Times are hard, and all of us in the UK need to pull together to ensure that the least fortunate are not forgotten. Almost everyone in the UK uses ATMs, so what could be easier and more fulfilling than, when we are getting some cash out for ourselves, at the same time sending a donation to support charities which work with the most needy in our country and overseas,” he adds.

Further info here.

Best dressed banker

File under 'I'm not sure what to make of this story, so will stick it on the FStech blog. Yep, that seems like a good idea'.

Apparently, there's a competition to find the best dressed banker of the year, organised by Cad & the Dandy and judged by the likes of former pugilist Chris Eubank. No, I'm not making this up, it's a real competition.

The current top three entries are: Duncan MacInnes, CEO Xenfin Capital; Sir Mervyn King, Govnernor Bank Of England; Kweku Adoboli, UBS. I'm sure that the latter will be particularly thrilled at making the cut - some good news after a, erm, difficult year.

Further info here.

Pointless poll of the day

Sexting has been voted the most annoying example of tech talk or geek speak. It topped an online poll of 2,054 people conducted by YouGov for Computeractive to find the single "most annoying or horrible" new technology-related word added to dictionaries over the last year or so.

The next most irritating words, felt those polled (who, you know, might want to get out more often), were respectively: Intexticated; Defriend; and Twittersphere.

Yawn. Am I the only one who doesn't actually find these examples of tech talk/geek speak all that annoying? I mean, OK, they're not words that I use on a regular basis but as polls go this one is pretty lame. Easy targets and all.

Pet PR peeves

I was recently asked to speak at an industry association event on the relationship between Editors and PRs and, specifically, provide advice to PRs and their tech vendor clients looking to engage with the trade press. All of which got me thinking about my pet PR peeves. In no particular order:

PRs who send a press release, then call five minutes later to ask, did you receive it and is it of interest? Sample answer: I haven't read it yet - amazing as this may sound I don’t sit around all day waiting for your latest press release. A recent response to that: Erm, OK, are you going to use it then?

Companies who clearly have not read FStech or even taken time to look at the website, but still feel it’s OK to send over badly written, irrelevant pitches and press releases. Then chase you up about them.

PRs who, because you met them once, think you’re their best mate and so contact you with random requests, such as: 'could you do me a solid and meet with my new client? They expect instant results and it will make me look good.'

Aggressive PRs who bombard you with calls and emails, telling you that their client’s latest press release is ideally suited to your mag and you really should run the story. Well, you would say that, wouldn’t you?

Phew, rant over! I should stress that there are some good PRs out there, guys (and gals) who take the time to research your mag and tailor their pitches and communications accordingly. When it comes to these individuals, I am always happy to take their calls and respond to their emails. But there are a lot of time wasters in the technology vendor PR business who do their industry and clients more harm than good. And who get short shrift from your’s truly.

What Julian Assange did next

This week I will mostly be reading Julian Assange: The Unauthorised Biography, published amid much controversy last month.

FStech has been following the Visa/MasterCard/WikiLeaks row with great interest so I was keen to get hold of a review copy of this "bile-flecked" book (Private Eye's words, not mine). It begins with a note from the publisher, Canongate, explaining how Assange signed a contract with them in December 2010, then in June 2011 said that he wanted to cancel it. Having read the first draft, he declared: 'All memoir is prostitution.'

But Canongate, having reportedly forked out around £350,000 to woo Assange, decided to publish and be damned. The result is a work that is glaringly incomplete but nonetheless immensely readable and intriguing in the way it casts the WikiLeaks founder not as some revolutionary figure, but rather an unremarkable nerd.

Further info here.