The Playbook tablet has been announced by BlackBerry manufacturers RIM as the main iPad competitor.

Of course, most weeks there is a new rival to the iPad, but considering the BlackBerry and the iPhone are the two most owned Smartphones, everyone was holding their breaths and hoping that RIM would bring something pretty amazing to the fore.

Although the release dates for the 32gb or 16gb RIM’s device has not been announced we are already privy to some of the features including a 7-inch multitouch touchscreen and a high powered OS.

BlackBerry chief executive Mike Lazaridis has claimed that the Playbook will be “the first professional tablet”, with the ability to run Flash, and offer micro-HDMI and micro-usb ports – weighing in at 400g it also includes dual HD cameras for video calling - things that the iPad currently lacks.

However, Tim Daniels TMT sector strategist, Olivetree Securities comments: "The Playbook doesn’t have wireless capability and it can only access the internet via WiFi or via Bluetooth with a Blackberry attached. Although it plans to offer 3G and 4G models going forwards, it doesn’t change the fact that RIM will continue to lose market share as it moves into the consumer market and dilutes its margins. The phones just aren’t as good as the competition. There are no details yet on when it will be available, from whom and how much.”

Of course, this is RIM’s first attempt and it is not yet out, the device may be tweaked nearer the time of release to compensate for all the concerns.

It is just a waiting game for all, I for one cannot wait to see the Samsung and the Android competitors too!

Another Hat-trick has been reached...

A few team members were already on two wins and when it was announced another hat-trick had been reached the tension was palpable.

Of course, this was not the first person to achieve the accreditation but with technical in the lead, creative was hoping for a win.

However, to ensure everyone was on the edge of their seat the Person of Note prize was awarded first, which went to Tun Min Hein. The team voted for him to get this accolade because of his accomplishment developing a clients site.

The winner of the Most Excellent Person had also accomplished a lot, staying late, offering his assistance even when he was busy and still achieving his own deadlines.

The winner is: Rob Cornish

Well, before you play that love-filled music, think about where you are going to get it from!

Napster, iTunes, Spotify, Grooveshark, Online Radio or Zune...?

Microsoft is trying to get onto the massive online music scene with it's brand new music store Zune, named after failed MP3 player Microsoft brought out in 2006.

This new venture, along with Windows Phone 7 may start people thinking of Microsoft as more than just an Office manufactuer.

It seems Zune will be targetting Xbox 360 users, although one major downfall is that you will need a credit card to sign up to the monthly service (£8.99 per month) and, as many players are under 16 they won't be able to apply - unless they steal their parents card but that is NOT encouraged.

The other limitation of the service is that if you stop paying for it all your music will be deleted - although there is yet no confirmation on whether you can download the music.

Will you give Zune a chance or stick to the music provider you have?

  ...but it's business as usual in the creative team as Simon focuses on building up his fan base!!!

With so much change happening in the office, from new website development to a staff member leaving (sniff, they will be missed) it is important to keep some things consistent.

This is where the Most Excellent Person award comes in, although we do like to change the times and day it is held - well, we have to keep people on their toes!

At 530pm on Friday we all gathered in the chill out room to wait attentively to hear who the award winner was.

The winner was unanimously chosen for the recent hard work on a number of pitches, for due diligence and for recently winning a new client.

Congratulations, Charlotte Murray 

I've recently been exposed to a charity organisation that affects a family member, so I'm trying in vain to create awareness of this using the social media tools available to me. Now, being the finance guy of the outfit, I'm not employed for my media skills (& this is my debut blog - thanks for reading) I need to find better ways of marketing them - this blog in essence is my next marketing attempt...

So my actions so far are re-tweeting posts from BTBuddies, however I only have a few followers so this does not hit a large audience. So I've linked tweet deck up with my Facebook so at least that reaches a larger audience.

I need to get more people retweeting my tweets to gain more followers & in doing so I will need to really put some thought into my tweets & how my current followers view them & thus the potential to RT them. This means I will become extremely cunning in my future tweets - so current followers beware!

Something that I am proud of is the donation site that has been set up this last week. Through my tweets & FB messages & those of my family, this link http://www.justgiving.com/steve-brister raised £670 in its first 24 hours. I'm also trying to get awareness for @BTBuddies & their website http://www.btbuddies.org.uk and again via the medium that is social media.

So you will be seeing a lot more of #FollowFriday #ff & #CharityTuesday in my upcoming twitter & FB status updates & I promise to be amusing whilst thoughtful with the entity of my posts. Plus I need to enlist the assistance (cheekily - granted) of our wizard marketing guru to get me through!!!  

Facebook Places has just gone live in the UK as it joins the list of location-based apps that can now follow my every move.

Foursquare, Twitter, geo-tagging, Google Buzz and now FaceBook are all out to let my stalkers know my every move.  No Judge in the land can act fast enough to give out the amount of restraining orders that will be needed when my location details are given out!

Unlike Google Buzz that discovers your location from your IP address, you will need to check-in with Facebook Places using an iPhone.(Facebook has promised Android and BlackBerry apps in the near future).

Once you allow the app to find you, it will automatically update to your feed; letting friends, family and the odd FB stalker to see where you are.

The app then allows you to discover what‘s near you, what friends are near you and then lets you add places. For example, I am in Twyford and I am sad because the chip shop ran out of chips, so I use Facebook Places to find the nearest kebab shop and a local friend to cry on, I then update the app with my location.  Because my feed is automatically updated, everyone I ever met knows what I am doing on a Wednesday evening at 8pm!

If you are desperate to find friends and places then this is the app for you, but if you are slightly concerned about everyone knowing your business, wait a few weeks before Facebook changes the whole set up.

Now, Twitter is pestering me daily to add a location... enoughalready!

It won’t be long until Twitter launches a new design, givingusers more multimedia options.

The mostobvious change will be the addition of embedded video and images.

Previously,you could click on a link or image and a new tab/page would open on the browserbefore you could view it. A lot of Twitter applications, such as Tweetdeck, hadused this simple design to their advantage – allowing users to see an image ora video via the application without leaving it.

Twitter recentlyimplemented advertising opportunities via promoted trends, and it is no wonderthat it wants more users using Twitter.com rather than external applications.

Thegreat thing about the new offering is that it will let users add teaser videosand turn pages into news sites. Although the downside is that the internet willbe bombarded with videos of puppies or nakedness, which could make computersslower and could, potentially bring in viruses.

The othernew feature of Twitter is the best one, in my humble opinion, you may have aboatload of people you follow but you cannot remember why, well Twitter willlet you see the author and their feed in seconds on the side panel. There is alsothe addition of location of that person and relevant @replies.

Basically,if you use Twitter for work then you can see how useful a person is.... gee I hope I don’t get a drop in followers ;)

Snug is the UK’s leading network of specialist insulation installers. The network comprises a nationwide consortium of independent companies with specially trained local employees; all approved as professional installers of cavity walland loft insulation.

Snug Network member companies work in their own local communities. Installers won’t have far to travel, reducing the environmental impact as well as contributing to the local economy.

All the materials we use are approved by the British Board of Agrément (BBA), which certifies construction products, systems and installers, and Snug cavity wall insulation comes with a 25 year guarantee.

Thanks to the collaboration with Creative Jar, Snug Network’s website is now live. Customers can save money, keep their houses warm and help the environment.