on 31 August 2010
Dennis Baron, Professor of English and Linguistics at the University of Illinois, is the latest grammar pundit to write about the lack of English singular pronouns that don’t have to be selected according to the sex of the person referred to. continue
Read 6 comments on this post, or add your own
on 7 July 2010
Apple has dubbed the iPhone 4’s new higher-resolution screen Retina Display. So what exactly does that mean, and are Steve Jobs’ claims of “smooth and continuous graphics” – in other words, no visible pixels – technically justified? continue
Read 3 comments on this post, or add your own
on 4 October 2009
Incomprehensible regulations mindlessly enforced: a reliable staple of modern consumer news, represented most recently by TV Licensing’s push to get business owners signed up. continue
Read 4 comments on this post, or add your own
on 15 September 2009
Talking to a new client today about marketing copy and the importance of tone of voice: to answer your customers’ unspoken questions before they wander away, you have to talk to them, not just list information. Serendipitously, on the way back I picked up the US edition of Wired and found gatefolded within it the most gorgeous example of copywriting wrongness courtesy of Nokia, apparently via Nathan Barley. continue
on 11 September 2009
It says something about the value for money of today’s coffee-table books that 35 quid looks relatively expensive. For this, though, you get a volume – the first in a set of two, divided chronologically – that, with the addition of four legs, could actually be a coffee table. continue reading at www.macuser.co.uk
on 6 August 2009
So Apple has forced the makers of a dictionary iApp to remove ‘objectionable content’ before approving it for use on the iPhone and iPod touch. ‘They provided screenshots of the words,’ explained the developer, presumably while quietly shaking his head continue
on 3 July 2009
Just been browsing a Facebook group called ‘Correct Spelling, Punctuation and Apostrophe Use’. It was recommended by Kenny, a magazine editor who’s pretty hot on all those things. The group itself, though, seems to be populated largely by the kind of language maven satirised by Steven Pinker continue
Read 1 comment on this post, or add your own
For a book about words, this is surprisingly visual, beautifully laid out on a matt stock, with nice use of background tints and neat, legible type. What’s great about Shaw’s introduction to copywriting is that he explains the real world processes, not just the principles. continue reading at www.macuser.co.uk
on 1 July 2009
Ricoh, best known for the kind of office machines bought by people who still call things ‘office machines’, has launched a cloud archive service called quanp. continue
Read 1 comment on this post, or add your own
on 3 June 2009
Referring to Daily Express articles speculating that Michael Owen’s footballing career might be finished, his solicitor, John Kelly, told a libel hearing: ‘These incredulous allegations are entirely without foundation.’ continue
Twitter cannot be reached right now. — see previous tweets