Death of a Pub Quiz

Last night our team had an off night at the pub quiz. There are no two ways about it, it was our lowest score ever and we didn’t even come close to the prizes.

When I got home I checked my Twitter account and was left with a bad taste in my mouth. There were tweets asking people for the answers to the questions I’d just been racking my brains to find.

The pub has free wi-fi and we’ve always known that there are people who are Googling for answers or hitting Wikipedia a couple of times per night. But twittering for answers? That’s crowd sourcing and there’s a limit of five people per team. So should each team now pay €2.50 for their 500 Twitter followers as well? And what about the extended network via re-tweets? Maybe we could let them pay a reduced rate of just €1. Either way it’s going to be an expensive night out.

Perhaps we could adopt the freemium model. Free entry for those that don’t use network devices. ‚€2.50 for 6 tweets or €10 for the deluxe unlimited tweets and surfing package.

So it looks like Pub Quiz 1.0 is now officially dead and I’ll be attending the funeral. I know it’s the taking part blah blah blah, but what’s the point in taking part in an unwinnable contest?

Can you stop people cheating in a pub quiz?

Our pub has free wi-fi and you have to reserve a table to enter the quiz. Usually, all the tables are reserved so everyone must be taking part in the quiz right? Surely the pub can just switch off the router for a few hours and then no one can cheat.

Eh, no. This is the Network Age. We are the network, if you block us, we will reroute. Switch off one wi-fi router and the mobile networks takes over, USB dongles are plugged-in, next door’s open wi-fi is sought out, neighbourhood wi-max is discovered and mesh networks created.

So the door will always remain open for people to “research” their answers. But it’s just a doorway to information and as we know, having the information doesn’t mean it’s good information. The funny thing was that none of that answers I saw tweeted back were correct!

This is the Network Age. We all have a voice, we all shall speak, but we’re not all right. And that’s just fine.

So what’s the answer?

I think it’s (nearly) time for Pub Quiz 2.0

Maybe the answer is to do pub quizzes via Twitter or a similar tool. The quizmaster reads out the question to the crowd so you still have to be in the pub buying their beer. Participants then tweet the quizmaster their answer and it appears on a big screen in the room. The first correct answer gets the point. Next question.

People would still be able to look up answers and ask for help, but those that know that answers anyway wouldn’t have to look it up and would have the advantage. People with big thumbs might be at a bit of a disadvantage but hey, that’s evolution for you.
Will it be better or worse? Who knows? It’ll be different, that’s all. And that’s true for most of the rapid changes that the Network Age brings.

But I don’t think it’ll be a very busy pub quiz. At least not yet. As the saying goes, “The future exists today. It’s just unevenly distributed”. I’d go a step further. It’s not just the future that is inequitably distributed – i.e. the tools to access the network – it’s the knowledge of what the future is that is inequitably distributed. And that’s why I say it’s nearly time for Pub Quiz 2.0

Until then we’re in a grey area. I think I’ll take up dominos instead.

But what about the couple in the corner who have been coming to the quiz for years, who don’t want a camera on their phone, who just want a phone that make calls, you know the type.

Well they’ll probably sit there each week blissfully unaware of the changing nature of competition in the Network Age, wondering why their place in the league table is progressively getting worse and joke about how they must be experiencing the early onset of Alzhiemers.

I think I’ll join them and have a quiet pint.

Filed under: Benelux

Brussels Twestival Was Smooth

So the party is over, lots of people came and a great time was had by all.

If you didn’t make it to the Twestival but would still like to help you can. The site is still open for donations.

Checkout www.twestival.be to see what the event was all about and for a donation link.

Thanks

Filed under: Benelux, NGO

Twestival – Time to Party In Brussels

This article is about the Brussels Twestival. If you’re in Brussels on the 12 February please sign up. You’ll have a great time and meet some great people and you’ll help raise money for a great cause www.twestival.be

I have to admit, when I first heard the date of Twestival – 12 February – I thought, “Oh this is an elaborate scheme by some geek to make sure that they have a date for St. Valentines Day”.

I looked into it a little more, not because I’m looking for a date I hasten to add, but because I was curious to see why Twitter users wanted to meet up. What was their purpose? Then I saw the videos and I knew why people were signing up.

And then it mushroomed. Cities have signed up in their droves!

What started out as a vague idea to try and get a handful of cities together to raise money to drill fresh water wells in Ethiopia is fast becoming a major global fundraising party. The deadline for cities to sign up passed on 31st January and at that point nearly 200, yes you read right, 200 cities throughout the world have signed up for Twestival.

You don’t have to be a Twitter user to come to the party. Tickets cost between €5-50 depending on how much you want to pay. There are 3 bands lined up and a DJ and we’ll be at Le Botanique from 5pm-1am.

And here’s why!

Get your ticket today

Filed under: Benelux, NGO

WidgetBucks Now Available For UK, Western Europe by August

On Monday I wrote about using WidgetBucks and WOOThemes as a possible alternatives to Google’s AdSense referrals scheme when it shuts down in August. Today, WidgetBucks announced that they will at last be extending their pay per click scheme to the UK so widgets now showing UK pricing.

WidgetBucks In Europe

Example of A WidgetBucks Widget showing UK pricing

This is perfect timing as it gives them an opportunity pick up new publishers in Europe. Even better news is that the widgets will be also be available in much of the rest of Western Europe in two weeks time. So by August, WidgetBucks will generate pay per click revenue for site owners with traffic from Western Europe and North America.

This is a significant step forward as previously if a visitor to your site was from outside North America the widget was replaced with a traditional ad and you were paid based on the number of impressions. Now visitors from the UK and soon Western Europe (full list below) will see the much more lucrative widget and revenue from WidgetBucks should start to increase.

Just to be clear, how you are paid and which ads are displayed does not depend on where you are based, it depends on where each visitor to your web site comes from.

Breakdown Of Countries Applicable for WidgetBucks

Visits from the following countries currently trigger pay per click widgets:

• USA
• Canada
• United Kingdom

Visits from the following countries will trigger pay per click widgets from August (2008):

• Belgium
• Denmark
• France
• Germany
• Italy
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Sweden

Visits from the following countries will trigger CPM ads and pricing:

• Australia
• Austria
• India
• Ireland
• New Zealand
• Portugal
• Puerto Rico
• Singapore
• South Africa
• Spain
• Switzerland
• United Arab Emirates

If you have a site that you’d like to monitise then check out WidgetBucks here.

Filed under: Benelux, Online Advertising, WidgetBucks , adsense, advertising, europe, GBP, referrals, sterling, WidgetBucks, widgets

The iPhone will now be available on July 11

Make up your mind Mobistar.

But the good news is that it looks like the 3G iPhone will definitely be available in Belgium on Friday. It’s unbundled and at €525 it looks pretty costly, but there’s a good price comparison at this site.

Let’s see what price packages and incentives BASE and Proximus can come up with.

You can get the full details from Mobistar at:

EN phone3g.mobistar.be

NL iphone3g.mobistar.be

FR iphone3g.mobistar.be

Filed under: Apple, Benelux, Web Browsers , 3g, GPS, iphone

So Belgium Is To Get The iPhone – Eventually

Finally. On July 11, the iPhone becomes available in Belgium via Orange’s partner here, Mobistar.

Apple combatted their reputation for being a provider of expensive hardware by halving the (dollar) price as part of the iPhone’s official expansion into most of Europe and beyond.

Apple really is set to keep growing because of one very important factor. Generally, their products don’t. Apple are a miniturisation company and they are very good at it.

No other company pays so much attention to the form factor of their products and keep changing and refining that form factor. When people come round to my place, they look at my iMac, say “Nice screen.” and ask where the computer is. I can hold the music that previously took up the space of a wall in a room in the palm of my hand. I reckon I’ll succumb to the iPhone as well, so soon I’ll have an entire OS in my hand as well.

If you take miniaturisation to it’s logical conclusion you have nothing and that is exactly what they have built in iTunes. Movies, TV shows, music, books, it’s all their in a virtual format, part of our dematerialised economy.

They didn’t invent any of this stuff, but they are good at implementing it and bringing it together.

Roll on July 11 and vive la pomme!

[Update, looks like Mobistar are rolling back on the July 11 date and saying some time in the summer instead] [Further update, it is not back to July 11. see here]

Filed under: Apple, Benelux , Apple, belgium, iphone