Why features don't matter any more: "As computing and digital devices move more and more into the consumer space, features and functionalities will increasingly take the back-seat as motivators for technology adoption: as the iPod abundantly shows, user experience (along with a strong brand, and clever marketing) is much more important for the success of a device then technical specifications."

The monkeys who can speak in sentences: ""To our knowledge, this is the first good evidence of a syntax-like natural communication system in a non-human species.""

If you like this sorta thing, go read Next of Kin - David recommended it to me when I did the Great Gorilla Run a few years back and it's a fascinating read. As is The Ape and the Sushi Master - an exploration of ape culture.

Or if you'd like a practical demonstration, hie thee to Monkey World... retaining some self-control if you please...

A Good Weekend. Friday night Sophie and I wandered out for Pete's birthday meal, where I got to see a few folks I knew vaguely years back but haven't caught up with since (other than when I drunkenly lurch about at parties of course).

Then onto the Unitarian Church where we caught the second half of "Fire in the Heart" - readings from Rumi. Mr Helsby introduced me to Rumi about a year back when he lent me a copy of Whoever Brought Me Here Will Have To Take Me Home. As a rule I'm not a massive fan of poetry - during English A level I was sodomised by the work of Andrew Marvell and have never really recovered - but there's something about Rumi that I can't put my finger on. Anyhow, the second half was ace and the performer, Duncan Mackintosh, was extremely good: clear, warm, and funny.

Saturday saw me travel to Rochester to catch up with the Komorowski family. Under Martin's capable direction Nicki cooked her first lasagne and we wandered into town with their friend Dave, catching a few pubs before ending up at the Tap and Tin - which isn't exactly the best club I've been too, but I suspect that being from Brighton I'm somewhat spoilt. The evening ended in customary fashion with me passed out in an armchair and Nicki being violently ill, as tradition demands.

I spent Sunday recovering, travelling, and doing a few jobs around the house, then out to class - where I discovered that for the first time ever, I'd rather embarrassingly forgotten my belt (doh!!), and sweated out most of the previous evenings excess. On the downside: I've knacked in my wrist again - which seems to be a recurrent injury for me, and (from what I've seen of long-term aikidoka) probably the first of a few. Typing lots probably doesn't help much. Kotegaishi *definitely* doesn't...

Chinese food and Dr Who rounded off the weekend nicely...

Discovery vs. Consumption: "I wonder, though, with the disruption of media towards digital formats, if the discovery becomes detached from consumption method, and if consumers will be increasingly frustrated about finding what they want to consume. As content producers scramble to find the right distribution outlet for their content, are they mindful of how consumers will discover it, wherever it is?"

Very relevant for mobile where discovery is key: there are oodles of services out there, getting people to use them is the hard bit.

One of the most interesting things I took away from World Telemedia was a comment Andrew Bud of Mblox made, when talking about off- vs on-portal distribution: that it was essentially a dead argument, that you need both. Operators don't do enough marketing of content, but do have an audience they can deliver to you via their portals. Off-portal lets you do your own thang.

We're about to go on-portal with the Puzzler portfolio of mobile games and a very large UK network operator. I'm looking forward to comparing what we learn from this to Puzzler's existing distribution - which has been off-portal, promoted in the national press and the pages of their magazines.

Also of interest is the I-mode approach to discovery, where the operator is effectively providing an open marketplace for content providers to lay out their wares, and letting the popular stuff bubble to the top of menus quite naturally - as opposed to the more traditional approach of doing placement deals or licensing content.

Another World: "As far as researchers know, there are no fictional stories nor mythologies in the Pirahã culture. All stories are descriptions of experiences, and these stories only go back one or two generations at most. There is no collective memory of the Pirahã people; no history of their people is recorded by them. There is practically no art in their culture; whatever drawings they make are only used to describe the spirit world that they have experienced and are not drawn for aesthetic purposes."