Steve Jobs unveiled the new operating system (ios) for the Apple i-family an an Apple special event in San Francisco last week. This generation of ios will bring multiplayer gaming and quality high definition photography to iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches. He also announced in his presentation that the next version, ios 4.2, will bring wireless printing and media streaming in November–and it’ll be released in November.
It was a characteristically smooth launch presentation by Jobs, who must be the only CEO whose audience avidly spend their time during the presentation taking pictures and video of his performance.
The presentation is certainly helped by the iconic design status of the Apple product range. There’s interest and excitement. And it’s palpable.
Other corporate presenters must wish that they had as much as 10% of the material that Jobs has to work with.
That apart, Jobs doesn’t elect for the easy option. This presentation demonstrated the range of new attributes with a good display by Jobs inter-working with various applications. He handled it with aplomb; quite a difference with his last iPhone presentation where the technology proved reluctant to work with him!
Colin Firth stars as the Duke of York, later King George VI in the film, The King's Speech.
Film previews of the King’s Speech reveal the extraordinary relationship between the future King George VI and his voice coach.
The film dramatizes the events leading up to the abdication of King Edward VIII in 1936 and the accession to the throne of George VI seen through the prism of George’s public speaking problems…a speech impediment, stutter and a shy, retiring nature.
His first public speech is a disaster and his wife, the Duchess of York, takes charge of the problem. After a string of unsuccessful coaches, the film tells how an out of work Australian actor, a voice coach, is eventually hired to get the Royal Duke (Bertie) ready for a speech…and then prepare him for all his future public speaking roles; no small amount of work with the looming war in Europe and the eventual abdication of Edward VIII.
It looks a fascinating film with starring performances from Colin Firth as George VI, Geoffrey Rush as the speech coach and Helena Bonham-Carter as Queen Elizabeth supported by Michael Gambon as George V and Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill.
Prince Charles starts his whistle stop tour of the United Kingdom
The heir to the throne, Prince Charles, has started a Green campaigning whistle stop tour of the United Kingdom with a speech in Glasgow. The tour, known as Start, aims to promote a green way of living for the UK. Recognising that people are more likely to start doing some good than being hectored to stop something, the Start campaign aims to show people just what they can do.
Prince Charles will be accompanied by a party of 14 people on the 8-carriage Royal Train as it makes its way from Glasgow to Wales, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and then London.
It’s an ostentatious way to travel–costing the taxpayer some £50,000–but both his Start spokesman and good friend Tony Juniper were keen to point out that the Royal Train operates on recycled cooking oil, bio-diesel! Don’t get down wind of this Royal Train.
Whistle stop tours used to be a favoured way for political campaigns to be organised in both Britain and the USA. So, it’s a return to old-fashioned campaigning, old-fashioned transport and old-fashioned values. And that’s, perhaps, a key part of the Start programme. The tour is supported by many of the great and the good, knights of the realm such as Stuart Rose and many of Britain’s leading businesses, who no doubt sense some advantage.
The last whistle stop is London where the Start initiative combines with the IBM Summit at Start, a nine-day conference beginning on Wednesday 8th September. Prince Charles will give a speech at this conference on his return to London.
Mark Thompson Delivers the MacTaggart lecture in Edinburgh
The annual MacTaggart lecture is often the highlight of the Edinburgh International Television Festival. Not least because the occasion is used by speakers to lambast the BBC.
Certainly that was the case last year when James Murdoch of Sky was the speaker.
This year’s speaker, Mark Thompson, the BBC Director General, took the opportunity to put things right and bash Sky.
This was a long speech by Thompson. Just like the BBC that he heads, he’s not short of material; much of it repeats. His approach, therefore, was to rush his way through his content speaking at a great pace. The result? many of his words were less than clear. Points were lost and arguments faltered as he rattled his way through the speech.
Reading mistakes were few. But his fast pace meant that his eyes typically looked at his script as he read the script aloud. He couldn’t look at his audience as he made each point.
I sensed that his speech would have been better with some editing. At 8,000 words this was a blockbuster of a speech. A BBC editor could have been commissioned to extract the nuggets and present a more worthwhile…and shorter whole.
George Clooney became the fourth recipient of the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award at the 2010 Emmys last weekend.
His acceptance speech was lucid, well-prepared and expertly delivered. He knew that his time on the podium was limited, but he didn’t rush. He paused for effect and it worked.
His speech mixed humour with due seriousness for the humanitarian causes he supports.
His message for the gathered celebrities at the Nokia theatre in downtown Los Angeles?
Don’t forget the disaster appeal once it’s no longer on the tv screen. Keep on giving. A sound message as news of disaster in Pakistan begins to recede from the rolling news.
