from this interview with the “head of mobile” at microsoft uk

the fee for downloading tracks – £1.50 – is relatively high compared to 79p on itunes and less than that on certain amazon tracks. why is that?

we’re constantly reviewing our pricing and if we feel this price point is incorrect, we’ll look to amend it.

meaning: we’re selling the songs to people who dont read magazines like this, nor who spent a lot of time surfing tech sites on the internet. so, if we can get away with it, we will. shhhh.

if i buy these songs on your service – and they’re locked to my phone – what happens when i upgrade my phone in six months’ time?

well, i think you know the answer to that.

meaning: you’re screwed.

can you really expect people to buy music that’s locked to a device they upgrade every 12 to 18 months?

i didn’t realise phones were churning that quickly in the marketplace these days. i’m sure there are some users who change their phone every year. this is an introduction – it’s a toe in the water for msn mobile and we’ll see how the service develops and we’ll keep a very close eye on it, and we’ll look to amend and change it as necessary as time progresses.

meaning: i am head of mobile in microsoft uk because no one else wanted the job.

the mind boggles.

do i pay 0,99e for an aac of 3m44s or 1,35e for 4m05s for an mp3?

update: i just tried to buy the mp3 on bleep, it was my first time using beta.bleep.com (the amalgamation of bleep + warpmart). previously bleep was a fantastic and easy place to get mp3s – quick, simple, no fuss etc. now on beta.bleep.com it was incredibly unintuitive to buy a single mp3. my purchase failed to download, plus the 1,35 was displayed as euros/sterling/dollars during various points of the process. looking forward to them un-beta-ing. (bleep.com was previously a site that i looked to jealously for its ease of use and integration – people who got it. seems they’ve taken a step backwards).

the year went onwards and autumn decended

sunrise bringing life to a new day.

ms. paula.

lots of babies and additions throughout the year, with some more to come in 2009 no doubt. hurrah!

borrowed a fisheye lens for a day or two – amazing. i want it.

september was a strange month – parties, goings on, bits of this, bits of that. i was just looking at my photos on an external hard drive for september – lots of them never made it to flickr (yet). was a month for taking risks and them not working out too well at all. but i learnt a lot and i guess thats something.

october saw the fantastic bjarke ingels at the helsinki design week – lots of further information on projects id seen over the years in copenhagen and some i would love to see someday. (boom! a video)

the low sun, a couple hand in hand and a good vantage point gives nice pictures.

i’ll skip the whole japan trip for now – no point in rambling on about it. pictures are here.

but look! orion from my window.

november was pretty hectic for gigs here – spiritualized, tricky, efterklang, wolf parade.

friends from home visited on the weekend where helsinki had the heaviest snowfall in almost 50 years. woo

a really nice week in copenhagen ended super early on the 22nd when i started a 18 hour trip home via velje, billund airport, dublin airport, heuston train station and limerick train station.

relaxing time at home, mullingar and in dublin ended the year nicely

2008 was 71 days of travel, 31 or so gigs, 20600 photos, ups, downs – and now its over. move along.

this was the time of the year where i was disctracted by one big project. those that met me over this part of the year probably had to listen to me ramble on and on about it, so i’ll say nothing more

dinners in london and iceland in june. yum.

cranes. a little while after this was taken the icelandic economy imploded. around the same time the irish one did too (although not to the same extent). i remember a documentary on finnish television in late 07 or early 08 where they talked to some people in the danish and swedish central banks about the icelandic economy – the danes and swedes were very suspect about it all and, of course, they were right to be. (the irish version would be the brilliant george lee warning about it all for years).

time in reykjavík was spent at a gig, cycling, going with höddi to the swimming pool with the kiddos and enjoying the icelandic summer. no civ though. home via copenhagen.

liv visited hurrah

blue blue blue x 1000.

i hate hate helsinki seagulls.

july seems to have been spent in parks – reading, drinking, writing, listening, sleeping, looking, talking.

august came – festival season. flow festival here in helsinki and höddi visiting from iceland – then a few days later off to tallinn for sigur rós, then to ireland for electric picnic. a fantastic mad few weeks full of joy, music, friends, new friends, icelanders, rain at the oddest moments, new passport, lots of good music and lots of memories (plus i found out i was going to japan!).

another year over. its really amazing how years go by faster and faster as one gets older. “time flies when you’re having fun” – perhaps, but i think it goes faster when you’re not.

starting a year is never really starting something new, there is always the effects of the year before to contemplate and live with. this year is spent dealing with last year, just as 2008 was spent recovering from 2007. as a result 2008 wasn’t the best year in many regards – it was expensive, emotional, distracting, lonely and peppered by moments of madness + pure bliss.

so here is my 2008 – taking pictures from my flickr account, because thats how i remember things these days.

i remember walking out of kamppi, seeing the sun shining down annankatu and illuminating the dust in the air. when it snows here in helsinki they put down grit to make sure people like me dont fall over (i still manage to on average once per winter). when the snow melts the grit gets worn down into dust and it clogs up the air – its normally pretty bad in april and may – but here this time we had it in january (last winter wasnt very cold).

an impromptu christmas tree at my new workspace. located right in the centre and full of interesting people.

my decision making process gets me into trouble on occasion, the proper way to do things would be to start off with an idea and consult friends and hone down that idea until it makes sense. i do the opposite – start with a finished idea, say nothing for ages while i get used to the idea and then let people know. one of those ideas happened around this time of the year. took me months to tell the person i needed to tell, by then it was too late.

i like this, foggy nights + tram tracks.

i didnt really take many pictures of graffit in 2008 for some reason.

cheer up little dude, all will be fine.

home to ireland in february for a few days – my mums brithday and seeing some friends. above is fantastic lucinda on the shoulder of beatriz as we walked around dún laoghaire. (i also got to see arvo pärt later that day)

i can still remember the contrails floating. amazing.

cool kitchen budapest live coding the day before my birthday.

yeah timber scaffolding! amazing.

hopefully this will come out okay – im hoping to do more with this idea. two pictures, two time frames – photomashed into one.

copenhagen, half way in so many ways between helsinki + ireland. i still find the city really odd – its amazing, beautiful, full of fantastic people and design and ever so slightly intimidating. its also the only place where i have someone to meet when i walk into arrivals in the airport.

i like this. trees at the graveyard.

tap tap tap tap refresh tap tap tap tap tap

water, remote control, pictures, my fantastic little table beside my bed.

home again in may – this time for my brothers communion. i have lots of memories of my communion still – mostly extrapolated from photos. i do remember the money though and the girls in white.

trips home are always spent laughing to myself at the little coincidences – meeting people randomly in a city ive not lived in almost seven years

headed back to helsinki via frankfurt. never there before. there was a mouse and i spent a lot of time beside a socket.

part 2 coming soon.