We’ve been working with LaunchGroup on a mini campaign for TalkTalk to create the Routers of the Future. The design whiz kids at Goldsmiths have created concept routers that combine the hum drum job of networking with other things like being a clock, an energy saver and, erm, a jelly fish.
OK, to some people, the routers might be a bit like fingerless rubber gloves, but to me, as a self confessed tech PR geek, this sort of thing is right up my street. My personal favourite was the attractive-but-practical Route O’Clock. It does beg the question what other home gadgets or utilities could be given a make-over? A toaster that talks, a kettle with a web cam, a dog lead with a gps, a landline phone with a built-in keyboard for email – hang on, I think that one’s been done before…
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What manner of nonsense is this? Even my iPhone wielding teenage junior doesn’t see the point. Why make a trivial device like a router a centre piece for a room? My mobile router is about half the size of a fag packet and is so descrete its easy to loose.
There are so many enhancements that could be made for the next generation of home routers such as IPv6 though various transition protocols, multicasting and QoS for next gen funtionality.
Why create a clock that shows that TalkTalk are pretty useless at certain times of the day when BT are advertising the reliability of their wireless routers.
Ha. That was the point really. Routers, though vital, do appear to be quite boring, so it’s just a chance to do a ‘what if?’ and glam them up.
As for the tech enhancements, the impression I get is that IPv6 is still a bit of a way off, especially while there’s issues around security.
Which ISP are you with out of interest Stav?
I see, it was a PR master class. Brushing up on the selling snow to the Eskimo’s skills. A while ago I read an article claiming Microsoft’s marketing was more successful than it’s software. The company manages to sell the same software with a new interface over and over again.
IPv6 is pretty much ready for the mainstream but I don’t think the ISPs and big transit providers are particularly keen on supporting dual stack infrastructures while there is no real profit. Users don’t really know the difference so it isn’t a selling point. I use IPv6 at home and oddly site like Google seems to be a lot quicker!
I use Virgin Media as my ISP Mr Rocket.
I don’t think Microsoft’s success is down to its marketing; at least not in the sense of having a customer base that feels any warmth towards the brand. But it is a successful business model. Let’s see what happens when Google launches its own OS.
As for IPv6, I don’t know what the ISP’s take is on it (I’ll ask TalkTalk), but aside from a bit of chatter amongst the geek community, there’s no demand coming from consumers or policy makers. Do you run IPv6 on your network at work? I read that network managers disable it by default on devices and that because of that it represents a security risk…?
Social Media Marketing is really the trend these days. i market most of my products through social networking sites…