Another Good Call From Cicerone
Sometimes you just have to cry when you read news announcements from companies in the outdoors industry. So many of them just don’t get the digital world.
Take for example the latest news from Cicerone. Over on their blog they announce what at first sounds like they have joined the 21st Century and started making the books they publish as ebooks (read their blog post here). They go one step further and announce that there is a special offer on as well for those that buy a physical copy of the book for getting 50% off the ebook version.
Great news you would think. At last I can take the book with me on my portable device like my iPhone/iPod Touch or maybe Android based phone. Or maybe use my Kindle or iPad if I had one (the two market leaders I believe when it comes to ebook readers). But NOOOOOO. Cicerone have gone with an Adobe ebook format that is not available on any of the platforms that most people would have. Oh they can be read on a pc/laptop or Mac and some minor ebook readers that no-one has even heard of (apart from the Sony ebook reader).
Why the feck did Cicerone go with a format that is so limited? With in what a couple of months, the iPad has become the number one ebook reader on the market (can’t back that claim up, but considering that in that time they have sold over 2 million iPads, I would place good money on the fact that they have out sold most of all the other ebook readers added together). And from the 21st June when millions of iPhones get iOS4 on their phones the ibook marketplace makes the Apple ibook market probably one of the largest potential ebook marketplaces out there.Kindle is second place, and has Amazon behind it. Plus with Kindle if I buy a book from Amazon I can read it on the Kindle itself, or using the free Kindle app on my iPhone/iPod Touch,iPad, Android phone.
Ebooks have been around for a few years now. But it has only been in the last couple of years that they have really taken off. And that has mainly been thanks to Amazon pushing the format with the Kindle. Reading on a laptop or PC just hasn’t proved popular with the general public or even techies. It’s been the specific devices like the Kindle that made it a pleasurable experience. People want to be able to sit in bed, on the beach, out in the garden and read, not be tethered to a desktop pc or a laptop with a couple of hours battery life.
I think I know why Cicerone went with this format. It is so they don’t have to give a cut to Apple or Amazon. If Amazon or Apple sell the book through their stores, then they take a percentage of the sale, with Apple I think it is approx 30%. But in doing so Cicerone have cut themselves off from possibly the two largest ebook markets out there.
Granted Adobe may bring out a client for Android at some point. But I can not see Amazon or Apple letting them in to play on their platforms.
I don’t want an ebook on my PC/Mac. I want it with me on my portable device, whether that is an iPad/iPhone or Android phone.
Cicerone prove once more that they just don’t get it. Their previous effort of the iPhone app they released was a missed opportunity, and now this. Whoever is advising them on their strategy really needs to be given the boot.
So until I can get the Cicerone books on my portable devices then they won’t see any of my money, I’m not touching them with a barge pole, and I’m the target market. And my recommendation to others would be to make sure that if you are considering the ebook edition from Cicerone that you confirm that it will be readable on the devices you intend to read the book on.
TiLite Successor Being Announced At Friedrichshafen
We are fastly approaching that time of year when the European outdoors industry all gathers at Friedrichshafen to wheel and deal and show off the products that will be available in the next year. Well it’s next month, but that ain’t to far away now.
There is a bit of news I will be looking out for and that is the announcement from Primus of the replacement for TiLite stove.
So if that wasn’t a big enough clue, if you want a TiLite get it while you can as they will no longer be available.
Here is a little video I shot a couple years back now from Stoneleigh on the TiLite.
On a brighter note I have the stars of the next couple of Stove Talks arrive today. So some more filming over the next few days.
Camping Gear From Aldi This Thursday
Sometimes I do come up with post titles that tell you exactly what you need to know. Todays title does precisely that.
So what goodies are Aldi getting in for you to fight over with other bargain hunters during the fist ten minutes of the store opening?
- 4 Person Tent for £59.99
- Men’s and Ladies’ Outdoor Boots at £15.99 a pair
- Double Inflatable Air Bed for £9.99
- Electric Air Pump for £5.99
- Single Inflatable Air Bed for £8.99
- Camping Stove for £34.99
- Camping Kitchen Stand for £19.99
- Foldaway Camping Table for £17.99
- Foldaway Camping Chair for £6.99
- Rectangular Sleeping Bag for £6.99
- Windbreaker for £8.99
- Camping Rug for £4.99
- Self Inflating Mat for £12.99
- Free Standing Rotary Airer for £14.99
- Multi Purpose Floor Mats £9.99 per pack
- Wet Wipes £1.49 per pack
- Remote Control Camping Lantern for £8.99
- LED Utility Lanterns £5.99 per pack
- 3 Piece Torch Set £3.99 per set
- Solar Powered Charger for £19.99
- Multi Functional LED Light for £4.99
- Animal Dynamo Torch £1.99
- Trekking Rucksack for £19.99
- Chunky Wool Blend Socks £3.99 per pack
- All Purpose Rucksack for £5.99
- Ladies’ Clogs £2.99 per pair
- Men’s Trekking Sandals £9.99 per pair
So a lot there. This is perfect stuff for car camping, and for letting the kids take to that weekend festival during the Summer.
Memory Map Sets Free The OS Open Data
Hot on the tail of Mapyx and their Quo mapping software, Memory Map have now also released the OS Map Data that was made free at the start of April free for use with their software.
Here in their own words is how they announced this new development:
“…we’ve made a number of scales of map (data-sets to use the correct terminology) available free of charge via Digital Map Shop (DMS).
If you have a DMS account you can now download and activate 1:250,000 and 1:1m route planning maps which offer a fantastic overview of the country.
Ordnance Surveys 1:10,000 scale Streetview is also now available free of charge, which includes street names and is ideal for planning urban walks, cycle commuting journeys or even running and jogging routes.
Using your DMS account you can now download and activate all these data sets on your PC. They are also available free on the Memory-Map iPhone App (Streetview is only available on the paid App).”
A bit disappointed that the Streetview data is only available on the paid iPhone app. Should be available on the free app as well. But I think Memory Map and I will have to for the time being have to agree to disagree on this one.
So we just have to wait to see when the rest of the pack decide to join Mapyx and Memory Map on adding the free data (or reducing it’s cost) to their product lines.
Outdoor Gear At Aldi This Thursday
This Thursday is Outdoors and BBQ gear at Aldi.
Here are the highlights:
- Men’s Trekking Boots – £14.99
- Ladies’ Trekking Boots – £14.99
- Kid’s Trekking Boots – £8.99
- Memory Foam Insoles – £1.99
- Soft Shell Jacket – £14.99
- Outdoor Trousers – £9.99
- Outdoor Mid Layer Fleece - £5.99
- Bamboo Base Layer T-Shirt – £4.99
- Packable Rainwear Jackets and Trouser – £6.99 (each)
- Outdoor Hats and Caps – £2.99
- Gaiters – £3.99
- Walking Pole – £5.99
- Heatkeeper Food Jar – £4.99
- Neoprene Supports – £2.49
- Compass – £1.99
- Walking Socks – £2.99
- Kendal Mint Cake 3 Pack – £1.99
Not a bad offering. I have to say this is a great time to get boots for the kids. Let’s face it they will of been grown out of in 4 months time.
But if you are after any of this stuff you do need to get to your local Aldi early on the day or find some-one who can for you. Why? Because it sells out really really fast usually.
It’s nice to see that they have added Bamboo T-Shirts this year. A great way to try out something at little cost. Bamboo is meant to be one of those natural materials like merino wool that are more resistant to the pong that we generate when wearing them during our walks. But I’m sure some-one will correct me if I am wrong on that front.
So don’t forget to set that alarm on Thursday morning so you are up bright and early to get to the store for when it opens.
Mapyx Make OS OpenData Available For Use With Quo Software
Mapyx makers of the Quo mapping software have been quick off the mark since the happenings of 1st April and the launch of the OS OpenData and sent out an email today detailing how this new limited set of free data can be used with their software. As Mapyx point out “anyone can download the data, BUT you still need some form of digital mapping system to be able to use the data effectively AND the OpenData is not in Quo format so cannot be easily imported into our leading digital mapping software "Quo" in a useful format.”
So Mapyx have thrown down the gauntlet to the competition by providing the solution to use these datasets for FREE with their software.
Currently Mapyx have made the following OS OpenData FREE:
- Land-Form PANORAMA® (Digital Terrain Model) was £9.03 now FREE
- OS 1:250,000 Colour Raster (Road Map) was £7.86 now FREE
- Miniscale Map® (Small Scale Map) was £4.45 now FREE
- OS 1:50,000 Gazetteer was £5.63 now FREE
Plus Mapyx in their email said they will be looking at the other OS OpenData products to bring more FREE DATA in the very near future.
I admit I am a fan of their software, and lets face it they have done more than anyone to drive down the cost of owning OS map data for us joe public. A good example of competition. In fact they did a good map data upgrade that saw users being able to upgrade to the latest data set at the time at a heavily discounted price.
PS Don’t forget up until the end of April any purchases on map data will see a 10% donation made to Mountain Rescue by Mapyx.
Biolite Compact Model Camp Stove
Want a wood burning stove? Want a stove that also generates electricity to charge your gadgets? Want just a single stove that does both?
Well now you can get a stove that does just that.
It’s called the Biolite Stove.
The compact model camp stove should weigh in at 15oz or 0.425 kilos. They are quoting a 4 minute boil time for a litre of water on the prototype. Which I would expect them to be around that on the compact model camp stove.
Apparently the stove does the following:
“The result is a stove that cuts wood consumption in half, reduces smoke emissions by 95% and nearly eliminates black carbon.”
This I have to see a wood burning stove with little soot on my pot after use! Let alone the fact that it will charge devices as well.
This has jumped to the top of the list of stoves I want to try.
PS Thanks to Duncan for putting me on to this story.
Scout Handbook Updated
Listening to Radio 5 Live this morning as I usually do I heard them cover the story that The Scouts have updated The Scouts Handbook.
Sitting in the attic at Kate’s is my old copy of the Scouts Handbook from the 80’s from when I was a Scout. I’m going to have to go up there and get it down next time I am visiting Nath. I have fond memories (I seem to have a lot of those at the moment) of reading through the book picking up bits of useful information.
Back then when I was a lad there was no Duke of Edinburgh Award being run. It was the Scouts or one of the para military groups like the Air Cadets,Sea Cadets or Army Cadets (I was in the Air Cadets for a while as well, got my marks mans badge).
It was with the scouts that I first had a non family holiday up in Scotland at Lochgoilhead. It was an activity holiday from hell for me. I was sick on the bus on the way up their, and then homesick for most of the week as well. If I remember correctly the post cards home where not your usual ‘wish you were here’ but more ‘wish I wasn’t here’.
It was also a scout trip to the Peak District that I first got to try rock climbing, and stay in a Youth Hostel. There was also a hike as well, which I can’t remember much about except that we had crackers and the primula tubes of cheese. Oh and mars bars.
But back to the main point of this post the fact that the Scouts have updated the handbook. I suppose it was about time. Although I think it was disgraceful and short sighted of Lord Baden Powell that he didn’t future proof the guide and predict the use of the GPS, or allowing girls to be scouts when he wrote it originally.
When I caught the news story on the radio initially I’m pretty sure that they also mentioned that they were going to cover lightweight backpacking as well. But that very could be me hearing things because I was half asleep at the time. Well it was 6-ish in the morning! If it does cover it I will be very impressed indeed.
It’s nice to hear from the BBC coverage that the Scouts are becoming more popular again. It has a lot of competition from the likes of the Duke of Edinburgh Scheme, which has an edge in that it is run by schools. But whether it’s the Scouts,the DoE or one of the para militaries hopefully from the experience the kids taking part will have grown personally and picked up a love for the outdoors.
It’s just a shame the Scouts decided that they needed to have a glorified stunt man as their Chief Scout. Well I suppose they have to compete with the Ramblers and Julia Bradbury somehow. Although why I don’t know, as the Ramblers are going after a different demographic.
Anyway here is the story as the Scouts are pimping it out.
New Contender For World’s Lightest Gas Cartridge Stove
Do you like the look of this stove? It’s the Go System Fly (Ti) stove. The Fly will weigh in at an amazing 50g when it comes out in the Summer priced at £34.99. 50g puts it 6g lighter than the Snow Peak Lite Max I filmed just over a year ago.
Which would mean that the Snow Peak Lite Max could no longer claim to be the world’s lightest gas cartridge stove.
I should be getting one of these stoves to play with when they hit our shores. Once I have it will be in a stove talk showing it off to the world.
Also being launched by Go Systems is the Scion which looks the same as the Fly, except it is not made from titanium, and weighs in 32g heavier (82g for those that hate advance math) and will sell for £29.99.
There will also be the cheaper Venture at £24.99. But I have no details of weight or size. All I know is that it will be a canister stove.
But there will also be two new remote canister stoves as well, the Sirocco (£34.99) and the Apollo (£49.99).
The picture is of the Sirocco, according to the press release the Apollo is the largest of the new stoves, and comes with a built in wind protector.
It also has a remote auto-start piezo igniter attached to the top of the hose, and can operate on liquid or vapour gas via a braided hose and pre-heating tube.
So there we have the end of the stove news. They sound interesting, I’ve not used a Go Systems stove before, so looking forward to getting my hands on one to play with.
The Outdoors Show To Leave The NEC
Yes I know there won’t be many people crying over that. Personally I will as I thought the location was central-ish enough for most people round the country to get to. If we take out the content of the show (which has been a regular complaint from visitors for years) that the cost of going was expensive. Do we think that this will change that much at any other venue? Yes I know that they charged for the parking at the NEC, however this was a decision made by the organisers and not down to the NEC. There have been many times when I have been to the NEC for various events/concerts when I have not been charged for parking.
So where is The Outdoors Show moving to? Well it’s on the move to our capital London. My personal feelings aside for the hell hole that is London, your not going to be driving into the Capital (unless you want to be hit by that congestion charge and the even higher parking fees), so the only option you have is the not so cheap public transport and the hassle of getting an oyster card. I also feel it becomes even less of a family event, because lets face it kids have to pay for train travel as well, even if it is less, so the travel costs go up.
The move to London happens in 2011, which means this year will be the last year of The Outdoors Show at the NEC. Please don’t get all emotional. But that is not the only move. It’s moving date as well. So instead of in March the show is moving to January with the show dates of 13th – 16th.
Now you may of thought that was enough of a bombshell for you but there is more. This I think is even bigger than the previous bits I’ve given you already.
The Tullett Prebon London International Boat Show will be hosting The Outdoors Show. The press release tries to paint it as a partnership between the two events. But basically The Outdoors Show will run alongside the Boat Show for the last four days of the main event the Boat Show.
The press release states that The Boat Show is seen as the kick off of the season for the boating community. Now not knowing any better I’m going to take that on it’s face value and believe it. But as we know the outdoors trade sees March/April as the start of the new season as that is usually when we see all that nice new gear hitting the stores that we see hints off from the trade shows the previous year. So at best the gear on show will be the current seasons and not the stuff hitting shops in a couple of months. May be this will allow exhibitors to sell cut price gear to the public. But I doubt it.
When I was a lad and reading British comics like 2000AD and Starlord, or Battle and Warlord when the weaker title was being wound up it would merge with it’s competing title. So 2000AD featured Starlord, and would be credited on the cover for a while, as Battle featured Warlord. After a month or two the featured title ie Starlord and Warlord would disappear and never be heard of again, just leaving behind one or two of the star characters in the new home, and the best behind the scenes talent.
This is exactly what I thought when I saw the above, just how long will The Outdoors Show remain on the front page, before leaving a couple of core ideas behind in a corner of The Boat Show?
The organisers will also be introducing a London Bike Show as well, but it was unclear whether this will be on at the same time as the other two shows.
But there is more.The organisers are also trying to tie all of the above in with 2012 and part of promoting London as an Olympic venue.
We all know that London during the Summer of 2012 will be the centre of the World’s media. Now I don’t blame the organisers trying to jump on the bad wagon and earn a penny or two of the back of it. But even the Olympics are being shared round the country. So why do we need to have all our shows being horded in the capital?
I think that they may see an increased amount of traffic through the shows doors as possibly some of the visitors to the “sister” shows may decide to also take in The Outdoors Show, but otherwise I think those that may of gone to the NEC and families may look at the increased cost as not worth going.
But what do I care I think we are looking at the outdoors Starlord?
So what do others think of all this?
UPDATE 24/3/10: I would readers of this post to please also read the comments, particularly the comment from Geraldine who works for the organisers of the show. Geraldine does correct me on a couple of points.
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