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Headlines that don’t deliver are really annoying
I recently wrote about the importance of effective headlines when writing a story. Well, another one at the BBC caught my attention yesterday: “Has Belfast film-maker found time travel evidence?” 
Who could possibly resist clicking on a headline like that? Of course, the only problem with a headline like that is that the story contained within really has to deliver in a big way.
Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t expecting conclusive proof that time-travel was possible – as any sane person knows, travelling back in time ISN’T possible…at least until someone invents the bloody flux capacitor. But I was expecting more than what I found.
The Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising…a quality find!
Sidling along a residential mews in Notting Hill, I was convinced my phone’s GPS was playing games with me – surely there was no museum here? But my suspicion turned to pleasant surprise as I glimpsed a glass facade at the end of the road that was most certainly a building for public perusal. 
The Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising had been on my radar for some months after reading about it in my ‘1000 things to do in London’ Time Out guide. And finally I was here…not really knowing what to expect.
The museum more than lived up to its name. In fact, the museum definitely did what it said on the tin (thanks, Ron Seal).
From toys and cigarette packets, to fashion and chocolate wrappers, the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising is pretty much a repository of branded ‘things’ from the past century.
Consumer historian, Robert Opie, began his collection at the tender age of 16 with a packet of Munchies and has been documenting consumerism ever since, accumulating a staggering array of branded packets, trinkets and objects. The collection had been held in Gloucester from 1984 until 2001, then Opie upped sticks and moved to London.
Debranding your mobile phone
I would personally rather mobile phone networks left their grubby little paws off a ‘phone’s firmware. The issues caused by networks’ branded firmware are numerous. Depending on your mobile operator, you may have ringtone restrictions, RSS feed functionality disabled, 2G (GSM)/3G (Dual Mode) disabled, reduced memory and wireless connectivity issues.
A recent bad experience with Orange led me to seek out a mobile phone debranding specialist, to remove the horrible software Orange had installed on my Sony Ericsson W995 after I had sent it in for repair.
Ben Lam from Kingmobilephone.com sorted me out – and I was so impressed with his service I decided to interview him for Geeks.co.uk. Read debranding your mobile phone, and learn a little about a rather lucrative ‘by-product’ industry created by the networks.
The origin of the word ‘spam’
Spam is the scourge of the digital age. Naturally I don’t mean the processed meat that comes served in a tin (though that is pretty distasteful too), but the deluge of unsolicited email that I and millions of others receive on a daily basis.
But why ‘spam’? I mean, why has a word that’s best associated with a poor-quality meat product been so widely embraced as the universal word for unwanted electronic communications?
Effective headlines are important…but don’t mislead us, BBC!
Headlines, titles, headings – whatever you want to call them – are a vital part of any news article or feature. And as far as I’m concerned, coming up with a good headline is the most fun part of writing any piece. It’s a chance to flex the old creative muscles and come up with some quality puns that not only convey the content of the article but also draw the reader in. Writers, after all, want people to read their work.
But one thing headlines should never do is mislead. I get more than a little irked when a headline promises one thing, but delivers something completely different…which is one of the many reasons why I give the tabloid press a rather wide berth. I expect more from the BBC though.
Today, as a matter of ritual, I went to the BBC’s homepage and staring back at me was the most unlikely of headlines: Prince qualifies as rescut pilot.
