This sets up a couple of interesting questions that will be answered over the coming years and beyond: Who will win in the titanic battle between Apple and Samsung for smartphone sales? Will Nokia be able to recover from this position, with Microsoft as its partner and Windows Phone as its operating system of choice?

Nokia Knocked Off Perch

For as long as I have owned a mobile phone Nokia has been the number one seller of the form factor. It has held the number one spot as mobile phone vendor since 1998, and in that time managed to see off plenty of competitors. Unfortunately that reign at the top of the pile has now come to a crashing end, with the news that Samsung has succeeded it as king.

According to data from IHS, Nokia’s handset shipments dropped from 114 million in Q4 2011 to 83 million in Q1 2012. That’s a drop of 27 percent. To be fair both Samsung and Apple also took a hit, with drops of 13 percent and 5 percent respectively. But that leaves them on 92 million and 35 million, meaning Samsung has hurdled Nokia to take the number one spot.

Apple Vs. Samsung

The smartphone sales figures are also interesting. Again, all three have taken a hit, with Apple dropping from 37 million to 35 million, Samsung from 35 million to 32 million, and Nokia from 20 million to 12 million. Apple has actually increased its lead over Samsung during the last quarter.

However, that doesn’t mean the titanic battle is over. Far from it, in fact. Samsung is expected to unveil its latest smartphone (almost certainly the Galaxy S III) at an event in London on May 3. Apple will then launch the iPhone 5 by October, although there is increasing speculation that it could arrive much sooner, possibly during WWDC in June.

Either way the scene is set for a huge fight between the two leading vendors of smartphones. The Galaxy S III is garnering almost-iPhone levels of anticipation and speculation, and I suspect many Android users will be looking to upgrade to it at the earliest opportunity.

Any Chance Of A Comeback?

This leaves Nokia in an awkward position. It has finally made the move to smartphones, partnering with Microsoft to offer Windows Phone on all its handsets, but reception to both the handsets and the OS that powers them have been mixed. To say the least. If Nokia wants to gain ground back on Samsung then it needs not only to produce compelling hardware but also for Microsoft to keep plugging away with Windows Phone. Perhaps Windows Phone 8 will be the turning point.

Image Credits: John Karakatsanis, Cheon Fong Liew, Maurits Knook

Nokia Loses Mobile Phone Crown To Samsung After 14 Years On Top is a post from Techerator.com.

No related posts.

But that trend has now reversed, as we’re all doing much more than just phoning and texting on our mobile devices. Some of us are living our lives through these things, and that trend is only going to increase as smartphones are effectively able to do everything we would ever want them to do.

With that in mind it’s time to welcome the Samsung Galaxy Note onto the stage.

Samsung Galaxy Note

The Samsung Galaxy Note is a smartphone/tablet based on the Android operating system. It’s powered by a 1.4Ghz, dual-core processor, boasts 1Gb of RAM, has up to 32Gb of memory, and two cameras; 8MP at the rear, 2MP at the front. And it looks fantastic.

The one problem is the 5.3-inch screen size, which means even the product itself is confused as to whether it’s a phone or a tablet. Perhaps it’s just a worthless piece of junk instead.

As A Phone…

The Samsung Galaxy Note works as a phone, barely. It has all the necessary internal gubbins, naturally, but whether you’d actually feel comfortable holding it up to your ear to take or make a phone call I’m not so sure. I’d advise Galaxy Note owner to get used to wearing a Bluetooth headset very quickly.

The sheer size of this thing makes it look unlike any phone you have ever seen in your life. The screen size is huge compared to anything that has gone before. Bear in mind that the iPhone has a 3.5-inch screen and the Galaxy S2 a 4.3-inch screen. These are both dwarfed by the Galaxy Note. With the screen measured diagonally the difference is wider than you’ll ever imagine.

As A Tablet…

The Samsung Galaxy Note works as a tablet, barely. It has been created as a kind of hybrid phone/tablet, or phablet. It comes with its own special stylus, which actually goes against the grain of using nothing but your fingers to type, dial, and write on your mobile device of choice.

Is 5.3 inches a big enough screen size for a tablet? I’m not convinced. Remember that the iPad has a 9.7-inch screen, and even cheap Android slates such as the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet boast 7-inch screens. You’ll struggle to use the Galaxy Note as a tablet, and it certainly won’t be a comfortable proposition.

Conclusions

Personally speaking I’d rather own a smartphone with a decent-sized screen which handles phone calls really well and everything else adequately. Plus a 7-inch to 10-inch tablet which handles everything else apart from phone calls really well. And I suspect I’m far from alone on this.

The Samsung Galaxy Note isn’t a bad product at all. In fact its specs are pretty damn awesome; certainly for a smartphone, and even for a budget tablet. The problem is it’s trying to be two things at once, and struggling to be either.

It cannot therefore be branded a phone, a tablet, or a worthless piece of junk. It’s none of the above and yet all three at the same time. So I guess it wins the battle in terms of multi-tasking at the very least, just not in the way Samsung must have envisioned.

Image Credits: Retinafunk, Stuart Fleming

Samsung Galaxy Note – Phone, Tablet, or Worthless Piece of Junk? is a post from Techerator.com.

Related posts:

1. Samsung Galaxy S II Phones Finally Land On U.S. Soil
2. Nokia Loses Mobile Phone Crown To Samsung After 14 Years On Top
3. CES 2012: Day 2 Recap – LG, Samsung, Vizio, and Microsoft

Craig Lloyd gave us great recaps of Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 of CES 2012. There were some definite trends emerging, ones that will likely shape the technology landscape for the next 12 months and beyond.

Big(ger) Screen TVs

The majority of people have now upgraded from their old CRT television to a new, big, flat-screen TV. Or at least the majority of those I come into contact with. This means the TV manufacturers are having to find new ways of generating sales. The big trend of CES 2011 was 3D, and while that’s still being bet on in a big way, it’s now standard on most new TVs being sold.

This year saw the emergence of OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) technology, as seen on LG’s impressive new 55-inch television. But the 55-inch OLED is a little on the small side, with screen sizes stretching up to 84-inches. Smart TVs are also gaining a foothold, although it’s going to need one platform to rule them all before people really get interested. Google TV perhaps?

Ultrabooks

Ultrabooks are essentially the PC equivalent of the MacBook Air. They’re powerful laptops made thinner and lighter. Manufacturers including Acer, Dell, HP, Samsung, and Toshiba are all betting big on Ultrabooks, but the high cost of the product is somewhat prohibitive for mainstream consumers at this point in time. And those with cash to burn will likely go with the Apple product instead.

Tablets

Tablets are emerging as the next big thing in personal computing. The touchscreen is a natural user interface, and the ultimate portability of tablets means they’re biting into the laptop market strongly. Unfortunately only the Apple iPad has managed to live up to the hype so far.

However, the sheer number of tablets at CES 2012 suggests Apple may soon have something to worry about. We’ve already seen the Amazon Kindle Fire provide the template for an affordable Android tablet, and many more are likely to follow in its footsteps. Including the $100 OLPC XO-3 tablet.

Windows

Microsoft may have only been a small part of CES 2012, but Windows was everywhere.

Windows Phone has already been written off by many, as it’s assumed to be too far behind iOS and Android to ever catch up and make its mark. But Microsoft has managed to get several handset manufacturers on board, including Nokia. The Windows Phone platform is now considered a dark horse.

Windows 8 is on its way, probably by the end of this year. At CES 2012 it was present on several of the tablets and laptops being developed by Microsoft’s partners. Windows 8 is an incredible gamble due to its new Metro UI, but it could just pay off. And in a big way.

Celebrity Endorsements

By far the least edifying sight at CES 2012 was the number of celebrities on display. Most of whom were present to endorse a company or product.

Justin Timberlake was there as co-owner of MySpace, Will Smith popped by the Sony press conference, Will.i.am gave an embarrassing performance as Intel’s Director of Creative Innovation, Justin Bieber sold out to show off a Vietnamese dancing robot, and a whole host of Z-list celebs put their name to headphones.

Dr. Dre has a lot to answer for.

Conclusions

As if you couldn’t already tell from the above, CES 2012 was a mixed bag of the good, the bad, and the ugly. And Justin Bieber. I suspect next year will be more of the same, with more visitors pouring in to see less and less genuinely-exciting products. And Justin Bieber. I cannot wait.

Image Credits: LGEPR, Ceo1017, and HighTechDad

The Emerging Trends of CES 2012 is a post from Techerator.com.

Related posts:

1. CES 2012 Wrap-up: Things We Missed
2. CES 2012: Day 3 Recap – Qualcomm, Viewsonic, and Intel
3. CES 2012: Day 1 Recap – Acer, OLPC, and Lenovo

Rupe Is No Dupe

If a celebrity or famous face isn’t on Twitter then there will be an account either claiming to be them or openly spoofing them on the site. That’s just the way it is. So when a new Twitter account claiming to be owned by the real Rupert Murdoch appeared on the site, few people actually bought into it.

That was until the account was verified and then promoted by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, at which point the number of followers began multiplying at a rate of knots. At the time of writing @rupertmurdoch has just over 100,000 followers, but I suspect that number will keep climbing.

Why The Interest?

Why should we care that Murdoch is on Twitter? Because this is a man who controls a huge portion of the world’s media, and he can, unfortunately, help elect presidents and prime ministers. Hearing his unedited views on what is happening as they come fluttering into his head is fascinating.

There is also the fact that Murdoch is not a fan of the Internet. He hates what it has done to print newspapers, and struggles to see why people should be able to read news openly and freely when he could previously charge for it.

Murdoch biographer Michael Wolff summed up Murdoch’s views on the Internet in a 2009 Vanity Fair article, suggesting, “For him it’s a place for porn, thievery, and hackers.” Which it is, I guess, but it’s a lot more besides. Something it has taken Murdoch an age to latch on to.

Along For The Ride

It has already been fun following Rupert Murdoch on Twitter. We have had opinionated tweets such as, “Steve Jobs biog interesting but unfair. Family must hate,” and “Obama decision on terrorist detention very courageous – and dead right!” Which, whether you agree or disagree with the sentiment, is interesting to hear.

Proving the guy has lost none of his powers of classless promotion we have had tweets saying, “I LOVE the film ‘we bought a zoo’, a great family movie. Very proud of fox team who made this great film,” and “Got to watch Foxnews at 5 EST. Liberal Bob Beckel and team great replacement for Beck and much more fun.”

But by far the most fun to this point has been watching an old media dinosaur trying to get to grips with this new-fangled technology we call social networking. He has deleted a joke tweet – “Maybe Brits have too many holidays for broke country”. Murdoch has also randomly tweeted to a couple of random people, except he seems to have forgotten to include a message after their names.

Entertainment At Its Best

Twitter is awash with famous people, most of whom tweet nothing but garbage and plugs for their various moneymaking ventures. But I’d rather see Rupert Murdoch tweeting than I would Kevin Smith or Ashton Kutcher. It’s certainly more entertaining than reading any of Murdoch’s newspapers or watching any of his television channels.

Image Credit: Joe Wolf
Image Credit: World Economic Forum

Rupert Murdoch joins Twitter, the world laughs is a post from Techerator.com.

Related posts:

1. Louis C.K. Invokes the Power of the Bootlegger on Twitter
2. Why Ashton Kutcher, aka “aplusk”, hates Twitter
3. Twitter Gives the Fail Whale a Break and Updates its Site

The latest advocate of this new way of doing business is Louis C.K. His self-distribution and honor box experiment with Live At the Beacon could pave the way for future entertainers to reach their fans and make money in the process.

Self-Distribution

Self-distribution isn’t a brand new idea. Music artists such as Radiohead and Trent Reznor have tried it before, offering albums up for download either for free or on a pay-what-you-think-it’s-worth basis. Both were highly successful, with fans supporting the effort. But both have since reverted back to using more conventional methods, suggesting the ties to record labels with their huge marketing budgets are still too tight.

There is also a self-publishing revolution occurring with a little help from Amazon. Thanks to the success of the Kindle and other eBook readers, budding novelists are now selling their written works directly through these sites. They no longer have to wait for an agent to take them on and a publisher to take note.

Louis C.K. Live At The Beacon

Louis C.K. is offering Live At The Beacon directly through his website for just $5. For that, fans can either stream or download the stand-up show. And they are doing so in their thousands. C.K. spent a small fortune putting the system in place but has already made a profit, doing so just a few days into the experiment.

His decision to put the content online with no DRM protection means Live At The Beacon has made its way onto torrent sites, but the majority of people are paying for the goods. C.K. has connected with his fans directly, made the download as easy as possible, and made it affordable to all but the tightest of individuals. And he is being rewarded for doing so.

A Path To The Future

Louis C.K. is traversing a less-traveled path than many of his comedian brethren. But even he has retained the right to sell the rights to Live At the Beacon to a traditional media company further down the line. This suggests an unwillingness to fully commit to this brave new way of distributing content, which lessens the importance of the whole experiment a little.

Still, even if C.K. does bail, someone else will now pick up from where he left off. Whether it be a fellow comedian or an entertainer from another field. If the trickle becomes a waterfall then the media companies who presently control the middle-ground between content creators and consumers will have to take note. Or stick their heads in the sand and refuse to accept the world is moving on without them. As they usually do.

Image Credit: Tyler Ross
Image Credit: Wes Bryant

Louis C.K. Treads New Media Distribution Path is a post from Techerator.com.

Related posts:

1. Louis C.K. Invokes the Power of the Bootlegger on Twitter
2. Microsoft Adds Netflix Integration to Windows Media Center
3. Netflix Instant Watch Now Available in Windows 7 Media Center

This means those extravagant, expensive gifts such as televisions and laptops bought in previous years may be out of the question this holiday season. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still buy a gadget which will brighten the heart of any geek you have in your family. It’s all about choosing your gift wisely in order to remain under your budget.

Headphones & Speakers

An expensive desktop, laptop, tablet, smartphone, or MP3 player is pointless without the right audio equipment. Buying a set of headphones or speakers can make all the difference to the geek in your life. And you don’t have to spend a fortune to do so.

High-end speakers and headphones are fantastic, granted, but who has $100-and-up to spend on the latest ‘Beats by Dr. Dre’ or Altec Lansing speaker systems? Logitech and Creative are recommended for budget 2.1 systems, while capsule speakers outperform for their size and stature. Sony, Sennheiser, and JVC all come highly recommended for affordable but classy headphones.

Smartphone Cases & Covers

You may not be able to afford to buy your loved ones the latest smartphone such as the iPhone 4S or Samsung Galaxy Nexus, but you can help them deck their handset out in style. Covers for smartphones cost just a few dollars but can help make them stand out from the crowd in a big, bold way.

The options available are virtually limitless. Classic one-color designs which give a smartphone a classy look and glossy feel; pink, shiny, sequined affairs for the most glamorous girls; retro covers to make a modern-day phone look like it belongs in the 1980s; a design for the zeitgeist, from Angry Birds to fashion labels.

USB Flash Drives

OK, so a USB flash drive isn’t exactly the most inspiring or exciting gift someone could open on Christmas day. But it beats socks and toiletries. It’s also an essential weapon in any computer user’s arsenal. Most people will be able to back up their most important data – photos, documents, bookmarks – to a flash drive without any problems. And doing so regularly could save a great deal of anguish should their hard drive ever fail.

Prices of USB flash drives have dropped so much that you now need only spend a few dollars to get 8GB, and doubling the price will pretty much double the amount of memory.

Tablet/eBook Reader Accessories

An iPad or Android-based alternative is an expensive item by anyone’s standards. A Kindle or eBook Reader is more affordable, but still possibly out of range for most people in these times of austerity. Thankfully there are accessories aplenty available for this hardware. All of which cost just a few dollars but which make great gifts.

These range from covers and cases, through sleeves and skins, to reading lights and power adapters. Oh, and wireless keyboards which gives tablet owners the option of turning their device into a notebook. All completely unnecessary but desirable additions for these mobile form factors.

Video Games

Gamers come in all shapes and sizes these days, and more importantly, in all age groups. Which makes video games a worthy purchase for all who like to spend time staring at a screen for hours at a time. Assuming they actually own a console or high-end PC, of course.

The latest releases on PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii retail at anywhere between $30 and $60 from new. Which is relatively cheap for an item that can literally provide hours of entertainment. But there are bargains to be had by buying older games. All three home consoles have now matured, so there are classic games released around launch that can be picked up for just a few dollars. Or you can buy pre-owned software and lower the price even more.

Blu-rays

Blu-ray players are still relatively expensive to buy. Unless you’re also a gamer and have the luxury of one being built into your PS3, which, incidentally, is one of the cheapest top-end Blu-ray players you can buy right now. But the actual Blu-ray movies themselves have come down in price considerably, meaning they’re a viable gift idea for anyone on a tight budget.

Even the latest Blu-ray releases are highly affordable, retailing at around $20. Box-sets can be more expensive, but classic and highly watchable series such as The Lord Of The Rings, Star Wars, and Harry Potter are all available for under $100. Just check that the recipient actually has the hardware in place before you start updating their movie collection for them.

Conclusion

As you can see, you don’t have to spend a fortune in order to give someone a present from the technology category. So what if none of the above compete with a new 50-inch LED TV or iPad 2, I’d be ecstatic to receive any of them wrapped up and sitting under the Christmas tree. And your bank manager will stay nicely contented as well.

Image Credits: TheDarkThing, kaeru.my, emilydickinsonridesabmx, Nedko, bfishadow, Rad Jose, Michael_Spencer.

Holiday Gift Guide 2011: Shopping on a Budget Edition is a post from Techerator.com.

Related posts:

1. Holiday Gift Guide 2011: Gamer’s Edition
2. Holiday Gift Guide 2011: Camera and Photography Edition
3. Holiday Gift Guide 2011: Build a Gaming PC Edition

Big-ticket consumer tech has always been the focus of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and this year was no different. Prices may have been cut substantially – which is the whole point of this weekend intended to kick start the holiday buying season – but they’re still relatively high. Especially when these are products most people want rather than need.

This suggests to me that the 99%, that downtrodden section of society camping out to protest the greed of the 1%, is still spending. Even in these tough economic times of austerity measures and massive debts.

Black Friday

Techerator produced its own Black Friday Shopping Guide which included products as diverse as cameras, televisions, games consoles, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. All available from a range of retailers at knockdown prices, of course. But despite the obvious price cuts, we’re still talking hundreds of dollars per item here. All of which are being spent on products people desire yet don’t actually need. We’d all love a 46-inch LED HDTV, but how many of us has the $799 in spare cash to buy one on a whim?

Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday is never quite as manic as Black Friday. Mostly because it involved people sitting about in their pajamas ordering stuff from online retails such as Amazon. But the virtual crowds are just as big, if not bigger, than the real crowds which make the news every Black Friday. As a whole, the number of people shopping over the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend is estimated to have topped 152 million in the U.S., up 10 percent on last year.

The 99%

I’m not knocking the 99% movement. Hell, I’m one of the 99%. In fact, I’m probably in the bottom 20 percent of the population in terms of income. Suffice to say writing for the Web isn’t the most lucrative career choice, unless your name is Paul Carr (formerly of TechCrunch) or Ben Parr (formerly of Mashable).

Am I spending a fortune on Christmas this year? Am I buying televisions for various members of my family? Am I buying gadgets left, right, and center for myself? No, no, and thrice no. Because I cannot afford to. Unlike all those who pushed, pulled, scratched, and bit their way through the crowds on Black Friday, or added a few zeros to their credit card bills on Cyber Monday.

The world may be doomed in terms of cash flow, but people will always find money to spend on unnecessary gadgets and gizmos.

Image Credit: Mike Licht
Image Credit: Craig Dugas

Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales suggest the 99% are still spending is a post from Techerator.com.

Related posts:

1. 2011 Black Friday Shopping Guide
2. Half Life Mod ‘Black Mesa’ to Release This Year?
3. Friday Fun! Expand Your Gaming Horizons With ‘The Day’

We’ve all looked at reviews online. We even write them here at Techerator. And they can make for fun reading, and writing. But their worth is up for debate. The thing which a lot of people seem to forget is that reviews are really nothing but opinion. Whether the product being reviewed is a website, an album, a video game, a movie, or a piece of consumer technology, that fact remains present and correct.

Kindle Fire Reviews

The Kindle Fire has garnered the most diverse range of opinions aimed that I have ever seen for a piece of consumer technology. You can read 10 reviews of the new Amazon tablet online and I guarantee none of them will agree with each other. On one end of the scale will be unmitigated praise, on the other, damning admonishment. And in-between are the more sensible, down-to-earth approaches which state the good and the bad in equal measure.

The best demonstration of this is on ZDNet, where the same writer, David Gewirtz, has been able to find seven reasons why the Kindle Fire is better than the iPad, and 12 things about the Kindle Fire which kinda suck. And even these facts are open to interpretation. If the cost of something isn’t an issue, then the low price of the Kindle Fire would not be an advantage. If you wouldn’t dream of adding a keyboard to a tablet then the Kindle Fire’s lack of Bluetooth support isn’t a downside in the slightest.

If that is a good example of looking at a product objectively then Marco Arment’s review of the Kindle Fire is a good example of ranting and raving against a product without looking at it in context. Arment is the creator of Instapaper, so his review spread virally across the interwebs. It was eventually lapped up by Apple fanboys extraordinaire such as John Gruber and MG Siegler. The question is why has Arment’s opinion been treated with higher regard than someone who isn’t well-known within the industry? Is his opinion worth more? Is it more likely to be correct?

Conclusions

The Kindle Fire isn’t an iPad. Amazon has never suggested it is. But the Kindle Fire is a $199 tablet which does many of the same things a $499 iPad does, and for that reason it will sell. If you can afford an iPad then get one of those. If not then the Kindle Fire is a good product at a good price.

As for reviews, they’re certainly better than buying blind, but take everything with a liberal pinch of salt. And also read a variety of opinions from across the spectrum of writers and reviewers. Amazon is always a good starting point, as these are ordinary consumers not spoiled by having reviewed every product on the market.

Image Credit: Striatic
Image Credit: Courtbean

Kindle Fire proves that reviews are meaningless is a post from Techerator.com.

Related posts:

1. Why I’ll Never Use the Kindle Fire Tablet for Reading
2. Is More Amazon Hardware On The Way?
3. Amazon Announces Slew of New Kindles

In a nutshell: Kutcher claims to have heard about the firing of Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno in passing without hearing the full facts. He tweeted in defense of Paterno, talking up his career, after assuming the 84-year-old had been dismissed for being too old and no longer getting results. He then heard the full story, deleted his tweet, and apologized for the simple error of judgment.

That should have been the end of it, but Kutcher decided this one thing was enough to force him to give up Twitter altogether. And he explained his decision in a rambling blog post full of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. He’s too busy making crap TV shows to worry about trivial matters such as these, I guess.

Paterno, Schmaterno

As a Brit, the Paterno story had not entered my field of vision until, strangely enough, Kutcher had his say. Now I actually know the back story and why people were so incensed at Kutcher’s supposed lack of empathy for the alleged victims of the crimes surrounding Paterno’s dismissal. I’m still not particularly interested because football is, as we all know, a stupid sport. But still.

I have already ranted about the way celebrities are increasingly using Twitter purely for self-promotion, leaving behind the connection and personal involvement with fans that the platform once represented. And this amplifies that issue even more so. Because of the fallout of one mistake, Kutcher has decided to dismiss the whole idea of Twitter and hand over tweeting duties to a team of publicists. Way to connect to the fans.

Twitter Is Bad, Mmkay

It’s as though Kutcher has flipped a switch. Last week he was a Twitter advocate and investor who would talk up the power of the platform at every available opportunity. Now, he doesn’t want anything to do with Twitter and thinks it has somehow been ruined by becoming mainstream. Or perhaps because there are too many ordinary folk reading his boring updates.

His assertion that “clearly the platform has become too big to be managed by a single individual” is ludicrous. He’s acting as though tweeting is some kind of job when actually it’s just writing short, snappy updates from your phone. The fact that all Kutcher’s tweets will now be channeled through an editing process to make sure he doesn’t make another faux pas shows just how disconnected to his fans and out-of-touch the man has become.

Kutcher has now added another reason to the increasingly long list of reasons to dislike him. And Twitter has lost someone who, up to now, has been one of its biggest cheerleaders. I suspect the number of people following Kutcher will start to drop off sharply very soon, and all because of a tweet that most people wouldn’t have heard about or taken any notice of had he just apologized and moved on. Another example of the Streisand Effect in action.

Image Credit: Xioubin Low
Image Credit: Robert Scoble

Why Ashton Kutcher, aka “aplusk”, hates Twitter is a post from Techerator.com.

Related posts:

1. Louis C.K. Invokes the Power of the Bootlegger on Twitter
2. Twitter Gives the Fail Whale a Break and Updates its Site
3. When Twitter Goes Bad: Celebrity Promotion

There is only really one rule: write 50,000 words of a novel between November 1 and November 31. The novel can be any genre, in any language, and can be complete or just part of a larger work to be completed at a later date. Participants are even allowed (and positively encouraged) to plan their novel and make extensive notes in the build-up to the start date.

NaNoWriMo has been with us since 1999 when just 21 people took part. By 2010 that had risen to 200,000, and I have personally taken part every year since 2005. Unfortunately I have yet to reach the goal of 50,000 words, but perhaps this year will be different.

Depending on when you’re reading this it may not be too late to take part in this year’s NaNoWriMo. And there are certain tips which should help you in your quest to reach the magic 50k…

NaNoWriMo Tips and Tools

- Have your novel outlined before the month begins. You can have each chapter plotted and all characters named as long as you don’t actually start writing the story proper. This is essential unless you adopt a stream of consciousness style of writing and see what emerges onto the screen. YWriter is a free tool that helps you track and organize your novel as it progresses.

- Try and exceed the 1667-word daily minimum on days when you have spare time and the creativity is flowing. This will give you room to take your foot off the pedal when something unexpected comes up mid-month. FocusWriter is a free tool that helps you keep track of your word count.

- Use all the help you can get from people you know and strangers you don’t know. The NaNoWriMo forums are filled with alumni from past years who will be more than happy to assist and advise.

- Don’t get distracted. It’s far too easy to find something else online to do that will only end up eating away at the minutes you should be spending writing. Write or Die is a free tool which forces you to keep writing. If you don’t then your previous paragraphs will start disappearing in front of your eyes.

- Don’t stop and spell-check or change passages of the story. Just keep plowing through until you reach the end. Editing can commence on December 1. Having said that you should remember to take regular breaks. BreakTaker, from our own Evan Wondrasek, is a free tool that reminds you it’s time to step away from the computer.

- Have fun. There’s no point in writing, whether it be 5,000 words in a year or 50,000 in a month, if you’re not enjoying the experience.

To conclude, good luck to all those intrepid souls taking on the challenge of NaNoWriMo. You’ll need it. And feel free to add me as a writing buddy (DaveP).

Image Credit: Welcometoalville

NaNoWriMo – Write a Novel In a Month is a post from Techerator.com.

Related posts:

1. Giveaway: Win 1 free month of PlayStation Plus
2. The Month That I Had Cable TV
3. GIVEAWAY: Win a 3 month subscription of Slacker Premium Radio