By PromptBoston

November 24th, 2010

Prompt wishes you a wonderful Thanksgiving

Prompt wishes you a wonderful Thanksgiving

All around the country tomorrow, Americans will feast upon turkey in the annual ritual of Thanksgiving. No turkey is safe this time of year and no matter how hard we try, there will always be leftovers (is the meal better than leftovers?). It’s one of the few days a year when you expect to have the four F’s – family, friends, food and football. Any way you cut it though, the day is special.

With all the turkey carving that is sure to take place tomorrow, I decided to look at some of the different ‘gadgets’ we use to prepare and cut up our Thanksgiving Day meals. You’re kidding yourself if you think this isn’t an excuse to do ‘research’ on Amazon.com during the day.

This Calphalon Roaster gives you a full size pan for families of all sizes and a non stick roasting rack to allow easy removal from the pan. No tools needed here to get that perfectly roasted bird onto the serving tray.

Electric knives get a bad rap, but that may be because none of them are as well done as this Wolfgang Puck model. It’s certainly no looker but when you’re feeding a bunch of hungry mouths and your manual carving skills aren’t so hot, it’s good to have a little electronic help.

For almost $250, this knife set better cook the turkey and cut it. It certainly has the look, and no question it can cut, but for two pieces of – admittedly very sharp – steel, this seems a bit high. I can’t say I wouldn’t like showing it off every year slicing up my prized turkey however.

Finally it doesn’t get anymore basic than deep frying a turkey. Crank up the heat on some oil, drop a thawed turkey in, and wait til the thermometer tells you it’s ready to come out. But please make sure you thaw the bird before cooking.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving everyone!

By Max McConnell

November 16th, 2010

Samsung Electronics appoints Prompt Communications to create training videos for the Samsung bada platform

Samsung Electronics appoints Prompt Communications to create training videos for the Samsung bada platform

London, UK, 16 November 2010, Prompt Communications has been appointed by Samsung Electronics to produce training video content for its new smartphone platform, bada.

Samsung has 20 years’ experience delivering best-in-class mobile technology and cutting-edge devices. Meaning ocean or sea in Samsung’s native Korean, bada is its latest powerful mobile platform, designed to bring the excitement and potential of rich, connected applications to consumers in all corners of the world.

Prompt is a digital PR and communications consultancy with a strong technology practice. Prompt will work closely with Samsung to produce a range of engaging videos which will enable bada developers to work more effectively with the platform.

Samsung bada is supported by a comprehensive software development kit (SDK) and developer support programme to ensure application development is as accessible as possible. Samsung has appointed Prompt to develop a series of training videos explaining the possibilities of bada to third-party developers aiming to get to grips with this exciting new platform as effectively as possible. Developers will be able to follow the videos before creating innovative, sensor-based, context-aware applications that will be made available to an unprecedented number of Samsung device owners worldwide.

The videos being developed by Prompt each combine live footage, stop-frame animation and motion graphics in high density (HD) format. They are being shot using a Sony Z7 camera, composited in Adobe After Effects and edited in Adobe Premiere. Final compositions are being encoded in several formats optimised for internet streaming through a custom bada branded Flash player, also created by Prompt.

Phil Northam, Samsung Mobile Innovator’s global marketing manager, said: “Samsung has chosen to work with a team in Prompt that is experienced at delivering high impact communications content with a technological edge. We are confident that by working closely with Prompt, we can present developers with engaging training content that will encourage the creation of smart applications that fully exploit this flexible, feature-rich platform.”

Hazel Butters, CEO of Prompt Communications, said: “Developers who grasp the true capabilities of Samsung’s bada platform will be able to bring feature-rich, connected applications to an unprecedented international community of mobile consumer. This platform is groundbreaking in terms of mobile phone application development, and we’re delighted to be able to help Samsung communicate the potential of bada.  We look forward to collaborating with Samsung to create and deliver engaging video content for its developers, and to ensure that the company continues to lead the way in delivering exciting user experiences and innovative mobile phone technology.”

The videos can be seen on the badadeveloper YouTube channel.

About Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2008 consolidated sales of US$96 billion. Employing approximately 164,600 people in 179 offices across 61 countries, the company consists of two business units: Digital Media & Communications and Device Solutions. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com

About Prompt Communications

Founded in January 2002, Prompt Communications is a communications agency with European Offices in Chiswick, London and has offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts and San Francisco, California. Prompt Communications offers expertise across all marketing disciplines, teaming its consultants’ extensive knowledge of start-ups and the technology market with experience of Pan-European and American media, analyst and marketing campaigns. Using highly targeted marketing, PR, analyst relations, social media and corporate copywriting initiatives, Prompt helps its clients gain the visibility they need to achieve their business objectives, from increasing sales to enhancing their reputation with stakeholders. For more information, please visit www.prompt-communications.com

By PromptBoston

November 3rd, 2010

Lust for lifestyle

Lust for lifestyle

We know nobody wants to hear it yet. But with Halloween out of the way and Bonfire Night looming, there’s no denying winter is on its way and that there really are only 52 days until Christmas – all off them shopping days thanks to the machine in front of you.

It’s already time to start thinking about the shiny stuff you and yours will be scrawling hopefully on your Christmas lists. As ever, as good a place to start as any is Wired’s Fall Review of the best products of the year.

The new list, out this week, is full of enticing images of the latest in computing, AV, photographic and gaming goodies.

Wired’s editors say: “Each year, computer and electronics companies spend countless millions of dollars and man-hours to create what they hope will be the next blockbuster gadget — the sort of tech breakthrough that will transform how we interact with the world. Most of them fail. But not all of them…”

So if you’ve got five minutes to spare and a decent loan agreement in place, why not grab a coffee and browse the eye-candy in Wired’s ’39 Best Products of the Year’.

And don’t forget us when you’re placing those orders…