Money
10 June 2009
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Pocket London, an innovative mobile phone information guide for the City of London has combined comedy and technology by adding a range of fresh, comic audio recordings from historical characters which are sure to keep tourists amused all around town.
Free to use from your mobile phone or iPod touch, Pocket London features an incredible range of information about the city including sightseeing, its Tops Ten, shopping and theatre together with detailed maps for travelling about.
Mark Oakden, the inventor, has teamed up with a comic scriptwriter and actors to create seven clever and amusing commentaries about major sites including the Natural History Museum, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, the Tower of London, Piccadilly Circus and London Zoo.
Each commentary features a historical character, such as Admiral Nelson or Anne Boleyn, who talk about their history, but in a very tongue-in-cheek way, that's both funny and informative.
"We have had extremely positive feedback so far from users, who loved the commentaries" says Mark, "And we are hoping to repeat the exercise for our other Pocket guides in Norwich, Cambridge and Barcelona."
Mark says: "I've listened to many tourist audio commentaries and most of them are rather boring and uninspiring. "Our users are quite young, so we wanted to bring in something fun and fresh that would really enhance their experience of Pocket London and keep them talking about it long after their visit. Pocket London is designed to be fun and user friendly, so why not incorporate commentaries that reflect this and which are great fun to listen to? "
He adds: "We have been able to develop this side of the Pocket London system through part-funding from The Technology Strategy Board, which promotes innovation in many ways and invests and manages a range of delivery mechanisms and programmes to drive technology-enabled innovation. We are very grateful to them for all their support."
See www.pocketlondonguide.co.uk and check out the following places which all have the comedy audios - Natural History Museum, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Houses of Parliament, Tower of London, Piccadilly Circus, London Zoo.
Written by Kate Morfoot