We've had a busy 6 months, and thanks to a rapidly filling pipeline of work we're looking to recruit again, in a few specific areas. Email recruitment@futureplatforms.com if these sound like you.

Technical project manager

We're after either a project manager with experience herding a team of software developers, or someone with strong organisational and communications skills looking to move from development into project management. In either case you'll need to be comfortable dealing with the in-depth technical details of complex software projects. You'll be responsible for managing and motivating teams of developers and designers, writing project plans, liaising directly with clients and tracking progress. Any experience you have managing application development for mobile would be absolutely super.

This position is to be full-time and contract initially; after a successful probation period we would look to transition into a permanent position.

Senior designer

We're looking for someone who's got a strong track record of mobile design, with an in-depth understanding of the technical constraints of mobile. Excellent skills originating and implementing visuals is essential, backed up with solid interaction design thinking. If you've gone so far as building WAP or XHTML sites, that'd be a bonus.

You'll be contributing to a multidisciplinary team working for a broad client base; over the last 6 months we've carried out projects for Nokia, the BBC, Hotxt, Discovery US, BAA and Robbie Williams. As well as hands-on design work we'll expect you to get involved with pitches and contribute to proposals, help us hone our approach and processes, and develop our design capability.

This position is full-time and permanent.

Software developers

You'll have solid Java experience and be comfortable with either developing efficient, reliable software running within restricted environments for mobile phones, or working on server-side applications using Tomcat, Hibernate and MySQL. If you can do both, we'll be especially interested in talking to you. An eye for detail and a professional, methodical approach towards software engineering will be essential.

This position is to be full-time and contract initially; after a successful probation period we would look to transition to a permanent position.

There's a load more information about us at our web site, but if you're reading here you probably already know that :)

Strictly no agencies please. Honestly: if you're an agency, please don't contact us, you'll only make us angry.

• Private Equity HUB - Flirtomatic Finds Funding
  Congratulations guys :)
  (tags: flirtomatic vc funding)

I had to write about this after Helen twittered it - I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I read it. It's a pretty PDF produced by a large digital agency who have noticed that people are blogging and using MySpace, and seem to find this all a bit new.

Whilst the temptation to give it a good fisking was pretty strong, I've managed to restrain myself. But the overall impression I take away is of an aging incumbent slowly realising that it's not the bright new thing any more, and desperately trying to recapture some of its past glory. Some hints:

1. The idea that it's somehow new or strange that "consumers turn to each other for... conversation". Nope, it's just a generation that grew up with the net using it instinctively as an extension of their analogue lives instead of viewing it as something shiny and separate.
2. The revelation that only 8% of the population upload content. I thought it was an established rule of thumb (going back decades) that in communities about 10% contribute and 90% consume?
3. The idea that an agency supposedly at the cutting edge of digital communication took its "first look into who is driving the social media phenomenon" in 2007!
4. The notion that "buzz around buzz" is new; traditional ad agencies, the drunken uncles of todays digital monoliths, were investigating viral marketing and the like well before the end of the 20th century (a guy who worked with me around 1998/9 went off to Ogilvy to do some of the first viral marketing research for them then). This is nothing new.
5. Thinking that you need to get in quantitative specialists, digital ethnographers and video production partners to recognise and notice this stuff. No disrespect to the companies involved, I'm sure they did a fine job... but I see no insights in this document (aside from some percentages wafted around without enough explanation of their basis or supporting data) that couldn't have been reached by watching how anyone under the age of 30 behaves online.

The study seems to conclude that people who talk about stuff recommend things; people who talk more are more social; people who contribute to communities spend more time in those communities; and that brands ought to talk to these people.

• Chris Letcher: video for Deep Frieze
  (tags: chris letcher victoria hume music video)
• No 124: Chris Letcher | Music | Guardian Unlimited Music
  "the archetypal speccy geek with revenge and guilt on his warped mind"
  (tags: chris letcher music)

We're just heading into the final leg of a project we've been working on for the last few months.

I've done the 24-hour working day thing in the past, and I don't really subscribe to the slightly macho "we're going to work every day and night to get this done" meme which can sometimes afflict our industry. Aside from the personal cost (believe it or not, some folks outside our industry don't get it at all!) this is for practical reasons: when I'm exhausted I don't find my thinking all that clear; and doing things that don't involve staring at a screen is a great way to recharge my batteries, making the hours at the office more valuable. If someone's routinely working every hour that god sends indefinitely, there's a problem somewhere.

But... towards the end of a long project there's momentum built, a looming deadline, polish to apply, and things to tweak: long days and short weekends will follow. So the next fortnight I'm up early, getting plenty of exercise, and trying to eat healthily...