We are trying something new (and foolish?) this month for our Third Thursday newsletter by putting together a video of codegent news. Just click on the player above to get the lowdown on what the agency has been up to recently and let us know what you think!

Our new office in Bangkok

Other links referenced...

• Our latest web app - Dash
• New launch - Pownum
• New launch - Hoxton Hotel
• David Heinemeier Hansson presents "Rework" - BIMA
• Tools to help publish, monitor & grow your social media presence - Social Media Monday
• To get in touch on our Away Day (Friday 21 May) email support@codegent.com
• Circus Training!
• We are hiring a developer & a senior project manager

Here at codegent we love our music, and we love Friday afternoons. So we have decided to put together the Ultimate Friday Playlist on Spotify and we need your help.

For those who haven't been swept up in the revolution, Spotify is a simple piece of software which puts any song you want to listen to at your fingertips and gives you instant access with no restrictions. We find this interesting as it is the final stage in de-commoditisation of music, which started with the removal of the purchase of a physical 12"/Tape/CD. Now purchase is no longer needed to listen to any song, when you want it.

So if you want to add a song to get us dancing on Friday, install spotify then follow this link to add your party favourites. http://tiny.cc/vvZAU

To claim a song as your own, you can either leave a comment below or just tweet it to us @codegent or tag #ultimatefridayplaylist

After three great years in our second office, The Plough Brewery (I can't believe its been that long already) we thought it was time to do the place up again as well as address our pressing need for a larger meeting room.

Once the work permission bribe to the landlord had cleared the account it was full steam ahead with the build. The new meeting room is a sleek glass number decked out with mounted flatscreen and sweet sound system for demos, leather sofas for chilling and drinks fridge for... erm, drinking. We need to sort that table out next :)

Feel free to stop by and sample the facilities!

A big thanks must also go to Tom and Charles of Alexander Hamel Interiors for the beautiful decor. Highly recommended.

Well there has been no slacking at codegent towers over the holiday season. Even on New Year's Eve half the office is still here finishing off bits and bobs for the various January campaign launches we are doing for our clients. Dedication to the cause!

2009 looks like an interesting and tough challenge for us all, but one we are relishing. We expect clients to be looking very hard at what they are getting for their money. It's something we've always believed is important but never more so than now. We're an ideas-led agency but we always make sure that they relate back to the client's commercial requirements. We call this process a "Return on Ideas" and it's something we're looking to refine over the next few months.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone
Mark, David and Luke

PS We couldn't sign off without giving you a little pressie now could we?

Feel free to play with Youth Music's Elf band and slap down your very own remix of Jingle Bells whilst you catch up on what Youth Music have been up to in 2008.
http://seasonsgreetings.youthmusic.org.uk/ »

And if you have experienced the embarrassment of a card turning up from someone who failed to make your own list all is not lost! We knocked this little app together in one day as a proof of concept for our latest gizmo, the "Snapper"... more on that one in January :)
http://lastminutexmascards.appspot.com/ »

I'm writing this by only the light of my computer screen, this is my last hope. It's a dangerous thing I do putting this information into the public domain but I have no alternative, they are coming for me tonight.....

I know of two superheros which you must help to protect so they can continue to utlise their wonderous powers!  They go by the names of Antihistimine Man and Acronym Boy. 

Antihistimine Man fights against the evil chemical Histimine, his weapons are a variety of creams, sprays, tablets and injections, and his trusty sidekick Acronym Boy who can decipher any acronym known to man!  Without their talents, the world would not be as we know it.  

If you recognise them, protect them, for their fight is for good and for a better tomorrow.

There's someone coming, they're coming for me now, My God it's their evil arch enemy...... 

We love music here at codegent, there is always something playing through the speakers, and usually quite a mixed bag. ( unless Mark is in charge of the tunes :) )

So when we came across the Muxtape, we were very excited. Inspired by the mixtapes of our youth this is service where you can select 12 songs, upload them, and then share your mix with your friends. Or you can flip through the mixes others have put together. It’s a great way to discover new music, in a random way.

But it is this random approach which got in the way of the service stepping out of it niche music-nazi audience. Enter the Audience.

Members of the community have developed a serices of tools to make Muxtape so much better. MuxFind and MuxSeek have are search engines that allow you to search through all of the mixtapes available. This is the community taking something which is great, and making it better. This is the community taking control of their services, and making it what they want it to be. A similar revolution has gone on around Twitter. Companies such as TweetScan and Twhirl have developed their own businesses and services around the Twitter Tool.

This is what Web 2.0 is really about. And this is why this is why we love this thing called the internet so much.