Archive for the ‘Rant’ Category
Does exactly what it says on the tin; just the posts that relate to the above...
P..p..p..pick up a penguin
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
It was my niece’s birthday recently. My brother and I were gigging with our band in Wales the day before… of course, we had both forgotten to arrange a present and it was fast approaching 6pm on a Saturday! Rattling our male brains, we concluded that the perfect present (achievable within 24 hours via an iPhone) would be to adopt a King Penguin, somewhere in the far reaches of the Falkland Islands.
After a few Google searches, we found the right solution… a penguin called ‘Sparkle’ that could be sponsored for a year, with our lucky niece receiving email confirmation with interesting facts the next day (perfect) and a welcome pack, with fact sheet, cuddly toy, certificate etc. following by post in the week.
Now then… both myself and my bro work in the digital industry and we really struggled to work out what the heck was going on when we tried to use the site… and that’s before we tried to pay for ‘Sparkle’ (more on this later). It would appear that the custodians of the website have never, ever heard of usability with the main offences being contradictory information / instructions and ridiculous requests for data capture that would surely put most people off… unless they were in the back of beyond in the Welsh mountains, at 7pm on a Saturday, about to go on stage to play a gig. We persevered.
After about thirty minutes of guess work, hair pulling and good fortune, we were ready to purchase. Well… this purchase process was absolute testament to why, under no circumstances, should users feel like they have left your site when making an online payment. After a while, we ended up giving in and decided on completing the next day; this was mainly owing to the fact that it had got so late that we were called onto stage to start the gig… we were superb by the way!
The next day (our niece’s actual birthday), we awoke with a heavy head, regrouped, had a cup of tea and a sausage butty (with red sauce) and recommenced our battle. Eventually, we completed the transaction in the tranny van, somewhere on the M69 nearing Leicester. Although we were guessing that we had, as we didn’t have any confirmation from the website or through email… just a third party payment site thanking us for our payment; not even what the payment was for!
We did start to get worried when our neice didn’t receive the King Penguin email for a further week! Luckily, we hadn’t been scammed and it all turned out well in the end; however, we had sufficient time to go to the Falklands, kidnap ‘Sparkle’ and bring her back to Somerset for her to live happily ever after in our niece’s pond.
Now, I decided not to mention the site in question, but come on people… it’s not rocket science to realise that investing in the right framework at the start of your project, will pay dividends in the long-term; it’s simply short-sighted to do things half-cock and expect a good return on investment.
The moral of the story: put time, thought, effort and the appropriate budget into the usability of your website, especially with e-commerce.
The real moral of the story: be better Uncles and plan ahead!
…and now for something completely different
Friday, May 29th, 2009
Academy Award-nominated actor, comedian, writer and film producer John Cleese comes to town next week as the keynote speaker at the Yorkshire International Business Convention to be held at the Yorkshire Event Centre, Harrogate on Friday 5 June 2009.
He will be there on business and probably far more serious than you might expect. The man who played hapless guesthouse owner Basil Fawlty (quite apt for the conference town of Harrogate) regularly lectures in America to students on matters such as psychology, business and writing… he has also developed his on screen characters to produce training films for the world of business.
The Yorkshire International Business Convention has a reputation for attracting high profile speakers and Big John follows in the footsteps of global names like Bill Clinton and ‘Sir’ Bob Geldof; albeit, his footsteps will be considerably further apart and no doubt created in a rather ‘silly’ fashion.
Here at Mixd, we are fans of his catalogue of work and will be paying our own tribute to mark the tall one’s visit… look out for us undertaking our own Ministry of Silly Walks up and down King’s Road next week.
Apple iPhone. Yes or no?
Friday, May 8th, 2009
Right. I am looking into getting a new phone… owing to my current contract coming to an abrupt end (through no fault of my own I hasten to add) and me being moved to pay as you go / pay as you talk. Pay as you talk! Seems really awkward… having to ring up and pop credit on your blower. Not to mention when it cuts off half way through a conversa… Argh!
Anyhow, enough of my whinging. I am sorely tempted by one of these new-fangled Apple iPhones and before I enter into a 360 month contract, I thought I would ask the masses “are Apple iPhones any good?”
Answers on a postcard to the usual address; I am sorry, but entries can’t be returned. Alternatively, just comment on this blog post below.
All views would be appreciated; good and bad. Perhaps there are competitive alternatives out there from Nokia, Google or similar… but which is best and which do I go for? Pray tell.
Mixd – the lean, green, creative machine…
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009
Now spring has finally sprung I’ve started how I mean to go on and rode my bike to work this morning. It’s a fair trek from Otley to Harrogate, especially if, like me you’ve not been riding your bike for some time, but hey ho!
Things I learnt riding my bike to work:
- 06:30 am is too early to get up to ride my bike but most definitely worthwhile
- I wore my Mixd “Lean, Green, Creative Machine” high visability jacket with pride
- Some car drivers appear to like being close to me
- I’ve saved ££££££ on fuel and am doing my bit for the environment
- I’m also doing something good for me
- I feel like I’ve really earnt a double chocolate biscuit with my coffee this morning
- I’m sure the ride home will take at least 10 minutes longer
- I’m looking forward to doing it again
The power of Twitter
Tuesday, March 10th, 2009
Twitter is everywhere. Stephen Fry, Chris Moyles, Jonathan Ross, Phillip Schofield and many other celebrities are talking about it, it’s on the Ten O’Clock news and even the new Number 10 Downing Street website features a Twitter feed!
But despite the world-wide media frenzy, some people (in fact, most non ‘techy’ people) still need a basic introduction. So, just what is it? How do I use it? And (most importantly!) how can Twitter help my business?
So what exactly is Twitter?
I’ve heard all sorts of explanations and read numerous articles about how Twitter works but in the plainest, simplest ‘non-technical’ terms – Twitter is a very simple and quick communication method that fits neatly alongside other communication methods we’re all already using every day including text messages, email and mobile phones. Just get yourself a Twitter identity and soon you too could be ‘tweeting.’
The idea is to post a ‘feed’ of short messages about yourself or your business, each no more than 140 characters long. This can be as simple as saying what you’re working on or having for lunch but it can be used for so much more. At Mixd, we’ve started using our Twitter feed as a way of informing clients and customers what’s going on in the office, about new business wins and other exciting news from the Mixd team. We’ve even advertised job opportunities… with instant results!
Twitter can seem trivial, and certainly it doesn’t yet appeal to everyone. But from our perspective it really does have some amazing marketing potential. For instance, just recently I ‘tweeted’ (i.e. updated my Twitter status) to let friends know that I was heading to North Wales to go mountain biking. Within moments of posting this update I had a response from a local hotel in the North Wales area, wishing me a great day’s biking and suggesting that if I needed somewhere to stay that night they had a room available, at a great ‘last minute’ price!
Now that’s powerful stuff!
Jonathan Ross turns to Twitter
Monday, January 26th, 2009
Turns out that Wossy (his Twitter username) has been using his recent, unexpected free time to turn himself on to this year’s biggest ‘buzz’, the microblogging world of Twitter. He has been letting people in on his movements (no toilet humour please); from cigar smoking to rescuing Captain Jack (one of his dogs, not John ‘here, there and everywhere’ Barrowman) from the snow.
The good people at Twitter must have been rubbing their hands together with glee following prime-time TV promotion by Wossy on his Friday Night with Jonathan Ross ‘comeback’ show. Not only was it watched by millions, but Wossy spent time discussing Twitter with one of his high profile guests and fellow ‘Twitterer’, Stephen Fry.
This must surely have resulted in a Twittering frenzy and many a new sign-up; I wonder if Andrew Sachs was one of them?
Whilst we can’t promise to be as insightful or humourous as Wossy, why not follow Mixd on Twitter?