Update: Britain and the Snow

Just as the effects of the previous snow and ice crisis hit home, yet another week and another covering of snow in the South and South East region of the United Kingdom. The snow is causing more havoc and more misery to individuals and families trying to make it home to their loves ones at this time of year.

COME ON BRITAIN SORT IT OUT

Wishing you a all very merry Christmas & happy new year

Flipper

What makes a christmas advert?

The season of festive fun and mutual good will is upon us and its time to start thinking about what you want from Santa this year.

Its the same for businesses too, the advertisements that they have fought tooth and nail to launch this Christmas have hoped to bring festive profits. But what does make a truly great Christmas advert? Is it the characters, the type of music or a mixture of both.

Characters - Obviously Santa is bound to appear some where in the advert, but advertising firms are continually switching to celebrities to endorse there products. Take Tesco's and Whsmiths approach to advertising. Using celebrities status of dawn french (Tesco) and JLS (Whsmiths).

Music - Every knows when it is Christmas when the Coca Cola advert is first shown on TV, the soundtrack "The Holidays are coming" is the first sign that Christmas is upon us.

Products - Obviously a Christmas advert has to feature Christmas related products and services. What better way to demonstrate this is high street retailer boots showing a selection of Christmas products.

Location - Somewhere snowy or some place in front of the fire is bound to attract a plentiful audiences. Great examples of this have been proven in many great adverts. John Lewis for example feature the great British Christmas shopping experience.

Wishing You A Very Merry Christmas
&
A Happy New Year

Britain and the Snow!

You may or may not have noticed that winter has come upon us and as usual we are more unprepared to deal with the changes it brings to our climate. People ask questions like, why is it that when it snows in Canada, Norway or Russia it just happens and nothing grinds to a halt.

It isn’t like the salt supply was low. We had record amounts of the stuff for this year, but still we can’t seem to deal with it. The snow has caused distribution not only to people trying to make it to work, but also several thousands of retailers selling Christmas products, delivery services stranded unable to guarantee next day delivery because of the white stuff.

SnowSlow: Everything seems to just grind to a halt when we get a drop of the white stuff!

According to the Derek Quarmby, Chairman of the RAC Foundation, David Quarmby British winters were very unpredictable, with the Met Office suggesting we should expect one in 20 winters to be severe. "We are not generally well geared up to shifting huge amounts of snow, because we very rarely get this intensity of snowfall," Furthermore we do not know when or where the snow is going to come, therefore buying huge industrial snow machinery, would be unnecessary.

The other reason maybe because of our infrastructure, our railways were built in the Victorian ages and many modern trains often are too difficult to run on our prehistoric tracks.

Derek Quarmby suggested there should be two further precautionary measures to deal with the snow next time it happens. Apparently £1 billion pounds is spent on winter reliance, on how to better manage the effects of the snow. On a local level £160 million is spent to better manage the effects, he suggests there should be a little more investment although in this time of precautionary measures, financial crisis he warns this may not be so easy.

He reconciles with fellow commuters and passengers trying to get to work this week, and reassures these people that they all already have good quality information. In most cases local authorities have up to the minute news on the status of roads. He realises that there should be more information for travellers on trains.

So this winter we have proved once more that Britain is adequate to defend itself from the elements once more. We need to be better prepared, we need to be better informed, and we need better analysis. What this comes down to though is the predefining element Money. During this time when resources have to be cut back, jobs are being lost, it is difficult to allocate money to a priority at this moment in time. Some would say that, it is a top priority as the determining weather patterns of the past three years have produced heavy winters there is a need for this investment.

Google Issues

Google's Mission statement is to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

Originally just a search engine Google has since expanded into mail, browsers, data services, chat, voice messaging, blogging and many other things in between.

It could be said that Google has had it quite easy in recent years; they have a captive audience, the #1 search engine, leading towards a situation where whatever they launch or whatever they do it will be successful.

It hasn't always been plain sailing for Google, many products have had to take a step back because either the cliental they were meant to serve was unacceptable or the design and functionality was inappropriate. A recent example of this Google Buzz. Buzz enables users to to share publicly with the world or privately to a group of friends each time they post. It came under tremendous criticism from both the general and technical press in the manner in which it was rolled out.

Furthermore Google Street View, a web based system where users can point exactly to a real live image of a destination has come under some sticky press in recent months, with whether or not they have the right to broadcast pictures of where people live.

So, Google is fantastic but as always there are two sides to every argument, you can say that with the enormous power of products, as Google has such as Android and other Google products, they have a captive audience. However they maybe not be everyone's cup of tea, particularly legally as organisations, governments can question what they are trying to do with their information and for what purpose.

Graduate Schemes or Jobs or a mixture of both?

My friend recently attended an assessment interview for a finance leadership graduate scheme. When he got there he was startled to find out that the company had over 30,000 applications for all graduate positions within the company he was applying too.

This statistic proves that it is increasingly difficult for perspective graduates to get their foot on the career ladder.

I am in the process of submitting applications for graduate programmes, although this is still my main focus; I am applying speculatively to other companies too, just because they don’t have vacancies on their website, doesn’t mean they don’t have vacancies at all. In some cases they will have vacancies and want people to fill.

Furthermore there are loads of companies out there who don’t have graduate schemes, but have vacancies for jobs instead. Yes graduate schemes are impressive and if you are fortunate to land yourself on one then congratulations, but what’s really the difference between a normal jobs in the industry, than a graduate job? They both still pay equivalent or near enough the same amount. They both allow you to progress within the company.

It seems every article these days in the media is centered on how many graduate jobs there out there for prespective graduates. What is a reality however is that you are probably better off just applying for a normal job in the industry such as a sales executive, marketing executive. These roles aren’t specifically graduate jobs, but the process in which you apply for these may be shorter and may lead you to less competition with other prespective graduates all in the same position as you.

Moreover I am concentrating on finishing my degree. Your degree is one of the most important elements, without a good degree these days you will find it difficult to get on the career ladder. Whilst graduate programmes are important and after you graduate you want to be able to work in several big organisations, the foremost and most important element should be your degree.

How Much Do Music Artists Actually Earn On Online Mediums?

An interesting topic of interest that I recently came across on Informationisbeautiful.com. It is truly amazing how many songs have to be played Online to achieve what they call a monthly US wage.

I would just like to leave with you this!

I would just like to leave with you this! A recent discovery I found and an excellent way to display words visually. I will follow up this article with another post explaining what it is and how you can replicate it yourself.

Stay Tuned.

Graduate Unemployement Rises Yet Again!

The true size of Africa

I'm back, for a short period of time. In this article I wanted to share with you a recent article I red, a visualisation of Africa.

Africa is a massive continent so massive that according to this visualisation by Informationisbeautiful.com, it encompasses the land masses of Spain, France, united states, united kingdom, India and most of china.

Just thought I would like to share this with you all today. Often visualisations show the bigger picture and this is so true in this example.

Interested in other visualisations like these? Check out these other visualisations on Informationisbeautiful.net

Taking a break from the blog lifestlye

Dear Valued Blog Followers

My blog was an ideal way to share my experiences throughout my placement year. Having completed my placement year and continuing back into a full time programme, I believe it is crucial that my focus is entirely on that.

It isn't to say that I won't blog. I want to keep you interested, updated, ammused on my lifestyle and opinions and thoughts. I have decided to now blog on a monthly basis rather than a weekly basis.

I hope you are not too disheartned, I will be back before you know it I will be back, writing articles and and vouching my opinions once again.

Thanks for following.

Flipper

The wide world of Blogging!

The Internet is a wonderful place, full of information and useful advice. Since the evolution of the Internet many years ago we can now browse, read, purchase information in a matter of seconds it's at our finger tips.

Blogs are excellent tools to enable the development of such information and in particular people who write blogs tend too comment not just on the facts but also on their opinions. A blog post can take many different shapes, sizes and content structures. Whether your into Football, Art, or something niche there will always be something out there for everyone.

The area in which blogs live in a social media context is called a blogosphere. The term implies that blogs exist together as an entity or as a social network in which everyday authors can publish their opinions.

I was reading an article from which the picture below was sourced, within it there were some relevant and interesting statistics relating to the blog industry:

• Blogpulse track more than 150 million blogs currently with the Huffington Post rated as the best blog out there on the market. According to Jeff Bullas he suggests that the sucess of Huffington Post, a blog started by Arianna Huffington, co founder of the Huffington post, is based on a number of factors, mostly to do with their passion, and she suggests that the reason why she started her blog was for the ability for people to make a difference on the Internet by just pure persistance and passion.

• The majority of blogs are focused around an important hobby or interest. Furthermore the average age of bloggers are around 35 - 44, often these people have defined career goals or may be stay at home mums wanting to keep busy.

• Further evidence shows that the blogging culture is most popular among males (67%). Readwriteweb suggest this maybe due to the fact that more men may work in a computer/IT related environment.

• Most blogs are updated on a tri-weekly basis. Keeping people in the know about a particular interest or hobby or updating your experiences is key in keeping your followers interested. According to Howtospotter, 2010 the main reason why blogs fail is because lack of unique, quality information that continues to flow to it.

• Japanese is the most common blog language closely followed by English. Although this is quite surprising, according to Global Voices online "Since the time that Manabe Kaori, who has been called the first Blog Queen, it has because the dominant culture and norm". A more concrete suggestion of the larger percentage in particular, Ichiro explains that Japanese is the country of writing. Japanese have long been writing diaries, journals etc and so this continued trend has followed into their blogging lifestyle.

• With the most number of blogs widely distributed around the east coast of America in particular New York and Boston. This further demonstrates their culture and online lifestyle.

Source: Wallblog

Blogging isn't something which you start up once and just forget about. For someone it is often a full time job generating enormous revenues from advertising and other media. If you use it wisely much of the information can be beneficial to others.

Have you got a blog? Interested in starting your own blog but don't have any inspiration or guidance on what to write. Send me a message and hopefully I will be able to help you.

The Tetley Tea Folk are back!

The Gaffer and Sydney are back and have made a revolutionary return to our screens. Not since 2001, have they been seen before and tonight they made a revolutionary come back during the advert break for Coronation street.

Gaffer, Sydney, Archie and Clarence used to be a mainstay of Tetley's advertising in ads such as this from the 1980s:

The campaign is targeted to highlight the health of tea and make aware the value of tea in our daily lives. In recent years Tetley has seemed to lost out to its superior Unilever's PG Tips dominating the sale of tea over the last 9 years.

According to Marketingmagazine, the teaser campaign (shown tonight) is to be followed by a "Nostalgic, emotional, tearjerker of a TV ad"

Here is the advert in full.



The use of nostalgia is something that we yearn for in the past, of course different people have different memories of their past. The use of nostalgia in advertising is nothing new and has been around for ages and often Marketeers bring back characters of our childhood to use in their ad's. These are just a few examples of recent adverts featuring nostalgia.

Specsavers: Most recently Virgil and Postman Pat appear highlighting that you should have gone to specsavers.

Marmite: The use of Paddington Bear to promote the latest squeeze bottle of Marmite caused somewhat confusion, to the bears favourite marmalade.

Quaker Oats: The use of Camberwick Green's Windy Miller for some brings back distant memories of the famous puppet character used in the childhood series from the 1980's.

Can you think of any other advertisements that have brought successful TV Characters back to life?

The not so special delivery!

Last week.... I ordered a printer off Amazon and it was delivered Super Saver Delivery. The shipping company HDNL (Home delivery network limited) was in charge to delivery the parcel. You can eventually know the story by now... you wait in for hours and hours, still no parcel, you wait in another couple of hours still no parcel.

No one to tell you when your parcel will delivered or where your parcel is in transit, it would be nice to know as instead of the "will I or won't I go into town" you stay at home waiting for that lucurative parcel you ordered.

Anyway, so the parcel failed to come in the morning even though on their parcel tracking service it left gatwick depot at 9.12 am. I am not stupid, but I live in guildford and it only takes 50 minutes from here to there, so I sort of expected it to be here in the morning or early afternoon.

Still no parcel.

Ok, I might have been a bit optimistic ok, what about early afternoon 2 - 4. Yet again still no parcel. At this moment in time, you begin to get a bit frustrated, panicking that someone has taken it or they have just forgotton. Luckily for me I wasn't at work but if I had been it would have meant I would have had to take the whole day off work.

Eventually my parcel turned up at 6.30pm, the bloke dumping the parcel and leaving again. Asking if it required a signature or not, he said "no its ok". So even though they took 9 hours after they left gatwick, the parcel didn't even need a signature. What sort of customer service is that?

Browsing the internet I can see that I am not the only HDNL customer and how they are renowned for their poor customer service and delivery times here are just a few examples.

Aberquine - they failed to deliver my john lewis TV. because I lived in a flat, instead left it at the Aberdeen depot.

Review Centre - Appalling service. Failed twice so far to deliver. Cited not possible to again access to property. Yet property is open to the public with a barber's shop on site. Am convinced the driver did not bother to attempt delivery. Customer Service completely unsatisfactory merely using the 'broken record' routine stating they will attempt delivery again. "Please be available 0700 - 1900". The van isn't even loaded until after 1030!!!!

See a common problem here? Yes HDNL poor customer service record. My problem isn't with Amazon who I ordered my product from in the first place, they are only the seller and all they do is pass it on to the carrier, but my problem is with carriers and if not careful if you choose the wrong carrier your business could be at fault.

Selling the product at the right price is one thing. Making sure that the product is delivered to the customer is another as this is the overall experience and could be the downful for a review of the product in the long term.

This quote sums up this blog post, "Absolutely useless, would avoid any seller who uses them for delivery".

Have a similar issue or have had another experience with another carrier offering poor customer. I would like to here from you.

The safe and not so safe side to Ebay.

As many of you may or may not know I have become slightly addicted to eBay over the last year, what ever I can find in the house, if I can't make a use for it, I will stick on eBay; jeans, televisions and printers.

But it makes you wonder how would you ever trust me if you have never bought anything from me before. Recently I had one customer who recently purchased a product from me. Having tested it before I sent it (as that is the usual norm) she received it and said it wasn't working. Having gone through testing the item and even when the product was sent back it was still working. In the end I gave the customer a refund as she was saying one thing and I was saying something completely different.

Can eBay be questioned as safe then?

EBay has over 68 million shoppers is an attraction to all offering bargains and huge outlet discounts. When you purchase something through eBay you are only shown the item description and small thumbnail of the product. Is this enough to go on, to convince you that the product is working? Not for items like MP3's then and television receivers too. Maybe they need to launch a video method to prove it is actually working?

This customer probably won't buy anything from me again and maybe not even from eBay in the future.

Apart from that then why would someone buy something from eBay? After all you aren't covered by other consumer laws that protect you when shopping on the high street. Neither are you protected by the sales of good act, which says everything you buy should be fit for the purpose. Its a question of trusting the seller.

So how can a customer trust you? After all he has never met you and you have never met him…..

· Well according to Thisismoney, you should always research the customer or company. This can be done easily by reading there sellers ratings and feedback scores.

· Never give out your credit card details to anyone. Use eBay’s preferred payment method PayPal to prevent fraudulent behaviour.

· Finally to make sure you know exactly what you are looking for ask the seller questions directly about the product.

Would you buy something from eBay? Tell me your views and opinions or experiences you have had with the online phenomenon.

Our toys and us!

We all have them when we were younger and they have grown up with us from a very young age. What am I talking about? Toys. Toys come in all shapes and sizes, some large, some small. They appear in our hands, in our beds, and eventually end up in the loft, but they are never forgotten and we all have memories of our favourites.

I grew up in the 80's & 90's, I began my childhood playing with Playmobil, Duplo and Lego. I was so impressed with what I could build and thought maybe one day if only an architect had seen my designs. Other children of my generation had been brought up with Mechano. I never had a real interest in it, with its fiddly instructions and small screws my parents obviously thought it was too complex for young boy like me.

As we grow older we become more distant from our favourites. Toys change and become more relevant to today's culture and traditions. I know when I was younger there wasn't much variety in the types of Lego models you could buy. Come the turn of the century, with improvements in computer aided design and technology, they are becoming more complex including harry potter theme.

Its the same with cartoons and computers games. I remember the days of FIFA 96 and when games had to be installed off floppy disks. Today floppy disks are very much unusable and have been replaced by tiny gigabytes of memory sticks where we store our entire music collections on. Its the same with VHS which has been replaced by DVD and eventually, with a bit of luck in years to come, to replaced by Blu Ray.

Anyone remember Sooty and Sweep or Camberwick Green? All have been long forgotten, someone probably has the VHS tape somewhere and the only digital copies can be found on the ever present You Tube.

Its the same with Cartoons, the days of puppet strings & hand puppets have gone. The likes of Sooty and Sweep and Thunderbirds have been replaced by high resolution cartoons such as Pepper The Pig. However the well known Cartoon 'Brum' is still shown on CBeebies to this day.

They have all evolved greatly since 1989 and are now more exciting, but at the time we are all very impressed and excited about our new toys.

When you grow up to begin with you don't mind toys being given away but in the years to come you might go looking for them and realise that you threw them away.

So where did you give them away too? Car boot sales or younger family members who much appreciate "pass me downs" . You may have even stored them in the loft for a rainy day or to be played with by other generations of the family in the future.

James May recently took a look back at toys of yester year in James May's Toy Stories he built an entire working house out of Lego and full length Model Railway.

It just shows you that we have distant memories of our favourites when we were younger. Yours might be the same, or completely different. As we grow older, our younger generations will have completely different memories of their childhoods.

Have a favourite cartoon, toy of your childhood memories. Why not reply to this blog and tell me what your's is.

The tight squeeze for university places

I remember that time three years ago, the dreaded walking up to the college office to collect my envelope which undoubtedly decided my future. Luckily for me though it was a simple enough process.

Fast-forward 3 years and it seems a much harder and complex process to secure university places. According to the BBC more than 300,000 students have received A Level results with a further 150,000 students either failing to make the grades or have not had an offer. Even if you did secure a place, this year proved to be the most challenging and competitive year for university places, as colleges and universities tighten up their belts.

UCAS the governing body that runs and manages university application procedures said 56% of the 674,000 people who applied for undergraduate courses this autumn have been accepted. This suggests that just over half of the students who applied actually secured places to their University of choice.

Mortar Boards, Gowns and degree ceremonies aren't everyone’s cup of tea

So what about the rest….

Approximately 186,494 are thought to be without a university place and thought to have to go through the dreaded clearing process of finding a course similar or different to what they first chose. Comparing this to last year’s figures, about 135,000 were in this position. But there are other options that could be life changing too and University isn’t for everyone even if you did apply to it in the first place

Take A Gap Year: More and more students are opting to take a year out, to gain some personal life experiences. Travelling to far flung destinations such as Australia (a popular and familiar choice) can sometimes develop your personal skills and also defuse the stress from not making it to University and of course you can also re-apply again next year. There are hundreds of gap year organisations waiting for your call including STA Travel & Gap Year.

Gain Some Work Experience: Experience is key in this day and age in whatever profession or industry you land yourself in, employers look for experience. Whether it be marketing, business or another industry, experience is crucial to secure your future job prospects. Useful websites include WEXO and Enternships, which offer a range of paid internships.

Carry on Learning: Some students opt to re-sit modules that either they thought could have done a lot better in to bolster your grades. There are also a number of other options including foundation degrees and Open University courses, which can even be taken from home. Options include the Open University.

Most of all stay focused, it’s not the end of the world as you know it, just because your friends got into University doesn’t mean you can’t. Universities and future employers will be more impressed if you did something pro active on your year out or what ever you choose to do than sit back and brush up on your video gaming skills.

Snapshots from Holiday

As some of you may or may not know, I have been on my travels the past 2 weeks in Tuscany in Italy. What a great place it was too, sunshine (for most of it and showers for only a few days).......... I thought I would use this blog post to share with you some of my latest snapshots from my vacation.

As you know I am starting to get into photography and recently was given an SLR camera for my birthday. It was a great opportunity to try different shutter speeds and settings. I hope you enjoy the pictures and I look forward to hearing your comments.

I promise there not all of the lovely sunsets ......

If you are interested in using any of these pictures for further reference i.e. for websites, company images etc then please do not hesitate to contact me further.

Making use of Transferable Skills

It began by a steady delivering of around 50 leaflets to neighbours and other residents in the area. A few days later we got our first call and soon after we had reached a total of 6 catering request services.

Its about using your passion and your initiative to go out and find out whats out there. So far we have made over £200 just by waitering at local events serving drinks and canapes to guests and making sure everything runs smoothly.

Having just recently just done a catering event over the weekend, what I am trying to get across today, is that what ever skill you posses whether it be in the Hospitality sector maybe even sports related there is somebody out there that wants your services. Its just a question of delivering the right service at the right time.

Skills are important in everyday life and as I have proven they can be easily made into transferable skills. Every employer in this environment that we live in is looking for people with a potential to use their initiative and use the ability of transferable skills. This is just one example of how you could use your skills and be very effective. Try it for yourself, even if you get one or two sign ups it proved it worked and one is better than none.

As I mentioned, there won't be a blog next as I am away on holiday for a week with family and friends but fear not normal blogging service will be resumed on the 16 August.

Changes in Recruitment strategies

I have just reading a intriguing article on how the use of micro blogging sites and other social mediums are now the most common sites for recruiting new talent.

In an article written by The Wall, Clodagh Walsh suggests that the wonderful age of the digital is simply not enough anymore to now mass produce a covering letter and just press send on your email web broswer. She goes on to mention that employers are now looking far and wide beyond the digital landscape and utilising Social Networking site such as Twitter and LinkedIn to find the best possible candidate for the role.

Here are just a few handy tips that she recommends to get that dream job by your tweets.

Optimise your profile

If you are serious about your job hunt, the first thing you must do is make sure that your LinkedIn profile is fully optimised. This is essential to getting yourself noticed as the site itself is an internal search engine. Make sure that you use all key words specific to your desired sector and experience to ensure that you are found easily by employers who may be on the look out for new talent. In the same respect it goes without saying to make sure that other profiles connected to your LinkedIn profile are suitable for employers to look through or censored if need be – we’ve all heard the horror stories.

Join groups

Its worth signing up to professional networking sites such as LinkedIn for the discussion groups alone. Thousands of companies and industry publications set up groups that are open to anyone to join. Once you’ve joined, you are effectively given direct access to organisations enabling you to find out what is going on within their business, their ethics, values and even employment opportunities with vacancies posted frequently. By applying for jobs through groups, not only does this show that you are proactive, but also that you have a special interest in that particular organisation.

Follow the jobs

Twitter – a constant stream of status updates and opinions. Yes a lot of it is nonsensical drivel that no one really cares about, however it can be a fantastic resource for job postings, particularly twitjobsearch. This allows you to search the entire twitter network for jobs specific to your sector. Similar to LinkedIn’s discussion groups, by following potential employers you can track their activities and monitor job postings. Recruitment consultancies are an excellent target for this; check out our twitter feed here for the latest creative jobs.

PR yourself and make connections

Before any job interview we always advise our candidates to connect with their interviewer through LinkedIn. It’s great for establishing contact with the company prior to the interview to score a few brownie points and it’s also great for building up your contacts. However, if you’re not at the interview stage just yet and are still hunting then again this is also a great tool for making contact with those already working in your chosen industry and could lead to a recommendation for a role. Recommendations are a fantastic way to PR yourself – if you have good relationships with your previous employers then send them a recommendation request.

To read the article in full http://bit.ly/btar7s

Nikon D3000 Snapshots

I have been feeling a bit ill recently suffering from a mild headache and hot and cold sweats. But I have had time last week to take my new Nikon D3000 out for a spin (an SLR Camera). Here are just a few snapshots, of a few images I took around where I live.


These are just few snapshots. I am getting into photograph at the moment and want to make it my new hobby combined with golf one day. Lets see how it goes!

Brought to you by Alistair sitting drugged up on paracetomol and lying in his bed waiting until when he feels better.

Google Latitude - Amazing Software

Have you heard of google latitude, if not listen up and and pay attention because it could change your life.

Google latitude is Google's new pioneering software that allows you to keep track of your friends through the use of GPS. Why should you listen up; latitude offers so much more than just a a GPS tracking device, for many businesses, organisations, and persons it could be truly life changing. I have highlighted a few examples of how Google Latitude can and will change your life.

Transport: Ever wondered what time that train was coming in or if he was on the train? Well Google Latitude tells you where your friend, girlfriend, boyfriend, partner is.

Healthcare: Imagine the scene its a nice hot day and you accidentally drift off to sleep (ok it might not happen but could), Health and rescue teams could use google latitude to pin point your exact location to find safe and sound.

Personal: Ever had your child gone missing in a big shopping centre (I don't have a child but you might) and your looking down every isle, you don't want to be that person who goes up to customer service "I have lost my children" how incompetent would you look. Google Latitude locates your kid and with built in features you can claw your kid back to safety.

Of course there are numerous other features of how Google Latitude could be incorporated into your every day life. "As they say the possibilities are endless". Google are at the heart of pioneering software for the next generation and have to say if this is just the beginning how many life saving devices could be round the corner.

Oh and yes one more thing: Your girlfriend, boyfriend told you he was just going down the pub, (usual trick to get rid of the other half for a night), but secretly he has gone somewhere else with his "Mates" now you have prove of where he has been and can start a full investigation! Ideal for the other half, not so great if your being followed.

Of course Google's Latitude features is only available on selected android mobiles and devices. I have tried and tested it on the latest Samsung Galaxy S Smartphone.

And just for the record - my girlfriend said she was where she was 100% of the time.

Marketing Trends: Social Media

Have more questions than answers about Social Media Find out the latest facts and figures on this useful Slide Share presentation.

Marketing Trends: Social Media, Where did it come from?

View more presentations from Ben Smith.

Subject: Dear Mr FIFA

Dear Fifa

I am writting to anger my dissapointment at you for the recent World Cup Knockout match between England & Germany which ultimately resulted in England being knocked out of the World Cup.

My anger is pointed at Frank Lampards goal that wasn't, it was obvious to me and my nation, a passionate and supporting nation, that the ball had crossed the line. It makes it more frustrating for me however that you seem fit not to give the goal.

Yes, England did not have the best of starts, yes England were poor throughout the qualification group games, but it doesn't rest on the fact that you failed to see that it was goal. It would have made a difference to the match mind you. As you remember, England were in the ascendancy with a goal 50 seconds prior to that. It would have made a totally difference to the half time team talk, we would have been more focused, instead our manager, Mr Specsavers blasted the players and as a result we lost the match. This lye's solely on your behalf.

I understand you are very busy making ludicrous profit from the South African World Cup through ticket sales, merchandise and other revenue streams, but I want to solely let you know, that I am very disappointed and would like a refund on the money spent on alcohol whilst watching the game, if this is not the case I would like you to have a proper think about goal line technology and investmenet and happiness for every ones sake.

I also understand that as a nation, we were poor in the World Cup, but this doesn't allow you to sweep under the carpet why the goal wasn't allowed.

Kind Regards

A depressed, broken and poor England Fan

Subject: The Problem with Pringles

Dear Mr Pringle

I recently went on a picnic trip to the New Forest, Hampshire and took one of your tubes of Pringles as a snack. I am delighted to say that these were undoubtly a great sucess and were enjoyed by all of group.

During the trip I had a few teething issues getting my hand in to eat a few of your snacks especially when you get close to the bottom. It makes me very sad that the tubes are only a thumb width across, making it difficult for fat handed people to dip there hands in and get there snacks.

Of course if the tube was any bigger it would effect the transportation of the product and maybe even damage the product itself as, I have come to realise as they are very delicate. I understand you are very busy filming the latest Pringoaal advert with Crouch and Co but I would like you to consider my proposal for me to enjoy your pringle snacks once again.

Kind Regards

Fat Fingers

How Social Media has affected the Hospitality Industry

I am beginning to drift away from blogging, aside from all the other numerous social media tools out there, this has sadly taken a back seat of late and I am trying to think of a new topic to write and coming up with some new inspiration. Time for a change of scenery perhaps, maybe, maybe not. Just a little update though I have changed the design of my website (AGAIN!) alistairdolphin.com for future reference, the joy's of free templates, makes it look so much better.

Anyway back to the subject in hand. The Hospitality Industry is massive and according to caterer research has a total value of £55 - £60 bn a year, through hotel revenues, restaurants and numerous other hospitality orientated activities. Since the dawn of the Online revolution, businesses and hospitality establishments have slowly come round to the idea of moving online. In today's world we can now book a hotel room, order a meal and even take a look at the room before we ever step foot in the door. In hospitality there is a familiar phrase you never get a second chance to make a first impression and obviously the bells are still ringing.

By putting a photo, image or video on a review site such as trip advisor, visitors can instantly get a feel for th accommodation and services. In my opinion when ever I book a hotel room I always regularly check to see if the hotel has a website, just so I can get a feel for the place. This is why businesses should regularly update there imagery of there establishment, making sure its fresh and to up to date as there is no point giving customers a false impression.

In addition when customers have stayed at your hotel they can instantly review or post a testimonial of what they thought of your hotel. Of course, there is nothing like a positive review. Review sites like trip advisor, allow other users to make a decision, add that with the pictures and pleasant surroundings hospitality firms can lure new business in.

Social media is ever present, in today's society, twitter, facebook are just a few examples. Social media icons are everywhere as well on websites. It is more and more important then that hospitality firms adopt social media strategies to enable them to make a good first impression, as with hospitality, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Iphone 4

First and foremost appologies for the delay in the writting I have been a bit busy. I would like to use this post by introducing to you the Iphone 4 (Four Generation), and what Apple say as the biggest leap since the Iphone series was launched
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The Iphone 4 comes "running" on to the Smart Phone Market and just like its predcesor, a break through in the Mobile Phone Market. The biggest feature is apples HD resoultion display. Other features include new and improved app's directory, improved video editing suite and a front facing camera. The front facing camera brings with it a whole different ball game of tricks, allowing users to create video conferencing in a much more clearer and easier format. For a long time Apple has been a major player in the Smart Phone market with 24%, and now there new addition will only improve there cutting edge.

What the Iphone fails to deliver and what other, smart phone manufacturers are leading the way, is camera technology. Whilst Sony Ericsons X10 features a 10 mega pixal camera, whilst Apple can only manage a slow and steady 5 mega pixal camera, which in the mobile phone market is weak.

The Iphone 4 will be available on Vodafone, O2, Orange and Three. Rumours have been flying around, about how much, the Iphone 4 will retail for, but as yet there isn't a definante price, but in my opinion will be quite a high price and there will be a large demand for the latest gadget if anything like the Ipad was in the USA, where 300,000 units in its first weekend of sales.

I certaintly can't wait to get my hands on one the hotest gadgets of the summer!

A Tough Pill to Swallow

I awoke this morning, feeling in a strange mood, feeling like this day could be a day of good news. I haven't had any good news in a while, especially with regards to a job offer. I was told that on this occasion that my application has been unsuccessful, due to the fact that someone else had more experience than me. I started off this year to gain as much experience as possible in the field of sales and marketing, so far this year I have gained a variety of experience including Social Media, Local area Marketing and Marketing Strategy.

So I thought to myself there is always going to be someone out there with more experience there is always going to be someone or something which differentiates you from someone else. Its a tough pill to swallow when you try so hard, to build up experience in an industry you are passionate about. I have done a lot of things this year, which I am proud of doing, but there will always be someone ahead of you in the queue.

Half way through the day, I get a call from someone, who wants me for my bar services. Over the weekend me and my girlfriend decided to create a garden party service, serving drinks, serving canapes etc. I suppose this is what is going to differentiate me from someone else, my entrepreneurial spirit and my desire to work hard.

At the close of the day, I got an email from a company which I did some work experience from. I was requesting a reference for the work I had done, to prove to my future employers what I had done. According to the company, they do not provide written reference but will offer me a verbal reference. How stupid is that? I gave up my time and effort, to learn and experience something which I am passionate about and have and will continue to develop in future years, but they can't be bothered to write a short paragraph about what I got up to and how useful I was to their company.

So that was my day a mixture of up and downs and some how you have just have got to swallow the pill.

The Flat Pack Project

I would like to share with you something today. Today my parents bought a Webber Spirit BBQ, everything was rosey until the box turned up, with thousands of bits, spanners and instruments. In this article I am going to share with you the stresses and strains of the flat pack process.

The flat pack idea was invented by Gillis Lundgren (and if you have ever had to put up flat pack furniture, then he is either your idea of Heaven or Hell). Gillis idea developed when he needed to fit a table into the back of his car. He then sold it onto Ikea, which love it loave it, there entire business is developed on.

Anyway back to the job in hand, ah yes unpacking the box. Inside the box there are thousands of screws, along with the misguided instructions. Who ever draws these, instructions causes endless hours of imagination, does this fit this way round, that way round. In addition to the instructions, thousands of misguided nuts and bolts, which for some odd reason you have left over.

Half way through the build process and have to say leadership and team work, (mother and son bond) are going extremely well, apart from mum is constantly on the phone to her golf hareem, so Ali has been left to the build.

A couple of nuts and bolts later, in addition to a few arguements the project is finished. Strangely enough with every flat pack project there is either too many screws, or too less and you are always left with a spanner or allen key to add your numerous collection, from your last project.

With the stresses of flat pack furniture families are pulled apart, discussions, arguments, and tantrums evolve. It makes you wonder how, that we now live in a Society where we want information on demand, broadband, sky + nad numerous laptops and computers. That we still have to be put the stresses of flat pack assembly.

Did Gillis ever think that? His legacy stands firmly in todays society. Whether you loave him or love him.

You can find the images of our exciting put together project by clicking here

A new dawn, brings a fresh start.

I would just like to share with you an new work experience role which I started yesterday for a period of 1 month. I will be working for Larch Computer Services, an IT Support and Technology company based in Camberely, doing a number of marketing related activities including Social Media and Telemarketing. To find out more about what Larch Computer Services can do for your company please click here

This should put an end on what to do now post I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. In addition I have a interview with Macmillan Cancer Support on Thursday, which if selected will be for a period of 3 months which I am really looking forward.

So I think you would agree, this sunny weather that we have been having recently is definantly made a change to my fortunes in the job market.

Optical Illusions

My blog mainly contains text (You can probably see that), I have decided to input a bit of colour today with the addition of some optical illusions. Opitcal illusions are defined by the wonders of wikipedia as images that differ from objective reality. In normal sense what you see, maybe completely different to what someone else see's.

To explain a little clearer I have attached several optical illusions to test your brain. What is that you see? I look forward to your comments.

A Red Indian or an eskimo looking in the dark?


Scary Stuff! What do you see an Skull or two victorian women drinking at a table


How many legs does this elephant have, only your mind will decide



A rubber duck or a cute rabbit.

Coolopticalillusions.com

What are your plans for the summer?

The summer is finally here? Well depends where you live of course, but out the window I can see rays of the summer sunshine peering through. The Met Office predicts the highest temperatures of the year so far for later this week. Central and southern parts of England could see temperatures reach 26C (78.8F) by Friday.

But is this really going happen. Every year the Met Office always predicts that the UK will be braised in summer sunshine, remember the floods of 2007? but how accurate are their predictions?

According to the BBC "The weather beyond about a week ahead stretches even the most experienced weather forecaster" So why should we believe them? The chances of having a warm summer based on previous records e.g. data from the last 5 years suggests mild summers with a few days of sunshine.

I general not many people can predict the weather way in advance and to be truly accurate. In general the British Population should be prepared for some rain sometime over the summer as the UK weather gets even more difficult to predict.

Have a Happy Summer.

How Old is Old?

Having turned 21 a couple of weeks ago, I am now the legal age to drink in United States Of America, legal to drink in most if not all UK Bars on the weekend and of course my insurance premium will now come down. But it made me wonder how old is old?

Old is described as having lived for a relatively long time or attained a specific age; "his mother is very old". But is 21 classified as old?. The old phrase comes back doesn't it: you are as old as you feel?

But with the older generation now living longer and remaining more active, then how is this classified as old? Because you feel like you can play the same activities e.g. golf, tennis at the same age say ten years ago doesn't mean they are classified as old.

Of course, you only realise how old you, when you reach that "ripe old age" and it matters also when you are around other people. Being student most of my peers are the same age as me, so I wouldn't classify myself as old amongst my peers.

In conclusion then, it doesn't matter how old you, as long as you feel that you can do the same activities as when you were younger and furthermore age age is nothing more than just a number.

New Website Launched Today!

I would just like to inform my fellow followers, that today I have launched a new website @ www.alistairdolphin.com. Here you can find more information about me including recent photos and more about what I am interested in.

Hope You Enjoy and Look forward to your comments.

Junior Apprentice Series 1 - Episode 1

The first episode of the Junior Apprentice kicked off last night and I have to say I rather enjoyed it. I am not surprised Jordan was first to get fired. Although I was quite impressed with his Background, starting his own Consumer Electronics company at the age of 12 is quite impressive, but in the end, his attitude and lack of communication within his team let him down and he was the first one to be shown the door.

Whilst watching the apprentice I was impressed with the level of experience shown by some. Some 17, who started there own vintage clothing businesses. Today we live in an environment where entreprenuers are starting up every second and it won't be long before the next Lord Sugar or Sir Richard Branson is round the corner.

I am looking forward to the next episodes, but I hope it doesn't evolve like previous episodes in to a more trivia programme. What I would really like to see is the apprentice teaching people new skills and helping you to develop your own skills, in recent years there has been too much tabloid press surrounding breakups, relationships and arguements. This year I hope the junior apprentice will breath new life into young buddying entreprenuers so you can hopefully learn from there experience.

Stay tunned into the next episode of Junior Apprentice on BBC 1 next Wednesday @ 9pm. You're Fired!

What to do next?

Firstly and foremost sorry for the belated posting. I got a bit carried away with everything over the past week, moving my stuff out of a rented house and of course it was my birthday bonnaza weekend. Wow 21, how old! Scary stuff, but I am sure my mum will be more scared, her little boy turns 21, roll on LA, America, Freeeedoooomm.

Slight Problem

Ah yes, no money. So what I am going to do know. I have just completed an Internship at 1000Heads a Word Of Mouth agency in Picadilly. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it there learning the different areas of the Industry.

However I am now stuck with a dilema, what to do next?

I have 4 months before I go back to University and want to cram is a much as possible. The more experience I get the more, the more chance of securing a graduate role when I graduate. I have a few offers which I hope to turn into concrete over the next couple of days or so.

So stay tunned and find out what Alistair is upto in the next post.

1000 Heads

Many of you may know, this past month I have been working at 1000 Heads. A Word Of Mouth communication agency, based in picadilly. I was selected to write a blog about my experience as an Intern, as I am finishing my role this week.

You can find my blog post at http://bit.ly/329LlN

How car boot sales have defied the recession?

During the recent bank holiday weekend, myself and my girlfriend went to car boot sales nr Winchester. Although it meant getting up at the crack of dawn, I have to say that it was well worth it. But it made me wonder, how have car boot sales done so well?

In total we made close to £70, which for 4 hours work seemed pretty good. Its amazing what people will people, you don’t find a use for it I am sure another person will, from keyboards to mice to books and clothes we sold quite a bit of stuff.

Car boot sales then, are great for getting rid of stuff you don't need anymore. Pay your fee (£6) which conicendently goes to charity, so your doing your bit for charity, and off you start selling, there isn't a limit on the number things you sell. People bartter with you over prices £1,£1.50,£2.00 it is all money, trying to get the best value for money. I didn't realise how many people still go to car boot sales for things like clothes, books, stationary, and other household items. I now know wonder why most of the high street stalls are standing empty, I now know it's because business, companies and people are finding new and different channels to buy and sell there goods.

Count down to vote!

With less than week, now until people cast there votes at the poll's. There is still an uncertainty as to who will win come the 7th May (Coincedentaly my birthday). In my opinion most of the candidates say pretty much the same thing, just repeating the same policies, nothing new.

It makes it so complex for voters to choose, although everyone suggests change they don't exactly know what change they want. The election debate that has occured in the past three weeks, has sweeped the nation, but all we ever see is leaders arguing against each other, about policies and manifesto's.

It would be easy to say, actually why don't I create a new party a party which combines the labour of liverpool, the conservative's of chelsea. It is easy to think how easy it would be to create your own party, one which combines everything which people want. It is easy to see how much money, local businesses support governments and spend on the campaign trails and just like mancini, ancelotti they are heavily backed in terms of cash.

I would like to say that, who ever wins's it will be best for the nation, but in hindsight it is easy to ignore people's views and opinions. So if you had loads of £$£$£ then what would you do with it? create your own political party perhaps an idea.

Weird & Wacky Fact Of The Day!

As most of you and I will be travelling home by tube today. I thought I would post 5 facts about the London Underground Network.

• There are 412 Escalators on the London Underground Network
  
• The longest, escalator is at Angel Tube Station rising 27.5m
• The busiest tube station is Waterloo 51,100 with people entering and exiting every day.
• 1,073 million people are carried on the tube each year
• Average train speed is 33km, (ah, so maybe thats why you get home late then)

source: http://bit.ly/2O5VAN

The Issue with Graduate Employement

I am currently 3/4 the way through my degree at the University of Surrey, many of my peers, like myself have decided to take the year out, to undertake some work experience within the Marketing and Communications industry.

I believe that work experience / internships / work placements (what ever you call them, they all mean the same thing) is a fundamental part to securing a full time job in the future, and it shouldn't be frowned upon. I have undertaken a variety of roles in a variety of industries. It has been a hard struggle to get where I am today, numerous applications, numerous interviews, but I am passionate about going into the Hospitality & Marketing sector of the industry and maybe one day own my own Hotel. So why should this be frowned upon?

According to HR Magazine. "A CIPD survey found 59% of employees who graduated in the last two years are not currently working in a field or profession related to the degree they studied". The situation for graduates is bleak, it is so so difficult, now more than ever, to make a name for yourself, what distingushes you from anyone else, whats the difference between a 2.1 and 2.2. Especially also, when millions of students have saved up to go to University. Is this mispent money?

My girlfriend recently told me that Graduate Jobs are only for 1st's class honours, so where are the jobs for the millions of others graduating with a 2.1. I tend to agree with her, as with the reccession hitting students, employers have more choice than ever, to nitpick there way through their candidates.

I believe that the more the experience counts, so sites like WEXO, which promote work experience are great tools, but it shouldn't be exploited, especially with regards to pay, some positions I have been have been unpaid. These are grey area's with regards to work experience, and believe it or not, it is illegal to not pay people on work experience. Isn't that why there is a minimum wage?

I have been through the mill, its hard. I hope it works out when I graduate, only time will tell.

Weird & Wacky Fact Of The Day!

The Volcanic eruption in Iceland, Eyjafjallajoekull produced 150,000 tons of CO2. coincidently the amount of CO2 saved by 60% cancelled flights was 206,465 tons. Not a bad stat that.

http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/

Stay tunned for more weird and wacky facts next tuesday.

The True Effects of the Volcanic Ash Cloud

The recent activity in Iceland has left many individuals, businesses stranded. Many individuals were forced to stay longer on vacation due to the volcanic ash cloud that engulfed most, if not, all of Northern Europe.

For some the volcanic ash cloud created havoc and disruption for others it created an new opportunity

A week on, while most people are getting back to normality, the effects are still ringing in small businesses such as sole traders. According to Boris Johnson, Londons Mayor as many 30,000 overseas visitors arrive by air every day at this time of year, spending £17m in total. This has a detrimental impact on business's cash flow. In particular hotel occupancy was down 25%, and whilst England is renowned for its 5 Star Hotels in the capital, and promoting its heritage, there may be a lot of work to go to overcome this blip in the industry.

Most of what we import today such as flowers from Holland. New Covent Garden Market rely mostly on British blossoms, others, such as foliage salesman Barry Porter, have more than 35% of their business airfreighted in from overseas. Thats alot of business reliant on importing. What does that mean for the british economy? What does a new government suppose we do about it?

In other area's such as Cruising there has been a significant change. Whilst most struggled to get to the skies. Most fled for the Channel Tunnel in a mini dunkirk scenario, whilst the passenger and car ferries were busy ferrying passengers from calais to dover. One story, a fantastic PR excercise, showed by Thomas Cook's Celebrity Eclipise, struck my eye. The ship allowed passengers to travel on the ship free charge and be allowed to have as much cruise experience as possible including food and drink. If the people hadn't herd of the ship before, then they certaintly have now and possibly could reap rewards for the Thomas Cook brand.

BREAKING NEWS: FIRST NEW BLOG

Alistair has annouced that he is going to start blogging. Forgive me, I am quite new to blogger, so there may be a few teething problems to begin. But I hope you will join me in this fun filled blog.