Monthly Archive for September, 2008

Looking at Flash Mobs and Improveverywhere.com

Published on September 26, 2008 in Funny. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

If you need an excuse to have a chuckle today, go take a look at www.improveverywhere.com – it’s a web-site containing videos of organised urban stunts and pranks, such as the Human Mirror, where a dozen twin siblings march onto a Underground Train and sit opposite each other – giving bemused and amused fellow passengers the impression that there is a mirror down the centre of the carriage, or the Camera Flash Experiment – 700 New Yorkers get together on a bridge and all set off their camera flashes at the same time.

Just like Flash Mobs (including this Pillow Fight Flash Mob in Birmingham City Centre) I’m always amazed at how well organised the participants are, and it really brings a smile to the face to see the reactions of passers by seeing something bizarre and out of the ordinary in an every day life setting!

Adventures into Public Relations – Part Two

Published on September 24, 2008 in Advice for MSP's and Advice for Small Business owners. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Based on our successful foray into Public Relations earlier in the year (you can read the full story here) and due to the fact, as mentioned in an earlier post, that I was flying off to New York for the InterOp Expo to represent the West Midlands Mobile & Wireless Group last week – we decided to send out another Press Release blowing our trumpet.

Our PR genius, Derek Weekes of PR Weekes, wrote the copy – we then added a previously unused photograph from the collection of photos we had taken for the Texas Press Release (that meant no additional cost for a photographer this time around) – and off it all went into the wild.

We were chuffed to find that both the Birmingham Mail and Birmingham Post picked up our story last Tuesday, both giving us a full half page coverage in their respective business section!

Additionally, the Birmingham Post Web-site (and boy, has that paper embraced the Web 2.0 concept with blogging, Twitter and the like – a genuine well done to the team involved there!) ran our story – which can’t hurt either!

All in all, another successful foray into the world of PR for our small business - proving that our initial success wasn’t simply a case of the Midlands Press taking a shine to my photogenic nature, Movie Star good looks and let’s not be modest here, Herculean physique!

Ok Ok… I hear what you’re saying – next time it may be better to just let Kelly and Mick appear in the photos so as not to scare anyone further. Point taken! :-)

SBSC Collateral Now Available

Published on September 22, 2008 in News for MSP's. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , .

Emily Lambert, the new Microsoft SBSC Lead here in the UK, recently toured the UK User Groups including visiting us at AMITPRO here in the Midlands.

Emily has started regular updates to the UK SBSC Blog, which is most welcome, and has already posted some great links and articles, including details of the new Hard Copies of Microsoft Small Business Collateral that is now available to Partners.

The Literature Folder, which is only subtly Microsoft Branded and includes a cut out place for your business card, is something I’ve heard more than one fellow Partner mention as something they’d like to see – so this is bound to be a welcome product.

Personally, we don’t use a lot of collateral here at my MSP - either a client has pain, pain, pain and more pain and is ready to work with us to help them deal with those problems, or they don’t have enough pain and they therefore aren’t in any rush to do anything about it! Many times a “Have you got some information you can send us?” is just a prospect’s polite way of telling you they aren’t ready to do business.

However, I can see how collateral may have a place in building up relationships with prospective clients and would be interested to hear how other partners are using such material to their advantage! Bravo to Microsoft for making these products available to Partners.

New York City Photosynth

Published on September 19, 2008 in Tech Reviews. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Inspired by others photosynths, I decided to grab the photographs I took from my trip to the top of the Rockefeller Centre here in New York City and throw them at Microsoft Photosynth to see what it could do.

This is the first time I’ve used Microsoft Photosynth and it was very easy to use. If you’ve already got a Windows Live ID, you’re half way there – sign up for the service at http://photosynth.net/ then download a small executable to your PC. Once that is installed, you can create a Photosynth by uploading a batch of pictures of the same photographic subject – Photosynth then goes away and does it’s mathematical computations and a few minutes later delivers you a Panaromic-esque photograph.

I’m sure there is an art to getting the final Photosynth looking good, but in my case I literally just upload all the shots I took in a random fashion (you can see the originals amongst other photos I’ve taken in New York here) and you can see the results – a Photosynth of New York City from the top of the Rockefeller building here – not bad!

You can read more about Photosynth and the team behind the technology, but I’d encourage you to grab a few photographs and give it a go, it’s free!

Visiting New York City

Published on September 18, 2008 in Personal and Travel. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Greetings from New York City! I’m here for four days the InterOp Expo featuring the Web 2.0 and Mobile Comms shows.

The Expo started yesterday afternoon, which gave me the morning to take a stroll around New York and in particular, Central Park, one of my favourite places to visit. Such a beautiful location, lovely and quiet and yet very busy with hundreds of Cyclists, Runners and walkers, and all in the centre of one of the busiest Cities in the world. For instance, standing in the centre of the “Sheep Meadow” – you can see the nearby Skyscrapers surrounding the park!

As well as the busiest, NYC is also one of the craziest Cities I’ve ever visited. I’ve been here before, but I still freak out at how fast everyone drives with apparent abandon for life or limb, how people walk in the roads amongst the insane traffic without getting hurt, how any New York driver still has a working car-horn after they abuse them so often, and how yesterday – within five minutes of sitting down to eat lunch in the street – I’d spotted a Naked Cowboy strumming a Guitar, a Ventriloquist Act abusing passers by, and a fully suited and booted businessman unfurl a push-Scooter and then trundle off down the road to his next meeting like a child heading to school. Major nuttiness!

Oh, and there’s the food – the diet will have to wait another week I’m afraid, because being surrounded by Hot-Dogs, Deluxe Cheeseburgers, an abundance of Pasta Dishes, breakfasts that are big enough to feed three (but still consumed by one…) and my favourite, Cheesecake, any chance of burning off some fat based on the miles I’ve walked as a tourist are long gone.

Full report from the heaving InterOp Expo later – I’m off to find a three course breakfast.