July 2010
1 post
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Liam Nelson's Well Good Show
Now is it just me or is the apparent Liam Nelson’s Well Good Show a bunch of crap? Excuse the language but its true.
BBC Three have some great programmes but this is an awful show!
June 2010
1 post
Exciting news! UNICEF Cardiff
Recently I became the chairperson and co-founder of the UNICEF Cardiff group (working in aid of UNICEF UK).
This has been a personal goal of my wife and I and are both extremely excited about it. Our plan is to organise fundraising events in Cardiff and the surrounding area.
Please show your support by visiting our Facebook page and simply clicking on the ‘like’ button....
May 2010
5 posts
1 tag
My first attempt at textures
Thought I’d make the most of the lovely weather we’re having and do some photography down the river Taff.
After numerous shots of ducks, stones and water I decided to turn to wood textures. Let me know what you think?
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BT Answer 1571 low use charge - is it fair?
I received my latest bill from BT and no suprise found a BT Answer 1571 low use charge of £1.00. Since moving to Cardiff we decided that there was no point having a house phone as we never used it and when it did ring we’d never answer it anyway. So what’s the point?
Well according to my phone bill “To avoid future charges make 2 chargeable calls/month or more with BT”. To...
Do you believe in the Bronnikov method?...
If you watched Derren Brown tonight on Channel 4 and live in the UK you are more than likely going to agree with this post about the Bronnikov method.
In this weeks episode of Derren Brown Investigates, Derren looks at how the Bronnikov method enables a blind person to see through energy which is built up through the genital region of a human. This energy can be collected and controlled through...
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Make Facebook.com my homepage
Facebook.com have taken yet another step towards dominating the world wide web. A couple of weeks ago we were treated to some Facebook social plugins which allowed websites across the world to simply embed useful plugins such as like buttons and comment system.
Now Facebook.com are asking users whether they’d like to make Facebook your homepage. Will it replace my beloved Google? No...
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Got a @HTC Hero? Please RT
Twitter made a pretty exciting announcement yesterday with the launch of their first official app - Twitter for Android.
As I read this post, I began to get really excited as you just know it’s going to be a great app for Android (and one of very few in my opinion). But then reality struck with the closing paragraph:
(The Twitter for Android app is available for phones running Android 2.1...
April 2010
12 posts
1 tag
Dear @Tumblr Part 2
A few days ago I posted my birthday wishlist to Tumblr highlighting a five things I would like to see improved within Tumblr.
I’d like to add another to my wishlist please (which I feel is a rather important one for SEO). Can you set your tagging system to either force uppercase or lowercase please? I’d noticed with my last post that one of the tags was ‘twitter’,...
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Dear @smashingmag can I get a mobile RT?
Smashing Magazine is one of my very favourite websites on the internet. Whether at home, work or on the move I find time to have a read of the very latest post.
It was only today I realised that something was missing after reading the brilliant post Extend Wordpress With Custom Fields. There is no share functionality on their mobile website. Now I’m unsure whether TweetMeme have created a...
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Can Facebook Social plugins replace what we've...
On the 21st of April 2010, Facebook announced “The Next Evolution of Facebook Platform” at their third f8 conference. With this announcement came three new toys for all to play with; social plugins, the Open Graph Protocol & the Graph API.
The most noticeable of the three will be the introduction of social plugins which allow you to integrate your website with Facebook through...
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Has @tumblr got its hands on the iPhone 4G?
I received an email today from the loving TumblrBot letting me know that one of my posts had been reblogged.
A short but sweet automated email, but interestingly included after the HQ address a rather peculiar signature.
“Sent from my iPhone 4G”
Now I know that anyone can change a signature to whatever they want but why would TumblrBot use an iPhone to ping emails?...
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Dear @Tumblr, for my birthday I would like...
On the 10th of May I will be one year older and potentially one year wiser (depending on the speed of gaining new knowledge compared to that of killed braincells due to being a dedicated fan of alcohol).
There are few things that I really want and when asked “what would you like for your birthday?”, I find it difficult to answer. This year, I know I want a watch - surprised myself...
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how can someone change their writing style?
A personal blog is supposed to be a place to post your personal opinions. Whether it be a specific topic such as technology, finance or just what is on your mind, each post follows a similar style.
Unfortunately, each time I look at my posts I can’t help but think that they never read very well and that the unfortunate people who stumble across my blog may read the first paragraph and get...
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Why visit Globocation.com
We may work for rival online companies but that’s not going to stop me promoting the work of a good friend of mine (he has invited me to his wedding after all).
What is Globocation.com?
From what it sounds and what I believe - globocation is a mix of the globe and education. Dave has travelled the world and experienced many places, cultures and even tropical bites! Many times I have...
please RT if you live in Cardiff ...
Venus Marketing Cardiff Scam
My wife and I moved to Cardiff due to my job therefore leaving Sarah unemployed in the process. After years of PA work in the public sector, she decided to change career and look for something new. So this post is in response and support of Sarah’s own blog post about the company called Venus Marketing.
Who is Venus Marketing?
It’s a good question to ask...
Never thought I’d hit these high notes →
Jimmy Carr interrupts Gio Compario’s TV advert
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Is it a sign that Tumblr is getting more popular...
Not really, but it’s quite surprising to see my wife, her mum and her sister all taking up blogging with a sprinkle of tweeting.
If you’d asked them only a few months ago “why not take up blogging” they’d have laughed at me and didn’t see the point. Although admittedly they still don’t really see the point, they do appear to enjoy it.
My wife Sarah...
What is the best time to tweet? Can @jimmycarr...
This is a look at the activity of Jimmy Carr, this year to date on twitpic. I’ve taken the time of day he tweeted against the number of views that pic received.
This has got to be my favourite pic he’s taken so far this year LOL!
I’m a pretty open minded guy but really they should call this place a gynaecologist. http://twitpic.com/x6p7c
March 2010
19 posts
Sarah Cameron →
What a nice surprise to come home to! My wife has decided to join Tumblr and become a blogger - proud of her!
Importance of an online presence
On Friday night my wife and I went to our local pub, Y Mochyn Du. Speaking with one of the members of staff I asked “why don’t you have a website?”. The response was that they’ve spoken about it for quite some time but never got round to it.
So I offered some help as more often than not people don’t realise that a website doesn’t have to cost hundreds or...
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Content Management Systems
Looking at a few of the biggest and most popular content management systems; Wordpress, Drupal & Joomla have dominated the Open Source scene for years.
Not Open Source like the others but, Tumblr (founded in 2007) has to be included in this. This is due to the fact that, yes, my blog is powered by it but also it’s growing from strength to strength and I...
Visual look at Google SERPs
When searching for something on Google such as car insurance, everyone’s trying to grab the users attention. The obvious is mentioning the search term itself but what about the rest?
Here’s what both SEO & PPC rankings look like using Wordle.net
HP Mini 210 Review Update
Only last week I praised the HP Mini 210 with a review what I didn’t put until now is that we took it back the very next day!
It became rather irritating after a couple of hours with sluggish performance and sticky keys. The space bar was really un-responsive and the trackpad became awfully frustrating.
So we took it back to John Lewis who had to refund 90% of the original price! Because...
HP Mini 210 Review
HP Mini 210
Having one laptop between two can cause problems. When my wife is talking with her sister over Skype it leaves me empty handed as we share my Macbook - until now!
My wife and I decided to buy a little netbook today and went with the HP Mini 210 in Pacific Blue (although the last time I checked, the Pacific Ocean was not bright blue - I’d describe it as electric blue if...
Latest on Shieldhill Castle
During our lead up to the wedding, the owners of Shiedhill Castle told us how they had planned to convert their house (by the stables) into a restaurant and for them to move out.
Having looked through planning applications on the South Lanarkshire Council website, there was no sign of such application. The most recent had been the conversion of the stables to rooms back in 2006. The one detail I...
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How NOT to do SEO
I thought I’d see what the Tumblr community have got to offer in terms of SEO this morning. The best I could find was also the best example of how not to do SEO along with self promotion on a platform such as Tumblr. It’s no wonder people who work in this industry have this bad cloud around what we do! So without trying to upset anyone or company. This is a little...
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TweetMeme & Tumblr
If you’ve got a blog then you’ve got to make it as easy as possible for people to share the love.
AddThis v TweetMeme
A couple of weeks ago I finally got round to putting AddThis to the sidebar of this Tumblr blog. If you’re wanting people to share your blog post, then this is the worst place to put it. Although it’s in a good position within the...
Latest addition to my web portfolio
I have completed a website for my wife’s boss today and really happy with the result! The difficulties around this little project was the understanding of the business itself.
Until last week, I’d never have heard of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) never mind build a design around it. So what is it? Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is a talking therapy aimed at helping people with mental...
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Google Stars Enhance Personalised Search
So the latest personalised search rollout for Google has taken place
We’ve long believed that personalization makes search more relevant and fun. For nearly five years, we’ve been tailoring results with personalized search. Today we’re announcing a new feature in search that makes it easier for you to mark and rediscover your favorite web...
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Google SEO Report Card →
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Alice in Wonderland
Is it just me or are there plenty out there who are excited to see Tim Burton’s extension of Alice in Wonderland (2010)? It comes out Friday 5th March but frustratingly I won’t be able to watch Alice in Wonderland until the week commencing 15th of March.
It’s not all bad as rather than enjoying it in 3D at the new(ish) Odeon Wrexham, Eagles Meadow. We can...
3 tags
CSS IE Only
I’m currently working on a website and trying to overcome the css issue that is IE (Internet Explorer).
It can be a dangerous thing using an Apple Macbook when building a website. Everything is coded up and looking good then all of a sudden you think @£$% I’ve forgotten about Windows users and the evil IE6.
So I log in to my Adobe BrowserLab account (a highly recommended...
2 tags
My Top 5 Scottish Mountains
Whether these would compete in the top 5 in the UK I don’t know, but I’m sure they wouldn’t be far off.
5. Ben Nevis
At 4,409ft Ben Nevis is the UKs largest tallest mountain (picture by Martin Third)
4. Aonach Eagach
Not the tallest of mountains in the Scottish Highlands at 3,173ft but Aonach Eagach is definitely an impressive one (picture by Straubo)
3. Stac Pollaidh
...
February 2010
11 posts
1 tag
How many people do you follow and actually take...
How many friends have you got that have asked you, what’s the point in Twitter?
If, like me you use it for the sake of voicing your opinion and just general online interaction then it’s quite a difficult question to answer. But if, as a company you use it properly, it can become an extremely powerful tool for driving free traffic to your site.
My personal gains from Twitter are my...
1 tag
Posting with Tumblroid Lite
Tumblroid Lite
So I’ve finally caved in and decided to try out Tumblroid Lite since there’s no sign of any Official Android App.
Whether I could use this to blog on the go I’m unsure? But that’s mainly due to the fact that my HTC Hero & Orange don’t seem to get along that well (anyone else get poor signal with this combination?).
Tumblroid Lite definitely looks...
You got to love exaggerated titles!
Just been on the BBC website having a read through World News to see what’s happening outside the UK.
I couldn’t help but notice a headline under the ‘ALSO IN THE NEWS’ section Visitors evacuated as Dubai’s shark aquarium cracks open! Now that’s a BIG story! So I clicked through to the article to read the headline;
Huge shark-filled aquarium in Dubai cracks...
Who's searching for me?
My latest blog has not been around long enough to get any form of decent traffic or following (or is that due to the fact I’ve never got anything worthwhile to say!?!).
However, every so often I’ll notice on Google Analytics that yet another person out there has searched my name? Fair enough if my name was a little more popular but the fact that I had a newspaper contact me a few...
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Shieldhill Castle
Just tried calling Shieldhill Castle in the hope that someone would answer and perhaps discuss what’s going on. Last week I posted about whether shieldhill castle has closed but unfortunately had no response around whether true.
According to the voicemail, Shieldhill Castle has closed for the winter? I’m finding that hard to believe considering that we were highly considering going...
1 tag
Origin PC Genesis on Steriods
Every once in a while I get intrigued by the cost of a laptop or computer, whether it be an Apple, Alienware or Dell.
I’ve been a non-committed fan of Alienware for many years (having admired the computers but never actually owning one). Probably old news to many but, I didn’t realise that after Dell bought them out in 2006 and screwed with the image of Alienware, three key execs left...
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Has Shieldhill Castle closed?
For the last few weeks we’ve been wondering what has happened to Shieldhill Castle? Has it closed? This beautiful castle was rumoured to have closed and have just come across this article from Nov 09 on the Hamilton Advertiser.
Sarah and I got wed in Shieldhill in July 2009 and it was the most amazing venue. We’d never had food like it and the staff were unbelievably friendly. The...
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January 2010
2 posts
3 tags
BT SearchSmart
It’s a rare moment when I mention the words ‘search engine optimisation’ in my blog (never mind blog about it). So why change a habit?
After deciding to do a little boredom reading I decided to do a little search for ‘seo’ on Google just to see who’s ranking, who’s bullshitting & who genuinely deserves to be there.
Out of the top ten...