In the good ol' days of blogging, when your blogpost was mentioned on another site, you would receive a "pingback". A sort of meta-comment you could display which said "So-and-so's blog has linked here." It enabled you to see who was driving traffic to you, if a "big name" had noticed you, and gave your readers a sense of where the conversation was continuing. Of course, it occaisionally got abused by spammers, but it was still fairly nifty. Last week my blogpost on Fake BBM Reviews got…
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I spent several hours in school learning how to write a letter. From the correct placement of the address, right down to the "Yours sincerely / faithfully" - every aspect was drummed into me. That never happened with email. Judging from many of the people I work with - young and old - the art of writing an email has not been adequately explained. I want to take a few moments to explain how I write effective emails and what simple tips you can use to make your work emails better. Short…
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Well, this is annoying! "You can enter up to 100 characters" Why? Why this silly limitation. This isn't 1974 - we're not exactly limited in memory. This limitation only appears on Samsung's Android phones - not on the Google calculator app. It would be interesting to see if it's a limitation in any other Android phones. …
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I'm a big fan of QR codes. A few years ago, I did some work for a major UK retailer who wanted to put QR codes on some of their DIY products. Rather than ship expensive instructions with each item, there would be a QR code on the packaging which linked directly to a video explaining how to use whatever it was you'd just purchased. The idea was a success and is now helping them cut costs - even in their after-sales service. It's always nice when other companies imitate your success - and…
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I'm a bit confused about the recent news that, apparently, no one was fooled by the 1938 broadcast of Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds". For years it was common knowledge that the newscast style of the play caused mass panic in America. According to Michael J. Socolow: The newspaper industry sensationalized the panic to prove to advertisers, and regulators, that radio management was irresponsible and not to be trusted. Earlier this year I was in the New York City's public records exhibit at …
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There are two things you should know about me. The first is that I like to complain about poor service, and the second is that I'm a hoarder. These character flaws have finally proved useful! Let me explain how you can claim hundreds or even thousands of Euros in compensation for delayed flights. A couple of years ago, we took a holiday to Turkey flying with Thomas Cook. The flight out was delayed - normally I wouldn't complain about a short delay; but this was 5 hours! Stuck in Gatwick…
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