An oasis to run to in blogosphere when the social networks begin to pale. iScatterlings will be here.
June 29th, 2007 — Business
If this is your first visit at iScatterlings, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Thanks to Hugh at Gapingvoid for pointing me to Yahoo’s “Share What You Love”, you can get to share your advert with Capt Slow.
[Link]: Yahoo Answers’ “Share What You Love”
ca-ref-pub-5816813381914657
April 10th, 2007 — Business
Here’s a question.
What is wrong at Technorati? Is there nobody at home? Are the offices deserted?
The seems to be a growing number of support questions that do not apppear to be getting resolved let alone the courtesy of an acknowledgement.
Has Technorati grown too big too quick and going bust? Or imploding??
February 26th, 2007 — Business
This Saturday 3rd March 2007 I will be at One Life Live at Olympia, London.
This is what it is all about:
What do you want to do with your One Life?
One Life Live (2-4 March, Olympia) brings together all the options in one place - giving you both the inspiration to make a change, along with very real solutions to ensure you can achieve your dream.
Click here for detailed information about the event, including more than 200 free seminars, demonstrations and advice clinics.
Opening Times:
Friday 2 March 1pm - 7pm
Saturday 3 March 10am - 6pm
Sunday 4 March 10am - 5pm
Now far be it for me to say that everything you need to kickstart your entrepreneurial dream or the launch of your start-up will be at One Life Live, but I can bet that if you copmbine One Life Live with all the very informative details and resources that Pamela Slim provides at her site Escape from Cubicle Nation and here at her consulting site called Ganas, you cannot go wrong. You will arm yourself with the best of all things you need to help you to take the leap to freedom as your own boss.
February 26th, 2007 — Business, Global, Inspiration
I am a huge fan of the TV show Boston Legal. To me the onscreen partnership between William Shatner (formerly known as Capt. James T Kirk of the spaceship USS Enterprise in Star Trek) and James Spader is something legends are created from. The chemistry between the two along with a superb script makes for a fantastic show and a pairing of actors who feed off each other. I believe ad-libs between the two while sharing a scene, are not uncommon.
[I am reminded of the live performances with Michael Palin and John Cleese of Monty Python fame, who set out to 'corpse' each other. Cleese won most times but in so doing the live action between the two sparked and lifted the performances and the audience's enjoyment too.]
Boston Legal’s underlying theme showcases an ageing lawyer (Denny Crane played by William Shatner), who is is in the early stages of that dreadful illness Alzheimers. The tragedy of Denny Crane is revealed through humour. Alzheimers is a serious illness and David E Kelly, the show’s creator, treats the seriousness with appropriate delicacy and dignity.
In Season 3 it seems the opening sequences are getting special attention. Like William Shatner using a kazoo to blurt out the show’s theme music is especially funny. Other intros are given the humour treatment too like, “Cue music!”.
The fad caught on and has been taken up by fans of the show. Below is one of the newer scenes developed by a fan where the James Bond opening sequence is set to the Boston Legal theme music. Enjoy!
Later in Series 3, Boston Legal features Michael J Fox who had a hit TV series with Spin City, until he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. He quit the show in order to focus his energies on fighting the illness, bringing more awareness to the disease and setting up and funding his foundation for Parkinson’s research. Boston Legal is an appropriate vehicle to showcase Parkinson’s.
February 22nd, 2007 — Africana, Business, Global, Inspiration
The excellent Stormhoek campaign conceived by Hugh Macleod has released a term into the world that has now taken on a new significance to us all. It should do and Hugh explains it best here and here.
But before you go wild and start throwing your empty Stormhoek wine bottle corks at me, I have to tell you that you are reading the words of the ultimate ’social object’ - me. Yes, je suis est la grande ‘object sociale’. Why and how can I so modestly claim this? Well you better read on to find out hadn’t you.
Years ago when I was a lot younger I was threatened with excommunication by my father if I did not agree with his most excellent idea to date for me to join the church choir and learn to screech/sing. But far from being miffed and moaning about my soon to be restricted lifestyle, it dawned on me that I had in fact just been handed an opportunity called freedom with a capital F and it was to be grabbed with both hands lest the chance that dad’s foolishness would never occur again.
So like all clever young kids, especially me, I rebelled most appropriately and sufficiently enough to cause dad to go get his slipper. Yeah, I knew even then that there was no gain without some pain. But there was no pain. Just the confrontation I was manipulating to make dad feel his threat of discomfort (he aways pulled the downswing anyway!), had sunk in, and that his spoiled good for nothing obstrepulous son would, after sulking, threats to run away, skin the family cat, stomp on the budgie and pouting so hard it hurt, go to church and learn to sing hymns. Properrrly. Choir practice occured at night.
Understand that here I was, a tender and sensitive responsible young soul, being forced by my father to go out on a schoolnight to have fun with a group of classmates interrupted only for a while by some singing practice. Oh gee shucks you should have seen the Oscar-winning performance every Thursday evening as I tried so hard to summon up the enthusiasm to go out to sing for my supper and dad’s everlasting happiness that he got one up on me! Hee hee!
It was the best of times for me. After practice we got on our bikes and sauntered back home or rushed off to go visit a friend and cause a bit of harmless schoolboy havoc. The warm evenings riding my bike toward the deep red sunsets are forever etched into my memory. It was during this time that I first tasted wine. Communion wine. Padre left a cupboard door open. Shucks. We all had to have a sip of the sweet red wine.
So when I read the technobilge below, I always immediately think of my days as a choirboy.
Remember this from April 2006? What does this mean?:
Deep, opulent orange hue. A nose of caramel, pastry, spiced oranges and apples. There is certainly some botrytis here, both colour and nose confirming this. The palate has quite a savoury structure to it, with firm acidity cutting through the mouthfeel. But there is plenty of flavour too, of burnt toast, stewed apples, caramel and honey. Takes on a greater sweet intensity with time in the glass, and has a good length. More reminiscent of Tokaji than anything else. Just scrapes very good
I’d sooner be munching chocolate.
February 19th, 2007 — Business
Ling Valentine, a successful online entrepreneur, trumped the BBC TV show called Dragons Den and the TV show’s Venture Capital expert line-up of five multi-millionaires.
On the popular TV show each week, a batch of wannabe entrepreneurs pitch the Den in order to secure funding for as little equity release as possible. The show’s 5 multi-millionaires have eached stumped up GBP 150k of their own mpney to invest in budding entrepreneurs. After the pitch by the entrepreneurs, the Dragons then raise questions and more often than not, shoot you, your drive, innovation, dreams and hopes away in a blaze of patronising, condescending and tactless verbal putdowns.
That is until Ling Valentine appeared last week to pitch for GBP 50k to fund marketing for her already booming online business called Ling’s Cars. Ling pitched, defended her numbers, hooked, and then in a triumphant climax to her part in the show, refused to accept the funding offers from two of the Dragons. See it in full here
Why?
The publicity Ling generated has been worth tenfold the money she might have walked away with. To say that she played the show well is putting it mildly. She used the Dragons to perfection. Congratulations go to Ling for oneupping the Dragons. She did tell them that she eats dragons for breakfast.
February 19th, 2007 — Business
Heres a video of Steve Clayton from Microsoft UK answering questions about the Blue Monster. Enjoy it and listen to what he says about Microsoft. They are not only about software. Microsoft do get involved in other social projects too.
February 12th, 2007 — Business
“Change The World Or Go Home” is Microsoft’s new mantra for the future?
Well they have changed the world through Windows on the majority of the world’s PCs. So what next? Do nothing or do something?
According to James O’Neill Microsoft need to “find ways to change the world again? If we’re not prepared to do that what are we doing here? So ‘Change The World or Go Home’ is part mission statement, part call to arms.”
Read James’s very interesting blog and opinions about it here
February 12th, 2007 — Business
Steve Clayton at Microsoft has a very interesting blog. Yesterday Steve posted 3 quick download links for Microsoft’s new Toolbars for Word, Excel and PowerPoint. But as if that was not fun eough for you, he also linked to a Product personality test.
The Test will help you derive what MS product you relate most to. I was Outlook 2007. You might be PowerPoint. Go try it and feed back what product you relate to.
Click here to read Steve’s post and to go have some fun with Microsft’s Product Personality Test.
February 12th, 2007 — Business
I was at Limone (a ski resort) in the Italian Alps. Walking throught the town I came around a corner and saw this shop called OK Market.
It was just too close and coincidental to South Africa’s OK Bazaars, a chain which is almost a copy of the Woolworth’s concept in Europe and USA. In S Africa however, Woolworths is funded and operated as Marks and Spancers. Woolworths market only M&S product ranges under the St Michael brand and are reknowned for quality foodstuffs, have similar shop layouts and instore signage and advertising. Standards are as good as UK’s M&S.
I like the conflict of the heart in the O (denoting healthy products kind to the heart) versus what I can only presume are very sugary Xmas cakes in the window.
December 13th, 2006 — Business
I have tried to leave comments at two blogs today and have ended up being frustrated as heck.
Below is what is happening now on the combined Google/Blogger anti-spam application. Who was the idiot that allowed this? Who was the numbnuts who did not think things through thouroughly? Why should I have to leave what I am doing to go check if my password is OK???!!
I think I will not try later or at all. Is this good marketing?
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December 12th, 2006 — Business
I said this in a comment on an article about airlines:
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Quality service like we used to get is only available as an exception nowadays. Remember when being an air hostess was so the in-career to have and pilots were treated like astronauts, and ground staff were wannabe air hostesses who had everything to gain if they proved themselves good and diplomatic at line management,(’scuse the pun here!), and calming down potential riotous customers?
Well those days are long gone and I think the British Airways cabin crew are the pits. Worst of all airlines I have unfortunately travelled with. They are rude, abrupt, and operate on the ’shut up eat up so we can clean away and gather in the aft galley for a sleep and a gossip’ philosophy and screw the passenger who presses the button for attention!
I always avoid flying with BA at all costs and cringe when I am forced to use them. I feel like I am a steerage low class poor sod who is doing them a favour.
Respect for us who dish out the money that keeps them in the job they are in is non-existent. In the terminal and up in the sky.
I can empathise with you and your trio of queue (we call lines ‘queues’)hopping.
Thanks so much for letting me rant about the airline I hate so much! Gosh I feel so much better now! Tea anyone?
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Has anyone else got a particular airline they hate? Well if you do let us read about it. Post your comments and we can see who has had the worst experience so we can score the airline out of ten and then publish the results.
November 15th, 2006 — Business
For those of you who for whatever reason are intriqued by or hold in awe the subject and inticacy of ‘Marketing’, John Dodds has leapt out from blogosphere an plonked a brilliant and succinct 10 paragraph short marketing minifesto in to our laps that spells out so clearly what marketing is.
John joins the ranks of il Marketing Maestro Seth Godin or surpasses him in ability to be so brief and poignant.
Go read John Dodds’s J-Train here
November 11th, 2006 — Business
I ranted here about LloydsTSB being bad for customer relations. Last night I received the following email from LloydsTSB:
Dear Mr R,
Our records show that your phone number is currently registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) which means that if you’d like us to update you about products and services with the occasional phone call, we need your special permission.
When we spoke to some of our TPS-registered customers, almost 90% of them told us they didn’t realise, for example, that it prevents their Lloyds TSB branch from calling to update them about a product or service that may be of interest.
If you also did not realise this and would like us to keep you up-to-date from time to time by phone, just click the link below. (If you would like more information about the types of products and services we may call you about, visit your marketing preferences.)
If you click the link below: we’ll call you when we think that a product or service would be right for you. And if you ever change your mind, it’s simple to opt out again in the future.
If you don’t click the link below: don’t worry, nothing will change. We’ll entirely respect your preference not to be kept informed by phone.
Please call me from time to time.
“email=robert@iscatterlings.co.uk”
Your permission will mean you can only be called by someone from the part of the Lloyds TSB Group where you have a product or service. We never pass on any customer’s phone number (or other personal details) to outside companies for marketing purposes. And you’ll still be registered with the Telephone Preference Service for all other business callers.
Yours sincerely
Manager, Customer Communications Preferences
Well it certainly shows me up for a fool by thinking that Lloyds TSB had no initiative left once it got rid of the local bank manager. They are saying here that they have tried to call me but my subscription to the Stop Cold Call Selling Service prevents their overseas based sales call centre from calling me at home in the evenings to try and sell an appointment to me over the phone!
Why would I subscribe to the TPS service? It is to stop unrequested & unrequired invasive calls to me at home in the evenings. Doh!
LloydsTSB, please, please DO NOT get an anonymous voice at a call centre in another country calling me in the evening to see if they can get a local anonymous bank “Account Manager/Executive” (a twenty-two yearoldsomething) who on their next branch visit can slot me in for a discussion.
Just give me back my old branch bank manager with whom I can go have a chat with over a cup of tea and a biscuit and I will buy.
November 9th, 2006 — Business
Driving down the motorway at 100mph is no way to work out one’s frustrations at the pressures being exerted at the office. It is a distraction from a serious life and career threatening activity BUT guess what?! You will probably have done the best driving you can do.
Ever got in the car, driven off and then suddenly jerked ‘awake’ to find yourself close to your destination in what appears to be a matter of minutes rather than the half-hour it normally takes? Well if you do please note:
1. You were in a hypnotic trance while in charge of a vehicle and were probably driving beyond what is considered a safe speed for being in an altered state.
2. Your sub-conscious mind did the driving! Yes, while you and your overly active imagination were occupied daydreaming at high speed, your other mind was watching out for you and making the correct decisions to keep you alive and other drivers safe. Do not pester me for the mechanics of this phenomenon. All I know is that I was lucky this morning, lucky to arrive in one piece at my destination and to not have injured or killed another office-bound driver. But I blame shareholders for causing me to enter an altered state.
Shareholders are a necessary evil for any entrepreneur and large corporation alike. The deal is that they invest in your enterprise to allow you to grow the business or do whatever is necessary to begin making a profit. They do this on the understanding that they can and will demand their pound of flesh and will never let you forget the deal. By way of return, they fully expect you to bring home the results and pay them a dividend. This is good, sound business rationale.
So what was my reverie about this morning? I have been sounding out some investors and two have liked the concept I proposed (it was very high level stuff) and have over the previous 3 days responded in a positive manner to my inquiry to part with some seed funding. Downside is the % of the business they would expect in return and that they lack of any expertise in the market the business is intending going into. So, in effect they are merely cash cows expecting a large chunk of the business as a return for nothing but a cash injection.
Do I blow them off and wait until the right type of investor rides over the horizon through the desert heat waves on a shekel laden camel like Omar Sharif did in Lawrence of Arabia, or do I grab the cash, accept the consequences of bidding farewell through gritted teeth to a very exorbitant chunk of the business while welcoming onboard a shark and begin the business development?
