Happy new year everyone…
My first post in almost a month, (I promise to post more regularly in future).
Anyway, I just wanted to write a few words to wish everyone who reads this blog a very happy 2010.
Best wishes to everyone, happy new year.
On 26th November 2009, Borders (UK) Ltd. went into administrative receivership. Although trading under the Borders name in the UK, they have not been a part of the US bookseller, Borders Inc. for several years.
They do however, have 45 stores in the UK, 36 trading as Borders, the remainder as Books Etc.
It's always sad to see another business close it's doors, but if I'm typical of a Borders customer, their road to failure doesn't surprise me.
Visiting the store pictured above, I first browse through the magazines, close to the main entrance. As I wander through the store, picking up, flicking through and putting back titles that interest me, sometimes I might read a couple of paragraphs, or even a chapter. I see other customers picking up books and magazines and heading to the far corner of the store where there is a Starbucks franchise. There they sit, for as long as they wish, ploughing through their reading, and all for the price of a cup of coffee.
Recent advances in technology have put these bricks and mortar retailers under further pressure, with the massive increase in the use of "smart-phones". Now it's possible to use the camera and inexpensive software in a mobile device to scan the barcode on a product (in this case a book), automatically search out the cheapest price online and purchase it, more quickly than actually walking with the real book to the store checkout.
How can businesses like this possibly survive?
I'll miss my coffee in Borders.
"If you think you're too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito".
Another advertising classic.
I remember the first time I saw this ad for the Honda Accord air on television in 2003. It was one of those moments where the quality, technicality and sheer creativity of the advertisement totally eclipsed the programme surrounding it. I recall watching, open mouthed, as each of the car's components worked their way across the screen, culminating in the final product shot and the words...
"Isn't it nice, when things just, work".
An unbelievable, one take ad for Johnnie Walker, Scotch Whisky, featuring a brilliant performance by Robert Carlyle. The timing is perfect. You can almost feel the tension of the production crew and director rising, as it progresses through it's six minute duration.
Here's a link to an interview with the director, Jamie Rafn.
Liverpool Waterfront.
A photograph of the Liverpool city skyline, (a designated World Heritage Site) taken from the opposite side of the river Mersey, in Birkenhead.
Finally, I've managed to get my old, first generation iPhone officially unlocked...
Unsurprisingly, this service, provided by O2 in the UK since 11th November, is not widely advertised. Only by a chance search on the O2 website did I find that this could be done. So now I have my spare iPhone on Vodafone Smartstep, Pay as you go. This will give me ample opportunity to assess the quality of the Vodafone service in my area, prior to upgrading my current 3GS when the O2 contract expires, late in 2010.
Now that the iPhone is becoming non-exclusive to O2, (Orange became the first new provider on 10th November, and Vodafone will be stocking and supporting the iPhone early next year) I suspect that there will be a flood of people migrating to other carriers once their contracts have expired. Some may even be prepared to buy out the remaining term and switch sooner.
My signal strength and coverage has been poor with O2. Even though I live less than half a mile from a cellphone mast, I've had little or no signal at home, and patchy, and in some cases no reception in a number of the places where I work. This has meant that for last two years, I've been carrying two mobile phones - one for phone calls and the iPhone for everything else.
To visit the O2 iPhone unlocking webpage, follow this link.
It's quite common in the UK to have a personalised number plate on your car - no doubt this is prevalent in other countries too.
The lengths to which people go, to create meaningful plates amazes me. Most stay within the law; some, creatively use the fixing bolts for the plate to modify letters to create other letters (for example, 11 becomes H with a carefully placed black bolt head).
Although I have absolutely no interest in having a personalised plate myself, I can see the appeal in having something unique and, well, personal.
There are however, a certain class of people who possess more money that creativity, choosing to adorn their expensive cars with nothing more than a badge, saying what the car is. The main culprits are BMW M3, X3 and X5 owners, who have numbers like X5 ABC. Why do they do this? We all know it's an X5, it already says so on the back! Do they not realize that people are rolling their eyes and muttering something derogatory under their breath? Even worse are the ones who used to have the BMW X5 and now have an Audi Q7, sadly sporting the X5 ABC plate. I detest the phrase, but "Get a life" comes to mind.
(Please note: The number plate PR44 TTT, pronounced Prat! will be available in 2043, should anyone wish to reserve it).
(For those outside of the UK. Prat! is a mild form of that derogatory muttering). Apologies to my friends S and J Pratt :-)
A wet, windy and dark late afternoon.
A new theme.
Whilst writing “The first post (Part 2)…” this morning, I tried a few different themes for the Tumblr blog, eventually settling on this, from Bill Israel. I love the elegance and simplicity of his designs and colour schemes. Looking through some of the themes for Wordpress, I’ve not found anything that I like yet. Maybe I’ll have to open up Photoshop and create some custom graphics, then brush up on my HTML. Maybe, just maybe, my Tumblr blog will continue.
The first post (Part 2)...
After only three posts - two of which were only photographs, I am seriously looking at migrating the Disjointed Reality blog to Wordpress.
Tumblr is fine, for what it is, but I feel that my needs in the longer term may be best served by Wordpress. I have, therefore, set up an account, and will play with the design and creation tools prior to transferring my content there.
I will keep the Tumblr blog as a place to quickly post scraps of things that interest me, so please keep the URL, and check in regularly to see my updates.
I'll post a link to the new Wordpress blog within the next few days.
Yes, I know, I know, they’re bad for me… So what!
Posting for the first time from Tumblr for the iPhone.
The first post
After some time, following a range of blogs, podcasts, Twitter and RSS feeds - contributing to forums, chatting to people all over the world in a variety of ways, the time has come to create a visible online presence.
The first move was to set up a free account with Google Apps; a service which allows the hosting of a web domain, and provides basic web page creation tools. Some of the other features within Google Apps, such as docs and calendar, I will probably not use so much, as they are duplicated in my virtual life by other applications. I’m pleased with the domain I have managed to acquire - indeed I was quite surprised that it was available. At the very least, Google Apps gives me a safe place to park the domain whilst I decide what format it will eventually take. For the time being, I will keep the domain name private, until there is sufficient content to make it worthwhile to go “live”.
I heard of Tumblr a few years ago on the Net@Nite podcast, hosted by Leo Laporte and Amber MacArthur. Of course there are more well known blogging tools available, and maybe I will experiment with a selection of them over time and post my findings. For now, however, Tumblr meets my needs as it is incredibly simple and also has an iPhone app for on-the-go posts.
So, this is the first post. Hopefully there will be many more to come, as I find my way in this disjointed reality. I hope you, the reader will come back and read more of what I find to say.
Thank you for taking the time to make this first visit.