Archive for March, 2008

We’ve been busy making a few changes to the ‘Pick N Mix’ site. Most of these are ‘under the hood’ and won’t affect the overall appearance or usability etc… but please do let us know if there’s anything that’s not working at your end!

For those of you that use ‘social bookmarking‘ sites, you’ll be glad to know we’ve now included a ‘add to bookmarks’ button. Simply click on this, choose your preferred bookmarking service, and follow the instructions that open in the new browser window

We have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the humble ‘post it’ note.

They are without doubt incredibly useful for quickly jotting stuff down… but if you don’t transfer your scribblings into some sort of system, you soon end up with a working area rather like the one pictured.

Wouldn’t it be nice (and more environmentally friendly) if there was a PC equivalent of ‘post its’… a system where you could type snippits on to your screen for retrieval at a later date?

Our ‘macs’ (computers, not raincoats!) have just that… a piece of built in software called ‘stickies‘. It’s one of those really useful things that you tend to take for granted (and struggle to do without).

We have never been able to figure why there was no equivalent program for Windows PCs. Clearly, we are not alone, as just such a program has been developed. It’s called ‘Hott Notes’, and you can find out more about it here

The latest version of ‘hot notes’ allows you to save your ‘notes’ to a USB memory stick or portable hard drive, so even if you change computers regularly, you can always have them to hand (nice!).

Oh yes… did we mention it’s free too?

Happy note taking!

via Lifehacker

Image by katiew

We’re not sure what we think to this new TV ad from Cadbury (the follow up to the ‘Gorilla’ campaign)… suffice to say, it might explain some of the missing luggage at Heathrow’s new Terminal!

Here at blue sky, we use a range of software to create, design, and edit images. When it comes to manipulating photography, we use Adobe Photoshop. It’s a fantastic tool, but it takes several months of use to become proficient (it’s also very expensive to purchase).

If you want to quickly and easily perform some basic image editing (e.g. removing ‘red eye‘ from some party snaps) then head on over to the new Adobe Photoshop Express site. You don’t need to install any expensive or complicated software, and you can get some pretty impressive results in a matter of minutes. You can even upload your photos and save them (there’s a gernerous 2gb limit). Oh, and did we mention, it’s free to use!

Naturally, we’ve given this a try, and we’re very impressed with the layout and user friendliness etc. It’s worth bearing in mind that this is a very limited tool however, and only performs a fraction of the tasks of the professional version… so if you need help with something a little more complex, then (thankfully) you will still need to give us a call!

Here’s a bit of Friday fun…
What do you think is currently one of the most viewed clips on YouTube?

A campaign against the continued occupation of Iraq?
A speech by Hilary Clinton?
A free Tibet campaign by the Dalai Lama?

Actually, it’s none of the above! Surprisingly enough, it’s a short clip about the UK’s new space agency (UKSA) and their new rocket launcher (currently being built in Cumbria). Click here to view the clip.

OK, so we may not have been entirely honest about the contents of that clip (as far as we know, there’s no such thing as UKSA!). We’ve instead just engaged you in a new internet phenomenon called ‘rickrolling’… where users are directed to a video clip of Rick Astley instead of whatever they were expecting (we hope you liked the video by the way).

Simply search for ‘Rick Astely’ in Youtube, and you will see that his videos are currently attracting (literally) millions of hits. Whilst this might just be a ‘fad’ it further demonstrates the power of the internet… and just how quickly a trend can spread.

Whilst no product is being promoted in this instance, we’re pretty sure Mr Astley can expect an increase in royalties over the next few months!

Via The Times

Image by xamad

OK, so this won’t save you any time… but it might brighten up your PC a bit! Those of you that know us well, will know of our passion for all things automotive. We also love computers (both PCs and Macs) and we love a bargain too (after all, our favourite price is free!). Mix all of these things up, and what do you get?……… You get free desktop wallpapers of course! Head on over to the Top Gear site for a fantastic selection of images to spruce up your screen (including some from the new F1 season). Admittedly, these will only appeal to other ‘petrolheads’… so if cars are not your thing, the you might want to take a look at this mighty fine selection. And if you don’t know how to change your desktop wallpaper, then here is a handy tutorial:- Tutorial

We’re assuming that most of you currently reading this, will currently have your right arm outstretched, clutching an oval(ish) shaped piece of plastic, which is attached by a cable to your PC. Naturally there will be some of you who are ‘left handed’, and the ‘flashier’ amongst you may even have a wireless mouse… but you get the general idea.

When we first started using computers, there was no such thing as a ‘mouse’. If you wanted to ‘get something done’ in an application, you would need to learn to use a series of keyboard shortcuts (does anyone remember Word Perfect for example?). We often considered this to be a bit of a pain (you had to remember the key combinations after all).

In the last couple of years few years however, we’ve ‘gone back’ to keyboard shortcuts. Yes, they do take a little time to learn, but they can really boost your productivity. Rather like driving a car, once you learn them, they simply become second nature.

With practice you will find it much faster (and easier) to use shortcuts (e.g. ‘CTRL + C’ and ‘CTRL + V’) than remove your hands from the keyboard and mess around with the mouse (e.g. ‘Edit, copy, edit paste’).

Our recommendation is that you a learn a few shortcuts at a time, and build up your knowledge as time goes on. You can find a nice list of (over 200) shortcuts, covering a range of applications at Smashing Magazine:-

Smashing Magazine

Image by Digital Shotgun

We’ve just come across this interesting article on the Daily Mail’s website:-

‘Vanishing’ colour gives schoolgirls chance to beat ban on nail varnish

We love this idea…(not because we wear varnish!) but because it embraces one of the fundamental principles of marketing… identifying a consumers’ needs and/or desires and developing a product or service to fulfill them. There are two potential learnings here:-

1. You can gain a massive amount of (free) PR by developing a unique product or service.

2. This product will probably sell itself through ‘word of mouth’, needing little or no advertising.

Image by Twenty Questions

Ok, so this article might be a bit ‘technical’ for a blog that focusses on sales and marketing, but the subject affects pretty much every PC user, so we think it’s well worth highlighting.

We’re assuming that most of our readers know what a hard drive is (and what it does) but if not, you might want to take a quick look at the Wikipedia definition here.

Hard drives are something that we rarely tend to worry about… until they go wrong that is. If you’ve ever been unlucky enough to suffer from a hard drive failure, then you will know exactly how inconvenient this can be… at best temporarily preventing you from working, and at worst, losing months (or even years) worth of work… not to mention the hours spent trying to recover data, and the enormous cost to your business.

If hard drive failure hasn’t effected you already, there’s a good chance that you know someone who has suffered from it. If you’ve ever wondered why it can happen, it might be worth taking a look at the video below (which shows the inside workings of a hard drive in action).

Scary stuff isn’t it! With extremely delicate parts moving around so quickly, it’s perhaps unsurprising that things can go wrong!

Unfortunately there’s not much you can do to prevent hard drive failure, but there are a number of steps you can take to prepare for it. The expression “prevention is better than cure” is most apt here… and the best prevention is to back up your data regularly (ideally every day, but at least once a week).

It’s also worth ‘keeping an eye out’ for potential trouble, and whilst drives can (and do) fail without warning, there are a few symptoms worth looking out for:-

Computer won’t let you save a document
Frequent computer Crashes
Slow performance
Strange Noises

You can read about these in more detail at Lifehack.org

So if you haven’t done so already, now might be the time to back up your data… we’ll be posting some tips on this in a future article.

Image by a11sus

Image by Kate A

Here’s a great little site that ‘does exactly what it says on the tin’. Simply copy and paste a list into the ‘Alphabetizer’ and it will arrange this alphabetically. You can arrange lists in ascending or descending order, change cases, and even remove duplicates entries.

The Alphabetizer

For large longer lists or databases, you may want to use Microsoft Excel. If you don’t know how to do this, then here’s a quick video tutorial.

You can hardly switch on the TV nowadays without being confronted with images of melting icebergs, followed by gloomy predictions about the world’s climate… so it’s pretty unlikely that the term ‘carbon footprint’ has escaped your attention.

So what role does this play in marketing? Put simply, attempting to reduce (or even neutralise) Co2 emissions offers businesses an opportunity to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

As well as demonstrating that your organisation is forward thinking, this would also send out a positive message to customers, and might even represent a strong PR opportunity.

Not only would you get a ‘warm fuzzy feeling’ from helping to save the planet, but you might actually save money on electricity bills too (freeing up more funding for marketing!). For example, switching just one electricity bulb to the low energy type, could save up to £12 a year. Multiply this several times, and the savings could really start to add up!

Being ‘ahead of the curve’ will also stand your business well for the future, as it is highly likely that environmental legislation will become tougher over the next few years.

Knowing where to start can be difficult though. How exactly do you calculate your carbon footprint?… and where exactly should you focus your attention?

The answer to these and other questions can be found at the government’s dedicated websites:-

Individuals should head to:- Act on Co2
Businesses & organisations should visit:- Carbon Trust

Of particular interest is the Carbon Trust, which is currently offering interest free loans of up to £100,000 for businesses to upgrade their equipment… that is certainly worth investigating, given today’s financial climate.

Finally, you might also find this Wikipedia article useful… it gives a nice introduction to the subject:- Wikipedia

Photo by crrazychaz

We’ve been posting quite a lot of TV ads recently, but we came across this one for Cartlon Draught (an Australian beer) and couldn’t resist including it. The ’slapstick’ style reminds us of some of the Carling Black Label Ads of the 1980’s , but when it comes to beer, we think the use of humour is still a great formula. The only criticism we might level, is that the ad may suffer from early ‘wear out’… consumers get bored very easily these days, and it is sometimes more effective to produce a variety of smaller ads along the same theme, rather than one ‘big hitter’.

Carlton Draught

Carling Black Label

They say ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery‘. Sometimes this can be a risky strategy for a brand, but we think the two examples below (one new, one old) do the job extremely well. Not only do these commercials build on the awareness of an existing campaign, but they re-enforce the ‘cheeky’ positioning of the brands in question. If you haven’t yet seen these ads, we won’t spoil the ending by telling you which products they’re promoting.

The Original (Guinness)

The Spoof (?)

The Original (Sony Bravia)

The Spoof (?)

If you’re a smaller business looking to raise finance from an investor, it’s quite possible that you will need to prepare a PowerPoint presentation. If so, it might be worth taking a look at an article by Guy Kawasaki, a venture capitalist. As well as the easy to remember ‘10,20,30′ rule, the recommended ten slide structure seems like a really logical starting point for your presentation. The article is a couple of years old now, but still makes for an interesting read.

How to change the world

Microsoft has a handy little website that allows you to test the strength of your passwords, ranking the results as ‘weak’, ‘medium’, ’strong’, and ‘best’. The most secure passwords use a mix of letters (upper and lower case), numbers, and symbols.

“A strong password should appear to be a random string of characters to an attacker. It should be 14 characters or longer, (eight characters or longer at a minimum). It should include a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols”.

Microsoft Password Checker

via lifehacker

Image by Chris Lopez

We’ve visited several manufacturing plants during our time with previous employers… and we never cease to be amazed just how quickly products whiz down the production line (literally faster than the eye can see). If you’ve ever wondered how soft drinks cans are manufactured, then you might find this Discovery Channel clip interesting.

via core 77

“People get dozens, hundreds, even thousands of emails each day, so it’s only natural for them to gravitate toward the messages that are well thought-out and that clearly respect their time and attention. Careless emails do not invite careful responses”.

Let’s face it, we’ve all opened up our in-box at some time or other to face a multitude of long-winded, or poorly written e-mails… and to be fair, we’re probably guilty of sending out a few that fit into this category. We’re not so bold as to patronise our readers by telling them how to write an e-mail (just like making a presentation, everyone has their own style)… but we would like to highlight this article which we think is worth a read.

43 folders

Image by Elizabeth Salib

We’ve come across some truly awful promotional videos in our time, but the one below really takes the biscuit! We can’t think of anyone in the UK that might want to attach such a product to their own car, but the ‘Dub pimpstar wheels’ could (in theory) be put to use on a promotional vehicle.

Dub pimpstar wheels

Mars have revived their famous ‘work rest and play’ tagline… in a new TV commercial.

How times have changed from this 1986 version…

Via the guardian

If (like us) you ever need to meet people outside of your office environment, you may have found yourself in the following situation.

The scenario

• You need to meet a client, colleague, or friend… and you happen to live 100 miles apart.
• You spend 10 minutes over the phone, studying your AA road atlas, trying to work out (and agree) a ‘half way’ point to meet.
• Several hours later, you find yourself at a grotty ‘lay-by’ wondering why on earth you agreed to meet at junction 15.
• You spend the next 20 minutes trying to find a venue that serves a decent cup of coffee.
• You find yourself wishing there had been an easier way to determine somewhere suitable to meet (sigh).

What you should have done

• Visited meethalfway.com
• Easily located a suitable venue.
• Downloaded directions and sent these to the person you are meeting by e-mail.

Photo by yummytofu