Hardly a day seems to go by without the media commenting on the increasing price of oil. Times online has a nice article on how to cut down your vehicles fuel consumption… from changing the computer chip, to buying vegetable oil that chips can be cooked in!

How to save money on petrol

Image via soctech

We’ve recently been experiencing a few technical problems with our web hosting.
Apologies if you’ve had problems with the site over the last few days.
You will be glad to know that normal service has now been resumed!

Microsoft Word… it’s one of those programs that you either love or hate (and sometimes both!). If you find yourself using the program on a regular basis, then you might find the following site useful. We don’t know who Alan Wyatt is, but we think it’s mighty nice of him to go to the effort to post this information at no cost to others.

Vitalnews

Another example of an unusual product… bacon in a can!
We guess there must be a market for it somewhere!

Get yours now from MREdepot.com

via Gizmodo

If you only really use your broadband connection to surf a few basic web pages, then connection speed probably isn’t all that important. If on the otherhand, you send and receive hundreds of e-mails and regularly need to upload or download large files etc… it’s absolutely essential (especially when you have multiple users sharing a connection).

As you may have read recently, many broadband suppliers (also known as ‘ISPs or ‘internet service providers’) advertise connection speeds of up to 8mbps (mega bits per second) yet often customers do not actually get this level of service. To us, that’s a bit like advertising a sports car that does up to 100mph when in fact, on most drives, it won’t top 60!

If you’re about to come to the end of your broadband contract (or you’re simply curious about the actual speed of your connection) then you might want to head over to www.speedtest.net

Once you’re at the site, simply click on the yellow pyramid nearest to your geographical location, and watch the large ’speedometer’ calculate your speed (you may want to try this at different times of day to see if it varies). If you are on an network within an office, then remember that the results may also vary according to internet usage by your colleagues.

Once you have your result, you can compare this against other broadband providers in your region, town, county etc.

We use a company called Newnet, which is both reasonably priced, and (in our experience) reliable too. Perhaps most importantly, we actually get the close to the speed advertised (on our case, about 7kbps verses an advertised speed of 8kbps).

We never thought we would see the day where one of our headlines included the word ‘wheelbarrow’… and certainly not in the same sentence as the word ‘extreme’ (or ‘xtreme’ for that matter), but hey, life is full of surprises!

The clip is a couple of years old, but we haven’t seen it before. We’re not sure whether this is a serious sport, but one thing is for sure… do something a bit different, post it on the web, and you will certainly get noticed!

via Core 77

‘Marketing’ is getting more and more complicated. A decade or so ago, things were much more simple… stick an ad on the TV, create an outdoor campaign, buy some ad space in a few magazines… and you had a good chance of reaching your target audience. Nowadays, there are many ways to reach the consumer, and marketeers need to adapt accordingly.

Drinks bohemoth Diageo seems to understand this. At a recent investors conference, they highlighted their approach:-

1. Understand the new marketplace.
2. Adapt marketing model accordingly.
3. Know the implications.
4. Act on them.

Via Influx Branding

Although we’re based in Surrey, we often need to travel to London to meet clients etc. Whilst we prefer to take the train, there are some instances when we simply have to jump in a car. Off peak, the journey normally takes around an hour but (as anyone local will know) it only takes a minor incident (such as a broken down vehicle) to significantly delay the journey.

There are several major routes we can take into the city (A316, A3, M4 etc) so it’s handy to know if there is a problem in advance (so we can add journey time or choose an alternative route). Before we set off, we like to check out the route using live traffic webcams. This may sound like a time consuming process, but in fact, it takes nothing more than a couple of mouse clicks.

In addition, we can also check road conditions for colleagues or clients on the road. If they call to advise us that they’re “stuck in a jam”, we can look at other routes, and suggest those that are less congested.

The two main webcam sites for London are Transport For London (which is navigated using a user friendly map) and BBC London Jam Cams (where camera locations are listed alphabetically). Both sites use the same cameras, and display a still image taken usually within the last 5-15 minutes. In our experience, the TFL site is the easiest to use, and seems to be updated more frequently.

Whilst we’ve focussed on London in the above example, there are also many other other areas with live traffic cameras. KeepMoving.co.uk shows a map of England, split by region, and shows both city and motorway cameras. The BBC also has good coverage, and covers most major cities (including Scotland and Wales):-

BBC England webcams

BBC Scotland webcams

BBC Wales webcams

If there isn’t a camera listed for your route, then a quick Google search for “live traffic camera” (followed by the place name) should reveal what you’re looking for.

Also, as an added bonus, if you are familiar with Yahoo widgets or the Mac dashboard, you can download widgets and configure these to show cameras of your choice using a single keyboard button press. For example, the London cameras can be found at:-

London Traffic Cameras (Yahoo widget)

London Jam Cams (Mac dashboard widget)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When it comes to marketing, the ‘gift with purchase’ mechanic has been around for many decades (think free toys inside cereal packets). An enterprising car dealer in the USA has taken things a stage further however, with a high profile ‘guns or gas’ campaign. Simply purchase a new car, and claim your free gun or gas!

Whilst we don’t subscribe to the idea of free weapons, we have to give ‘Max Motors’ credit for devising such a clever PR stunt (gaining coverage on several TV stations, and across the internet).

The moral of the story? PR does not have to be expensive. If an idea is topical, unusual, or newsworthy, then it’s quite possible you will have people scrambling all over your business to tell your tale!

Max Motors

via BBC News

Have you ever visited a website and been greeted with the following message “404 error – file not found”?

Congratulations! You’ve encountered what’s known as a ‘dead link‘… or a page on a site that is no longer available. Think of this as an undelivered parcel… the postman attempted to deliver your package to the address on the label, but when he got there, the building had been demolished!

So how does this relate to your ‘favorites‘ folder?

If (like us) you’ve accumulated hundreds of favorites (a.k.a. ‘bookmarks’) over the last few years, it would be nice to know which of these are still ‘alive’ and which are ‘dead’. Obviously, it would be too time consuming to trawl through the list and visit each of these sites manually (just to see if they were in fact still working). Wouldn’t it be nice then, if there were a piece of software that did this for you automatically?

Well the good news is… there is! AM Deadlink is like a spring clean for your favorites folder. It looks at all of the addresses you have saved, and highlights any ‘dead’ or ‘duplicate links’.

Not only is this a great little program, but it is also free to download and use!

AM Deadlink via PC World

Image by Canon Snapper

What better way of drawing attention to yourself than ‘tapping in to’ a controversial topic or current affair? That’s exactly what Manchester band “The Get Out Clause” have done, using CCTV as their ‘headline’. This is another great example of getting great PR for minimal investment (the simple ideas often being the best). We expect that this video will turn up in current affairs programs in the future, further raising the bands profile.

Via The Telegraph

PS. We think the music sounds a lot like Coldplay… or is that just our imagination working wild?

We’ve mentioned it before, but one definition of marketing is “taking the needs and wants of consumers and meeting those needs in a profitable way”. Tesco has clearly embraced this philosophy by introducing a Polish version of their website.

“The website, accessible through www.tesco.com/polski, is in both Polish and English and is designed to showcase the retailer’s range of Polish specific products. It also has a dedicated store finder function which provides details of the nearest Tesco store that stocks Polish ranges“.

The only question we have… is this a little late? Current reports seem to be suggesting that many Poles are returning home. Either way, it’s a good example of a business that attempts to target a market that previously did not exist.

Via IGD Retail Analysis

PS. Apologies for the lack of posts over the last 2-3 weeks. We’ve been a little busy here! Normal service will be resumed shortly.

When was the last time you sat through a PowerPoint presentation and thought “wow, that was really interesting, informative, and easy to follow“? If you’re like us, it was probably a long time ago! The trouble with PowerPoint is not the software itself, but the fact that people attempt to overcommunicate, cramming far too much information on to each slide.

The expression “a picture paints a thousand words” is never more true here. A good presenter will often be able to inspire us simply by talking around a few striking images. This in turn makes the presentation more fluid, more engaging, and more memorable.

If you’re seeking a little inspiration, then head on over to SlideShare, a website where you can view other peoples presentations (and even upload one of your own).

In the meantime, here’s one which illustrates exactly what we mean:-

Image by Shermeee

You will undoubdtedly be aware of the increase in ‘internet shopping’ over the last 12 months or so. Unsurprisingly this trend is set to continue, with market researchers Key Note predicting around 30% of all future UK purchases to be made at home.

This represents a massive change in consumer spending patterns, and will affect retailers and manufacturers within a very short time frame.

All elements of the ‘marketing mix’ (product, price, place, promotion) will require review. For example, ‘on shelf’ presence is currently important for brands within a store, but how will this translate to presence on a retailer website?

Brands will undoubtedly need to focus more on internet shoppers, and may even need to completely change their packaging to adapt for delivery to the individual home.

If you haven’t yet considered the impact on your business, then it’s probably time you did! Thankfully, here at blue sky, we are experts in both retail and the web. If you would like to discuss how your brand can adapt to changing consumer behaviour, we’d be only too happy to help.

via The Retail Bulletin

Image via easyontheeye.net

We’d like to think that we’re pretty good typists, but the truth of the matter is that we never learnt to ‘touch type‘. As such we still find ourselves hunting around the keyboard for an ocassional letter or punctuation mark.

Whilst we’re busy looking at the keyboard, it means we’re not looking at the screen (as we should be) and sometimes we realise that we’ve aCCIDENTALLY hIT tHE cAPS lOCK kEY wHILST tYPING.

This is most annoying. Not only do we feel foolish for making a mistake, but then we have to take the extra time to correct our sILLY eRROR.

Thankfully there is an ‘accessability’ feature in Windows (both XP and Vista) that comes in very handy. It’s part of an application called ‘toggle keys’ (originally designed for people with vision impairment). When activated, you will hear a beep whenever the ‘CAPS LOCK’ or NUM LOCK’ key is pressed.

Simply press and hold the ‘NUM LOCK’ key for 5 seconds to activate the feature. This method will work on most machines, but if it doesn’t work for you, there’s an alternative method detailed at the How To Geek and Microsoft sites.

Obviously, you will need your speakers to be turned on, and volume turned up to hear the beep!

Image by outlan2000

Here’s a handy way to read text more quicky:-

1. Open a document, and copy the text you would like to read.
2. Visit Spreeder.com and paste the text in the box provided.
3. Click on ‘use’, and then ‘play’.
4. The text appears in a movie clip, one word at a time.

According to the authors, regular use of this technique should help you improve your overall reading speed.

Admittedly, seeing words whizz on and off screen really quickly takes a little getting used to, but after a little practise it actually becomes second nature. To make things easier (or harder!) you can change the playback speed (and size of words etc) by clicking on ’settings’.

via Lifehacker

Image by talkingplant

See if you can guess the name of the manufacturer in this new car ad.

Clearly there is a bold statement being made here. We’re not convinced that audiences will buy into the message however. Worse still, does the ad’ have a disappointing ending, which simply re-enforces a negative stereotype about the product in question? Only time will tell.

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!