fergyboi

As we gracefully move into a new decade, I’ve been reading a number of articles looking back over the last 10 years and how things have changed over that time.

Information technology and how we use it has truly transformed peoples lives over the last 10 years. The widespread adoption of the PC, broadband internet and the mobile phone have given people a whole new way to interact with the world.

What surprises (although probably shouldn’t) is how it’s the technology guys that have pushed this change onto traditional industries. For example, Apple (a computer company) revolutionised the music industry, both with the iPod and iTunes downloads, Amazon (an online book retailer) have created the most disruptive piece of technology to the literary world since the invention of the printing press – the kindle. Google (an internet search engine) have developed a brand new open source internet browser, mobile device operating system and computer operating system (among many, many other things).

Out of the few short examples above, it amazes me how the industry leaders of 1999 have let this happen and responded so inadequately. The music industry has spent its time and money suing people who download music thinking that 1 lawsuit will stop 1 million downloaders. Perhaps it could have spent its time looking at how and why people were downloading and how it could capitalise on it, rather than how it was suffering from it.

Similarly, the film industry has been incredibly slow in adopting to new market trends. 10 years ago you had to wait months or years for a film to move from the cinema to video or TV – now it’s weeks or months. Is that all it can manage in 10 years? Let’s see the film industry itself find new ways of satisfying it’s customers by looking at the core aim of the industry, rather than being disgruntled by how other people are changing it. The consumers are changing things because the industry doesn’t.

It’s the same story with book publishers and countless other industries and products. Established players lose perspective and open the door for outsiders to come in and revolutionise their industry. Theodore Levitt wrote a fantastic article in the 1960′s about companies should see themselves in the bigger picture, and orientate themselves towards the customer and their needs, rather than the other way around. For example, oil companies should see themselves as energy companies and should be the biggest investors in renewable energy. For one reason or another, this still doesn’t seem to be happening for many established organisations. I’m not sure why – perhaps the people at the top are complacent, perhaps they’re too stuck in their ways…who knows. What I do know, is that those who can’t see change and adapt to it, will fail.

I’m glad that I’m running a young business that looks at things differently. Perhaps that’s why I look at things this way, or perhaps I run such a business because I look at things this way. Retail is moving online in a big way, and the next decade will see transformation in the way we buy and physically acquire goods and services. I look forward to being a part of that change in some way…and hopefully seeing it coming with enough foresight to adapt to it.

I wish everyone peace and prosperity in the new year.

My brother was kind enough to send me a Google Wave invitation a few weeks ago…and I’m pretty impressed with it so far. However, I have one small downside…I only have 1 contact so far!

So…do you have access to Google Wave? If so…add me…!

Contact me and I’ll let you know the email address that I’m signed up with.

I’ve posted at least a couple of times before regarding the current payment structure for most media, and how I see the current model as being largely outdated.

There are a number of services which offer some great alternatives. I’ve not tried them all, indeed I couldn’t try some of them such as Spotify as they have a limited membership at the moment.

However, I have tried Grooveshark and I find it pretty cool. It plays quickly, has a nice interface and you can tell it if you like or dislike a song, and it should offer similar music that it hopes you’ll like. In reality, I’ve not tried it out for long enough to know how good it is at recommending sogns, but it’s still a pretty neat service. You can pay an optional $3 a month to remove the ads – which seems fair!

One major downside I’ve noticed so far is the management of music. Songs are not well categorised into albums, so a search for an artist will reveal more than 1 entry of a particular track, with slightly different names (ie 01 Track Name, Track Name, Traack Name etc). This is a bit of a fundamental mistake IMHO – proper management of their library would result in significantly less space on their services, and a much easier to use service.

I have heard that they now offer a downloadable desktop app to manage the process for you, and it’s meant to be a bit faster than the browser version, however, it’s not prominently advertised on the site and I haven’t tried to find it.

Want unlimited music for free, any time? Try Grooveshark.

Flash has not been working properly since I first installed Ubuntu 9.04 a few weeks ago. I tried numerous fixes including this, this, and a few more.

However, rather than Googling ‘flash not working ubuntu 9.04′, I though that perhaps I should try looking at how to get flash working on Ubuntu 9.04 rather than focussing on why it’s not working. My search revealed success via this article.

Fantastic…now the iPlayer is working, I can access the menus in AdWords and Analytics (somewhat vital to my job!) and a host of other great things.

EDIT: the link to the article that solved my problem was incorrect, it’s now updated.

EDIT 2: this did not permanently fix my flash issue. Will update once I find a solution.

I was shocked last night to hear about Michael Jackson’s death.

In my opinion he was the greatest recording artist to have ever lived. His Thriller album is the biggest selling album of all time.

He was undeniably a troubled man, and may he rest in peace. My thoughts are with his family.

Just launched a new site focussing on my recent problems with Yell Ltd.

You can find it here: yellscam.org.

It was an enjoyably easy process! I use Media Temple as my hosting service, and they offer a 1-click wordpress install! Fantastic. It’s not the latest version, but once installed, it’s a 1-click upgrade process, and a 1-click template install process! Couldn’t be simpler.

From buying the domain, to having a live working site was less than 20 minutes in total!

Once up and running, I checked some search terms – it was ranking first for yellscam.org, yell scam, yell advertising scam within 2 days!

I’m pleased to see that other terms such as Yell CEO are also ranking in the top ten already!

If you know someone that advertises on yell.com – you might want to tell tham about this issue.

I was given a Celtic hip flask for my 21st birthday, and I reckon that they’re a hugely popular birthday gift for young and old men and women alike.

In case you’re not sure what they are:

Hip flasks are vessels used to carry a small amount of liquid on ones person. They are usually made from pewter or stainless steel and are traditionally designed to carry alcoholic spirits such as whisky, rum, Scotch or whatever takes the owner’s fancy!

They come in a range of sizes, the most popular of which is the 6oz size which carries enough for a few shots of your favourite tipple. Small flasks are great for sliding in the top pocket of a jacket or blazer, or for squeezing into small purses or bags. Larger flasks have the obvious advantage of holding more liquid and therefore can provide greater utility to the drinker! Some even come with nip cups built into the flask to provide the perfect accessory for bringing in the bells come Hogmanay!

They also come in a range of shapes which are designed for different uses. The classic curved shape with square corners is the ‘Hip Flask‘ or ‘Kidney flask’ shape. A flattened out version with rounder corners is known as a ‘Pocket Flask’ as it slides in and out of pockets easier. Smaller flasks are often tall and slim to slip into top pockets or ladies purses. And of course, like anything else, there are a multitude of special shapes including round flasks, grip shaped flasks, heart shaped flasks and many more.

They are generally made from Pewter, in Sheffield, England – the home of pewter. Pewter is an alloy of tin and a few other materials. It’s very lightweight and gives a good shine with fairly little effort. It’s perfectly safe to drink from as today’s pewter is lead-free. Some flasks are also made in Stainless steel – particularly leather bound hip flasks.

I took out an advertising program on yell.com in November 2008 that cost me roughly £1750 exc VAT for 1 year.

The basis of that program was that my ad would appear in their search results under certain search criteria. They show 10 results per page, so my ad would be on the 1st page roughly 10/total advertisers on a random basis. IE, if there were 100 advertisers i would appear roughly 10/100=10% of the time.

Earlier this year, they changed their systems to offer what they call ‘heavyweight’ listings and normal ‘mediumweight’ listings. All listings are mediumweight, unless you pay an additional fee to become a heavyweight listing.

The search results still show 10 results per page, but now show up to 6 heavyweight listings at the top, followed by 4 or more mediumweight listings. Therefore, by chances of appearing on the front page have been reduced from 10/total to only 4/total; or, if there are 100 advertisers, from 10% to 4%.

I called to enquire about this change on the 20th April 2009. I was unsure as to whether this was a breach of contract, so I had asked for someone to point me to the relevant section of their T&Cs. I was called back 15 days later, on the 5th May 2009 and directed to their terms and conditions.

Point 10 states:

we may modify Yell.com or any of the Services from time to time without prior notice but in so doing we will try not to diminish the value and utility of the Services to any material degree. If we consider, acting reasonably, that such modification is likely to have a serious detrimental effect on your financial position, we will notify you of such modification and you shall have the option to:

1. agree to the modification and continue to receive the Services; or
2. terminate the Services and you will be entitled to a refund of that part of any Charges you have already paid to us and which relates to a period after the date that the Services have terminated.

Fundamentally, I believe this to seriously diminish the value and utility of my advertising program and was not offered either of these options when the new system was introduced. I voiced my opinion to the person on the phone and asked for my payments from the date of introduction to be refunded. I was told they would not be.

I then asked if yell.com believe this change could seriously diminish the value and utility of the service offered, I was told it did not. I then asked for that statement in writing – specifically, that a drop of up to 60% in adverts appearing on the front page was not a serious decline in value and utility. I was told that I could not have that information in writing by the person I was dealing with. However, they did offer to consult with the legal team to have a statement prepared and would get back to me when it was completed.

I would like to point out that it was at this point that my wild sense of humour kicked in and I asked when they thought that might be. As it had taken 15 days for them to reply the first time, would it take another 15 days? Would it take 2 years? Or would it take 60% longer than the first time – if so, I might consider that to be a serious drop in value and utility of their customer service! I also asked the representative if they knew if the letter would be written in full, or if i’d only get 40% of the words on the page. I was told that they did not know how to answer that question!

As of time of writing, I am waiting to find out what the response from their legal team will be, although the personal oppinion of their representative was that I would not have my payments refunded. I am waiting with baited breath.

I read about this in the Metro this morning…and reckon it’s definitely worth 5 minutes of your day!

Danny MacAskill riding around Edinburgh.

There are a couple of great articles which thoroughly explore how to remove the Windows Genuine Advantage Notification popups that appear, including this one.

However, i couldn’t find anything to help you remove the wgasetup file, the Windows Genuine Advantage Notification Installer when it has been downloaded but not installed.

To do so, follow these steps:

1. Reboot in safe mode (press F8 repeatedly on restart)
2. Search for wga* to find all files with wga in the filename. Remove wgasetup.exe file – probably located in C:\Windows\Prefetch
3. Restart and enjoy.

Please note this post is not intended to help people copy Microsoft software and this website does not support such behaviour.