Teenage Cancer Trust – raising funds for new unit at Soton, UK

Not been around for a while and busy catching up (as usual!).  Really pleased to have been able to attend the launch event for TCT  Teenage Cancer Trust

Alice Watts and her band provided some great music sessions, Sally Taylor (BBC) supported along with Nicholas, a young cancer sufferer, telling his story – positively humbling.  Good to see local broadcast and print media covering the event at The Print Room, Bournemouth.

Do take a look at the TCT site and if you think you can help – do!  The TCT is all about building specialist units that cater for teenagers diagnosed and being treated for cancer.  The latest fundraising drive is for a new unit in Southampton.  At the moment teenagers are either treated children’s wards or on adult wards usually with a much older group.

US Newspaper Group says take a week – only you won’t get paid…

Just been catching up on some media news and uncovered the fact that Gannett has told staff to take a week off unpaid before the end of March – how does this effect Newsquest colleagues here in the UK, I wonder?  See Media Guardian Deadline USA here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/deadlineusa/2009/jan/14/gannett-media-unpaid-leave

more sources of predictions for digital media in 2009

check out some video clips below – seems like its ‘back to basics’ (again) – where have I heard that before?!!

http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/21544.asp

Carl White is European CEO of ValueClick makes his predictions here:

http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/21478.asp

Friends Reunited to be written down while a Greek Entrepreneur seeks out media investment opportunities – not newspapers tho!

Just been catching on a few bits and bobs from our friends at NMA – interesting to see ITV is looking to write the value of FR down – it paid £120m for the site in 2005.  A big red pen to be used there, then!

Meanwhile, Theodore Kyriakou is reportedly looking to spend up to £2bn on UK media acquisitions. Newspapers are unlikely to be a target, apparently. Check out this story here

Holidays over and back to the keyboard!

So much more reading to do!  Have just come across this interesting article about VC investments for startups and Social Media in 2009…seems startups will struggle early on, others with Web 2.0 and Social Media  / Advertising offerings that can be readily monetized and are international in their approach will be more successful.

Looking forward to the bomo startup/meetup on January 15 – if you are interested in joining us and meeting with investment angels, entrepreneurs and those with leading edge ideas and developments – contact Luke Williams – Socialtech.biz

The mouse is 40 years old

It would seem that a small piece of wood nick-named ‘the mouse’ superceded light pens and is, itself, to be superceded by touch screens, as seen in the film Minority Report.

According to some articles I have seen today  both hardware and software developers are seeking news ways of making the interaction between people and computers more and more simple and intuitive. Hurry up!

A list of interesting facts about what we have searched for (so far) in 2008

Just found this list of what we searched for in Google in 2008!

Leonard Cohen concert  tickets were No 2 behind Oasis and ‘how to geek’ is No 1 on the How to list – with ‘how to sew’ at number 6!

Martin Lewis of MoneySavingExpert.com appears on the list of most searched-for financial sites. Barrak Obama in No 3 behind Gordon Brown and David Cameron on most searched-for politicians and the Queen is No 1 on the list of royalty!

Also: “Residents of Stevenage performed more google.co.uk searches for money-saving coupons than any other city in the UK, while the residents of Farnborough in Hampshire searched more frequently for information about the credit crunch than any other town. Searches for Icesave, the beleaguered Icelandic bank, were performed more often by the people of Watford than anywhere else in the country, while Google users in London were preoccupied with credit default swaps, the method used by financial organisations to transfer third-party credit risks between themselves.”

“Comfort food also featured heavily in a list of the UK’s most searched-for recipes, with cupcakes topping the list, closely followed by recipes for meatballs, rocky road, crumble topping, Eaton mess, pork belly, rhubarb fool, lemon posset, honeycomb and beer batter.”

This can’t be right, can it?

I have spent several days at home with my Ma this week. She is an amazing, energetic 80-year old lady. Ma likes to have options, so although she drives (well) the idea of having a free bus pass has proved appealing.

Yesterday she asked me to help her complete her application form, collected from Tandridge Council. Imagine my horror when I realised we were being asked to provide:

• Ma’s National Insurance Number,
• her address,
• her date of birth,
• her telephone number,
• a copy of her Passport info page,
• a passport photograph (non-glossy, of course)
• a copy of a recent utility bill

all this was to be placed in a brown envelope and posted to the CEO of the Council?!

No wonder that people have their identities ‘stolen’. Just why they need all this for a bus pass, Goodness only knows.

Microsoft posts – “Blogs can be a useful marketing tool”

Blogs can be a useful marketing tool

Fri, 05 Dec 2008

Small business owners can readily communicate with their customers using online blogs, it has been claimed.

Writing for SME Web, Palo Alto Software managing director Alan Gleeson says blogging has become “increasingly popular” as a means of maintaining contact with consumers.

Informal news reports and chat posted on a business website can encourage consumers to return to particular websites on a regular basis, he suggests, potentially encouraging repeat trade.

However, Mr Gleeson comments that it is essential to commit a certain amount of time and energy to maintenance, adding that firms should assess the benefits and pitfalls of blogging before embarking on such a venture.

“An empty blog sends out all the wrong signals, so someone in your company will need to commit to writing stories for the blog to ensure it remains up-to-date,” he says.

Last month, Social Media Portal co-founder and editor Rachel Hawkes said firms could use web content to enter into dialogue with their customers, contacts and the press.

Go here

.tel domain launched by Telnic

Just been alerted about this, check it out here: Telnic.org