Category Archives: Personal

(20)12 predictions from the CMS frontline

Around this time last year, I wrote a predictions piece about how the content technologies arena might develop during 2011 from the perspective of a CMS practitioner. I called it (20)11 predictions from the CMS coal face and it received some encouraging feedback.

Back then I was writing from the relatively comfortable position as an employee and approaching the Christmas break knowing that I had a job to go back to in the New Year and that the bills for the ‘present mountain’ and over-consumption of food and alcohol would all be covered.

This year is different …

Continue reading →

11.11.11 – The start of something

On 11.11.11 I launched a new venture called Webwiser – http://www.webwiser.co.uk @webwiserUK – a stake in the ground for something that I hope will grow to be worthwhile and fulfilling. I think this particular date had been planted in my head through a blog post I wrote earlier this year about my car hitting the 111111 mile mark and it being an omen of some sort. I’m sure this is a self-fulfilling prophecy but the timing for this move felt right for quite a number of reasons.

Anyway, it seems others had the idea of using this numerically significant date to make announcements… Continue reading →

BT – super fast, super efficient !

hmmm – these are not words I have associated with our national telecoms behemoth in the past and much as I enjoy a rant over poor customer service and corporate inefficiencies I have to say that on this very rare occasion I write in praise of my recent experiences.

After many years of pedestrian home broadband service, frustratingly right on the edge of the Virgin Media network but seemingly too far for them to shift a bit of dirt in my direction, I am now enjoying ‘superfast’ BT Infinity.

By way of an instant example of the difference, my wife recommended I watched a particular sequence of Ice Road Truckers: Deadliest Roads the other evening before the Infinity install. The bit she wanted to show me was about half way through the 45 minute episode and she had to wait at least 10 minutes for it to load from the Demand 5 service. Contrast that with the BBC iPlayer demo the BT engineer gave after install where a 1 hour programme loaded instantly and he was able to play the beginning, middle and end of it in a matter of seconds.

Not only am I delighted with the service speeds, and have almost doubled my Drupal development activities during the morning ;), but the whole experience in ordering the service, receiving the equipment and getting it installed has not only been fast but also ‘super efficient’!

BT has made excellent use of the web, email, text message, phone and post to keep me informed every step of the way from switching my lines back to them from ‘Talk Crap‘ (a not so pleasant telecoms experience where they shot themselves in the foot spectacularly by phoning me relentlessly to get me to buy new stuff), to arranging the engineer’s visit and then following everything up.

Well done BT!

Can we afford such a cosseted society?

For the last 15 months or so, I’ve been taking my life in my hands on my daily commute to and from work. My chosen route takes me along a notorious stretch of road in the Hampshire countryside. Judging by what I seen with my own eyes, the warnings are justified. Firstly, if the regular collections of roadside flowers and ‘CRASH’ appeal signs are anything to go by, at least 5 people have lost their lives during the time I have been travelling this route.

Now, granted I don’t know the particular details of each fatality but I have seen how stupidly people can choose to drive and ride along this road. For ‘petrolheads’ and ‘speedfreaks’ it is what you would describe as an excellent ‘recreational’ road, with twisting corners, gradients and long sweeping sections.

Next time I am on a motorbike I am going to make a point of riding this road and I am well aware I will be doing so at my own risk. If I ride dangerously and ‘don’t’ think about what I’m doing I expect to do damage either to myself, the bike, another person or all of these. I expect to have to take responsibility for these actions.

What I don’t expect however is if I should kill myself through stupid actions that the local authorities will spend countless thousands on adding more warning signs, resurfacing the road in pretty colours, writing ‘slow’ on every corner and putting padding around telegraph poles. Continue reading →

iCar = Efficient + Intelligent + Fun

When I first started my current role in the automotive industry last year, I met with a bunch of publishers to understand more about the industry and how the media were covering it. Towards the top of the list was Future Publishing with titles like Fast Bikes, Fast Car and Redline and well known car mod events such as TRAX, JapFest and FordFair.

Fast forward 12 months and Future has just launched Issue One of iCar described as ‘The Definitive Guide to More Efficient Motoring’ and with a tagline of Efficient, Intelligent, Fun.

Now, there are posts on this blog that make it clear I like ‘fast’ and I like ‘fun’ however, having attended a few of these car mod events in the last year, I have to be brutally honest and say that the words ‘Efficient’ and ‘Intelligent’ would be pretty low down the list of adjectives I’d associate with them. Therefore, reading the manifesto of the iCar editorial team is like taking a breath of fresh (exhaust fume free) air… Continue reading →