So much achieved in one year!
Bring on the delights of 2015! Lots of interesting plans in the pipeline!
The build up to Christmas 2014 has seen an increase in online shopping with many turning to the likes of Amazon, John Lewis, Marks & Spencer to name just a few! The latter receiving so many orders that fulfillment and deliver partners just couldn’t handle the unprecedented volume this year.
The UK online stores have embraced the American idea of Black Friday, but from my experience there’s a lot of work to do to handle the traffic on the websites.
This is my story of Currys in the build up to the infamous Black Friday.
On the Wednesday I visit Currys to see if there’s any information on the deals or products that they may be running. I hit this screen… I’m placed in a queue to visit a webpage! Not seen that since I went on the BBC Last Night of the Proms ticket registration page – admittedly as the end credits were rolling!
I sit there for a while staring blankly at the loading wheel, only to reveal that I’ll be able to access the website in 6 minutes. Now bear in mind that this is at 10pm…
A little while longer, still staring at the little animated gif, to discover I’m one of a mere 12,613 people who are more than likely also staring at the the loading whole or the green progress bar. I’m left wondering how many others are thinking ‘is this really going to be worth it!’
Now I’m a patient person! A very, very, very … VERY patient person! After all this waiting I’m presented with a countdown clock of how long I have to wait until the Black Friday deals become available… I’d love to know just how many other 1000s of people waited patiently in a queue to see the countdown clock!
It’s now Friday. I’m on my way to work to many others, sitting in a crowded train making it’s way into London. Along with the vast majority I’m intently focused on my mobile screen! And clearly with an even bigger majority … in a queue to access the Currys’ Black Friday deals! With over an hour wait, suffice to stay I didn’t stay around long enough to see what number I was in the queue…
I’ve had my smart watch, Pebble, was quite a while now and still love it. I love not being so tied to my phone and feeling like I have to check my phone every few minutes. Mainly because my phone is permanently on silent and I switched the vibration off, this due to not disturbing me at work, on the train or whilst sleeping.
Since I backed Pebble on Kickstarter I always secretly wanted to hold out for the Apple Watch (or the iWatch as many believed it would be named) but nonetheless it wasn’t on the horizon despite the rumor-mill well and truly underway.
2014 saw Apple finally announce the Apple Watch but to a much disappointed crowd that it was not to surface for Christmas but early 2015! Such a disappointment, particularly with competitors no longer hot on the wheels of Apple but on this occasion Pebble!
In recent months a new technology is in Prototype phase is Cicret, suggesting that Apple’s new product launch is going to be far behind the times before it actually hits the shelves. I’m sure, along with many others, this won’t stop us queuing up or pre-ordering an Apple Watch as soon as we are able to! But ‘early 2015’? What does that actually mean?
Cicret? What’s that I hear you say? (well potentially anyway! I always hope that someone out that does actually read this far into my ramblings!) Cicret is an combination of an mobile App and a bracelet – the bracelet acts as a projector that displays a screen on your arm! The screen is touchable, clickable, interactive – and does sound incredibly futuristic. You can read more about it here – and they are certainly reiterating that it’s very much still a prototype and not available to purchase … anywhere … at all … yet! Will definitely be keeping an eye out on this little masterpiece. Yes, I am a little geeky gadget girlie!
Being a keen cyclist and runner, I’m all for safety first. Particularly when it comes to these dark evenings.
Below are some of the latest gadgets that have entered the market in the last year. Some quirky, some plain ridiculous, some gimmicky and some awesome!
Hovding airbag – £300
Icedot crash sensor – £125.99
Visijax cycle jacket – £49
Nox gear tracer360 – £59
Lightrider bike light – £29.99
Blaze laserlight – £125
Revolights – £209.70
The closca helmet – flat cap, burberry, baseball, denim – £50
Saw this video on Instagram and had to share! Such a simple straight forward technique yet so effective. And the top coat gives it that extra punch of colour!
http://instagram.com/p/miqgg5jBTS/
https://gist.github.com/filmgirl/5826146
Life is short. If there was ever a moment to follow your passion and do something that matters you, that moment is now,
Scott Baio – Bugsy Malone
Florrie Dugger – Blousey Brown
Jodie Foster – Tallulah
Dexter Fletcher – Baby Face
Bonnie Langford – Lena Merelli
Mark Curry – The Producer
Andrew Paul РO̢۪Dreary
John Cassisi – Fat Sam
Martin Lev – Dandy Dan
Full article available
With the busy lifestyles we lead it’s becoming increasingly the norm to arrange a special night with your loved one. In a bid to rekindle the flame or simply to have a chance to spend some much needed quality time together!
It’s a phrase that is common place with couples but not a term I ever heard my parents say! So why has date night become a much needed break from routine in today’s society?
Modern day life sees us now constantly in touch with everyone by mobile calls, text messages, emails, voicemail, tweets, Facebook, skype, snapchat, instagram, whatsapp, viber… To be honest the list goes on… And then some. Be it on the train, on the bus, walking down the highstreet more often than not you’ll see people head’s down on their phones tirelessly scrolling down for constant updates… On other people’s activities… Rarely stopping to actually engage with anyone… When did it become acceptable to simply be informed about someone’s life than actually be a physically part of it? Or is it acceptable?
Do we accept sitting down to watch the television in the evening only to discover that the titles of your favourite show are going up and you can’t recall any content of the show? Or sitting down for dinner with the family only for phone’s to beep and be checked throughout the meal?
We clutch to them like we do our wallets! These little devices we hold so dear to our hearts are creating the future generations on non-engagement!
We try and escape them for holidays to have down time from digital engagement. There are holiday retreats now available to help you concur your fears of spending time away from the ‘social digital world.’
Is this the future? Do we really have to take away time from everyday reality to escape the digital world or will we ever successfully integrate it into to our everyday with the fear of addiction?
Are date nights the start of the reversal process taking us back to being socially engaging beings capable of slowing our pace to physically communicate?
Doing the rounds on social media a while back was this awe inspiring video and if you’ve scrolled this far then what’s an extra few minutes to watch this!
As some of probably my closer friends are aware I’m a fan of a number of vloggers, some of which have been making the papers and receiving more media attention over the last year. One of which is the Saccone-Jolys, aka LeFloofTV.
These guys are just great and a joy to watch each day at 6pm when Jonathan publishes the daily vlogs.
The latest article is in the Telegraph Magazine and gives a great insight into what their vlog channel is all about, and you can read for yourself.
Or watch their introduction vlog below:-
More of a ‘note to self’ but after mush Googling, I’ve finally manged to remove the rather annoying mobile theme that was applied when I added Jetpack to this site.
Still very much work in progress, and more Googling and tinkering required but the mobile view is now looking at lot better – Phew!
Here’s the link for anyone else that may be struggling – WordPress Support
