Top 10 Predictions for 2009 - An update!

Hi blogfans !

Thought it was time to update the blog properly as it's been a while. Firstly, how you doing? Can you believe it's mid-August already? It's kind of crept up on me that's a fact. In one way though, it's also given a bit of a boot to some of the projects that have been floating around for a while. Currently in production are 3 e-commerce shops, a couple of new hosting clients and another site for a church and community centre. Will just comment on one of these for now... for the online shops, Open Cart is amazing. An easy to use and fully comprehensive open source cart solution that I have been shouting about and recommending all week. As a result, most of the old e-commerce shops I've done are being quickly replaced with Open Cart. It's that good!

Anyway, I actually thought it was about time I reviewed my top 10 predictions for 2009. There's still a few months to go, but some of these will now not come off, so a good time to review to see what's left... here goes...

10. Apple will launch a new version of the iphone... probably a Nano and an upgrade to the proper one (better camera), and probably just after I've finally got hold of mine (still not got one)

They DID! I've got one, and it's the best gadget I've ever bought (and I've bought LOADS!). No Nano version though, and I'd also suggest that it will be available on other networks soon so the price should become a bit nicer.

9. Twitter will become the new social networking phenomenon - although Facebook will continue to grow

Erm... totally 100% correct, and becoming more correct by the day.

8. Google will do something new and exciting... much to Microsoft's annoyance

Nothing too major, although the recent Yahoo/Microsoft deal may have worked the other way... I doubt it though... Google is too big... and too good... to worry about it's position in search.

7. Andy Murray will win a Grand Slam... but it won't be Wimbledon

Half right in that he didn't win Wimbledon, but I think his chance has gone anywhere else this year.

6. Blur will ROCK Glastonbury!

Oh they so did!!! I was there, they were awesome... as were Ting Tings, Dizzee, The Specials, Madness, Rolf, Pendulum (wow!) and Lamb. Red Snapper should shoot their sound guy, and get their smoke machine fixed.. shame coz I love those guys.

5. Liverpool will win the Premier League... just.

Erm no. Rubbish. And I don't think they will this season. We needed Owen to come home NOT go to Manchester.

4. Lewis Hamilton will successfully defend his F1 Drivers title - and pick up the BBC Sports Personality award at the 3rd attempt

This is also looking a bit shaky... although he is back to a bit of form at the moment. Nah... think it's a case of come on Jenson now. Great start for Brawn, hope they can recover. Same goes for Felipe Massa. Shocking injury and hope he's back soon.

3. Netbooks will become the new must-have gadget

Not sure that they're as sought after as I thought they might be. Know a couple of people with them... they're a bit slow but great value and I really like the idea of them. Have to suggest that the iphone is a better bet though... hardly use my laptop these days as the phone can do it all.

2. The Ting Tings will release their 2nd album towards the end of the year... and it'll be even better than their first

Not heard anything so far, although know they're in the studio. Will keep my eyes peeled for a release date.

1. Even though it's 10 years old, the great british public will STILL be transfixed by Big Brother all summer...

I'm not... neither are my friends... is anyone else? Yaaaawwwwn!

So I reckon so far I'm only on about 30%... pretty appalling really. Let's see what the next few months brings. For chokestudio, it looks like it'll be busy. Will also be doing some new music. As Apollo 440 once said "let's get back to the rock!"

Enjoy the rest of the summer.

The busy week ahead

Morning all,

Well the start if another week, and as I lie here unable to sleep I can't help but smile at the new found creative streak I've found. True, the past few months have been a bit of a lull, but chokestudio is back!!

Between now and the end of the year there's 3 new websites to get built and finally (partly inspired by Glastonbury) some music will actually get finished!!

So stay tuned, comment on the blog, follow chokestudio on Twitter, become a fan on facebook... However you want to stay in touch!!

By the way, the next post will review the top 10 predictions for the year made back in January. Could be interesting to see how wrong I was!!

Happy Mondays!

Phil


--
Posted to chokeblog via chokefone

My new favourite toy

Hi blog readers,

Well it has been a while and I hope this finds you well. This is just a quick post to show off how cool the iPhone is and to test my new blogging app. Seriously, I can't see why anyone would want another phone. Although it's playing havoc with my sleep pattern and needs charging at least once a day. Some great apps though and great to have all my music, video, networking and communication in the palm of my hand. Glad I went for 32gb, although after 12 years of getting free upgrades, having to pay £175 and ending up on a 24 month contract is not ideal. I think it's just about worth it though.

Anyway, next I'll finally get round to posting the tales from my Glastonbury adventure. Truly amazing week.

Bye for now

Phil


-- Post From My iPhone

25% of 2009... gone already!

Hi chokefans!

Can you believe that we're almost a quarter of the way through 2009 already!?! Bonkers!

So... how we all doing so far? Still on track to set out what you wanted to achieve this year? No... me neither. One thing that has been reinforced to me so far this year though is that life has a funny knack of beating you back every now and then - and when you're least expecting it. Whether it's work, play, family or friends - not everything will turn out as you plan it. It becomes a question of how you cope, and what experiences, resources and inspiration you draw on to help get you through it.

More importantly it's about the people around you and how they can support and help you. You do need to realise however that your demeanour can affect those people, and that in many ways, you can help yourself. Walk round with a face like thunder, staring at the floor and people will stay out of your way, and you'll get left alone to worry about all your little problems on your own. You won't get anything done because you'll be so wound up, and have nothing to distract you from all your stresses. Keep your pecker up however while still smiling and remaining interested in everyone around you and you're likely to get the same response back from people just when you need it. That little pick me up from the person who you held the door open for yesterday. Put a smile on someone's face today, and they'll lend you that 10p you need for a coffee tomorrow (without which it would probably just tip you over the edge!)

It's this sort of attitude that I'm determined to bear in mind over the coming months - and one that was inspired for the most part by a bloke I met called Paul Stalker. I'd really encourage you to read his story and sign up to his emails. Check out his website at www.paulstalkereffect.com 

So a bit of a departure from the usual sort of topics for this update, but hopefully still useful for you. See you next time!

P.S: Liverpool to win the Premier League? I think this prediction is back on... don't forget to keep your eye on the rest of my top 10 predictions for 2009 from the first blog post of this year.

The busy lives we lead

Hi people!

Hope you're all well. As I write this I'm catching up with Heroes at gone midnight anticipating another busy week in the office. I've spent the weekend chatting to friends online, watching the football, cooking, listing a few items on ebay and doing a bit of creative work for a client. Sounds like I've been busy doesn't it? Truth is, I haven't really moved from the sofa. All of which has got me thinking about whether the level of expectation on all of us in the 21st Century is greatly increased because of technology?

It's true communication is so much more instant, and we literally have the world at our fingertips, but it does have it's downsides. Would the stresses of the current economic situation really be so much if we didn't have 24 hour news channels and the power of the internet? Who knows? Maybe, but what was wrong with the good old News At Ten? The other factor is our daily stress is the apparent need to blur the lines between work and play as we strive to "stay connected".  This has got to the point where we can no longer switch off. Now the computer is not at a fixed place in the house, we're on Facebook every day, email all the time, we've all got sore thumbs from constant texting and we're Twittering every few minutes... but why not just take the time to sit down with a coffee and pick up the phone? 

I spoke to a friend this evening who I haven't spoken to do for over 10 years. We'd been chatting on Facebook for a few months, but even so it felt very odd to be talking to her again. Next time it won't, but it did make me realise that I've stopped calling my friends, stopped sitting down on a Sunday with the papers, stopped popping out for a quick pint with a mate. So from now on I'm going to try harder, and make sure I do all of these things more often... you'll probably be able to read about it on Facebook, Twitter and here on the blog :)

Enjoy the week ahead !

The world has gone Twitter crazy

A bit of a late one today, but I felt I had to comment on the latest news on Twitter (my number 1 prediction for 2009 as you'll remember).

Well, it looks like this year will certainly be the year of Twitter. Not only have Jonathan Ross, Scott Mills and Stephen Fry been talking about it extensively, it's made the news a lot this week - and from what I hear the website has got a big pot of cash to play with to really get out and sell itself - although after this week, they probably don't need to. I just hope it's not going to be abused by corporate land like Facebook has (I can hardly complain given I work in corporate land, 9 to 5). Anyway, I really do hope that the simpler, cleaner nature of what it does means that it won't try to become something more complicated because that would ruin the whole thing.

But all of this makes me wonder, how will we manage all these social apps and websites that we're now surrounded by? At least one of my Twitter followers has already commented on this, and although there are ways to link some of these together, I guess the question is... do you need to? Is it really that different from having a telephone on your desk at work, with your email client open and people constantly asking you irrelevant questions (and the occasional relevant one) while you're clearly busy? The way we're absorbing media at home these days, together with the increase in broadband take up, and the lower price and increased power of laptops means that you can sit at home in the evenings, watching TV and still keep up to date with everything that's going on in the world, with everyone in the world. (Incidentally, as I type, I'm blogging, twittering, facebook-ing, emailing,  watching, and losing - money on the football). 

We do things in parallel, not series anymore. We're a multi-tasking, multi-channel, multi-talented, multi-media generation and the world is getting smaller with every tweet and status update we send or receive. Given the current economic climate... who can afford to fly anywhere anyway???

P.S: to follow chokestudio on Twitter, and see the latest tweets, see the panel on the right

Top 10 Predictions for 2009

Good evening one and all!

Two posts in a week... goodness!

I thought I'd better stick my stakes in the ground and jot down my predictions for 2009. Both professionally and otherwise and before it gets too late.

So here goes with my top 10 predictions for 2009...

10. Apple will launch a new version of the iphone... probably a Nano and an upgrade to the proper one (better camera), and probably just after I've finally got hold of mine (still not got one)

9. Twitter will become the new social networking phenomenon - although Facebook will continue to grow

8. Google will do something new and exciting... much to Microsoft's annoyance

7. Andy Murray will win a Grand Slam... but it won't be Wimbledon

6. Blur will ROCK Glastonbury!

5. Liverpool will win the Premier League... just.

4. Lewis Hamilton will successfully defend his F1 Drivers title - and pick up the BBC Sports Personality award at the 3rd attempt

3. Netbooks will become the new must-have gadget

2. The Ting Tings will release their 2nd album towards the end of the year... and it'll be even better than their first

1. Even though it's 10 years old, the great british public will STILL be transfixed by Big Brother all summer...

Feel free to comment with some of your own! We'll all compare notes same time next year and see how we did.

It's not just about your website in 2009

Well, hopefully by now you're getting through the post-Christmas lull, which is fast becoming as traditional as a large turkey with all the trimmings. You're probably sat reading this amid all the latest headlines of economic doom and gloom, (unless of course you've been reading the football pages and all the latest potential transfer fees that seem totally at odds with the rest of the planet). Against all of this backdrop, I do hope that you're still looking forward to the forthcoming year, and haven't given up the enthusiasm and passion for your online business, because according to many, this is the time for online to shine!

Don't take this for granted however. Just because your website is seeing increased visits, your conversion rate is still high, and all on the face of it looks good, now more than ever you need to make sure you've got the right business sitting behind it. There have been many examples recently of businesses with nicely presented 'shop windows', whether they're online, a friendly call centre or an actual shop window - but they've let down their customers with fulfillment, customer service, product quality or any of the other 'moments of truth' that can actually define a good customer experience and make them come back for more. It's the last bit of their journey that your customers will remember and at the moment, with all the other stresses in their lives, they really don't need any more.

So take this time to not only tidy the shop but really scrutinise the whole end to end customer journey. Make sure you're delivering on your promises and getting the best value for money from all your suppliers - but don't cut corners! Your customers will really appreciate an arm round them and it doesn't have to cost you the earth. Their overall loyalty will repay you many times over, and best of all they'll tell their friends - still the cheapest and most reliable form of marketing for your business.