Not Just AJAX

Apples $46.33 Billion Quarter Earnings

sean.connolly@potissimus.co.uk (Sean J Connolly) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:54:17 PST

It is a nice think to here that in the current climate of doom and gloom, there is a light in the tunnel. Not at the end yet but at least its there.

You may or may not have heard but Apple has just reported a massive $46.33 billion revenue for the last quarter of 2011, thank mainly to the huge sales of the iPhone 4S not to mention the sales of the iPad.

As you can guess all of these are way beyond anyones estimations, and I have to say this is great news especially with the recent passing of Steve Jobs, I think he would be very proud of the company.

So whats wrong with this?
Now I ask you a question, if Apple has made a huge $13.06 billion profit for this period from the $46.33 billion sales, you have to ask where has all this money come from. I mean every news article you read or see is about people losing their jobs, companies going bust. So in these "so called" hard times where is this money coming from.

After all most of the people who have bought the new iPhone 4S probably already had the old iPhone, and if you look at the typical user they tend to be people who see their phone as a toy, and in some if not most cases are your typical single mum or benefit scrounger.

So I ask you, can the world not see that people have more money than they are making out, and lets use this Apple success as the true judge of the economies of the world and start getting things back on track.

For more info on Apples great news go to http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/01/24Apple-Reports-First-Quarter-Results.html

Thanks Sean J Connolly FaceBook Me - Visit AJAX Web Development Store BuzzProperties.co.uk - Online Property Sales and Letting

BlackoutSOPA - Web Support against SOPA

sean.connolly@potissimus.co.uk (Sean J Connolly) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:18:55 PST

With the current support for SOPA being testing and as more and more online giants put their weight behind the opposition of SOPA, I think that its time people said where do they fit in the whole SOPA arguement.

What is SOPA

Firstly if you dont know what SOPA is its the Stop Online Piracy Act that US congress are planning to turn into legislation, and in essence it makes sharing information online a bit more difficult, as under SOPA any websites showing copyrighted content without the owners permission will be liable for the infringement. However apart from that bit of the act the rest of it makes sense.

We need more protection from online pirates, especially in todays society where the majority of people who work in IT, particulary as web developer, designers etc carry out a lot of copyright theft, taking code from sites passing it off as their own, stealing designs. Basically in the last 10 years there has been an influx of companies claiming they can do something when they cant, they get awarded work they shouldn't and simply use the internet to find the coding they need, then pass it off as their own work. THIS MUST STOP.

Where Do I Stand

I am in support of the essence of SOPA in we need better controls to protect our hard work, yet at the same time we do not want sites such as Wikipedia, Reddit and others to be blamed for hosting copyrighted materials. This in my view is the key, we need to all work together and if a site hosts copyrighted material, they should take it down as soon as they are made aware of it, and be willing to pass details of the people on to authorities, after all civil protection doesn't give you the right to break the law.

So will I be bringing my websites down on Wednesday, No. But I do support this action in part at least.

If you have not heard of SOPA or want to know more about it, check out my other blog article on SOPA http://notjustajax.blogspot.com/2011/11/stop-online-piracy-act-sopa.html

Thanks
Sean J Connolly
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Crimes Does Pay

sean.connolly@potissimus.co.uk (Sean J Connolly) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:42:00 PST

Ok I am going to start this blog with a bit of a quiz. Look at the picture below and try to guess who you think is in the photo and where you think it is taken.

people working in an office?

Ok times up. Some of the people in the photo are infact inmates being held at HMP Wolds, which is a prison just south of York.

WTF. you may be crying and you would be right. this is exactly what I thought when I heard about this whole thing, to give you the whole story I am going to start from the beginning.

Where it all Began.

So there I was just going about my business when I got a call from an agency about some business analyst contract work in Yorkshire, so I said yeah that sounds like something I would do, so they emailed over the details.

Now normally at this point I get some job specs and information on who the job is for, and on this occasion there was nothing out of the normal I got the email containing the job specs and the name and web address of the company in question. So I did what I normally do and took a look online at the company's website.

On my arrival at the company's website I was shocked to find that the company specialises in everything from affiliate marketing to online consulting and has done this for some of our major household brands, including Argos, TopShop and 3.

So What You Might be Saying.

Well, and this will shock you. This company actually uses convicted criminals to do this work, granted only a small portion of the 100+ staff are actually convicted criminals, but the fact that any of the staff are convicts is absolutely appalling.

The name of this company is Summit Media - www.summit.co.uk

So How Does This Firm Work

The way the firm operates is that it takes convicted criminals, normally ones who have been given long sentences, which normally means they have committed serious crimes in the first place, and gets these people to work for the company as part of a so called rehabiliation program. The work they do can be anything from working directly with clients, developing internet marketing strategies to anything else you can think of that happens in a typical new media marketing firm.

There is a list as long as your arm for inmates wanting to work there, as unlike other inmates who have to do manual labour as part of their punishment, these people actually get to work for an IT firm gaining free education and in reality rather than spend say 10 years in prison are actually spending 10 years gaining experience working in an IT firm, so on release they can claim to having 10 years experience rather than simply saying they have been in prision for 10 years.

Now to me this is so messed up, as we have graduates who are leaving universities and colleges with qualifications and unable to find a job, and you would think that this firm is using people who already have some form of IT experience or qulaifications and you would be wrong, as stated by Managing Director - Hedley Aylott

"We’re looking for people with the right attitude, for those who really put themselves out and are highly motivated. We don’t necessarily choose people for how much they know.”

So they are not only using convicted criminals, but convicted criminals who do not have any skills or experience in either IT or the internet.

More insults

Now to add insult to what is already a whole load of crap, the company actually has an office in Prague, while you may be thinking so what. Well this division was set up by Tomas Honz, who back in 1996 was convicted of heroin smuggling and convicted to 26 years in prison, and yes he did not serve 26 years. During his time in prison he worked with this firm, gained an Open University Degree and after being released early he was deported back to Prague where he setup the company's Prague office. He is now one of the senior members of the company working as its Technical Director. No wonder on the company's website he states he has been to every European country as he worked as a coach driver when he was convicted of drug smuggling.

For the full story on this pillar of society go to http://www.independent.co.uk/news/turkish-gang-jailed-for-heroin-smuggling-1307866.html

The company is doing so well that it has moved its head office out of the prison to a farm just up the road, and again it still employs convicts at this location. So each day these convicted criminals go to work at the head office and travel back to the prison in the evening, its almost like they are just being given somewhere to live for free by the government, although the place they have been given to stay in comes with additional facilities such as gyms, pool tables, fitness equipment, games consoles, etc.

So What Would I Do

I have read loads of articles online about this company, and the main emphasis seems to be on the lines of the firm getting cheap labour and it being unfair on the prisoners, this to me is way off the mark and infact just total crap.

Firstly you should not get anything for being in prison, but you should be made to work to repay your debt to society, infact inmates get paid between £10-35 per week for working whilst in prison.

The solution is simple STOP REWARDING PEOPLE FOR BAD BEHAVIOUR if someone commits a crime and is given a custodial sentence they should be punished, so they dont want to do crime again and end up back in prison. I do not believe in giving inmates training, skills, education as a means to stop reoffending, as due to the current easy life convicts get they are happy to reoffend, in order to get back to having a TV, Playstation etc all of which you need to earn in the outside world.

I strongly believe that if we went back to the Victorian style of prison cell, people would not be so quick to reoffend.

Courtesy of http://blog.travelpod.com/

I simply think that the solution is actually in giving shorter sentences, but with much harsher prisons, so rather than giving people free stuff for being in prison, they should be punished and dont want to go back.

In Closing

So with the economy in the toilet and the government putting up university fees, people are finding it harder and harder to get a start in life, and where as in the outside world if you want to get employed your have to find the job yourself, or pay for your own education. The convicted criminals in our prisons rather than being punished are rewarded, and not only by having shorter sentences, but when they are convicted and given a custodial sentence they get education, including being offered Open University degrees that would cost £5000 per year in the outside world, the chance to work in an IT and sleep in cells.

Sleeping in cells sounds bad until you realise that in prison you even get provided with items such as games consoles, TV's, etc again all of which if you want in the outside world you have to work for and buy yourself, especially given that in order to have a TV you need a license for it.

UK prisoner Playing on Playstation in Cell

The above image is taken from http://www.switched.com/2008/08/07/u-k-tax-payers-buying-playstations-for-prisoners/ another great article about how messed up the UK prison system is.

I just think that in order to fix this broken economy we need to start helping the people who want to help themselves, not make honest hard working people bust a gut in order to get any help at all, such as Cait Reilly who the government is forcing to do unpaid work for two weeks in order to keep her Job Seekers Allowance - http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4055197/Graduate-Cait-Reilly-legal-action-against-Government-over-allegedly-being-made-to-stack-shelves-in-Poundland.html

Thanks for reading my blog about the stupid practices of the british government, we need to fix this broken economy and we need to do it fast.

Thanks for Reading
Sean J Connolly
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BuzzProperties.co.uk - Online Property Sales and Letting

FaceBook Timeline

sean.connolly@potissimus.co.uk (Sean J Connolly) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:10:52 PST

OK so if you have not already seen it or heard of it FaceBook has just launched the new addition to its social networking site known as timeline. The first stab FaceBook took at this was a few month back when it basically copied Google+ in the layout of your news feed, by showing everything from your friends in a timeline, with new stories or updates showing at the top.

Now FaceBook has taken this a step further and now your profile is a Timeline, but this time of your life. The idea is simple really FaceBook wants you to share your whole life, including things that happened before FaceBook even existed, everything from your birth right up to the modern day. The idea is that your friends can now see more about you and in doing so get a better understanding of who you are.

If you have not yet seen this or had your profile updated take a look at http://www.facebook.com/about/timeline where you can update your profile if you so wish, but in essence the timeline looks like this.

my profile on FaceBook

As you can see it now shows everything you do on FaceBook right on your profile, this takes the side bar updates that step further, so anyone can see what you have liked, posted, commented on or anything else simply by looking at your profile.

As for the layout it makes me think of another popular social networking site MyYearBook in the look and feel, it is even a bit of a retro look of MySpace in it. Looks to me like FaceBook is trawling the web and taking what they think is the best of it and adding their own flair to it.

Like or DisLike the New FaceBook Timeline?

Well I kinda like the look and feel of it, although it will take a bit of getting used to, and sharing stuff I feel is the whole point of social media, after all if you went into a bar you would interactive with other people outside your social circle, which is socialising and the web should be no different.

Yet as for showing all your activities I think this is a step too far, I mean yes share who I am and what I am doing or have done, but everything I do on FaceBook now thats a bit much. However, you can hide anything you wish to be hidden from your profile by simply editing it on your profile page, so if you dont want everyone to know that you liked something, said something or posted something just hide it.

Remember what Social Means

Ok so whilst sharing all your activities is not a good thing, we need to remember that sharing is what social networking is all about. Having the option to hide some stuff is great but dont go over board, try to keep it social. After all if you wish to increase your FaceBook friend count or Page likes you need to be social, for a great reference to how to use FaceBook more effectively take a look at this reference book here

Thanks Sean J Connolly FaceBook Me - Visit AJAX Web Development Store BuzzProperties.co.uk - Online Property Sales and Letting

The Importance of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Solution

sean.connolly@potissimus.co.uk (Sean J Connolly) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 15:18:51 PST

Ok so you have your website and business up and running, and you are able to see how many people are visiting your website and you have started making a few sales, but how do you know who your customers really are, what have they bought, how did they find you, could they be intertested in something else you offer. The answer to this is you need some form of Customer Relationship Management / Lead Management Software to allow you to effectively track your customers and sales in order to help make your process more efficient and in turn sell more and make more.

The Basis of a CRM and Lead Management Software

OK so what are CRM or Customer Relationship Management and Lead Management Software, simple these are software or systems that allows you effectively track both new and existing customers. These solutions can either be fully offline traditional solution or fully managed online solutions. Whilst most CRM solutions only give you a very basic view of your customers such as contact details, purchases etc they are a growing breed of online solutions that take this a step further and provide you with full Lead Management everything from that inital contact right through to closing the sales or increasing your closure rate.

Whilst the fully offline solution is probably better is you have your own IT department and the resources to managed it. Opting for an online solution not only for your day to day customer information, but for also your full sales cycle is a cost effective way to help you not only manage your sales lead more effective and help convert more leads into actual sales, but it can also help increase the time you have running your business, although you need customers to use your business you also need to provide your business to these customers, kinda catch 22.

So you may be think, you have a CRM system and this is normally in the form of your email software and address book software, but these forms of software fall into the category of communication software and not into the category of Software for Lead Management or Customer Relationship Management Software, email programs work great for communication but fall way short of the mark in helping you make sense of the vast array of customers and analytics you will build up for your business.

From Analytics to Sales Leads to Closure

So we all know that like in anything there is a life cycle and in business that is no different, first off people find you, then they contact you and finally they buy from you. (yes this is simplified but is the basis of the sales cycle). The big question is how do you manage this process effectively and this is where your CRM and Lead Management Software come into play.

By making effective use of the vast amounts of customer data you have coming into your business, normally captured by website analytics software such as Google Analytics, website newsletter subscriptions, mail shot, etc and making sense of it you can not only increase your turn over but decrease your overheads, which in turn leads to increased profit.

So in closing, like the saying goes "knowledge is power" and the more applied knowledge you have about your business and customers, means the more sales will be closed and the more profit your will make, and this is why you need a Customer Realtionship Management / Lead Management solution.

Thanks
Sean J Connolly

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BuzzProperties.co.uk - Online Property Sales and Letting

Twitter for Blackberry

sean.connolly@potissimus.co.uk (Sean J Connolly) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:16:33 PST

Following on from my last post I would like to throw a recommendation out there for anyone using a BlackBerry or other SmartPhone. When you are out and about remember to keep on tweeting, and I think the best way to do this is to use the Twitter mobile app, I use the Twitter for Blackberry application and have done so some time. Its so easy to tweet and add photos, making my mobile tweeting so much easier.

AND NOW

There has just been a new update to the Twitter mobile application and you can now send tweets from more than more account, meaning if your like me and have several twitter accounts you can now Tweet from them all using the same phone and Twitter application.

Well done Blackberry (RIM) and well done Twitter.

If you use a Blackberry you can download the latest Twitter for Blackberry from the app store more info is available HERE

Thanks Sean J Connolly
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BuzzProperties.co.uk - Online Property Sales and Letting

Why You Should Continue to Use Twitter

sean.connolly@potissimus.co.uk (Sean J Connolly) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 17:22:44 PST

OK I use Twitter, infact you can follow me at my main account which is http://twitter.com/SeanJC I do have other twitter accounts http://twitter.com/potissimus and http://twitter.com/buzzproperties so please feel free to follow me and stay in touch.

Why do I use Twitter?

I continue to use Twitter as unlike the typical social networking sites on Twitter you can say what you want and people will see it, and as you are not looking for a direct interaction I find it a good place to update people who are actually interested in what you do, with why you are doing.

As people who follow you on twitter have chosen to be kept up to date with your world. Unlike typical social media where people are looking for direct interaction, I use Twitter as its more like shouting out your news, after all you watch the evening news without any interaction back you just absorb what they tell you.

I find Twitter is the same as I only follow people I find interesting, so when I read my Twitter timeline its full of interesting things, which I can absorb and if I find something really interesting I can retweet, direct message or mention someone in my own tweet. So for every tweet I do I am not looking for anyone to confirm they have read it, such as we do with Likes on FaceBook and +1' on Google+, this way you can remove the stress of trying to be popular with the benefit of simply getting your message across to people that want to hear it.

The Future of Twitter

I think that Twitter will be around for a long time to come, as it takes the best element of social media and breaks it down, as everyday you may update your status on your chosen social media site, but you can't get a list of interesting stuff that you want to know about. So unlike social media Twitter is centred more on interests than people, and this I think will mean people like myself will use it for a long time to come.

I do think that there may be a time where we see more advertising directly on twitter, sponsored or otherwise, but in short I think the idea of Twitter is here to stay.

Please follow me on Twitter - http://twitter.com/SeanJC

Thanks
Sean J Connolly

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Google Checkout Becomes Part of Google Wallet

sean.connolly@potissimus.co.uk (Sean J Connolly) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:07:53 PST

OK so today I attended the Google Wallet webinar about the intended changes to Google Checkout and its intended integration with the new Google Wallet system, so here are my thoughts on both systems and what the future holds.

Google Checkout

The first thing I will be is explain just what Google Checkout is incase you have never used it or heard of it.

Google Checkout is an online payment service provided by Google, and much like the other services available such as World Pay, Paypal, etc it simply allows you to buy good and services online by paying using a registered payment card. Just like the other services available with Google checkout not only can you buy goods and service but you can also sell goods and service via you own website.

To find out more about buying goods and services using Google Checkout visit http://checkout.google.com/

To find out more about selling goods and services using Google Checkout visit http://checkout.google.com/sell

Note - if you have a merchant account to sell your stuff you will most likely be redirected on logging in to Google Checkout to that account, to access your purchases just click the Purchase History link at the top

For more information about Google Checkout visit http://checkout.google.com

Google Wallet

Google Wallet is a new idea from Google to connect your cards that you hold in your wallet with both offline and online purchases, how this works is simple. After you create your Google Wallet account and have registered your credit cards to your account, you can then use your Google Wallet to make purchases, which them in turn are billed directly to your registered cards.

This means that when shopping online, where you see the Google Wallet logo (currently the showing as Google Checkout) you can use Google Wallet to make your purchase. The added benefit of Google Wallet over other providers currently is that you can also use Google Wallet to make real purchases on the high street, so anywhere you see the Google Wallet sign you can just take out your mobile phone with the Google Wallet application installed and make the purchase directly from Google Wallet. Thus allowing you in theory to leave your actual wallet at home.

So in short online Google Wallet will work just like any other online payment provider, however offline Google Wallet will work just like your real wallet, only via your mobile phone and the installed application / website.

For more information about Google Wallet visit http://wallet.google.com

Google Checkout Becomes Google Wallet

So Google has had Google Checkout around for a few years now and have decided to bring out Google Wallet, now they are taking this one step further and incorporating Google Checkout into Google Wallet, this will give you a single place online to manage your sales, purchases and any active cards you wish to use. A very well thought through idea.

What does the Google Checkout and Google Wallet Integration mean for you?

The only major change following the incorporating of Google Wallet and Google Checkout will be that you will have a single point of management for both your Google Checkout and Google Wallet accounts, in this new screen you will be able to see all purchase you have made, all sales you have made and edit or amend your chosen payment cards.

I already use Google Checkout on my website what changes will I need to make to my website?

Now if you currently use Google Checkout on your website, these changes in the short term don't really mean that much, all integration code, login urls will all continue to work as normal.

So as normal to login to your checkout merchant account go to http://checkout.google.com/sell and you will be able to continue to manage all your transcations there. However over time your will need to go to http://wallet.google.com to manage both your sales and purchases.

The only other changes you will need to make to your website will be to change the wording mentioning Google Checkout to mention Google Wallet instead, the exact wording will be issued by Google to your register email address in due course. You will not need to make any coding changes, including existing buttons provided by Google as these will be updated automatically by Google as they need to.

I have made purchases using Google Checkout what do I do now?

Now if you have made purchases using Google checkout again nothing in the short term will change, you can still go to http://checkout.google.com to check any purchases you have made, but you can now in addition go to http://wallet.google.com and you will see any purchases you have made using Google Checkout shown in your transactions screen. As you can now use the Google Wallet website to manage your credit cards and purchases, I recommend using the Google Wallet URL http://wallet.google.com from now on rather than the Google Checkout url http://checkout.google.com

The Future of Google Wallet

I have to be honest and say I think that Google Wallet is definately a step in the right direction by Google, as not only can you make online purchases but you can make offline purchases too, now whilst this may seem stupid to get out your mobile phone to make a payment on a card that is in your wallet. I think the major of this will be that if you use Google Wallet online for your website, shop or whatever and are building up funds in your online account, these funds are no longer simply for use with purchasing online, you can now make real offline purchases form this account. This puts Google at a huge advantage over other online payment providers as with Google Wallet what you make from sales online can now be used in the real world offline.

I see the offline and online link being a major selling point of Google Wallet, especially when you consider other online payment providers have payment cards you not only have to purchase in order to be able to use funds held in your online account in the offline world, but these provider have also stopped issuing these cards outside the US.

Google Wallet bank account integration

At the time of writing this you can not link Google Wallet with a bank account in order to fund your account, this is due to the speed at which Google wanted to roll out the new Wallet system and using existing card networks is faster and more secure than trying to incorporate all banking systems.

You can however still add your bank account to your wallet account in order to transfer funds out of your Google Wallet account into your real world bank account. I think that over time the ability to add funds via a bank account will be added, but for now you cant use your bank account to fund your Google Wallet account its credit cards only at least for now.

So in short good call Google, lets just hope that Google Wallet has a better uptake than Google Checkout ever did.

Thanks for Reading
Sean J Connolly

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BuzzProperties.co.uk - Online Property Sales and Letting

Stop Online Piracy Act - SOPA

sean.connolly@potissimus.co.uk (Sean J Connolly) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:54:21 PST

OK so you may have heard all the hype recently about the Stop Online Privacy Act or SOPA being discussed. First off the main thing to remember is that this act will only be in force in the USA, although the idea of it is good to protect peoples online IP and privacy, it is also solely aimed at protecting American online privacy, nowhere else.

The basis of the act is simply is will give additional powers to the US attorney to combat privacy from websites that are hosted outside the USA, this means that anysite hosting or offering information on how to infringe copyright will be a target, such sites includes torrent sites (hosting illegal movies, games, software, etc) and sites giving away source code for copyrighted materials.

Now I fully agree with the idea of protecting peoples IP and what this means for the world, I am not fully on the side of the Web giants on this one. It appears to me that the have not fully read and understood the new act, namely the fact that the act is not seeking to be a censorship of content, but simply to protect what people have created.

If we take youtube as a prime example, there a literally millions of videos on there, and not all of them are on there legally. Now whilst Google owns and hosts this site, it is Google that takes the wrap for this, yet under this new act Google will have additional powers to not only take the normal steps to remove the content, but can now take additional action outside the US on the people who uploaded the content and the ones who actually broke the IP.

So what I am saying is thay in my view this act is not intended to be a censorship act, more a protect the US act from foreigners. Now this is where I see the problem, we have a major organisation for keeping world peace, known as the UN or United Nations, it is in my view that there should be a higher act in place to protect everyone from IP theft, not just the US. Whilst I do understand that the US congress can only enforce US law, we all need to work to stop privacy and need to realise that there are lots of things online that are stolen, such as

movies
games
software
software code
documents

and many many more items, all of which need protecting. So I do not see why the major web giants are so oppossed to this act, as the act itself specifically states that it is not censoring the internet, and does not require the social media sites to constantly monitor its users or censor content. It is also only an addition to existing US IP law.

What I think needs to happen is that the major web giants, Google, FaceBook, AOL, etc need to work together with all countries in order to come up with a more global act to protect their and everyone elses IP. After all its unfair to blame Google, FaceBook, AOL or anyone else for one of their users posting links to illegal content.

So in short the act is a step in the right direction, but we need a more universal solution that covers all countries and not just the US, after all the internet and more specifically the World Wide Web is global (and a british invention).

Find out more about the act Stop Online Piracy ACT - SOPA

Thanks
Sean J Connolly

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BuzzProperties.co.uk - Online Property Sales and Letting

Google Pages have Arrived

sean.connolly@potissimus.co.uk (Sean J Connolly) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:36:03 PST

After a long wait and what has seemed that a million changes of mind. Google + has finally launched pages. In short its Googles answer to FaceBook and LinkedIn meaning the worlds of business and pleasure are finally connecting on Google.

The way that the new Pages will work is that you can connect your existing Google Place entry to your page and use the existing information on your Google Places page to create your new Google+ Business Page.

The added bonus of Google Pages is that you can now use Google+ as your page, make comments and alike as your page not you, just like FaceBook pages. The good thing is this only took Google a matter of months to do, unlike FaceBook taking years to get it right.

PLUS

You can even create a hangout and chat live to your customers right on Google+, that is pretty cool and has to be a shot in the arm of FaceBook who are yet to release the video service promised.

Good job Google on this, lets hope Google+ continues to grow and add new and exciting features.

So get over to Google and create a page for your business NOW - https://plus.google.com/pages/create

UPDATE

Just so you know after you create your Google+ page for your business, in order to edit it select the page from the little drop down list to the left, and once on your page click on your page icon on the left hand side of the page name, this takes you to the edit page.

Thanks Sean J Connolly
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Google Wallet Launched

sean.connolly@potissimus.co.uk (Sean J Connolly) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 14:38:59 PST

Google today announced the official launch of Google Wallet, along with some exciting news. Although the cards at launch will be limited it has agreed with other card provider thats they can use they NFC specifications.

In reality this means that although a limited launch is happening, it should not be too long before Google Wallet is open to more cards.

Watch this space, and Good Luck Google.

For more info on this, check out the Google Blog

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Google + Goes Live to Public

sean.connolly@potissimus.co.uk (Sean J Connolly) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 15:07:30 PDT

Well after months of invites, BETA testing and alike the new kid on the clock has finally arrived. Google + is now live to the public. So what does this mean for you, me and FaceBook, LinkedIn.

In reality it means that with this launch there are now two big social networking sites to use for your social side of life, LinkedIn is still the only truely business social networking site.

But what about Twitter you ask, well in reality nothing will change for Twitter as it is and always has been a social media micro blog or stream, simply put its like a hit of espresso to keep you up to date with stuff that interests you, unlike the more cappuccino like take a seat you may be here a while approach of FaceBook and Google +.

In my view the launch of Google + going public will pretty much leave twitter untouched, but as for FaceBook there will be some people who more over to the new player, and others who stay put. I still think at present FaceBook is a bit more interesting than Google +.

I am going to stick my neck on the line and say FaceBook will continue to dominate this area for a while at least.

But what about the New FaceBook Changes?

As you may have noticed FaceBook's response to this go live of Google + has been to add new features to its platform, side news feed, larger photos, sharing etc. This is aimed at retaining FaceBook users, however I dont really see the benefit of copying Google +, after all that is just like admitting "yes it is better than FaceBook". I think FaceBook does know some users will leave to go to Google +, but I think overtime FaceBook will continue to have a larger continuous userbase than Google +.

So although Facebook feel it necessary to fight and copy the new platform, it seems daft to copy. Why not keep FaceBook as FaceBook and come up with new original ideas, not copied ones.

The Future

This is pretty simple really I think that the following will become reality for the platforms.

FaceBook - Continue to have the largest base of users on a regular basis, and introduce new features like video chat, etc.

Google+ - Will have the largest overall registered users, but a lower daily user rate.

Twitter - Will continue to be the daily aggregator of everything social, news and media. Users levels will continue to grow as people want and need instant updates without all the bells and whistles.

LinkedIn - Continue to have a large following with people keeping this platform solely for business and business connections. In most cases having totally different social circles than Google+ or FaceBook.

What About Me

Well at present I still use FaceBook, Google+, LinkedIn and Twitter. My most used platform has to be Twitter (its the only one I use on my mobile), it gives me the quick hit of info I need on the go. I keep social side of my world to FaceBook and Google+ and my business side solely to LinkedIn.

Feel free to connect with me on which every platform you choose.

Follow Me on Twitter
Add me on FaceBook
Connect on Google +
Add me on LinkedIn

So as it what the future holds for social networking, only time will tell, but in the mean time please feel free to connect.

Thanks For Reading
Sean J Connolly

FaceBook Me
BuzzProperties.co.uk - Online Property Sales and Letting

Google Wallet - Is it The Future?

sean.connolly@potissimus.co.uk (Sean J Connolly) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:44:24 PDT

So Google has just announced after months of discussions it is to launch Google Wallet.

You may be asking yourself, so what is this new Google service, is it another Google offering that is destined for the scrap heap, and at this point the answer is who knows. But to give you an insight into Google Wallet, it takes the attempt by Google at capitalising on and taking payments to the next level.

Google Wallet is put simply a way to use all your existing credit or debit cards via your mobile phone, all you will need to do is once they are registered is use your mobile phone to makes payments. Thus meaning the only thing you will ever need to carry is your phone.

Now at first Google Wallet will only be available to use with a Citi MasterCard or the Google Prepaid Card, yes a very American and limited launch.

My advise to Google is that it would be better using a more standard approach such as VISA. Although MasterCard is accepted in almost as many places, it normally connect to the credit card and not debit card systems, and rather than starting out with a limited audience THINK BIG, hold off on the launch and hit all countries at the same time.

What is Google Wallet?

Ok so if you have every used 'contactless' payments by VISA you will know just how Google Wallet will operate, simply each time you wish to make a payment you get out your phone "not your wallet" and fire up the application and make the payment simply by putting your phone near the terminal. This will them be deducted from which ever payment method you have setup on your Google Wallet account.

Will it be Secure?

I personally think that Google Wallet will be just as secure as using your normal debit or credit cards and especially as, at the time of launch it will be linked to prepaid cards, this will limit the amount you may lose if you phone goes missing.

But I think in reality that you are just as likely to have your wallet stolen and misused as you are with using your phone to make payments. So its really no more or less secure than current methods.

Is Google Wallet the Future of Payments?

In my opinion I think the methodology is definately the way forward, after all we all use our phones for everything today from banking to keeping appointments, so it makes complete sense that this is the way forward. The only question I would have is to whether Google can pull it off. We have all heard of Google Checkout, which in the real world has failed to make the dent in the Paypal armour. So will Google Wallet fair any better, well that depends. Yes if Google make sure that it is a world wide launch and not solely a US launch.

But as for the methodology, using our phones for making everyday payments is the future, so lets hope that Google doesn't mess this up by being too limited. As myself I do not use an android mobile I use a Blackberry, so word to the wise make this available!!

To find out more about Google Wallet and to register your interest please go to http://www.google.co.uk/wallet/

Thanks For Reading
Sean J Connolly - FaceBook Me

Visit AJAX Web Development Store
BuzzProperties.co.uk - Online Property Sales and Letting

The Future for Apple after Steve Jobs

sean.connolly@potissimus.co.uk (Sean J Connolly) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 09:00:20 PDT

First of all I would just like to say Good luck to Steve Jobs for the future, but as you may all be thinking the same thing "what will happen to Apple now Steve Jobs has left".
The first thing to remember is that we are along way from the first time Steve Jobs left Apple, or to put it correctly got fired, and over that time not only has Apple become one of the richest companies on the planet, but it has also become a secure entity powered by Steve Job's vision, but due to his unique ability he has and is leaving a strong entity with a clear direction.

As this is where Apple failed previously with no clear goal, it didn't know whether its market was consumers, businesses, software, hardware or what. No since Steve Jobs has been back in charge the company has solely concentrated on one goal to be a company with unique and eye catching products and to lead the way in multi media. As you can see a very consumer based vision.

It is my belief that Apple will continue to dominated the online and portable music business, and move towards an even more consumer based media company. Providing the tools that allow the average consumer to make music, home movies and listen to music on the go.

I think Apple will continue to move away from hardware specifics, as is the case for the current lines of Apple computers based on Intel chips, no longer do Apple think it necessary to continue to make all their own hardware.

So in closing my prediction for Apple is that Steve Jobs has left his vision on the company, given it a direction and can now sit back and take time for himself (and well deserved it is) knowing that Apple will continue its journey to media success. So my final thought is this, Apple will move away from dedicated Apple hardware and continue with the media world that has made it a household name (iTumes, iPod, iPad, iPhone)

Thanks Sean J Connolly FaceBook Me - Visit AJAX Web Development Store BuzzProperties.co.uk - Online Property Sales and Letting

Google+ and Google Profile Naming Policy

sean.connolly@potissimus.co.uk (Sean J Connolly) — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 15:30:19 PDT

After launching its own social network called Google+ and Google has started to crack down on profile abuse, what this means in short is that if your profile on Google doesn't reflect a real world person then you run the risk of having your profile suspended.
Now what is the reason for this you might ask, its simple Google wants the world we live in online to reflect the world we live in, in real life and by using users real names allows a better social media experience as you know who you are connecting to and that the person you are connecting to is real.

So why is this so important, first it is the aim of Google to make the web more social, and allowing people to connect just like they do in life is the first start of this process. After all you know you are talking to a real person and not some SPAM engine, and like wise how on earth do you know who you are talking to if their profile name is abc123, simple you dont.

So my take on this is that I fully agree with Google and I only hope that this is the first step towards allowing us to fully use social media to connect outside of the web. After all who's to say that you are not already conversing with someone online who actually lives in your street. Wouldn't it be better to be able to go down the pub and chat, rather than through your computer.

One other area I think this is good is that by making people create real profiles, will make us able to connect with people not only that we know and recognise but also with people who share our interests, hobbies, etc. So I personally hope Google takes this further and opens up more of my profile so I can find real people in the real world who have similar interest as I do and expand my life both online and in reality.

So to all you people out there who say Google is wrong and what about my privacy, simply if you dont like it dont use it.

And to Google I say thanks for listening to my suggestions, and having aided Google with maps, checkout I am happy to know my ideas are not falling on deaf ears.

For details on the Google naming policy please take a look at http://www.google.com/support/+/bin/answer.py?answer=1228271

Thanks
Sean J Connolly
FaceBook Me - Google+ Me
Visit AJAX Web Development Store
BuzzProperties.co.uk - Online Property Sales and Letting

Google relaunches real-time search

sean.connolly@potissimus.co.uk (Sean J Connolly) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 12:42:38 PDT

Google has announced that it is to relaunch its real-time search results, the service was dropped in July following as Google and Twitter falled to reach an agreement. However, with the huge launch success of Google+, Google has decided that real-time search can actual be a viable option, this time based on their own Google+ status and activity and not twitter.

This means that all activity on Google+ and click of the Google Plus buttons will go towards more real-time results, such as up to date news stories, events and other interesting stuff as it happens.

So what does this mean for you, it means that by using Google+ and adding the Google buttons to your website you can now influence the Google search results within minutes rather than days.

So remember if you are not already on Google+ get an account now, and make sure to add me when your their https://plus.google.com/110572555643659060460 (SeanJC) and add the plus buttons to all your internet stuff.

Good luck keeping the world up to date.

Thanks Sean J Connolly
Follow me @SeanJC
FaceBook Me @seanjc1

Visit AJAX Web Development Store

Webmail BuzzProperties.co.uk - Online Property Sales and Letting

FaceBook Launches FaceBook for Business

sean.connolly@potissimus.co.uk (Sean J Connolly) — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 16:13:13 PDT

Google+ has announce it intends to allow the use of business profiles on its site, as presently you can only create a profile for yourself. Now in response to this FaceBook has launched FaceBook for business a page dedicated to showing you what you can already do on FaceBook and how to use it for your business.

It is worth noting that although there are several large companies who use FaceBook Pages for their business including our own BuzzProperties not to mention Pepsi, Coca Cola and many more, the use of these pages in normally limited to offering promotions and offers to the consumer, they are not really about the business, they are more about the products they sell.

So my word of wisdom is this, if you wish to create either a FaceBook or Google+ page / profile for your business by all means do so, by I recommend for you business social networking to use a dedicated social networking site such as LinkedIn which is aimed at your business and not at your personal life.

Think about it how many companies have actually banned people from accessing FaceBook, so if you wish to networking in your private life use FaceBook or Google+ for your professional life use LinkedIn.

Thanks Sean J Connolly Visit AJAX Web Development Store

BuzzProperties.co.uk - Online Property Sales and Letting

Google to Rename Assets

sean.connolly@potissimus.co.uk (Sean J Connolly) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 16:04:56 PDT

Google has announced that it intends to start renaming all non Google created assets inline with the intended public launch of Google+ (Googles answer to FaceBook), this will include the renaming of assets such as Blogger and Picasa to Google Blogs and Google Photos.

This also falls in line with Googles intended removal of all Private profiles from Google, this I must say I am in total agreement with, after all what is the point of Social Media if you are not being social about it. By having private profiles the only people who can see them are the people you allow to, which means in reality these are people you already now.

After all the whole point of "Social Networking" is to do increase your connections and make more friends and unlike normal networking this extends beyond your business life to include all aspects of your life.

So to Google I say "WELL DONE" and again the Global giant is both listening and acting on what people want and as always doing a great job in the process.

Thanks Sean J Connolly Visit AJAX Web Development Store

BuzzProperties.co.uk - Online Property Sales and Letting

Win an iPad

sean.connolly@potissimus.co.uk (Sean J Connolly) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 16:54:08 PST

Thought I would throw this out there, I am giving away an Apple iPad for anyone that review my new designed property website BuzzProperties.

To enter the draw all you need to do is visit the BuzzProperties FaceBook Page Like the page ad do a quick review of the website and thats it.

A lucky winner will be announce at the end of the month, so be quick.

Thanks
Sean J Connolly
Visit AJAX Web Development Store

BuzzProperties.co.uk - Online Property Sales and Letting

ASP.Net Master Page Control Tip

sean.connolly@potissimus.co.uk (Sean J Connolly) — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 17:01:24 PDT

If you are using Master Pages for your website and wish to control the content of them from your content page then you need to know about the MasterType directive.

Simply place the following piece of code at the top of any content page.

<%@ MasterType virtualpath="~/Default.master" %>

just replace the virtualpath with the actual path to your master page, and there you have it.

You can now control server controls and elements on your Master page from your content pages by simply calling the Master in your source code.

For Example

Lets say you want to find a panel from a content page that actually lives on your master page, then you would just do the following.

Dim SomePanel As Panel = Master.FindControl("SomePanel")

This simply uses FindControl to locate the Panel with an ID of SomePanel, although the principle is the same for any other control on your Master page.

So play around and see how easy it is to control all of your website.

New Property Social Networking site

sean.connolly@potissimus.co.uk (Sean J Connolly) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:30:22 PDT

I thought I would break from the norm a bit and let you know about a new property based social networking site called Property People - The Property Place.

It looks like a great place to show off your property, chat live with other members and share your property interests.

Why not take a look http://budurl.com/propertypeople

Rebuilding your ASP.NET soltuion

sean.connolly@potissimus.co.uk (Sean J Connolly) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:44:27 PDT

More often than not when you are having problems with your newly built ASP.NET website or solution, the problem can be fixed by a simple rebuild.

To rebuild you solution just go into the build menu and choose rebuild. this can fix problems you may be having in your development envrionment as well as in your finished application.

So if something is not acting how you think it should, try a rebuild.

GAC

sean.connolly@potissimus.co.uk (Sean J Connolly) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 10:33:20 PDT

GAC what do you mean GAC?

The GAC or Global Assebly Cache is the playground of anything .NET it is not language specific so whether you are a VB or C# bod your code used the GAC.

Put simply the GAC is where all the framework and links is stored for anything .NET, this is the reason why you build your website, to assemble all the bits into and from the GAC into the necessary .NET structure.

For example when you add an element to your page using the toolbox Visual Studio puts the necessary connections into the GAC to allow your Visual Studio UI to know about the control.

So if you have anytime not been able to see your control in the code side of Visual Studio, first try a rebuild and if that fails delete it from the source code and readd it using the Toolbox.

ASP.NET Buttons Not Firing

sean.connolly@potissimus.co.uk (Sean J Connolly) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:33:43 PDT

When adding a button to your asp.net website or application it is always best to add the button using the toolbox. The main reason for this that the GAC, as all .NET stuff lives and links in here. By using the toolbox Visual Studio will add all the necessary hidden code stuff to make the Visual Studio UI aware of your button. In fact this goes for any UI control.

Please do this an you will save yourself a ton of wasted time and unnecessary use of the FindControl code.

One other thing to remember is that ASP.NET is a validated language, and expects all elements to have some kind of processing. So remember that when you add your ASP.NET button to your page, you must include the following attributes for it to work. runat, id and CausesValidation.

So your new asp.net button would look like

Remember this simple rule and you should have no more button problems.

"ALWAYS ADD CAUSESVALIDATION TO YOUR ASP.NET BUTTON" even if it is set to false.

Beware of Amateurs

sean.connolly@potissimus.co.uk (Sean J Connolly) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:26:25 PDT

Now I know its easy to pick up and learn the wonders of web programming and design. But I have a word of caution, if you are intetested in being a Web designer or programmer, thats great then go do a course and learn how to do it.

Now here where the internet is fastly becoming a place of badly designed and coded website, its seems now that anybody thinks they can put up their own website. This is not a major problem after all if you want your own site, there are lots of good programs out there to help you do it. But this tends not to stop there too often people are thinking that putting up a site about their hobby turns then into an overnight web master, they then think they can charge others to do their websites. This ends up in a the web being full of bad websites, and people who have great skills and talent being put out of work.

So in short if you have done your own website for your family or your hobby, this doesn't mean you are a professional. If you are keen to work in this field, go and work for an established web company and get some experience and skills behind you.

Ok I may sound like I am just ranting, but I say this is aid the world, not only does this take work from people who shoudl have it, but it also means that people are paying for poor end results. After all most of us drive cars but are we machanics. NO.

So my word of caution is stay away from amateur companies, and if you want to be a web master then take the right route. College is always the place to start any career.