After a year out of work (bar three months doing what amounted to a project) I will, on Monday re-enter the rat race with Fluid Creativity as an SEO Technician.

It’s fair to say I’m both excited and nervous in equal measure. I’m not nervous about my ability to do the job. If anything, and without being arrogant, I am probably overqualified / experienced and the salary is certainly a LOT less then I am used to being on. The nerves come from getting back into that working routine and how it will affect my life and my relationship. The nerves are unfounded, of course, but still…they exist!

Why have I taken such a massive pay cut and a ‘lesser’ job than I’m used to? Simply because I want to start again, rebuild what amounts to my career and LEARN. I’m more than happy to do so and I won’t be sitting still. This isn’t the role I want for life at all, it’s one I want to build from and on, hopefully with Fluid.

I’ll be trying my hardest to do my best both for the company and our clients and I want to impress. It’s refreshing to start from the bottom again and get a proper grounding in things.

If you’re interested in who Fluid are and what they do (and especially if you want them to help you out!), check out their various presences here:

@fluidcreativity

Fluid Creativity on Facebook

Fluid Creativity on Vimeo

Fluid Creativity on flickr

Fluid Creativity on LinkedIn

Fluid Creativity Blog

I’ll still be keeping up my own project at Sporting Fare (@sportingfare; Sporting Fare on Facebook) so please do pay regular visits!

"No more development"

Well, a while back I blogged about Google Wave and how it wasn’t turning out to be quite what Google intended. Seems I was right, as TechCrunch reports today.

I still haven’t figured out what Google Wave was for, or how it could best be used. Without users it is pretty much useless and as it turns out, Google have been disappointed by the take up of their actually brilliant technology and as such are stopping development of it. They’ve opened up bits of the code to allow developers to continue where they are leaving off and say it will stay live – but they won’t rule out shutting it down in the future.

It is a shame, because when you look at it it’s a huge step forward. Perhaps it was just ahead of its time, who knows? Either way, Google are done with it. Can developers make it more user friendly and appealing to the masses? Maybe, time will tell, but again, without users it’s useless.

I hope Google doesn’t get to down about this and continue to innovate. They do it SO well.

Google are, apparently, developing a social networking platform to rival Facebook by, erm, copying Facebook.

Clearly Google Buzz hasn’t worked, Google Wave died on its arse and so now we’ll get Google Me. But how is copying Facebook going to CHALLENGE Facebook?

Ok, Google are running scared of FB at the moment and clearly want to make some impression on its 500 million+ users but this can’t be the right way?! There’s no sense in it.

They could simplify FBs still ridiculously complicated privacy settings, they could import some of their other functions – risking complicating the format in doing so – and they will, no doubt, make it a much prettier place to be. But if it’s still going to be an FB clone I’m really not seeing the logic.

Still…I WILL check it out, I WILL use it and IF it turns out to be another Google flop I WILL abandon it just as quickly as I did Buzz and Wave.

Make or break time for Google on the social media front, either way.

Remember this? “LFM Uld /w Achievement”

Well now it’s been replaced with this:

“LFM ICC10 /w GearScore”

“LFM ICC25 5.2k gs only”

“LFM weekly raid. /w gs and achievement”

GearScore - irrelevant!

In some ways it is slightly fairer. When idiotic raid leaders wouldn’t let you join a raid because you didn’t have the Achievement I could only wonder how you were supposed to GET the Achievement if no bugger would let you raid.

With GearScore it’s in your hands. Put the work in doing the daily random, the weekly raid and the odd bit of raiding and you can increase your GearScore on your own.

It’s being misused though, at least on my server. You try PUG-ing a raid now and unless you have already done eight of 12 bosses in ICC and managed to get your GearScore above 5.5k and you won’t even get in a ToC or Ulduar raid. Madness!

It’s been said many, many times – SKILLZ > GEAR. And the fact it is entirely possible to increase your GearScore with no help means that any old idiot can have the right score, but just can’t PLAY.

So come on you supposed IMBA raid leaders. Cut those of us who can’t play all day, every day some slack and invite us. We won’t let you down. We know what we’re doing. And if we don’t, because it’s our first attempt on a particular boss, don’t worry – we learn VERY fast.

(I should point out my GearScore is now over 5.7k – but that’s because I can PLAY, not because I’ve spent months farming Emblems of Frost)

So four students from New York City think they can build a rival social media platform to Facebook and have received the money to do it. I am intrigued.

My feelings about Facebook change constantly. Sometimes I love it. Sometimes I hate it. And sometimes I wonder what the point of it is. But I continue to use it, both personally and as a way of promoting my own website with a Fan Page.

I sometimes feel that Facebook gives too much, shares too much, but the beauty of it is, of course, that you only share what you want to share. It just doesn’t feel like that sometimes. 500 million users can’t be wrong though, right?

Back to these students and Diaspora though. They bill it as “The privacy-aware, personally controlled, do-it-all, open source social network”. There’s little else as yet to give us a clue as to what that actually means. Sure, there’s a blog that gives a few hints, but in the main the whole thing is a mystery.

Obviously the guys are picking up on Facebook’s recent privacy problems, promising to give complete control of data to the user. But in all fairness, Facebook do try that – just not very well, not very user-friendly and they probably lay too much open to search engines and the like.

So Diaspora presumably won’t do that. Which is a good thing. But what will it do?! I want to know. And I want to know NOW, dammit! The guys aren’t giving much away as yet and will be spending the summer writing the platform now they’ve got about £160,000 of funding, plus offers of support from all over the place.

Visit joindiaspora.com for an explanation and, unless you are technically gifted, you are left feeling more confused than before you arrived. It’s software. You host your information wherever you like. You’re a seed. I have no idea what they are talking about to be honest. Nevertheless, as I said, I am intrigued.

I have had run-ins with similar things before that never went anywhere. A friend tried (and may still be trying for all I know) to build his own social networking site. Google Wave was supposed to bring a number of technologies into one but it hasn’t done a damn thing, as I ranted about a few weeks back.

I can only hope Diaspora proves more successful.

I don’t for one minute think they will manage to challenge the dominance of Facebook. It’s too entrenched in the world’s psyche now. If you’re not on Facebook, who are you? There are, of course, pockets of resistance, MySpace die hards and the technically inept who will never get on Facebook. Could they be tempted by Diaspora? Possibly. Hard to tell when we know nothing though!

I’ll be keeping an eye on it. It could be the next big thing. It’s good to know people are still pushing the boundaries, at least.

The iPad from Apple – which sold 1 million devices in the first month of its US launch – has finally gone on sale here in the UK and as always, people queued through the night to be amongst the first to get their hands on one.

Culturally iconic, technologically average

The question I’m asking is why?

Having had the opportunity to mess around with one a couple of weeks ago, I can safely say that my initial view that it was a slightly improved and much bigger iPod Touch proved to be true…almost.

Let’s deal with its plus points first.

The screen resolution and performance is amazing. It’s truly wonderful. Never before has any app looked so crisp or any video NOT from a DVD looked so sharp.

The improved size makes using the keyboard a joy, especially if you prefer a touch screen to actual keys as I do.

It is brilliantly future proof too – but that is also one of its downfalls. The iPad IS just a big iPod Touch…for now. At least it is unless you’re prepared to spend the time getting to know it. And I would be if it wasn’t for its other major problem, but I’ll get to that in a little while.

There are some good uses for the iPad in all fairness. As a travel companion I can’t think of a better option now. Ignore the relative difficulty of getting things on and off the iPad (no DVD drive etc) and with a little preparation and the help of iTunes and you have a superb little music and film player that is the ideal size for travel.

It won’t quite replace the laptop for really practical uses just yet, but there’s no reason you can’t manage a database or do a bit of office work on it. Apple provide the software to do so. The laptop remains King for now though because of its sheer versatility, something the iPad cannot be accused of being.

There are two downsides that I can see and both of them or either of them stop me from investing. Firstly, there is that issue with Apple’s tight control over what you can and can’t have on the iPad. No USB port, no way of doing anything except through your Mac and iTunes. Limiting for those of us without a Mac at best.

The second downside is the big one for me. Given its current limitations the price of the iPad is ridiculous. The cheapest version on offer is £429. That has a pitiful 16Gb memory and is WiFi only, no 3G. Want the top of the range iPad? That’s a cool £699 for 64Gb and the 3G.

Want to add a dock, keyboard, case, camera connection kit? Another £110 or thereabouts

I’m sorry but the price does not justify the product, it really doesn’t. The iPad is a piece of cultural and cosmetic genius but it is not a step forward in technology or even, really, the use of it.

What the iPad will do is open the market for everyone else – and with competition comes development, progression, innovation and competitiveness. Just as the iPod kickstarted the boom in MP3s and the iPhone spawned Android, the iPad will create new interest in the ‘tablet’ and will be the catalyst, I think, for ever more useful and user friendly versions.

For that reason alone I welcome it. I just won’t own it.

In a bid to keep my writing, SEO and general online marketing skills up to scratch, this is what I’m working on at the moment.

It’s a personal project and I’m not looking to make money out of it – but if it happens, great!

Take a look, and feel free to leave me your opinions and suggestions on here if you wish.

Sort yourselves out, Facebook!

I’ve set up and managed Facebook Pages for two companies now and there is one thing about them that really bugs me. You cannot switch ownership to another Facebook user. This is surely a glaring oversight from the Facebook team and I cannot believe they haven’t addressed it.

There are plenty of people with the same problem on Facebook’s forum pages and many, many requests have been sent via their suggestion facility.

Not only is it annoying but it is potentially damaging for companies. When the employee who set up the page in the first place moves on, your only recourse is to delete the page – or trust that he or she will do it. This could mean thousands of man hours wasted, all your content gone and you have to begin again.

Worst case scenario, your former employee and Facebook Page manager leaves under a cloud and exacts revenge through the page. They, after all, own it and you cannot switch it.

In my case, I deleted the page set up for the first company. There was no other option. I could have been far more malicious – as far as I was concerned I was treated badly when I left that company and it would have been a simple task to ruin the reputation of that particular online company. Instead, a lot of work just ended up going down the toilet and they had to begin again.

As it happens, I would have happily just handed ownership to whoever they wanted me to – but I couldn’t.

In the case of the second company there are two Facebook Pages to consider. But again, all I can do is delete them. There hasn’t been as much work put into these and the company in question is unlikely to want to take ownership anyway, so no harm done overall.

That doesn’t make it right though, does it? What makes it worse is Facebook offers the option of being a business user, which might seem like the solution – but only if you don’t already have a personal account! And who doesn’t have a Facebook account these days? Not many.

So come on Facebook – you’re leaving a lot of companies with no option other than NOT have a Facebook presence and that’s damaging to your business, surely?

Lately I’ve been changing Guild’s quite a lot. I think I’ve had four in two months. I ended up in a nice 25 man raiding Guild with a few WoW friends and we did well. It was led by a strong core of raiders and I tagged along in my usual capacity of non-idiot, fast learning DPS. It worked.

However, there was a falling out over something and that hardcore group went off to form their own Guild. I went with them for a short while, I thought I’d see how it went. Raiding-wise there was no change. A strong leader and a group of real class players and you get things done. Socially, however, it was different. Not friendly, just business-like. But as my online time has been drastically cut, I didn’t really mind.

Then the most bizarre thing. The Guild Master got hacked, allegedly. Ok, you ticket, you wait, you get restored. Or, in this case, half the hardcore raiders get pissed about it and QUIT WOW! Yep, not the Guild, WoW. This, of course, triggers Guild implosioon and I went floating for a day or two before I decided, sod it, get back with your pals where it doesn’t matter if you’re ever online or not, when you are they’ll be there for a laugh.

So I’m in Plan B (how ironic!) with a few of my old mates and no doubt a few more will drift over as time passes. We tend to end up in the same place because we’re all like minded. And WoW is meant to be a social game, isn’t it. Ok, we might not clear Icecrown Citadel with 25, but so what? What’s the point if it’s no fun?

Stick with your mates – that’s why they’re your mates.

Laters.

Google Wave-d bye bye?

Seriously, anyone know? I downloaded it, installed it, used it, realised no-one else was using it rendering it pointless, and haven’t looked at it since.

Do you use it? Or know anyone that does? For God’s sake, let me know, because Google invested a LOT of time and effort (as did the likes of Mashable! and other commentators) into it and I want to know what it’s FOR!

Help me out…leave a comment or two if you know anyone getting some use out of Google Wave.