Squeak or eek? I’m a Whitstable Pearl!
Gosh, as if my head wasn't big enough already
As I hinted at in a previous post about the definition of a geek – I had a nice chat with Jan Thom of the Whitstable Times last week, and today the results of that chat appear on page 10 of the Whitstable Times, along with me popping up on the front page too.
It’s amazing how much Jan could prise out of me in about an hour and turn that unintelligible (to me) shorthand into an an article.
Just a couple of things to point out to the world…
Answer 1: I started HDG with Helen, not Jane. Oops.
Answer 5: not quite the first romance at Pfizer, but the first Sandwich to Surrey commute marriage.
Answer 6: I left Pfizer at the end of 2007, Helen left in 2006 because that’s when James was born!
Answer 8: support the Oyster Festival – please like their page!
Answer 9: East Kent
Answer 11: see more about #geekstable
Answer 16: Yes, I know Bill Hicks is dead. It’s a dream dinner party before the smoking ban…
Tired of dealing with mopheads? New website launch!
Our web design arm, fairly marvellous, have been pretty busy lately. Their portfolio is expanding at an incredible rate and it’s proving difficult to keep their website up-to-date! However, no problem this time, as they are proud to announce the launch of another client’s website.
So, if you’re looking for commercial or domestic cleaners, and you don’t want mopheads, go to eXtreme Clean for professional cleaning services in Kent.
Made up for you? Actually, we’re made up for them
Sometimes the most satisfying part of building a website is not completing the design, not carrying out the implementation nor finding some particularly groovy way of doing something. It’s the bit when you let go, you’ve trained the client on how to update it and the next day… things have changed.
The client now really owns their site, it’s their content and they are in charge.
Taking a pay cut
The clock ticks ever closer to 4th January and the impending VAT increase.
According to some, this little 2.5% increase will cost families an extra £389 per year – VAT Rise ‘Will Cost Families £389 A Year’ – Sky News
Of course, there’s every chance you won’t see much of a difference, just like when we went back up to 17.5% last year. You certainly won’t notice a difference when you call your friendly local geek out for your computer repair – we will be absorbing the increase for you.
In other words, we’ll be taking a 2.5% pay cut, so need all the work we can get. So, if you know anyone with computer problems, please remind them – don’t just press any key, press the HDG key.
Taking Windows Home Server to work
Possibly the best small business server solution is also the best kept secret. And it looks like it’s going to get even better. I’ve been using Windows Home Server for a few months now and offer it to some of our small business clients as the perfect solution.
This is because most small businesses don’t need Small Business Server.
Why @TweetDeck has rekindled my love affair with Twitter
Not long after setting up my Twitter account, I downloaded and started using TweetDeck, and a great client it is too.
However, having this great PC client did have a few downsides. Either the little pop-up notification would appear just as I wanted to click something underneath it, or something so interesting would pop up that I would immediately click on it. And then I’d be distracted, time would fly and I’d be doomed to get nothing done. Plus, if I was out seeing a client, there would be such a queue of updates waiting to be read that I’d fall so far behind and just skip a day. Or two.
But then they released a beta of TweetDeck on Android.
Fill Your Face
While Kelly at Fill Your Face Cosmetics liked the look of her website, she found it impossible to update. It was also entirely Flash based, making it far from accessible or search-engine friendly.
We carried out a full conversion to our preferred CMS and migrated to our own hosting. We also made a number of improvements, so Kelly is a lot happier…
Having tried several companies for web design, I was beginning to become very distrustful of all IT based companies. But then I met Dear Geek, who I have now renamed Geekie!!
From the instant I met Jonathan (Geeekie) I knew this was a good guy, he has listened to my brief and delivered exactly what I wanted in relation to my website. He keeps my website up to date and stays in regular contact, which I find very reassuring due to my previous IT experiences.
If Carlsbergs made Geeks……
Kelly Costello – Fill Your Face Cosmetics
Lorenden Preparatory School
Lorenden already had a website when they called us in. They liked the design but found it very difficult to update – their hosting was also working out very expensive.
We took over their hosting, carried out a conversion to our preferred CMS, made several improvements to the site and carried out a training session for the staff.
Even after the cost of us carrying out that work, they will save over £800 in the first year and over £1,200 per year after that.
Kent Enterprise House
We were very pleased to be invited back by Kent Enterprise Trust to work on two new websites to promote the services offered at their new premises.
Kent Enterprise House offers both conference centre facilities and office space near Herne Bay.
This project was particularly fun as we trained 10 people on how to use their new CMS – they have jumped into it and even started working with the templates and CSS – we’re not precious about our websites – at the end of the day, it is the client’s website, not ours.
LitePower Golf Trolley Battery launch
We are excited to announce the launch of a new client’s website.
LitePower are producers of a new kind of golf trolley battery. Lighter and smaller than any other battery, the website is still growing as the battery moves from development through production and eventually to online sales.
