Originally published: 2010-04-17 on my old blog
It's just occurred to me that if you've got a sufficiently well-known website (think Amazon, Tesco, etc) that there's no point in you bidding for your own name as a keyword in your Adwords campaign. If your website already occupies the top few listings in google's organic (unpaid) search results, then big companies could save a huge amount by not having a sponsored link as well.
I've noticed that a large proportion of 'ordinary' web users will click on a sponsored (paid) link without realising, and an increasing number of people use Google / Yahoo / [insert favourite engine here] as their address bar (i.e. rather than typing Facebook into your browser's address bar (and letting the browser
sort out the http://www and .com bits automatically, they'll bring up a search engine instead (sometimes with comical results)
So if you run an Adwords campaign (and you rank well in organic search) consider not bidding for your
own brandname as a keyword on it's own, as it'll be cheaper for you if people just click the first organic result instead!
Friday, 1 March 2013
Beware of 0870
Originally published: 2010-05-01 on my old blog
I was shocked last month to get a mobile phone bill that was over £8. Yes, that may not sound much, but bear in mind that I have a calling plan with unlimited calls, texts and internet. So, after looking through the itemisation, it turns out that I spent £8 on a couple of calls to 0870 numbers.
Now, for a bit of background, there seem to be three types of "non-geographic" numbers:
Let's start with 0800 numbers, I have a vested interest in these numbers, since my wife runs one for her company (The Pass Lane). These numbers work by the recipient of the call paying for the cost of the call rather than the person making the call. These numbers should make it free for your customers to contact you, however with more and more people using mobiles, this isn't the case. The reason 0800 calls aren't free from mobiles is because the company doesn't necessarily want to pay the higher cost for you to call from a mobile. 0845 numbers are just supposed to be an easy to remember niceity, and 0870 numbers are expensive presumably because the company doesn't want you to phone them.
The mobile phone companies will allow you hundreds of free minutes, yet these 08xx numbers aren't included. You're likely to be paying around 40 pence for every minute you're on the phone to these numbers, and with most of them being call centres, a lot of that time will be spent on hold. There seems to be a slow movement towards 0300 numbers instead, which are included in your free minutes, but many companies have already invested in 08xx numbers and don't want to change all their literature, etc.
For 0800 numbers, if the company you're calling is prepared to pay for the cost of your call from a landline, and your mobile company is prepared to offer you free minutes to a landline, then surely that reduces the cost down to zero, and you (the person calling from a mobile) shouldn't have to pay anything??
One solution (to a problem that shouldn't exist), is Say No To 0870.com, which allows you to search for a company or number, and tries to return a geographic number for them, which is then much cheaper, or free to call. This is well worth doing, as a typical 10 minute phone call could cost you £4.
So, my questions to no-one in particular (ok, maybe Ofcom) are:
I was shocked last month to get a mobile phone bill that was over £8. Yes, that may not sound much, but bear in mind that I have a calling plan with unlimited calls, texts and internet. So, after looking through the itemisation, it turns out that I spent £8 on a couple of calls to 0870 numbers.
Now, for a bit of background, there seem to be three types of "non-geographic" numbers:
- 0800 numbers, which are free from landlines but not from mobiles (more on that later),
- 0845 numbers, which are supposed to be charged the same as a national-rate call,
- and 0870 numbers which are just plain expensive, whether you use a landline or not.
Let's start with 0800 numbers, I have a vested interest in these numbers, since my wife runs one for her company (The Pass Lane). These numbers work by the recipient of the call paying for the cost of the call rather than the person making the call. These numbers should make it free for your customers to contact you, however with more and more people using mobiles, this isn't the case. The reason 0800 calls aren't free from mobiles is because the company doesn't necessarily want to pay the higher cost for you to call from a mobile. 0845 numbers are just supposed to be an easy to remember niceity, and 0870 numbers are expensive presumably because the company doesn't want you to phone them.
The mobile phone companies will allow you hundreds of free minutes, yet these 08xx numbers aren't included. You're likely to be paying around 40 pence for every minute you're on the phone to these numbers, and with most of them being call centres, a lot of that time will be spent on hold. There seems to be a slow movement towards 0300 numbers instead, which are included in your free minutes, but many companies have already invested in 08xx numbers and don't want to change all their literature, etc.
For 0800 numbers, if the company you're calling is prepared to pay for the cost of your call from a landline, and your mobile company is prepared to offer you free minutes to a landline, then surely that reduces the cost down to zero, and you (the person calling from a mobile) shouldn't have to pay anything??
One solution (to a problem that shouldn't exist), is Say No To 0870.com, which allows you to search for a company or number, and tries to return a geographic number for them, which is then much cheaper, or free to call. This is well worth doing, as a typical 10 minute phone call could cost you £4.
So, my questions to no-one in particular (ok, maybe Ofcom) are:
- Why bother with 0300 numbers at all? We could just change 0800 or 0845 numbers to do the same
- Why aren't 08xx numbers included in free minutes?
- Why are 0870 numbers so massively expensive? Who's pocketing the cash?
Energy Saving Tip #1
Originally published: 2010-11-10 on my old blog
At our house I'm always keen to keep the energy bills (and by extension our carbon footprint)
as low as possible, so my first tip would be not to heat your water any more than you need to.
How many places have you been to where the hot tap is scolding hot, and you can't wash your
hands under it without burning yourself? Or when you need gallons of cold water in your bath
just to make it a comfortable temperature. You can alter this quite easily in most homes by
changing the value on the thermostat wrapped around the hot water cylinder. Mine's pictured below
and I've got it set to about 48 degrees C. This means that I can have a nice warm bath without needing
to add any cold water whatsoever, and only heats the water as much as anyone in the house needs.
I you haven't got a hot water cylinder in your house you may be able to achieve the same effect by
tweaking the "power" knob on your boiler.
At our house I'm always keen to keep the energy bills (and by extension our carbon footprint)
as low as possible, so my first tip would be not to heat your water any more than you need to.
How many places have you been to where the hot tap is scolding hot, and you can't wash your
hands under it without burning yourself? Or when you need gallons of cold water in your bath
just to make it a comfortable temperature. You can alter this quite easily in most homes by
changing the value on the thermostat wrapped around the hot water cylinder. Mine's pictured below
and I've got it set to about 48 degrees C. This means that I can have a nice warm bath without needing
to add any cold water whatsoever, and only heats the water as much as anyone in the house needs.
I you haven't got a hot water cylinder in your house you may be able to achieve the same effect by
tweaking the "power" knob on your boiler.
Why you shouldn't use 3 AntiVirus programs at once
Originally published: 2010-04-19 on my old blog
I feel the need to follow up on a piece of playground gossip I overheard this afternoon. I overheard two people discussing how slowly their Microsoft Windows PC was running, despite having 3 different AntiVirus programs running.
In the vain hope that someone will read this advice, I'll explain why having 3 different AntiVirus programs running will only make things worse, not better.
Without going into too much detail, an AntiVirus program will scan files on your hard disk when they are accessed. Therefore one AntiVirus program will make your computer very slightly slower, but this downside
is greatly outweighed by the benefits that an (up-to-date) AntiVirus application will bring, protecting you from all sorts of nasty viruses and worms.
The problem comes when people install multiple AntiVirus programs to try to fix a slow or infected machine, in the belief that "more is better". So, as we know, AntiVirus programs scan our disks when files change. However two or more A/V programs begin to step on each others toes, the programs start to scan the files not only that you've accessed, but those that the other A/V programs have accessed, thus setting off a chain of events which will massively slow down your machine.
So, stick with a single AntiVirus program you trust, and most importantly, keep it up to date by downloading
new virus definitions on a regular basis. You might want a second program to scan for spyware or malware, but you'll only need one anti virus program.
Good, Free, AntiVirus programs for Windows include Avast and AVG. Don't click on, or install anything
that pops up on your screen unsolicited and promises to fix your machine for you!
I feel the need to follow up on a piece of playground gossip I overheard this afternoon. I overheard two people discussing how slowly their Microsoft Windows PC was running, despite having 3 different AntiVirus programs running.
In the vain hope that someone will read this advice, I'll explain why having 3 different AntiVirus programs running will only make things worse, not better.
Without going into too much detail, an AntiVirus program will scan files on your hard disk when they are accessed. Therefore one AntiVirus program will make your computer very slightly slower, but this downside
is greatly outweighed by the benefits that an (up-to-date) AntiVirus application will bring, protecting you from all sorts of nasty viruses and worms.
The problem comes when people install multiple AntiVirus programs to try to fix a slow or infected machine, in the belief that "more is better". So, as we know, AntiVirus programs scan our disks when files change. However two or more A/V programs begin to step on each others toes, the programs start to scan the files not only that you've accessed, but those that the other A/V programs have accessed, thus setting off a chain of events which will massively slow down your machine.
So, stick with a single AntiVirus program you trust, and most importantly, keep it up to date by downloading
new virus definitions on a regular basis. You might want a second program to scan for spyware or malware, but you'll only need one anti virus program.
Good, Free, AntiVirus programs for Windows include Avast and AVG. Don't click on, or install anything
that pops up on your screen unsolicited and promises to fix your machine for you!
Camera Cheat sheet - part 1 - The basics
Originally published: 2010-05-14 on my old blog
of some of the jargon you'll encounter around digital cameras, and how to make the
most of your photos. It's part one in a series of posts, the size of which I haven't decided yet.
Enjoy!
Aperture or f/number
Relates to the size of the circular hole through which light enters the camera. A wider aperture means more light will enter the camera.A higher f/number gives a smaller aperture (less light), a lower f/number gives a wider aperture (more light).
Aperture controls depth of field, which is the amount of an image which is in focus. A wider aperture (smaller number) gives a smaller depth of field, meaning
less of the area in front of and behind the object you have focussed on will be in sharp focus. Use wider apertures for portraits (such as f/11), and narrower ones (such as f/2.8) for landscapes.
Larger aperture lenses tend to be more expensive as they use higher-quality and more glass elements in their construction.
Shutter Speed
Controls how many milliseconds the shutter remains open, capturing light for your image. The longer the shutter is open, the more chance there is that you will either shake the camera,or the subject you are photographing moves, blurring the image.
You will usually need a tripod for any exposure longer than 1/60 of a second. For fast-moving objects you will need faster
shutter speeds to capture them without blurring the image. (1/200 or faster). Cameras with vibration reduction or steady-shot technology will allow longer exposures without blurring the image through
camera shake, but will not affect motion-blur from fast-moving objects.
White balance and colour temperature
Often left on auto. A higher "K" (Kelvin) value, the higher the colour temperature, and the warmer (redder)an image will look, a lower temperature results in a cooler (bluer) image.
For example you may have to change this to reduce the orange tinge you often get under tungsten lighting, by setting a lower colour temperature in post-processing, or selecting the correct temperature preset in the camera.
Focal length
Our eyes' natural focus length is around 50mm, anything lower than this is called wide-angle (17 - 50mm), anything higher than this (50mm+) is called telephoto. Wide angle lenses allow you to see a largerfield of view (more objects), but those objects will look smaller. Telephoto lenses will show you a smaller field of view, but the objects in that field will look larger (more "zoomed in").
Typically telephoto
lenses will have a higher f/number (thus let in less light) than wide-angle lenses.
Exposure Compensation
In certain circumstances, you may find that the exposure that your camera has picked for an image is too dark or too bright, in this case you can re-take the image and adjust the exposure compensation to correct it.For example by
default a camera will underexpose snow, making it look grey, rather than white.
ISO
This number relates to the sensitivity of the camera to light. The default is normally 100 ISO. The higher the ISO the more sensitive to light, but the more noise (speckles) you will get on the image.In digital cameras it will simply amplify the signal. Useful in low light, or at night, to increase the shutter speed you can use and reduce blur, but at the cost of slightly increased noise.
RAW vs JPEG
An image saved as RAW saves the un-processed information straight from the camera's sensor. It means that you will have to process the image before you can see it on screen or share it with friends. However it also means that the camerahasn't decided for you what the image should look like, and things like the colour temperature can be set correctly.
It also allows you to make bigger changes to the brightness and colour of the image than you would by re-processing a JPEG
image that's already been saved by the camera.
Modes
Full Auto (AUTO on most camera dials) - Camera controls everything for you, including ISO and FlashProgram (P) - Camera controls Aperture and Shutter speed to give correct exposure, may or may not control ISO
Aperture Priority (A or Av) - Camera determines shutter speed to use, based on the aperture you have chosen to give a correct exposure
Shutter Priority (S or Tv) - Camera determines aperture to use, based on the shutter speed requested to give correct exposure
Full Manual (M) - All settings can be changed simultaneously, up to you to work out correct exposure (maybe using a light meter).
Try to use your camera in Aperture priority, Shutter Priority, and Program modes, rather than leaving it on Auto, to learn more about how these affect your image.
Tuesday, 26 February 2013
Monday, 25 February 2013
OBi202: First Impressions
If you've been reading my previous posts, you'll know that I've just replaced a (fake) Linksys PAP2T with a shiny new Obihai OBi202 box, for running my analogue telephone handset and house alarm through the internet. *
It arrived from Amazon on Saturday in a plain-looking white box, but it looks smart, it's compact, and everything plugged in as I expected it should. The on-line device admin guide (pdf) is long, but easy to follow, and 90% of it you'll never need anyway.
The web administration site (find the IP from your router or by entering ***021 from the attached phone) is much prettier, more detailed but easier to follow than the PAP2T. After a minor hiccup everything was set up without any trouble. So far it doesn't seem to be randomly dropping the SIP registration like the PAP2T did.
It supports up to 4 different SIP profiles, as well as Google Voice (if it ever makes it to the UK properly), and usefully, different profiles for things like tone settings, so you can mix and match providers, codecs, ring settings, etc. It'll even allow you to set up a IVR system ("press 1 to speak to Rich") if it takes your fancy. The only improvement I'd like to see is an option to set the ring voltage, caller id, etc automatically to UK settings - you're basically given USA, Nordic, or create-your-own...
Most importantly of all, the call quality of the '202 is very good indeed. How much of this is due to the OBi and how much to the changes my ISP made ("upgraded firmware on your section of the network") I will never know, but I'm happy. The unit also sports a USB socket, so you can hook it up to WiFi, share files or link it to your phone by bluetooth. The bluetooth option initially appealed to me, except the dongle doesn't seem to be available in the UK, and it's the wrong-way-around for my needs - it'll allow you to use your mobile network as a backbone, rather than using your mobile phone as an additional home phone.
I've also edited the phone book entries (prepend *68) on the connected telephone so that caller id is un-suppressed for my grandma, so she knows who's calling. It remains suppressed for everyone else. All I need to do now is figure out how the digit maps work, so I can call 123456 without having to prefix the area code (01234).
* As I have WiMax broadband, I have no need to have a BT landline for broadband, and no need to pay £13/month for the privilege. I've got a free account from Sipgate.co.uk for calls.
Disclaimer: These opinions are entirely my own, I have no affiliation with sipgate or obihai, and paid for the box like everyone else.
It arrived from Amazon on Saturday in a plain-looking white box, but it looks smart, it's compact, and everything plugged in as I expected it should. The on-line device admin guide (pdf) is long, but easy to follow, and 90% of it you'll never need anyway.
The web administration site (find the IP from your router or by entering ***021 from the attached phone) is much prettier, more detailed but easier to follow than the PAP2T. After a minor hiccup everything was set up without any trouble. So far it doesn't seem to be randomly dropping the SIP registration like the PAP2T did.
It supports up to 4 different SIP profiles, as well as Google Voice (if it ever makes it to the UK properly), and usefully, different profiles for things like tone settings, so you can mix and match providers, codecs, ring settings, etc. It'll even allow you to set up a IVR system ("press 1 to speak to Rich") if it takes your fancy. The only improvement I'd like to see is an option to set the ring voltage, caller id, etc automatically to UK settings - you're basically given USA, Nordic, or create-your-own...
Most importantly of all, the call quality of the '202 is very good indeed. How much of this is due to the OBi and how much to the changes my ISP made ("upgraded firmware on your section of the network") I will never know, but I'm happy. The unit also sports a USB socket, so you can hook it up to WiFi, share files or link it to your phone by bluetooth. The bluetooth option initially appealed to me, except the dongle doesn't seem to be available in the UK, and it's the wrong-way-around for my needs - it'll allow you to use your mobile network as a backbone, rather than using your mobile phone as an additional home phone.
I've also edited the phone book entries (prepend *68) on the connected telephone so that caller id is un-suppressed for my grandma, so she knows who's calling. It remains suppressed for everyone else. All I need to do now is figure out how the digit maps work, so I can call 123456 without having to prefix the area code (01234).
* As I have WiMax broadband, I have no need to have a BT landline for broadband, and no need to pay £13/month for the privilege. I've got a free account from Sipgate.co.uk for calls.
Disclaimer: These opinions are entirely my own, I have no affiliation with sipgate or obihai, and paid for the box like everyone else.
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