Internet Archives

Elysia Comic/Graphic Novel Kickstarter Project…Funded!

25th March 2013 by Simon Barker - Last Updated: 28th July 2019

elysia-comic-graphic-novel-chapter-1-cover UPDATE: The Elysia comic got successfully funded through Kickstarter and the 1st chapter of this original urban fantasy graphic novel will now soon be released! 😀

If you missed out on the Kickstarter, you can head on over to the Elysia comic website and get your pre-order purchased, along with any of the Elysia merchandise (prints, T-shirts etc) you’ll have also missed out on.

In the past year or so, crowd-funding websites such as Kickstarter and IndieGoGo have become a really popular way for individuals and companies to gain upfront funding/support for their projects from the people who would be interested in buying the end-product.

If successful, this method of funding means that these creative people can concentrate on producing their product rather than chasing around trying to gain funding from other sources such as banks and investors. Therefore we all get to see their cool end-products such as independent films, games, comics and board games much sooner than we might otherwise! Also, it’s worth bearing in mind, some may never see the light of day without this method of funding!
[Read more…]

Apple Purchased LaLa As ‘Insurance’ For iTunes Music Downloads

26th February 2011 by Rob Nichols - Last Updated: 1st June 2019

iTunes_LaLa_Cloud In 2009, the music streaming service LaLa was snapped up by Apple in a typical move from the Cupertino based giants, and as yet nothing has come of it in any way, shape, or form. And today, executives at Apple declared that the move was indeed comparable to insurance, and they have no plans to replace the almost entirely dominant iTunes distribution platform with a streaming service.

However, along with the discontinuing of Apple’s current MobileMe service, there is speculation arising that at last something will become of LaLa, as it becomes the building blocks for a new music streaming service from Apple, allowing iTunes users to upload their iTunes libraries to the ‘cloud’, and access the music from any device connected to the Internet. Of course, this is exactly what LaLa was originally set up to do back in 2007, so it is not altogether unfathomable that it may be the eventuality we are heading for.
[Read more…]

BBC iPlayer Added To Sony BRAVIA TVs – UK Internet Streaming TV!

16th September 2010 by Rob Nichols - Last Updated: 1st June 2019

bbc-iplayer-logo There has been a lot of development of late surrounding Internet-connected TV’s, with more and more services such as Google TV tipped as the next big thing in home entertainment.

Unfortunately, most of the progress being made in the industry, including Google TV, is US-only for now, so it’s about time someone on this humble island nation of ours grasped the opportunity and provided consumers with some serious functionality on our IPTV’s.

Enter Sony, who has long been a pioneer in the television industry and once again have come to our rescue with the introduction of BBC’s iPlayer to their range of Internet-connected Sony BRAVIA TV’s. Clearly, they felt that the World Cup streaming to Sony BRAVIA TVs and Blu-Ray players went well during the summer – perhaps that helped them develop this service implementation.
[Read more…]

Top 7 Location-Based Social Networks

11th July 2010 by geetarchurchy - Last Updated: 27th March 2019

internet-globe Location, location, location, they tell us, is all important. Online it’s becoming increasingly pervasive with growth in smartphone take-up driving the development of location-based social networks. In the UK alone there are 11 million smartphone owners according to research outfit Comscore.

Why is it important to know your location when on the Internet? Well, if brands can tell where we are, as we are going to and from locations of interest, they can tailor their content and promotions accordingly.
[Read more…]

The Future Of Cloud Computing – Is It Practical?

30th June 2010 by John Thompson - Last Updated: 15th August 2020

cloud-computing-diagram The release of Google’s Chrome OS is fast approaching, with builds becoming more regular, offering countless bug fixes and feature updates. Whether the uptake of Google’s latest and greatest cloud-based project will meet expectations, however, is yet to be seen.

The computing world is certainly divided over the future of cloud computing (one of our Technologies of the Noughties) – even the many companies in Silicon Valley have divided opinions of the matter. Google, of course, are a predominantly cloud-based company. The vast majority of services on offer are designed for browser use, not local clients.

Google Mail has to be specifically set up in mail settings for POP and IMAP access; the official Google Talk client is only available for Windows, hasn’t been updated recently and new features such as Google Talk Video Chat is only in the Gmail web interface. Also, other cloud-based services such as Google Docs is obviously all web based too.
[Read more…]

Invisible Hand Review (Cheap Online Shopping Price Finder)

19th January 2010 by Rob Nichols - Last Updated: 13th September 2018

Invisible Hand is a remarkable piece of software which is lightweight and extremely efficient. It is an add-on for your web browser that works as a real time price comparison tool. As you browse products on the web, the invisible hand automatically finds you cheaper deals elsewhere. For expensive retailers, it’s a nightmare, but for us consumers it’s a dream come true. After all, everyone loves to get a cheap bargain when they’re looking to do some discount shopping online.

The software browses through 115 different retailers spanning the USA, UK and Germany. Obviously I can only comment on the UK as any others are unnecessary for me. In the UK the software browses major retailers such as Amazon, Curry’s, Dixons, HMV, Play.com, John Lewis and Misco. There are in total 46 UK retailers within the software’s capabilities.
[Read more…]

Evernote Review (How To Get Organised & Remember Everything!)

13th January 2010 by Rob Nichols - Last Updated: 27th March 2019

It was purely by accident that I came across Evernote. Probably a result of some well-planned marketing on their part, but sufficed to say, I was drawn in and carried out a little investigation into the service. I was intrigued and decided to download the program.

In the end, I wasn’t disappointed. It is a simple idea which has been utilised to its full potential in my opinion. Basically, Evernote allows you to stay on the ball and organised with reminders, notes and more. They call it your ‘notable world’ and in all honesty, I couldn’t have put it better myself.

So, I guess you’re all wondering by this point what it actually does. Well firstly, it allows you take text notes which you manually type in and store them in a pre-determined folder. This can include things such as shopping lists, to do lists and all things similar that you need to remember.
[Read more…]

Darlington (UK) Appoints The First Official Town Twitter Tweeter!

1st December 2009 by Christian Milsom - Last Updated: 30th March 2019

darlington-town-centre If there’s one thing that Twitter is good for (excluding wasting your time!) is the distribution of information with it sometimes giving better results than Google, and in fact, we heard not long ago about plans for Twitter to link up with news corporations to provide a stream of the latest real-time news.

So the town of Darlington have taken the initiative and have decided to make the most of the internet craze by employing an official “Twitterer in Residence” whose job will be to make sure that people across the town are kept up to date with news and events both within and outside of the town via the social networking medium.
[Read more…]

a4u Expo London 2009 Review (London Affiliate Marketing Conference)

20th October 2009 by Simon Barker - Last Updated: 28th September 2020

You may have recently read my a4u Expo London 2009 preview which I wrote after I managed to secure a ticket (rather luckily) in a competition over at Kieron Donoghue’s blog called here.org.uk — well I’m now back home after attending the event at ExCel conference centre in London’s Docklands and I can now report back on what was my first multi-day web-related / affiliate marketing conference.

The only other conferences that I’ve attended for the online marketing industry have been the Think Visibility conferences that have been run in the relatively local location of Leeds, so I was expecting a4u Expo London 2009 to be somewhat different not only given its size but also the fact that it’s more focussed around online affiliate marketing. However, as I was to find, these days that also involves a lot of work in terms of analytics, social media, generating useful and unique content for visitors and ensuring that your website is optimally set up for search engine optimisation – all interesting stuff!
[Read more…]

Think Visibility 2 Review (Leeds Digital Marketing/SEO Conference 2009)

14th September 2009 by Simon Barker - Last Updated: 14th August 2020

This weekend I took the chance to attend the second Think Visibility conference, held in Leeds that is described as covering “the things that usually get left behind in the web design process” – with speakers covering various areas of blogging, SEO, PPC, affiliate and digital marketing.

First of all, I think it’s always good to see these types of events happening outside of London for a change and giving us northern bloggers and online, web-type people to experience an event such as this without having to necessarily travel all the way down south – not there’s anything wrong with that, but the chance to meet other people is always good!
[Read more…]

Follow Zath – UK Tech Blog