Verbo.se

Smart Image Resizing

29/08/2007

The narration on this is a bit Norman House, but when you’re this clever you’re allowed. Very much a why-didn’t-i-think-of-that technology, these guys are going to do very well for themselves.

Most articles on working freelance either state the obvious to the point of stupidity or witter on with jargon to the point of death, however The 10 Biggest Mistakes Freelancers Make, and How to Avoid Them is a rare exception.

Unfortunately it’s written in the 10 Biggest formatÂ Diggers seem to love so much, presumably because of their notoriously short attention spa… oh look, a puppy… but the points are bang on, and the avoidance tactics tend to hit the mark too.

Missing deadlines.
Charging too little.
Lack of preliminary research.
Choosing the wrong clients.
Getting too personal.
Letting off steam.
Not proposing a follow-up idea.
Not having multiple income streams.
Allowing yourself to slack.
Failing to be yourself.

Not sure about the last one, I guess I was too much of an egomaniac for that to happen. ;)

Book Depository Makeover

28/08/2007

Well done to Book Depository for – finally – updating their website with a new look. I first thought they had added new features too – a blog, for example – but it turns out they were there all along. I just didn’t notice because of the awful design. :)

I switched to BD in May of last year because of Amazon’s arrogance, and I haven’t looked back since. Dealing with the shitty site was annoying, but acceptable given the amount of time I spend on the site — I hit it about once a week to add a book to my saved list, and once a month to fire a few into a cart and buy them.

The books always arrive within a few days, in plain white padded envelopes instead of showy logo-splashed boxes that are easily spotted for nicking. And here’s something else refreshing: a contact page with an email address. And there’s more email addresses on the About page, if you want to talk to someone higher up.

And the managing editor wants to hear what you think of the site. And he listens, and responds, and asks for more feedback. And he posts his email address in case you want to comment privately. Are you paying attention Amazon? How about you Play.com, and you Dabs.com? See how chuffed people get when they’re not fobbed off?

Did you know?

27/08/2007

That Mercedes cars are traditionally silver because in the 1934 racing season new weight rules were introduced, and Mercedes’ car was slightly too heavy? To lose that bit of extra weight Mercedes decided to drop the white paint traditional to German cars, and raced in bare aluminium. The cars became known as the Silver Arrows, and that’s why Mercedes favour silver for their cars.

Auto Union did the same thing and became known as Silverfish, which is why Audi is quite keen on the colour too; although these days they seem to lean towards my favourite colour, black.

Jakob Nielsen’s Dishonesty

26/08/2007

I’ve always disliked Nielsen’s holie-than-thou attitude and painful-to-look-at website, so I’m only too delighted to highlight his admission that in 1997 he suppressed research that demonstrated that users respond to dialog-box style ads on websites.

Now hold your horses before you dive in to defend his honour. Yes he’s admitted it now, and there’s no denying that that’s a step forward. But ask yourself, when did you start admiring him, recently or ten years ago? Would you now, with the same information?

Neilsen is a dinosaur. Move on people.

“Torrent Away”

26/08/2007

Graham Linehan to IT Crowd fans on his blog, fair balls to the man.

Wow! Thanks everybody! I’m slightly overcome. And listen, torrent away. Just please buy the DVD when it comes out (unless you hate it, of course, in which case that would be mental).

(About 20 comments down, look for the avatar snipped from the header.)

As I said there, TV LOL moments are so rare these days I get a little shock when I have one; and I had several during this episode. I really must buy series one on DVD, I don’t think I’ve seen all of them.

Don’t Fuck With Lawyers

24/08/2007

I can’t quote the whole thing because B3TA is so notoriously litigious – ok, cos it’s not fair to them or the author – but if you have or respect a mean streak, you should read the rest of this. It takes the whole paying-in-pennies thing to a whole new level, plus there’s a sting.

My dad is a partner in a smallish law firm. He loves nothing better than annoying people and suppliers who piss him off, nothing bad, just minor spats. He loves doing really pointless but perfectly legal things. This is my absolute favourite petty revenge story of all time.

Dad has queried an outstanding payment to an office supplier, its about Â£3800. He contested it and basically dragged out payment for months. Eventually, he agreed that if they sent someone round he’d pay them cash.

In the mean time, he went to the bank and after discussion with the bank manager, worked out what the legal minimum denomination of notes and coins could be used.

He also went to the garden centre and purchased a cheap, yet sturdy black dustbin.

[…]

Sounds like a middle-aged Mulley to-be to me.

Rabbitte Resigns

23/08/2007

A lot of people didn’t like him but I wasn’t one of them; very sad to see him go.

Blog: Today at 3.30pm Deputy Pat Rabbitte in front of a packed out press conference announced his intention to stand down as leader of the Labour Party effective immediately.

Statement: I am today announcing my decision to step down as Leader of the Labour Party with immediate effect. In national politics the only cycle that matters is from DÃ¡il to DÃ¡il. My six year term as Party Leader runs to October 2008. My staying on for another year would only make sense if I intended contesting a second term. It is not my intention to do so. Therefore at the beginning of the lifetime of a new DÃ¡il is the opportune time to elect a new Leader and allow him or her find their feet before Local and European Elections.

Holy Hand Grenade Danglers

23/08/2007

I’m not going to buy these right now as I’m a motoring minimalist, but by god if I ever add a Cortina to my collection…

Mindstorms Autofabrik

21/08/2007

“Luckily, Jim discovered Lego before the APD really got out of hand.”

Yes, I posted it under Engineering. Where would you post it!?