Reflections from Kay

Political People matrix

2006-04-26T16:56:00.000+01:00

Political People matrix
Originally uploaded by heyrog.

They are all here, men, women whose decisions affect the way we all live.

African immigrants return home with their expertise

2006-04-26T16:25:00.001+01:00

African immigrants return home with their expertise

Ocean 11, 12...and now 13!?! with Pacino

2006-04-26T14:34:00.000+01:00

Pacino joins Clooney's gang

Galloway's eBay auction sabotaged :: BBC

2006-02-09T15:48:00.000Z

This is freaking funny, first he has been called a cat and now his eBay auction sabotaged: "Galloway's eBay auction sabotaged"

Black Hat & BMW

2006-02-08T14:58:00.000Z

BBC made a grave mistake in referring black hat search engine result manupulation as SEO in its article on bmw.de black hat.

"A BMW spokesman admitted the company used the doorway pages, a practice known as search engine optimisation and banned by Google."

It has however been rectified, thanks to benniog on SEO Chat who issued a complaint and got the article changed.

"A BMW spokesman admitted the company used the doorway pages, which are created to do well in searches for particular phrases and direct users to a final website."

A more detailed article on the BMW's use of Black Hat can be found on the Times Online. There's also another article on the Times Online about black hat techniques to avoid. BMW has however been reinstated: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=BMW.de&btnG=Google+Search

times_google Originally uploaded by kunlay

London Streets on the Internet :: Street Sensations

2006-02-06T06:45:00.000Z

Know & browse all major London shopping streets from your desktop
good stuff I use before taking off for shopping.

Climate Predicts Malaria Peaks

2006-02-04T22:15:00.000Z

Interesting article from Red Herring about a scientific breakthrough of predicting malaria. It will definately help African countries hard hit by the epidemic and most importantly curb alot of deaths Climate Predicts Malaria Peaks.

“Interannual climate variability is an important determinant of epidemics in parts of Africa where climate drives both mosquito vector dynamics and parasite development rates,”

“Hence, skillful seasonal climate forecasts may provide early warning changes of risk in epidemic-prone regions.”

Steve Jobs Unvieling the iPod nano

2006-02-04T22:03:00.000Z

Although this event was old (Sept. '05) they are however lovely pics, check the link out of Steve Jobs Unvieling the iPod nano: "Visual simplicity: Steve Jobs does it again"

Puppies used in Colombian drug runs

2006-02-02T13:42:00.000Z

Reuters Video Story: "investigation began a year ago when Drug Enforcement Administration officers and police in Colombia found six puppies with scars on their bellies at a makeshift veterinarian clinic on a rural property"

Map of African Hunger

2006-02-01T16:32:00.000Z

Interesting one here ! The map of Africa categorised by hunger. Its really crazy and gets me thinking that in places like Sudan 4 million+ people are hunger striken here

Google pulls 'we don't censor' statement

2006-01-27T16:28:00.000Z

undefined: "Google pulls 'we don't censor' statement"

How to add a Google Map to any web page in less than 10 minutes

2006-01-19T12:33:00.000Z

Found this tutorial really helpful for setting up Google maps with websites: How to add a Google Map to any web page in less than 10 minutes

Prime Time TV....Is it worth it?

2006-01-06T00:09:00.000Z

Ever since I started working I must say, I haven't really been a fan a prime time TV. Given the fact that my daily travel averages 4 hours commuting between London & Oxford all I really want to do when I get home is eat & sleep.

But the past two days Tuesday and Wednesday the 3rd & 4th showcased 2 quaility tv programmes that make me inclined to reading the daily TV guide in the morning papers.

The first one was aired on Tuesday night on Channel 5 - How to be a property developer hosted by Gary McCausland, an Irish born Real Estate mogul, business man and television presenter (rumors have it that he is dating Belfast cutie; Orliath of UK Big Brother 6, but thats beside the point). He manged to make a wanabe-property developer couple £54,000 richer within the span of 4 weeks by assisting them acquire bargain real estate in a property auction and then adviced on the tasteful renovation that ultimately increased its value. He finally gave them tips on negotiation skills for price bargaining. It was amazing, I must say....even though I started in the middle of the show. I have set a weekly reminder on my phone for this program.
I read a little on Gary and realised that this overly successful enterpreneur paid his 9-5 dues for 10 years working in various Real Estate management roles in multinationals like Cable & Wireless and MCI. He learned the ropes buying and selling properties for these companies and then set up his company Richland Developments in 2002. Read more about him here.

The second show on Wednesday night, on Channel 4 - Derren Brown - The Heist hosted by no other than Derren Brown was amazing, revealing and scary. Derren explained the major reason for making this show was more of an inquest to the reasons why perfectly normal people (or would I say foot soilders) take unethical and otherwise 'wicked' orders from evil, dictatororial and manipulative figures of authorities (like Hitler) when in perfectly normal circumstances they will not. To show us how and why this can happen, under the guise of a motivational seminar and a follow-up documentary, Derren's aim was to persuade 4 members of a group of about 12 responsible, middle-management businessmen and women to steal £100,000 in an armed robbery. It was....amazing read more about it in this article. There is also some criticism on this thread in his very own forum...I personally do not share those view. I really enjoyed the show and fell it was quite reavling in terms of exploring the human-psyche. Don't know when its coming out on DVD, but check amzaon from time to time for it. Check The Trick in the Mind for more on him on DVD.

Meanwhile Celebrity BB UK is on with Faria Alam, Dennis Rodman, George Galloway, Jodie Marsh, Rula Lenska, Pete Burns, Maggot, Traci Bingham, Preston Samuel, Michael Barrymore, Chantelle Houghton (a Paris Hilton Look-alike and only non-celebrity).

Two-headed Snake (bizzare)

2006-01-05T23:40:00.000Z

A two-headed albino snake is to be auctioned on eBay with offers starting at $150,000 (£85,276).

The World Aquarium in St Louis has been home to We, a rat snake, since 1999. She is 2.5cm thick and 120cm (4ft) long, and her body is white but her heads have a reddish appearance. Leonard Sonnenschein, president of the museum, said: “When people see the snake they are awe-struck.”

unlike some two-headed animals, both mouths are connected to the same stomach, Sonnenschein said.

The Web :: An Amplification of Real Life

2005-11-24T20:42:00.000Z

As we all know, the fundamentals of SEO lies in link building. Get links from similarly themed authoritative domains to yours and you are on your way to top SE rankings. In other words, be 'well' connected and you make it to the top. In fact the key word to emphasis here is effective networking at the link level with of course high quality on-page optimisation features, you are sure to get well ranked.

Looking at the real world, what makes a successful individual? Well this is an open ended question that has infinite answers. But if you assess success stories, you'll see that while the stars to-be remained in the doldrums, their big break came when they made a key link to success. In order words you could be the most talented individual in your field, but your big break comes when you are recognised by a person or people recognise your talent. The same goes to SEO; you can have a juicy, sophisticated and content rich website but your big break in the SEs comes the moment you start getting relevant links from authoritative websites.

So where do we start in real life to get 'connected'? Well... some of us join clubs, associations, institutes and schools to be grounded, well informed about the subject and most importantly link with fellow colleagues.

In SEO, a site's first step in associating with 'like-minds' begins with listing in directories. Yes...directories: DMOZ, Yahoo Directory and MS Small Business Directory are good 'clubs' to join and can sure get you started on your way to top SE spots.

The rest of the story is that.... you should be well connected coz as Lefty explained in Donnie Brasco,
"If I say you're a friend of mine, that means you're connected." and

"If I say you're a friend of ours, that means you're a made guy. "

Looking for a decent crib

2005-10-27T23:49:00.000+01:00

I took a couple of hours off from work to go crib hunting in the Oxford area. A collegue of mine recommended Jericho, in central Oxford - an upwardly mobile, bohimien neigbourhood. So i searched for properties on daily info. I stumbled upon a studio apartment on Juxon street going for about £610 pcm and then arranged a viewing. When I got there....man this place was a shit hole...smelling, small, old worn out furniture....GUSH.
I decided to do some freelance crib hunting and got to finders keepers in Central Oxford. They asked me for my budget and being the dude that I am said I had a grand to spare (lol) for my monthly rent. This got them on their feet and a viewing of 2 properties was immediately arranged. Here's how it went:

PROPERTY ONE
This was in Central Oxford off the London Brewery at St. Thomas Street. This was a spankingly new, luxury studio apartment with video entry security, elevator, floor heating, new leather sofa, new wall to wall carpeting, steel finish kitchen fittings, marble finish bathroom and a balcony with a view over looking a canal.

The price for this luxury?
£850pcm (way off my budget) meaning that when council tax, water and electrcity bills are paid total monthly spend on the apartment will be between £1100 and £1200.

PROPERTY TWO
Was a two bedroom Victorian house in the Osney Mead Island Village....saw my local pub (if I were to move in) and the local community that happened to by the banks of River Thames.
This two bed duplex was a disaster. The bathroom was downstairs! It had a run down fireplace, ugliest furniture I had ever laid my eyes on....and the asking price? An outrageous £800!

Crib hunting is more difficult than I previously thought....my search continues.

I'm Back!

2005-09-14T23:46:00.000+01:00

After a long time of not blogging, I have decided to come back to the blog world and stay here for good. I'm through with Warwick now and currently live in London (but work in Oxford).....I know it is usually the other way round (i.e. live in Oxford & work in London)...but hey thats the way it is!

Yahoo, MSN, Skype WATCH OUT! .....Goggle is talking

2005-08-25T07:58:00.000+01:00

Google Talk

Okay they are full of suprises...but this! Google talk? an IM and VOIP app.
I must say these guys are a true technology company.
This tool is all about simplicity the very trademark of Google. It doesn't have all the bells & whistles of the Yahoo and MSN messenger but yet delivers its promise- VOICE, IM & email
I tested it & GOD it is so so so smooth.
WHY?
coz its simple.....as in simple to the core
Comparing its stability to the other MSN, Yahoo and Skype is like comparing the stability of notepad to MS word.
Although MS word has lot more functions, the pay off is getting a couple of crashes from time to time....
well its so simple that you can't send a file to another gmail user theres an email function to take care of that. :(

My take on this is that this is the best way Google can guarantee the success of its web based email service still on beta testing: GMAIL.

As it is; the gmail notifier is integrated with Google talk and so seamless communications is guaranteed.

I don't know what other competitors are up to but news has it that Skype (with 51 million users) will open up its instant messaging for integration into web sites and software apps like music playing programs and multiplayer online games.

Yahoo has recently been very aggressive in advertising the voice capabilities of its messenger but this is still yet to impress me.

Google seems to be going the way of skype in terms perfection in technology, but at the same time it has the strategy of MSN and Yahoo in terms of integration of IM, email, search and VOIP which is the future.

My prediction is that GMAIL will be coming out of BETA very very soon. This is what will launch it.

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Nine die in Japan 'suicide pacts'

2005-08-24T11:49:00.000+01:00

MarketingProfs - converting firm enquiries into sales

2005-08-19T23:15:00.000+01:00

Too Posh to Read a book | Can read, won't read books

2005-08-17T22:31:00.000+01:00

BBC NEWS | Magazine | Can read, won't read books

Google pauses on book search after copyright flap

2005-08-13T12:06:00.001+01:00

Internet News Article | Reuters.com: "Google pauses on book search after copyright flap"

Fox TV probe clears "American Idol" star Abdul

2005-08-13T12:06:00.000+01:00

Entertainment News Article | Reuters.com

Yahoo buys Alibaba.com for $1billion.....what next!

2005-08-10T11:41:00.000+01:00

Yahoo founders Jerry Yang & David Filo

Chinese e-commerce operator Alibaba.com is in the late stages of talks to sell a 35 percent stake to Yahoo Inc. in return for $1 billion and Yahoo's entire China operations, a source close to the discussions said on Wednesday. Full Story

Games gets heart attack after 50 hours gaming!

2005-08-10T10:58:00.000+01:00

Gaming in Korea

A South Korean man who played computer games for 50 hours almost non-stop died of heart failure minutes after finishing his mammoth session in an Internet cafe, authorities said on Tuesday.

The 28-year-old man, identified only by his family name Lee, had been playing on-line battle simulation games at the cybercafe in the southeastern city of Taegu, police said.
rest of story here