Tony Tickle

Why would anyone want to start a new business in Britain today?

Tony Tickle — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:15:27 +0000

I cannot believe that in Britain today you need over twenty ‘forms’ to Protect Your Business from Employment Tribunals!

Under proposed plans an employer who loses a case would be fined 50pc of the compensation award, up to £5,000, payable to the Exchequer on top of paying out any compensation to the employee.

Have you got the following policy documents in place?

1. Absence Policy
2. Code of Conduct
3. Compassionate Leave and Time off for Emergencies
4. Data Protection Policy
5. Dignity at Work Policy
6. Disciplinary Policy and Procedures
7. Dress Code Policy
8. Driving Policy
9. Drug and Alcohol Policy
10. Email and Internet Policy
11. Equal Opportunities Policy
12. Ethical Statement
13. Flexitime and Working from Home Policy
14. Grievance Procedure
15. Health and Safety Policy
16. Intellectual Property Policy
17. Maternity and Adoption Policy
18. Mobile Phone Policy
19. Parental Leave Policy
20. Paternity and Adoption Leave Policy
21. Smoking Policy

Why would you start a business, get people off unemployment, pay the national insurance etc. and have 21 different policies in place… its no wonder we are in the state were are in!

Are Google helping reinforce national stereotypes?

Tony Tickle — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:56:20 +0000

A simple search on Google.co.uk delivers some surprising results, apparently the “Dutch are Cheap” the Irish are “the Blacks of Europe” the “English are Best” the Scottish ‘Racist’ and the Welsh do not come out well at all.

Unity 3D Northwest Event report

Tony Tickle — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:08:47 +0000

What: Unity 3D Northwest

Where: Vision+Media, Media City Salford

When: Tuesday 18th October 2011, 10am-4:30pm

Last week Peter Caddock from Studio Liddell and I organised a one day seminar focusing on Unity – the 3D game engine which is revolutionizing the games industry on behalf of Vision+Media who are based at Media City Salford. The day was aimed at introducing Unity to those who want to learn more and to show how Unity opens the doors to multi-platform game and online 3D development. over 55 participants attended from MDs through to games programmers.

Delegates had the opportunity to hear from the experts about why this is the fastest growing game development tool in the market also the new trends in Unity, fresh from the Unite 11 conference that took place in San Francisco earlier this month. MD of Unity David Helgason made a special ‘thank you’ video exclusively for our event too!

There was be a chance to see some great examples of Unity in practice, presentations on how to get to grips with the engine, at the end of the event we had a panel of experts made up from the days speakers: Andy Stark – Community and Technical Writer for Unity, Will Goldstone – Author and Technical Support Associate for Unity, Andy Brammall – UK Marketing Officer for Unity and Peter Caddock from Studio Liddell and Me to share experiences and answer questions.

One lucky chap won a pro licence of the software (value 1,050 Euros)… lots of enquiries as to whether we would be hosting an ‘Advanced Unity’ event next year… all I can say is watch this space.

Google+ more than yet another social media application

Tony Tickle — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 13:08:28 +0000

I like twitter… its simple keeps me in contact with the guys in business, I’m informed and it has brought me business. I also like Facebook for different reasons… I have over 1050 ‘friends’ most are not actually friends but people who keep up to date with me and my hobby… and through this I get to travel the world… so yes.. I like Facebook.

But NOW I am getting spam through Twitter more and more and friends accounts have been hacked and yes… it is a pain in the arse for all concerned… and lets face it there is an awful lot of shite mixed in with the good stuff.

And Facebook.. I DON’T DO FARMVILLE stop sending me stuff… or Mafia Wars… I’m too busy for games… or join my campaign to spot Bonsai Kittens… GO AWAY!

Enter Google+ “If Facebook and Twitter had a baby, they’d call it Google+.” ~ Olaf Wempe in the short time I have used it… one week… I think that the I am smitten… for now.

Social Media… yeh its just a fad!

Tony Tickle — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 19:16:45 +0000

If you were in any doubt… the music sounds a bit ‘Lion King’ BUT I quite like the way these guys drive home the message

Who cares about Digital History?

Tony Tickle — Tue, 10 May 2011 10:09:50 +0000

I have had the dubious pleasure of sitting through presentations from digital ‘early adopters’ (I count myself amongst these learned sages) over recent months. Harping back to the golden age when DOS was ‘on its way out’ and ‘scuzzy’ was FAST MAN!

The presentations usually include “when we only had dial up” “a 20 meg hard drive cost £600” “Balthazar were cutting edge”… actually being proud of the challenges that they overcame to create what looks today positively lame. The audience in the most part being under the age of 25 and frankly don’t give a monkeys what happened last month let alone last decade, and who can blame them?

Digital History is irrelevant, our industry moves so fast that what was important last year does not matter… last year is so… ‘last year’

Who today actually can learn from the Boo.com fiasco when going against usability conventions (Boo’s biggest failing) is the norm if you want to cut a swathe through the mundane Digital fog?

I guess Tim Berners-Lee is the ONE ‘old timer’ that can hold an audience and with good reason… he created this brave new world.

So next time you ‘diss’ the old guy with the cravat remember this… we were there WAY before you man… but you don’t give a monkeys anyway.

So you want to be a social media manager

Tony Tickle — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 10:45:15 +0000

Thought those Social Media Manager listings sound like a cushy way to get paid for surfing? Think again! This infographic from Socialcast proves that the Social Media Manager’s job is a hard one.

Facebook vs Twitter ref:Digital surgeons

Tony Tickle — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 10:35:54 +0000

I love this Infogram from Digital surgeons, I will leave it to you to decide which has the biggest influence

Banned “Golden Voice” Video in full here

Tony Tickle — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 12:10:08 +0000

In a Massive Home goal The Columbus Dispatch newspaper removed the “illegally” uploaded You Tube Video citeing ‘Copyright’

Dumb move removing the video from YouTube. The Columbus Dispatch seem to have some ignorance of how to use video and content on the web. The Columbus Dispatch original video had no branding on it – first mistake. The second mistake was then thinking like an old school mainstream media company and removing a video which had gotten The Columbus Dispatch huge exposure with millions of views.

Now The Columbus Dispatch has left the impression with millions of people that they are nothing more than a typical media company who’s out to exploit a person such as Ted for your own gain.

If The Columbus Dispatch had any clue on how social media works, they would have spoken to the poster of the video and worked something out. At the very least they could thank the guy for making this story what it was by posting the video and helping it go viral.

Technology in Education BETT 2011

Tony Tickle — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 11:53:58 +0000

Over the last two days I attended the BETT show at Olympia in London, a lot of the techie ‘big boys’ that the man in the street know were there; Microsoft, Dell, Adobe but they were NOT the busiest stands. The likes of Promethean, Concept4 and Rezzable were stealing the show along with many other specialist suppliers dedicated to the booming education market. The buzzwords being ‘multi-touch’ ‘interactive’ ‘cost driven’ and ‘immersive’ however one ‘word’ you could not escape from was ’3D’… It was everywhere!

Almost all large exhibitors has some 3D content displayed on their stand, and you were constantly invited to ‘wear the glasses’ if 3D has not quite made it to TV it certainly has to education. Promethean were exhibiting a multitouch (up to four users) experience with their new AB500 whiteboard (note: not a single blackboard to be seen anywhere in the show) just like a giant iPad.

My concern for the future of tech in schools is that those teachers and heads who attended the show are a fraction of the teaching population in the UK. It’s the ones who do not attend and are Luddites that hold youngsters back… That… And budget cuts!