Looking through some articles about eurostar deals:
How to Find Eurostar Deals for London to Paris by Train
Eurostar deals take you by high speed train from London to Paris which is ideal for short breaks but it can cost more than the air fare. Tips for booking the best deal Eurostar tickets with or without Hotel reservations included.
Moo cards seem to be a pretty good way of promoting an online business in the offline world. People collect them, exchange them, leave them lying about on tables…
But do they ever look a the small print on the back and type in that email address or website url?
I’ve no idea really. It always seems important at the time, but the next day?
Good news for the industry as well as the customers:
Code agreed on broadband ads | Technology | The Guardian
More than 30 broadband providers including BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk have signed up to a voluntary code of conduct designed to prevent consumers being mis-sold high-speed internet access packages.Broadband advertising has become increasingly controversial because internet service providers ISPs often promote the theoretical maximum speeds achievable on their networks rather than the speed most customers can actually get.
A recent survey by the comparison website Broadband Expert found that actual speeds were often less than half those advertised, leading Ofcom to warn that it was prepared to enforce regulation if the industry did not fall into line. Just this week a further study found that there are also big discrepancies between speeds in large cities and rural areas.
Under the code, ISPs will have to give customers an accurate measure of the speed of their broadband service, offer a lower-speed package if those estimates are inaccurate and help resolve any technical issues slowing down connections. They will also need to give clear information about the limits of services and tell customers if they breach those limits.
Ofcom is also planning a comprehensive survey of broadband speeds as part of an attempt to determine the accuracy of advertising.
The chairwoman of Ofcoms consumer panel, Anna Bradley, welcomed the code, adding that the panel would scrutinise the results of the Ofcom study. “If they show that ISPs are not in compliance, it will clearly be time to call for a mandatory code of practice,” she said.
National Statistics Online - Product - Internet Connectivity
E-commerce is having a huge impact on the way we do business. It can lead to dramatic growth in trade, increase markets, improve efficiency and effectiveness and can transform business processes. ONS developed the Index of Internet Connectivity as part of a package of measures to help monitor the UKs use of the Internet and the growth of e-commerce.
This inquiry surveys a panel of Internet Service Providers ISPs, collecting data on the number and type of active Internet subscriptions. Publication of the index commenced in 2001. The publication shows the change in the overall level of connections to the Internet and also for dial-up and broadband connections separately.
National Work from Home Day is this Thursday, 15th May.
So what do the people who already work from home do to celebrate such a day? Go out and evangelise about the benefits of homeworking perhaps. Or get together for a social event like the Social Media Cafe in London.
Stay at home and make use of the broadband wifi by sitting in the garden and answering the occasional email.
Taking part in National Work From Home Day
Many people can easily do their jobs from home. Apart from enhancing work-life balance for staff, with added health and leisure benefits, and reducing the need to travel, working from home significantly improves productivity, enabling businesses to be more competitive.
Many smarter working practices are very simple to implement, and it is these that organisations are being encouraged to try during Work Wise Week:
* Allowing staff to come in either an hour later or an hour earlier, with a reciprocal hour shift at the end of the day. This would enable staff to avoid the busiest travel times, effectively staggering the rush hour and making the journey far more tolerable for everyone.
* Allowing staff to take a half hour lunch break each day, and then let them leave at 3.00pm on the last day.
* Allowing staff to work from home on Thursday May 15, National Work from Home Day. Even a small reduction in the number of people travelling on the roads or by public transport on that day will have a significant effect on congestion and overcrowding.
* During Work Wise Week, ask staff to cancel all external face-to-face staff meetings, and instead hold them by conference call, either video or telephone. This would save time and resources, and reduce congestion and pollution.
* Where appropriate, allow staff to roster their own shifts during the week.
How Much is a Top Google Ranking Worth to Your Business? : SEO Book.com
In the UK Google not only has nearly 90% of the search market, but - according to Hitwise - Google controls a full 36.55% of the traffic going to UK websites. And, due to how search works, that 36.55% of traffic is generally more targeted and more valuable than the remaining pool of traffic.
Freelancers \’like being their own boss\’
Freelance workers generally love being their own boss, and this is one of the bonuses cited by Journalism.co.uk\’s latest Freelancer of the Fortnight, Caspar van Vark.
He said: “Some freelancers like being able to work in their pyjamas, but that\’s not for me. I have a desk in a shared office and I put in normal days.
“What I love is being my own boss, and not answering to anyone. I also love the unpredictable nature of freelancing. Assignments can come out of the blue, and I enjoy the variety.”
Social Media still on rise: Comparative global study
Research highlights:
1. Social media is a global phenomenon happening in all markets regardless of wider economic, social and cultural development.
2. Asian markets (not including Japan) are leading in terms of participation, creating more content than any other region
3. All social media platforms have grown significantly over the three Waves: Video Clips are the quickest growing platform, up from 31% penetration in Wave 1 to 83% in Wave 3
4. Social Networks: 57% have joined a Social Network, making it the number one platform for creating and sharing content: 55% of users have uploaded photos, 22% of users have uploaded videos
5. The widget economy – 23% of social network users have installed an application – 18% of bloggers have installed applications in their blog templates
6. Blogs are a mainstream media world-wide and a collective rival to traditional media (184m bloggers world-wide, China has the largest blogging community in the world with 42m bloggers) – 73% have read a blog, 45% have started a blog
7. Social media has strong impacts over brand’s reputation – 34% post opinions about products and brands on their blog – 36% think more positively about companies that have blogs
Social media by waves: Universal McCann survey:
global-survey-march08.PNG
According to his survey report, ‘Britain’ is 7th in a league table of European countries for percentage of population that regularly use the internet.
Survey: Iceland leads Europe in net use - Research - BizReport
Survey: Iceland leads Europe in net use
Iceland has the highest percentage of population aged 14 and above in Europe that uses the Internet on a regular basis, finds recent research.by Helen Leggatt
The survey, by market research firm GfK, found that 88% of the population of Iceland uses the Internet regularly.
The Scandinavian countries of Finland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden came next, followed by Austria and Britain.
Could it be that climate drives Internet use? The Scandinavian and Icelandic climates are colder than those of the countries where Internet use is lowest – Malta, Spain and Portugal – and daylight is in shorter supply.
1. Iceland – 88%
2. Finland – 81%
3. Norway – 76%
4. Denmark - 76 %
5. Sweden - 73 %
6. Austria - 67 %
7. Britain - 63 %
8. Germany - 61 %
9. Slovenia - 61 %
10. Estonia - 60 %
11. France - 56 %
12. Italy - 53 %
13. Ireland - 45 %
14. Portugal - 43 %
15. Spain - 35 %
16. Malta - 25 %Norway has just been ranked the most technologically advanced country in the world, for the third year in a row, in The World Economic Forum’s latest Global Information Technology Report.
I would suggest that it’s not so much a cold climate as lack of daylight in the winter months that drives Northerners to spend more time on indoor pursuits.
Web expected to overtake TV as UK’s top ad medium - ZDNet.co.uk
The internet will usurp television as the biggest advertising medium in Britain by the end of 2009, according to a report published on Monday.
