Thursday, March 17, 2005
On the road
Blogging tonight from the glamorous surroundings of my room at the Premier Travel Inn in beautiful downtown Bracknell. My aging laptop - still running - W95 has embraced the wireless age, so here I am, burning money at the rate of £5 for two hours to update myself on Ecademy and to catch up with the world. I've actually spent some time downloading Mind Manager X5 only for it to tell me (during installation AFTER a lengthy download) that my op system isn't supported. Might have told me BEFORE I downloaded? Would have saved some of my £5, too.
Here in the UK, we live with weather that changes minute by minute. Yesterday I drove from Falmouth to Kettering (which took from 10am - 6pm) in what could best be described at times as zero visibility. The M4 between Bristol and Swindon was especially bad, not helped by the inevitable idiot who decided that front ending the central barrier would be fun. Today, I drove from Kettering to Andover in bright sunlight and was walking around in Andover in shirtsleeves. Temperatures in the region of 19 - 20c in March are rare but may stick around a few more days.
It's been a while since I was a regular road warrior. The feeling soon comes back. At times today, I was actually ENJOYING driving on the A34. Perhaps I need to get my head checked!
Tomorrow I'm in a seminar on seminar selling by Philip Calvert whose Ecademy training sessions, usually given for free and on the end of a long drive, are always good value. A full day, not free but still reasonably priced, should be a real shot in the arm for my speaking aspirations (I nearly wrote pretensions). I'll report back on that from this same room tomorrow.
Saturday is now also a networking day. A major networking event, organised by Larry Osei Kwaku, takes place in Central London. He has over 200 coming for a saturday full of speakers and food. Must be doing something right!
Here in the UK, we live with weather that changes minute by minute. Yesterday I drove from Falmouth to Kettering (which took from 10am - 6pm) in what could best be described at times as zero visibility. The M4 between Bristol and Swindon was especially bad, not helped by the inevitable idiot who decided that front ending the central barrier would be fun. Today, I drove from Kettering to Andover in bright sunlight and was walking around in Andover in shirtsleeves. Temperatures in the region of 19 - 20c in March are rare but may stick around a few more days.
It's been a while since I was a regular road warrior. The feeling soon comes back. At times today, I was actually ENJOYING driving on the A34. Perhaps I need to get my head checked!
Tomorrow I'm in a seminar on seminar selling by Philip Calvert whose Ecademy training sessions, usually given for free and on the end of a long drive, are always good value. A full day, not free but still reasonably priced, should be a real shot in the arm for my speaking aspirations (I nearly wrote pretensions). I'll report back on that from this same room tomorrow.
Saturday is now also a networking day. A major networking event, organised by Larry Osei Kwaku, takes place in Central London. He has over 200 coming for a saturday full of speakers and food. Must be doing something right!
Sunday, March 06, 2005
Farewell to Rick West
Who, you may ask? Rick West became Tommy Vance when he took his first job in radio at KHJ Los Angeles. The only jingle package available was for a DJ called Tommy Vance who had not turned up for his new job. Rick became Tommy and the rest is history. this weekend Tommy died, aged 63, from a stroke.
The most significant thing about Tommy was his deep, rocky voice. It was what made him such a successful DeeJay in his chosen field of Heavy Metal and Rock. In recent years he has also become a very successful voice over artist - that voice again!
To lose Tommy so soon after the great loss of John Peel is a saddening event and one that will have all of us who grew up with their distictive voices considering our mortality.
Some archive material HERE including plenty of archive audio clips.
Somewhere in heaven tonight there'll be a party going on and a familiar voice shouting 'ROCK ON'. Our loss is their gain.
RIP Tommy Vance 1943 - 2005. He will be missed.
The most significant thing about Tommy was his deep, rocky voice. It was what made him such a successful DeeJay in his chosen field of Heavy Metal and Rock. In recent years he has also become a very successful voice over artist - that voice again!
To lose Tommy so soon after the great loss of John Peel is a saddening event and one that will have all of us who grew up with their distictive voices considering our mortality.
Some archive material HERE including plenty of archive audio clips.
Somewhere in heaven tonight there'll be a party going on and a familiar voice shouting 'ROCK ON'. Our loss is their gain.
RIP Tommy Vance 1943 - 2005. He will be missed.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
A Sign of the Times - Spammers get Commercial
A Press Release on behalf of Email Systems this morning notes a massive reduction of pornographic content in spam emails in favour of dating, financial services and scams. Nevertheless spam reached 97.6% of all email traffic on Sunday 6th February. Full details below -
Porn Plummets as Spammers Look To Dating Services & Financial Scams in February
Legitimate Mail Less Than 2% In February - Lowest Point To Date Says Email Systems
Email Management specialist Email Systems has unveiled new statistics which reveal that pornographic spam mail dropped by a massive 92.5% during February, whilst unsolicited emails offering dating (+171%), financial services (+107%) and scam (+70%) opportunities have all increased significantly.
Spam as a whole has continued to increase this month, with an average of 92.08% of all incoming email being identified as spam, versus an average of just under 90% during January 2005. These figures, which represent the first monthly average above 90%, are based on the detailed analysis of hundreds of millions of emails across Email Systems’ client base, spanning sectors such as Construction, Energy Utilities, Financial Services, IT, Manufacturing, Medical and the Public Sector amongst others.
On Sunday 6th February - the worst point during February - Spam reached a staggering 97.6% of all email traffic. Combined with 0.61% of virus traffic on that day, fewer than one in fifty-five emails were legitimate. At February’s high point on Thursday February 24th, legitimate email comprised 12.42% of email, with spam at 85.83% and virus traffic at 1.74%.
Medical and pharmaceutical-related spam remains the most prevalent type of unsolicited mail, with almost one in two (46.68%) of all spam mails currently being of this type. In addition to those mentioned above, other spam categories during February include educational/degree offers, cheap software, travel and religious emails.
Neil Hammerton, CEO of Email Systems, said:
“The drop in pornographic spam is incredible considering that this type of mail was the most prevalent type of spam just over a year ago. The change indicates how spam as a whole has shifted towards overtly promoting scams, financial incentives, cheap products and other consumer-focussed opportunities in an attempt to encourage mainstream recipients to part with their cash.
“In contrast to the ever-increasing spam numbers, the virus figures seem extremely low by comparison. However, although the proportion has decreased, the amount of virus traffic has actually increased since late 2004, which again underlines the massive quantities of spam that are now being distributed each day.”
Email Systems manages and monitors the flow of spam and virus infected email messages on behalf of millions of corporate, public sector and domestic users across the UK. For more information, visit www.EmailSystems.com or call 0870 141 7070.
Porn Plummets as Spammers Look To Dating Services & Financial Scams in February
Legitimate Mail Less Than 2% In February - Lowest Point To Date Says Email Systems
Email Management specialist Email Systems has unveiled new statistics which reveal that pornographic spam mail dropped by a massive 92.5% during February, whilst unsolicited emails offering dating (+171%), financial services (+107%) and scam (+70%) opportunities have all increased significantly.
Spam as a whole has continued to increase this month, with an average of 92.08% of all incoming email being identified as spam, versus an average of just under 90% during January 2005. These figures, which represent the first monthly average above 90%, are based on the detailed analysis of hundreds of millions of emails across Email Systems’ client base, spanning sectors such as Construction, Energy Utilities, Financial Services, IT, Manufacturing, Medical and the Public Sector amongst others.
On Sunday 6th February - the worst point during February - Spam reached a staggering 97.6% of all email traffic. Combined with 0.61% of virus traffic on that day, fewer than one in fifty-five emails were legitimate. At February’s high point on Thursday February 24th, legitimate email comprised 12.42% of email, with spam at 85.83% and virus traffic at 1.74%.
Medical and pharmaceutical-related spam remains the most prevalent type of unsolicited mail, with almost one in two (46.68%) of all spam mails currently being of this type. In addition to those mentioned above, other spam categories during February include educational/degree offers, cheap software, travel and religious emails.
Neil Hammerton, CEO of Email Systems, said:
“The drop in pornographic spam is incredible considering that this type of mail was the most prevalent type of spam just over a year ago. The change indicates how spam as a whole has shifted towards overtly promoting scams, financial incentives, cheap products and other consumer-focussed opportunities in an attempt to encourage mainstream recipients to part with their cash.
“In contrast to the ever-increasing spam numbers, the virus figures seem extremely low by comparison. However, although the proportion has decreased, the amount of virus traffic has actually increased since late 2004, which again underlines the massive quantities of spam that are now being distributed each day.”
Email Systems manages and monitors the flow of spam and virus infected email messages on behalf of millions of corporate, public sector and domestic users across the UK. For more information, visit www.EmailSystems.com or call 0870 141 7070.
