DESIGNpebble

Finally got shot of my old 8gb iPhone 3g, well, not completely; I’m still looking to sell it and may even go as far as sending it to mazuma.

I am now part of the Android family with my Motorola Milestone (t-mobile contract; bought from expansys) and it has made me incredibly happy, the phone simply does everything I want it to, its very fast, multi tasks well and has a good battery life. Not to mention the seemless sync with my Google account.

I actually find it a pleasure to type on the physical keyboard and actively seek opportunities to type with it. It took a bit of getting used to but I think I finally have it.

Well, this turned out to be a fairly lengthy post to type from a phone, but a decent test.

Thank you to everyone that requested an invite on Wave and Twitter. All invitations have been sent and hopefully you should have them all soon (some already do). Hope you enjoy it and feel free to send me a message on Wave when you get your head around it.

[Edit: Nov 21 @ 21:45] All wave invites sent. Thanks all

At the time of writing this post, I have 15 Google Wave invitations to give away so If anyone would like one, just leave a comment and make sure you include some way for me to contact you, alternatively you can direct message me on Twitter. I’m not going to be biased and all invitations are on a “first come – frist served” basis.
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Let me start by saying that my role at work has changed, Initially I was hired on as a Web Designer. My tasks included re-designing websites, designing banner adverts, MPU’s, Skyscrapers and the occasional single page minis ad for Military Schools. My largest project was re-designing Police Oracle from the ground up and that project is currently in the early programming stage (something I’m VERY pleased not to have a hand in).

My role gradually shifted into Analysis. Monitoring traffic streams, Adsense & Affiliate revenue, traffic trends and the like; with the ultimate goal of increasing website value either through increased traffic, improving click throughs and even incresing product sales for Patrol Store.

Now however, my latest adventure is into the deep pond of Social Media. I make no claim to be a Social Media Guru, and I’m sure I still have a LOT to learn. It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of Twitter and the power it has in current affairs, news and conversation. So delving deeper into Twitter on a professional level has been interesting so far. Granted, I’m still only at the early stages of my exploration but already I’m finding that thinking about strategies and ideas to increase brand awareness and create an open dialogue about our core sites is certainly an exciting endeavour. I am wary, of course, of focussing too heavily on Twitter and am fully aware that it is not “the answer to all our needs”, it is a tool that when used properly can create new ways for our staff and our users to communicate and engage in open dialogue.

We shall see how it all pans out in the future. For now however, for anyone interested in Policing or the Policing community, you can follow @policeoracle and keep up to date with the latest Police news.

I FINALLY got my own DSLR camera!

Got myself a Canon 450D, not a hugely amazing camera, it’s pretty much entry level but that’s what I’ve been looking for. Had a bit of free time so managed to try out a few of the settings and such.

I used a tripod and the “bulb” setting to take these shots of my lighter sparking up. I really like how these came out, even if some are a little out of focus or blurry. Let me know what you think!

As always, the full set can be found on my Flickr page or in my photo gallery