Exploding soft drinks, liquid nitrogen ice-cream and detonating daffodils - on Friday we were out and about taking some press pictures for the Edinburgh Science Festival 2012. Supported by the City of Edinburgh Council's Town Centres campaign, mad scientists will be performing live on street around Edinburgh over the coming weeks. If you have kids, or are just a big kid yourself (it was my excuse), see below for dates and locations (click to enlarge)
A video short for the SBCC's Make One Change campaign as part of their launch event presentation at the Scottish Parliament. Make One Change will focus in simple,noften overlooked interventions that can greatly enhance personal and business security.
Make One Change launches w/c 5th March 2012, providing themed monthly advice for SMEs across Scotland on how to make their business more secure. Developing the campaign with the Scottish Business Crime Centre, we'll be working together to develop a year-long campaign looking at a diverse range of issues which can all be helped by taking simple, practical steps to minimise risk.
The campaign begins considering issues of mobile device security, following interesting discoveries in a recent SBCC Smartphone survey to be released this week.
OK, so to protect the modest, I've moderated the title, if not the content of the hilarious take on SOPA provided by theoatmeal.com A friend pointed me in their direction for an interesting take on this hot copyright legislation topic. Check it out, it explains the issues and fears of much of the creative community at the potentially draconian nature of the legislation... And of course, if America passes rules like this; how long til we all fall in behind them?
Piracy is a problem. SOPA is not the solution. It's like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut... or, as the Oatmeal would have it: "like dealing with a lion that's escaped from the zoo by blasting some kittens with a flamethrower"
Many websites are blacking out their sites to highlight the fact that powers under SOPA, if it becomes law, could shut down any site, without due legal process for any possible infringement of creative rights.
Enjoy the animated GIF pirated at the author's request, which covers the main topics, or find out more on Wikipedia
A photographer friend posted this on Facebook and it's too good not to share. I have the utmost respect for Photoshop as a tool, but I do think that many people take things a little too far. Say no to plastic celebrities and crushed self-esteem!
Spent the whole day with new giant panda friends preparing for an exciting campaign in the west of Edinburgh for the City of Edinburgh Council. More to follow...
We have the pleasurable excuse of going there often as we have a number of clients tucked away along the street and it's interconnecting lanes.
It was particularly exciting to work with the local businesses and Edinburgh Council on a project to raise awareness of this real 'hidden gem' of a street; if you're looking for unique and different experiences of our beautiful city, Thistle Street should definitely be on your map!
You can get your own copy of the Thistle Street 'passport' from the local businesses and selected hotels, restaurants etc. It's full of useful information, a handy map and a selection of interesting 'privilege' offers from local establishments.
Or take a look at the virtual version above to discover more...
Our friend, Aikido instructor Ricky Craig took to the mat to raise money for young Emma Hoolin.
His challenge... help raise £210,000 so 4 year old Emma can get the treatment she needs abroad. Ours? To fit 1000 rolls and 90 minutes of footage into a couple of minutes...
Emma has undergone extensive treatment since she was diagnosed with neuroblastoma and requires an expensive new antibody treatment to prevent a relapse. Unfortunately, it's not available in the UK.
The Apple brand has always divided opinion, particularly among IT professionals who either embrace and endorse, or dismiss and dislike the Mac platform.
Whichever camp you belong to (we're an Apple-based business) it's clear that with the announcement of Steve Jobs' death the world has lost a man of very singular vision and an exceptional technology innovator. Working with the machines that are part of his legacy every day - and enjoying the simplicity and integration of software and hardware with excellent design, it's right to pay respects.
With such strong creativity in its DNA, hopefully Apple will continue to innovate, invent and improve people's expectation and experience of technology for years to come.
Image from www.apple.com on their homepage following today's announcement
It was great to be invited to cover the Karate World Championships this year, held at the impressive Highland Hall at the Royal Highland Showgrounds in Ingliston near Edinburgh.
Winners of national competitions all over the world met up to compete for recognition and we managed to speak with representatives about what the World Championships meant to them.
STUDIO EH1, Scotland’s Power Plate Academy based in the West End of Edinburgh, just opened their third studio in three years – and we were there to capture the festivities!
STUDIO EH1 is owned by Directors Ian Gray and Helen Maclennan (pictured) who are confident that even in this testing financial climate, the time is right for expanding the business. Ian Gray said: "We opened our first studio in January of 2008 and the second in January 2009. Over this time our clients have continually told us that what we provide is not only the perfect training solution for anybody with a busy lifestyle, a desire to change their shape and to improve their fitness; but unique in the fact that you can have fun doing it!"
The new studio has meant they are able to provide a dedicated one to one Personal Training facility in addition to increased session availability to meet the continually increasing demand, generated predominantly through word of mouth.
Our twitter account just tried to sell everyone we know Viagra...
With the rising trend in twitter 'direct message' spam, be careful who you follow and which applications you allow to link into your account.
A habit has developed among a number of online comms and business folk that they 'thank' everyone who follows them and 'autofollow' the user back. This can be good for your numbers, but it's a risky & impersonal strategy that may see all your followers (old and new) spammed with unwanted info from your brand channel.
Even if, like us, that isn't your approach - you should always check out the people you follow when following back. Don't just read their bio. It turns out our 'wind energy' enthusiast actually had a feed full of the types of message our account ended up sending out.
We've reported the spam issue to twitter and apologise if you've received any... Of course if its still sending weird messages, let us know!
For those interested, there may be value in validation services like TrueTwit to avoid spam and bots, though many introduce 'extra steps' for followers which can be off putting.
At the close of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, we had the pleasure of meeting the ladies who run Kinetica, an organisation that facilitates connections between film makers and musicians for successful collaboration. We'll let them introduce themselves...
In 2010, two community-led not-for-private-profit groups, PEDAL (Portobello Transition Town) and Greener Leith, started working together to explore the feasibility of a wind turbine on land at Seafield Waste Water Treatment Works, Marine Esplanade, Edinburgh.
The aim of the project is to:
- Generate enough renewable energy to power the equivalent of 300-1300 homes each year;
- Reduce CO2 equivalent emmissions from electricity generation by between 400 and 2000 tonnes per year (dependent on actual wind resource and capacity of turbine installed) over the lifetime of the installation (25 years);
- Generate an independent income stream that will be distributed to local not-for-private-profit groups for projects focussed on sustainable development. The funds will be disbursed on an open, transparent and inclusive basis.
- Increase local awareness of issues relating to energy and the potential for generating clean energy using local renewable resources, and provide learning and inspiration for other communities to undertake similar projects
They could do with your support in this initiative, and you can find out much more, or show your support online here
To keep up to date with the latest goings on at Greener Leith, why not follow their posts on twitter or facebook
On July 4th people are being encouraged to buy at least one item from a local, independent retailer.What a brilliant idea - but you should try it every week!
Based in Leith, Edinburgh, we already like to do that and are great fans of the Leith Village Store, a locally sourced, fairly traded 'farmers market' held every week at the Out Of The Blue Drill Hall on Dalmeny Street.
There's no shortage of independent retailers in our area and indeed, almost wherever you are. Supporting independent retailers helps keep a buoyant and vibrant mix of businesses in your local area, rather than seeing everything turn into more of the same 'big-name brands.' When it comes to food, it also supports local producers and reduces the number of 'food miles' in your shopping basket considerably.
So look after the small businesses and keep your area diverse, competitive and unique!
What a busy day... The new edition of OMH Living is online! It's always great to pop in and see Sadna, Lee and the team at OMH Therapies on Thistle Street, Edinburgh - we suggest everyone tries it, especially with their exclusive special offers for OMH Living readers (back page).
Go on, you know you want to!
More about OMH Therapies at www.omhtherapies.com on facebook or twitter
JKS Scotland will be bringing the Karate World Championships to Scotland this September at the impressive Royal Highland Centre at Ingliston. We talk with Kagawa Sensei, Chief Instructor of JKS and Technical Director Paul Giannandrea to find out more.
JKSのスコットランドはイングリストンで印象的なロイヤルハイランドセンターでスコットランドには、この9月に空手の世界選手権を持ち込む予定。我々は多くを見つけるために香川先生、JKSの技術ディレクターであるポールGiannandreaのチーフインストラクターと話す。
We loved working with Jay-Soul to get things ready for his launch from photos to video to getting the message out there. It's been quite a journey for this very talented young man - Thanks for the end credit Jay!
His first track is now available for download on all online music stores - since iTunes is probably easiest to get hold of, you'll find him online here in the iTunes store - http://bit.ly/jay-Soul_Afraid
He's pretty social - on facebook you can find his page here: www.facebook.com/Jaysoulmusic or follow the journey on twitter @jaysoulmusic