Rapid Web News

Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) has launched a ‘recruitment drive’ over Xbox Live using banners and videos to entice 18-34 year olds. They’ve hooked up with recruitment firm TMP Worldwide to run a six week campaign to not only include banner ads but also some kind of in-game content, a statement from a GCHQ spokeswoman states:

“…Quick thinking, problem solving, and teamwork were identical to the core criteria that the agency looks for in its recruits. The 18-34 age brackets, which accounts for the majority of Xbox Live players, is also ideal for the agency. As well as tackling traditional threats GCHQ’s work is also about helping government departments, such as the Ministry of Defence, to protect their information and communication systems…”

“…This means we can offer excellent training and careers for people with specialist technical skills. However, the fact remains that many potential candidates remain unaware of GCHQ and what we do. Using video on Xbox Live helps carry our message to the right people in a creative and innovative manner…”

Things like this have been tried before for all those who played Splinter Cell: Double Agent back in ’07 but if you agree to the ‘Xbox LIVE and Games for Windows LIVE Terms of Use’ there is a specific section on spamming;

5. How You May Not Use the Service.

In using the Service, you may not:

Use any portion of the Service as a destination linked from any unsolicited bulk messages or unsolicited commercial messages (“spam”); or send, either directly or indirectly, any spam through the Service.

Which is fair enough, I’m a techie I see TOO MUCH spam during my working day I don’t want to be blasted with it on my console. A further statement reads;

Use the Service for commercial purposes (except as expressly permitted by us) – ahh so as long as you say it’s ok to put this spam on (and I assume at a very handsome exchange of cash AND disguising it as a recruitment drive) it’s ok? Shouldn’t we have a say seeing how we pay for the service? Shouldn’t we at least be allowed to turn that off? Not sure I want banners appearing at crucial points during COD just because I managed to drop someone with a pistol from the other side of the map. Guess it’s just a case of do as I say not as I do but I’m sure the lure to potentially become the next Bond for some of you will be just too strong.

Another one of Rapid Web’s projects bore fruit today with the launch of Craig Jones’s visually stunning Photography site. Craig has always had a fascination with the natural world, since he was a boy in fact and in turn a love of capturing all things wild from his own unique perspective;

“…My images are simplified visions of this seen through my eyes, with the emphasis on composition, lighting and colour at the very heart of each picture, capturing their beauty, fascination and graceful expression with each image…” – and looking at some of his stunning pictures you can almost feel the passion.

Craig is also an active contributor to Arkive – a huge collection of all things wildlife, videos, stills and facts often focussing on endangered species.

“…I also give my time and expertise for free to registered charities, nature projects and developing young talent, giving something back in aid of helping others and the natural world. I am also available for worldwide commissions…”

Rapid Web has felt proud to work with a professional such as Craig; he first came to us in September with an idea for a platform for his superb photography. Less than 2 months later and that platform is realised in the form of a shiny new website. Take a look at some of his pictures; I know you’ll be impressed.

After talking to the guys in the office it appears they still have to do extensive testing of new websites in Internet Explorer 6, when I’d finished laughing and seeing the serious yet disapproving ‘share our pain and don’t mock us’ looks I decided to look into it somewhat further.

The most recent report I found on this is from earlier this year;

37% of people stated ‘I can’t upgrade because I don’t have administrator access on my PC’ now this has to be from large corporations locking down end user computers so as to not allow the installation of anything non work related. Plus the fact that a lot of large companies have bespoke software that will still only work with that version of IE. It seems to be popular belief that this comes down to spending hard currency (as ever) or the want to not spend. Understandable in the current climate but IE6 was first released in August 27 2001 to coincide with the release of Windows XP – over 8 years ago! I’m all for frugal but come on, surely the continued security threats to this antique version would be enough to promote an update?

32% of people claimed ‘I can’t upgrade because someone at work says I can’t’ isn’t this akin to the first reason though? So are we to believe a staggering 69% of computer users in the UK are governed by admin rights, or the lack there of, in the workplace?

Another report claims that just 30% are using the ‘because I have to’ reason with ‘Because I have an old computer’ in hot pursuit at 20%. The most popular reason, inside of the same study, claimed that 35% of people just didn’t care or actually refused all updates due to not wanting ‘change’ – now this sounds more like us brits!

Then Andrew forwarded me an article that Tim found:

“…According to October browser usage stats reported by Ars Technica, the old, incontinent granddad of the browsing world has finally been overtaken by the cool kid with all the rad accessories. Although IE6 still has 23% of the market – sadly, more than any other version of IE – when you add up the usage on every version of Firefox, you get 24.07%, enough to top that single old edition of Internet Explorer…”

One thing is for sure; when IE6 is finally put down like the sick ageing animal it is Andrew and Tim (our senior designers) will undoubtedly dance a small jig in the office, now if only they could convince me to stop using Google Chrome…

Finally some news on the Google OS! Netbooks, apparently, will be the first hardware that sees Google’s shiny new software in 2010. It will be open source like Ubuntu so developers can tinker and contribute; they’ve claimed it will be ‘Blazingly Fast’ using a system of ‘Cloud Computing’ built around Google’s web browser released last year.

Sundar Pichai, Google’s vice president of product management stated; “…With Google Chrome OS, we’ve made computing faster, easier and safer than ever before. While we still have a long way to go, we are excited by the progress we have made so far and look forward to developing the technology in the open with the help of the open source community. We want it to be like a TV – turn it on and it’s booted up…”

Although this statement was quite puzzling, seeing how they’re keeping it open source; “…As a consumer, you can’t go download Chrome OS, you will have to go and buy a Chrome OS device…” but as ever I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

So here’s a now award winning company that Rapid Web Ltd have been pleased to work with since February this year, we worked with directors Phil and Bob to develop their online invoicing into a working idea. Their shiny new website is a testimony to what can be achieved when a great business idea is realised.

Lichfield Company Invoice Quick has beat stiff competition to win the Best Added Value Service Award category, for their Invoice Quick software service, at the prestigious West Midlands ICT Excellence Awards 2009.

The judges were impressed by the growing and successful Staffordshire based company, which released the latest version of their online invoicing service earlier this year. Invoice Quick is the quickest and most secure way to invoice business customers. The service is a simple to use online invoicing system that saves a business time and money. Customers pay faster and the system automatically chases payments. Invoice Quick is fully customisable with a company’s details, logos and marketing message. There is no complex software to install and free upgrades are provided for life. All invoicing data is secured through state of the art encryption and firewalls and is stored and backed up automatically. The service allows companies to access their data and use their customised invoice system from anywhere in the world. Full functionality is available from £8.50 per month!

Phil Quinn, Marketing Director for Invoice Quick, said: “…Our customers are delighted with the way Invoice Quick takes the chore out ofinvoicing. It’s the smarter way to invoice, and saves time and money, and we are delighted with this recognition, which is another great achievement for the team. Being a winner will raise the profile of the business. The award win also symbolises all the hard work and effort the Invoice Quick team have put in to developing the service. Additionally, we will definitely be using this to promote the service, and referencing the ICT Excellence Awards on our website, brochure and other promotional material…”

Mike Musson, ICT Cluster Manager, added: “…This year we’ve seen the highest standard of award entries yet and competition has been incredibly tough. The ongoing judging process has been rigorous and the panel faced a major challenge deciding the final winners. It’s fantastic to see the quality and diversity of technology companies the West Midlands region has to offer…”

The ICT Cluster Excellence Awards were presented at the evening Awards event following the Annual ICT Cluster Conference held at the national Motorcycle Museum on 10 November 2009.