Uswitch released a report today studying UK boadband speeds vary throughout the day, and found a massive 35% drop between 7-9pm. The report suggests that to obtain maximum speeds, users need to be online at 3am.

 

What does this mean? Well actually in terms of speed, very little. But we can assume that speed is inversely proportional to Internet traffic. There is a significant drop in speed leading to business open at 9am, the line tries to steady out but does get progressively slower throughout the day. There is a trough as I would have expected as the children return from school, but not nearly as deep as I would have guessed. It then seems we’re using the Internet most between 9-10pm before everyone goes to bed.

So if you’re getting frustrated at 9-10pm at slow page load times and crashing websites, wait an hour or two or try again in the morning. While this isn’t a fair problem bandwidth limits are bandwidth limits so it won’t be going away any time soon.

Starbucks is a huge name, some say it’s better known than any car company in the US and one that is known and trusted in the UK.

But does the Starbucks brand image goes against everything it stands for? If Starbucks want to be the local coffee shop and not an overused high street cliché, then the billions of dollars building the Starbucks empire has gone slightly off-track.

To tap into the ‘local’ market, Starbucks have just opened a remodelled coffee shop called ’15th Avenue Coffee & Tea’ in Seattle. No green logo, no motif on cups, just a nice, modern, friendly, local coffee shop. They will be open throughout the night and provide tailor-made drinks and atmosphere. After covertly researching other local coffee houses, they realised that there is a massive untapped market of independent coffee drinkers who aren’t interested in going corporate.

Few others seem to understand this move, but having been brought into business almost entirely through social networking, it makes sense to see someone trying the small business approach. How will it work? Watch this space.

The lesson to learn here isn’t actually that branding can work against you, it’s about making the branding reflect the image you want to give out. Virgin has always been the rebel brand, ‘Ryan air’ the budget, pay only for what you want brand. Would Ryan Air now be able to offer a full first class service like BA? Absolutely not, consumers would be confused at the apparent price-hike and Ryan Air’s branding would go kaput.

McDonalds, like Starbucks has built it’s own niche empire, they keep trying to dip in to the local market, but they will forever be known as a fast food chain with little or no personality in it’s stores. A McDonalds in Venice is identical to one in North London. If McDonalds wanted to launch a proper cuisine and expensive exotic menu, they would fail. It makes perfect sense therefore for Starbucks to introduce a new concept to differentiate itself from the brand and give it a little flair. You’ll never see a chain of ’15th Avenue Coffee & Tea’s, but that’s the point, that’s the brand. The strength of Starbucks and the personality of an independent, such a beautiful combination. We know Starbuck’s underlying ethics, we know the quality, but now we get the personality.

A brand doesn’t have to be attached to a logo, especially if that’s exactly what you don’t want. Branding is much much deeper than a swanky logo and colour scheme. It’s everything.

The searches have been counted and verified, the results are in. Google Zeitgeist 2008 announced today the top google searches for 2008.

Globally, the top 10 fastest rising search terms were:

1. sarah palin
2. beijing 2008
3. facebook login
4. tuenti
5. heath ledger
6. obama
7. nasza klasa
8. wer kennt wen
9. euro 2008
10. jonas brothers

In the UK, the top risers:

1. iplayer
2. facebook
3. iphone
4. youtube
5. yahoo mail
6. large hadron collider
7. obama
8. friv
9. cam4
10. jogos

The UK’s top google searches were:

1. facebook
2. bbc
3. youtube
4. ebay
5. games
6. news
7. hotmail
8. bebo
9. yahoo
10. jobs (the only search term here showing any indication of this so called recession)

While our diets are not improving with the fastest rising recipe searches being:

1. cupcake
2. meatballs
3. rocky road
4. crumble topping
5. eaton mess
6. pork belly
7. rhubarb fool
8. lemon posset
9. honey comb
10. beer batter

So what do we want from the internet? Spot the age old questions coming top of the ‘Top of mind’ section:

What is…

1. what is love
2. what is life (Life is… not looking at Google)
3. what is java
4. what is sap
5. what is rss
6. what is scientology
7. what is autism
8. what is lupus
9. what is 3g
10. what is art

Who is…

1. who is obama (Where have these people been hiding?!?)
2. who is mccain
3. who is palin
4. who is lil wayne
5. who is miley cyrus
6. who is dolla
7. who is jonas brothers
8. who is chris brown
9. who is biden
10. who is martin luther

…and how to…

1. how to draw
2. how to kiss
3. how to write
4. how to cook
5. how to tie
6. how to hack
7. how to run
8. how to cite
9. how to paint
10. how to spell (The actual 10th entry was ‘How too Spele but google’s logic kicked in once again)

More people wanted to know how to draw than how to kiss? I suppose one is a perfectly safe natural thing… the other one is kissing… think I’ve got it the wrong way round? read about the kiss of deaf (http://news NULL.bbc NULL.co NULL.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7772902 NULL.stm) from the BBC. (Who said the TV licence wasn’t worth the money?)

So there we have it, the British don’t seem too bothered by the current credit crisis if this is anything to go on, but are certainly keeping up with World news, playing games and networking. Interestingly enough, this is even before checking their emails… Of course the stats are flawed for this kind of statement as it doesn’t count bookmarks or remembered URLs.

Well this is my last blog of 2008, I’m spending the last two weeks on the tropical island of Mauritius. Happy holidays, merry Christmas and thank you to all those readers, contacts, clients, and so on who have helped Zako Media stay afloat for 2008.

Do we need a code of conduct for writing blogs?

According to DLA Piper, only 5% of Internet users know the legal rights and wrongs of posting online. It also found that 77% of bloggers were unaware of the law surrounding publication and journalism.

The same study found that 42% of Internet users believe that bloggers should be made to follow the same legal standards as journalists. 46% like the idea of a voluntary code of conduct. Bloggers however, don’t agree, only 32% support the idea with 34% directly opposed.

According to a spokesman from DLA Piper, there is potential for bloggers to end up in court. Beyond defamation and employment law, there are plenty of other issues which bloggers could trip up on. Issues such as, but not limited to: Libel (http://www NULL.mcalesternews NULL.com/local/local_story_229160310 NULL.html), Contempt of court (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Contempt_of_court), the Telecommunications act (http://news NULL.bbc NULL.co NULL.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/7373639 NULL.stm), Protection from harassment act (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Harassment_(UK)), even the anti-terrorist legislation (http://news NULL.bbc NULL.co NULL.uk/1/hi/uk/7084801 NULL.stm).

Given that nobody reads website Terms and Conditions (and many still do not have them!) wouldn’t a code of conduct be pointless? Essentially, a code of conduct is not a set of laws, followers of this conduct will however protect themselves against some potential legal surprises if UK companies and individuals do decide to clamp down. A court may even look more favourably on them for following the voluntary code if the matter does reach a court.

Who would sign up for a voluntary code of conduct? Would it be those who are already careful in what they publish? or would it be the trouble makers inspiring this discussion in the first place?

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Microsoft executives have met representatives of Time Warner Inc. (Owners of AOL) suggesting that Microsoft had a plan B from Yahoo’s failed buyout. Microsoft Live Search has been trying to compete with Google for some time and seem to have decided they need people with experience to make it successful.

With Google’s possible move to controlling Yahoo’s advertising stream, Microsoft has become a little worried about the overall outcome. AOL hold approximately 11% of the US advertising market matching Live Search’s 11% according to eMarketer.

AOL’s current advertising is already managed by Google, it is unclear how long this deal would be honoured for if any deal took place, or even what would happen to businesses using adwords to advertise on AOL. Whether or not it goes ahead, we can only speculate.

What would be Microsofts benefit to buying AOL? Microsoft would increase it’s online services, particularly in the social networking scene. They would obtain TMZ, AOL’s celebrity gossip site, AOL’s Bebo, several online display advertising networks like advertising.com and tacoda.com. In terms of unique users, they would effectively become larger than Google, the current industry leader.

“It’s a deal worth doing” at a reasonable price, said

Charles Di Bona, an analyst with Bernstein Research. “It would bring some search and some significant display advertising assets.” Bernstein’s parent company, Alliance Bernstein, owns shares in both Microsoft and Time Warner.AOL’s advertising business is worth somewhere around£4.4bn according to J.P. Morgan. In contrast, Bear Stearns values it at nearer £7 billion.

Following Microsoft’s failed bid to buy Yahoo!, a deal is underway for Google to gain control over Yahoo’s search advertising. Presumably this means that Google adwords will spread to Yahoo! increasing coverage while removing choice. With Google taking over 90% of the internet advertising revenue, this would certainly impact on Microsoft’s Live Search wallets, but could wipe out existing smaller search engines and any future competition Google could ever have.

It would also affect smaller businesses in terms of getting a competitive deal on online advertising as the choices would be removed, prices could go up, the smaller voices would be muffled, and advertisers would have nowhere else to turn.

Yahoo! anticipates additional revenue from the deal, presumably Google will do too (else why make the deal) and all this extra cash is coming from somewhere.

Microsoft is making noises, they’ve been in court for similar practices with Micrsoft Windows Monopoly and now they want their own back. There are talks from their corner of price-fixing similar to the UK’s big supermarket agreements where minimum prices are set further hitting the smaller businesses. Microsoft’s best move now would be to file an antitrust lawsuit through the US Justice Department as happened to them prior to 2002 when the case was settled.

As there’s no merger, the Google Yahoo! partnership (hereafter known as Goohoo!) would not need to go through the US Justice dept. but they can challenge the agreement if it’s shown that competition would be stifled.

Goohoo! have agreed to give the deal a 2 1/2 month for the dust to settle and to back out if Yahoo! is ever bought. (Perhaps a collaborative effort to push Microsoft towards a higher bid?) They also deny any claims of potential price fixing and minimum ad costs.

Good idea? Bad idea? Your views and comments are welcome:

Our web editing software has been reviewed by the editor of the Hertfordshire IoD Magazine. After plugging our software into his own site he was completely blown away. Stephen has experience using web editing software in the past with his editorial and high-end business background and he has never come accross something so easy to use, so to-the-point as ours.

Read the full article here and try out the new demo at www.zakomedia.com/demos/cms

STAFF and children from a charitable housing and education scheme in Kenya are finding themselves trapped in their homes with food and fuel supplies quickly running out.

With dangerous roads and rising prices, Lavenda Education and Health Foundation are struggling to continue supporting the 400 children, 60 staff and the extended community who depend heavily upon them.

Lavenda was founded by Jeffrey and Ruth Njuguna in 1996 to provide education for those who could not otherwise afford it in Kenya. They also offer loving homes to orphaned children, provide holistic and preventative medical care and work with the local communities to improve the standard of living.

Roadblocks have been set up by gangs of up to a thousand young men armed with machetes and bows demanding to see ID cards. Those with names from opposing tribes are dragged from their vehicles and killed – few manage to flee.

Public transport has come to a halt for fear of safety and residents trying to avoid the violence are forced to stay in their homes.

Hearing their call, Simon Jones and web designers from Zako media in Watford contacted Lavenda’s UK directors, Nick and Melissa Johns to donate a website specifically for sending donations and updating supporters.

Zako media acted quickly and within two days over the weekend, had launched a web site to send donations directly to the project’s founders in Kenya.

Lavenda’s project managers have also been given the ability by Zako media to update the web site content themselves so they can keep their visitors informed on progress.

To read more about the projects, current updates and to make a donation to the project, please visit www.lavendasprings.co.uk (http://www NULL.lavendasprings NULL.co NULL.uk/). 100% of all donations go directly to the foundation in Kenya. Or visit the original Lavenda Site (http://www NULL.lavendasprings NULL.com/) for full project history or to donate in Australian Dollars.

Thanks for reading.

Simon

Yovina (http://www NULL.ecademy NULL.com/account NULL.php?id=223785) (a.k.a. Jessry) and I worked out the idea after her dilemma at work, it was a lovely idea, and well received. A chat with Chris Roycroft-Davis (http://www NULL.ecademy NULL.com/account NULL.php?id=196926) came to mind reminding us that this can be a two way favour. With his help, Zako media (http://www NULL.zakomedia NULL.co NULL.uk/) had free publicity in a local paper with relatively little effort.

I highly recommend his book ‘King of the media jungle (http://www NULL.chrisroycroftdavis NULL.com/page/Productspage)‘