Categories
Shopping

In-Store or To Your Door!

Times have changed. I’m not going to talk about how this pandemic has changed our shopping habits – how we have been ‘forced’ to shop online – as shops are closed… but I did want to talk about how companies have adapted. Quickly. And some who have not.

The latest phrase I saw was… In-Store or To Your Door! – which I thought was great. Simple. Catchy and more importantly a very simple approach to how you can get your goods.

But as a company, how quick can you move?

Very quick. All depends on you. Are you ready to change? Are you ready to adapt?

Heinz to Home. Heinz being able to deliver to your home what you want from their product range. Yes there’s limits and restrictions but the key thing is – you can still get your baked beans…. essentials are important, right?

There’s a few companies who have upped their online presence and upped their game to sell online. But then there’s a few who haven’t.

Take Primark for example. £650m a month to zero. Their business model is all in-store. Nothing online. They don’t offer you an opportunity to purchase anything online.

How to buy Primark online by using eBay, ASOS and Amazon ...

Now – this was tweeted earlier in the week.

Primark has it’s own website. They have all the clothes listed with information etc… How hard is it to built a payment mechanism so people can add garments to a ‘trolley’, ‘checkout’ and then ‘pay’…?

Ok… Primark don’t want to do that. What’s stopping me?

Well, Bal… you don’t have the Primark website!

No. But www. primarkonline.store is available to buy. I can ‘ask’ to copy the images. And if I could get an agreement to buy bulk clothes from Primark, in a matter of no time…. I could be selling Primark clothes online!

Yes… question could be, do people want to buy clothes online if they’re not going out… everything is on lockdown. Maybe… it could be people need more homewear… lounge wear… nightwear… etc…

The point is…. make your business model reflect the conditions. Put in place what you can, to ensure it’ll be in store…. or ensure, you can get it to their door!

I’m not offering any services to set organisations and/or businesses up to function online… but am offering a service where I can advise you, point you in the right direction to set it up yourself (because I’ll be honest – it’s really easy!) and I can guide you.. on how to adapt. The key thing is – where’s your customer… and how can you get your product to them.

Goes back to the basics of Lean Thinking (if you don’t know about Lean Thinking – you should go google it and research it!) – it’s all about the timeline from when a customer orders to the moment they receive the goods and you get the money.

That should be the shortest amount of time possible.

Categories
Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought…

How crazy are you? Ok… let me re-phrase, how much self-believe do you have? – I’ll be honest, there’s times when I have little self-belief…. but then I re-programme myself and think differently. Not easy for sure… but there’ll be situations, occurrences, times… in your life that should enable you to believe you can do anything in life.

Categories
Smart Home

Enter the Portal…

These truly are testing times! Though, what is good to see, is how everyone is trying to stay connected.

I did share in a previous blog post on how you can stay in touch with friends and family – the technology that is available via your mobile phone, tablets (iPads etc..) and computers. But recently, I was asked, what do you do if you don’t want to use your mobile phone or if you want a bigger screen?

Well… then you can either purchase the Portal by Facebook, or Echo Show by Amazon – both are what we call a ‘Smart Display’.

Now – whilst I could go through all the features of both – there is some simple things you need to know first – before making a decision.

Are your friends and family on Facebook? Do they use WhatsApp? Are you on Facebook and WhatsApp? Do you use Facebook Messenger?

If you answered Yes to the above – head over and get yourself the Portal by Facebook. If No – then the Amazon Echo Show is for you.

Now – I’m going to be honest, the Portal is great for video calling, staying in touch – and you can even use ‘Alexa’ commands with the Portal. If your primary goal is to stay in touch, have excellent video calling capabilities and use either Facebook or Whatsapp – this will be great for you.

Yes – you can use a tablet. Yes, you can get this all on an iPad (or something equivalent) but where the Portal is better is in sound and quality. Also there’s some additional features like the camera will follow you and stay focused on you, you don’t need to be holding the phone/tablet to your face as the Portal (not only looks nice) but sits nicely on any worktop, cabinet, table, surface at home.

Now – if you’re worried, oh… the camera will always be watching me… then guess what, you can always turn the camera off

Now… if you don’t use Facebook or WhatsApp or are just worried about Facebook collecting more information and data about you… (but being honest… everyone, everywhere is collecting data about you), then you can look at the Amazon Echo Show. It’s like the Echo… but with a display.

For video calling – the Show uses Skype. So you’ll have to make sure the person you’re calling has skype installed. From personally experience – and talking to friends (not on skype)… it’s not the best video calling platform out there – but it is an option.

So…. want a specific display for video calling, with better sound and video than your phone or tablet…. I would seriously think about the Portal.

Already got a display and want something you can plug into it? … then you can get a Portal that plugs into your TV!

The little device plugs into your TV… and makes the whole TV the display for you to see (and talk to) family and friends.

Again… privacy concerns are addressed…

A few options – to stay connected, stay safe and keep talking.

Categories
Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought…

So, Firstly… Happy Good Friday! Hope you have a lovely Easter under the current circumstances.

Last week, I had a message – regarding my Friday Thought. I was asked if there was something going on, or if there was something I’m planning… As my recent Friday thoughts have had a similar theme.

I’ll be honest – Yes and No. No… there is nothing I’m planning. Yes… there is always something (when I say something, Ideas) that are always going on in my mind. I’ll be honest, I write them all down, and only execute on some of them. However, I’ll save that for another blog post…. For today, remember… Passion – Pleasure – Perfection.

Categories
Uncategorized

Low Tech for Lock Down…

During this pandemic… we have some time on our hands. We might be thinking how to make our homes smart…. getting that latest gadget and setting it up…. or even understanding what we do and what technology can be introduced to make it better!

But do we always need the latest technology? – as this is a tech blog, I should really say yes.

But in reality… you can use low tech for the current lock down.

What do you mean by low tech Bal?

Technology that isn’t complicated. We can have simple tech. Or even old tech…. just get back to basics and start to think about how things really work and if there could be improvements…

Above is slight humor but we could write more, draw more… or use some low tech with new tech?

Using a mirror with tik tok videos? (If you’re not on tik tok…maybe now is the time?!)

We all have low tech items… the question is, can we use them with new tech or even use them on their own to understand the fundamentals and basics.

But why look at low tech, Bal?

Because – we could make a leap over current tech.

You know how Steve Jobs was annoyed with his cd player? – the cd kept jumping… which led him to think about the solid state disk… which then led him to the mp3 player… iPod.

Remembering the best and worst portable music devices

Categories
Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought…

What is your passion? Do you know what your purpose is?

Sometimes, it can be difficult to figure it out…

Categories
Uncategorized

Houseparty!!!

The other day, I was asked – “Bal, what do you use for video conferencing?”

Well, I use Cisco WebEx (preferred) and then for my football training (in current circumstances) I use Zoom. I have used Skype but not a fan of it, and there’s plenty more I know exist.

For fun… with the family, I use Houseparty!

Houseparty is a video calling app – but you can do more, like play games and have some fun.

You can ‘wave’ at friends, message them and more besides the obvious video call.

Houseparty has grown in both value and audience size in recent weeks – especially with this lockdown going on, across most of the World… for example, there were 130,000 downloads in early Feb compared to 2,000,000 in mid-March!

However…. recently, there were a number of ‘rumours’ about the app was hacking into other apps, money being transferred from bank accounts, Spotify playlists going missing, etc…

Then all of a sudden, everyone started to delete the app!

The owner of video chat and game app Houseparty is offering a $1m (£810,750) reward for evidence the company was the victim of a commercial smear campaign.

Sad to see fake news and such a smear campaign spread so quickly and also for many people to believe it so quickly – but today, everyone is worried about scams, phishing etc… security is paramount!

But… before you start believing everyone else, look at some of the facts first – is there an official statement from the company?

If you’re Netflix or Spotify has been hacked, how can that be if there is no link between Houseparty and those apps? And if the company are putting up a reward (sizeable) for someone to come forward and show the evidence…. (and no one has to date….) then that could mean a) they’ve not encountered anything or b) it’s all not real.

Either way, stay safe… stay at home… and have more virtual coffee mornings, like me… using the video calling feature on WhatsApp.

Categories
Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought…

Whilst we’re all (well, most of us in the World) are under some sort of ‘lockdown’, I’m sure many of us are thinking… what can we do?!

Well… I’m sure we’ve all had an idea at some point or another, but either not had the time or the money… or another excuse to put it into motion.

Well…. why not start small (i.e. no money)… and you now have time! Take some motivation form my Friday Thought image… these guys started in their garages, sheds…. and look what happened…. All you need, is a little bit of space, time and some motivation…….

Categories
Uncategorized

Help your family and friends to help you…

Yesterday I was in my garden… over the fence, Arthur (my neighbour) said, “Bal… you’re good technology. Can you help me set up Skype?”

“Off course I can Arthur… but what would be better is, if we keep our distance… and I share with you how to do it… “

And that is how I helped Arthur set up Skype on his Samsung tablet (other makes are available). I did it in a very process orientated way…

First – download the app.

Image result for download skype from play store

Second – when downloaded, install. Then when installed, open. When opened…

Third – put in your telephone number. You’ll get a code on your mobile phone… put that code into the skype app when it asks you to.

Fourth – fill in the details such as your name, etc…

Fifth – When all completed you should see the Skype User Interface (Display!)

Sixth… then I shared some basics on how to use Skype… and off Arthur went to make some video calls with his family!

Then I helped download WhatsApp…. and he was truly up and running! And it’s with this process step by step thinking and sharing, that we can enable our elderly and vulnerable people to stay connected to friends and family.

Stay connected…. and as they know you are there, they are also helping you, by not coming close to you… keeping their distance.

Now, there’s various other apps… and software that is available. Apple (iPhones, iPads, etc..) you can use Facetime which is built in (that’s if all members have Apple devices).

Other good tools to stay connected… Google Hangouts, Zoom, etc…

In fact, Zoom is a good one – we’re using that on Tuesday night for Football Training! We even tested it out yesterday with the other coaches… I’ll have the ‘spotlight’ on me, explain the exercise and then let the participants do the exercise… then I’ll watch, and ask how they’re getting on. There’s another local grassroots football team that are doing this and it worked for them!

I’ll let you know how we get on…..

Categories
Uncategorized

Stay Connected with the Elderly… Easily

Tomorrow (Friday) Morning… I’ll be on BBC Radio Nottingham, sharing my thoughts how best to stay connected especially with our elderly relatives and friends.

Technology can be daunting for most of us – imagine what it’s like for those who haven’t grown up with it. Even then… All these new ways to stay connected and in touch can easily confuse people.

Image result for elderly technology

Then there’s the fear… fear of pressing the wrong button. Fear of accidentally downloading something that you have to pay for, fear of not knowing what to download and how, fear that the battery might run out… there’s so many fears!

For the majority of us, it’s fairly easy. Those on iPhones (iOS) can make facetime calls to each other. But what happens when friends, relatives, elderly are on other operating platforms… such as Android and you want to facetime someone on an iPhone?

  1. Find a common platform – As simple as this sounds, it can be more difficult! I would suggest go for a common and simple approach – such as Whatsapp. Via Whatsapp, you can make calls, video calls, send messages, send videos, etc… available on all platforms…. AND you can have it on your tablet and your computer. There’s a lot of flexibility.
  2. Let the elderly know – they can’t break anything – remove that fear from them. Whatsapp is fairly easy and simple to install – just follow the instructions on the screen and you’re set up in no time. ALSO – let them know, they don’t have to pay for the app…. if they’re trying to download something that’s asking for payment – then it’s a NO NO!!!
  3. There’s other options…. there’s Google Hangouts… Zoom…. Skype…. so many more, so whatever you use on a regular basis and are comfortable with, recommend that. Make sure it’s easy to navigate.
Telecommunication Technology Togetherness Concept

To the last point – there’s various YouTube videos on how to use the above tools – might be an idea to share a video first, so they know what to do, how to install and use it… then they can go ahead and use it!

If they are a total novice – no problemo!… why not talk them through it. Most elderly folk will have a land-line (for the younger generation wondering what that is… I’ll share with you next time). So call them on the landline and talk them through what they have to do.

If this is difficult… then you can watch the YouTube video with subtitles and read the subtitles to them! Genius… I know.

Image result for elderly technology

More than anything – please make sure you have patience. We’re living in a fast world…. where a tik tok video of a few seconds is the norm… stories on Insta are what we can take in…. many of us are used to the amount of content being thrown at us….. don’t think it’s the same for the elderly.