Paying it forward. My favourite blogs

One of the things I wanted to do this year was given a mention to some of the blogs I've enjoyed over the last year or two. The ones that keep me entertained, informed or help motivate me to write or keep learning. They all publish high quality blog posts which I enjoy reading and give me something to strive for. As part of my positive mindset for this year I wanted to pay it forward and say thanks. It's a varied mix of writers and subject matter but hopefully you will enjoy them.

My social media success of last year was reconnecting with one of my friends from College and University. We hadn't seen each other for over 15 years but caught up last year on Facebook. Paul has always been a talented and creative guy. We met on a design course and I remember him drawing and making music then. 

Paul Feeney has his blog at  Sound and Fury: and can be found on twitter @UncleFeeney Paul is a writer with a keen interest in horror. His blog is mainly a mix of book and film reviews. 

Paul had his first short story The weight of the ocean published on Amazon last year. I think he has a few more works coming out this year and I look forward to seeing his career development. Check him out folks.

My second entry is a wrestling blog Snapmare Necks by Martin Smith @SmithyCFC1 on Twitter. For those that don't know Glasgow is at the centre of a resurgence in the UK professional wrestling scene. Insane Championship Wrestling is leading this boom, being featured on TV and in the press and holding sell out shows both here in Glasgow including the famous Barrowlands, and Edinburgh and now even touring across the UK. 

Written in an everyman style Martin manages to perfectly capture the humour, energy and emotions of these shows perfectly. His description of a thousand people exploding with excitement at the surprise appearance of Prince Fergal Devitt before he went to become Finn Balor in the WWE is a perfect example. As well as humour and action Martin's writing can be highly personal as he has written about his battle with depression and how wrestling has helped with this. Again I look forward to reading more of his work this year. 

My last blog is someone I first discovered on Twitter who shares similar interests to myself. We both work in technology, have an interest in food and love pistachio ice cream. Michelle Muirhead's Ananyah Blog is a great starting point to discover great restaurants in and around Glasgow. She also posts about food and beauty events and can be found on twitter  @ananyah Michelle recently posted a piece on her favourite Glasgow restaurants and that's certainly a good introduction to her blog. 

Lastly is a curve ball, this one isn't so much a blog but a YouTube channel. Nick Drossos is a Canadian Fitness and Self Defence instructor. He has a YouTube Channel which had hours of video's covering all aspects of self defence. He recently appeared on Canadian Breakfast TV giving self defence tips and ran a couple of social experiments on Knife Defence and Women's self defence, both of which are well worth watching if you watch noting else. His system is practical and down to earth without fancy and complex moves. Some of the video's do include swearing but he strives to make them realistic as possible rather than the more robotic and cynical traditional martial art/self defence videos. Look him up and make sure to check out those experiment playlists as they do contain great advice. 

So there you have it folks. A few of my favourite bits and pieces, have a look at all the ones mentioned, even if its not your usual cup of tea im sure you will find them enjoyable. Hopefully some of them will be added to your reading lists, they are the staple items on mine. 

To the writers I have mentioned, thanks for your blogs and the work you put into them. I'm still starting out on my blogging journey but I know how hard it can be for me, and cant imagine what it must be like for some of you who have such a high output. 

Let me know your thoughts on this post and the blogs mentioned. What blogs are on your essential reading list? What are your blogging tips? 

Onwards and upwards in 2015

Happy New Year everyone!

Hope 2015 is a great year for you and that you can achieve all you want to this year. I think that recent events both very close to home in Glasgow and further afield in Australia and  Paris show that we need to make the most of every day.

Put your plans in motion, do the things you want to do, travel to the places you want to see. If you want to change career or start your own business go for it. Life is too short for regrets or missed opportunities.

This year I plan to get back up to speed with blogging, my output recently has been very poor. All the draft articles I've been working on will soon see the light of day.

My fitness is another area I plan to improve on. Hopefully I will manage some more bike rides this year as well as stepping up my general exercise levels.

Creativity wise, as well as blogging I hope to be more productive in general. Play more guitar, get back into drawing, take more photos.

Technology wise I have just got a PlayStation 4 which is great. The graphics are amazing, especially since my current/previous console was a Nintendo Wii. This might scupper all the other plans however as I can see it taking up a lot of my time if I'm not careful.

It's the CES technology show at the moment in Vegas. It's the annual conference where companies showcase their products that will be coming over the next few years. Its always a mixture of exciting glimpses of the future, some of the next big things and a collection of random nonsense. I'm sure we will see some of the key items making their way to the mainstream over the next 12 months.

Is there anything you are looking forward to in 2015, technology related or otherwise?

Raising your skill levels

There seems to haves been a recent trend in the gamification of learning and personal improvement. By that I mean more and more websites and apps related to improving yourself have taken an influence from gaming and role play.

The gain from any personal improvement has generally always been the improvement itself, eg getting fitter, learning a language or being more productive. Now however that doesn't seem to be enough, in our short attention span world where more and more things are competing for our valuable free time these services have had to resort to other means to keep our interest.

Most of these services now feature a combination of points and level based achievements. Some even have additional challenges and tasks to unlock and raise your profile. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, in fact its probably the opposite as they do manage to sustain your attention where you may otherwise had drifted away after the initial burst of interest has gone.

Health and fitness apps such as Map my ride, Strava or Fitocracy  are some of the most popular examples. These log your distance travelled (ran/walked/cycled etc), let you compare against others, set personal bests and compete in local challenges. 

Learning or lifestyle apps like Duolingo the popular language learning tool, or brain training apps like Lumosity offer a similar service. Here you can score points as you learn and level up as your knowledge grows.

Another category are the productivity apps like Todoist or Wunderlist. Both of which allow you to create and manage tasks lists. Again you are rewarded with points for logging in, creating or completing your tasks. 

Are these an example of our constant need for stimulus, or the advantage of smartphone culture and how it can improve our life experiences? Is it another example of our need for peer approval as we share these achievements on social media? Some think the opposite however, as the community aspect of these apps often help users stick with it or overcome challenges when their motivation is failing.  

Perhaps this is one of the main benefits over traditional go-it-alone self improvement. It can be the extra boost needed when struggling to go the extra distance or stick in for another lesson. Instead of the solitary run where it doesn't matter if you turn back early for home. Or stepping away from the learning zone to watch TV. Knowing you have a group behind you sharing advice, giving you praise on your achievements, or getting that next badge may be what you need to keep going.

What do you think? Are these useful tools of our smartphone world, or an example of our short attention spans? Have I missed any good examples of similar apps that make a difference in your life? Let me know in the comments. 

If in doubt, work it out

I was looking back over my blog history and realised I haven't published anything yet this year. Shame on me. It doesn't feel like that as I have been working on a few posts that haven't quite seen the light of day as yet. Perhaps that's why I hadn't realised or posted something sooner.

Someone once said that if you are struggling to write your posts, or have a few drafts waiting on their final edit, then just post something. Anything. A quick burst of productivity to get the ball rolling again.

So here it is folks, something short and sweet to show the blog is still active and that much more will be coming soon. In the pipeline we have a couple of reviews and a piece on learning and fitness apps. Hopefully they will be escaping from my drafts sections shortly...

One last wee bit to give this post some link back to technology before I sign off.

Its been an interesting week or so for apple. The iPhone 6 was released and snapped up by keen fans as always. However there are reports surfacing of problems with the phones bending if too much pressure is applied. Couple this with existing apple users, myself included, experiencing issues when upgrading their devices to iOS8, and problems after the upgrades is applied. Only yesterday apple withdrew the follow on 8.0.1 update as this had been causing some devices to loose connectivity amongst other issues.

It will certainly have been a week to remember for apple, both on the good and bad sides. The interesting part will be to see where they go from here. Can it be spun and resolved like the iPhone5's Antennagate issue? How quickly will the software updates appear and will users soon be singing their praises again?

Gone till Movember

As the end of October looms quickly this week its almost time for me to begin a month of ever changing facial decoration as I'm taking part in Movember again.

If you haven't heard of it Movember is a growing movement which started in Australia in 2003 and now has over 3 million members in 21 countries. The idea being it is that men will grow a moustache in November to raise awareness and donations for prostate and testicular cancer and mental health. You can find out more on the About Movember page on their site.

I did a bit of a dry run at this the other year, going for the 'tache but not actually the raising money and social media side of it. This year i decided to do it properly so will be updating my MoSpace with progress reports and a bit on my facebook and twitter pages. I won't be bugging everyone on here too much but will maybe have a couple of status updates along the way.

So for more details or to donate visit my MoSpace :  MoBro.co/JohnBurrow75

The great Gmail mistake

There's one common mistake that lots of small businesses and sole traders seem to make, and its one that can very easily be avoided.

It's a simple thing that can have a big impact on how people perceive your company. Are you seen as a reputable business or perhaps not quite so reliable or legitimate?

What gives your potential clients this impression of reliability or that you are someone doing it in their spare time?

It's your company email address

Potential clients may not even be conscious of the impression this gives them, but it may be one of the factors that makes them decide whether you are the person they want to do business with, or if they would rather go with another company as it appears more professional for some intangible reason.

All too often I have seen small businesses who use a @Gmail or @Hotmail email account. Quite often it's not just on their business card too, I know of one contractor who has well designed branded stationary, smart business cards and a body wrapped van, all big investments in a strong company brand but in my opinion let down by using an @Aol address. 

Maybe its just me but i think that these email addresses don't have the same impact as mail@yourcompanyname.com, which implies a level of permanence and stability not provided by the webmail alternative. 

Easy problem to solve

The sad thing is that this can only cost a few pounds to fix, probably less than the cheapest batch of internet business cards. Maybe people don't realise how inexpensive it is to register a domain name, only a few pounds a year. It may be that they think they only get a domain if they have a website hosted on it. Perhaps they think its something difficult which requires some IT knowledge, it's not. If you can fill in a form online you can buy a domain from one of the many domain registrars, the hardest part is often deciding on the domain name you want.

Most domain purchases include either small number of free mailboxes which then allow you to set up an info@, mail@, yourname@yourcomanyname.com etc, or a 'catch all' email account which will pick up any email sent to 'something'@yourcompanyname.com. You don't even need to have a computer at home, these emails can then be picked up on your phone, your iPad, anything with a mail app, although chances are most small businesses will have at least one PC for doing their paperwork on anyway.

Some domain registration packages may include the option to have a mini website, or landing page which lets you have an online presence even if you don't have the content for a proper website at this point. Quite often it's just a page with your company contact details, maybe a logo and a short description, but at least is means if someone does look for you online they can find out a bit of info. You can also then link any free listings (Google Places, Yell, Free Index etc) back to your site to boost the page ratings which helps with your online presence. 

So if you are starting off in business or looking to update your existing marketing material  have a quick look at your contact details. If you don't have your own domain take five minutes and go online now and get one. You wont regret it, it will make both you and your potential clients more confident in your business brand. 

Twitter hacking and password security

You may have noticed over the last month or so that a spate of high profile Twitter accounts had been hacked including Burger King, Justin Beiber, The fake Obama news story and the BBC Weather feed. Similarly sites like LinkedIn and Evernote have recently been forced to reset users passwords.

Some of these attacks have been blamed in certain circles on organised teams of Chinese cyber criminals, perhaps with official backing, to undermine these companies or to use their account information for their own ends. Some may have just been malicious/mischievous individuals doing it for fun.

Cyber crime, hacking, Fraping call it what you will, it is ultimately all the same. Whether your a corporate multinational or its your own personal feed, the problem is out there, all be it being carried out for different purposes. Which brings us to the point of this post, security. 

Yes, you have no real control over the servers or back end code that manages your precious online data. You do however have one key area of control and so many of us fail to maximise on this, that is dear reader : your password. Its your only real means of exercising some input on the safety of your personal information. 

I know most of us will never be targeted by teams of hackers crouched over their PCs determined to crack our Facebook password to view our recent photo uploads, but that's not the point. All too often people use the same password across multiple sites, get it for one and then they suddenly have access to a lot more personal information which could then be used in a more malicious manner. 

Lets look at it from a different angle though what if its not some nasty covert organisation trying to mine all your details but perhaps a not-so-close-friend or acquaintance? Someone from your office who has a slightly too keen an interest or underlying dislike of you, someone you have recently blocked, or an ex friend/partner of one of your close friends. These people could either want to dig into your profile to find out more about you, or perhaps use your profile to browse another persons profile. 

So i ask you, how secure are your passwords? 

Can they be guessed by people who know about it about you such as your pets name or favourite food or band? Is its just your name or worse still the word password? In the case of the Burger King Twitter hack their password was allegedly 'Whopper1'. Quite often these not-so-close acquaintances we mentioned might try a few guesses at these to see if they can log onto your webmail or facebook, just for the sake of it. 

A good piece on password security and the logic behind it was recently posted on the  PC-Pro website. It does get a bit techy with some of the background info but its well worth a look. This American blog has a good overall view on password strategy too and is worth a quick look. 

I guess the basics are:

• Don't use common password such as 'password' or '12345'
• Use letters and numbers to make it more complex and upper/lower case
• Don't use one password for all your accounts
• Keep your contact details up to date in case you need to reset them.
• Remember it doesn't have to be a password, a phrase is better. 

For example your password could be: 'ferrari' 
Lets make it a bit longer: 'fast ferrari'
Then change the case: 'Fast Ferrari' 
Next substitute letters for numbers: 'F45t F3rr4r1'

Lastly we can add some special characters. You could swap an 'a' with a '@' however i recommend avoiding that as different keyboard mapping can mean you don't always get the '@' character as as passwords usually don't show as you type you may never realise it is appearing as something else

And there you have it: 'F45t_F3rr4r1!'  

Its still something easily memorable as you think about the phrase and then substitute the characters as you type. This is by no means a super secure password but a lot stronger than the initial one. You can check your password here and get a quick indication of how long it would take to crack and a nice colour coding of the page as you type going from weak to very secure. 

Be safe, be secure and then relax knowing that the only people looking at your information online are those your want to see it.