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Month: September 2008

Back To The Keynote… with Christopher Lloyd

September 20, 2008
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Looking at this, this promo was for one of Microsoft’s Tech Ed events in 2007: how it’s failed to come to my attention to now is unknown. Featuring Christopher “Judge DoomDr. Emmett Brown” Lloyd, a certain Delorean, flux capacitor and Acme Inc it’s a good fun 10 minutes…

Now only if Microsoft used something like this for their adverts instead of the failed Seinfield and the “not at all funny, not at all appealing to purchasing managers (who would have probably watched and enjoyed BTTF)” I’m a PC adverts:

Sponsor somebody to plummet towards pointy rocks

September 19, 2008
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In less that two weeks, Kate Craig-Wood (whose web site was redesigned by my other-half) and who is the MD of Memset Virtual Servers is taking part in the world’s first skydive onto Mount Everest raising money for Computer Clubs 4 Girls. Only 16% of technology workers are female, and the UK IT industry desperately needs to increase that proportion. CC4G aims to encourage girls between 10 and 14 to develop and interest in IT and learn core skills that will enable them to move into a successful and rewarding career.

Please consider making a donation in support of her jump from 29,000 ft (landing at 12,000 ft)! You can find more details and the link to donate here: http://www.jumpeverest.co.uk/

I would be very grateful if you would also consider passing this along to IT professionals in your personal network. The shortage of women in IT is a problem that affects us all, and all donations, no matter how small, will help.

(This was a public service announcement 🙂 Now give her some dosh!)

Stock Photography Sources

September 18, 2008
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Sometimes you just need a few extra pictures for a website you are working on, and here’s a few sources that I’m aware of for what is called “stock photos”. The licence summary I’ve provided is only a guide and you must read each sites terms of usage. The “number of results” was taken today (18-Sep-2008) and should help give you an idea of how many images each site has.

Crestock
Pricing: 100 credits (20 small images, 10 medium or 6 extra large) normally cost $90.00. However, you get a weeks sign up bonus which brings the price down to $45 for 100 credits. A single image is priced at $5/$10/$15 (small/medium/large) normally ($2/$5/$8 with the discount). They do also have a daily free image.
Licencing: Images cannot be resold seperately. Images cannot be used as photographic prints, t-shirts, mugs, mousemats or similar. Images can only be used for a single client.
Number of results for: “cat” (3,333), “girl” (74,136), “computer” (18,754), “traffic lights” (193)
iStockPhoto
Pricing: £8.89 for 10 credits (2 medium images or 1 detailed vector image), £22.22 for 26 credits (5 medium images, 1 elaborate vector image or 1 small web video), £41.27 for 50 credits (10 medium images, 2 elaborate vector images or 3 small web videos)
Licencing: Cannot be used in online of offline resold items (such as templates), cannot be used on sites designed to promote or sell “on demand” products, cannot be used as part of a trademark, business name or logo. Cannot be used in pornographic, obscene, immorale or libelous content. Cannot be used to appear to endorse a product.
Number of results for: “cat” (12,883), “girl” (232,596), “computer” (69,916), “traffic lights” (1,759)
Fotolia
Pricing: 1 credit= £0.57. Alternatively, a 30 day subscription at £125 allows you to download up to 25 images per day. Photos differ in “credit value” depending on size, resolution, exclusivity.
Licencing: Various
Number of results for: “cat” (27,314), “girl” (373,709), “computer” (113,622), “traffic lights” (1,252)
Reflex Stock
Pricing: Varies due to usage, image size, duration and insdustry.
Licencing: Various
Number of results for: “cat” (5,000), “girl” (5,000), “computer” (5,000), “traffic lights” (1,771) [it appears search results are capped at a maximum of 5,000]
Stock.Xchng (Stock exchange)
Pricing: Free
Licencing: Images cannot be used for pornographic, unlawful, or immoral purposes or for spreading hate or discrimination. Images cannot be used to endorse products or services if it depicts a person. Cannot be used as part of a trademark, serivce mark or logo. Not allowed to resell or distribute.
Number of results for: “cat” (1,000), “girl” (1,000), “computer” (1,000), “traffic lights” (169) [it appears search results are capped at a maximum of 1,000]
PunchStock

Pricing: Various
Licencing: Various
Number of results for: “cat” (10,996), “girl” (210,688), “computer” (94,718), “traffic lights” (876)
ShutterStock
Pricing: £29 for 5 hi-res images, £139 for 25. Alternatively, £149 for 1 month of up to 25 images a day
Licencing: Max web resolution is 800×600. Cannot be used for commercial usage or display on printed items. Cannot be used in email mailing lists sent to more than 250,000 users. Cannot be used more than 250,000 times on letterheads, business cards, brochures, software, etc. Cannot be used with pornographic, defamatory, unlawful/immoral content, tobacco advertising, adult advertising (in any way), pharmaceutical advertising (including deitary supplements or birth control).
Number of results for: “cat” (26,585), “girl” (507,322), “computer” (141,160), “traffic lights” (7,981)

And some slightly unusual sources:

Template Monster
You could buy a website template and then extract the image(s) from it that you like (subject to the licence agreement)

Any others that you know about which you’d like to fill in the details about (I know there are a large number of sources for photos, images and other stock and royalty free photos – but it’s just very time consuming hunting down the information).

News: Biased Reporting

September 15, 2008
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A recent (ok, August) report on This Is Money (originally from the Daily Mail – who own ThisIsMoney, Metro and many other publications) states quite clearly in their headline “BBC not value for money, say 47%” and continues with “Nearly half of the public think the BBC does not represent good value for money, a survey has revealed”

In the 6th paragraph, the survey results are shown to be “47% disagree that the corporation represented ‘good value for money'” – so 53% agreed that it does represent value for money*: so the headline should “BBC IS value for money, say 53%”.

(* = yes, I know that it could also mean that 53% either agreed or had no opinion, but without the details of they survey – whose source is unnamed – I can’t say for certain).

The biased survey/poll then goes on the “ONLY 41% agree that the licence fee is an ‘appropriate’ way of funding it” – again, it makes it sound like more people are against the licence fee than for it – but continuing the paragraph shows than only 37% are against the licence fee.

Talk about “getting the headlines you want!”

The BBC itself has an article on it’s website about What the survey didn’t say which illustrates other examples of biased survey results.