Everything Apple worked on was a masterpiece, pretty much everything he / Apple produced outsold everything else in the market. And I remember seeing the iPad 2 keynote and I remember his calm, proud and yet humble nature when speaking publicly, when writing emails or talking to people. His famous Stanford Commencement Speech from 2005 is a testament to that.

One of the quotes of I will always remember him by:

“That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”
– Steve jobs, Business Week 1998

My sincerest condolences go out to his family and friends and everyone at Apple.

Rest in Peace, Steve Jobs.

Looking back at it now, there is only one thing I would have liked to have changed: that everything would have happened at a snail’s pace! It felt like the day started, people got ready, guests arrived, the ceremony happened, some photos happened, and then it was midnight!

My wife Vikki and I are very happy for everyone who attended, and I would like to take the opportunity to say my thanks to a number of parties and companies who helped make this day a very special day:

Thank you Chloe, for your help on the venue!

First of all, without a venue there is no wedding. As such, my first thanks has to go to Chloe and all of the staff of Burnham Beeches Hotel for everything! If it wasn’t for Chloe’s massive amounts of help we wouldn’t have been married in this beautiful venue, and if it hadn’t been for the staff on the day before, on the day of and on the day after the wedding it wouldn’t have been such a successful day!

Every staff member we encountered (from reception to bar staff, staff during the meals, cleaners, etc) was extremely friendly, supportive and had this amazing “can-do” attitude that just made things perfect. As we were told from them “Difficult we can do, impossible takes a bit longer” – thank you guys!

Thank you to James for your amazing photos!

James is not only a great friend of mine, but he is also the most talented and gifted photographer I know! Him and his colleague Gurdev managed to take some amazing shots of the day (all photos you can see here on this blog post are from him), thanks for a very unique style of casually walking around, mingling with people and then taking some amazing shots of us, of friends and families.

Throughout the day we felt being taken care of while at the same time not being ushered here or there for photos, we felt very much in control of what we wanted to do, and thanks to both James’ and Gurdev’s casual, friendly -  sometimes comical – way of dealing with us and our guests it made everything look and feel even more natural. Thank you both!

A gallery of our wedding photos can be found here on James’s website.

If you would like to get in touch with James or would like to hire him:
James McClean

James McClean’s Facebook page

Thank you Kirsty for the dance lessons!

A wedding is one thing – preparing for your first dance is another. Thankfully, Kirsty managed to make it happen:

Just so you know, I am pretty bad at dancing. I have never ever had one lesson in my life, I understand music and rhythm, but next to the speech the one thing I was really worried about was the first dance. Thankfully, Kirsty has this positive and up-beat attitude to even get the most useless of people in terms of dancing (i.e. me!) to understand the dance and learn even a quickstep within a few hours! Once we picked the music we liked Kirsty went away and choreographed the whole routine, making amends and quick changes when any of us three felt that something wasn’t working or wanted to include something a bit more special. In fact, it took us not long at all to get the dance sorted, and on the night we managed a great performance!

View our full dance on YouTube.

If you would like to get in touch with Kirsty or would like to plan dance lessons with her:

Kirsty’s Facebook page

Kirsty on iMDB

Thank you, Cleo, for the cake!

We had real issues with finding an affordable wedding cake to begin with. We went to a place in Hitchin which was recommended to us, named the Cake Hole. In there the notion we got throughout our conversations was “pay us a deposit, then we will contact you before the wedding about what we could do.” Wedding or not, you don’t do business like that, ever. Not with someone who has worked in sales for a very long time. We were quite disheartened, until we met Cleo.

Cleo was amazingly helpful and friendly, and prices are very reasonable. Starting from our basic requirements, she talked us through all sorts of options, with help from her extensive recipe collection and portfolio, until we had our perfect cake planned out. She really knows her stuff and the word “no” doesn’t seem to be in her vocabulary. The cake was so delicious that every single bit disappeared on the day, and it looked just stunning. She also liaised directly with the hotel and florist regarding delivery and flowers for decoration, which saved us some work.

If you would like to get in touch with Cleo to discuss a wedding or birthday cake:

Cleo’s Creative Cakes

Thank you, Suzanne @ Hot Flowers, for some amazing floral arrangements!

Hot Flowers were very friendly to deal with, happy to have as many meetings and emails as needed (although we only needed 2 short meetings and a few emails to get everything sorted out). They were very prompt in replying every time and communications very clear. Flowers were beautiful, smelled lovely, with the exact colours and feel that Vikki wanted, and were very well put together. In fact, a friend of mine showed me the floral arrangement she took home 3 days ago, and they still looked amazing!

Suzanne offers a wide range of arrangements, bouquet and buttonhole/corsage styles, bay trees, and also hire of candles etc if wanted, so we felt we were in really good hands here. There was a slight hiccup over the cost because of misunderstanding about whether we were on a set package or not (and so whether the hotel would contribute towards the flowers) but it was dealt with very professionally.

If you would like to get in touch with Suzanne about flowers or floral arrangements:

Hot Flowers & Art

And finally, thank you, Bridal House, Leeds, for the wedding dress!

Since I was not involved on this one I let Vikki take over:

“The Bridal House Leeds is a lovely independent bridal shop with friendly staff. During the process of finding a dress or the fittings I never felt rushed or pushed into anything, and when I burst into tears on realizing “I’m getting married!” they were on the spot with tissues and water. Brides can take two people with them when trying on dresses or for fittings. My sister got her dress from the same shop two/three years beforehand, and they still recognized her when she came in, and were eager to know how she was getting on. As I had to travel 3+ hours for each fitting, they were very helpful with trying to arrange these for convenient times. Alterations were high quality, and the selection of dresses was quite large, with some unusual styles on offer. They also stock various accessories and shoes, and offer a bridesmaid dress service.”

If you would like to get in touch with the Bridal House:

 The Bridal House, Leeds

I think that’s it for now, once again, thank you everyone for your help, work and support for our wedding, it was such an amazing day!

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For those of you who do not know the game, unlike traditional RTS games, you do not collect resources – you capture sectors, which in turn will allow you to manufacture units quicker, or allow you to have a tactical advantage because sectors can contain factories or turrets. Originally developed by the Bitmap Brothers the game was very well received, and it was the first game I was ever bought by my parents.

The game plays very well on the iPad, the videos are the same as in the original release. Gameplay itself hasn’t changed one bit, it is still very fast paced and can get very hectic at times. Swipe gestures and multiple selection of units works really well. Sound effects are nicely done, both on the music and sound effects front. (btw, you can change the sound and music settings in the iPad Settings, not in the app itself)

Screenshots:

Getting ready for carnage:

Win!

Liked:

• Easy to pick up gameplay, hardly changed from the original
• Easy to use mini-map and building menus
• Great music and sound effects follow the 1996 original to a T!
• Price!

Disliked:

• A few translation mistakes
• Building menu is a bit small and may provide problems for people with bigger fingers
• Seemingly no ability to replay videos

Verdict:

Overall this is a fantastic game, regardless of you having played the original or not. You really ought to give it a try for that price!

You can grab the game from here.

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At first run I tried to use my company internal websites to see if I could work with them, since Mercury had a problem with popups. Well, the first time I tried my pages everything seemed to work fine, however on second try the next day they would not. Really annoying. I have been playing with the settings, even cleared the cache and uninstalled and reinstalled the app, but no joy. A real shame!

So, now that we established that the app failed at the most critical task for me (I know, it is a really trivial thing, pop-ups, but because this is how the in-house system works it therefore means that I won’t be able to use iCab for work) let’s have a look in more detail and see if iCab can redeem itself (also, screenshots after the break)…

Looking at the features

iCab’s features are many, the nicest ones are:

• Dropbox integration
• Custom filters which can be easily added, edited or stopped
• Fairly decent RSS reader
• Save images of web pages
• Multitasking allows for downloads to still run in the background while using another app
• Modules! The list of modules the developer put into the module are just fantastic! Some of them I won’t need, but quite a few of them are just brilliant and time-saving. See a screenshots of the module listing below:

A list of some modules in the browser itself. In the background you can see the popup problem by the way

A list of modules within the app

• Filters. I really like the ease of use of this setting, very easy to use:

The default filters list within iCab Mobile

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A full list can be found here.

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Comparing iCab to Mercury

Because I was extremely dissatisfied with Mercury I thought I’d check the functionality and compare it to the gripes I had with Mercury – would iCab redeem itself?

Bookmarks: importing and managing bookmarks was a lot less time-consuming than on Mercury, just go over WiFi, remotely access iCab, upload your bookmarks.html file, done. Editing and moving bookmarks was a breeze, and compared to Mercury it worked perfectly, even with a bookmarks folder of over 400 items. I would have preferred to be able to drag a bookmarks.html file into iTunes’s app tab and run it from there, as my WiFi runs over a different network than the main line, but hey, it worked!

NB: bit annoyed that bookmarks cannot be opened in a new tab. A tab in the bookmarks toolbar can, however a bookmark can’t? That’s a bit unusable, no?

Bookmarks / Quickstart grid: once again, where I failed miserably with Mercury, iCab just told me exactly what to do, and I was really pleased with it. Within moments I had my grid set up. What I do not like however is the fact that you cannot close the grid, instead you have to press “back”. Again, why?

The iCab Mobile Quickstarter grid - remember, you can't close it!

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Search engines: Mercury had the problem where all searches ended up using American search engines. Thankfully, iCab allows you to edit search engines as you like, and not only that, you can set it to open any search in a new tab. Very user-friendly!

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Verdict

So, iCab Mobile Browser, what shall I do with you? Shall I keep you? Or do you deserve a similar fate like Mercury and go the way of the uninstall?

Bearing in mind I only played a few hours with it (which is about a few hours more than with Mercury) I can happily say that iCab is a fantastic browser. Overall the integration of some fantastic modules to manage or aid your day-to-day activities is really nicely done and handled, though I would have preferred a unified approach to icons, but this is something that can probably easily remedied in forthcoming versions. The easy (and working) way to manage bookmarks also sets it apart nicely from Mercury and even Safari, though I would wish someone would look at a separate (full-) screen for editing and managing bookmarks, as it would make things a bit easier to work with, especially since many bookmarks I have include a very long title.

Thanks for the modules, the filters, and a great number of settings to work with make iCab my preferred choice – for anything but work. Sadly, the popup problem is something I am really unhappy about, especially since Safari can do it.Once this has been fixed (I reckon that Alexander Clauss is a much more approachable person than the Mercury guys who still haven’t even bothered responding to emails) I’ll update this post and write a more in-depth review for iCab.

Version tested: 4.8.2

So far, I am enjoying it, it looks nice, the tabs are nicely done, albeit the buttons are a bit small; however, I found 3 points with it that made me reconsider my buying choice a little:

1. Bookmarks import. The import went fine, however managing bookmarks didn’t. Some folders it would let me move, some it wouldn’t, and no matter how the folders are spelled, some it just would not move or even let me edit. Very annoying.

2. Pop-ups! Safari can handle pop-ups, so why can’t Mercury? A real shame as an intranet application we use requires pop-ups for confirmation and data managing, so cannot use Mercury for that task

3. Bookmarks grid. Not sure what I am doing wrong, no matter what I press I cannot find an easy way to move bookmarks to that grid! It’s probably a user error on my part, it is just frustrating that I do not seem to be able to do that.

Overall, it looks like a decent browser, but these 3 issues need to be resolved until I can really consider it a worthy replacement to Safari…

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There comes a time though when the work-load is too much, or where you and your partners want to get more hands on deck to help with the creative process or managing the projects or even manage your bank account. It is difficult to decide when and how to grow your own business. There are many factors to consider, client relationships, economic climate, location or size of the office, costs for staff and hardware,…. the list can go on! Getting the balance between “running at or over capacity” and “part-time idle staff” right can be daunting, so let’s have a look at what you could do.

Project / people management – delivering on time and on budget

a good project manager is worth his weight in gold

A very important role to consider in any growing business is the project manager. You want your creative resources concentrate on delivering great websites or artwork, rather than planning out meetings, time scales or discussing budgets. A project manager will manage client expectations and facilitate ceative work being completed. Furthermore, they can take care of the project plans and costs. I have worked as a project manager and also come to appreciate other project manager’s work – it does take a load off your shoulder and keeps everything running well. If you find a good one then they are worth their weight in gold!

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How to hire?

Be it a project manager, an accountant or a new designer you are after, the next steps are the same: it is time to write a job spec. It should contain a description of the role, the key challenges that person will be facing on a day-to-day basis, what key technical and practical knowledge and what skills are required, followed by the key responsibilities.

Once you have a job spec you are happy with and that defines the character you are after you are ready to search for staff. There are two ways to go about with this: through agencies, or not. I would recommend to first off all take your address book and call your contacts and friends to see if there is anyone available, or if they know someone.

Another way that does not involve agencies is looking around at graduate shows or final degree shows (or even through universities itself!). The Business Design Centre near Angel Station in London is a very good resource, have a look around when there is a graduate fair or university degrees show is on – there is always some brilliant talent around!

If you do go through an agency, be aware that they will be taking a commission, after all they will be doing all the leg work for you. It is worth looking at a number of agents to find the one you want to work with, who fits into the personality and the character of your studio. Brief them well as to what you are doing and what you are after, and give them honest feedback about their candidates, so that they can tailor their search for your requirements even better.

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Freelance vs permanent

One of the most important questions is: freelance or permanent staff? Which one is better for you?

If you go for the freelance option then obviously you have a less strong financial strain if business is slow. But keep in mind, freelancers come in, do a good job, but once they are done, all the knowledge goes with them. It is also worth keeping in mind that freelancers should be used as a supportive role (e.g. for their knowledge in Flash for a certain piece of a project) and not as a leading role (i.e. the main designer / developer / head of the project), as this can lead to a lot more work for them (and you) in the future, as you will have to call that freelancer back in whenever something goes wrong or requires amendments, potentially costing you more than hiring a person permanently to keep every project and creative decision under one roof.

If your business is becoming more known and work is coming in relatively regularly, then I would recommend permanent staff to rely on and build the team up, as it shows the client that your team is growing and becoming stronger, and it shows your own team that you are caring for the company and wanting to improve the relationships between the team and the clients.

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How to choose the right personnel?

Choosing the right personnel can be a bit difficult, especially if the skillset you require is not your forte. After all, they could tell you whatever you wanted to hear but no be able to deliver. When hiring staff, this is what I used to do to find out if the candidate was right for me:

1. Read up on similar roles, their requirements and / or read up on people who are working in the role you are recruiting for: what do they do? What are their roles? What knowledge do they have?
2. Ask the candidate to talk you through how they have completed similar roles before. How did they interact with clients, the team, freelancers, etc?
3. Let them ask questions: when it comes to leading or management roles, the best way to find out if a candidate is suited is by looking at what questions they are asking. If they are performing well in those situations then they will be doing well with clients as well.

The key is to know what you are after and how your studio can benefit from them. Let them know whay you want to get out of them and how you expect them to help shape the business, or how they might be able to solve problems.

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Paperwork!

ensuring paperwork is filed is an important factor when hiring new staff

Hiring staff is always involved with paperwork, from contracts to insurance and pensions. Taking on a new team member will have legal implications. One of the first obligations you will have will be to take out employer’s liability insurance: this will protect you in the event of your new employee becoming sick or sustaining an injury on the job and is making a claim against you.

You will also be required to fill in form OSR1 from the Health and Safety Executive and have to take a risk assessment of your offices.

It is also very important to remember that you have to ensure your employee has the right to work in your country (in my case, the UK). Keep copies of their passport or proof of EU citizenship on file. If they are non-EU residents then it is important you have a copy of their entitlement papers and make notes of every date, conditions or limits outlined in those documents.

As the employer you are also responsible for taking out employee’s taxes and National Insurance with each salary payment, and ensuring that the government gets its share, which is done through registering with the Revenue and Customs (HMRC), and you will be required to fill in an annual return (form P35).

HMRC is also a good place to check if your employee constitutes as one, using their employee status checker, which outlines factors such as employee relationship to the company, level of control, equipment provision and use, etc.

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Useful resources

Still unsure about certain items? Here is a list of resources you might find useful:

• Weblaw: www.weblaw.com – a very useful resource for all things legal
• Revenue and Customs: www.hmrc.gov.uk – useful resouce for all things tax, also has a very good “employee or freelancer” status checker
• Health and Safety Executive: www.hse.gov.uk – tips and information about safety at work, risk assessments and more
• Department of Work and Pensions: www.dwp.gov.uk – information on sick pay, maternity leave and more
• Association of British Insurers: www.abi.gov.uk – information on all types of (business) insurance

I hope this quick outline was useful to some of you wondering whether or not to take a new resource on.