| Hooking our users up, no matter what the language! |
| Written by The Big Picture | | Tuesday, 25 October 2011 18:02 | New features - web links section and multi language facility launched. Our website has been the recipient of the testing and release of a couple of new features over the last couple of days.
This has some pretty big implications for our website users, and also that of some of our clients, as we have just gone truly global.
The Big Picture website now uses the google translate API code to offer an on-the-fly real time translation of the content of our website. This is a very cool feature, and means that we can share our content across 50 or 60 languages (although we have chosen to display just 14). This also means, more importantly, that our users can share content in their own language. Sweet!
Just click on the appropriate flag and watch the beauty of linguistics, and some very clever code, unfold!!! We have also just launched a new feature - WEB LINKS - a place where we have posted some handy and interesting links.
These are quick links to our client's sites, our own projects, and some sites that we find resourceful.
If you wish to do some cross site linkage, feel free to get in touch, we would love to hear from you! |
| Changes in direction, the sunset beckons as we take a turn on the path. |
| Written by David Eagle | | Wednesday, 28 September 2011 16:24 |  Some of the more regular visitors to our website, in particular the BLOG section, may be wondering what in the world is going on.
Where have we gone?
Why are we not posting articles anymore?
What is happening to our business and in turn website?
Have we disappeared into the sunset? No point making pathetic excuses. We have become a bunch of Slackers. The truth is that we are super busy with a couple of big projects that have been requiring all of our attention. We eluded to this at the start of the year in the news section, and now these projects are starting to come online and change the direction of our business. We are also changing the way we do things. The emergence of satellite broadband as a viable connection method to the internet has recently come into it's own, and this means that we no longer need to be tied down to an office anymore!
Tight deadlines on another large project for an overseas client also means a redirection of resources and energy away from sectors of the business that can afford it. In this case it is the blog.
Writing quality articles takes quite a lot of time, and lets be honest, for us this is something we take quite seriously. It goes deeper than just maximising traffic on our website by offering up a series of loosely marketing / design / advertising based articles strung together by random youtube clips. It is more about offering up The Big Picture in relation to this fascinating area of modern day life. A social commentary and a platform to rant about this and that whilst paying attention to THE BIGGER PICTURE of what is going on in the world. However, we all need sleep and downtime, and at the moment there just does not seem like there is enough hours in the day.
We will get back on track posting articles and random observations, but for now feel free to use the search tool and go wandering back through time. There is plenty there to keep you entertained! We are also developing new features that will be used in other sites that we will be testing here over the coming months, so get ready for some changes! |
| New Year resolutions & re-evaluations: changing the way we do business. |
| Written by The Big Picture | | Tuesday, 11 January 2011 13:18 |  Happy 2011 everyone.
What a year 2010 has been - a struggle for some and a year of some big changes for many.
The global financial crisis has seen some massive reverberations through many countries and small local communities, including New Zealand. The recession that we are supposedly now emerging from has seen many businesses either fold under the pressure of a drastically reduced cash flow, or change the way in which they do business. Locally, in somewhat isolated Nelson at the top of the minimally populated South Island of New Zealand, the recession has certainly been hard for the retail sector of the community. Tourism has also been impacted by the financial crisis and one would expect that by the end of this tourist season, there will be some more changes to how businesses choose to do things once again. A period of re-evaluation and consolidation of both resources and processes. As a small business ourselves we are also going through some questions of our own about processes.
For us, the start of a new year is always the best time to apply new resolutions both personally and also within our business. Start off as we mean to continue. This means that 2011 will be a continuation of the changes we started in 2010, and more significantly, a shift away from working locally, and a shift towards increasing our team to work on the larger projects faster and harder.
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| | A change is as good as a holiday right? |
| Written by David Eagle | | Tuesday, 18 October 2011 15:35 |  How many times have we heard this statement over the last year?
It has been bantered around as many people see vast changes in their individual circumstance the world over.
The financial "credit crisis", the Arab Spring, a few deadly earthquakes and now a massive oil spill, rising global/western mortgagee sales, a generally tougher economy, high levels of unemployment - all of these hugely negative factors are impacting more and more on the everyday person. But is a change really as good as a holiday, or just an unlikely distraction?
Does a holiday really make a change anyway, or just put off the reality of everyday life, set to crash into you harder when you return? These are all tough questions, too tough really.
Too much of this kind of thinking tends to lead one to questioning one's station in life, one's direction or even one's very own purpose in the grand scheme of things. Who is this "one" anyway. Seems that with that kind of thinking we may need a holiday sooner than planned.
Since that is not going to happen to any vast degree for us anytime soon, we have been working on a new format for the blog section of the website, as the world around us undergoes another round of profound changes. |
| It is time to take stock of your self defense |
| Written by David Eagle | | Friday, 04 February 2011 12:17 |  With all of the chaos going on in the world, and also on the streets of Nelson over the last couple of months, perhaps it is time that we collectively start thinking about our own personal skills in self defense.
It is shocking that this unchecked violence continues to escalate, with seemingly random bashings occurring to normal everyday people, often in a defenseless situation. One thing we can do is learn how to defend ourselves against this sort of thuggery. Self defense courses come and go, but it is rare that you get the opportunity to take a quick and concise lesson from a highly skilled practitioner.
Nelson is very fortunate to have Taekwondo Master Cor Mastwijk in the area. He is here briefly to help an ill friend in Motueka and has connections to the Hot Yoga Studio in Nile Street. He is running a short 2 hour workshop on Sunday 20th February from 12:00- 2:00pm at the Hot Yoga Studio in Nile street (opposite the Rutherford Hotel). Call the studio on 03 548 2298 to pre-book . The cost is by donation ($25 Recommended - all proceeds go to Charity). Taekwondo Master Cor Mastwijk is a 6th dan with the distinction of being 2x Dutch Open Sparring Champion and 2x Dutch Open Forms Champion. |
| Summer Holiday - bring on swimming in the lake! |
| Written by David Eagle | | Sunday, 19 December 2010 03:27 |  As another busy year comes to an end we are off on our summer holiday break to Taupo for Christmas with the family. It is going to be a special holiday for us this year, Sophia our eldest is now of the age that she can appreciate the wonders of swimming in a clean and beautiful lake. We are very blessed in New Zealand for an abundance of wonderful summer holiday destinations - Lake Taupo is a particular favourite for us.
We will be out of the Nelson office from Monday 20th December, but happily embedded into the Taupo office from Wednesday 22nd December. Contact will be limited as we need a holiday, but we will be checking emails for anything urgent. It has been tough year for many businesses, here is hoping that 2011 brings a quantitative easing of fiscal conditions (been reading too many financial reviews and forecasts - geek).
The Rugby World Cup happening later in the year in New Zealand is sure to stimulate the NZ economy and hopefully put more spark into things. One of our larger projects is tied into this so fingers crossed the event is all that it is being promoted as. Best wishes to everyone for a happy, healthy and safe holiday season. Back to Nelson and back to work proper from Monday 10th January. See you then! |
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