Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

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Kickstarting a new wardrobe

In Life,Marketing,Social Media,Uncategorized,Work on March 24, 2013 by kiltforhire Tagged: , , , , , ,

I’m a sporadic clothes buyer and I tend to stick with what I know. I’ve been buying Ben Sherman shirts, socks, belts, shows, waistcoats and more for years. They suit my shape and I’ve always found the quality great.

I buy Adidas Star Wars trainers cause I’m a tad geeky and because they are unusual and stand-out. I like that. They are also damn comfy. Plus I grabbed a nice Star Wars hoodie which is pretty awesome. Plus I have a host of Threadless t-shirts as they are a little different

But some times you have to branch out and I’m doing it by kickstarting my wardrobe. Or at least part of it.

So let’s talk about the projects I’m Kickstarting to make me look and feel a little bit more dapper shall we. My Kickstarter profile is here.

First off let’s start with the 10 Year Hoodie
It’s a gorgeous hoodie made with great materials and backed for 10 years. If it rips, tears or pretty much anything else you just send it back (yup to the US) and they will mend it for free.

I remember when I was a kid and clothes seem to last forever. My parents would always pass them on after you grow out of them. But clothes these days don’t seem to last as long. Sure I have a few things that do seem to last a while but mainly because of a lack of use rather than anything else. Say no to disposable I say!

And you know what two hoodies cost $180 including shipping. That’s $90 each. Or $9 a year which isn’t too bad when you think about it.

Next up is my life of getting fit and with that comes the Radiate Athletics t-shirt.

It’s basically the hypercolour t-shirt of the 2010s but with a use. It takes sweat away fro, your body so you aren’t a sopping mess and it shows you which areas of your body are working hardest when you work out.

Now, I have no doubt this t-shirt will not be useful for me at all except from its ability to wick sweat away. That’s why I’m getting it. I go to my personal trainer twice a week and it would benefit him more but you know what? I love gadgets and this is a gadget t-shirt that I can wear to get rid of sweat and stop my bag smelling that much. How much I hear you ask? Well $45 including shipping so not too bad at all.

Then we have the Nice Laundry sock drawer option.

I love socks. I really do. They are the tyre to your toes. They are the barrier for your trainers or shoes. I love the ranges and the shapes and the colours. Not sure why but I do.

And by golly do I love the socks being made by these guys. I’m torn between which package to take but eventually I settled on the Sock Drawer option. 18 pairs of socks, all of which look delightful, and I can actually take all of my old socks – which are getting on a bit – and give them to charity.

The packs I’m gonna get are: Visionary, Exec and Dreamer. Go on. Have a look at how awesome they are. Right? Wearing those every day would simply make you feel like a god (small one) walking amongst men. Every time you look down and see your socks you would want to stand on the table and shout “see these?? How fucking cool are they?? COOOOOOOOOL!!!” Sorry. I’m just kinda excited about these socks.

And lastly I’m gonna talk about shirts and the Ainste Handcrafted premium luxury handcrafted shirts.

I have a lovey selection of Ben Sherman and Herringbone shirts but the moment I saw these Kaden shirts I was in love. The collarless shirt with the stunning cuffs blew me away and had me kickstarting two right away. I’m actually tempted to ramp up and buy more but it’s not possible 😦 I’d love an option to buy four or six shirts. Hmm maybe I should message them.

Anyway these are four things I’m kickstarting. If you haven’t got involved in kickstarting then I suggest you should.

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iPads aren’t free ya numpty

In Lessons,Life,Social Media,Technology on March 11, 2013 by kiltforhire

If you are on a Facebook and think that Apple can’t reseal a product and instead are giving away 500+ iPhones or 500+ iPads then you are a fucking numpty.

If you are on Facebook and think that Sony is looking for testers for the PS4 and you will get given a PS4 before launch and get to keep it afterwards then you are a fucking muppet.

If you believe that Ray Ban, Samsung or any other multi-national company just so happens to be on Facebook with only a few thousand likes and is giving away free shit then you are a fucking bawbag numpty muppet!

Out there are a bunch of devious fannybaws who would like nothing more than to gather your data and sell it on. That’s why these pages exist. You really want to give them all your info then please go ahead but you will be unfriended so I don’t have to see dumb on a daily basis. Especially as the person running the page now knows who you shared the image or info with. Thanks for doing that.

Oh yeah and if you want to share a ‘story’ on Facebook without checking Snopes – LINK HERE – then please don’t. Seriously. I’m sick of seeing pictures of crying matadors who allegedly broke down one day in front of the bull…the motherfucker was playing a ruse on the bull, oh yeah and it’s not really the same guy who your article is talking about, oh and lastly the actual guy the story is talking is in a wheelchair because a bull gored him.

And if you wan’t to load up a picture of someone with a quote then please can you just take one second out of your life to go to google and actually see if the person said it. Yes I know you want to be inspirational. Yes I know you want to seem cool but if the quote you put up doesn’t link with the person who said it then for fucks sake that’s not exactly great is it?

I guess all I want is people to think just for a few seconds before the commit to doing something.

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My Google Glasses Rules

In Digital,Lessons,Life,Media,Social Media,Technology,Work on February 28, 2013 by kiltforhire Tagged: , , , , , ,

When I woke this morning my feed was full of chatter about Google Glasses. Google’s big man Sergey Brin while talking at TED said that smartphones are emasculating and forcing us all to look down – as a man I look down occasionally in a needed way which got me thinking about what would happen when you wear the glasses and the rules that will need to be enforced.

1. Don’t wear your Google Glasses at dinner/lunch/breakfast if you are sitting with other people. If you think people checking their phone is annoying just wait till people simply stare up to read their latest text.

2. Bathroom etiquette is going to be massive with this one. Don’t wear them at the urinal if you are a bloke. That could end up in fights if people think you are filming their cocks. And for everyone it’s gonna be rude to just record any and all bathroom chatter.

3. No google glasses in the cinema. I don’t want to see little lights in the top corner lighting up around me. SWITCH THEM OFF.

4. I realise that being a citizen journalist is gonna be awesome with these things but I also want you to think about what you upload. Don’t use them for evil.

5. Sex. No. Unless you feel like being kinky and watching that stuff later on…but let’s be honest what if your partner wears them and she puts the video on and all you see is yourself having sex. That’s gonna be weird right? Nobody wants to see the faces they make during sex.

6. In meetings at work. May seem like a good idea but no one will say anything because everyone will be paranoid it will come bite them in the ass.

7. Shower rooms. Hopefully the glasses are waterproof. This does not mean it’s ok to wear them in the gym shower room.

8. Surgeons. Leave my insides inside not outside on the web.

9. Don’t watch porn on them on the way to work. That’s freakin’ weird.

That’s pretty much the main ones for now but I have a feeling I’ll be adding a lot more to the list as time goes on.

Do you have any suggestions where you shouldn’t wear your Google Glasses?

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My Facebook Rules

In Lessons,Life,Marketing,Media,Social Media,Technology on February 11, 2013 by kiltforhire Tagged: , , ,

Following on from My Twitter Rules here are my Facebook rules. Now where Twitter is about conversations with anyone about everything Facebook is slightly different. It’s where people from your past and your present all get together and update their lives, interact and chat but in a more reserved way.

I have a love and hate relationship with Facebook. I enjoy seeing what my friends are up to and it’s nice to get snapshots of home and lives that I’m no longer fully part of but on the other hand there are a lot of people who use it as if it was their personal diary and that just isn’t for me.

The rules aren’t for everyone and I totally get that every person uses their Facebook differently but these are my rules that I generally stick to when using it.

1. Spam. I hate it. You hate it. We all hate it. You remember those days when you would get chain letters sent by email? We all thought we had got rid of them but we forgot one single thing – some people are dumb and are now using Facebook and failing to do basic checks before diving in and commenting on dumb images and stories which are usually a total piece of shit and full of lies. I never comment on them unless it’s to point them to Snopes however I have since realised that by even getting involved other people who follow me may now see it and, well, stuff that. So now I ignore.

2. I try and post between three to five times a week. On the odd occasion I post maybe once or twice in a day and on a rare occasion three time. I don’t believe you should fill up other people’s feeds with constant up to the minute running feeds of your life. I ain’t that important and neither are you so let’s not annoy too many people.

3. When it comes to pics of my friends I have a really simply rule. I never ever tag a friend in a picture if I think it is unflattering. If you tag it it appears on their wall and if ain’t a good pic then I don’t want to make them look bad. They are my friends and they always look good to me so I don’t see why other shouldn’t see them in any other light than when they are at their most awesome.

4. If you want to play games on Facebook that’s just great but I don’t. And therefore you will never get a game invite from me and I’d really appreciate if you didn’t ever send me a damned invite for a game. Please don’t. I’m sick of them. I’m a gamer and I have an Xbox and a Wii U and a PC and an iPad all for gaming but Facebook is not a gaming platform for me and I simply don’t give a rat’s arse about any of them.

5. Hashtags in Facebook. Leave them over on Twitter please. Thanks. Appreciate it.

6. I do believe that Facebook is a place for long updates as opposed to Twitter 140 characters. I have no problem with that. Write away. I usually do. Sometimes people even have to click the little blue button to read all of my update.

7. Baby pics. I am delighted when my friends have babies. It’s wonderful. Especially my friends Alan and Lesley who have gorgeous triplets but you don’t need to share 8000 pictures each and every day. Next time you want to take a spree of pics and post them why not pick up your kid and give them a hug. I have to admit I’m really lucky that the majority of my friends with kids at the moment do a great job of limiting the pics but I have seen overkill in the past.

8. It’s called Facebook not Facesbook. Leave your profile pic as just you and don’t have you AND your other half. C’mon we don’t need to be reminded how much you both love each other every single day. And if you really have to use a pic like that please don’t make it one where you are expressing your tonguitude into them.

9. I never upload funny pics and tag my friends. Personally I think it’s rude to do that. There really is no need for it.

10. Ultimately I try to be considerate. I don’t really post anything inflammatory. I don’t flood people’s timeline with funny images. I don’t pester people and I do like things that I genuinely like. I don’t click on something for no reason.

11. Comment. Getting involved in your friend’s lives is important. If someone has put up a good status update that I’ve enjoyed then I’m not afraid to get involved in a chat or discussion about whatever the post is about.

12. I try and be funny when I post. If I can make one of my friend’s smile then it’s all worth while.

13. I’m happy to unfriend someone if they are being horribly racist, sexist, vile or downright intolerable. I’m also happy to add new people who I’ve met online who I believe will add a little bit of colour to my life.

Looking at this list some are rules and some are things I avoid doing but I think you kinda get the gist of where I’m coming from. Similar to My Twitter Rules I believe that you should always hover before posting to think about what you are saying and if you are happy with it slamming into 200+ people’s feeds.

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My Twitter Rules

In Lessons,Life,Marketing,Media,Social Media,Technology on February 6, 2013 by kiltforhire Tagged: , , , ,

Rules.

We all all live by them. We all have our own code.

Twitter.

It’s the second love of my life. It’s the communications platform I always dreamed of. It gives anyone the ability to talk to anyone else in this world as long as they have a Twitter account. Not once in the history of the world has this been possible. Yet here we are exchanging words across the globe with anyone and everyone.

I’ve been using Twitter for nearly five years. I don’t cheat the system. I don’t play the follow me and I’ll follow you game. But I do reply to nearly everyone who speaks to me – its only polite – and I do hunt out fun and interesting people to talk to because its what makes life interesting.

But you got to have rules and that’s where My Twitter Rules come in to play.

1. If I follow you and you send me an auto-DM then I’ll unfollow. It’s rude to think that because I’ve chosen to engage with you that you suddenly have the right to barge into my life and try to sell me something or direct me to your blog or your website. If it’s in your profile chances are I’ve already looked.

2. If you tweet more than five times in my timeline in less than a minute and it’s not a scream for help because you are in a dire situation the I’ll unfollow you. I follow you because I’m interested in you. I didn’t follow you to know the exact contents of your mind one a second by second basis.

3. I don’t read celebrity gossip. I don’t wait patiently every week to find out which celebrity has been knocked up, divorced, having an affair or simply put on some extra pounds. You know what? I simply don’t care. Everyone deserves their privacy and I’m not a fan of peering into people’s lives through an 800mm lens.

4. Kim Kardashian or Paris Hilton. Retweet them and I unfollow. I have no desire to know anything about either of those two. Basically I suggest thinking about your followers before you retweet certain things. I always hover for a second and think about my followers before I retweet.

5. Quotes. If you think continually tweeting quotations is cool well that’s just swell however if I want to read quotes the I’ll head on over to one of the million quote pages on the web and read some.

6. Every week I try and find a few people I’ve not engaged with in a while or at all and see what they have to say and try to chat to them. Find something they have said I have found interesting and let them know.

7. If you have connected your account to a site that is sending DMs to me telling me ‘people are saying this about you and has a link’ I’ll DM you back and let you know. You may not know the account is sending on your behalf so it’s only right I let you know.

8. If I have just followed you and we haven’t interacted and you send me a DM asking me to subscribe to your YouTube channel or your blog you can be assured I won’t be visiting your site and I certainly won’t be following you any more.

9. I will block you if you are a troll. I have been abused a few times on Twitter (this one comes to mind!) and I simply won’t put up with you being an asshole. I’ll accept it a few times as you may be having a bad day but if you keep at it it’s block city

I guess they are my standard rules. I’ll probably come back and update when I think of others I use. If you have any rules I’d love to hear them.

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The lone keyboard warrior

In Life,Social Media,Technology on February 10, 2012 by kiltforhire Tagged: , , ,

Last night I had a strange incident and normally I would leave it alone but not today.

While on Twitter I noticed someone saying that Australia’s NBN is already outdated. I wrote a small note back explaining they were incorrect.

And their response? The lovely gentleman (whose Twitter profile says: ‘Father of 5 kids, Loving Grandfather of 10 Grandchildren,and 2 Great Granddaughters. love to give heaps to Pollies and Poofters) said to me: ” Go and lick Gillards C*** out U commie Prick” (I’ve edited the swear word but they didn’t)

Yup. They seriously wrote that.

In four years of being on Twitter it’s the first time I’ve been visibly shocked by a tweet.

I never mentioned politics.

I never mentioned communism.

I never mentioned sex.

Oh yeah and I’m Scottish and not a citizen in Australia so I can’t even vote here!

Yet there they were attacking me for correcting them. Which brings me to the world of the lone keyboard warrior. I spend a lot of time online and more and more I’m seeing this kind of thing. I’m used to it on forums where long-term friendships and hatreds are born. I’ve even been a moderator on a gaming forum where daily abuse was the norm but Twitter – where people are more likely to use their own names – I’m noticing a marked increase in the attacks.

Maybe it’s because I’m spending a lot more time looking at certain issues which people are passionate about but even then the debate should be cordial and without personal attacks. But on Twitter the area I have noticed the most hatred and vitriol is from the political area. It seems that when people start talking about politics there are those online who revert to the most vile and disgusting abuse … but only behind their keyboards.

I’ve never really had the urge to troll nor attack people online. I’ve occasionally defended myself but I see online and offline as two worlds that have less and less of a gap between them and people at some point will have to stop being keyboard warriors and start realising that what they say online can and will have repercussions for them offline. If you wouldn’t say it to someone in a street then don’t say it online.

Have you had any dealing with any crazy keyboard warriors?

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Public Speaking

In Digital,Life,Social Media,Technology on December 1, 2011 by kiltforhire

If you met me and spoke to me at work or in a bar or randomly while waiting for a train you would assume me confident, out-going and very talkative. My father, genetically and informatively, gave me a tad of his charisma and I use it wisely – a bit like if I had The Force – however one of these days I will have to confront my fear of public speaking.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of being invited on the ABC’s Big Ideas show to take part in a debate on “Is the screen mightier than the sword?” and before the show I was absolutely bricking myself that I would freeze, swear, kick over the lectern or simply strip off my shirt shouting “I’m Spartacus”.

Thankfully I didn’t do any of those things. Well except from swear. I may have done that by accident. Oh and I may have also froze. And I did think about kicking the lectern when I said something totally and utterly dumb.

I don’t know where my fear comes from. I have acted on stage and never really got butterflies and always enjoyed it but there is something about public speaking that freaks me out.

I used social media examples as a way to prove the screen was indeed mightier than the sword and I believe that as technology increases we will enter a better world for all mankind. More communication is no bad thing.

But while talking at the event my hands were shaking so I grabbed on to the lectern to try and stabilise myself only to find it was a it wobbly – so if you do watch the program feel free to not think I’m drunk. I’m just sober and unstable. Not mentally unstable. Well maybe a little.

My throat dried up as I was speaking.

I blabbed on in my Scottish accent throwing words out as fast as that General Electrics M134 mini-gun in Predator shoots bullets. The one that Blane uses.

My timed nine minute speech was suddenly over in seven minutes.

Maybe it’s better to say less than more but what if you said more but in the less timeframe??

I didn’t know what to do. Do I stand there and keep making my point? Or do I walk away and run back to my seat crying Freedom!!

I did neither of course. I said thank you, looked sheepish and stealth’d back to my seat.

Doing the talk reminded me that I should stick to talking to small groups and generally hiding in the background rather than being the centre of attention. I don’t like it when people focus on me – maybe for fear they will see the real me? An over-weight, greying, stubbly, short Scotsman with a wonky eye.

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Selling out your national team

In Lessons,Life,Marketing,Media,Social Media on October 9, 2011 by kiltforhire Tagged: , , , , ,

I am full of rage right now. Pure unadulterated rage.

I was watching the Australia v South Africa rugby match in this year’s Rugby World Cup. I glanced at Twitter and saw a few people in my stream tweeting to the @qantaswallabies account.

This rage has been building up inside me for all my time living in Australia but I feel that I should put down in words what I’ve been thinking.

HOW DARE YOU SELL OUT YOUR OWN COUNTRIES NATIONAL TEAM BY FLOGGING IT WITH A BRAND!!?!?!

If the Scottish Football Association even attempted to brand the Scottish football team and tie it in with say the Royal Bank of Scotland or British Airways or anything … even Irn Bru there would be a war in the country with people storming the HQ of both the SFA and whichever company decided to try and take over the team.

A national football team is just that. It’s a team associated with the country. It has nothing to do with a brand.

Yes brands can sponsor. Yes they can even have their names on the tops but they should never have the right to re-brand the name of the country from Australia to the Qantas Wallabies. The Twitter account, the Facebook account etc should all be named after the country and code or the Association – it should NEVER be linked intrinsically with a brand.

Forgive my writing today. I’m just so angry that people in Australia seem to take this for granted. It’s wrong. It’s really fucking wrong. The people who came up with the idea should be flogged in the main streets.

They have taken the identity of their country and sold it.

Imagine that.

Imagine selling your country…to a brand.

Total and utter disgrace.

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Neuromancer and Tron

In Digital,Lessons,Life,Social Media,Technology,Video Games on May 31, 2011 by kiltforhire Tagged: , , , , , ,

My dad took me to see Tron when I was very young. We went to the local fleapit cinema in Dennistoun near Glasgow City Centre. I watched the movie in total awe at this strange world inside a computer.

The grid.

This place where information zipped and zapped itself around while people shared information and collaborated. It amazed me. Battles happened with the world and my life was forever changed.

Then in high school i was involved in the first year of teaching computing at my school. We had BBC Micro’s and I remember learning some basic but never felt the teacher knew what he was doing that much so nobody really learned much. I knew that computers would forge a future I just didn’t know how it would forge mine. 10 Print etc 😉

Around this same time I was told about a book called Neuromancer. I went and picked up a copy and sat down to read it. I stayed up all night and finished the book in one go.

I was mesmerised by the world created by William Gibson. The word cyberspace has stuck firmly in my brain every since.

It’s where I live today.

It’s where I work.

We may not be IN the Grid.

We may not be jacked into Cyberspace.

But we are there. Digitally connecting. Information sharing. Conversing and communicating.

For my talk in fourth year in English we had to do a talk about something and I chose Neuromancer.

I talked about how the world would be smaller. We would all be connected no matter where we were in the world. I told them about Cyberspace – this ethereal world where our other lives are led.

My teacher said she didn’t understand much about what I was talking about but that I seemed so genuinely passionate about it that it must be interesting. She gave me a high mark and that was the end of that.

I always wonder if she is on Facebook now. I wouldn’t mind just dropping her a line and saying…see told you it would work out 😉

The world as we knew it then has changed so much. Not always for the better. But it’s nice to see the future come to fruition.

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SHTBOX

In Life,SHTBOX,Social Media on April 15, 2011 by kiltforhire Tagged: , , , , ,

Surry Hills Twitter Beer O'Clock Exchange Superhero Party

The SHTBOX Superheroes

It stands for Surry Hills Twitter Beer O’Clock Exchange.

It stands for fun and good times.

It’s an informal meet of awesome people who use Twitter.

Thanks to SHTBOX I have met so many fucking superb people – you all know who you are 😉

Myself and two legendary characters Mal Damkar aka @maldamkar and Mitch Malone aka @mitchmalone met on Twitter nearly two years ago and decided to catch up in the real world – SHOCK HORROR!! For all I knew both of them could have been killers/stalkers/nerds thankfully it turned out they were just cool motherfuckers. On that first night a few other people turned up including the lovely Emily Wearmouth aka @EmVicW and Mandi Bateson aka @mab397. The first time we all met was so awesome we did it again the next week and more people came…and more people came.

In fact I believe Emily, who met her fiance at SHTBOX, is marrying him this weekend in London!! How cool is that!?

Some weeks we had thirty to forty people turn up at the same location – The Clock Bar in Surry Hills in Sydney (see how Surry Hills fits in to the name. Mal came up with the whole name. He’s a genius that lad).

Sometimes we organised crazy nights of fancy dress. The last one we did was superheroes. Last count there was six Superman. It was amazing. We’re in that picture up there.

Everyone is invited and we only have two rules:
1 – No name badges
2 – No cunts

Simple huh!

Alas I have been sadly remiss in not attending this year. In fact just close to its two year anniversary I seem to have stopped going and I think that this has to change. Starting in May I’m going to revitalise this awesome event with gusto!

It’s time to bring the SHTBOX back. It’s time to round up all the old faces and invite so many new ones.

Let’s get SHTBOX back on the map after Easter!

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