Inari Media

• Time Your Promotional Activity for Maximum Impact

  Posted: August 31, 2009, 1:30 pm by Stephanie Migot

  Today is a bank holiday in the UK, but the advert I saw on TV last night may have come a little too late to reap the benefit of a possible tie-in. A new adaptation of Wuthering Heights was being broadcast, and in one of the later ad breaks, there was a 30-second slot promoting [...]

• Thika Highway Construction: Route 66 or Road to Hell?

  Posted: August 29, 2009, 9:00 am by Stephanie Migot

  In the last fortnight, I’ve noticed an upswing in the number of visits to the blog triggered by queries on the Nairobi-Thika highway construction. I did blog about it back in November, but that post probably isn’t of much use to anyone looking for information on the project today. So, in the spirit of giving [...]

• Freeware of the Week! [Dropbox]

  Posted: August 28, 2009, 5:10 pm by Inari

  A friend of mine is finishing his PhD and had a heart-in-mouth moment this week. He had been doing all of his work on a laptop and the hard drive temporarily died on him. He was able to restore everything except the very extensive bibliography, which he is now having to rewrite from scratch. Lucky [...]

• The Goldfish Entrepreneur

  Posted: August 27, 2009, 2:30 pm by Inari

  I am plagued by a lack of hours in the day, and restrictions on human cloning in the UK. Were I to be granted four extra hours, or a compliant doppelgänger, I would be happy. Instead, I do worry that I am spreading myself a bit thin. In addition to the posts at this blog, and [...]

• The Difficulty in Pinning Down “Marketing”

  Posted: August 26, 2009, 3:21 pm by Stephanie Migot

  There’s been a healthy discussion on one of the forums I frequent about the function of marketing departments, particularly in large companies. A number of contributors bear the battle scars of trying to work effectively in PLCs with competing priorities. One of the biggest gripes is that in too many businesses, marketing is considered to [...]

• The Nairobi Stock Exchange: Still a Pit of Vipers

  Posted: August 25, 2009, 2:58 pm by Inari

  What’s this in the Daily Nation? It appears a bunch of brokers at the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) are bitching and moaning about the onerous regulations under which they are being forced to operate. It could cause the market to fall again, they say. They weren’t consulted properly, they whine. It’s all just sooo hard! What [...]

• D’oh! Are You About to Commit a PR Faux-Pas?

  Posted: August 24, 2009, 2:30 pm by Stephanie Migot

  Word reached me early last week about a rumpus over some dolls that had been stocked by US retailer Costco in a number of its stores. Baby dolls boxed up with stuffed animals wore headbands stating they were “pretty pandas” or “lil monkeys.” All very cute and not worthy of note until you realise that [...]

• Freeware of the Week! [Revo Uninstaller]

  Posted: August 21, 2009, 2:30 pm by Stephanie Migot

  Have you ever tried to uninstall some software and then realised that it has left bits and pieces of itself all over your hard drive, even though the main program itself isn’t there any more? The default Windows Add or Remove Programs feature doesn’t seem to be very good at realising that when you ask [...]

• Liaising with Clients: Getting it Right

  Posted: August 20, 2009, 1:30 pm by Stephanie Migot

  Whether a coder or a consultant, working life is made easier when you can deal with your clients efficiently and effectively. When faced with a project that seems to be hellbound, most of the time it is not a clash of personalities or competing priorities that is to blame, but communication difficulties. It doesn’t have [...]

• How to Protect your Business Data by Disabling USB Storage Devices

  Posted: August 19, 2009, 1:30 pm by Inari

  Note: this post is Windows-centric. Apologies to all Mac and Linux users, but I had to go with the majority on this one. It doesn’t take a hack attack for your business to be facing a data breach and major security headache. One of the easiest ways for anyone to steal data from your company [...]

• The Importance of the Freelancer Contract

  Posted: August 18, 2009, 1:30 pm by Stephanie Migot

  Whether a coder or a consultant, if you are working on a freelance basis, you will occasionally find yourself involved with a client who has a rather eccentric view of your professional relationship. They may ring you at all hours of the day or night, changing the details of your brief. They might ask you [...]

• How to Write a Reference Letter

  Posted: August 17, 2009, 1:30 pm by Stephanie

  Most of us, in course of applying for jobs, will have to provide references to prospective employers at some point. For those of us who do not manage or employ staff, it’s rarer that we’ll be asked to write a reference letter in a professional capacity. Nevertheless, it can happen, and while it can seem [...]

• Using Google Maps to Research your Market

  Posted: August 12, 2009, 3:06 pm by Inari

  As the recession continues, my local high street has seen an increasing number of shopfronts either boarded up or shuttered. While it would be a good time for an enterprising business to grab some prime retail space, how would they know which vacant property is the right one for them? As I said during my New [...]

• Social and Professional Are Not the Same Thing

  Posted: August 11, 2009, 4:42 pm by Inari

  As social media can sometimes stray into personal branding, there seem to be increasing amounts of people who add not just their friends to their contact lists, but also work colleagues, clients, and bosses. This can be problematic, and in some cases, a very bad idea. On the one hand, it’s understandable that individuals may want [...]

• Race in Business: How Far to Go?

  Posted: August 4, 2009, 3:00 pm by Inari

  Recently, I was reading an article by Zachary Raynell Rinkins at Black Enterprise, excoriating black businesses for not spending more of their advertising budgets in black publications. Now, I realise that I don’t operate in the States, but the overwhelming sentiment that I was left with by the end of the article was “Why? Why should [...]

Blah blah blah

Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes