Archive for May, 2008
Bview goes Wii crazy
Friday, May 30th, 2008
On Wednesday evening we made a good start to our BView community meet-ups with a ‘wii-off’, inspired by our friends at Xbridge.
With the tables and chairs cleared and the projector screens hooked up to the wii, our conference room was transformed into a gaming heaven. At stake: beer sponsored by BView and perhaps more importantly bragging-rights for being the office Wii champ.
Noble contenders over the course of the evening included Martin G/Daniel W at Mariokart but the winner of the evening had to be Jim ‘John Travolta’ Lamb for cutting some shapes on the Dance Dance Revolution dance matt (an open-source version of course!) I think he’s played that game a few times before so we should probably give him a handicap next time.
More BView events coming soon. Suggestions for the next meet-up anyone?
BView games night flickr set.
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A coffee shop on every corner (beginning, middle, end, …)
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008
Close to the BView offices some new coffee shops have opened on City Road (from left-right: Starbucks, Eat and Coffee republic). In fact this trio of coffee shops even all have the same address. Starbucks are yet to open their doors to the public.
A straw poll here says we like Cafe Nero and we walk down to the end of the street to get a good cup of coffee (honourable mention to Pret).
I guess a few other coffee chains have realised that there are some central London office workers without a chain in clear sight from their office window so they have opened up at the same time. All in a row. In the same month.
Do you think they all know about each other when they signed the lease?
Posted in General | 1 Comment »
Barcelona competition: 10 days remaining…
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
With only 10 days remaining until the close of our Barcelona competition, here are some tempting suggestions from the BView team about what you could be doing under the 25 degree heat of the Spanish sun:
1. Hire a bike and cycle along the beautiful Mediterranean beach fronts.
2. Check out Gaudi architecture at the ever evolving Sagrada Familia.
3. Visit The Montjuïc Castle for a panoramic view over the rest of the city.
4. Visit a Flamenco Show at Tablao de Carmen.
5. Visit Barcelona FC at the Nou Camp – the world’s best football stadium.
6. Visit the theme park on Mount Tibidabo.
7. swim in crystal clear waters at Sitges beach.
8. Eat at some of the best seafood restaurants in Spain at Port Olimpic.
9. Sample Barcelona’s nightlife clubbing on the hill.
10. Sip Sangrias/Cervesas, and watch Catalan life pass by at La Rambla.
May the best BView-er win!
Results announced soon…
Tags: Barcelona competition BView
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Broadway Market
Tuesday, May 20th, 2008
Every week, from today, we will be taking a look at a selection of businesses [good, bad and ugly] in a specific area of London. Having spent most of Saturday on Broadway Market, what better place to begin.
If you’re a Londoner, chances are you’ve already been to Broadway Market, and if you haven’t been there you’ve probably heard how popular its becoming (especially with the tight jean/asymmetrical hair brigade).
Historically, Broadway Market is one of the oldest chartered markets in London which went into massive decline in the early part of the century but was resurrected to its former glory in 2004 following pressure from local residents. Today it is home to a bustling street market which sells a colourful array of organic foods, fruit and veg, coffee, vintage clothes, general bric-a-brac which will excite the market lovers. Its basically a mini Borough Market. Its also home to a number of businesses including gastro pubs, restaurants and boutiques, art shops, book stores etc. Here’s a selection of the main places to eat and drink:
The Cat and Mutton is at the top of Broadway Market overlooking London Fields park. Its one of those places
which you’ll either love or hate. Its generally ok for a pint, especially when you’ve manage to conquer the benches outside on a suny day, however, if you’re a beer/food connoisseur head to the The Dove for a selection of belgian beers and gastro type foods (Oysters are one of the offerings on the menu) The Dove is really warm and cosy inside, perfect for a winters day, but the nearby London Fields Park is a much more tempting option on a beautiful summers day. Cicilcia’s is a Turkish Restaurant/Cafe at the end of Broadway Market with an outside terrace which overlooks the canal. The Turkish Coffee here is my highlight on the menu. If you want to opt out of the posh-nosh, The Broadway Fish Bar is the way to go. For a fiver you get yourself a big bag of the greasiest chips and a nice helping of cod. I plan on trying out Amardillo Restaurant, and The London Fields pubs soon.
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stag and dagger
Friday, May 16th, 2008
One day. 100 new music acts. 15 venues across Shoreditch. 5000 (too-cool-for-school) music lovers. Last nights Stag and Dagger micro-festival was, more than anything, a good chance to check out some of the Shoreditch venues I’ve been meaning to go to.
After some debate/exchange of words, a small group of us finally agreed on a plan of attack for which bands we wanted to see, kicking off at the Electricity Showrooms. Feeling uninspired by the DJ and it being way too early to dance like a crazy fool on its famous disco floor, we swiftly moved onto Bar MusicHall to see the excellent reggae band Natty who didn’t disappoint. Apart from the typical slow service at the bar, this venue was more than adequate. We then headed over to The Macbeth to see a very average Australian band Operator Please which we could barely see anyway due to the pub being rammed. The good upstairs terrace was at least some consolation for the otherwise poor venue. Before we knew it the night was drawing to a close so we headed over to Brick Lane for the Filthy Dukes set at the Vibe Bar. No night out in Brick Lane is complete without a salt beef bagel bagel from The Beigal Shop which we devoured on the bus ride home.
So the idea of Stag and Dagger was a nice one, but in reality it just didn’t work out. There were just too many bands to see, not enough time and the transition between sets wasn’t quick enough. Lets hope the organisers pull off something better at Adventures in The Beetroot Field festival in Victoria Park later on this summer.
Tags: festivals
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SMC and TechCrunch meetup
Monday, May 12th, 2008
Again, the Social Media Café on Friday was a good opportunity to network with people on the social media scene. At this event I managed to pick up a copy of Clay Shirky’s new book Here Comes Everybody (The Power of Organizations with Organization). As always Clay’s writing provides great insight into how the internet empowers. According to blogger (and fellow SMC-er) Rachel Clarke, its the perfect answer to Andrew Keen’s book The Cult of the Amateur which criticises free, user-based information-gathering websites such as Wikipedia and er…BView!
Later on I headed down to the Royal Festival Hall for much of the same at the first TechCrunch London meetup organised by Mike Butcher. Among some of the people I met was Jonathan Macdonald
sales Director at Blyk, the new mobile network for 16–24s that’s funded by advertising which has reached 100000 members 6 months ahead of shedule. But like all these events though there just isn’t enough time to meet everyone so will hopefully cross paths with some of the other attenders in the near future.
Mike Butchers Techcrunch flickr photos:
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Managing Your Online Reputation
Thursday, May 8th, 2008
Gartner recently covered an event where the OASIS Open Reputation Management Systems (ORMS) was created by it’s parent OASIS (Advancement of Structured Information Standards). Phew!
While Gartner concluded that this area may take up to 2 years before it is critical to corporations those with foresight have already started. Most of us have a profile on Linkedin or at least have heard of it. While Linkedin is billed as a networking tool it is fast becoming a personal reputation management tool:
- employers are looking at potential employee profiles
- before meetings with potential partners research is done via Linkedin profiles
- connections are accepted or rejected based upon how impressive your profile appear
Facebook (while less formal than Linkedin) is again being used to manage your personal reputation. Applications allow you to compete over who has been most places, who has most friends and how interesting you friends are.
One of the great features of BView is the ability for business owners to manage their reputation and engage with the community:
- reply to reviews
- message members
- add photos and videos
- edit & add descriptions
- post updates
- add subscribers
With recent new business members including Lloyds TSB maybe our reputation is spreading?
Posted in General, News | 1 Comment »
Win tickets to Barcelona
Friday, May 2nd, 2008
Yep you read that correctly…. BView are giving away 2 tickets to Bareclona + flights and £500 spending money. All you need to do is review businesses to increase your BView influence! How easy could it be?!
How to win
The winner will be the user who has the highest influence score.
Increase your influence by:
1) writing reviews
2) get feedback (compliments) to your reviews
3) the more people subscribed to you, the more influential you are deemed to be
Where can I find my influence score?
Your influence is shown in the top right corner of your user profile.
How long does the competition run?
The competition runs until May 31st 2008. Your influence score will be taken as of 11.59pm. The user with the highest influence will be deemed the competition winner
Invite your friends too
Anyone can enter, so long as they are a registered BView user. Send this link for them to register:
http://www.bview.co.uk/app/frontend/PreRegister
Here’s some inspiration to get you started:
- Is the BBC worth the license?
- Is the Prince George really the best pub in EC2A?
- Which bank gets most love? HSBC Barclays or someone else?
- Which recruitment company have you used in the past?
For a copy of our terms & conditions, please email me.
Good luck and may the most influential person win!
Tags: bview socialnetworking community competition pr
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