Writer and blogger specialising in alcohol-free beer, craft beer, hospitality and getting outdoors.
When Apple announced the iPad back in 2010, my first reaction was: “Who’ll use that? How is that different from a netbook (remember those?) or a laptop?”
They showed me! Within a couple of years, every home seemed to have a tablet on the coffee table. They’re so normal now that I’ve even seen kids trying to change channel on their TVs by swiping their fingers across the screen.… Read more
How do you motivate yourself at work?
I get asked this question a lot because I spend the majority of my working week at home. People wonder how I stay motivated when there are so many other things that could distract me.
As someone who has worked productively from home on and off for several years, I find this question odd.… Read more
How many times have you returned to work after a short break to find hundreds or even thousands of emails waiting in a bulging inbox?
Not only does this mean you have to spend the first few hours back at your computer filing, deleting, and replying to email. But it’s also easy to miss an important communication – and lose your sanity – as you struggle to work through your inbox.… Read more
Over the last few years, I’d been kidding myself that I had been practising – and maintaining – “Inbox Zero.”
And the truth is that I’d been doing most of it right. I’d turned off the automatic notifications on my email so I could choose when to fetch new mail, and I was checking and processing it all just once or twice a day in batches, leaving my brain free to concentrate on the work at hand.… Read more
Lots of people are bigging up the role of social networking services in this year’s election.
I have to admit, I was dubious to begin with. But services like Facebook and Twitter have been buzzing with pre-election opinions and gossip, and lots of political parties and politicians are using social networking effectively.
On Twitter, I decided to follow three of my local constituency candidates – Chris Huhne (Liberal Democrats), Maria Hutchings (Conservative) and Leo Barraclough (Labour) – to see what they had to say and to see how they use Twitter to engage with voters.… Read more
