Hello,

I haven't made a post for some time because I have been very busy reorganising a lot of things, including setting up new blogs.

This blog will soon disappear.

Alex

        

Long ago in a small, far away village, there was a place known as the House of 1000 Mirrors. A small, happy little dog learned of this place and decided to visit. When he arrived, he bounced happily up the stairs to the doorway of the house. He looked through the doorway with his ears lifted high and his tail wagging as fast as it could. To his great surprise, he found himself staring at 1000 other happy little dogs with their tails wagging just as fast as his. He smiled a great smile, and was answered with 1000 great smiles just as warm and friendly. As he left the house, he thought to himself, "This is a wonderful place. I will come back and visit it often."

In this same village, another little dog, who was not quite as happy as the first one, decided to visit the house. He slowly climbed the stairs and hung his head low as he looked into the door. When he saw the 1000 unfriendly looking dogs staring back at him, he growled at them and was horrified to see 1000 little dogs growling back at him. As he left, he thought to himself, "That is a horrible place, and I will never go back there again."

Japanese Folk Tale

All the faces in the world are mirrors.

What kind of reflections do you see in the faces of the people you meet?

        

I used to suffer from information overload - sensory overload - caused by modern life with all its associated "conveniences" such as email, instant messaging, faxes, mobile phone calls, conference calls and teleworking; just to name a few.

I was one of the very early adopters of internet technology which enabled internet browsing in a moving car (as a passenger!). I started using my PC as an internet phone way back in the 90's - the service I used back then has long since disappeared. I first used a mobile phone in 1989 either or 1990. Not that these are bad things, it is just that with the advent of such amazing technology we have to adjust and live in a healthy, balanced way. To start with I did not.

These days I am still very much on the leading edge and utilize a lot of new technology before it becomes mainstream, however I make sure it benefits rather than harms and keep a balance.

Today I came across this interesting, informative article in the UK's Daily Mail:

Information overload: Switch off your mobile, iPod, and emails - technology is turning our brains to mush.

Do you have balance in your life?

Do you take time to "smell the roses"?

And how are you treating your children, your family, your so called "loved ones"?

Do you have real joy in your life? Real peace of mind?

        

Introduction

QR* Codes  (* derived from "Quick Response) are special matrix codes designed to be decoded at high speed by devices such as mobile/cellular phones. QR codes can contain a variety of important information such as addresses, URLs & phone numbers - which means that anyone with a camera phone (complete with QR-decoding software) can take a photo of one and be taken to the relevant web page immediately.The codes are huge in Japan, appearing in magazines, billboards, business cards, shop windows, T-shirts, and more. The codes, also common in Korea, and already popular in Asia, are now becoming more widespread in other countries too.

This tutorial will tell you more about QR codes, how they might affect you as an internet marketer, where you can find out more information and also how you too can even place one on your own website, or anything else. QR codes are not difficult to create.

In the West, QR codes are "new" and may not gain traction for some time to come. Being forewarned is forearmed however and you will now be able to plan your strategy accordingly.

Background to QR Codes

        

Choice Computer, an Australian IT magazine has just published an excellent article "Test Multimedia Laptops" , which I found very useful and interesting. For those that do not know, Choice is an organization that conducts independent tests on products and services. They are renowned for being impartial and accurate.

The article "Test Multimedia Laptops"; is very thorough and includes a Dell laptop as one of the top recommendations. Personally I thought that the article did not place enough emphasis on the onsite warranty available with only 2 (which included the Dell) of the 9 laptops on test and have written to the magazines accordingly. My email appears below.

PS: I thoroughly recommend subscribing to "Choice"; and the magazine Computer Choice.

To:   Choice Computer

Hello,

I have been a subscriber to Computer Choice for some time - it is one of my favorite IT mags.

I enjoyed your article: Test Multimedia Laptops, however I think that the Onsite Warranty should have been highlighted as a key feature, and not simply included only as a features table item in your article.

My reasons are as follows:

A working Laptop is of course critically important. Besides the inconvenience of a breakdown, there can be a lack of access to key data (perhaps that day's work that has not yet been backed up for example). A situation where time and costs have to be incurred to get the laptop to the repairer, and then having to wait for repairs; with a final trip to collect the device once working again is in my view unacceptable, as is pick up and return and the associated courier management. The costs of this can be very high, especially when the value of time and lost productivity is factored in.

With the best will in the world and the use of the best quality components and manufacturing practice, laptops will still breakdown. I have a number of Dell laptops and one recently developed serious problems with the motherboard. A technician arrived onsite the next day and replaced the faulty board. I really appreciated the prompt, efficient service which was so convenient and besides, it also meant that my sensitive client data did not have to leave my office. Considering that the onsite warranty was included in the purchase price my Dell turned out to be a very wise buy. The technician was high level - very knowledgeable, competent and a former manager of an IT store - another reassuring factor.

Simply speaking, when considering the purchase of a computer we should ask ourselves: Can I guarantee that none of the internal components will break down, even if I do buy the world's best machine? Of course not. So, how much do I value ease and speed of repair, along with confidentiality.

It seems to me that an onsite warranty is in fact one of the major considerations when purchasing a computer/laptop.

Sincerely,

Alex Webley Ph.D

"I solve difficult problems for business & individuals with bright ideas, improving both profits & lives."

Business & Corporate Consulting: www.ImproveNow.net
Counseling & Life Coaching: www.ImproveNow.net/Services.html
Private Investigation: www.ImproveNow.net/Private Investigation.html
Website Development: www.ImproveNow.net/Website_Development.html
Website Hosting and Domain Registrations: www.improvenow.net/Website_Hosting.html

Email me: alex@improvenow.net
Mobile/Cell: +61-421 27 28 29
Fax: +61-7 5677 0729
Improve Now, PO Box 9303, GCMC, Bundall, Qld 4217, Australia

        

These days I am finding very poor customer service increasingly common. Two recent examples spring to mind and I might add that these occurred despite my best efforts to communicate clearly, politely and kindly. I am not one of these "customers from hell" who tend to create problems for themselves as well as others wherever they go.

Recently I changed my first names, which included removing two of my three names which I have never liked. I retained my last name, and one of my first names - Alexander (Alex).

As a result of my name change I had to inform my health fund, banks and so on.

My health fund requested a fax showing evidence of my name change and assured me that a replacement card would be supplied ASAP. After waiting patiently for some time I suspected that something had gone wrong because my card failed to arrive. Upon phoning the health fund yesterday I discovered that my new card had never been issued. Bearing in mind the potential importance of having an up-to-date correctly made out and functioning health care card this was particularly disappointing.

Of course, mistakes happen, however the purpose of this blog post is to discuss the high percentage of stuff ups caused by front-line customer service staff in small statistical samples - simply speaking; I have noted the large numbers of errors (often more than one per task) occurring at a high frequency. The issue is not a question of simply allowing for an acceptable level of mistakes which is of course a "reasonable man" mindset. In my experience the situation has worsened considerably, especially during the last 10 to 15 years and is at a level which is frankly unacceptable.

I attended my bank (ANZ) in person to show them the change of name documentation and request that they update their records. The staff member I saw appeared, on the surface anyway, to be competent and efficient. Whilst she was attending to my needs she was on hold on the phone and at times had to interrupt what she was doing to take care of this other matter. I wasn't impressed by this but was careful to say nothing, and also that nothing showed via my body language. (Generally I find that complaining is not particularly worthwhile - most people or businesses are not interested and in any case I have noted that having to complain about inappropriate activity can involve speaking to someone who is likely to be insensitive anyway - which is why they caused of the problem in the first place. An obvious example is the noisy neighbour who becomes annoyed and nasty when politely asked to return the noise to an acceptable level.)

During the process of changing my name at my bank, I discovered that the 45 minutes I'd spent some weeks earlier at another branch updating them as to a change in business name records had been a waste of time. The other branch had assured me they would let my main branch know - yet they had done nothing because my main branch had no idea about the business name change.

Because the person looking after me at my bank when processing my personal name change was busy trying to do too much at once I was asked to sign a form for the name change with the comment that she would finish filling in the details later. I was told that a replacement credit card will arrive promptly and that I needed to do no more.

Yesterday followed up the non arrival of my credit card and discovered that the person handing my affairs at the ANZ bank branch had changed my address, without authority, to a previous address that I have not used for over two years. Why she would do this mystifies me, both from a logistical perspective (the bank has had my new address on their database for over two years now) and because I simply asked for my name to be changed. There was no opportunity in my conversation with the staff member for any confusion to crop up. My big mistake, which on reflection I have to agree was rather stupid, was that I went along with her suggestion that I leave her to complete the paperwork later. The credit card department person (*smarmy, 'smart alec' attitude) informed me that I had signed a piece of paper requesting a change of address - as I never requested such a change it is clear that the staff member at my branch had effected the change of address on the form she got me to sign before completing it.

Due to this gross incompetence on the part of the ANZ staff member my replacement credit card not only did not arrive, but was delivered to a third party. My statement of account was also sent to the third-party. Besides being a serious security breach, the problem has led to a potential invasion of my privacy. It has also caused a great deal of inconvenience and a waste of valuable time. Because I signed an incomplete bank form I can of course technically be blamed, and not the bank.

In summary; it seems to matter not how polite, considerate, calm and helpful you are - these front-line staff have a strong tendency to make mistakes, often several at once and quite often of a serious nature. My policy now is to double check everything. This may seem on the surface to be a waste of time, however had I implemented this policy earlier in this example I would have saved myself a lot of trouble. In keeping with my new policy I phoned the health fund this morning to double check that the new card was indeed on its way, and then called the ANZ bank to check that they had my new address on file, that the new credit card had been dispatched on an urgent basis, that it had been sent to the correct address, that a replacement statement had been sent out and that it had too been sent to the correct address. Interestingly I discovered that some information I was given yesterday by the ANZ call centre staff was incorrect. The staff member yesterday told me that their address system would update overnight. When I called this morning the staff member I spoke with hesitated when I mentioned my new address and said that the old address still showed on their system. She then explained that the change of address can take three to five days to update on their system depending on how busy they are. Quite amazing for 2008 don't you think! I was also shocked to discover that she called me Lionel - which is one of the two horrible first names that my parents chose. I realised that in calling me Lionel she had obviously been prompted by her screen which was of course a database. I then queried whether in fact they had got my updated name details correct - she confirmed that they had, but that she could not understand why Lionel was still on the database. She told me she would have to look into it. I now have more "homework" to do - in five days time I will phone up again to check that they have definitely got the correct address on file and that Lionel is no longer on their database. Some might make the foolish assumption that the arrival of my statement and credit card will prove that they have my address correct - this is not the case because the address for dispatch was sourced from my phone call, not their database.

On a more positive note this whole situation has resulted in various benefits, which include:

• A better personal system which will save me trouble, money and time in the future.

• A policy of never signing anything that is not complete - whatever the circumstances or how genuine/reasonable the idea might seem.

• Material for a blog article pertinent to core areas of my business consulting side.

• Assistance to readers who may then be able to avoid similar events happening to them.

• A realisation that I needed to implement a better policy sooner - this kind of thing has been happening way too often and for way too long - I really should have enacted my new policy much earlier. Sure, my new follow-up policy takes effort, however when you do the sums it's much better than the hassle I have recently experienced thanks to the ANZ and my health fund.

• Increased gratitude that there are some rare organisations which have top-notch service (and yes they have at times made mistakes but they have been well within the acceptable norms) and with whom I will not have to implement my new policy of double checking/follow up. These include Three Mobile , which interestingly despite using an Indian-based call centre, has given me consistently excellent service over a number of years and a large number of call centre contacts. Another example is my excellent web host and domain registrar - GoDaddy.com Hosting Plans .

Do you need to find the holes in your system?

Find out where your staff are treating your valuable customers badly?

How much business and negative word of mouth is it costing you?

If so, please get in touch - I will find the holes and problems because I'm the guy who used to find the mistakes in the text books & lecturer material at school, college and university.

Call me on 0421 27 28 29  (+61 421 27 28 29).

Email me: alex@improvenow.net

        

Here in Australia we have had speed cameras on our roads for around 10 years. Some are static cameras, others are mobile vans. A great deal of effort is put into catching people speeding. We are told by the authorities that the speed camera programs are designed to save lives and cut down on accidents and injuries. “Speed kills” is a prominent and common government message.

Personally, I agree that excessive speed inappropriate for the circumstances should be curbed. I have never been photographed by a speed camera and in 31 years of driving (first obtained a licence at 14) have been booked twice for speeding - once in 1979 when I was a young hothead and once in 2001 when I was caught by a laser gun doing under 15 kmh over the limit. My comments therefore do not stem from any personal “axe to grind”.

I object to official denials that speed cameras and similar are revenue raisers. This is because a simple understanding of economic principles and basic human nature indicates otherwise.

Let us consider the claims by officialdom that they think saving lives is important and that speed cameras and such like are a key tool for doing this. I agree that speed monitoring devices are a useful tool, however I don't believe that officialdom is really interested in saving lives - I suspect that their motivation is to use speeding as a way of raising revenue.

A human life is extremely valuable and the loss of a life is a very serious issue - it has huge and long-term effects and implications. I'm sure that most readers will agree with me on the value of a life. It is clear that excessive speed is a key contributory factor to deaths and injuries on our roads - officialdom acknowledges this, which is quite clear from their “speed kills” message.

Why then, do we have a road traffic offence penalty system with such a paltry level of fines for people exceeding the speed limit? Bearing in mind the severe consequences of excessive speed - loss of life, maiming and so on one would think that the penalty would reflect the seriousness of the offence. It doesn't however, and so the speeding problem continues. We don't need experts to tell us that speeding is still very serious problem; we can see it every time we travel and it is clear that the current speed enforcement methodology is not working.

A basic understanding of human nature tells us that people are deeply affected by money and the loss thereof. I think that many will agree that if we had a speeding penalty system with very large fines for anyone exceeding the speed limit by more than 20 km per hour then we would see a big reduction in speeding. It is simply a matter of setting the fines at such a high level that people change their behaviour. What is the value of a human life after all? Why should people who will not willingly curb their excessive speed be immune from severe financial losses, with perhaps the possibility of jail for those who won't or can't pay? How serious is the loss of human life? What dollar value shall we put on it?

I don't think we really need an understanding of (economic) supply and demand curves to know that should speeding fines be increased to extremely high levels, that the revenue from such fines would drop off severely. It seems clear that officialdom, despite saying that they are concerned that speed kills, have no real interest in reducing the road toll from excessive speed. I'm sure that many people conclude, myself included, that officialdom is really motivated by revenue raising.

        

“Seeing is believing”

Have you heard that phrase before?

Perhaps you, like many others, believe it yourself?

Perhaps you are not even consciously aware that you believe it, and that your life is based upon the idea.

People who “believe it when they see it” only get involved  emotionally with images and concepts which they can discern with their physical senses.

Down through the eras of history, visionary people have always known that the real truth is: what you see is what you get.

Albert Einstein said:  “What you see on the screen of your mind is a preview of life's coming attractions.“

In other words, what all this means is that images in people’s minds actually precede the real life physical images which pervade our material world.

The amazing “human made” world that we live in today, with all its conveniences, has been built largely by image makers – men and women of vision who knew what could be achieved, and expected it to happen, regardless of what the nay-sayers, skeptics and critics might have said to the contrary.

Still doubting?

Ask yourself why someone like Albert Einstein - whom history records as being a highly intelligent scientist with a strong empirical basis - would say such a thing.

        

I am a member of CEO Express - a top notch American business portal:www.ceoexpress.com It is an excellent resource and I thoroughly recommend membership.

CEO Express has regular online polls and discussions on a variety of topics. The discussions can be very lively and are populated by a diverse range of people, many of whom are highly intelligent. (Note: intelligence is not necessarily the same as wisdom )

Currently they have a Poll entitled:

Do you support the agreement Monday of three internet providers to block all websites and newsgroups that traffic child pornography?

This is of course about American ISPs.

I have read some of the interesting & varied replies to the forum moderator's initial post, though have not had time to view all of them. My reply is number 99 and I have reproduced it below for your convenience.

A good number of the posts I have read are discussing civil rights such as free speech and such. To me, that does not seem to be the real issue, hence my post:

I haven't time to read all the posts on this topic so will simply throw in my 2 cent's worth.

Child porn, besides being very repugnant, is illegal, which presumably includes storing, transmission and aiding such.

My question is: why do the ISPs need a "push", "negotiation", "deal", "agreement" or whatever to stop storing, transmitting and otherwise assisting these vile creeps in disseminating child porn?

And why has it taken the ISPs all these years to do something?

Surely child porn is a violation of their TOS (Terms of Service)? If not, why not?

Surely their TOS do not allow illegal activity?

And surely they have a human concern for the victims?

Of course, shutting down some of the child abusers will not stop everything everywhere, however every little helps.

And why haven’t these ISPs informed Law Enforcement about the activities of these creeps?

To use a metaphor, these ISPs have a "house".
They have allowed child abusers to turn up and stay at their "house", bringing their nasty luggage with them and then provided their "guests" with communication and networking facilities.

And please, don't let the ISPs tell you there was no way they could know what was on their network.

In my view, these ISPs have assisted paedophiles in their sick activities.

        

Here is an interesting article about the effects of blogging from a psychological perspective:

Blogging--It's Good for You: Scientific American

Personally, I find blogging therapeutic, however that is not the main reason I do it. I like the concept of blogging from a societal perspective because it fosters community, exchange of ideas, dialog and an increased awareness/knowledge base.

        

Personally I have had "challenges" maintaining physical fitness in the past (for a lot of my life), mainly because I find exercise incredibly boring. As exercise and associated excellent health is a life essential I had to find a way to overcome this. I never really enjoyed sports and the only exercise I enjoyed when I was a young man was stuff with a very high mental stimulus such as some army training. Later I trained in Ninjutsu (green belt) so that helped too.

These days I build exercise into my life so I don't notice it - such as cycling from A to B on business. Recently I have cut back on the cycling and substituted walking which is great for meditating on the hoof too. Cycling can be a bit easy/cruisey. I also do weights so as to build muscle* mass (* which as you may know burns calories faster). When doing weights I can meditate too, which helps.

I have cut my "vices" such as chocolate, chips, biscuits and cake back to one day a week for each. Because they are strung out across the week and time goes so fast I seem to have a semi regular supply to get my fix. I eat a lot of organic food. (Warning: organic chocolate, biscuits, chips and cake are much more moorish than the ordinary kind).

Simply speaking, we cannot cheat the natural laws of life. Eating loads of pizza, guzzling Coke, all while being a computer potato, just won't do. By building exercise into my life as above I am following my "natural law or flow" so it is much easier to get it done.

On top of all this, I have found the mind and thinking patterns to also be essential ingredients of good health.

        

Here is the text of my email to Senator Stephen Conroy, Minister for Communications, Broadband and the Digital Economy, about the proposed Australian Government mandatory internet filtering:

        

The Australian Federal Government is making progress with its plans to force local Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to filter out any content which is deemed "inappropriate" for children to view.

The idea has been almost universally rejected by the Australian public, ISPs, censorship experts, the media and State Governments and yet, despite this, the Federal Government is determined to force the filter into Australian homes. (So, how democratic is the idea?)

Mandatory filtration is a very unsound idea, will waste enormous sums of public and private money, slowdown Internet access and will not achieve the goal of preventing children from viewing unsuitable material.

You can read a lot more information on this subject at the following site:

No Clean Feed



Additional information can be found here:

Electronic Frontiers Australia – www.efa.org.au/

If you are at all concerned about this issue, I do thoroughly recommend that you take action. Some examples of how to do this can be found here:

Stop the Great Firewall of Australia

The issue of children viewing inappropriate material is of course a very sensitive, important and emotive issue. Hysteria and ill thought out plans are not going to help however.

On a personal level, I believe that it is a parental responsibility to assist their children in making the correct choices and to prevent them from accessing inappropriate material.   It is however very difficult for parents, especially these days when children can attend other peoples' premises to view the Internet; and I expect that the Government thinks that by having some sort of a blanket filter  they will be up to stop little Johnny from going to his mates' places to escape his parents' censorship. Unfortunately, even with a blanket filter there will be ways around it and bearing in mind that some of the cleverest minds online belong to children I am amazed that the Government is so naive.

Children these days are much more aware than their forebears and the sex drive is a very powerful one, especially amongst teenagers. They will find a way to view the material that they want to view - we may not like like the idea, however it will happen.

What is the answer? Evidence clearly indicates that a mandatory ISP filter is not going to work. I think the responsibility lies with the individual parents and with those who have computer equipment accessible by children. Herein perhaps, lies the germ of an idea.

As we know, child pornography and acts committed by kiddie fiddlers/paedophiles/child abusers are punishable by large fines and jail time. One reason for this is that these people are, among other things, permanently & seriously damaging the minds/psyche of their victims. These paedophiles are socially unacceptable, a large number of people in society would inflict a far greater punishments upon such scumbags than those which are available in our statutes and even the criminal fraternity in jail hate them. Now, I'm not saying that all adults who allow minors to access unsuitable material, through negligence or otherwise, are paedophiles, however at best they are grossly irresponsible.  Perhaps we as a society should consider imposing large fines and/or jail time on irresponsible and/or negligent parents and other adults who allow children to view pornography - I suspect that if this were the case, there would be a large drop in the instance of this behaviour, which from a mind damage perspective has some similarities with some activities of paedophiles. As far as I know, and I am not an expert on the issue, you have to be 18 (adult here in in Australia)  to form a contract and therefore obtain an Internet connection - this aspect, combined with my suggestion, would make it much harder for children to access unsuitable material. I know this, if adults knew that there was potential jail time waiting for them should children access pornographic material on their computer systems, then many of them would make damned sure their PCs were secure and stop making excuses.

As a businessman, mandatory Internet filtering will be a nuisance and hindrance to e-commerce. E-commerce is now a ubiquitous and vital part of our economy. Because of the nature of Internet filtering many perfectly legitimate sites would be affected and many would lose sales from Australian customers. This effect would be particularly marked on those with Australian domain names, and those which are more dependent on an Australian customer base.

As usual, being good at problem solving, I do have a solution and workaround to Internet filtering. Currently I use this service to overcome a number of problems related to my business. I have above average IT & computer skills, specialist expertise in the fields of research and private investigation  and a lot of Internet experience. I do not suffer fools gladly and take time to find top-quality services - I have high standards. Over the years, I have tested a number of a anonymization software applications and proxy websites. All the software I have tried has been lacking somewhat and one or two of the website versions have been acceptable, though they have a limited range of features. What I use is very simple, very effective, inexpensive, reliable and comprehensive.

Simply speaking, the service, which is very easy to set up and has excellent tutorials, does not involve installing any software and creates what is known as a secure tunnel between your computer and an American server. Not even your ISP can see your traffic. You receive an American IP address, which can have many advantages. Personally, my use of the service includes the following reasons:

Testing - sometimes I need to know where the problem I'm getting lies - is it my ISP or something else perhaps? A recent example was when I had trouble logging into my Internet banking. The bank technical support suggested that I reboot my computer and modem to resolve the problem until they had sorted out their system glitch. While I was on the phone with them I switched to my secure tunnel  and discovered that I was able to login using my American IP address. This saved me a lot of inconvenience and valuable time that would have been lost due to the second rate service of my bank.

Investigations and research - sometimes, as a Private Investigator, I have to make sure that I do not leave traces of my investigations in IP address logs. This also applies to some other research, including some concerning search engine optimization.

Ordering and review of material - I do a lot of shopping online, some of which comes from the USA. Some companies will only sell to people with a US postal address, which I have, and some of them go one step further; preventing people with a non-US IP address from placing orders or even reviewing the site altogether. My secure tunnel solves this problem.

Running applications which require a US IP address. Website proxies and most software do not handle this issue at all, or if they do, well. I have a mission critical application which I use occasionally and without a US IP address I would not be able to use it.

Personally, I have nothing to hide from my ISP and in any case mine is a large one, with effective measures in place to prevent staff from idly snooping etc. It is even impossible for me to get information from them in the case of unexplained bandwidth usage. People who are using smaller ISPs, perhaps more locally-based and not national, are likely to be much more at risk of privacy intrusions by the staff of their ISP. I have a key security protocol recommendation of not using a small local ISP for Internet access. Assurances of privacy in my experience as a Private Investigator are often completely meaningless. If you are running a business and use a localised ISP, you are at much greater risk of your private data being compromised by competitors or other interested parties who may compromise local staff. A secure tunnel will protect you from this risk.

Without further ado, here are the details you need to protect yourself via a secure tunnel - or virtual private network. They have passed my stringent selection criteria and exacting standards in use.

Strong VPN - USA Based IP VPN Accounts

        

Today, in our local online news source we have an article which claims that our new cyber technology is adversely affecting our friendships and which concludes that today some people have fewer friends.

The article claims that the real culprit is technology.

I disagree. Whilst in some respects I do think that technology misused can cause friendship problems for people, I think that the real reasons for the increased isolation of some people are very different.

I have been an avid user of new technology for many years and have carefully studied its impact both on myself and others, from a human relationship perspective.

There are many ways in which modern technology is being used to enhance relationships and examples include:

1) Keeping in contact more regularly and more often - these days it is so much easier to keep in contact with others. Regular communication is one of the factors which can enhance relationships greatly.
 
2) The types/methods of contact are more varied today and these can enrich relationships. One less obvious example is where a young person on a world trip can regularly create a photo blog documenting their experiences and travels. Parents, family members and others and therefore feel much more involved in the young person's life.

3) Opportunities to meet other people - the Internet has many good examples of different ways we can network and interact with others for a variety of reasons. It is very easy to seek out people of like mind, with whom we are likely to have a rapport. Rapport is one of the key relationship drivers.

4) Self acceptance - as a counselor I have at times use the Internet to to prove to people that others are just like them. This can be very liberating to some people. I have also noticed that the Internet has fostered a gradual coming out of different types of personality groups.

5) As a Private Investigator modern technology, and in particular the Internet, has helped me to locate missing family members or friends, leading to many happy reunions.

6) I met my wife online via Internet dating - this was back in the days when there was still a stigma about Internet dating and a fair bit of "media hysteria" about the subject.  We have been together many years now and have a happy and fulfilling relationship. Fortunately for me, she did not turn out to be an axe murderer.

7) Recently I read an interesting article, which detailed how a young woman somewhere in Asia was saved by people online - most of them strangers - when she attempted to commit suicide. Her attempt was genuine, so the actions of these people were extremely important - she would have died without their intervention.

There are many other ways in which modern technology enhances and improves relationships & intimacy, however I want to conclude by making the simple point that like anything, technology can be misused and we all have both an opportunity, and a responsibility, to use it correctly. With a positive mind set, we will find many ways in which technology can improve our relationships.

Media, or other hysteria is unhelpful and counterproductive, and among other things, encourages the blame mentality. 2008 has arrived, the technology is here, the technology is changing the world dramatically - let's focus on using it positively and for good.

You can read the article I refer to here:

Human contact is a cyber failing

        

We are constantly bombarded with marketing messages, many of which can tie in with our preconceived incorrect ideas of where we might find quality service.

Choice is an Australian organisation which supplies trusted information for Australian consumers - no advertising, no bias… just reliable, expert advice.

In today's local online news source there is an article:

Big-name dealers blow car service test

In summary, we can conclude that there are grounds for being very wary about taking a car for a service at a main branded dealer.

Link to Choice

On a personal level I have been aware of the situation for many years, across a number of brands ranging from the everyday to the prestige. I have also come across the problem on a professional basis as a Private Investigator. Once, I even had some money stolen from my vehicle whilst it was being serviced - as it was only a small sum I did not follow it up further because my time was worth more - it did however leave an extremely bad taste.

These days I use an independent mobile mechanic that I have known for over 10 years and as he lives in a relatively remote area I pay him additional money to cover his travel time to my premises.

If we take a step back and look at the situation from a marketing perspective it is quite incredible. Here we have large companies spending considerable sums of money telling the public how good their service is and yet we find an independent body discovers that service is in fact poor across-the-board. Owners of vehicles under warranty are encouraged to arrange servicing at main dealers in order to avoid potential problems with their guarantee. If the issues were not so serious it would be laughable.

As a consumer, there is no easy solution to this problem because some of the smaller family operated businesses in the motor trade can be even dodgier.

One of the ways I solve problems such as this is that first of all I tend not to purchase from the larger corporations because the dynamics of such businesses have a tendency to work against the provision of quality and caring customer service.

I am also very alert to what I call flags, or the “iceberg principle” - the little things that can give away what is really going on under the surface. An iceberg for example, has only 10% of its mass above the surface of the water yet that 10% gives an idea of what the rest of it is like. When I see warning signs of a particular type, or a series of less serious warning signs then I'm immediately on my guard. Sometimes solving a problem of this nature can involve a bit of lateral thinking or extra effort and I resist the temptation to take what may appear to be the easy way out to start with, but which involves tears in the long run. I do not ignore problems and neither do I make excuses for people.

Here are some of my tips, though the list is not exhaustive, nor complete.

1) When dealing with a business it is important to be observant, alert and pay careful attention to what is going on. Perhaps take notes or even record the phone call.

2) An easy test to apply is to ask yourself what is a reasonable expectation as to how you should be treated. I say reasonable because some consumers are indeed the “customers from hell” that no business would want.  If for example you find that phone calls are not returned, or not returned promptly, then that is a warning sign that the business may not regard you as important. It may also be because the business is badly managed or has poor systems. Keeping it simple though, the “doing” is not good.

3) The little things can sometimes tell you a great deal, however many people make the mistake of overlooking them.

4) Do the staff seem interested in their work, and more importantly, you?

5) What do you feel about the situation? Your intuition perhaps? Some staff can appear very friendly and have advanced interpersonal skills which they use to manipulate people. In some cases one of the few defences the average person has against these situations is their gut feeling.

6) Are the staff happy? Unhappy staff can be at risk of taking out their frustrations on the customer - I try to avoid dealing with such businesses for many reasons which include the increased likelihood of poor customer service.

7) Be wary of badges, certifications and implied associations with “goodness”.  Some of these can be good of course so I suggest you note that I said “be wary”. I recall several  occasions in times past when I have been taken advantage of by so-called “Christian” businesses.

8) Does anything seem odd? Many things can fall into this category and we may not always get to the bottom of why something is odd, however sometimes the best policy can be simply to walk away.

Perhaps you own or run a business and want to find out more about how you can improve the way that you look after your customers and gain a huge competitive advantage over the large number of businesses that do not pay proper attention to this area?

I can help you in two ways:

1)    Identify the problem areas.
2)    Suggest and help you to implement real solutions that work.

My contact details:   http://www.improvenow.net/Contact_Us.html

        

This story is a fascinating account of how a man was able to regrow part of his finger.

Besides being wonderful news with very positive implications for the future, some may view it as a good investment opportunity.

The amazing 'pixie dust' made from pigs bladder that regrew a severed finger in FOUR weeks | the Daily Mail ...<< MORE >>

Did you know that you can receive news of updates to this blog via email?

This will save you valuable time checking to see if there have been any updates since your last visit.

Over to the right, just below the calendar, is a form field where you can enter your email address and click the "Subscribe" button. You will then receive an email like this:

From: "Improve Now Blog with Alex Webley" <noreply@onlinequickblog.com>

Subject:      Confirm Subscription to Improve Now Blog with Alex Webley

Dear Subscriber,
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Many people wonder if Reincarnation is real, or just another strange idea subscribed to by "odd balls".

Today I came across an article in Britain's Daily Mail online titled:

'I died in Jerusalem in 1276', says doctor who underwent hypnosis to reveal a former life.

Reincarnation is highly controversial and this article which includes references to scientific analysis of the issue will provide some food for thought, and debate.

You can read the article and draw your conclusions here:

'I died in Jerusalem in 1276', says doctor who underwent hypnosis to reveal a former life ...<< MORE >>

If I find a stray cat or dog I am very careful about where I take it.

The reason
for this is that many council pounds/facilities and other similar places carry
out large scale executions.

At times these can be carried out before an animal's
owner comes to claim it.

Frankly I am never going to take an animal to what is
essentially an almost certain death.

Some of these places have nice sounding
names that appear benign, or associated with animal welfare or similar. Granted,
some of them do very good work on behalf of animals as well, however one of ...<< MORE >>

Recently, our local online news source has published an article: Nice guys finish last.