Gatt Design Blog

Windows 7 Has An Encouraging Start

2009-11-07T08:35:06Z

Windows 7 has had an encouraging start in the US and globally according to web analytics firm, StatCounter. The firm’s research arm StatCounter Global Stats reports that Windows 7 weekly share went from 1.75% of the US market pre launch to 2.82% by the end of October. Globally too the news was positive for Microsoft with market share increasing to the same levels.

“Windows 7 has hit the ground running and the underlying trend is positive for Microsoft,” commented Aodhan Cullen, CEO, StatCounter. “The new operating system should be further boosted by December holiday season sales of computers which will have Windows 7 preinstalled.”

He added that as expected it looks as if Windows 7 is taking market share from Vista and to a lesser extent XP. “In the US Vista has declined from 35.78% to 34.52% at the end of October. XP has seen a smaller fall from 48.92% to 48.47%.”

iPhone Users Can Now Download Over 100 Thousand Apps

2009-11-04T15:25:38Z

Apple today announced that developers have created over 100,000 apps for their App Store. iPhone and iPod Touch users can choose from an incredible range of apps in 20 categories, including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. App Store users have downloaded well over two billion apps, continuing to make it the world’s most popular applications store.

“The App Store, now with over 100,000 applications available, is clearly a major differentiator for millions of iPhone and iPod touch customers around the world,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The iPhone SDK created the first great platform for mobile applications and our customers are loving all of the amazing apps our developers are creating.”

“With 10,000 downloads a day, worldwide customer response to our I Am T-Pain App has exceeded our wildest expectations,” said Jeff Smith, CEO of Smule. “The App Store has given us a unique opportunity to create and grow a very successful business, and we’re looking forward to an exciting future.”

Are You Having Trouble Activating Microsoft Windows 7?

2009-11-04T15:38:22Z

Are you having problems installing Windows 7 due to an invalid product key?

Microsoft have published two articles describing issues which you may be experiencing, according to the Microsoft Help Blog.

Windows 7 installation error message 0xC004F061 when trying to install Windows 7 using an upgrade product key

Windows 7 activation error due to invalid product key, which describes several other possible problems which may be preventing you from installing Windows 7

Apple iPhone Available On Orange From 10/11/09

2009-11-02T15:23:13Z

Orange today announced that it will launch the Apple iPhone in the UK on the 10th November 2009. The iPhone 3G and 3GS will be available in Orange stores with new great Pay Monthly and Pay As You Go price plans for both business and consumer customers.

Tom Alexander, CEO of Orange UK, said, “The excitement for the iPhone is immense, and this is a great day for our customers, our company and our employees. Since we announced the iPhone on Orange we have already seen more than a quarter of a million customers register their interest on our website.

We will be matching their enthusiasm with a 3G mobile broadband network that covers more people in the UK than any other operator, a commitment to deliver the best 3G experience on the iPhone and best-in-class applications and plans.

Earlier this year we stated our ambition to become the destination brand of choice for high end mobile users in the UK. With the launch of the iPhone on November 10 we’re pleased to be fulfilling that ambition.”

Linus Gives Windows 7 The Thumbs-Up

2009-10-28T10:00:01Z

Yes it’s true, Linus Torvalds (author of the Linux kernel) gives Microsoft’s new OS, Windows 7, the thumbs-up!

OK well in case you haven’t guessed it yet, Linus doesn’t really approve of Windows 7. The reason for the photo is simple; according to Ars Technica, Microsoft had set up a big Windows 7 promotion booth across the street from the Japan Linux Symposium conference, so one of the attendees decided to grab Mr Linux for a cheeky photo in front of Microsoft’s booth!

We suspect the guy behind the counter had no idea who the man giving the thumbs-up was, sadly for him Linus did not purchase a copy of Windows 7 in the end (funny that).

Mobile Phone For Welsh Language Speakers Launched

2009-08-05T13:07:26Z

Orange, in partnership with Samsung, will make mobile phone history with the introduction of the world’s first Welsh language handset. The S5600 will be available exclusively on Orange from 1st September 2009.

The phone, unveiled for the first time yesterday at The National Eisteddfod of Wales, will be available on both Pay Monthly and Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) and is a major step forward in providing Welsh speakers with choices they’ve never had before.

Sian Doyle, Head of Retail, Orange, said:

“Orange is really proud to be the first network to introduce this truly innovative service to Welsh speakers. This initiative is part of a broader commitment by Orange to provide Welsh speakers with more choice. We already include the Welsh language in our stores via bilingual signage, Welsh speaking advisors and other initiatives. The Welsh market is a vibrant and exciting marketplace and we hope that new initiatives like this and the opening of our first community concept store in Monmouth will ensure that Orange becomes the best loved telecommunications company in Wales.”

Specific software was created by Samsung to bring this initiative to life which includes 44,000 plus Welsh words on the device.

The Samsung S5600 will be available for free on 24 month Orange contracts at £19.57 per month or at £14.98 per month (with a £9.50 upfront fee). It will also be available for £129.00 on Orange Pay As You Go (subject to a £10 top-up when purchased).

The handset will initially be made available in Welsh stores before being rolled out beyond Wales and online.

Firefox Has Passed Its Billionth Download

2009-08-02T09:52:44Z

According to Mozilla, their “Spread Firefox Download Counter” reached one billion, a milestone that includes downloads of all versions of the popular web browser since its debut in November 2004.

Recent figures from StatCounter suggest that the browser’s worldwide popularity is increasing, taking just under a third of the browser market share.

Mozilla have set up a micro site to celebrate the billionth download of Firefox, which can be seen at http://www.onebillionplusyou.com.

Microsoft And Yahoo! Are To Join Forces

2009-07-29T17:55:42Z

Software giant Microsoft and web search veterans Yahoo! have finally struck a deal and joined forces, it has been reported today.

According to an article over at SearchEngineLand, the 10 year deal will see Microsoft having exclusive rights over Yahoo’s core search technologies, while Microsoft’s Bing search algorithms will be used on Yahoo’s websites.

More information can be found on the new Microsoft/Yahoo! microsite at http://www.choicevalueinnovation.com/thedeal.

Google To Davis: Get Your Facts Straight!

2009-07-27T19:44:38Z

In response to an article from Tory MP David Davis in The Times, Google has written an entry in their European Public Policy Blog ’setting the record straight’.

In his article entitled “I wouldn’t trust Google with my personal info”, Davis says:

Google is the last company I would trust with data belonging to me. In the words of human rights watchdog Privacy International, Google has “a history of ignoring privacy concerns. Every corporate announcement has some new practice involving surveillance”. It gave Google the lowest possible assessment rating: “hostile to privacy”. It was the only company of the 20 assessed to get this rating. It also said Google was leading a “race to the bottom” among internet firms, many of which did little to protect their users.

In response to this, the big G say that “for a company that supposedly ignores European laws, we did not launch Google Street View in the UK until we had the green light from the Information Commissioner!”

Have a look at the Google blog entry for some more light reading…

Tutorial: How To Easily Track Your Marketing Campaigns

2009-07-21T12:04:44Z

One of the key ways of ensuring your business’s success is to promote it regularly, be it online or offline. But how do you measure the effectiveness of all of your marketing campaigns?

Here we have some free tips on how you can find out which of your marketing campaigns bring you new business, and which ones you should ditch.

Online Marketing

Web Server Statistics - a lot of hosts provide web server statistics as part of their hosting packages, these statistics will be able to show you visitor trends on your website.

For example, how many people visit your website and the days/times you get the most visitors, what other websites link to yours, and if people found your website through a search engine the web server statistics can tell you what search engine they used and also what keywords they used.

Some hosts may only provide “raw log files” – these are files generated by the web server which are written to every time something is accessed on your website. In this case (depending on your web server configuration) you can install a statistics program such as AWStats.

Google Analytics – if your host does not provide web server statistics or raw log files, an alternative would be to use Google Analytics. This tracking system works by asking you to insert a small piece of JavaScript into the HTML code of each page you wish to track. Once this has been done you can log in to your Google Analytics account and see the same information standard web server statistics would normally show you. The downside to this method is that the tracking won’t work if JavaScript is disabled in the visitor’s web browser, however this isn’t something to really worry about as only a small minority of people surf the web with JavaScript turned off.

Offline Marketing

Unique Contact Numbers – tracking how your visitors have heard of you is a bit more tricky when it comes to offline marketing. One way around this is to provide unique contact numbers for your customers. You may think that this would be a costly exercise because you would need to have several phone numbers installed or operate a complicated and expensive switchboard system in your office but you would be wrong!

Companies such as Flextel offer a choice of contact numbers which you can obtain for free. These numbers, typically prefixed 0844, 0870, 0871 or ‘personal style’ 070 numbers for people on the move, transparently divert the caller to a landline or mobile number of your choosing. You can then identify caller trends similar to what you would do with website visitors, for example time periods of calls, call lengths, etc.

Voucher Codes/Coupon Codes – if your marketing campaigns include offering your customers a discount on your products and services, giving them codes to use for taking advantage of your special offers is a great way of identifying ways in which your customers find out about you. For example, you may advertise in several local/regional newspapers, asking your customers to tell you the codes not only benefits them (they get a discount off your products/services) but it also benefits you because you can find which newspapers you should continue to spend your marketing budget on, and which ones you should stop advertising in.