Archive for June, 2009
AEG’s plan to recoup Jackson loss
AEG, the company behind Michael Jackson’s 50 date sell out london tours are obviously in pretty big trouble now that the king of pop is dead.
Apparently they had the first 10 concerts insured, but for the rest… nothing. AEG president Randy Phillips said just a few weeks ago when questioned on Jackson’s fitness;
“I would trade my body for his tomorrow. He’s in fantastic shape.”
The same guy also said he wasn’t worried about getting insurance and that his company would be prepared to insure the concerts themselves if need be. Needless to say AEG is now facing millions in lost sales, refunds, payouts for staff, venue etc….
Here is their plan to limit their losses – issuing souvenir tickets OR offering a full refund.
Since he loved his fans in life, it is incumbent upon us to treat them with the same reverence and respect after his death
I’m taking the refund myself. I booked my tickets as part of a package deal so a full refund for me means £540. I can then use it to book a hotel in london for two nights which should cost about £240, so i’ll actually be ‘up’ £300 even though it’s my money anyway… i just wasn’t expecting to see it again.
Anyway, charging people full whack for an official ticket for an event which will never take place is not showing ‘reverence’ or ‘repect’ to either Jackson or his fans. It’s a blatent attempt by AEG to limit their losses. If they really cared, they’d issue a full refund AND the ticket.
These tickets will not go to the real fans either. As i pointed out when tickets first went on sale, many ended up in the wrong hands and now, things are gonna get worse for real fans, better for those touts who managed to get tickets originally.
Let’s see how much these sell for on ebay and how many sell on ebay…
This article appeared on the frontpage of digg today; Don’t get that college degree!
It’s an interesting read and i’ve asked myself this question time and time again…
As I write this, Google is putting every book ever written online. Apple is offering video college lectures for free download through its iTunes software. Skype allows free videoconferencing anywhere in the world. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and many other schools have made course materials available for free on their Web sites. Tutors cost as little as $15 an hour. Today’s student who decides to learn at 1 a.m. should be doing it by 1:30. A process that makes him wait 18 months is not an education system. It’s a barrier to education….
…..The system must change before students are made poorer, society grows less equal, the bright are left ignorant and “college” comes to mean a four-year pajama party intruded upon by the occasional group discussion on gender studies.
photo credit: Lower Columbia College
Although this article is aimed at the US and their top universities, the same questions can be applied here (in Ireland). I often wonder what would i have done or what would i be doing had i chosen not to go to college and wing it on my own.
Because i’m self motivated most of the time, i wouldn’t be doing nothing – that’s for sure. I would probably be making more of an effort to start up my own business. But i weighed all of that up before i applied for college and college was the ‘safe’ option. The sensible option.
I suppose time will tell whether or not it’s been a wise move for me.
This week will be one spent ‘behind the scenes’. There’ll be a lot done but most of it will not be visible work or work i can blog about instantly.
I’m meeting up with Enda on tuesday in person for the second time and i’m also heading to Dublin to meet someone else this Saturday. Topic of conversation will be predictable 
Websites, plans, goals etc…
As for development work, most of my sites are in ‘decent’ shape but i’m eager to improve them all. I’m still working on client sites, so they’ll take priority over everything else but here’s what i’ll be working on this week (for myself);
- theleavingcert.com (planning for new design / revamp)
- iwantideas.com (new blog & possibly a new design)
- facearse.com (more content – social networking integration)
- chromeguide.com (social networking integration + more content)
- 3 logo designs
- new project x (job site of sorts)
- new project y (new social network)
This blog will be updated daily, as usual. I’ve now been blogging for 74 consecutive days. As mentioned in a post last week, i hope to make it 260 by the end of the year. Although i won’t commit to it this week, i’ll *try* to produce some quality list-type posts like the 10 under-rated wordpress plugins post i made last week.
In a few days time, it’ll also be july 1st. I said before that work on BeerChief will start in july, but i’ll be starting next week (6th july). It’s a long way off, but there’s gonna be a complete revamp and come September i’m expecting BeerChief to be complete. 3rd time lucky We got it off the ground this time last year, but never promoted it because we weren’t happy and it wasn’t ready. In February this year, it was re-packaged and re-launched but again that spark i like to see in a site wasn’t quite there, plus i didn’t have the time to commit to it.
Now, this summer, i have plenty of time to do things right and get it in top shape for september. I’ve said before that this time it’ll be the ‘all or nothing’ launch where i let it go and watch it sink or swim. I’ll do my utmost to see that it swims.
Chrome Guide
I bought this domain name as soon as i heard about google’s new chrome web browser last year. Being quick off the mark gave me a choice of some really solid names and this was one of them. At the time i thought google’s browser would eventually replace all other browsers and become king. I still think that. It does however have a long way to go in order to catch up with firefox and even IE in terms of dominance and market share.
Anyway, i’ve installed a chrome-like wordpress theme and cleaned the blog up a bit. I hope to update it more often too.
Face Arse
This was a domain name i let expire earlier in the year. “What a stupid name to buy” i told myself when i let it expire, but recently i discovered a new facebook theme and did a u-turn. The domain name was still available so i bought it again and i don’t think i’m gonna look back this time.
I intend to turn this site in to a facebook news and info resource, with a little humour thrown in – the name is memorable so if i can keep it updated, it’ll be a nice site to have.
A website is much more than an online business card. 10 years ago, any old site would do just to have as an online presence – to be seen to be online. These days however, you’ll be judged by the quality of your website. A poor site can damage reputations and images. At the same time, it can do wonders for image and reputation.
It’s important you remain cutting edge and do things differently. Or at least try to. Here are some panoramic pictures i took yesterday and stitched together for a GAA club website i’m building at the minute. They’re impressive. Not many clubs do things like this. From doing some research on other GAA club websites, the vast majority are really poor, out-dated and look really unprofessional. I’m not going to give links, but do a quick google and you’ll see what i mean.
Ok, these clubs are non profit, they can’t afford the fancy stuff, but i do think it’s wrong to under-estimate the power of a decent, updated website. It’s a way to tie everything together and if done right, it can pay for itself and actually increase revenue in the long run.
Anyway, stay tuned for more on this website – it’s looking well and these pictures will just add that touch of class that make it stand out even more (for the right reasons!).
