I'm not going to keep on updating this myspace blog any longer. I never really use myspace now - it's only the blog that I bother updating... and that's become infrequent because I feel trapped in myspace...

So please come here and look at my new blog...

...and for my personal website you can always find me here...

Best wishes,
Mark

New version of Who Moved my Job is up on Lulu today!! Please take a look :-)

I'm having a real problem just trying to get some webspace. Maybe someone out there can point me in the right direction?

I used to use Pipex as my ISP. They give a whole load of space to customers and I hosted several websites of mine on the free space. I'm no longer using them as ISP as I now have a contract with BT broadband. Howeever, BT does my connection and all my domains are registered with a company called AQ, up in Leeds.

AQ has all my domains, so when someone goes to www.markhillary.com for instance, they divert to another URL where the site is actually hosted. That was on the Pipex server until the contract recently ended.

So, I need some space. But it seems quite complex as most hosting providers won't give space without you also handing them all the domains too... I have quite a few domains though. Some of them I am actively using and some are just parked because I might want them in future.

I just want to buy some space on a server, FTP my website files to that server, and then point the AQ redirections to a URL on that server. It should be simple. Why can't I do that?

BT offers me 5gb of free space, but I can't host a website there. It's just space I can backup files to. I tried signing up with Go Daddy for hosting space and then I got into the complexities of setting it up and found the same problem - they wanted my domains as well... I had to call them and arrange a refund of the money I spent. AQ can arrange some space for me, but they want £150 for 50mb. That's extortionate compared to the other hosting companies out there... for instance 123-reg offers twice as much space for about 10% of that price...

How can this be so complex? Once I get it set up and all working I will happily transfer my domains if I am happy, but why would I do that immediately to a company I don't know? I just want to buy a bit of server space - and I probably need something tiny anyway, no more than about 20mb!

Ideas please...

I'll be cheering along to Ricky Hatton later tonight - if I can drag myself out of bed at 4am then I'll get the radio on and listen to the fight live. There's no title worth fighting for this time, but it's pretty much accepted that this is a decider for the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world...

THE SMYTHS LIVE IN MAY

You really can't avoid that great man and his music this month..Morrissey is all over May. And in our own, small way, so are The Smyths!

We kick off with a "classic Manchester" night in Portsmouth (Friday May 8th) which sees the stage of the wonderful Wedgewood Rooms bulge under the strain of the collective juggernaut that is the Smyths/REorder
double bill. If you've not seen REorder and you like New Order and Joy Division you're missing a great tribute. Well miss no more, they are there with us at a great venue. If you can't make Portsmouth the same double bill will be appearing at Bush Hall, Shepherds Bush, London on Friday June 5th (http://www.wegottickets.com/event/44125)

That's followed by a return to St Albans' Horn Reborn (Saturday May 9th) for what is always a great night. Brilliant atmosphere (and a very late license too).

Our shows at both  Portsmouth and St Albans have sold out in the past so once more, "advance booking recommended".

On May 15th we return to The Venue in New Cross.  As mentioned before, this is one of the more unusual amongst our shows. We take the stage at 11 p.m and play a one hour set. The venue is fabulous, the stage is huge, great sound, great lights but....Smiths/Morrissey fans will find themselves amongst those punters more commonly seen at Reflex nightclub. No sooner do The Smyths leave the stage then the DJ fires off the worst of the 80's.
Imagine a nightmare edition of Top of the Pops from 1986. The good news is that on the next floor is the Indie DJ so those with better taste (i.e Smiths/Morrissey fans) can enjoy themselves there (The venue has several floors -it's HUGE).

Admission to the female of the species is free before 11 which seems sexist but they be the rules and we can't change them in favour of everyone. Oh, and the public transport to the Venue is less than perfect - let's just say if you are south of the river and either have a car or like night buses then this one is for you. Because once you're there we always do a top show!

The final show in May is a very special night that we've arranged with celebrated alternative nightclub, Feeling Gloomy....

CELEBRATING MORRISSEY'S 50TH BIRTHDAY

"Unhappy Birthday" takes place at the Luminaire in Kilburn (almost opposite the former National Ballroom where "Rank" was recorded) on Friday May 22nd - Morrissey's 50th birthday.

We will be playing two sets and the vinyl and CDs  played will be curated by the excellent Gloomy DJs with as much Morrissey as you could wish to shake a gladioli at. That's lots by the way.

So, May, it's all very Southern (we'll be back in the North soon) but for those of you who can, we hope to see you!

Stay handsome you little charmers!

Friday 8th May - PORTSMOUTH,
Wedgewood Rooms with RE:order
Tickets £9
http://www.wedgewood-rooms.co.uk/additem.asp?GigID=3122

Saturday 9th May - ST ALBANS,
The Horn Reborn
Tickets £6
http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_south&query=schedule&venue=hornstalbans&month=4&day=9&year=109

Friday 15th May - NEW CROSS,
The Venue

Friday 22nd May - KILBURN,
The Luminaire - Morrissey's Birthday with Feeling Gloomy TicketWeb
Tickets £9
http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_london&query=detail&event=317587

I went to see the Le Corbusier exhibition on Saturday at the Barbican centre in London.

I'm not an architect, but I have a reasonable knowledge of his work. I remember reading Leadville by Edward Platt a few years ago and being fascinated by Le Corbusier's plans for Paris. After visiting India a lot, I was also aware of his extensive work over there.

However, most of the exhibition did not concern itself with this area of Le Corbusier's work. In fact, it felt like the first two thirds of the exhibits were almost trivial. This was his pen, this was a chair he used, this was a picture one of his friends painted... it felt unrelated to what I had expected to see.

Only the sections on the Philips pavilion and Chandigarh really felt interesting and exciting. What a shame, considering the appropriateness of this exhibition being located in a building like the Barbican centre!

Athens is certainly 'interesting'. I'm not sure if a weekend is enough time to do justice to a large European city, but then first impressions can usually be relied on and I'm afraid it's not so great.

The ancient ruins are amazing. To think that right here in the city centre, there are ruins from thousands of years ago - it's amazing. However, the modern city leaves a lot to be desired.

In most developed modern cities, you can feel pretty safe and secure anywhere in the city centre. Of course, there are dangerous areas in all cities and I live in London so I know this, but I don't think I've ever felt the levels of danger and tension I have felt in the last couple of days walking around Athens - particularly at night.

There appears to be a real problem with an immigrant population that is not working or doing anything - so it seems. And there is a major drugs problem. Where could you see someone taking smack and someone shooting heroin all in the space of a few minutes, and in a busy city centre street???

That kind of behaviour on the streets doesn't give a lot of confidence when walking around... anyway today I am touring Greece so it's a chance to get far away from the big city!

Did you know that Professor Sugata Mitra and his IT experiments with kids in the slums of Delhi inspired the movie Slumdog Millionaire? No, take a look here then...
 http://...com/b6aw4d

And he is going to be lecturing about Slumdog and his work at the British Computer Society in Covent Garden on May 20th... take a look at the BCS site here for more information and to register:
http://www.nlondon.bcs.org/

If you are a tech journo interested in attending the event then drop me a message directly and I'll ensure it gets passed on to the BCS organisers, so you get a free place...

Does anyone know how I can take all the entries on this Myspace blog and port the whole log into a blog tool like Wordpress...?

I just got this press release in my in-box... it's not really the kind of tech news I write about in Computing, but I think it is interesting because I fit the exact description they are talking about...

They make some valid points in their press release, but I would stress that this is not just all about kids. Tools like Twitter are most popular with 30-somethings. I'm 38 and it seems like I am super-wired compared to this list, but I don't see myself as unusual compared to friends and people I meet...

I'll put my responses in coloured text within the press release...

Old Media Doesn't Reach Internet-savvy Consumer, Says Marketnet
8 Reasons Why Traditional Advertising Isn't Working
 
DALLAS, March 10, 2009 - Mr. Marketer, if you're smart as today's consumers, you're not relying as much on the same old media any more.

"Many in Generations X and Y, and even some Baby Boomers, are rapidly turning their backs on traditional media, "said Jill Bach, founder and principal of Marketnet. "Marketing methods from the past simply don't deliver the audiences they once did."
 
Those not reached by traditional media are still being marketed to "by their own user-generated circles of influence," Ms. Bach said. "It's a valid question: how will companies market effectively without embracing some of the new social media technologies?"
 
She said consumers are more and more influenced by blogs, on-line reviews, discussion groups and the proliferation of social networks.
 
Ms. Bach said she believes marketers have a 12-to-18 month window to transition to interactions with customers or prospects through careful integration with social media technologies like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. "The imperative for marketers is to investigate new communication mediums to converse with your audience, or be left behind in a year or two," she said.
 
She cited several ways in which today's Internet-savvy consumer is turning off old-style media while embracing new techniques:

No radio. Many consumers find out about local events, promotions, and exclusive offers using "word of mouth" via Facebook, Twitter, and a local RSS feed.

I don't have a radio. I don't think that DAB is really going to make it as a technology in Europe, no matter how much the BBC promotes it. It is just a transient technology moving towards IP radio. I do use the Internet and listen to the radio via the net, but it's mainly BBC shows without ads or music feeds like Last.fm...

No TV commercials. With DVRs on millions of television sets, viewers zip right past commercials.

I don't have a TV at all...

Music and audible content with few ads. Consumers encounter very few "sponsorships" on the podcasts they listen to. They hear about new music through Twitter, Facebook (iLike), MySpace, genre/band-specific bulletin boards, the Genius feature built into Apple's iTunes, and customer reviews on Amazon.com.

What sponsored content anyway? I hear about new music by discussing it with people I trust and by using recommendations, such as Genius or Amazon.

Billboards are ignored as intrusive roadside "clutter."

Tear them all down. Just a mess.

Inbound emails are often read on a cell phone.  Poorly formatted email that may be a marketing message is deleted before it's loaded into a desktop mail application.

True, though I mostly use web-based mail on the phone, but this is very valid as most people I know use email on their phone.

No telemarketing. The cell phone is the main phone, the home phone is ignored.

I don't even know my home phone number, though I have to have one because of my DSL Internet . Go figure that?

"With both ads and up-to-the-minute news online, Web-savvy consumers don't need print media," Ms. Bach said.
Google AdWords and similar formats are often the only ads that appear on many Internet users' browsers. "Banners, buttons, text ads, interstitials - all gone," Ms. Bach said. "It makes for a much faster web-browsing experience."
Social Networking is imperative for companies to remain competitive in today's marketplace.
For more information on creating a social networking presence, contact MarketNet at 972-941-3188 or www.marketnet.com.
 

                                                            ###
Marketnet, Inc. is a full-service interactive design and development company. Based in Dallas, Marketnet provides marketing, strategy, creative services, web development, application development, search marketing and analytics and reporting to its broad client base. For more information, go to www.marketnet.com.

Well, I just watched Blindness.I'm sure I should have read some reviews, but I couldn't remember whether they were good or bad. I can remember the movie coming out, but I missed it at the cinema.

It was a complete pile of tosh though. It tried so hard to create a dystopian wilderness. The city scenes are all in Sao Paulo, but the city itself is never mentioned, and of course everything is in English from the dialogue to the shop signs. The characters in the movie are never named. It's harder to identify with an individual character if you don"t even know their name, but it feels like a contrived strategy to dehumanise the characters, rather than any natural narrative effect.

The use of lingering shots on objects that would later play a part in the story reminded me of a horror movie, where you see someone in the kitchen early on in the film using a large knife - and you know the knife is going to play a role in a massacre later in the movie. Of course it works at a pointer in the horror genre, but it's not really such a good device in what should be a taut drama.

The role of the government is never explained. The viewer sits there wondering how on earth in any modern society this scenario could really exist. Even if a pandemic occured and people needed to be isolated, they would at least be informed what was going on.

The movie uses an AM radio as an indication of the only link to the outside world. The internal organisation of the isolation wards becomes a mix of 'The Man Who Would be King' and '28 Days Later' with a little bit of 'Lord of the Flies' mixed in... the degeneration of the society within the isolation ward and the establishment of an autarkic monarchy just feels simplistic and a bit tired.

This story could have been thrashed out in a lunch-break. That the viewer is left asking questions at the end is not an indication of how thought-provoking the movie is. It's just an example of a piece of shoddy work that doesn't work. The source idea should have been given to a writer like Alex Garland to play with and develop further...

blogs
http://markkobayashihillary.computing.co.uk/2009/02/empire-building-in-egypt.html
http://markkobayashihillary.computing.co.uk/2009/02/a-spot-of-pyramid-selling.html
http://www.steria.com/exchange/?p=309

podcast (audio of itida interview - also on iTunes podcast directory)
http://talkingoutsourcing.jellycast.com/

flickr (photos from the event)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/markhillary/

youttube (video from the event)
http://www.youtube.com/markhillary

video (ITIDA video about to go online - and i will republish to outsourcing.com for the US market too)
http://www.sourcingfocus.com/index.php/site/videos/

--

The High School musical franchise is not something I have ever paid any attention to. And why would I? It's from Disney, it's aimed at kids, and there are too many good films coming out for me to actually go and see them all, so why go and watch this?
However, I was on a Gulf Air flight yesterday from Bahrain to Manila and there was no personal entertainment system - it was one of those planes where everyone has to watch the same movie at the same time. They put on High School Musical 3 - of course if everyone is watching then it needs to be bland enough to not cause anyone offence.
I was not really watching it, but my eyes got drawn to the screen because of the colours and then I started watching some of the dance routines.
I started smiling because I could recognise quite a few ballet steps, in what looks like modern - or street - dancing. I'm no dance expert, but these kids were doing a mash-up of tango, ballet, and several other disciplines and also throwing in some high energy moves like climbing walls or jumping on cars - visually it looked great! I have to confess I did not actually sit down and watch it all the way through, I just looked up when some interesting dance routine was going on, but it did make me think about the people who claim that Holloywood does not make musicals like they used to... this really is a big cast musical in the old school.

A couple of weeks ago I noticed some strange transactions on my Abbey business bank account. That's odd - how come I have repeated purchases of pizza from places such as Domino's, Topps, Acton Pizza etc etc...?

It clearly was not me. Even drunk, I would not be making so many purchases of pizza over a period of 10 days. In fact, I never order pizza to be delivered as I'm quite particular when I eat pizza. It has to be freshly prepared and cooked without a lot of cheese.

So I called my bank and said that I suspect someone is using my bank account. They said they would email me a form to fill in... Ummm, I replied that maybe we need to do something to stop anyone accessing the account again - maybe if the debit card has been cloned it would be sensible to block it immediately and to send me a new card? I suggested this to the bank - surely it seems obvious?

So they agreed. They said they would block the card and send me a new one within a week. It was inconvenient, but at least I could feel assured that there would be no more strange transactions on the account.

Later I tried logging into my bank account, so I could pay a bill. I found I could not access the account anymore - it was blocked. I called them to ask why. They told me that I had blocked the account access by asking for a new card to be issued...

They had not explained that I would be blocking access to my account AS WELL as getting a new card issued. So I practically had to beg on the phone so I could pay the bill - which was urgent. I finally got them to accept that I was paying a small bill and I was genuine, after going through many, many security questions - many more than usual.

So, I waited 10 days to get my new card. I finally got it on Friday. I didn't need to use it or my account at all over the weekend though. I finally got around to doing some online banking today - only to find my access is still blocked.

I called Abbey. They said that now I have the new card, they need to POST (remember that?) me a new password, a new user number, and a new access code... so that's three separate letters I have to wait for in the mail. And they won't post them to me at my current address... they will all go to a house I no longer live in and I will have to chase my ex-wife to hand over the letters.

So, it will probably be another twn days before I can access my own business account again. And all because I took the time to report my own suspicions to the bank - helping to prevent any further fraud!!

And to make it worse, I got so frustrated talking to the agent on the phone today I said - look, I thought I was a valued business customer, but Abbey is making me feel like a piece of shit... cue the standard talk from the agent that I am not allowed to swear on the phone and he can hang up on me at any time if I behave like that...

So, my own business bank is denying me access to my own account for around 3 weeks... just at a critical time when I need to get statements for my accountant... and I'm getting told off for feeling frustrated about how they run their online banking system...

In any case, I hate Abbey's online banking system. I use Egg and Smile online as well - they have a good mix of security and ease of use, multiple passwords and personal information, but things that I can remember. Abbey insists on three different codes, a 5-digit number, a 10-digit number, and a password... it's meaningless - I have to write down all the numbers so I can get into the account, so surely that's less secure...?

Arggh, I am so fed up with Abbey and I now have to approach my accountant to say he won't have the information he needs for a couple of weeks....