Farewell dGeneralist

Today, +Audrey Wright and I decided to leave the blog alone. At least for now. We have bigger projects and a lot of work to do and we feel +dGeneralist like a huge burden.

We liked the ride, but Blogspot is a shitty platform. Who knows, we might move to Wordpress or something better. Don't know why I chose it, but we are all sorry right now. To make the smallest changes it take a lot of effort. The whole visual style is directly on the page, so every time someone loads the blog, it loads all of the CSS, but not from a separate file.

Also, the redirects. It was co.uk then .com, then .co.uk again and it was blogger, not blogspot. Google can't make up its mind. It's bad for optimisation.

This is not a final Goodbye. We will still post from time to time, but there won't be Silent Wednesday every week. There won't be regular posts (not that we had any of these lately). We will just write when we have something big to say.

I hope Audrey can say something more touching.

Silent Wednesday 60 - R.I.P. Internet Explorer

How Proper Video Marketing Is Done

I'm sure at least some of you are dealing with some form of marketing. I'm also sure, all of those have read countless marketing advice blogs and industry tips and tricks. And while some of them are proper and deserve time spent, most articles and videos you're going to watch are utter fertilizer.

Today I woke up to a splendid example of how you do marketing using mother's day as a leverage. One of Geoff's clients produced  a video about mother's day using a very unique and creative angle.

Dinosaurs Which Are More Joke-Worthy Than The T-Rex

"T-Rex hates pushups"

Aren't we a bit tired by all the Tyrannosaurus Rex jokes? OK, we get that the poor predator can't go to the toilet, can't use paper, can't take a selfie or it can't work out. The T-Rex was ferocious and could have killed you without using his arms. It was a big killing machine.

That's why I decided to give you a list of dinosaurs which deserve more mockery than the Tyrannosaurus.

Carnotaurus

To be honest, the Carnotaurus looks really awesome. It has devil horns right above the eyes, it has many teeth and it's a dangerous predator. It's quite fast and it could jump higher than you would expect.

But look at it's arms! They are barely visible. You have all this scary looks and then your prey notices the arms and starts laughing. Maybe that was the main strategy of this carnivore. Distracting you with laughter.

Asphyxia: An Innovative and Gorgeous Audio-Visual Experience

As.phyx.ia is an innovative short film combining motion-capture technology and contemporary dance to create a breathtaking audio-visual experience.
The project is lead by Maria Takeuchi in charge of Frederico Phillips and performed by Shiho Tanaka.

Apps You Might Have Missed in 2014

Here is the original article - Geoff Smith's blog in Carbon made

There are millions of iOS apps out there and there are new coming out every day. It's absurd to review each and every application coming out, but there are some that deserve the attention. Still, you might have missed some of them. Here is a short list of the one of the best apps for 2014, which you might have missed.

Next Glass

This is a huge innovation for beer and wine drinkers. Many people are afraid of tasting something new, because they don't want to experiment. But with this app you can understand if this new brand will be good according to your taste. You simply scan the label and the app will tell you whether you will love the drink or not. It is all compared to your previous likes and some personal data.

And another better option – if you have shared friends, you can check if they will love the beer your buying. This is great if you are having a party.

Shortcut

This one is really hard to find in Google, but you will easily find it in the app store. It's like Uber, but for barbers. You book a local barber and he/she will come to do your haircut. Really sweet if you are a busy person with no free time.

The app is free, but there is a downside – the haircuts are really pricey. One session can start from $75, but you can make it for several people. Oh, and it's only for New Yorkers.

GoFantastic

Speaking of ordering services and saving time, there is a new app on the London market called GoFantastic. If you don't have time to do your own chores, simply book them from your mobile phone. There are various services like cleaning, handyman, gardening, removals and more.

The app is free, but the services are paid (of course). So far it's evolving quite fast, but you can use it only in London. There are some rumours they will try to expand to Australia. Who knows…

3 Super Effective Social Media Marketing Tricks and Strategies

Small businesses now have the opportunity to make use of social media marketing strategies to connect with and engage existing and potential customers but only few entrepreneurs manage to actually employ these tools successfully.

Is this your case?
You've done all sorts of marketing. You're posting 20-30% off discounts, you've tried social commerce, you're putting your logo and your company name up in Facebook, Google+, Twitter and Pinterest 2-3 times per day. You've even spent a lot of money on AdWords and Facebook Ads. And nothing is working.

How come you're not getting any sales? And what's worse you're not even getting any followers. You're not getting any people you can repeat your messages out to. What are you doing wrong?

Why Flat Design Works From The Eyes Of A Non-professional

This article is a repost from my original publication at Medium: Why Flat Design Works From The Eyes Of A Non-professional Please, direct any attribution to the link above. As for the content, it's exactly the same, so enjoy !
Remember when bevel, gloss and drop shadow were three required effects for your design to succeed ?
I do. It used to be really cool to get that semi-realistic effect on your font or buttons. It was the prime example of a graphical environment and people really digged it.

However, that came to an end last year, when a new trend won the popularity contest — flat design. It’s everywhere — on websites, infographics, illustrations, application UI’s. I’m waiting for the moment it goes into games as well, if it’s not already and I’ve missed it.

Silent Wednesday 59 - Rally Drift Gifs

Silent Wednesday 58 - A Glimpse at the World Beneath

Silent Wednesday 57 - Satisfying Gifs

 

7 Reasons Renting In London Sucks Big Time

So, I've been bashing this renting thing in London for a while. While I believed to have give pretty thorough arguments as to why it absolutely blows to rent in the capital, a lot of friends outside of the UK still keep asking me if it's really that bad.



Just a quick scroll at Reddit today made me make this post. So, beginning with my inspiration..

The Worst Possible Valentine's Day Gift Ideas

Time is short and Valentine's Day nears. Some people have already prepared with their presents, others haven't. Some people plan their perfect gifts weeks before the actual event, others procrastinate and act as fast as they can in the final hours.

Acting fast often clouds your judgement and makes you do terrible or wrong hasty decisions. If you are superstitious you have another problem - this year the 13th of February is... Friday.

Dear procrastinators, people having limited free time and everyone else, here's a lists of the most awful St Valentine's Day gifts you should avoid at all cost.

1. Same or Similar Past Year's Gifts

A present has to be unique. No doubt about that. You wouldn't want your partner to think that you didn't put any effort at all when selecting his/her gift.

Of course there are some exceptions, say, a trip somewhere you haven't been before. Or maybe your partner wouldn't mind a sequel of a book or a movie.

2. Gift Cards

Again this could leave the impression that you didn't put an effort or thought to look for a present. Or even worse - you don't know your beloved well enough to know what's exciting for them.

3. Diet Stuff or Fitness Card

Are you implying that your partner is fat, eats too much and doesn't take proper care of their body? There are other ways to tell this to your beloved, just don't do it on St Valentine's Day.

Silent Wednesday 56 - GIF-ITI

8 Most Ridiculous Reasons for Divorce

Some might say that the meaning of life is to find your soulmate, create a family, have children and help humanity exist for a few more years. But sometimes (according to statistics around 42% in England) those goals end up somewhere at phase two. Divorce is something not so common these days and the numbers are getting higher.

But what is the main reason for this? Why 42% end in divorce? Who cares... but the one thing I know is that there are some hilarious reasons out there and you deserve to know them.

Here are the most ridiculous reason for dissolution.

Cartoons are For Life

You know how your girlfriend never understood why you love Pokemon so much? It's not a big reason, but it's something that bugs you. Well, a Japanese couple separated, because the wife didn't love her husband's favourite cartoon. I understand... I couldn't live with a person who didn't like Scooby Doo either.

The Devil in I

Some people are religious, other people are religulous. Have you ever though that your wife is acting weird? Maybe she overreacts a bit more than usual. Or maybe her eyes are glowing in the dark and suddenly can turn her head 360 degrees. Don't what exactly happened, but a man from Dubai divorced his wife, because he though she was possessed by the Devil.

At least this is a reasonable explanation for her monthly mood swings.

Too Much Bonking

Some men complain that they never have actual intercourse with their wives. They always have a headache or are too tired. Well, this Indian gentleman couldn't complain about the lack of sex at all. In fact he complained about the opposite. 

Heroes of the Storm - A Player's First Impressions

Greetings dear MOBA fans!

Yesterday, the third of February 2015, I got home from a busy day at work. As usual my first job was to see what useless crap people posted on Facebook and look at my e-mail. I opened my e-mail and what do you think I saw?

“Blizzard” finally granted me access to their “Heroes of the Storm” closed beta. I was waiting for that moment since the beginning of the game’s test period release a few months ago.

Alas, I got it now and I am very happy about it. Thanks Oba… I mean Blizzard.

I had a few hours left before bedtime and I decided to try this innovative game out. I do play the two best world renowned MOBAs - DotA and LoL but I did not want to expect anything from HOTS.

So the game is installed and I was ready to kick some butt.

Silent Wednesday 56 - Competitive Advertising

Not so Silent Caturday - 44 Reasons Cats Are Assholes

1. The Steal Your Pancake Mix Reason

Silent Wednesday 55 - Woll Smoth

 

Silly but "SECRET". Hidden London Sightseeings!

The Neal's Yard clock

This cute creation  of Andy Plant and Tim Hunkin has been a special feature of Shorts Gardens since the early 80's. The property itself is a Holland and Barrett health shop at the moment. It is a bit sad but the clock does not work properly right now..

At the time when it was in full working order water used to fall down the wall every 60 minutes and thus filling 5 cans, held by the figures at the bottom. All except one water a plant. It is the  fifth one that pores water either down on the street either upon your head.