Firstly, I’m after a quick poll as to who uses Joomla for their CMS? Joomla and WordPress are obviously some of the most popular CMSs around. My main website is built on Joomla, whilst this blog is WordPress. Of the two I currently have experience of, my preference is certainly WordPress. I shall tell you why.

Overall, I find Joomla to be quite clunky in it’s workings. You have to do things a certain way most of the time, with not much flexibility. There are certain things it does which don’t quite make sense in my head. It also appears that you can’t make a blank hidden page on your website, like for a client’s project that you don’t want the public to know about. I’m told this is very easy on other systems.

Yesterday I had a big Joomla problem. I was editing some content, and the whole thing crashed, as well as my server, for around two hours. Now, I cannot guarantee that it was Joomla that broke first, but from the series of events that happened, it looked that way. I couldn’t even access the login page to enter the back end of the site, let alone load any of my website’s pages. Nightmarish.

Luckily, it somehow resolved and was working again within a couple of hours. And it just got me thinking. I’ve never had one problem with WordPress. Not one. It’s with the same hosts who host this blog, and I’ve not seen it crash once, or even go down for any reason. Very strange that my main site does.

There’s lots of other niggly problems that I currently face with Joomla, and have for a while, but I’m not going to bore you with them. Needless to say, I am much more of  a fan of WordPress than Joomla, for sure. I think it’s just got too many features that the average person, who isn’t a web techie, doesn’t need. If you’re a developer and you’re phasing up a website from small to big, then great. But then if I was doing that, Am sure WordPress would cater for me whatever I needed to do with my site.

What’s your experiences with either? Am I alone in my feelings towards the ‘Big J’? Please tell me I’m not.

Episode 6 – July 2010 - “Smartphone Suicide, Subconscious Salespeople, & The Importance of Networking Your Business” (17m 6s)

In this episode, I talk about smartphone suicide, how Google has now discontinued plans for both the Google Nexus Two, and even the current Nexus One. I’m also giving my take on the situation with Apple and the iPhone 4 amongst ‘Antenna-gate’; and I’m talking to Stefan Thomas from No Red Braces, who’s giving us an insight as to why all businesses, both micro and massive should be networking now more than ever

A video I came across recently, with their interpretation on what Twitter’s really for!

Definitely some truth in that!

Richard Heathcote

Voice Over Artist

It’s 6 days to go until the iPhone 4 will be in my hands. I’ve been thinking today about how it will change my existing user experience, new features that I will start to use, how it will change or enhance the functions I already enjoy using the iPhone for. Just how different is it likely to be?

I suppose really, the first question would be, when are you getting yours? I’ve seen today that o2 have stated that only existing o2 customers will be able to buy the new iPhone 4 at launch, as they have priority, with new customers coming to o2 not being able to purchase until at least the end of July. That’s great news for me, as I’m an existing customer; hopefully it means that they WILL have some handsets in my local o2 store next Thursday, so I can walk away a very happy customer!

With all the new features that Apple have crammed into this new unit, what do you think you will use the most? Has it really enhanced what you already use it for? I know I for one am looking forward to the built in HD camcorder, with the ability to publish immediately to youtube; instant video blogging! It doesn’t get much more powerful than that in my opinion!

Taking photos on my existing iPhone has always been a drag, with there only being a 2MP camera on the 3G unit. Pics are ok, but any movement, or anything less than bright sunshine and they look hideous. a 5MP camera is a very welcome addition for me.

Facetime, the video calling functionality between iPhone 4-iPhone 4 calls, is an absolute revolution. The picture quality seems much higher than anything I’ve seen with other 3G phones offering similar functionality. Of course, this is only enabled via a wifi network, but I’m sure as the carriers progress, we’ll be able to see it appear on 3G signals in the future. (Eventually). Of course, this isn’t anything that I’m expecting to utilise all the time, just a nice feature for when the need/want arrives.

The battery. Oh….the battery. Yes I’ve had some very long love affairs with my power cable of recent. I’ve been using it quite a bit, so have often had to top it up whilst I’ve been working at my Mac. I’m told by a friend of mine who has a 3GS currently, that the battery was significantly better in that unit – plus now in the new iPhone 4, allegedly 40% increase in battery storage, I should have a very nice surprise by the time I come to get mine! Hopefully I won’t have to spend as much time plugged in as I have been so far. The phone, that is.

So what about you? How will this change things for you? Bring on your specifics!

Richard Heathcote, Voice Over Artist

Episode 5 – May 2010 - “Audio Marketing, a Podcast Special Edition” (24m 14s)

This is a recording of a talk I recently made at a 4Networking event in Sutton Coldfield. I talk about the importance of businesses utilising audio in their marketing strategies, how it can open up massive new avenues of audience, for the people that are auditory learners, i.e. they absorb information better in audio form. I talk about podcasting, the power of the human voice, branding your company with audio, the immense reach of the iTunes podcast directory, and how businesses can easily implement audio in their current marketing plan.

Richard Heathcote, Voice Over Artist

I’m fairly certain you can’t have escaped the news that Apple and Adobe are having a fairly big spat, over Apple’s refusal to incorporate Adobe’s Flash technology within their mobile devices, most notably the iPhone and new iPad, plus the iPod Touch. Currently, if you come across a Flash video on the iPhone or iPad, you’ll just get a little ‘can’t display this video’ icon where the video should be.

There’s lots of debate either side of this argument, a lot of it I barely understand. For the most part, I believe Apple refused it based on Flash’s processor needs, which are unrealistic in mobile devices, it’s just too hungry for processors and battery life etc. This is where things like HTML5 I imagine are improving things, making it a more even playing field when it comes to online video.

All that said, Adobe recently launched a campaign expressing how they feel. And here it is:

An Apple fan somewhere in the world has come back with their own rebuttal. Quite amusingly, this:

Nuff said!

Richard Heathcote, Voice Over Artist

Hopefully destined for a Sky TV channel, this is a TV promo that I recently voiced.

Richard Heathcote, Voice Over Artist

Recently I watched the BBC series “The Virtual Revolution”. Being a bit of a techie geek on the quiet, it’s stuff that very much interests me, all things internet, social media and beyond.

I have to say, it was an absolutely fantastic series that explored the origins of the internet and how it’s changed our lives whether we want it to or not, and the revolution of how it’s affected business globally too. For many of us who are small businesses, (and big businesses for that matter), the uses within the internet today for marketing ourselves is just inspiring; something we could never have imagined 20, 15, 10 or even 5 years ago. The revolution in social media networking for personal and business, blogging, video and audio multimedia on our websites and social networks, viral videos through YouTube – there really is no limit to what we can achieve. If you set your mind to it, and target it in the right way, your message can reach hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands or even potentially millions, for very little effort or money.

This, to me, is just staggering, and gives me so many ideas of what I can do to further market myself online, as currently, I don’t pay for any advertising whatsoever. I just don’t think it works at all well in my industry; all of my clients come through the web and word of mouth recommendation – and I know this is the case for many people I’ve been speaking to of recent.

So, to get your brain thinking about the virtual revolution, I suggest you check out their page on the BBC site, and look out for a repeat!

And, if you hadn’t guessed what my opinion is – the revolution is definitely GOOD!

Richard Heathcote, Voice Over Artist

Right Click To Download Episode 3 – Feb 2010 - “Top Sales Tips, The iPad, & New Mobile Tech” (26m 24s)

This episode we’re talking to Gary Gorman, a sales expert from Paradigm Training, and getting his top 5 sales tips to make you more effective in your business. We’re also talking about the new revolutionary device from Apple, the iPad, and how it could influence the tech market. We’re also taking a look at the new mobile devices from Windows and Google. Will they be game changers and be true competition for the iPhone? You decide.

Richard Heathcote, Voice Over Artist

I do at times stop and think about how far technology has come on in the last 10 years or so. Now we’re in 2010, being able to receive up to the minute news and information via mobile handsets seems perfectly normal, but certainly wasn’t the case with me using one of my old Nokia’s from 2000!

I remember when I had my first WAP enabled phone; it was desperately slow, but it kind of worked. It was I guess the Teletext equivalent for the mobile revolution. How far things have moved on with Blackberrys and iPhones. (You cannot understand how much I love my iPhone).

Here’s Patrick Stewart talking tech: