Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Whats cooking?

Tonight see’s the return of Jamie Oliver to our screens in a new series where Jamie wants to help one of his previous graduates set up their own restaurant. We hear on the grape vine one of our old Non Executives Liam Black makes his first TV appearance.

The Jamie’s Kitchen series was the catalyst for Mando Group developing our own entrepreneurs accamedy www.hotshotsacademy.com a few years ago.

Jamie's Chef http://www.channel4.com/jamie
starts on Channel 4 at 9pm tonight enjoy watching.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

A night to remember


You know when you go to a concert and you walk out with a smile on your face well tonight was just that, I had the privilege of seeing ray lamontagne @ http://www.liverpoolphil.com/ the last gig I saw that was that awe inspiring was Bjork at Manchester Apollo in 1999. Watching artists like this that are simply much better than any of their peers makes me both jealous and inspired.
If you want to have listen to what I am talking about download Barfly by ray lamontagne sit back and enjoy.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Don’t you love it when a plan comes together

Someone just mailed me to say I could have two tickets to see www.raylamontagne.com just got to find a baby sitter now… Any offers!

Need some inspiration

Why not visit www.springwise.com they scan the the globe for the most promising business ventures, ideas and concepts ready for regional or international adaptation, expansion, partnering, investments or cooperation. Ferociously tracking more than 400 global offline and online business resources, as well as taking to the streets of world cities, digital cameras at hand.

Tickets Please ...




Hoping to get to see Ray Lamontagne @ http://www.liverpoolphil.com/ a beautiful new website if I do say so myself on Friday if anyone knows where I can get a ticket please lets me know!

Monday, January 22, 2007

An Apple a day keeps the Doctor


If you think you occasionally have a bad day at work, spare a thought for Steve Jobs.

He started 2007 with a fair amount of exciting news: a new name for his huge company (to be known now simply as Apple) and first official details of the iPhone product.

A couple of weeks later, he announced profits in excess of $1bn (£510m) for the last quarter of 2006 – a performance boosted in no small part by sales of more than 21 million iPods worldwide in the run up to Christmas. Don’t worry if you find yourself reading those numbers again. I did. Several times.

News of the Apple phone product caused more than a ripple at the annual Macworld Conference in San Francisco. It was the sort of ripple firms like Apple love but their competitors dread.

Apple shares closed 8% higher on news that it was launching the touch screen phone. At the same time, shares in Apple’s major rivals such as Blackberry were sent sharply lower.

The IPhone will cost around £260 and go on sale in the US in the summer, with an assault on the European market following in the autumn.

In its first year in the market, Jobs anticipates sales of 1 million units. When it goes on sale in Asia next year, that figure should rise to 10 million units. That’s another set of big numbers. But even sales of 10m are only equivalent to 1% of today’s yearly mobile phone market.

You get the picture? Apple are powerful and successful players in a huge and complex market. Yet, despite all these impressive sales and product developments, shares in Apple fell the day the figures were published.

Surely, that is enough to make Steve Jobs feel as though he has had a bad day at the office?

According to market analysts quoted by the BBC, investors were more concerned with poor computer sales and the hint that sales performance in the first quarter of this year may miss targets.

That remains to be seen.

What we can see – almost everywhere we look – is evidence of the phenomenal success and popularity of many Apple products.

It’s hard to imagine a better text book example of how to successfully research markets, create products to serve those markets, create an almost insatiable demand for those products, and deliver above (and often beyond) customer expectations.

That’s the sort of performance every business can aspire to
The launch of IPhone looks set to be another major milestone the history of this amazing company. When Steve Jobs and his talented team reach that point, maybe, just maybe, the market will acknowledge their achievements.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

A few things I hope to do in 2007


Run more
Sleep more
Relax more
Swim in the sea
Go to Italy or Spain as long as the beach is close
Go to morocco
Go to Africa
Plan a round the word trip
Move house

The best of 2006


Best film - Traffic
Best album – A tricky one I will go with CONTINUUM by http://www.johnmayer.com/
Best moment – Christmas with the kids
Best song – John Martyn Solid Air (old but still great)
Best Gig – Royal Liverpool philharmonic Orchestra on a hot day in June
Best Advert – Orange Togetherness http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cOuWElMjf8&mode=related&search=

Best place - Cardigan bay South Wales building sand castles

Best Site - Where else www.google.co.uk