So Christmas is upon us once again, last night I was in Winter Wonderland in Cardiff enjoying a glass of mulled wine after successfully avoiding falling over on the ice-rink and I thought, it’s probably about time I began some Christmas shopping, but what do I get for people?

Luckily we’ve worked with a wide variety of companies over the years and many of them may just provide the answer to my shopping query, so if you’re like me (disorganised and in need of some Christmas present ideas) below are some ideas.

• BillBandit – Do you know anyone who is disorganised with their paper (receipts, lists etc) then this clever little gem might be the answer to their problems!
• The Cardiff Devils – Know a sports fan out there who has or hasn’t seen the Devils play? Why not head to the rink for a match and discover the excitement of Ice Hockey.
• The Culinary Cottage – Know of any budding chefs? Why not visit the Culinary Cottage and learn how to cook some fantastic cuisine. With a wide range of courses available there’s something for every chef.
• Chocolate House – We all love chocolate, so why not pick some award winning chocolates for a loved one from the Chocolate House?
• Listhendig – Do you know someone who just hasn’t got enough bags? Well visit Listhendig and help them expand their collection further.
• Washington Gallery – Why not visit the Washington Gallery for some art or jewellery? You might even pick up a collectors piece by our own designers who regularly show their work at the Gallery.
• Penarth Yacht Club – Ever fancied taking to the high seas? How about joining the Penarth Yacht Club who provide sail training courses as well as sailing competitively and leisurely all year round.

All of the above are clients of IT Pie and hopefully will be able to provide you with some gifts this Christmas. To see a full range of our work please head over to the website (www.itpie.co.uk) and we hope you have a very Merry Christmas.

According to a report on the Telegraph yesterday (10th November 2009)

All telecoms companies and internet service providers will be required by law to keep a record of every customer’s personal communications, showing who they have contacted, when and where, as well as the websites they have visited.

Despite widespread opposition to the increasing amount of surveillance in Britain, 653 public bodies will be given access to the information, including police, local councils, the Financial Services Authority, the ambulance service, fire authorities and even prison governors.

So what do you think about this Big Brother move, if you have nothing to hide does it matter? Or is it a violation of your privacy rights?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments box.

To read the full article on the Telegraph website please click here

Take a look at your website and ask yourself the question “Do I want to continue navigating through this site? If not, why am I leaving this website?”

More often than not, the answer will be:

“The site seemed kind of amateurish. There was a feeling that the company did not take the website seriously.”

“In general, I think the home page needs a refresh to make it more attractive – it is now more like a virtual storefront rather than a dynamic organisation.”

“It was unprofessional and amateur looking and hard to find the correct link to use.”

Regardless of what size company you may be, a website can make you look as though you are the largest company in the UK…in any industry.”

Comments like the above are surprisingly common—we see them regularly.

In response to similar feedback, we have carried out a very simple page re-design for several of our clients. We did not change a word of copy, but just redesigned a few of the critical visual aesthetics, to give the page a more consistent design.

So the questions remains, is your graphic design helping or hurting your business?

And our message is simple, “If your visitors are concerned about the appearance or professionalism of your site, you should be concerned about the effect this has on your business. You could get a serious measurable improvement by simply redesigning it.”

Well a lot has happened in 10 years, some of us are a little taller, wider and have a little more grey hair, while some of us (me) have aged like a fine wine, but this post is about the Internet or Broadband to be more precise. It is 10 years since broadband was first made available to the public in the UK, when 0.5Mbps cost £39.99 a month! And a lot of the World Wide Web as we know it didn’t exist, no Facebook (not that surprising) but not iTunes or LinkedIn! How our life has changed.

To celebrate a website has been launched with loads of information on the last decade of broadband, to view it click here

One of our favourite social media stories during the past week, Facebook use leads to arrest of burglar.

Facebook use leads to arrest

According to The Journal, a 19-year-old Pennsylvania man was arrested earlier this week on a charge of felony daytime robbery. How did police catch him? Simple: the burglar left a trail, by way of checking his Facebook account before leaving the house with two diamond rings and forgetting to log out.

Jonathan Parker remains in custody on $10,000 bail, facing a maximum 10 year prison sentence if convicted. A friend of the defendant said Parker had asked him for help breaking into the victim’s house the previous night, so things are not looking too good for the perp.

So what do you think: is this a case of Facebook addiction, or just a very dim burglar? We’re sure there’s a burglar out there somewhere getting ready to tweet his thieving antics and maybe put up a photo album of his swag on Flickr…isn’t social media great!

If you’re an experienced Twitter user then you’ve probably heard of #FollowFriday where you recommend people to follow, well I’m introducing #LushFriday which is a chance to indulge and share your indulgence with other Twitter users.

On the last working Friday of the month we will be indulging in our favourite lunch – which is just an excuse to go to Lush the butchers in Penarth for one of their amazing baguettes and tweeting about it with the hashtag #LushFriday or better still posting a TwitPic.

#LushFriday gourmet food if your lucky

So take this opportunity to treat yourself to whatever your stomach desires, Chinese buffet, burger, cookies or a fresh hot chicken baguette, it’s #LushFriday which means the calories don’t count (if you count calories) and after a month of hard work, you deserve a treat!

Join us in making Twitter the best fed place on earth every #LushFriday and come dine at the largest Twitter table there ever was!

It is the opinion of Trevor Harris, a lecturer in the Department of Film and Media at Lampeter University, that the title ‘Father of the Internet’ should be given to Welsh scientist Donald Davies.

It was back in 1965 that Donald Davies developed ‘packet switching’ a system that enabled computers to communicate with each other by sending information in small segments which were then reassembled in the right order. Without packet switching, it is unlikely any of us would ever have heard of the likes of Google or Facebook.

Trevor Harris said: “I never met Donald Davies, but for those that knew him, he was thought of as an unassuming man but one who deserves as much as anyone to be thought of as the father of computer communication.

“While working at the United Kingdom’s National Physical Laboratory, Donald’s invention of packet switching made the internet, and ultimately the world wide web, possible.

“In any dispassionate analysis of the development of today’s pervasive personal computer technology and its impact on our lives today then Donald Davies, a humble man from Treorchy in the Welsh mining valleys, is one of the most outstanding figures in that history.”

So there we have it, once again Wales can lay claim to being part of, if not the founder of something we all use and take for granted today.

Other amazing things to come out of Wales (aside from IT Pie) include Artificial Rain, the Hydrogen Fuel Cell, X-Rays, Mail Order Shopping and our favourite…The Equals Sign

It was reported on the BBC website on July the 10th that ‘A strung-out musician who blames United Airlines for breaking his prize guitar has taken revenge by writing a song that has become a YouTube hit.’  Today this news story has made the national morning BBC breakfast news in UK.

The musician, Dave Carroll blames United Airlines for breaking his $3500 Taylor guitar and following a long fight for compensation has released the first of  3 Music videos aimed at United Airlines on YouTube

The video to-date has received 3.5million views and has over 25000 positive reviews along with almost 17000 comments on the video. The times has reported that within four days of the song going online, the gathering thunderclouds of bad PR caused United Airlines’ stock price to suffer a mid-flight stall, and it plunged by 10 per cent, costing shareholders $180 million. Which, incidentally, would have bought Carroll more than 51,000 replacement guitars.

United Airlines are trying to claim that “His video is excellent and we plan to use it internally as a unique learning and training opportunity to ensure that all our customers receive better service.”

It will be interesting to see if the other two parts of Carroll’s trilogy will have a similar global impact? – But a more pressing question is, are you using Social Media to support and promote your brand?