Firstly, before I answer the question in the title (as asked by a friend of mine scared of google), I think I am going to love buzz. It needs a few UI tweaks that allow you to follow people with loads of comments such as (I recommend) Robert Scoble,Jason Calacanis and Pete Cashmore, without them clogging up your screen but overall, it could be a twitter killer. I am not sure on the effect on Facebook as many many people using Facebook won’t have gmail, for example, the average non-geek user of Facebook in the UK will typically use their service providers email with outlook, they wouldn’t use gmail therefore would never hear about Buzz.
Buzz at the moment is restricted to three choices, use it, don’t use it and turn it off.
Before screaming and shouting, this is not a problem for your privacy, Buzz will only share what you tell it as a status update or what picture, video or links you drop in. It does not share anything automatically (unless you tell it to, such as twitter, blog feeds etc).
So to turn it off totally, as I just had to find out for a friend, is to simply scroll to the bottom of your inbox and click on “turn off buzz”. BTW, this is the official google line, so until they create a “delete buzz” button this is your only choice. Period.
My first post of 2010. I wanted to write sooner but frankly, have had zero free time what with moving back to the UK, and keeping all businesses moving forward. Everything is moving along nicely now, no problems with anything and we are actually seeing healthy healthy growth everywhere. Also looking for freelance sales people all across the UK and USA for fuelmyblog.
Quick flashback to the move, I used ABC van hire in Hoddesdon which resulted in one lorry having its gear box explode after a 16 hour drive and the second arrived with 5 flat tyres and 1 bald. Health and Safety eat your heart out, I will one day tell this story, but until then wanted to warn anyone looking to use them to be careful, we could have had some major major accidents..
But now, ladies and gents, to lighten up, say hello and put a smile on your face, this is what happens if you stick a winebox in a microwave.
The tears in my last post were a quick realisation that we had to make a big decision. In a positive and good way.
For us personally it was a difficult one, living a ten minute walk from the sea in a beautiful city like La Rochelle doesn’t get much better. The kids have made very close friends and are really settled, totally bilingual with zero accent. The daily markets, sunshine to match Monaco and amazing walks and runs by the coast really have made us very happy the past three years.
But with Ryanair playing with our flights, the ever decreasing euro and the fact we are busier than ever but unable to hire anyone here as our businesses are firmly in the UK, moving back has been making more and more sense recently.
Our businesses are growing fast, we need more support both from the business side and from family, we need to hire people and fix up an office, we need to go to the weekly conferences and meet-ups, enjoy beers with new friends and old ones too. We need to kick ass. Hard.
So, as of December 2009, we are moving back to the UK, just North of London in leafy Hertfordshire.
It’s a great move for us, we get to live near my family again, near our good friends and importantly 45 mins from London on the train. The kids will be able to move back to familiar classes with friends and we’ll be able to carry on as before. Only this time, with our own independence, our future dictated by us. Secretly we know that we are back for good, in a bloody positive way and we can’t wait!
More than I can remember. My Mum held me. I drank rum with my Dad, and finally saw the light.
It seems the dream is turning into growth. Growth of Sylvie and I and our little family unit. And not the end of a dream, the start of us kicking arse.
More soon.
We’ve had a big ride to get here, looks like the ride just started again, this time, we are coming faster and harder than ever.
You so knew we would. x
UPDATE!! No we are not expecting a baby, nor is anything up between Sylvie and I!! We are all 100% fine, just needed to make a very very strong business decision.
