Adam's Blog

Blog

  • I love this podcast: The Pitch

    I love this podcast: The Pitch

    I love The Pitch podcast – it’s sort of an American (audio) version of Dragon’s Den, but it’s a lot more realistic rather than sensationalist. Great for a podcast-dose of real investment pitches.

    There is no fluff, and no ‘talking to the wall’ padding. The show is pretty close to the reality of actual (non-televised) pitches. I know this because of my limited real-life experience.

    The only pitch that I ever took part in was for the original Dragon’s Den dragon: Rachel Elnaugh – way back in around 2011 (from what I remember) alongside my good friend from school Alex Sanson and his wife at the time Holly Helt. It was great fun, but we were pitching a very tough product to sell (a healthy fast-food outlet) with not enough personal commitment. Evidently we didn’t get the investment!

  • Dealing with Money Launderers

    Dealing with Money Launderers

    While running Storm DJs I have come across a multitude of money launderers (and luckily have not been a part of it). This week was no exception.

    What usually happens: a random person, usually with questionable grammar and spelling skill, gets in touch to ‘book a DJ’. Their initial query is always extremely vague (forgetting to tell us the event date or location), but one of the key questions they always ask is whether we ‘accept credit cards’.

    Screenshot below of this week’s amusing email trail. For Google reference, the attempted money launderer’s email address came up as: generalycolation@gmail.com and dadd.mark@gmail.com, and his name was David Mark but I’m sure he has many more email addresses and names up his sleeve.

    Things to note below: not much in his query makes sense, and our reply to him with price was just to double-check whether he was a money launderer. As you’ll see from the final reply from him, it’s pretty obvious. I pity anyone who runs a business and gets sucked into this nonsense.

  • New Nuclear Power for the UK- is this the way forward?

    New Nuclear Power for the UK- is this the way forward?

    If you’ve seen the very excellent documentary on Bill Gates (Netflix), you’ll be aware of how Nuclear Power is one of the best ways forward for reducing carbon emissions despite it’s historical reputation. New technology within nuclear stations means that they are perfectly safe.

    Now hearing the news the Rolls Royce is going to install this technology (as ‘mini reactors‘), I’m glad to hear the UK is embracing it. I’m sure there will be a lot of negative press about it in the coming years, but realistically it is the way to progress in the short-term. Looking at the proposed design, the new stations do look pretty slick too.

  • Environmental question: why are we still using single-use batteries?

    Environmental question: why are we still using single-use batteries?

    In an increasingly environmental and sustainability-focused world, why are we still allowed to buy single-use batteries?

    Rechargeable batteries have been around my entire life, but it feels like sales power and consumer-convenience of the Duracell Bunny has dominated.

    I know that single-use batteries are solid performers during their single-life, but the amount of waste produced can’t be good!

    Single-use batteries are also widely recycled, but I’m convinced that most people just throw them away as they can’t be bothered!… Time for a change – and some law/regulation around the whole lot (although in post-Brexit times this could be a LONG way off).

    I only transitioned over to a simple AA / AAA battery charger and batteries last year. Better late than never.

  • The best solution for Internet in every corner of your house

    The best solution for Internet in every corner of your house

    I took the plunge into ‘mesh’ networking last year, and haven’t looked back. It is the ultimate solution to making sure the Internet works in every corner of your home. After weeks of research I chose the TP-Link Deco M5 solution: it has solid customer reviews, is well-priced, is relatively easy to set up, and is one of the best-looking options.

    The key winning concept behind the ‘mesh’ Internet is that all sections of the network talk to each other, and don’t conflict with each other (like if you had several different routers/boosters in one house). You can now be on a Facetime call and walk through the whole house flawlessly.

  • Sonos is going mad and encouraging waste

    Sonos is going mad and encouraging waste

    In today’s increasing focus on the environment and recycling, it seems absolutely bonkers that a renowned company such as SONOS is now making hardware defunct (recycle mode) and forcing owners to dispose of old perfectly usable hardware.
    It’s basically a new form of control which no logical consumer can understand. We used to be able to sell old used hardware on eBay but now selling a used Sonos speaker would be like selling a brick…

    Full article going into the detail at Vice here.

  • More key advice from Dr Chatterjee

    More key advice from Dr Chatterjee

    Woop. There’s a new book by my favourite ‘virtual’ doctor (Dr Chatterjee). And it’s another winner. The focus is to attempt to get human habits formed through small steps (good timing for new year’s resolutions). ‘Feel Better in 5’ advises to initially commit to 5 minutes a day for each of the 3 pillars of ‘feeling better’. A very smart, well-written, and potentially-motivating book.

    I’m a big fan of listening to Dr Chatterjee’s podcasts too – endless wisdom on human health – link here.

  • How to speak Norfolkian or Norfolkese?

    How to speak Norfolkian or Norfolkese?

    I came across an interesting video last year which fully explains all the key Norfolk words that were foreign to us international-folk/southerners. Not sure if it should be called Norfolkian or Norfolkese. It was put together by a local duo called the ‘Dippy Detectorists’. Take a look and get learning!

  • My Experience with Bitcoin so far

    My Experience with Bitcoin so far

    So I love the concept of Bitcoin, and invested a thousand pounds spread across the main currencies in the Crypto realm. But my timing wasn’t perfect as over the last year or so I’ve seen ups and downs, but the value of my investment has stayed put.

    Obviously if I’d invested when I spoke about it with my Dad about 6 years ago I’d be rolling in it now… but I didn’t believe in it (as much) then.

    Anyway, I’m of the mindset that it’s worth putting a tiny bit of cash down in this domain because it is undoubtedly growing. Just keep with the main currencies (don’t go for the nonsensical ones unless you know something that we don’t!)

    Looking forward to more growth…

  • IOS now has a deepfake app. Scary but true.

    The concept of a deepfake has now become mainstream as there is a new technically-incredible deepfake app called Doublicat available on IOS.

    Without going into too much detail, the fact that video imagery is getting so advanced means that soon we will not know what to believe any more!

    From just one photo of one person, it can magically project the face onto one of a selection of GIFs. Below are my favourite examples using yours truly: