The Utility Warehouse

After my unsuccessful attempt at getting the Internship I've decided to have a bit of a break and develop a Blog just for fun.

The idea for this Blog came to me after talking to a very persistent Utilities Warehouse distributor (I think they may call themselves agents now). So for a little bit of R&R I decided to do some research on this company and started my journey on how to reduce my utility bills.

Let me tell you it isn't as straight forward as you may imagine and it can take a lot of research to dig out the best methods of saving money.

Some of the things you can do are obvious and lets face it most of us are already doing them. Changing to energy efficient light bulbs and insulating your home come to mind but with a little bit of lateral thinking you'd be surprised just how much money you can save by implementing simple and inexpensive ideas.

Saving even a small amount on your utilities (gas, electric, telephone, broadband and water) can make a noticeable difference and if you target all of them you can save more than you think.

Don't be like the vast majority of people who can't be bothered and grasp the bull by the horns, do a little research and discover for yourself just how much money you could save by taking action today :)

Dan Raine May Have Been Right

I hate to admit it but Dan Raine from the Immediate Edge and Ed Dale of 30DC fame may have been right.

I've been trying to embed a live feed from my Logitech Web Cam into a Powerpoint presentation. Pretty easy right? Wrong it's a complete pain in the proverbial butt. In fact for all intents and purposes it's impossible without a third party extension.

Even with the extension you have to hunt around for the correct WDM drivers I wish I'd never gone down this particular rabbit hole!

From what I can gather this is a simple thing to do if you have a Mac. In the past I've been resistant to buying one because I could always do what I wanted just as easily on my Windowz machine.

I may have to bite the bullet and buy one :(

Dan & Ed you may be right - ditch Windowz and go Mac :)





Bob Bartram AKA Young Bob

PS I don't have some sort of weird eye complaint! I'm going to have to get used to looking at the Webcam and keep my eyes still lol

The Immediate Edge Had Me On My Knees!

Creating the Youtube video for the Immediate Edge Intern program had me on my knees. Really it did :)

Due to an absent minded wife I believe my lovely Chroma Key background sheet was thrown out with the trash! OK so I still need to make the video right? And I'd dearly love to be in the scenes so what a middle aged balding man to do?

After scouring the house for a suitable background the best I could find was a tatty old blanket problem is it was far to small. So the truth of the matter is I couldn't stand up because if I did my head would be poking out of the top.

In the video below I explain how with almost no equipment (Blanket, Flip 640x480 video camera, tripod, Sony Vegas and someone to hold up the blanket (if you're rich you could use a pair of stands) it's possible to produce a fairly decent Chroma Key effect.

If you search Youtube you'll find many excellent tutorials on how to do Chroma Key effects it's a lot simpler than you think it only gets complicated if you want superb quality then you're going to need proper lighting and a decent background (a better quality video camera would also help my flip is 3 years old and past its best)



More later.

Bob Bartram AKA Young Bob

Immediate Edge Intern Application By Young Bob

Hi Dan,

If you've seen the video I submitted below you'll know I'm serious about getting accepted into your intern program.

I believe it's a great opportunity for those fortunate to be chosen and I'm going to bust my b*&ls in an effort to be part of your team.

I'm going to use this Blog to document the process so please don't knock me out at the first hurdle otherwise this may be the only post you see :(

Progress to date -

• Video created and uploaded to Youtube
• Immediate Edge Blogger Blog created

The video was more of a challenge than usual because I couldn't find my Chroma Key background :( I looked everywhere and turned the house upside down to find it but the damn thing wouldn't be found. Between you and me I think Carol (my wife) gave it away to one of those charities that collect old clothes and stuff.

Not wanting to risk leaving the video creation until my new one arrived I had to find a substitute. The only thing I could find was an old blanket unfortunately it was a tad on the small side. That's why in the Stargate sequence at the beginning I'm on my knees the blanket was just to small to enable me to stand up!

Enough rabbiting and back to work. My next post will be on the equipment I used to create the video - Trust me it was low tech in the extreme.

Ohh before I go Pick me me me me Dan :)

Robert Bartram AKA Young Bob

I present for your enjoyment "The Revenge Of The Pink Thong" See if you can spot the spelling mistakes in the credits at the end - Senility has finally arrived I hope I don't start drooling next!