University of Warwick students are the best

Wanted to blog about that earlier but I left it as a draft and forgot all about it.

I don't know about you guys, but quiz shows can be really exciting. You feel really great when you know the answer but the contestants don't and followed by "the answer is xyz, stupid!"

It has been proven that the University of Warwick has the brightest students in the country. A team from the University recently won the TV show University Challenge 2007. This was out of a total of 28 teams from various Universities here in the UK, which entered this year's competition.

The winning team from Warwick was made up of Daisy Christodoulo ( the Captain), Harold Wyber, Rory Gill and Prakesh Patel. To reach the finals they beat Emmanuel College, Cambridge in the first round; University of East Anglia in the second round; Aberystwyth in the quarter finals and University College London in the semis. In the finals, they beat Manchester University, the previous year's champions (170 points to 140). The finals was aired on BBC 2 on 16th of this month.

Related links:
- The University of Warwick Wins University Challenge
- Warwick wins University Challenge

Educational science toys

My daughter is really growing up fast and is really curious about a lot of things. Her favourite word now-a-days seem to be "Why?" An answer to that will most likely result in another "why?". *sigh*

As she grows up, I want to make sure that she doesn't grow up to dislike science. One way to show that science is fun is to buy her fun educational science toys.

Sciencekits.com is an online retailer of educational science kits and toys. I was quite impressed with the wide selection of scientific toys and kits to choose from. In fact I won't mind playing with them myself with my kids.

One product category I was attracted to were the robot kits and one I really liked in particular was the Spider III. Not really suitable for my kids as yet, but it should appeal to a lot of older kids. This weird looking robot avoids obstacles in it's path using an infrared beam. It can even find its way out of a maze.

The Nitty-Gritty Soil Science would be quite useful too. There are a number of cool science experiments for fun activities and games. As I have started gardening, it would be interesting to find out how to perform pH, nitrate, phosphate and potassium soil tests.

Just realised that the toys would be cool for adults too.

Sat nav ready

Check out my new toy!

This seems to be the favourite phrase of bloggers whenever they show off a new gadget they have acquired. I too am guilty of the same and have done so a few times in the past.

Recently bid and won a gadget on e-bay. It's definitely not a toy though I was playing around with it a bit when we received it by mail today. After getting lost in Nottingham, we realised that we really needed one.

I am talking about my new TomTom ONE Sat Nav. It's not actually new but the previous owner really maintained it nicely as I can't see a single scratch on it.

Previously, I was thinking of getting a PDA with sat nav but the ones I wanted were way too costly and out of my budget. In the end I decided to go for the TomTom ONE.

The TomTom One has loads of features. This includes among others:
- Plug and Go: Works straight out of the box.
- High quality touchscreen. The screen is 3.5 inches diagonally, which is quite good enough for me.
- User-friendly menu with high resolution graphics.
- Fast GPS signal fix. Took about a minute when I first tried it out.
- Safety camera information. Very important here in the UK as the fine can be really heavy.
- Car speed linked volume.
- Searchable postcode digits.
- It also has dynamic routing. Say you miss a turning, it will automatically redirect you to a new route.
- Includes points of interest. Great if you are on holiday and looking for banks, rest areas or museums.
- The user interface now includes 22 languages, including Bahasa Malaysia (called Ella). However, I prefer Jane (UK English).

I also like the fact that it is quite lightweight and can fit easily inside my trousers pocket. There have been a spate of sat nav thefts in the West Midlands and I am definitely not going to risk losing it by leaving it in the car for all to see.

Checked various online retailers and the cheapest is in Amazon.com = £155.84. However, you may be able to get it cheaper (like we did) on eBay!


Related posts:
- High Tea at Nottingham
- PDA with sat nav

Tags: Sat Nav TomTom ONE Satellite Navigation

Fast implementation of CRM

Implementation of a typical customer relationship management (CRM) system can take weeks (and sometimes months) to complete. However, AIMpromote claims to have customer relationship management implementation for your entire organization up and running in a matter of days.

One major advantage of the AIMpromote system over other CRM software is that it doesn't have the unnecessary and confusing options. These are completely eliminated so that your marketing staff won't have to spend unnecessary time on it and get on with the marketing job.

A properly configured AIMpromote account will require that only key administrators have full access, and other users will use only specific pieces of the software. This of course can be changes at any time. In other words, your sales force in a position to focus more on making sales, and less on learning software.

In fact AIMpromote is setting new standards in online sales management software and is changing the way that businesses are managing their sales teams.

You can try it out (full featured version) for 14 days, if you sign up now.

Giant WiFi hotspot in London

An outdoor WiFi network has been switched across the entire City of London – known as the Square Mile. The Cloud is the operating company in charge of what is called as the Europe’s most advanced outdoor WiFi network. London has literally become one giant WiFi hotspot.

The city wide network currently comprises of 127 nodes and has been built onto existing street features such as lamp posts and street signs. The supported service providers include O2, BT Openzone, iPass, Truphone and Skype.

Internet access will be Free during this launch month only. They say "provided in association with Nokia" meaning Nokia sponsored it.

More cities in the UK are are expected to follow suit.

Tags: Cloud London Square Mile WiFi

Auctions with a twist

Just got to know about this new and unique online auction site called bid4prizes. Unlike other auction sites where the highest bidder wins, instead here the LOWEST UNIQUE bidder is the winner.

Yes! You can bid just 1 cent on a cool product and win if you are the only one who bid 1 cent for that product. Talking about cool products - people were bidding on amazing products like a Scion XB car, Samsung 50" Plasma TV, an Apple iPhone and lots more.

Joining in is quite easy. Once you have registered on the site you can start bidding. Just follow the steps:
STEP 1: Select your the item you are interest in by clicking it's image.
STEP 2: Enter your cellphone number and your bid amounts in cents.
After the auction ends, check to see if your bid was the lowest unique one. If yes! You won the prize.

Monkeys and their bananas

Wanted to share this nice story forwarded to me, with your guys.

Put five monkeys in a cage. Put a ladder in the cage with a bunch of bananas at the top. As soon as one monkey starts to climb the ladder, spray cold water on all the monkeys. When another tries to climb, spray cold water on all the monkeys again. Soon, no monkey will attempt to climb the ladder.

Now, remove one monkey and put a new monkey in the cage. The new monkey will see the bananas and try to climb the ladder. Not wanting to be sprayed with cold water again, the other monkeys will quickly pull him down.

Remove a second monkey and put a new monkey in the cage. Again, the new monkey will see the bananas and try to climb the ladder. Not wanting to be sprayed with cold water, the other monkeys will quickly pull him down.

Repeat this process until all five original monkeys are gone, and five new monkeys are in the cage. None will try to climb the ladder, and none will understand why.

Now, remove all five monkeys and put a brand new monkey in the cage. The monkey will quickly climb the ladder and eat the bananas. Don't spray any cold water.

Put the five original monkeys back in the cage with the one brand new monkey who has tasted the delicious bananas. Replenish the bananas.

The brand new monkey will again climb up the ladder. Despite the efforts of the older monkeys to hold him down, the brand new monkey has tasted the bananas, he will strive again until he succeeds.

When he succeeds, the other five monkeys will realize that bananas are worth the climb, and worth the risk of some cold water. They, too, will climb the ladder and enjoy the delicious bananas.

Moral of the story ?

- Fresh perspective is important to continue growth and success.
- A little cold water can destroy a lot of motivation.
- New staff tend to take on the behavioral characteristics of your existing team members. Therefore, be sure your new hires are coached and mentored by the best of your existing team.
- Trying something new can yield delicious rewards.

If you are the boss of an organisation, it's something worth thinking about.

(Source : Up Your Service ! by Ron Kaufman)