Sep 13
Internet, Life, Play Cannonball, Interweb, Life, Web/Tech 2 Comments
For the next few days I am away on the Cannonball 8000, from London to Budapest.
You can see our progress on our Team 30 Cannonball website… http://www.team30.com.
So until I get back I will be blogging there, so pay us a visit and see how we are progressing.
Sep 07
Business, Internet Cannonball, Interweb, Web/Tech No Comments
Marketing Week have published my letter to the editor regarding click fraud in response to their piece on the subject last week.
Unfortunately Marketing Week, don’t make content available to non subscribers online, so you will have to do with my copy below, or grab yourself a copy of the 7th September issue!
–
Dear Editor,
The rise in click fraud is a real cause for concern amongst UK businesses, (Search marketing feels pressure of click fraud, Marketing Week, 31 August 2006) and companies now need to reassess their pay-per-click advertising campaigns to make sure that they do not become the latest fraud victims.
Undoubtedly there are some companies that take great pleasure in clicking their competitors’ links when they first set up a Google AdWords campaign but this is not really a serious problem. The fun soon dies off, especially when companies realise that their competitors are probably doing the same to them.
The real threat actually comes from the automated click-fraud bots which are increasingly widespread, and with more and more PCs around the world now ‘owned’, the opportunities to commit click fraud are significant.
Companies need to protect themselves by limiting their daily spend on cost-per-click campaigns and by undertaking regular trend analysis which will quickly reveal if someone is trying to hurt them. Significant traffic from one region or IP range is relatively easy to deal with if the right controls are in place.
Unless companies start to put more rigorous processes in place to help them analyse and understand the clicks they receive, then the click-based advertising business could soon spiral out of control.
Ben King, Director, bit10, Coventry
Aug 01
Life, Play Cannonball 1 Comment
A few people have asked me for more details about the car we are doing the Cannonball 8000 in, so here it is:
2005 Mitsubishi Evo 9 GT (Homologation Model)
The GT is special as it has no driver safety / performance aids like AYC (Active Yaw Control) as it was designed to be the base car for a Rally Car. The GT is not sold by UK dealers so Ben specially imported it from Japan.
Since import the following performance mods have been performed:
Since import the following cosmetic mods have been performed:
This results in:
The top speed however is 161mph due to low ratio gearbox…. It would do 185mph with different gear ratios! (This is why in the Cannonball 8000 we aren’t even going to try racing!)
Jul 31
Life, Play Cannonball, Life, Web/Tech 2 Comments
After much deliberation, I have decided that I am going to do the Cannonball 8000.
What is it?!
For those of you who don’t know what it is check out the website here.
Essentially we will be driving from London -> Brussels -> Prague -> Budapest in just 72 hours…
There are going to be 240 drivers (120 cars), mostly petrolheads but the odd celebrity also.
In the evenings we will enjoy dinner and maybe the odd beer (however we know we need to get to bed early – so we can be nice and rested for a hard days drive!). 
Who am I doing this with?!
With one of my very best friends Ben Scammell, possibly better known to you as the man behind Pipeline Card. We have for a long discussed doing a special event to celebrate us leaving our 20s behind and hitting 30 (he is 29 and I am now 30).
We looked at doing the Bull Run, however the costs were just eye watering.
What are we doing it in?
A monstrous Mitsubishi Evo 9, this thing is heavily modified and its an animal.
Heres some pictures…
Why are we doing it?
Its simply once in a lifetime opportunity, and a real box ticking exercise!
Additionally we are going to get some good PR for bit10 and our other sponsors.
I am sure I will followup with more posts as we know more. We are probably going to be doing some live on the road blogging, streaming, etc. Watch this space!
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