Bright Things Share Discussion Threads

[the analyst] 15/6/2010 13:18

I guess the smart guys out there will be looking for decent alternative energy companies to invest in. Companies with a viable alternative product that will keep those fridges cold and those kettles boiling when we get the powercuts...

:)

[carl79] 15/6/2010 13:13

Doesnt matter if they do change their name as it seems even those as well informed as the president of the united states still refer to them as British Petroleum...lol...I think Chapter 11 is extreme and will be avoided at close to all costs since the message that would send to other oilers and explo companies would likely impact their decisions to drill in the more difficult of locations (which is of course where the remaining resources are)...we all know where such an impact on supply would lead!!

Anyway, i'm out (of BP) for now but will get back in when i think it right - perhaps after wed...

[norbus] 15/6/2010 12:14

Didn't know BP is changing their name yet :-) They will undoubtedly need to go through Chapter 11 to avoid the evil Obama ruining everything

[carl79] 15/6/2010 11:51

Yes, I expect they will. Another of my stocks is going through a name change although they said they will keep the ticker in the initial briefing - I dont think BGT made mention though...Would also help liquidity if they dual listed - could put them in a SIPP then too...for those with much longer horizons! :-)

[norbus] 15/6/2010 11:20

They will tell us the new ticker when they announce the result of the GM.

[carl79] 15/6/2010 11:11

400k rollover on plus...i always felt buying AIM shares on tick was too risky to ever bother

[carl79] 15/6/2010 10:58

:-)

I'm out of BP, took a 5% profit after a trailing stop was hit which was less than i expected but still a nice amount given how much i bought. I am going to get back when I think its time...Risky, yes, but as long as it does not go bust, the long term gains and divi make it mouth watering...for now though it is a stock to trade...imo

I'm seeing a lot more relevant SG news on my alert than has been the case for a while so perhaps the quality of sign-ups are improving.

Was there mention if the ticker will remain - dont expect it makes sense to keep it...

[norbus] 15/6/2010 09:06

Sorry Carl; I'll stop worrying.

Tomorrow, 16th at 2.00 pm, GM to approve the placing and change of name.

[carl79] 14/6/2010 14:28

you're right - i misread and skipped the word "may"!

Working weekends is nothing new to me - wish i got time off through the week though lol

[the analyst] 14/6/2010 14:26

"You may be required to work on the weekend in exchange for generous time off during the week. "

Looks like a regular full time job to me. Just that the candidate may have to work some weekends and if that happens, then they will get time off in the week to make up for it.

This is as you would expect - SocialGO requires near-100% uptime, so that requires occassional weekend work on servers

I don't see it as a weekend-only job

[carl79] 14/6/2010 14:07

yup - they are also paying 30-35k for what appears to be weekend work so they should attract quality candidates:

If it is indeed 2 days work per week I make it circa £80k per annum had it been a 5 day a week role...

Alternatively, if the role pays 30k pro rata the candidate gets 13k which is still good for 2 days a week work!

[uncle_bob] 14/6/2010 12:24

Staffing levels at London up from 25 to over 30 I see. Also good to see reference to "fast growing" company in the above ad.

[carl79] 13/6/2010 23:12

SG continue to recruit...




SocialGO.com, the Social Network Maker is looking for someone to join our network operations team. The NetOps team are responsible for running our staging and production environments comprising of over 50 servers in the US and the UK. We are a fast growing company that has over 30 members of staff in our London office. You may be required to work on the weekend in exchange for generous time off during the week.

Online Startups are fun and fast paced and will be joining SocialGO at a very exciting time. We look forward to receiving your responses.

Responsibilities for the role include:
* Build and deployment, within the version controlled build environment
* Configuring, maintaining and fine tuning dedicated and virtualized LAMP servers
* Diagnosing network routing problems, and applying security patches
* Implement DNS changes
* Managing the backup and archiving of jobs
* Managing mail server issues (reverse authentication, spam list avoidance, etc.)
* Regularly reviewing system logs and providing proactive monitoring to avoid operational problems

Requirements:
* Extensive performance management and tuning of Linux/BSD infrastructures
* Knowledge of Apache/PHP/MySQL stack
* UNIX shell (bash/ksh), Perl or Python scripting
* Application configuration and deployment
* Good understanding of networking concepts, including, VLANs, Loadbalancer configuration, Firewall configuration
* Virtualisation experience (Amazon EC2, Vmware)
* Excellent analytical and root cause problem solving abilities

Desirable Skills:
* Familiarity with OpenLDAP or NIS+
* Experience of setting up and using monitoring tool like Nagios or Zabbix
* Solid grounding in general programming
* Puppet

Minimum: 2 years of commercial experience

[carl79] 12/6/2010 00:38

Nice...Diga was something like this...

The sim card slot was actually the size of a credit card and to read an sms you needed to wait for it to scroll across the screen horizontally - took flippin ages and by the time you got to the end of the message you forgot how it started! Dropped it a ton of times though and it never broke!

[the analyst] 11/6/2010 22:04

My first mobile, back in 1995

What did a digger look like?

[carl79] 11/6/2010 21:15

I make my text grey...wont bother on this bb if it is difficult to read

That's a nice phone but does not compare to my old cellnet digger!

norbus, do you print people's posts? Why!

[the analyst] 11/6/2010 19:04

battery lasts over a week too...

[the analyst] 11/6/2010 19:03

The iphone can't match what I've got, by the way



My nephew likes to play 'Star Trek' with it

Might get an iphone one day, when the web access is better and less of a rip-off...

[the analyst] 11/6/2010 19:02

It does look that way, bloody modern technology...

[norbus] 11/6/2010 18:37

Maybe the ink ran out from the printer, LoL

[the analyst] 11/6/2010 18:25

Your text is quite difficult to read on my screen, Carl, it's all faded compared to other peoples...

Has advfn put you on 'grey-mode' or something?

[carl79] 11/6/2010 18:15

Hi TA, well some service related questions I have had recently and the answers i've got make me think we'll get some updates in around 2-3 months but when the questions are worded in such a way that specifically asks when V2 will be out the team are obviously not able to speculate...

So eg.

I want to be able to do X...
Sorry, you cant do that now but we expect it in a future release perhaps a few months away yet

Different convo


I believe V2 will be able to do abc, when will that be out
Sorry, I can't comment on release dates

Anyway, it will get here when it gets here...I fully agree, it needs work and it needs to work well. I also agree that I am expecting to be impressed - I want to be impressed, I'm sick of my current perception of the product because I want it to do so much more. Dont get me wrong, I dont think its poor, I am not only a shareholder but also a customer - however, I want it to be fantastic; 1/ so that it helps make my network/s better and 2/ so that it helps elevate my share holding's value...

I want them to remain innovative and I want V2 to do for SG what iphone 4 is going to do for the iphone...(im not an apple fanboy) but in a word the phone looks like it will be stunning and will once again reset the bar for other smartphones at a time when they have only just started to come up with credible iphone3GS rivals...there is nothing revolutionary (apart from perhaps the retina display) but what they've done is innovate so things are just excellent. Video calling is not new but Apples Face Time is going to be the new standard (despite the current limitations around device compatibility and 3G support), on device video editing is again pushing boundaries, the actual form of the device and design is cutting edge etc etc - You once asked me what I want from V2, well this is the analogy - I want it to position SG quite firmly as the one in the market you have to beat - that alone is worth its weight in Marketing...I mean, Apple led the way for sol long that as soon a new Nokia or Samsung phone came out, the title of blogs etc were invariably "iPhone killer?" - talk about free advertising and raining on someone's parade...even when a phone clearly outstripped the iphone in say the camera dept, you'd have someone offset that flaw with something the iphone does better than the rest and the childish banter that ensued ensured that Apple were invariably mentioned when any new competing product was launched. I want V2 to engender that kind of loyal fan base. I want widget developers and software developers (wanting to join the staff) to be flocking to work with SG because they see network creators so passionate about the product...

So back full circle, I agree 100%, im expecting it to impress with bells and whistles and perhaps the odd surprise, but just like the iphone, i want the user experience to be so crisp and reliable that people love interacting with the software and then become loyal...AND then I want SG to charge a premium just like Apple do! :-) Apple (in conjunction with mobile providers) sell a £500 phone for say £150 on a £35pm, 24m contract. Nokia on the other hand, arguably the leading Smartphone manufacturer struggle to get people pay in conjunction with contracts so invariably, assuming you take out a 24m contract, you get the handset bundled. This must mean that Apple do not need to offer the carriers any kind of discount in order to retain purchasing at a level that are happy with. For another project ive been doing some work on Apple, can you tell?! lol...I actually own a HTC HD2 which is a phenomenal device but when talking about companies that execute consistently well, most people can easily relate to Apple....

Oh and yes, I am actually expecting Vikrant to be using his connections and influence to help BGT make SG a roaring success - cant see any point in his continued investment if he doesn't pull out all the stops to do this - if i had connections that could help my share holdings improve in value, i'd leverage them just as most sane people would [legality permitting ;-)]. I also agree that he will likely take a hard line on allowing public perception to be dented by a poor service - he did not get Partypoker to one of the leading online gaming sites by cutting corners when it came to user experience...imo

[the analyst] 11/6/2010 13:57

Hi Carl,

Intuition makes me think late September, but my hope is for an earlier release than that. Also, I wonder if it will be released in a beta format first for people to test it out for a few months before they transfer everyone over to V2 at a later date?

I can't wait to see what they have planned, but I don't want to get expectations up tooo much

The easy part, imo, is making it cool, looking great, intuitive design, all the bells and whistles. All of that should the 'given' bit for me. So called 'brilliant' ideas and concepts are two a penny, imo, but the difficult part, I think, is making it all work seamlessly - that means bug-free, with no down-time, no crashes, video chat working when loads of people use it. Those are the bits more difficult to execute, imo and where real talent shines through. I wonder if Vikrant is getting any of his designers from Party Poker days working on the product freelance?

But, I am thinking that Vikrant would not allow them to release something buggy - he will know from his partypoker experience that a product that looks basic, but fulfills the needs of the consumer is more important than looking the part, but disappointing from a functional point of view

[carl79] 11/6/2010 12:44

TA, have you heard any more detail on when V2 will be out...im thinking 2-3 months based on some recent convos although i am layering that with some of my assumptions