The curse of travel

Monday 17th November 2008, 7:30AM

This morning I have woken up early in order to catch a train from Leeds to London for business. Today's purpose is training. However, on other days, it might be business meetings, seminars or conferences.

My train ticket is exceptionally expensive. The inconvenience to myself is considerable. The environmental impact is lessened by the fact that I have caught the train rather than driven but is certainly significant.

My belief is that meetings and training etc in locations away from your usual place of work should be minimal - and everyone benefits. It is for this reason that GetSharing.com is continuing to work on our vision of Social Networking for every purpose.

Social Networking has, for a long time, been viewed as a leisure activity. Something to do to switch off, chill out, share pictures and meet new people. But networking and connecting people has a vital role to play in every environment - work, education and leisure.

It is for this reason that we are continuing to develop the software that drives GetSharing.com to incorporate advanced file sharing capabilities, improved chat/meeting spaces, better diary management and much more to enable people to attend meetings and training from the comfort of their own office - or, even better, their own home.

Keep checking back for more information!

Martin

Chromed

Monday 8th September 2008, 7:49PM

About 200 metres from my house is a brand new flyover. Designed as part of the Leeds inner ring road, it is designed to be the centrepiece of a brand new scheme to speed up traffic flowing in and out of Leeds city centre. Which is great... in theory. I like speed. I appreciate the fact that I might be able to journey around the city quicker than I have done before. But I'm more than a little apprehensive about the potential downsides. 200 metres is not a great distance away to have lorries, buses and multitudes of cars travelling at great speed, raised up in the air by a massive structure. And I'm certain that the volume of traffic using this particular route will increase significantly from the single lane offering that was in place previously.

I had similar apprehensions about the brand new Google Chrome browser. Launched at the start of the month, Google Chrome is a stripped down browser, offering a super-fast and simple browsing experience, much as you might expect from Google. But what would the downsides be? All web developers are aware of the cross-browser headache. What looks great in one browser turns out to look rubbish - or not work at all - in another. Well, I'm delighted to announce that Get Sharing looks every bit as good in Chrome as it does in any other browser. And boy is it fast - pages load instantly. So, yes, my reservations have been allayed. I only hope the same will be true of this new flyover!

Keeping up with technology

Sunday 24th August 2008, 5:30PM

Technology is an ever-evolving process. The products that are cutting edge today will soon become redundant. Claimed to be too slow, too large or lacking essential features. I'm sure we all look back at items from 10 years ago - items that, at that time, were seen as groundbreaking, class leaders - and laugh at how inadequate they are to keep up with today's way of life. Mobile phones provide a great example of this. The mobile that I owned 10 years ago was seen as being a quality example. But with no predictive text, an aerial that stuck out the top and monotone ringtones to leave anybody cringeing, it would fit well into any museum. But they'd need a big cabinet, because it is twice the length and about four times the width of a typical phone in today's market.

Sometimes technology creeps on and you don't notice the progression. Recently, however, I have witnessed an event that caught me off guard. I purchased a new digital camera - high quality and with high definition images that make my old examples look ridicuous. However, when I came to upload these photos to GetSharing.com I came across a major issue... namely that the software used for processing the images couldn't cope with the size of the original pictures. Needless to say, this immediately became a priority issue for the Get Sharing team and I am delighted to say that we are now fully operational, regardless of image size.

Whilst we were at it we also upgraded our video processing software, significantly increasing the number of formats that we can accept on the site and enhancing the quality of the videos after processing. We have also managed to eradicate the problem that occurred upon uploading videos where the page froze and no thumbnail was created. Let us know if you have any more problems and, no doubt, we will continue to see progression in technology that we will keep abreast of and, hopefully, of which we will be at the forefront!

M

The latest technology

Wednesday 20th August 2008, 10:26PM

Like many other people I have recently invested in a large LCD TV for my lounge. Last weekend saw me investing a great deal of time into an overly-complicated wall bracket, a drill, a screwdriver and way too many screws. Most of these screws are now hidden in a drawer but the TV is happily hanging on the wall. Apparently, with the Olympics taking place this summer, sales of LCD TVs are rocketing. See http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2328273,00.asp for a bit of detail. Indeed, Samsung are supposed to be the class leader - and it was a Samsung that I bought... which bodes well I think!

Keeping up with the latest gadgets and technology is expensive... but it's great to know that you're watching the Olympics with a quality of picture that other people can only dream of! I have yet to invest in an HD Sky Box but this may have to be the next addition!

At GetSharing.com we are always committed to keeping up with the latest developments in the world of the internet and social networking. With super-fast servers you can be sure that your pageloads will be quick and reliable. And with the development of AJAX technology providing an increasingly rich user experience you can be certain that GetSharing.com remains at the cutting edge of internet technology. With constant improvements we are certain that you will never be bored of enhancements to the site. And we would be delighted if you contribute with new ideas and insights into how we can improve the service even further!

Beijing 2008

Monday 11th August 2008, 9:18PM

So the Olympics are here at last. Surprisingly enough, we can actually see what's going on through the polluted skies that lie above Beijing. For months now we have been told that the pollution will adversely affect the games, leading athletes to collapse due to lack of oxygen and breathing carbon monoxide. However, with the games well and truly under way it is the rain that has been more of a focus than the pollution itself.

As a Brit I am pleased to see that we have already won two gold medals - one in the women's cycling (in the torrential rain) and one in the swimming pool (our first swimming medal for decades). With so much investment in our sports facilities from lottery funding, it is great to see that the investment is starting to pay dividends.

Our forums are up and running and we would be delighted if you join us in debating and discussing the progress in the games (and, indeed, in any other subject you wish to discuss). I look forward to chatting to you soon!

M

Major overhaul nearing completion

Sunday 30th March 2008, 9:27PM

The Get Sharing team have been working for some weeks on the latest update to the site. This update is very nearly completed and we have been able to roll out the majority of the upgrade over this last weekend.

The design will result in faster page loads and makes significantly more use of page space. Additionally, by utilising the latest Ajax technology, less page refreshes will be necessary, leading to a more efficient user experience.

Aesthetically, the site has improved significantly and we hope that you will agree that Get Sharing stands out from the crowd for its design as well as its function.

As ever, we welcome your feedback and encourage you to get in touch to let us know what you think of the new design.

Behind the scenes

Monday 3rd March 2008, 6:28PM

Once again a lack of site updates may be interpreted as a lack of work by the Get Sharing team. In fact this couldn't be further from the truth.
We have listened to what our users have been saying and have implemented a plan to create a social networking site with real purpose and an opportunities for users to truly share everything.
The next major update is scheduled for Easter weekend and we are currently enjoying the new look on our private servers. The following are some of the advantages to be posted in this next update:
- faster loading pages to improve user experience
- use of the whole page width to minimise scrolling and wasted space
- significantly less adverts to improve page load speed
- targeted adverts to ensure ads shown are worthwhile
- use of AJAX technology to reduce the amount of times pages need to be refreshed

Once this update is posted the improvements will continue to be rolled out, including file sharing, member groups, shared interests and a whole lot more!

Keep checking back for more info,

Martin

Happy New Year

Wednesday 2nd January 2008, 9:47PM

Welcome to 2008. I hope you've recovered from the festivities and haven't broken too many resolutions yet! I staretd a new resolution to start hillwalking more frequently. Living in Yorkshire as I do there are a great many hills within an hour's drive and my aim is to start conquering as many of these as I can in this year. And, to celebrate, I have added Hillwalking as a new interest to my Get Sharing account - be sure to check it out!

I have also set up an Interest Forum for this new hobby. I don't know if you have discovered interest forums yet, but they can be added to any interest that you have set up. And any Get Sharing member can contribute to an interest forum. So set up an interest, enable the forum feature and start interesting discussions about subjects that you are passionate about. And whilst you're at it, check by my hillwalking forum and say hi!

Happy 2008 to you all!

New look, new features

Wednesday 21st November 2007, 7:32PM

Regular users of the site will no doubt have noticed that the design has had an overhaul, with a wider screensize used allowing more space for the added features! With new colours and 3D effects throughout you can be certain that Get Sharing is the most eyecatching Social Networking site around. And we have categorised that whole site into channels, with channel selectors across the top of every page.

But, as we all know, looks aren't everything and we have continued to add new features and refine existing ones. Make sure you check out the new magazine section, with news, articles, horoscopes and more. There is a dedicated shopping channel for all your buying needs as well as the new Get Sharing Media section if you're looking for a web design solution. Take time to explore the site and please provide any feedback you have via the contact page 

Loads of new features

Wednesday 12th September 2007, 6:45PM

They often say that you can guarantee one thing about buses: you'll wait for ages and then three will come along at once. And, I'm sure you'll agree, this is very annoying.

Which makes me more than a little concerned about announcing the launch of our new features today. Because we are launching no less than 3 features. And, yes, we are aware that we haven't launched any in a while.

We can assure you, however, that the delay is not due to somebody taking an extended tea break. Nor is it due to a broken down engine. Rather, the delay has been due to ensuring that everything is just perfect before the launch day and, also, the fact that we are working on some really exciting things behind the scenes.

So what are we launching today and what are we working on behind the scenes? Well, we are delighted to announce that Get Sharing members now have a fully operational diary for themselves AND for each of their interests. Personal diary entries can be made public or private ensuring you can choose to advertise what's going on in your life to the world or, if you wish, make private appointments that only you can see. Interest diaries can only have public appointments but they are a great way to promote activities for your club or society. The diary is very easy to use, update and access - just use the link in the left hand menu for your personal diary or the page manager for your interests.

A further addition to the site is the ability to send Quickies. If you've ever wanted to send someone a message but not had time to write much then Quickies are the ultimate solution. Just select a ready-written message along with a recipient and click send - no need to think about what to write or spend time typing it... all the hard work has been done for you! Enjoy this new feature and let us know if there are other Quickies that you would like us to add to the existing selection.

The final addition is additional information. We have automatically added people's age range (which has been requested by various members for heightened security and confidence when communicating with people although we don't reveal your precise age) and their starsign. But we need you to add other information, incuding your gender, your relationship status, your favourite colour and a host of other stuff so that people can know more about you. Of course, if there's anything you feel uncomfortable adding then don't feel you have to - it's all optional.

So, we hear you ask, what exactly is going on behind the scenes that is taking so much time up? Well we don't want to give everything away at this stage but we can assure you that there is going to be a noticeable difference to the layout of the site, in response to feedback we have received and other research. Watch this space for more info and keep your eyes peeled for the new-look site coming soon!

Enjoy the site and let's Get Sharing!