News and 'Stuff'

Move over Sir Chris Hoy, because there’s a new cycling Chris on the roads of the North West. 

This summer, FirstFound founder Chris Bellamy will be giving the triple gold medal winner a run for his money on a marathon 60-mile journey from Manchester to Blackpool. All in aid of a great cause – fundraising for the Lancasterian School in Didsbury.

Regular Optimise readers will know that Chris is a governor of the school, which helps children with a range of disabilities, and he’s passionate about the work they do:

“Raising money for the Lancasterian is something close to my heart. I believe that a good education is something every child should receive. The Lancasterian School provides this.”

The charity ride kicks off at Old Trafford football ground, takes in the scenic towns of Leigh, Haigh and Inskip, before ending with a free massage and BBQ on Blackpool’s South Promenade.

We’re happy to report that Chris finished the course without any drama, posting a time of 4 hours, 25 minutes. Which isn’t a bad pace!

When it comes to blowing his own trumpet, one of the FirstFound sales team really stands out from the crowd. Callum Boardman has been playing the tuba for over 12 years, and he’s played versions of Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long” in some really stunning locations. 

Since joining the Wardle Anderson Brass Band back in 2005, Callum has taken his tuba to regional championships across the UK, as well as European venues in Prague, Cologne and Paris. The high points of Callum’s band career so far have been winning the national schools championship in front of 3,000 people, as well as helping his band to two promotions in the national brass band championships.

When he’s not tooting his own horn, Callum’s happy to band together with his colleagues to spread the word about SEO. That’s music to our ears!

If you’ve been reading the news recently, you’ll know that both Google and Facebook have been in hot water over their disregard for online privacy. But the least surprising news is from a study by Nottingham Trent University and the London School of Economics. 

It turns out that the person paying most attention to your private emails isn’t some shady CEO in Silicon Valley – it’s someone much closer to home. Married couples were quizzed, and in a move men everywhere expected, it turns out that 14% of wives spy on their husband’s emails, 13% read his text messages and 10% pore over his web browser logs. 

We’d pass comment on this, but you never know who’s watching… 

You just never know what you’ll find out through Google News, especially when you have automatic alerts delivering the latest gossip about your love life direct to your inbox.

Comedian Russell Brand’s plans for an unexpected proposal were destroyed by the system, when an online gossip blog reported that he was about to pop the question to his pop star partner Katy Perry. Unfortunately for the couple, the email got through before the engagement ring, leaving Rusty red-faced.

We just hope that she didn’t give her response in the same way.

Here at FirstFound HQ, we know all too well the pain of trying to read a newspaper on a packed train, so we’ve often wished for a more compact way of getting the news. 

Obviously the British Library has heard our wishes because they’ve decided to add 40 million newspaper pages to a brand new digital archive! 

We won’t hold our breath for breaking news though – they’ve got over 300 years’ of paper to scan in.

The sharp-eyed amongst you might have noticed that Google’s undergone a bit of a redesign. The homepage is still the same as always, but you’ve now got access to a whole selection of tools to refine your search. 

And AdWords customers will be happy to hear that the sponsored listings are now much more visible – so keep an eye on your traffic! 

I wonder how much they’ll want to come and spruce our office up a little too?

Well, we’ve got a new government since our last issue, and some of us are putting this groundbreaking coalition down to Twitter.

Is it really a coincidence that the Conservative/Liberal alliance came just days after #IAgreeWithNick was the most-mentioned phrase on Twitter? We’re not ones to make outlandish claims, but we’re firmly of the belief that government policy is based on what the social media masses are saying. 

If it’s true, lets see what we can do about #ExtraBankHolidayPlease!