Andrew Crook

Andrew often know to friends as Andi. Is a Geek at heart and loves all things technology related. His interests included online business, web applications, the SaaS model, social media and marketing.

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- The T-Mobile Welcome Back - An Example Of Flash Mob Marketing
  
  Nov 27, 10
  
  The T-Mobile Welcome Back video is a brilliant example of Flash Mob Marketing filmed at Heathrow's Terminal 5 back in October 2010. The T-Mobile Welcome Back... The Public Reaction... Flash Mob Marketing is one of the many different types of...
- Balsamiq Mockups 2.0 Should Arrive Next Week
  
  Nov 24, 10
  
  I am very excited that Balsamiq Mockups 2.0 should be released hopefully next Tuesday. It adds a few features that were missing which I consider essential after my experiences with using the product. These issues were, one, editing items in a way...
- Why do Social Media sites use the Hash in URLs?
  
  Nov 21, 10
  
  You may have noticed that many sites such as Twitter and Facebook use the Hash character '#', also known as the Sharp character, in there URLs. Have you ever wondered why? Well basically, its a SEO trick based on the fact that many search engines...
- Google Street View, WiFi Data and What's Really Worrying
  
  Oct 26, 10
  
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/45688888@N08/5083459783/ Picture by P i c t u r e Y o u t h on Flickr As you may have read recently Google has been in some hot water over accentually collecting passwords and other sensitive data, some of which from...
- Do We Still Need Websites When We Have FaceBook?
  
  Oct 12, 10
  
  I recently listened to a podcast from Internet marketer Ed Dale something he said stood out to me. He mentioned that very few people that he met in markets had websites, however, a growing number had FaceBook Fan Pages. I have also been reading many...
- What To Do When SEO Traffic Doesnt Really Exist?
  
  Oct 12, 10
  
  As a volunteer I look after the website and IT for a local social club , its what you would have called a "working mens club" in the dark ages. Recently I have been looking at how we can use the clubs website to increase membership and the usage...
- Clean Power Is A Load Of Sh#t
  
  Oct 07, 10
  
  200 Oxfordshire homes in the small town of Didcot, not far from myself, are the first in what could be Britain's poo power revolution. Of course, I am referring to biomethane production from sewage which not a new idea, however, it is only until...
- Some Changes To This Blog
  
  Oct 06, 10
  
  As usual I have bitten off more than I can chew. I have decided to stop blogging on some of my other sites, remodel them and only use this site as my flagship blog. This means that there will be more material posted on this blog and that it will be...
- How Many Tweets Are From Twitters Web Interface?
  
  Oct 01, 10
  
  I recently made a comment to TweetSmarter, a self-proclaimed expert in all things twitter, regarding the new Twitter.com web interface. They claimed that the new twitter interface could cause a backlash from its users. To which my reply was why...
- Friday Follows Write Up For 27th August 2010
  
  Aug 28, 10
  
  Sorry no Friday Follows this week I have been preoccupied by certain events. I hope to resume next week. Perhaps I will see you on twitter my nick is @andicrook Happy bank holidays! Permalink | Leave a comment »
- How To Reset Aptana Studio or Eclipse Helios
  
  Aug 28, 10
  
  I have been playing around with Aptana recently which is a great development IDE for HTML, JavaScript, JavaScript frameworks such as jQuery and also PHP. Although the PHP support isn't as great as it was in previous versions, currently it relies on...
- Friday Follows Write Up For 20th August 2010
  
  Aug 20, 10
  
  Okay so I haven't been on Twitter as much this week so there aren't as many Friday Follows (#FF) as last week. So here they are in no particular order. @stevenhealey is a great guy to know, he is a brilliant networker. I have known Steven in a...
- Face Movie A Cool Feature Of Picasa 3.8
  
  Aug 18, 10
  
  I just had to share this really cool feature of Googles Picasa 3.8. Its called Face Movie and allows you to group photos via face recognition and produce a move sideshow with a difference. Basically, it uses various transitional effects to overlay...
- Office Tidy Up and VMWare ESXi 4.1 Upgrade Issues.
  
  Aug 17, 10
  
  Today I had a really good clear out of my home office and it now looks really neat. Recently I have replaced my old desktop with a new laptop, which I may cover in another post, I have set it up with stand for when I am using it with a desktop...
- Friday Follows - 13th August 2010
  
  Aug 13, 10
  
  So it’s Friday again! that can mean only one thing in the twittersphere its Follow Friday #ff. If I have missed you off the following list then I apologise, perhaps we should chat a little more so I know more about you and so I can include...
- #Twitter Unleashes An Official "Tweet Button"
  
  Aug 13, 10
  
  Third parties have been providing "retweet buttons" for over more than a year the most popular been Tweetmeme, which can be seen on most websites today. TweetMeme, a British start-up which curates Twitter’s data has deepend its alliance with...
- Does Disqus Give SEO Advantage?
  
  Aug 09, 10
  
  I recently read a blog post from Openattitude, a blog promoting free software, unlocked phones and other things that are open, who is giving the commenting system Disqus another try. When I was reading through his original reasons for moving away...
Profile
Info

Info

Profile
- Andrew Crook
  
  IT support - Membership Secretary
  
  Information Technology and Services | Reading, United Kingdom, GB
  
  Summary
  
  I am currently starting up a SaaS based company. I used to be in IT support.
  
  ----------------------
  NETWORKING
  ----------------------
  
  I try to spend a few hours a week networking. This allows me to connect and meet interesting people from around the world that share common interests from a variety of backgrounds .
  
  I am a open networker so please feel free to connect with me!
  
  --------------------------------------
  My IT Support History
  --------------------------------------
  
  * Had a part-time computer repair business.
  
  * Offered technical director position of computer shop business at 18, declined so i could continue my education.
  
  * Senior Technician for small PC shop whilst at college.
  
  * Started repairing computers for homes users at the age of 14.
  
  * Started building PC's at 10 years old.
  
  * First computer (ZX81) at 6 years old.
  
  Specialties: Web Consultancy, Development and Design IT Industry,, IT Support and Consultancy :- Bookkeeping and Some Sage Support
  
  Experience
  - 2008 - Present
    Network Administrator and IT support / Various Charities
    
    From citizens advice bureaux to teaching IT skills to disadvantaged and elderly.
    
    * Procurement.
    * Setting up networks.
    * Administrating large windows domains.
    * Teaching.
    * Hardware repair.
  - Sept 2007 - Dec 2012
    Membership Secretary and IT Support / The Goring Social Club and Institute LTD
    
    Looked after the membership database for the club duties include handling correspondence, membership applications, yearly subscription payments, keeping the membership database up-to-date and creating reports for the committee. Extended duties included the procurement of a new database and PVC card printing system, also calling on programing skills to transfer data from an old membership system by using ODBC with VBScript. During this time also looked after all aspects of IT including website, email newsletter and backups.
  - 1996 - 2007
    Owner / IT Consultant (Self-Employed) / APC Computers / Premier IT Support Ltd
    
    Business was built from originally from receiving work from local businesses and home users whilst at secondary School, using the reputation built within the local area I became full time in 2001. The business took many forms over the years including some freelancing and contract work. Originally the main business was built around offering general technical support to home users including hardware and software issues, upgrades, system builds and the implementation of networks, however, this extended to include businesses after being increasingly approached by local small businesses seeking my help.
  - 2001 - 2001
    Software Developer / Databases / Support / Halarose
    
    Halarose provide electoral registration and elections management products to local government organisations across the UK covering 1 in 6 UK electors. Duties included looking after in-house backup, network and PC’s. Main role was database development using Visual Data Flex. My project was to integrate Microsoft Office into a Visual Data Flex database application adding mail merge functionality.
  - Jan 1994 - Sept 1996
    Senior IT Technician / Mr PC Computers
    
    Took over from the technical director working part-time including evenings after college and weekends The business mainly carried out PC repairs for home users and some small businesses, however, also built systems to order from a small retail outlet. I left the businesses to pursue further education.
  Education
  - 1996 - 2000
    
    The University of Reading
    
    Bsc in Computer Science and Cybernetics
    Activities: Professor Mark Bishop's AI tutor group.
  - 1994 - 1996
    
    Henley College
    
    BTEC National in Electronics, Communications and IT
    Activities: Whilst at Henley I helped to look after the college network during lunchtimes, helping members of staff with their IT issues and I also introduced the IT department to MSDN through my tutor.
  Additional Information
  - Honors:
    
    (See Above)
  - Interests:
    
    IT, Internet, Social Media, Online Business, Sci-Fi, Tropical fish.
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