uncommonsense

Big shift nearly complete

Tony — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 00:24:40 +0000

Well, we’ve all but moved in to our new premises. It was a mammoth task but we managed to move all the computers, furniture and supplies in just one day. An early start and a very, very late finish meant we could open our doors to our new office this morning with minimal impact.

If you’d like to pop in and see us we are now at…

Suite 22,
Level 1, Stuparts Building
371 Kent Street
Maryborough, Qld 4650

We’ll still be floating between offices over the next couple of weeks until the new Fibre Optic connection is ready to go. In the mean time we have decided to leave the secondary Name Server on the old copper connection in our Bazaar Street office. We’ll update the website and our WhereIs map as soon as we can.

Our phone number will remain unchanged but our fax number is likely to change in the coming weeks. We’ll keep you posted. For your records…

Phone 07 4117 4422

Fax 07 4121 7198

Come down to our level

Tony — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 07:40:35 +0000

The Basement is finally open! The restaurant is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday 4.30pm – midnight. Checkout their amazing and delicious Tapas. We know, because we sampled every item we photographed!

Free websites and hosting for charity

Tony — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 05:27:29 +0000

Sense Studios now provides free web hosting for charitable organisations. Send us an email with your requirements and we’ll set you up free. No strings. Nothing to pay.

Turning 34

Tony — Mon, 31 May 2010 05:59:56 +0000

Well I’m another year older and it occurs to me if I’d been born in the middle ages I’d most likely have died of old age already. Here I am, still a kid at heart, dreaming of things I want to do and finding excuses as to why I haven’t done them yet. Why do we put our ambitions on hold? Are we so happy in our digitally delivered world we no longer have to venture into the unknown and therefore miss out on some of the wonder of life? Are we just to darn tied up in our own safety?

I’d like to believe fortune favors the bold but in recent experience I’d have to question that. I’m desperately wanting to take that courageous leap and succeed in life and business. It’s just so bloody hard starting from virtually nothing.

My business is now 15 months old and by all accounts going really well. Yet I’m crippled by need for planning, safe options, risk minimization and working equity. Do I risk 20 years of training and take that bold plunge or do I take the safe road again and remain tied to a trickling income?

I need to break the vicious circle of need-money-to-make-money and get creative! I’ve been dreaming up guerilla marketing campaigns since I was at high school yet I’ve never put one into action for myself. I’ve developed hundreds of business plans, brands and concepts yet when it comes to my own I’m hog-tied by an inexcusable apprehension. I think I’m so preoccupied with thinking creatively for others that I’m not using my best ideas and settling for the affordable, the practical and the short-term achievable.

I guess my next short-coming is my uncontrollable desire to help people even when its not in my best interests. I’ve been developing products for people, programming, designing and marketing on several pro-bono projects that are still yet to see the light of day. My time is just getting stretched to a point where there’s not enough hours in the day. My home life and my health are suffering and that’s unacceptable.

Last week I had the opportunity to meet Tom Potter, the founder of Eagle Boys Pizza and Crusty Devil Bakery. He graciously agreed to take a look at my own marketing materials and offer his comments. In the tiny 30 seconds I spoke with him he summed up my situation like this (in his typical style) “You just need to move where the bloody market can afford to pay you what you’re worth”. He’s absolutely right. I’ve been trying to convince myself that in today’s online world it doesn’t really matter where you are. Telecommuting can take you to the world. But in the cold light of day what it comes down to is it’s the people in the surrounding 3km that are most likely to do business with you. People have immediate needs. They seek the solution to their most pressing and current problem. They want a solution now and they don’t want to waste a lot of time looking for it. This is why people will buy a $50 item form the shop they’re in rather than spending $2 on fuel and getting it for $20 elsewhere. Which is fine, when you’re in a market where people can afford $50. I fear in my present location, where my the market primarily consists of retirees and the younger generation, $2 is their more likely spend. We live in the s*&#-shop town of Crazy this and Supa-cheap that.

How do I get my company and my family to a place that sees value in the work I do? I could spend a fortune on advertising, I could do sales trips. Really, when it comes down to it, I think I’m stuck. And that means…

I think its me that needs to change.

I need to un-stick. Get creative, and take lessons from some of these battle-scars.

I need to follow my own mantra.

I need to make Sense of myself.

Shared Physical Hosting

Tony — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 05:18:04 +0000

Shared Physical Hosting now available on Earthsites! Get your own slice of the supercompute cloud.

Austalent iPhone App has gone alpha

Tony — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:51:31 +0000

We have begun testing the first build on hardware. Sign up for our Beta Testing Program. Visit austalent.com.au

Austalent on Earthsites

Tony — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:02:53 +0000

We are now hosting austalent.com.au on our carbon-neutral hosting service EarthSites. We are testing a new data collection system that will power a new iPhone Application due for release next quarter.

Test 1 :

Test 2 :

Great Aussie Product

Tony — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 06:04:31 +0000

World Class Paint
The ecolour technology is an Australian invention that turns recycled and re-refined waste engine oil into a water based paint.
Australia collects and recycles over 300 million litres of waste oil annually, 80% of which is currently used as a dirty burner fuel producing high carbon emissions. The oil acts as a preservative and provides durability, superior coverage and smooth application qualities to the paint.
ecolour is committed to making a real and positive change to the environment and our sustainable paint solutions are leading the way for a brighter future.

http://www.ecolour.com.au/

I love vocoders

Tony — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:42:44 +0000

Radical new idea! Mathematicians please apply within.

Tony — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 06:37:28 +0000

OK so I had one of those moments of divine inspiration recently when I was contemplating pheremones, chemical trails, scent and perfume. It deals with the problems of workflow, finding businesses and products, advertising and noise in the marketplace. It could spell the death of SEO, advertising, and possibly geo-political borders in business.

I’m not going to divulge too much here but suffice to say I wholeheartedly believe this concept could literally change the world. If you are a keen mathematician, networking technician our programmer with a solid understanding of IPv6 then I really need to talk to you. I’m also seeking programmers with experience in compression algorithms, XML, PKI and SSL.

I will be releasing a whitepaper soon. If you’d like to discuss this idea please contact tony@sensestudios.com and I’ll add you to the discussion group.