I have just finished unboxing my Tomy Omnibot Robot which is mega amazing mint condition as you’ll see below!
Shipped all the way from the United States of America I now have possession of this fantastic vintage item in my home.
Look at all those stamps…. oooo
Nice, safe and secure packaging…. awesome!
Looking good…
Box in excellent condition with Toysrus Sticker!
Original instructions… 
Omnibot Original Remote….
and Finally the amazing robot!! In Amazing Condition!
It also comes with the rechargable battery pack, base mat and tray (not shown in pictures)
Now for the testing.. I have brought this ‘Working’ so lets hope it survived the journey….
Share on Facebook
What do you do if you don’t have a Placement?
Some of you maybe in your 2nd year and have been applying for an industrial placement to have a year out working for a company for 1 year before coming back to finish your 3rd year.
Like some of you out there I have been unsuccessfully in finding a suitable placement for myself so what do you do if you don’t have a placement secured for next year?
I have put a few options below that you may or may not have already thought of. If you have an idea that I haven’t thought of why not comment below and share your ideas with others!
- Get a Job – Just because you haven’t got a year out doesn’t mean you can’t work for a year.
- Carry on in your 3rd year and look for graduate placements for when you leave.
- Join a society
- Work Experience
- Part time job
- Training Course, Such as European Computer Licence?
It’s all about getting new experience and skills on your CV over the next year. Try and do something that suits you and in the direction of your future career. Goodluck.
More coming soon..
Share on Facebook
Enterprise Marketing Plan
I have been trying to brainstorm a few ideas of how to promote Enterprise in the University of Aberystwyth and so far I have come up with the following.
First Step – Letting People Know About us.
I think that we need to let people know what we’re about and what we’d like to achieve so promotion through the University using standard methods such as posters in key locations, student magazine and emails.
Now we have covered the basics we need to look at the social media element and so we should develop a Facebook group and start promoting ‘Enterprise’. This form of communication can allow us to get feedback, we’re here to work for ‘you’ and so as much input that can be provided the better. Tailor making enterprise to suit you!
I also think that due to funding, members of staff and students (our customers) there are many different stakeholders that have an interest in what we’re doing. Recognising this I feel a blog should be setup that will allow us Ambassadors to talk about what we’re doing, including photographs and videos wherever possible. – Again this allows for two way communication.
Bluetooth Advertising
There’s a local company in Aberystwyth that is doing this.. when you walk past their building they Bluetooth advertisements directly to your phone. You can decline the information being sent to you but I think with students using their phone perhaps we could investigate the use of this technology. Maybe have something in the University?
Acting upon Research
From using the information that we’ve gathered from users we should look at how we’re going to meet our objectives. I think that in order to give everyone a fair chance in getting help and support in enterprise we’re going to have to come up with a strategy that integrates this into all academic departments of the University.
This integrated strategy should break down communication barriers within the University. What I have found is that academic departments are so big they often operate as individual businesses. This means that they don’t really see the big picture and know what’s going on elsewhere in the University. We need to open up the gates of communication to allow the freedom of information…
But how? – contacting each department? – arranging interviews with other members of staff… getting them on board? Show them the benefits so they can show their students?
Share on Facebook
The Difficultness of Contacting Students
Being a student myself I know how difficult it’s for the University and perhaps even businesses in contacting us and getting us to engage in communication with you.
From past and recent experience I know where students have been emailed at the University about upcoming events and it isn’t until I have talked to people that I know have they realised that these things were going on.
Although emails are good in their own way there have been many criticisms of them, with people not replying to emails or saying they’ll read them later and soon as they go off the page they never do get read. This method of communication is dated and with users receiving numerous emails on a daily basis I am not surprised that they don’t get read.
Where now?
You’re more than likely aware of social media and how its growth over the last couple of years, I mean you’re reading my blog right now aren’t you?
When it comes to students (and others) they are quite engaged in social media platforms such as Facebook. People are also influenced by peers and as often respect their opinions and perhaps are more trusting compared to Advertisements.
I feel that in order for the University and other organisations to communicate in two way dialogue with students (and other people that use technology) social media is the way forward.
Share on Facebook
Enterprise Ambassador Aberystwyth University
I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to help promote ‘Enterprise’ within the University of Aberystwyth.
Since an early age I have had a passion for Enterprise, I remember when I was High School [St Teilos Church in Wales, Cardiff] I noticed that especially in the summer the vending machines would run out of drinks right at the start of the day and they wouldn’t be replenished for weeks!
Noticing this I decided to purchase a variety of soft drinks from my local cash and carry + supermarket. I brought the cans of drinks into school with a cooler bag to keep them chilled in my locker. At break and lunchtime I would sell the cans to friends at a fair price until one after my assistant head of year [Andrew Battle] came and had a word with me. “Rhys have you been selling cans of drinks in the school”, I wasn’t ashamed to admit so told him that I did, he then asked me “where have you been keeping the drinks”, so I told him that I kept them in my locker at which point he asked to see. I opened up my locker and he said “It’s Empty”, I replied saying that of course, I sold them all J
Since then I have progressed into other ventures, online and offline with my latest idea of selling cool looking Aberystwyth Tourist style t-shirts.
Commercialisation and Consultancey Services (CCS)
At Aberystwyth University we’re lucky enough to have this department as they offer help to both local businesses and students who are starting or thinking of running their own business.
Combined with my thirst for Enterprise I’m looking forward to promoting and sharing my passion for the subject with others. I hope to be able to help out others like I have been supported in the past.
Share on Facebook
Cenarth Falls – Picnic Place
Even at the end of February Cenarth Falls (7.9 miles from Cardigan) is a lovely place to enjoy a picnic on a Sunday afternoon.
Although there isn’t a lot to do here it’s a great place to sit and relax and enjoy the scenery.
Many people come to Cenarth Falls to fish for Salmon in October and is also home to the Coracle. A small raft like boat which I do believe you can have a go in during the summer period.
It’s also a great place to have a picnic with the family.
River Teify / Afon Teifi
Share on Facebook
Flux 2009 – How it is set out
Many of you maybe currently competing for a place in the Flux 2010 competition and may want to know a little bit more about how the three days are planned out.
Of course each year has been different so only use this information as a guide only as it’s based upon the Flux 2009 competition.
Day 1
Student Briefing
On the first day you’ll meet at the University, you’ll have to register and will be shown to your working ‘offices’ where your team will be given an information pack. These packs will contain information on what you have to do. Last year (2009) asked students to come up with a new idea from scratch that might work in the current economic climate (recession).
Agreeing Your Business
This probably one of the most difficult things to decide upon as a group after being fully briefed on what you have to do. You’ll find that people may have different ideas and they may feel strongly about their own. You must work as quickly as possible and decide upon a good idea. Something new perhaps? – but take into consideration whether or not it’s realistic.
The Xing Strategy Challenge
This a tool given to students. They are always looking to improve this so it may vary year to year but the basics are the same. For more details on this see my ‘Xing’ article on my blog. In any case this is a really good toll whether you know a bit about business or not. Once you have your idea you can start adding Xing cards to your planning board. Here you can plan step by step how you’re going to design and setup your business. Making sure to include your important decisions about where you’re getting your finance from and how you’re going to manage staff.
Networking Evening
At the end of Day one you’ll have a proper chance to meet other students from the many Universities attending. Often you go out for a meal in the evening and it gives you a chance to socialise. People won’t give away their ideas so don’t ask!
Day 2
Expert Briefing
At the start of day two the business experts arrived. They will be briefed upon criteria on how to assess the teams throughout the day. Last year there was a mini competition where we had to do a mini pitch to business experts and if they liked your idea they would give you ‘pretend money’, the team with the most money won a price.
Expert Meetings
During the morning some team members may go off to workshops to learn more about specific areas of your business plan. Other students will be able to go to meetings with Business Experts and spend 10 minutes with an expert from each area of your business plan. Here’s your chance to see what they think about your idea and they’ll pick holes in it giving you the chance to improve it before your final pitch.
Xing Strategy Complete
Hopefully by using the information the experts have given you’re able to amend and complete your Xing strategy.
Planning your Pitch
Using your business plan your team should look at and prepare the pitch it’s going to give to the experts. Decide how many and who will speak. Structure your pitch effectively. Practice Practice Practice!
I found that time management to be very hard throughout the competition and as a result struggled to develop our pitch as good as we could have.
Pitching
Last year we were organised into ‘streams’ so that the universities were broken down into lecture rooms. So a few universities went into one room and the others into another. We then pitched our idea to other groups and the business experts.
Feedback from Experts
Once all teams have given their presentations (pitches), the experts will give each team feedback on their strong and weak points. They will then select a winning team from your stream.
Final Pitch
The winners from each stream will have to pitch once again but to all streams in a large auditorium.
Voting
Everybody is able to vote which pitch was the best from the remaining universities. The business experts vote with their votes carrying a higher weighting.
Awarding the Prize
The winning university is announced and the Flux champions are given £3000 / 6 members = £500 cash each.
Party
There’s usually a party afterwards. You can go back and get changed at the hotel and then usually return to the students union.
Day 3
On the third day students are able to meet the business experts and recruiters. Some may even request a scheduled interview with you! – However last year (2009) there was a poor turn out on the Wednesday. There were a few recruiters but they mainly just gave out information instead of actually recruiting people. A lot of the business experts had left already and many cancelled interviews that they had made.
Share on Facebook
Tomy Verbot – Vintage Robot Collection
I have been here before, talking about my toy collecting phase but now I have finally got a Tomy Verbot! – I also have an Omnibot on the way too…
What I really like about the robots is that in those days 80s, everything was about the future and these were some of the first remote control robots… so I think in years to come where everything now seems to be about the past ‘Retro’, they will be worth a lot of money…
Share on Facebook
Samsung Q1 – Product Review
Back in college I went through a phase of just spending money on technology and one of my memorable purchases was this tablet style computer.
You may notice that touch screen laptops are only really coming onto the common market but even a few years ago they had them! – The Samsung Q1 was XP Tablet with built in Bluetooth and was touch screen! – very high tech for the time…
This was a brilliant piece of kit and was highly portable, however whilst studying my a-levels I didn’t have a real use for this equipment so ended up selling less than 6 months after buying it.
Share on Facebook
Pay Per Click (PPC) Websites
I think that a lot of them such as sharebux.org actually rely upon people not reaching the cash out requests? – I think this especially with sharebux.org because they use a type of share system.
For example: I paid something like $10 for over 10,000 view ads, I now have 6282 of them left in my advertisement account currently paused.
Now based on that each member who clicks on my ads will get one share at the current rate of $0.0051 = a payout of $32.0382 to 6282 members? – How on earth is this profitable. I think they rely upon a few users to signup to the site click on a few view ads like mine and leave again, these members never reach payout minimum and so this ‘virtual’ money basically sits in their account never ever being actually paid.
The sale of PPC sites? – A BIG SCAM.
I think the sale of PTC are scams basically, you have such a profitable website making $xxx amount each month yet you want to sell it? – why this is because you know these ‘payments’ to users will soon catch up with you and of course you don’t want to pay them out because you can’t afford to…
It’s like for example say sharebux.org is for sale (oo it actually is isn’t it) – and well you’ll sell it for say $4000 (which is currently the price on sitepoint for this site) Now the new owner thinking it’s really profitable because your getting $xxx in advertisements each month, thousands and thousands of uniques a month etc will pay that for it and then later discover it’s bust..
Now i have spoken with the owner of sharebux and he assures me that any payment requests made will be paid before the site is handed over.. ok fair enough but what about the $xxx amount sitting in all members accounts that haven’t been paid yet because of not reaching the minimum payout?
Jordan the current owner made the comment of ‘Well $1 isn’t a lot really and so anyone that has money in their account has less than that’ – rubbish, once you make the first payout of $1 it goes up to $2.50 and so on.. up to $10 i think and so you may be buying a site which has say 1000 members + with $5.528462 sitting in their accounts…
In some of these cases the owner should either discount the site saying “ i have taken $300 off of the asking price or sale price so that, that amount covers the outstanding payments” or at the end of the auction says here’s the paypal account e-mail addy and login details you’ll find the company has $300 sitting in that account ready to pay members… but wait, would they do this? Do new buyers of the site realise they could be buying a lemon? – more likely not, they see the big flashy figures of $xxx amount and thats why they buy it…
PPC Site Policies
Know when i say this it covers all PTC sites but i will make references to ‘shares’ and things which relate to sharebux as it’s a little different.
I want to see all PTC sites having policies that state how long the site is going to remain live online (minimum) – the new owner and existing owner must agree to this as a type of security for members so that they know oh the new owner keeps the site online for X number of years, i’d hate for the site to sell $xxxx in view ads, close the site and bugger off with the money..
Also i want contact details, name + address, e-mail address, telephone number of the owner of the site, so that when he/she does decide to close down the site i know who to chase for my $2.50 sitting in my account at the time of closesure…
Now sharebux has those problems + more, they have shares and sharetickets which need to be included in such a policy…
I think sharebux is a really good idea but not profitable with the idea of shares being able to go up and go down.. it isn’t profitable (at the moment) but perhaps could be made possible…
on the homepage it displays:
“Earning With ShareBux
ShareBux respects it’s members, and therefore we present them with shares in our company for completing simple tasks such as viewing ads and registering at websites. These shares can be kept to use as votes in company decisions, the users control the company! The shares can also be sold for the fluctuating price reflecting the companies total profit.”
Well the site has been sold secretly twice down and i thought as a member of the site with shares in my account i’d be able to vote to sell the site to another owner? – in the real world the new owner buys the shares from the shareholders and thats what he gets charged… instead Jordan will sell the site for say $4000 and take that money away from him even though it should be divided up by the members of the site? – because he doesn’t really own the site does he, the members do.
Can you imagine in the real world, a company buys another company out and says “heres $4000 to buy the shares off the shareholders” but the shareholders never receive a penny?
I think it was a good idea but a bloody stupid one by the owner of sharebux.. especially to go around saying members own and control the company etc.. haha.. idiots… they need a policy and fast.. if you don’t agree with it and leave the site that any money owed to you should be paid.. any advertisements (view ads) you have left should be converted into $$$ at the current share rate and returned to the advertisers.. it’s going to cost a lot of money to set these things out straight before the site can start running properly….
Share on Facebook
