First, have you created your search engine yet? Make sure to think thoroughly on which sites you want to add to which search engine, and have a look at the formatting tips for the URLs.

Then, and this is as it is on 01/11/11, go to “Look and Feel” and choose “Results only”:

<div id="cse" style="width: 100%;">Loading</div>

<script src="//www.google.com/jsapi" type="text/javascript"></script>

<script type="text/javascript">

function parseQueryFromUrl () {

var queryParamName = "q";

var search = window.location.search.substr(1);

var parts = search.split('&');

for (var i = 0; i < parts.length; i++) {

var keyvaluepair = parts[i].split('=');

if (decodeURIComponent(keyvaluepair[0]) == queryParamName) {

return decodeURIComponent(keyvaluepair[1].replace(/\+/g, ' '));

}

}

return '';

}

var _gaq = _gaq || [];

_gaq.push(["_setAccount", "YOUR_ANALYTICS_ACCOUNT_NUMBER_STARING_WITH_UA"]);

function _trackQuery(control, searcher, query) {

var loc = document.location;

var url = [

loc.pathname,

loc.search,

loc.search ? '&' : '?',

encodeURIComponent('q'),

'=',

encodeURIComponent(query)

];

_gaq.push(["_trackPageview", url.join('')]);

}

google.load('search', '1', {language : 'fr'});

google.setOnLoadCallback(function() {

var customSearchControl = new google.search.CustomSearchControl('YOUR_CODE_FROM_CSE');

customSearchControl.setResultSetSize(google.search.Search.FILTERED_CSE_RESULTSET);

customSearchControl.setSearchStartingCallback(null, _trackQuery);

var options = new google.search.DrawOptions();

options.setAutoComplete(true);

options.enableSearchResultsOnly();

customSearchControl.draw('cse', options);

var queryFromUrl = parseQueryFromUrl();

if (queryFromUrl) {

customSearchControl.execute(queryFromUrl);

}

}, true);

</script>

<link rel="stylesheet" href="//www.google.com/cse/style/look/default.css" type="text/css" />

Then copy this text to a WordPress-Page of your choosing (don’t forget to change the Analytics-number!!), and what matters is the Permalink you give it. yoursite.com/search/ would be nice, but it could also be /google/ or anything else for that matter, just make sure you remember .

You can at this stage actually already try to see if the Search works by going to your page, in my example it would be yoursite.com/search/ and add a ?q=searchterm to it, giving you yoursite.com/search/?q=searchterm

The idea now would be to create a template specifically for the search results. I will not go into details for this, but if you search for page template wordpress on google, you should find hundreds of tutorials. Remove anything that isn’t useful, and then go back to editing your WordPress-Page and make sure you use the new Template.

And then, a neat feature is to create a file called searchform.php into which you only paste the following code:

<form method="get" id="searchform" action="/search/">
<label for="q" class="assistive-text">Recherche</label>
<input type="text" class="field" name="q" id="q"/>
<input type="submit" class="submit" id="searchsubmit"/ value="Recherche">
</form>

and upload it to your wordpress-template’s main directory. This will be your new Search Widget then, and replace the one that comes with WordPress, and you can put it pretty much anywhere you want on your site where you have widget-areas defined. Play with classes to make it look the way you want, and make sure to change the form’s action to your wordpress-permalink. Not the whole link though, only the bit – as in this example – that comes after yoursite.com.

I hope this works for you guys, it cost me quite a bit of time to figure it all out, whilst actually, it was very simple from the beginning…

This is a rant, and my first on Ubuntu, so unless you want to blow off some pressure, this won’t be your favorite post . Whilst the title is a quote copied from one of my favorite shows – The Big Bang Theory – the intro is going to be my quote!

So for a few years now, I have enjoyed Ubuntu immensely, the ease with which it is installed and managed, the fact that it is free and gives you the choice of financially rewarding them if you like what they did with it (which I did on numerous occasions at their shop, but I also try and support them by promoting the system to anyone who will listen).

So, the more I read into one of their newer system – Ubuntu One – I figured I should give it a go and continue to support them. But kicking it off didn’t seem all that easy, getting the free 2GB account to sync my rather small Documents folder proved to be a slight nightmare. I then added a couple of mp3 to see whether their apparently awesome new iPhone App would recognize and seamlessly play it, but to no avail.

Still faithful and thankful for all Ubuntu had done for me, I decided to go ahead anyway, and purchased a subscription for 40GB so I could upload my entire music collection I had at hand.

I have posted to askubuntu.com where a nice guy has tried hard to help me, and I have posted a second message unanswered, plus I submitted an official support request as a paying customer.

Here’s what’s not working:

• The first night, it synced less than 180MB! Not GB, MB!
• The second and third days, it managed to increase this to 5GB… 72 hours for 5GB? 14 hours per GB? Nearly 600 hours to sync my music library?? That’s more than 3 weeks!!! Plus, this is only happening if I monitor it, and after it stops working for a longer period of time, I reboot and restart all services.

(Note that on a bad connection day, I should still be able to upload 1GB per 4 hours, which would mean 6 per day, 7 days for the whole library. On a bad day. And my download is 4GB per hour!)

• Everytime it is restarted, it checks every single file before doing squat. 40GB of songs takes a long time to check!
• It only starts the sync if I tell it to start it. What sort of a sync is that?!
• Now that it has uploaded 5GB, I checked the Ubuntu 1 Music app, and some songs showed, but all .m4a are shown as Unknown Artist/Album! Guess how handy that is if 95% of your library was purchased on the iTunes Store!
• Now, I’ve posted the support request more than 24 hours ago, and I’ve checked their status page and community support, but the way it looks now is that they won’t stick to their next day rule, and postpone it to next year, which will be on monday night?
• And just now, to top it all off, again:

xxx@xxx:~$ u1sdtool –start

Oops, an error ocurred:Traceback (most recent call last):Failure: dbus.exceptions.DBusException: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply: Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.

I am spending so much time on this these days! And this is really not what I had expected!! Spideroak seemed good enough and cheaper, so I subscribed to it about 8 months ago. I thought I’d just drop the 100GB subscription for Ubuntu as “Ubuntu works out the box”. Yes, right. Good choice.

But just to make sure this is not just about ranting and blowing off steam, there is also something to learn:

1. If you provide a service free of charge, it is verys difficult to develop side products that are no longer free. People’s perceptions are not all that easy to handle.
2. If you then provide a community-based support channel, ALWAYS make sure there is no “official” message saying: you didn’t pay for it, so you can’t really make any requests. Something I stumbled upon a number of times on askubuntu.com – it made me doubt any future financial investments in Ubuntu.
3. If you suggest a quick get-back, stick to it. No excuse, no snow, no bank holidays, just do it. At least acknowledge the request.
4. If you launch a new service, test it. And then test it again. Then beta-test it, and once it all works, at least once, you may start charging. From what I skimread on google, there have been hickups on Ubuntu One since it was launched!
5. And lastly, if you know there are service issues, make it easy to ask for help! At least easier than to buy extra services! (As those funnily enough have been the easiest “in-app” purchases I ever made! Gives the wrong impression.)

Come on Ubuntu! I don’t want to give up on you! I want to continue to throw money your way, but if it gets to the point where I must pay and get poor quality and service, I might as well just switch back to Windows or worse…

But whether or not you do, I am assuming that you will be able to understand the initial thought behind this rant.

• Have you ever had to change lanes because a delivery was made, and the driver was unable to park the van somewhere it would not have an effect on other peoples’ time?
• Have you ever had someone overtaking you recklessly on a highway or anywhere for that matter, whilst the vehicle had clear markings?
• Have you ever been verbally abused by a driver of a branded vehicle?

If you can say yes to at least 1 of the above simple situations, then answer me this: how did it make you feel about the company that employs such slobs?

But this rant will not only focus on driving issues, as this may just as well have happened to you on the bus or in the street, where someone after work, but with a branded jacket or tshirt gave you a rough time (any real-life experiences more than welcome in the comment section by the way).

On the other end of the stick, companies have started monitoring their brands and their brand’s association. 1800-how’s my driving is one example that comes to mind, but so is the “This conversation will be recorded for training purposes”. But both of these are not always used for their ideal purposes, as the former is often used to rank their drivers, and the second is often used to train their callers in addon-selling.

To me, it seems logical that you would want this sort of feedback only for the one reason: ensure that there is a strong decrease in service failures, and there is a quick way for resolving any that might still occur.

Also, it seems logical to me that any customer-driven organisation should invest into these simple tools. The sword of Damokles in mind, and positive brand association alone, should be reason enough for them to invest (relatively little) in this.

Now to the trickier, self-reflecting, part: do you own clothes that are branded by your current employer, or do you even drive a branded company-car? Do you mention who you work for and whether you like it in discussions with other people? Hand on your heart, did you ever annoy someone whilst displaying your current employer or talk badly about your company?

The dogma today, with the soon-to-be-global use and presence of the internet, should be “everyone is in marketing”. Don’t loose your company that one critical sale, or how about winning your company that critical sale?

Today’s environment is a fast-paced one, and only the apt will make it in the long-term: marketing is everywhere!

The series begins with these rather stylish speakers for my new iPhone 4 (for which, I need not rant ), and their incredible price/quality ratio. But let us not jump ahead!

It’s been a while now that I’ve been looking for a solution to listening to music on the go -mobile you might say – and I’ve had tries with several versions. A Philips and a Sony Alarm/Dock/Charger, several mini-speakers in ball-shape, and of course a wide selection of headphones (in-ear, on-ear, even a large wireless version). None of them however ended up being used frequently, they were mostly cumbersome to move, and most of the time not that effective with my iPhone…

Then my friend directed me towards this bluetooth speakerset, and although the site seems to be limited in products, I thought I’d give it a try…89$ won’t be the end of my quest . It took a while for them to get to me, but that happens to me pretty much anytime I order from the states. But all in all, the delivery was fine!

As I opened it, I started getting an idea of what had gone wrong in my head. They’re small! Well, IT’s small really, as it is just the one block, but with 2 speakers in it, but I had thought it was just going to be another chunk of a block really, as my friend had told me this was a solid music experience… interesting start.

I then tried to switch it on, inserted batteries and pressed the powerbutton, but to no avail? I removed the batteries, and plugged it to the wall, but again, no response… damn, I thought. So I did something I usually don’t do, and took the instructions manual (all in all, 12 pages only, less than most IKEA manuals!), and it took me 5 seconds to come accross a “hold the power for 3 seconds”. And then it worked. Nice! Simple and Nice!

Now to the phone, all the instructions said was that it was in pairing mode right away. But it didn’t mention any other complicated process or passcodes, so I went on to switch on my bluetooth. The speaker beeped, the phone connected. Done. Done? Wow, that had taken me less than 2 minutes! So I felt adventurous, and just clicked play on my iPhone, and there it was, a nice full sound, no hassle, just some nice Black Keys – swell!

I haven’t tried phoning anyone yet, just because I want to enjoy the music a little longer. It’s so easy, my phone is being charged on my bedstand, the speaker is next to my computer, and the music just plays with no interference, and all this at a very decent quality! I am assuming the phone-feature will be just as neat, so if anyone wants to give it a try, just give me a ring , until then, you may assume this is a great product!

My rating: 4 out of 5, meets expectations and above

Suggestions for Coming next: iRoomba, the annoying little helper – MTM Falcon, the “wow” Blackhawk – the iPad. (that’s a full stop)

This website will provide you with a snapshot of my educational and professional career, and give you insights into the areas that I take an interest in.

Should you wish to contact me, you can do so through the following options.

Off the top of my head, and before going into much more detail in the coming weeks, here’s a brief list of “jargon” that should give you an idea as to where I may be of assistance:

• Online:
  • SEO
  • Social Networks: in particular Facebook and Luxembourg
  • Web and basic IT architecture/infrastructure
  • New medias
• Offline:
  • Print, concept to draft design to distribution
  • Public relations, and in particular presenting
  • Language training
  • New medias

Basically, I have an interest in a lot of subjects, and if we do sit together to discuss your project, I will probably have an idea on how to help you, and if I can’t (help you), I will have an idea on who to contact next. Please note that I have a full-time job at the moment, and that this job will remain my top-priority.

Thank you for taking the time to read about me, and please do not hesitate to get in touch with me should you have any questions.

Now the funny and interesting thing I read about Twitter® the other day was how the “hash”(#) came into usage. The community apparently was to blame or acclaim for this, and it makes for most interesting searches on Twitter®. You may also save searches on topics of interest for you, and it will show you everyone’s posts, no matter if you’re following them already or not. Try for instance searching for “apple“® and then searching for “#apple“®. Imagine now how useful it would be if all traffic related issue to Luxembourg was for example tagged with a #trafficlu? You get into your car, you quickly check your saved search, see the most recent tweets first, with their respective geotags. I am sure, but have not checked, that you could even limit the tweets showing in that search to those relatively close to you, say within 10km?

Any feedback on this would be greatly appreciated, and of course it would be fantastic if you tried using it yourself/started spreading the idea

The only thing, and this is so far the only negative part, please please PLEASE drive carefully. If you’re just passing some incident, stop your car a little further, and only then tweet about it!

My journey began looking for “gluey-stuff-removers” in the paint section, and as I needed to remove this stuff from my car, I wanted to make sure the remover wouldn’t scrape the paint off the car. After quite some time, the laid-back lady behind the counter took a customer enquiry over the phone and after a few mumblings replied: “Vous parlez français aussi?” (Do you also speak French?). This being a common point of discussion in Luxembourg with 3 official languages, but not everyone speaking all of them, I didn’t catch the drift right away. She then said in a rather assertive tone “Je vous passe mon collègue!” (I’ll pass you over to my colleague) and actually slammed the phone so hard onto the counter I thought it must be broken – my eyes shut instinctively as I was afraid there might be some flying pieces of plastic! She finished it off by telling her colleague smugly: “Il a bien compris ce que je lui disais en français hein!” (He had no issues understanding my French).

I myself have been in the situation where I was asked if I spoke French, and of course always switched for as long as it was asked in a minimally polite sort of way. But I’ve also seen some very stubborn Luxembourgers, bordering xenophobic convictions, that just plainly refuse to speak any other language than their own, and in that moment, I right away thought it must be one of them impolite buggers. To my surprise, the colleague who took over the call spoke to the customer in his limited grasp of German, yet managed to explain everything that was asked of him – the lady before probably just had not liked being reminded she only spoke French. Whilst communication can always be mistaken and misinterpreted, what shocked me most in this service failure, was that the lady did not mind responding in such a harsh and aggressive way in front of me and several other stunned customers (during the moment, several of us exchanged perplexed looks and shrugs). And as you can imagine, when she asked me what I needed, I made sure to ask her in French!

My journey then continued into the land of electronic tools and car equipments, and this was the sort of Lost Land I have been mentioning in other posts. I waited at the information counter whilst several workers from other sections walked past, making sure there was no eye-contact, and all the while being watched by several cashiers that weren’t really all that busy. I stood there for about 20 minutes, looking around, trying to be spotted, with my position in front of the counter clearly stating: “I need some advice”. After the 20 minutes, I obviously had enough, and in my usual punishing ways decided that from then onwards, I would take my custom elsewhere, and make sure not to tell them (they might learn from it)! Whilst checking out my few more urgent items, I noticed this manager-type of person running through the lines whilst talking on the phone, and by his second run through the lines, he actually called one of the cashiers to make sure they’d call someone to man the area. This put a smile on my face as not only I but several other customers that had been waiting there were all in the line and ready to leave.

My conclusions of this shouldn’t be all too harsh I assume, and this is why I recommend going to Hornbach only if you know exactly what you’re doing. Some of their stuff is good quality at a fair price. If you’re not sure, you’re probably most certainly better off somewhere else.

To managers, “Management By Walking About” is not the worst idea, and in the case of Hornbach, MBWA would certainly do everyone well! If you can’t manage your staff in any sort of way, you should consider replacing them. And lastly, for everyone that has employees picking up the phone to strangers, make sure they are trained! If they don’t speak the other languages, that shouldn’t be an issue and the normal procedure should be to politely divert the call to someone who speaks it – if the call escalates, the caller should be transferred to the manager, who then needs to settle the issue, all the while making sure not to undermine his employees (when the team knows you have their back, they will have your back too – at least in my experience ).

Then came the era in Luxembourg (finally) where you could buy tickets at cinema online or at small self-checkouts, and along came IKEA and Auchan and more organisations such as Quick. Whilst the first 3 really do seem to make it a quicker experience for me, the 4th was still dependent on the speed of the person serving my order as that process could not be transferred to me.

But the most pressing thought that just popped to my mind is that even if it is not really quicker or more convenient, I’d still have a tendency to just use the machines anyways, as it removes in most cases a variable that is a potentially bigger burden than a potential improvement: customer service!

If I go to IKEA and manage to not speak to any unhappy/overloaded member of staff, yet purchase everything I had planned to, I would consider myself to be very satisfied. Knowing that I might miss out on a potentially terribly friendly and enjoyable person without the machine is less of a problem to me than the risk of having to deal with a foul-mouthed opposite.

Today, whenever I see one of those automated machines, I use it even if the till next to it is free. Call me anti-social, but I’d rather call myself anti-rude-service. Where does that leave us with the paradigm shift? Whilst years back, a valid way to increase custom was to provide good service, today, a valid way could be to automate service and remove the human factor – skynet much? Syndicates, don’t fight for your right for a job, fight for the support required to do a good job!

I guess, and this is my last conclusion for now, that I’d only consider the automated version if I had doubts my employees’ customer service was not up to my own standards. But please, everyone reading this, if you have employees providing bad service, replace them with a machine!

Now when I try to extrapolate, I can understand that in other circumstances (read: other cultures), this may be a common approach: joking about guilting customers in increasing their custom, but to me and quite a few of my local peers, this has been and still is very strenuous as I (we) do care a lot about what people think about me (us). It has now gone as far as to make me consider choosing another place for the time being where I can just go to, not befriend and just transact with at a superficial level where quality/price ratio is the only important variable.

This cultural distance and its negative effects should however not really exist as the second party in play has actually been living and working in Luxembourg for nearly 20 years, but still, I wonder how this could have gone so far. Is Luxembourg and its culture really so different? Is it really so stuck-up and easily offended? Or is it just that the paradigm of me and the people I consulted about this has shifted?

When I was younger, it was invaluable to me to go places and be recognized, appreciated, and treated as “a buddy”, even in a business context. I guess I could have appreciated these sorts of jokes even, maybe even a lot! But today, it seems I value the other aspects more: ease of access, ease of transaction, ability to “log off”…
When written down like this, it also reminds me of my relationship to my phone on weekends where every ringing or beeping seems intrusive. Am I shutting down?

But what is there to learn from this? That customer paradigms shift? That every service person needs to have a lot of experience in reading body language and non-verbal communication? That near-endless opportunities and the anonymous internet may volatilize your customers?
I am not sure, but would appreciate your thoughts on this!