This Week with Taylor & Gordon: Recent Episodes
Taylor and Gordon Drayson
Unified Calendar
When sharing a calendar with people it gets difficult to manage
When you have group activities there are duplicate entries
Creating a custom calendar that hides duplicate entries
Create different custom calendars as required
Writing notes in events could still be a challenge
Keeping event details in the diary where you would expect to find them
Concept is working – control panel coming
Home Assistant – Busy Bar
Creating notifications on the screen in case I miss the audio announcements
Writing apps for the device – not available yet – but will be great when it is
Making Instagram followers as an app
Dashboard is a real mess in Home Assistant – needs organising
Big job ahead of me
Decided on the look and style, just need to work out the layout now
Dark theme as a test
New people sensor to show who is home and who isn’t – added thumbnail images and coloured borders
Cards should grow when it is clickable
Layout and figuring out the way things are organised
Integration to show which bins are due
How is Taylor getting on with Home Assistant
Lots of decisions to be made to make it autonomous
Making it more informational rather than controls
Showing information when it is relevant
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
Facebook: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/facebook
Youtube: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/youtube
- Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our links which help towards the costs involved in creating this content for you.
Code Workflow
Touching the same files with different agents confuses things
Using worktrees and separate branches
Reviewing code to make sure they are as expected
Too many files to check easily
20 issues can be separate and open a new branch for each one, set up an agent and then merge
Paid vs Free GitHub Account
.env security
Busy Bar – https://busy.app/
Pomodoro Timer with a display
Developer toolkit
Connects to Matter and Wifi
Turn on Focus Mode on your mobile when you are busy
Have it show you when something has completed using Home Automation
If it makes your life better then the high cost may be worth it for you
Next meeting shown on the display
Mono screen on the back
We will report back
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
Facebook: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/facebook
Youtube: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/youtube
- Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our links which help towards the costs involved in creating this content for you.
A hot week
End of the school year shows
Zen Browser – https://zen-browser.app/
A calmer internet – reimagined ways to browse the internet
Left sidebar tabs – keeping your browsing area clean
Taylor didn’t like Chromium based browsers and this one uses the Firefox framework
Three different frameworks available – Chromium, Webkit and Mozilla
Browsers adopting newer technologies
Build your website based on the browser that your visitors are likely to be using
Panto auditions – I will be playing the part of Dame in January 2027
Before that I am in “Murder in the Mine” with ATG
Booked Solid OS has a new owner, right after I purchased it
Collect, triage and draft replies for emails
Non-birthday parties don’t currently have a follow up sequence so Booked Solid OS could deal with those
Communicating with regular customers, keep you in their mind for other events
If you don’t manage to book one year then they may get someone else and stick with them, losing an annual gig, which isn’t good
Make sure AI keeps on top of these
Nurturing relationships, check in on them
Keeping track of when you last spoke to each of them
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
Facebook: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/facebook
Youtube: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/youtube
- Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our links which help towards the costs involved in creating this content for you.
Another Hot Week
I created a song about the heat – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f7HVHCe88w&t=13s
Historical Data – backdating data for the new personal website
Finding data from the past – flights for example
Going through emails of the past for flight details
Also, Events, theatre shows, football matches, and other trips
Way Back Machine is good for some of these things
Piecing information together from many sources
Booked Solid – a service built on top of Claude for booking shows
Purchased so I can use it to find out what other users are charging, checking emails, Facebook and Messenger for enquiries
Answering them by creating replies
You tell it all about your business and it learns and grows
Desktop app taking over from terminal version
Early stages, and the price has jumped up from $297 to $2500 for lifetime use
AI to assist with bookings is an interesting use case. We will see where it goes
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
Facebook: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/facebook
Youtube: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/youtube
- Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our links which help towards the costs involved in creating this content for you.
New Tools purchased
Fanttik Slim V8 Apex Car Vacuum – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0D8T3LTNN
Great for the car to get down the sides of the seats
Hose attachment great to get into the 3d printer
Can be used for keyboards and electronic devices
Fanttik F2 Master Mini Cordless Rotary Tool – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0F3CPRZXW
Lots of attachments for drilling, sanding, polishing etc.
Perfect for post-processing 3d prints
Making what you do even better – improving all the time
Video of recent party which came out great
Updating promotional photos on a regular basis
Personal Website – next version
Decided on Laravel and Vue.js
Lots of syncing which can break the site very easily
Thinking about the structure better
Better analysis and stats in real time
Data Stories which are specific articles looking at the data
Tracking all the fuel costs for the car
Making data meaningful
Knowing what you want to achieve with the data
Seeing the changes over time and why the changes happened
Catch problems before they become a problem
Making a decision on how the data is presented and how you can search through it
Target Audience is Taylor – and no-one else
Adding redundancy with the imports to check everything is being brought in
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
Facebook: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/facebook
Youtube: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/youtube
- Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our links which help towards the costs involved in creating this content for you.
Very hot week
Celebrating 250 episodes of This Week With
Statistics for the podcast
Episode 1, 24th April 2000
Keeping a record of what we have been up to
Total run time
Shortest and Longest episode
Average length, Average time between episodes
Number of episodes per year
We outlived the pandemic which was the reason for starting
Health Kit for the podcast
Transcripts and thanks to the lady behind them – Hayley
Backdating the transcripts to episode 1
Guests on the show
Planning for the 500th episode
New personal website redesign in progress
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
Facebook: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/facebook
Youtube: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/youtube
- Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our links which help towards the costs involved in creating this content for you.
News – Apple WWDC happened, which means new software beta’s and an insight on new AI features
Learning a New Skill – 3D Modelling
Huge subject to learn
Personal version of Fusion
Metal bathroom holder needing to be modelled and printed in plastic
Simple model, but there were lots of measurements to get right
Didn’t have the bottles to go in, so had no idea if they were going to fit
Took a photo and calibrated it when bringing it into Fusion, scaling correctly
Callipers to the rescue
It made a block so needed to create an offset and extruding that instead
Adding fillets – rounding off
Then print and hope
Printed perfectly first time – and got sent a nice picture to show me the bottles fitted
A success helps to push me forward
Small steps at a time when looking at a new skill
Finding skills to learn is scary but very worthwhile
Building a form
Migrating a website to a new framework, and rebuilding a crutial form
Standalone app to deal with all forms in the future
Setting a foundation and building on it as new requirements come along
Passing data into the forms from browsing history
Split testing included in the building process
Changing things one at a time to increase conversions
Testing and then re-testing
Vue.js for the frontend to add interactivity
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
Facebook: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/facebook
Youtube: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/youtube
- Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our links which help towards the costs involved in creating this content for you.
New location, Gordon’s Office
We went to Wordcamp Europe in Poland, Krakow
European Wordcamp is the biggest of the conventions
Reasons for going – networking with friends and colleagues
Theme this year seemed to be AI
Connecting WordPress using MCP to Claude
Using AI to build pages, perform WordPress operations, correct grammar, create images, pretty much everything AI is good at
Need to have a good understanding of what is happening so you can check it
Four floors in the convention centre – live transcription and translations this year. Two huge rooms for lectures
Food, drinks and snacks always available
Evening parties – drinking and socialising
WP Umbrella – great way to manage your websites – https://wp-umbrella.com/
Great country – Perogi was a favourite at meal times
Lots of things to see
Much cheaper than Switzerland last year
Salt Mine visit was great – seeing all the salt sculptures
Visit to Auschwitz – which was interesting and harrowing
A good rounding off from my Anne Frank experience
Rooms of shoes, hair, luggage, pots and pans
Next year is in Malaga – a week earlier than this year
Details at: https://europe.wordcamp.org/2027/
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
Facebook: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/facebook
Youtube: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/youtube
- Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our links which help towards the costs involved in creating this content for you.
News – AI is created by a machine, so is not owned by anyone!
Archiving Documents – for personal and business purposes
Making searching easy and have it bring up relevant documents
MCP server – to work with Evernote using AI on a CLI
AI will create a context for the document – notes summarising the content
Adding manual tags will work well but adding tags by AI makes things even better
ScanSnap scanner is a hardware scanner and creates pdf files and uploads to Evernote
Trix – Childrens Entertainer’s Convention
1.5 days convention
Keeping up with new trends and ideas for the work I do
Seeing whats new to purchase for shows
The more experienced you have, the more careful you are with purchases
Meeting people I know and those I haven’t yet met is the main reason I go
Two hour Parties aren’t a thing overseas
Great cabaret by Spencer Jones
Next year – 2027 – will be the last convention
Numbers have been dropping, which makes it difficult to pay costs and make a profit
Loads of time and effort spent on these things
What will take the place of Trix???
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
Facebook: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/facebook
Youtube: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/youtube
- Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our links which help towards the costs involved in creating this content for you.
Show week
Sorting out collection of props – old and more recent – some valuable, some not
Spreadsheeting all the boxes
Printing a Book Box with a living hinge for the cast
Running out of filament at one point
Not a great deal done on a show week
Very tiring
Waiting for Ikea to send replacement box lids still
Noted plugin – https://wordpress.org/plugins/noted/
Adding notes that will remind you how to do things in the admin on a website you haven’t been to for 6 months
Taylor had a framework he wanted to test out and took what Kyle had done and enhanced it
Created a new version with a settings panel now
Pin notes was a suggestion that was added, along with others
Adding note to blocks
Role permissions for adding notes
Giving back to the community
Small plugin that does one job really well
Dashboard widget for home screen
No show next week as Gordon is away at Trix
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
Facebook: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/facebook
Youtube: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/youtube
- Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our links which help towards the costs involved in creating this content for you.
The Diary of Anne Frank Tickets for 14, 15, 16th May 2026 – https://www.parlourplayers.co.uk
Sending large files over the internet – 4.8GB
wetransfer.com – maximum of 2GB for free accounts
Blaze Quantum – for larger files – https://blaze.cx/
Purchased on AppSumo many years ago
Keeping track of the software available to us on a spreadsheet
If you forget you have software available to you, it is useless and a bad investment
Considering building an app for this
Flat Maintenance
Dishwasher not working – talking to support
Coffee machine broke and needed replacing
Everything that goes with taking things apart and trying to fix things
When coding, brain power is being focused… everything else can be done later
You are forced to do things when you run out of plates for example
Organise finances to be able to make decisions
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
Facebook: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/facebook
Youtube: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/youtube
- Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our links which help towards the costs involved in creating this content for you.
Internet went down Thursday Night – and took a week to get back up
Lots of hassle getting it fixed
Cloud smart home devices all stopped working
Reflection – looking at yourself through a friends eyes
One thing they think you do well and one thing they think you could do better at
Would anonymous feedback be better? Does the person who gives you the feedback make a difference?
Likening this to testimonials for your business
We may come back to this to find out the results
Brave and scary at the same time
Finding trends
Planing ahead – what to do when the internet goes down?
Used up all my mobile data for the next month
321 Backup – 3 places, 2 different media, 1 offsite
Backup important data – don’t forget settings files
Video is too big to backup – finished edit goes on YouTube, Vimeo and my NAS drive
Give the client the option to store the files for editing in the future – with a cost involved for storage
Speak to the POP! client to see if they want the source files archived
Giving the files to the client is not a good way to keep control of the product
Time Machine for computer backups
Do you have plans in place for downtime?
Diary of Anne Frank Tickets – https://www.ticketsource.com/parlour-players
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
Facebook: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/facebook
Youtube: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/youtube
- Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our links which help towards the costs involved in creating this content for you.
Client Handling – Losing a Customer
Delays on both sides
Need all content before we start work on the site
The sitemap grew from 12 pages to 42 pages
Communication with the client was not good
New design requested
When the content is delivered the work then needs scheduling in
The design is being taken on by the client as they liked them
Prices change over time and the contract needs to show deadlines in place
Fixes to put in place – explaining what is included and what isn’t
Phased delivery and when to expect them
Restart clause – if no progress for a period of time the project is paused – costs involved and when the restart can happen
Weekly Updates – even there is no work done, explain why and what is needed
Keeping communication channels open
Adding accountability on both sides
Mistakes made by both parties and the fit wasn’t working for us – leaving as friends
Speaking on the phone can save time with lots of messages back and forth
Finishing Projects – working on many projects but not finishing them
Or deleting them without attached emotion
Generating a random route for running or walking – https://tdrayson.github.io/routed/
Deciding what the “finished” app looks like
Then you know when it can be released for use
Chasing the New Shiny Object syndrome
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
Facebook: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/facebook
Youtube: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/youtube
- Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our links which help towards the costs involved in creating this content for you.
Rehearsing for Anne Frank
Co-Working for half a day a week
Keeping the other person accountable
Using your skills to help the other person
Not wasting time chatting
Progressing projects quicker
Would this work for you?
Time is scheduled every week and kept clear
Considering adding a system to monitor and check progress
Data to see if it is helping or not
Making notes of what you are looking to do on your week
Time to think about things ahead of time
Working from our offices on zoom – but it doesn’t have to be that way
Working away without talking the whole time
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
Facebook: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/facebook
Youtube: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/youtube
- Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our links which help towards the costs involved in creating this content for you.
Shows all over Easter
Waited 19 years for this…
I had a call to see if I wanted to upgrade to Fibre
Upgraded my internet to Full Fibre (FTTP) which is now available, last Tuesday
Fused fibre cables together with a £4000 machine
20Mbps (on a good day with ADSL) up to 800Mbps download, and 0.4Mbps to 80Mbps upload
Upgraded network at the same time
New Router and Switch – Unifi Express 7 and USW Flex 8 Switch
Needed the switch to allow me to plug ethernet in to get the fastest speed for certain devices like NAS
SSID and password needed to stay the same
Access the NAS from outside my network using TailScale
Extending the network using Access Points
Guest Network which is isolated from any other devices, and limits speed
VPN set up for sites that don’t work in the UK like imgur.com
Same is true going back into the network from outside
Subnet has changed which caused a few issues with Home Assistant
One of my telephone lines is now VOIP through the router, which caused an issue as well
Taylor bought some running trainers from Barefoot
Running on a plan
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
Facebook: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/facebook
Youtube: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/youtube
- Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our links which help towards the costs involved in creating this content for you.
Last Remaining POP! Jobs
Bubble Convention Videos – post process
All videos complete and uploaded for attendees
Adding a process to the website for video distribution and purchasing
Limits in place for who can view and purchase them
Using Vimeo for protection to keep the value
Re-using a similar system from Snippet Club
Videos ready for members by the end of the week – will leave it til after the Easter break
Content value is similar to the price of attending on purpose
Slowing Down from a hectic life
Lots of “fixed” events happening every week
Illness forces you to have a break – watch daytime TV
Body was telling Taylor to slow down
Working for ourselves means there are no fixed hours
Making food and watching something instead of eating at the desk
Keeping the bedroom for sleeping (and being ill)
Sometimes getting up helps you heal quicker
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
Facebook: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/facebook
Youtube: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/youtube
- Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our links which help towards the costs involved in creating this content for you.
Didn’t manage an episode last week
Pop! Bubble Convention – filming all sessions, talks and demonstrations
4 rooms to cover over all 3 days, 3 sessions happening at the same time
Collate video and audio, edit them and upload before the next session finishes
3 cameras needed, DSL, DJI Osmo Pocket 3 and iPhone 16 Pro
Audio was really important for the speakers
Theatre show had two cameras for a Multicam edit
Strange Apple keyboard issue
Made new friends – thanks to Harvey for all his help
Thank you also to the organisers, in particular Damian and CJ for inviting us
Upgrading smart home with new Ikea devices
Smart relay, goes inside a light switch cavity to keep power to the lights
Bathroom has a custom bulb mount, so it isn’t easily replaceable with smart bulbs
Presence sensor should fix that – and will control the fan also
Make “dumb” lights automated
Bilresa from Ikea
Office automation using one of these switches
Lots more new devices available in their “Matter” collection
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
Facebook: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/facebook
Youtube: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/youtube
- Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our links which help towards the costs involved in creating this content for you.
Convention for Professional Bubble Artists – AOIBA
Filming lectures and shows
People attending get access to the videos
Capture, edit and upload as we go, so I don’t have a ton of work to do when I return home
DJI Mics for speakers
Cameras for each room
Planning and equipment takes time
CinemaSync web app
Deciding what to watch at the cinema each week
Review timeline, compare films
Comparing films, times, screen types etc.
Making life easier
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
Facebook: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/facebook
Youtube: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/youtube
- Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our links which help towards the costs involved in creating this content for you.
Ambient Dashboard – Magic Mirror…
An interactive display showing whatever is important to you
Running on a Fire TV stick in kiosk mode
Showing upcoming meetings, sports events, time to leave with traffic taken into account
Heating, Home Automation stats etc.
Turns off when Taylor leaves the flat
Up-to-date white board
Building it from scratch allows any tools to be added – more flexibility
Multiple pages if needed
Touchscreen in the future maybe?
Blackpool Magic Convention last week
Breakfast – lectures, shows, buying magic, 5000 magicians, gala shows, networking and drinks, late to bed, and then repeat
Sleep is in debit
Taking Action on things you have seen, learnt and spoken to people about
Striking while the iron is still hot
Making notes at the time to refer back to
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
Facebook: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/facebook
Youtube: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/youtube
- Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our links which help towards the costs involved in creating this content for you.
Lots of small tasks completed this week
Two 6 hour coding sessions for Taylor
Blackpool Magic Convention is happening next week
Longing this year by 1 day or 33%
Worlds biggest Magic Convention
Catching up with friends you don’t see very often
Very tiring but also very rewarding
Friend’s Meetings
Making time for friends and family – scheduling them like a meeting
Cinema and Tennis as examples
Giving your sole attention to other people so you don’t push them away
Making time for your children
Shared calendars so we can see what each of us are doing
No show next week due to Blackpool
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
Facebook: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/facebook
Youtube: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/youtube
- Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our links which help towards the costs involved in creating this content for you.
Herman Miller Chair – https://ukstore.hermanmiller.com/collections/seating/
Fully Adjustable – very high quality chair
Expensive but very good.
Purchased second hand one on Facebook Marketplace, 1 hour away
Built June 2025, so very new
No headrest – but one has been purchased and will be delivered
Researching and purchasing the best we can afford
Tax Bill paid
Keeping track of your energy usage
Fuel company supplied In Home Display
SMET2 compatible power monitoring
Bright App – https://glowmarkt.com/bright
Glow Display / CAD – https://www.hildebrand.co.uk/products/ihd-cad
Works with Home Assistant so you can collect live fuel usage
Watch for usage spikes quickly
See custom usage for devices that report power usage, currently only washing machine and tumble dryer
Tado X don’t report usage
Electric sockets and power strips that report power usage are available
Keep track of the power hungry devices in the home and office
See your energy usage as a Sankey Chart
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
Facebook: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/facebook
Youtube: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/youtube
- Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our links which help towards the costs involved in creating this content for you.
What Makes Today a Success – web app
myThreeTasks – currently in beta
Gamifying Productivity
Lots of ideas to improve the app
For streaks, only working days count
Invite only – great marketing
User gets to choose what their tasks are – big or small
Frustrations this week
Video issues for the Panto video – corruption is to blame
The next step when the video is complete is to find the root cause and fix it
Big video job coming up so this is important
Backup and storage planning
Adilo is going back on their contract for Lifetime Deal Users
Closing “legacy” account illegally and move to subscription
Vimeo is cheaper so I would have to move everything back again
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
Facebook: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/facebook
Youtube: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/youtube
- Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our links which help towards the costs involved in creating this content for you.
Helpful Triggers
Create triggers to give you good habits
Obligation is a good trigger
Rewarding yourself for doing tasks that maybe you don’t enjoy doing
Putting the Kindle in the right place to make picking it up easy
Put things by your car keys to remember to take them with you
Wednesday… working on Panto DVDs
Problems with recording hardware
Errors in the Bambu AMS – Automatic Material System, and having to take it apart to clear the broken filament
Tiny magnets and strings leaping for freedom
Battling to get them back in and stop them attracting
Getting the videos finished to a self imposed deadline
Don’t upgrade software in the middle of a project
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
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New Season, New Colour
Pantomime week
Filming shows, taking photos, rehearsing and performing
Next job is editing
System created a couple of years ago to allow for streaming
Doesn’t really make a profit – but I do it for my own reasons, and is very rewarding
Taylor is 3rd Generation for these shows
Widow Twanky in Aladdin
Time Logging – Tallyho – https://tallyho.app/
Toggl is great but has more features than needed
Tallyho is minimal and does what it does really well
For the client and Taylor
Contacting the developer to request features and updates
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Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
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Busy performing for Christmas
New 3d printer delivered, which was better than my last delivery
Tracking information wasn’t great but the delivery was fine
44kg in weight – need to make sure I was in
Heavy even after packing taken off
Taylor helped me carry it upstairs and checked that it worked
Bambu H2C – 2 print heads and 7 nozzles
Scraper was the first print, followed by a poop chute (which was a great design)
Third print was an accessories box, which I am really pleased with
Keeping both printers to make sure I always have a printer available for me
Filament shelving coming soon as my collection is growing
Tournaments – three of them, Paddle, Squash and Tennis
Playing with people better than you, otherwise you will never improve
Learning from people who know more than you
When you get older and have experience people come to you
Being kind to newbies to help them, so they can give back in the future
Nearly a new season – what colour should we use next for our cover art? Leave us a comment or get in contact.
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Another new location – which do you prefer?
Discovering an empty room, since Taylor moved out
Best use of the new room
Upgraded guest room to a larger room and a double bed
Removed single bed and put up shelving to make a storage room
Solid surface needed for new 3D printer, along with places for filament
Visit to Ikea – asked Taylor to help in return for helping him
Lots of other house upgrades
Robovac and mop – new front door
Knock on effect from Taylor moving out
Take advantage of opportunities that present themselves
Saving money on fuel costs and soft water with one less person in the house
Updates & Projects
New door handles and toilet seat – new skill unlocked
New plugin for social proof and another for specialised shipping calculator
Reuse plugins on other sites and for future customers
Kyle’s recommended timer cube – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Productivity-Gravity-Countdown-Countup-Vibrate/dp/B0F9DM7G14/ref=asc_df_B0F9DM7G14
Focus for a set amount of time
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Busy season – lots of projects to finish
The Budget was this week
Managing expectations – Yodel delivery company
Two different delivery times on two different days missed – not even attempted
They hung up on me when I called them
Web chat was as useful as a chocolate spanner
Knock on effect for expectations
Looking at if I am not setting correct expectations in my company
Amazon are very good at failed deliveries
In the future I will probably pay slightly more to choose the company that doesn’t use Yodel
Quick Capture
Making notes quickly when you think of them
Syncing to Notion
Gordon finds pen and paper works best for him, but not always possible
3d printing solution for notes and thoughts
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Back at Gordon’s Home
New Bambu Lab 3d Printer
Talking about the H range of 3d printers
How to deal with filament purging
H2C introduced to combat this
Purge towers and induction heating
Duel heads, 6 swappable nozzles
Automatic Material System (AMS) requirements
Nozzle sizes
Pricing and features
Ordered TPU for the first time
Taylors first weeks living alone
New responsibilities, cooking, cleaning, washing, budgeting
Unexpected purchases
Saving goals
Air Fryer decisions
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A week off due to Taylor moving into his first flat.
Taylor bought his own flat after a six-month process and had to purchase and assemble nearly all new furniture.
The move temporarily reduced Taylor’s work output as he prioritised making the flat livable.
Taylor is debating whether to keep his office space versus working from home, balancing cost and social benefits.
Working at the David Lloyd gym has become harder for deep work due to social distractions.
Living alone adds responsibilities like cooking, cleaning, and maintenance that break up long desk sessions.
Energy and utility costs now factor into Taylor’s decision to work from home, office, or gym facilities.
Taylor plans to use the gym’s showers to save on heating and enjoy better water pressure than his flat’s setup.
A major focus is turning the flat into a smart home to automate chores and free time for deep work.
Taylor uses Home Assistant and smart devices like automated curtain closers tied to sunset schedules.
Security is a priority with a new alarm system to protect business equipment in the flat.
A smart lock with keypad access allows temporary codes for deliveries and remote unlocking by trusted contacts.
Gordon has been helping assemble extensive flat-pack furniture and recently invested in a drill to speed things up.
Taylor’s pre-move planning meant the layout and purchases closely matched his original vision.
The show will continue weekly on Fridays, potentially recording from various locations including the new flat.
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Most episode in this season so far?
Wispr Flow – speech transcription – https://wisprflow.ai
Easier to speak than to type – works better than Siri
Removes Ums and Ahhs, and is context aware
Smart by including people that have been mentioned (in Slack for example)
Apple Intelligence should be at this point by now, but isn’t
Microphone from the laptop doesn’t work when in clamshell mode, need an external mic
Elgato Wave Link – https://www.elgato.com/uk/en/s/wave-link
Wispr Flow has a free account with paid options with higher limits
Getting excited still
Home Assistant and 3D Printing
Doing something and failing, and then fixing it and the excitement when you have a success
Vacuum sealing not working, bought a more powerful unit which double seals
3D printing issue for the first layer – slowed things down and upped the temp a bit and it worked after a few failures
Home Assistant automation – presence sensors know if you are home or not – if I am away, the office doesn’t need to be heated
Using Cursor and AI to build Home Assistant automations and dashboards – https://cursor.com/home
Problem Solving is another things that excites me
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Putting Your Life on Hold
When other things happen
Shut down for a week long show
Resting for months at a time due to health issues
Income Protection and Critical Cover
Insurance for Income if you are unable to work
Cover for customers
We are able to take over each others customers if needed
Plan ahead if you know you have a break coming up
Plan ahead for unexpected breaks
Statamic CMS – built on Laravel
Scope of a project was bigger than WordPress would handle
Same to flat files
Stache caching
Open Source and Pro version available
Considering it for a personal site
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Only Newcomer’s Award at the local magic club
3D printed plate stand for Taylor Squash Plate award
SEO and the changes that are happening
A brief history of how SEO has worked in the past
Search engine results are now showing an AI summary first in the SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages)
Learning how to optimise for the AI is something to learn right now
Jump ahead of your competitors
Indexing all the content on your website and used as an answer in the AI
Are blog posts becoming more important with the advent of AI Search Engines?
Maybe just for AI rather than real people these days
Neil Patel is a good resource – https://neilpatel.com/
Do a search for your business to see what is shown in ChatGPT and Google
Recent Personal Tools
Cinema calendar script updated – removing film times that aren’t relevant to us
ChatGPT searching for this information? Testing in progress
Using Slack on the web script to hit a button…
Tampermonkey Extension – https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/tampermonkey/dhdgffkkebhmkfjojejmpbldmpobfkfo
Scanning website pages for contact numbers and email addresses
Change the YouTube duration time depending on the speed you are watching
Newsfeed Eradicator – blocks the newsfeed on social media to prevent being distracted
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Origins of our podcast
Home Assistant – https://www.home-assistant.io/
Using recent experience to make the experience better
Creating a universal notification hub
Using ChatGPT to create automations
Creating a list of entities for use with AI
AI can then use the correct entities in scripts and automations
Creating another list so AI can suggest automations
Creating a list and alerts to let me know when batteries need changing or recharging
Short term gratification is what everyone wants when they first start
Long term planning is what you need with proper frameworks
Rebuilding software around a framework
Experience lets you think further ahead to plan better
Creating global variables
Rebuilding personal website 4 times
Don’t spend time on over engineering when it’s not needed
Commenting on your code and processes
AI understands comments and helps to work with code the way you want it to
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Project design signed off after lots of work
Revisiting – organising and hosting our local community day
QR code would show them a live schedule, which could be changed on the day
Software that powers it has changed since last year and isn’t as user-friendly as it could be
Previously used https://Frontly.ai
Revisit software you don’t use very often and see what has changed and added
Update apps on your computer, especially ones you don’t use very often
Updating apps as a developer, making sure it is easy to use for existing users
Adding notes to explain where a feature has moved to
The solution is the opposite
Not having time for certain things and spending time on other things you shouldn’t
Deadlines work well for some people
Having a break to let your brain think things through on their own
Forcing a solution doesn’t always work well
Thinking through fully instead of jumping into a half formed idea
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Perspective
Training plan at the gym – restarting
Giving yourself a forfeit if you fail
Give yourself a motivation
“I only have an hour and a half”, or “I have an hour and a half”
Looking at the situation with a different perspective
Forfeit instead of reward
The monetary amount of the forfeit is all relative
Updating Software
iPhone OS updates are likely to work with all apps that are current
Backup first
Have enough free space on your device, over 50% charge and plugged in
AirPods updates happen when they do
Mac OS update procedure is different…
Backup first
Check if your essential apps will work on the new OS (maybe use a separate device)
Updating gives you new features and security updates
I always update as soon as I can
Running betas on main devices
Rebuild the whole computer software by wiping and re-installing everything
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Another week has passed
Stingers – after credits on a film
Wednesday night cinema trip
Automating the timings for leaving, travel, time to eat and then time to enter the screen to miss the adverts
Bonus extra content during and after credits – https://aftercredits.com
No API available but it does run on WordPress
That means there is a REST API
The request returns the information and that is then added to the automation calendar content so we know whether to wait at the end of the film or not
Using a proxy when required
Tado – new heating system – sent me an email
I have thermostats on different radiators to set the temp in that room only
They are changing their API requests limits from unlimited to 100 a day !!!
This is a huge change and I have just finished installing the system, which now won’t do what I wanted without paying a subscription
The Home Assistant community is not happy about this change – seems like a change of contract
New Apple Products released with new software coming next week
AirPods Pro’s new translation feature
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Essentialism – The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
Stop saying yes to please people
Setting core values to allow you to make decisions
Do you have the bandwidth to do things?
Declutter projects
Delete projects, no archiving
Saying yes to help people
Doing things you want, and enjoy doing
Family and Friends are possible exceptions
If you say no, then offer some alternatives – someone else for example
Admin – a tedious and boring job
Not the things you got into business to do
Outsource it if it makes financial sense
It always takes longer than you expect
Giving yourself some extra time
Sometimes there are issues and admin to do
Hardly ever does anyone ever complain if you start a project early
Automate admin if you can
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Back from holidays
Renovating my Gordon’s Magic box of tricks
Jezo Bond took on the project, vinyl graphics printed by Rob Gaffney
Went to see Jezo perform at a holiday park in front of a real audience
Can be a difficult audience, need to grab their attention
When collecting, the box was amazing
Brand new rubber wheels, with locks on the back ones
Painted, sanded, painted and repeat
Felt fabled on the inside of the box as well as on the top
Contact Jezo for more information – https://www.jezo.co.uk
The sport – Padel – like tennis and squash
Using your skills for different things
Building smaller web apps
Padel uses racket ball skills in a different way
Thinking differently to use existing skills
Entertainment can be a lonely existence
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Last episode before holiday
How Gordon research’s
Look at what I use a product for and what I want to use one for in the lifetime of a future upgraded version
What is the product capable of, what do competitors versions have, what features are the most important to me.
Mid range is normally a good place to start
YouTube is a great way to research, brands and models
Reviews are also useful from people you trust
Learning everything you can about your new products
Consistency – mindful of what is going on, deadlines and work to be done
Putting the time and energy in to be consistent
Keep communication going with colleagues
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Voicepal (phone app) – Ghostwriter in your pocket
Helps to rid yourself of writers block
Transcribes your verbal thoughts and then asks questions using AI
Learns from examples of your writing style
How strict or free do you want it to be
Creating blog posts to your website is great for the search engines
Getting ideas down and in a usable form
Making the most of downtime
Banners replaced recently
Box needs to be refurbished
Sanded down, filled and then painted
Can only be done when I am not using the box – for example when I am on holiday
New rubber wheels with locks
Vinyl print on the front from friend of the channel Rob Gaffney – https://customshirtsandmore.co.uk/
It’s all very exciting to have the box made better than ever
Find time when you are not using something to get it looked at
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Planting seeds in the minds of your customers
Busy week performing as it is the end of the school year
Moved from December to Summer over the last few years
Sowing the seed for another show next year – pointing out the positives
Performing at one child’s birthday, 4 years running
Making a suggestion of what we could do next year that is different and exciting
Making sure the last day of term is a good one
Not a hard sell, but a seed they can think about
Explaining care plan at the time of quoting
Including 2x 30 minute tasks a month into the care plan
It’s good enough…
Saving yourself a headache down the road
Investing in a tool that may not be good for the future, and may be difficult to move away from
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Visiting Jake Woods in Ireland Main platform is WordPress, but also a little bit of Shopify WordPress is open source and easier to work with Which is better – depends on what you are selling Shopify allows only 3 variants of a product Started in Hospitality, but saw the possibilities of the Internet Self Taught ... Read more
Taking Time Off Watching F1 at Silverstone Laptop hardly got used, no work was done First time podium for Hülkenberg Great infrastructure for getting people in and out Systems in place for emergencies Feeding huge numbers of people Celebrities attended including YouTuber Colin Furze Staying Curious New 3D Printer – Bambu X1C Improvements in technology, ... Read more
New 3D printer accessories arrived Printing infill patterns Tidying Up Loose Ends – last 20% of a project takes 80% of the time New systems in place to track and complete projects Checklists to make sure everything is done New workflow with new projects Brand Image update Changed from Magical Entertainment to Gordon’s Party Piece ... Read more
A very expensive week New roller banners – replacing with good quality ones New bunny hutch to replace one that is nearly falling to bits New MacBook Pro M4 – rewarding himself for working hard Raycast – https://www.raycast.com/ – your shortcut to everything A really useful application for finding things and information quickly Adding your ... Read more
WordCamp Europe 2025 Showing off WP Extended Putting faces to names from forums Mini celebrity in a small niche Talking to vendors Site Mait – WordPress AI Voice Agent – https://sitemait.com/ WP Umbrella – manage multiple websites themes, plugins and so much more – https://wp-umbrella.com/ Integration with Patch Stack – https://patchstack.com/ Drunk nerdy people The ... Read more
Our episode recorded in Basel, Switzerland (no mic so sound is not as good) WordCamp EU 2025 – largest of the WordCamps in the world Networking and meeting up with friends WP Entended – https://wpextended.io/ Functionality that should be in core – No conflicts between modules Free and Pro versions available Conventions are really tiring, ... Read more
Bank Holiday Weekend setting up Home Assistant Automations Lights on and off in office Playing Apple TV will dim the lights and turn them back up on pause Wordcamp Europe 2025 – Basel, Switzerland – https://europe.wordcamp.org/2025/ Talks, workshops, networking, looking around Basal and the Alps Might pre-record an episode next week at Wordcamp Looking forward ... Read more
Home Assistant – Home Automation Discussion on Home Assistant and its relevance for Taylor’s flat Purchasing and setting up the Home Assistant Yellow Details about the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 Experience with the component issue and customer service from Pi Hut – http://thepihut.com Cost analysis of setting up the Home Assistant system Hardware and ... Read more
Trix – Children’s Entertainer Convention Meeting and networking with other professionals I was in Stoke on Trent from Sunday through to Wednesday Seeing people you only see once a year – stopping and chatting Lectures, Talks and Shops Chatting is what I find the most useful and interesting – Brainstorming 4 hour drive each way ... Read more
Gordon performed in a VE Day performance at The Magic Circle this week Wordsearch Game Creation Generate a wordsearch that is customised with certain words like a birthday childs name AI Code Creation using an app called Cursor – http://cursor.com WordPress Local, creates a local install of WordPress so you can built quickly without needing ... Read more
Frustrating Things… Very annoying especially when you have no control Waiting for a new battery pack for devices like my phone Found it cheaper elsewhere after the order so cancelled the order and re-ordered Lost in the post TWICE Royal Mail appears to have been the culprit by losing or not tracking the packages correctly ... Read more
5 year anniversary for This Week With News: The chatbot on the website will now show you which episode content is in. Expense Tracking – looking to move out and getting finances sorted Subscriptions that get forgotten Figuring out existing subscriptions and new subscriptions / monthly expenses that are coming soon Annual payments, like TV ... Read more
Special Guests: Marc P Summers & Leo Summers Travel with family Tracking flights with Jet Lovers app Training Leo to find his way around an airport Maths – using numbers for anything you want Fibonacci as a middle name No limit to Maths Problem solving is the fun part The Hedgehog Principal – https://worldofwork.io/2019/07/the-hedgehog-concept/ Anything ... Read more
EPISODE 200 Special Guests – Marc P Summers and Caroline Ainslie Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro for a second time at the age of 64 in January 2026 Looking for more people to join Caroline’s team Using your skills to achieve success 20th anniversary of Bubbly Maths Oldest person to climb Kilimanjaro was 89 Success mentality – ... Read more
Special Episode leading up to our 200th episode next week We have guests, Marc P Summers, Automated Marketing Agency and Caroline Ainslie, Bubbly Maths AI in Business – The Portrait Agency – looking for high value customers using AI to check an estimate of their home address house value Then checks with AI to see ... Read more
Embracing the Unusual Magic Show and Magic Workshop Surprise Birthday Party – he was blindfolded Working with another entertainer Also a party in a marquee in a scouting field 1.5 hours straight with no break Used my EcoFlow power for sound and electrics – Use link for 10% off – https://www.ecoflow.com/uk/referral-rewards?inviteCode=ALLJXEKDBP If you think you ... Read more
Next Steps when hitting a brick wall Stepping away to think about things Or breaking down the problem into smaller chunks Projects taking longer than they should because you have to think and decide on the way forward Making notes about processes that you don’t do very often Keeping in contact with customers Difficult when ... Read more
UI Design – Building a booking system Adding in travel time as a buffer Making it easy for customers to see what is available Making it into a plugin to make it easy to maintain Having the power to say No… Not capacity at the moment, so I have to say no Kyle Van Deusen ... Read more
Trouble waking up with an alarm… Habit of turning the alarm off with your voice without realising Alarmy App – challenges to solve before the alarm will turn off Scan a barcode, take 20 steps, submit a photo, memorise the pattern of dots etc. Another alert a few minutes later – making sure you are ... Read more
Deepseek has been causing waves – https://www.deepseek.com/ Self Assessment Tax Submission Digital Tax – talked about for many years, not implemented yet Pro’s and Con’s to the new system Making sure you get your accounts in early You need time to save for the payment, so submitting it early is in your best interest Submitting ... Read more
Splitting up projects into manageable tasks – quite time consuming to do Action Hub – a web app designed to do this automatically Paste specs and notes and return in JSON format the various tasks which are then added to Motion via the API Ability to set time and bulk edit as required before exporting ... Read more
Busy week with Pantomime. Robin Hood – https://www.sdclub.org.uk Filming the pantomime Two cameras – fixed wide shot and a close up Technical issues on the first night of recording Two groups of children on alternate nights so the footage was very important Master and then second video with other groups performances Setting it up and ... Read more
New Season – Season 6 started last week New colour – Yellow, for this season. All graphics for the podcasts, vidcasts and website have been updated with the new colour Manage Your Focus – creating tasks that need to be done Getting work, writing a project list, create the tasks and then do them Context ... Read more
Happy New Year New Season, New Colour Formula 1 Exhibition and Guys and Dolls Oura Ring – https://ouraring.com/ Track heart rate, Activity, Sleep and more Tracking while watch is charging API available for personal website content 75 Day Challenge update New Years Resolutions !! Finish personal projects that have been started More reading this year ... Read more
Our seasonal video to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com Facebook: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/facebook Youtube: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/youtube * Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our links which help towards the costs involved ... Read more
This Week With – Season 5, going on Season 6 Reflection on last 5 years Why we started This Week With Keeping a record of what has happened Transcription and languages If you get anything from our episodes, let us know New Highlight Colour – leave a comment with your suggestions Thank you to Taylor ... Read more
Subscriptions Meal Prep to eat healthier Sent to you once a week on a Sunday Using subscriptions to save you time or do a job you don’t enjoy Car cleaned once a month Audit subscriptions every now and then – check you still need or want them December is quieter this year than it was ... Read more
Winter has definately arrived Christmas Cards – branded for The Creative Tinker – sending them to clients Keep the company in the minds of the clients Quite expensive to do – but a nice thing to do Cost of postage is huge at the moment Sending them through a service to make it easier to ... Read more
Back again after a week off Final Cut Pro update v11 Accounting – a necessary evil HMRC bringing everyone in line to the tax year Digital tax due soon – submitting tax every three months? It is really difficult and not clear – I had two, two hour calls to HMRC to find out where ... Read more
FACE The Podcast – for Family and Children’s Entertainers Round Table works really well Asked the question “What is the best thing about conventions” Chatting with like minded people was the biggest answer Talking to other business owners, who are not your competition is very beneficial Bounce ideas off them, get inspiration, how to deal ... Read more
Big week for Apple Announcements Three in total – first was iMac with M4 chip – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaB7nCdId0Y Next was Mac mini M4 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtFm9n3NVzE Then last there was the new MacBook Pro with M4 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0cmfY7qdmY New minimum memory of 16GB on all these new machine iOS 18.1 and Mac OS 15.1 (along with other ... Read more
75 Day Challenge Slightly modified to suit Taylor If you miss an activity or a day then you start over Physical and Mental Discipline Not about getting fit, but more about making yourself better We will come back to this and see how Taylor did Setting yourself a challenge will always improve you Use things ... Read more
Busy week as always – drama teaching, migrating sites to xcloud.host, clearing emails UPS using difficult to get to shops as a hub if you are not in Trying something new… Mango Tango – something new Food for the dog – cutting the food into quarters from factory Getting feedback on whether your customers like ... Read more
Making Notes to remember what was spoken about Write out action points Legal reasons Make sure they make sense when going back in a few months time Making notes when you think of them Expanding on the notes while you remember the details Using Apple Watch Voice Memo for this Record call and transcribe with ... Read more
iPhone 16 Pro arrived safely
Protecting Your Investment
Buying a bag for Ecoflow River 2 Pro to prevent damage
Looking after equipment to prolong their usefulness
2 year old iPhone was pretty much spotless
Padded camera bags
Not lending cables to people
Putting things in pouches when travelling
Good quality bags – they are not all made well
Peak Design bags are great – https://uk.peakdesign.com/
Lifetime Product Warranty: If any part of your Peak Design product becomes non-functioning or defective, we will repair it, send out replacement parts or replace it with a fully-functioning item in the same or better condition.
Everything gets put away before the job is complete
Protecting Your Time
Motion Calculator – https://www.usemotion.com/pricing
Projects stalling for more than 3 weeks
Adding to your Terms and Conditions
Ways to contact clients in advance of the 3 weeks
Being aware of what your time is being spent on
Choosing when to give your time for free
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
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Gordon went on holiday
WordPress drama
AI Moving forward
Appsumo – https://www.appsumo.com
Pismo – https://pismo.ai/
Similar but different to Apple Intelligence which is built into the Apple product OS’s
Pismo – Desktop app to select text in any application and perform AI functions with it
For example, translate, improve writing, fix spelling and grammar issues, shorten, summarise, set friendly or professional tone etc.
You can also add your own prompts, which is the big difference
IKI – https://iki.ai
Upload pdf files and then query the contents using AI
Also allows transcription of YouTube videos (not working at the time of recording)
Use it for technical documents like manuals
AI is leaping forward, but there are serious potential issues that need to be looked at like generative AI art
Will report back in the future
Consistency
Struggled with consistency when comparing every day to the perfect day
This is not sustainable, as you can feel like you failed right at the beginning of day if something goes wrong
Things take longer than you think
Experience will help to know how long things take
Better to compare your day to an average day – it will normally be either slighter better or slightly worse
The gap between the two is much smaller
Getting into the right frame of mind if things are going well
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
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iPhone 16 and Apple Intelligence information, new watches and AirPods
Exploring Your Industry
Showing starter sites to other professional
We all live in our own bubble, not knowing much about what’s outside of it
Other people using different tools and plugins that we don’t know about
This is what makes the industry exciting and interesting
Finding new communities
Different workflows for different people
List of AI tools
A New Job for Gordon
In addition to the jobs Gordon already has
1 hour a week – teaching drama for Drama Kids – https://www.dramakids.co.uk/
Very specific teaching method and curriculum
Studio Assistant helping to manage the class
Learning to be a teacher
Seeing children week after week with different content, as opposed to different children with the same content
Safeguarding and First Aid training
Seizing a new opportunity
Lots of really important skills learnt from attending drama classes
Adding to your skillset
Slightly outside your comfort zone
Quest for Discovery
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
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Audacity update – https://www.audacityteam.org/
Word of Mouth advertising
Best form of advertising for Gordon
People like to recommend you if you do a good job
40th birthday party – led to a children’s summer school show 3 days later, booked on the morning of the show
Website Design recommendations
People trust their friends
Recommendation between companies for business
Reinforcing the good decision
Can you get Word of Mouth referrals work for you?
Workflow Templates – pre-defined template
Lists of tasks and stages, with the ability to set blockers
Prevents forgetting any steps
Can be customised as required
Great use case would be when working in a team
Auto create your calendar with tasks on
Use Motion – https://www.usemotion.com/
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
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Comparing Products
Missing a feature that Taylor wanted in his email client
Ranking Mail apps with pro’s and con’s
Action, Waiting and Read Folders, to get down to inbox zero
Using Actionscripts
Mailbutler as an add-on
Canary or Spark are the alternatives
Snooze emails to hide them
Apple iPhone event is September 9th
Mac OS may be released at the same time as the iPhone
Contacting people for the last quarter – seasonal outreach
Missing the best time to start a campaign
Christmas is busy for entertainers
Business quiet – work on the website and improve it
Business busy – work on your website as you have lots of traffic to test changes
Work out your seasons and automate
What is the campaign going to look like – email, mail, lumpy mail?
Put dates into the diary
Working on a big project
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
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Business Focus – finding out what you enjoy doing
Taking off Graphic Design as a service which Taylor didn’t enjoy doing
Adding services means you could possibly become a business that doesn’t specialise
Downside is if your niche goes away or has a problem you can have no business
Look at different scenarios to make sure you have plans in place
Niching down can be a particular service or a type of business
Take on the work you want to do
Managing your resources
Washing Machine problems – we had to purchase a new one
Digital copy of the manual goes somewhere everyone has access to it – I use Evernote – https://www.evernote.com/
All letters are digitised and uploaded as well
Lecture notes and books as pdf files go into an indexable catalog system – I use Evernote and also Eagle – https://eagle.cool/
OwlOCR to change pdfs into searchable pdfs – https://www.owlocr.com/
Build your own document manager – indexes all uploads and allows for searching
It’s great to have documents on your hard drives, but if you can’t find what you need quickly, is there any point having the documents?
Using aliases to quickly find things like apps and folders
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
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AI Updates
ChatGPT and Midjourney were the kings
Claude, Gemini and Flex and up and coming and over-taking ChatGPT
Chatbase.co chatbot on the website
Moved over to Claude
Check it out by clicking on the chatbot on the bottom right of the website
Search will find content, but won’t summarise like AI will
Getting ideas from GPT
Keeping up with AI is difficult as it is moving so fast
Framing Questions to your clients
A really clever way to change the language you use when handing over work
Recording a video to explain decisions and why they were made, to clients
Easy way to make a change in what you say
No room for the page title
7 word email that will make huge conversions for you – watch the video to find out what they are
Giving customer an incentive to come back and buy from you
The Admin Bar (TAB) – https://www.facebook.com/groups/theadminbar
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
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Out of sync issue with last weeks episode
Powerpack – portable battery
My lead acid battery not working correctly
Previously bought from Halfords, who no longer stock these devices
Replacing the battery was an option, but they are also no longer made
Working out the requirements – take your devices and see what wattage they require, then multiple the totals by the number of hour you need and that is the Wh you will require.
Ecoflow – sign up for a 10% discount – https://www.ecoflow.com/uk/referral-rewards?inviteCode=APOM2NQY
Ecoflow River 2 Pro – https://uk.ecoflow.com/products/river-2-pro-portable-power-station
Technology of battery is iFePO4 battery – 60 minutes charging time – 768Wh
Drove to Hampshire Generators to pick one up
Smaller and more powerful, with a much better display for information
Sorted it all out ready for my show on Wednesday
Giving yourself cues
Adding snippets to Snippetclub
Making it easy for yourself
Having things ready to go
Only deal with paperwork once
Streamlining your Workflow
Barrier to writing is less
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
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Strange week for weather
New version of WPExtended.io released
Making space for 60 bags of salt
Finding things that I knew I had but didn’t know where they were
Selling Photography – set up a website using WooCommerce
Bulk import using a csv file (which ChatGPT helped create)
Set up a deal, so that for every 4 photos you buy, the cheapest is free
Then added in Digital copies as an option after requests from customers
Anyone who bought prints got the digital versions as well
Was it worth the effort?
3.5 -5 days worth of work, plus the website
Would I do it again? Variety of work was good, and I got to work with a team, rather than being on my own
Looking at new opportunities and analysing it after to see if it is something that is worthwhile
Monthly Business Review
Create an overview of how the month has gone – finance, targets, compared with goals
Reconcile and Review regularly
Top level as well as granular level
Year Progress on X – https://x.com/year_progress
Compare data against least month and the same month in previous years
Plan for it with data to guide your decisions
Spring clean for your business
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
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Qualatex Balloons are no more
Parent company have gone bust
No more twisting balloons which will affect entertainers and balloon decorators
Buying in bulk while they are still available
Rubber and latex do deteriorate over time
Looking for a new manufacturer
Thicker latex, can I blow them up by mouth?
A part of my live show involves balloon twisting, and inflating by mouth
Do you have any supplies that you would be in trouble if they went bust?
Have a look at alternatives so you have a plan B
Software is a good example of finding replacements
Setting up processes for a team
Making sure change logs are up to date
Keeping track on the codebase and communication
Working in teams experience
Working on your own means you make all the decisions which isn’t always the best way forward
Clarity over progress
Creating pre-update checklists
Updating documentation and screenshots
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
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Strange weather this week
WP Extended – wpextended.io
Taylor is now part of the team behind the plugin, along with Dan Barrett and Sumit Singh
Lots of modules – duplicating posts, re-order posts, SMTP, blocking admin user names, admin customiser and so on
Free and pro versions available
Watch Kyle and Jonathan go through the plugin and discuss it –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r72I2rlS1Pk
Maintaining your Equipment
Annual use of certain equipment – Portable battery to power amplification
They need constant charging, even if not being used
Current one isn’t powering everything I need anymore
Lesson learnt: Make sure you unplug AA battery chargers when using a battery pack inverter
Looking for a replacement battery
Checking power required
WordPress 6.6 has been released
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
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Long weekend taking photos
Tech Rehearsal, then portrait photos, next group and so on
Then I took photos during the show
Then everything started all over for the next show.
3 shows on the Saturday and 2 on the Sunday
Then a week of editing over 2000 photos – cropping and colour balancing
Workflow for editing included adding custom actions to save time before specific edits
Photos came out great
Added them in bulk into a WordPress website using WooCommerce, thanks to Taylor
Watermarked, small size images as previews to prevent copyright infringement
Using an off-the-shelf system didn’t work at all
Orders will hopefully come in from now…
Making Connections / Networking
People asking for paid help after doing the same thing for free previously to help the community
You will attract work if you are helpful to people
Being seen as the expert
A great form of marketing
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
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New workplace – feels like more is getting done, but food bills have gone up!
Daily Standup – tell others what you did yesterday and what you plan to do today
Finding a friend if you are self-employed
Making a tick list between the two of you and tick them off as the day goes on
Good way to keep up daily accountability
Bigger companies do this, but big groups can be quite boring
Friend of the podcast Marc Summers had a system where employees posted to Slack what they had done that day
New Opportunities – photograph a drama school weekend of shows to offer prints to the parents
Do you have the skills to do this? Have you done all the parts of the job before, but maybe not together?
Creating a system for selling prints – we can do this, but nothing in place yet
Lots of work required to be able to take on this job, and I can then decide if I wish to do it again
Depends a lot on the sales I think – which are affected by the pricing and the quality of the photos
Dipping my toe in the water will give me insights and give me knowledge of whether I do this again
Learning on the job is not a great idea for a paying customer – fine for friends and family though
Facebook issues – watch on YouTube for the time being, or listen to the podcast
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
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Splitting up your environments
Work, exercise and relaxing places
Difficult to get things done when the location isn’t conducive
Co-Working office nearby – trialing for 6 months
Gym, Office and then relaxing at home
Look after your best customers
80/20 rule
80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers
Deal with requests from the 20% as quickly as you can
Repeat booking for birthday parties
Make your customer raving fans
Sending a gift to someone who gave you referrals
Make their day – they will remember the gift
Google Podcast has closed down
Pocket Casts is our preferred podcast platform – https://pocketcasts.com
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
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No episode last week as we were away
Wordcamp Europe 2024
A conference for WordPress users, developers, etc.
This year was in Turin, Italy
Contributors day – around 700 people working on making WordPress better
Themes, new pattern, and accessibility checking, design inspiration
First day, opening remarks, open source talk, workshops
Replays available (see if you can see us in the audience):
Talking to sponsors
Lots of swag available
Spending time with other professionals was a highlight
2600 people present at the event
Venue was Lingotto – the old Fiat factory – there is a race track on the roof!
Networking was the highlight
Hi to Jake and Emily, WPManage Ninja Team and Dan, developer of https://wpextended.io
Next year is in Basel, Switzerland – https://europe.wordcamp.org/2025/
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
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Setting Yourself Up For Success
Going to the gym means it’s going to be a good day
Routine will be affected when away
Taking gym stuff and using a local gym when away
Wordcamp 2024 – Turin, Italy
Meeting people I know for the first time
Keynote at the end of the event possibly
Exhibition floor will be interesting
Meeting up with the WP Manage Ninja team – https://wpmanageninja.com/
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
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Outside help for your own business
Personal projects designs (Thank you Jake)
No budget put aside, or time to do certain things
Objective viewpoint – plus it will get done as it’s customer work for the outside help
Investment in your business
Collaboration works really well
Talking through magic acts and web design with outside help
New personal website coming soon, as well as a customer website – watch this space
Your Workspace
Office is important for a home business
Clear out needed – when it gets messy
Things pile up and need dealing with
Working through paperwork / receipts
When working on a project, other things get put aside
Which are you – Tidy Desk and Inbox Zero person
Or someone who lets things build up around them
Clearing your workspace once a day
Dealing with emails if they will take 2 minutes or less
Leaving things out mean they haven’t been dealt with yet
Set reminders to flag things that need doing
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
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Children’s Entertainer’s Convention in Stoke on Trent
Alarms that didn’t go off, phone and Alexa
Lost confidence – re-evaluate the process
Phones with no battery charge will also not go off…
Check to make sure your systems are working
Check backups, make sure they are working
Fail to plan, or plan to fail
Alton Towers on a day off (very wet day)
Better understanding of people of days out
Out of office processes
The business still needs to run even if I am away
Plan for no signal – find wifi
Customers need your urgent attention as a small business
Team members need a communication method with you
Test the system, and have a backup
Google Podcasts are shutting down – move to a new platform
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
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Hi to Luke from Japan
Chat GPT-4o has been released – https://openai.com/index/hello-gpt-4o/
Responds to video and photos as well as audio chat
It will chat to you in a very realistic and nateral way
Lots of video examples on the link – like AI talking to AI
Interacting with the world around it
4o is faster, cheaper and give better responses
Will Apple announce AI functionality for their devices at WWDC – https://developer.apple.com/wwdc24/
Downloadable ChatGPT app for the Mac now available
Like-minded people
Collaborating with these people make things much better in the end
Best practises – get a combined general consensus
Pro’s and Con’s from different perspectives
Fresh eyes will also give you insights
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New version of Generate Blocks – Classes system added
New Starter Site build needed
Creating default pages, and setting up default styles
Much easier to build new websites once this is complete
Great to prevent “missing” things like a 404 page
Get professionals to do the job
Time consuming when creating but will save time in the future
Always check to see if there are better ways of doing things
Talking to your customers in language they will understand
Don’t use jargon to people who are not used to these terms
B2C language should be consistent across all communications, website, quotes, documentation, literature etc.
B2B might be different, it might not.
Translating from lay-person to developer using specific language
Spell it out to people if there is doubt they will understand certain language
Always lean towards benefits when talking to customers
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
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Facebook end groups API access
This allowed us to post our videos automatically on our Facebook Group using Restream – and now we need a workaround.
We now have to create a Facebook event, which gives us a streaming key which we can then use in Restream
It does allow us to embed our live videos on our website should we wish to do so
Stream issues last week with the Facebook Group workaround – missed the beginning of the video
Frontly.ai – No Code website builder – all content comes from Google Sheets
Display and filter the data in difference ways
It is continually getting updates
Creating our own “Software List” for web apps we own
AI builder which builds the basis of the app for you from your text prompt
Developers can make or break a software solution
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
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Visit to Budapest – the end of 12 Months of Coffee
The Starbucks mug collection is still growing
Future Planning – creating a new starter site
Generate Blocks now has classes
The starter site needs to be flexible for different types of websites and tech stacks
Lots of work to create – but it’s a one off task with ongoing tweaks
It’s very individual, but could be used as a basis for others
Does this apply to you with any repetitive tasks
Documenting is really useful
Dropbox – https://www.dropbox.com/
Online storage and backup service
Third parties can change their rules anytime they like
Do you rely on a third party too much?
Check to see if these services are still relevant to you – is there anything else available that would be better?
Vimeo alternative – Adilo – https://adilo.com/
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Time Management
Set Daily Goals / Todo lists
Work expands to fit the time available
Set your own deadlines so tasks don’t drag on
Use your time wisely
Do the things that are important first
Make sure to have down time
Prioritise your tasks
Decide what you are doing tomorrow, this evening
Give jobs to busy people
Scheduling
Getting ready for the next day, the night before
Set yourself up to succeed
Your energy changes as the week progresses
Accountability is so important
Get yourself accountability partners
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No Such Thing as a Fish – great podcast – check it out – https://www.nosuchthingasafish.com/
3D Printing – printing objects
PLA+ is our choice of material
Adhesion had been a problem in the past
Slower first layer and a higher temp fixed it
Remote holder – designed and printed
Very useful for creating replacement parts, and useful objects
AirTag holder – Toothpaste holder
Making gifts and presents for customers
Artillery Sidewinder – https://www.artillery3d.com/
Data Visualisation
Display flight arcs on a map
12 Months of Coffee visualisation
Adding extra data for flights
Cross referencing data, getting key metrics
Demo video of the Flight animation – https://share.zight.com/wbuBnAp9
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Clocks went forward – we lost an hour.
Day off on Sunday at Thorpe Park
WordPress 6.5 released
Updating is normally a good plan – however you need to be aware that things can break with updates
Make sure you have time set aside “just in case”
I had a few issues that needed fixing and it took a whole day to do so
Add website monitors to both front end and back end so you know immediately when things break
Check your sites on a regular basis – make sure forms and links are working
Being Self Critical of your own work
Fine details make the difference and take the longest
Consistency makes a great design
Your standards should always be setting the bar higher
Older work will soon look “not good enough”
Look at your work and sometimes you have to say “Is it good enough”
It’s not always good to take this attitude, but sometimes it saves a lot of time and wasted effort
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Mobbin – https://mobbin.com/
Screenshots for each step taken on websites and apps
Thousands of screenshots available – paid plan required.
See how companies are designing and take inspiration from them
How are visitors being trained by other websites?
Using Professionals to do jobs that you don’t have the skills for
Their experience is worth paying for rather than doing it badly yourself
It could work out more expensive by time or money by not using a professional
Asking yourself questions – Do I have the time? – Will the quality be better in the same time? – Is it a job you want to do?
Keeping up with the rules and information related to that task
Freeing up brain-space
Do the things yourself that you can do well, and get professionals to do the things you don’t
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Travelling for 12 Months of Coffee, this time in Lisbon, Portugal
You Are Here, Starbucks Mug collection
Dashcam thoughts – Protect your assets, my car in this case
Wolfbox G900, Rearview mirror replacement – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GErdXMITK6c
Touchscreen, SD recording, Front and Rear camera
Recording while parked as well
Making sure other people don’t affect my business
A clean car in good condition, looks good when you turn up at customers venues
Coat-hangers !!!
Consistency matters
You know what you are going to get – service, buildings, wifi etc.
Duplicating equipment (cables etc.) so you never forget something you need
Steve Jobs being consistent with what he wore
Save your brain power for important decisions
Hangers all different sizes – buying 50 gave consistency
Very useful design
Do your customers know what to expect from you?
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We have both been away, but we are now back…
Trip to Las Vegas, helping on a booth, then went to Texas to spend time with a friend
Trip to Blackpool Magic Convention – 4,500 magicians take over the whole of Blackpool
Hotels and B&B’s everywhere you look
Industry event – talking with other professionals, learning and watching them
Mac King’s full Las Vegas show – https://www.mackingshow.com/
Fantastic comedy show – catch it next time you are in Las Vegas
Cube Off when Taylor was younger
Make sure you are at your Industry Event so you can see what everyone else is doing
WP Fusion – https://wpfusion.com/ – connecting plugins and services together
30 Minute meeting to talk about what you are trying to do – picking their brains, knowledge and experience
The best ways to do certain tasks
Package pricing
Giving you another point of view
You don’t know, what you don’t know.
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Restream – https://restream.io/
Stream a video signal to more than one platform at the same time
YouTube and Facebook Group for example
Other platforms that are available include X, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, Twitch, Amazon Live
Downside is that it takes a short period to connect to the platforms and you lose the first few seconds
You can embed a stream on your website before going live using the studio option
Schedule Live Streams and also recorded videos
Stream feed can come from OBS – https://obsproject.com/
Use different brands
Consolidate comments from different platforms
Studio option instead of OBS
There is a free plan available
Away next week, so no episode next week, possibly one using Zoom the following week.
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Chrome Incognito Mode isn’t secret – https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2024/01/18/new-google-chrome-update-warning-for-windows-iphone-and-android/
Trip to Barcelona for January
Beautiful City – added to Starbucks Mug collection
Google calendar Integration has been done – working on this for a friend for a while
Issues with Authentication with Google
Solution to allow the website visitor to see dynamic availability for making a booking – had to take into account travel time, setting up time, packing time, a buffer time, and traffic!
Looking at adding in Apple Calendar to this solution, but it’s not easy due to lack of an API
February and March trips are all booked
New Tech – DJI Mic 2 – https://www.dji.com/mic-2
Osmo Pocket 3 – https://www.dji.com/osmo-pocket-3
Allowing two people to have their own mics for recording a podcast or interview
Connects by bluetooth, but only one to any single device (except the Osmo Pocket 3 which is designed for two)
Their solution is to have a receiver that sends the two mics into the device you are recording onto
Will report back on this once I have had a chance to test them.
Leave your cure for annoying coughs in the comments
For those wondering, the audio came from our regular Logitec Wave Mic on this occasion.
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It’s been cold !!!!
Finishing off the Panto Video Editing – Issues with video capture
2024 Goals
Life Slots – imaginary slots that you fill with things from your life
Prevents you starting new things without finishing previous things
Once the slots are full you then have to make space before adding something new
Different Slots – Business, Health, Personal
Tracking and measuring using “Notion”
Using 90% completion is a success for that month
Raspberry Pi – tiny little computer board
Loads of accessories available
Retropie – Emulating old games – https://www.arcadepunks.com/1tb-retro-gaming-raspberry-pi-4-image-retro-power-edition-from-rick-dangerous/
Meta Quest – https://www.meta.com/gb/quest/
Magic Mirror – using a Raspberry Pi – https://www.raspberrypi.com/tutorials/how-to-build-a-super-slim-smart-mirror/
Photoframe Slideshow
Raspberry Pi 5 – https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-5/
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Full On Pantomime this week – Dick Whittington 2024
Notion App – https://www.notion.so/
A Workspace for Wiki, Docs and Projects
All connected together
Ultimate Brain – https://thomasjfrank.com/brain/
Quick Capture – brain dump for ideas
Filtering of tests is very good
Very powerful – check it out
Free account available with limits – subscription also available
Resources – Hard Drives in particular
Managing drives that aren’t in constant use
Filming Pantomime and storing / editing footage – lots of data to manage
Archival storage is slow but cheaper, editing drives need to be FAST (SSD is best)
X9 Pro SSD is my preferred option currently – Amazon
Portability and keeps everything together
Watching video from my NAS does work as read speed is fast enough
Slo Mo Guys Petabyte NAS – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHVSoJDZ06U
New camera – iPhone 15 Pro
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New Season – Season 5 New colour is Red… Goals for 2024 – Reflecting on goals from last year Goal 1 – Improve Work / Life Balance Goal 2 – Scaling up the business – make once, sell many times The audience dictated the product sales method Building trust Continue 12 Months of Coffee – ... Read more
Just wishing you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year Thank you for joining us during 2023 Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com Facebook: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/facebook Youtube: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/youtube * Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any ... Read more
Trip to a very snowy Prague Pacing Yourself At Christmas Lots more shows booked during the weekdays at Christmas Make sure to leave time between appointments to give yourself breathing time Setting boundaries to take time off if you work for yourself Training your customers by managing expectations Don’t burn yourself out Rize.io Tag and ... Read more
Back after 2 weeks of no shows Visit to Belfast – slower pace of life What do you think the next accent colour for Season 5 will be? Hazel Mac App – https://www.noodlesoft.com/ Organise your downloads folder – or indeed any folder on your computer Run Automations based on file types – rename files etc. ... Read more
Accessability Colour Matrix Colour Ratios that can be used together Dynamically created pulling in the colours being used by Generate Press Tutorial available to members of Snippetclub – https://snippetclub.com/dynamic-accessibility-colour-matrix-with-generatepress/ Showing the custoemrs a grid means you can show why certain colour choices don’t work together DJI Pocket Osmo 3 Purchase – https://store.dji.com/uk/product/osmo-pocket-3 Great for low ... Read more
Apple surprise announcement, releasing the M3 chip and new Mac Book Pro’s Accessibility – for websites Check your website to make sure it is accessible for all users Link descriptions – image alt. text – checking colour contrast Wave – Checker – https://wave.webaim.org/ Auto-create Alternative Image Text – alttext.ai Accessibility YouTube Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILkXz-PYJxM Informed ... Read more
PTSN is being shut down in December 2025 Copper lines will no longer work ChessICT – https://chessict.co.uk/ – Suggested SOGEA – Single Order Generic Ethernet Access Broadband without a telephone line VOIP telephone lines Promises huge speed increases 80 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up 5 year contract !! – who knows what will happen ... Read more
Taylor’s Trip to Macedonia 12 Months of Coffee Differences in working over there Not a lot of English speaking Macedonians Spending time with colleagues Balloon Twisting website – https://www.balloontwisting.co.uk Drop-shipping Balloons Problems areas are – no stock for an extended period – having to pack orders myself If your supplier goes away, then you have ... Read more
Brand new set !!! Taking Time Off – we are in Alton Towers Don’t go Groundhog Day… Working 7 days a week isn’t a great way to be productive Spent time in the Water Park, and 9 Hole, 18 Hold Mini Golf Rollercoaster Restaurant for dinner Giving yourself some time and space you can think ... Read more
Selling things on Facebook marketplace
Delivering Designs
Recording a video for explanation purposes
Be specific on what feedback you want
Customers can get in your own way when they look at designs
Link to the newsletter – https://designbread.com/mockup-mistakes/
Accounts
The more you do the cheaper it will be, so create a process
Planning ahead to allow you to know ahead of time what the payments will be
Do your own book-keeping to give you the information you need to make purchasing and business decisions
More accurate than just looking at your bank account
Great way to see problems in the business
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
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New Photoshoot this week Up-to-date photos for publicity so they look like you ScanSnap by Richoh – https://www.scansnapit.com/uk/ Replacing an iX500 with an iX1600 Scan to PDF as a searchable, indexed file Scan direct to the cloud (Evernote) using WiFi Send to different locations, devices and applications – for example Photoshop and email on a ... Read more
Don’t forget to like, subscribe and hit the bell to be notified of new episodes. Business Telephone Numbers Separate work from friends and family Prioritising calls depending on if you are working at that time Close the number down if it isn’t needed anymore Telecoms World – https://www.telecomsworld.com/ Duel sims – physical and an eSim ... Read more
New App purchase – Retable – limited time lifetime deal – https://appsumo.8odi.net/xkZMkx Car Fuel spreadsheet – entry via Apple Shortcuts Discount Fuel Card Working out the calculation for the cost per mile Bit of a mind bender, but worth doing as it’s a one off Fuel Card Services – https://www.fuelcardservices.com/friend/ For referred business use Magical ... Read more
Short Links – needed a short domain name to customise the branding Links can be tracked API to create short links automatically Links can be smart and send people to the right platform app store Busy, End Of Term Week for Magic Shows Brian Sibley – Author – https://www.amazon.co.uk/kindle-dbs/entity/author/B000APFTWY Fixing up computers / Email etc. ... Read more
Travelling to Copenhagen for 12 months of coffee Very expensive city Getting better and enjoying travelling. Making better use of time while there Seeing different cultures Cycle lanes everywhere Security is much better out there. Enjoying flying Will try for a few extra days next time Top tip – use the long stay car park ... Read more
Revisiting Spotify Integration Mentoring Pedro and updating the integration Showing what they are listening to on their website Moved to Apple Music – No API available Fluent Forms updates – changing hook names Refactoring old code with new APIs V1CE Cards – https://v1ce.co/?ref=GORDONDRAYSON Smart Business Cards QR Code & NFC inbuilt Setting up multiple profiles ... Read more
Re-purposing systems Secondary machines Backup, migrate data files across to new machine, re-install applications Test, and re-test before formatting. Then repeat with the secondary machine, and the previous primary machine Then prepare for sale and sell old secondary machine Or… give it away to friends, family, or those in need Bose Headphones QC45 Amazon Price ... Read more
Report of Wordcamp 2023 Met up with WP Umbrella – https://wp-umbrella.com/ Product Hunt – https://www.producthunt.com/ Next years Wordcamp 2024 is in Torino, Italy – https://europe.wordcamp.org/2024/ New Podcast – Family and Childrens Entertainers, The Podcast – https://www.facethepodcast.com All about and for children’s entertainers – now launched Interviews of entertainers as well as a round-table feature Website ... Read more
Taylor is in Athens at Wordcamp – https://europe.wordcamp.org/2023/ Contributors day Talks on subject all about WordPress Meeting up with other WordPress professionals Month 2 of 12 Months of Coffee Computer problems still on-going. New computer is being set up M3 Pro chip, so the software needed re-installing to get the correct version Data and settings ... Read more
Trix in the Stix Magic Convention
Talking to other industry colleagues
Computer decided not to boot
Apple Support is great, even for older devices
After the second time of not being able to boot in three weeks, took it to AmSys to be repaired – https://amsys.co.uk/
Transferring Data
UK Consumer Law – 6 years for date of delivery – https://www.apple.com/uk/legal/statutory-warranty/uk/
Need a reliable machine
Purchased a new system, Mac Mini M2 Pro plus a Studio Display with great speakers
Thinking about new ways to store data
Dynamic Redirects – taking you to the latest episode
Each episode has it’s own URL and a dynamic redirect is really useful
Updated the get rid of the ? in the url
SnippetClub Tutorial – https://snippetclub.com/dynamic-redirects/
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The day before the Coronation of King Charles III
Hard Drive Issues
NAS failed on me
Company Drobo has gone out of business
Software wasn’t updated to current OS which was an issue I knew about
Purchased a Synology DS1522+ to replace it – but the hard drives need the data rescuing first which is a big issue
External USB drive as a second copy of your data
Backup 321 – 3 copies, 2 different media, 1 copy offsite
Very expensive and stressful
Book recommendation from White Panther – https://whitep4nth3r.com/blog/make-time/
Book – Make Time by Jake Knapp John Zeratsky – Amazon US – https://www.amazon.com/Make-Time-Focus-Matters-Every/dp/0525572422/
Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Make-Time-Focus-Matters-Every/dp/0525572422/
First Chapter tip – highlight priority – set yourself one task to achieve that day, and get it done, minimum 90 minutes, maximum 2 hours
Laser focussing – reduce distractions
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News: Jonathan from the USA came to visit
I was asked to be a judge at The Magic Circle Close Up Magician of the Year competition
Upright Go 2 – correct your posture – https://store.uprightpose.com/products/upright-go2
People who work on computers hunch over it and need to be aware of their posture
Gadgets to sense and correct habits
Oura Ring – https://ouraring.com/
Replacement Mic for our podcasts – Elgato Wave:3 – https://www.elgato.com/en/wave-3
Connects with Stream Deck to control the mic
Purchased a pop filter and shock mount as well
How does it sound? Leave a comment below.
Drobo NAS – drive failure, new hard drive needed
Purchased Seagate Ironwolf 4TB
Livedrive – cloud based backup – https://www2.livedrive.com/
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Quote Builder for a customer who runs a boiler installation company
A form that lets the customer answer some questions and gives a recommendation and price
Lots of variables depending on the size of the house, type of boiler and so on.
Hooks for Fluent Forms – https://fluentforms.com
Extending the functionality is a great way to get more from the plugin
Party Bag System
Making up the party bags and making it efficient
Party bags were printed in China – 50,000 minimum order
Prizes bought in bulk – stored in the loft on the reinforced section
Personalised print also go into the bag
Fill the bags whilst watching TV – about 500 at a time
Boxes are designed to hold the party bags upright with a dowel through the handles
This way things don’t fall out of the bags
A storage stand in the garage which holds dowel rods with party bags
These can be transferred into the boxes very quickly and easily
Party bags are supplied to make it easy for bookers
They included bags are paid for from my marketing budget
Items run out at different times
Peak Design Bags – all packed, ready to go – https://www.peakdesign.com/
Same for Magic equipment – all set, ready to go
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The State of AI
New AI tool that creates video chapters for our episodes in Happy Scribe
Added chapters to episodes going back to #100
AI Prompts – text writing
Trained on models – lots of content that it has found and been fed
Fact checking is essential with anything that AI gives you
Dall-e, test to image, https://openai.com/product/dall-e-2
Stable Diffusion is the name of the technology
Midjourney has become very popular – https://www.midjourney.com/showcase/recent/
Text, fingers and toes are a problem for Image AI Generators
Smart Chatbot – ChatGPT – https://chat.openai.com/chat
Plugins added recently
AI uses in photography and image manipulation
Is AI getting too big too quickly?
Are jobs going to be lost?
Who owns the Copyright of AI generated content?
It’s an exciting time for AI
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WordPress 6.2 update is coming – https://wordpress.org/documentation/wordpress-version/version-6-2/
Clean Out – checking what you have before moving things from one car to another
Have I used things in the last 12 months, if not, are they essential?
This led to the Office Cleanup
Look through things once a year to check if they are still being used
Find space for things you are going to use and archive things you don’t need right now
WordPress Meetup in Brighton
Lots of different types of users
Social evening, talking with other like-minded people
Discuss problems, solutions, sharing ideas
List of meetups – https://www.meetup.com/pro/wordpress/
Digital Video Library is now live…
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News – ChatGPT4 and Midjourney 5 both released
Catching up and planning
Keeping a note of what needed doing when I returned home after the trip
Invoicing, quoting, dealing with enquiries, emails etc.
Inbox Zero – it’s more of an aim than a reality for Gordon
Lots of websites rebuild enquiries coming in
Making old websites work on all modern devices
Booking in work as it gets confirmed
Gordon made up Party Bags – they are designed to make parents lives easier, while watching Wednesday on Netflix
Tango.us – for creating written tutorials easily
It takes screenshots as needed based on clicks and user interactions
Presents you with a document at the end
Alternative Komodo Deck – https://komododecks.com/
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Gordon’s Blackpool Magic Convention Trip
Trip to Las Vegas and Austin, Texas
Lots of HUGE meals, and Starbucks (Pink Refresher drink)
Lots of Escape Rooms
Was shown around all the new machines at Props To You who all have names
Enjoyed going to the Piano Bar (first time)
Lots of great flavoured Dr Pepper and Coke, including Cherry Vanilla
Control 4 Automation system
Being with a “team” of people
What Do I Do Today?
Keep in touch with friends…
Taylor has a lot more energy after his surgery.
Permaslug livestream – Inside Link E03 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcgaWNolZPU&t=2s
Taylor talks about his Custom Gutenburg Blocks and how he built them
New Product – Block Vault – prebuilt blocks, ready to go, sign up now to be notified when it launches – https://snippetclub.com/products/wpblockvault
Lots of new tutorials on SnippetClub
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
Facebook: https://bit.ly/thisweek-fb
Youtube: https://bit.ly/thisweek-yt
- Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our links which help towards the costs involved in creating this content for you.
Back after a few weeks, due to major surgery
Family and friends visited Taylor during his hospital visit to show we all loved him at his difficult time
Recording ahead of release on Valentines day
Able to work more for this “New Normal”
Life is changing with new habits needing to be formed
Blackpool Magic Convention coming up later this week
Leaving on the Monday to see Marc in USA, a reversal from last year
Travelling while working – using my laptop
Changed workflow as I am able to keep up with renewals, and simple work tasks
Digital Video Library access instead of DVDs
MVP – Minimum Viable Product
Creating only the parts that are needed to launch and then add other features as and when they are needed or wanted
Scheduling in personal projects as you would client projects
Create measurable goals
Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk
Drayson Design Website – https://www.draysondesign.com
The Creative Tinker Website – https://www.thecreativetinker.com
Facebook: https://bit.ly/thisweek-fb
Youtube: https://bit.ly/thisweek-yt
- Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our links which help towards the costs involved in creating this content for you.
Recording ahead of time as Gordon is going to the USA this time My storage devices, Drobo are not being supported anymore so won't work with Apple Mac OS Ventura - so I need to decide what to do New website re-design - January may bring a new design to this website There are a […]
iPad iOS 16 and Apple Mac Ventura is out I always wait for the next version of Ventura before updating. See if it breaks anything. Apple TV update, and some new iPads What happened in America New York first, woke up early and wondered around. Lots of coffee shops and wifi Ohio was next, to […]
Snippet Club lifetime deal is over Work Day Preparations Reflect on the previous day and think about the day ahead every morning Plan for your coming day by giving yourself time before you start work "Checking in" is the corporate world term Checking your schedule the night before Your subconscious brain thinks about things over […]
Did you see our Easter Egg in our vidcast from last week? Snippetclub is going well. Email addons - using Mailbutler - https://www.mailbutler.io/ Scheduling emails and undo send coming soon in the next Mac OS - Ventura Pausing a scheduled email is a new feature of Mail Butler Lots of good features in this paid […]
Snippet Club has been launched... Tutorial and Snippets for WordPress developers and website builders Helping people build better sites with code https://snippetclub.com Solutions built by Taylor from his own client work, or from suggestions from members There is a lifetime deal on until 9th October - https://snippetclub.com/lifetime-membership/ The site has taken two years to get […]
EPISODE 100 !!!! Apple announcements from a couple of weeks ago Apple Watch Ultra iPhone 14 Pro - New camera system, always on display and the Dynamic Island iOS 16 and Watch OS 9 released - https://www.apple.com/uk/ios/ios-16/ Props To You - https://propstoyou.com/ High Quality Original Printed Photobooth Props They also do custom prints and ship worldwide […]
Out of respect for the late Queen Elizabeth II we are not doing a full episode this week. Searching for Royalty Free images of the Queen is that an Oxymoron? Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk Drayson Design Website - https://www.draysondesign.com The Creative Tinker Website - https://www.thecreativetinker.com Facebook: https://bit.ly/thisweek-fb Youtube: https://bit.ly/thisweek-yt * Full transcript will be […]
Shorter week Angry Birds in VR Good enough is better than perfect Working so hard on something and then not launching it Building with the users so they can give you feedback The longer you wait, the more chance there is for competition to launch Good enough is important though People need to like it […]
No recording last week as Taylor was away performing his "living alone" experience Cooking for himself Unsettled as it wasn't his house, plus he was quite ill which didn't help Preparing for Busy Times September is REALLY busy for me Knowing that I am going to be busy in one business means I need to […]
Struggling with tiredness Living Experience - looking after a friends pets, living in their home Taking control of the day with less distractions Doing everything for myself Beta Testing Stress-testing and finding things that don't work as expected User Experience is a part of it Common issues of websites on mobile Content glitching without you […]
Car fixed from it's battery drain Photoshoot, takes ages to set up my photo studio, I had forgotten how long it took Meta Quest 2 - (link down at the time of posting) - https://store.facebook.com/gb/en/quest/products/quest-2/ Sky World Beta app released - https://www.sky.com/pages/sky-immersive Sky Go app released on Apple TV - https://www.pocket-lint.com/tv/news/apple/162067-sky-go-available-on-apple-tv-at-last Keeping up with new technology […]
We are back after a few weeks off Busy with shows along with trips away and illness and tiredness America Trip was good, I got to go this time Chicago then Texas - Starbucks is such a big part of the American culture Big meals and drinks, and cinema trips Tax payments are due for […]
Wordcamp Europe report Meeting new people, getting swag, watching talks Next year is Wordcamp is in Athens Gordon's "new" Trip to America Generosity of people Getting a back up of a prop I already use - The Bunny Rabbit trick Saving up my paper round money to buy my first big prop Loss of video Give […]
Guest: Jonathan Jernigan from Apex Web Solutions - https://goapex.io Specialising in Oxygen built websites - https://oxygenbuilder.com Youtube Channel - Permaslug - https://www.youtube.com/c/Permaslug Internet friend of Taylor's - this was their first meeting First time in Europe - loving London so far Recording early due to a trip to Wordcamp Europe in Portugal for Jonathan and […]
Very busy couple of weeks - giving a talk to other entertainers Drayson Design Reviews - currently on sale for £30 - www.draysondesign.com/services/software/drayson-design-reviews/ Personal Website project - importing historical data Saving each data point in it's own field meant the database would get huge very quickly, and make it slow to search and get results. […]
News: EPIC Fortnite is back on iOS through Xbox Cloud Gaming Google Play is now also requiring all in-app purchases for apps in their store to go through them and not use a different payment method. This follows iOS and is what Apple's court case with EPIC is based on currently. MacBook Pro Check-in - […]
News - Elon Musk has purchased Twitter for $44 Billion - https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/04/25/business/elon-musk-twitter Trix in the Stik children's entertainers magic convention is coming up Gordon is speaking at this convention on the topic of Software Tools for Children's Entertainers Speaking at an event helps to make you an authority in this field This could eventually turn […]
Gordon is rushing off to a show as soon as the broadcast is complete Secret Cinema - Bridgerton Dance Show editing finished Distance Calculator - using an API you can find out the distance between two or more places Useful for many different industries, can get results for walking, car, public transport Cost for API […]
New Angle - we changed the position of the camera Optimising our workflow. New gadgets - Taylor bought a new Magic Mouse, and then found the lost one when he returned home New watch strap - loop style - fits much better MagSafe case for iPhone 13 Non-powered, rotating arm which attaches to the lid […]
Busy Week (as always) Editing of the Dance School Show is in full swing Launched nearly three websites this week Hidden Costs for your business Not hidden to the customer, but for the supplier or business Customer support can be the biggest one Do you include some or all of these hidden costs in your […]
Rishi Sunak announced some changes to NI and tax this week. Apple announced the Mac Studio - https://www.apple.com Apple's websites went down for a short time 80/20 rule - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle 80% of your work comes from 20% of your customers, both in work, time, effort and income. The downturn of DVD DVD players are becoming […]
We're Back Our last episode was five weeks ago Missed the flight out due to the storms Then shortly afterwards I tested positive Flight delays on the way back which would have meant Gordon would have missed a full day of shows Creating systems as a backup plan Positive results for nearly two weeks Support […]
One week till we go away Software bug found by Taylor We always assume it's us at fault and not the developers Marty wanted to help describe the issue Bugs are always time consuming - finding, reporting and waiting for the fix Bugs can only happen in a certain environment and situation which makes some […]
Update - Flow, Pomodora app - going well and keeping Taylor focussed Pro's and Con's to To-Do-Lists Help with Motivations and remembering to do tasks Non Time Sensitive todos never get done Top Tip - create your to-do-list the night before a busy day App on multiple platforms - Todoist - https://todoist.com Creating a Will […]
News - Google's free G-Suite tier coming to an end - you will need a paid plan to continue - https://9to5google.com/2022/01/19/g-suite-legacy-free-edition/ Email with a custom domain may be affected Big News - We are heading to America in February Helping Marc P. Summers with an exhibition in Las Vegas Working on Marcs websites the following […]
Pomodoro Technique - help with productivity - https://francescocirillo.com/pages/pomodoro-technique 25 minutes working , then a brief break before getting back to work Great for people who struggle with focusing on a task Using an app that will block access to certain apps like Facebook and Discord etc. Taking away distractions, whatever that may be for you […]
Happy New Year. New Season, New Colour Scheme - Green. News - Wordcamp in Portugal - https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/ Right in the middle of Pantomime, Goldilocks and The Three Bears. Gordon wrote it, directed it, and is in it. Last weeks This Week With show didn't happen as we were at the theatre preparing. A few tickets […]
Merry Christmas to all our viewers and listerners. We are back in January with Season 3 Visit the website: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk Drayson Design Website - https://www.draysondesign.com The Creative Tinker Website - https://www.thecreativetinker.com Facebook: https://bit.ly/thisweek-fb Youtube: https://bit.ly/thisweek-yt * Full transcript will be available on the website. We may receive a referral fee from any of our […]
Broadcasting from different locations Nearly Christmas, Season 3 starts in January News: AWS went down TWICE this week Lesson to learn from this is to have backup processes Working on a new website: https://www.oxychangelog.com A website that will keep track of changes with the WordPress Builder Oxygen REST API to be added to the site […]
Testing Email Templates Testing Outlook and Gmail to see how your emails look Images can be hidden by default Newsletters have the same problem Built in templates have normally been tested on all the platforms Email on Acid - https://www.emailonacid.com Testing on many different platforms and devices Periodically check your email designs as technology changes […]
Goldilocks Hoodies arrived from Custom Shirts and More GoDaddy had a data breach - 1.2 million users details stolen Same issue with 123-reg, TSO host, and other subsidiary companies - https://winbuzzer.com/2021/11/26/godaddy-data-breach-is-worse-than-first-thought-xcxwbn/ If you host with any of these companies then you should check your site for backdoors or malicious code Contact Form Mistakes Asking for […]
Still very cold Finishing off Random Website Generator - https://random.oxybuildchallenge.com Creating ideas for practise websites Visitors can submit their own suggestions that get added to the list of option The colour is generated randomly New feature allows locking a part of the suggestion Could be useful for Improv Website Maintenance and Updates HTML and Perl […]
The weather has turned cold, and Gordon has one due to that Lots of illness going around Update Mac to Monterey - https://www.apple.com/uk/macos/monterey/ Make sure your apps are compatible with the new OS before updating Moving customers to a new software from Airtable to Zoho Subscriptions - https://www.zoho.com/uk/subscriptions/ This move automates everything Setting up good […]
First week of Pantomime rehearsals Second rehearsal was with Juggling John, who did a Circus workshop for the cast - https://www.jugglingjohn.com Good chance to have a team building event Apple Event this week where they announced new MacBook Pro's with the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips - https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/ Google Ads (new name for Adwords) […]
The episodes graphics were successfully created What colour is the next season going to be? Leave a comment Automating Customers Email Broadcasts Archive broadcasts on the customers website as a post using Integromat - https://www.integromat.com/ Watching for trigger words in an email to create the new post. Setup a dedicated IMAP email and subscribe to […]
News: Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Whats App all went down on Monday for five hours. This had a knock on effect with anything that used Facebook login. They lost access to their servers, which made bringing them back online very difficult. Twitch had a data breach. Username, passwords and earnings were released. Taylor started building a […]
Back to the previous camera Epic vs Apple lawsuit - S1E18 we first discussed this Community Day was very busy, no rain and lots of people Gordon managed to lose my voice Three way "tug of war" - http://www.partygamespond.com/three-way-tug-o-war/ Used my microphone during my show the next day to save my voice Catchup on Taylor's […]
Bit of a cough Manual leafleting is hard work Marty found all the back gates... Sanderstead Community Day HDMI Converter to use a mirrorless camera as a webcam Trying it out for this episode Sitemaps - what they are and why they are important Visual Sitemaps - https://visualsitemaps.com A family tree view for your websites […]
Marty joins us Suffering from Crohns Disease Bowel Inflammation, constant tiredness Wipes you out for periods of time Lots of people have it, hidden disease SCD & SDC Sanderstead Community Day, 25th September 2021 Gordon organises all the entertainment Bands, Magic show, Tug of War competition Sanderstead Dramatic Club - Goldilocks and the Three Bears […]
Questions and Answers Episode Gordon, what is your favourite trick to perform and why? Taylor, what is the most difficult coding challenge you faced, and did you find a solution? Which one of you works more hours a week? Gordon, what do you prefer doing, magic, graphics or web design? How many websites have you […]
News - Discord Music Bot Adapting The Way You Work Performing outside has many challenges, like flying insects, external noises like aeroplanes, wind, rain and so on Making changes to suit your customers I have put a system in place to make sure there is cover and a plug socket (where available) It can be […]
Revisiting The Creative Tinker, 2 years after it was started Business has been good. In two years the experience, self-confidence and presenting skills have really come on How did he get customers? BNI was a good decision, local networking - http://bni-lightning.co.uk Businesses continually need to refresh and update their website Added maintenance as a product […]
We are on zoom again... Our jobs allow us to work remotely when needed The Dog has gone camping !!! Take control of your email They can easily change the focus of your day Tackle them by prioritising Marking or tagging them also works well Taylor will deal with them if they take a minute […]
Special Secret Project revealed OXY Build Challange - http://oxybuildchallenge.com Compete against other Oxygen Builders An easy way to practise to sharpen your skills Get your name known to allow you to promote your availability for work Anyone who is registered can vote on the entries for all challenges A place to submit sites you have […]
Zoom episode Introducing our special guest - Nim Boonchuai Nim loves working as a digital artist Looking to work in an agency to build experience and then go solo Working without becoming distracted is the key Art stood out to Nim when she moved to this country The whole family is creative in the design […]
Taylor's secret project should be live very soon The Bowler Hatted Magician's website is now live - go take a look - https://www.thebowlerhattedmagician.com Swapping Services - coaching for website design Bartering based on value Advice for time management - set work hours throughout a day Getting over the monotony of taking your hobby and making […]
Apologies for missing two weeks due to shows and illness Weather and restrictions Gamification Building a new app type website Spending 3 days working on an issue, only to find it was a known bug Implementing a virtual award system Would gamification work for your business? Working with Ajax - Asynchronous JavaScript and XML New […]
Forgetting things you have always done... The tax return has been submitted early The 3D printer is in bits for an upgrade BNI Presentation for visitors day Fear of speaking in public is something to overcome when you are self-employed Positioning you company What type of customer are you wanting to work with? Re-asses this […]
Keeping ourselves busy The reason I started building websites Getting side projects released Theoretical theory... Processes in the booking system A horror story about why processes should be followed Processes protect both you and the customer Do you need to create other processes for things that haven't happened yet? Staying Focussed - Keeping Motivated Coaching […]
Please share our content with your colleagues and friends Cross-Platform and Browser Testing Challenges checking on so many different devices Asking people with other devices to check your sites Services available to check many different devices - https://www.browserstack.com/responsive News - New Windows is on it's way on 24th June 2021 - https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/3/22466394/microsoft-windows-11-launch-teaser-rumors Mac OS is […]
Giveaway Winners Announced - Congratulations to: 1 year of free WordPress hosting - winner: Emma Chard Cummings 1 year of Drayson Design Reviews - winner: Caroline Ainslie 30 minutes of consultation - total podcast audio length was 18 hours, 16 seconds - winner: Hayley Rose Downtime for some big household name websites this week Lesson […]
Back together in the same room. Giveaway finishes today - https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/giveaway Put your estimate on the total podcast length for the first 52 episodes in the comments, and you could win a 30 minute consultation with Taylor and/or Gordon 3D Printing Learning how to use our new Artillery Sidewinder X1 printer Models from Thingiverse - […]
Slightly different this week - working remotely Checking in on Taylor and his BNI Meeting talk from S2E49 The giveaway has 1 week to go... THREE GIVEAWAYS 1-years free WordPress hosting (£60 worth) - https://thecreativetinker.com/services/website-hosting/ 1-years free Drayson Design Reviews (£50 worth) - https://www.draysondesign.com/services/software/drayson-design-reviews/ Enter at: https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk/giveaway Closes in 14 days Second contest - guess […]
1-year anniversary - 52 episodes Looking back at why we started doing these Over 100 topics of discussion so far Auto-Generated Subtitles Adding transcripts of the video to the website Happy Scribe - https://www.happyscribe.com We are adding transcripts going forward... and working on past episodes Adding timecodes to the transcripts to easily find content THREE […]
Last episode before our 52nd episode - 1 year of Podcasts and Vidcasts Special news next week, don't miss it. Hugging allowed from next Monday Taking time to relax, catching up with people Production meetings for Pantomime First in-person meeting for Gordon next week Background Ambient Lighting No room between the chair and wall for […]
50th Episode... Who would have thought it... Keeping customers happy Apple New Product Announcements New 24" iMacs in 7 new colours using M1 chip - https://www.apple.com/uk/imac-24/ Airtags, keeping track of where everything is - https://www.apple.com/uk/airtag/ In his free time, Gordon appears in Pantomime in January (although not this year) Writing and Directing Pantomime Building my […]
Higher Priorities Writing Panto, a year in the making Cycling - stopped in the winter, starting back up now the weather is getting better Accountability - making sure you don't let other people down Helps to make sure you do things you say you will Learning together so you can help each other Dropped Handlebars […]
We got haircuts and vaccinations Hockeystack Analytics* - https://hockeystack.com/?ref=drayson Use it to be able to see how people are using your website Where they are going, what information they are looking at Which pages they visit and in which order How long they stay on your website and so on Alternative to Google Analytics Problems are […]
AppSumo - Lifetime deals for software http://appsumo.com Mostly good for SaaS - Software as a Service Marketplace is the new kid on the block Non-vetted products - courses, digital downloads, software, ebooks etc. Quality is variable, however, there are some gems in there Buyer beware - do your research Read the questions to get an […]
Booking in shows now we have a roadmap Car problems 🙁 OBS - Open Broadcaster Software - https://obsproject.com Create a better quality zoom video Add sources, like a webcam, or an image OBS allows you to size the camera image and show multiple angles Perfect when I am performing close up magic, while keeping the connection […]
The booklets have arrived A new motorised standing desk Changing the height regularly is good for your health Helps to give you a boost of energy and allows you to stretch your muscles Arrived in two separate deliveries on the same day The extra desk depth helps with the hand position when typing Standing for […]
Collaborating on Side Projects Talking to people on Cafecito - https://www.meetcafecito.com Getting another view on things Strengths and weaknesses Bringing in others with different styles and concepts Every design is based on an existing design Solopreneurs only have a limited amount of time to earn Bringing in help with the skills needed can allow you to […]
Looking at side projects Making it once, and selling many times Passive income for service focussed businesses New projects may require customer support, which is on-going Research is important to make sure there is a need for your product Product / Brand name - make sure it fits your style and mission statement Should you […]
Another interesting week Designing posters for local theatre companies Missing theatre shows Sending out quotes Branding Guidelines How your branding assets can be used Company colours, typefaces, look and feel The rulebook to keep your image on brand Online Booking Assistant - OBA - https://www.onlinebookingassistant.com Helping you to close the sale using email with automated […]
Putting the room back together after decorating Having a clear-out Inbox Zero - is it even possible? Keeping your email inbox clear by archiving to Evernote or dealing with Leaving emails unread to deal with, didn't work for me Came down from 1000 unread emails to 50 !! Flagging emails worked well for one of […]
Sleeping downstairs Upgrading zoom meetings Redecorating the whole room Lesson learnt: Getting a pro in will normally get you a better result Experience counts for a lot Evernote - https://evernote.com Paperless office Getting your digital filing organised Free / Basic version available Use for audio recordings as well Alternatives available - such as Notion News: […]
Very long lockdown hair Communication Platform Discord - https://discord.com Communities of people with specific interests Some people didn't want to sign up to Facebook or Slack Taylor uses it for web development Channels for different topics Voice Chat & Screen Chat Discord Servers are the main topic, with sub-channels Originally a gaming platform. Integrates with […]
We rebuilt the entire website https://www.thisweekwith.co.uk Moved from Divi to Oxygen Reasons for the rebuild: We didn't know how long we would be doing This Week With, so didn't really plan for the future Being able to search for content was impossible The design was a pre-designed template Decided to build a custom design Looked […]
Working late at night Getting work done without distractions Taylor had an interview with college alumni Gordon is on the radio with his magic - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb7pEEdbdk0 New Episode naming S2E37 Crowdfunding Kickstarter - http://kickstarter.com Indigogo - https://www.indiegogo.com Great way to get your projects funded ahead of time Tiers offering different rewards Only if the target […]
Our new numbering format for This Week With New graphics for each episode, colour coded for each season Rebuilding my main computer due to it restarting on it's own Cleaning out all the garbage saving 700GB of space Saving the data, reformating and bringing back useful data The taking a full backup Archiving on Evernote […]
The Start of Season 2 We're back after the Christmas break New Microphone stand to replace the one that wasn't working so well How's the audio for you? Tax Returns are due See if you can reduce your payments on account New Year - New Projects 1st Step - Onboarding Session Learning about the business […]
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy (and better) New Year for 2021. See you all in January. Drayson Design Website - https://www.draysondesign.com The Creative Tinker Website - https://www.thecreativetinker.com Facebook: https://bit.ly/thisweek-fb Youtube: https://bit.ly/thisweek-yt
New Purchases... Elgato Stream Deck - https://www.elgato.com/en/gaming/stream-deck 15 hotkeys to do whatever you need Each key has a little screen behind it so you can show whatever you like Moom - windows positioning app for Mac - https://manytricks.com/moom/ Great for setting up your screen with the apps where you want them Replacement for Magnet App […]
New GFX Working from home means lockdown doesn't affect us as much Meetings happen on Zoom instead of in person Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org See what websites looked like in the past Do business website research - see where they came from Grab assets that aren't available anymore from a previous site The service creates […]
Keeping busy as always Thank you for sharing our video and podcast Websites with Malware issues Website software needs constant updates for security and new functionality Large userbases are the main target for hackers Plugins, themes, and any code that is part of your website is at risk Keeping your software up-to-date helps to prevent […]
Taking the weekend off and feeling guilty Working towards giving yourself time to relax Pip Kennedy - why a different name? Stage name when performing to primarily adult audiences Separating marketing to focus them better Getting the right message to the right people Different websites - different marketing campaigns - different company name even Be […]
Sorry about the quality of last weeks video Dolby Vision was to blame... New workflow for getting feedback on designs markup.io - upload any image or URL to let clients click and comment Free to use for individuals wpfeedback - similar tool that we also use - https://wpfeedback.co Putting a pin where you need a […]
We are using a new camera - iPhone 12 Pro Video image issues - will discuss why next week Redesigning one of my old website - https://www.pipkennedy.co.uk Procrastination - because it has to be right Steve Woody's Book - Plan Your Website - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Plan-Your-Website-Steve-Woody/dp/0993369006 Newer browsers are stopping the ability to track you New tools […]
Rate This Podcast - ratethispodcast.com Apple Podcasts, iTunes, Stitcher, Podchaser 3 packages available - Free, $9 and $29 a month. Test it out and leave us a review at: https://ratethispodcast.com/tww Taylor's interview for BNI All about how BNI is working for him You can watch his interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD9nJ_1M3xY News: Zoom goes fully End to […]
Migrating websites to a new host Migration tips: Plan it carefully Take a backup of the current site Add DNS settings for GSuite Put up a holding page on existing website (essential for eCommerce sites) Internet providers are the slowest to update their DNS Urban VPN - https://www.urban-vpn.com Picture Partnership - https://www.picturepartnership.co.uk Crafty Brewing - […]
Working on a customers new website Staging site - development or testing version of your website Overcoming specific problems Creating a reliable booking system with deposit payments Amelia - https://wpamelia.com Set days and booking time slots Two-way syncing to Google Calendar Set up custom fields for the required information Animation for the homepage GSAP aperture […]
Top Table Meeting with BNI Taking over the role of secretary Renewing Services Domain Names - Website Hosting - Maintenance Packages Using G-Suite for your emails Malware Cleanup Service https://www.draysondesign.com/services/websites/ https://thecreativetinker.com/services/website-hosting/ Research who you should host with Trust both the company and the people who run it. Managing Realistic Expectations When delivery will be, and […]
Custom Printed Clothing and Products - https://www.customshirtsandmore.co.uk I made an error with my Airtable automation - https://airtable.com Google's Airtable replacement - https://tables.area120.google.com/about Education - Learning GSAP - animation for websites - https://greensock.com/gsap/ Using animation in moderation to enhance Increase your chances of getting emails opened Tip: Include the name of the person you are writing […]
Videography for a religious profession Atomos - https://www.atomos.com DSLR video recording limit of 29 minutes and 59 seconds All in one business management system - and.co Subscriptions, one-click invoicing, reoccurring expenses toggl transferring issues - http://toggl.com Moving away from Wave Final Cut Pro X - an amazing video editor for Mac - https://www.apple.com/uk/final-cut-pro/ Multicam - […]
Our guest is Paul Longhurst Changing jobs due to Coronavirus Not being able to progress his own business Daisy and Dot - Gift Shop - https://www.daisyanddot.net Trying to change processes at a LARGE company is difficult Magnitude is not seen by employees at the lower rungs Changing is MUCH easier the higher up you get, […]
A rush job for a new project in 10 days A directory of products Using a pre-built directory theme Limitations to bought themes WPBakery - wordpress builder - why we found it very difficult to use lasermarketplace.com Lumpy Mail - great way to get your message delivered and viewed Pens with your details on - […]
Moving away from Chrome Firefox Developer Edition - https://www.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/developer/ New approach to a Theatre groups membership form Conditional logic to make a "Smart" form Fluent Forms - https://wpmanageninja.com/wp-fluent-form/ Publish to a private Google Sheet with role permissions - https://www.google.co.uk/sheets/about/ Exercising - Cycling Using the time to relax or think about problems you are facing Increase […]
Keeping track of content Project Management New clients on retainer Working on D.A.M. still Removing file formats that are not needed Branding colour choices Colour variations of logos for different uses Check that you don't offend people of different cultures with your wording Make sure your logo doesn't "SUCKS" Voice Over on videos - Text to […]
Marty join us... Dealing with WordPress 5.5 jQuery Migrate Plugin Colour Picker in Oxygen broke Experimenting with Laveral - PHP framework - https://laravel.com Lifetime Deals Great deal for the company, and can be good value for customers Appsumo.com - 60 days refund period Make sure you research the tools and companies before purchasing Make sure […]
Cafecito Break - https://meetcafecito.com Helping build a website for a company that finds flaws in your app Clients giving us Figma files Working late at night when it's cooler New service - Branding pages for companies Making it easy for companies to download their own brand assets Sources for new work Socialising with people you […]
Cataloguing and managing graphic assets Smart Folders are very in-depth Searching is great Check out eagle.cool - Mac and PC - $30 Life Log Tracking Presenting data in an interesting way Rating life experiences Easy to enter data The amount of data available about us for people in the future Photo a day for 18 […]
We're back from our one week break... Pabbly Connect - htts://www.pabbly.com/connect/ - highly recommended Integromat - https://www.integromat.com/en Automating chaser emails for payments Sending repeat emails every 6 days, so it arrives on different days of the week. Ultra fast website rebuild from start to finish - https://www.bespokeblackcabtours.co.uk Fixing issues from a previous designer Being an […]
Feels like a slow week Quick wins Turning off Social Media notifications Losing focus Streaming to multiple places RTMP feed for gaming https://restream.io - Distributing one stream to several platforms Reach people on the platforms they are already on Share posts to multiple platforms Steaming from a drone - blows my mind Subtitling your videos […]
Gordon had a shave! Using video in your business Video used to be really difficult How we film "This Week With" What sort of video can you do business? Recording instead of streaming, and then upload Filming at events. Use video to tell a story Inform your viewers, quick tip Show you are the expert […]
Customer journey Speed of website Landing pages The F method The number of clicks... Frictionless purchase Website user experience (UX) Ask family and friends to achieve tasks Quick way to find "pain" points on your website UX on mobile Photo galleries on mobile Lightbox - focussing attention Swiping Making buttons big enough to press on […]
All about The Creative Tinker Why The Creative Tinker was started? Helping out Drayson Design and other people with their websites The Big Idea took Taylor on part-time. What to do after college? Working for yourself Where did the name come from? Taking customer from Drayson Design 🙂 What do you like about this job? […]
All about Drayson Design How did Drayson Design start? Remember the BBC Micro? £200+ for a .com domain !! The Magic Circle's first-ever website People asking if we can build a website for them Custom-built databases (that took forever to make) What do Drayson Design specialise in? Entertainment videography and photography Promo's and live event […]
Lockdown - What day is it? Finalise projects and putting websites live Monitoring results to see if goals are being achieved Designing websites for mobile-first - controversial idea Responsive design New Tool: NiftyPM - project management - https://niftypm.com/ Clients contacting you in different places Moving customers to one communication point to keep all conversations in […]
New Development website Creating a new website for an exiting customer BNI Networking - https://bni.co.uk/en-GB/index Self-employed people working all hours Set working hours and giving yourself rewards for reaching goals Working around other people for motivation Creating infographics Graphic and website feedback system - http://wpfeedback.co NEWS: MrSite is closing down with 30 days notice and […]
Learning New Software - Oxygen Builder for WordPress - https://oxygenbuilder.com Advantages of using Oxygen Builder over other builders Speed testing a website with different builders Disadvantages to users Automating Renewal Emails - creating accurate, functional email content Integromat automation service - https://www.integromat.com/en/ Using Airtable - https://airtable.com Keeping copies of automated sent email in my own […]
Another hair cut! The jumper arrived - https://www.customshirtsandmore.co.uk Redoing graphics for customers - and documentation Standing out from the crowd Chasing customers for content and approval of projects Accounts, HMRC Grants and Cashflow Using Wave for accounts for free - https://www.waveapps.com News: Introducing Facebook Shops - https://about.fb.com/news/2020/05/introducing-facebook-shops/ Drayson Design Website - https://www.draysondesign.com The Creative […]
One of us got a haircut Updating Online Booking Assistant with icons and email checking API calls - Adding weather to a website - making a WP plugin Adding a chatbot to Facebook Messenger - like a modern Eliza Alerting the admin when human takeover is requested using pushover.net News: Twitter announces that employees can […]
Putting a new site live Maillists are important, especially if you automate them News: GoDaddy Hosting compromised News: Google Shopping going free for everyone to post Finding inspiration and "jazzing up" a website Website Imagery Question: How do you start a design? Brand Awareness Drayson Design Website - https://www.draysondesign.com The Creative Tinker Website - […]
Another Week in Lockdown Broadband Issues Learning more PHP Testimonial Software (which is really good) Spreadsheet Automation Drayson Design Website - https://www.draysondesign.com The Creative Tinker Website - https://www.thecreativetinker.com Facebook: https://bit.ly/thisweek-fb Youtube: https://bit.ly/thisweek-yt
We lost the beginning of the episode due to live streaming issues Short introductions to Taylor & Gordon New Healthcare Website What are MagiCalls? New Drayson Design Website - View Here Branding The Creative Tinker - View Here Software - Fluent Forms Drayson Design Website - https://www.draysondesign.com The Creative Tinker Website - https://www.thecreativetinker.com Facebook: […]