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‘TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design.
Today, TED is best thought of as a global community. It’s a community welcoming people from every discipline and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world.’
TED is an incredible website, jam packed full of interesting videos and ideas from across the globe… and best of all – its free! TED allows you to browse over 1000 videos and filter them by the things you are most interested in, so you can pick your favourite categories or learn more about subjects related to technology, entertainment, design, business, science and global issues.
You can browse the available videos by themes, find interesting quotes, check out videos in different languages, read the TED blog for interesting articles or find out about the latest TED conferences. The new TED Ed education section is full of ‘lessons worth sharing’ – so with videos on a range of subjects from Shakespeare to Origami, you can use TED Ed either for self education or as a visual teaching aid to help you add interest to your lesson plans.
As well as providing a large quantity of videos, TED also encourages you to get involved in community discussion – you can share your ideas, ask your questions and engage in debates with its members across the world. TED is also available as an application for mobile phone and iPad, so whether you are at home, work or on the move, check out TED to broaden your opinions and add your own ideas into the mix!
‘Evernote makes it easy to remember things big and small from your everyday life using your computer, phone, tablet and the web.’
Here at Energy Cell, Evernote is one of our favourite go-to applications! It’s an incredibly handy app that can be used for a variety of tasks, from compiling research projects, to keeping track of your favourite websites and images, to note taking and generally just organising your thoughts and ideas! One of the major benefits of using Evernote is that you create an account and sync your information – meaning you can share your notebooks with others and access all your notes from multiple devices. You can assign different tags to keep your notes in order, and there’s a helpful search function to quickly find the exact note you need. The best thing about Evernote… it’s free! You can also upgrade to Premium account for a reasonable price.
Here’s just some of the things Evernote can be used for, so to discover it yourself, download Evernote today and see what a difference it can make!
Keep everything in sync
With Evernote, all of your notes, web clips, files and images are made available on every device and computer you use.
Remember things you like
Save everything cool and exciting you see online and in the real world. Snap a photo, record some audio and save it.
Save favorite webpages
Save entire webpages to your Evernote account with our nifty web clipper browser extensions. You get the whole page: text, images and links.
Research better
Collect information from anywhere into a single place. From text notes to web pages to files to snapshots, everything is always at your fingertips.
Work with friends and colleagues
Share your notes and collaborate on projects with friends, colleagues and classmates.
Plan your next trip
Keep all of your itineraries, confirmations, scanned travel documents, maps, and plans in Evernote, so you’ll have them when you need them.
‘Instructables is a web-based documentation platform where passionate people share what they do and how they do it, and learn from and collaborate with others.’
With a tagline ‘Make, How to, DIY’, if you have an interest in making and creating, then Instructables.com is the place to be! From technology, to living, to food, there are a wide variety of user uploaded ideas in different categories – ranging from the incredibly useful, to the interesting, inspiring, creative and even the comical. You can share all of your projects, skills and ideas by uploading photos, step-by-step instructions or links to videos – so if you enjoy embarking on projects, Instructables is a great place to browse for inspiration and help develop your own hobbies.
The foundation of the Instructables site is the sense of community. By creating an account, users can not only upload their own ideas, but join in other activities such as the contests and challenges, or ask specific questions on the forums to other members of the community. With over 10+ million monthly visitors, there is a great atmosphere on the site, allowing you to communicate with a huge community of like-minded creatives. So for a site that it is full of inspiration, and generally great ideas, check it out today and ‘share what you make’!
As a specialist web design and marketing agency, one of the questions we are frequently asked upfront is ‘How much does a website cost?’. This is one of life’s questions that can only be answered by asking a series of other questions… because each site needs to be tailored to the individual client’s needs and, more importantly, the needs of their end audience.
Thankfully, most customers realise that nowadays a shoestring budget will only get you a basic site, as when it comes to creating a high performing website you do generally have to spend some money to make money! On the other hand, a quality website does not have to cost a fortune – it is always worth paying more for a design agency that will give you the right ideas, advice and delivery and get it right the first time, rather than attempt to cut corners and end up having to create a new site all over again if your business develops or grows. Furthermore, a quality site will ultimately pay for itself: if well-designed, well-marketed, created to the highest web standards and properly optimised for both SEO and conversion – then you should see a positive ROI. In terms of design, naturally your site needs to be an extension of your brand.
The basic key elements of any good site are a professional, modern and engaging experience, ease of navigation and consistency: all aspects of which should be covered by good solid graphic design and creative talent. Your site is often the first point of contact with potential customers and as such is a space in which to show your expertise, provide information and effectively showcase your products or services. For this reason, a highly polished and professional site will help prove you are a trusted business and reassure customers that they can purchase products and services from your site with confidence.
Good web design is not simply about how the page looks – functionality is crucial. The site should have reasonable loading times and be thoroughly browser tested to work with all browsers, including mobile devices. It also needs to be user-friendly, accessible and law compliant (including to cater for the new cookie legislation). A good agency should always recommend and provide you with appropriate, reliable and cost effective technological solutions, including a Content Management System that has the necessary features and functionality to suit the needs of your business and clients.
The finely tuned art and science behind getting all the elements right for your business’ website are skills gained through many years of experience, which is why the support of a specialist web design agency like the Energy Cell is invaluable. A good design agency will offer you more than just a finished product, but a comprehensive service package: providing you with advice, support, a strategy and plenty of time to get to know you and your brand inside out – so they can provide you with the best possible results and maximise your ROI.
If you want to gain the online edge over your competition, then there really is no substitution for a high quality website… and when it comes to quality web design, there really is no substitution for an experienced design agency. To see some of the websites we have produced, check out our portfolio. If you would like more information or to have a project you would like to discuss – then contact the team today!
‘Scrivener is a powerful content-generation tool for writers that allows you to concentrate on composing and structuring long and difficult documents. While it gives you complete control of the formatting, its focus is on helping you get to the end of that awkward first draft.’
Although a great tool for aiding professional writers, Scrivener is a handy application for anyone who has to create important documents on a regular basis. The spilt screen function means you can keep an outline plan, various draft versions and any research visible, whilst simultaneously working on the final document – all in the same application. Scrivener saves you time and effort, keeping you focussed on the points that you need to make and gathering all your information together in one place.
Professionals listed by Scrivener as able to greatly benefit from this application include:
- Novelists
- Lawyers
- Journalists
- Academics and Students
- Business and Technical Writers
- Translators
However, the features of this application would be helpful in creating a multitude of documents related to both business and creativity, from blogs to presentations, proposals, letters and many more. The application itself costs from around £30 and is available to download for PC and Mac here, or from the App Store. You can also download a free trial, which gives you 30 non-consecutive days use, so its worth downloading to see how you could use Scrivener to help you with your writing activities!