If you or someone you know is looking to improve their IT skills to help them get back into work or startup their own business, Access To Business have some online programs that might be of interest to you or them.
If you’re reading this and think you know someone who would benefit from the courses below, but the don’t have any way to get online at the moment, or are not confident getting online, then contact us and we might be able to help them.
Basic Computer Skills
If you need help with the first steps to being online (turning a computer, phone or tablet on, getting connected, setting up an email account and so on) then the Future Digital Inclusion – Learn My way course is for you.
It’s module based and takes you through every step at your own pace and in a way you can understand and learn from.
Becoming More Confident Accenture Project
This project is aimed two groups of people:
Those with a current employment history (currently in work or have previously worked) including:
People aged 25+ years (i.e. not first-time job seekers) interested in building their digital confidence and capability – ready for future job opportunities, and less vulnerable in a digital world.
Helping people with low digital skills to build their digital skills and confidence to achieve their personal goals
Providing skills training for enterprise or employment
Supporting job-seekers 25+ years
Supporting people in full-time or part-time work to improve their job prospects.
Use of existing or new resources, including free online courses through Learn My Way.
Apps & Services – Make IT Happen
There are many modules here designed to teach you how to best use common apps and services such as the many Google services (GMail, Calendar, Docs…) Microsoft services (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint…) Photography, Online design tools (Canva) and more.
HMRC
And if you’re after help with Child Tax Credits, Working Tax Credit, PAYE, VAT, National Insurance, JRS (Job Retention Scheme), Tax Returns and Furloughing, the HMRC Sessions are an excellent place to get the information you need.
How do I access the courses?
Simple, just call or email Jim Brennan or Simon Moore at Access To Business and they’ll get you sorted with log in details.
If you need help getting started with technology, remember that we offer a range of services for new businesses, taking care of your IT needs so you can concentrate on what you do best.
We can sort out your IT needs with equipment, websites, email accounts, domain names and everything else IT related, that you might need to help your business flourish.
No one wants to think about their death, but it’s a fact of life. If you live a long life if it’s tragically cut short, at some point you will no longer be around.
Unlike previous generations, most people alive today will leave behind a digital legacy, mobile phone contacts and social media accounts to digital online photos.
Without proper planning, that legacy might end up causing more distress to your loved ones, with inaccessible social media pages, no control over comments being left, and possibly lost treasured memories.
Early in July, users of Strava and Relive received emails from the services announcing they had broken up. Relive would no longer be able to access Strava users data.
Strava
Many of us at Strava have enjoyed using Relive over the last few years, but because of Relive’s recent updates, unfortunately we have decided to end this integration. The current version of Relive violates several of the terms that we ask of API partners. These terms are in place to safeguard your personal information, to ensure a level playing field for all our partners, and to protect what makes Strava unique. We’ve worked hard with Relive to try to fix this, but they have ultimately chosen not to make the changes needed to honor their agreement. So as of today, Strava will no longer send your activities to Relive for playback. Rest assured, nothing’s changed about how your information is stored or the control you have over how it’s accessed by API partners. And we remain deeply committed to helping our many API partners build experiences that make your workouts and races even better. As always, thanks for being a part of the Strava community, The Strava Team
‘The Strava Team’ sent out the above statement stating that due to recent updates on the Relive platform (presumably the new social media additions) they broke the rules of Strava’s API.
The API is a set of rules that allow a third party, such as Relive, to securely and legitimately access the data held in the Strava database.
They stated that, while Strava have tried to work with Relive to fix the problem, the Relive team had chosen not to make the changes needed.
“We have strict standards for how our API partners utilise our member data. We deeply respect the trust of our member community and expect our partners to do the same.
“Relive’s current use of Strava member data violates our API agreement and we have ended its integration with Strava. We are disappointed that Relive was unwilling to make the changes necessary to comply with the agreement.”
Relive
Strava broke up with Relive 💔
So, this sucks… Strava decided to no longer work with us. After launching our first social features, we received a very unexpected message threatening to pull the plug.
We then tried to call, email, and talk this out with Strava. No response. It’s sad to see them suddenly go, and we’re bummed about this.
Nothing has changed about how Relive uses and protects your data, or how we use their API. We believe this is your data, and you should decide how it’s used. After all, it’s your legs doing all the work!
Email from Relive 11/07/2019
The Relieve team state that, after adding social features to their platform, Strava unexpectedly contacted them threatening to disable their access to the Strava API.
Relieve go on to say “Given our long-term partnership, we immediately rolled back the changes like they requested. We then tried to call, email, and talk this out with Strava. No response, except for new ultimatums and threats about our existing features they’ve applauded for years.“
Obviously the two accounts given out by each side are contradictory. Each side blaming the other for not cooperating, but there are some clues as to what may have actually happened to cause this split.
In June this year, James Quarles, the CEO of Strava, held a media event discussing the future of the Strava platform.
They have 42 million accounts, and they are looking to expand on that, they want to own the social fitness market.
Strava will start targeting non-GPS sports like yoga and fitness machines, and along with that they are looking to add more social tools to the platform.
We think Strava plays a role for people not just when they’re recording an activity but before and after, right?
You can find routes, you can find groups to join, people to go with. Then, once you post the activity, you can talk about it, post photos, tag friends, and memorialize and relive the event.
Strava wants to be the home of your active life, Strava wants to be the dashboard for tracking your fitness, a calendar for inviting friends to work out, a feed for you to follow others’ activities, a blog for your race reports and photos, and a message board to ask for recommendations on a new pair of trail-running shoes. In the process, Strava’s goal is to cement itself as “the next great sports brand of the 21st century,”
It’s likely that Strava are planning on rolling out more of their own social tools, making the platform much more ‘Facebook like’ and they saw the features on Relive as a threat to their own, it may even be that Strava is planning on rolling out it’s own Relive-type mapping features.
It certainly looks like Strava was using the size of its user base to try to control what and how other services operate to protect its own interests.
But why the change? Strava has a massive user base and it’s investors are more than likely looking to turn that base into a revenue stream, so expect more ‘premium features’ more advertising and more use of your data.
So did Relive break the Strava API rules? probably, but not in any malicious or dangerous way (and probably not in any way that a host of other, smaller, Strava connected apps have)
Did Strava try to cripple Relive? again, probably. If they see Relive as a threat it makes sense to nip them in the bud at the earliest opportunity.
Other Fitness Apps
Why is everyone on Strava? well they’re not, or at least not ‘just’ on Strava. It became a meeting place for users of other disconnected apps to sync their data to and compare and compete. The use of Strava segments pushed the platform forward, but it lacked so many niche features other platforms offered.
So if you’re looking to move your data away from Strava, what are the options?
Under Armour has acquired several apps that can work together or as stand alone apps, MyFitnessPal, Endomondo and MapMyFitness. The suite of apps has about three times as many users as Strava, with more finessed tools and less emphasis on social ‘chit chat’
ASICS own Runkeeper, one of the first fitness apps. It’s got 50 million users and is well established in the elite fitness area.
Garmin Connect has a user base about the same size as Strava, but is just for users of Garmin fitness products.
GoogleFit, Apple Health, MSN Fitness, Fitbit and Samsung Health are all well connected alternatives, allowing you to share your fitness data to to other platforms.
Facebook now say Cambridge Analytica had access to 87 million accounts
“It is reasonable to expect that if you had that [default] setting turned on, that in the last several years someone has probably accessed your public information in this way“ Mark Zuckerberg (BBC News)
Mark Zuckerberg has said that 1.1 million of the accounts improperly accessed by the political consultancy were from UK based users. He said that some malicious services had used a facility that allowed them to link the public profile of a user to an email or mobile phone number acquired elsewhere. Read more
Most people know about social media. In fact last year it was reported that 81% of people will turn to their favourite social media platform to check out a new business before searching for a website for them.
It’s expected by your customers to be able to see information about your business, get contact and opening details, directions and reviews from their social media platform of choice, so not being on social media could be as detrimental as not being on the internet at all.
People Being Social
Social media may be a big platform for business, but it started out and is powered by individual users.
There are some individuals who are out to con unsuspecting users, using any means the can. As with all situations, you need to be weary and on your guard. Unless you can totally and utterly confirm the authenticity of and message or link, treat it with suspicion.
Which Platform is best?
There are a few main platforms that are popular, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. Each one is successful because it appeals to a different audience and has different capabilities.
For a business, you should look at covering two or more platforms to be able to engage potential clients, and as a user you’re likely to be on several platforms depending on your preferences, what your friends and family use and what features you want to make use of.
#WeCanHelp
We can advise you on which platforms might be best for you and give you guidance on using them and on staying safe on them.
For businesses, we can setup, secure and help manage your business profiles, show you how to interact with users and keep your business listings up-to-date. We can also manage your SEO standing (this helps with how high up your business is on google search for example) and help you get listed on Google and Bing maps, and be available for users to ‘check-in’ when they visit you.
Twitter users are going to start seeing a new ‘check-in’ feature in their geo-tagged tweets soon, provided by Foursquare, one of the first geo-check-in providers.
The new partnership will mean twitter users can see reviews and tips for places they check in to, and gives businesses a chance to advertise specials and offers to passing potential clients who use the foursquare what’s nearby feature. Read more
