Yearly Archives: 2015

When decorating the Christmas tree, there are many options such as buying a pre-lit tree and then finding the right baubles to suit your preferred style. If you dread sorting this out each year, maybe a projection mapped tree will be of interest to you?!

The Ambos studio in Brazil took a more high tech approach to decking out it’s tree this year by creating a projection-mapped Christmas tree. To make its tree, Ambos digitally rendered a tree in 3D, created the projections on a screen, then projected the images onto an actual tree.

It’s quite the process and most likely not one to overtake the beloved Christmas tree decorating ritual but amazing to see how digital tech can be be used in this way.

We at DirectionForward wish you all a very happy holidays and all the best for the year ahead, 2016!

We are happy to announce the launch of Channel Telecom’s new website.

In coordination with Tidywork Studio, we developed and built their website which launched Friday, Dec 4. The new website is fully responsive and retina compatible.

Founded in 2008 Channel Telecom was set up to be a unique telecoms supplier.
Channel Telecom source their services from the best UK suppliers and have accredited partnerships with Virgin Media Business and Virtual1 — meaning Channel Telecom can offer the highest quality, scalable services and you can have complete confidence in their solutions.

Check out their shiny new website here — channeltelecom.com

Microsoft has released their new version of Office — Office 2016. It has been three years since Microsoft has released its last major version of its productivity apps and since 1.2 billion people around the world use Office, chances are you will be wondering what’s new with this latest version.

Office 2016 is primarily focussed on connecting itself, and all devices, with the cloud — as this will let you access and edit documents on the go and on all devices.

A key new feature, which also uses the cloud, is the “real-time co-authoring tool”.  This tool allows multiple people to work on the same document from different devices and work spaces — whilst keeping a history of changes made and by whom.

There are also a few new features in Word that are said to be helpful without being flashy. The new “Tell Me” tool acts like Clippy but without interrupting when not needed. You can easily ask it a question, “how to insert a chart” or any other question you may have — and then you get a quick and simple response.

The most interesting addition to Office 2016 is said to be “Sway”. This is a free web based platform that lets you easily build an attractive and eye catching website from your images and text.

Most of the new features and changes are minor but helpful. With Office 2016, Microsoft is mainly setting itself up for the future by fully integrating with the cloud by ensuring it works well everywhere at all times and on every device.

For home and business, Office 2016 is a useful upgrade that will ease sharing between devices and contacts.

Please contact us if you are interested in making this upgrade.

We are pleased to have helped Ventula Consulting move into their new offices at 201 Borough High Street last week.

The successful move included catering for a new network printer, full local area network cabling, migration of their existing VoIP phone system, and migration of all their PC’s.

We aim to ensure office moves are as pain free as possible for our clients — as we take care of the digital end so business can quickly carry on as normal.

The Advertising Creative Circle, an educational awards body dedicated to creativity in British advertising, and the oldest advertising and marketing awards body in Europe, has officially opened their Call For Entries for the 2016 Awards – this year with a competition to guess the brands from circles taken from celebrated ads, called #NameTheBrand.

Creatives are invited to enter as either a Professional or Student here at their website: Creative Circle

Professionals can compare their scores to show their knowledge of British advertising brands. Students have the chance to win six tickets to the Awards Night at The Roundhouse, sitting at the Judges table itself!

The Awards opened for entries on the 2 November 2015 and are due to close on 22 January 2016.

Creative Circle are an awards and education body, judged and run by creatives. They reward people at the top and encourage them to help the people at the bottom.

DirectionForward designed and developed the website and the online platform for the competition. Leo Burnett London were the creative agency for the competition.

The Telecoms provider TalkTalk is investigating into a “significant and sustained cyber-attack” on its website where some customer data might have been accessed.

Too soon to say who and how many have been impacted, so if you are a TalkTalk customer here are important tips and things to be aware of in the wake of this cyber-attack.

Beware of scam calls
Claiming they are from TalkTalk and especially if they ask you to provide them with more private information.
TalkTalk says it never asks customers to give their full passwords or Pin codes over the telephone.
If you are unsure whether a call from TalkTalk is genuine, ask for a reference number and call the  company    back yourself on 0203 441 5550. Wait at least 5 minutes before returning the call or use another  phone line.

Be careful with emails:
Attackers can send very convincing emails that look like they are official and from TalkTalk. They may even    refer to the cyber-attack to seem genuine.
Be suspicious if an email asks you to reply with personal information or asks you to click on a link.
If you suspect an email is not genuine, call the company’s customer service line and ask whether they have  sent  one.

Monitor your bank account:
Look through your recent transactions for payments you do not recognise, even if they are very small.
If you spot any unusual activity you should contact your bank and Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.

Never reuse passwords:
TalkTalk is advising customers to change their account passwords as soon as its website is back up and running.
Also important to change passwords on other accounts if you have used the same password elsewhere.
Security experts recommend using a different password for each account.

If you are a TalkTalk customer it’s important to take necessary cautionary measures to ensure you and your private information is safe. It’s also important to always keep vigilant at all times to ensure your security online.

ESET Smart Security has released their latest version of antivirus and internet security software. Version 9 includes increased banking and payment protection for more freedom and online security.

In addition to their existing features, the new highlights include; Banking and Payment Protections, Anti-theft, and Personal Firewall. This means safer banking and online payments, with the increased security of your information when logging into public wifi networks.

Another new and important feature is the Enhanced Botnet Protection; an added layer of security which prevents your computer from being misused for SPAM and network attacks.

A trial is available to try before purchase. The new Version 9 software is Windows 10 compatible and will guarantee the safest online experience.

Contact us to order.

On Point Property Management are a new company predominantly focusing on South West London, provide a unique and bespoke property management and letting service.

The brand new fully responsive website launched October 6, 2015, and was designed and built by us. Both they and we are really pleased with the result.

We look forward to working with them more in the future, and wish them every success for their launch.

onpointproperty.co.uk