I hope you all enjoyed your Holidays?

Last year I did some research for a few clients that wanted to send and receive text messages straight from your PC. I spent alot of time on this as we send commands to GPS Tracking devices for MonitorME , most of the solutions still charge a premium for messaging which I thought was wrong considering you can get 2500 text included on a  2degrees mobile plan.

Over the weekend I was cruising the Android App Market and found Mighty Text, this lets you send and recieve txts  from an extension to Chrome's browser.

It works Awesome! Its so easy and its free!

All you need is an Android Smart Phone, a Google Apps or Gmail account, Chrome Browser and your all go! Off course you'll need a mobile phone account (preferably from 2degrees).

I can show you how this works for free and if you want to Talkmore about Mobile Phone Plans from 2 degrees just ask.

Thanks for reading,

Ben Keehan

find us on facebook.com/talkmorenz

Tweet2eat believes any excuse for a dinner out is a good one and so Valentine's Day is the ideal excuse to dress up stylish and impress your partner. But there's something you've got to know, if you don't already. Some restaurants can end up becoming 'couples-ville' so here's 8 tips of when and where to go to make sure your Valentines Day is special.

Elephant Hill Winery and Restaurant

Read all 8 Hot Valentine Restaurant tips here

Mogul have just launched a new site for Conrad Properties.

Conrad is a Sydney based Real Estate Development and Investment Company. They have offices in Sydney, Bermuda and Auckland. The Hawke's Bay connection is through one of Conrad's founders Rob Holden, a proud Hawke's Bay boy.

Conrad wanted a new website which showcased the fantastic developments they have completed over the last eight years as well as the beautiful cities where their offices are located.

The brief was for a crisp, clean site without a lot of text, and emphasis on imagery.

The site has a fantastic gallery of dynamic images of Conrad’s completed developments and cityscapes of Sydney, Bermuda and Auckland.

The project was complex. There were a lot of changes to get the site exactly right; strong project management was required from the whole team, adaptability to changes mid project, as well as clear communication with the Conrad team, in order to deliver what the client wanted.

It’s a great site and we’re proud of our work!

With the help of Tank's practiced wine branding skills, family-owned vineyard, Petane Station have established a brand and just released their first wine. Elegant and sophisticated, the label exemplifies a quality new world wine whilst retaining an old world air. And with a gold medal to show for it, the wine is as good as the label!

Hawke’s Bay Young Photographer of the Year 2011

This competition has been set up to encourage and develop Hawke’s Bay’s youth in the area of creative photography and thinking.
Organised by the current New Zealand Professional Photographer of the Year and International runner up Portrait photographer (The International Colour Awards – Masters Cup), Richard Wood from Havelock North.
“Young minds are the most creative of all” says Richard. “ I’m really enjoying hearing and seeing some of the results and feedback already.”
All Hawke’s Bay School students up to year 8 are invited to enter this competition.
This is an interschools competition as well as an individual one.
The entrants photo gallery will be set up for public viewing at Hereworth School,  Saturday 3rd December from 3.00pm – 6.00pm and on Sunday 4th December from 11.00am – 3.00pm.
A prize giving and public judge off of the finalists will be conducted at Hereworth School Saturday 3rd December at 3.00pm.
All schools should have been contacted with information via email. However info can also be downloaded from the website www.hbyoungphotographer.co.nz.

Talkmore's price point is affordable at $279+gst  per month and in many cases those that have joined us to date have seen significant cost savings on their current spend. (upto 30%)

Most people we have seen have been a little confused about the many options that they now have, so this friday afternoon between 2pm and 5pm we are doing a Mini Roadshow at the HB Chamber of Commerce Board room.

We will have on display a Virtual Desktop, Virtual Phone system, Softphone, smartphone software, IP Phone and a router with plain old telephone converter all connected to Unison Fibre.

Feel free to come on down and see what we can do for you.

lets talkmore.co.nz

It's taken way longer than expected, but is well worth the read.  The exec summary is below, with a link to the full report at the foot of the page.

To answer the obvious 'so what?' question on what happens to all these combined suggestions & priorities for our region's future, the report will be forwarded to all participants, who included:

• The Chamber of Commerce & newly formed Business Hawke's Bay Group
• Hawke's Bay's MP's
• Many active Fruitbowlers
• Key influencers in many HB businesses

The Hawke''s Bay HRINZ committee would like to publicly thank our Vice President, Sue Whiteley, for putting in the hours to compile such a diverse group of people's thoughts into one cohesive document, Unison Fibre for their sponsorship of the event & the Opera House for hosting us.

Executive Summary of Findings
In the full document, the method and detailed findings of the workshop are laid out, but by way of executive summary the key findings are as follows.

Human Capital
•    The further development of Literacy and Numeracy (including Computer Literacy) for school aged children must be a focus for all – not just for our educators
•    Local tertiary providers must align with Universities to provide specific degree programmes which genuinely support the needs of the local current and emerging industries/sectors
•    Continued development of  Centre’s of Educational Excellence should be aligned to these key industries and sectors
•    Industries must create developmental opportunities and career paths to retain talent in region
•    An understanding of the infrastructure requirements required to attract and retain young people in the region should be developed
•    The development of leadership and management capability is key to enhancing the productivity and engagement of the human resource
•    Policies and infrastructure to support and enable the aging population to continue their contribution to the region’s economy must be developed
•    Strategies should be developed to ensure that young people see the Bay as a vibrant, dynamic and attractive place to settle
•    Regional pay rates need to attract talent from out of region and retain talent within region – relying on a “lifestyle” and “cheapest is best” approach will stifle regional and organisational development

Regional Competitiveness
•    Greater and more visible integration and collaboration between the councils is required to enhance and develop the region as a whole
•    Regional strategies are required for business development, tourism and other economic development activities
•    Communities must work together for the good of the region.  Fragmented approaches waste energy – we must have a focused and visible approach to addressing issues which prevents such fragmentation – people should know how to and be encouraged to get involved
•    Organisations should seek opportunities to work together for mutual benefit
•    Out of region is not best - buy local.  To facilitate this local providers must ensure they are expert and competitive
•    Leverage what we do well – identify the top ten current and emerging industries in the region and focus development activity in these areas
•    Attract related industries to the region – provide incentives where possible
•    Conduct research into the perception of the region with businesses – why do businesses locate here and why do they choose elsewhere
•    Maximise the tourist spend
•    Ensure our events schedule is attractive to the younger generations not just Baby Boomers

Infrastructure
•    Seek ways to improve access to the region
•    Ensure the port is supported
•    Technology infrastructure is key
•    Improved space based planning is required to improve the ease of access to and aesthetic of our outdoor and shared purpose spaces
•    Cut the red tape required to do business

Social
•    Improve the support migrants to the region obtain
•    Improve the tolerance, acceptance and local perception of migrants
•    Promote success stories in Hawke’s Bay particularly in relation to success in business – tell the world what we do well
•    Seek to reduce the gap between the “have’s” and “have not’s” in the region
•    Improve consultation with and participation from lower socio economic groups in economic development activities
•    Execute with excellence – address the culture of mediocrity of service delivery and the “cheapest is best” mentality – replace it with the understanding that “Do it once, do it right…gives value for money”

Cultural Diversity
•    Continually work to celebrate our cultural diversity
•    Encourage pride in our cultural heritage

Environment
•    Protect our clean green image now
•    Eco Tourism should be encouraged
•    Ensure our water is used productively and is fairly available

See the full report here & click on the pdf for the August event