Bitcoin - doomed?

A high-profile Bitcoin developer has said the crypto-currency has failed and he will no longer take part in its development.

Mike Hearn, a Zurich-based developer and long-time proponent of Bitcoin, surprised many this weekend when he published a blog calling Bitcoin a "failed" project.

Mr Hearn, who had until recently been working on new software for the currency, says he has now sold all of his own bitcoins and will no longer take part in the crypto-currency's development.

Ferguson's Restaurant, Rugby

Ferguson's Restaurant Rugby

Nick Price Creatives were contacted by Ferguson's restaurant in Rugby at the end of November and we met Elaine at Ferguson's on 26th November. The venue was great however, Nick Price Creatives had identified that not many people knew where Ferguson's was or, indeed, how good it was. Ferguson's restaurant had been listed in the Michelin guide for 2016 (the only one in the Rugby area), yet apart from a small stickered sign on one of the doors, there wasn't much else to promote this great feat. There was certainly no mention on the Website or Facebook page.

Nick Price Creatives clearly went through a number of measures to improve the exposure of Ferguson's - from improvements to the website (it wasn't Mobile friendly, particularly good in search engines and it had spelling mistakes - 'restaurant' being one on the index page), to Facebook advertising (saying what we could do to target people better), mailing the current database, consolidating all the social media (Ferguson's Twitter account was more a personal account than business). NPC said a competition would be good early in the new year - to win a meal with wine, something really special, to add exposure in January. We proposed all of this via email to "Essentially, Nick Price Creatives would consolidate all your marketing together to ensure it looks better and works better, increasing the numbers of likers, followers, visitors, commentors, reviewers etc - ultimately though more bums on seats in your restaurant." During the initial meeting we also met the restaurant chef and namesake David Ferguson too.

It was all happening pretty quick from the initial phonecall and meeting with Elaine as she was 'jetting off' for a couple of months from the Sunday - so the full report, full of ideas and initiatives was completed and presented on the Friday, so that the restaurant owner Stephen Barnard could respond - he did so on 27th November with great comments such as "I am most impressed with and agree with much of the comment in Nick’s proposal." and "Accordingly, I am willing to cancel programmes that are currently invested in by Ferguson’s for the purposes of Marketing and to take a punt in this direction for a three month trial period, with options to extend then for a further nine months."

Let's get going!
28th November we confirmed all the current stats so we knew where to build from with Facebook being the key target the figures were: 852 Likes, 621 had been with 4.7 of 5 stars from 45 reviews.
Firstly, we redesigned the look of the Fergusons Facebook page - adding a festive feel and, of course, the Michelin award - plus the TripAdvisor logo.

Tripadvisor was performing quite well with consistent high ratings, however no-one was being informed of the reviews - so it made good sense to post these reviews on Facebook too.

Prior to December 2015, the 'average' post reached 300 people. November 30th saw a post about new curtains (348 reached), a Facebook review share (252 reached) and the New Years Eve event post (only) 306.

Nick Price Creatives first post (we later back-dated some) was the profile pictures which achieved a reach of 369. NPC designed a mock-up Christmas Menu which, through our promotion, reached a new high of 737. Subsequent Tripadvisor reviews - December 15th shown below with the new header 'You Said' achieved 873 and December 17th saw another new high of 869 - it was all moving in the right direction.

Ferguson's Restaurant Rugby

By January 1st the Facebook likes had increased to 892.

January 2nd this latest TripAdvisor review posted on Facebook, ""I was slightly concerned that my jaded post Christmas appetite would struggle but the sea bream was so delicious I cleared my plate and my tastebuds having been rejuvenated I even managed Christmas pudding! Totally recommended for great food and lovely service." Jane W, Yelvertoft via Tripadvisor. You can see our vert latest Tripadvisor reviews HERE" achieved a reach of 977.

Each time the increase of 'reach' was achieved without paying (Facebook Boosting) so the potential was there. We had recommended boosting the posts in our initial proposal - imagine what a competition/prize draw for a Meal for two, boosted on Ferguson's Facebook could do?!

Restaurant Rugby.

Lotto Potto

A record National Lottery jackpot of £50.4m is expected to prompt a surge in ticket sales, Camelot has said.

The operator said it expected to sell 200 tickets a second in the hour before ticket sales close at 19:30 GMT ahead of the draw at 20:30 on Wednesday.

The previous largest jackpot was £42m, which was shared between three separate ticket holders in January 1996.

If no-one wins the jackpot it will roll over and either be won or shared on Saturday, Camelot said.
Wednesday's jackpot is the result of 13 consecutive rollovers and follows the number of balls in the draw increasing from 49 to 59 in October.

This reduced the odds of a player getting six numbers from about one in 14 million to one in 45 million, mathematicians say, but Camelot argues its rule changes have increased the chances of becoming a millionaire.


If no-one gets six lottery numbers on Wednesday or Saturday, new Camelot rules mean the jackpot prize is shared out in the first draw after the prize reaches £50m.

This means if no player matches all six numbers on Saturday the prize will be shared between winners in the next tier where there is at least one winner - most likely those who have five main numbers and the bonus ball.

Camelot said this would make it "some of the best odds players have ever had to win a multi-million pound life-changing jackpot".

Dr Rob Mastrodomenico, a statistician and founder of the consultancy Global Sports Statistics, said the record prize was the result of the increased number of balls, which had reduced the odds of people selecting winning numbers.

A National Lottery spokeswoman said Wednesday's jackpot had the potential to make one of its biggest winners in the lottery's history.

Twitter10k? Surely Not

Twitter plans to increase the tweet character limit from 140 to 10,000. And here's their new logo: #Twitter10k

Melanie Webb Flower School

The Melanie Webb Flower School

The Melanie Webb Flower School pride themselves on top quality tuition for professional florists and absolute beginners.

All you need to bring is your enthusiasm and an interest in flowers!

Melanie is a multi award winning florist and floristry tutor. Her career in flowers started at the tender age of 15 and she has been creating beautiful floral creations and training the next generation of florists for the last 29 years.

Melanie was crowned “Floristry Tutor of the Year 2014” at the British Florist Association annual awards ceremony. A true testament to the hard work and dedication she puts into her training.