Found some open source software that’s so useful, I thought I’d blog about it quickly…

PDFSam (http://www.pdfsam.org/)

Brilliant… it doesn’t look very pretty and it’s not super user friendly – but when it comes to merging and splitting PDF files, it does the business.

People were asking if my blog was broken as I haven’t posted lately – sorry, just been too busy!

Here’s a great blog to add to your subscriptions…. Windows Keyboard Shortcuts - impress your friends, save time, spurn your mouse… use Windows shortcuts. I try and use as many as I can, but I still learn new ones occasionally. This blog has a new tip every day on how you can improve your productivity using keyboard shortcuts.

Some of my favourite examples:

• Lock workstation – Windows+L
• Close window – Ctrl+W
• Close application – Alt+F4
• IE 7 Open new tab – Ctrl+T
• Start | Run – Windows+R
• Show desktop – Windows+D

By the way, got to play with Windows Vista yesterday for the first time – wasn’t blown away… it’s basically Windows XP with a Web 2.0 facelift and some desktop widgets. I only used it for 10-15 minutes, but found some stuff (like finding an open wireless network) more difficult and less intuitive than XP!

Virgin Atlantic suddenly kicked into action… it’s all rather amateurish… they’ve built a little web calculator to figure out how much to pay and they they redirect you offsite to PayPal.com where you can make a payment with them. Virgin has no way of knowing if you’ve paid or not, except for the printout of the PayPal confirmation page! They’ve also beefed up their FAQ pages about APD, but it’s not prominently linked from their homepage

They haven’t replied to my email from the 23rd yet… looks like it takes them six days to reply to emails!

At least they have offered a Virgin “deal” – if you prepay the addtional APD online they give you a voucher for £20 towards a future Virgin flight.

Here’s the FAQ’s…

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/apdfaqs.jsp

I’m booked on a long haul flight with Virgin Atlatic on 01 Feb - the day Gordon Brown’s increased Air Passenger Duty (APD) takes effect. My flight was booked back in October, long before the announcement on the 6th December. Watching how the airlines handle this is interesting…

+ the low cost airlines, as expected, are collecting the fee

+ British Airways, unexpectedly, has decided to absorb the fee for those that had paid before the announcement – nice one BA!

+ Virgin Atlantic… have decided to collect the money, but haven’t decided how… quite frustrating for me… only 9 days to go and they still don’t know. I really don’t fancy having to queue up at the airport while the chaos unfolds on the 1st February.

Here’s what Virgin’s “Customer Service” people had to say…

Thank you for your email. Please accept my apologies for the delayed response.

Virgin Atlantic will be collecting the Air Passenger Duty tax from passengers but is still reviewing how best to claim the tax.

Information will be made available on our website as soon as possible.

www.virgin-atlantic.com

In the mean time, I would like to thank you for your patience.

Thank you for contacting Virgin Atlantic Airways.

Kind Regards,

Rashi Nanda
Contact Centre Customer Services Team

“The best things in life are free”… well not always, but if you need to be able to quickly and easily create Adobe PDF documents and you don’t want to pay for or install expensive Adobe Acrobat software (or get Office 2007) then check out this neat application (it’s free, never runs out and is Open Source)… you simply click File | Print and select the virtual PDF printer, pick a file name – and you’re done. Nice.

http://www.pdfforge.org/products/pdfcreator

I did it. Many others want to do it… Coming to or staying longer in the UK! The Home Office keep changing the rules, but a relatively easy way (for graduates) to get into or stay in the United Kingdom is through the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP). The criteria consider education, earnings and age. To make it easier, I’ve built a simple, online HSMP Calculator…

http://www.hsmpcalculator.co.uk

…give it a spin! See if you qualify.

Just received this special offer email from SAA, which covers most of the year, but must be booked by 31 Jan.

I’ve just got back from Malta, and apart from a great holiday – I’ve had some poor customer service that I wanted to share.

 Drifter Car Rental / Drifter Car Hire of Malta – these guys are sharks. They offer what appears to be the lowest rate via brokers like Argus Car Hire, but when you get there they slap on extra insurances (that are supposed to be included) which doubled the price and made them more expensive than some of the other big names. Also… they don’t have an airport location (they have a cocky, arrogant agent Angie come out and patronise you) and they are not on time to meet you. Their cars are older and not clean. Avoid these guys like the plague.

ArgusCarHire.com / Argus Car Hire – these guys were complicit in the issues I had with Drifter Car Rental, now that I’m back I’ve logged a complaint via their website – waited four days – still no reply. I called them up to find out they have no trace of my complaint, even though I have an email notification from them proving that it was submitted fine. I was then told by one of their phone sales agents that they don’t really look at web enquiries anyways, and I’d be better off by submitting an enquiry via email to ccm@cartrawler.com. I enquire what the average response time is… the reply…. wait for it…. 15 to 20 days!!!! Hello! What year is this? One of my clients, 1stContact.com have a company policy of answering web enquiries and emails within 4 working hours! I did some research on Argus/Cartrawler and see that they’ve won some award for technology, it seems they need to turn to improving their customer service now.

Otherwise, the hotel – InterContinental Malta – was pretty good (despite a few things) – and I’ve written my longest yet review over on tripadvisor.com… http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g227101-d275944-r6532340-InterContinental_Malta-Saint_Julian_s_Island_of_Malta.html

Very interesting article on how companies and workplaces need to adapt to attract and retain a new generation of staff born since 1980 (like my brother!!)…

http://www.theretailbulletin.com/index.php?page=5&rss=1&cat=news&tag=c8461bf13fca8a2b9912ab2eb1668e4b

The Home Office changed the HSMP (Highly Skilled Migrant Programme) rules earlier this month. I put together a little online calculator for people to easily establish whether they qualify under the rules, or not. Give it a spin…

www.hsmpcalculator.co.uk

…may not a mean a lot to you, but if your existing (Working Holiday) visa is running out, an HSMP could be the only way to stay in the UK, unless you can find someone to sponsor you for a Work Permit.