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The fish! – now I haven’t talked about them in a long time….. Don’t think that the lack of mention implies a happy existence, because it’s farrr from a happy little ecosystem. The death and cannibalism that goes on within that wet and fishy environment, makes me wonder if I should really be encouraging this type of thing.

The amount of money that is pumped into that tank to endorse such activities would be criminal in air land. But they look so happy……. and a death always provides a bit of excitement in the office.

Anyway, thank God the turn over in Gruden is no where near the level of the fish tank – a death I would wish upon no employee!!! I’d like to welcome two new members of staff to our ever growing team – Chris Benson and Peter Costello. Chris joins us from the West Coast of Australia (Perth) in the role of Project Manager and Peter as a Senior Designer. Welcome guys – we’re sure you’ll love it here and already we’ve seen the great work that you’re producing.

It’s been another ridiculous month again… all good, so no complaints. The Department of Commerce’s (DOC) new website is now live, check it out at www.commerce.nsw.gov.au and the DOC Annual Report is hot on it’s heels.

Earlier this month we graced the music industries night of nights at the ARIA Awards! T’was a big night with lots of messy famous people trying to be remembered, but unfortunately there’s no real goss… I got the stupidity award for not knowing what Delta Goodrem looked like when it mattered, and I think Gruden & guests took home the silly dancing award too… But once again it was a great night and we look forward to next year’s one.

We’re still hammering away on a number of projects at the moment, Christian Childrens Fund (CCF), Capital Partners website/ Intranet, Beaumont Consulting, ARIA, Institute for International Health are all well underway. Inmark has just launched their loyalty program, and we’re currently working on the font end redesign.

We’re also well under way on the Russell Kennedy Solicitors, Loss Prevention, Disney Channel, Blacktown City Council websites / Intranets…..and it’s supposed to be the quite time of year! Ugly days – bring on the chrissy holidays.

Anyway peoples it’s getting close to man-in-the-red-suit time…. I know I’ve been good! So I’m expecting lots and lots of pressies from the fat man!

Before I go, what do you call people who are afraid of Santa Claus? Claustrophobic!

Poor, I know….. Till next time!

With the ARIA Awards only days away and after the long hours, we’re ready to bust out and celebrate! Lets hope that Brent our Art Director doesn’t piss Rove off this year, but if he does, let’s hope we can remember it! Ooohhhhh yes people, it’s going to be one eventful affair!

As we all may or may not know, the Department of Public Works and Services (DPWS) is no longer! It’s now combined a number of different units under the one banner called the Department of Commerce (DOC). Interesting eh? Anyway the good news is that Gruden has designed the new DOC website and Annual Report so keep your eyes peeled for those 2 sites coming soon!

The Collex website is finally live! YAY! And we think that its not a bad looking website for a garbage company – sorry, “Waste Management” company. There is a heap of good information on there, and now that they’ve updated their services, it’s a very comprehensive and well structured site – even if I don’t say so myself! Check out the Collex website here.

The Institute of International Health (IIH) is well underway, and should be complete for the next edition of the G-Spot. IIH will be utilising the powerful Shado MX CMS for their website as are the Christians Childrens Fund (CCF) where we’ve recently been chosen to develop their new website. CCF is using the Shado MX Lite which is a scaled down version of the internationally renound enterprise version of Shado MX.

On the success of the recently launched Kemp Strang Lawyers website, Russell Kennedy Solicitors, the Melbourne office of their national group also require a website redesign. This will be underway shortly, so keep an eye out for this one.

The Capital Partners website and Intranet are currently being developed. The website is a simple brochure website, while the intranet is a complete knowledge management system. Capital Partners provide high quality independent investment research for large investors predominately in Australia and NZ markets.

What else?? Oh, the new Disney Channel’s page is well under way and should be completed by the next G-spot, but feel free to check it out Disney’s site as it may be up there sooner than you hear about it here! The ARIA homepage is almost there – it’s in its final stages of development and will be up shortly. I have to say it’s a pretty unique looking site, and leaves the old one for dead – as you’d expect!

The development of the travel loyalty system for Inmark is powering along. Oh, and how could I forget – Beaumont Consulting’s new website is also currently being worked on. This site should be pretty different from your typical recruitment website, so make sure you check that puppy out when she’s finished.

There is a heap more going on at the moment, but if I were to write it all down, you’d be bored shitless, I actually doubt if people are reading this far down….. Anyway, stay tuned for the next G-Spot, because I’ll bring out the trash about the ARIA Awards, new clients and our recently completed sassy projects!

Till next time kiddies!

Great news this month, we’ve been selected by one of Australia’s largest Councils, Blacktown City Council to be their development partner for their new Website / Intranet and CMS implementation! With over 35 companies tendering for the project, it has been a great success for us. The Shado MX Content Management System will be the implemented for Blacktown’s new online strategy. With Shado, Blacktown joins a number of councils around the world who have chosen this CMS and will be the first council is Australia to utilise this powerful system.

It’s been another bumper, crazy, fun, actioned packed month this month. The Kemp Strang website is now live, which showcases their new branding as a result of joining the national group Kennedy Strang. The Disney Channel’s new AMTV website is now live with stage 2 rolled out. This flash website was a great job to work on, a little game, a bit of set redesign should keep the kiddies entertained for hours! It did for me anyway…. We’re just about to kick off with another new project for the Disney Channel, so make sure you check back soon to see the progress.

Smartbuy stage 2 is now all live and rolled out. Smartbuy is a whole-of-government electronic marketplace developed by the NSW Department of Commerce. This stage saw us redevelop the website to accommodate the different types of users that are now using Smartbuy.

The ARIA Awards Voting Website has just recently gone live. This years voting website saw us build upon last years system, with a number of enhancements and new tools. Prior to the voting period opening, voters were able to access the ‘Voters Toolkit’, which allows them to listen to all tracks and view cover art for the 650 nominations. Gruden is working with Delloittes, Mark Pope Music and ARIA to deliver this years voting system.

So far the voting site has had some great feedback, with comments like “Excellent Service yet again Mark Pope and Gruden! Your always providing the best navigation in a voting site which helps make the experience enjoyable and painless.” and my personal favourite:- “I think I can rightly claim to be the only person who has voted for the ARIAs from a phone booth internet box in He?lsinki, Finland!!” nicely done….

We’ve recently just kicked off on another large CMS implementation for the Institute of International Health (IIH). Gruden was successful in its bid for this project, after knocking out some stiff competition. This project will also utilise the Shado CMS for the project. IIH, which is an offshoot of Sydney University, has a very short timeline. So you should hear lots about this one in the coming months.

Something that I almost forgot to tell you all – we now have a Brisbane office! YAY Gruden has taken the step and gone interstate! We have seen a lot of potential and a lot of enquires come through from Brisbane, and to provide a better service and facilitate the needs of the local companies we now have a presence there.

Lots on the cards at the moment, Beaumont Consulting website is about to kick off, the ARIA homepage is almost there, Cookie Man are going through some enhancements and upgrades, Henry Davis York require some Intranet functionality, Inmark are developing a loyalty program, Capital Partners website and Intranet are under development, the Safeflame website was recently launched, the Collex website is just about to go live, Saunders Business Cards website is not far off and a few other large CMS implementations and various other jobs are coming up.

It’s going to be a busy next 6 months for Gruden, and those die hard G-Spotters have noticed my slackness in keeping the monthly updates coming – sorry kids, but I value sleep a little more these days!

Again it’s been another long edition of the G-Spot, so in parting, remember – The strong give up and move away, while the weak give up and stay.

Till next time!

Well,…. busy, busy, busy!! It’s been a crazy month here at Gruden. Unfortunately long hours for all, but we’ve had some great projects to work on this month. Good projects make it a little more bearable when I have to work on the weekend instead of going to the snow!

One of the most exciting things that has taken place this month is that we have now officially become the Premiere Partner of Shado MX in Australia! If you haven’t heard about Shado MX yet, don’t fret – because you definitely will soon!

I hear you ask ‘What’s Shado MX??’. Shado MX was developed by Straker Interactive and is a powerful, stable and versatile Content Management System and web application framework for Intranet, Extranet or Internet applications. Shado MX has over 60 installations in Australia, NZ and the UK. It’s built to serve large amounts of information to diverse audiences, major success has been experienced in the public sector of Government, Education and also large corporations.

It’s that time of year again people, and as our CFO says “happy new year!”. Yes boys and girls – it’s tax time…. Joy! Because we are such nice people here at Gruden, we’ve been providing free tax advice on our website Taxpack.com.au for some years now. Taxpack was recently invited on the ABC radio for their tax special show. Our CFO was bombarded with a heap of tax questions from callers around Australia, and some interesting questions about our website too! Need help or advice?? Check out Taxpack!

This month saw us start our relationship with the Disney Channel, where we created the website for their new morning breakfast show called AMTV which is hosted by previous Popstars winner – Scott Cain! This is a pretty cool little flash website, stage 2 (launched very soon!) will have a ‘change the set’ feature and a breakfast game to keep all the kiddies entertained. You can check it out here!

Our work for the Department of Commerce has continued this month, but with the Office of Information Technology this time. Gruden was required to redevelop & package their Privacy Training Program, which is to be distributed to all government departments in NSW.

We’re also kicking off on the second stage of development for the Department of Commerce’s smartbuy website. This stage requires changing the focus of the website from a ‘What is’ to a ‘How to’ website. Stage 2 of the smartbuy website will be live in mid August.

Our legal clients are continuing to grow all the time, this month we’ve started working with Henry Davis York where we carried out some mods on their Intranet and Extranet web services. Kemp Strang are almost ready to roll over to their new website – only a few days off now! Acuiti Legal are continually enhancing their website with their new features and services, some of which will be launched shortly.

The Collex redesign is now underway and starting to look pretty spiffy if I say so myself! The new ARIA homepage is also well on track – this puppy is gonna be one sexy beast, so keep an eye out for this one.

Gruden has been chosen once again to carry out the voting for this year’s ARIA Awards. Last year saw the awards voting move to an online only environment for the first time in it’s history, this year we are building upon it and adding more & more features to make it one powerful system!

We’ve got some great projects coming up shortly, a few large CMS implementations, a rewards & loyalty program, website redesigns and more!

Anyway boys and girls, if you’ve made it this far down the page – nice work. It’s been a bit of a long one this month, but I’m sure you found it a riveting read!!

Be good, look after yourselves and remember – It was a brave man that ate the first oyster!

Till next time!

I almost suffered a cardiac arrest last week, snippets of my life flashed before me – I saw images and visions that I never knew I still retained. Yes the drink, the smokes and general bad lifestyle could have been the blame, but fortunately it was something much bigger – something that we’re all familiar with…. Our beloved relationship with Microsoft!

The pain I experienced when I received the error – ‘Sorry you’ve just lost 3 years worth of emails’ was indescribable…. I’m not going to harp on about MS as I eventually sorted it out and got back the 3 years I thought I had lost…..

What’s the point to this ramble I hear you ask ??? Backup, kiddies. Because if it wasn’t for our backup procedures and practices, I’d be screwed and looking over the edge of a very big cliff…

Now that I’ve given my HOT tip for the month, on to what’s been going on in Gruden in the last month….. Well, obviously I didn’t win Powerball, my SARS paranoia appears to have subsided and Supagas is still being worked on! Yes – it’s all been happening here! Very exciting stuff!

Pharmaxis have recently had Stage 1 of their website launched, still much more to go on that site yet. Kemp Strang are in the final stages and Home Partners is a few days off launch as well. The Home Partners website is being developed in conjunction with our partners at the Haygarth Group – where they are carring out the design and we’re doing the backend.

The Collex website is about to go live with the newly revised content and hot on it’s heels is the site redesign, so make sure you keep an eye out for that one!! – Finally – All those years of pain looking at that site… – no one else to blame though!

ARIA and Gruden are to join forces again for this years ARIA Awards. Last year we developed the Voting website for the awards which had some fantastic reviews, and this year we’re adding to the system, automating and streamlining the tools and processes to make it a fully contained voting system for the following years!

The ARIA homepage is being redeveloped at present, and should look pretty spiffy once completed! The creative juices have been allowed to flow on this puppy and I’m pretty sure you’ll be juicing too once you see it!! OOOhhhhh – tackless humour… Fantastic…

The Smartbuy (DPWS) Supplier Registration Toolkit is being touched up and redeveloped, also a CDROM for the Office of Information Technology has seen our government work continue this month – Hopefully with a heap more to follow!

Anyway – There’s loads of exciting things going on at the moment, but again it’s something that I can’t pass on yet. I know, pretty frustrating hey? But what can you do… The new tax year should be the time where I can share all, so make sure you check back to hear about it all – that’s if you don’t read about it elsewhere!

Ohhh – I almost forgot, our new Email & Newsletter Management System is in the final stages of testing and will be ready & available to all next month. Deliverance is it’s name and boy – it’s one powerfully sexy beast….!!

Well peoples, my apologies for the slight delay in getting this months G-Spot up, I’ll try not to let it happen again,. but it’s looking a little crazy over the next few months so please bear with me!

Till next time!

I feel proud. Proud to be an Aussie, proud to be part of ‘Fast Fingers Jimmy’s’ global annihilation. Fast Fingers Jimmy – ala James Trusler, recently smashed the Guiness Book of records with his lightening fast fingers to be the worlds fastest 160 character TXT message composer – and not using predictive text. Nice one James – the ladies must love you!

We recently finished Fast Fingers Jimmy’s website – which I think looks pretty cool for a personal website. I strongly suggest having a look. If you think that your pretty fast on the old text messaging, then make sure you visit the SMS Trainer that he has there – make sure he knows about it if you think you’re faster!!

Discrete Investment Research have recently engaged the services of Gruden to design and build their website. It’s managed through Macromedia Contribute, and for a simple brochure website, we think it’s a pretty nice looking. For all those budding personal punters (investors), make sure you have a look at the research section and get some of the tips!

Collex, everyone’s favourite environmental yellow hippo, is currently undergoing a content restructure, which will be completed shortly. Then,….. the long awaited, in dying need of, look and feel rework will be underway! YAY!

Acuiti Legal have recently made some improvements to their website by providing newsletter subscription services for their Monthly publications. BANGitUP are about to launch their new Trade Select service, which provides consumers with a very easy to use application to contact tradesmen in your area. Keep an ear out for the launch of this puppy.

There’s lot’s of exciting things on the horizon for Gruden at the moment: ARIA Awards, a few Council’s websites, Intranet projects, online practice management systems, email / newsletter management tools, Kemp Strang homepage redesign, Pharmaxis and more.

So, I guess the only sensible thing to do would be to check back here next month and see some of the cool, colourful and wonderful things Gruden are pumping out to the world!

Till next time, I hope this pathetic weather eases, my flu disappears so I don’t get continually hassled about being a SARS victim, and I win Powerball………

Adios!

Vamoose! – Another month has gone and I’m still struggling to get the g-spot out on time… This time though, I decided to wait until a week later to post it up as there’s more to talk about, so I’m really on time! It maybe an excuse, a convenient outcome to a typically struggling task – but not to worry because it’s now done!

You’ll also be happy to know that this months G-Spot has no ramble about dead fish – rest in peace Tets,.. or strange folk talking about offensive swimwear – No,… because, although we’ve had one death in the fish tank – (very cannibalistic attack) we’ve got too much to tell!

This month saw us kick off with the Pharmaxis website development. Pharmaxis is a pharmacutical research and development company with offices in both Syndey and Canberra. I’d say that by the time the next G-Spot is due, it’ll all be finished. So stay tuned for the launch of this one.

James Hardie required a portal page for their homepage to be developed for their two core departments websites, the building products website and their FRC Pipes website. We were required to design & develop the page, whilst ensuring that the colours and layout of the page complemented each of the websites. Let’s hope that this is the start of a long relationship with James Hardie!

smartbuy was another project that kicked off this month – and launched on 7/04/03. Again we were burdened with a tight deadline (I’m starting to think we’re just suckers..) but luckily we pulled it off! Everyone at the smartbuy team are a great group of people to work with, so getting the job done was painless. smartbuy is a whole-of-government electronic marketplace developed for buyers and suppliers by the NSW government. This is just the start of the smartbuy government initiative, so be prepared to hear lots about it in the future!

What else has been happening,.. The Kemp Strang Lawyers website is about to kick off. They’re after a content management solution to manage their people profiles and numerous newsletters and publications. They have recently joined a national group called the ‘Kennedy Strang Legal Group’ and require their new website to reflect their new corporate identity.

We’ve been working hard with our partner Straker on some exciting CMS prospects, hopefully we’ll have some information to pass on in the next few months… the Vodafone – My Bill section of website went live last week. I’d love to tell you how easy and cool and everything like that it is – but I’m still yet to have a look in it’s live environment! Maybe you Vodafone people can tell me???

Some very exciting news for the Grudenites out there – we have a new Business Development Manager on board now!! Yeaaaah! After great pain in selecting the right candidate, Jean Paul Lena will be taking on the challenging role. Everyone at Gruden wishes Jean Paul the best, but with his previous experience and skills, he shouldn’t need it! Nothing like a bit of pressure is there Jean Paul??

Hahaaa,… ohhhh it’s getting late….. anyway I hate to say this, but last week I was boasting about the fact that Supagas would be finished by now….. and it would have been except, they just keep adding more and more to it! So unfortunately – you’re going to have to wait until next month’s G-Spot again! but then – is there really a Supagas project?? or something that I’ve made up to appear as if we actually do work in here??? hhhmmmmm something to think about kiddies…..

Anyway boys and girls, we’re already well into 2003 and looking good so far… If the sale of my 49er is any indication – I’m going to have even less of a life as the months continue on…

One last thing before I go – keep your eye out for James Trusler – the SMS king! He should be starting out on his world record attempt this month – go james, go james, go – go – go james.. (for all those who don’t know how to read that, it’s my Ricky Lake take off)

Till next months nail biting edition of the spotty G…. Adios!

As another month races by, our beloved summer months are coming close to an end – not that we’ve had that much opportunity to enjoy them… My speedo’s haven’t had the workout that I had planned – could be that I’ve looked at the beach far more than been on it, but i think it’s more to do with the fact they are just plain offensive….

Anyway,.. we’re here to talk work, not the colour of my speedos! Cbonline have completed their 2 year project, which saw the Data Collection Module added, plus complete site wide administration. Most recently we’ve added the Indigenous Almanac component of the website, which provides information about Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander issues and historical events in relation to Radio stations around Australia.

Poochie is now completed and live! Poochie required a website to showcase their products on offer for their fundraising services to inform possible clients of the various fundraising options they provide. We wish all the best to Poochie , and last we heard they’ve already got a number of schools on board! Go the Australian product!! Good luck guys.

EE-Oz have rolled out their latest version of the website. This new version sees the activation of the online shop, WYSIWYG CMS capabilities, bulletin / message board implementation, members only area and site search. EE-Oz promotes and provides advice on training related technical matters, and on the industries’ vocational education, training and skills needs.

James Trusler is in the final stages of his website, so keep an eye out for this one! It looks like his world record attempt is going ahead – Go Son!! James’ website was part of the prize he won for winning the 2002 Text Message Championships.

Pharmaxis have recently requested the web services of Gruden. Pharmaxis is a pharmaceutical product research and development company, dedicated to the discovery and development of selective medicines and therapeutics for the treatment of a variety of diseases and ailments including asthma, bronchitis and MS. Check back soon to see the new website!

AAhhh what else, Supagas….. Funny how this one keeps creeping in each month! but believe me peoples – this one will be finished in the next G-Spot edition!!

Saunders Business Cards online ordering system is going great guns at the moment – with over 50% of their orders being placed through the system! Saunders is one of the largest business card manufactures for Australia, providing services to most of the large corporates around Australia. Their new website is coming along and should be released soon.

Now Tett’s is flushed and decomposed (our beloved ex-fish), we’ve grown our little family to include a few new siblings…. but there’s one problem – I don’t know if one of these new fishes is from that island down south, but it’s got some pretty weird ideas as to the types of fish it should be courting….. it’s almost like a dog and cat getting it on!! I’ll keep you posted if we have contact, as we might shift our focus to fish breeding if this one comes off!

Until next time….!

p.s Once last thing,.. we’ve recently published our great software prices online! If you can find better elsewhere, let us know and we’ll see what we can do… Here is what’s on offer.

Time just keeps slipping away…. I almost managed to update the G-Spot on time! Next time for sure – but, save the applause till later because unfortunately there’s some sad news to pass on. There’s been another death in the Gruden family.

We should have known – the look in her eyes, the colour of her skin (or lack of). She just didn’t have the glow that we always knew her to have. The poor little thing, we all tried so hard to make sure she rested up – but all she wanted to do was go about her business. Last Monday spelled the end of her short but actioned packed life – no longer will we all come in and to see her swim gracefully around her tank. Yes,….. Tetts is gone, but what a fish she was – so much love to give……. Rest In Peace Tetts.

But, onto a brighter note, we’ve been flatout here! Lots of new work & exciting projects on the horizon, problem is that our life outside of work dissipates to a distant memory…. But what else in life is there except for work, hey???

EE-Oz, Bromic, Supagas, Acuiti, Kempstrang and Poochie are all just about to release either a new website or modifications / enhancements shortly – so keep an eye out for these puppies. Australia’s Fastest Text Message Champion – James Trusler is currently having his website developed – just in time for his world domination challenge!! (dunno what I’m talking about????) well, you’ll just have to wait and see!!! Good Luck James!

We recently completed working on the Vodafone – My Bill section of Vodafone website, working with our friends at The Performance Technologies Group (PTG) who carried out the usability testing. There’s a heap more to be done with Vodafone and PTG in the future, and if you’re a Vodafone customer have a look and see how easy to use it is – perfect!

There’s a fair few other very exciting projects in the pipeline which are going through the motions,… I’d love to enlighten you further – but sorry, I’m not going to count my chickens and there’s a confidential thing that we like to stick too…. maybe in next months G-Spot I’ll enlighten…. maybe….

For all those of you out there who have been reading on the G-Spot that BANGitUP has a new site on its way, then be excited, because it’s finally gone live!! YES, it took a little longer than expected, but it’s now there. We think it’s a pretty sexy looking site, mostly built with CSS and minimal use of tables, XHTML 1.0 compliant and showcasing a new service called WEBit.

WEBit is essentially websites, with & without CMS capabilities, for both Builders and Suppliers. At present only Builders are able to integrate successfully with the site, but once the online catalogue is completed, Suppliers will be able to have a fully integrated CMS and ordering system – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg! Make sure you check out BANGitUP soon!

January – The month of Australia Day – and what a top day we had mate! Beers, barbie, thong throwing and egg & spoon races (which turned into egg throwing… tut tut..) good ol’ aussie fun! Our neighbours from Pearman Media joined us in the celebrations to make a great afternoon. Check out a few of the photo’s from the day.

Well kiddies, it’s time to bid you all farewell for another month. Tett’s RIP, to the new 8 or so fishies – welcome! We hope you like your new home. To everyone reading this, we hope you had a great January. To Jon Gruden, nice work on another win for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers! We hope you kick it in again this year! and to me – well done for still eating breakfast each day!

Till next time people – Peace, in this screwed up world!