Archive for September, 2009
The unLimited Facelift
Well, well, well, first of all, let me welcome you. Whether you’re here on your own accord or you’ve been forcefully pointed here by a search engine (our SEO is good, and we bribe firms like GOOGLE), we welcome you.
Here at Lumoe, we cherish our source code, backend support systems, and a lot more manifestations of our utter determination to impact the world we live in. But most of all we cherish our users (willing or otherwise), without which it would all be meaningless. So we’d like to thank you by throwing you a big lavish barbeque every Friday….
…sorry, it seems the finance department can’t allow that — yet.
Since we finally decided it was time we had our own blog, a couple of weeks back, we have kept you fairly up to date with information concerning our developments and have endeavored to discuss directly with you and get your feedback and your thoughts about what’s going on with Lumoe. To everyone who has been contacting us and providing opinions, thank you.
We, in the backrooms, have an aversion to writing these entries and we’ve been meticulously following the TC50. That would explain my sparse presence on these pages, but I’ve put up a sleeping baby for you. Forgive… now forget.
If you’ve been following this blog, you have probably noticed a lot of changes, most notably the absence of the big red couch which many of us have come to love. What you see is the unveiling of our new blog design. We redesigned the blog for better communication and for a smoother look. You can now sign up for email updates and RSS feeds for your PC and your phone by clicking on the “subscribe to RSS” link. Post information, author, number of posts and categories are now displayed on the left of the post to allow for a cleaner look. The posts have also been better categorized.
Although we are excited about the new design, we’d love to hear what you think. You know what they say – feedback makes the world go round…
We hope you enjoy it.
There is much that remains to be done
Posted by nabil in Abstract posts on September 14th, 2009
For quite a long time Lumoe was an abstract, an idea that we talked about, obsessing over it and devoting untold hours to our new found endeavour. Then it started to accrete, ideas turned into notes in the margins of our lives, then an ever bigger hole in our admittedly sparse wallets, then thousands of lines of bug ridden expletive inducing code. Sometime later it was an investment pitch as well as something you would ask us about – this made us feel good so please continue. Anyway this week we added another milestone; we’re now talking with (insert big name company) who are eager to and I quote “use Lumoe as another platform to raise our brand’s profile” Not bad huh?
Given the level of interest from you as well as from these companies I started thinking of the kind of entity we’re going to be. The sort of place that makes work a pleasure, promoting and nurturing your own interests and incorporating them into the things we do where appropriate, basically everything that is anathema to the Nigerian workplace. Then I thought of how much it will largely be a reflection of ourselves. At first this was quite daunting, you guys know we’re hardly poster boys for maturity but then it occurred to me that same immaturity, channeled properly will set us apart from the kind of companies we had no interest working for.
We like to talk a lot, most of you know this and we intend to carry this over and this is non-negotiable – our bid for world domination starts with you, our world is you, we are here to make each and every one of you happy, we will listen, we will make stuff you want, if you don’t we will go away and work on it till it’s likeable. You will always be able to reach us and if you have a problem we will not rest until it’s solved, this doesn’t include psychological/ emotional or any chemically induced problems though we can give numbers for those. That said we will learn from you and our service will be a perpetual effort to make life easy for you. We may need to throw the occasional party to blow steam from our incessant crisis management but you will always have an invite.
We’re also quite determined to not be one of those places that typify the ‘daily grind’ so though we may have an office, the term applies loosely as we’re quite happy working in cafes, at home in the dead of night as we are wont to do. Consequently we do not work nine to five; it involves early morning traffic and too much caffeine. Hopefully in a few months some of you will see our wisdom and come work with us. That would be something. Later/
Those are giants
Posted by nabil in Uncategorized on September 2nd, 2009
We’re losing days like buttons, slowly the realization creeps up, that thing I did the other day was actually weeks ago and there is a million and one things waiting to be done, mocking me with their indifference to my need for sleep and trying to make a dent in our determination to deliver something you’ll all love. What they don’t know is I only need to sleep only once a week and even then it’s sitting down, in front of the computer. In any case when I do finally crash and burn you guys will know I was trying to make you happy.
Anyway it seems this week my lucky star has been doing the fusion thing overtime and shooting me lucky streaks all over the place. After a less than stellar start with a producer who seemed to think I am a walking ATM machine without the daily limit, I get a call. You know the deal, you’re busy trying to get something finished only for your concentration to be rudely broken by an unfamiliar number, hesitating you pick up anyway. He’s heard of us, He thinks we have something good, He wants to meet us and if I wouldn’t mind he would like to introduce us to a few of his producer friends. I try my best not to fumble and give him my most aloof response while I’m sweating bricks.
I later find out that this producer is actually quite a big deal and pleasantly surprised to find him quite jovial and approachable, giving us advice on how to get other people on board. Now that we have a decent number of films, we are saddled with the unenviable task of finding a decent connection to upload said films to our server. So far all the big name networks have failed woefully either cutting midway or not even starting at all, makes you wonder whether they’re having a secret tea party rather than investing in their network with decent switches. If there does exist such a party and somehow one of you happens to work there, please invite us.
I am also relieved to inform you all that the tables have turned in our lawyer-client relationship, these days we’re the ones doing all the threatening, we’ve now been hounding him for some agreements we need before we can let you guys start using the site. In fairness though we’re quite happy he’s on our side, so far he’s saved us from determinedly pursuing a course of action that would have led us straight to the gallows, been the voice of reason amidst the cacophony of craziness we offer up daily, he’s also been intimating to us how business really works and the finer points of engaging in fierce and unequal combat.
So you’ve read this far again, either my writing has improved exponentially or Lumoe has found a place in your hearts and you feel compelled to read anything we come up with. I doubt it’s the former and am hoping it’s the latter, if it is then you’re rooting for us and you are definitely at the top of our charts. We would love to hear from you so please comment, write on our wall or better yet give us a call. Later