I thought it might be useful to create an area where we can compile and keep track of any websites that mention/report on Chameleon Net's activity. Mainly news sites and online press.

So in the spirit of web 2.0 I've set up a de.licio.us account to bookmark such bits and pieces.

Feel free to check it out: http://del.icio.us/danm_chameleon.

Little did we know the most challenging piece of road would be in the Gambia. We crossed from senegal to the gambia with little stress but once we got to the gambia we found the worst road we had yet to encounter. It was almost impassable for 2 wheel drive cars and despite destroying yet another wheel and another shock absorber, we managed to limp in the dark to an eco-report on the banks of the river. Just as well because the surrounding fields were ablaze and the countryside home to crocodiles, leopards and even hienas.

The next day was easier, we made it to Banjul without too many problems; the road improved although a lot of it was still under construction so we had to dodge bulldozer and men at work but at least the car kept on going. Despite taking the most difficult route through the gambia we were suprised to find we were amongst the first to arrive. Apparently there is a victory parade in a couple of days time and then the cars will be auctioned for charity.

The car took a hammering in the desert and everything is covered with a layer of sand. We have had 3 flats and now only have a space saver spare but as long the car keeps moving, so will we! We are now only a couple of days away from banjul, our final destination!

We made it through the sahara or at least the edge of it. We got stuck countless times but we let the tyres down so they were virtually flat, dug the car out and pushed - tiring but effective. The first night in the desert we camped by a sand dune and the second night we reached the ocean and camped on the beach.

We then made a dash for the border and after 5 hours of tough negotiation we eventually managed to get into senegal on a car ferry that i thought was going to sink at any moment. We then found our way in the dark to a tiny campsite on the edge of a national park, just south of st louis.  After a rest day, we then pushed on to Dakar. We are now on our way to the gambian border, i am sure with many hours of negotiation to come.

We are now at the edge of near civilisation in the western sahara, we have a short 450k on tarmac through the desert today before we go off road for real and will be at the mercy of the local guide to take us through the sahara to rejoin a road further south. Apart from a puncture, there have been no problems with the car so far but the next four days will be the real test. Not sure when we will be able to communicate again but watch this space...

We are now close to completing the second part of our trip through Morocco. We have experienced the madness of the Marakesh roads at night, stayed at a beautiful Riad, snowboarded at 3000 metres in the atlas mountains surrounded by desert and driven through winding roads through the atlas mountains......

So we have made it to Africa! We have had a very eventful journey so far...

As many of you may know I am taking part in the Plymouth to Dakar rally. A colleague and I will be setting off tonight, to drive to Portsmouth to catch a ferry bound for France. The plan is that we will then drive through France, Spain, take a ferry over to northern Morocco and then on through Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal and finally arrive in The Gambia in about three weeks time.

2007 showed phenomenal growth for “Facebook”, by the end of the year it had 7.6M active UK users, that’s 12.5% of the population. With so many active users participating on the social networking site some form of advertising system to target these users was inevitable.

With some major shake-ups in the Online Marketing world over the last twelve months, 2008 looks set to be a balance of new strategy and contingency. As PPC advertisers grow in number, an increasingly crowded marketplace will force some to experiment with more niche engines to ensure a return while the search engines will all be tweaking their natural algorithms every which way they can (Google patenting new image reading technology for example). 2008 is going to be a year of surprises, but let’s see if we can foresee a few trends: