The Fubra Blog
Travel Money – Best methods for spending abroad
Foreign exchange can be a very complicated world to understand and one which most people don’t want to spend too much time looking into, but still want to get the best deal on their travel money. There are a lot of hidden charges involved and often foreign currency providers will use marketing techniques to make you think you are getting a great deal, when in truth you could do much better!
We have a number of Airport Guides and as foreign exchange is so closely associated with holidays and airports we decided to look really closely into the currency market and unravel the secrets of getting the best deal on FX. We have now started to publish our results with a whole set of pages on each Airport Guide to help you when purchasing your holiday cash.
There are now many different methods of spending abroad, and long gone are the times that you could just use foreign currency and travellers cheques. One of the big changes has been that currency providers are now offering pre-paid currency cards, which work in a similar way to a debit card, you pre load them with currency and spend or withdraw cash using them abroad. We have researched the best of the best currency cards and compared them to save you time and money.
Compare the best pre-paid currency cards.
Most people also still want to have cash on them which can be used for smaller purchases, or in places which don’t take cards, so we have covered the bureau de change available at the airports and the FX branches on the high street too!
One other method of spending abroad is to use a credit or debit card. There are as many charges and fees associated with these methods as any, but it could actually work out to be one of the cheapest or most expensive ways of getting your holiday money, depending on the card you have, so we have provided information to help you make the decision to spend, or not to spend!
Another thing we have done is to strip back the jargon used by the foreign currency exchange providers to it’s most basic form and explain what each charge, fee and added extra means, helping you understand the way to get the most from your money without being baffled by the language used by the travel industry. This page also contains our Top Ten Travel Money Tips
NHS Patient Survey Service – PatientPulse
A new patient satisfaction survey system from Niggle Limited
Niggle is a business focused on feedback. Back at the beginning of 2009, when Fubra took an early stage investment in Niggle, we were working exclusively with independent restaurants. Through a process of product evolution, this week sees the launch of PatientPulse, a complete feedback system designed to continuously monitor patient satisfaction in GP surgeries, clinics, health centres and hospital departments.
The NHS has put patient satisfaction centre stage in recent years. In May 2009 the Department of Heath issued guidelines encouraging GP practices and Primary Care Trusts to use their own methods to measure patient satisfaction and capture real time feedback. More recently, the government has signaled that patient satisfaction will become a key metric in determining funding across the NHS.
PatientPulse uses web and mobile technology to track patient opinions across key areas of heath care provision. Using our trademark MicroSurvey format – which breaks traditional surveys down into bite sized chunks – we can increase both the number and the demographic of patients participating. And unlike traditional surveys, results are analysed and available immediately – ready for action to be taken without unnecessary delays.
The system is currently operating in 8 NHS heath centres across the UK , with more to follow in the next few weeks. To read more about our new service, and patient satisfaction in the heath care sector, visit our website at PatientPulse.co.uk
Fubra announces SixCrayons
Over the last few weeks I have been working on a new front end web design site called SixCrayons. SixCrayons consists of six individual blogs bringing together Design, CSS, JavaScript, Flash, Illustration, and Apps/Widgets.
I wanted to create a site that designers around the world would find interesting and want to contribute to. So far we have had about six guest articles on the site, with many more currently in progress.
The design was inspired from the idea that all designers start out as children using crayons for their first illustrations and progress from there. I wanted the website to appear fun and recognisable, so with each crayon or category I chose to use a separate colour to differentiate every one.
I arranged an interview with one of Australia’s top Illustrators Patrick Brown which went really well, check it out to see some some of his work. Guest Blogger Paul Seys interviewed Rob Farrow from chi.mp. While web developer Steve Whiteley wrote a great JavaScript article. If you are a web designer/developer and would like to write for SixCrayons please submit your details and we will contact you straight back.
I hope you enjoy the site and if you know any web designers or developers please get them to contact us at SixCrayons to get them involved.
Our first iPhone App – PetrolPrices Pro
We’re all very excited today, as we’ve just launched our first iPhone app on App Store. The App is called PetrolPrices Pro, and as the name suggests it lets you find the cheapest petrol on your iPhone. It also lets you find prices for diesel, super unleaded and LPG. The launch price is £4.99 and that includes 1 year of updates.
So if you like PetrolPrices.com and want the official iPhone App – then you can find out more here, or you can buy it directly on iTunes here.
Progress of Renegade Games Investment
After about 7 months of starting the joint venture with Fubra, it is going very well. It was a great advantage working in their office initially, and being able to talk to the directors, as they were able to help me in the hardest part of starting a business, the very beginning. They helped me avoid many mistakes, and also suggested a lot of things that I could do.
The experience they have definitely shows. After almost 10 years of being an “internet business”, Fubra have a very good sense of how to build good websites, and make money on the internet. And they are not afraid to share this information with their investments.
