What with Royal Mail workers doomed, big banks being frauded, and general recession depression, today we would like to offer you something a little more uplifting.

Sock and Awe is a lovely little web app game where you get to throw shoes at George W Bush.

It's also a stunning example of how quickly the switched-on web entrepreneur can turn out a fun and instantly popular product. In a few hours the guys at soon-to-be-launched comedy website Pop Jam created this on the back of the news that - well, if you don't know the news story you ain't gonna get the game.Also neatly creating a bit of pre-launch buzz around themselves and reaching a big audience through viral marketing in an incredibly innovative way. A great bit of PR - remembering not to annoy people, to get people involved and make things enjoyable. And using the power of word-of-mouth and the internet to get the name and idea out. Big marketing ticks all round, and pretty big smiles too.

What with Royal Mail workers doomed, big banks being frauded, and general recession depression, today we would like to offer you something a little more uplifting.

Sock and Awe is a lovely little web app game where you get to throw shoes at George W Bush. It's also a stunning example of how quickly the switched-on web entrepreneur can turn out a fun and instantly popular product. In a few hours the guys at soon-to-be-launched comedy website Pop Jam created this on the back of the news that - well, if you don't know the news story you ain't gonna get the game.

Also neatly creating a bit of pre-launch buzz around themselves and reaching a big audience through viral marketing in an incredibly innovative way. A great bit of PR - remembering not to annoy people, to get people involved and make things enjoyable. And using the power of word-of-mouth and the internet to get the name and idea out. Big marketing ticks all round, and pretty big smiles too.

After weeks of grumbling, whining and surprisingly belligerent discounting, it seems this weekend, the Christmas fairies (in London, at least) finally granted retailers’ festive wishes, with a surprise upsurge in shoppers boosting pre-Christmas takings.A source told Smarta the Oxford Circus branch of music retailer HMV saw a jump of more than 80% in year-on-year sales, while the rest of London saw a 20% year-on-year rise over the weekend, with a million people spending about £120m on the capital’s streets.A spokesman for John Lewis, where computer games sales soared by 500%, told The Metro the company had expected the surge. “We have always felt with Christmas Day falling on a Thursday, Christmas will be coming late this year.“We had a nice increase over the weekend and we are expecting it to get even busier. Most people probably stopped work on Friday so they effectively have a five-day weekend,” he said.Sadly, while London’s retailers were celebrating, the news wasn’t quite so rosy elsewhere – on average, sales across the country were down 8.7% from last year, but retailers have remained resilient. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said even though sales are down, things are beginning to look up.“While conditions remain tough, retailers have reacted with high-profile price cuts and promotions,” said the group’s director general, Stephen Robertson.“This, together with the recent reductions in VAT and interest rates, has meant in the last few days shoppers have come out in force. Some retailers will now dare to breathe a sigh of relief that customers are simply delaying their Christmas spending, rather than cancelling it entirely.”On that cheery note, Smarta is taking a break over Christmas, but will be back at the beginning of January. Until then, merry Christmas – and here’s to a recession-busting 2009.Image by Beatbull on Flickr - vielen Dank!

Worrrd.Smarta’s new favourite Twitterer is 90s hip hop lothario MC Hammer, who has taken time out from warning people against touching this to launch a sort of YouTube for dancers, DanceJam.In an article on the BBC earlier this year, the baggy-trousered rapper was adamant he knows his technology. “There is no high-tech lingo or business strategy that you talk that is above my head. I breathe this stuff,” he insisted.It seems Hammer has had the entrepreneurial bug all along – Smarta can report the Twitter feed presents the reader with a real insight into the man behind the music, giving a voice to someone who was previously without a platform to share his experiences – untouchable, if you will.“I refuse to deny access of my experience & expertise to the people who made me. My Fans”, he proclaimed earlier today. A statement which is, if somewhat ineloquent, is nevertheless revelatory about the nature of the extraordinary generosity he feels towards his humble followers.While you’re waiting for Smarta’s launch, then, why not check out @MCHammer when you’re having a business crisis? Consider the following nuggets of Hammer wisdom – we particularly admire his creative use of “speech” marks, rhetorical questions and, of course, the bible quote:

• "Perhaps "sales" is no longer the "measuring stick"... then "profits" decline and in that model there is no longer an attractive business ... Sales have to be a significant factor if "music" is the product. There must be profits in order to sustain the business."

• "Did the marketing campaign convert to sales? Now you question the "art" of the artist... I question the "skills" of your marketing plan."

• "Converting a "critic" to a "buyer" is a tough proposition... the behaviour is "give me the product" and I'll "give you my opinion"."

• "If you cannot see yourself accomplishing your goal... it won't happen."

• "The music industry (1.0 ) is dead and being reborn in 2.0 ... to get ahead and find your place as a PR or marketing person you must adjust.. the economics will reflect the reality of the current economy.. the biggest opportunity is in establishing the new "Validation" of a hit."

• "I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul." (Psalm 142:4)"

Thanks, MC.Image from Flickr.

OMG!!!!???!?!?!?!?!?????!!!!!!???!!?! WTF?!?!?!??!????!!!!!?!??!?!?!???Does it annoy you when people over-punctuate in emails? Does it really, really annoy you? Does it make you wish that each of those superfluous exclamation marks could in fact be peeled from the screen, rolled at the tip between your forefinger and thumb into a sharp point and forcibly inserted into a 10 cm high voodoo doll of the person who sent you the email?If so, then we need not even speak of the vile scar upon the state of the punctuation of the western world that is the wink emoticon.Yes, this oh-so-kooky combination of semi-colon, dash and parenthesis screaming “I’m such a cheeky chappy I’m practically Robbie Williams!”, is, with regret, the subject of today's blog. For a Russian entrepreneur has now copyrighted the wink emoticon.Yes that’s right, copyrighted ; - ).Oleg Teterin, the entrepreneur in question, is president of mobile ad company Superfone. He reportedly assured the public that he has put the trademark in place only to prevent large corporations from using ; - ), but even this seems strange. Either the Russian trademark office has gone completely bonkers, or (possibly more likely) they are taking a cut of any proceeds Teterin makes from breach of copyright pay-outs.Either way, the initial shock of the news has diffused into a gentle glow of joy within me. Either this is a piece of entrepreneurial genius, allowing Teterin to make millions from breach of copyright and discovering an inspired new market set to change the way we use language, or, and this is what I really hope for, the entire matter will be exposed for the sheer insanity that it is and use of the wink emoticon will become fully illegal in every country across the globe.

It’s that time of year again. While across the nation, employees are waking up with a sore head and unsettling memories of their Christmas party expatiations on why the company should definitely be investing more resources in personal effectiveness workshops/improved toilet facilities/shares in Woolworths, those who have elected to go down the entrepreneurial route find themselves faced with a more trying dilemma: the company Christmas card.Today is the Royal Mail’s second-class deadline for Christmas post, and with the recession having put thoughts of Christmas cheer firmly at the back of most entrepreneurs’ minds, Smarta can appreciate there may be something of a commotion when it comes to getting cards written and sent by the end of the day, and is taking the pressure off with a time-saving guide to help you decide what kind of company Christmas card is best for you:

• The charity card – The design on the front may be bordering on the crap and the greeting inside may be off-centre, but it’s alright, because it’s printed on recycled paper and the money goes to blind orphans. Alright, after the printing costs, the cost of the packaging, the transport, and the VAT, 2p of it goes to blind orphans. But it’s the thought that counts... right?

• The a-religious greeting – work for a local council and worried you may offend your non-Christian associates by alluding to the nativity? Best not to mention the c-word - stick to ‘Season’s Greetings’ or a very a-religious 'Happy New Year' instead. Or, as in the case of one company, do away with any mention of the time of year altogether and simply wish them ‘Happy Season’. Ahh.

• The product placement – what’s that little Johnny, sitting by the fire, eyes aglow with Christmas cheer, is unwrapping with such excitement? A soldering iron? Why, that’s just what every little boy wants! God bless you, ACME Soldering.

• The corporate reminder – December is a great time of year, because it means as long as you put it in a coloured envelope and hand-write the address, people will definitely open their direct mail. Sod robins and snow-covered vistas, you’ve got printers to sell and by god, you will sell them.

• The e-card – in this time of economic hardship, it’s important to be frugal and sending out 1,500 emails is much, much cheaper than sending out 1,500 Christmas cards. Points to US venture capital company First Round Capital, who forewent reindeer and elves and instead persuaded all their investees to do a little dance a la wherethehellismatt.com to show their Christmas cheer.

Twitter has been abuzz all day with the news in the run-up to Christmas, online retail giant Amazon.com is giving its packing staff an extra dose of festive cheer by forcing them to work long hours – even if they’re ill.According to an investigation by The Sunday Times, the company shows its appreciation to staff packing boxes in its ‘fulfilment centres’ by making them work toward unrealistic targets, making them work a 10½ hour shift on Saturday nights, and imposing penalties on workers who take sick days, even if they have a note from a doctor.Workers are made to pay £8.50 a day to use a communal bus to the warehouse, are told they have to pack 140 Xbox consoles per hour – that’s 2.3 per minute – to reach their target, and ‘pickers’, workers who collect items off shelves for packing, are made to walk up to 14 miles a shift. They even have to ask for permission to go to the toilet.It’s a grand example of a management technique so outdated, Smarta had assumed it had died out altogether. Frightening staff and giving them unattainable targets isn’t a motivator, and staff who are constantly in fear of losing their job won’t be motivated.With turnover expected to hit £13bn this year, it’s no surprise a company as large as Amazon has unscrupulous employment practices. It’s a company which refers to its employees as ‘associates’ and systematically hoovers up its competitors: we don’t know why we expected more.

As if businesses haven’t had enough to deal with over the last few months, it looks like the nice people at Westminster are set to squeeze even more out of you: this time, in the form of Workplace Parking Levies (WPL).The scheme, which was first proposed as part of the Transport Act 2000, means councils will be allowed to charge for employees’ parking spaces – and it looks like rather than workers paying for their spaces, it will be businesses who foot the bill.According to a piece in The Telegraph, the scheme could cost businesses up to £350 a year per employee.The British Chambers of Commerce was scandalised by the proposal, accusing the government of imposing a ‘stealth tax’ on businesses.“The WPL is purely a means to generate more funds for councils at the expense of local companies and their ability to compete,” raged the group’s director general, David Frost.“The government must recognise the financial burden businesses are already under and rule out any possibility of councils taking up the scheme.”For a government which claims to have ‘saved’ the world small firms, the scheme doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense – especially as the Conservatives push Brown to do more for small firms during a time which could make or break British business.Image from Flickr.