Entrepreneurship

Fraser is absolutely right. What’s stopping you? When I was being consulted on a funding programme recently, it was made clear that funding would not be available for capital (hardware and software) purchases. My response – “Everyone already has a computer or access to one.” So, to start your company, what do you need? Sound … Continue reading “Entrepreneurship”

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Fraser is absolutely right. What’s stopping you?

When I was being consulted on a funding programme recently, it was made clear that funding would not be available for capital (hardware and software) purchases. My response –

“Everyone already has a computer or access to one.”

So, to start your company, what do you need? Sound off in the comments!

think + collaborate globally – innovate locally

Alex is right to highlight this. We discussed (on Twitter) the merits of open systems (open data, open health, open innovation) and seemed to agree that openness creates opportunity but it requires individuals to provide innovation. Code4Pizza is a local group I’ve started to get folk working on projects which are ‘open’. By open, I … Continue reading “think + collaborate globally – innovate locally”

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Alex is right to highlight this. We discussed (on Twitter) the merits of open systems (open data, open health, open innovation) and seemed to agree that openness creates opportunity but it requires individuals to provide innovation.

Code4Pizza is a local group I’ve started to get folk working on projects which are ‘open’. By open, I mean that anyone can contribute, anyone can benefit and as an additional bonus, the projects will generally have a public service value slant. The current project, OpenTranslink, is the result of several months of work by a group of people to get the timetable and route data (most notably, Mark Bennett from the DFP who is part of the team reponsible for OpenDataNI)

Taking the OpenTranslink project as an example. When you travel to a new country, one of the most impenetrable aspects of their culture is their public transport system. This is difficult enough when the native language is not a barrier, but very difficult when the language is different. Nearly every region is developing a suite of apps to run on iPhones, Android phones and Blackberry phones which carries the bulk of their public transport data. I’d wonder – however – if data from other regions shouldn’t be included in “Transport’-type apps.

You innovate with your technology and your design – but from then you just plug regional data into it. Differentiate based on your innovation but you collaborate across regions to provide a seamless experience for the foreign traveller.

In essence – once the clever chaps doing the OpenTranslink data visualisations, API, application logic and interface design are finished, what’s stopping them doing exactly the same for London buses, bus systems in San Francisco, trams in Lyon?

Cost of Living…

David sent me this link: How much do top tech companies pay? This prompted a discussion about the costs of living in Northern Ireland compared to Cupertino and the realisation that there’s a normalisation needing done. But despite it not being linear, I still reckon that Northern Ireland gets a raw deal here. Average income … Continue reading “Cost of Living…”

David sent me this link: How much do top tech companies pay?

This prompted a discussion about the costs of living in Northern Ireland compared to Cupertino and the realisation that there’s a normalisation needing done. But despite it not being linear, I still reckon that Northern Ireland gets a raw deal here.

Average income in Cupertino is $123,320 (US average is $76,893)
Average income in Northern Ireland £17,366

Average house price in Cupertino $880,000 (US Average is $259,566)
Average house price in Northern Ireland £156,857

Average house price divided by average salary in Cupertino: 7.13 (US Ave 3.37)
Average house price divided by average salary in Northern Ireland: 9.03

—-

Income Tax rate in Cupertino: 9.3% (highest bracket)
Income Tax rate in Northern Ireland: 20%

VAT/Sales tax in Cupertino: 8.25%
VAT/Sales tax in Northern Ireland: 17.5%

—-

Seems to me that we pay a higher percentage of income on housing as well. Considerably larger – Cupertino just normalises the US average to be almost as bad as Northern Ireland.

Now, adding in utilities (I spent a shitload more on heating and lighting here I bet). Can’t comment on TV/Cable but I spend about $100 a month here on Satellite TV (that I don’t even watch). Everything I buy (and have bought) in and from the USA) seemed cheaper.

Northern Ireland has salaries 20% below the UK average and a standard of living around 20% below the UK average. I reckon that Northern Ireland people live in relative squalor and we just get on with it. And we get on with it because there’s no choice.

Northern Ireland’s culture has been artificially frozen since the 1960s. We haven’t progressed significantly in any way. We have a local government whose level of corruption seems to be the envy of politicians worldwide. We have two microcultures that still, after everything we’ve been through, mistrust and want to hurt the other.

The Top 5 Dream Jobs #top5dreamjobs

ROB FLEMING (Rob Gordon in the movie), FROM HIGH FIDELITY SPEAKS On his top five dream jobs NME journalist, 1976-1979 Get to meet the Clash, Sex Pistols, Chrissie Hynde, Danny Baker etc. Get loads of free records – good ones too. Go on to host my own quiz show or something Producer, Atlantic Records, 1964-1971 … Continue reading “The Top 5 Dream Jobs #top5dreamjobs”

ROB FLEMING (Rob Gordon in the movie), FROM HIGH FIDELITY SPEAKS

On his top five dream jobs

  1. NME journalist, 1976-1979
    Get to meet the Clash, Sex Pistols, Chrissie Hynde, Danny Baker etc. Get loads of free records – good ones too. Go on to host my own quiz show or something
  2. Producer, Atlantic Records, 1964-1971 (approx)
    Get to meet Aretha, Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke etc. Get loads of free records (probably) – good ones too. Make piles of money.
  3. Any kind of musician (apart from classical or rap)
    Speaks for itself. But I’d have settled just for being one of the Memphis Horns – I’m not asking to be Hendrix or Jagger or Otis Redding
  4. Film director
    Again, any kind, although preferably not German or silent.
  5. Architect
    A surprise entry at number 5, I know, but I used to be quite good at technical drawing at school

So, inspired by this, I’ve decided to write my top 5 dream jobs, not limited by time travel or qualifications:

  1. CEO of Apple Inc, 2017-2022
    Someone has to take over from Steve at some point and I reckon I could do it. It would also be one of Apple’s most challenging times as we introduce a new iWidget, buy Adobe and have to fight off Google and a newly revitalised Microsoft. Finish up by leaving on a high note with Apple as a worldwide carrier and get on my yacht and sail away on my 50th birthday.
  2. Futurist and Author
    Get to swan around conferences dispensing visionary wisdom to adherents. Probably pop out a couple of novels and have one or two optioned into movies. Spend a lot of time talking to interesting people and turn down those TED folk once or twice.
  3. Serial Entrepreneur/Investor
    Start and sell a couple of businesses and then spend the rest of my days helping other people get started. Get to hang out with the cool kids in San Francisco as well as prove that you don’t have to be in Silicon Valley to make a splash in the Digital sector.
  4. Technology Journalist/Writer, 1970-2000
    Get to watch all of the technology giants take off. Get to meet cool people from some of the most innovative companies during the birth of Silicon Valley and the web. Attend all the big conferences and renew my sense of wonder when someone gave me a computer I could carry with one hand.
  5. Film Director, Writer and Producer
    Writing and directing my own films and helping others do it too. Success would be nice – in order to finance the projects I consider to be art. Maybe even get to be interviewed by Apple during one of their product releases talking about how their new iWidget has improved my day.

So, what about you? Top 5 Dream Jobs?

To build for tomorrow, we have to plan today.

The Economist: Nokia tries to reinvent itself: ASK Finns about their national character and chances are the word sisu will come up. It is an amalgam of steadfastness and diligence, but also courage, recklessness and fierce tenacity. “It takes sisu to stand at the door when the bear is on the other side,” a folk … Continue reading “To build for tomorrow, we have to plan today.”

The Economist: Nokia tries to reinvent itself:

ASK Finns about their national character and chances are the word sisu will come up. It is an amalgam of steadfastness and diligence, but also courage, recklessness and fierce tenacity. “It takes sisu to stand at the door when the bear is on the other side,” a folk saying goes.

We have this feeling. We have it. We likely don’t have a word for it. And that’s a damn shame.

We need something to change. Northern Ireland will always have difficulties because we lack the environment we need to excel. Part of this is historical, part of it is just the way our culture is built. We have the talent, we have the brains, we just lack part of the execution. We will never have the same number of angels and funds as Silicon Valley. So we have to make better use of what we have. We will never get the massive DoD contracts that Israel secured so we’re going to need to find other ways to make our mark. We need to have the foresight to prepare for the future, the charisma to make friendships that will last and the heart to build it. Not for our own gain but for the gain of tomorrow. Well, starting from today, the first week of January 2010, we’re going to change that.

We’re going to start an incubator.
We’re going to start building a fund.
And we’re going to do it in Belfast.

So I’m looking for a word in Irish to express something. To express the passion about how I choose to spend my free time. There’s some candidates here – and the front-runner so far in bold.

dream brionglóid
sight radharc
To hell with you! Go hIfreann leat!
friendship cairdeas
The big race An rás mór
connection, bond ceangal
feat, achievment gaisce
nerve, courage, morale, heart misneach

Tabula Rasa…not quite

At CES, HP has unveiled it’s new ‘Slate’ product. Or more accurately, Steve Ballmer of Microsoft presented this Window 7-running mini tablet PC with no reference to specifications. Engadget has some coverage but for the real skinny, head on over to Gizmodo for some real photos including this clever bit of cross-marketing. Take note, it’s … Continue reading “Tabula Rasa…not quite”

At CES, HP has unveiled it’s new ‘Slate’ product.

Or more accurately, Steve Ballmer of Microsoft presented this Window 7-running mini tablet PC with no reference to specifications. Engadget has some coverage but for the real skinny, head on over to Gizmodo for some real photos including this clever bit of cross-marketing.

ballmernote43

Take note, it’s not Courier, the two screen slate Microsoft distracted us with ages ago (which was aimed entirely at interior designers) but it will apparently be a shipping product at some point this year.

There are some other contenders for iSlate also-rans.

Camangi Webstation
There’s the Camangi Webstation which ends up being a slow internet tablet device described as “sluggish” and “confined”. It also has an unboxing an initial review over at GearDiary

Camangi Webstation
Camangi Webstation

Paradigm Shift 10″ Android tablet.
Engadget also have details of the Paradigm Shift tablet.
paradigm-shift-01-06-2010

Set to be available in your choice of black or white, this one packs an 800MHz Marvel PX166 processor (slightly faster than the Camangi’s), along with a 1,024 x 600 touchscreen (no word if it’s capacitive or resistive), 2GB of flash storage standard (upgradable to 16GB), built-in WiFi, VGA out, an SD card slot for further expansion, and even the option of built-in 3G. Look for this one to hit the US sometime this March with an MSRP of $369.95.

and last but not least, we have the JooJoo / CrunchPad. This 12.1″ tablet has been a media darling from when it was called the CrunchPad right up until they ditched the name (and TechCrunch) and decided to go it alone with the JooJoo.

JooJoo

Of these, only the HP/Microsoft effort seems to indicate anything much more than being a web tablet and even then, they’ve showed us a demo which could have been built in Silverlight for all we know. We do know it runs Windows 7 so it’s likely an Atom processor in there and the presence of the Taskbar means there’s not going to be any innovation present.

OK – lots of people are expecting the Apple tablet to finally appear but wouldn’t it be typical if it doesn’t?

Apple have never admitted to working on something called an iSlate, which will be a large touchscreen. Has there been enough traction in the Tablet industry for Apple to step in and ‘do it right’ the way they did with MP3 players and mobile phones in the 2000s?

The State of Funding in 2009 in Northern Ireland

2009 saw us deep in the grips of a recession with doom and gloom at every corner but 2009 also represented one of the most ‘entrepreneurial’ years since 2000. Northern Ireland is not Silicon Valley. We don’t have the climate, we don’t have the architecture and we don’t have the big names. The average Venture … Continue reading “The State of Funding in 2009 in Northern Ireland”

2009 saw us deep in the grips of a recession with doom and gloom at every corner but 2009 also represented one of the most ‘entrepreneurial’ years since 2000.

Northern Ireland is not Silicon Valley. We don’t have the climate, we don’t have the architecture and we don’t have the big names. The average Venture Capitalist in Silicon Valley can probably fill his term sheet 5 times over by just selecting startups within a 20 mile radius of his office.

So, where could we get investment in 2009?

The most obvious place that people first turn to is InvestNI. They’re the Regional Development Agency for Northern Ireland and they advertise heavily, encouraging people to ‘Go For It” and start their own business. InvestNI offers several programmes which may be of interest:

  • GAP – the Growth Accelerator Programme provides relief on vouched and approved expenditure providing up to 50% of your investment back. If your expenditure is likely to be less than £5000, then you’re going to spend a relatively large amount of time filling in forms and vouching for a maximum of £2500 (because InvestNI will attempt to argue down from the peak of 50% return). If you’re spending £20000, then it makes a lot more sense. It’s a simple, accessible programme with a very boring form.
  • Grant for R&D – a little more limited though the amounts can be potentially higher. I’ve not seen much evidence that this is really that accessible but I’m sure that’s just due to my exposure than any difficulty. The problem I foresee for companies I work with is that defining software development as ‘R&D’ is hard.
  • Trade and Export – this process is very accessible and is a short form as well. It enables a small group of companies to attend trade shows and conferences around the world and gives them around 50% of the money back once they return. Usually there’s also some facilitation when you get out there from the InvestNI teams. InvestNI should do more of this – these guys are great.
  • Other programmes? I hear that there’s a heap of programmes like SFA? Management Assistance? but I have so far failed to find someone who can really tell me more about it!

InvestNI also has the NISPO fund which is managed by e-Synergy. This support includes a £5 million venture capital fund, the Invest Growth Fund, which focuses on seed and early stage businesses with high growth potential and a £3 million proof of concept fund, the Invest Growth Proof of Concept Fund, which is funded by Invest NI to provide funding to very early, non-university projects. All of this money is either match funded or vouched so, like with all public funding, to achieve this you’ll need some sort of other private money behind you. The fund opened in July 2009 and has invested in two local companies: Sonic Academy and Anaeko.

Continuing with the public sector funding, there’s a potential for also getting funding from NIScreen or the Arts Council.

NIScreen has a Digital Media Fund for content (not the enabling technology) and media projects funded must have 60% moving image. This fund is currently closed (and has been closed since around September 2009). It’s pretty accessible for companies making digital films or games though NIScreen admits that they’re only really getting started in the Digital Content sector.

The Arts Council will have spent the £5 million Creative Industries Innovation Fund by March 2010 and the last trenche (from Sept/Oct) is likely to have been the last of the money. This was a seed fund specifically to embrace innovation and the arts including software, games, film, television. There was a lot of money from this fund spent on ‘startup costs’ which I think is a poor use when they could be much more specific. The funds available were between £10000 and £50000 and were certainly earmarked (on paper) for innovation. The Arts Council has a raft of other support for arts-related projects so there’s bound to be some opportunity there for some.

There’s a funding-like service offered by InvestNI called “Innovation Vouchers” which buys you £4000 worth of University research time. This has been misused in the past to get normal development done and realistically £4000 is not going to buy you very much but it’s an option for people who have ideas and who cannot build it themselves.

I’m not aware of other public sector funding which would be applicable to the Digital Content and Software Sector.

There are private sources of funding as well. The first is the three Fs. Friends, Family and Fools. Anyone you can hoodwink into giving you startup money because they trust you is likely going to be a better bet than anything. As you can match private money with public in the schemes above, it helps your buck go that little bit further. But you’re talking about friends and family. I would hope that people put more care into this than anything.

Getting a loan from the bank to finance your business is also possible in theory though I don’t have much experience of getting this. Actually – I do – but the experience was so painful that I cannot recommend it. I ended up paying exorbitant amounts of interest on a £15000 loan which very nearly put us out of business. If I could encourage you of one thing – it’s not to go to the banks. If a bank manager wants to talk to someone or offer up some time to talk to a group of entrepreneurs, then I’m very willing to hear them. As long as they’re not from the First Trust Bank in Lisburn.

Angel Investment is another option. Angels are private individuals who have personal wealth which they can invest in other businesses with the intention of increasing their investment or getting a chunk of money back when the business is sold. As a rule they’re not doing it for anything other than the money (though several have said to me they’re doing it because it stops them rotting their liver at the 19th Hole). According to Venturehacks, an Angel is someone who has capital, has good judgement and who also has ‘proprietary deal flow’; they’ve got something other than money behind them. They can provide something than no-one else can or they have an exclusivity to their investments which helps them maintain their name.
Halo NI, the only Angel Network I’m aware of in Belfast. I know they have facilitated investments over the last year

And finally, we have Venture Capital. I’ve not seen any of this in action but I know it exists with apparently some £20 million in play in Northern Ireland (a very small amount compared to other regions) and apparently most of it is already invested. I’d welcome comment about the NI Venture Capital Markets.

There are other options out there and I’m working with some organisations out there to see if we can improve the situation for local entrepreneurs and company founders in accessing private finance for their startups. I’d welcome your input.

So what will this tablet be for?

Well – we hear that some iPhone app developers are already working on a series of apps to be available at launch (the lack of Lists support in Tweetie and the lack of any updates for EchoFon would make me think they’re both working on a larger screen version of their apps). So we’ll have … Continue reading “So what will this tablet be for?”

Well – we hear that some iPhone app developers are already working on a series of apps to be available at launch (the lack of Lists support in Tweetie and the lack of any updates for EchoFon would make me think they’re both working on a larger screen version of their apps). So we’ll have Twitter, we’ll have some games and we’re likely to have a heap of other content as the videos below indicate…

Mag+ by Bonnier R&D:

Mag+ from Bonnier on Vimeo.

Time shows off Sports Illustrated

Condé Nast and WIRED magazine

My use case for the Tablet is something that works in Landscape and Portrait (in exactly the way that my iPhone does and my MacBook doesn’t).

It needs to be able to play HD video (even just YouTube HD), browse the web, have decent WiFi, run a few apps and be capable of a little text entry.
I’m not sure if it needs local storage other than synced copies of iTunes stuff? Maybe this thing will be like an Apple TV with built-in display on steroids rather than an iPhone?

I don’t think it needs 3G or GPS but the latter would be a wasted opportunity if not included.

What do you want a tablet for?

Web share factoids…

Idiots ahoy at Electronista Google’s mobile and desktop web browsers had their best performance ever in December, NetApplications says in its latest study. Although Android still trails the iPhone in absolute share of the web with just 0.05 percent versus Apple’s 0.44 percent, it grew a much faster 54.8 percent versus just 20.1 percent for … Continue reading “Web share factoids…”

Idiots ahoy at Electronista

Google’s mobile and desktop web browsers had their best performance ever in December, NetApplications says in its latest study. Although Android still trails the iPhone in absolute share of the web with just 0.05 percent versus Apple’s 0.44 percent, it grew a much faster 54.8 percent versus just 20.1 percent for Apple’s platform. The BlackBerry too had a better month at 22.2 percent growth while the only major platforms below them are Symbian (19 percent growth) and Java ME (15.6 percent).

Let’s keep the numbers simple and examine these factoids.

Let’s say that for every 0.01% of absolute web share, it equals 1 million devices. That puts Apple at 44 million and Android at 5 million. Apple’s iPhone OS devices are sitting around the 50 million mark so that’s not a bad estimate.

Android’s web use grew 54.8% whereas Apple only grew 20.1%. So Androids web browsing share grew 54% to the current level (of 0.05%) and iPhone’s share grew 20% to the current level (of 0.44%). So using the figures above (for devices), we’re guessing that Android sold about 1.75 million devices. And Apple sold about 8 million. In the same period.

That’s great growth, Android. Not.

All of these numbers are bollocks anyway. I reckon Android phone browse more than most due to the usability of the web combined with the lack of decent native apps. It’s therefore my opinion that even though this article is overstating Android considerably, it’s probably doubly overstated.

Wake up, Mac, time to die.

From one point of view, Apple, with the Macintosh, won the computing industry. They revolutionised computing in the early 70s with the Apple II and did it again in the 80s with the Macintosh. Nowadays you can’t sell a personal computer that doesn’t, in some way, bear some homage to that tiny, slow, expensive machine. … Continue reading “Wake up, Mac, time to die.”

From one point of view, Apple, with the Macintosh, won the computing industry. They revolutionised computing in the early 70s with the Apple II and did it again in the 80s with the Macintosh. Nowadays you can’t sell a personal computer that doesn’t, in some way, bear some homage to that tiny, slow, expensive machine. Apple turned cursor computing into pointer computing and for the last 25 years we’ve been interacting with computers the same way – inputting data with a keyboard and using a single finger to poke at the virtual world.

In the late 90s I wrote a website which theorised the future of computing and I included the idea that we could have two pointers. We would have new methods of interaction as we could hold objects with one pointer and ‘tear’ objects with the other. I hadn’t considered touchscreens because my HCI year at the University of Ulster told me that touchscreens had lots of issues – not least that your pointing device gets in the way of your display. Who could have known that the success there would be with smaller screens.

MG Siegler of Techcrunch writes:

And it’s potentially even bigger than that. Last week, I argued that the reason everyone is so excited about this tablet is because there is the very real possibility that it will alter the role of computing in our lives just as the iPhone has. Daring Fireball’s John Gruber took that concept further: “I think The Tablet is nothing short of Apple’s reconception of personal computing,” he wrote.

It’s my feeling that on the 26th anniversary of the Macintosh, Apple intends to bring multi-finger computing to everyone, not just those smart enough to already be using an iPod touch, iPhone or new Unibody Mac. The gestures available on a Mac right now are minimal, the screens on iPod and iPhone are too small to effectively use more than two fingers – so something is coming. I can taste it.

One of the most obvious things about the proposed Tablet is that Tablets are not new. They’ve been around for years in many forms and Apple even had their own foray into it in the 90s with the Newton. Tablets have never been terribly successful however and have been limited to semi-lucrative vertical market deals for education and medical. For this reason, some pundits tell us that we don’t need an Apple tablet and if all things were equal, they’d be right.

When Apple released the iPod, there was a lot of choice in the MP3 player market. But no-one seemed to be getting it right. The DRM controls were a nightmare, the storage capacities were tiny (or alternatively the player was immense), the user interfaces were arcane and battery life was rubbish. Pundits stood up to tell us how wrong it was, how it was doomed to failure (just as they had with the iMac, the iBook) and almost a decade later you’d be crazy (or ignorant) to buy any MP3 player other than an iPod.

It’s a dangerous life for a pundit, being expected to support one competitor over another and being influenced by the advertising dollars which flow through your web site. In many cases, I think they delight in being wrong as folk out there are more likely to link them, more likely to comment and therefore more likely provide statistics (nomatter how meaningless) on readership and market penetration.

Pundits have, so far, been completely wrong on the iPhone (it’s still selling well, still growing, still being improved and still better than pretty much anything else out there). And as it grows, people are buying apps and increasing the investment they have in the platform – this becomes an assurance, part of a war chest that Apple will leverage for future products, be they iPod touch, iPhone or new, unannounced products. This war chest, the Halo effect’, will help ensure that the next product you buy has an Apple logo.

So – yes – we’re being played by one of the Silicon Valley computing companies.

Steve Jobs said:

“If I were running Apple, I would milk the Macintosh for all it’s worth — and get busy on the next great thing. The PC wars are over. Done. Microsoft won a long time ago.”
— Fortune, Feb. 19, 1996

Pretty much a year later, he was running Apple. He killed off the old Mac, introduced his own operating system (skinned to look like a Mac) milked the name for a decade, reduced Apple’s reliance on the Mac (with the iPod), introduced a new killer OS platform (a next great thing, iPhone OSX-based) and is about to introduce another OSX-based platform, another next great thing, which will help to cement the company in the future and further reduce the reliance on the Mac which, in it’s essence, is based on a 25-year old interaction metaphor.

Wake up, Mac, time to die.