Friday 29th July was investor day for Springboard, the mentoring and accelerator program based out of Cambridge, where the 10 companies that had gone through the system did their final pitches to a packed audience made up of investors (in Springboard itself), mentors (including myself) and lots of VCs.
Springboard is loosely based on the TechStars program out of the US and was initiated by Red Gate Software in 2009 (this being the second incarnation). This year it was supported by Red Gate, angels and NESTA and took place in the Hauser Forum.
Compared to The Difference Engine (a similar program which took place in Sunderland last year) the teams and pitches were definitely more polished and all came out vastly improved (and some radically different) from when they started the program.
The teams were (in order of appearance)
Adwings - Lithuania - a ad publishing platform that allows tracking of campaigns to various destination media including print, digital and mobile.
Apiary.io - Prague, Czech Republic - A 'techy' service allowing companies to quickly build and deploy web APIs (application programming interfaces) while testing and monitoring and documenting them.
Arachnys - Cambridge, UK - a services for providing due-diligence on companies in emerging markets by consolidating all available information.
Hubflow - Bournemouth, UK - a service that converts existing training material into a mobile format (with tracking metrics to see how well the user is performing). This allows companies to offer training materials to their employees on their mobile device to be completed in dead time (such as when commuting) or at their own convenience.
Mayday - London, UK - a web based service that plugs into a company's .Net process to alert the company to errors in the process, hopefully before customers start complaining.
MiniMonos - Wellington, NZ - a virtual world for children (male) between 8 and 12. A Freemoim service with subscriptions and virtual goods. The site has been around for 2 years, but the new site launched last month and now has around 300,000 users. Membership packs will be available from Sainsbury's in Oct (next to Moshi Monsters etc).
Playmob - London, UK - a platform allowing games developers to easily integrate charitable payments into games (i.e. for virtual goods) and for Charities to easily sign-up to the service which should fully launch in October 2011.
Publification - Tartu, Estonia - a web based HTML5 authoring system and browser based eReader that works across multiple platforms (i.e. desktop and mobile). Once books have been downloaded they can be read off-line. The platform can be white-labelled for publishers and authors can also self-publish.
Tastebuds - London, UK - dating site based on music likes where matches are made based on music preferences. Users can just add artists they like or the service will import from Last.fm and/or Facebook.
Total Gigs, Newcastle, UK - a web service allowing disparate users to share content from events they have attending (making them into groups). After the event has taken place users can relive the event from the group content.
The program was driven by John Bradford with day to day organisation help from Jessica Williamson.
John's next accelerator program is Ignite100 and if the quality improves every time he runs one, it should produce some amazing companies.
31 Temmuz 2011 Pazar
28 Temmuz 2011 Perşembe
RIM releases BBM v6
RIM have released Blackberry Messenger version 6, which allows application integration so say a BBM connected game will allow the user to invite a BBM friend to play.
The first wave of BBM connected applications will go live on Blackberry World today.
There are around 45m monthly active users of BBM and RIM hope to increase this by adding functionality to BBM such as location services and VoIP.
If Apple and Google can offer a competing messaging system that really competes with BBM, then it really may be the end of RIM.
The first wave of BBM connected applications will go live on Blackberry World today.
There are around 45m monthly active users of BBM and RIM hope to increase this by adding functionality to BBM such as location services and VoIP.
If Apple and Google can offer a competing messaging system that really competes with BBM, then it really may be the end of RIM.
Skype for Windows offers deeper Facebook integration
Skype have released version 5.5 for Windows which now allows checking the availability of Facebook friends without leaving the Skype client.
There are also improvements to the group chat functionality and the video quality.
Though Skype currently dominate this space, Vonage are releasing mobile clients that will allow VoIP calls, there is already a Vonage client for iPhone which integrates with Facebook chat (but doesn't allow access to other Vonage users).
There are also improvements to the group chat functionality and the video quality.
Though Skype currently dominate this space, Vonage are releasing mobile clients that will allow VoIP calls, there is already a Vonage client for iPhone which integrates with Facebook chat (but doesn't allow access to other Vonage users).
27 Temmuz 2011 Çarşamba
Mozilla plans mobile OS
Mozilla is joining the mobile operating systems bandwaggon and plans to launch Boot to Gecko (B2G) an open operating system designed to run web applications in the cloud.
Google has already gone part of the way with ChromeOS which so far has only been deployed on Netbooks (while Android boasts native apps). HP's WebOS is also out there, on both phones and tablets.
Intel are also trying with MeeGo - though the loss of Nokia (who have migrated to Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 or WP7) might have slowed things down.
The B2G will support Firefox (Mozilla's open source browser), they're are not tying the OS to it and will support 3rd party browsers if they wish to support B2G.
Another mobile OS may just confuse the market more, though the Mozilla product is likely to be completely open source (as far as any OS can be that supports closed parts such as the GSM/2G/3G stacks).
Google has already gone part of the way with ChromeOS which so far has only been deployed on Netbooks (while Android boasts native apps). HP's WebOS is also out there, on both phones and tablets.
Intel are also trying with MeeGo - though the loss of Nokia (who have migrated to Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 or WP7) might have slowed things down.
The B2G will support Firefox (Mozilla's open source browser), they're are not tying the OS to it and will support 3rd party browsers if they wish to support B2G.
Another mobile OS may just confuse the market more, though the Mozilla product is likely to be completely open source (as far as any OS can be that supports closed parts such as the GSM/2G/3G stacks).
25 Temmuz 2011 Pazartesi
RIP Steve Lacey
This weekend turned out to be a weekend of carnage, a right wing fanatic killed lots of people in Norway and Amy Whitehouse died. However the most depressing thing turned out to be the death of a good friend Steve Lacey, who was killed instantly when a road-rage driver lost control of his car which went over a central reservation barrier and ploughed into Steve's car.
Steve was a a lovely guy and made a lasting impression on everyone he met, definitely a geek but a nice guy too.
He leaves behind his wife and 2 young children, he will be sorely missed. Thoughts are with his family.
Steve was a a lovely guy and made a lasting impression on everyone he met, definitely a geek but a nice guy too.
He leaves behind his wife and 2 young children, he will be sorely missed. Thoughts are with his family.
22 Temmuz 2011 Cuma
TIM is 75 on Sunday 24th July
TIM is affectionate name for the BT speaking clock (or as it's now called Timeline), which was the first 3 letters of the T.I.M.E on the old telephone pad.
It's now accessed by dialling 123 and it still gets around 30m callers per year.
It was originally designed at the Post Office Engineering Research Station at Dollis Hill in North London (which is also where Collossus the code breaking 'computer' was conceived) and introduced on July 24th 1936. It was only available to London callers, only going national in 1942.
There have been 4 permanent voices the first being Jane Cain 1936 - 1963, followed by Pat Simmons 1963 – 1985 and Brian Cobby 1985 – 2007 (the only male voice) and finally Sara Mendes da Costa 2007 to present.
There have also been celebrity voices (Lenny Henry for Comic Relief in 2003 and Alicia Roland for ChildLine. Mae Whitman the voice of Tinker Bell in 2008 for the release of the movie and Gary Barlow, Cheryl Cole, Chris Moyles, Kimberley Walsh and Fearne Cotton for Comic Relief 2009).
The speaking clock used to be accurate to 1/10 of a sec on, but is now accurate to 5/1000's of a second (and Big Ben's time is checked against the speaking clock).
It's now accessed by dialling 123 and it still gets around 30m callers per year.
It was originally designed at the Post Office Engineering Research Station at Dollis Hill in North London (which is also where Collossus the code breaking 'computer' was conceived) and introduced on July 24th 1936. It was only available to London callers, only going national in 1942.
There have been 4 permanent voices the first being Jane Cain 1936 - 1963, followed by Pat Simmons 1963 – 1985 and Brian Cobby 1985 – 2007 (the only male voice) and finally Sara Mendes da Costa 2007 to present.
There have also been celebrity voices (Lenny Henry for Comic Relief in 2003 and Alicia Roland for ChildLine. Mae Whitman the voice of Tinker Bell in 2008 for the release of the movie and Gary Barlow, Cheryl Cole, Chris Moyles, Kimberley Walsh and Fearne Cotton for Comic Relief 2009).
The speaking clock used to be accurate to 1/10 of a sec on, but is now accurate to 5/1000's of a second (and Big Ben's time is checked against the speaking clock).
21 Temmuz 2011 Perşembe
Intel's Museum of Me
Though it's been around for a while, Intel have developed an application called the Museum of Me which takes your social graph (by logging in with Facebook Connect) and then uses data from your feed and places it on the "wall" of the virtual museum.
It's almost creepy as it's as though you're looking at your life in the past, but it's visually very impressive.
Here's an intro video
This also shows how much information is available to applications when utilising Facebook Connect, that's more scary.
It's almost creepy as it's as though you're looking at your life in the past, but it's visually very impressive.
Here's an intro video
This also shows how much information is available to applications when utilising Facebook Connect, that's more scary.
20 Temmuz 2011 Çarşamba
Ofcom reduces BT's wholesale broadband charges
Ofcom the super regulator today has published a statement which means that BT will have to drop its wholesale broadband prices by 12% below inflation where they are the only broadband provider. Ofcom believes this will lead to better competition as resellers can provide a better quality of service.
The price controls come into effect on 17th August 2011 and remain in effect until March 2012.
Ofcom also published a statement on charge controls for 08 and 09 number ranges as BT has significant market power for call origination and also number translation services.
The price controls come into effect on 17th August 2011 and remain in effect until March 2012.
Ofcom also published a statement on charge controls for 08 and 09 number ranges as BT has significant market power for call origination and also number translation services.
19 Temmuz 2011 Salı
SeaMicro puts 768 cores into a 10U system
The new SeaMicro SM1000-64HD is an evolution of the SM1000-64 offering 1.5 times the speed but only consuming 1.25 times the power.
Each unit packs 384 dual-core Intel Atom processors and each processor can have 4GB RAM (i.e. 1.5TB in total) and can support 64 SATA hard drives for storage.
A base unit costs $237,000.00 which sounds a lot, but it's relatively cheap for that amount of compute power.
A standard 42U rack can hold 4 systems allowing 3072 cores per rack.
SeaMicro have said eHarmony and Mozilla are both using their systems.
They are open to using ARM CPUs when the right server processors are produced.
Each unit packs 384 dual-core Intel Atom processors and each processor can have 4GB RAM (i.e. 1.5TB in total) and can support 64 SATA hard drives for storage.
A base unit costs $237,000.00 which sounds a lot, but it's relatively cheap for that amount of compute power.
A standard 42U rack can hold 4 systems allowing 3072 cores per rack.
SeaMicro have said eHarmony and Mozilla are both using their systems.
They are open to using ARM CPUs when the right server processors are produced.
18 Temmuz 2011 Pazartesi
BBC launches a crowd-sourced 3G mapping app
The BBC has launched an Android application that measures 3G signal strengths in the background (along with location data), so that real-time UK coverage maps can be produced.
The app is available from the Android Marketplace (a free download).
The app was developed by Epitoro for the BBC.
Though it's a nice idea, there are other solutions out there and OpenSignalMaps have been around for a while and are mapping 2G and 3G signals worldwide, their app is available from the Android Marketplace too.
It's a shame as the OpenSignalMaps app has been around for a while but not had the traction that the BBC can make happen, maybe they should combine forces to aggregate the data.
Neither the BBC or OpenSignalMaps has an iPhone app (it's much harder to do and may go against Apple's T&Cs), though OpenSignalMaps say they're working on one.
The app is available from the Android Marketplace (a free download).
The app was developed by Epitoro for the BBC.
Though it's a nice idea, there are other solutions out there and OpenSignalMaps have been around for a while and are mapping 2G and 3G signals worldwide, their app is available from the Android Marketplace too.
It's a shame as the OpenSignalMaps app has been around for a while but not had the traction that the BBC can make happen, maybe they should combine forces to aggregate the data.
Neither the BBC or OpenSignalMaps has an iPhone app (it's much harder to do and may go against Apple's T&Cs), though OpenSignalMaps say they're working on one.
14 Temmuz 2011 Perşembe
Spotify launches in US today
Any current Spotify users can invite their friends from across the pond to use the service while anyone in the US can sign-up to apply for membership.
It's taken a while, but Spotify US is a go-er and they've beaten Apple with their new iCloud service and others.
It's yet to be seen how popular Spotify will be in the US as there are existing music streaming services.
It's taken a while, but Spotify US is a go-er and they've beaten Apple with their new iCloud service and others.
It's yet to be seen how popular Spotify will be in the US as there are existing music streaming services.
12 Temmuz 2011 Salı
Videos: Laurel Reitman, VP Product Joyent and John Fritz, Director Strategic Software Services AMD - Structure Cloud Computing 2011
I've attended the GigaOm Structure Cloud Computing Conferences for several years now and have enjoyed seeing the evolutions happening in this space.
Below you'll find 2 videos of Laurel Reitman, VP Product Joyent and John Fritz, Director Strategic Software Services AMD describing their latest Products.
In addition, here's the Structure 2011 Video Url.
Laurel Reitman Vice President Product Joyent, Structure Cloud Computing Conference 2011 San Francisco from Mary Vincent on Vimeo.
John Fritz Director Strategic Software Alliances AMD, Structure Cloud Computing Conference 2011 San Francisco from Mary Vincent on Vimeo.
Video: Nicholas Walker Landscape Designer Interview at Dwell on Design 2011
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| Nicholas Walker |
Nicholas Walker heads the outdoor division of Kathy Ireland's Jardin J du J brand which launched at the 2001 San Francisco Flower and Garden Show and was awarded the Gold Medal for Design Excellence. His mission is to bring the outdoors in through garden inspirations, and the Jardin J du J Brand products include Rugs, Furniture, Top of Bed, Accessories, Lighting, Wall Art, Jewelry, Skincare, Cut Flowers and Candles.
I interviewed Nicholas Walker at LA's Dwell on Design 2011 and two videos are below. In the first video, Nicholas describes the Jardin J du J mission, launch and great success at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show.
In the second video, he shares both 'old world' and high technology sustainable practices he used in building his own California home. Per Nicholas, "Function has to be honored before Form." He discusses the scarcity of water, nine-year drought, Sun, and semi-arid LA climate. Because alot of air conditioning is used which costs alot of money, he insisted he must have a white, metal roof and used Keynar paint (used on the NASA space shuttle), which reflects 72% of the Sun's UV rays. Per Nicholas, that is a huge savings on your cooling bill. He also has 22 PV Solar Panels and 2 Hydrothermal Panels and discusses the efficient Sun absorption on the black panels.
Nicholas also discussed Venturi principals of moving air in a home without using electricity. He also has 12 inch thick concrete walls and as a result, the bottom floor never needs heat or air because its in the dirt and geothermal principles permit a 72 degree temperature year round without using any energy.
Nicholas says he's been lobbying for legal Greywater Systems for 15 years in the landscape industry. He says that if you take an epsom salt bath (epsom salts are magnesium sulfate, and it is the best thing for plants), instead of having it go into the sewer, use the water for fertilizer. As of August 2010 in Article 1881 he can now legally do it: "Laundry to your Garden". He is an advocate of using ancient traditions such as working with gravity instead of using pumps.
Thank you Nicholas for sharing your valuable insight, design strategies, and best practices with us!
Nicholas Walker Landscape Designer Interview - Dwell on Design 2011(Part 1 of 2) from Mary Vincent on Vimeo.
Nicholas Walker Landscape Designer - Dwell 2011 (Part 2 of 2) from Mary Vincent on Vimeo.
7 Temmuz 2011 Perşembe
Ignite100 applications close 17th July
Ignite100 is a new incubator program based in Newcastle that gives teams up to £100K in funding. It replaces the Difference Engine incubator.
Initially teams get £5,000 per founder (up to £15,000) and move to Newcastle for a 13 week intensive program and after completing the program (and achieving certain agreed milestones) then they gain the rest of the £100,000 as a convertible loan note.
The program is supported by Finance for Business North East Technology Fund, managed by IP Group plc, and from the Finance for Business North East Proof of Concept Fund, managed by Northstar Ventures, together with a group of angel investors including Hotspur Capital Partners and Green Lane Capital.
Ignite100 is accepting applications now and applicants my apply here.
Initially teams get £5,000 per founder (up to £15,000) and move to Newcastle for a 13 week intensive program and after completing the program (and achieving certain agreed milestones) then they gain the rest of the £100,000 as a convertible loan note.
The program is supported by Finance for Business North East Technology Fund, managed by IP Group plc, and from the Finance for Business North East Proof of Concept Fund, managed by Northstar Ventures, together with a group of angel investors including Hotspur Capital Partners and Green Lane Capital.
Ignite100 is accepting applications now and applicants my apply here.
6 Temmuz 2011 Çarşamba
Video: Kathy Ireland Interview at LA's Dwell on Design 2011
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| Kathy Ireland |
Kathy Ireland is the CEO & Chief Designer of Kathy Ireland Worldwide, a $1.9 Billion a Year Lifestyle Design firm, dedicated to “finding solutions for families, especially busy Moms.”
Her brand's initial product was socks made from recycled pop bottles. Today, her brand has expanded into jewelry, weddings, skin care, windows, flooring, candles, and furniture, and is ranked number 28 out of the top 125 Global Licensing Companies where she beats out Coca-Cola, Martha Stewart and Ford.
I had the opportunity to interview Kathy Ireland at the LA Dwell on Design Conference June 25, 2011 and discuss her Sustainable Business Principles and Best Practices. The Video and additional interview details are below. If you're looking to learn more about great sustainable business best practices, watch this video and see Kathy's Leadership in Action.
Kathy Ireland Interview Dwell 2011 from Mary Vincent on Vimeo.
After the video, we discussed more business details.
Per Kathy, there are 50,000 retail partners. She says, "If we have a bride and she wants a modern sleek design including jewelry, home, baby, we're able to provide that. Each of the manufacturing partners works with us on seamless cohesion."
Kathy Ireland also mentioned the importance of Twitter in business. Her Enterprise also helps their retail partners with technology and helps them get the message out in addition to working with furniture banks in the furniture industry to collect used furniture and provide it to needy families.
I asked Kathy if she could share some of her new projects. Per Kathy, "Weddings have been exciting - 2 Hawaii locations - Los Angeles - Palm Springs - bring her (the bride) all the elements - from gown to jewelry to gifts and accessories - tying it with home furnishings."
Kathy Ireland also provided some background on her Company's Employee Work Practices. "It's helpful to offer the team flex schedules, i.e. working from home (She currently has 37 employees). We don’t have big glam flashy office space - it’s pretty frugal - we have to be a good steward with our business and build more jobs along the way."
5 Temmuz 2011 Salı
Skype releases v5.2 for MacOS X
Skype have just released version 5.2 for Mac, it now supports group video calling (and sharing screens when in a group video call). Unfortunately these features require a Skype Premium subscription, though a seven day trial is available - a day pass costs £2.99 +VAT while or £4.99 +VAT per month.
There's also a few new features that allow easier multi-tasking so if you move to another program, controls are still available in the video control bar to mute or end the call. The history and contacts areas have also been decluttered making Skype more manageable.
Skype will upgrade via the program itself or directly from here.
There's also a few new features that allow easier multi-tasking so if you move to another program, controls are still available in the video control bar to mute or end the call. The history and contacts areas have also been decluttered making Skype more manageable.
Skype will upgrade via the program itself or directly from here.
4 Temmuz 2011 Pazartesi
Chevy Volt Delights!
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| ChevyVolt in SF - Photo MVincent |
I test-drove the plugin-in hybrid 2011 Chevrolet Volt (MotorTrend Car of the Year) and the price as tested was 44,680.00. The MSRP Base Price is normally $40,280 and net price after the full $7,500 tax credit is $32,7980.
The Electric Drive Unit (Transmission) is from Japan, the Engine is from Austria, and the final assembly point is Detroit, Michigan. The Exterior color is Viridian Joule Tricoat, and the Interior was Jet Black/Ceramic White.
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| ChevyVolt in SF - Photo MVincent |
All Electric Feature Only
The Charge Time is 4 Hours@240v or 10 hours@120v in a household outlet. When the battery is fully charged for the first 35 miles only you receive 93 MPG Equivalent (36 KW hrs per 100 miles) which equates to $601 per year if always run in All Electric. The 16-kWh lithium-ion battery pack is backed by an 100,000-mile/8-year limited warranty.
Regenerative braking captures energy from forward motion that would otherwise be lost when the car slows or stops and then converts it into electricity, making the Volt even more efficient.
Gas Only
When the Electricity is used up, the car runs on gas for another 344 miles. 37 MPG combined city/hwy or 2.7 gallons per 100 miles and a $1,302 cost per year if always run in Gas Only Mode.
Mobile App
The OnStar RemoteLink® mobile app enables you to check the battery charge level, available range, tire pressure, remote lock and unlock, and even activate the remote start to heat or cool the interior to your preferred temperature. Interactive screens enable you to change how and when you want your Volt to charge and set up alerts via text or email to remind you to plug in your Volt.
Now For the Driving Experience
This car does not want to stop - it's a great sporty, driving car and reminded me of the Knight Rider Television show. The car perfectly handles tight turns, has integrated game mechanics into the dashboard by showing you a rotating green-leafed earth sphere informing you if you meet or exceed the targeted fuel efficiency, and I would rate it a '9' (10 being the highest) on driving experience.
The only item is that I like my cars to have the ability to last more than 10 years. I would like to follow this car's longevity trend and total cost of ownership statistics.
Have you driven the car? If so what are your thoughts?
2 Temmuz 2011 Cumartesi
Skype brings video calling to Android
Skype has announced that Skype for Android 2.0 now supports video calling which will work with Skype for iPhone, Mac and Windows. Video will work both over WiFi and 3G.
Support for handsets include the HTC Desire S, Sony Ericsson Xperia neo, Sony Ericsson, Xperia pro and the Google Nexus S.
Facebook are going to announce a 'major new service' next week and it's rumoured that Facebook video calling will be based on Skype (though the rumour is recent, Skype has been working with Facebook for some time and precedes the Microsoft acquisition). The video calling will be in browser, though it's not clear whether the user has to have the Skype client installed too. This should give Skype a major boost as Facebook has 750m users compared to Skype's 170m (active), it should also help Facebook and Microsoft head off Google's voice service.
Support for handsets include the HTC Desire S, Sony Ericsson Xperia neo, Sony Ericsson, Xperia pro and the Google Nexus S.
Facebook are going to announce a 'major new service' next week and it's rumoured that Facebook video calling will be based on Skype (though the rumour is recent, Skype has been working with Facebook for some time and precedes the Microsoft acquisition). The video calling will be in browser, though it's not clear whether the user has to have the Skype client installed too. This should give Skype a major boost as Facebook has 750m users compared to Skype's 170m (active), it should also help Facebook and Microsoft head off Google's voice service.