Disqus - Latest Comments for ymb

Re: ArcticStartup

Mike Bradshaw — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 07:24:54 -0000

Like many "quotes", i look at is as something that is there to take a strong stance and start people thinking.

For me, the "Don't do it for the money" is more that if money is the primary motivator, you are *much* more likely to fail as you won't get the best to appear for only money.
The analogy with professional poker players is a good one, and i'll be stealing that ;)

Re: Checking Out The Prague Startup Scene With Wayra CEE

Mike Bradshaw — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 11:36:08 -0000

the "same style & structure" could well be down to our recent visit there - http://travellingsalesman.m...

If we can get the whole region to the point of answering all the obvious points during a pitch (and not to use *any* bullet points), then my work here is done!
But unfortunately we still see the same basic mistakes being made repeatedly (too much time spent on the problem and solution).

Re: Nokia 515 and Nokia Lumia 520 are a study in contrasts

Mike Bradshaw — Wed, 28 Aug 2013 14:19:46 -0000

seems the numbers being close together made it had to write the correct one a couple of times in the article :)
nokia 501->Nokia 515 and Nokia 520->Nokia 515 ?

Re: Tower blocks haven’t only scarred city skylines – they’ve ruined lives

Mike Bradshaw — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 08:28:36 -0000

Apart from the people living there it is the lack of "common spaces" or shared facilities.
In the UK, if you live in a flat, everything you own has to be in with you. In Germany and Finland, every apartment has access to their own "cage" in the basement where you can store stuff you don't need all the time (like suitcases, winter coats in the summer etc).
Also, at least here in Finland, tower blocks have pram and bicycle storage rooms on the ground/basement level.

Re: Guest Post: Nokia Startup Mistake #4 - Culture Gone Wrong

Mike Bradshaw — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 08:13:32 -0000

By finding people who are excited by the challenge of solving a difficult problem or who are willing to take a risk.
Yes, for the more experienced folks it means a pay cut, but there are other attractions to working in a startup or young company.

EDIT: just reordered the comments and saw that Mika had already given an answer to this :)

Re: Episode 1 - Network and systems management - The Linux Admin Show

Mike Bradshaw — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 07:46:29 -0000

Nice show, but you *REALLY* need to fix the guests audio. It chops, and drops, and is generally really hard to listen to :(

Apparently the best solution to this is to ask them to also record the audio at their end and then merge it back together.
If you have not heard it, episode 200 of Linux outlaws goes through their setup and how they get great audio quality (http://sixgun.org/linuxoutl...

Re: Goodspeed Is A Smartphone Size Device That Enables Flat Data Fees While Abroad

Mike Bradshaw — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 02:37:10 -0000

ok, slight sticker shock at the device price, but it is not too bad for what you are getting (sounds like a big battery along with the 10 slots)
The most common device out there that does similar is http://www.verkkokauppa.com... at least the folks at Trip Butler & Zondar(?) use those as the basis for their service.

The monthly fee cost is the bit that sounds kind of high to me.
I would prefer that they source some Pay-as-you-Go SIM, and then add a small "administration fee" on top for delivering it to me (either at home or at some Hotel).
Hopefully as they get the carrier relationships in place they can start to offer better deals.

Re: Show Off Your Burning Platform On The Burning Platform

Mike Bradshaw — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 05:21:27 -0000

hehe, cool.

Another use of the burning platform phrase is the Travelling Salesman Burning Platform Expedition (http://travellingsalesman.m.... The aim is to discover and document any startups that are formed out of the recent Nokia layoffs in Finland.
The name was chosen as we will be taking a burning platform with us in the shape of a 1.7 tonne authentic wood burning Finnish sauna trailer ;)

Re: Nextdays Aims To Become Your Flexible Event Calendar

Mike Bradshaw — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 06:39:16 -0000

Why only sign-in with Facebook?

Oh, and just want to check you have done your research on "Intention Broadcasting", and the list of startups that have tried this before (often with more of a mobile focus).

Re: Raspberry Pi won’t work

Mike Bradshaw — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 12:31:58 -0000

True, the schools have computers, but often in a lab there are small differences in the hardware, so the CD's end up having to do detection and then start failing/causing problems (also it is harder to re-write CDs ;) )There is nothing stopping a second hand laptop helping kids, apart from the challenge of getting it working.For someone who just wants to start writing "Snakes", having to get an OS up and running, figure out drivers etc, it can be just too much.

And yes, the problem is teaching based, so lets get the technology out of the way. Using a standardised set of components makes things easier.

Re: Raspberry Pi won’t work

Mike Bradshaw — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 07:07:34 -0000

and also the ability to do extra study at home.
By having something this low cost, you can have the same computer at home and school, so have more time for learning. The school lessons should only be there to start you off.

Re: Raspberry Pi won’t work

Mike Bradshaw — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 07:05:56 -0000

Thing is, the Pi is/was inspired by platforms that were popular in the 80s (Acrorn's BBC Model B, Commodore 64, Specturm etc).
By having standard hardware and software platforms, there were a bunch of magazines with fun projects you could _do_ yourself.
*THAT* is what can inspire kids, not some course that is teaching a programming language.

As I understand the ambition of the Raspberry Pi Foundation it is to make a *complete package* to help teachers inspire students, like a generation was in the 80s
By keeping the price low, schools can have a fully equipped lab for a couple of 1000 (don't forget screens, keyboards and mice).
The lab is virtually idiot proof (something goes wrong, pull power, new SD card and start again, so teachers do not have to spend hours trying to figure out what went wrong, and can move the lessons forward.

The low cost also means that kids can have a similar setup at home (and no, low price second hand laptops are not going to cut it!)
DO NOT underestimate the importance of this.

Re: 5 Job Title Pitfalls To Avoid In Your Career

Mike Bradshaw — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 07:06:18 -0000

The "no title" business card thing is hard as it confuses people (being a new pattern).

this is one of those things where you need to get everyone together and agree that everyone will use "descriptive titles" (engineer, business, etc) or then everyone will use whatever they like on their business cards/linked-in etc.

I am waiting for the day when I get handed a card with something like "lowly pixel pusher" instead of "chief senior head design lead" :)

Re: Tara Hunt, Buyosphere, Woman Entrepreneur

Mike Bradshaw — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 09:13:57 -0000

Tara's blog is actually called Hrosepigcow (http://horsepigcow.com).
The reason fromt he about page:
--What does HorsePigCow mean?My mom, Marianne (in the photo with me), is the queen of wise “mom-isms” (I quote her quite a bit here on the blog).HorsePigCow is a phrase she used to use to avoid embarassment when she called someone by the wrong name (I inherited my mom’s scatter-brained goofiness, too…although it’s endearing to most). Something like, “Hi James, Jake *HorsePigCow* Jason. How are you?”It’s a way of saying, “Hell, I’m human and I screw up, but let’s move on”…at least that’s my interpretation. Plus, it’s nonsense. I like nonsense.--

Re: Inside DreamHack, the 12,000-computer LAN party

Mike Bradshaw — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 03:53:49 -0000

it is only operational for the setup and during the event == temporary
And, as Glenn says, someone needs to check that everything is up. The photo of the network equipment racks showed quite a few devices, those all need monitoring.
They also may want to find who is taking all the bandwidth! Geeks will use every last bit of available bandwidth and a bit more ;)

Why it looks like that, why spend time on making things look pretty, you will only be there a few hours.
Remember, everything that is setup needs to be taken down

Re: http://blog.steveblank.fi/post/9850913719

Mike Bradshaw — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 10:09:49 -0000

Seems the Aalto-Vampires have an allergy to late nights, as they were seen leaving rather early! ;) http://twitter.com/ymb/stat...

Re: http://blog.gowalla.com/post/9378150015

Mike Bradshaw — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 18:08:10 -0000

With the addition of lists to 4Sq and the removal of items from Gowalla, what is left in Gowalla; a prettier web page with less features, slower development, a smaller more spread out user base...

For me the virtual geo-cacheing thing was an easy way to explain why someone might be interested in Gowalla (as until *VERY* recently there was no reason to be major of anywhere here in Finland).

All in all, not a great announcement. For me it would have been better if you had waited until yo had the "new cool thing" and announced both at the same time, rather than "eloping" your service.

Re: http://blog.gowalla.com/post/9378150015

Mike Bradshaw — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 17:59:33 -0000

Well, for me, the history of the item is always interesting (who has had this thing and where has it been), so swapping items with checkin's has been a major part of it for me.

Re: Podcatcher now in the Ovi Store for all Symbian devices

Mike Bradshaw — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 15:01:34 -0000

does it support syncing with gpodder.net?

Re: N900 vs Nexus One: Confessions of an Android user

Mike Bradshaw — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 02:23:29 -0000

when people see my N900 they always ask "so what's it like", and my answer is "it's a physically small linux computer with a phone added, so it is perfect for me".

My view on the current high end smart phone market is;
Apple == iPod + phone (the apps and browser help extend this though)
Nokia Symbian == phone + *BASIC* other devices (MP3 player, camera, web browser etc), with brilliant battery life
Nokia Maemo/Meego == Mobile computer with other gadgets built in (phone, camera, gps)
Android == mobile Google platform + phone (so needs always on data!!)

Re: New Series: How to deliver WiFi for 10,000 delegates, properly

Mike Bradshaw — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 02:45:52 -0000

thanks for doing this Ewan. I have been attempting to figure this out, on and off, for the past 18 months or so, so really looking forward to the answers.
Unfortunately it seems that most articles all end up saying, "it depends" and not giving any guidelines or rules of thumb to work with.

About the only bits of advice that I have found so far that are in any way consistent are;
* approx 20 devices per access point,
* you need to use some form of management system, once you get past a couple of AP's

Re: http://sxswfreenoms.tumblr.com/post/387112654

Mike Bradshaw — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 04:45:50 -0000

oh, BTW, Gowalla also works on the Nokia N900 :)

You need the MicroB extension that adds Location into the browser to be installed first though.
Head over to m.gowalla.com and log in :)

Re: When Real Time Is Not Fast Enough: The Intention Web

Mike Bradshaw — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 05:48:56 -0000

for those of us "in the know" this is all old information :)

The folks at Zipipop.com did this over a year ago (for more information see this post http://www.arcticstartup.co... over on artic startup). One of the founders of Zipipop calls this Intention Broadcasting (long write uop here http://zipitheory.blogspot....

Also, Matt Biddulph's iconic "cones diagram" is the best visual explanation of this i have seen so far (you can see it on slide 20 in this presentation http://www.slideshare.net/b...

Re: Opinion: The Nokia N900

Mike Bradshaw — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:05:19 -0000

Yes, the N900 has more "stuff" than the iPhone 3GS, but from an "average consumer point of view I think they are similar. BTW, I prefer the N900, as a more techie user :)

QWERTY is a matter of personal taste
3MP is good enough for many (although Nokia camera's tend to be better)
Micro-SD - yep, expansion capabilities are good
Front-facing Camera - never met anyone who has used one!
FM transmitter & reciever - again, nice to have
32GB - both have this, although yes, there is a smaller version available for the 3GS

Re: Nokia N900 experiences and more thoughts on multitasking mobile devices

Mike Bradshaw — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:15:14 -0000

Matt, why are you worried about developer support?
Maemo is effectively a custom version of ARM-Debian, so *in theory* all linux based apps should work :) The work comes in the form of having to re-do (or port) the User Interface so it makes sense on the Tablet screen.

Disqus - Latest Comments for ymb

Re: ArcticStartup

Re: Checking Out The Prague Startup Scene With Wayra CEE

Re: Nokia 515 and Nokia Lumia 520 are a study in contrasts

Re: Tower blocks haven’t only scarred city skylines – they’ve ruined lives

Re: Guest Post: Nokia Startup Mistake #4 - Culture Gone Wrong

Re: Episode 1 - Network and systems management - The Linux Admin Show

Re: Goodspeed Is A Smartphone Size Device That Enables Flat Data Fees While Abroad

Re: Show Off Your Burning Platform On The Burning Platform

Re: Nextdays Aims To Become Your Flexible Event Calendar

Re: Raspberry Pi won’t work

Re: Raspberry Pi won’t work

Re: Raspberry Pi won’t work

Re: 5 Job Title Pitfalls To Avoid In Your Career

Re: Tara Hunt, Buyosphere, Woman Entrepreneur

Re: Inside DreamHack, the 12,000-computer LAN party

Re: http://blog.steveblank.fi/post/9850913719

Re: http://blog.gowalla.com/post/9378150015

Re: http://blog.gowalla.com/post/9378150015

Re: Podcatcher now in the Ovi Store for all Symbian devices

Re: N900 vs Nexus One: Confessions of an Android user

Re: New Series: How to deliver WiFi for 10,000 delegates, properly

Re: http://sxswfreenoms.tumblr.com/post/387112654

Re: When Real Time Is *Not* Fast Enough: The Intention Web

Re: Opinion: The Nokia N900

Re: Nokia N900 experiences and more thoughts on multitasking mobile devices

Re: When Real Time Is Not Fast Enough: The Intention Web