Laura's Blog

Ireland holiday

noreply@blogger.com (Laura James) — Mon, 05 May 2008 08:34:00 +0000

Snaps here.

the science of why

noreply@blogger.com (Laura James) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:59:00 +0000

Last weekend Michael and I were up in Disley for another NESTA Crucible workshop. The best bit was jamming on the Saturday night; first time I've played maracas in ages.

Duncan Lockerby - our star fluid mechanics expert - entertained us with one of his own compositions, a delightful Newtonian song. Worth a listen, because there aren't anywhere near enough physics-themed songs in the world.

Tom Webb also demonstrated extensive musical talent, but I don't have any mp3s of him to hand...

RAEng on TV

noreply@blogger.com (Laura James) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:21:00 +0000

For a few days more, see the Royal Academy of Engineering on University Challenge, via iPlayer.

April 1st roundup

noreply@blogger.com (Laura James) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 07:34:00 +0000

Little blogging of late - more of a story is told by my facebook status feed, or perhaps now twitter...

The undercover economist is a good speaker, with excellent pacing and tone; but his appearance at the Cambridge WordFest suffered a little from the classic problem of book talks, in that he didn't really have a point to get across, just a series of anecdotes. And why was he wearing a jumper with sleeves far too short for him?

Birmingham Rep's "She stoops to conquer" was splendid at the Arts Theatre last week. Goldsmith's poetical intro and epilogue were revived, with his original tirade against sentimental comedy replaced with a plea for more live theatre attendance. A modern spin at the outset saw the fourth wall broken down, with a pair of ushers having a shouting match before the curtain went up, then leaping onto stage, slipping into rhyming couplets, and blending into the cast. At the end, the ushers returned, with the tongue-tied male making a Dylanesque plea with signboards. A happy ending ensued, of course.

Rose Melikan's book, The Blackstone Key, is out, and amazon delivered my copy yesterday. As soon as I feel well enough to appreciate it, I'll be diving in!

FaraDay

noreply@blogger.com (Laura James) — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 17:15:00 +0000

Yesterday I was at the Science Museum in London, helping out with the first FaraDay (groan), where school groups who have tried the IET Faraday activities online came together to celebrate their work, and learn about engineering advances in the field of technology for life. You can read my official report over on the Faraday blog.

bits

noreply@blogger.com (Laura James) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:54:00 +0000

Having only ever heard of the wonders of Katamari before, I'm delighted to see that there's a version coming out soon for the XBox 360. I played the demo last night, and had no idea what was going on, but it was fun, and extremely pretty. The style is psychedelic 1960s, similar to Amped3; who'd've thought that would be in this year?

When I returned from holidays on Monday, my colleague Nik mentioned that he'd been up late watching the SuperBowl. I always like to keep up with the state of the art in expensive TV advertising, and as ever, you can see the ads online.

AlertMe - the wait is nearly over!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura James) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 17:41:00 +0000

All being well, our online shop will be open on Monday.

Exciting times!

Urban activity

noreply@blogger.com (Laura James) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 14:18:00 +0000

Yesterday, I spotted the wonderful Cambridge Joy parkour video:

It turns out that one of the stars is from the Wirral, like me! Indeed, the Wirral is evidently a hotbed of urban sports; there's also a nice YouTube video of some young skateboarders in Morrisons car park in West Kirby.

These kids are just amazing.

The wonders of USB (for Amyas)

noreply@blogger.com (Laura James) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 21:11:00 +0000

Yesterday, Amyas let his tea get cold on his desk. I mentioned that a USB cup warmer would stop this happening; Amyas, being a sensible chap, seemed surprised that such a thing existed.

Well, I knew I'd seen them somewhere, and I thought I might purchase one for fun. I looked on the internet... and there were USB cup warmers. Great.

But it isn't that simple. You can pay anything from £2 to £20, it seems, for a single warmer. You can choose between silver, white, black, gold, all in different shapes and sizes. You can get a USB cup warmer with integrated 4-port USB hub. Some cup warmers come with cups. Or stainless steel cups with lids. Some are flat-topped, some have round indents, some have on-off switches and LEDs. Some - very rare, this kind - have LCD clocks and temperature readouts! Some offer 50-60C warming; some 40C to 80C, from outer edge to centre.

I'm overwhelmed by the variety! I am awed that so many people should have designed these gizmos and had them manufactured; can the market be so large? Perhaps office workers worldwide are desperate for computer add-ons to warm their beverages (at least we aren't sticking our mugs on top of warm bits of computer, inviting dangerous spills, I suppose). Poor old USB, too; I can't imagine that a 4-port hub plus heater is going to meet the current limits required by the USB standard.

(Amyas - I'd've got you one, but I couldn't decide.)

sketching

noreply@blogger.com (Laura James) — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 18:35:00 +0000

I haven't drawn anything for a very, very long time. Yesterday I sketched a bluetit, and today a robin, which I then watercoloured. I think the bluetit is better.

the other night

noreply@blogger.com (Laura James) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 10:41:00 +0000

We talked about backup solutions for our data.

Michael said that by now, 5 years ago he would have expected to give his credit card and some words to a software agent, and it would go off and find the right thing online, and a box would just show up at the house with a backup solution in it.

I said that the agent would actually be off looking at kitten pictures; Joy of Tech said so in their Web N.0 predictions.

Michael said he didn't know about kittens, but that some of his friends are into cat pictures with captions of the form "I am in your blah, blahhing your blah" and that these were deemed extremely funny.

We had to look it up.

Apparently, the concept is called Lolcatz. We found a nice, clear definition, which says: an LOLCAT is any photo of a cute cat along with an irony-free caption... An LOLCATZ is a photo similar in content, but one that captures the aggressive stupidity found in some parts of the Internet, such as 12-year-old boys who grew with the Internet their entire lives.

We found many examples of the genre. Some of them were even amusing. We felt the best ones embody both the definition, and the caption form, written in l33t speak.

We made our own.

Amusingly, when we found the original WebN.0 Joy of Tech, it includes a sideways reference to LOLCATZ. So, as usual, Michael and I are several months behind on our web memes. Hey ho.

Paris in winter

noreply@blogger.com (Laura James) — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 11:26:00 +0000

Michael and I had a lovely time in Paris last weekend.

What are you thinking?

noreply@blogger.com (Laura James) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 21:09:00 +0000

AlertMe is keen to find out what our customers, and potential customers, think we should be creating in the future. Cast your vote, and leave us your thoughts, by taking our survey. (It's also a prize draw, if you need any more incentive!)

In Business

noreply@blogger.com (Laura James) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 22:36:00 +0000

At the Silicon Valley Innovation Forum tonight (of which more later!) I met the delightful editor of Radio 4's In Business. Stephen Chilcott. He was quite rightly chuffed that more than 730,000 people downloaded the In Business podcast in September, thoroughly beating supposedly more popular shows. I've always enjoyed In Business, and wish Stephen and Peter Day continuing success with this excellent programme, which always has something new to teach me.

Silicon Valley Connect

noreply@blogger.com (Laura James) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 12:07:00 +0000

The Union debate last Thursday was a lively affair, with venture capitalists and other entrepreneurial types attempting to decide whether Europe, or the Valley, will be the best place to start billion dollar companies in the future. In the end I felt i had to abstain though - I can't bring myself to care much where innovation happens most. It was encouraging to see that some of the leading lights of entrepreneurship can also compose a strong speech and present it with panache, although most of the points were comical rather than intellectual.

NESTA and Silicon Valley Connect had organised last night's forum in London, as part of a tour for visiting Valley luminaries. It had rather more content than the debate! (As ever, I am reminded of an old colleague of mine, who always called it the valley of the silly clones.)

George Osborne, Shadow Chancellor, spoke coherently and well about the need for university and industry interaction, the importance of an encouraging tax regime, and how governments could support SMEs by relaxing regulations limiting public service contracting. He also mentioned that the "most interesting trip" in his two and a half years as Shadow Chancellor had been to Silicon Valley, a particular highlight being a visit to "a strange company called Mozilla." I'd've liked to hear more about that! His references to Facebook and open source were reasonably in context, and he came across very well. Several attendees commented that although they would never vote Tory, they were more likely to after hearing Osborne speak.

Reid Hoffman, founded of LinkedIn amongst other things, believed that Silicon Valley will continue to dominate the world in consumer internet development, but that other clusters, perhaps with different technology focuses, would arise/grow. Virtual social networks are good, but will never replace physical ones; these local ecosystems are increasingly important to encourage enterprise, and the world is better for it. He seemed encouraged by what he had seen in the UK (or at least, in the Golden Triangle of Oxbridge and London), but did note that he feels angel investors here need to be seen more as a resource outside the financial sphere, as well as within it.

One question asked how young people should be encouraged to be entrepreneurial. Hoffman said that we should enthuse kids simply by enabling them to succeed, which was fine, but at this event he didn't exactly motivate me - it sounded like it was jolly hard starting a business (at least in Reid's area) and there was no hint as to what one might get out of it, other than money.

No consumer internet startup in the Valley has a plan for more than 6 months out these days, because things are moving so fast, and "you have to be running." Hoffman stays in touch with his staff even when travelling, to avoid any delays in decision-making. One method he has is to ask them to email him any question requiring a decision as soon as they need an answer, with a list of options (a: do it, b: don't do it, c: i'll call you asap, etc). He can then get the urgent mail on his Blackberry and reply with one letter, even if he's in an important meeting.

James Slavet, a VC, highlighted some points he sees as crucial to an innovative cluster, where ever it is in the world. There must be access to management talent (in the form of leaders of "foundation companies", such as Apple and Google, as well as serial entrepreneurs), and technologists must be respected within the culture. Venture capital is necessary, too. Risk taking must be encouraged, with it being perfectly OK to fail, and to have gone through many jobs. Slavet commented that in China enterprise is generally seen as a good thing, whereas in India, whilst technologists are admired, someone working for a startup is viewed as poor marriage material without a reliable income. Culture is critical for an enterprising ecosystem.

Slavet thinks that Silicon Valley will stay at the top of the pile in terms of being the biggest and best tech cluster, but that others would appear around the world. In the UK, Slavet would increase the transparency of technology in development, to make it clearer what could be commericialised. This seemed to be a roundabout way of saying that tech transfer between academia and industry was important.

Megan Smith from Google spent a lot of time saying how inspired she was, by the UK tour, the debate in Cambridge (where she was quite tickled by voting with her feet), the wonderful innovative atmosphere at Google, and so on. She mentioned the need for strong academic interaction with industry, and that alumni networks should be fully utilised. Another important catalyst for enterprise is reduced friction - that setting up a company should be easy and quick - with centralised services to link entrepreneurs with resources. Smith quoted someone from Toshiba, about how Silicon Valley is like one company, with many divisions, and people moving freely betweek the divisions; this "company" encompassing Stanford as well as businesses. Smith also talked a great deal about the wonderfulness of Google (as do most of the Googlers I come across lately - their brainwashing techniques must be top notch), with staff writing papers, enjoying their famous 20% time, eating well, and not having the burden of managers. (I have been wondering of late how easy it is in the UK to switch between industry and academia. The talk in enterprise circles is always of academics spinning out and becoming entrepreneurs; but can people move the other way, particularly if they have been at a small company without the time to publish as well as creating a product?)

Again, Smith highlighted the importance of having the right culture. Talented people appear everywhere, then meet up in technology clusters, and will spread ideas and styles of working from the Valley back to growing clusters around the world. Still, she knows of succesful "fully networked" companies, with staff widely distributed between countries and cities. The UK would do better with more flexible government purchasing requirements, and if only we could see angel investors not as a plentiful source of capital gains tax, but as a way of growing the tax base of the nation through employment.

It was an interesting evening. NESTA CEO, Jonathan Kestenbaum, proved an able chairman, and is really getting the organisation doing some great stuff to "make innovation flourish." Thanks also go to the NESTA events team, who ran a splendid function, and were very polite when asking us final stragglers to leave, so they could go home. The kiwi and melon juice in particular was very fine.

Safety Last

noreply@blogger.com (Laura James) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:13:00 +0000

It's been quiet of here late, although Michael has been tracking what we've been up to quite well!

Last night we saw Paul Merton at the Corn Exchange, hosting an evening of silent film comedies. The pianist accompanying the films was excellent, and the selection of comic moments from Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin and more was excellent. Merton introduced the films briefly, but didn't really give enough information for me. I caught references to names and years, but not enough detail about the world of films, or the stars and directors, to feel I'd learnt anything. Still, at least the presence of a big name has some of these wonderful films in front of people again. The second half was Lloyd's splendid Safety Last, which remains an engaging story after 80-odd years.

Cultural evenings

noreply@blogger.com (Laura James) — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 12:58:00 +0000

On Monday, a lecture by Jorge Cham, who creates the wonderful Piled Higher and Deeper comics.

Yesterday, a Mitch Benn gig - actually Mitch Benn and the Distractions. I hadn't really known what to expect of this, as I only really knew of Benn through the Now Show on Radio 4. But it was wonderful - a really vibrant live performance, and some stunning funny songs, reminiscent of Weird Al (only more topical, perhaps, and certainly more British). It turns out that Mitch is from Liverpool, has an accent that fluctuates madly, and does a very fine rendition of Macbeth in the style of Eminem.

Tonight, we're off to see Stardust, which I'm really looking forward to!

Tomorrow, less culture, at a Web2.0 discussion meeting. No idea of what to expect there!

Faraday 08

noreply@blogger.com (Laura James) — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 17:06:00 +0000

Many engineers remember the annual Faraday Lecture, as an inspiration in their childhood or teens. The IEE (now IET), which ran it, took the decision that a lecture tour could only ever reach a small number of people, and have this year launched The Faraday, which is a set of videos and activities presented online, and supported by a team of Faraday Engineers around the UK. The website includes various games for you to try, and challenges for school teams to undertake (with the incentive of starring in a film, if their competition entry video is a winner). If they need any help, any school can call the IET and request a Faraday Engineer to come in and support them with activity help, careers advice, or whatever.

Yesterday was the launch event in London, compered by Dr Jack, the "face" of Faraday 08. He seems a lively chap, with a real PhD (neuroscience), and very hip, which is undoubtedly what science needs these days.

There was quite a party atmosphere.

Spot the movie star...

noreply@blogger.com (Laura James) — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 16:03:00 +0000

AlertMe's first corporate video is out! You can play at spotting your favourite AlertMe staff in it.

Enlightenment

noreply@blogger.com (Laura James) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 13:21:00 +0000

A very nicely done example of viral marketing: Smart Enlightenment. Are you vacuuming the carpet of pain? If so, Dr Tridion can help. (Thanks to Mum for the link!)

If you are in Cambridge this week...

noreply@blogger.com (Laura James) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 22:02:00 +0000

then I'd strongly recommend going to see "I am Shakespeare" at the Arts Theatre. This was, sadly, somewhat poorly attended tonight, but was a great show, starring Sean Foley (of The Right Size, a duo I admire hugely) and Mark Rylance of the Globe. If you are interested in Shakespeare, or the internet, or just enjoy a lively show, go see it.

Migrating birds

noreply@blogger.com (Laura James) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 20:40:00 +0000

Michael has a new passport. It contains a wide selection of images of British birds. However, the note that came with it, full of puff about the high tech security features, fails to describe the birds! A great deal of effort with Google reveals one leaflet about the birds (here, on a very unofficial site), but the bird on the "chip" page is unnamed. Does anyone know what it is? It's pictured in the leaflet I've linked- twice, in fact.

It's media week for me

noreply@blogger.com (Laura James) — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 16:26:00 +0000

Yesterday, the podcast. Today, I was interviewed by Rory Cellan-Jones for BBC News 24! The video is linked from the image of a tasteful toy Post Office in that article, half way down. As well as showing some of the first bits of AlertMe kit we've revealed to the public, it was nice to be asked about the reasons I moved from academia to industry, too.

SET Women podcast

noreply@blogger.com (Laura James) — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 12:22:00 +0000

I'm featured in the latest SET Women podcast, produced by Cobi Smith. It's very strange to hear your voice and words, processed and tidied up by someone else! Cobi has done a good job on the podcast series though, even if I don't feature until number 6 :)

AlertMe is live!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura James) — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 14:03:00 +0000

Our website is now live. Enjoy!