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Archive for the ‘Opinions’ Category

Ode to a developer and a developer’s retort

Posted in Opinions on 10 June, 2010| 14 Comments »

I wanted to do some serious writing yesterday but try as I might I could not get past an alternative form of writers block. It wasn’t like my mind was blank.  If only! Nope, I had hit a wall of rhythm and random phrases that would NOT let me pass!  This stupid rhythm & some silly phrases tiresomely followed me around ALL day.  Finally, on my home I decided to give the nonsense some expression by allowing it to be dumped onto my notepad, in the hope that the mental spillage would clear my mind for more serious works.  Here at Startupcafe we do promise a side helping of silliness with our other content. So, ready to see what landed on my pad?

Ode to a developer (more…)

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Top 5 iPad apps that people haven’t written about

Posted in Opinions on 5 June, 2010| 5 Comments »

For anyone that’s seen me in the past week, they’ve known how much I’m loving the iPad. As someone who is passionate about UX, the iPad provides this wonderful vehicle in showcasing great, user-centric designed software.

Now, this isn’t the ordinary “Top 10 iPad apps that you should get” list. There are plenty of those around. If you are interested, common apps on those lists include – Things, Pages/Numbers/Keynote, Evernote, InstaPaper, GoodReader, iBooks, Flight Control, Bento, TweetDeck, Mirror’s Edge, Wall Street Journal, Guardian Eye Witness, Financial Times. (more…)

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A non-developer’s guide to building a web/iphone app

Posted in Opinions, tagged , , , , on 18 May, 2010| 88 Comments »

If I had a penny for every time that I heard the phrase – “I have this great idea, but I don’t have the coding skills to build it” – I would very rich by now. Over the past 3-4 years that I’ve been hanging around the entrepreneurial scene, I’ve met a lot of people who have ideas, but lamented about how difficult it is to get a developer on-board to help them.

Unfortunately, techies are in demand – there’s a no shortage of people looking for good developers that are experienced and able, but (sparked by reading Jennie Lee’s post about Entrepreneur School for non-technical founders, and an upcoming Interface3 project) I thought I would share some top tips to help any non-technical entrepreneurs to find a techie to get involved in their project.

(BTW, I’m assuming that you don’t have much money to pay the developer, if you do, then you don’t need to read this, but merely get your cheque book out)

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A letter to a depressed VC: Healthy debate!

Posted in Local News, Opinions, tagged , , , , , on 14 May, 2010| 5 Comments »

VC Eddie Anderson of Pentech Ventures is being held accountable for curing his own depression. At TechCrunch Ediburgh on Wednesday, Eddie confessed he has become a depressed VC due to the lack of innovation in Scottish startups. Sitting next to TechMeetup founder Sam Collins in the audience, I was glad to see somebody else terribly frustrated with the fact that these accusations lacked a plan of action. Q&A did not due the issue justice.

Thankfully Sam has written him a brilliant letter, which has sparked a great debate in the last 24 hours (50 comments already!). Copy of the letter below, but please put your comments on the original post here so they are all in one place.

Dear Eddie,

First of all, thank for you for coming to Engage Invest Exploit/TechCrunch Edinburgh and being so open in your thoughts on the Scottish startup space. This letter would not be possible, nor could any progress ever be made without you first being so honest about your feelings – so please accept my appreciation. Those that know me will know I’m not a moaner – I write this letter with the sole purpose of resolving this problem and with your assistance, will commit time and effort to achieving the desired result. (more…)

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Fined and fired for dangerous tweeting…

Posted in Opinions on 12 May, 2010| Leave a Comment »

The next time we suffer a bout of Tweet-rage, or TUI (tweeting under influence) perhaps we should spare a small grain of thought for poor Paul Chambers and then carefully consider our actions.

In a nutshell he posted a stupid tweet (I’m too afraid to repeat it given what happened to him – and the fact that I’m a brown girl –  but it involved an airport and what he wanted to do to it!), and showed poor judgment within the context of the world we’ve been living in these past few years. 

Still, if you were actually going to do something sooooo STUPID as that, would you announce it on Twitter first?  What special brand of buffoonery would that be?  I guess it would be the brand of buffoonery that has left this man with a criminal record, a fine, and being fired from his job! (more…)

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iPads/Tablets: Debates and Insights from MoMo Edinburgh

Posted in Events, Local News, Opinions on 10 May, 2010| 5 Comments »

Witty pre-event smack talk set the stage for today’s Mobile Monday (MoMo) Edinburgh event, with this month’s theme of ‘Keep taking the tablets!’ Looking at the newest multitouch devices on the scene, the focus was on media consumption, interaction, and opportunities & challenges introduced by the tablet category (including but not limited to iPads).

The group of mobile companies, developers, and interested parties was about 20 strong, with nearly as many opinions, so I certainly didn’t capture everything. Instead, I’ve distilled my notes to highlight 10 of the key issues and the discussion that followed. Views are a scattered selection from the group, with credit due (though not sufficiently recorded) to a wide assortment of people. Enjoy, and in the spirit of MoMo Edinburgh, feel free to disagree in the space below! (more…)

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Feedback needed for BarCamp Scotland 2010

Posted in Local News, Opinions, tagged on 18 March, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Barcamp Scotland is the annual get-together for people working in tech for the past three years. For those of you that don’t know about the event, the definition of BarCamp is:

BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from attendees.  Programmers, coders, VCs, Angels, investors, marketers, ad people, public service, creatives… all welcome to share and learn from each other. (more…)

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Giving yourself a complex: Key tip for market research

Posted in Opinions, tagged , on 17 February, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Today, I headed up to Stirling Management Centre to attend the “Be Inspired to Innovate” event held by EDTC. Briefly, it was a series of 6 workshops, all by entrepreneurs about how they took their product from idea, to prototype, and then to market.

One of the really interesting points was made by Kelly Forsyth-Gibson, inventor of ThudGuard (a safety hat for toddlers learning to walk – its looks like a scrum cap for kids). (more…)

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What running can teach you about the work-life balance

Posted in Opinions, Personal Management on 2 February, 2010| 5 Comments »

For 2010, one of my new year’s resolutions is to run a marathon. Since buying my first pair of ‘proper’ running shoes last year, I’ve managed to make it through a 10k (much to my team mates’ surprise) and aiming for a half marathon in April, with a full marathon (in Loch Ness) at the start of Oct.

While I’ve been learning to master the art of running long distances, I’ve accidentally found a treasure trove of inspirational and insightful stories about the unlikeliest of runners becoming runners. First, there was “What I talk about when I talk about running” by Haruki Murakami (of Kafka on the Shore), then “The Courage to Start“, by fellow trombonist, John Bingham, and recently, I’ve been following “The Non-Runner’s Marathon Trainer“.

This week, one trainee-runner’s account seemed particularly poignant:

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Review: Nokia N900

Posted in Guest Blogger, Opinions, tagged , , , on 30 January, 2010| 1 Comment »

Chris Davies, one of the developer on the SpeckNet project, has kindly reviewed the Nokia N900 for us. The mobile phone is one of the few devices which actually run linux on-the-go. Considering the recent interest in mobile/laptop convergence lately [cough] iPad it will become more and more interesting to see what the future of mobile is.

Incidentally, if you are interested in discussing the future of mobile, this month’s MoMoEdinburgh is on that exact topic! There might be some tickets still available…

And remember – if you would like to submit an article to StartupCafe, simply drop us a line on hello@startupcafe.co.uk!

Being a gadget freak I was really looking forward to the Nokia N900 coming out and finally got my hands on one last month. But now I’ve sold it and Im back to my iPhone. And here’s why.

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