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Daring to make New Year’s Resolutions? Happy 2011!

5 January, 2011 by Jessica Williamson

Well we survived 1/1/11 and I hope everyone had a great time ringing in the new year – whether you were having a crazy party, a civilised celebration, or some early hibernation. Apologies for going quiet as we’ve all been swept away with travels and holiday distractions… shame on us.

So, it’s a new year, with a clean slate and an open canvas. What might YOU do with your next 12 months? ..[insert thinking].. Before we dive into grand resolutions, I heard about an interesting study on resolutions which LA radio was discussing this morning. Funny enough it’s from Richard Wiseman, a cool guy in Edinburgh of all places! You can check out Richard’s 10 Tips to Achieve your New Years Resolutions, but some suggestions I took to heart including focusing on one goal instead of several, rewarding yourself for achievements, and telling friends and family your resolution(s) instead of keeping it to yourself.

With that in mind, to help us all “go public” with our resolutions and increase our chances of a successful year, now’s your chance to put it out there… Let’s see if we can help hold you to it, or even help you get there! Resolutions shared below are almost guaranteed to come true – I mean, it can’t hurt, and we’re sincerely cheering for you. So… what would you like to achieve this year?

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Dear Santa… A Geeky Christmas Wish List!

25 December, 2010 by Jessica Williamson

The advent calendar chocolates are all gone now, which can only mean one thing… Merry Christmas!! Ok, it could also mean I got hungry mid-month, but I’ve been good this year [Santa, take note].

Hmmm that brings me to thinking about the presents under the tree this morning, both for me and from me. Anything notable you’ve been secretly or not-so-secretly hoping for? If you’re still pulling together some final presents, or if you have any IOU slips to cash in on, I’ll share some of my favourite geeky finds & requests this year for inspiration.

My Geeky Christmas Wish List Continue Reading »

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“The only reason to have a job as an employee…”

22 December, 2010 by Jessica Williamson

My dad is full of good lessons. I’m sure I didn’t appreciate it as a kid, but I am starting to pay better attention to our breakfast conversations. Yesterday’s lesson was the following:

The only reason to have a job as an employee is so you can learn the business and go out and do something with it.

Hmmmm… as if the eggs and hash browns weren’t enough, that certainly offered some food for thought. So, I just wanted to throw that statement out there. I could think of a few other reasons for having a job as an employee – such as a steady paycheck, sleeping regularly, having a real weekend – but I think the novelty of those factors would wear off pretty quickly.

So, what do you think? Have you taken key insights from employee life to entrepreneur life? If you could have worked anywhere else prior to your current startup, what employee experience do you *wish* you had? Continue Reading »

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Insurance 101: The 7 stages of protection for your start-up

21 December, 2010 by Jessica Williamson

As a startup you have a million things to think about, and unless you’re offering bungee jumping or fire eating lessons, insurance is probably not top of the list. As much as we love a living-on-the-edge lifestyle, we thought it might be helpful to get the scoop on insurance and hear what’s relevant – and not relevant – to rock ‘n roll startup life. Thanks very much to Emma Jowett, resident writer at Policy Expert, for putting this together in response to all our questions! We tried to sing this to the tune of “12 Days of Christmas” but alas… you’re better off reading it here. We hope it helps!

1. Kitchen table kick off
2. The wheel deal
3. Look after number 1
4. Connect and Protect
5. What could go wrong?
6. Well hello clients!
7. Team building
——  Continue Reading »

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Events Menu: 20-26th December

19 December, 2010 by Jessica Williamson

First of all, whatever you’re celebrating, happy holidays! I brought the Scottish rain with me to California, so I’m not very popular back home right now, but sending lots of good wishes to Edinburgh and beyond this week. Hope you have a wonderful time filled with good food, good company, and some well-earned rest! Well ok, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad 🙂

Monday 20th December: Listening Lunch #2 & Christmas Drinks, 12pm on Appleton Tower 8th Floor

An invitation from Informatics Ventures to “get everyone’s input on things that Informatics Ventures could do to support you,” to hear what’s working and what could be improved. I know some folks are boycotting this meeting after the last one was – to put it mildly, disastrous – but I *hope* this one is more productive and less defensive. At the very least, enjoy a free buffet from 12 noon and drinks after the meeting. But watch what you say if you don’t want an eviction notice the next day (possibly unrelated, but a terribly unfortunate coincidence). You can see the online forum for discussions: Appleton Venture Community.

Wednesday 22nd December: Glasgow TechMeetup, 7pm at 103 Trongate 5th Floor

Monthly gathering for anyone interested in tech, from developers to startups to innocent curiosities. It’s a thriving grassroots effort, and each month generally features a small variety of presentations to share expertise on what people are up to and what they have learned along the way. Not sure what presentations are this month, but looks like it’s going ahead… Just turn up, and enjoy free beer, pizza and good chat! Continue Reading »

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Funny video(s): The Vendor Client relationship – in real world situations

15 December, 2010 by Kate Ho

Ever wondered how those client negotations might play out in a much less … negotiable space? Just found this video (even though it’s been around for a while). Hope you take it with a pinch of salt, but appreciate the funny-ness! (via Mirren Fischer and  Rachel Lane)

Continue Reading »

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3 Great tools to learn the basics of programming

12 December, 2010 by Kate Ho

Recently, one topic I’ve been spending an increasing amount of time thinking about is how to encourage non-coders to code.

In my startup life, I am lucky enough to meet a variety of people from different backgrounds – some in management, marketing etc – some starting their own companies for the first time. Unsurprisingly, most of them are web-based. But one thing that it always strikes me is how quickly people are willing for someone just to take over the design and development of their sites without they themselves, having a go. Of course I’m not saying that you should build the whole web app yourself, that’s not the cleverest use of your time – after all, it takes YEARS to train as a good developer – but having some sort of background understanding helps to 1) articulating your vision in computational terms, 2) helps to understand what is and what isn’t possible, and 2) helps you to see where opportunities for innovation are.

So here are some awesome tools which you should look at if you are interesting in learning how to code, or if you’re looking to teach non-coders to code.

1. Android App Inventor

Android App Inventor is by far one of the coolest tools I’ve seen in graphical programming. The idea is, with a few simple clicks by dragging and dropping components, you can get a fully functioning app running on your mobile really quickly. Meaning that non-coders can get results, fast. And the ability to show off to their friends what they had built.

Continue Reading »

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3 Great tools to learn the basics of programming

12 December, 2010 by Kate Ho

Recently, one topic I’ve been spending an increasing amount of time thinking about is how to encourage non-coders to code.

In my startup life, I am lucky enough to meet a variety of people from different backgrounds – some in management, marketing etc – some starting their own companies for the first time. Unsurprisingly, most of them are web-based. But one thing that it always strikes me is how quickly people are willing for someone just to take over the design and development of their sites without they themselves, having a go. Of course I’m not saying that you should build the whole web app yourself, that’s not the cleverest use of your time – after all, it takes YEARS to train as a good developer – but having some sort of background understanding helps to 1) articulating your vision in computational terms, 2) helps to understand what is and what isn’t possible, and 2) helps you to see where opportunities for innovation are.

So here are some awesome tools which you should look at if you are interesting in learning how to code, or if you’re looking to teach non-coders to code.

1. Android App Inventor

Android App Inventor is by far one of the coolest tools I’ve seen in graphical programming. The idea is, with a few simple clicks by dragging and dropping components, you can get a fully functioning app running on your mobile really quickly. Meaning that non-coders can get results, fast. And the ability to show off to their friends what they had built.

Continue Reading »

Posted in Opinions | Tagged , | 2 Comments »

Guardian blogger joining the startup community – Welcome Lunch!

11 December, 2010 by Jessica Williamson

Good news for startup land! Guardian blogger Michael MacLeod is set to join the Appleton Tower community starting this coming week. You may have met Michael out and about covering an array of stories in Edinburgh, from the tuition protests to tram updates to plans for The New Victoria.

While his remit is the wider Edinburgh community, I can’t imagine

Continue Reading »

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Honeycomb to sweeten android for tablets?

7 December, 2010 by Kate Ho

Today, Google announced that there would be a tablet specific version of android. Codenamed Honeycomb, the release is rumoured to have higher resolutions and APIs that are tablet specific. Apparently, according to Google – apps will know if they are being run on a tablet device.

Video Demo: http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20101206/googles-andy-rubin-shows-off-prototype-motorola-tablet/

Transcript of Demo: http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/20101206/googles-andy-rubin-dives-into-android/?mod=dive-into-mobile

There are some interesting multitouch gestures that Andy Rubin used to rotate and pan the map view. Continue Reading »

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