1DayLater - The Blog

Stimulating Software Innovation

Attention all North-East developers, dreamers and entreprenuers

Here’s a quick heads up about another fine event hosted by our good friends at Sunderland Software City. We would urge anyone with the seed of a software idea or simply wanting to break into the software scene to check this out. 

Dates: Friday 23^rd April & Wednesday 2^nd June
Venue: North East BIC, Sunderland
Cost: Free

The Blurb

Stimulating Software Innovation is a ONE day, fully funded programme designed to give an up to the minute view of the software industry and the potential of future developments.

This interactive session is ideal for anyone wishing to explore the software world in more detail as it not only looks at current trends but also provides a valuable insight into the constantly developing nature of software.

An excellent vehicle for continuous professional development, this session is a must for anyone looking to break into the software industry.

The event is part of Sunderland Software City, an initiative to support and develop the software industry in North East England.

To apply for a place or for more information contact Sam Fairless on 0191 516 6087 or email Samantha.fairless@ne-bic.co.uk (quote ref: SSI-F).

/End Blurb

Seriously though with a price of absolutely nothing and the chance to make all sorts of great connections in the region, what more could you ask for. Get those dates in your diary!

Paul

EDIT: ps. updates to come on 1DayLater phone development very shortly

Music and Motivation - manager

This one’s specifically for any managers out there, while my brother will be blogging the same topic soon for the coders amongst you!

1) The everyday grind

If you freelance or run a small business you will be faced with common tasks which need to be tended to a regular basis! It could be doing your bookkeeping, writing a proposal, or replying to a customers email query. Having some music to listen to can make all the difference to your mood and productivity while taking these things on.

It’s important not to listen to any old thing mind. Priority no. 1 should be finding something that’s not distracting. Songs with too many lyrics for example are no good, as they take your focus alway from what you’re doing too often. You need to be able to just float along with the music, serene and calm.

Which is why, when deep inside the underbelly of the business beast, I like to listen to some modern mellow trance, post-rock or some very downbeat drum n bass. Keep it at a volume which isn’t too high so your attention doesn’t shift from your work, but high enough to be able to bop along to happily.

Albums of choice: Tiesto - In search of Sunrise (1-7), Above and Beyond - anything, Commix - Fabriclive 44

2) Writing Tenders

When competing for a large software contract the usual thing is to go through a tendering process. 1DayLater have just been through this with local Quango (Quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization) Codeworks who need a timesheet solution and a way of tracking their ERDF funding requirements from local funding body OneNorthEast.

Writing a tender is pretty similar to writing a business plan. In both cases you disect an activity to its individual components, which helps identify potential problems, skill gaps and ultimately its feasability. When there’s a deadline looming it can also be fairly stressful, which is why some chilled music is best!

Album of choice - Bonobo - Days to Come

3) Missing your weekend

A start-up company like ours needs to be prepared to put in a lot of hours. Work-life balance can become a distant memory if not careful. I like this article in the Texas start-up blog which illustrates the amount of time entrepreneurs need to be prepared to give up.

Ultimately missing a weekend to plough on with work can be tough, but when you love your work like I do, it’s not so bad. I’m fairly sure my brother shares a similar outlook!

Getting some bouncy happy music on the go at weekends is therefore a must. If you’re going to spend the weekend caning work, some uplifting music and an open window will at least provide a happy illusion. I like to use weekends writing our blog, and working on activities which fit our long term vision and goals for 1DayLater

Albums of choice: Billy Talent - Billy Talent 2, Zebrahead - MFZB

 In part 2 (coming soon) - music and motivation for coders

Graphic.ly, the beautiful comic beta

Probably the fasted I’ve gone from thinking about writing a blog entry to actually doing it…

”@1DayLater writes: So there’s bugs and missing features - but it’s *very* clear that @graphicly is the Usain Bolt of the comic world… Time to blog”

Graphic.ly, another North-East startup has begun handing out “Baby Beta” invites for their graphic novel application… oh. my. god. it’s beautiful. Like stupidly beautiful and well thought out to boot.

The concept of digitizing comic books has been around for years and I’ve never seen anything like graphic.ly - these guys have not only revolutionized the way the comics are presented but they’ve added a ream of features that will coagulate the comic world.

Reading [anything] has always been a solitary act, but with graphic.ly you’re given the freedom to communicate with other readers, the writers and artists of a comic! OK, the Beta has a lot of functionality disabled as they develop it, but it’s instantly clear what they will achieve - they’ll make huge ripples in the graphic novel world.

So with that, I say hats off to @kevinmann and his team, I can’t wait for your software to mature and I’m giving you something to quote me on:

“Graphic.ly will be to literature as YouTube is to movies” - David King

100 users in London, 100 up North

Tis time to celebrate - the 100th user signed up to the system today! Our beer-based motivation system (we’ll blog about that in the future) says that we must have a pint together to celebrate, happy days.

The real reason we’re writing is to talk about The Big Smoke - London. Last week we took an extended weekend to visit Kingpin Intelligence to talk about the marketing campaign that they’re generously giving to us. The main goal of the campaign is to get another 100 users signed up, and to get feedback from 50 of them a couple of weeks later- leaving us with a comfortable amount of testers and information to launch the full service. The Kingpin guys (James, Darius and Darren) are clearly a talented group and we feel incredibly lucky to have won this great prize with the Teesside’s Business School.

visiting the financial district - can you imagine being rich?

Sad as it may seem, but this visit was our 2nd ever trip to London, and as a city we’ve both got mixed feelings, it’s both vibrant and despairing.

it’s hard to believe that in the many thousands of faces I saw, there was only 1 girl with pink hair…
David King

laughter on the tube must seem like an alien landing, we got stared at a lot - bless them :)
Paul King

And they really do love a good stare, especially if there’s any smiling going on or unusual hair (like Davids) - we bore the brunt of many a steely gaze as we laughed and joked our way about the place. I guess the glumness comes with living in such a big city, but wow does it make me glad to live in Newcastle and remind me why I’m a North East Ambassador

Take it easy, and don’t forget to smile

Paul