Travelblog SF48 – 3

An interesting afternoon. I formed part of a panel with three other Google Apps customers - a sports goods retailer, a company producing fabrication tools for chip manufacturers, and an ERP consulting firm. There seemed to be some common themes - a general consensus that using Outlook as a front end for Google Mail is … Continue reading Travelblog SF48 – 3

Travelblog SF48 – 2

So here I am in San Francisco, just up the road from Silicon Valley and the centre of the world's tech industry. And as a result, I find out about Steve Jobs' departure from the front page of a newspaper pushed under my door in the hotel this morning. Oh, the irony. I guess it … Continue reading Travelblog SF48 – 2

Travelblog SF48 – 1

So one of the crazier things in my life so far... San Francisco and back in a little more than 48 hours. I have been invited to take part in a customer panel at the global Google Enterprise sales conference. It was too good an opportunity to turn down, but family and other work commitments … Continue reading Travelblog SF48 – 1

41 for 40

Back at the end of July, in a little project to allow me to come to terms with a turning forty this weekend, I started an exercise to document the 41 years I've been on the planet in the form of 41 songs, one from each year from 1970. This evening I've written the last … Continue reading 41 for 40

2010

Magnetic Man - Perfect Stranger So there we go. 41 songs representing the 41 years that (almost) I've been on the planet. One of the hardest years to choose for, too, because since the advent of Spotify I've listened to more new music this year than I have done since I was in my 20s. … Continue reading 2010

2009

Lily Allen - The Fear And so we get to the 40th track on this long old playlist, and the penultimate one at that. I was going to pick something by the Kings of Leon, but in the end have plumped for a track by Keith Allen's daughter. The first track from Lily's second album, … Continue reading 2009

2008

Elbow - One day like this I have to admit that before their 2008 Mercury Prize-winning album, the only thing that I knew of Elbow was their cover version of Independent Woman, which had been used to a soundtrack of an animation of some animated cats. The album was a revelation, and this song (which … Continue reading 2008

2007

Groove Armada - Song 4 Mutya I know that some people think that they are a naff as flock wallpaper, but as you can see from that analogy I'm no arbiter of taste and fashion. Never have been, and certainly never will be. I like Groove Armada. The Renault-flogging cheese of I See You Baby, … Continue reading 2007

Travelblog #w2s 4

The third and final day of Web 2.0 went a little something like this: After sponsor workshops first thing (I was at the RIM one), the first plenary session saw a discussion about education, trailed with a clip from Davis Guggenheim's recent film on the topic 'Waiting for Superman'. After the culture shock of the … Continue reading Travelblog #w2s 4

Travelblog #w2s 3

Day two at Web 2.0 was jam-packed: Shantanu Narayen, CEO at Adobe kicked the day off, and left me feeling more concerned than ever about the future of tools being provided for the traditional creative industries. They are positioning themselves more and more as a development platform, and it just leaves me wondering what options … Continue reading Travelblog #w2s 3