NeilCocker.com

So much to write about – so little time!

A couple of cracking articles from the BBC about the future of the web: One points to the second web boom (as I highlighted with examples in a post about the huge amounts of money being spent on new companies). And the other asks lots of top thinkers and innovators what they think will happen to the web in the coming years.

And speaking of innovation, I went to a great talk last night by Charles Leadbeater, a world authority on innovation and creativity. His talk was mainly about how immigration is a positive thing for innovation in this country (did you know that Triumph cars, Moss Bros, ICI and ice cream trucks were all founded in the UK by immigrants?). His argument is that complex problems are better solved by a diverse group, and immigrants into a society provide massive diversity. Catering for the differences inevitably comes with higher costs, but the lesson for entrepreneurs and businesses is clear – don’t just surround yourself with people exactly like yourself.

Thanks to Richie Turner at NESTA for hosting it and providing the nice veggie canapes!

p.s. If you consider yourself an entrepreneur in the web or technology fields then you should probably read this….

- Apologies for the lack of updates. I have lots of things I want to write about, but they don’t seem to lend themselves to quick and pithy posts. Normal service will be resumed soon.

- Startups.co.uk have just published their top 100 startups for this year. It makes interesting reading. Lots I’ve heard of, and lots I haven’t. Many of them are based in the financial sector, but there’s a reassuring amount that are creative, or creative solutions to traditional problems. But it’s still a shame to see that only a quarter of the entrepreneurs are female, and the majority of all the businesses are still London-based. I’m not sure if this is because London based startups get more exposure, being in the hub of all things media and publishing, but I don’t actually think there’s any in there from Wales. Let’s hope we can change that soon!

Edit: I had a closer look at the list and it appears there is at least one company from Wales in there (Afan Films). I think any stats for Wales must be lumped in with the South West, or just not reported at all.

Wow.

What a building.

I’d love to see this get built. It would be a home to 100,000 people in a tiny fraction of the “footprint” it would normally take to house that many people in London. It’s a fantastically bold statement to make, if London ever has the guts to allow it to be built. It would be the tallest building in the world and at 1500 metres tall (that’s effectively a mile!) would literally be a skyscraper, as that’s the average altitude of cloud cover.

It would have parks, markets, hospitals, fire stations etc etc. The architects are even proposing it would have it’s own member of parliament to represent it in government. It would be modern living on a massive scale. “The New Town Tower” would also be a very efficient and ec-friendly place to live. For example, “fresh water could be harvested and filtered from the clouds that would envelop the top of the tower on overcast days”. Amazing!

With London (and the UK in general) being so densely populated it’s going to need creative forward thinking on this scale to accomodate our burgeoning population. Friends from places such as America are always amazed at how small (and expensive) our living spaces are in the UK. Imagine a network of these in each town. What an incredible sight that would be.

This is so, so close to the images of super-structures I used to love as a kid in my sci-fi books. Imagine having this view at the end of your street every morning….. What do you reckon? Good idea or no?

p.s. This isn’t some kind of crazy pipe dream. They’re currently conducting a feasibility study into building it. More here…

Wow.

What a building.

I’d love to see this get built. It would be a home to 100,000 people in a tiny fraction of the “footprint” it would normally take to house that many people in London. It’s a fantastically bold statement to make, if London ever has the guts to allow it to be built. It would be the tallest building in the world and at 1500 metres tall (that’s effectively a mile!) would literally be a skyscraper, as that’s the average altitude of cloud cover.

It would have parks, markets, hospitals, fire stations etc etc. The architects are even proposing it would have it’s own member of parliament to represent it in government. It would be modern living on a massive scale. “The New Town Tower” would also be a very efficient and ec-friendly place to live. For example, “fresh water could be harvested and filtered from the clouds that would envelop the top of the tower on overcast days”. Amazing!

With London (and the UK in general) being so densely populated it’s going to need creative forward thinking on this scale to accomodate our burgeoning population. Friends from places such as America are always amazed at how small (and expensive) our living spaces are in the UK. Imagine a network of these in each town. What an incredible sight that would be.

This is so, so close to the images of super-structures I used to love as a kid in my sci-fi books. Imagine having this view at the end of your street every morning….. What do you reckon? Good idea or no?

p.s. This isn’t some kind of crazy pipe dream. They’re currently conducting a feasibility study into building it. More here…

A few months ago someone sent me a link to “The Last Lecture”, which is a very funny, moving lecture by Professor Randy Pausch. As a result of incurable cancer he has only a few months to live and gave this lecture as a reflection on life. It’s brilliant, and very funny. It became a bit of a web “hit” and Randy became a bit of a celebrity in the States.

Anyway, he’s recently delivered a lecture on time and time management. If you’re like me you’re probably creative, self-employed (of sorts) and incredbly bad at time management – and very good at procrastination. When you’re your own boss it’s sometimes incredibly difficult to motivate yourself to get stuff done. Especially in this day and age where the web provides us with on-tap distractions 24/7.

But this lecture is so true, so real, and so poignant because the very fact that time is the only real commodity worth having is highlighted so starkly by this brilliant man’s position. I urge you to watch it. It’ll take you about an hour of your life (skip past the opening 12 minutes of intros) but will save you hundreds and hundreds of hours in the future. Whether you use these hours to be more efficient at work, or just sit in the sunshine with your loved ones, it’ll make you realise that time is the most precious commodity you have.

I’ve just met Ikutaro Kakehashi, the founder of Roland Instruments and the man who “invented” MIDI (he initiated discussions between electronic music manufacturers to develop a universal communication method). For anyone who’s ever been involved in music production you’ll know what a massive influence Roland and MIDI have had on technology over the past few decades.

Mr Kakehashi’s a kind of foreboding looking character but, at nearly 80 years old, he’s an impressively forward thinking, charming, charismatic and witty guy. I was priveleged to be invited to his receiving of a honorary professorship at Glamorgan University’s creative industries school, which is sponsored by Roland. It’s an impressive site (and sight!) which should hopefully push forward the future of the creative industries and music in Wales.

I was pretty spell-bound by Kakehashi’s hour long “lecture” about music technology that he interspersed with slides and videos. It was fascinating to hear what he had to say about his past (orphaned at 2yrs old in Osaka, hospitalised for four years as a young man), his business (setting up his own electronics store in 1954, designing Hammond organs, cajoling the defiantly anti-electronic Oscar Peterson to appear on one of his adverts) and the future of music technology. This was the area where he had the most passion. He talked at length about Roland’s audio visual products and how he sees this as a big area for the future. Especially with much of the technology being instinctive and easy to use. Full audio-visual sets from us musicians, without the need for world-class VJs may not be too far away….

Anyway, suffice to say that it was a very interesting afternoon and after his lecture i was lucky enough to swap a few words with the man himself and get given a copy of his book. Not a bad buffet afterwards, either!

I’ve just met Ikutaro Kakehashi, the founder of Roland Instruments and the man who “invented” MIDI (he initiated discussions between electronic music manufacturers to develop a universal communication method). For anyone who’s ever been involved in music production you’ll know what a massive influence Roland and MIDI have had on technology over the past few decades.

Mr Kakehashi’s a kind of foreboding looking character but, at nearly 80 years old, he’s an impressively forward thinking, charming, charismatic and witty guy. I was priveleged to be invited to his receiving of a honorary professorship at Glamorgan University’s creative industries school, which is sponsored by Roland. It’s an impressive site (and sight!) which should hopefully push forward the future of the creative industries and music in Wales.

I was pretty spell-bound by Kakehashi’s hour long “lecture” about music technology that he interspersed with slides and videos. It was fascinating to hear what he had to say about his past (orphaned at 2yrs old in Osaka, hospitalised for four years as a young man), his business (setting up his own electronics store in 1954, designing Hammond organs, cajoling the defiantly anti-electronic Oscar Peterson to appear on one of his adverts) and the future of music technology. This was the area where he had the most passion. He talked at length about Roland’s audio visual products and how he sees this as a big area for the future. Especially with much of the technology being instinctive and easy to use. Full audio-visual sets from us musicians, without the need for world-class VJs may not be too far away….

Anyway, suffice to say that it was a very interesting afternoon and after his lecture i was lucky enough to swap a few words with the man himself and get given a copy of his book. Not a bad buffet afterwards, either!