Mary Carty gave a great introduction to email marketing: It’s free; Be personal; Start a conversation; Get permission, never buy a list; Make it regular and stick to it; Everyone has some information they could share; Create value for your users.

James Kennedy talked about bootstrapping a start-up. He’s very much focused on the building a salary-replacement, time-freeing business rather than empire building (which I can relate to). Talked about evaluating the business ideas based on: how easy it is to describe in a single sentence; Would 400people pay €25/month; Does it require < 10hours/month to run; Is there an existing need; is it a niche?

Joan Mulvihill of Starting Today talked about her experiences of being made redundant and coping with the recession. Engaging and funny: “No pity parties” should rank up there with “Fuck the Recession” as a new slogan!

Pat Hough talked about some basic sales strategies: You need to have 10 different sales avenues; For every 20 cold calls, 10 result in a meeting, 2 in sales — i.e., each sales has 9 rejects; need a 10sec short explanation of your business with clear client benefit; your enemy is your customer’s status quo (i.e., whatever is currently working for them).

Brian O’Kane gave 10 things you need to know before you start a business. Top tips were: The only thing that matters is sales and business planning != business plan.

I usually give panel discussions a miss as they are inevitably weak and insight-less, but not this one!

• Everyone agreeing that lots of small businesses are the future, not big multinationals.
• Everyone agreeing that Enterprise Ireland isn’t aimed at small start-ups. Their job is to bring in / create large companies with high revenue potential. EI might provide good advice and valuable contacts but their money isn’t worth the paperwork.
• Someone from the audience was hammering on about Export (i.e., we must export to survive). Seemed strange to me as most web-businesses are export businesses by default but there’s still plenty of money to be made in local markets (just think of all the businesses in your local town). “Export” just sounds like such an old-world way of thinking. I think James Kennedy’s approach of proving the business in Ireland before moving outside makes a great deal of sense. I felt the questioner was confusing the need for a business to make a profit with the need for the country to recover. And, surely, if lots of small business are making money, that’s got to be good for the country.
• Mentoring of small businesses was identified as a big deal. You don’t need to take a dragon’s deal to get great advice (free!) from your peers.

I was a little disappointed that we ran out of time and the Pitching Competition didn’t happen but I guess that just shows how involved the panel discussion was. Some of the highlights of the day happened over lunch or in the corridor, talking to other attendees. It was a great mix of people in fields as diverse as event management, engineering analysis, software, etc and super- super friendly. Having attended FOWA a few weeks back I was struck by how much more friendly, helpful and social the BizCamp crowd was.

• Ryan Carson gave a very practical, actionable talk about starting a small web business. A terrific start to the event and well worth listening too. If nothing else, it pointed me to Spreedly which should save me a ton of time and hassle
• Eoghan and Des from Contrast gave a very ambitious (as is their nature) talk about conventions and when/how to break them. Hugely entertaining although if I’m giving an honest review I’d say that a fast-paced presentation perhaps doesn’t suit Des as non-Irish audience members had trouble understanding him. Personally, I found it very interesting and funny. Well done.
• Robin Christopherson gave one of the most poignant presentations of the day on website accessibility. This was part presentation and part demonstration as Robin himself is blind. There is nothing more awe-inspiring to a techie than watching someone surf the web using a screen reader. It was a practical demonstration of how hard sections of our society find surfing the web, and what web designers can do to ease their burden.
• To me, Blaine Cook and Emma Persky gave the weakest talks of the day. Blaine was talking about the future of social networks and how large all-encompassing networks aren’t the future. However, he didn’t lay-out and actionable things which the audience could take away. What should developers by using or building to bring about the future of micro-networks he was discussing? I admire him for talking about something which matters to him but it just didn’t have much impact for the audience. Similarly, Emma was discussing using Ruby without using Rails, essentially promoting the use of alternate frameworks, or even none at all. This presentation could have been so much more powerful, interesting and useful if she’d actually provided code examples or performance metrics comparing the implementations in Rails, Merb, Sinatra, Google App Engine etc. It just could have been so much more. Both of these presenters had so much practical experience to offer the audience and instead gave fluffy opinion pieces.
• Morgan McKeagney of IQContent gave a good talk comparing the 1970′s punk scene with today’s Web 2.0 world. We’re “in the shit” and we need to avoid being one of the failed bands left behind by U2. Less like Virigin Prunes and more like U2 (at least in terms of success — Bono still annoys me). Are you just playing guitar in your bedroom or are you building something people care about, which is useful to them, which they’ll pay for?
• Simon Willison gave a very entertaining, scary and educational talk about website security issues. I’d read about XSS, CSRF etc, and I knew what sort of measure you’d take in Rails to avoid them, but I never really understand the whats and hows of these attacks. Security documents are very boring but when someone gets up on stage and demonstrates how they work, suddenly in 30minutes you’ve understood more than any document could give you. Very worthwhile attending just for this.
• The first 2 120-second startup pitches were pretty poor (in my opinion). They seemed ill-prepared, waffling and not as enthusiastic about their product as I thought they would be. This was my first time seeing startup pitches so my expectations might have been way out. Some points I gathered: Say what your site does (in the first 20seconds!); Show your site; Be passionate about it! Robin Blandford gave a really good pitch through, which easily demonstrated what the site did, who it was aimed at and his own qualifications for developing it. This pitch was much more like what I was expecting. On the other hand, it was a great learning experience for the other entrepreneurs to pitch in a ‘safe’ environment where no money was at stake.
• David Heinemeier Hansson was arguably the star attraction of the conference and he didn’t disappoint. Fuck the Real World. Build a startup Business. These were really good rallying cries for the troops which were all well received. Even if you’ve been following 37Signals there was a good section on why their ‘Getting Real’ philosophy still applies to you. They started small too.

The biggest disappointment with the event was the tiny social spaces available and complete lack of free refreshments. This meant that everyone disbanded during the breaks and unless you already knew people there were very very limited networking opportunities.

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is an inspirational book; not in that fluffy, chirpy plastic way of too many popular books but in the shear darkness of the author’s story and his attitude during it.

Part of the appeal of this book lies in the historical account from a survivor of the holocaust, told in a slightly detached, matter-of-fact, manner. It’s only 60 years ago but we quickly forget about the horrors of the concentration camp, and all the other human-inspired miseries since.

However, as the title might indicate, this book has much more to offer the reader. The author shows how even in the darkest nightmarish situations there is a way for the human psyche to come through. Though the reader might feel awkward comparing their situation to that endured by the author (I certainly did) the advice and anecdotes presented here are applicable far beyond the extreme suffering of the concentration camps (and, indeed, that is exactly the intention of the author).

Here’s a few things I’ve picked up from the book:

• It isn’t how life treats you that’s important, it’s how you approach life. Some situations might be inescapable and result in great suffering but there is little point on dwelling on the unfairness of the universe. You must look at as an opportunity to prove yourself — to show your integrity. The one choice you always have is how you to react to a situation.
• Having something to hold onto. Whether it is the thought of a loved one or the knowledge that your suffering might have saved another. For example, the loneliness of a windower had actually saved his wife from the same suffering by living longer than her.

Quotes:

• “A man who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how” (actually from Nietzsche)
• “everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
• “It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life—daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.”
• “We can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: (1) by creating a work or doing a deed; (2) by experiencing a something or encountering someone; and (3) by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering.”

I read this book in an attempt to understand “life” over the past 306 days since the car accident. I came away lucky, very lucky, but at the same time I have some lingering effects that are likely to remain permanent. And there’s more misery to come with (possibly very) early arthritis etc. There’s no medication to help me here, it’s just attitude that’s going to get me through and I found this book incredibly helpful in that regard. I have suffered and that suffering is likely to continue but I take some pride that I was the one in the driver’s seat, that it wasn’t Hilary with our unborn daughter. I’ve taken that suffering away from them. Of course, it wasn’t a conscious decision — just fate — but one of us was going to be driving that day and I’m happy it was me.

To most people, I appear no different than I was 307 days ago but I know differently. I feel the pain in my left foot and right knee, the stiffness in my right leg and arm and my slight limp. I might go for a walk with my colleagues at lunchtime and they wouldn’t know that our brisk walk has caused me pain. I don’t talk about it (except here, in my private diary!); I don’t yelp or groan. This is my suffering and there’s no point in constantly sharing it with others. What’s more, I’m not going to stop walking or slow down because of it. “Everyone has their cross to bear”, and this is mine.

I’m still here and I have much to work and live for, not least my daughter. That is all the motivation than I need to fully explore Viktor Frankl’s three meanings in life: to create, to experience and to suffer.

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My review

Rating: 4 of 5 stars
First off, you’re probably not going to get to a 4 hour week and certainly not working as an employee. However, this book is a must read simply because of the way the author makes you look at things differently and turns established notions on their head. It’s a real mind-f*ck.

• Why work for the best years of your life, instead of enjoying it now? Putting off everything until you’re 65 isn’t a great plan. You’re fit and active now.
• Based on my current age, I have 400 months until retirement. How do I want to spend that? In a cubicle?
• You don’t need to be a millionaire, you just need to have enough (autonomous) income to live like one.
• Most people dream of running a company but really you want to own one, and get others to manage it whilst you pursue your real dreams. This isn’t about getting your dream job (because dreams tend to turn sour when they become ‘work’) but about income generation.
• Define your dreams (if you had no financial constraints) for the next 6/12 months and determine their costs. Add in your living expenses. Multiply by 1.3 to account for savings and safety padding. This is the income you need to achieve to realise your dreams. Divide it by days or weeks to arrive at a daily or weekly income.
• The key is generating that income for the least amount of work. Selling digital goods over the Internet is ideal as most of the process can be automated and outsourced.
• €50 x 100 people = €5000. It’s mathematically obvious but the consequences are astounding.
• Aim to have freedom of location and time (i.e., work that doesn’t take 40hours/week and require you to be in a particular place). Aim for mini-retirement breaks every few months where you travel to and live in another part of the world.

Whether you accept all of the book’s practical suggestions (like outsourcing your personal life to India) it will truly change the way that you look at life.

I’m coming to believe that although the psychological impact of the car accident for more obvious during my early recovery, the long-term effects are considerably more profound. I want to show my daughter the world. Not as I’ve have experienced it so far, as a series of short holidays, but as a extended deep understanding of our planet. And, if I’m honest, I want that myself too. I’m obsessed with ‘doing’ something with my life and sitting in a cubicle for another 400 months is at the bottom of my list. I don’t intend to go all new-age hippyish on this, and I don’t think continuous vagabonding would be good for children, but I do think that regular, extended periods of travel would a great thing.

Perhaps I won’t succeed but I feel I need to try.

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My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
A very interesting book about how an overabundance of choice creates stress and depression, particularly for a certain class of people (maximisers). Interestingly, it seems that I’m not a perfectionist but a maximiser (someone who always tries to find the absolute best course of action/choice).

As an example, I’ve recently been trying to buy a new monitor but I’ve now spent upwards of 6 hours comparing prices, spec, reviews and availability. In the end, I was getting so down about the decision because there didn’t seem to be a perfect choice that fitted my criteria. ~3 weeks later, I still haven’t bought one. It is this process that the book tries to unravel.

It is very well researched with plenty of insights into consumer behaviour. If I had one criticism it would be the self-help section at the end, which I didn’t find particularly inspiring. However, just being aware of the paradox of choice, and your own personality type, can help you avoid investing too much in your decisions.

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rating: 5 of 5 stars
A fantastic book that every PhD student should read.

The advice is obvious but presented clearly and simply, making it a very powerful message: Winners quit (the right stuff). Basically, you can either quit your project (to focus on something else more worthwhile), stick with it (til the end) or neither. The first two are winning strategies, the last is not (and the one I chose in my PhD — I should have read this book 3 years ago). The book is about making that decision.

It is very well written, in an informal style, and can easily be read in a day or weekend.

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Initially my principle tool was a blank pad of A4 paper and a biro for sketching out the data relationships, templates and pages.  After searching for a good cheap website template I decided to make my own — just enough layout and styling to make it work — and evolve it later as & when the site gains users.

But when it comes to working out some of the more complicated page layouts, biro and paper just wasn’t good enough.  I’m not a professional designer, I don’t use Photoshop and I’ve seen a few UI mockup tools but they are either too expensive or too Windows-UI focused. Earlier in the week I installed Pencil, a Firefox extension that sounded as if it would work but in practice was still too Windows-UI focused (which begs the question why it’s a Firefox extension at all).  And it was too polished — it felt like designing the UI, not sketching it out.

So it was fortuitous that I came across Balsamiq Mockups on Hacker News.  This is a little application which allows you to drag ‘n’ drop hand-drawn components on to the page.  The desktop version is an Adobe AIR application so it’s installed through your web browser but accessed from the desktop / start menu shortcut.  I’ve had some issues with AIR applications in the past (notably Adobe Digital Editions) automatically deleting themselves but Mockups seems to run really well.  It looks like a sketch pad, with a selection of common web components including Maps, Tabs, Titles and Videos, and some esoteric ones like Coverflow and Webcam.  Each component is styled in a hand-drawn style (reminiscent of Napkin L&F for Swing) but you can reposition and resize them.  So far, so good.  The hand-drawn style is more than just eye candy though.  It visually says “this is a sketch, nothing promised, nothing set in stone”.  It can be very useful to avoid getting too hung-up on the colour scheme, logo design or fonts.

Here’s the current sketch for one step of the process when creating a new location on Shutter Scouts:

If I’m honest, there are a few things that need polishing: Escape key doesn’t seem to cancel a drag; there’s no prebuilt file-upload component or Cancel/Submit buttons; and exporting an image doesn’t let you choose where or what filename.  If I was a professional and had purchased this, I might still be a little annoyed about the “Created by Balsamiq” tag at the bottom of exported images but I guess it’s no different to the software my Physio uses to print off exercises.  Also, there’s no printing support so you need to export the image and print, but these are hardly major flaws. But the developer has been responsive and helpful so I’m sure it won’t take long for these issues to get polished off.

Mockups is a really easy-to-use tool for quickly (the above sketch took 10mins) sketching out a page layout before sitting down to write the HTML.  I’ve printed out a few sketches now which hang above my desk to visually remind me of what I’m working on.

Balsamiq Mockups also comes integrated with Twiki, Confluence and JIRA which I guess makes it ideal for collaborating between designers/programmers and clients.  Is it worth $79 for the desktop version?  For me (a hobby web developer on a tight/non-existent budget), no probably not.  For a professional web designer?  Definitely: Buy it in a heartbeat!

Disclaimer: I offered to write an open and honest review of Balsamiq Mockups in exchange for a full licence key.

P.S. Incidently, I thought it was Balsa-miq as in Balsa wood, used in model-making, but apparently it’s not.  Just goes to show how different brains work.

I’m big into anything that means I don’t have to walk up and down the stairs at the moment. One of the annoying things was getting the laptop in the same place as the backup drive, which meant that I wasn’t actually making any backups. With lots of priceless baby pictures that kinda worries me. So I bought a 500GB Freecom Network Drive Pro which I can mount as a network drive which makes backups nice and easy, if a little slow.

The pro version also has some great features: you can mount an external USB drive to extend the storage (so I can make use of my old 320GB drive); you can FTP to the drive; there’s even a BitTorrent client to download your movies directly to the drive, if you’re into that sort of thing); and coolest of all, you can SSH into the drive since it’s just running linux. SSH is cool because it means that you can move files around the drive (or between the external and network drive) without incurring any sort of network overhead. Pretty sweet piece of kit.

I was kinda disappointed with the Potter film: it seems like you need to have read the books to enjoy the films. There are just too many characters, with similar names, and huge past histories to make the film enjoyable for us non-potterarians. I just gave up caring who people were, why they running about, what that creature was, why the one-who’s-name-no-one-can-ever-remember did that, and so on. Spiderman films don’t require you to have read the comics. The Lord of the Rings trilogy was really for the 99% of the world who had a) not read the book; b) not finished the book; c) finished the book only to have forgotten the beginning. Unfortunately, Ms. Rowling seems intent on using the films as a sort of visual representation of the books. Great if you’re a fan of her writing, not so good if you prefer good books and enjoyable films.

In contrast, you really don’t need to remember the Transformers cartoon and toys to enjoy the film. It pretty much has everything you’d need on a wet Sunday afternoon: fast cars, explosions, robots, great special effects, some funny dialogue, and a reasonably cute girl. Of course, it does get slightly let down by the whole made-up-geek-speak thing and a fairly slow pace in the middle.
Speaking of Die Hard 4.0, it was actually pretty good and, despite being based around hackers, didn’t have many Independance Day “let’s upload the virus to the alien mothership” moments of utter cringing. Again, it was pretty good entertainment without requiring you to have seen the previous 3 films.

Myself and Hilary went to see Aerosmith in Marley Park on Tuesday night.  The concert was pretty good but not enough of the older stuff for my liking.  Still, it did give us the excuse to spend 2 days in Dublin shopping and revisiting our old haunts:

• Books in Hodges Figgis, of course!  €100 in books spent in the first few hours of arriving into the city.  Nowhere better in Ireland for computing books.
• Lunch in Yamamori:  The best japanese restaurant in Ireland, now with a separate sushi restaurant near the Ha’penny Bridge
• Breakfast in Keoghs:  The best raspberry scones in Ireland, just off Dame St near the Pen Corner shop.
• Lunch in Gotham Cafe: Food and service still as good as ever, but with newer decor!

The only thing I really missed out on was itsabagel and the Epicurean centre (off Abbey St) but that wasn’t time to eat anything else.  Oh, and there was plenty of shopping too

We stayed in La Stampa Hotel on Dawson St.  We’d been there previously when it was an extremely good (and expensive) restaurant so it was interesting to see how it’s changed.  There’s only 26 rooms which are accessed from a lift at the back of the bar but the rooms were beautifully furnished with eastern furniture, lamps, vases and bedclothes.  It’s part of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World group, along with the Brooks Hotel in Dublin but I haven’t heard great things about the Brooks.  I got a room through CentralR for €145 which was pretty good considering the central location.  Highly recommended to anyone staying in the city.

The two days in Dublin were absolutely brilliant but I’m glad we’re not still living there.  Lovely to visit though.