Not only is the main Feeding Edge website up but now there is a blog attached to it. Life at the Feeding edge
So in a week I have gone from IBMer to Director and already seeing the pipeline of work look promising.
If nothing else the massive support from everyone has seen me through a traumatic but exciting week.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
feeding edge logo
I launched my metaverse and emerging technology consultancy this week. Feeding Edge
An exciting change and it will be interesting as to what this enables me to explore with various other companies, partners and suppliers.
Watch this space, or that space :)
Monday, February 23, 2009
A new era begins
Today is a day of mixed emotions. Today I resigned from IBM having been there for 18 years, 19 if you count my year out from university.
In all that time I have worked with some great people, and felt a tremendous sense of belonging.
Its been quite a journey, both in technical education and in personal growth. It is the extent of that growth and the speed that has not always been kept up to pace with by the system that I worked within.
I started back on green screens in 1990, very quickly moved to the PC's and client server applications that followed shortly. Over the years the groups I worked with morphed from back office systems to customer facing ones, but in 1997 I made a break from what was traditional IT development. I threw myself into the web and the fantastic Interactive Media Centre. That itself morphed into the centre for e-business innovation but the group of people were known as Blueroom. An ecletic mix of can do people, graphic designers, producers and techies all bundled into one. That taught me that diversity of skills, coming up with ideas on the spot and good old fashioned teamwork for a common cause were what I thrived in.
For me that was the start of who I have become, the birth of epredator if you like.
When I decided that we should look in to the metaverse with Second Life back in 2006 I knew the industry was going to be big, but I was not expecting the evolutionary changes to happen to me. Getting this going turned me into a intrapreneur. The speed with which my fellow eightbars rallied and the spirit of innovation, just getting things done was simply amazing. It is something we should all be immensely proud of.
In leaving IBM I am not leaving eightbar, it is not something that can never really be left. The focus may change but I think we have made a decent enough mark in the history of virtual worlds.
Of course the question is what next? I left in order to be able to carry on and push this industry further. So in a few weeks you will see the birth of my own company, and I will seek to work and advise, speak and write just as I have done up to now. There are some significant projects that I already need to give some attention too.
There is, as I have told a few people, quite a story to tell on all this. The personal ups and and downs, the formation of our tribe and I suspect I will have to write that book after all. It will probably be called "Who says Elephants can't Rez" or something similar.
So a huge thankyou and goodbye to all my friends, and thankyou for the support on twitter and see you all on Linkedin
I will also post this on http://www.eightbar.com
See you all out there very soon.
In all that time I have worked with some great people, and felt a tremendous sense of belonging.
Its been quite a journey, both in technical education and in personal growth. It is the extent of that growth and the speed that has not always been kept up to pace with by the system that I worked within.
I started back on green screens in 1990, very quickly moved to the PC's and client server applications that followed shortly. Over the years the groups I worked with morphed from back office systems to customer facing ones, but in 1997 I made a break from what was traditional IT development. I threw myself into the web and the fantastic Interactive Media Centre. That itself morphed into the centre for e-business innovation but the group of people were known as Blueroom. An ecletic mix of can do people, graphic designers, producers and techies all bundled into one. That taught me that diversity of skills, coming up with ideas on the spot and good old fashioned teamwork for a common cause were what I thrived in.
For me that was the start of who I have become, the birth of epredator if you like.
When I decided that we should look in to the metaverse with Second Life back in 2006 I knew the industry was going to be big, but I was not expecting the evolutionary changes to happen to me. Getting this going turned me into a intrapreneur. The speed with which my fellow eightbars rallied and the spirit of innovation, just getting things done was simply amazing. It is something we should all be immensely proud of.
In leaving IBM I am not leaving eightbar, it is not something that can never really be left. The focus may change but I think we have made a decent enough mark in the history of virtual worlds.
Of course the question is what next? I left in order to be able to carry on and push this industry further. So in a few weeks you will see the birth of my own company, and I will seek to work and advise, speak and write just as I have done up to now. There are some significant projects that I already need to give some attention too.
There is, as I have told a few people, quite a story to tell on all this. The personal ups and and downs, the formation of our tribe and I suspect I will have to write that book after all. It will probably be called "Who says Elephants can't Rez" or something similar.
So a huge thankyou and goodbye to all my friends, and thankyou for the support on twitter and see you all on Linkedin
I will also post this on http://www.eightbar.com
See you all out there very soon.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Shiny New Macbook Pro
I finally cracked and joined the ranks of the technorati that own Macs.
I still have an appalling vista desktop, which was part of the decision, but now have an awesome macbook pro. It was a very pleasant experience, even opening the box was good.
I have not had this much fun with a new machine since my C64 back in the day.
Watch this space
Monday, February 16, 2009
Second Life meets Primary School
Predlet 1.0 has some homework around 2d and 3d shapes, so I was most amazed when she completed this almost before her holiday started. The bottom 2 questions where find a sphere in your house and draw it, and fins a cube and draw that.
She went and got a football, but also a Second Life cube :)
So here school homework now has a cube at the bottom that says "It all starts with a cube.. Second Life"
Brilliant :)
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Skate 2 xbox 360 EA server connect problem solved
As bizzare at is may seem after a few rounds on the helpdesk email circuit to EA to solve the lack of online capability logging on with skate 2 on the 360.
This solved it
In order for our servers to read your GamerTag I have deleted it from your EA account. Please go into the XBOX Marketplace and download the demo for the game "Facebreaker". After downloading the demo, please open the game and begin to play the opening stages. We are doing this because the game will transfer your GamerTag information to the EA Servers.
After running the demo for a few minutes please attempt to play Skate 2. This should remedy the issue as your GamerTag will be re-applied to your EA account.
Odd solution, download and play a demo, but it worked, so not complaning, just posting here in case anyone else needs to persuade the helpdesk to do this for them.
This solved it
In order for our servers to read your GamerTag I have deleted it from your EA account. Please go into the XBOX Marketplace and download the demo for the game "Facebreaker". After downloading the demo, please open the game and begin to play the opening stages. We are doing this because the game will transfer your GamerTag information to the EA Servers.
After running the demo for a few minutes please attempt to play Skate 2. This should remedy the issue as your GamerTag will be re-applied to your EA account.
Odd solution, download and play a demo, but it worked, so not complaning, just posting here in case anyone else needs to persuade the helpdesk to do this for them.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Harmonies, human beat box and more - Naturally 7
I caught a re-run of the 2008 royal variety performance on TV last night and was blown away by these guys. Naturally 7. I had to dive over to itunes and get the album.
I have loved human beat box styles since hearing doug e fresh and of course the brilliant sounds on police academy too. However here its a brilliant all human voiced blend of barbershop harmonies, rap, and beat box.
Stunning stuff. The tune is of course an old Phil Collins track, once for us oldies usually, but delivered like this it shows a good song is a good song.
*Update turns out they closed out at the TED conference too ! brilliant news that.
I have loved human beat box styles since hearing doug e fresh and of course the brilliant sounds on police academy too. However here its a brilliant all human voiced blend of barbershop harmonies, rap, and beat box.
Stunning stuff. The tune is of course an old Phil Collins track, once for us oldies usually, but delivered like this it shows a good song is a good song.
*Update turns out they closed out at the TED conference too ! brilliant news that.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Stay away from that trapdoor
I really like stop motion animation. As a kid it fascinated me as we only really had cine camera to work with and trying to do frame by frame creations had something special about the effort and the magical results.
When the stop motion is combined with brilliant characters, and a fantastic voice such as Willy Rushton you get the awesome Trapdoor, now on Joost.
Oh Globbits!
When the stop motion is combined with brilliant characters, and a fantastic voice such as Willy Rushton you get the awesome Trapdoor, now on Joost.
Oh Globbits!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Democracy 2.0 full of WIN!
As you will have seen the government climbed down (though should never have climbed up in the first place)on the whole transparency of their expenses.
Well done all for rallying!
Well done all for rallying!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Great Obama quote
In his speech today as he moved from president elect to president Obama he used the line "If you unclench your fist we will offer the hand of friendship". It was aimed at the dictators of the world, and those who rule with fear. It can of course be applied to a number of situations where people bluster and posture with apparent power.
I like the line, I like the visual. Good luck to him.
The full text is here on his blog
I like the line, I like the visual. Good luck to him.
The full text is here on his blog
Monday, January 19, 2009
What MP's want to hide their expenses from us?
Nows the time for a bit of government 2.0 action. It seems that for some strange reason our public servants in the commons, our voted in ministers of parliament seem to be heading for hiding their expenses from us all?
You can read more about this here on http://www.mysociety.org/2009/01/17/6-days-to-stop-mps-concealing-their-expenses/
"Ministers are about to conceal MPs’ expenses, even though the public has just paid £1m to get them all ready for publication, and even though the tax man expects citizens to do what MPs don’t have to. They buried the news on the day of the Heathrow runway announcement. This is heading in the diametric wrong direction from government openness."
Whats great too is the ease with which you can write to your MP on the matter (or any other) http://foiorder2009.writetothem.com/ has been set up, postcode locates your MP then fill in the form. Its suits us digital natives, and blends with the house of commons procedures.
So get on with it! If you are bothered that is.
"Dear Mark Hoban,
I am writing to ask that you vote against the draft Freedom of
Information (Parliament) Order 2009 this Thursday and sign Jo Swinson's
Early Day motion with regard to ensuring that MP's expenses are
released and open to public scrutiny.
I regard an open parliament and process as key to our democracy.
I find it strange that other public officials have to account for their
expenses but that MP's are pushing not to.
I do hope you will support transparency, the world is changing and
closed systems are no longer valid in government nor in business.
TheyWorkForYou has taken a keen interest in this issue and will be
displaying the voting records.
Yours sincerely,
Ian Hughes
"
You can read more about this here on http://www.mysociety.org/2009/01/17/6-days-to-stop-mps-concealing-their-expenses/
"Ministers are about to conceal MPs’ expenses, even though the public has just paid £1m to get them all ready for publication, and even though the tax man expects citizens to do what MPs don’t have to. They buried the news on the day of the Heathrow runway announcement. This is heading in the diametric wrong direction from government openness."
Whats great too is the ease with which you can write to your MP on the matter (or any other) http://foiorder2009.writetothem.com/ has been set up, postcode locates your MP then fill in the form. Its suits us digital natives, and blends with the house of commons procedures.
So get on with it! If you are bothered that is.
"Dear Mark Hoban,
I am writing to ask that you vote against the draft Freedom of
Information (Parliament) Order 2009 this Thursday and sign Jo Swinson's
Early Day motion with regard to ensuring that MP's expenses are
released and open to public scrutiny.
I regard an open parliament and process as key to our democracy.
I find it strange that other public officials have to account for their
expenses but that MP's are pushing not to.
I do hope you will support transparency, the world is changing and
closed systems are no longer valid in government nor in business.
TheyWorkForYou has taken a keen interest in this issue and will be
displaying the voting records.
Yours sincerely,
Ian Hughes
"
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Midnight Club LA - Over customized error on my part
Playing Midnight Club LA on the 360 I got a muscle car unlocked. Though there is little reason other than fun (it is a game after all) to customize the cars appearence I did.
The problem was I think I went a little over the top with the bonnet air intake. I.e. the stake of chrome sticking out of the bonnet.
I tend to do driving games from the drivers point of view. That led to this
I could not see a thing turning into corners as the large bit of fancy chrome and low ride height meant the usual spot to see the apex was cover up but a vibrating shuddering bit of insanity customization :)
Still it was good for a laugh, but I had to remove it to get any chance of not totally the car in the street races.
Wii Family Ski
The predlets took to helping one another with the Wii balance board and Wii family ski. It was great to see them pick it up and just get on with it.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Cloning me in OpenSim
There are times when there are just not enough of one person. I seem to have ended up with the start of an organic 3d print/rapid fabrication demo of cloning on an OpenSim in a galaxy far far away.
Watch this space.
Moo.com Stickers
My new batch of Moo.com stickers arrived this morning. Whilst I may not be going to quite as many conferences this year, I tend to augment any id badge I am given with an epredator sticker. My previous set had QR codes too, but this time I decided to use a couple of other shots. One is my epredator Mii and the other is a Bio shot in Second Life at Wimbledon. The main sticker on the right is the same with an SL, RL and 3d Printed me. I like to show a good range :)
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Marmite and Metaverse: a theory
I am willing to be proven wrong on this but.
This is after Josh of DancingInk Productions put this photo of marmite on Flickr, both Reuben of Millions of us and Virtual Greats and myself of eigthbar both commented on liking Marmite.
A small sample I agree, but could it be true?
*Of course a type in the Claim /whole/who but too ahrd to change it, you know what I mean.
This is after Josh of DancingInk Productions put this photo of marmite on Flickr, both Reuben of Millions of us and Virtual Greats and myself of eigthbar both commented on liking Marmite.
A small sample I agree, but could it be true?
*Of course a type in the Claim /whole/who but too ahrd to change it, you know what I mean.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Times are tough - Duck
I had a rather interesting google alert ping up on epredator this morning. Usually its all virtual world stuff, press articles, comments, twitters etc, but this time it was a very nice photo credit for this image.
It was an article about starting a mini farm business in your back garden. Thats not so bizarre as I have been talking about all sorts of startups recently, and people kicking the trend with passionate small projects that also have a positive impact on the community. So props to the blog for doing this.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Ok I dont like this! Civil Liberty does not mean hacking my machines
I saw a tweet about this time article linked from the open rights group reference. I tend to avoid too much political comment, but seriously do we really think that its a good idea to just have police hacking out our computers without a warrant.
I am no legal eadle but I am a libertarian. Yes a complex issue but.... its a slippery slope, along with id cards, genetic databases of kids etc. We have seen enought sci-fi that has come true technology wise, so it is the same with over control with machines checking up on us.
I dont think I will be putting foil on my head just yet, but will the control freaks please calm down, its actually more risky to apply this technology, to gather this information. At the drop of a memory stick its all in the "real wrong" hands.
I am no legal eadle but I am a libertarian. Yes a complex issue but.... its a slippery slope, along with id cards, genetic databases of kids etc. We have seen enought sci-fi that has come true technology wise, so it is the same with over control with machines checking up on us.
I dont think I will be putting foil on my head just yet, but will the control freaks please calm down, its actually more risky to apply this technology, to gather this information. At the drop of a memory stick its all in the "real wrong" hands.
Friday, January 02, 2009
new epredator xbox avatar
i cant have green spikey hair but i can get close to a predator av, sort of :)
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