I’ve been maxing out the credit card recently, so was pleasantly surprised when I found out that I had accrued enough hotpoints for a brand spanking new Playstation 3!

I’d been itching to get an AppleTV, but when I found out about the media capabilities of the PS3 I was sold.  I’m a keen, but amazingly crap, gamer too!

Here’s my first thoughts.

Getting Physical

The packaging ain’t gonna be Apple, but I was up and running in no time at all.  The PS3 is pretty heavy, much more so than I expected.  And it also felt a little fragile.   It’s certainly not like the original PS1 and PS2s - which have undergone “one hell of beating”.

The SimAxis controller is great though, and whilst it feels no different to the original PS2 controllers, there’s actually some motion sensors inside!

Starting Out

Ok - so you turn the box on in eager anticipation!   You get a nice string quartet playing the startup jingle!  Lovely.   But then it says “you need to update your system”.   Gah!!!   SIXTY minutes later - it finally did it.  Yes folks, you buy a PS3, and needs to go off for an hour or so to update the firmware.   You can, of course, opt out of this, but it was a disappointing start.

Gaming

I’d held off the PS3 deliberately until some solid titles started appearing.    But then GT Prologue, Pro Evolution Soccer 2008, and Grand Theft Auto IV (out tomorrow) are now on the scene.   I can’t speak for the last one, but the quality of the games are incredible.

I gave the online gaming a shot (which again frustrating involved downloading updates to games - another sixty plus minutes).  OK, but not brilliant.  Not sure if it’s the internet connection or not.   Plus, compared to the whizzkids out there I’m crap - so I get hammered every time.

Media

So, I have an iMac at home with a 500GB hard drive attached.  Lots of photos, lots of music, lots of movies and UK television!

I tried installing a couple of different media servers:

First up was TwonkyVision.   I found this good enough for pictures and music, but awful for video.

Next up was EyeConnect.  Good for video and pictures, but not for music.

Interestingly, I only appear to be able to stream avi formats.   The mp4 format most of my movies and tv are in streams, but stutters every 3-4 seconds.   Aaarrrgghh!   Help would be much appreciated.

PSP Remote Play

Here’s a cool wee feature.   You can hook up your PSP to access content remotely (from anywhere in the world) over your PSP.

I was accessing content from my PSP, which was being served via my PS3, that was sourced from my iMac!!  Photos, videos, music - the lot.   And apparently there are some games coming out that are PS3 and PSP compatible.   Pretty amazing stuff.

Only issue here is that the streaming was a bit slow so the videos weren’t great.

In Summary

In summary, once those bloody downloads were out of the way, the PS3 has been a good experience.  Not great.  But good.   I now have a home media server that is almost exactly what I needed - I just need to nail the mp4 streaming.

Only thing now is that I need a nice big HDTV.

Which means the missus will want a nice new sideboard to put it on….

Sigh.  Technolust is never ending.

Phew!  It’s been one year on since a couple of colleagues and I set up YouDo.

Here’s some thoughts:

• I’ve never enjoyed work so much in my life
• I’ve never worked as hard in my life
• I’ve never found balancing work and life harder in my life
• Everything you do in your first year of business matters.  You cannot afford to have a bad day
• You never realise how safe you are as an “employee” until you take a peek from the outside
• Running a business takes time and effort.  It’s not just all about “doing work for customers”
• It’s hard to balance product development vs chargeable time.  Be realistic about your goals.
• SaaS apps are your friend: Basecamp, Campfire, PlanHQ, Xero are but a few…

We must be doing something right!  Our customer base is growing, our profits are healthy, we’ve almost secured some awesome premises, and we’re even hiring!!

Here’s to another successful year!

I’m a huge fan of TEDtalks and regularly tune in to these massively inspirational talks.

This one you just have to watch.  It blows your mind.

Also available here.

I’ve mentioned a few times now how hard you have to work when you set up a new business.  So it stands to reason that you really have to plan your day and prioritise effectively.

I used to hate the daily commute to and from work, but now I have grown to love it.   It’s pure “me” time - without disruption, in my iPod cocoon on the number 23 bus!

In the mornings I use this time to plan what’s ahead for the day, prepare my first five or so emails for the day, and also to get a download from Roger, our now UK based developer.   The Blackberry Curve is an awesome gadget and with Google Talk, I can choose to be connected anytime I want.

In the evenings, I use the bustime to quickly check-in with everybody and get an update as to where they are all at.   That helps me have a good think on it overnight, ready for planning the next morning.  The evening commute is also a great time to tidy up that inbox.  I’m still trying to maintain Inbox Zero!

Since I’ve gotten into the habit of spending 30 minutes at the start and end of each day I’ve noticed that my days really do seem to be more structured, organised and productive.

Make the investment in yourself and your time.  It’s well worth it.

Phew! It’s been quite a while since my last post and I’ve been busy busy busy.

The IT market is really tight at the moment if you are looking for worker bees, so when you find good people you need to accommodate their needs. Also, as a founder of a startup business, I’m always keen on keeping costs down. So I thought we’d give remote development a shot. Six developers, one of them the other side of the world. The bulk of them working in their “comfortable” development pits they call home.

It’s working!

There’s certainly no substitute for face-to-face interaction, but distance and space away from others certainly has its perks. It gives headspace to get stuff done. But the communication is incessant:

• we use continuous integration techniques to not only ensure ongoing code quality and confidence, but also to see what progress we are all making
• we make gratuitous use of instant messaging
• it’s mandatory we gather round our group IM, Campfire
• we document things as we discuss them on our Wiki
• we like the telephone
• we meet up every week, or when we need to

Depending upon where we are at in the project, sometimes these constraints actually help build better software. It forces you to write certain things down you might haven’t otherwise. You have a good audit trail. It enforces a little more rigour.

But at other times it can be tough. Particularly with the knarly requirements that only a good old whiteboard session can solve. But that’s when we meet up face-to-face.

It’s certainly not for everyone, and you need a certain breed of developer for this to succeed, but remote development can work.

We truly are a global marketplace.

OK. A couple of goodies here.

#1 X-Moto

Brilliant timewaster stress-reliever reminiscent of that old UK gem-of-a-series otherwise known as Kickstart.

#2 Bin Laden at the APEC Summit

Unbelievable that this happened. Got to make you laugh.

Hello All.I am, indeed, still alive.  But have been a very busy boy lately.  But a happy busy boy.We’re working on a large-scale project, built on Rails, due for a bug kahuna release some time this side of winter.It’s been a fantastic eye-opening experience for me, as we’re truly doing the continuous integration thing, and reaping the “long term” benefits - even at this relatively early stage.  I’d heard all the theories from a multitude of people before, but never really seen it executed well in practice.  Until now (big kudos to the guys, especially Will).So what’s this continuous integration all about?:

• Every time some one checks code into the source code “trunk”, all (automated) tests are executed to validate the build - in other words, the build is “validated”
• Everyone gets visibility of the (mostly) successful builds.  Good build = kudos.   We’re doing about 5-10 check-ins per day.
• If a build fails, the project team is notified!!   Bad kudos for the developer.  Bad Kudos = Incentive to improve
• Quality of code is maintained.  Bugs are reduced
• More test coverage = more confidence = faster release cycles = agile business = keep ahead of others
• Eventually leads to a test driven development (TDD) mentality

At last, at last, at last.  No more syncing via cable.  No more missed appointments.  We’re back in the 21st century!  Google Sync for Mobile is finally here. 

Me happy.