I woke up on Thursday without a hangover.
Like any reasonable human being, I’m taking this as a sign that I’ve now officially evolved to the next level of mankind like one of the X-Men. I laugh in the face of beer and rum with my new, industructable skeleton of paracetamol and Berocca.
I’m not willing to put this to the test, mind. I’m still haunted by my dark past encounter with a full bottle of Costcutter absinthe.
PUB SUMMITS
The first Newcastle Pub Summit at The Town Wall seemed to go pretty well. Quite a few folk turned up, including some welcome new ones that don’t normally appear at tech events. So thanks to Paul Smith for setting it up, and to Screach, Gospelware and Naomi Atkinson for the drinks.
That leaves us with a question:
When’s the next one?
While there are a number of decent events out there, is there room for a regular boozy meetup bringing together startups, tech folk, freelancers, designers, developers, investors and anyone who wants to pop along?
Is this something we can do every couple of months, so people can put it in their diaries? Was the venue right, or should it move around? Do companies mind putting in a few quid at the bar to break the ice?
In the meantime, people feeling the need for a Friday beer or two can head down to The Red House on the Quayside for The Geekest Drink tonight.
BY ‘ECK, IT’S BECK
Well, technically it isn’t. But who needs Beck when you can spend a Saturday evening with CustomerSure developer and part-time music person Chris Stainthorpe?
Chris will be performing at The Cluny on Saturday as part of a charity event, playing songs from Beck’s brand-new sheet music-only album Song Reader. He’ll be playing with the folks from Tiny Lights, and others taking the stage include Symphonic Pictures, Nathalie Stern with Mansions of Glory, Scottish Polis Inspectors and Calf.
Proceeds are going to Newcastle Daybreak, which supports adults with learning difficulties. Check out the Facebook page for more details.
HACK ATTACK
I’m a bit of an armchair hack fan. I love their ability to get people thinking, experimenting and working together, and the fact that you can see something forming over the space of a day or two. I reckon it’s something that can be applied in the North East beyond just the tech world, to give people a flavour for something before it becomes a hobby or career.
However, as a man of no coding talent, I’ve never sat in a pile of steaming data for 24 hours, feeling the veil of sanity slipping like a badly blu-tacked Oasis poster.
So I’m going to pop down to a little Open Data Day in Newcastle tomorrow to see if it is indeed possible for people without coding wizardry to get involved in a hack, without getting under everyone’s feet. I’ll let you know how I get on.
In the meantime, if you’re a developer or a designer seeking something cool to do, ping @iodatalabs on Twitter to get involved. The Open Data Day runs from 9am to 5pm, and has some interesting data from Newcastle City Council.
RE-GENERATED
Congratulations to Generator, the music development agency, for scooping up funding which should help it to continue its activities in the North East and beyond. The organisation explains more at length in yesterday’s announcement, but the tl:dr on the news is that’s picked up funds that will allow it to continue developing artists, helping music businesses, setting up a touring network for emerging artists, and working with other creative businesses through partners such as Sunderland Software City, Digital Union and Northern Film and Media.
ON BETAROCKET
Watch Torunn Skrogstad fly down a snow-covered slope in Monday’s Betanuggets (Betanuggets: Hello You)
Get voting, and read up about TechStars London in the midweek nuggets (Betanuggets: Take Two With Water)
…And here’s report on the upcoming closure of Newcastle artisan food site Love Your Larder (Love Your Larder to close)
Have you got a guest blog or article you’d like to submit to Betarocket? Give me a nod at john@betarocket.co.uk
BLOGPOSTS THAT ROCK
Here’s a quick “Lean Startup 101″ from Abby Fichtner of Harvard Innovation Lab (who blogs at www.hackerchick.com). Click the link for a presentation video from Husky Startup Challenge, complete with slides (Lean Startup 101 for Everyone)
What do you mean when you talk about your “startup culture”? Are you really doing something interesting and liberating, or are you just flinging out buzzwords? Here’s a provocative post from Shanley on what your jargon might be hiding (What Your Culture Really Says)
Technology allows us to do things. As it gets better, we can do those things quicker and make them shinier. But does it make us more creative, or is it the limits that encourage us to be creative in the first place? John Teti breaks down the New York PS4 launch, and slaps them for repeating the “myth of more” (More, More, More – How do you like it?)
Way out in left field, here’s what happens when Comic Book Resources asks its fans to pick a comic book character and imagine what they’d look like in a famous band of their choice (Rock and Roll Superheroes)
A FEW ANNOUNCEMENTS
The dust has barely settled on its Jon Skeet talk on Wednesday, but NEBytes has announced details of its next event in March. It’ll feature teams from this year’s Imagine Cup North East competition, as well as a talk on PowerCLI by Jonathan Medd. Click the link for more details.
Design Interest is lining up three speakers for its March 5 event in the Ignite Loft (That’s in Adamson House). The last one is yet to be confirmed, but Jules from design-led tea company The Tea Shed will be on the bill, as will artist and arts organiser Lauren Healey. There will be socialising in the pub beforehand. Go here to sign up and get hold of more info.
Now, I don’t know how many of you are looking longingly up at the stars, but NETPark is holding its 2013 Spacetech event in Sedgefield on March 21. Spacetech is a one-day conference looking at opportunities in the space sector, which is currently worth £9.1bn to the UK economy and is predicted to rise to £40bn by 2030. Tickets cost £58.80 and you can register here.
Remember, send your links to john@betarocket.co.uk if you want to be featured on Betanuggets. Because not all X-Men can read your mind.
