I’ve always been interested in Japanese culture – both traditional and modern – and my recent trip to Japan has furthered my interest. But living in London means I am lucky enough to be exposed to Japanese culture and traditions on a regular basis, whether it’s through visiting the Japan Centre on Regent Street, … Read more
(Photo via Sean MacEntee) I’ve decided to come up with a privacy plan for myself. After hearing about the NSA’s surveillance scandals and now the details about Edward Snowden, the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations, I’ve been kicked into action. These events has got me (and several million other people) spooked by who is … Read more
Crowdfunding is a well-known concept for most people, thanks to sites such as Kickstarter. Headlines of consumer products, such as the Pebble, to films, apps and games getting funded – with no apparent downsides – are everywhere. So when I was asked to write a piece on the "negative" side of crowdfunding, which would be … Read more
Online privacy issues are currently difficult to understand. Amid media headlines about NSA, Prism and Snowden, terms such as encryption, Tor and HTTPS are used extensively with the average person expected to keep up with what they mean and understand how the issues affect them. For people who aren’t technically adept, the message about why online … Read more
A friend recently asked if I knew of any upcoming London tech events, so I sent them back a list of the sites I use to keep updated with the latest Tech, Startup and Hack Day events in London. Some of these events listings are for membership-based organisations, such as TechHub and Campus London. Please … Read more
Social Media Week 2013 has kicked off in London this week. The team at Chinwag have put together a fantastic schedule of events for Social Media Week. The companies and attendees they’ve attracted are world class. They’ve done a brilliant job once again. But already there’s been a Tumblr set up calling people out on their mundane, … Read more
I’ve written about my reading habits before, using apps like Tweetbot and Pocket as a system for saving interesting content to read later. So when the Cronycle team got in touch to offer me a test drive of their beta product, I was interested enough to take a look and see if it could be … Read more
Where you do your freelance work might be one of the most important decisions you make as a freelance consultant. Get your work space right and you’ll be more productive than you ever thought possible and even open yourself up to new opportunities. Get it wrong and you’ll find your environment either stifling or distracting, … Read more
There are many different variations on how freelancers are working and defining their work today. According to the Collins English Dictionary, "a freelancer is a self-employed person, especially a writer or artist, who is not employed continuously but hired to do specific assignments." Seems fairly straightforward to me. But a new report argues that is there are now 5 different types of … Read more
In case you haven’t heard, Ammado is set to be the next big thing in online fundraising. Well, outside of the US and Canada anyway. Based in Dublin, Ireland, Ammado is a social network just like Facebook or MySpace, but whose primary focus is to empower people and nonprofits worldwide to fundraise and donate online. … Read more