So I did.

Since then, we managed to assimilate the A.I. Soc, kidnapped their Cascade Scheme (and redeployed it, thanks to the drive from Paul Hamiliton) (and we also changed the stuffed toy from a Moose to a Monkey, to reflect the move to Appleton Tower), and started a series of Special Interest Groups which boasts Hoppers as part of it.

Nowadays, Compsoc is a much, much bigger organisation than I ever imagined. I can’t even come near to claiming any credit for this. Each year, each new committee breathes new life into the society and for the past 2-3 years, the folks involved have been amazing. Compsoc even runs its’ own version of Techmeetup – a monthly gathering of people from industry to engage with undergrad students here.  I’m immensely proud of what they’ve achieved and hope that this continues long into the future.

Back at the start, Back with the Old Guard

It wasn’t easy though. For the first year, we even struggled to get the 20 signatures required to be recognised as an official society. Our main project was EARWIG – a MMORPG based around navigating your way from the JCMB entrance to finding Stephen Gilmore’s (our 1st year Director) office. The whole thing was supposed to be implemented in Java. Needless-to-say, EARWIG’s vision was never fully realised in code, but we did spend many hours and days debating its architecture and implementation.

As with any society, there was the ‘core’ lot of people that ran the show, most notably: Mark Miles, Paul Hamiliton, Michael Eng, Alex P. We were affectionally nicknamed as the “Old Guard”. As rarely as we get to see each other nowadays, when we do get together, it’s as if we’re back in 2000.

Luckily, a few weeks ago, Mark (now in Germany) and Michael (now in Japan) happen to be in town the same week as each other and we had an impromptu reunion. The CompSoc Time Capsule is now resurrected and placed under Paul’s command. So for a bit of nostalgia, here’s a few photos of us through the years …

Here we are back in 2000:

Then again in the 5 year anniversary (2005):

And the most recent one … (again at the Pear Tree):

13th April – Mobile Apps Group, 6-7pm, InSpace

This is an event as part of the Science Festival. Alongside Anthony Ashbrook (Mobile Acuity, Augmented Reality), Gavin Dutch (Kotikan, Event Guides) and myself, we’ll be talking about the past, present and future of mobile.

19th May – openMIC, Dundee

This open Mobile Innovation Camp (MIC) is on Gamification and will be held in Dundee. My talk will be based around the game mechanics in Cityville and how they are used to fuel our addiction.

7-9th Sept, 1st iOSDev UK Conference, Aberystwyth

The first ever iOS Development conference in the UK. I’ll be talking about designing and developing multi-user applications on the iPad.

So there you go, if you’re going along to any of these events, please drop by and say hi!

1. Home Entertainment Embracing the Second Screen
2. Gamification of Everything
3. The Rise of Multi-user, Multi-device apps
4. A Re-Focus on Non-Smartphones

5. Massive Growth of iOS Content Management Systems

Everyone wants an iPhone app. EVERYONE. Why? Look at the stats – according to one report, it is estimated that revenues will hit 2 billion dollars in the iPhone apps store this year … Just like everyone wanted a website back in the early 2000s, we’re seeing a similar trend with iPhone/Android apps.
Building websites back in 2001 was a pain, in the same way that building iPhone apps nowadays is not exactly a walk in the park (Objective-C is about as much fun as brussel sprouts – its an acquired taste). Thankfully, Content Management Systems (CMS) began springing up to help build and maintain websites in a much less painful way. Once configured and installed, a website could be handed over to your regular user and they could update as much as they want. And this year, I predict that we will see a similar trend with iPhone/iPad apps.

Two startups with iPhone building systems that impress me at the moment – Red Foundry and AppMakr. I’ve been lucky enough to beta test Red Foundry’s system in the last two months and I have to say, I’m really impressed with the look and feel of the final output of the app. There’s a CMS type option where you can produce a “magazine” type app using RSS feeds. There is also a more advanced version using a markup language. Either way, it is now possible for a non-programmer to build and update an iPhone app. To me, systems like these will help to bridge the demand for iPhone apps and the lack of iPhone developers.

I think 2011 will see a massive growth in the use of these systems – especially since the smartphone market is growing and growing.

This is the last instalment of my predictions for the big tech trends this year. Have you got a list of your own? or do you have any comments on this? Feel free to drop them below.

4. A Re-Focus on Non-Smartphones

Remember the days when you didn’t have a smartphone? I only switched over to an iPhone in Nov (let me add that this was after some cruel bullying by all the other geeks in Appleton Tower about how the screen on my Nokia N95 didn’t ‘work’ – peer pressure is harsh and I don’t think I could ever live without it. But sometimes it’s hard to remember that people with smartphones are the exception rather than the norm. According to a recent report published by Nielson (Jan 2011), just under 70% of the phones are non-smartphones – a statistic that is sometimes forgot when the discussions about iOS vs android (vs Web OS) are dragged up.

This really means there is a huge market out there for any startup that can make feature phone services. Hailed as the next big startup – GroupMe – is a service which allows people to set up little groups that they can text with a single number. These groups can be set up for an hour, a day or a week. It just makes communicating with a bunch of people fairly easy. One scenario would be being on a long weekend with a bunch of friends; you can set up a short number to allow people to communicate with each other when everyone is off doing their own thing.

I know that local mobile design company – Yiibu – is re-focusing on mobile web design. Bryan has an excellent presentation on this:

The web isn’t just about smartphones and I think this year, with the upcoming success of GroupMe, we’ll see a bunch of new startups which will shun away from smartphones only and tap into the huge market of non-smartphones.

3. The Rise of Multi-user, Multi-device Tablet Applications

Multi-user games and apps are not new (just look at World of Warcraft), but alongside the rise of the new multi-touch tablets, a new type of user experience is possible: co-located, multi-user applications. In other words, apps which allow two or more people to simulatenously interact together over the same device.

What does this mean in UX terms? It has the potential to fundamentally change the way that we collaborate. Traditionally, if we want to work together on the same document at the same time, we would need to either gather around the same laptop, with one person ‘driving’ and the other watching. Or – the more likely option – is to print it out and then transfer it back to digital afterwards. Multitouch tablets has the potential to allow us to do this on the same screen together but with the added bonus of having the computer do some of the computational work.

More importantly, if seamless sharing experiences can be realised (particularly across mobile devices), it opens up two possibilities: one is putting multiple iPhones and iPads together to create a single ‘screen’. For instance, in PadRacer, there is a single track which is split across two iPads:

Then there is the other possibility of using multiple iPhones and iPads in a ‘Master-Slaves’ configuration – just like Scrabble for the iPad/iPhone that uses the iPad as the board in the middle, and each person has their individual rack on their phone. There have been many jokes about this:

But Scrabble was the 5th highest grossing iPad app for the 2010 – so there is clearly a market of people willing to pay 10 dollars for it.
If 2010 is the year of the tablets, then 2011 could be the year that we see even further seamless interactions across devices.

Tune in for the next instalment: 4. A Re-Focus on Non-Smartphones

2. Gamification of everything

I was first introduced to the concept of Gamification back in Nov by Alicia Dudek at one of the Girl Geek Dinners. In brief, gamification is the use of gaming priniciples for everyday life. 4square is often mentioned as an example, as well as Farmville/FrontierVille/CityVille. While the ‘theory’ behind gamification is drawn from the recent invention of video games, it can be applied to a number of seemingly unrelated fields such as marketing and web app design. Not convinced? Just look at loyalty schemes where consumers are rewarded points by purchasing from the same vendor. It is one of the most prevalent and widely accepted mechanisms which uses gaming priniciples.

I’m just starting to learn more about gamification and the design principles the movement advocates. At the core of it, is a points system that drives everything. People get points for doing things or sharing things. But because it isn’t that isn’t for people to share with other people the points they have, they have badges as proxies to show others how many points they have. Just like cash in real life, you probably wouldn’t tell people what your bank balance is (read:points), but people can infer it from the car that you drive, the area that you live in, the clothes that you wear (read:badges).

The first Gamification summit is being held in San Fran on 21st Jan and there are interesting startups such as bunchball which provide the backend to the gaming side of thing. I’m completely intrigued by the ideas: I listened to my first Gamification seminar tonight and am in the process of writing a ‘fitness’ game. Gamification will get big. Real big.

Tune in tomorrow for the next instalment: The Rise of Multi-user, Multi-device Applications

1. Home entertainment embracing the Second screen

CES 2011 has already seen titles like “tablet wars“. The iPad has made the tablet form factor /the/ latest gadget to have back in 2010, and this year, a whole pile of Windows and Android based tablets are coming out making them even cheaper and more accessible. What does this mean? Well, most people have commented on how iPads are the perfect sofa companion. Its pretty common nowadays that for people to watch tv and use a computing device at the same time, and here is where I think home entertainment will rise to a whole new level. At MEX in Nov, I saw a presentation by Sofafantics – a startup helping to connect fans watching football matches. They wanted to make watching football at home more social: creating a public space where fans could comment on a match as well as providing a semi-private space for friends to comment too. A few years ago this would have been seen as absurd, but now, with smartphones and social networking, the entertainment business has never been more social. In fact, one of my favourite things during X Factor last year was to log into facebook and twitter during the performances to read other people’s reactions.

Another non-social example of the innovative use of the second screen was in the show ‘This American Life’. The iPad app which accompanied the series sync-ed when the theme music was playing, and provided the viewer with information about the characters and side plots to enrich the story. Often these devices were used to create irony, or suspense or to provide more background information in other to further flesh out the storyline.

The second screen in the home has the potential to provide a richer, even more engaging medium for content creators. This year, I think TV companies will start embracing the second screen as a way to further engage audiences, especially at a time where TV advertising is falling.

Tune in tomorrow for the next trend: Gamification of everything …

Funniest comedy sketch ever.

Even though 30 is just a number I’m told – and it is – it’s still a bit of a milestone for anyone. So, I decided that I would celebrate the milestone by doing 30 things before I turned 30. The aim is to attempt to do as many of them as I can before next Sept.

This list is really a combination of things that I really want to do, things that are unusual for me, and things that will push and challenge me. I’ve posted this list here because if you have any suggestions or can help me achieve these things, then I would love to hear from you through the comments.

Its taken a week or two, but after speaking to several friends about this, I’ve finalised the list …

1.  [completed - 2/9/2010]

2.

3. Ride a motorbike

4. Go rock climbing

5. Visit New York

6. Dye my hair

7. Write a poem and perform it at an open mic night

8. Climb a Munro

9. Go to Mardi Gras in London

10. Pick mushrooms from the wild and cook it (Jamie Oliver style)

11. Ask out a stranger

12. Run a marathon

13. Take a martial arts class

14. Bike all 7 stanes

15. Extreme ironing!

16. Live by the dice for a weekend

17. Go cheese chasing

18. Play 5 mins at full back (in a real match)

19. Learn to make chinese dumplings from scratch

20. Get my palm read/Go to a psychic

21. Volunteer at a soup kitchen

22. Take a roadtrip to Europe

23. Stay up for 48 hours

24. Say no for a whole week

25. Do a mini (sprint) triathlon

26. Go sea kayaking

27. Bake something for potluck

28. Learn to make a 3 tier cake

29. Read a book that my friends wouldn’t expect me to read (and suggested by them)

30. Write a handwritten letter to a (randomly chosen) friend every month