Driving the Audi Q2 around Suffolk on a perfect Autumn day

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Life’s not bad sometimes. Yesterday was a great day, one of those crisp but cold autumnal days, a perfect driving day. What made it even better was that I spent it in Suffolk – a part of England I know well and love – test driving the new Audi Q2.

I’m going to write a much longer piece on the Q2 on Tech Digest and Shiny Shiny on Monday but suffice to say for now it’s an interesting compact SUV, Audi’s first model in this new sector, designed to compete with models like the new Mercedes GLA series of cars and the Nissan Juke.

Not only did I get to drive around my old Suffolk stomping ground (pictured above is the Q2 in Southwold next to some splendid beach huts), but I also stayed in the amazing Wilderness Reserve at Sibton Park, close to Yoxford. Set in a 5,000 acre estate (yes 5,000 you did read that correctly), it’s an amazingly remote location where you have to get a golf buggy from the country house entrance to your cottage – that’s after you’ve driven half a mile down the driveway!

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The scallop on Aldeburgh beach, a tribute to the composer Benjamin Britten who walked along this beach in the afternoons

I also checked out the outdoor pool (see below) on the estate during my stay, leaving my luxurious room in the splendid old walled garden at 6.30 am to wander across moor land to plunge into water that was around 20 degrees (I was told it was heated to 26 degrees which was a lie!), surrounded by sheep and pheasants.

What an invigorating experience that was! And don’t be fooled by the steam in the picture below. With air temperature only around 5 degrees it was cold – honest.

Anyway thanks to Audi for the trip. And great to make new friends including Dad blogger John Adams and fashion influencer/Instagrammer Rahul Patel. See you at the next one guys!

You can see a video on YouTube that I made about all the tech on board the Audi Q2. 

You can read my review of the Audi Q2 here. 

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The outdoor pool at the Wilderness Reserve in Sibton, near Yoxford, Suffolk. Not massive but it’s not often you swim next to sheep and pheasants!

 

 

Daily Telegraph: Digital Leaders conference

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Today I went to the Daily Telegraph Digital Leaders conference in London’s Bishopsgate. I had to get there super early (7.30am!!) to report on a breakfast roundtable which was really interesting (and the breakfast was really good especially the danish pastries and yoghurt).

Essentially it was a breakfast intended for larger companies who are trying to get to grips with the digital revolution and new ways of thinking and acting more quickly. There were two main speakers: Accenture’s Narry Singh and Alberto Prado, Vice President Head of Digital Accelerator at Royal Philips.

Narry talked about ‘Chapter 1 thinking’ and about how many big companies have only really made the first steps towards becoming fully digital organisations. They also both talked about some of the recruitment challenges that companies face hiring some of the best digital talent, many of whom are tempted to work for start-ups or as contractors for a short period of time.

Anyway, you can also read my previous interview with Narry which appeared in The Daily Telegraph today. My report on the digital breakfast will be in a few days time (when I’ve written it!)

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CMA Digital Breakfast: Personalisation of Content

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Pictured above: Daryll Scott, Director, Human Technology at Lab

I always love the CMA Digital Breakfasts. You get to meet some interesting people and find out more about topics you might not know too much about. Personalisation of content is a case in point.

Different people have different views about what it means but basically it’s about using data to find out more about who your audience actually is. New technology makes this easier than ever before, but the key is to use the data to guide your content and decision making rather than to become too obsessed with the stats.

Anyway, here’s a report from the last one I attended.

http://the-cma.com/news/cma-digital-breakfast-next-wave-of-personalisation-for-content-marketers

 

Happy Donkey Hill. What’s in a name? Quite a lot it seems

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HappyDonkeyHillLast year we went to see a friend of ours in West Wales. We only wanted to go for a few days and couldn’t find anywhere that would take bookings for less than a week.

One holiday park even told me that they would take my booking but only if I booked it 48 hours in advance after they’d tried (and presumably failed) to find someone who would take it for longer!

‘Why don’t you try Happy Donkey Hill?’ said Sue when I called her in a state of mild panic. ‘Great name,’ I said, ‘do you have a number?’ ‘Just Google Happy Donkey Hill, you’ll find it’.

Sure enough I found it straight away on my phone, called the owner and made a booking over the phone immediately for 4 nights staying in a newly converted static caravan next to a chicken shed (sadly the donkeys  were in a field down the road).

Now I discover that owner Kate Clamp is at the centre of a linguistic row with the Welsh authorities who are trying to, pardon the pun, clamp down on traditional Welsh place names being changed (in this case the original Welsh name is Faerdre Fach).

An internet search for Kate Clamp reveals that she has incurred quite a bit of hatred from local Welsh bloggers since moving to Wales a few years ago, one of whom has branded her a ‘foreigner’ and ‘colonialist’ (she is English) for her actions. It seems a bit harsh to me.

Now, I met Kate and I found her completely bonkers in the nicest possible way, and although I have some sympathy with Welsh speakers trying to preserve their culture and language I can also see her point of view which is basically she needed to change the name in order to attract tourists – especially those searching online.

Would I have Googled ‘Faerdre Fach’ as I was out and about trying to book somewhere to stay via my mobile phone? No almost certainly not. And that’s the reality.

I suspect the vast majority of people staying there probably don’t speak any Welsh whatsoever and the only reason the place survives and makes money (much of which goes into the community) is because of tourists like me who go there for the memorable name ‘Happy Donkey Hill’.

You can hear the feature on Radio 4’s Today programme here. Go to 1 hour 22 mins 30 seconds. 

Daily Telegraph: Cloud computing and job opportunities

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CloudcomputingThere’s no doubt that cloud computing, combined with the internet of things, are the future for IT globally.

In this piece for The Daily Telegraph, published in conjunction with online courses company The Learning People, I talk about the opportunities that exist in the cloud computing market.

“Anybody who has experience in cloud computing will go straight to the head of the queue when it comes to IT job interviews,” says IT consultant Nick Bown.

See the full story here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/education/online-learning-courses/12037480/cloud-computing-skills.html

Daily Telegraph: Agile thinking in project management

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It’s not only the IT industry that lives in ‘beta’, constantly iterating their latest products. The construction industry is also using agile techniques to deliver projects on time and on budget.

In this feature for The Telegraph, in conjunction with online courses company The Learning People, I look at how Agile Thinking – formalised on a US ski slope in Utah over 10 years ago – is sweeping across other industries.

You can read the article here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/education/online-learning-courses/12037477/benefits-of-agile-thinking.html

My latest features! Daily Telegraph: Technology special (8/12/15)

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Great to get a cover feature in a Daily Telegraph technology special yesterday about what’s coming in 2016 – never an easy thing to write in November 2015! Ironically, couldn’t find the piece on line so have taken a picture of the paper instead.

Special thanks to my panel of technology experts who I was able to name check in the piece including Sean Hannam, Editor of Trade Magazine ERT, Paul Lamkin, Editor in Chief, Wareable and my old Tech Digest editor, Gerald Lynch, now Editor of Gizmodo UK. Your time and patience were very much appreciated.

Also inside I wrote a feature on what’s new for tablets in 2016 – clearly it’s all about 2-in-1 devices such as the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 and new professional devices such as the Apple iPad Pro. You can see the feature in its full inky glory below.

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Loving the new Range Rover Evoque. Never thought I’d say that!

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It’s always good to get out the office and sometimes I can’t resist the lure of driving around the Cotswolds testing out new cars. This week I spent some time at the launch of several new motors from Jaguar and Land Rover at the Olde Bell in Hurley, near Maidenhead. These will be on sale in 2016

I’m going to be reporting on the launch for my blog Tech Digest in the next couple of days, particularly around the in car tech. But suffice to say that I was particularly impressed with the new Evoque – a car that I’ve always associated with Footballers’ Wives.

Of course it comes with a lot of tech onboard, but what impressed me most was the handling of the car around the muddy pot-hole ridden Cotswolds villages. A really smooth ride.

Next year also sees the launch of the new Evoque convertible which you can see me pictured in above. Sadly I didn’t get to drive this (it’s a pre-production sample) but I would imagine it will go down very well with the Cheshire set!

You can see the roof going on in this little YouTube clip below:

Panasonic launches new Toughbook at Shangri-La Hotel at the Shard

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Panasonic-CF20I’ve been to the top of the Shard a couple of times now. But I’ve never been to the Shangri-La hotel before (and I’ve still not visited the infinity pool on Floor 52, darn it) so the launch of the new Panasonic Toughbook seemed like a good opportunity to check out the views.

Despite the initial embarrassment of having a drink at the wrong press reception (a nice lady from some US insurance firm came over and told me I needed to head down the corridor) eventually I got my hands on the new Toughbook. It looks like a great, versatile product for those who need computing power out in the field – though we wouldn’t recommend dropping it off the 34th Floor where the hotel reception is.

You can see my interview with the Toughbook product guy on YouTube below – needless to say it was very noisy there (I blame all those people from the insurance firms down the corridor). And next time I really want to sneak in with my towel and trunks to visit the pool!

Should we stay or go? SMEs talk Europe at Daily Telegraph’s Festival of Business. Louis Saha talks business leadership

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Former footballer Louis Saha talked about the challenges of running his own business

Former footballer Louis Saha talked about the challenges of running his own business

It’s been a busy week this week. On Tuesday I went to the Festival of Business at the lovely Brewery on Chiswell Street to cover a few of the talks for The Daily Telegraph.

Obviously most of the debate among SMEs (Small and Medium Sized Enterprises) at the moment is about whether we should be in or out of Europe. And what exactly are the terms we should be renegotiating with the European Union if we do decide we want to stay.

Not surprisingly it seems most of the speakers and the audience thought Brussels shouldn’t have the final say on Health and Safety or Employment legislation and the amount of ‘red tape’ that prevents us from doing business should be reduced. However, it seems that much of this legislation doesn’t actually come from Brussels but from our own Government instead!

Another interesting discussion about innovation and entrepreneurship was provided by two sixtysomething CBEs – Tony Pidgley, founder of Berkeley Homes and John Timpson of shoe repair business Timpsons fame. I learned a lot about both businesses and their founders and a bit about what it takes to build multi-million pound companies (hard work, giving people control, getting a mentor and luck, it seems).

Undoubtedly most striking was the fact that around 10 per cent of Timpsons employees are ex-offenders, some are even still in prison and run the shops on day release. And while 50 per cent of those who go to prison re-offend within 48 months, only 3 per cent of those working for Timpsons do so.

It’s a brave initiative, and one that is clearly working for Timpsons and society at large, but I still don’t know how I’d feel about a possible former burglar cutting my keys!

It was also interesting to hear about Tony Pidgley’s colourful background. A Barnardo’s Boy, brought up in a railway carriage by travellers from the age of 4, he is your archetypal self-made man setting up and selling a haulage business in his twenties before founding Berkeley Homes in the 1970s.

Not as if it has been all plain sailing for him.  He has had to fight off a couple of hostile takeovers along the way, including one from his very own son which put somewhat of a strain on family relations and cost him his first marriage.

Finally, I went to see ex footballer Louis Saha talk about his latest business venture, Axis Stars which aims to protect professional sports people from fraudsters. He talked about having to make the adjustment from being a footballer where everything was done for him to making his own decisions and leading staff in business!