*CUE FANFARE*
Greetings from Manchester, where the Future Everything ideas conference is currently underway. I’ll be jotting down a few notes from the event to splurge up here soon enough, but in the meantime here’s the latest edition of the Betanuggets.
Unleash the dancing monkeys…
EXPORT DRIVE
Good news for Eutechnyx: The games firm has been recognised with the Export award in the Tyneside and Northumberland heat of the 2013 North East Business Awards. They now go through to the grand final on April 25.
While it already has international profile for work on driving titles such as the official NASCAR game and Supercar Challenge, Auto Club Revolution has been a hell of a ride for Gateshead indie games studio Eutechnyx. It started working on the free-to-play online racing game a few years back, and it’s now forging partnerships in places like Russia and showcasing the game in China. Auto Club Revolution is a game which allows users to set up an account, collect and refine cars, chat to other users and race on painstakingly-recreated tracks known throughout the world.
To find out more, check out this interview or the video below.
STARTUP BEERS
Back in February, Newcastle had what you might call a “pilot” meet-up event. Although in reality, it was basically a load of startup people and other such folk piling into a pub.
The Newcastle Pub Summit was one of several Web Summit-branded events that gathered people involved or interested in the startup scene. The evening was arranged by the folks from Ignite100 and money for drinks was thrown in by Gospelware, Screach and Naomi Atkinson.
The reaction was so positive that it’s now going to become a “regular thing”, only without the Web Summit branding. Startup Beers will hopefully be taking place every couple of months, and will be an evening in the pub where people interested in startups can get together, chat and maybe plan new adventures.
The first one is taking place on May 2. Cloud-based email firm SendGrid has kindly agreed to provide free beers too, and developer evangelist Martyn Davies will be making the trip north to chat to pub-goers.
Places are free, but they’ve been disappearing at a rapid rate for the last few days. If it’s sold out by the time you get there, keep your eyes peeled. There’ll be another Startup Beers along real soon.
UBISOFT IN THE LIBRARY
The folks from Newcastle games studio Ubisoft Reflections are popping down to Gateshead library on April 6 to get involved in an event for young people who want to explore a career in gaming.
The event has been designed for people aged 12 and up, and will feature talks from Reflections staff, design workshops on the theory behind creating games, art workshops, drop-in sessions for programming and advice on what qualifications you need to make the leap.
Places are limited, so pre-booking is essential. Find out more here.
PILLOW TALK
Congratulations to Joanna Montgomery of Little Riot, who was selected as Innovator of the Year at this year’s Everywoman in Technology awards. The awards were set up in 2011 to celebrate women involved in technology.
Joanna’s big idea is Pillow Talk, a hardware product which allows you to hear your loved one’s heartbeat through your pillow when they’re far away. It’s a concept she came up with while she was working on her degree at Dundee University, and she’s been developing and refining it ever since.
Joanna was promoting the concept at SXSW this month as part of a UK startup showcase fronted by the UKTI.
Developing a hardware product requires a lot of sweat and adjustment, and we’re looking forward to seeing the product when it’s finished. You can find out more on the Little Riot website.
ACAMEDIA IN SUNDERLAND
Media is changing at a rate of knots, and obviously that’s of interest to a whole bunch of people. That’s why the University of Sunderland is putting on an event called Acamedia, which will explore how the industries are evolving.
The one-day conference will take place at the David Puttnam Media Centre at the university on April 26. It’ll feature talks from people including Alex Connock of Shine ON, a panel on the “new journalism landscape” featuring Jamie Conway of MadeTV and Simon Bucks of Sky Tyne & Wear, and discussion from Mozilla Foundation’s Paula Le Dieu and Newsround editor Dan Clarke.
For more information, go to the Acamedia website. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
ON BETAROCKET
The first PHP NE conference took place at the Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle, and it seemed to go down pretty well in the developer community. Check out our Storify of the event (PHP NE Conference 2013: Storified)
BLOGPOSTS THAT ROCK
An interesting post from Particular Legal’s Matthew Rippon which slipped through the net of the last Betanuggets. Here, Matt picks apart complaints from startups about the speed at which the Technology Strategy Board delivers funds (I’m from the Government and I’m here to help finance your business)
There was a lot of talk on Twitter yesterday about a person’s relationship with their “hometown” tech community. Should someone remain in the community to nurture it, or leave to gain new skills? Sheffield-raised Joel Gascoigne of Buffer believes the latter, although there’s definitely a debate to be had (Want to help your hometown? Pack up and leave)
A slightly older post, but an interesting article on how Pixar senior scientist Tony de Rose applies maths to making movies (Pixar senior scientist explains how math makes the movies and games we love)
The British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association has put together a report on clusters beyond the bright lights of London. The report includes a number of case studies, including Bristol, Manchester and Cambridge (Tech Country 2013)
Di Gates of Stick Theory and Givey fame collects soundbites from this week’s Social Media World Forum (Social Media World Forum Soundbites)
A FEW ANNOUNCEMENTS
There’s still time to buy tickets for this year’s Maker Faire at The Centre for Life in Newcastle next month. The event will take place on April 27 and 28, and will feature hundreds of imaginative makers from engineers to artists and technologists. It should be a fantastic and inspiring event, so get your tickets here.
SuperMondays is running an event on synthetic biology on Monday, covering topics from designer bacteria to bacteria that repair concrete. There are still tickets left for the evening, which will take place at Newcastle University. Find out more here.
Remember, there’s also a Drupal North East meetup at the Salsa Cafe on Wednesday, and an NEDevs meetup for people interested in making games on April 1.
Remember, you can share your own news or list your event by emailing john@betarocket.co.uk. Be careful out there.