Archive - Mark Steadman

Archive

A collection of 36 posts

A year in review

A year in review

Technically speaking, Bloomsbury Digital began its life around October 2015, but it didn't really spring into action until July of this year, after a few weeks of stress. Six months on and things are looking strong for my little studio. This is the most successful freelance venture I&

Some untidy thoughts on podcasting

TLDR: I'm fed up with the tech around podcasting; it's created a barrier and someone needs to step up to own the space, to make it easy for my parents to receive and enjoy podcasts wherever they want to, like Amazon Prime or Netflix. In my

I risked my health to start this business. Was it worth it?

I risked my health to start this business. Was it worth it?

After a trip to Atlanta in September 2015 I did a little soul-searching, and came to the conclusion I wasn't happy in my job. I worked for a great agency who was attracting diverse and interesting clients, but I'd lost that lovin' feelin', to

The insidious chilling effect of communities built on compassion

Here are some facts upon which we can readily agree: * People on the Internet are kind of the worst, a lot of the time. * You should never read the comments. * It would be great if people could be nice to one-another. I like communities that are warm and that look

Missed Connections... and being "that guy"

I'm writing this directly after returning home from seeing Frank Turner at the O2 Academy in Birmingham, so what you read might be misspelled, ranty or unfair. If so, apologies (if you care). In the shuffle back from back room of the Academy to the exit, I got

The ego diet

Remember when you were young, and you were certain you'd become a famous pop star, footballer, rocket surgeon or whatever? Well, I'm 32 now and that feeling has remained with me. Until a couple of weeks ago. My holiday to DragonCon taught me that I needed

The man with the unending fascination with the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The man with the unending fascination with the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

A trip to Stockholm for an event that was OK was the perfect excuse to see some of the sights that inspired my favourite trilogy in modern fiction: Stieg Larsson's "Millennium" trilogy (you know, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and all that). Bellmansgatan 1, where

Heads-up innovators: don't leave the visually impaired behind

Between Google Glass and the Oculus Rift, there are some amazing pieces of technology being built around content beamed straight into your eyes from a very short distance. This is great, except if you have a problem that affects your depth of focus. I've been blind since birth,

Alan Turing was gay, but we forgive him

Alan Turing is regarded by many as one of the parents of computing (I don't say fathers as not all of those that gave birth to the things that power this Internet machine were dudes). During World War II he was a codebreaker at Bletchley Park and helped

It ain't what you do

If we respect the premise that some bands are better than others, why don't we all listen to the best band? You can demonstrably tell that some musicians are better than others, but we make our choices not based on an innate sense of quality, but on feelings.

Meditations on thirty

On Thursday my speedometer clocked over from 29 to 30. I feel as though part of my generation and of that just before it is bound always to push milestone decades back one year, so that 40 is the new 30, 50 is the new 40, and so on, because

Where we're going, we don't need roads

So after a year in the wilderness, having fun and making mistakes, I'm returning to Substrakt, frankly the best digital agency I've ever worked with. Contrary to what some might think, this isn't a step backwards or some tacit admission of failure. It was

The joy of touch, and how Apple are killing it

I like to touch things. A few years back I bought a DAB and Internet radio because I wanted a physical piece of kit that had buttons, and wasn't controlled by my increasingly-ubiquitous (then) PC. I enjoyed driving a radio studio that used CD players because of the

NBT007: Nymbol

If you were at last month's Tech Wednesday you'll have seen this already, but if not: this is what all my "Next Big Thing" posts have been leading up to. Nymbol is a content management system for the physical world. As our signup page

Lessons learned from the death of a digital startup

It'll have escaped the attention of just about everyone that Meegloo is no longer available. I pulled the site down a few weeks ago to save money for my Next Big Thing, and the distinct lack of reaction - from anyone - goes some way to explaining why

NBT006: Partnerships

In late February I mentioned I was looking for a CEO. I knew that my Next Big Thing couldn't be attempted on my own, and would need a business brain who could present well and whom I could trust. I'm delighted to say that I'

I used to be on the radio

A long time ago I used to present a weekly show on the now defunct Rhubarb Radio, with my chum - and the goodest of eggs - Michael Grimes. It was a show called the Sunday Social, and I had a blast doing it. A few weeks after I left

I’m looking for a CEO

As things progress with Meegloo and my Next Big Thing, I think it's time I started thinking about bringing a CEO on board. I'm probably an OK Chief Technical Officer - I definitely have the ideas, as my last 2-day project can attest - but while

What is Meegloo anyway?

I realise that there are still plenty of people to whom I've mentioned Meegloo (on Twitter or Facebook and in the so-called real world) that don't know what it is. That's hardly a crime; I don't know if I've ever

NBT005: Secrecy

I like talking. This is not news to anyone who knows me. I like to talk about myself, what I'm up to, funny things that happened to me on the way to the other thing… I also love talking about other people, and listening. I'm not

NBT004: The name

I did a little digging around on trademarks today. Only about 15 minutes or so, but it was enough to make me think it was worth changing the spelling of my Next Big Thing's name. I still don't fully understand - and don't much

NBT003: Business plan

This week saw me embark on a whole new journey, one which has reigned my passion for what I do. In the past, profit and loss forecasts have always been a surefire way to snuff out the delicate flame of hope that I could build something exciting and unconventional. My

NBT002: Prototype

I was at an event on Tuesday which got me thinking that it was perhaps not too early to build a very rudimentary prototype for my Next Big Thing. So I spent an hour or so trying to find a half-decent name, just so I could start a new Django

NBT001: Research

The first big thing I need to do to make my Next Big Thing happen is to research what already exists. I know my product idea is useful and who would pay for it. What I don't know yet is anything about the market itself: * Who are the

NBT000: Welcome

My company is called Flaming Tarball. A tarball is like a Zip file, most commonly used to distribute software, so one that's on fire has got to be awesome, right? My first project is Meegloo, an app for citizen journalists and social reporters. It's a pet