Author Archives: Tim GARRATT

May 15 2012

New 3d Mapping is on its way

It wasn’t that long ago when I first used a GPS unit in my car – it was on an old Psion ‘green screen’ hand-held computer. That was 1996, it was clunky but just about operable. Of course GPS is everywhere now – and my golf watch is just brilliant.

We are now used to having an enormous amount of data in our pockets – the iPhone was really a revelation – especially with the map feature. The mapping software is brilliant and I guess I use it most days. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world it finds stuff. Of course we are all used to google maps too – I use these at work (most days) although I find those on Bing to be slightly better. The 3d photographs are generally good – although sometimes the light isn’t great – making some views unusable.

But it looks as though the bar has now been raised by the Apple guys. They have a pathological hatred of Google and have evidently been chipping away at their dominance – after all we can’t have two giants ruling the world?

Apple have suggested that their newest maps will be in 3d. And an example has been released – showing a video fly through of Oslo. It’s amazing! Apparently this has been rendered from a mixture of satellite data, user photographs and some clever algorithms.

You have to watch the video to believe it. This will certainly take mapping imaging to a new level. I can see this being even more useful to me in my day!

May 14 2012

Business Attire

I saw last week that Mark Zuckerberg made the headlines for wearing a hoodie to a major business presentation. Of course my ‘geek hero’ Steve Jobs wore his black turtleneck tops, jeans and trainers (sneakers that should be?) for most of his latter keynote talks.

When I joined a professional office in the early 1980′s a suit and tie were de rigeur. Then we seemed to go through a series of ‘dress down days’. And then back to the suit and tie.

Now we seem to again be in a state of flux. I probably wear a tie less than I wear one. But I always wear a suit. Jeans would not be acceptable in the office. I will generally put on a tie where I know the client will do. Some clients don’t wear ties and so I probably wouldn’t. If I were presenting though – I would wear a tie.

A wise old friend (and client) of mine once asked me why this was. Why did I need to wear a tie? His view was that it was about ego. That it made me feel important. It gave me an edge. It put a marker down that I was in control – and occupied a higher place.

I can see his point to an extent, but I’m not sure I totally agree. I think it shows respect. I think it also gives an impression that I have made some sort of effort. That I was bothered.

He would always say to me that my advice (to him) is no different if I am wearing a suit and tie or jeans and tee-shirt though – and this is right. It isn’t different.

Fair point?

May 13 2012

The Scotland Disaster….

I’m back from the Borders. Some call it God’s Country. I call it wet.

We did see a tiny bit of sunshine, but Thursday and Friday were a farmers delight. It poured – and then some. It was also cold. This was not my idea of fun. I have come to the conclusion that I’m a fair weather golfer. Getting cold, wet and muddy is for others.

What I didn’t mention in my blog in the week was that we had a fairly disastrous start. I was getting a lift with one of my golfing buddies. He picked me up and we loaded the car with three grown blokes and their bags (golf / clothes). All was going well until we hit the M! and were around 20 miles into the journey – when his car decided to adopt ‘limp mode’. Restricted to 50mph. We turned back. We swapped for my car – which is not designed for three – as we quickly discovered. So we had to abandon quite a bit of gear.

On the second day, my car developed exactly the same problem! And so we drove around Scotland – and all the way home with the car slipping between normal (fast) and limp (slow). It would reset itself for a little while, but it’s off to the Doctors on Monday for an overhaul.

And if bad news usually comes in threes (ignoring the weather) one of my other mates got a call that his father had collapsed. He had to leave us – and we heard later that morning that his dad had died. This certainly put a dampener on the day.

So perhaps this trip wasn’t meant to be. There were some highlights – but not many.

Will try to lift the spirits next week on the blog. After all – it couldn’t get worse…

May 12 2012

Portable Speakers….

I bought some small portable speakers in New York four years ago – they were really good, but they got a bit wet last year at the Isle of Wight Festival. It turns out they weren’t waterproof and so emitted a hiss in protest. Irritating at the best of times. They got binned.

So I have been looking for replacement. Ideally so that I can listen to my iPod / laptop when I am away. An external speaker is a necessary luxury!

The solution has been found in the form of a Jawbone Jambox. I bought it in the shop girls don’t get – the Apple store in the Meatpacking District of New York. It was $199, so not cheap.

It is fantastic. The sound from the tiny little box belies its size. And better still it connects to my phone and laptop by bluetooth (although there is a dinky little red flat wire for a speaker connection). It also has a microphone so you can use it for ‘hands free’ – the reception is really clear. I haven’t used it for conference calling, but it looks as though it will handle this with ease.

It’s an impressive bit of kit, really well built, cool to look at and sounds as good as some hi-fi systems! The battery life is around 10 hours too. It could have almost been made by Apple – it’s so good!

It now accompanies me everywhere – so when the need takes me I can do Tiger Feet on the train or wherever…

May 11 2012

Can Nottingham compete

Yesterday my golf got abandoned – rain was an understatement. I managed to catch up on some emails and then got into a discussion with my golfing buddies about the Mayoral position. They are still having some sport (at my expense) on the TV appearances.

I have also had a number of discussions in the last week about where we are at with the City – and our place in the UK. Granted the city is a ‘Core City’, but I’m not sure what this really means.

When the prospect of the High Speed Train 2 first emerged as a possibility – and more so that there might be a stop at Nottingham, I thought this was a great idea. It allowed us to connect with London (and beyond). My view then, as now, is that London is rather important to us. I do quite a lot of business there.

Of course London is in the ascendency – particularly this year – the summer sees the Queens Diamond Jubilee then in July the Olympic jamboree comes to town. Later in the year the tallest building in Europe will open – The Shard nears completion now and has become a real landmark on the skyline. It has provided some excitement.

I’m not sure where that puts us.

We do still have some great things – as I have blogged about before. But where is the financial services sector? Where are the Olympics? Where are our ‘Shards’?

We need a new focus. We need to make sure that we can compete with the other major Cities – Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham et al. We have to – as I think they are, in some cases, overtaking us. We can’t be complacent. That only has one certain result – and it won’t be good.

The first thing we need to do is re-examine the shopping. We need Broadmarsh to happen. It has to happen before we extend the Victoria Centre north. We are slipping down the rankings on the shopping indices. Then we need to make development easier to do in the City _ I do believe this has started, with the introduction of a new Director of Development. But it needs to keep momentum – and we need people to know about us. We also have to crack down on crime. We have too many headlines of the wrong sort.

If we do a few of these things it will be a start. But we shouldn’t underestimate the task ahead. It’s no good saying we have ambition – we need to demonstrate it.

May 10 2012

Bonnie Scotland

Was it Skegness (‘Skeggy’ to us Nottingham types) that was oh so bracing? I think so, although possibly an ad-mans spin on blustering gales?

As you read this I wake up this morning in ‘Bonnie’ Scotland – yet another phrase which hides the real meaning. What I mean is that I’m in a cold place which generally stops England from fraying. It’s that time of year when a pilgrimage is made to play the ‘good walk spoiled’ game of golf. This has become a regular fixture for the group of us from Nottingham Squash Club – who have our own mini golf society.

And I can confirm that there is some sort of different climate up North. It is several degrees cooler, but yesterday was acceptable. The forecast for today, however, is that the sky is going to be a different sort of angry black. If I’m honest it’s not weather for golf!

We had always assumed that if it rained for four days that would be a reasonable result.

We are staying in Peebles, a nice little place, where there are fewer fights than Galashiels. We are also in a Hotel where we are not banned from. There was a misunderstanding at Burts Hotel a couple of years ago and the delightful and customer-facing Mr Henderson (owner extraordinaire) barred us – not just for Christmas, but rather for life. He muttered something about ‘responsible adults’. In fairness I have never claimed this title. Nor were the various ‘incidents’ anything to do with me!

I love my golf, I just wish the weather would change back – just a little. If you know anyone in charge of the stuff, a little word in their shell-like would be much appreciated!

In the meantime, I’ll put some wet weather gear on and try again today. The cries of “In the hole” or “who’s the daddy” ringing in my ears!

Fore!!!

May 9 2012

(Not) The Mayor Of Nottingham

It’s been nearly a week since the referendum on whether Nottingham should have an elected a Mayor – and the majority of voters decided not. Perhaps now is the time to reflect on the decision.

28320 people voted to keep arrangements as they are now – 20943 voted in favour of changing the council being run by a Mayor elected by voters – giving a majority of 7,377 to the ‘no’ vote. The split was approximately 57% for and 43% against. The turnout was 23.9% of all eligible voters.

Nottingham was one of the ten largest cities in England chosen for potential change. As it turned out nine out of the ten cities chosen had a ‘no’ returned. Just Bristol agreed – and they will hold an election in the Autumn. In Doncaster they chose to keep their Mayor who was appointed first in 2001.

So what went wrong?

Regrettably the debate didn’t really start. The present Labour Leadership in Nottingham ran a negative campaign which was really a lost opportunity. There were no details behind their headlines. Some of the tactics (such as the racist leaflet) were below the belt. The £1m cost was never justified – and was just political spin in my view. To that end it worked.

But in my various conversations over the last few weeks with the business community at large the anecdotal evidence was that Nottingham needs a change. The business community don’t get a vote! But they do shape and influence the City. I never met anyone who said it was a waste of money.

I am still of the view that this is a good place, but it’s not great. Nor is it as good as it could be. We are in danger of become more marginalised – especially as the current leadership continues to fight Government.

I have heard too many negative stories in the last few weeks. One London Developer said to me, “you have no idea how difficult it is to invest in your City”. Word gets around and this is not good.

We need to wake up and smell the coffee. A win it may have been, but it wasn’t a whitewash. I hope that the Council take notice that there is an undercurrent – and it’s not in favour of the way things have always been.

Time to drop the Mayor story from here, but not the sentiments. Nottingham needs change to make change.

May 8 2012

Nottingham Contemporary – the newest show

Last Friday night I was at the launch party for the newest of the Nottingham Contemporary shows – Mika Rottenberg and James Gillray.

Gillray first – he was a satirist in the mid 19th century who drew and hand coloured caricatures of the rich and famous. A sort of pre-cursor to the paparazzi! The pictures show the sort of issues faced in the day – expensive wars, MP’s inappropriate use of funds and celebrity gossip! It could well have been 2012? Funny how some things don’t change!

But then Rottenberg, who was at the launch party. Born in 1976, she has lived in New York and the work is video based, shown in specially built enclosures – intended in some ways to make you feel claustrophobic. Much of the subject matter seems to be women workers – doing repetitive tasks. Some have an adult theme!

I enjoyed the Gillray prints – the detail is amazing and there is humour in some of them.They provide an interesting social commentary of a different but similar time. The Rottenberg I found a little more challenging – but didn’t really have time to study and watch the videos in great detail. I need to go back to have a better look.

What was evident was the interest in the show. The preview was as busy as I have seen it – and there were some new faces in the crowd – which was good to see.

We do sometimes underestimate the importance of the Nottingham Contemporary – it was one of my key ingredients when I was talking about what the good about Nottingham, I think it remains so.

I might not always like the art, but I do think it raises our profile and makes people think. If it does one of those two things then some good has come…

And last week I went to the Brooklyn MOMA PS1 Exhibition where one of the installations was two (live) cats in a room – now that is challenging my interpretation of art – video / prints are much more mainstream!

May 7 2012

Crime Doesn’t Pay?

At the weekend some unsavoury types tried to get in my house uninvited. They went to a lot of trouble, but failed to ‘fish’ their way in. They left the clues all over the garden – a chair, a bamboo cane, broom handle brush and all of my conservatory windows open.

The Police were great – as they were when we had some bikes stolen earlier in the year. The SOCO man unfortunately couldn’t get fingerprints – I was all for DNA test, but it seems that they only really do this when there’s a murder. Attempted break-in is some way from this apparently.

One of the things that we must get sorted out as a City is crime. Although the statistics can tell you anything you like, the reality is that we still have a crime issue. Most big Cities do.

The Police were quite candid. They usually know who the ‘usual suspects’ are. The problem is evidence. But more than this, the real problem is the ‘punishment’. Which, if meted out, is usually a ‘joke’. So the criminals know that if they get caught the Courts are not going to do much with them. A telling off or slap on the wrist is what they can expect.

Unfortunately many of the cases simply don’t get to Court – the costs of doing so are expensive and if there’s at the slightest hole in the evidence then the case will almost certainly fail. So, rather than take a case with lost so circumstantial evidence and ‘known’ bad boys, it’s waste of time. So the criminals just carry on – taking yours and my stuff (although they didn’t this time).

We surely have to get to a point where there is an effective deterrent. It needs to be short and sharp.

When I came in one night there was a reality TV show on about the Police. They had chased two bad lads across a field and trapped them in a copse. The Police helicopter found them with it’s heat seeking camera and a dog team were dispatched. Despite warnings the dogs were sent in and quickly retrieved the two – who were seen bleeding where the dog had bitten them. they were complaining bitterly about being mauled. The interesting comment was that the bite (which clearly hurt) was probably the worst punishment they would get!

A short sharp bite might make them think twice?

May 6 2012

The Apple iPad – profit galore!

I blogged about the amazing Apple store in New York last week – and I came across a fascinating article in the Economist on the flight back across the pond.

It was about the iPad. This is famously made in a factory in China where conditions may not be entirely ideal! Certainly labour costs are a fraction of the US (or Europe for that matter). But the Economist have estimated the costs and profits per iPad – they are in Dollars, but you get the picture.

Sale price – 16gB wi-fi model – $499

Costs:

Materials $154
Labour $33 (of which $8 stays in China)
Distribution / retail – $75

Profits

Subcontractors – $88 (all over the world)
Apple – $150

So a nice tidy 30% profit to Apple.

I think the ipad is creeping up on us, I do use my (second generation) one a lot now. If I’m in London and travelling light is it great. I wouldn’t yet want to type a long report on it, but for general email / browsing / presentations it’s brilliant. And I have had my Estates Gazette on it this weekend for the first time…

I can see it become the defacto business tool.