Tim Dobson
Thinker, Blogger, Hacker, Hiker.
Notes on a book: Founders at Work
14 April 2014
Yesterday, I finally completed Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days. The book is a collection of interviews conducted by Jessica Livingston of YCombinator with cofounders and key people of a great deal of well known (and in some cases, less well known, but notable) companies. Because each chapter is a different interview with a different person, […]
Notes on a book: Pitch Anything
Notes on a book: Pitch Anything
5 April 2014
I've recently read Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff. It's an interesting book, on the back someone's written "move over Neil Strauss – Pitch Anything is the new the Game". I think I can see why – they both inhabit an area of applied game theory or applied NLP, which when put into words, is likely […]
Destination: The Black Cuillins of Skye
3 April 2014
The Black Cuillins are probably the longest sustained alpine-style ridge in the UK, found in Skye, Scotland, they're very spiky and dramatic. In 2012, in March, our trip to Skye was beautifully sunny and hot. So much so that we went swimming in the rivers and sea. Last time round, I still thought of myself […]
I don't think you know what that word means…
2 April 2014
Spotted in Buxton: I don't think they know what "geek" means.
The problem with April Fools day…
1 April 2014
The problem with April Fools day is a problem also associated with Christmas, and other days. I love a good joke, but lots of corporate April fools jokes miss the point. In the same way that Christmas shouldn't be the only time you're generous to your family, April 1st shouldn't be the only day of […]
How to discuss concerns with your MP
30 March 2014
Avid followers of my blog, will know that I've written to my MP a number of times in recent months. This isn't because I love writing letters, but because I feel this probably is the most effective way of making a direct difference to policy makers. Watch this – it's very short and to the […]
I grew up in the 90s and 00s without a TV: instead I built stuff
26 March 2014
Throughout my childhood, my family never had a TV. From the day I was born, until I moved out when I was 19, I had relatively little exposure to TVs or their content. At primary school, all my classmates talked about Cartoon Network and 'play-stations' and I had no idea what it was all about. […]
Think: blinklight
17 March 2014
Sometimes it's hard not be impressed by small hacks that seem so obvious, yet you'd have never thought of til you saw it. Lenovo/IBM's line of Thinkpad laptops have traditionally have a "ThinkLight", an LED, located on the top edge of the display, illuminating the keyboard to allow typing in poor lighting conditions. I blissfully used […]
Why Twitter's #Music spinoff project should die
16 March 2014
Twitter has a music service. I do remember hearing it being announced some time ago, but I had completely forgotten about it. I decided to check it out. It's interesting. The premise of the service is that the top 5 tracks for popular artists will be displayed, and you can listen to them. Technically, that […]
Things you shouldn't repeat for fun: When I nearly got hypothermia
10 March 2014
I recently read about a group from MMU hiking club having to call out Mountain Rescue, (disclosure: I've hiked with MMU Hiking club once in the past), and I don't want to dwell on what happened to them, but rather what's important – they're all alive, well, uninjured (perhaps except in pride!) and will live […]
I protested BBC iPlayer in 2007, and I don't regret it.
5 March 2014
During the summer holidays of 2007, I was a teenage sailing instructor who was volunteering locally, to teach younger teens how to sail (better) for a week. On Tuesday, I skived off teaching, jumped on a train to Manchester and changed my life forever. But that's not the beginning… A few months earlier I was […]
Try not to be amazed, confused and maybe a bit tearful, when you read my plans for 2014
24 January 2014
My first plan for 2014 is not to use upworthy-style headlines to drive people to my blog again, but since you're here, why not take a glance? Over the past few years, I've tried to make plans for the upcoming year. Read over some of my plans for the coming year from 2013, 2012, 2010, 2009 – all guaranteed to make me […]