Smart Grid 201

Part Two in Mr Batty's Series on the Smart Grid - we're onto the "what is it" section now.

The Smart Grid, Part 2 from Peter Batty on Vimeo.

Smart Grid 101

I'm lucky enough to work with some smart people on a number of different things, but I guess the one thing that's in the news that we happen to be working on at Enspiria is the Smart Grid.

There's lots of different theories and versions of what Smart Grid actually means, so Pete is taking a back to basics approach over a couple of presentations to give people an idea of our opinion of what it is, and then take a look at what impacts it'll have on IT systems in the future, with a bit of a focus on the spatial technology side of things.

Here's Part 1 - why do we even need a Smart Grid?

The Smart Grid, Part 1 from Peter Batty on Vimeo.

Distributech Video

Due to a certain Australian making his wife have a baby just before a major conference, I got called into demo duty at Distributech. Included was a quick video segment on the stuff we were presenting, and the link has just gone live now. I definitely don't have the dulcet tones of Mr Tonkin, but it didn't turn out too bad in the end I guess......

The book that saved my life

Well, not literally, but maybe saved my sanity. The last 6 months has kind of been a blur, with loads of different things going, both at work and home (especially work), as I tried to get used to the new job title, still keeping up with the old job(s), and generally trying to make some progress. Somedays it just felt like there was way too much going on.

This last couple of weeks things got pretty stressful, so by a complete fluke, Getting Things Done was the next book on my reading list. Combined with new found passion for reading, based solely on having my fantastic and shiny new Kindle in hand, I've pulled a couple of things into my daily schedule that mean I'm keeping up with everything going on a lot better. I still haven't finished the whole thing, and still have plenty of work to do before I'm following all of the steps, but I'm getting there, and this week has definitely been a lot better than 2 weeks ago. Progress is a wonderful thing.

Using Xobni

I finally got my beta invite to Xobni last week (it's inbox backwards if you're trying to work out how they came up with the name), which coincided with news.rumor that they had walked away from a deal with Microsoft to be bought.

I have to say, I've been very impressed with the product. You need to make sure that you have a decent box to run it on, as it does take up a little more memory than you're usual outlook footprint, but I've somehow managed to become totally reliant on it within a week. Instant search is actually instant, and seeing where people are ranked in your emails (Tonks is number 1, which is probably no surprise to anyone at the office) was kinda fun. If you get a chance, I'd definitely try it out.

Update: - Seems like this is getting a decent amount of press, and CNET has some of the (possible) reasons behind the company walking away from a MSFT deal - it's the platform, stupid...

Coolest Cubes

Lifehacker has been running a coolest cubes competition for a little while now - their big summary post is here if you want to check it out (some are actually pretty normal, unlike the one to the left....)

Which reminds me, I really need to tidy up my workspace at some point - the "just moved in" excuse is getting a little old after 3 months.

Peter Batty Joins Enspiria

Although we've been mates for the last 10 years, and worked in the same industry, on some of the same dev tools, and with some of the same customers, I've never actually had the pleasure of working at the same company as Mr Batty. Until today that is.

Although he's still going to be President of Spatial Networking (sign up for whereyougonnabe if you can get an invite), we've managed to pry away some of his valuable time to help Enspiria get to the next level.

The press release has gone live and you can view it here.

And for the record, he did actually wear the lime green jacket - no photoshopping on this site! Wonder if it's going to make an appearance in a couple of weeks for JB's shindig?

Our Christmas Party

Another corker of a night. George, you really should have come along....

Spatial Networking

Despite a brief rumour that he was taking up professional wedding photography, Mr Batty finally decided to end his 6 month long swan around the world to start up a new company - Spatial Networking.

Stay tuned for what it's actually going to do (maps and space and social and networking and stuff), and of course, good luck Pete.

In a real magazine..

I somehow got persuaded to try and fit in writing an article with a couple of colleagues. about work type stuff (nothing as exciting as cars and gadgets). Anyway, it turns out it got picked up by one of the magazines, and even made the front cover, and the theme for the editors notes.

So, if you're interested in mergers and acquisitions in the utility applications industry (and lets face it, who isn't ;-), the magazine is here (page 4 and 14 mother, as I know you're the only one who'll click)

Google Maps Does it again!

Raises the bar I mean - this is pretty cool (even if you're not really a techie), but when you get directions on Google Maps now, if you don't like the route, or decide you need to stop off somewhere first, you can just grap a point and move it in pretty much real time - the route will recalculate everything and serve you up your new directions/distance/drink of choice.

When it comes to map stuff, it takes a lot to get me excited, coz I tend to deal with it pretty much every day in some form or another. Today, I'm excited. Go try it yourself...

Blatant Self Promotion

So I've been sitting on this thing for a couple of months now, as I wanted to make sure I didn't pre-release anything that Marketing might get upset by, but it looks like this went live this week in an industry magazine, so I'm free to distribute as I see fit (but I'm limiting it to just one post here, and that's it). Anyway, it's not often (or ever in my case) you get a real live ad, so I'm basking in my moment of glory/embarassment for a day or two. Here you go.

Enspiria Christmas Party

It was another classic party - lots of fun, great company and a drink or two. Hopefully nothing got broke in the house, which was decked out with more decorations and Christmas trees (9 to be exact) than any house I have ever been too.

George made a break for the door late on (but luckily Tonks persuaded him a walk home wasn't the best idea), Dave initiated shots of the dangerous fire water that turns up every year, and some people even got to wear their Christmas sweaters. Me, I resorted to taking the opportunity to wear a tie for the first time in a couple of years. It even stayed on all night, and I didn't get choked by anyone, so has to be considered a success.

Photos are here, but the camera didn't come out until late. I'll try and get some links once the other photos are uploaded somewhere (Neil, Kathy, Tonks......)