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First out of the blocks:

Caterham (nee Team Lotus) – are all the cars going to look this ugly at the front??

Here is a nice project that has been set-up to help people learn to code. Its currently a free resource and will no doubt grow in time. My thought however is that no matter how you dress up coding, it is still coding. People want products and easier ways to create them. I my opinion there is still quite some way to go in this market before people start offering the kinds of services that non-experts and non-coders demand.

It has come to my attention in recent months that London house prices seem to continue to have a mind of their own. A good friend of mine is an expert in the field of residential basement development in the city. He was explaining to me the significant value that “going down” can realise for a home owner. It is not all rosy in the world of residential basement development though, as these constructions often cause issues with neighbours and planning authorities; neither appropriately prepared for the potential structural issues or procedural in accuracy’s. He has written an article on the subject on his new blog. I recommend if your in the market for this kind of residential basement development you read what he has to say and give him a call – he has become somewhat of an expert in the subject.

This is a great piece on coding for kids, with a link to a youTube video of a 12 year old lad talking about his app development experience. It is a great lesson in presentation technique and is that how we are going to see the iPad used in future – as virtual notes?

So coding is the new value add skill. There remains a question in my mind however about what to apply these skills towards. That combination of coding skills and real need is, I feel, important – one goes hand-in-hand with the other. It is therefore important to remember this and also that there is a real world out there too.

Inspiring stuff.

In engineering there are a number of ways to work. Using design optimisation software is one that you might think is more prevalent than it really is.

Perhaps it is be because many see the role of a design engineer to optimise a design themselves.

Optimisation software may also have been possibly oversold – by this I mean sales staff with strict targets have been forced to bend the truth a little to win sales, leading to skepticism of the true benefits of design optimisation software by both design engineers and their managers.

I feel that this is quite a shame.

As with any software, for design optimisation or whatever, it is only ever going to give you an approximation. This doesn’t mean it is therefore useless. The design engineer who takes a pragmatic view to using their design optimisation software will really see the benefits – and fast. It requires a change in how a design engineer maybe used to working but once one sees the benefits, it is a software tool no-one in their right mind would want to give up.

There are a few different software products on the market.

One that is well received is called modeFrontier and has applications both in design optimisation but also in process optimisation.

I’d recommend taking some time to learn more about the field of optimisation and see how this kind of software could benefit your organisation.

A lovely video remembering Richard Burns, the rally driver who died of brain cancer 6 years ago. They have a t-shirt to buy to support his charity.

If I were to write about the hardest thing I am finding about building a software start-up, it would say what this article is saying, almost verbetum.

What I would add, is that not only are the talented people required tucked up in safe corporate jobs or already branched out running their own software consultancy’s, for them to be really useful, they need to “get” what you’re doing and believe it will be successful when, in fairness to them, there are very few pointers to say it will.

For a curious but cautious bunch, this is a problem. Therefore acquiring or hiring the people you need is easier said than done – probably no doubt because these guys have been there, done it, and seen the issues, either personally or through good friends.

It is a tough one and an issue with no ready solution as far as I can see. That in itself is the foundation for a business perhaps …

Frustrated.

Our sport makes you numb sometimes. Like few other sports, death is so close.

Again this weekend we morn the loss of a talented person in motorsports – top level MotoGP motorbike rider, Marco Simoncelli.

He died yesterday when he was hit by fellow riders and friends, Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi, after appearing to lose control on the exit of a fast right hand corner.

Here is a good autosport write-up from someone who knew him well.

Here is some Monday fun. An interesting TED talk about how babies think. Enjoy:

Dan Wheldon died yesterday challenging for a $5m prize. The two time Indy 500 winner, and former champion, was without a drive this season. He put a deal together for one race, the famous Indy 500, earlier this year and promptly won it when rookie JR Hildebrand slid into the wall on the final corner. On the back of this success and the failure of the series promoter to line up an all-star driver line-up for his $5m Las Vegas prize pot, Wheldon was given the challenge. Starting from the back, if Wheldon won then he would get the prize and split half of it with one lucky fan. Unfortunately it seems he was an innocent party in the second part of a multi-car pile-up during lap 12 of the race. A Brit abroad, he was popular throughout the paddock and leaves a wife and two young children.

A fitting post is here for those interested to know more about his life.

Indy canceled the race and conduced this 5 lap salute to their former champion.