Mathew Browne

Louise found out today that one of her applications for doctor’s job in Llanelli and/or Carmarthen has been successful, so in just over 5 months I’ll be back in my old manor. I’ll miss London, but I won’t miss the cramped public transport, the extortionate property prices necessitating an equally extortionate rental, the threat of randoms blowing me up on my way to work, the beggars, the general misery etched onto people’s face as they go about their daily lives.

A calmer existance and the appetising prospect of freelancing fulltime from my home office beckons.

I can’t wait.

Every generation witnesses one - at most a handful - of world events so profound that everyone remembers where they were, the circumstances around them in which they found out what had happened. The Kennedy Assassination, the moon landings, and most recently, the terror attacks of September 11 are arguably the most shocking of them all.

I found a documentary on Youtube about the notorious “falling man” photo that was taken on that day.

Watch it for yourself

Just a brief update for infrequent visitors to digest what is happening in my life right now. Business has boomed this month, fuelled primarily by a surge of businesses wanting new websites for a new year. Later this week, Louise finds out whether any of her applications for junior doctor vacancies in South Wales (via Wales Foundation School) have been successful. Fingers crossed that’s the case. If unsuccessful, there is a second round of choices from the hospital/course combinations left on the list.

A number of very exciting work prospects have presented themselves in the last week. My lips are sealed per NDAs but what I can tell you is that if either/both are successful then they could prove quite lucrative and a regular stream of work, which is very appealing given that I’ll be working freelance full-time as of April/May this year. A perfect start to my full-time freelance career. Much like Louise’s job applications, I mustn’t count my chickens.

Louise rang me this afternoon in a fit of giggles. She had been standing on the eastbound DLR platform at Canning Town station, when an announcement over the tannoy started playing what apparently sounded like an American-style infomercial selling a sex toy! Given it was the middle of the day I don’t imagine there were many people around to have heard it, but it still sounds a cracking prank. Wonder if it’ll be in any of the papers tomorrow?

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. Mattel and Hasbro, the owners of Scrabble, have decided to sue the developers of the enormously popular (and addictive) Facebook application, Scrabulous. This has caused quite a furore. I, for one, would be sad to see Scrabulous go. On the other hand, let’s look at the facts: the developers have taken the concept of Scrabble - an intellectual property protected by copyright - and ripped it off shamelessly. They’ve distributed it for free via Facebook, which gets them the sympathy vote from Joe Public - “I’d never played Scrabble until I found Scrabulous” is one of the most common responses.

What many people don’t consider is that the developers are creaming off huge advertising revenues from the app. If Mattel and Hasbro have any business acumen they won’t kill Scrabulous; instead they should claim the share of the advertising revenues that they rightly deserve, and enjoy the benefits of the offline Scrabble renaissance fuelled by the runaway success of Scrabulous. Or will Mattel and Hasbro follow the steps of the recording industry - fail completely to embrace a new technology that could rejuvenate their business, and try to sue innovation out of existance.

This month I have elected to use up all of my remaining annual leave entitlement at UCL, meaning I’m only working Thursdays and Fridays. The timing of this was intended to conincide with an anticipated flood of New Years work, and that presumption has proved to be well-founded. I’m pleased to say I’ve got several interesting contracts on the table at the minute, not your run-of-the-mill websites but all databasey, functional sites. These are, of course, harder to design for as one has to work within the constraints of the system. On the other hand, it is quite satisfying to turn the bog-standard skin of an Open Source app into something pretty. It’s a double-edged sword.

However, with so many work opportunities presenting and in the hope that I can actually afford a mortgage in 6 months time, my time has become completely monopolised - it has become quite common for me to be up until 5am working on the various sites if I’m not expected at UCL the following day. This is unsustainable, but I’ve always been able to work better in the evening. So today, I’ve made Louise force me out of bed early to adjust this punishing schedule. I have bags under my eyes that are so bad it looks like I’ve been in a fight.

I had a positive and enlightening meeting at the RNIB this morning. I’m going to be helping them launch a Facebook application in the coming weeks - nothing too clever, mind you. They’re less concerned about such an app being a money generator as they are increasing brand awareness. They recently rebranded themselves from this:

to this:

I didn’t understand this move at first but figured it was yet another organisation attempting an unnecessary rebranding exercise. Once it was explained to me, it seemed quite sensible. The old logo featured a man with a white stick, which reinforced the presumption that the RNIB only helps blind people; they actually help blind and partially sighted people, as their new motto confirms.

The RNIB are quite concerned that their logo and their cause do not enjoy the recognition that, say, cancer research or animal charities do. Hopefully the introduction of a Facebook app will help address this, if only in a small way.

I then spent another hour discussing the finer points of web accessibility. It’s surprising how little larger companies think of this, especially when one realises their legal obligation to do so. I suppose it’s simply because no-one has been sued over web accessibility in this country. The only high profile case was not, as you might guess, in the sue-happy United States, but in Australia. I wonder what impact that had on the web design/accessibility industry over there?

I found it very interesting to find that the early adopters of web accessibility standards now enjoy huge brand loyalty from blind and partially-sighted people; the main example being the always ubiquitous Tesco. Every little helps.

I saw a Canary Wharf-type zipping about in a sparkly new Audi R8 today.

I can’t drive, it sorta looks like a George Foreman grill, yet I still want one.

But where exactly? Looks like I have another nervous wait…

Louise - nudged into it in no small part by myself - applied to Wales for her foundation training as a doctor, and got in. This is the good news. The bad news is that competition is fierce for jobs in South Wales; nobody wants to live in the North or West of the country.  Of course, places like Rhyl and Bangor need doctors too, but unfortunately for them, their allocation of doctors will be the ones who were unsuccessful elsewhere and were given their spot via clearing.

She has ranked 8 or the 106 courses on offer in order of preference; now we play the waiting game. On January 22nd we find out if she needs to rank another 8 posts in order of preference from those with spots remaining. In other words, if we don’t hear anything on the 22nd, then we can safely presume that one of the original choices was successful. (We find out which one on February 20.)

Having jumped through hoops just to get a place with only a guarantee of employment for 2 years, she then has the significant task of passing her finals this May. I don’t envy her one bit. This year will mark 3 years since I graduated, and if I have to sit any other exam (other than my driving test) it’ll be too soon.

I’m pleased to report that as of this afternoon I’ve officially joined EnTrip as a part-time website design and SEO consultant. My good friend Nick set up a prototype app to track his two-month holiday around the United States, and the interest it generated has inspired him to take the project further. He’s recruited two guys to work on a full-time basis and we’re all hoping that we can launch the site, albeit in preliminary form, within the next six months or so.

I’m certain that the site has potential but I’m also acutely aware that the vast majority of start-ups - both on and offline - don’t succeed. That’s not to say I’m pessimistic; at best it could prove a lucrative investment of my time and at worst it will provide an interesting learning experience.