MartinBryant.net

I'm Martin Bryant from Manchester, UK. This blog is about me.
 

Who needs Silicon Valley when you've got Silicon Roundabout?

London's Old Street roundabout is affectionately known as 'Silicon Roundabout' thanks to the number of internet startups based in the area. Okay, it doesn't look like much and it lacks the sunshine of Silicon Valley but I had a great afternoon on Friday visiting startups here.

Having recently been named Editor of The Next Web UK, I felt it was well worth heading to the capital to speak to start-ups, show my face and make sure they know we're there and interested in what they're up to. It was great fun and I'm looking forward to doing it again soon. If you'd like to meet up next time just get it touch: martin@thenextweb.com

Also while in London I dropped by The Tuttle Club, a weekly meetup of Social Media-minded individuals. Reading about Tuttle inspired me and some other Mancunians to set up Social Media Cafe Manchester in Autumn 2008. It's amazing that it took so long for me to make it along to the original London version.

The vibe here is slightly different to Manchester's event - being a daytime event is bound to make a bit of a change from our evening do but everyone was really welcoming and it was great to finally meet people like Lloyd Davis and James Whatley who I've been meaning to catch up with in person for about 18 months.I also met a load of really interesting new people and made a load of great new contacts.

The only thing I didn't enjoy about the day was that I packed in so much that I didn't have time to each lunch. The sandwich on the train back was so, so, good...

Posted January 31, 2010
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TechCrunch vs Mashable? There's no competition...

...no, seriously, there's no competition at all because they're totally different types of blogs.

Yes, when Pete Cashmore's 'little' start-up blog Mashable first overtook the might of Michael Arrington's TechCrunch back in May 2009 (according to Compete.com figures above) many people saw it as a major change in the world of tech news. As Mashable's lead grew and then remained relatively constant, much of the blog world saw it as a sure sign that TechCrunch was 'doing something wrong' while Mashable was 'slaying' the competition.

However, if you look at how Mashable grew and maintained its lead you discover a different story.

Mashable is no longer a pure tech news blog. Just look at some of its post titles recently: 
The Shiba Inu Puppies Are Back [Live Video] 
YouTube Celebrates Martin Luther King Day With Reenactments of Speeches [VIDEO]
Brett Favre Sings Pants on the Ground [VIDEO] 

Yes, Mashable is more about internet culture than pure tech news these days. Sure - there's lots of tech news (and some great analysis) in there as well but if there's a hot celebrity story trending on Twitter they'll find a way of covering it to reap the search engine traffic, if there's a viral video doing well they'll embed it to get the retweets.

Meanwhile, TechCrunch has continued in the same 'tech news and VC business chatter' vein the whole time. There's nothing  wrong with that - it's still immensely popular and (outside of The Next Web, who I'm an Editor for), many of my favourite tech blog posts come from writers at TechCrunch. Meanwhile, by harvesting internet culture Mashable has gained a lead but at same time made the 'race' between the two totally irrelevant.

Of course, Mashable risks alienating its core audience by diversifying into celebrity stories and the like. When Duncan Riley's The Inquisitr launched with a mix of tech and celebrity news it provided a separate tech-only feed for the purists. Mashable should really consider that.

Oh, and while you're at it Pete, please revive your personal Twitter feed - we want to hear what you have to say, not just hear 'the voice of the blog'! :)

Posted January 18, 2010
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Homeworking in snowbound Manchester

For the first time in the decade I've lived here, Manchester is crippled by snow.

Being a web worker that's no excuse not to be productive so I'm sat on the sofa... working. At least the coffee round is a quick one!

Posted January 5, 2010
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Birdprints in the snow

A surprise snowfall in Manchester last night meant we woke up to a white world today. Nipping to the shop I noticed that I wasn't the first to head that way...

Posted January 2, 2010
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I know this has been around a while but it still makes me laugh

I mean, it must have been out of date the day it went to print.

Posted December 30, 2009
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Well, what a year 2009 was for me...

I remember reading a long time ago that your 20s are for self-discovery and that by the time they hit their 30s most people have a good idea about the direction their life is going in. When I was 29 I was worried about that 'deadline' - would my life have any firm direction by the time I was 30? 

As it turned out, 30 turned out to be quite an eventful year, and one that should shape an interesting few years ahead. As I've turned 31 today I thought I'd look back at what's happened over the past 12 months.

  • 2009 was the year blogging took over my life. I've been blogging since 2003 and my original 14sandwiches music review site when I was a student was arguably a prototype blog back in 1999. However, it was only when I relaunched 14sandwiches as a web-media-music blog in 2008 that I got a taste for regular writing and in April this year I saw that Zee at The Next Web was looking for writers. After firing off an email it took about 6 weeks to hear back but on the 28th of May I was thrust into high-speed tech writing with a piece about the announcement of Google Wave. Nearly 300 posts later it's been quite a ride. Tech blogging is addictive and after grabbing a few Techmeme headlines and Digg frontpages over the past few months I'm not planning to stop any time soon.
  • In July I got married to Louise. It was a brilliant day and it was fantastic to get almost all the family together for the first time in years. The honeymoon in the Maldives wasn't too shabby either! :)
  • Two days before my wedding I applied for the role of Digital Content Editor at Marketing Manchester. While I was on my honeymoon I checked my email to discover I'd been invited to an interview. The interview ended up being just hours after I returned to Manchester but somehow I fought through the jetlag to get the job. It's been a whirlwind three months there so far and being able to do what I love to promote the city I love is something of a dream job. The new version of VisitManchester.com that launches in Spring and although I can't divulge much about it, I'm really excited about the prospect of producing content for it once it's up and running.
  • In November I gave two talks about Geolocational mobile services as part of KMP Digitata's InBlackAndWhite series. The feedback was positive and I hope that I'll be doing more of this type of thing in 2010.
So, 2009 turned out pretty good for me. The long-range forecast for 2010 looks promising. Let's see what unfolds...

[Image credit: JulianKleyn]

Posted December 28, 2009
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Something to tell the grandkids...

A quick catch-up of what I been up to recently. Besides my stuff for The Next Web I've been kept busy doing Digital Content Editor-y things at Marketing Manchester. Here's where the highlight of the past few weeks comes in...

I was lucky enough to get to stand on the 'hallowed turf' of Wembley Stadium on Thursday.

Unfortunately I wasn't supposed to be stood on it, just next to it. It's not my fault if they don't clearly mark where the astroturf ends and the pitch begins! A stern Wembley employee swiftly instructed me to move back. You can find out why I was there over at the Visit Manchester Blog.

On the train on the way down, I got to interview up-and-coming Manchester band Kid British who were lending their support to Manchester's World Cup Host City Bid. Here I am, trying to interview them and keep the camera steady as the train rattles down the track at over 100 MPH.

Posted November 28, 2009
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Salford Quays

(download)

So, I'm walking through Salford Quays and wondering why I've never sent video to Posterous before.

Time to give it a go! It's sent from my new HTC Hero phone so I've absolutely no idea what quality to expect.

Here's Salford Quays on a cloudy Thursday in November...

Posted November 19, 2009
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My Samsung is now a 'Simsung'

I pulled my Samsung NC10 out of its bag this morning to discover that it had become a Simsung. Maybe I'll email Engadget pretending I found it on a Chinese marketstall.

Posted November 7, 2009
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Welcome to the Northern Quarter

Here's a video I've produced as part of my work for Marketing Manchester - a guided tour of Manchester's Northern Quarter, a rather special part of town. Peter O'Grady, one of the city's official guides, took me round the area sharing his knowledge of its history, art and bars.

Incidentally, I'm using Posterous as the platform for the Visit Manchester blog. It might be worth subscribing to if you're interested in what's going on around Manchester. You can find it here: http://visitmanchester.posterous.com

Posted October 22, 2009
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