Paul Grenyer

Revenger Alastair Reynolds ISBN-13: 978-0575090552 Alastair Reynolds is on form with this steampunk meets pirates space opera. The story is cliched and almost totally predictable, but very enjoyable at the same time. I’ve started wondering a lot recently, if they body count in such stories is worth the life of the person who is being rescued and I think that remains to be seen in the sequel. Fura Ness is extremely driven and I struggled to understand a lot of her decisions. As with much of Reynolds’ work, there is no explanation for why this universe is the way it is and it feels as strange as when the clock strikes 13 in 1984, but makes me want to read more in the hope of understanding. While most of the story is linear and complete, there’s a large chunk towards the end which feels missing. The climax is a little brief and just like in terminal world there is suddenly a lot of new plot in the final chapter. Where the story goes next will very interesting.

nor(DEV):con 2019 Thursday 21st to Saturday 23rd of February 2019 The Kings Centre, Norwich, NR1 1PH nordevcon.com Tickets: http://nordevcon-2019.eventbrite.com Friday opening keynote: The Failure of Focus Liz Keogh We know that in our landscape of people and technology, aiming for a particular outcome doesn’t always lead to us getting what we want. Sometimes the best results come from approaching a problem obliquely. But in Agile our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through the early and continuous delivery of valuable software. We like to start with the outcome, meet the needs of our users, delivering high-quality working software with happy teams and true agility… but how might that focus be holding us back, and what are the alternatives? In this talk we look at some different strategies for approaching complex ecosystems, starting from where we are right now, and allowing innovation to emerge through obliquity, naivety, and serendipity. ...

A couple of weeks ago I was honoured to be asked to judge and present the overall winner of the DevelopHER Awards 2018. There are a number of categories in the awards, including TechStar which I also judged, and the overall winner is chosen from the winners of the other categories. I believe that the best developers start writing code at an early age and continue throughout their lives and on through their careers. As well as learning all they can, all the time, they give back to community around them and help other people develop as well. Federica Freddi , who also won the Emerging Talent award, is clearly passionate about software development and is fully deserving of the DevelopHER award and I couldn’t have been more delighted to be able to present her with it on the night. Federica told me "It is fantastic to see so many women recognised for their contribution to our industry. It is a huge honour for me to be able to represent so many talented people that are making...

In this video I explain what we do at nor(DEV) and why we do it.

Sync The City is an annual event that brings together budding entrepreneurs and developers to pitch and build a start-up in just 54 hours. This year Naked Element 's Director Paul Grenyer was a mentor for one of the teams and they had great success with their idea ‘Seren’, taking home one of the prizes! Paul says “John Fagan has asked me to be involved with every Sync the City since it started five years ago, but this is the first time I've been in a position to commit to the 2.5 day event. Originally I was providing technical support via nor(DEV): but Sync the City were short of mentors so I was embedded into team Seren. I had to put my work for Naked Element on hold but I was more than happy to do so to be part of the event. My only regret is that I wasn't able to do it sooner!” Lily Beel , a trainee solicitor at Leathes Prior, explains the idea behind her winning pitch, saying “the general idea was to connect those beginning to suffer from mental health conditi...

Join one of our interactive workshops at nor(DEV):con 2019 on Thursday 21st of February from 9am, Get your tickets here:  http://nordevcon-2019.eventbrite.com Crack the motivation code! -  Cassandra Andrews Imagine if you knew precisely what motivated each member of your team, how motivated they were and what you could do to improve their motivation! Cassandra Andrews interactive workshop focuses on motivation in the workplace and introduces ‘motivational maps’, an incredibly accurate and user-friendly tool which enables us to unlock and measure employee motivation. Understanding exactly what motivates individuals in an organisation can be used with significant impact to support business growth and profitability by maximising employee and team motivation, retain employees and recruit the right people to complement existing teams. At the workshop you will discover how to create high performing teams by learning: What motivation is, how it can be measured and h...

Deep Tech sounds like a character from the X-Files right? While it’s not a covert government agency, Deep Tech is affecting people’s lives without them even knowing it, but it’s not something we need to be afraid of. There are lots of very technical and wordy definitions of Deep Tech, but essentially it means technology that has an engineering aspect while having a demonstrable impact on people’s daily lives. Rather than a disruptive technology, like AirBnB or Deliveroo – apps that alter a service that already existed – a Deep Tech breakthrough could use technology to cure cancer or expand space travel. AirBnB is an intangible app, while Deep Tech often involves robots or breakthroughs in scientific or medical equipment. Good examples are artificial wombs to increase the survival chances of premature babies, or brain implants to improve the independence of stroke victims. It’s not just medical advancements that are benefitting from Deep Tech, but improvements to smart homes and c...

Event: nor(DEV), TechEast & Barclays Eagle Lab present the digital technology showcase When: Monday, 29th October @ 6.30pm Where: The King's Centre, King Street, Norwich, NR1 1PH RSVP: https://www.meetup.com/Norfolk-Developers-NorDev/events/252875683/ Ever thought that technology could help your business but weren’t sure how? Have you wanted to talk to experts about the advantages of business software but were afraid of being given a hard sell? Do you have questions about software and technology but were unsure who to ask? Our Technology Showcase is here to help! Norfolk Developers, along with TechEast and the Barclays Eagle Lab Norwich have put together an evening of talks and introductions to help companies access technology firms on an informal basis. No sales pitches, no pushy sales people, just information and introductions. The evening will be free from complicated jargon and tech-speak and questions are actively encouraged! This is an evening desig...

Sync the City is a great event in which you can promote, share and test your API's, Tools and Services.  You could provide the vital ingredient that helps the startup teams Build & Launch a Startup in 54 Hours, and win the amazing cash prizes on offer! Sync the City 2018 is a 54 Hour event that brings together local entrepreneurs, developers, business managers, marketing gurus, graphic artists, students to pitch ideas for new startup companies, form teams around those ideas, and work to develop a working prototype, demo & final pitch (to win cash prizes). More details syncthecity.com In the past, we have had companies providing free access to address lookup API's, customer surveying services, hosting services, sentiment analysis API's and much more.  Its a great opportunity to publicise your own SDK / APIs / Products to be used at the event, and put them to the test and get direct feedback. If you are interested in getting involved, then email syncthecity...

On Thursday 11th October Naked Element will be making its yearly pilgrimage to the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s annual B2B event at Norwich City Football Club. We’re looking forward to seeing clients old and new, meeting new people and most of all YOU! This year we have stand number 85 on Top of the Terrace (Level 2). All of the Naked Element team will be on the stand at various points throughout the day and we’ll looking forward to Rain Crowson helping us out at lunchtime and during the afternoon. We’ll be raffling an Echo Dot in exchange for your business card and offering new potential clients £500 off their projects over £10,000. Come and see us, we’re looking forward to seeing you!

Naked Element are proud to be the main sponsors of Inspired Women’s Big Conversation Conference . Women are under-represented in business, often especially in tech, which is a fact that needs to change. As well as talking and promoting change, Naked Element decided to offer practical support as a sponsor of the Big Conversation. As a local company it makes sense to get behind a regional effort designed to inspire the next generation, and as a forward-thinking company, supporting the Inspired Women Conference was an obvious choice. Naked Element are honoured to see our name alongside such an important and relevant cause.

So Blackie Lawless decided to re-record my favorite album of all time and my initial thoughts are why did he bother. I’ve avoided buying it for months until last Friday when I was trying out some new headphones with the re-recorded guitar solo from The Idol and quite enjoyed the new layers and mix of the new version of the song. Although I’m not a musician, it feels like I know every note and I could really hear the difference. It’s not the original guitarist, and consequently the solo wasn’t the same or as good. Having now listened to the first disk of the re-record I can only say there is one improvement, the extra songs, at least one of which was taken from WASP’s latest studio album and is magnificent. The removing of the swearing in the songs and intros feels wrong and a cop out and the lead guitar work just isn’t up to Bruce Kulik’s incredible standard. The second disk is starting now….

Welcome to our Youth in Tech issue – just in time for the new term! It was no coincidence that our August issue is all about younger developers, but we’ve also included articles about how it is important to never stop learning, even when we might think we know everything! The world of tech is always evolving, sometimes it feels difficult to keep up with new developments and technologies. It’s important to spend some time investing in ourselves and staff to make sure we keep abreast of this ever-changing sector. We hear from Luminous PR and netmatters about the importance of learning in their articles. Of course it wouldn’t really be a Youth Issue without the view of an actual young developer, and we knew just the chap. Teenager James kindly gave us his opinion on the best bits of being into technology and where he thinks the future of development will be and student developers Emily and David were also kind enough to give us a developers view of their university project ‘Theia’, ...

nor(DEV):con 2019 Call For Speakers Thursday 21st to Saturday 23rd February 2019 Kings Centre 63-75 King Street Norwich NR1 1PH nor(DEV):con, the Norfolk Developers Conference is back for 2019 and stronger than ever with new tracks and an updated format. nor(DEV):con is Norfolk and Norwich’s premier and most well attended conference for everyone involved in software development and business. Call for Speakers The call for speakers is open from now until Friday 28th of September 2018. To submit a proposal, please send an email to paul@norfolkdevelopers.com with the following: Session Title Session abstract Session topics: Pre-conference workshop, Tech, Process. Workshop, Stephen Fry, Business, Lightning talk Session length: 45 min presentation, 90 minute presentation, 90 minute hands on workshop, Full day hands on workshop, 5 minute Lightning talk Technical level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Business Speaker(s) Bio Availability for Thursday 21st (full...

We are really pleased to announce that Sync the City 2018 will be held on November 15-17th at OPEN, Norwich. This will be our 5th year in which we challenge attendees to Build & Launch a Startup in 54 Hours - for fun or profit.   Last year the event sold out in 9 days, subscribers to this list will be notified of ticket sales 24 hours ahead of public sale (early September). OPEN Norwich - its BIG, its BEAUTIFUL Experience the highs, lows, fun, and pressure that make up life at a startup. Do you have an idea that could be solved using technology? Or perhaps want to know more about how technology startup businesses become the next Facebook? SyncNorwich's flagship event is Sync the City 2018 is a 54-hour event that brings together entrepreneurs, developers, business managers, marketing gurus, graphic artists, and students to pitch ideas for new startup companies, to form teams around those ideas, and to develop a working prototype, demo & presentation. ...

"It was an invaluable and pretty unique experience" Here at  Naked Element we’re big into supporting the future of tech, and that means young people. One work experience recruit was Chelsea , an ambitious school student who went on to be accepted at Oxford to study Computer Science. We couldn’t be more proud! Here she tells us a little about her journey and what inspired her to take up tech and join Naked Element for some real world experience. How did you start your work experience with Naked Element? One of my teachers at school was friends with Paul Grenyer (MD of Naked Element), and I was looking around for any work experience in the tech/computing/software industry. I had begun thinking about what I wanted to do in the future and had begun thinking of going into a technology based career. I was introduced to Paul and he asked me what I wanted out of the experience and offered me work experience. After completing a week, he offered to let me come and do another...

We don’t just create industry-changing software for big businesses, we can also pick up smaller jobs that need a quick result. Naked Element recently completed a minor job for Thyngs, a digital consumer engagement company based in Norwich. With our flexible team, experienced in development and design, we were able to turn the work around in a matter of hours. Niall, head of marketing at Thyngs , said “we needed some urgent, short-term support with some updates we needed to make to our website. We know Paul and the team, and he was responsive and eager to help.” Our designer/developer Shelley stepped in to get the job done. “Thyngs wanted some new pages added to their existing website, all in the same format, and they wanted their homepage amended slightly. Niall was lovely, easy to talk to and clear in what he wanted, which meant there were no snags or issues to worry about!” Even though it was only a few hours work, Naked Element still have a reputation for quality. “Everyone...

When: Monday 2nd July @ 5.30pm Where: The Library Restuarant, 4A Guildhall Hill, Norwich NR2 1JH RSVP: https://www.meetup.com/Norfolk-Developers-NorDev/events/251982755/ How the employer voice can influence technical & vocational training and apprenticeships in the digital and IT skills sector over the next 5 years. Jerry White - Deputy Principal at City College Norwich The Government’s agenda for the wider field of technical and vocational education alongside apprenticeships is changing. As a large FE College and apprenticeship provider we believe that employers are central to this process and our aim this evening is to start meaningful dialogue into how we can enable employers to both support and challenge us as we launch the new T Level curriculum and apprenticeship standards. We want to hear from you about the challenges you have in recruiting employees and how we can work together to fill the gap and make a difference to the next generation. The goal of the se...

When: 28 June 2018, 9am to 4.45pm Where: The Kings Centre, Kings Street, Norwich, NR1 1PH How much: £150 RSVP: https://www.meetup.com/Norfolk-Developers-NorDev/events/250241910/ WordPress is the world’s best and most popular website builder and this hands-on course takes you through from the basics, including installation and set up, to cover all the most useful features and tools WordPress offers. Whether you already have a site and want to manage it properly or are starting completely from scratch, this is the course for you. You will learn to set up and run a great website of your own add content, images and videos add structure and navigation menus apply an attractive design using easy templates make the site search engine friendly add contact forms, maps and take payments add social networking and track visitorslearn to add all the features and functionality you need to run and develop a fantastic website and much, much more… How the course works ...

When: Wednesday, 20 June 20 - 9:00am to 4:45pm Where: Kings Centre, King Street, Norwich, NR1 1PH How much: £85 RSVP: https://www.meetup.com/Norfolk-Developers-NorDev/events/250343445/ If you would like to start using the worlds most popular PHP framework, this is the workshop for you. We will cover from installing Laravel to building a basic application. Everyone will learn along as we go from a freshly installed Laravel application up to creating a basic web app that interacts with a database. Course Details We will aim to cover the following (subject to change and class experience) Routing Using Blade (templating) Controllers Validation Config/Env Using Eloquent (database ORM) Laravel inbuilt Auth Artisan (CLI commands) File Storage Instructor Simon Bennett is a Software Consultant who works with Laravel daily, helping clients update there development practices and coding software for startups. He also runs his own SAAS for backing up DigitalOce...

TechNorwich: The End. A Story & New beginnings Whitespace is sadly now having to close. Started in 2013, it was the first and largest co-working space in Norwich. Its been home to many great & successful businesses, plus home to Barclays Eagle Labs and birthplace of TechVelocity, the first accelerator for the region. Come along to this event to have a drink to remember some of the history, catch up with some of the great businesses that have lived here and discuss on the future of the amazing digital creative & tech sector in our fine city. Get your ticket:  https://technorwich.eventbrite.co.uk

A Tour of Python Burkhard Kloss Wednesday, 6th June The Priory Centre, Priory Plain, Great Yarmouth Find out what makes Python so appealing! Burkhard will offer a brief tour of the Python language, and some of the features that make it so expressive, easy to use, and appealing in a wide range of fields. After that, he'll look at examples of Python usage in practice, from really small computers (micro:bits) to clouds, from database to web development, and data science to machine learning. Burhard Kloss I only came to England to walk the Pennine Way… 25 years later I still haven’t done it. I did, though, get round to starting an AI company (spectacularly unsuccessful), joining another startup long before it was cool, learning C++, and spending a lot of time on trading floors building systems for complex derivatives. Sometimes hands on, sometimes managing people. Somewhere along the way I realised you can do cool stuff quickly in Python, and I’ve never lost my fascination ...

Whatever else I do to earn a living, I am a software engineer at the core. Outside of work other things give me a reason to smile - heavy metal bands, science fiction books or my family - but when it comes to work, writing software is what gives me the biggest buzz. Even after 33 years! Recently I spent the weekend writing some software for a client. They have an app, which we built, that allows them to take photos and complete a questionnaire for installations so that they can record compliance. The software I wrote receives the photos and questionnaire responses from the app, generates a PDF document detailing the responses and attaches it to an email, along with the photos, to send to the client. Not a particularly exciting process most would agree. It’s a straightforward piece of software (despite the security concerns and image processing which took a little while to get just right) which delivers exactly what the client needs, but we wanted to be doubly sure. So, in the ea...

Join the Norwich tech community on Friday 27 July 2018 for a tasty BBQ to celebrate #NorfolkDay. SyncNorwich, Norfolk Developers and Hot Source have got together to organise a delicious BBQ at the lovely Unthank Arms pub. (Don’t worry, we’re leaving it to the professionals to do the cooking.) You will be able to enjoy your meal in the garden – or the covered courtyard (if you need shelter or shade). We look forward to seeing you for what is sure to be a fun evening from 18:00 to 22:00. There will be a paying bar. If your business would like to sponsor this event (particularly the drinks), please get in touch with the organisers. Tickets cost just £18.92 per person – including transaction fees – but excluding drinks. In return, you’ll be able to choose from the following freshly cooked BBQ food. Choose a main from either: Juicy homemade burger, Salmon parcels with lemon and herb butter, Archer’s award winning sausages, Lemon and thyme marinated chicken fillet, or Halloumi...

What: Breakfast with Peter Brady – CEO and Founder of Orbital Media When: Tuesday 5th June Where: The Maids Head Hotel, Tombland, Norwich, NR3 1LB How much: £13.95 RSVP: https://www.meetup.com/Norfolk-Developers-NorDev/events/qqwhznyxjbhb/ Peter Brady is CEO and founder of Orbital Media, one of the UK’s most innovative full service Digital Agencies. Founded in 2003, Orbital Media has worked with some of the world’s biggest organisations on national and global accounts (including Aviva, NHS, Sanofi, Nestle and Mitsubishi). Although Orbital Media’s traditional focus was on projecting brand engagement and awareness through social and digital channels, over the last 10 years it has developed a strong innovation and technology focus, becoming the UK’s leading supplier of gamification apps to the healthcare industry. Peter will talk about Orbital Media’s journey and how it has moved into large scale tech projects (including a collaborative Artificial Intelligence project w...

Sometimes it is difficult to explain exactly how we are different from our competitors and what working with us is like, so we put together a short video that says it all! Some of our lovely clients have kindly shared how they felt about working with Naked Element , the results they saw and the impact our software had on their business. In less than three minutes it is clear why we get such good feedback from our clients. Our specialised way of working and personal approach makes a big difference, and our understanding of each client's needs is obvious from the finished product. As CEO Paul Grenyer says, we are driven by our clients, and that, combined with our years of development experience, means that we have helped companies large and small overcome processing issues. But don't take our word for it! Take a look at our video and what our clients have to say about us, and get in touch if you think we can help you!

Naked Element CEO, Paul Grenyer, will be appearing on the Radio 4 show Moneybox Live at 3.30pm on Wednesday 4th April 2018, speaking about the impact of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on small businesses. The show will be available on iPlayer, shortly after the broadcast, here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09xcshq/

What:   A.I. and Cognitive Computing with Watson & Keep Secure and Under the Radar When: Wednesday 4th April, 6.30pm to 9pm. Where:  Whitespace, 2nd Floor, St James' Mill, Whitefriars, NR3 1TN RSVP:   https://www.meetup.com/Norfolk-Developers-NorDev/events/242231165/ A.I. and Cognitive Computing with Watson Colin Mower Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Computing have become the latest buzzwords in the industry, with companies big and small rushing to work out how they can take advantage of this emerging technology. In this discussion, we’ll look at the myths behind the hype, how mature the technology is and how IBM’s Watson has evolved from game show winner to one of the market leaders. Colin works for IBM as a Technical Leader, crossing all the IBM technologies and services. Prior to Big Blue, he worked in Aviva for over 14 years and has contributed to nor(DEV):con and Norfolk Developer Meetups. He still lives in Norfolk and apart from p...

We love the MigSolv data centre out at Bowthorpe in Norwich. This was nor(DEV):’s second visit and they always make us very welcome. Walking into what feels like a massive Blakes 7 set and getting the tour,including the retina scanner and massive server hall, is incredible and seriously interesting (even though it’s my third time!). The intimacy of the board room with the table down the centre and nor(DEV): members arranged each side is great for generating conversation! And when you have a humorous and huge personality like Mark Pryce-Maher it encourages the banter and the discussion even more! It’s safe to say this was one of the most interactive nor(DEV): evening presentations for some time. Mark was there to tell us about how you can run Microsoft SQL Server on Linux (or is that “Lynux”?). Anyone would think Mark had been on the WINE, but no, you really can run SQL Server natively on Linux now. The first question though, has to be “why?”. The answer is simple. Microsoft are...

Seeing as it’s been National Apprenticeship Week this week, we thought we would shine a light on our apprentices, past and present. Naked Element would be a duller place without them and the valuable work they do! We’ve had three apprentices in total, Lewis, Rain and Jack and they’ve all been invaluable to our business. Lewis spent his year-long software development apprenticeship with us, before staying on a while longer as a full-time employee. He headed User Story workshops , held meetings with clients and even managed to join in with some of the social sides of Naked Element too! Lewis got a lot out of his time with us, saying "an apprenticeship is a great way to get your foot in the door of an industry, gain some excellent skills and first-hand experience in a job you may want to turn into a career". Lewis decided to be an apprentice because he felt that a more hands-on approach to learning would suit him better than studying full time. At the time he hoped he woul...

This issue focuses on Business in Tech. Or Tech in Business, as it is almost impossible to have one without the other and they both have an equally important role to play in our region. Countless reports from business minds, governments and international organisations are all talking about how technology is going to play a bigger part in manufacturing, commerce and business in general. So where does Norfolk fit in? Luckily we’ve pulled together articles and interviews from some of the region’s leading names including Chris Sargisson and Tim Robinson, as well as celebrating all things Her with a gallery from the DevelopHER Awards. Speaking of women in tech, Hayley Johnson from Epos Now has been kind enough to close the issue with an inspirational call to action for all businesses. We hope you enjoy this new issue and share the link with your friends and colleagues! Download here .

Last week we attended the Evolution: Journey into Industry 4.0 event and it was an illuminating experience! Not only did we get to hear from some of manufacturings leading lights in the region, we got to talk alongside them at Naame’s packed conference. As well as having our exhibition stand, our Director Paul Grenyer spoke at the event, demonstrating the value of process automation within manufacturing and how it will support growth in the sector. No capital expenditure required! Paul was able to share the benefits our clients have already seen from automating processes, and have a little fun along the way too! Other speakers included industry gurus from Loughborough University, the Department for International Trade, Knowledge Transfer Manager – KTN – Innovate UK, Cranfield University, Hethel Innovation and West Suffolk College. We were also fortunate enough to hear from companies already putting automation into practice to great effect, including Warren Services, asset intell...

Held by Inspired Youth Projects , My Tech 2018 was another successful meeting of tech employers and burgeoning tech talent. Naked Element was proud to support the event, as always, and our developers really got a lot out of it too! "The MyTech Inspired Youth event brought together some of the great local tech companies and organisations including EposNow, Breakwater IT and Tech East” said our developer Henri Keeble, “It was was great talking to the students about what it is we do at Naked Element - the technically minded students showed a lot of interest. We were able to give some insight into what a career in software may look like, but also speak about the different routes we'd taken to get to where we are now, with my colleague Jack and myself having very different experiences. We were able to offer some advice we wish we'd known! It was also good to see those who were uncertain of their future career goals taking an interest in the various companies that were pres...

HELP KEEP NORWICH & NORFOLK ON THE TECH NATION MAP IN 2018 Tech Nation is a groundbreaking series of reports on the UK’s digital tech ecosystem. Over the last three years – it has captured the strength, depth and breadth of activity across the UK. It has revealed the scale of the digital tech sector, captured its growth, and – crucially – developed an understanding of the characteristics of the communities driving it. We hope to make Tech Nation 2018 the best report yet. To do this, we need your help. Last year the survey had 2,700 responses, this year we hope to reach 11,000 responses, and to hear from all tech communities in the UK to allow us to provide the most up to date and insightful data on the UK tech community in 2018. If you work in or run a business in the technology, digital sector or any business that is related to or supports these sectors such as investors, legal, education etc. then we need your input. We want to hear from you on topics such as diversi...

What: Full Day Workshop: BDD with Cynefin - Liz Keogh When: Wednesday, February 7, 2018, 9:00am to 4:45pm Where: The King's Centre, King Street, Norwich, NR1 1PH How much: £130.00 RSVP: https://www.meetup.com/Norfolk-Developers-NorDev/events/245781564/ Behaviour-Driven Development is a practice in which we talk through different examples (scenarios) of how a system might work, from the perspective of its many users. In this unique tutorial we mix BDD with Cynefin, the sensemaking framework that helps makes sense of the world around you and the problems you encounter depending on their predictability. The course provides thinking and conversational tools to enable teams, product owners and managers to address risk early, develop a deep understanding of requirements at different scales, shorten the time needed to reach that understanding, produce high-quality, innovative solutions, and create human-readable, relevant and memorable tests as a by-product… and it...