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Before spending seven years in Melbourne and then moving to Germany, I lived and grew up in London. I am one of London's rarities, a real, born-and-bred, bona fide Londoner. In fact I am actually a Cockney -- and one of the last! I decided to leave London and the UK eight years ago for several reasons. One of the main ones was that it felt like a dying city. Nothing seemed to be changing, it seemed to be stuck in a rut and living in the past. Until recently, it hadn't felt like this had change...

I&#39;m always a bit behind with development trends, mainly because working for yourself or small businesses, you rarely have the luxury of spare time to experiment and tend to<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp; stick with what you have to get the job done. For a couple of reasons I wanted to finally try some sort of new development setup and thought it was high time to look into a <a href="https://www.vagrantup.com/" target="_blank">Vagrant</a> style setup. These reasons were:<ul clas...

As has been the pattern of many recent DrupalCons and Camps, DrupalCon Amsterdam 2014 was all about Drupal 8 and the changes that it's bringing to the platform and community. This has coincided with an increase in attendance at Drupal events (2300 in Amsterdam) and an increasing professionalism to DrupalCons. Drupal 8 has pulled us (sometimes forcibly) from out of our comfort zone and into the wider PHP and developer community. This has resulted in more talks covering a variety of non-Drupal t...

Today Apple held one of its signature events in its home town of Cupertino, California, announcing a new range of iPhones, a long-awaited wearable device, and a new payment system. There were more rumours than have ever been witnessed before from an Apple announcement and the amount of mainstream press coverage has been staggering. So what really happened? Was it all everyone anticipated? Let's take a look.

## How the change we have been discussing can actually happen? A valid discussion, but what will the limitations and potentials be. **[Friederike Habermann](https://www.leuphana.de/nage-tagung/programm/referierende/friederike-habermann.html)** As an economist, she has always been interested in alternative economies for many decades. She mentions that sometimes it's hard to live the principles you preach in everyday life, more-so than in other alternative lifestyles. Demonstrations don't work in the long term, they are to make your demands but in the long run you need to show why t...

## The Hegemony of Growth Growth is always a goal in many countries, statistics appear everywhere and it's always discussed. Even small reductions in GDP are met with bitter disappointment, it's become one of the most important measures in the modern era. **But why? Where did this obsession come from?** There are surprisingly few discussions or resources on when and why this did happen. Previously there were disparate measures of production or measures of territorial expansion. Even in the times...

## The Transition to a Sustainable Commons Society in Ecuador and beyond **Michelle Bauens, the [P2P Foundation](https://p2pfoundation.net/)** The [Nutrient dense project](https://nutrientdenseproject.com/) is a global community of farmers and civic scientists who believe that putting nutrients into the soil it will improve food growth rates. These projects will often receive no funding, so they have mutualised their research and practices. This knowledge and information is shareable and escapes the commodity model. This is the production of commons, not capital....

We are looking at what these models and projects share in common and what is different between them and why. **Astrid Lorenzen from [Hamburg FabLab](https://www.fablab-hamburg.org/).** One project created a lab in a public park where people could create their own mobile phones, it was a popular project and demonstrated that people have an interest in knowing what goes into what they own. It appealed to a broad audience in Hamburg and was widely reported upon. [XYZ Bike](https://www.xyzcargo.com/) that people can create and assemble themselves. The Fab Lab i...

## The OAE Project: Open Data and Open Source software for a sustainable economy It's refreshing to hear someone (unsurprisingly an engineer) mention that the Degrowth movement could do with more practical projects and methodologies to run alongside the theoretical discussions. The [OAE](https://www.openaltraeconomia.it/software.html#web) project aimed to intersect Ecological/Socio-Economic, Legal and Green Tech concepts and values. The project's expected outcomes were to provide up-to-date data in common and standard formats for the consortium...

## Facing the current crisis: Critique and Resistance **Konstantatos Haris of the Harokopio University of Athens** is a member of [Syriza](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalition_of_the_Radical_Left) and Political scientist in the department of Geography. He states that Geography and History are also factors as well as different political and socio-economic structures. There are commonalities amongst many Southern European countries that need to be addressed today. Whilst a lot of attention has been paid to the neo-liberalisation of economies in the 70s and...

Despite attending the conference, not everyone will fully understand what 'Degrowth' is, or the multitude of related terms that will be mentioned during the conference. Thankfully the first session on the schedule is ideally suited for getting your knowledge up to scratch. Judging by audience responses to the question "What is Degrowth?" there isn't a concrete definition yet, but one is needed to make the term more understandable to the wider world. Currently 'Degrowth' is more of an intersect...

<p class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">Phew, quite a week! I started throwing myself into a few meetups in Leipzig and learnt a great many things about the event culture here (and other things) that I would like to share with you&hellip;<p class="p1"><strong><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">Toastmasters, Leipzig Chapter</strong><br /><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">I have never been to a <a href="https://www.toastmasters.org/" target="_blank">Toastmasters</a> event before, mainl_...

A little while back I announced my intention to write a book on some techniques and ideas incorporating Lean and Agile methodologies into the&nbsp;not-for-profit&nbsp;sector. I made some good headway but it became fairly apparent to me quite quickly that maybe I didn&#39;t have quite enough material (right now) to produce a complete book. Well as luck would have it I met up with highly experienced not-for-profit consultant, Donnie Maclurcan and he mentioned his &#39;Not-for-Profit Handbook&#39...

I've been in Germany for a couple of months now and of course there the obvious signs you're not a local when you open your mouth. Here are couple of other subtle ones I'm noticing: <ul><li>I'm so used to putting my left foot down on the curbside when stopping on my bike I can't stop now I'm riding on the right. Hardly anyone else does that.</li><li>Germans wear their wedding rings on their right hands, we wear them on the left.</li></ul> This list will update over time, keep checking back!

<p class="p1"><em>The more I come to USA, the less I understand it, in fact I could say, the less I like it.</em>Before we explore that further, I had to leave Germany first&hellip;Leipzig airport has a couple of positives and negatives being a small airport&hellip;The main negative is you can&rsquo;t seem to online check-in to international flights that originate from there, but on the flip side, check in and security takes about ten minutes.I&rsquo;ve been in Australia so long that I had forgo...

So, we're coming up to our first month living in Leipzig (and Germany), so I think I can now start to give some initial impressions. Especially as now we are moving out of 'Holiday' mode and into 'Work' mode. You can find my continually growing photo gallery of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrischinchilla/sets/72157646005686102/" target="_blank">miscellaneous Leipzig pictures here</a>. <h2>Co-working, tech scene, start-ups etc.…</h2> Leipzig is a smaller city than Melbourne (or Berl...

A couple of months ago I watched the movies 'Her' and 'Computer Chess'. In essence, they were two ends of the same spectrum, demonstrating how computers interact with us instead of us interacting with them, with computers being the active initiator, instead of the passive responder to our instructions. The world in 'Her' is not far removed from the present -- where people seem comfortable with computers and devices prompting interactions with them on an almost constant basis.

Wow! I just took part in my first rally in Leipzig (and Germany), The '<a href="https://www.gso-le.de/" target="_blank">Global Space Odyssey</a>', representing refugee rights this year. I'm not sure if this is how every rally in Germany happens, I doubt it is, I think this was something special that happens on a yearly basis as local news and social media was awash with reports on the event. I'll tell you more... I turned up at the start location and noticed it was a street, not a square as...

In the past ten days I finally made the second overseas move of my life. This time from Melbourne to Leipzig. It was a different period in my life from the last move as I was no longer a single man with a suitcase and a guitar. I had a wife, an ageing cat and an entire house of stuff to deal with. But first, Melbourne. Melbourne has been a great home to me for the past 7 1/2 years. I have met many people who were involved with many things, and I consider it my second home after wherever I ha...

Not a post I would usually share, but it seemed the easiest way of getting everything in one place. A bunch of stuff that might appeal to musicians, technical people etc etc&hellip; Would rather get something for each item, but at this point in time I need to clear them out, so&hellip; We have:<ul><li>Telstra Elite Next G Network mobile modem</li><li><del>2 x 6 way power boards</del></li><li><del>4 x 4 way power boards</del></li><li>4 x Extension cords, maybe 5m</li><li><del>Dunlop guitar po...

<p class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">It&rsquo;s been a busy week and I haven&rsquo;t quite found the time for a daily blog, so instead, lets have a quick weekly round up&hellip;<p class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">On Monday I went to Mobile Mondays, <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/momomay-mobile-entrepreneur-and-startup-success-secrets-may-12-6pm-tickets-11398538335" target="_blank">a session on entrepreneurs and startups</a><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">._...

There was a panel discussion at tonight's launch but it was really all about launching Victoria's peak body for startups, entrepreneurs and founders tonight and the packed room was very much in drinking and talking mode. That there is enough happening in the Melbourne and Victorian startup scene to warrant a peak body is fantastic and it's great to know that the state Government along side several corporates are backing Startup Victoria. Join in April or May and get membership for $99, which...

With an average global combined market share of 85-95%, iOS and Android are by far the dominant players in the mobile operating system space. So why bother looking into or developing on any other platforms? First, you might be an inquisitive person, and maybe are just interested in exploring new systems and concepts. Second, when has the tech space ever stayed still? The main players of today may not be the main players in six months time, and it pays to keep an eye on the underdogs and new en...

I have dabbled with a little bit of work in the tech/health scene and always knew that Melbourne generally had a large and healthy medical ‘industry’, but I had no idea that the Startup space was so large! Tonight’s event was held at the brand new Royal Children’s Hospital, which was very shiny, new and welcoming. The crowd was a good mix of clinicians, technical folk and business folk and there were quite a few speakers, so I’ll get on with telling you about them all in my usual very brief man...

Another great 'What do you know' session from <a href="https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCwQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.webdirections.org%2F&ei=yw5CU5rLDcmdkgWC4oDoCA&usg=AFQjCNFVeqPXVmE57AS0EUr3fdd42psoPA&sig2=HXz7xVEu8XhKCcZjXcFpTg&bvm=bv.64125504,d.dGI" target="_blank">Web Directions</a>, lots of short talks, lots of short descriptions... **Matt Allen - A 'good' recruiter** Advice on how to make yourself more appealing to recruiters.<ul><li>P...

My new tech collective, Gregarious Mammal is a proud sponsor of the next <a href="https://sf2014.civicrm.org/" target="_blank">CivCon in San Francisco</a>&nbsp;on the 24-25th April&nbsp;and as a sponsor we have a free ticket that we wont be able to utilise, so we&#39;re giving it away! Simply email <a href="https://mailto:support@gregariousmammal.com">support@gregariousmammal.com</a> and the first in will win it!

We had two local and two international speakers this month&hellip; Andrew Grieve from Google talks about converting your Chrome web apps into mobile apps with Apache Cordova<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/MFu8-NlQ1tk" width="560"></iframe> Next Stefan Stölzle from Sencha discussed using <a href="https://www.sencha.com/blog/building-a-tizen-app-with-sencha-touch/" target="_blank">Sencha with Tizen</a> Richard Collins from Canonical talks a...

One of the peculiar aspects of Android is that theoretically, everything is replaceable. This includes phone features, which initially seems odd, the fact that you can replace your phone dialler with something else. Generally I've found the default apps fine for calls and sms, but since Google's move to Hangouts to replace the sms app and it's seeming (but unfulfilled, yet) promise to consolidate all communication into one app, which whilst pretty, is infuriating slow. I took this as an oppor...

The old paradigms in software design have been on life support for a long time. Who under 30 can relate to the metaphors many interfaces are based upon: desktops, folders, files, disk icons and cutting and pasting with scissors and glue brushes? Who in their life has ever kept a file inside a folder, inside a folder, inside another folder? I can't even imagine what that would look like.

Every now and then along comes a piece of software that just does pretty much everything right, one of these is Dash. Ok, it's a documentation browser for developers, so has a limited appeal, but it's makers have really thought through a lot of it's configuration and layout. Why would you need this? Can't you just go online for documentation? Well, yes you can, but sometimes you're not online and if you're like me, sometimes you just like an app. Why is it awesome?<ul><li>It has heaps of docu...