Fresh from our Community, a question about Copper and Prince2. We’re much obliged to answer!

http://community.copperproject.com/elementsoftware/topics/prince2

– Ben Prendergast

If you have a Corporate 2008 or Standard 2008 or earlier server license, take advantage of our special upgrade price of $749 for the very latest v4 codebase. A huge step up from previous versions, click here to purchase

– Ben Prendergast

Follow us on Twitter for updates, new releases, and other Copper news. Click here: @copperproject

– Ben Prendergast

This week I thought I’d blog about some of the tech that’s floating my boat at the moment.

Solar Panel Roof Tiles

Let’s kick off with this from Springwise: Solar panels build right into roof tiling, just genius, and a truly interconnected grid of power generation is something sorely lacking in Australia.

http://springwise.com/weekly/2009-09-16.htm#solepowertile
Link: http://www.srsenergy.com/

Wireless Electricity

Witricity uses magnetic coupling to transfer power safely and wirelessly. Check out this demo where Eric Giler demos a wirelessly powered iPhone and TV. The tech is still at 45-50% efficiency (a few thousand time more efficient than a battery), but coupled with solar tiles above, we may just have ourselves some awesomeness!

http://www.ted.com/talks/eric_giler_demos_wireless_electricity.html

Honda unveils a Segway thingy

Minimallisimo, the sexy one-shot minimal digi camera

Just because it brings back the surprise element of not knowing how your shot is going to come out until you develop it.

Link: http://minimalissimo.com/2009/09/oneshot-camera/

– Ben Prendergast

I received this question today via email, and thought I’d post up my response:

Q. How does copper compare to MS project software? Why use copper, what are the costs and how does it work better than MS project?

A. The biggest issue with MS Project is that it is simple a single user repository and having come from a PM background I often found that it dictated how I work. I also found when I did use it within a team environment that MS Project did nothing to assist in the management of the politics of a project, and tended to make me focus more on the technical side of the timeline than actually getting things done (and the more I focussed on that, the less work that got done, and the more I’d have to update my schedule!)

With Copper, we turned that on its head. We still provide great project setup tools like the flash gantt timeline view and drag and drop subtasks in the project creation screen, but the real power of Copper comes with its multi-user platform, which assists in the collaboration component of all your projects.

Once you’ve allocated your users to tasks (or even gone the extra step of committing their available time, if you want finite resourcing), they then go ahead and provide a running commentary of the work they do along with how long it takes them and their subjective impression of how complete a task is. This is an easy process for them, and provides a natural update mechanism, removing the pain associated with timesheet tracking, and ensuring if one member is away for whatever reason your team can pick up where they left off. This is to say nothing of the other areas of Copper like the document management module, contacts module, reports, and group calendar functions within Copper. Being available anywhere anytime, I don’t hear of may customers going back to MS Project once they’re on board with Copper

The net result is that over time you can review how your projects have tracked and we’ve found teams become more cohesive the more they use Copper. In a recent survey we found that over 80% of our customers save between 10-20 hours per week, and 20% save more than 20 hours a week just by using Copper.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any specific questions on functionality, or anything else for that matter!

– Ben Prendergast

Two videos that give a glimpse into the ‘future’, one from what looks like the mid-late 80’s and the other from 1993. The latter is scarily accurate, I want that futurist on my staff!

http://www.core77.com/blog/videos/before_there_was_sketchupalias_upfront_14675.asp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZb0avfQme8

And ergo we see the birth of I.T. archaeology.

– Ben Prendergast

Hey party people,

I’m sure for those of you who do check back here from time to time the dearth (I love that word, look it up) of contact from me to you all has been noticeable.

However I will say this: we have been working our little toushes off getting this version 4.0 product to the point where it is now by far the best online PM tool I’ve ever used.

Of course I’m biased, but I can say that one of my personal requirements for this build was indeed to make it indispensable for me, in the way that no doubt Steve Jobs does when he’s designing a new Mac or iPhone. I get the distinct impression that he has his tech boffins give him the latest prototype, he goes away, USES IT, then comes back and is like, “hey it would just be really nice if this did that” and away they go iteratively until something special emerges.

I’ve also noticed similar results in the German automotive industry, having been in a few german cars in the last year or so they just seem to get down to real-world usage and make stuff work better. In many respects this is because someone has a vision, has complete trust in this vision, and even if they risk peeing off 5% of their customer base because they go for a brave-ish choice, it makes the other 95% of people talk about the thing and the 5% become less than significant.

I’m a huge fan of Ricky Gervais, and if you are too you’ll know that his work is always uncompromising. A towering intellect (no doubt if he were in this conversation he’d jump in – proabably only half jokingly – and agree), he is quoted as saying that in developing his work he and Steve Merchant started with a definitive vision, and delivered on it. In Extras he goes further in parodying this when his character gives in to BBC idealism and alters his show for the sake of a few laughs and a paycheck. Ripper artists.

And so, I come to my point. These artists/businessmen are very close to my heart. I observe them, I appreciate them, I would very much one day like to have coffee/beers with them. but for now I’m contented to know that I’m aligned with their ideals, and in my own special corner of the web I’ve done so in the development of our latest product. I had a vision, it was shared with a bunch of creative/likeminded customers, and together we developed a product that helps us get the rudimentary stuff done so we have more time to shape our ideas.

Over the next few weeks I will be posting these new features, and will also be commenting on how/why they were added, and how they might help your business. Until then, have a great weekend!

Ben Prendergast
CEO
Element Software

– Ben Prendergast

The Apple machine continues to satiate the tech-hungry among us, and this week we’re in readiness for another announcement.

A number of rumours abound as to the content of the release, including a new ipod nano, an update to the iphone, wireless access for ipods, Apple announcing its own record label with Jay Z, and even the much anticipated release of the Beatles backcatalogue.

My money is on an iphone-esque ipod (with a 3.5″ screen and somewhere around 120gb of storage), but Apple just love brand by association so don’t be surprised if the Beatles back-catalogue is also announced. This rumour is made especially feasible given the John Lennon catalogue was recently secured, and that the tagline for the Sept 5th announcement is “The beat goes on”. Too clever by half!

While my guitar gently weeps, I wonder what the boffins at Cupertino think of some of the extraneous points of interest around the web, such as the sim-hack for the iPhone to enable any non-AT&T sim to use the phone, or the Google Phone a hotly anticipated iPhone competitor.

No doubt Steve Jobs will point to Apple’s stellar rise in the telecoms market with the iPhone outselling ALL other smartphones in the US for July (which counted for nearly 2% of US mobile handset sales) and present a big ingratiating graph showing what you and I already knew (the iPhone is a hit).

To whit, some of the statistical data is interesting, MacRumours (via Cellular-news) reports: 57% of iPhones bought in July were U.S. consumers 35 years or younger, with a 52/48 Male/Female split, and 1/4 of iPhone purchases switched to AT&T from another provider.

I’d imagine that those telcos in the Australian market looking to sway market share are now looking a little more seriously at the iPhone contract. I would be.

– Ben Prendergast

This week, I’d like to share with you five things I do routinely to engender creativity. Whether I’m building a new business, consulting for a client, or writing music, these things are employed at various times and in varying configurations. Your mileage may vary, but welcome to my zany world of self-provocation.1. Do things in fivesFive things are easier to remember. We have five fingers, attention spans of five minutes, five business days. Chinese mythology places a lot of importance in the number five (there are five notes in the Pentatonic scale, otherwise known to musicians as the Blues, or Chinese traditional music, or the powerchord, but I digress).If you can get by with five departments, five email folders, five blog points, five children, do it! This was a quick and easy one; just get down with five, alright!?2. Espresso in the AM, merlot in the PMYes I’m advocating drug use, albeit on the legal side of things. The brain is chemistry’s bitch, so sometimes when I’m on a work bender I’ll use caffeine (cocaine’s distant cousin) to pull me out of my rut and feel like I’m at one with my creative self.Then in the afternoon, after I’ve cajoled my membrane into action, I like to smooth it over with some antioxidants, in the form of a couple of glasses of red wine. Like a good athlete, I like to keep my grey-matter fine tuned (legally).3. Ride/runIncidentally, it works the other way too; abstaining from the aforementioned stimulants and undertaking some physical exercise releases endorphins and the feeling of mastery required to be a creative whirlwind.So an early morning workout has the same effect for me, and I’ll be buzzing for the rest of the day. Sometimes I’ll have a coffee, ride 20ks, drink some red wine, and solve world hunger, but that’s just how I roll (because I’m extremely creative).4. Use a split-personalityIf the physical activity or quasi-narcotics don’t get my synapses firing, I like to employ a little self-imposed psychosis and adopt a split personality (I usually call him Kevin).To be specific, and in my case we’re normally talking about new product development or marketing activities, I’ll normally adopt the guise of a customer seeing my product for the first time.Every business person should do this once a week. Just clear your head and be your target market.5. Write lists, with progressively more threatening checkboxes each time you procrastinateSir Richard Branson taught me this (not personally, but on a five-hour flight while reading his Virgin-sanctioned book) and, being susceptible to procrastination when creating, I’ve taken list writing to a whole new level.Check it out. At the start of each week I write a list of really specific things I’d like to get done, and draw a little checkbox to the left of them. If I complete something, I make a little show of ticking it (eg, punch the air, dance a jig).If I don’t tick it in reasonable time I’ll draw the box a little thicker, draw another box, or sometimes I’ll write self-imposed threats (eg, “I HAVE YOUR WIFE, DO THIS OR ELSE!”).Lists work my friends, as evidenced by my completion of this blog posting (ticks box, saves wife, does MC Hammer shuffle).Until next week, get hi-tech with ‘yer head.

– Ben Prendergast

As a tech entrepreneur, or indeed a closet capitalist, sometimes it’s hard to feel like you’re contributing in any way to the greater good.For me personally, it was only when I started involving myself and my organisation in worthy causes did I actually become passionate about our capacity to assist the greater good. We recently provided software for an African ministry, which was the most rewarding contribution I’ve ever made.So this week, I thought I’d take a look at current happenings on the entrepreneurial-environmentalist front. As it turns out, making money and saving the planet are not mutually exclusive.1. Transport. Oooooh! Brammo’s Enertia Electric motorcycle is destined to be the next Vespa, with decidedly sexy lines that hark back to old-school two wheelers. Just stick your tongue on the fuel cap to see if there’s charge!2. Wood. Step one: write furious letters requesting environmental action to your local MP. Step two, plant your expired Haatar pencil, the one with the seed-embedded butt.3. Energy. The worlds largest solar farm, to be built in California, will service 21,000 homes. You know, Australia shares a liberal heritage with its west-coast US cousins, not to mention millions of hectares of sun-drenched desert. Why don’t we have the largest solar farm?4. Water. The environmentalist, Queensland scientist Dr Ian Edmonds has this idea to solve the water crisis: Using the East Australian current, float cargo-ship sized plastic membranes filled with fresh water down to Brisbane and Sydney. Just watch she doesn’t snag on the reef, guys!5. ???? For some delightful environmentalist schtick, take a look at this fantastic video. I won’t give away the plot, just watch.Credit to www.treehugger.com (a great environmental blog).

– Ben Prendergast