Author Archives: James - Page 45
Driver Assistance HUD – Innovation Concept
I picked a meta level problem for my innovation course project. The problem is making it easier for the driver to improve road safety. I've come up with an idea for driver assistance at service level. Too much information on the roadside - (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The idea is that you have get your driver assistance through integrating navigation, a forward facing stereoscopic camera and the WiFi from a smartphone to provide assistance to drivers. This is then linked through the cloud to other nearby vehicles. Driver Assistance What it would do is mount the cameras and projector on the dash forward of the steering wheel. The cameras would provide some sense of how close the next vehicle was, and help with other driving cues. The projector would stick a bar along the bottom of the windscreen to help the driver with speed, and…
Performance Objectives – Public Sector
Performance Objectives - Public Sector Slack et al. identify five generic performance objectives: quality speed dependability flexibility cost These generic performance objectives are explained below. There are public sector examples to help illustrate them. Quality Quality is about consistent performance. This could be meeting a product specification or about providing a superior service. In the public sector, it could be how many decisions get appealed. Or the number of letters re-drafted before being sent. Externally Quality increases customer satisfaction. Excellent services for the citizen should drive public services. Internally Quality reduces costs and increases dependability. Measurement Customer satisfaction surveys where there is a direct service to the public. Internal metrics ( redrafts or errors recorded on a case management system). Speed Speed is about minimising the time lag between a customer request and its fulfilment. This could be the time taken to reply to correspondence, or…
Biscuits without an oven
I'm experimenting with making digestive biscuits without using the oven today. I'm trying it out ahead of the cubs cooking competition to see if it works. The cubs aren't allowed to use electrical stuff and only have gas rings to cook on. This year's theme is the cub scout centenary. We've not yet finalised the menu, the choice is between something jungle book inspired and a twist on classic cub camp food. So the digestive biscuits I'm trying will become the base for smores. Digestive biscuits without an oven Recipe rolled out dough for the digestive biscuits 2 cups wholemeal flour 1/2 cup dark brown sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup butter 3/4 cup milk I've given the measures there as cups, but I used a nominal 100g per cup for my trial. Method Take a…
Reviews are King – Book Marketing Pt.2
Reviews are king. Books with good reviews sell way more copies than those that haven't. Even when you do a free giveaway more people will download a book with positive reviews than the same one with none. (See my A/B testing post). Getting Reviews You don't want to rely on people who buy your book leaving reviews. There are two reasons why not. Without reviews you won't sell many copies Very few people review products (compared to the numbers that download/buy it) So you need to do some research. Google book review sites for the genres you think your book is a reasonable match for. Read the reviews of books you've read and see whether you think they might like your book. (You have read other books in the genre you're writing in? If not go do so immediately, you must understand…
Disaster at Havendale by Richard E. Davis [Book Review]
Disaster at Havendale by Richard E. Davis My rating: 4 of 5 stars I was sent a free copy of Disaster at Havendale by the publisher as a prize in a twitter competition. I started reading it when it arrived, but then lent it to a friend to read, and then it sat neglected in the bottom of my work bag when it was returned to me (because I was then in the middle of another book). Disaster at Havendale I finally came back to Disaster at Havendale a couple of days ago and read it on my daily commute over two days. It is a bit of a slow burn to start with, taking slightly more than half of the book to set the scene and establish the characters. This would be fine in a full length novel, but its…