Last.fm vs Xbox at DIBI Conference

Last week I had the pleasure of speaking at the Design It, Build It conference in Newcastle, where I gave a talk entitled “ Last.fm vs Xbox.”

It was a 30 minute presentation of our experience at Last.fm launching a radio application to millions of Xbox Live users. It was a mix of the Last.fm vs Xbox story, how we dealt with it, the tools we used and general tips for anyone dealing with large scale launches. I think it went pretty well, people seemed to enjoy it, even a few designers!

The presentation is available on Slideshare. I kept the slides “word heavy” so they’d make sense without the accompanying talk, though if you have any questions please do get in touch and i’ll try and help.

I promised some people I that I’d write more about how to find out about and get started with some of the technology and tools mentioned. I’m still catching up on life and work in London after an extended stay in Newcastle but i’ll be posting that soon — and going in to a bit more detail about the slides themselves.

Build It

The rest of the build line-up was excellent. Michael Brunton-Spall gave an overview of The Guardian’s scaling challenges and how they approach rapid application building, such as the MPs expenses crowd-sourcing effort

I Gareth Rushgrove’s “You’re going to need a bigger toolbox” a perfect topic for a conference to tackle. There are hundreds of languages & tools available but Gareth gave a great overview of some interesting ones you should learn more about on your own, getting you rather excited in the process. There’s a collection of all the built-it presentation slides which are well worth reading.

Design It

Sadly I missed the Design-It talks, but heard good things. I’m particularly looking forward to seeing slides and videos for Andy Clarke & Simon Collision, but i’ll be watching all of them when I have the chance.

Thanks

I have to say a massive thanks to the organisers (particularly @gavinelliott & @coldclimate) for running a brilliant event. I know first hand that even running a small tech event is a royal pain but they made it look easy.

I’ve booked my ticket for next year already and am looking forward to enjoying the day as a relaxed attendee. See you there?