The weekend before last we were out at the Roncesvalles Street fest selling t-shirts and promoting the new website we’re working on called 5 Blocks Out. It was a great couple of days. We met a lot of lovely people and sold a bunch of t-shirts.

We have now launched our 5 Blocks Out Blog. It will have some content similar to Mukodu and other content chronicling the development of the site. If you have enjoyed reading this blog you will likely enjoy our project 5BlocksOut.com and following the blog. Currently 5BlocksOut.com is in the early stages of development – but already a great deal of fun. So whether you are interested in hearing about early stage start-ups, adventures in the City or how to get the most out of the site, the blog should have something for you.

Send me a line if you would like to learn more. Or check out the new blog as it gains momentum.

Have a great week!

One of the big challenges in running a small software startup is service availability and support. This was, perhaps, a little easier in the bad old days when software shipped in boxes and "support" meant picking up a phone between 9-5 on business days, then mailing out a CD or floppy disc (remember those?) with updated bits.

Nowadays, much of the software people are building "ships" as a service running 24×7 on the web, or at least has a online service component to it. What’s more, customers increasingly reside around the world, and expect near-realtime responses, especially if their business depends on your software service.

You can imagine, then, that for a 1- or 2-person dev shop, making a web service highly available to customers is a particularly daunting challenge.

[You can read the rest of this piece over on my personal (and geekier) blog, MyOwnPirateRadio.]