It’s time I unveiled the alternative name for the Challenge Me, Sir Richard Branson project. If you haven’t already gathered from the post title, then please put your hands together for:

JoshingTalk Submersible

(JTSub- for future posts)

Naming this project has been the easiest bit so far. In fact, it was a title I had thought out in one of my many daydreams that seemingly come along at the most random times. When the moment comes however, I just let it flow and apart from looking rather peculiar in physical appearance, mentally it often leads to a new insight or rumbles up a much needed source of motivation.

Like with any project, research is essential and pretty much the majority of time is taken up by it. I have consistently been abusing Google with questions and it has provided. One unusual but effective method I’ve found to help me was actually going past page 1 of Google search results.
There is a hidden world of websites sitting in the distant Google pages of 2, 3 and even 4.
Once you go past this realm however, you become exposed to some comical results. For example:

Needless to say, I was slightly put off by the assumption that someone in this world has genuinely wondered if anyone looking for deep sea camera systems would like a male genitalia picture. It’s almost like the bargain buys you find in your local Tesco’s. A ‘buy one, get one free!’ if you will.

I quickly returned to the safety of page 1 in Google and have found several important looking people, some of which have links to Virgin Oceanic (share the wisdom Sir Richard!).
With the pages bookmarked in my favourites and emails delivered to inboxes in global locations, I just hope they can find the time for a quick reply.

Just a short paragraph of advice would be good. Maybe a sentence or two.
Anything but a male genitalia pic for my pleasure.

Before I talk about JTSA, I thought it would be good to clarify the colour coding of the posts.
As you can see, this post has a blue outline signifying that this post is related to the JTSA project. It’s just to add a cleaner layout so at a glance, you can tell which post relates to which project I’m talking about hence why I’m using a ‘Virgin red’ for the Sir Richard Branson project.

As much as I’d love to concentrate fully on Sir Richard’s project, I must remember that there are those beautiful people out there who were following me and the JTSA project before all this excitement happened.
So being true to these guys, I’m going to commit to both projects with equal focus and equal dedication. I still think we are on schedule for a launch very soon and will try to alternate between the weekly-to-twice-weekly posts!

Here’s the situation with JTSA:

- Awaiting results back from the lab at ReAgent on how to dispose of solutions onto a canvas and how to best achieve the result we’re looking for.
This is an important process and we’re getting closer and thicker (is that a clue I spot?) to finding the right ingredients to make the magic happen.
Once confirmed….

- The build begins and with the experience of the TMSB project still fresh in my mind, I feel this process will be sped up hugely. Back to basics with a camera, hand warmer, polystyrene box, a shed load of gaffer tape and a pot of luck.

- Then with the magic and luck combined, we initiate the launch of JTSA*. Another proud moment for JoshingTalk.

* For reference, I will be double-checking the flight path predictions for this launch as the Sea is very much out of bounds.
For this particular project anyway.

Now I’ve settled into my new layout, I’ve had time to think about the approach to the Challenge Me, Sir Richard Branson project.
Sir Richard clearly states the challenge aim- ‘..how far under the sea can you explore?’

I’ve decided to approach this project differently from previous concepts. In a sentence, I would like to bring businesses together and work to achieve a common goal.
Let me explain this further:
I’ve noticed more and more how vital it is to work together at both a local and global level to achieve global results. The notion of businesses competing with each other needs to be equal to the drive to team up with other businesses in order to initiate breakthrough results and new heights of accomplishments.
Just look at my last blog post for example. Had I gone down the route of designing and creating the new JoshingTalk website alone, I might still be trying to write some gibberish HTML rather than this post. Instead, I collaborated with others willing to help me and together we got a result, not only quicker, but also to a standard far higher than I think I could have reached by myself!

So, with this challenge, I’d like to work with different businesses in different specific industries and bring them together. The design of the submersible needs the knowledge of a materials manufacturer. The lighting at deep-sea depths needs electronic expertise….and so on.
There are inspiring people out there and what an awesome way to meet them and learn from them!

In previous projects, I’ve looked at ways in which to achieve incredible feats with low finance and low tech and I still believe I am doing this on a personal level. People are willing to help you, so long as the passion is there so why be spoilt and shellfish (sorry guys- poor joke alert!) and spend hundreds of pounds on a project when actually, others can positively take part in it and at the same time, save everyone a few bob.
Not that I think it will cost much anyway….I think it’s key to keep this project simple. With simplicity, comes fewer materials equalling fewer pennies.

For the record however, I personally will be buying the gaffer tape for this project….
Hey- if it worked at 118,000 feet in near Space, then who knows!?

Before I write up a post regarding the Challenge Me, Sir Richard Branson project (still composing myself!), I wanted to take an opportunity to thank the people who spent many hours of their own working time to help me out with the transition to a brand new website!

I had been contemplating the change for a while now and almost needed the room to ‘evolve’ in the sense of a Pokemon. Over the last year and a bit, I have been building the blog and learning a different language called HTML in order to make a silk string in the world wide web and claim it as my own. Those who have followed me from the start of this process will have seen the website grow and well….it’s been emotional.

Let me start with Nitun of bloggertowp.org who assisted in the actual migration of my blog. This includes all the front end posts, pictures and comments along with the back end, links, DNS records and IP addresses….it starts to get a bit technical here. Blogger To WordPress does what it says on the cyber tin. They take all the hassle of moving across and literally do it overnight for you. It’s a fantastic service and one I highly recommend! Nitun was very supportive and helpful, answering my ‘Are we there yet?’ questions with professional mannerisms and a friendly approach.

BUT before all this migrating could happen, I needed a website and a template that would take your breath away (and then restore it hopefully) as you come across the home of JoshingTalk. Johannes of www.blacksmithgames.com was the saviour in question, after hearing my plea for help on Twitter. He was more than happy to help me and purchased a theme based on the ideas I had and following that, continued to customise the layout. A great bloke with great intentions, Jo is confident in game design, programming and is very ‘I.T’ as a person. He also shares a role model of mine- none other than Sir Richard Branson.

Lastly, I sourced help from Koji of www.bigcloudmedia.com who again, first interacted on Twitter. Based in the US of A, we had a Skype chat about what I wanted doing on the blog. Koji is a very well respected programmer and has an amazing ability whereby he can write out whole websites in code (see picture) without really having to look at the design. I looked on in amazement as he continued to tweak my website via code whilst eating his dinner at a nearby restaurant and chatting about how lovely the weather is over there (enough already….).
Multi-tasking genius.

So a huge thanks to them for the help they gave me and I’m really flattered at the generosity they displayed. It’s such a brilliant feeling to work with people, help out in different areas and combine knowledge to achieve a common target. I hope as well that you enjoy the new look of JoshingTalk?

This weekend I’ll bring you another post looking at my ideas on approaching the challenge that Sir Richard has given me….

Casually eating lunch today and trying to plan out the new website layout when suddenly, a tweet from none other than Sir Richard Branson came flying into my inbox (followed by several more).
After my campaign (here), I wondered if we’d ever hear from the man himself.

It has happened! Sir Richard Branson has offered up the challenge of seeing just how far I can get a camera down into the dark depths of our Ocean.
http://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/blog/challenge-for-a-young-entrepreneur

A huge challenge for sure and one that will be lots of fun! Slight dilemma however as to whether I postpone this JoshingTalk Space Art balloon or not….I think I might have to!

Thanks to everyone who helped me out with the campaign. With Sir Richard now on board, I want to have as many people as possibly helping me to achieve this challenge. Low costs, low tech- can we produce some good results? What do you think?

In the meantime, my lunch has gone cold after trying to recover from the (happy) shock of the news….

Beautifully packaged in all its glory.

Challenge Me, Sir Richard Branson- click here!

Following on from last week, I bring you the all seeing eye that should capture the creation of art at around 100,000 feet.
Another email, another sponsor and what a team this is! Chumming up with 1080 Sport of www.1080sport.com, they got on board and helped me out by providing me with the latest GoPro HD Hero 2.
GoPro have the reputation of being the cameras to have for all those times and places where you need a different perspective. It’s a camera designed to pull you into the action, making you feel like you’re right there (yes, you will feel like you’re floating at 100,000 feet).
I’ve been wanting to get my hands on one of these for ages and I’m doubly impressed with it now that I have.
It’s not just any old camera….
    – It can film at high definition 1920×1080 resolution at 30 frames per second.
    – Thanks to its fish-eye lens, it captures a whopping 170º wide field of view.
    – An 11 mega pixel shot of gorgeous image.
    – Practicality, portability, programmability and perfectibility.

That’s just a selection of statistics….it’s extremely hard to sum up how good it is in a blog post, so I’ve put together a small test video in different situations (some good, some not so good) over the last couple of days….:

Even more juice!

It’s just what I need for this project and I also got my hands on a BacPac allowing for extra battery power for longer filming times.
It’s great to be able to team up with small businesses such as 1080 Sport, in order to bring people together in a project. A lot can be gained from it for both the sponsors and I including promotion, advertising and some bloody good fun!
It’s worth climbing a tree for (see video)- that’s for sure.

Please have a look around 1080 Sport’s website as there is bound to be something you like if you are into extreme sports focusing especially on kiting activities!
You can also follow 1080 Sport on Facebook or Twitter.

I often get asked the question ‘What do you want to do in the future?’ and I often struggle to find an answer. I think this is a good thing.

Ironically, this week has been quite the opposite to the yearly custom of moving the clocks forward an hour to ‘gain’ time. I’ve been so busy over the last few weeks, that it’s become a habit to expect an email to drop in to my inbox at least once a day. An email of the exciting kind where you see it come in and then do something you dislike (such as making tomorrows lunchbox) just so you have something to look forward to.
Looking back there’s been a couple of good emails this week and in fact, now I come to think of it….that’s not the root of the problem.

I think it’s just an ‘exhausted brain’ week. I do believe one’s brain has taken a holiday and left an empty space to deal with my incoming notions until it returns, hopefully next week.
To put it into context, I’ve often sat down with the laptop, opened it up and stared continuously at my Twitter feed waiting for the thought process to engage and take me somewhere else….
I think most of us can relate to that ‘circle’ of sites that we tend to visit repetitively. Personally this consists of Gmail, Facebook and Twitter with maybe a StumbleUpon, if time is in my favour.
Creative frustration I call it.

To sum up, I’m there staring blankly at a computer screen, waiting for a brain command to act upon and waiting for that email to come in.
In order to get those emails coming in, I need to give my brain the command and engage with my brain to get the response. Effectively, these commands become ‘emails’ for my brain to deal with and since it has taken a holiday somewhere, I’m yet to receive a reply.
Well, it’s either a holiday or it’s making an extra big lunch box for tomorrow….

Thankfully, I’ve had my good friends ReAgent cover me over the last week and they’ve sent out a superb press release for the world to read. It’s been picked up by the likes of Yahoo and American Banking News and continues to spread the word about JTSA. Thanks!
Have a read here: http://news.yahoo.com/reagent-supports-space-balloon-project-073753335.html