Error running "npm install" in angular-phonecat

I got angular-phonecat using git and when I ran "npm install" to get the node components, I got the following error. It took me a long time to resolve this but I had to update npm.

npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/shelljs
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/bower
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/http-server
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/protractor
npm http 304 https://registry.npmjs.org/bower
npm ERR! Error: No compatible version found: bower@'^1.3.1'
npm ERR! Valid install targets:
npm ERR! ["0.1.0","0.1.2","0.1.3","0.2.0","0.3.0","0.3.1","0.3.2","0.4.0","0.5.0","0.5.1","0.6.0","0.6.1","0.6.2","0.6.3","0.6.4","0.6.5","0.6.6","0.6.7","0.6.8","0.7.0","0.7.1","0.8.0","0.8.1","0.8.2","0.8.3","0.8.4","0.8.5","0.8.6","0.9.0","0.9.1","0.9.2","0.10.0","1.0.0","1.0.1","1.0.2","1.0.3","1.1.0","1.1.1","1.1.2","1.2.0","1.2.1","1.2.2","1.2.3","1.2.4","1.2.5","1.2.6","1.2.7","1.2.8","1.3.0","1.3.1","1.3.2","1.3.3"]
npm ERR!     at installTargetsError (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/cache.js:709:10)
npm ERR!     at /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/cache.js:631:10
npm ERR!     at saved (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/npm-registry-client/lib/get.js:138:7)
npm ERR!     at Object.oncomplete (fs.js:107:15)
npm ERR! If you need help, you may report this log at:
npm ERR!     
npm ERR! or email it to:
npm ERR!     

sudo npm update npm -g

That solved that issue. It took me a long time to figure this out and found it in IRC chat logs.

So this blog is to help other users of angular mitigate the issue.