Blogs

Sunday 11 May 2008

Satisfying, sunny Sunday
Photosuploaded into Flickr for our morning in Thimphu Stroll through the backstreets to Columbia Road Flower Market, returning with four varieties of tomato plant: Shirley, Moneymaker, Yellow and Sun Baby Quick catch up with Jo, Barney, Rosa and... Sparkly Trainers
Dreamcoaster Event
The Save Dreamland Campaign have announced details of an [...] Margate Architecture
Or alternatively, don’t use Windows
Microsoft to limit the capabilities of cheap laptops: “Microsoft is launching a program to promote the use of its Windows OS in ultra low-cost PCs, one effect of which will be to limit the hardware capabilities of this type of device, IDG [...] Technovia

Saturday 10 May 2008

10.6
Onequestion I get asked a lot, by people who know me, is, “just how many tshirts do you have?”. I’ve never known the answer, until today, when I did a bit of a reorganisation of my wardrobes. I’d assumed the answer was [...] Anti-Mega
Interoperability and Demesnes
There are two main kinds of standards involved in interoperability between computers: formats and protocols. Formats range from "file formats" such as JPEG and PNG for images, HTML and CSS for web pages, PDFs, Word documents, and so on, through to [...] Snell-Pym/Alaric

Friday 9 May 2008

Current Cost Charting fun
Nick has already written a nice introduction to using the Google Chart API for drawing charts of household power consumption over time. I’ve been playing with some other parts of the API as part of setting up a web-based dashboard so Rachel [...] Roo Reynolds
More folding proteins.. but this time a game too
Folding@home runs on idle time, as I understand it, as does rosetta@home. I haven't got a PS3 yet which runs the former - waiting for LittleBigPlanet before I splurge (and have to remove the gamecube to make room). But this,... Wonderland
NES coffee table
Oh this really is awesome, from the aptly named Ultra Awesome blog: Also, it works!: Brilliant. There's even a how-to if you fancy making your own... (Thanks to Brian for this one) Wonderland
words : Opinions are the mind's way of making dung,
they are what is left after we have stopped thinking. Something said elsewhere reminded me of this postcard my mum sent me in 1997. I've had it by my desk ever since, and is an adage I remind myself of often, one of my tenets in life. It [...] Dorian Moore
John Gruber is wrong: for some customers, email is more important than the web
John Gruber has posted a really interesting and insightful piece on BlackBerry vs. iPhone, and why he thinks that RIM is, fundamentally, in a very very bad place indeed. However, there’s one point that I have to disagree with John on: “ [...] Technovia
Social Networking
Although I'm not a big fan of Facebook, I occasionally feel an urge to update my real social network: my FOAF profile at http://www.snell-pym.org.uk/alaric-foaf.rdf. I've not made that link clickable, to save people the horror of having their [...] Snell-Pym/Alaric
Mike Arrington has some really ugly fans
Betsy Schiffman at Wired writes a story about Mike Arrington’s deal with the Washington Post, and mentions that ” it seems crazy-crazy to us that the Washington Post, a paper known for the sort of reporting that can take down U.S. [...] Technovia
Mike Arrington has some really ugly fans
Betsy Schiffman at Wired writes a story about Mike Arrington’s deal with the Washington Post, and mentions that ” it seems crazy-crazy to us that the Washington Post, a paper known for the sort of reporting that can take down U.S. [...] Technovia

Thursday 8 May 2008

Royal Television Society - ‘Going Round In Circles’
Rough transcript of the RTS event ‘Going Round In Circles’ Royal Television Society - Early Evening Events 8 May 2008: ‘Going Round In Circles’ Why Is 360 Commissioning The Future of Television? Sponsored by DLA Piper [...] Extenuating Circumstances
KCC to sue Turner 1 architects
Heads up from Ramsgate's finest that KCC is to take legal action over original Turner Contemporary scheme.It seems KCC is hell bent on regaining some of the £6m it spent on the ill fated scheme from the architects. I wonder what chance they have? Margate Architecture
Making Marbles
Reminiscing about childhood games last night, my friend Arthur wondered out loud how marbles are made. Nick and I googleraced to find the answer, and (unsurprisingly) both ended up finding the same bit of video. ‘How It’s Made&# [...] Roo Reynolds
The Brightkite iPhone Version is Out! at Brightkite Blog
I’m really enjoying using Brightkite at the moment (I’m ianbetteridge if you want to friend me), and I’m pleased to see that the iPhone web application has now been released in alpha form. But I was even more pleased to see this [...] Technovia
Type systems
There are a number of type systems out there in different programming languages. In fact, there's zillions, but they boil down to a few basic approaches. One of the biggest splits is between statically decidable type systems and more dynamic [...] Snell-Pym/Alaric
St NoFi: The new St Pancreas   is a thing of glass and steel...
St NoFi: The new St Pancreas   is a thing of glass and steel wonder, but erm, someone forgot the WiFi.  Mostly This
UniCool: UniQlo are really stepping it up a gear this last few...
UniCool: UniQlo are really stepping it up a gear this last few months.  Using their japanese roots can only be a good thing. Mostly This
Mr CrackBerryHead: aimlessly greeting people with a cheery...
Mr CrackBerryHead: aimlessly greeting people with a cheery smile, one email and they’ll be in my grasp. Be afraid kids. Aparently, the accompaning leafleat tells me, you can use your blackberry to update your myspace page. DOWN WIT DA KIDS. Mostly This
My First Conference
Open Tech 2008 - 5th July in London.I'm giving a talk at this year's OpenTech 2008, on July 5th, in London's sunny London. It's the first time I've ever stuck my head over the parapet of the conference circuit, and I'm both excited and utterly [...] Mildly Diverting

Wednesday 7 May 2008

#235: Have a painful ear infection
I have friends who positively enjoy codeine. I meanwhile, do not. It makes me feel blurry, forgetful and gives me a half hearted attempt at the horrible Tramadol 'heroine' like effect of having had warm cement poured on to you,... Moolies
Things I might write about at some point, but not now
Being a list of things which I’ve been meaning to write about here or elsewhere, but haven’t had a moment. New forms of storytelling The rise of the renaissance journalist Hotel life Why I don’t write much about work here Flickr [...] Meish
BBC NEWS | Europe | Berlusconi announces new cabinet
BBC NEWS | Europe | Berlusconi announces new cabinet: Umberto Bossi is Minister for Federalist Reform again? After last time? Dangerous Precedent
Instant HD failure
.. my vaio has suffered. It is dead as a dodo. I've lost perhaps 5 days worth of bits n' pieces, although most mail is online, etc, but my carefully kept-as-unread emails that I'd been saving up to reply to,... Wonderland
Giant horse proposed for Ebbsfleet
Some lighter news: Giant horse proposed for [...] Margate Architecture
Another listed building in Margate goes up in flames
Grade II listed 49-50 Hawley Square went up [...] Margate Architecture
Ode to My Socks, Pablo Neruda
Ode to My Socks, Pablo Neruda: Via the afore-mentioned Russell Davies Dangerous Precedent
I used to do this, in a very British kind of way, but the...
I used to do this, in a very British kind of way, but the American state of the art is frankly awesome. Dangerous Precedent
russell davies: pre-experience design
russell davies: pre-experience design Dangerous Precedent
OpenOffice 3.0 beta emerges, with Mac Aqua support
marketing: OpenOffice.org 3.0 Beta Features: “With Version 3.0, OpenOffice.org is now able to run on Mac OS X without the need for X11. Thus, OpenOffice.org behaves like any other Aqua application. The cool thing is, while the market leading [...] Technovia
Chris Heathcote's abstract pointillist powerpoint toolkit.
Chris Heathcote's abstract pointillist powerpoint toolkit. Dangerous Precedent

Tuesday 6 May 2008

Unsettlers of Catan
^ Photo: The Aeros Aeroscraft ML866 Concept Imagine my surprise reading today’s Grauniad finding George Monbiot coming out as a fan of airships, and more broadly – of advanced technological solutions (“like most [...] Blackbeltjones/Work
n2n
n2n looks like a lovely piece of technology. It's basically a VPN system, but quite different from existing VPN technologies. Existing VPNs work by creating a point-to-point link between two systems, usually a personal computer on an untrusted, [...] Snell-Pym/Alaric
Shopping, a christening and a tutu
....otherwise known as, "How I spent the bank holiday weekend". Saturday featured a leisurely sending spree along the Kings Road, with co-shopper Hazel. A successful outing, in the shape of new clothes for work for us both. Sunday... Sparkly Trainers
Things not to do #234: damage your coccyx
I have damaged my coccyx. We visited Céret on market day, of course, during the recent France visit. Céret is a mountain town (well - foothills), with charming open gullies running through the town taking mountain water safely through. Sometimes... Moolies
A bloody good question
Nora, on Sunday: You are a Mummy, and you had a Mummy. When was the first one? How did that happen? ...at which point one's head explodes in panic and amazement. Er.... right, how can I focus Evolution in about... Moolies
The Camping Holiday Of Despair
The plan was simple: borrow Sarah's parent's campervan, drive down on Friday evening to the village where our friends were being married the next day, sleep over, get up in the morning, have a nice breakfast, explore the area a bit, do the wedding [...] Snell-Pym/Alaric
Here’s what I want to do with Google Reader
So now that Google Reader has the notes feature, allowing me to make little comments on everything I share, and the ability to share anything I browse to, I want to be able to use it to replace del.icio.us in my blog workflow. At the moment, I use [...] Technovia

Links

Sunday 11 May 2008

Y Combinator: Startup Library
Danhon
Hacker News
Danhon
Startups Wiki: Ask YC Archive
This page is an archive of quality Hacker News “Ask YC” posts grouped by subject. “Quality” means posts that are a) generally relevant to startups and b) contain a decent amount of useful discussion/advice. Danhon
American Express Black | Centurion Benefits | AMEX Black Card
Danhon
Best in the SW :: Flash Animation & Motion Graphics Conference: Mark Coleran on Screen Design
Danhon

Saturday 10 May 2008

More folding proteins.. but this time a game too
"Solve Puzzles for Science! is the strapline. How can you resist?" Matt Jones
Benji Lanyado takes a tour of Tokyo's cutting-edge art scene | Travel | The Guardian
the book is awesome Chris Heathcote
Chris Heathcote: anti-mega: abstract pointillist
I guess I deserve the right to save my own stuff, when it hits 100... Chris Heathcote
hughmcguire.net · intimacy & the question concerning digital technology
Matt Jones
The Sun Also Sets
One person's insider view on how Sun threw away a NeXTy dev team, blew it on the desktop, and on the Mac. ObLinks

Friday 9 May 2008

IBM Social Computing Guidelines
"we turned to IBMers again to re-examine our guidelines and determine what needed to be modified. The effort has broadened the scope of the existing guidelines to include all forms of social computing." Roo Reynolds
sacha chua: The Gen Y Guide to Web 2.0 at Work
Sketched by Sacha on a DS Roo Reynolds
CBRD - Media - Fonts
all the fonts you need Chris Heathcote
Helsingin Sanomat - International Edition - Culture
finnish art exhibit opening at my favourite NYC gallery whilst I'm there. result! Chris Heathcote
Chronotron
Brilliant! Reviewed at http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=1709 Roo Reynolds
BUILT Laptop Bag: Water-Resistant, But Not Bulletproof
wearable computing? Lee
Open the Future: Pondering Fermi
Matt Jones
70cities blog: TwitterIgnore - paul tweedy
Probably the most useful Twitter application you might find. Quietly (/temporarily) ignore particular Twitter contacts without them knowing, thus avoiding social awkwardness associated with unfollowing them. Clientside. Meg Pickard
The Greenwich Phantom: Oh Beehive!: Beehive Cafe, Creek Road, Greenwich
"This coffee is fabulous, folks. A worthy contender for the now-open crown (since the tragic demise of the Coffee Cellar) of "Best Coffee In Greenwich." Rich and satisfying, yet mellow and un-bitter at the same time, it's the owner's [...] Matt Jones
John Maynard Smith - Royal Institution Discourse on “The Origin of Life”.
Matt Jones
YouTube - FaceBook In Reality - idiotsofants.com and BBC'sThe Wall
"POKE!" Roo Reynolds
Modern British Posters
This exhibition of posters explores the interaction between modern art and graphic design in Britain during the middle part of the 20C. Meg Pickard
Discover Dialogue: Physician Nortin Hadler
Are the benefits of bypass surgery statistically insignificant? ObLinks
Gametrailers.com - Mirror's Edge - SCEE PlayStation Day Trailer HD
Jaw-droppingly gorgeous parkour/freerunning game (set in totalitarian future, natch) - coming this autumn for PS3, 360 & PC (via tim) Yoz

Thursday 8 May 2008

Simon Patterson : Simon Patterson : Special exhibitions : Exhibitions : What's on : Visit the museum : NMM
Matt Jones
New Food Market
"Several of us have been keeping an eye on proceedings at Greenwich Market's new foodie section (or the expansion of the old section) - and yesterday was the first day." Matt Jones
The OFFICIAL Greenwich Market Website | Visitor Information / All new food area
Matt Jones
Welcome to eco gadget shop
Cool gadgets that highlight or reduce your consumption of power Dotcode
Open Tech 2008 - 5th July in London
"Open Tech 2008 is an informal, low cost one-day conference on technology, society and low-carbon living, featuring Open Source ways of working and technologies that anyone can have a go at". Looks great. I've signed up. Roo Reynolds
mildlydiverting's bookmarks tagged with "embodiment" on del.icio.us
Matt Jones
NESTA Connect: Vague but exciting!
Apt feedback from Tim Berners-Lee's boss on his proposal for the information management system which went on to become the web Meg Pickard
russell davies: social doing
"I know we're all supposed to be thinking about social objects, but social doing seems to be potentially potent too." Meg Pickard
Planet Hursley on Flickr
It's as if IBM Hursley was included in Super Mario Galaxy. Darren is a genius. Roo Reynolds

Wednesday 7 May 2008

Wedge - Every Little Shop Helps
"Wedge is a reward card for local shops. It gives access to hundreds of great offers from independent traders across London." Interesting loyalty card idea. Meg Pickard
Thoughts on Nokia’s NFC developments · Touch
Awesome, comprehensive write-up and critique of NFC by Timo Matt Jones
Kevin Kelly -- Cool Tools: backpacking
Matt Jones
NYT: Microsoft May Build A Copyright Cop Into Every Zune
"...the consumer wants there to be quality premium-produced content, and in order for that to continue to be a viable business, there needs to be significant protection around it". Hmm. Roo Reynolds
High House Fruit Farm Holidays
Matt Jones
Maplin > FreeCharge Weza™ Portable Energy Source
Matt Jones
Prime Sense: Giving Machines a Prime Sense
"The Prime Sensor is a System on Chip (SoC) and a complete reference design for a three dimensional sensing and understanding device. ... a standard image sensor, a light source, optical components and the Prime Sense IC which is the digital [...] Roo Reynolds
Web 2.0 - Where is Technology Headed? (My recent presentation at MPI EMEC)
The (fairly basic, low-level introduction) presentation I recently gave on Web 2.0, backchannels and virtual worlds. It's two hours long, including Q&A, and covers much of what I've been thinking about this year. Mainly aimed at web non-natives. Roo Reynolds
microscopiq: Impossible Music Manipulation
Jason Ellis discovers an excellent video of Direct Note Access in an upcoming version of Melodyne "Imagine the kinds of new music games that could be built, making use of music the original developers never heard or even imagined" Roo Reynolds
Melodyne
"recognizes the music in an audio file and represents it directly as notes" When version 3 of the plugin comes out this autumn it will recognise notes within chords too. Nice. Roo Reynolds
Unobtrusive JavaScript with jQuery
Simon Willison's *excellent* presentation covering topics such as "why use a library", and "why jQuesry specifically". Quality. Dotcode
The Raw Story | San Diego GOP chairman co-founded international piracy ring
k-rad! Lee

Tuesday 6 May 2008

Blobwall
"The latest in bricks is a blob, by Greg Lynn FORM, Machinous and Panelite who have created an interlocking tri-lobed shape through rotational moulding. The colourful plastic blob is made of a low-density, recyclable, impact-resistant polymer [...] Matt Jones
Agile & Business: Mura, Muri, Muda
via Ki Matt Jones
Olaf Stapledon: Darkness and the Light
Matt Jones
Official Gmail Blog: How to find any email with Gmail search
i wish they'd implmenet sub-word search and, well, maybe boolean operators or other standard extreme search syntaxes Chris Heathcote
The inns and outs of my walk into Japan's past | Travel | The Observer
Chris Heathcote
Beer Menus - Find Great Beer in New York City
Chris Heathcote
Dying Newspaper Trend Buys Nation's Newspapers Three More Weeks | The Onion - America's Finest News Source
A recent glut of feature stories on the death of the American newspaper has temporarily made the outmoded form of media appealing enough to stave off its inevitable demise for an additional 21 days, sources reported Monday. Meg Pickard
Monbiot.com » Travelling Light
"Paradoxically, the other major constraint could be an environmental one. Airships are one of several green technologies which might be killed by a shortage of materials." Matt Jones
Hacking game controllers and 3D Wii | Technology | Guardian Unlimited
Bobbie's writeup of this weekend's Game Camp. Roo Reynolds
The Stage / TV Today / I'd Do Anything, week 8 - with video
Interesting only because there's a custom I'd Do Anything BBC YouTube player. If the BBC decided not to do iPlayer and pumped everything through YouTube, would they still be kicked in the groin about paying for network infrastructure? Danhon
Justice - Stress (official video)
That's a pretty raw music video. Lee
WIMA & NFC
Matt Jones
Pulse Laser: How the physical form of Olinda evolved
"Since the final form of Olinda is out in the world, I had a dig in the archive - and the studio - this morning and found some of the physical visualisations from along the way." Genmon
Whose Wand in Whose World?
Some nice design enquiry into mobile from AP Matt Jones
information design patterns cookbook - data visualization & visual design - information aesthetics
"a sophisticated online collection of about 48 design patterns that describe distinct methods for the display of interactive information graphics, their active behavior as well as the forms of user interaction with them." Matt Jones