OK. I admit I do see to be turning into a Google fanboy.
I'm using Blogger (Google owned), my photo manager is Picasa (Google owned), I have Google desktop search, I use personalised search (really does make a difference), I use Google translate, the only thing I don't seem to use is Google talk.
Rather annoyingly I use Google reader too. I wasn't too keen on the whole bloglines thing and I liked the idea of being able to read the RSS feeds on any computer.
They just redesigned it and it's bloody amazing. Honestly. It has loads of additional features. Check it out!
I do use some Yahoo products though - delicious, Yahoo Mail and I am registered on Yahoo instant messenger. My photos, in case you haven't noticed, are on Flickr!
That's many internet services which I use. Slightly worrying!
Friday, September 29, 2006
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Getting Rained On
Had a most upsetting day on Thursday. Was on my way home and the heavens opened. Like some kind of biblical flood starting, the rain started pounding its way down.I'd been well prepared and had my umbrella in my bag.
Unfortunately it decided that this would be the best possible time to no longer work.
This was a picture I took while having a ten minute wait under a nice shop front hoping and praying for the rain to end.
It didn't.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Guardian Unlimited | Gallery | Tony Blair's speech at the Labour conference
Evil video by the Guardian showing the Chancellor's expressions through Tony Blair's speech.
It must be annoying to have to live life under the gaze of cameras at all points. You've got to pay attention to how 'well' you pay attention during a speech.
How can you look good while paying attention to a speech. It's really hard to look attentive at all points!
It must be annoying to have to live life under the gaze of cameras at all points. You've got to pay attention to how 'well' you pay attention during a speech.
How can you look good while paying attention to a speech. It's really hard to look attentive at all points!
Guardian Unlimited | Gallery | Tony Blair's speech at the Labour conference
Evil video by the Guardian showing the Chancellor's expressions through Tony Blair's speech.
It must be annoying to have to live life under the gaze of cameras at all points. You've got to pay attention to how 'well' you pay attention during a speech.
How can you look good while paying attention to a speech. It's really hard to look attentive at all points!
It must be annoying to have to live life under the gaze of cameras at all points. You've got to pay attention to how 'well' you pay attention during a speech.
How can you look good while paying attention to a speech. It's really hard to look attentive at all points!
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Friday, September 22, 2006
Soul:R
Just listening to a mix on this site.
I sometimes forget just how amazing Calibre and Marcus Intalex are. Then I hear things like their July mix.
Listen to it now!
I sometimes forget just how amazing Calibre and Marcus Intalex are. Then I hear things like their July mix.
Listen to it now!
Cunning Shop
Wandered into Bath last weekend.
There was a very good shop there. Can't remember what it was called, but the design was very original. All it sold was oil and spirits.
The oil and spirits were all sold from barrels or big glass jars like this:
Very old school. Really good for making it seem a very wholesome shop - the shop was extremely clean and they had little labels describing exactly how excellent each of their products was. The prices looked very reasonable too - I think it was around £2 for 100ml of Limoncello directly form the slopes of Limoncello land.
There was a cunning catch though. You had to buy both the glass bottles and the corks separattely. They also took the chance to make up reasons why you should pay silly prices for special corks and beautifully made bottles.
Overall though, the shop was really good. Sold tons of wholesome sounding products. Would definitely go there and buy stuff (spirits will go into my own Thomas the Tank Engine Thermos) if it was in London...
There was a very good shop there. Can't remember what it was called, but the design was very original. All it sold was oil and spirits.
The oil and spirits were all sold from barrels or big glass jars like this:
Very old school. Really good for making it seem a very wholesome shop - the shop was extremely clean and they had little labels describing exactly how excellent each of their products was. The prices looked very reasonable too - I think it was around £2 for 100ml of Limoncello directly form the slopes of Limoncello land.
There was a cunning catch though. You had to buy both the glass bottles and the corks separattely. They also took the chance to make up reasons why you should pay silly prices for special corks and beautifully made bottles.
Overall though, the shop was really good. Sold tons of wholesome sounding products. Would definitely go there and buy stuff (spirits will go into my own Thomas the Tank Engine Thermos) if it was in London...
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Hackney wins logo case against Nike
Nike somehow managed to sell clothing with Hackney's logo on it across the world.
Shows the difficulty of trademarks - someone should have checked. You'd have thought a global brand like Nike would remember, but they didn't.
Still, respect to Nike for managing to salvage some positive PR. This could easily have turned into one of those 'mega evil corporation kills children' type stories.
Shows the difficulty of trademarks - someone should have checked. You'd have thought a global brand like Nike would remember, but they didn't.
Still, respect to Nike for managing to salvage some positive PR. This could easily have turned into one of those 'mega evil corporation kills children' type stories.
Al Gore and Yahoo! team up to offer TV channel
Interesting - Al Gore and Yahoo! have teamed up to offer four broadband based channels.
This should be interesting - proper content available on the internet. I bet it's region locked, but we'll see if there's a way around that.
Ignoring the fact that Current TV has pretty rubbish ratings in the US, it'll be quite interesting to see how Yahoo! approach setting up this 'broadband channel.'
Will the user get a choice of programmes to watch or are they running in a loop? Yahoo! usually fund by advertising, how will they be slipping this in?
Good luck to them though - will be good to see this when it gets to the UK!
This should be interesting - proper content available on the internet. I bet it's region locked, but we'll see if there's a way around that.
Ignoring the fact that Current TV has pretty rubbish ratings in the US, it'll be quite interesting to see how Yahoo! approach setting up this 'broadband channel.'
Will the user get a choice of programmes to watch or are they running in a loop? Yahoo! usually fund by advertising, how will they be slipping this in?
Good luck to them though - will be good to see this when it gets to the UK!
Science World: Acid | Ads of the World
Slightly geeky I know, but a great advert. Not sure how long you can make a program last if it's just about Hydroflouric acid. I'm sure there's been some pretty nasty accidents, but that's probably about it isn't it?
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
EnvironmentContract - JotSpot Wiki (defra)
EnvironmentContract - JotSpot Wiki (defra)
Very interesting.
DEFRA tried to catch the Wiki bug. Really good idea - invite consultation by allowing people to edit their 'environmental contract'.
Unfortunately they didn't think it through very thoroughly.
Some of the more amusing results:
http://wiki.defra.gov.uk/WikiHome/EnvironmentContract?revision=159
http://wiki.defra.gov.uk/WikiHome/EnvironmentContract?revision=125
I think this shows that user generated content does allow very original comments and ideas. However, it also attracts bored people who are willing to write contributions which are not quite as serious as the government would like.
'Jeremy Clarkson... should be penalised thrice over' was a good comment though. I'd also like to know what COI think of the comment about 'Expensive advertising campaigns designed by coked up metrosexuals'...
As the Wikipedia has learnt, wikis on controversial subjects need to be looked after.
Very interesting.
DEFRA tried to catch the Wiki bug. Really good idea - invite consultation by allowing people to edit their 'environmental contract'.
Unfortunately they didn't think it through very thoroughly.
Some of the more amusing results:
http://wiki.defra.gov.uk/WikiHome/EnvironmentContract?revision=159
http://wiki.defra.gov.uk/WikiHome/EnvironmentContract?revision=125
I think this shows that user generated content does allow very original comments and ideas. However, it also attracts bored people who are willing to write contributions which are not quite as serious as the government would like.
'Jeremy Clarkson... should be penalised thrice over' was a good comment though. I'd also like to know what COI think of the comment about 'Expensive advertising campaigns designed by coked up metrosexuals'...
As the Wikipedia has learnt, wikis on controversial subjects need to be looked after.
Monday, September 11, 2006
Annoying CD Players
Just been 'ripping' some new cds I got.
Winamp annoyingly ripped some of them with skips and noise in them. This isn't a problem just confined to Winamp, I've experienced it with iTunes too. It wouldn't be too difficult at all to put a little detector in that would warn us that the tunes haven't been copied properly.
I admit it's not that difficult to fix, but when I put music on my work computer, the CD isn't usually easily at hand. Fix it please!
Winamp annoyingly ripped some of them with skips and noise in them. This isn't a problem just confined to Winamp, I've experienced it with iTunes too. It wouldn't be too difficult at all to put a little detector in that would warn us that the tunes haven't been copied properly.
I admit it's not that difficult to fix, but when I put music on my work computer, the CD isn't usually easily at hand. Fix it please!
Friday, September 08, 2006
Advertising.com Party
Jos and Miltos
Originally uploaded by mild_swearwords.
Went along to the Ad.com party at Egg last night.
Really fun night running around and catching up with people.
It was a reasonably good venue to hold a party in, though I was slightly disappointed that there weren't that many people there. The usual problem of South London-ites holding sway, not willing to move themselves up North...
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Guardian Unlimited | Comment is free | We should go down on our knees to thank Blair
"If the delegates had any sense of history - or just any sense - they would go down on their knees in thanksgiving for his achievements and the chance for the future he has provided."
Slight exaggeration, but good points no less. The fact that the people signing this silly letter have never been in proper opposition is quite telling.
Blair should go, but with dignity.
Slight exaggeration, but good points no less. The fact that the people signing this silly letter have never been in proper opposition is quite telling.
Blair should go, but with dignity.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
SPECIAL: "Winning Online" -- A Manifesto
A US based trade mag for the printing trade has published a manifesto for 'winning online'.
They represent the 'quality news'. These guys are being squeezed from two sides - free papers eating up the people who aren't that interested in the news and online competitors eating up the people who are interested in the news.
What can they do?
I think they are trying to preserve something that shouldn't be kept. There is no need for hundreds of different quality news outlets. The internet allows for readers to concentrate on only the articles they like.
News is threatened because in the online world, they only get money for content which people like. Impressions will only appear against good articles. Good journalists and good columnists will generate good money. Bad journalists and bad columnists will not generate money. More than that, the bad people will push people away from titles.
Once people start moving away from papers in huge numbers, we will see some of the titles surviving in an online incarnation. We will see some titles die though, which should be mourned. However they should not be protected - if a title has good editorial content, it will survive. If it doesn't it will perish and deservedly so.
They represent the 'quality news'. These guys are being squeezed from two sides - free papers eating up the people who aren't that interested in the news and online competitors eating up the people who are interested in the news.
What can they do?
I think they are trying to preserve something that shouldn't be kept. There is no need for hundreds of different quality news outlets. The internet allows for readers to concentrate on only the articles they like.
News is threatened because in the online world, they only get money for content which people like. Impressions will only appear against good articles. Good journalists and good columnists will generate good money. Bad journalists and bad columnists will not generate money. More than that, the bad people will push people away from titles.
Once people start moving away from papers in huge numbers, we will see some of the titles surviving in an online incarnation. We will see some titles die though, which should be mourned. However they should not be protected - if a title has good editorial content, it will survive. If it doesn't it will perish and deservedly so.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Another rant against Hippies
Shopping in Waitrose the other day and I spotted these.You can get stock already made in packets. What's so difficult about putting a stock cube in boiling water? Have they no idea how bad this is for the environment?
Idiots, though the fact that these were around £1.50 a pop means these are, effectively, idiot tax. In some ways I hope Waitrose makes lots of money out of these.
Equally I hope that it's Nestle who actually makes it. That would make the hippies choke!
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