The Egyptian army hammers home another nail in the coffin of Mubarak's government by refusing to use force against the protestors. If I offered odds on five days for the life expectancy of his regime, would anyone back the over? I think not. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12330169
Monday, January 31, 2011
Okamura Cruise Workstation
I want one of these: http://www.back2.co.uk/Ergonomic-Chairs/Office-Chairs/Okamura-Cruise-Workstat... A snip at £3,500. Back to the drawing board...
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Techno-jewellery: Glowing Earrings.
Sometimes you stumble across products that are such obviously good ideas that you wonder why nobody thought of them sooner. Sometimes you find their evil twins, the ideas that are so bad you wonder how they ever got made. I'm not yet sure if glowing LED earrings are good or bad but I'm not planning to have my ears pierced so that I can find out. Anyone else?
Glow Earrings | Original glow in the dark earrings.
http://www.night-ice.com/white-light-up-eerrings.html
US Lawmaker wants teachers to question established scientific theory
Why is this worrying? Do we really care that an obscure politician (Sally Kern) in a minor state (Oklahoma) in southern America is trying to reduce the quality of science teaching in her state's schools? I think the answer is yes, we do care, because the more ill-educated people there are in the world the more difficult it becomes for us to solve our shared problems.
Oklahoma Lawmaker Sally Kern proposes bill that forces teachers to question evolution, climate sciencehttp://climateprogress.org/2011/01/29/oklahoma-sally-kern-teachers-question-evolution-climate-science/
America has been the most prolific contributor to scientific and technological advances over the last 60 years or so and we need them to keep up the good work; we will all be a lot poorer if the US turns its back on science.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Jesus is Amazing!
Actually, if I'm honest, the post title isn't entirely correct. It would, in fact, be more accurate to say that Rowan Atkinson is amazing and that Jesus is merely an object of fun, fit for laughing at or making money from (yes, he's that sort of prophet) but definitely not anything more spiritual. Why? Take a look...
UK Government Spending, 2008/09 and 2009/10
Want to know how the government spends our money? Take a look at these graphics which show the last two years' spending (source: 2008/09 and 2009/10), broken down by area and created by The Guardian from publicly available data (they have links to the raw data as well, if you can be bothered). Closing a budget deficit of £150bn from a total spend of £670bn isn't going to be easy. If you would like some more frighteningly large numbers, have a look at the website of the Office for National Statistics (link) which specialises in depressing honesty.
Egyptian Meltdown, Democratic Progress?
It sounds like Egypt's President Mubarak may not have long left in office (BBC report) if he can't get control of the streets fairly soon. And what happens then? Could the protests continue to grow throughout the Middle East and pull down some of the other dictators in the region? Maybe, but the Americans seem keen to maintain at least some of the status quo (Economist article) in the region, presumably because they prefer to see their allies in power than to risk further unfavourable electoral outcomes (I'm thinking of the Muslim Brotherhood whose election would probably not be welcome).
Interesting times.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Amidst chaos and riots, Egypt turns off the Internet
It's all a bit grim; what's going on in Egypt that they want nobody to know about? Is the government really that scared of Twitter?
Amidst chaos and riots, Egypt turns off the Internet
http://arstechnica.com/public/shared/scripts/ad-loader-frame.html?req=http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/ars.dart.ipad/culture_policy;abr=!webtv;mtfIFPath=/mt-static/plugins/ArsTheme/ad-campaigns/doubleclick/;tile=3;sz=300x250;kw=bottom;kw=amidst-chaos-and-riots-egypt-turns-off-the-internet;kw=01;kw=2011;kw=news;kw=tech-policy;ord=12716178395785392(Sent from Flipboard)
Near Peckham Library
It looks like someone lives here on a bit of waste land next to
Peckham Library. Grim, even for Peckham.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Motorola make an attractive phone
I can't really see myself giving up my iPhone and switching brands but, if I did, I would definitely have to think about a Motorola Atrix 4G (http://bit.ly/gqOh5x) which, with it's laptop-style docking station and dual-core processors looks like a seriously nice piece of kit. It wasn't clear from the website when the Atrix 4G will be launched, or how much it might cost, or what else it might be able to do other than look cool but it's still interesting. However, if I'm completely honest, my previous experiences with Motorola phones have been so bad that I vowed never to go back. Apart from that (and their unfortunate insistence on building their website in Flash) it all looks good.
Nonsensical Advertising, Part I
In case you can't make it out, under the shop name it says:
"Specialists in all types of British & foreign cars" How can they specialise if they carry spares for all British andforeign (or just "all") cars? That's a pretty broad category.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Print across the cloud, by Google
Google have just launched a service that allows you to print over the Internet to your configured printer from your phone, PC or any other device that can access GMail or Google Docs. Very neat, details here: http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2011/01/cloud-printing-on-go.html
Sunday, January 23, 2011
i b i k e l o n d o n: Cycling Sucks!
I don't normally post links to YouTube videos but I really liked this one: The blog on which I found it (http://ibikelondon.blogspot.com) is worth a look, especially if you've ever thought about cycling in London.
Bringing a forest to the desert
This is a very neat idea and exactly the sort of thing that you get when a bunch of smart, well-motivated people get access to funding and political support. More of this, please, and why isn't our government funding similar projects?
One Per Cent: Green machine: Bringing a forest to the desert
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2011/01/green-machine-bringing-a-fores.html
How does Homeopathy work? A Scientific Answer
As last, a scientific explanation for homeopathy: http://www.howdoeshomeopathywork.com/
Friday, January 21, 2011
Apple is now the largest mobile phone manufacturer by revenue
Ok, I know; hardly anyone is going to be interested in this.
Apple are now the biggest phone manufacturer (by revenue and profit) and they launch only one new model a year (plus memory and network variations, which don't really count). Contrast this with Nokia (biggest manufacturer by volume) who have scores of different phones including some of the ugliest handsets ever conceived.
Apple is now the largest mobile phone manufacturer by revenue
http://www.tuaw.com/2011/01/20/apple-is-now-the-largest-mobile-phone-manufacturer-by-revenue/(Sent from Flipboard)
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Obesity: Drink (water) till you drop
I have no real idea why this might work, but according to an article in The Economist (http://www.economist.com/node/16886246) drinking lots of water may help you to lose weight and then to keep it off. Read the article, see what you think, dig out the actual research papers if you like, then give it a go (it's cheap, simple and easy - no obvious problems) and it sounds plausibly useful.
No broadband at home, still
It's been three months now and the ongoing lack of broadband at home is really making life difficult in ways that you wouldn't quite expect. Here are a few of the things we've had to do at work or in a pub (using their public wifi) or using 3G or, if we want to sit in our living room, using a slow Edge(2G) data connection:
- Checking or making travel arrangements, which is quite important when you're living in a new city,
- Updating apps or looking for new ones for phone or computer,
- Booking cinema tickets or, as we are in a new city, just trying to find a cinema,
- Downloading music, films or any other media,
- Getting technical help or details on anything at all. I know I keep mentioning this, but it really is driving me up the wall. BT have now carried out a survey, I think (the surveyor had to phone me for directions, which is a bad sign - I wonder if they just haven't been able to find the flat), and we should know tomorrow when we will be getting a phone line. Or maybe not - I'm not holding my breath.
- Checking or making travel arrangements, which is quite important when you're living in a new city,
- Updating apps or looking for new ones for phone or computer,
- Booking cinema tickets or, as we are in a new city, just trying to find a cinema,
- Downloading music, films or any other media,
- Getting technical help or details on anything at all. I know I keep mentioning this, but it really is driving me up the wall. BT have now carried out a survey, I think (the surveyor had to phone me for directions, which is a bad sign - I wonder if they just haven't been able to find the flat), and we should know tomorrow when we will be getting a phone line. Or maybe not - I'm not holding my breath.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
The year in nonsense – Bad Science
I missed this post when it was first came out, which is a pity because it's s really good summary of the year's pseudo science and related gibberish. I particularly like "Gillian McKeith, or to give her full medical title, Gillian McKeith".
Turbine Hall, Tate Modern
The most impressive part of the gallery is undeniably the structure of the building itself.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Daytime trains and amateur travellers
It’s been a while since I travelled by train during the day and, to be honest, I hadn’t expected a noisy carriage in the week. Unfortunately there are two or more screaming children who, despite their mother’s efforts, have maintained a pretty much constant level of noise for the last twenty minutes. I’m really hoping they quieten down before we get to Leeds in a couple of hours because it’s rather difficult to work in this environment.
Sunday, January 09, 2011
Article: Seven Technologies That Will Rock 2011
Interesting predictions. Number 4 is the one that most interests me although I can't see it happening in a big way till 2012 or 2013; maybe things will start to happen after iPhone 5 hits the streets.
Seven Technologies That Will Rock 2011
http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/02/seven-technologies-that-will-rock-2011/(Sent from Flipboard)
Monday, January 03, 2011
iOS Email Bug?
Sometimes, normally when my iPad is in an area of poor mobile reception (although this may not be relevant) Mail reports, say, 88 unread emails but, when I open the app, there will actually be only 44 messages awaiting perusal. Bug?
Saturday, January 01, 2011
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