Published on
February 23, 2010 in
Personal.
I wrongly assume that my “normal” friends (i.e. non-geeks) see most of what I encounter on the Internet. I forget that they’re unlikely to spend nigh on ten hours a day connected. They are probably not subscribed to Gruber nor Kottke and neither do they typically use Twitter.
If you’re not drinking from the firehose then perhaps it isn’t unsurprising that some things will pass you by. I am by no means attempting to claim that I see everything worth seeing on the Internet every single day. To do so would be impossible – even the professionals miss a lot of things first time around.
However, that’s not to say that my friends who largely live offline aren’t interested in some of the wonderful stuff that’s out there. Most won’t “get” XKCD but when I received an email last week pointing me toward the epic Two Gentlemen of Lebowski that I first saw at the start of the year, I realised that it’s my responsibility to bring these things to the fore in my role as “the geeky one” of the group.
To this end, I plan on using my Tumblr account to share interesting clips and articles that I encounter and keep this here blog for longer pieces and the occasional rant.
Published on
February 17, 2010 in
Personal.
No sooner do I write a post about making yourself a target for robbery than along comes a dedicated domain to highlight online privacy and the dangers on broadcasting your location to all and sundry: pleaserobme.com.
Despite being an avid user, personally I find the Foursquare tweets hugely annoying. I also only accept friend requests on the service from people I actually know – mind you, I do exactly the same on Facebook: Amber MacArthur notwithstanding, I’ve had a beer with every single one of the people in my friend list.
I did dally with geotagging my tweets for a while. This allowed me (or anyone else for that matter) to paste my Twitter RSS feed into a Google maps search in order to see where I was tweeting from – just out of sheer curiosity you understand. The results were pretty much as I expected: various pubs, the office and home. I’ve since stopped geotagging and have deleted all of the data – which, to their credit, Twitter make extremely easy to do.
I do wonder though: exactly how much more likely are you to be a victim of burglary if you broadcast your location? How many criminals are sat just watching Twitter on their (invariably stolen) iPhone, just waiting for someone nearby to announce via Foursquare that they’ve left their house? Isn’t it far likelier that an opportunistic thief will see you leave home and jimmy your back door open or smash a window?
Published on
February 8, 2010 in
Personal.
No, not me. I would very seriously recommend that you don’t attempt robbing me.
That phrase is what I think must go through every bag-snatchers stupid little mind when they see people – and I’m talking almost exclusively about women – carrying their bags with the handles in the crook of their arm, their forearm conveniently positioned horizontally to allow the bag to be slipped off with great ease as the thief runs past.
Aren’t people advised to not make it easy for criminals any more?
Published on
December 29, 2009 in
Personal.
Time to dust off the crystal ball and have a wild stab at what may happen in the coming 12 months. There were some disappointments in 2009: Google Wave certainly didn’t live up to the hype but maybe things will change for the better now that the EtherPad guys have been bought on board. Wolfram Alpha also flopped. Frankly, I’d almost forgot it ever launched in the first place but they still thought that people would pay $50 for their iPhone application.
Twitters recent acquisition of Mixer Labs indicates the way things are heading: location-based services will be this years real-time web. Google’s attempted courting of Yelp provides further evidence for this. I’m still mocked among my non-tech friends for using Twitter so I’m expecting more of the same when Foursquare becomes more prominent. Augmented reality will also be a large part of this location-aware shift.
A faster, more widely available, always-on connection will obviously be an important factor for location-based applications but for the renewed attempt at tablet computing and a thin client model running Google’s Chrome OS, connectivity will be more important still. Cities in Norway and Sweden recently gained a 4G network which is up to ten times quicker than 3G.
Now that HDTV has been sold to the masses, it’s time for the electronics companies to tell us once again that we out-of-date and we need a new television set. What has been the big thing in the cinema of late will now be pushed at the consumer level. Sony has signed a deal that will see up to 25 matches at the 2010 World Cup be broadcast in 3D – but only at special events. If the biggest sporting spectacle in the world can’t drive demand then there could be trouble ahead for 3D in the home.
Another thing set to take off next year that will become huge is making and taking payments with mobile phones. While the Japanese have been doing this with the handset itself for a good while now this has only been used like the contactless cards we’re starting to use here (i.e. paying for things). Square and possibly the iPod Touch system used by Apple will allow anyone to take payment for goods and services.
Published on
December 27, 2009 in
Personal.
It’s almost the end of the year. A lot of us will be making the usual New Years resolutions again: drink less, exercise more, eat better. We say this every year, thinking about improving our health and ourselves. It lasts for what, a few months – at best? It’s beyond time for us to wise up and make changes not for ourselves but for our children and the planet that has been loaned to us by them.
Copenhagen has shown us that the politicians can’t be relied upon to stand up to big business and their own interests. Responsibility now lies with the citizen to do something – at the polling station and in our personal lives.
We know what we’re supposed to do: change our lightbulbs, turn the TV off at the wall, turn the thermostat down and so on. We know we’re supposed to keep our air and food miles down. We should be doing the same for sea miles as well.
Half of all journeys made in the EU are less than 5km. Start walking or using a bike for the shorter journeys you make. Take the bus, train or car-share when possible.
Stop wasting food. It’s not a hard thing to do. Start by planning your meals and writing a list before you go shopping. Don’t religiously adhere to “Best Before” dates.
Know what’s involved in the production of what you consume: 140 litres of water for that cup of coffee you enjoy so much for example. And for crying out loud, stop drinking bottled water.
Don’t just recycle: reuse. One of my friends favourite ripostes to the recycling brigade was that it’s not clear if recycling uses any less energy than making something from new. He missed the point entirely. As The Story of Stuff makes clear, we only have a finite amount of resources on the planet.
