slideshow4 » SlideShare
Practice what you preach, sir, practice what you preach.
Not much going on around here recently, sorry. I'm having a fallow posting period, as my energies are elsewhere.
Roo, the big post you're expecting will be along... sometime soon.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Google Homepage Gadget
BBC Pres Clock Google Gadget
I made a gadget. It shows the flash files of the old BBC clocks from the cult site. You can put it on your google homepage.
To make it work:
- Sign in to your google personal homepage
- hit the 'add stuff' link on the left just above the content panel
- hit 'add by URL' next to the search homepage content button
- put this url http://www.mildlydiverting.com/bbcpresclock.xml in the box
- confirm
- go back to your homepage and marvel at my leet coding skillz. :)
It may stop working when the BBC archives my old cult site. /wipes away tear
I made a gadget. It shows the flash files of the old BBC clocks from the cult site. You can put it on your google homepage.
To make it work:
- Sign in to your google personal homepage
- hit the 'add stuff' link on the left just above the content panel
- hit 'add by URL' next to the search homepage content button
- put this url http://www.mildlydiverting.com/bbcpresclock.xml in the box
- confirm
- go back to your homepage and marvel at my leet coding skillz. :)
It may stop working when the BBC archives my old cult site. /wipes away tear
Saturday, June 09, 2007
FlashFlavor » photographing a beach ceremony at night with no available light
FlashFlavor » photographing a beach ceremony at night with no available light
Does what it says on the tin, in spades. Sigh, wish I were better at photography.
Does what it says on the tin, in spades. Sigh, wish I were better at photography.
Favourite New Concept: Schrodinger's Celebrity
Glitter For Brains: "The most annoying thing about her is she's Schrodinger's Celebrity - she only exists because we look at her. So all this vitriol and hate I've just poured over my keyboard (and a small amount of Bloody Mary, but someone nudged my arm while I was having breakfast) is fuelling her time in the spotlight."
Lovely Lee on Paris Hilton. The most perfect way of describing the new breed of celebretard that's doing the rounds; only famous because we keep supplying the oxygen of publicity...
Lovely Lee on Paris Hilton. The most perfect way of describing the new breed of celebretard that's doing the rounds; only famous because we keep supplying the oxygen of publicity...
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
..and Lemons
newswireless.net .:. News .:. Orange "doesn't think it's a problem" ...
Interesting little article about Orange's data policy. £8 for 30Mb. As opposed to the 1Gb cap on T-Mobile. Hah.
I've been meaning to upgrade my mobile for ever. I was using a Nokia 8310 until about a fortnight ago, and it was slowly dying. A great shame, as it's a lovely phone, with the last of the great black and white operating systems; really elegant and quick if you use your phone for calls and texts and nothing else.
The decision was taken out of my hands by a lucky name-from-a-hat moment at Jaiku; I took a marketing survey and was - frankly - shocked to win a Nokia N95 a few weeks later. I had of course completely forgotten about the survey in the meantime.
So - there I was, shiny new dataphone, old one-to-one pricematch tarrif with Orange, plus a moment in a phone shop when the assistant laughed in my face when I asked about upgrades.
I'm now with T-Mobile. It's all good.
Although, N95 appears to have a funny bug where, if left idle for a while on charge the microphone doesn't work when I go to answer a call. Anyone else having similar trouble?
Interesting little article about Orange's data policy. £8 for 30Mb. As opposed to the 1Gb cap on T-Mobile. Hah.
I've been meaning to upgrade my mobile for ever. I was using a Nokia 8310 until about a fortnight ago, and it was slowly dying. A great shame, as it's a lovely phone, with the last of the great black and white operating systems; really elegant and quick if you use your phone for calls and texts and nothing else.
The decision was taken out of my hands by a lucky name-from-a-hat moment at Jaiku; I took a marketing survey and was - frankly - shocked to win a Nokia N95 a few weeks later. I had of course completely forgotten about the survey in the meantime.
So - there I was, shiny new dataphone, old one-to-one pricematch tarrif with Orange, plus a moment in a phone shop when the assistant laughed in my face when I asked about upgrades.
I'm now with T-Mobile. It's all good.
Although, N95 appears to have a funny bug where, if left idle for a while on charge the microphone doesn't work when I go to answer a call. Anyone else having similar trouble?
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Verka Serduchka - Gop, gop! - Jump, jump!
Look, how can you NOT like it? Really? It's all bouncy and oompah!
Ukrainian Gay Power Polka
Look, this is the single most brilliant song of the last five years. I don't care if you think otherwise; you are wrong. Look at it. It has a man pretending to be a lady, a glitterball, glasses that make everyone naked, a completely awesome keychange, and ACCORDIONS. It's a work of genius, and there isn't enough gay accordion-based space disco polka in the world. Ever.
My carbon footprint expands massively
UPS: Tracking Information
So, I'm waiting on a parcel from the US - a Goldtouch keyboard, which was a birthday present from my Mum. Incidentally, they're amazing things if you have RSI, I recommend them thoroughly.
Anyway, I thought I'd have a look see to find out where it was; it's been several days, and it was moving on from Newark last time I looked.
Well - it came in to Stanstead, then was *flown to the East Midlands and back to Heathrow*.
Wow. I mean, that's like the next town if you're in the middle of the US. But on this side of the pond...
Look, here's a cunning line on a map to show you quite how bonkers that was. It makes the cheerful assumption that the package will get to my house from Feltham, by the way, and not be rerouted via Edinburgh, frinstance.
So, I'm waiting on a parcel from the US - a Goldtouch keyboard, which was a birthday present from my Mum. Incidentally, they're amazing things if you have RSI, I recommend them thoroughly.
Anyway, I thought I'd have a look see to find out where it was; it's been several days, and it was moving on from Newark last time I looked.
Well - it came in to Stanstead, then was *flown to the East Midlands and back to Heathrow*.
Wow. I mean, that's like the next town if you're in the middle of the US. But on this side of the pond...
Look, here's a cunning line on a map to show you quite how bonkers that was. It makes the cheerful assumption that the package will get to my house from Feltham, by the way, and not be rerouted via Edinburgh, frinstance.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt.
Epicenter - Wired Blogs
An interview of Cory Doctorow by David Weinberger. Fascinating stuff about metadata, and the differences between implicit and explicit data, along with the political-cultural constructs in play around classification systems.
I wonder, sometimes, about going off and getting a librarianship or curatorial qualification. I am most certainly one of those people who likes sorting - systematising, tidying, classifying and arranging is something I find incredibly soothing. I have a feeling it's incredily hardwired in to me; back in my wild art student days there was a wonderful incident with some hallucinogens and waking up to discover my room ordered to the Nth degree - even my cupboard shelf contents were tidied, rectinlinearly stacked in size order. Others get messy on drugs, I get tidy. But I digress.
I've written bits and bobs about tax- and folks- onomies before here; I don't have the energy for a retread this evening; frankly, reading the transcript of the interview will tell you everything I've said and more, with greater clarity and intellectual rigour. It's worth reading or listening to.
One interesting point made is about flickr, and the huge mass of CC-licensed photos available on the web:-
The interview goes on to talk about copyright, and elision of cultural and commercial constraints in copyright law. The ususal.
But... what does it really mean that there's so much available for free, now? Is the bespoke the final recourse of arts, now? If everyone can micro-produce and micro-sell, what happens to the 'great work' - does it become more valuable, have more of an aura?
In a fully described world, where the overlay of discussion and culture is captured in searchable, semi-machine readable electronic forms, where the map and the territory are completely blurred... what does a creative person do? When there can be no 'underground', no hidden pockets of creative collaboration left to diversify in obscurity, away from the wider culture, do we end up with ... less creative speciation? Or radical, precambrian explosions of diversity?
Flickr is always a good example; it made me want to photograph more, initially, but now makes me not want to photograph at all, because anything I capture will be so like so many other pictures. Interestingness is rarely that; it's more frequently inoffensively pretty and technically pristine; a kind of mass idea of what a good photograph might be, smoothed out by the gentle erosion of traffic flow across the site. It feels a bit like Clement Greenberg's idea of kitsch; it seems to point out that originality is nearly impossible to achieve.
I'm not sure where I'm going with this thought. I think I'm interested to understand what it means to be trying to create something unique in a world where everything-there-is is instantly available and addressable, and any new creation is instantly contextualised by being indexed as 'a bit like this, and this other thing, and maybe 30% similarity to this other thing here'. What gets made? The things that spring to mind are the great renaissance works, painted for super-rich patrons, and elaborately personally codified; the language of art history becoming more obscure and arcane, and personalised to the patron. Commissioning something, collaborating, and encoding undisclosed ideas into the work becomes a way of opposing the same-ness of originality. Or does creativity become private again; something jealously held away from the systematizing gaze of the web? Or do objects become valuable purely because of personal significances - does taste die?
How do we preserve surprise, and grit, and significance? And are these valuable things, or am I pining for mirages?
An interview of Cory Doctorow by David Weinberger. Fascinating stuff about metadata, and the differences between implicit and explicit data, along with the political-cultural constructs in play around classification systems.
I wonder, sometimes, about going off and getting a librarianship or curatorial qualification. I am most certainly one of those people who likes sorting - systematising, tidying, classifying and arranging is something I find incredibly soothing. I have a feeling it's incredily hardwired in to me; back in my wild art student days there was a wonderful incident with some hallucinogens and waking up to discover my room ordered to the Nth degree - even my cupboard shelf contents were tidied, rectinlinearly stacked in size order. Others get messy on drugs, I get tidy. But I digress.
I've written bits and bobs about tax- and folks- onomies before here; I don't have the energy for a retread this evening; frankly, reading the transcript of the interview will tell you everything I've said and more, with greater clarity and intellectual rigour. It's worth reading or listening to.
One interesting point made is about flickr, and the huge mass of CC-licensed photos available on the web:-
If you're a stock photographer trying to sell photos of Capri, even if it can be found, you're probably screwed at Flickr because there's 100, 000 of them there available for free--unlicensed, actually, Creative Commons licensed--yours is going to have to be pretty darn good for somebody to actually shell out money for it.
The interview goes on to talk about copyright, and elision of cultural and commercial constraints in copyright law. The ususal.
But... what does it really mean that there's so much available for free, now? Is the bespoke the final recourse of arts, now? If everyone can micro-produce and micro-sell, what happens to the 'great work' - does it become more valuable, have more of an aura?
In a fully described world, where the overlay of discussion and culture is captured in searchable, semi-machine readable electronic forms, where the map and the territory are completely blurred... what does a creative person do? When there can be no 'underground', no hidden pockets of creative collaboration left to diversify in obscurity, away from the wider culture, do we end up with ... less creative speciation? Or radical, precambrian explosions of diversity?
Flickr is always a good example; it made me want to photograph more, initially, but now makes me not want to photograph at all, because anything I capture will be so like so many other pictures. Interestingness is rarely that; it's more frequently inoffensively pretty and technically pristine; a kind of mass idea of what a good photograph might be, smoothed out by the gentle erosion of traffic flow across the site. It feels a bit like Clement Greenberg's idea of kitsch; it seems to point out that originality is nearly impossible to achieve.
I'm not sure where I'm going with this thought. I think I'm interested to understand what it means to be trying to create something unique in a world where everything-there-is is instantly available and addressable, and any new creation is instantly contextualised by being indexed as 'a bit like this, and this other thing, and maybe 30% similarity to this other thing here'. What gets made? The things that spring to mind are the great renaissance works, painted for super-rich patrons, and elaborately personally codified; the language of art history becoming more obscure and arcane, and personalised to the patron. Commissioning something, collaborating, and encoding undisclosed ideas into the work becomes a way of opposing the same-ness of originality. Or does creativity become private again; something jealously held away from the systematizing gaze of the web? Or do objects become valuable purely because of personal significances - does taste die?
How do we preserve surprise, and grit, and significance? And are these valuable things, or am I pining for mirages?
Friday, May 04, 2007
Thursday, May 03, 2007
It's probably fair use, but...
Second Life - Videos - KNBC
A friend just pointed me at this video that went out on US TV. I've tried three or four times to leave a comment on the actual page, but it doesn't seem to be working. Hence, I thought it worth reproducing here, because, well, someone should make a fuss when big media rip off other people's stuff against the specific license it's published under.
I've spent a LOT of my life over the last few years ensuring image use is all within the bounds of license agreements and copyright - even getting release forms for a five year old, once.
I suppose we don't have the benefit of that pesky 'fair use' under UK law.
Anway - the Yentob avatar was created by Siobhan, so she should take the credit.
Comment text would have been as below:-
A friend just pointed me at this video that went out on US TV. I've tried three or four times to leave a comment on the actual page, but it doesn't seem to be working. Hence, I thought it worth reproducing here, because, well, someone should make a fuss when big media rip off other people's stuff against the specific license it's published under.
I've spent a LOT of my life over the last few years ensuring image use is all within the bounds of license agreements and copyright - even getting release forms for a five year old, once.
I suppose we don't have the benefit of that pesky 'fair use' under UK law.
Anway - the Yentob avatar was created by Siobhan, so she should take the credit.
Comment text would have been as below:-
Hello
I notice that you've used one of my screenshots in your piece. Whilst Alan Yentob's (a famous UK TV personality) avatar and the screenshot was created for a BBC TV documentary, I assume you've obtained the shot from my flickr stream.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mildlydiverting/309499776/
It's released there under a Creative Commons Deed - Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/
You don't appear to have Attributed me; the adverts at the front of your piece seem to suggests you're a commercial concern, and there's a clear copyright statement at the bottom of the page, suggesting you haven't 'shared alike'.
Just thought you might like to know for future reference, so you can consider complying with the licensing requirements.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Photosynth Technology Preview
Photosynth Technology Preview
Gosh, it's come along a bit. I reccomend trying the flythrough button, too.
It's fascinating to think that tools like this will mean, in the long term, that there will be a digital 'skin' representation of the world overlying reality, like Borges' map that is as large as the country. Granted, some areas more detailed than others - you just need to look at the geographical distribution of images in flickr to understand that the future is very unevenly distributed - but it's a short leap to a fully - represented world, where GPS is no longer necessary to identify the location of a photograph, as it can just be intelligently slotted in to place through pattern matching.
Some thoughts, in no particular order
- It understands 'behind'. Poke around the artists' studio collection, particularly around the easel - you'll suddenly pop to the wall, presumably marrying up at the occluded edges in longshots...
- it seems to like manmade space much more than natural space. Perhaps the eye more easily 'fills in' in geometric spaces, and this isn't the fault of the software as much a s a preference of perception
- Might it understand Time? What would happen if you fed the system street scenes from 1930, and contemporary scenes in the same location? Could you create a forth dimension to the walkthrough?
- 80 megapixel images? BLIMEY.
- It needs a much more gestural interface; the ability to move with the mouse, and with arrow keys. The clicking feels incredibly artificial.
- Photosynth + Games + ?? = PROFIT!
- I bet it's not compatible with Google Earth. Bastards.
Gosh, it's come along a bit. I reccomend trying the flythrough button, too.
It's fascinating to think that tools like this will mean, in the long term, that there will be a digital 'skin' representation of the world overlying reality, like Borges' map that is as large as the country. Granted, some areas more detailed than others - you just need to look at the geographical distribution of images in flickr to understand that the future is very unevenly distributed - but it's a short leap to a fully - represented world, where GPS is no longer necessary to identify the location of a photograph, as it can just be intelligently slotted in to place through pattern matching.
Some thoughts, in no particular order
- It understands 'behind'. Poke around the artists' studio collection, particularly around the easel - you'll suddenly pop to the wall, presumably marrying up at the occluded edges in longshots...
- it seems to like manmade space much more than natural space. Perhaps the eye more easily 'fills in' in geometric spaces, and this isn't the fault of the software as much a s a preference of perception
- Might it understand Time? What would happen if you fed the system street scenes from 1930, and contemporary scenes in the same location? Could you create a forth dimension to the walkthrough?
- 80 megapixel images? BLIMEY.
- It needs a much more gestural interface; the ability to move with the mouse, and with arrow keys. The clicking feels incredibly artificial.
- Photosynth + Games + ?? = PROFIT!
- I bet it's not compatible with Google Earth. Bastards.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Yes, but what does it DO?
Jeteye Firefox Extension:
I'm looking through firefox extensions, and found a lovely example of marketing rhetoric completely failing to sell a product in the space available.
What does it DO? Really? Can you guess from that description? Answers on a postcard.
"Jeteye
by Jeteye Technologies, Inc.
Jeteye is a unique Web-based application and service that is designed for the next generation of enterprise and consumer use of the Web. Jeteye changes how we interact with the web, in an era where communication and social computing are more...
Version 1.0.2.20070118114558 — January 18, 2007"
I'm looking through firefox extensions, and found a lovely example of marketing rhetoric completely failing to sell a product in the space available.
What does it DO? Really? Can you guess from that description? Answers on a postcard.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Google Toolbar
Google Toolbar Features
I'm playing with the latest version of Google Toolbar on Firefox. I'm finding it the tiniest bit confusing - hitting the blogger icon now performs a blog search, and to get to the Blog This! Interface I have to hit the 'send to' dropdown. Wha?
I do hate it when designers change the functions and meanings of icons. It's like making the word 'milk' suddenly mean 'nagging headache' instead of, well, milk, really.
On the plus side - I now have a Google Scholar search button, a 'define:' seach button (the secret to being able to understand technical specification documents, frequently!) and some kind of magic wand. Haven't you always wanted one of those?
The interesting implications seem to be around search history. I've had google's search history feature running quietly in the background since October 05, and it has always been patchy - collecting some search queries and not others, and inconsistently remembering clicks and so on. I'm sure Ask! will be heartened to know that their sinister competitor's mad surveilance techiques (ha!) are a little flaky.
Signing in today, however, through the new toolbar, I see that much more has appeared - whole swathes of activity are back against my name. Combined with the Browser Sync addon (possibly the neatest way I have ever found of having a bunch of idle weekend smut surfing show up on your work machine... oops!), I have a pretty complete view of my browsing habits. Not quite as beautiful as those at https://vaults.root.net/ - which makes up for an inexplicable temporary loss of my data with some very, very nice graphs, but useful, nonetheless.
How valuable is that data, though? Well, if you wanted to blackmail me, or market things to me, pretty high, I'd imagine. It's a rich source of information, and I can see how mining it will let google serve ever more efficient and targeted adverts.But the availability of so much data - about who or what is using /reading what will, I'd hope, also mean that it will become much easier to find and buy goods and services that will be appropriate for me; I'll no longer need to laboriously 'teach' amazon that I like books on feminist literary theory, and don't like Miss Teen Cosmopolitain Makeup CD Roms (A genuine Amazon reccomendation from back in the day!) and just tell it to take a discrete look at my information history and work out that I'm more In Our Time than Take a Break. From there, you could weight reviews according to how attitudinally similar I am to a reviewer, strimming out that typical 'well, whoever gave that one star was obviously a dolt' thing you get sometimes.
I'm finding it very hard to get worried about the privacy implications of this ubiquitous behavioural information - after all, adverts are only intrusive if they're shouty and irrelevant, which google generally avoids. I'm slightly more worried about my new N95 with Jaiku! enabled on it (which I won in a random draw having completed a marketing survey for them, incidentally, and wouldn't have accepted if I thought there was any funny business going on there - although I have had a couple of casual interactions with the chaps behind the site). The main thing that worried me was the real-time location updating. The days of being a bit late in to the office in order to drop in to John Lewis are over, and I'll never be able to lie about my location again.
I'm playing with the latest version of Google Toolbar on Firefox. I'm finding it the tiniest bit confusing - hitting the blogger icon now performs a blog search, and to get to the Blog This! Interface I have to hit the 'send to' dropdown. Wha?
I do hate it when designers change the functions and meanings of icons. It's like making the word 'milk' suddenly mean 'nagging headache' instead of, well, milk, really.
On the plus side - I now have a Google Scholar search button, a 'define:' seach button (the secret to being able to understand technical specification documents, frequently!) and some kind of magic wand. Haven't you always wanted one of those?
The interesting implications seem to be around search history. I've had google's search history feature running quietly in the background since October 05, and it has always been patchy - collecting some search queries and not others, and inconsistently remembering clicks and so on. I'm sure Ask! will be heartened to know that their sinister competitor's mad surveilance techiques (ha!) are a little flaky.
Signing in today, however, through the new toolbar, I see that much more has appeared - whole swathes of activity are back against my name. Combined with the Browser Sync addon (possibly the neatest way I have ever found of having a bunch of idle weekend smut surfing show up on your work machine... oops!), I have a pretty complete view of my browsing habits. Not quite as beautiful as those at https://vaults.root.net/ - which makes up for an inexplicable temporary loss of my data with some very, very nice graphs, but useful, nonetheless.
How valuable is that data, though? Well, if you wanted to blackmail me, or market things to me, pretty high, I'd imagine. It's a rich source of information, and I can see how mining it will let google serve ever more efficient and targeted adverts.But the availability of so much data - about who or what is using /reading what will, I'd hope, also mean that it will become much easier to find and buy goods and services that will be appropriate for me; I'll no longer need to laboriously 'teach' amazon that I like books on feminist literary theory, and don't like Miss Teen Cosmopolitain Makeup CD Roms (A genuine Amazon reccomendation from back in the day!) and just tell it to take a discrete look at my information history and work out that I'm more In Our Time than Take a Break. From there, you could weight reviews according to how attitudinally similar I am to a reviewer, strimming out that typical 'well, whoever gave that one star was obviously a dolt' thing you get sometimes.
I'm finding it very hard to get worried about the privacy implications of this ubiquitous behavioural information - after all, adverts are only intrusive if they're shouty and irrelevant, which google generally avoids. I'm slightly more worried about my new N95 with Jaiku! enabled on it (which I won in a random draw having completed a marketing survey for them, incidentally, and wouldn't have accepted if I thought there was any funny business going on there - although I have had a couple of casual interactions with the chaps behind the site). The main thing that worried me was the real-time location updating. The days of being a bit late in to the office in order to drop in to John Lewis are over, and I'll never be able to lie about my location again.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
A Hack for Europe! (plasticbag.org)
A Hack for Europe! (plasticbag.org)
Yay! Sign up!
I really want to go to this. But I don't think my leet baking, drawing and needlework skillz count as 'making' at this point. Which means I'm an obsessive business networker. Oh.
EDIT:
Mr Tom C is getting a bit worried that everyone is pointing to his post about this, and that the many other organisers aren't getting due credit. I know the people doing the organising at the BBC end too, and they have indeed all been working like dogs to sort this.
So credit to all where credit is due! http://hackday.org/ has all the details.
Yay! Sign up!
I really want to go to this. But I don't think my leet baking, drawing and needlework skillz count as 'making' at this point. Which means I'm an obsessive business networker. Oh.
EDIT:
Mr Tom C is getting a bit worried that everyone is pointing to his post about this, and that the many other organisers aren't getting due credit. I know the people doing the organising at the BBC end too, and they have indeed all been working like dogs to sort this.
So credit to all where credit is due! http://hackday.org/ has all the details.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Accordion Hero
Gamasutra - Schadenfreudian Slips Postmortem - "A Tight Squeeze: The Making Of Accordion Hero"
I. Would. So. Buy. This. Game.
I. Would. So. Buy. This. Game.
Friday, April 13, 2007
The Nohari Window - Describe mildlydiverting
The Nohari Window - Describe mildlydiverting
I can't begin to describe how funny I find an entirely negative, vicious and unpleasant personality test. Take that, self-help book publishers!
I can't begin to describe how funny I find an entirely negative, vicious and unpleasant personality test. Take that, self-help book publishers!
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Radio 4 to co-produce feature film | Radio | MediaGuardian.co.uk
Radio 4 to co-produce feature film | Radio | MediaGuardian.co.uk: "When it is broadcast, Radio 4 will have a red button service for digital TV transmission enabling viewers to see the visual material, the first time the station has shown a feature-style film to accompany spoken material."
This is very cool - and I think I might now know why my old boss was so excited about Peter Ackroyd when I last saw her.
But - uh, radio with pictures. Convergence. Or as we in the trade like to call it, telly.
It's all good.
This is very cool - and I think I might now know why my old boss was so excited about Peter Ackroyd when I last saw her.
But - uh, radio with pictures. Convergence. Or as we in the trade like to call it, telly.
It's all good.
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