New R4 Series of The Shuttleworths

Caught this last night (available on on iPlayer). Still very funny in that gentle way.

JS takes on eBay in pursuit of a toaster with advanced features (it has an inbuilt crum tray AND variable browning).

BBC - BBC Radio 4 Programmes - The Shuttleworths.

Pam & Arthur's Trip to Paris for their 50th Wedding Anniversary

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="180" caption="Pam & Arthur visit to Paris (May 2010)"][/caption]

Photos from Pam & Arthur's weekend in Paris to celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary.

Click the photo to link to photo set (or click here)

Now Panic and Freak Out Poster/Remix

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="350" caption="Now Panic and Freak Out"][/caption]

I liked the "Keep Calm and Carry On" WW2 poster (I even have a T-shirt) however perhaps this "Now Panic and Freak Out" remix is more appropriate for our times.

Not sure when it originated.. perhaps up to a year ago basd on some quick googling.

This blog (from last year) collects a bunch of them.

It's our wedding anniversary today

It was 12 years ago and what a great day we had.... the online photos were from our first digital camera (a Fuji) - many taken by our friend Minos.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Wedding Day 1998"][/caption]

Dotcom bubble burst - Where were you?

As covered widely in the press & on the web - today is the anniversary of the peak of the NASDAQ tech stocks.

"On 10 March 2000, the Nasdaq index of leading technology shares spiked, bursting the Dotcom bubble."

I was in my tenth year at Oracle at the time - though would leave in the Summer and join in with a badly/unluckily timed yet prescient start up intended to digitally distribute classical music. Searching for funding for an Internet venture in Q2 of 2000 turned out to be not a good plan!(Of course I blame the likes of pets.com and boo.com and the fools who gave them millions to burn with no sound business plan).

Those late nineties boom years were great fun though.. with much of the promise being fulfilled within a decade or so.

I have fond memories of touting an (ahem) N|C (network computer) around Europe... another idea before its time (and of course fatally flawed in execution). But we see the promise of "thin client computing" fulfilled in today's IT via various technologies (netbooks, smartphones, tablets, "cloud computing", virtual desktops etc.). Larry's vision was good - the timing and execution questionable.

The other main technology I was associated with at that time was "Video on Demand". Fifteen years on from the excitement of the early trials (with BT in the UK) streamed high quality (OK,  decent-ish quality) video is normal today (BC iPlayer Youtube et al).

Some of my friends and colleagues from those days are still at Oracle - some (unbelievably!) having served 20+ years there.

So where were you and what memories do you have?

BBC News - Dotcom bubble burst: 10 years on.

WIRED: March 10, 2000: Pop Goes the Nasdaq!

networkworld: Time Flies Dept.: Dot-com craze peaked 10 years ago

March 10, 2000: Pop Goes the Nasdaq!

My Birthday today...

Thanks for the greetings people... and can it really be 5 years since my 40th.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="160" caption="Petrols play at my 40th birthday"][/caption]

We had a great party with some great live music.. including for of The Petrols playing together. Here's some photos from that party - weren't we young!

This year after breakfast at Granny pam's we're off to see Ponyo with Charlie (now a Miyazki fan after watching My Neighbor Totoro and Porco Rosso on TV recently).

Computer Engineer Barbie coming soon to a toy store near you

Looking geek chic, Computer Engineer Barbie® wears a t-shirt featuring binary code and computer/keyboard icon along with a pair of black knit skinny pants. Computer Engineer carries a Barbie® smart phone, fashionable laptop case, flat watch and Bluetooth earpiece. With stylish pink-frame glasses and a shiny laptop, she is ready to conquer the day’s tasks on the go or from her desk.

via Computer Engineer Barbie coming soon to a toy store near you • The Register.

NASA Launches David Bowie Concept Mission

Lovely - real fans will spot all the references:

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL—NASA officials announced today the successful launch of the new shuttle Moonage Daydream, marking the beginning of a long-anticipated two-week conceptual mission inspired by British rock star David Bowie.

From The Onion

Train Buffet joke - made me lol

Funny - via Martin Kelner's Guardian column:

[set on a british inter-city train] a passenger gets a cappuccino, a cheese and tomato sandwich, a packet of crisps and a Kit Kat and hands over payment, saying: "I'm sorry, I've only got a twenty-pound note."

The buffet car steward replies: "Well, you'd better put the Kit Kat back then."

The column also discusses ESPN's "Free View Weekend". I watched (some of) their coverage of the Milan Derby. An eventful and quite interesting game. I don't understand why anyone would want to PAY FOR a subscription though... especially when they subject you to long (4+ minutes?) of ads in the breaks. Pay a subscription and still get bombarded with (stupid!) adverts - How is that supposed to appeal?

Eno Night on BBC Four

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="241" caption="The Professor"][/caption]

Don't forget Eno Night on BBC Four this evening (then repeats - MythTV box primed and ready!)

I'm excited to finally see (missed it on TV last year) the film of the Apollo missions that the very wonderful Apollo soundtrack was made for. (See Guardian mini-interview from last year).

Also - last week's Observer had some extracts form Paul Morley's interview (for the TV) with Eno - I particulalry liked this quote:

"I think records were just a little bubble through time and those who made a living from them for a while were lucky. There is no reason why anyone should have made so much money from selling records except that everything was right for this period of time. I always knew it would run out sooner or later. It couldn't last, and now it's running out. I don't particularly care that it is and like the way things are going. The record age was just a blip. It was a bit like if you had a source of whale blubber in the 1840s and it could be used as fuel. Before gas came along, if you traded in whale blubber, you were the richest man on Earth. Then gas came along and you'd be stuck with your whale blubber. Sorry mate – history's moving along. Recorded music equals whale blubber. Eventually, something else will replace it."

Similar to Bowie's "music like water" quote from 2002

''Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity,'' he added. ''So it's like, just take advantage of these last few years because none of this is ever going to happen again. You'd better be prepared for doing a lot of touring because that's really the only unique situation that's going to be left. It's terribly exciting. But on the other hand it doesn't matter if you think it's exciting or not; it's what's going to happen.''

Link to Eno Night schedule info

1. 
   
   
   

   21:00–22:00

   
   
   
   
   
   

   Arena
   Brian Eno - Another Green World

   
   

   A profile of Brian Eno, former Roxy Music keyboardist and a pioneer in ambient music.

   
   


2. 
   
   
   

   22:00–23:00

   
   
   
   
   
   

   Brian Eno: Hits, Classics and Tracks

   
   

   Paul Morley talks about some of Brian Eno's hit tracks, including Heroes and Viva La Vida.

   
   


3. 
   
   
   

   23:00–23:55

   
   
   
   
   
   

   The Roxy Music Story

   
   

   Profile of the glam band Roxy Music, who reformed after 25 years to make a new album. (R)

   
   


4. 
   
   
   

   23:55–01:10

   
   
   
   
   
   

   For All Mankind

   
   

   1989 documentary relating the story of the 24 men who travelled to the moon with NASA. (R)

   
   

Schneier on Google vs. China

Great commentary and collection of links on the recent news on Google vs. China.

Bruce Schneier is well respected in computer and real world security - always worth a read.

Schneier on Security: Google vs. China.

Happy (63rd) Birthday David Bowie

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="242" caption="Bowie - Nov 2009 SoHo NYC"][/caption]

My hero David Bowie is 63 today - so Happy Birthday to him.

It's been several years since his last album (Reality, 2003) and well publicised ill-health whilst on the tour to support the album - and he's been laying low with infrequent media appearances (celeb stuff with his wife Iman, supporting his son's movie "Moon", some movie and music cameos). Recently there's the stamps thing plus a new live album (based on the live DVD) of his Reality tour out at the end of the month.

There has been no new music either rumoured or released - and some fans have speculated that he's really not well.

It was almost a relief when back in November these photos surfaced of DB walking around in SoHo NYC looking quite the dapper man about town (what's in that bag? a new album?)   ;-)

So - happy birthday DB and lets have some new music you old bugger!

The 100 Most Iconic Internet Videos

This is from last summer -  but I just bumped into it.

A comprehensive list - many I know and remember fondly - many which escaped me till now (e.g. No 2 "Christian the Lion" - how had i missed that?).

It's hard to argue against the "Star Wars Kid" being at No 1.. but my favourite is still probably "David After Dentist" (No 7 - if you only watch one... watch that one).


A good list with useful contextual commentary too.

The 100 Most Iconic Internet Videos [Full List] - Urlesque.

The Secret Kind of Blue (BBC Radio 2)

Originally broadcast back in August to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Miles' Kind of Blue album,  I finally got round to listening to this today (whilst cleaning the kitchen). It's a good one hour doc presented by Brit trumpeter Guy Barker with plenty of clips of the record, interesting comments and historical interviews. I have a copy in mp3 if anyone's interested.

BBC - BBC Radio 2 Programmes - The Secret Kind of Blue.

Article - IT snake oil

I've been involved or around all of these over the years.. AI and CASE at BP's IT Research Unit in the late 80's. Thin Clients (yeah!), ERP, B-to-b marketplaces while at Oracle and more recently Enterprise social media.

IT snake oil: Six tech cure-alls that went bunk.

In most cases I think the approach, ideas and technology/applications are (still) valid - it is the expectations which were incorrect:

• HYPE & timing:
  
  
  
  • over-estimating the short-term impact; under-estimating the long-term impact
  
  
  • technology is not quite ready/mature enough - yet the trend is towards what's required
  
  
  • Vendors always over-HYPE the potential of the tech and it's impact
  
  
  
  


• resistance to change:
  
  
  
  • most people and organisations resist change and most managements can't/don't/won't lead their employees properly
  
  
  • as the article points out -people like the way they do business already
  
  
  
  

B-to-b marketplaces

Bryan Ferry Sings "She" at Cannes (May 2009)

I just bumped into this oddity (via Bryan Ferry - The Official Site.)

Be sure to catch the duet with Aznavour in the audience.

An abundance of onions

For the first time, we have enough produce to make it worth preserving some for use into winter 
Only a couple of things and not even much of them, but our first ‘surplus’ so quite exciting !
Today I read about how to ‘string’ onions and we now have a couple of amateurish-looking strings hanging in the shed to see what happens. Hopefully, they will dry out a little and keep for a few months and not just fall off the strings or rot where they hang. If they look to be working I may do some more as I have left quite a few of the smaller onions in the bed.
We also have a freezer shelf of runner beans. I decided not to blanch them, just washed and dried them, sliced them up, then a loose freeze ready to bag into portions. We have lots more runners on the way so we will keep eating fresh and freezing spares for the next few weeks I think.
Charlie is getting mini-cukes every few days and we are still enjoying multi-coloured carrots, potatoes, salad and raspberries, even Steve and I managed to snaffle a few rasps yesterday when Charlie was out playing.
I cleared the asparagus beds of weeds yesterday and found 3 separate families of toads ! Lovely little things, very welcome so I tucked them back in and hopefully they will stay and get fat on slugs.

Facebook Quizes/Games & Privacy - Comments Requested.

PLEASE TAKE THIS QUIZ: What Do Quizzes Really Know About You? on Facebook.

I don't use many applications on Facebook - and certainly don't join in the fun and quiz apps - due to concerns about privacy and data-mining.

I'm not sure how well understood these issues are by most FB users - and it takes some work to read up and understand it all.

This quiz put together by the ACLU really helps you understand just WHAT information you agree to expose (your own AND your FB friends) when you give access to an FB application.

I understand the trade-off between a content/amusement provider (their app) and me (my time, attention, information) - and the concepts behind the data-mining and customer profiling to enable highly targeted advertising -but given that we mostly have no idea who these app providers are - how do we make an informed choice of whether to expose our (and our friends') data to them?

Bottom line:

• Make sure you understand and carefully set the privacy options in your FB Profile - ref: 10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know (note that this is from early in 2009 and there have been changes to the FB privacy options since the - but it's still a good guide).


• Don't put sensitive information into your profile: e.g. remove the year from your birthday - better still don't display it at all and better still don't fill it in correctly


• Assume that FB apps suppliers are in general sleazy marketeers who want to harvest all your and your friends' data and don't trust them unless/until you know for sure they are sound and trustworthy (in most cases it's not possible to verify this)

Further Thoughts:

Perhaps I am overly sensitive (paranoid!) about this issue (I also reject store "loyalty cards" for similar reasons) - but I get the impression that most FB users have no idea how exposed their own (and their friends') data/info is on Facebook.

Note: I have quite a lot of personal information (blog entries, tweets, photos, contact details) available on the public Internet. This data/info is available to anyone who cares to look at it - and should someone wish to stalk me they could access it all. I don't perceive this as a (significant) threat because I don't think there's value in doing the work to gather that data. Paradoxically, whilst Facebook "protects" one's information and only allows access to "your friends" (and itself of course!)  - by exposing this info to "3rd party application developers" companies are able to hoover up and aggregate lots of information about you (and your friends!) and use it to profile and target you.

I'm very interested in others' comments on this.

• Did you take the ACLU quiz? What did you learn?


• Do you inherently trust FB apps?
  
  
  
  • If not - why do you (continue to) use them?
  
  
  • If so - why?
  
  
  
  


• General comments on the topic


• Should I order a tin foil hat?


• Maybe you agree with Scott McNealy who in 1999 said "You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it."

Let me know what you think.

**Note: I disabled comments on here (Wrodpress Blog) due to all the comment-spam - comment via Twitter or FB please :-)

10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know

Trying out TweetDeck

I have just installed and am experimenting with TweetDeck.

It seems very impressive - handling multiple accounts and most usefully (for me) allowing the creation of groups to allow you to follow multiple users grouped into categories. It also (apparently) allows access to Facebook accounts too - however the account setup just hangs for me.

It runs on Linux via Adobe Air - which is a bit scary closed/proprietary but probably becoming a "necessary evil" (like Flash)... sigh.

Let's se if it changes/improves my use of Twitter.

Recent Photos: Back to School and Summer 2009

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="180" caption="Charlie back to school September 7th 2009"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Photos from Summer 2009"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Photos from Summer 2009"]<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/distractedbyathing/sets/72157622156735423/"><img title="Photos from Summer 2009" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3480/3896004444_e879d080d7_m.jpg" alt="Photos from Summer 2009" width="240" height="180" /></a>[/caption]