Blogs
Sun, 23rd March 2k8 2108083
links for 2008-03-23 del.icio.us 23:22 pm 974
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OOXML has “serious technical [] issues, and [is] being released not to increase interoperability across people, organizations and applications, but to leverage the use of their products.”
Tue, 4th March 2k8 2108064
links for 2008-03-04 del.icio.us 23:22 pm 974
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‘Instead, it is because of their support for interoperability? I’m sorry but I call "bullshit" here.’
Mon, 25th February 2k8 2108056
links for 2008-02-25 del.icio.us 23:23 pm 974
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‘we are interested in OpenID as part of a spectrum’ So, Embrace and Extend, right? I thought they’d do that… I’ll stick with client certs, thank you.
Tue, 5th February 2k8 2108036
links for 2008-02-05 del.icio.us 23:22 pm 973
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“The place of universities in society makes them powerful actors and advocates in the intellectual, cultural, and innovative arenas. Have universities learned the lessons of free culture?”
Tue, 29th January 2k8 2108029
links for 2008-01-29 del.icio.us 23:25 pm 975
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What a neat way to classify open film projects. Examples: Peach gets (O), BloodSpell gets (O-)
Mon, 19th November 2k7 2107323
Kindle, we’re nearly at the tipping point internet 23:55 pm 996
Amazon launched their eBook reader today, called Kindle. For the first time it’s brought these devices within reach, it wont break the bank to purchase one, and it’s hardly trendy enough that someone will steal it from you in the local library.
My first thoughts, in a certainly lazily thrown together list that shows I have no eloquence, ordered randomly with the best saved for last, about this specific device:
- So very damn ugly. But I understand why the keyboard is on it, touch screens really rape battery life. Buttons on both edges? I don’t get that, but maybe not being able to rest the device while in bed is a feature.
- Internet-working via mobile networks (US fuddery aside). The brightest idea yet for any ebook reader. Real Internet.
- An off-line, searchable dictionary, a touch of brilliance. Needs an option to pick OED?
- Newspapers! and Blogs! Subscriptions via Push! OK, we have them via the internet already, with RSS, For free (gratis). But what we don’t have is an all-inclusive payment for receiving the thing (Messing around at trendy-wine-bar just to get on-line for £/hour doesn’t count). With the device having a mobile phone connection, the cost is really just for data transfer.
- Battery life, good. Finally, some people understand the importance of a device that can be used for an entire day without needing to be charged twice or thrice.
- An audio port, whee, podcasts soon I hope. Though that would cost a bomb. Maybe computer-syncing will be the answer.
- USB, so it can accept data from your computer.
- SD slot, so it’s scalable.
- Free (again, gratis) access to Wikipedia, the *gem* of this device. It makes it a portable hitchhikers guide. It saddens me that Douglas isn’t around to see this.
What I dislike, if the above didn’t make it obvious:
- So very damn ugly.
- Having to pay for access to /., no matter how cheap it is. Because I’m spoiled by the “free” Internet.
- No RSS/ATOM. Now I have to read news at two different sources.
- No ODF support. I know it’s not a laptop. And it’s not aimed at typing. But being able to take a piece of work and showing it to someone, and editing live, is such a bonus. Converting to HTML/DOC, and then a transfer to the device, just hassle.
- Yet another damn eBook format.
- The scrolling wheel and that framed LCD. Why can’t they merge the screens and forego that stupid plastic strip that I just know I could break.
Otherwise, damn. I want one. And when they reach old Blighty, I just think I will.
After my twitter post, I thought maybe I came across too pro-Kindle. Shouting WOW was probably the give-away. Now I’ve known about Sony’s reader for a few years (a wallet-arseraping), and the Iliad (lovely, attractive, clean, and useful too), but they’ve always been a niche purchase. Because of cost.
If we were to measure relative functionality ignoring cost, I would pick the Iliad. But it’s still £150 more than the Kindle. And I would always be fearful of breaking the damn thing, or breaking the screen while writing on it.
Please, iRex, make it cheaper. Maybe even approach Amazon to merge your two products, it would be silly to kill such a nice device just because it was undercut.
Anyhow. I think today was the turning point. Within the next two years, I foresee eBook readers becoming more popular. I can see next year’s university students taking something like this, pre-loaded with all their university texts, and carrying a Kindle/Other into lectures instead of a laptop. It’ll certainly improve the current anti-social nature of lappies in lecture theatres.
Wed, 31st October 2k7 2107304
links for 2007-10-31 del.icio.us 23:26 pm 976
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“Microsoft objected to the current W3C XMLHttpRequest specification on the grounds that it is too detailed. They waited one year to make objections.” No shock there.
Sat, 27th October 2k7 2107300
links for 2007-10-27 del.icio.us 23:19 pm 972
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Using shaders to render bezier-curves, would make gaming interfaces resolution independant with better quality at higher resolutions.
Fri, 26th October 2k7 2107299
links for 2007-10-26 del.icio.us 23:21 pm 973
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Just a few thoughts. WebRunner, with a cooler name, and an easy to use wizard to setup apps. From first impressions, only useful for sites that manage their own workflow, like Google’s Apps. You could see the future of this though, with things like g
Sat, 23rd June 2k7 2107174
links for 2007-06-23 del.icio.us 23:24 pm 975
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Something similar to S5 web "slideshows", but requires a firefox extension to take advantage of.
Thu, 14th June 2k7 2107165
links for 2007-06-14 del.icio.us 23:26 pm 976
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Some cute icons for websites, would be nice for data: base64ing.
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knowing about pinouts might be boring, but useful :)
Tue, 24th April 2k7 2107114
links for 2007-04-24 del.icio.us 23:27 pm 977
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Very concise look at people using Open & Free software. nb:Would love a PDF of this article.
Sun, 15th April 2k7 2107105
links for 2007-04-15 del.icio.us 23:28 pm 978
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Something to look at later
Tue, 10th April 2k7 2107100
links for 2007-04-10 del.icio.us 23:34 pm 982
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Something for a clean desk.
Wed, 4th April 2k7 2107094
links for 2007-04-04 del.icio.us 23:40 pm 986
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opinion++
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DisplayPort, the tidy replacement for monitor connections. (and future–proofing)
