ala.sda.ir

Links For Friday 30th July 2010

Alasdair — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:02:17 +0000

Urbanized

The next film by the guy behind Helevtica and Objectified.

(tags: documentary design film)

Links For Thursday 29th July 2010

Alasdair — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:02:09 +0000

erwtenpeller – War of the Worlds – SoundCloud

Dubstep remixes of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds.

(tags: mp3 remix electronica)
Google Alarm | F.A.T.

Ever wondered just how much Google is learning about you? Turn this on, and see. I'm not posting this as a dig at Google, but rather just in a "be informed about what information about you goes where".
Ping Pong Battle for iPad on the iTunes App Store

Requires an iPad and 2 iPhones to play. Suspect that it's not going to be set-the-world-on-fire exciting, but it's worth a look, I think, if nothing else than because it's a reasonable innovative idea that is bound to have other applications.

(tags: ipad iphone games)
Cool Tools: The Best Magazine Articles Ever

I've been Instapapering stuff ever since I got my iPad for weeks now, and not quite finding the time to get it all read – to the point that when I'm done with my current book, I'll probably spend a week or two's commuting time catching up on them, rather than picking up another book. So obviously, what I need to make my backlog truly huge is a trove of excellent instapaper fodder. (If you are an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad user who isn't making use of Instapaper, you're missing out on one of the best things about them.)

(tags: articles journalism magazines toread list bestof)

Links For Wednesday 28th July 2010

Alasdair — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:01:54 +0000

aardvarkonsea.com/letterpress

My boss turned this up on a routine vanity search for our company name (Aardvark Media), and immediately ordered a couple of the posters, from of all this, a Tea room in St Leonards-on-Sea. I am quite tempted to order one of them for myself for home as well. Any manifesto which begins "Kill your TV" and includes "Make Stuff", "Drink Tea", "Bake Cake", "Grow You Community" and "Champion the Underdog" is kind of tailor made for me, and, I would imagine, a number of other people reading this.

(tags: posters)
Daring Fireball: An Improved Liberal, Accurate Regex Pattern for Matching URLs

I bookmarked Gruber's previous efforts on this front, and I will move to using this improved pattern in the future.

(tags: regex url programming)
Fish in a barrel – Neven Mrgan's tumbl

A comparison of Apple's iMac website with the websites for Dell and HP's primary desktop machines. I'm genuinely not posting this to cheerlead for Apple, I'm actually posting it as a reminder to self in a "what not to do" kind of way, because I suspect a lot og my work falls closer to HP and Dell than Apple.

(tags: apple design webdesign)
Quantum time machine 'allows paradox-free time travel' – Telegraph

My brain hurts. Of possibly it will hurt in the future, and the quantum-level changes have moved back in time. In any event, I eagerly await being given a quantum supercomputer to play with.

(tags: science timetravel physics)

Links For Monday 26th July 2010

Alasdair — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:03:22 +0000

rotonic for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store

Horrifyingly addictive little game – I downloaded it, and then when I looked up, it was hours later.

(tags: iphone games)
Insufficient data – Charlie's Diary

I'm actually more optimistic about what "Big Society" can potentially achieve than most people I know, but I recognise that actually, most of what it can achieve is (significant) optimisation of already-funded and already-managed programs that are set up with the correct social tools. Which is why I found this such interesting ready: Charlie Stross, in the course of wondering about how many people you'd need to send to Mars, ably demonstrates why society is already far too large and complex for "Big Society" to ever work past a certain limit.

(tags: bigsociety politics population technology)

Links For Friday 23rd July 2010

Alasdair — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 18:02:50 +0000

Janet Fitch's 10 rules for writers | Jacket Copy | Los Angeles Times

Actually, these aren't half bad, and if I could make more of an effort to remember them, it'd probably lift my writing quite a lot.

(tags: writing tips)
Wayward Alzheimer's patients foiled by fake bus stop – Telegraph

Architectures of control, right here. Nice.

(tags: architecture psychology design)
The ever-arrogant Apple « Observatory

I admit to coming off like a bit of an Apple fanboy, but still, this piece really nailed something for me: if Apple are sometimes arrogant (and I don't think there's a dispute about whether or not they are) then it's because they've earned the right to be by leading the way in personal computing on a technology level for decades now. They may not have been the most successful financially, but they've been the game changing-innovators since before the iPod, never mind the iPhone and iPad. And if someone comes along that can humble them, then I will sincerely welcome them but it hasn't happened yet. The reason I buy Apple products is that they're the best on sale at the moment, and as soon as someone comes along that offers me a better experience, I'll switch.

(tags: apple funny technology)
Stuart Roebuck: Mobile Proxy Cache content modification by O2

I'm a little fucked off about this, but not quite willing to throw my toys from the pram over it – not least because I can't, having just signed up for another 18 months. But it's one to keep an eye on, and one to be professionally aware of, at least, as more clients start asking up for iPhone/iPad tailored content.

(tags: o2 iphone ipad webdev)

Links For Thursday 22nd July 2010

Alasdair — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:04:01 +0000

Why it's never too late to be a lesbian | Life and style | The Guardian

Fascinating article on the fluidity of sexuality – the idea that people, particularly women, can, in fact, switch from hetero- to homo-sexuality in different phases of their life – that it's possible to be sincerely heterosexual, and then later, sincerely homosexual without ever being bisexual, and without devaluing one's previous sexuality.

(tags: interesting sexuality)
America's Joyous Future

I laughed like a drain.

(tags: funny picture)
Bookshelf Porn

I love my iPad – I'm carrying so many books around with me these days, and it is very liberating. But I also love my bookshelves. One day, I hope to have space for my books, but I accept that this may be a fools dream, and I may have to resign myself to an iPad-based future. In the meantime, I shall stare at this with envy.

(tags: books art architecture inspiration photography)
danah boyd | apophenia » MySpace and Facebook: How Racist Language Frames Social Media (and Why You Should Care)

I've been following boyd's research for a few years now, and have been particularly interested in her data regarding class/race/gender divides in social media use, and I really hope the rallying cry that she's putting out here has some effect, because I would really like to see people stop arguing over the scope the problem, and start talking about what can be done about it. "On the internet, no-one knows you're a dog" is both a triumph *and* a tragedy, and we need to start addressing that.

(tags: socialnetworking media)

Links For Wednesday 21st July 2010

Alasdair — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:03:17 +0000

Fantasy Flight Games [Chaos in the Old World] – Leading publisher of board, card, and roleplaying games.

I freely admit, I'm a massive nerd. But I haven't bought a GW related product in some years, and this looks like it might be the one to get me back…

(tags: gaming)
Thoughtful Games – Montsegur 1244

This looks very interesting. Must pick up a PDF edition when I'm at home.

(tags: gaming)

Links For Monday 19th July 2010

Alasdair — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 18:02:22 +0000

russell davies: this is facebook. this is the internet

"It's good to know what people think, even if you don't approve. " This 12 words, right here, is why I love the internet.

Links For Sunday 18th July 2010

Alasdair — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 18:01:45 +0000

New Statesman – We need a retroactive graduate tax

I am 100% in favour of this. And I fully support backdating it quite massively. But then, unlike most of my friends, I'm not a graduate. But I find it hard to argue against the point that if it is now reasonable for society to ask students to pay for their education, then it must surely also be reasonable for society to ask those who got their education for free to give the money back? (Mind you, I think her educationally-privileged background is showing a bit in the comments thread.)

(tags: education society)
10 Reasons to Stop Apologizing for Your Online Life – The Conversation – Harvard Business Review

If you still make a distinction between "in the real world" and "on the internet", then frankly, you're probably quite stupid. Some of this article is hippy claptrap, but it captures something I've been thinking about for a while now, when faced with friends who say that they "don't like doing X on the internet", when what they really mean is that they "can't be bothered to develop the skillset to do X on the internet". It's *not* a separate conversation to the one going on in the rest of your life. The issues are the same, the information the same, if not better, and if you can't engage with them on the internet, then you can't engage with them properly in other areas of your life.

(tags: internet culture life)

Links For Tuesday 13th July 2010

Alasdair — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 18:03:42 +0000

Bankrupt Gay Teen Site May Be Forced to Hand Over Personal Information of Users

This is why you need to be careful with what data you hand to what websites, kids. You might well trust any given website website and the people running it today, but if something goes wrong, and the company goes bankrupt, your data is an asset that belongs to them. And as this article makes clear, the only thing that bankruptcy administrators are allowed to care about it getting the most money back for the creditors. Which means (at the moment, pending a change in the law to improve privacy in cases like this) they're ethically constrained from being picky about what happens to your data – if the highest bidder is a shit who is going to use the data to make everyone involved's life in some way worse, that's just tough for them, because they have to sell to the highest bidder in order to fairly represent the creditor's interests.

(tags: privacy internet law)
The Technium: The Maes-Garreau Point

Interesting piece about predictions, singularities, and the tendency of utopians (and a lot of doomsayers) to predict paradigm shifting event to occur around the end of their own lifetime.

(tags: future theory)
HelvetiNote™

If they add some form of over-the-air syncing, then I'm sold.

Links For Monday 12th July 2010

Alasdair — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:02:29 +0000

Wu Wei // equivocality

Simple clean WP theme. Might be useful in the future, although I'd need to wrestle the type into submission first.

(tags: wordpress themes)

Links For Friday 9th July 2010

Alasdair — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 18:03:58 +0000

EPICWIN

Soon, you will be able to level grind as you go about your daily grind. This is either genius, or bleakly depressing.

(tags: iphone productivity games todo)

All Together Now: Awww!

Alasdair — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 09:02:04 +0000

I want one!

Thursday 1st January 1970

Alasdair — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:02:54 +0000

Osborne's first Budget? It's wrong, wrong, wrong! – UK Politics, UK – The Independent

|I imagine a few of you have seen this, but still: a nobel prizewinning economist delivers his verdict on George Osborne's benefit. Now, I imagine that a few of you are thinking "well, he's obviously got a bias". Yeah, probably true. But he's also got a fistful of examples, and I don't know about you, but I was always taught that a persuasive point was one that was backed up with examples.

(tags: uk budget2010 economics politics)
Young photojournalist detained for army cadet pics – British Journal of Photography

Good to see that the police in Romford have paid attention to their own guidelines on how to deal with photojournalists. Oh, no, wait, that's not what they've done, is it? They've done the other thing, haven't they? FFS.

(tags: journalism photography police uk)

Thursday 1st January 1970

Alasdair — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:04:08 +0000

Manual – googlecl – How to use GoogleCL. – Project Hosting on Google Code

Mostly just a note to self to keep an eye on this project – if and when google mail is ever supported, this could become very, very handy indeed.

(tags: google api commandline)

Links For Monday 21st June 2010

Alasdair — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 18:02:57 +0000

Call for Submissions

Oi, writer types what read this: my friend Del is trying to put together a charity book to help Medcins Sans Frontieres. She is looking for submissions. If you have the time between now and October to write a short story on the theme of healing, you might consider doing so, and punting it in her direction. More details in the link.

(tags: charity medicine writing)

Links For Friday 18th June 2010

Alasdair — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 18:03:50 +0000

Hyperbole and a Half: This is Why I'll Never be an Adult

I wouldn't like to suggest this is like me, or like anyone else I know. But I often have to do things I don't like.

(tags: funny responsibility adult)

Links For Thursday 17th June 2010

Alasdair — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 18:04:02 +0000

American Apparel's Complete Guide to Grooming

Jesus fuck. It turns out that I, and many/most of my friends would not be eligible for employment at American apparel because we don't look "natural" (for which one might also read "bland") enough. Be sure to read this, and then click through to the stories about hiring and firing based on appearance. The level of angry fuck you this inspires is staggering.

(tags: fashion discrimination american_shitehawks)
Eizo Pin-up Calendar 2010 – more than integral nude | Ufunk.net

I can't quite decide what I think of this. One balance, yes, I think I would like to have this calendar on my wall.

(tags: photography calendar science funny)
Alan Moore & Mitch Jenkins ‘Unearthing’ – Interview Preview & Live Shows – Lex Records

Alan Moore is performing live in London at the end of July. Just, y'know, in case anyone's interested. I've got tickets for the Friday night.

(tags: alan_moore)

Links For Wednesday 16th June 2010

Alasdair — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 18:03:53 +0000

Customer Experience Mapping & «

Strategies for designing a service, end-to-end. Useful

(tags: user_experience map)

Links For Tuesday 15th June 2010

Alasdair — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:04:35 +0000

USB Typewriter by usbtypewriter on Etsy

Why no, there is no practical reason to get one of these. Why yes, I do really really want one.

(tags: ipad gadgets diy)
Frank Chimero: What is the future of print design?

Key quotes: "we break stuff before we know what replaces it, and we invent things before we know what they are for" and "If I’m thinking as a normal consumer, I don’t really care terribly much about what the future of ink on paper is going to be. I care about what the future of content is going to be."

(tags: design publishing)
mir.aculo.us with Thomas Fuchs » Blog Archive » Making an iPad HTML5 App & making it really fast

Useful reference for the reasonably near future, I suspect.

(tags: javascript ipad performance webdev)

Links For Monday 14th June 2010

Alasdair — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 18:05:39 +0000

FOI reveals how costs of Crown Prosecution Service website ballooned past budget | Technology | guardian.co.uk

This makes me angry on many many levels. Yes, this looks like total waste, and yes, they got a shitty, shoddy website that was massively over-budge. One the other hand, though, the outrage about serious undervalues my profession. £122,000 is *not* an unreasonable amount to spend on a major website in one year, and headlines that suggest it is are fucking annoying to me. What's unreasonable is what they got for their money, not the amount they spent. (FWIW: their initial budget of £45,000, while it would not get them laughed out of the office around here, would definitely put them on the low end of business that we like to pitch for. Since they're a major department, I'd expect a higher budget.)

(tags: government money foi webdev cps)
U.S. Identifies Vast Riches of Minerals in Afghanistan – NYTimes.com

Oh bollocks. Looks like Afghanistan is going to fucked for a very, very long time to come, because it turns out we're not just blowing them up as a point of principle any more. Now they've got useful resources, too.

(tags: politics energy economics war afghanistan)

Links For Monday 7th June 2010

Alasdair — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 18:03:06 +0000

Longform.org

Absolutely superb idea – I've been instapapering stuff left and right, thanks to the new toy, so a site that is geared to recommending good Instapaper fodder is a great niche.

(tags: journalism articles reading)

Dream Sequence

Alasdair — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 12:08:46 +0000

I've been playing with an app called Plastic Bullet on my iphone. It takes an image, and applies a bunch of random filters to make it look like it was taken with a particularly crappy old camera. Most of what it does isn't fit for anything but amusing myself, but every so often, it throws up a gem, like this one, snapped at the pub yesterday.

Links For Friday 4th June 2010

Alasdair — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 18:04:46 +0000

Street Giant » Leroy Stick – the man behind @BPGlobalPR

In the course of excoriating BP, a noble end in and of itself, he says this: "You know the best way to get the public to respect your brand? Have a respectable brand. Offer a great, innovative product and make responsible, ethical business decisions." To which I can simply say: Yes. This. Now please all got and read the whole piece, because it's great.

(tags: twitter activism branding bp pr)
Coins database: Government opens up books on public spending for first time | Politics | guardian.co.uk

You know, I don't think I have a spare 120GB of storage space. I may need to do something about that. In any event, this might well make things interesting over the next while, as people start digging into how much is spent where…

(tags: government transparency uk)

Links For Thursday 3rd June 2010

Alasdair — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 18:03:46 +0000

AndrewBlum.net: Local Cities, Global Problems: Jane Jacobs in an Age of Global Change

Interesting piece about the mapping of digital community to real-world local-level community.

(tags: cities community culture)

Links For Wednesday 2nd June 2010

Alasdair — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 18:04:19 +0000

"Likejacking" Takes Off on Facebook

Oh look. Facebook "likeing" has security vulnerabilities. At the moment, what's out there appears just to spam your facebook friends by inserting extra "likes" into your feed. Wonder how long before someone uses it to do something more malicious? This is pretty much the ne plus ultra of my problems with Facebook – it's not just that they're shady privacy invading bastards, it's that they're actively encouraging people to have bad security habits, by teaching them to trust things that are not trustworthy, and it's only a matter of time until someone gets seriously screwed by that.

(tags: facebook security)

Links For Tuesday 1st June 2010

Alasdair — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:04:29 +0000

How to Get More Privacy From Facebook's New Privacy Controls | Electronic Frontier Foundation

For those of you that have remained with them, here's a step by step guide to sorting out your privacy settings so that they'll give you maximum prviacy, until the next time the rules change. It's over 800 words long, and contains a video, and I'll restrain my ranting for now but the point is that at least you can get the job done.

(tags: facebook privacy howto)
SproutRobot!

Lovely idea. Wish that a) I had a garden and b) they operated in the UK. Still the US-ians among you might get something tasty out of it.

(tags: gardening food calendar)

Self Portrait #1

Alasdair — Fri, 28 May 2010 21:32:11 +0000

I let Miranda get at the new iPad. Behold the result of 10 minutes playing with the Brushes app. She is no longer allowed at the iPad.

Links For Thursday 27th May 2010

Alasdair — Thu, 27 May 2010 18:02:39 +0000

Restaurant websites: the food, the bad and the ugly | Life and style | guardian.co.uk

Bookmarking because I want to come back to it and look at any comments, once it's had a chance to garner a few. Work-related, obviously.

(tags: food design web2pointohfuckoff)

This Will Get Easier In A Few Days

Alasdair — Wed, 26 May 2010 08:27:31 +0000

I’d like to get in the habit of doing the blog-all-dog-eared-pages thing, but I really really hate dog-earing pages. I’m not absurdly fussy about the state of my books – they are working objects after all – but I don’t like folding the corners of the pages. So I thought I’d note this one down while it was fresh in my head.

“The craftiest storytellers can tell you a tale without you realising it’s being told. They are called advertisers [..] They can tell a story with a phrase, a picture, and sometimes with a single pencil line. Without them transnationals would become extinct because in order to sell, they have to tell stories. They have to tell them to survive”

From Mark Thomas’ “Belching Out The Devil“