Sunday, August 29, 2010

Star Wars briefing - As a Powerpoint presentation

Amplify’d from www.presentationzen.com

A long time ago — before PowerPoint was invented — in a galaxy far, far away, leaders gave presentations backed by large electronic wall displays. Below, for example, is a photo of General Dodonna (from Star Wars IV) briefing a packed room full of starpilots, navigators, and droids. Notice how he uses the entire wide screen to display only visual information, a digital vector animation of the inner workings of the death star. Notice too how he has gathered the troops close to the front, how he himself stands close to the back-lit screen (even slightly in front of it at times), and maintains eye-contact with the audience, occasionally pointing to key areas of the animation on screen.

Slide1a
Last_slide
A New Hope for clear communication
Let's embrace the spirit of the Rebel
Alliance and push back against Imperial template propaganda and the scourge of habit and conventional wisdom. If you have a large screen, use it to show visuals, not lines
of text that remind you what to say.
You do not have to use a screen, but if you do, use it to display visual information that illustrates or amplifies your message in the clearest way possible. Stand with your visuals, becoming a clear part of the visual experience from your audience's point of view. Do not stand meekly in the corner or behind a lectern, removed from both the audience and the bright screen. May the Force be with you in your next presentation and beyond.Read more at www.presentationzen.com
 

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Old Skool Skaters rejoice - the latest ebay watch is here!

That Ty Page complete in a box is one of the most incredible things I've ever seen. A Total timewarp back to the late 70's.


Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Turn an iPhone into a Pinball Machine! Awesome....

Right, this actually makes me want an iphone. If they make a Defender App, i'm sold.

Amplify’d from www.tuaw.com

Pinball Magic turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a tiny pinball machine

still haven't seen an actual iPad arcade cabinet for sale (all the ones we've seen so far have been made by hobbyists for themselves), but here's a pretty cool case/accessory for your iPhone or iPod touch. Pinball Magic is a little device that you can slide your handheld into, and with the help of a free app, you can play a full pinball game live on a little miniature table. There's a real ball plunger, flipper buttons, a full LED backlit display, and even a Tilt detector, so you can hit all the usual lights and gadgets (albeit in an extremely small form factor) without throwing quarters in at the local arcade. Assuming they still have those local arcades -- I haven't seen one around in a while nowRead more at www.tuaw.com
 

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Old Skaters will be the only ones to get this....

And Craig Stecyk will be laughing too (I hope)......

Amplify’d from skateandannoy.com

Aspects of the downhill slide

skate comic from antigravitypress.com
See more at skateandannoy.com
 

Reviving defunct musical info....

From a number of formats - floppy disks, iomega Zip disks....and more besides. The reasons for all of this will hopefully soon become clear.

Monday, August 23, 2010

World's coolest exercise bike (warning: will cost you a fortune)

But, I still think you'd actually look uncool whilst using it, so what's the point?

Amplify’d from design-milk.com

Ciclotte might just be the first designy exercise bike. Designed by one of Milan’s leading designers, Luca Schieppati and made by the Italian Lamiflex Group, Ciclotte is like another piece of contemporary furniture in your home. Complementing your existing modern space, the gym-standard training machine is only 121 lbs, so it is easily movable from room to room.

Don’t be embarrassed by ugly fitness equipment in your room anymore!

Ciclotte will likely retail for £6,800 (read: not cheap) and is available in Carbon, Silver, and Purple. The bike will be launched in the UK at 100% Design from September 23-26, 2010 at Earls Court, London.

ciclotte bike 1
ciclotte bike 2
See more at design-milk.com
 

Photos of things which are the same distance away from Ground Zero as the planned Mosque

A few photos of stuff the same distance from the World Trade Center as the “Ground Zero Mosque”:


Thursday, August 19, 2010

I would LOVE one of these....

Who fancies getting me one as a wedding gift, huh?

Just kidding.

Mind you, I'd have to work out which colour sleeve I'd want......either yellow or green, I think....

Supersize 'White Man...' Single Print

Morgan's large original painting of the single is photographed in super high resolution and printed directly onto a canvas sleeve, measuring 68cm square, then a big black disc with a printed label goes inside. The slots are hand-cut and the centre is drilled so the art can be mounted on a chrome central spindle which doubles as a wall fitting. All prints are lovingly hand finished – complete with crinkled edges and small tears – to resemble a giant 3D single ready to hang on your wall.

Singles on wall
See more at www.notonthehighstreet.com
 

Desperate Pandora Employees Scrambling To Find Song Area Man Likes

The Onion does it yet again.

Amplify’d from www.theonion.com
OAKLAND, CA—The headquarters of personalized online music provider Pandora remained in a state of chaos Thursday as frantic workers struggled to find a song that 32-year-old Boston subscriber Dave Lipton would enjoy.

"It's called 'Steely Dan Radio,' for Christ's sake—why does he keep skipping over Donald Fagen's 'The Nightfly'?" song-selection associate Lincoln Foster said as he rifled through a laundry cart full of CDs labeled "'70s Jazz Fusion." "We've already thrown three-decades-worth of Doobie Brothers at him. What the hell does this guy want?"

"At this point, I think he's just fucking with us," Davis continued before scaling a 30-foot ladder to retrieve a vinyl-only release by obscure Illinois ska-core group the Blue Meanies.

Pandora executives acknowledged that the periodic Heineken and Ford Sales Event advertisements in Lipton's music stream are the only thing currently keeping the company from shutting down, declaring bankruptcy, and abandoning its manual music upload process.

Desperate Pandora Employees Scrambling To Find Song Area Man Likes

Read more at www.theonion.com
 

Google warning about social use of media

And on a personal note - it's good to see the contribution of @suw to this article!

Amplify’d from www.bbc.co.uk
Eric Schmidt

Young people may one day have to change their names in order to escape their previous online activity, Google boss Eric Schmidt has warned.

Google has acquired Slide and Jambool, two firms specialising in providing services for social networks.

Many believe the acquisitions are a sign that the search giant is about to launch another social network. Some commentators have already given the rumoured product a name: Google.me.

It already owns two other social networks; Google Buzz, launched in February 2010 and its first foray known as Orkut.

Mr Schmidt told the Wall Street Journal he feared they did not understand the consequences of having so much personal information about them online.

The firm has been busy bolstering its social networking presence recently.

On his prediction that people may change their names, Mr Schmidt said: "I don't believe society understands what happens when everything is available, knowable and recorded by everyone all the time... I mean we really have to think about these things as a society."

But, according to some experts, his concerns about the future are "overstated".

"The idea that everything is stored online is not true," social media consultant Suw Charman-Anderson told BBC News.

"It will be quite some time before that can become true because of the enormity of the internet."

Archives such as Google Cache, which store older versions of websites, are selective, she added.

"Google Cache is a snapshot taken periodically of some of the internet. It's very hit and miss at the moment."

While companies specialising in "cleaning up" internet profiles already exist, Ms Charman-Anderson argued that social attitudes towards personal content on the web needed to change instead.

Read more at www.bbc.co.uk
 

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Interesting - service which acts like Pandora for music blogs...

Turns blogs into music radio - select your chosen genre, and away you go. Checking this out now.....


Visitors to london - You have been warned, eat somewhere else.

Almost anywhere else, actually.

Aberdeen Angus is a restaurant that doesn't deserve to exist. I'm guessing it has probably done more damage to our culinary reputation than the BSE crisis, foot and mouth and salmonella outbreak combined and yet there it still is, squatting on the corner of some of the most famous and well-trodden streets in the capital, luring in unsuspecting visitors and spitting them out with cynical efficiency, their opinion of British food set back another 30 years. It's infuriating that this disgraceful process is allowed to continue and that nobody has attempted to do anything about it - surely the enforced closure of all of London's Aberdeen Steakhouses would be a cheap and extremely effective method of boosting our international standing and we could recall Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver from America. Win-win.

Foul, expensive food, served incompetently in dreadful surroundings, Aberdeen Angus is a restaurant with no redeeming features. But then I imagine most of you suspected that already; the really nasty surprise on Friday was just how bad, not just passively mediocre but actively wicked their modus operandi is, and just how successful they are at exploiting naive tourists and passing trade for the maximum possible financial gain for the minimum possible effort. It is the working embodiment of everything that is shallow and cynical and just plain mean about the way that London treats its guests, and if you have a hospitable bone in your body you will do everything in your power to make sure the word reaches every corner of the globe. People of London, people of Britain, people of the world - never ever eat at Aberdeen Angus.
See more at cheesenbiscuits.blogspot.com
 

Journalism Warning Stickers

This is a stroke of genius - and all you need is a blank sheet of stickers, and you can print your own. The Daily Fail, here I come.

Amplify’d from www.tomscott.com

It seems a bit strange to me that the media carefully warn about and label any content that involves sex, violence or strong language — but there's no similar labelling system for, say, sloppy journalism and other questionable content.

I figured it was time to fix that, so I made some stickers. I've been putting them on copies of the free papers that I find on the London Underground. You might want to as well.

This article is basically just a press release, copied and pasted.
This article contains unsourced, unverified information from Wikipedia.
Journalist does not understand the subject they are writing about.
Includes content written by Richard Littlejohn.
See more at www.tomscott.com
 

Monday, August 16, 2010

A Glass-bottomed hot-air balloon! *is terrified*


Learning to cook Veggie Food.

Something I'd always had trouble with - most of my veggie dishes tended to be somewhat bland, or just a melange of vegetables;everything turns to ratatouille.Yesterday though - we played host to two other families from our NCT group, and there was veggie chili on the menu. I think the real secret is texture - no great big lumps of vegetables - or the dreaded ratatouille beckons. Keeping the mire-poix small, keeping the onions minced, keeping the bean content high - all of this helped. Also, spicing it like it was a meaty chili, adding mushroom ketchup, and top of the list, making my own tomato puree with blended sun-dried tomatoes in oil (I stole this one from Jamie Oliver)



All in all, a success.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Does this work? Elevator Hack.

Amplify’d from www.geekologie.com
elevator-skipping.jpg

Has anybody ever tried this? I'd give it a go in my apartment's elevator but it smells like an old person died in there (I suspect it was the woman that lives above me). You've got to admit, this is pretty groundbreaking if it's true. God, with all you a-holes constantly floor-skipping your coworkers are gonna have to start using the stairs! And that, dear reader, is my plan for a healthier America (don't forget to mash every button and fart before diving out).

Read more at www.geekologie.com
 

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

My first week on Amplify

Has been great. Lots of interaction, real interest and determination from the users to analyze and improve the service, the ability to auto-post all of my amps to my blog (thus making it finally look like I actually care about blogging!) and most of all, the feeling that I'm involved in a service that's going places. One of the reasons I showed so much loyalty to friendfeed was because of that exact same feeling. Any original friendfeed members will remember how it was when it first started: that same excitement is here now at Amplify.

Improved default facebook profile pictures

Love the Boba Fett, and the Reddit alien's not bad either!

Amplify’d from www.instantfundas.com

If you have changed the default Facebook profile picture and uploaded your own, it’s fine. But if not, then why not replace that boring picture of the guy with a wisp of hair sticking out of his head with something different and funny?



One nice person called David has created a bunch of alternative Facebook profile silhouettes - from Albert Einstein to Frankenstein, Batman to Darth Vader. These are free to use in your Facebook profile. Have fun!

d_silhouette stewie
d_silhouette_Bart_Simpson
d_silhouette_Boba_Fett
d_silhouette_Pinhead
d_silhouette_reddit
d_silhouette_Gollum
See more at www.instantfundas.com
 

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Brilliant (if it's true!) Girl Quits Job - and PWNS her boss

There's the outside chance that this is all an elaborate viral, but if it is true, this is just priceless.

Amplify’d from thechive.com

We received the following photos last night from a person who works with this girl. Her name is Jenny (not confirmed) - we're working our contact for Jenny's last name. Yesterday morning, Jenny quit her job with a (flash)bang by emailing these photos to the entire office, about 20 employees we're told. Awesome doesn't begin to describe this office heroine. Check back as we will be updating if we get more details.


amazing girl quits 6 Girl quits her job on dry erase board, emails entire office (33 Photos)
amazing girl quits 23 Girl quits her job on dry erase board, emails entire office (33 Photos)
amazing girl quits 28 Girl quits her job on dry erase board, emails entire office (33 Photos)
See more at thechive.com
 

Old Skool Jungle time.....

There's an innocence and an eagerness to tunes from this era - coupled with the still (relatively) simple technology used to make the tunes - the end product is always just wonderful.

Amplify’d from blogtotheoldskool.com

I’ve had this tune stuck in my head for a week now…. haunting 94 jungle which uses that “let me know” acapella, adding a somber melody which fits the vocal perfectly – an excellent combo which more than compensates for the less than exciting (but still decent) break programming. What makes this so special is that the acapella in of itself sounds a bit “eh” in my opinion… other tunes I’ve heard it in (Da Maytrix “Let Me Know” and Sy and Eruption “12″ of Love”) end up being a bit cheddared up by its inclusion. However, the simple melody in this track, coupled with ominous stabs ala tango/ratty/early formation records, really transform the vocal into something a bit “deeper” sounding. All in all, an excellent jungle track which I think is heavily underrated. If anyone knows who that original vocal is by, please leave a comment below.

Read more at blogtotheoldskool.com
 

Just registered the domain for my management company...

Which is all rather exciting! Will let you know the link as soon as it goes live. It's all going to be rather simple at first, just links to the Union Sound Set page, and contact info, but here's the potential to add more things. Which, hopefully, is what I'll be doing.

Monday, August 09, 2010

Rocksteady makes me glad to be alive....

Here's a particularly good example - "It's Real" by The Silvertones (with Lynn Tait & The Jets providing the backing. It's been out on a number of labels, the version I have is on Doctor Bird. Listen and see if you can sit still.....


How fast is Amplify growing? After a week here I've got 35 followers and I've noticed friends from other networks popping up here too...how is it for everyone else? http://amplify.com/u/8hyo

Classic Album covers

Love sites like this - anything that keeps the love for vinyl alive is OK by me!


Sunday, August 08, 2010

Last night's DJ gig...

Was fun, if a little odd. The venue was free before 12, so the crowd was totally different than normal, and somewhat random. This always means you never know what to expect, or indeed, quite what to play. I actually ended up playing huge amounts of classic britpop, but still managed to find time to play this little gem, which is my "playout tune" of the year so far.


Comic geeks Vs. Westboro Church (AMAZING)

Amplify’d from www.urlesque.com




god hates jedi sign at comic con protest




The notorious Westboro Baptist Church protestors -- the folks who normally picket soldiers' funerals and Lady Gaga concerts -- turned out to San Diego Comic-Con this year, but they ran into resistance from a bunch of clever geeks with costumes and counterprotest signs.



Westboro thinks that comic fans worship false idols, but these Comic-Con counterprotesters didn't seem to be taking themselves too seriously. They even organized on Twitter, using the hashtag #GodLovesBatman, and got photos of their signs to the top of Reddit and Digg. This is why the geeks shall inherit the earth, my friends.



Our pals at Comics Alliance picked out their favorite awesomely geeky protest signs, so we thought we'd get in on the action, too. Here are some of our favorites, gathered from around the web.

See more at www.urlesque.com
 

Only in Japan.

Yoghurt flavoured Pepsi.

*bowks*


Unhappy Hipsters

Amplify’d from unhappyhipsters.com
Though the hike to town was back-breaking, they both agreed that installing a road would have ruined the juxtaposition of the built and natural environments.<br />(Photo: Stephen Oxenbury; Dwell)

Though the hike to town was back-breaking, they both agreed that installing a road would have ruined the juxtaposition of the built and natural environments.

Read more at unhappyhipsters.com
 

Saturday, August 07, 2010

Rainy Saturday.....

Really, really rainy Saturday. One of the things about having this computer in the loft room is that I sit just a few inches beneath the Velux window in the roof - so when it rains, you feel so much closer to the weather - plus it sounds so much louder.



Tonight is another DJ set at Casino Royale at the Barfly, I'm becoming a bit of a regular, and play there roughly once a month. It's good to keep my hand in DJ-ing, so who cares if it means I drag my tired arse into bed at about 3.30am? Since having Marnie, I can handle a late night, believe me.



Relatives round for Sunday lunch tomorrow, which means I'll try and get as much sleep as possible, then it'll be a headlong dash through the food prep. I've done as much as I can ahead of time (to save time) - the bread sauce, some cranberry sauce, the carrot and swede mash and the gravy are already done. How's that for organisational genius?

Unearthing the Turf

 

Friday, August 06, 2010

Part of my Patio Garden

From left - Penstemon, Yellow Patio Rose, Dahlias, Fuschia, Hydrangea, Asiatic Lily, more Dahlias.

At the back there's a Strawberry plant, another Patio Rose, and the climbing Rose.


Thursday, August 05, 2010

Ah, the best Arcade Game of all time...

This guy needs to hit that reverse button a bit more often - and he's WAY too cavalier about the scanners......

I used to practice on Defender by placing a newspaper over the main screen and playing off the tiny display at the top!


The front garden looks great

Chiefly because of the Impatiens in my window boxes


DJ-ing in Camden on Saturday

I'm playing Casino Royale, at the Barfly. I'm on from around midnight, until 3am. Casino Royale is always a blast - so send me a message if you want to be on the list!