Author: Ianforrester

Senior firestarter at BBC R&D, emergent technology expert and serial social geek event organiser. Can be found at cubicgarden@mas.to, cubicgarden@twit.social and cubicgarden@blacktwitter.io

Car drivers be warned!

I park my bike in a secure underground park and came back recently to find it on the floor sideways. A woman ran up to me and said shes really sorry and she was going to write a note but she couldn't lift the bike back up. Anyway it turns out she had been reversing and didn't see my bike which I'd like to add was parked in a motorbike bay and is massive and silver colour. So now I need to see how much its going to cost to replace all the damage shes done. The problem is its a old bike and already has some damage so I'm unsure if its worth claiming on the insurance as the amount of scratches to the panels is going to cost a lot to replace. So I'm actually better off getting someone to patch it up for me instead then charging her for it maybe? Ether way, I'm currently not a fan of car drivers.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel

Another one of those films which didn't very well in the Cinema. This time its the bold titled Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel, which also has a respectable IMDB rating of 7.5. The plot is very simple

The film follows three social outcasts; two geeks and a cynic, as they attempt to navigate a time-travel conundrum in the middle of a British pub. Faris plays a girl from the future who sets the adventure in motion.

The plot on this film is solid and smart, they delve into the ideas, theories and paradoxs of time travel. The dialogue is sharp and witty like watching Shaun of the dead, And even better is the use of the location along side the plot. Basiclly the whole thing unfolds and compacts within just the pub, no where else. The only down side is the very start could have been cut or changed. I can also imagine some people would find it hard to follow the time travelling parts as its more Donnie Darko that Back to the Future. There's at least 3 levels of time overlap.They do explain as they go which should make things a lot easier.

If you get the chance to see this movie, grab it you won't be disappointed. It should have been a british hit, I wonder what happened? Check out the trailer below.

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Everything touches the Blackmarket

Another excellent talk, I would have liked more about Hcommerce but you can't really complain.

Journalist Misha Glenny spent several years in a courageous investigation of organized crime networks worldwide, which have grown to an estimated 15% of the global economy. From the Russian mafia, to giant drug cartels, his sources include not just intelligence and law enforcement officials but criminal insiders.

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WTF? Wacom makes the nextbeat

I had forgotten to blog about this a while ago. Wacom have been working on a system called the Nextbeat, which is meant to be the instrument for creative djs.

Wacom known for their award-winning graphics tablets and interactive displays for designers and photographers, has announced the nextbeat system, which is aimed at DJ’s. Wacom’s nextbeat is a fully integrated professional DJ system, incorporating intuitive touch sensor controls and innovative live performance functions.

The nextbeat is a wireless portable control unit that enables performers to move free from the main device, resulting in more dynamic and energetic live performances inside booths promise Wacom.

The price? Well somewhere upwards up of 1500 pounds! And thats one of my problems with the whole thing. Its expensive and large. Also to be frank although it sounds like a good idea, I personally think its kind of daft. I mean the thing is shaped like a mini guitar and it just looks a little silly. Yes I think wireless is a good idea but not to prance around in front of the crowd. Plus there's already many solutions to do wireless audio already, so wheres the uniqueness? If they want to dance around in front of the crowd you need to be a wiij, as thats so much more impressive and expressive, plus it doesn't look like your playing rockband!

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I have joined the e-Readers community

woman with sony ereader

So I finally bought myself a Sony e-Reader (PRS-505), after deciding they are at a acceptable level to buy brand new. I was going to go for the new PRS-300 which is the smaller entry level version which Sony just brought out but it was the same price as the older and more smarter 505.

To date, I've been reading the Pirates Dilemma by Matt Mason, and in one day, I have read through 60+ pages. This might not sound like a lot to some people but I'm reading roughly twice as fast as I would if it was a dead tree book. I haven't loaded the reader with ebooks yet, it actually comes with a CD of classic books which I have yet to do anything with. Instead I have been hunting through Creative Commons licensed books and some of the Oreilly Open books. My next stop when I get time will of course be Project Gutenberg.

I got to say so far I'm impressed with the reader, yes its a bit slow but when reading its hardly anytime to flip the page. Wikipedia also clued me into the software called Calibre, which not only controls almost every aspect of the reader but also has scripting ability within the application it self. There is a script which will login to my google reader account and pull down all the unread items and arrange them into a ebook then upload the lot to my device. And because its all just Python, you can do all type of things, for example theres a user recipe which takes your instapaper and turns it into a book for you to read.

The Sony ereader is surprisingly very open. For example copying files is as easy as connecting via miniUSB (charges over it too) then drag files to its internal memory or cards. There are 2 card slots, one memory stick duo (booooo) and the other SD and SDHC (whoooo). The ebook formats it supports is quite large, including PDF, EPUB, LRF, TXT, RTF, LRX, HTML, etc. Via Calibre that list is pretty much endless with even support for files inside of Zip files (but not rar). So far I'm impressed and reading more that ever…

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Tunekit is just HTML

HTML with Tunekit

As a lot of people know, I'm not the biggest fan of Apple or what Apple does but I'm happy that the more I look into iTunesLP and iTunes Extras, the more I'm liking it. its seems its all underpined in a new thing called Tunekit, which seems to be related to a new framework which some people are calling Cocoa for the web, SproutCore. So generally its all just HTML, CSS and Javascript. So hopefully if all goes well who know where it might go. It certainly beats some nasty things your seeing on Bluray discs. And even better we're back to the internet has won type territory, aka goodbye to disc technology, good stuff Apple.

I certainly think HTML5, CSS and Javascript on the TV screen is a killer move. I can't even imagine what's possible once Canvas and Canvas3D get mixed up in all this too. Adobe should be worried, their open screen project is interesting but being built around extending Flash is a big mistake. In the same category Silverlight scares most people. Nope HTML is good enough. It certainly seems Apple will lead the pack on this one.

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Liberation vs Portability


So Data Liberation or Data Portability? They sound like the same thing but one is a adhoc group of people working together and the other is ummmmm, well run out of Google's public policy.

Imagine you want to move out of your apartment. When you ask your landlord about the terms of your previous lease, he says that you are free to leave at any time; however, you cannot take all of your things with you – not your photos, your keepsakes, or your clothing. If you're like most people, a restriction like this may cause you to rethink moving altogether. Not only is this a bad situation for you as the tenant, but it's also detrimental to the housing industry as a whole, which no longer has incentive to build better apartments at all.

Don't get me wrong, the google guys have got the right idea, but this isn't the same scope as the data portability group. Data liberation is Google's attempt to get its house in order but its not trying to change the world. When the Data Portability group started, the group spoke to many companies and other groups. We also looked around and considered the bigger picture. Actually by the time autonomo.us had come around I had already started moved away from the data portability group. My friend Dave isn't a fan at all, but he's a Free software guy and finds anything but Free software too loose and insulting (did I mention he's talking at London Geekdinners on Thursday). In the end its interesting to watch but don't expect any major changes outside the goodge suite, actually autonomo.us have a good look at the Chrome OS in regards to privacy and portability.

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