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

R&D TV: Episode 1


So finally its been revealed what I've been working on recently.

R&D TV is a pilot project between BBC Backstage (which is part of BBC R&D) and BBC RAD Labs. The pilot is monthly technology programme made up of interviews from knowledgeable BBC developers, BBC project experts and experts from around the world. Its made of rights cleared assets so sharing of content is a core part of its concept from day one. When I say experts, I don't even mean in the traditional sense but more people doing interesting things which there very knowledgeable about.

There are three parts to the project,

  1. A brief 5 minute video, containing all the very best bits
  2. A longer 30 minute video, containing deeper conversations
  3. The Asset Bundle, containing everything we used and didn't use to make the videos above

They say good artists borrow and the best steal. Well you can think of what we have done as a combination of PBS's NerdTV and Microsoft's Channel9. The biggest difference is the asset bundle.

Releasing the assets as well as the 5min and 30min versions is something that's new for the BBC and to be fair both teams are not well known for. I mean R&D and Rad are not content creation departments. However we truly believe this is a exciting and possibly important experiment in creating media specifically to be shared and remixed.

Not only does the asset bundle include media but it also has all the extra media to create the show and stuff which didn't make it into the show. So you can duplicate the show or with a little more creativity do some remixing and show – legally.

We (me and George Wright) did a interview with Jemima Kiss of the Guardian on Wednesday. There's a couple of corrections like the project is half RAD and half Backstage plus Rain Ashford works for backstage and Hemmy Cho works for RAD. But otherwise Jemima does a good explaining the project and some of the thoughts behind it. I kind of wished we recorded the interview but who knows what might appear in the asset bundle one day soon.

Videos can also be viewed on YouTube and Blip.TV right now but expect even more places in the next few weeks. We created a ATOM/XML podcast file so you can suck down all the files in one go using a podcatcher. Hell we even did the MD5 hashes to confirm the files are correct if you get them from elsewhere.

One of the things which I believe will happen very quickly at the start at least is people asking us to interview certain people. We will take a lot of this on board but what I really want to see is people filming themselves and using our footage and combining it with there own. I already have looked into mixing MakerTV with our footage to create a more hardware driven show. Or even taking parts of the Socialweb.TV and using some of the Kevin Rose interview. The best part of all this is, you can all do the same! One thing I've been dying to do is combine Pop!tech footage with ours, because they also put there shows out under a creative commons licence.

There's more to come from R&D TV so look out for number 2 about May time. Looking forward to hearing all your thoughts.

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I’m a PC hub?

Steve Clayton the geek in disguise has named me in his I'm a PC sticker distribution plans. Although I'm a Ubuntu Gnu/Linux user, I do support the PC ideology. People already know my thoughts on the Steve Jobs ways of doing things…I'm proud to say I'm a PC and i'm happy to distribute the stickers. So come up and ask me when you next see me. Steve do you think 10k of stickers is going to be enough?

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WTF! iPod Shuffle

When someone told me the new ipod shuffle only works with its original headphones I thought they meant in the same way most phones have some proprietary adapter. Not that the device is totally useless without the headphones due to all the controls being on the headphones. Yes its small and has 4gig but how long will the headphones last? If your anything like me headphones last from a weekend to 6 months. I actually bought a pair of headphones in Dixons while heading out to Las Vegas and they were broken the day I came back. I did get some super-glue and fix them but trust me there not very attractive. And its not only that. I also find myself switching headphones, so when I'm playing with my pacemaker device, I will use the in the ear if I got nothing else, but much prefer a couple of over the ear dj headphones. When riding on the scooter, obviously over the ear headphones won't work. When doing something like running I use my bluetooth over the ears and back headphones. So the concept or even reality of only being able to use one set of headphones is insane. Even Sony and other make controlers for there devices but still allow you to plugin your own headphones after the controler. I hate to say it and I'm sure some apple fanboy will comment that i'm wrong, How can anyone buy into Steve Jobs vision of the world where you only use one pair of headphones with your music player? I'm not typical user sure, but still what incase you want to plug this device into a car stereo or friends system for a party? I'm sorry but this just shows that Apple are more interested in making devices which are made of puppets that people.

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The joy of BarCampLondon6

So I attended BarCampLondon6 and actually sponsored it too via BBC Backstage. This time it was at the guardian's new offices just past Kings Cross station in London. The new office are pretty with lots of glass and part of the floor just for meeting rooms alone. When I first got there I was a little confused about how the layout would work specially with coffee so far away. Well I just ended up not getting coffee only once the whole weekend which was a shame. But then I couldn't bear to be too far from the action and buzz of the barcamp.

Session wise, I ended up doing three completely different sessions. The last one of the day I missed 10mins of because I was having connectivity problems with my laptop (I still have but at least I worked out how to fix it every boot up). It was ask the BBC anything, which was a last minute addition to the Sunday board because I felt there should be no empty slots (more about this later). Luckily Rain, Jonathan and Ben were there, so the only BBC person missing was Sheila. The questions were varied but mainly focused around the future of the BBC in a world where people are watch all types of programming on multiple devices at anytime. Lots of good things were said which is great but also there was a note of caution that we need to be even more open with our content. Luckily I have a little bit of news about that soon.

My 2nd session was about Persistence of Vision Raytracer, what was frustrtating was my lack of connectivity again, so I couldn't even show some of the neat scenes or resources available. Next time I'll be a lot more prepared and be able to show the true difference between rendering, raytracing and radiosity. And then show some of the advantages of raytracing with a actual examples. This talk only pulled in 4-5 people but this was fine, its hardly a subject most people are interested in. My other talk, last thing on Saturday night was about Sex and that attracted a huge crowd. If you cast your minds back I did the same talk at BarCampLiverpool and actually it went down really well for super childish reasons. This time however it was a much more mature and sophisticated affair but still really good. Actually people were quite open about talking about the subject and we covered a lot ground including why as geeks we don't talk about feelings. I have to give it up to the guy who in the middle of a talk about homosexuality said he had no problem with it but still finds it hard to watch two people of the same sex snogging. It was very honest and certainly not a popular thing to say in the middle of the debate. Also worth noteing no one jumped on him, instead people tried to gentlely unpick why. There is something I've said about geeks for the longest time, its to do with there enlightened nature.

So this was the first barcamp by the London barcamp team, and I'm sure there after much feedback specially from someone whos been there and done it a few times.

So first thing, and I know a lot of people have said this. The whole event too organised. There were helpers everywhere and then some of them were wearing radios and so it felt even more professional. Now this seems like a good thing but actually barcamps are slighly against the professional nature you get at swanky conferences, there more grassroots and earthy. So things don't always work out as expected but thats fine, its a barcamp. The other side of this coin is if its seemed to be too professional, it will be a invisable barrier for others who want to setup a barcamp, specially in and around London. Anyway I'm sure it won't happen, theres more that enough people who would like to try running a barcamp and won't be put off by the upmarket feel to BarCampLondon6.

The guys behind BarCampLondon6 also tried a couple of new things including spliting the group up at the start into smaller groups and giving them lego to build the letters B-A-R-C-A-M-P out of. It was certainly fun but I don't know if totally transformed the welcoming part. But I think with a little tweaking it could be a interesting way to start a barcamp. Good on the guys for trying something new.

The room names followed the great London rail stations which was a nice touch and the wall schedule times was also a talking point. Each slot was 30mins with 15mins or was it 20mins time between. I felt this was a shame because in actual fact, everyone was so close, that you could easily have ran out of a session and checked the board and been in the room ready within 5mins. In actual fact there were some really nice places to put the board rather that where it was put. Sometimes the board was impossible to see because it was so low down and small. Always put boards in places wheres theres tons of space like BarCampBrighton's or use height so people can see most of the board while people gather. There was some talk after the barcamp about improving the barcamp experience for newbies and someone new suggested the berlin method of tags sessions with attributes. To be honest, I don't see a problem with slightly more structured session cards. Those who don't want to fill in all the detail don't have to, but if your doing some obscure, the extra details might help communicate to other people your session better.

Food at BarCamps can be hit or miss. I have to say this one wasn't too bad. There was lots to eat and I think I was the only one who moaned when the pies came out on Saturday evening. Mainly because I hate mash potoato, can't stand gravy and am not the biggest fan of pies unless there cornish or not far from it. Saying all that my steak and cheese was fine. I do remember dinner being very early like 6pm or something, which was strange because then the 3 sessions afterwards were less attended because just wanted to chill after eating a pie and mash. After the 3 sessions, there was a quiz by your northern friends The Hodge and Tom Scott. It was entertainment and I guess if you didn't want to be there you could have just walked out and did something else. But I expect most people were there. I guess its like powerpoint karaoke and delicious salted use to be, crowd gathering fun. Maybe the geek equivilent of xfactor. Anyway I remember by 10pm I was getting hungry again and I wasn't the only one. By 11pm quite a few people were on the hunt for food and it was revealed there would be a special supply of donuts at midnight. Unfortually it was the Crispy Cream type so I avoided them. Its all about the real thing, not the fatty american cousin. On the Sunday for lunch we went back to the old skool barcamp menu of pizza which went down really well.

Werewolf was played, 2 games in parallel but to be honest I decided this would be my first barcamp where I would sleep offsite because the hotel was so close and I just needed something comfitable sleep on for 2-3 hours. Actually this barcamp I took it really easy, little redbull, no coffee and no staying up till 6am to then sleep on a hard floor in a undersized sleeping bag. Something has gone wrong, will have to make it up at the next one *smile*

The whole event was filmed for a documentary which should go online at some point in the near future. Emma warned everyone that it was happening but for good reason. The original barcamp video from BarCampSanfrancisco1 was looking out of date and BarCamp has evolved, so it was about time for a change in video too. The hope is that other BarCamps will use the video for explain to there participtions BarCamp which I beleive is in its 4th year now.

So overall great BarCamp guys, I really proud of you guys. You certainly felt the pain of setting one up but now you feel the ecstasy of making it happen. I think you'll be suprised at how much easier number 2 will come to you. The pure amount of newbees was great to see. But watch out BarCampLeeds3 or is 4 is at the end of May and is promsing more. BarCampNewcastle2 could be a suprising little joy if it gets the numbers this time. BarCampBrighton4, BarCampBournemouth are certainly up and coming. And of course I'm hot on the case for a BarCampManchester2 and I can tell you all that I don't settle for 2 days, its got to be sleep over or nothing. So look out, BarCamp is coming at you…. Now lets spread this thing…!

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Pacemaker v2 Firmware upgraded

The guys at Tonium have recently released a firmware upgrade and software update. The firmware upgrade basically makes the first generation Pacemaker the same as a second generation pacemaker, except with a 120gig hard drive instead of a 60gig hard drive. It really takes some time to get use to the differences but now the pacemaker does everything you expect it to do including the ability to play back mixes you just made without the editor software. They have added the ability to switch between timestretch and pitch for speed control, which means the pacemaker should be even more useful to other types of music. Another one for those not using the pacemaker for dance music is the vinyl pause mode which allows you to control the music like touching vinyl. It needs work but yes you can kind of scratch with it using that mode. I'm expecting people will practice and practice till they find a way which works for them. I think some instant crossfader kill will help make scratching easier. There's also a load more FX's added in this upgrade. Tonium haven't quite finished the guide or videos but I'm finding pressing certain buttons which should work a certain way now do. For example in track selection you can now use the rewind and forward to skip through the alphabet super quick.

Of course the Editor has gone a radical redesign and I'm glad to announce that I got it working with Linux once again. This time I'm using Sun's VirtualBox free version because it supports USB devices and seemless mode. The Open source version works but there's no USB support, so you can never get the device working with the software. Now it works like a charm. I've published my specs on flickr so others can duplicate the setup if they like. I gave up on Wine because it just wasn't consistent and dll's were driving me up the wall. There's a couple new features like the ability to create cases of music and finally export your mix as a flat ogg vorbis file. So no more messing with Audacity thankfully.

The community has come on leaps and bounds now. Not only can you upload mixes which are longer that 1 hour but theres no limits on artists or tracks now. Hell they even allow you to upload mixes not done with the editor. So now I'm having to upload all my mixes which were on Soundcloud.com to Pacemaker.net. However the restrictions are pretty harsh, 128k, 60meg and 60mins max. There's also a emphase on allowing the djs on the site to podcast which is great. Tonium is suggesting there will be lots more including tshirts and the like.

The Pacemaker has come along leaps and bounds and anything else they do will be a positive move. Some people are hacking about with putting SSDs into the Pacemaker, some others are making a wireless and power kit for the pacemaker which will mean you can dj from the middle of a club or festival. Tonium are also working on accessorys and things like Tshirts, Stickers, etc. Mark my words, the Pacemaker is going from strength to strength. Good work Tonium!

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Objectified: the movie

I saw this film documentary at mix09 one night. After the showing the director Gary Hustwit opened questions and answers from a developer focused crowd. I did express my opitions to the crowd and Gary. The film left me a little feeling uneasy at the notion of hero worshipping the designers behind some of the products and services. In essence the film feel like two halves. First half is about the process and aesthetics of design, so obvious examples like Apple come up. But much more interestingly is part 2 which is more about the affect of design on culture and society. I think Miles once described designers as the whore of capitalism, and after watching a good part of the first half you can see how that kind of fits in place. Ben Darlow (kapowaz) thinks I'm full of crap and I need to check my baggage at the door. Yes I did cringe when Jonathan Ive was talking about the process of making the new mac book but to be fair its been talked about to death and its like me jabbering on about the beauty of XSLT. Sometimes you just don't really want to hear it. Actually its that kind of inward looking, which I struggle to get and be part of when I was studying design at university.

Anyway, its not all bad, actually later in the film it gets really good. Some of the oldskool designers admit they didn't have the environmental impact as a thought in there mind when designing, now thats simply not possible and although that makes things very difficult its a creative constraint. There was also a small part about customisation and personalisation. Its one of those things which I think is the most interesting part of design. Designing to enable others to hack and customise. I wasn't the only one who picked up this point. During further questioning, the point was made that the person buying the product should have ownership of the product, and that means if they choose to paint it a different colour or customise it, they should be able to, or at least not feel like they ruined someone's design. The site which was mentioned was ikeahacker, which although Ikea suggest you use something a certain way in a certain context in the showrooms and catalogue. Gets completely turned on its head.

So generally the film is a good one, its easy to get wrapped up in design and think about the pure aesthetics but design is so much more that just pretty shapes and paint jobs. And later in the film, this is explored in more detail. Garry says this is a 2nd of trilogy, so I'm looking forward to hearing what subject he will cover for the third and final one.

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AdaLovelaceDay09: Marie-Louise von Franz

I will publish a blog post on Tuesday 24th March about a woman in technology whom I admire but only if 1,000 other people will do the same…

That's how it started a, Suw Charman-Anderson's vision to do something special for Ada Lovelace day has become huge with a sign up rate and more being added still a few days before.

Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers (mother and daughter) created the psychological test better known as the MBTI (Myers Briggs type indicator). Although not exactly in the technology field, this has a profound effect on the technology field and this was also a field run by super intelligent males such as Sigman Freud and Carl Jung. However the lesser known story is Carl Jung had a lab partner called Marie-Louise von Franz. It was Carl Jung and Marie-Louise von Franz's work which Katharine Briggs read and studied then passed on to her daughter Isabel Briggs. Marie-Louise later worked with Carl Jungs friend Barbara Hannah, who Carl Jung actual set up together. She later went on to publish first the mathematical structure of DNA and a series of essays, books and videos. I found out about Marie-Louise by accident while reading Into the Dream by William Sleator which sounded like a film I watched sometime later called The way of the Dream. Marie-Louise's intelligence pushed her forward and although not the only woman drawn to Jung, she was the only one not to have a affair or get mixed up in all that. Instead she worked hard and paved her own way, linking psychology and physics. Before she died she lectured all around the western world and became known for her own thoughts and theories instead of Jung's. Shes not as well as known as than Myers-Briggs but her influence in psychology has been huge, and its great to see hard work pay off.

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