Ianforrester

Gnome Launchy

So I've wanted something like quicksilver for a while and I found launchy when I was on Windows but I couldn't find anything for gnu/linux. Till today when I found a few. Gnome-Do, Gnome launch box and Katapult.

I stuck with Gnome-Do because its smooth, the plugin support is pretty good and I love the blog of the developer (see quote later). I do kind of wish for the smaller box style of Launchy instead of the boxes of quicksilver but you can't have it all. Oh it would also be great if the background dimmed a little. You know add a little compiz-fusion power to the whole thing.

On a personal note, I have used Mac OS X, FreeBSD, and Linux exclusively for the last seven years. I don’t use Windows because it lowers my quality of life. I haven’t tried Vista. I recently made the switch from OS X to Ubuntu after realizing that all Steve Jobs wants is for you to shut up and buy a new iPod; don’t you dare criticize his taste or the way he treats third-party developers like dirt. Also, I’m fairly confident that propriety software has no future. Yes, I am aware that proprietary software has a multi-trillion dollar past and present, but this implies nothing about the future.

Nice!

Technorati Tags: gnomedo, gnome, kde, plugins, quicksilver, launchy

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Rez HD, I wish. But what’s Boogie?

I missed Rez the first time round because I never owned a PS2 or Dreamcast, and it looks like I may miss out again because Rez HD is only on Xbox 360 only. Don't get me wrong I've played Rez but only at 5min blasts at a gaming festival, I've never got a chance to really get involved like the time I've sunk into the Wipeout or Burnout. Anyway here's a great review which makes me wish I had a Xbox 360 for the first time ever.

So after looking at videos for Rez HD, I decided to look for videos of Bust A Move (bust a groove in the UK) and Bust a Move 2. Both I own but number 2 doesn't work because I own a PAL machine and the game is JP NTSC, so all the tunes are out of time in the 50-60hz switch over. Anyway, I couldn't find any updates to it except Dance dance revolution which I'm sorry isn't the same! But then I found Boogie. Honestly I've never seen this before but it looks like Bust a Move evolved. However it got a crap score. So I might rent it and see if I like it. If not Dance dance revolution Wii Party looks like my only fix for the dance games on next generation consoles.

Technorati Tags: rez, play, games, xbox360, 1up, boogie

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Whats happened to the London Geekdinners?

Well the site went down a few months ago and it never came back up. Why? Well the geekdinner site was hosted by one person and the domain owned by someone else. This has always been a issue but I had never got round to moving the whole thing to my own server simply because of time and I blog using Blojsom not WordPress. Anyway, it turns out that the server the wordpress install was sitting on was not owned by one person, instead it was owned by a 3rd person. I'm trying to get the archives from that person but its taking very long (if you knew who he was you'd know why).

In the meantime I've been very busy with many things and wanted to get some help running geekdinners. So Cristiano and Mel have offered and to their credit started planning events. This is great news because the dutch couple are really passionate about it and will inject some more life into it. This also means we can spend more time setting up a mailing list and other things which I had talked about in the past.

So what events?
Well the first one is Werewolf which hasn't been played since the Backstage Christmas party in 2007. If you've never played werewolf before, this is a great time to learn it. Its not a board game and its only slightly geeky. In actual fact its more about social engineering and trickery that anything else. The game can accomodate between 6-26 people, so feel free to bring your friends along, it costs nothing and it takes place in a pub anyway. So you have no excuses!

Pause for breath on Wednesday, then we have the 2nd geekdinner for 2008 on the Thursday. This time the guest is Dr. Richard Clayton from the University of Cambridge. He's going to talk about Evil ways to make money on the Internet. I'm saying no more, but it promises to be pretty awesome. This will cost 5 pounds for food which is a bargin for good food while enjoying the talk. Hope to see you all there.

Technorati Tags: geekdinners, londongeekdinners, hosting, geekdinner

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Trustedplaces secures its future

Sokratis Papafloratos and Walid Al Saqqaf

Now their after a million users…

It's a busy space, that social/local field. Sokratis Papafloratos and co-founder Walid Al Saqqaf said that ploughing their time and energy into TrustedPlaces.com cost the co-founders their girlfriends. But all the struggles and the late nights were vindicated when the start-up scored half a million in funding from the new investors Howzat – a fund launched by the team behind Cheapflights.com.

My hints for a million users. A decent API not just feeds, APML import and export and of course written agreement for data portability for all those million users they will soon have. Go on guys you know you want to…

Technorati Tags: trustedplaces, london, guardian, startup

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Either Googles really good, or I should be scared?

alt.support.divorce and diet.low-carb, hummm I guess I should be scared. Google couldn't have worked this out from my gmail because I don't tend to use that much for personal emails. My google reader subscriptions and blog might be the source if this isn't just a fluke. Problem is that I can't see the same page without logging in, otherwise I would be able to tell for sure. Now if Google only supported APML then I could know for sure. Yes another reason for APML along with Tristan's thoughts on the radio labs blog.

Technorati Tags: google, googlegroups, apml, fluke, bbc

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Amazon please for goodness sake, stop teasing us and open the UK Mp3 music store already

From ZDNet

Online retailer Amazon.com said Sunday it will begin an international roll-out this year of its digital music store that offers songs without copy-protection technology known as digital rights management. Amazon said it is the only retailer to offer DRM-free MP3s from all four major music labels as well as thousands of independent labels.

I'm actually considering getting a couple of tunes legally and I don't want a CD (believe it or not I've not a audio CD for over 10 years!). No I can't use iTunes because I'm on Linux and hey do I really want to give Apple any money? Napster, Rhapsody and iTunes don't have a great dance selection either. Beatport do have a great selection of dance music including but oh my goodness I hate that interface. Amazon please launch in the UK and kill off these bunch of pretenders.

Technorati Tags: mp3, amazon, musicstore

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Conferences and Festivals you should be aware of

Get those laptops out its conference season?

So there are a stupid amount of conferences and festivals in the UK this half of 2008. Usually conference season is not till the 3rd quarter but someone forgot to mention this to us brits. This is a quick run down and expect more details on certain events as and when they come up. I've stopped at June for now but theres more to come.

BarCampScotland/
Found this out via Gareth's blog about interesting events:
Febuary 1st–
2nd,
at the Concourse of the Appleton Tower at the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland

The Social media forum
I'm actually talking at this one. So yes its slightly shameless self promotion but also a interesting conference about the changes in the media. The slant will be towards the gemany press, but I'll be explaining why the germany media industry should be engaging their participtors now.:
Febuary 11th–
12th,
at the Side Hotel, Hamburg, Germany.

Semantic Camp 2008
Lots of talk about this one, first barcamp style event in London since BarCampLondon3. First one run by someone else besides myself. Good luck Tom, I'm sure it will be a great success. Shame I can't it as it clashes with Suw and Kevins Wedding. BBC Backstage is sponsoring this event, as its just the kind of thing we believe in.:
Febuary 16th–
17th,
at the Department of Computing, Imperial College, South Kensington, London.

The Guardian's Changing Media Summit
I'm actually talking at this one (only briefly and then a panel). So yes its slightly shameless self promotion again but also a interesting conference about the changes in the media.:
March 12th,
at the Victoria Plaza Hotel, Victoria, London.

Over the Air
BBC Mobile with BBC Backstage unveil 48 hours of mobile and wireless hacking. There will be more details about this event in the near future. But right now, you want to store this date in your diary because its a Friday and Saturday with yes sleep-over. So this is a chance to really experiment and try out things you've only dreamed about. Even if you've never taken a phone apart, fear not there will be tons of tutorials by leading mobile developers and providers to lead you on your way.:
April 4th–
5th,
at the TBA) Central London

Abilitynet's Web2.0 Accessibility conference
A new conference, which I happen to be talking at again. This time with people like Andy Budd and Jeremy Keith. The whole conference will centre around web accessibility in a web 2.0 world. Sounds familiar maybe? Well there was backstage podcast around the same theme recently. Should be a good conference to cover some of the things forgotten about recently. .:
April 25th,
at City University, London.

Futuresonic 2008
I have never been to futuresonic but I hear lots of good things about it. I'm hoping to be talking there with the guys behind the Radio Labs. It also seems to be growing into the UK's answer to SXSW maybe?:
May 1st–
4th,
at the Manchester.

Xtech 2008
This time in Dublin instead of Paris or Amsterdam but still a great conference for those involved in the cutting edge of the net. Right after Futuresonic, so I expect quite a few people to catch a flight from Manchester to Dublin on the 5th May.:
May 6th–
9th,
at the Radisson SAS Royal Hotel, Dublin, Ireland.

Thinking Digital
New type of conference, think TED or PopTech but for the UK and your on the right track. I'm involved in this one and backstage is sponsoring the event. Actually codeworks is a BBC innovation labs partner in the north east. The line up is simply amazing and very diverse, just the kind of conference the UK really needs. .:
May 21st–
23rd,
at the Sage, Gateshead.

Thinking Digital Geekdinner
A geekdinner to celebrate the thinking digital conference, just a short walk across the bridge from the sage in Gateshead. Food provided by BBC Backstage. Still looking for a drinks sponsor if your interested? .:
May 23rd,
at the Picher and Piano, Newcastle

BarCampNewcastle
BarCampNewcastle, at long last but looks to be a good one following a great conference. Certainly a good reason to stay in Newcastle even longer.:
May 24th–
25th,
at the (TBA), Newcastle or Gateshead.

Mashed
The big event of the summer for BBC backstage. Mashed is 1 day of conference and 2 days of open development and fun. Unlike last year, this one is all BBC with a open inviatation for others to join us. Its going to be huge again and unforgetable for everyone who signs up.:
June,
at the (TBA), London

Technorati Tags: events, conferences, barcamp, festivals

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Beyond HD: 4k projection

A couple of my friends and family are very much into their True HD (1080p) content and displays. I'm not that bothered because, lets be honest I'm unlikely to buy a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player, my primary media player (xbmc) doesn't play back HD without dropping frames (nice looking frames that they are) and I'm honestly happy with 720p from the distance I would sit. Anyway, like always there is always something better that what you can buy. So feast your eyes on 4k projection (4mpx image every frame) Tony, Che, Lucas, Nico, etc…

Two 2k projectors side by side

3712 x 1080 @ 50fps progressive. Yes stitch two 2K projectors together, give them half the image and then using machine logic display them exactly side by side. Thats what our research and innovation team have done to create a panoramic picture with the density and richness only ever seen in DLP cinemas. The pictures I shot don't do it any kind of justice, but if you thought that was amazing. Just remember the sunflowers were shot with a 8k NHK super HiVision camera and scaled & cropped for this lower quality version. So if you want to be top dog, you'd better save up your money for one of these badboys and setup Super-HiVision-bits.org because HD-bits.org isn't going to cut it.

Rugby game on a 4k projector

Technorati Tags: hd, superhivision, nhk, bbc, dlp, projection, 4k, 2k, highdef, 8k, festivaloftechnology

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London or Manchester? Wasn’t this technology meant to make geography irrelevant?

So I've been considering moving to Manchester (Salford) for a while. For those who don't know, the BBC is moving a good part of its workforce and operation to the Salford area. Most of it will be up and running by 2012 but my department is moving up earlier. So there's some serious benefits to moving up earlier including cheaper housing and more choice about where to live. The idea of MediaCity:UK hub is nice but these types of projects can go ether way. The new BBC Scotland offices at Pacific Quay is actually really nice, but some people I have spoke to don't like the location or building. Some people have already moved up to Manchester but the question that plagues me is, should I leave the amazing city of London for Manchester? What would you guys do?

Why does it matter where I work, when most of my job involves online presence? And would you believe it or not a future tense podcast got me thinking…

Why technology has not trumped geography

MP3

Economist Tim Harford argues against the notion that computers, the Internet, cell phones and other technology have made or will make geography any less relevant.

In his new book The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World, Harford argues that in some ways, where you work and live is more important than ever, thanks to the technology that was supposed to make the whole concept of place irrelevant.

I guess this is consistent with what Richard Florida and Paul Graham have been saying for years too. A long time ago I believed we could work remotlely and do meeting via im and video conferencing. I tried it and it didn't work, even for someone like myself. Hence social events are huge and there's little better that chatting to people face to face over a drink or a meal. Now I'm starting to rethink my thoughts about setting up hotspots of creativity in the middle of nowhere. Is setting up shop in the middle of Salford going to really pull the creative people? Or are we going to get a office of pension watchers? Who knows?

Technorati Tags: technology, futuretense, podcast, london, manchester, salford, bbc, place, location, geography

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