Letting go

31 August 2005

“… relinquishing control doesn’t just mean letting go, losing control, it actually means controlling just how you let go.“

An excellent essay over at Abstract Dynamics on Web 2.0, what it’s really changed (underneath all the hype) and just how to control that letting go carefully.

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Tonight’s late Prom (30/08/05)

30 August 2005

Tonight’s late Prom: Messiaen, Stravinksy and Boulez. I’m going, if only to see my first real live Ondes Martenot. Really looking forward to this – it’s so long since I’ve been to a classical concert, and doubly so for a concert of modern-era classical.

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Shared bookmarks for del.icio.us user infovore on 2005-08-29

Design in Flight mk2

25 August 2005

Design in Flight relaunches, publishing all its old content online – and publishing its new content online. The subscription model has been replaced by a donation model, except for back issues. It’s probably the way it should have been all along, and I’m certainly likely to pay the $10 for the back issues having read more of them.

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Google Talk != FREE CALLS ONLINE!!!

25 August 2005

I swear, if one more media organisation refers to Google Talk as a telephony service I will scream. It’s an IM client which happens to have VOIP capabilities. Just like iChat. Just like lots of other things which came before it. Skype is a real internet telephony client, and it appears to have received almost no press as a result of the big-Google-announcement, comparisons instead being drawn to MSN Messenger. Which is a real shame, because not much can touch Skype as a real internet-telephony provider. And it’s also reasonably not-evil. Still, it shows how much power the Google brand now wields.

Height of stupidity: last night’s Evening Standard headline (not online): PHONE CALLS GO FREE ON GOOGLE. I’m surprised the spool hasn’t picked up on this.

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12″ Powerbook Battery and Firewire: big problems

22 August 2005

So, my 12″ Powerbook, which is now well over two years old, is beginning to be a little unhappy. So far, it was nothing more than being strained a bit by Tiger (despite 640mb ram) and spluttering a bit because of its lowly graphics card.

But the battery is getting to me. Currently, I get a bit under 2 hours out of it. It drains quite consistently, until around 32%, at which point it immediately leaps to 0%. Bah.

Tonight, though, for the second time in a week, a slightly more disturbing problem has arisen. Namely: no matter how much battery is in the laptop, plugging my external Firewire HD in (Lacie 200gb) promptly zaps the battery life to 0%. Instantly. Zero.

This is not very useful, especially given how much I paid for the drive (just so I could back things up), and I’m a little edgy. The rest of the laptop is working perfectly, and I’m loathe to have to replace it just yet – for financial reasons if for nothing else. But it’s all a little too worrying for comfort. Anyone have any ideas about the Firewire problem?

(And no, I do not have Applecare any more).

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RIP Doctor Bob

22 August 2005

Bob Moog died. A real pioneer, who made not only revolutionary instruments, but beautiful instruments. Still, what a legacy.

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Three.

19 August 2005

Tomorrow will be the third wedding I’ve been to this year. It’ll be the fourth for the Girl. The difference this time is that it’s one of my friends getting married – all the previous ones were friends of hers. And, as a result, in Scotland. This one’s in Essex, and I’m really looking forward to it. It’s a lovely couple getting married, for starters, and then there’s the chance to catch up with a whole host of friends – especially old schoolfriends who I haven’t seen for a while. So, all in all, lots of fun to be had, and a nice chance to get out of the city.

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