Finding the chase and cutting to it

money for God’s sake… The life of any web page has always been judged on three things:

1. accessibility of information
2. ease on the mind
3. ease on the mouse

anything else is a bonus.  Image my surprise then when Cuil was launched.  Black is the new white it seems…

I mean, Google won users by being empty – no garish logos, no loud adverts, no distrations.  White was stark in comparison to most sites at the time, but suitable and easy to live with.  The mind could easily wander over the page.

Cuil by comparison contains large amounts of black space.  Empty, infathomable black space. Not surprisingly, I love this.  The colours are very 1980’s (Commodore C64) and it works.  Not in a trying to be clever kind of way, but just because it isn’t.

The beeb have responded in kind, with their front page now sporting the black top bar.  Where will it end?  Watch this space…

I’m guessing lots. I got an eyefull of the new Sony eBook reader today and was seriously impressed – but I’m not convinced it’s something I would rush out to buy. Maybe I’m not their target audience – to me a book is something I can lounge in a boiling hot tub with and I’m not sure the eBook is up to it (happy to be wrong here).

To be fair, it’s not doing anything that’s particularly unique either, modern phones and internet tablets are now performing this kind of media presentation very nicely now. Screens are now cheap (thanks to the Xo maybe) and I firmly believe that Apple have contributed by making this kind of gadget simple to use.

And maybe that’s why the dedicated device has it’s day today. Who knows what the future will bring?

Hi, I know, it’s been a while. We’ve had some major changes here due to economic climate change (no, really, it’s real and it’s here)…

It’s been slowly rolling on but the main disruption we had, was the loss of our broadband access and this site. Painful. People, broadband is essential: we coped (just) by buying a 3G USB dongle until the service was reinstated. Yet that couldn’t provide my beloved site (OK – I appreciate it’s not the prettiest nor the brightest and may not be the quickest but it’s my kid, so be kind!).

Part of my job is writing about the changes Web 2 has had in the work place – but actually, I use it as much at home. Imagine being incommunicado for two weeks – that was my life.

But normality has been restored: after a pause – router setup help apparently comes in different dialects. We now speak two.

I’ve lost my broadband connection: I know, careless really. Given that fixed line broadband takes five working days to install, I was nearly going out of my mind. I was given a lot of help by my friends in how to restablish my status – thank you all but I ended up getting a stop gap…

It’s as long as a credit card, about ²/₃ the height and the thickness of a wallet full. It plugs in via a USB cord and just works. Top-up with a voucher and away you surf. I have to say the weirdest thing is how 3’s user interface is completely geared up for phones, while most of its customers are like me – surf hoppers.

And I have to say, that’s exactly how I feel – after bashing my head against fixed line reinstatement, this is a breeze.

Bye, bye lines. Except, I am now watching my bytes – it’s a return to making every bit count, turning off images and styling in an effort to keep down to the minimum and that makes it all really quick. Really, amazingly quick. So I’m thinking of rebuilding my laptop with a linux building to work once the cable is live again and wander free around the planet!

OK, I’ve gone back to work having taken a week as leave and realise just how creepy Michael Marshall Smith’s “What you make it” really is!

It’s beautifully written (my favourite story is the “Man who drew cats”) it’s all believable and tangible and maybe that’s the problem. Maybe it would be easier to read if it wasn’t.

All I’m saying is be happy before you read, be at peace with the world otherwise this may be the piece that drives you to the tipping point!

I like to play games: mostly card games, but I can do the Rubik’s Cube and I am reasonably good at various forms of solitaire including Mahjong and Sudoku.

I like games which, once mastered happen quickly so I don’t like Civilisation though I adore Age of Empires. Chess has always eluded me but draughts is awesome. Chinese checkers too though I wouldn’t necessarily play my dad too often. It’s nice to have a chance of winning if only occasionally!

A game should have entertainment and moments of joy and delight as well as small moments of frustration and reaching reserves you never knew you had. I like honorable battle.

I don’t like some of the games people play which include causing people pain – I don’t like one person running the game where they can be the only winner as they’re the only ones in control of the rules.

If games are not fun for all, what’s the point?

Sam with her pump on the first day

Since 8th Dec 2001, I have been the very proud owner of an insulin pump. A full 24 years after being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus, I had the chance of not having long acting insulin.

This is an important distinction: the pump gives me a human analogue insulin – in other words an insulin which is fundamentally identical to human insulin. It has a very short life span as a result and therefore is ideally suited to Continuous Subcutaneous Insulin Infusion (the proper name for an insulin pump). But it means freedom from long acting insulin – a real bonus as the unpredictability disappears from dose calculations.

Being a constant companion, the pump not only makes life so much more flexible (and dare I say, easier (ok, it has it’s own set of problems, but on the whole)) it is always there. It feels like it’s a part of me.

So, I hate swapping the pump out. My latest one has developed a very small hitch and needs to be checked and I feel like I am losing an arm! Tomorrow, I am sending off this one off and swapping in a different pump.

Strange how you get attached to things.

Casio fx-7000GA emulator– I have a confession to make – I miss my old programmable calculator. I think I could make an emulator, maybe web based.

I plan to start with the language and the graphical functions then mimic the UI.

Suggested by Jeff Patmore…

Way back archive

Hobbes’ Timeline

The Dracula Interview

Hi, this is my first blog entry: so apologies if I don’t get it right this time round!

I want this tool to allow me to put up gut reactions and views and allow me to work on them based on comments I receive. So please make comments!

This entry is going to be about facebook…

I have been a member since 2006 and have really liked the clean interface and easy way to update all my friends on where I am and what I’m doing. The chat is a nice feature – but mostly, that isn’t what facebook is used for! The chats via email really work for me, as I am updated while I am at my desk without having my inbox full of non-work stuff.

So, it was with trepedition that I entered the new look facebook. It seems ok, though there are a few bugs (hopefully they will be sorted out). I don’t really like the photo updates – having my home page full of other people’s holiday snaps isn’t necessarily a great start to my day! I am happy to be wrong about this.

So I am hanging out to see how it goes – take the plunge, try the new facebook!