Next: December 2002
November 27, 2002
Frustration
It's frustrating. People are talking about interesting things - such as mobile blogging as killer app, and I feel I can't really comment on them.
Full disclosure: I work for Orange as a customer experience manager, looking first and foremost on data products. It's nice to see ideas such as this, mainly because I've written (almost to the letter) exactly the same thing in the past - as with any ideas that's grounded in common sense, several people will come up with such things at the same time completely independently of each other. However, my ideas often end in Word documents and Powerpoint presentations, rather than on a site such as this.
So, I guess the point of this is that at the moment, blogging as a whole tends to sit in a bubble. It's self referencing, and pretty self contained. For various reasons, wheels are reinvented, navels are gazed, and paths retrodden. This isn't neccessarily a bad thing: when it is realised that this is happening, it can be used for reflection and examination.
I sit here, on my hands, much as when Matt mentions the BBC.
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fabulous
"If TiVo Thinks You Are Gay, Here's How to Set It Straight" (WSJ)
This is great, not only does it highlight the fact that people relate to computers as humans (and assume they think the same way as we do), but that they will change their behaviour due to the way electronics and software work.
I've encountered it before - the London perl mongers irc channel has a few bots in it, and most of the time, people are playing to that audience rather than the humans.
Maybe they're easier to please. Is TiVO a pet replacement?
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November 21, 2002
the electrosmog diviner - just in time for Christmas
One of those throwaway ideas:
This came out of people hiring feng-shui consultants and their ilk when moving house. In the future, what will be important factors in deciding where to live? If we consider pervasive computing, the smog of wireless networks and data will decide where to live. This is important down to the point of room-by-room analysis, hence the need for a handheld device that divines the smog and shows the flows of information*.
So, what would the electrosmog diviner do?
At a base level it would detect:
* GSM networks, their strength, and GPRS availability
* Wi-fi access, open and closed
* 3G availability and strength
But this could be extended in many ways.
Firstly, a "leisure" version would add:
* Channel 5, Freeview and DAB availability
and, somehow, if you gave it your postcode it could check for cable (+ cable modem) and ADSL.
Another idea builds on the current meme of that virtual social networks can never be as strong as physical social networks, mainly because they can't come and help you find your cat when it's escaped (I could be horribly wrong, but I think the two Matts have written about it).
From your location, it could devine how strong the social networks around you are (maybe using the wonderful sites such as upmystreet conversations.
In some ways, I just like the idea for the fact that the network influences your decisions in meatspace, in the same way as proximity to a tube line. Would estate agents start marketing properties on their connectedness?
*Doors of Perception is gradually coming together for me. One of the themes was that flows tend to be invisible and hard to visualise.
...and in other news...
I'm probably moving. Hurrah! Nothing signed yet, so tempting fate. Not sure if there's a BT line ready and willing in the new flat, which prompted a lot of the above.
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November 17, 2002
Doors of Perception
I've just got back from Doors of Perception, a conference in Amsterdam. Lots of good, exciting, interesting stuff (if very wide ranging). The theme was flow, and pervasive computing, but that was more of a title to hang on the conference than the body of work presented.
I was hoping that Matt Jones, who was there, but I didn't get to meet, would be blogging it all, as in the lazyweb tradition, it's Somebody Else's Work. However, there was no connectivity at all (apart from maybe my iPAQ to his laptop), so it's been a bit dry on the blogface.
I'll be collecting my thoughts, and publishing a link-o-rama soon. Very tired.
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November 12, 2002
my new blog
So I'm really late to this blogging thing.
I feel blogging is currently in the same stage as homepages in 1997 or so - everyone has one, and they're all bloody awful. We seem to have avoided many of the colour clash nightmares (thanks, blogger and moveabletype!), but the content is generally dire.
Why start one now, then?
Well, I think it's about to be big - really, really big - and I'm starting to connect a lot of the technology that excites me (RSS, home servers, semantic webs, presence) together. Blogging is interesting because it is the most heartfelt sharing experience since the homepage boom. I'm trying to get a handle of how much (and how often) real live people want to share.
Do people realise that random strangers are reading about them? Does that change what they write about? These questions should have been answered by now. Any general hints from the lazyweb *prod* *prod* gratefully received.
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November 07, 2002
technology is exciting
Sometimes, normally whilst looking the wrong way for 6 months or so, I get excited by how quickly technology is evolving.
I'm writing this on a PDA, through a wi-fi connection, to my ADSL line. It goes, via magic, to some server in the USA, the exact whereabouts I'm not sure of, and you retrieve it, through the same magic (or combination of magical building blocks).
Was it easy to set up? No. Not at all. But I get the feeling we're going somewhere. People expect a wireless lifestyle. They get the idea immediately. Technology is starting to fulfill inate needs, and I can see more on the horizon, from cheap tablet PCs, to new PC form factors, to home servers...
We have to make this transparent. We don't want to think about server names, IPs, blogs, syndication, presence profiles, proving I'm me. We just want to communicate, wherever, whenever. No ifs, buts, or maybes.
The usability crusade must not stop at software and web pages. Tech companies must appreciate the complete experience, larger than their chunk of software or hardware - bigger than plug and play. We need Power on & Communicate.
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November 06, 2002
instant gratification
Cafepress can be so much fun.
Designs:
i write about you every day in my blog.
i meet up with people from the Internet.
i am a Level 12 on an online game you've never heard of.
i download porn from the Internet.
All available here.
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November 05, 2002
Kimmo Pohjonen
I have just been to see Kimmo Pohjonen play at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. It was quite simply stunning - the first half (Kluster) was simply Kimmo on accordion and vocals, and Samuli Kosminen on a sampler, adding creaks, rhythm, blips and burps, bass and melody, using just samples of Kimmo's accordion and amazing pixie/demonic voice. The accordion proves to be a generator of square, triangle and sine waves to beat most electronics, creating an orchestra of acid house bass, mid and treble. It moved smoothly from riotness cacophony to the smallest sounds and noises, whilst creating a steady beat. Then Kimmo did his best whirling dervish impression, complete with accordion fully extended.
The second half (kalmuk) featured a 16 strong sinfonietta, again effortlessly moving from noise and power to James-Brown-tight, funky movements. The music is circular and rhythmic, a lot like Koyaanisquatsi, relentless, pounding then quiet, but always building. Moods effortlessly shift from the unnerving and tense to happy and joyful. It's quite impossible to describe, and I think even the CDs won't do it justice - there is a DVD coming out, hopefully in the full surround sound used.
It really is an amazing performance, with mood swings, emotion, and some incredibly strange music. It's worth catching if he ever performs in your neck of the woods. He quite rightly got a standing ovation, as it is one of the most powerful performances I've seen. It's like the best bits of a techno all-nighter condensed into an hour of music.
A few samples (both from the Kluster CD):
http://www.undergroundlondon.com/loska.mp3
http://www.undergroundlondon.com/voima.mp3
His website:
http://www.kimmopohjonen.com
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November 04, 2002
Testing
This is a test press / white label test press.
