voodoo & hokum

Haha! This used to be my local Asda in Edinburgh. I remember...

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 15:44:04 +0000

Haha! This used to be my local Asda in Edinburgh. I remember walking miles in driving snow at 3AM to get post-pub snacks. Good times.

new-aesthetic:

One of the biggest supermarkets in Edinburgh was left with empty shelves on Tuesday after it was accidentally wiped off a computer system at the company’s head office in Leeds.

Deliveries to the Asda store in Chesser, Edinburgh, dried up after an IT worker deleted the shop from a delivery computer, according to a report in The Scotsman newspaper. As a result, essential re-orders were not processed and the shelves were rapidly cleared of fresh fruit and vegetables, bread, eggs and other high-turnover items.

“I asked one of the assistants what was going on and was told that someone in America pressed a button and deleted the whole store from their systems, which I think is hilarious.”

Asda store left empty after being accidentally wiped from computer system - 10 Jan 2013 - Computing News

Don't Blend In

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 13:21:11 +0000

That’s the tagline of the ad for the Vauxhall Mokka. This implies (I assume) that driving the Mokka will set you apart from the masses; lift you above the throng of mindless zombies driving their little beige boxes and catapult you to a world where pedestrians and other road users defecate themselves in awe as you drive by.

However, this is the Vauxhall Mokka. Hmm.

I don’t take exception specifically with the Mokka, I’m sure many people will get many years of enjoyment from it; what does rub me up the wrong way however is it’s marketing. Lazy taglines sold in a boring way. The Mokka will not cure your apparent blending problems. It’s not a Lamborghini, it doesn’t have particularly revolutionary or even quirky styling; it’s just another pseudo-offroader crossover, designed to be a bit taller and have chunkier bumpers to give people the impression that they’re driving a 4x4.

To further illustrate my point; here are some other cars that may or may not be the Vauxhall Mokka.

The Renault Koleos

Nissan Qashqai

Kia Sportage (from four years ago)

To me, these are all a variation on a theme; which is fine, but don’t go advertising one as setting you apart from the crowd. If I wanted a crossover that set me apart (which I don’t) I’d go for a Kia Sportage (current) or a Skoda Yeti 4x4.

The design for all these crossovers are based around a theme, and that seems to be a Nike training shoe from the 90’s.

Nike Air, just add wheels.

coolerthanbefore: Aston Martin DB4 Zagato - by Richard Pardon

Mon, 21 May 2012 14:55:27 +0100

coolerthanbefore:

Aston Martin DB4 Zagato - by Richard Pardon

Photo

Mon, 21 May 2012 14:54:45 +0100

artoftheautomobile: Aston Martin DB4 GT (by julien.mahiels)

Thu, 17 May 2012 13:36:28 +0100

artoftheautomobile:

Aston Martin DB4 GT

(by julien.mahiels)

"Which statement seems more true: (1) I have a brain. (2) I am a brain."

Thu, 10 May 2012 10:28:01 +0100

“Which statement seems more true: (1) I have a brain. (2) I am a brain.”

- The Mind’s I, Daniel C. Dennett and Douglas Hofstadter (via philphys)

My dog ate the cable of my 4 year old PX200’s and their...

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:17:25 +0100

My dog ate the cable of my 4 year old PX200’s and their leather pads have degraded; so treated myself to a pair of Sennheiser PX200-II’s! They’re breaking in nicely and have a few design revisions over their predecessors.

Photo

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:57:42 +0100

thisistheverge: Life, the Universe and Minecraft in one amazing...

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:46:09 +0000

thisistheverge:

Life, the Universe and Minecraft in one amazing interactive graphic

Squeezed in neatly between the size of the great expanse of the 160 billion light-year universe and the nearly nonexistent blip of a 0.00000000001 yoctometer Quantum Foam is the world of Minecraft.

It’s a powerful beat…

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 12:55:02 +0000

It’s a powerful beat…

I got tired of my awkwardly big USB drive running XBMCBuntu, so...

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 11:04:00 +0000

I got tired of my awkwardly big USB drive running XBMCBuntu, so decided to make it more suitable for my LEGO HTPC.

My favourite XBMC Remote App

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 11:36:10 +0000

I don’t usually like remote control apps. YES it amuses me to no end, to be able to control a device using my phone, but I’d still rather have physical buttons.

With physical buttons you don’t have to look at the remote when you’re navigating; you can feel where up/down/left/right & OK are.

With a remote app on a touch-screen phone however, you don’t have the same tactile sensation and therefore have to look at the phone when you want to press a button. Your phone will also probably huff and lock its screen after 30 seconds of neglect.

My current favourite Windows Phone app for controlling XBMC on my TV is XBMC REMOTE. I know they’re all called that, but its thumbnail is up there ^ and it’s made by a group called 7Illusions (but doesn’t feature on their website yet).

This app controls XBMC (Eden) via http over your WiFi and lets you browse your XBMC library from within the app, displaying all your fan/album art, showing the watched status on your episodes and movies and even has a menu for updating and cleaning your library!

The thing I most like about it however is that in addition to a regular remote layout with touchscreen buttons for up/down/left/right & OK, you have the option of using GesturePad. You have to enable this feature in settings but when switched on it will replace the up/down/left/right & OK buttons with a big grey rectangle.

Using this grey rectangle, instead of looking at your phone every time you want to press a button, you look at it once to find the GesturePad and swipe with your thumb in the direction you wish to navigate. Swipe left for left, swipe up for up and tap your thumb for OK. It makes the interaction a little more pleasant. You still have to look at the phone to find buttons such as back/play/stop etc, but chances are you’d have to do that on a normal remote also.

The app is free to try and £1.49 to buy. It would be nice to have an option for preventing the phone from locking its self, but still a very nice app. You can get it here.

The HTPC Saga pt4

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 13:21:22 +0000

I came up with a solution to my case problems. LEGO!

LEGO is awesome; it requires no tools, I found a big box of it on top of a wardrobe, and if the computer dies in a few weeks/months, I can simply dismantle the case and re-use the pieces… maybe in a truck or a space ship…

I started off with some of the big flat green bits to use as the base, and after setting the computer on top, filled in the rest of the base with smaller flat pieces. I then basically built around the outside of the computer in blocks, up to a height of two layers (I wanted to keep the whole thing quite low profile).

Anywhere there was I/O I needed to use, I left blank after a height of 1 block to allow access. The fit is quite snug, you can connect cables without the board moving around.

tadaa

There are a few interesting details:

The activity light circuit board has been sandwiched in the front and is visible through some translucent blue pieces, unfortunately they’re quite dim and don’t quite look blue. I’ll maybe swap for something a little more transparent.

There are LED’s in there, honestly.

The fan exhausts through a couple of white fence pieces, they’re nearly the right size and look quite amusing :P

The silly exhaust

The power switch to the laptop is on the opposite side of the board to the cooler (as it would have originally been upside down) so it’s rather difficult to turn the machine on. I racked my brains for an age to find a solution and finally settled on a simple rocker which when pressed, pushes on the switch. It’s not exactly tactile but it works!

Rocker power switch

After the switch problem was solved, I decorated the front with a few flat pieces that I ~~used to~~ still think are awesome.

Ghetto Lego

I’m left with a gaping hole in the top, and I don’t have enough flat pieces to fill it in, luckily I had some (quite thick) perspex lying around, so a few minutes later, I’ve got a roof window!

What next?

I think I’m pretty close to finishing the project, but the fan needs a bit more airflow, I planned to drill some holes in the Perspex over the fan, but can’t think of an interesting pattern. If I’m stumped or I don’t possess the skills for anything elaborate, I’ll just drill a radial pattern.

I also found a can of glass frosting, which might make a nice effect if I sprayed a logo/name on the window? May be a bit pointless without illumination though.

thisistheverge: Gerd Ludwig’s “Long Shadow of Chernobyl”...

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 11:03:42 +0000

thisistheverge:

Gerd Ludwig’s “Long Shadow of Chernobyl” project - The Big Picture - Boston.com

UX Rave: Ten laws to design by

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 10:54:47 +0000

UX Rave: Ten laws to design by:

uxrave:

Nice recap by 3.7 designs

1. Hick’s Law - every additional choice increases the time it takes to make a selection

2. Pareto principle - the 80/20 rule

3. The rule of thirds - a viewer is more likely to be drawn to the intersection points

4. Proximity - elements that are near each…

"Pedantry and mastery are opposite attitudes toward rules. To apply a rule to the letter, rigidly,..."

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 12:00:22 +0000

“Pedantry and mastery are opposite attitudes toward rules. To apply a rule to the letter, rigidly, unquestioningly, in cases where it fits and in cases where it does not fit, is pedantry … To apply a rule with natural ease, with judgment, noticing the cases where it fits, and without ever letting the words of the rule obscure the purpose of the action or the opportunities of the situation, is mastery.”

- George Polya, Mathematician

"Buttons are about the most unsatisfying interaction you can have in a touchscreen device. Just think..."

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 09:18:49 +0000

“Buttons are about the most unsatisfying interaction you can have in a touchscreen device. Just think about it. At least when you’re using a mouse, you click a button, and you’re clicking a button. When you’re using a phone you are smudging glass, and there is absolutely zero feedback. I think when you have a new platform with all kinds of new possibilities, you are really doing yourself a disservice by not exploring these new paths and sticking to worn grooves you’re familiar with.”

- Impending’s Phill Ryu discusses its first app Clear (via thenextweb)

"If you’re not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold."

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:49:43 +0000

“If you’re not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold.”

- (via morganmissen)

The HTPC Saga pt3

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 09:04:00 +0000

If my USB stick install of beta XBMCBuntu takes a turn for the worst (which can happen on USB sticks running pre-release software), I usually re-install the operating system and start my library from scratch. This means re-adding the media sources; XBMC then has to find all the Movies and TV Show episodes, scrape the internet for library data and download all the fan-art again. On top of this, the watched status of the content is lost i.e. I can’t tell which episode of The Big Bang Theory I’m on.

My first solution was Trakt.tv. This wonderful service uses a XBMC plugin called Trakt Utilities to scan my library and update my Trakt profile to show which Movies and TV Shows I’ve watched, awesomely geeky in its self! After a library re-build however, you can use this service to re-sync your seen episodes with XBMC, meaning you can pick up where you left off! It also enables you to sync your watched videos between different computers.

Trakt also rocks

It still takes ages to re-build my library however. I don’t have an enormous collection compared to some, (approx. 170 Movies & 40 TV Shows) but it’s a pain none the less. I was searching the XBMC forum/wiki to discover a quick way of copying my library from another machine when I found something much more interesting.

My second solution was a central library. Using only a MySQL database, a few shared folders and an XML file; you can use the same central library, fan-art, thumbnails and plugin settings for every install of XBMC on your network. This means no matter which computer you’re using, every time you use XBMC it’s (more-or-less) identical! All of this (in addition to amusing me more than it should) means the next time I have to re-install the operating system on my USB drive, I simply need to replace one XML file and everything is back to normality in seconds; oh yeah! It also means I can start watching a movie on my TV, pause it, and go somewhere else to watch the rest on my laptop, exactly where I left off.

“What now?” I hear you ask, well; if the motherboard with wires sticking out of it lives for a few weeks, I’ll build it a case, or mount it on the wall, or stuff it in a drawer/box. There are a few tweaks I’d like to make to get more functionality from my remote and I have a problem setting XBMC to the required 1920x1080 resolution (the disconnected laptop screen is possibly haunting me). I’m using the speakers on my TV, *gasp* so will have to source something more appropriate.

If I make any more head-way I’ll possibly post it and if anyone asks, “what did you actually do all weekend?” I’ll send them here.

The HTPC Saga pt2

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Through trial and error, here’s where I am now:

To ferry around HD content I abandoned WiFi as a medium and now use a HomePlug system, I simply plugged the adapters in to the wall, connected network leads and they just worked. Job done. Speed wise; I haven’t measured their capacity, but have never experienced their limitations.

To control the HTPC from the aforementioned sofa, I bought a simple remote control. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that model but I’ll put up with it for another while.

The HTPC I’m using is a de-constructed laptop with no hard-drive which runs XBMCBuntu from a USB drive. I shall elaborate.

The HTPC

I don’t want to buy a new computer right now, luckily I actually find it more interesting to try and cobble something together that will do the job. I was gifted a knackered laptop a while ago and set to work dismantling it; screen (broken), hard drive (missing), DVD drive, keyboard, track-pad, battery and casing have all been removed. The remaining parts consist of the motherboard, RAM, CPU and CPU cooler; the computer has on-board graphics, sound, networking and the usual connectivity.

I want some good software that can run on this basic system. XBMC is the most flexible media centre software I’ve ever used, it runs on my Win7 gaming rig and on my Ubuntu laptop; the flavour I’m using here is the new XBMCBuntu Beta3 (Feb/2012). This is a live version of the new Eden release which is happy running from a CD. It is equally happy running from a USB drive, and by using Unetbootin to put it there, it’s possible to use persistence to save any changes you make. Lovely! (I’m aware of even lighter versions of XBMC such as OpenElec, but it can’t boot from this computers awful bios, and I couldn’t find an OpenElec ISO to feed into Unetbootin)

XBMC rocks

So there we have it, a HTPC that cost nothing (nothing but hours and hours of my life). Admittedly there are a few shortcomings; my pets may electrocute themselves on the circuit board lying on the floor, it’s also a trip hazard and USB drives and Beta software have a few reliability problems.

The computer will need a case, but I want to make sure it doesn’t expire before I expend any energy.

The reliability problem; I have taken measures to account for, measures that have unexpected benefits. More on that next time.