-
Latest Discussions
Find Me
Site Tag Cloud
Powered by Vanilla 1.1.5a.
Installed add-ons.
Adverts
-
-
Too Much Free Time? or Just Too Much Energy...
- bySpode on18th August, 2009 inGeneral
-
Firstly, I know I've been awful at blogging on here. The fact is, Twitter has quickly become a replacement for what is going on with my life because I can report on it there and then - and quickly! Even my parents use it as a way of keeping up with what I'm doing.
So recently, I've been *really* preoccupied with JournoTwit. If I looked back 6 months ago - the last thing I thought I'd be doing was creating my own twitter client - but here I am. The new "edge" version is a vast improvement over the current stable branch and involved almost a complete re-write of key sections of the code. It's been a useful experience for me - especially from a Javascript point of view.
It's now fully customizable with custom local/global searches, black listing, drag and drop columns, animations - dare I say "TweetDeck Beating". And I've...
-
-
-
From Smart to Stupid
- bySpode on12th June, 2009 inGeneral
-
I love my 35 minute train journey into London – it's where I get my best writing done. Wrote 2000 words in total thanks to those two journeys. Naturally, they will both need some trimming down
I was heading in for two reasons – and one of those was to test drive the latest Smart car.
One of the comments I had on Twitter when I mentioned this, was that they wouldn't respect my opinions on cars as I've only recently passed my test - a fair enough comment. However, I wasn't intending on writing about my experience as someone of authority – in fact, as with any event I turn up to, there is no guarantee I'll write about it at all. However, I've always had a soft spot for Smart cars and was eager to finally give one a go. How could I say no?
So, after a grabbing a...
-
-
-
Short Trip to Italy
- bySpode on9th June, 2009 inGeneral
-
So I've just got back from my impromptu trip to Italy and thought I'd write it up a little (actually, I wrote most of this on the plane home!). I haven't seen my parents in a while, so I thought a trip was in order. Because of my eye problems, I felt a few days away from the computer would do me some good too.
I paid just under £200 in total for two tickets (me and Hannah) to fly to Genoa with Ryanair, and another £32 to park at Stansted. The £10 charge for paying by card was extortionate – but made worse that they charged £10 per person, despite both tickets being paid on one card. Is that even legal? Not only this, but the dimensions of carry on luggage were so small (20cm wide?) that I was forced to check a bag in.
Obviously I was the only...
-
-
-
Coping with Eye Strain
- bySpode on2nd June, 2009 inGeneral
-
Anyone who has been monitoring my Twitter feed will be aware I've been having some trouble with my eyes recently. I use computers a lot - like every waking moment - so it's not surprising that I get eye strain almost all year around.
When it comes round to the summer, it gets too bad to cope with - so much so that I've had to take days off at a time because I just can't look at a computer screen for more than 5 minutes. Not only do I get eye pain stopping me from taking the visuals in, but it will be accompanied with a head ache so severe that I can't think straight or hold a decent conversation.
Why it seems to be at its worst during summer, I'm unsure. Certainly the bright sunlight doesn't help matters - I've always found myself sensitive to bright lights and this...
-
-
-
Britain's Got Talent, Season 3
- bySpode on25th May, 2009 inGeneral
-
Anyone reading this for the first time - it's worth going back to page one and reading from the beginning. This thread talks about the experience of being on Britain's Got Talent from the very first phone call.
After watching the first few episodes, I was convinced we weren't going to get shown on TV. However, after this clipping in the Radio Times - I started getting my hopes up - nay, advertising the fact that we were going to be on the show. I mean - after all, why on earth would this photo be shown?
The only way such an image could have been used, was if Talk Back Thames had released this image - we don't even have it. So why would they release images of acts that weren't going to be shown? Perhaps we were a last minute cut - maybe they read my blog
So after all...
-
-
-
Official Gordon Kelly Theme Tune
- bySpode on11th May, 2009 inGeneral
-
So, not a lot to say about this really... I'm reviewing the Shure PG27 USB microphone for Trusted Reviews and thought I'd record something to show off how using a digital interface gives you very little white noise. So I layered together I think at some points up to 5 tracks and you can't hear any build up of background noise.
I recorded it using Audacity on Ubuntu 9.04 and ran it through no effects, so you can hear the raw sound. More information on this will be in the review which will be finished tomorrow.
It's sung by me (badly) and the guitar work is by me (badly). But then I've only been playing guitar for a few months... If you want to give it a listen, you can stream it here. It's not meant to be taken seriously. AT ALL!
-
-
-
Britain's Got Talent, Season 3
- bySpode on15th April, 2009 inGeneral
-
On Saturday, I saw the first of the new series of Britain's Got Talent – Series 3. Considering I've only ever watched a single episode (and not all the way through), this was a new experience to me whilst simultaneously nerve wracking.
Now that I've seen the first episode, I'm beginning to regret being on the show, with a whole host of concerns for our reputation. I am incredibly concerned at how simple it would be to edit the footage of us to make us look like complete idiots, or for our “fame” to be directly and permantly attributed to BGT and not through our own means. They are in the business of making entertaining TV – not maintaing our reputation.
Watching the first episode – there is no doubt in my mind that it was entertaining. It's cheap entertainment, but still entertainment. You get a nice mixture of cringe worthy and...
-
-
-
Out of the Frying Pan...
- bySpode on6th April, 2009 inGeneral
-
Some of you might have noticed (or more likely not), that I recently stopped blogging for IT Pro. I kept putting off writing blog posts, and before long I'd gone nearly a month without posting. Eventually this was noticed and they decided it was best if I stood down. Fair enough really.
From my point of view – I've been very busy working on 101 different things, as always, and I've been writing a lot less than normal, full stop (IT Pro hasn't been the only casualty). But I got little, if any public feedback for the posts I made and the money was poor when compared to my usual journalist rates. Frankly – my heart and wallet just weren't in it.
But as they say – as Jebus closes a door, Optimus Prime opens a window. In this case the window was The Telegraph - as I'd been recommended...
-
-
-
JournoTwit - the Twitter Client That's Not Just for Journalists
- bySpode on1st April, 2009 inGeneral
-
Probably the last thing anyone was expecting me to do - even myself, was to create my own twitter client. However, I've been a little fed up with not having the features I wanted and running 5 or 6 accounts, I was getting annoyed at using several different applications just to have them logged in concurrently.
So, one morning, I felt compelled to make my own. Knowing my impulsive, sometimes compulsive nature - when I get a feeling like that, it's best to run with it. After coding a news page that pulls its news from the ThinkAboutTech twitter feed, I felt I could do this fairly easily - it is after all pretty much just manipulating XML.
In under 24 hours I put together a twitter client that functioned enough for me to call it my one and only. A few more days and I added in enough features...
-
-
-
Spode's Knee Surgery
- bySpode on17th March, 2009 inGeneral
-
Well, it would appear the operation could be considered a failure
I went on a large ride in London March 1st and came back with tendinitis pain again - the ol' Jumper's Knee... I've started wearing a patella strap again to see if I can stop it returning to the level that it was, but I need to give some serious thought as to what I'm doing.
I don't want to give up riding, but I certainly think I'm going to have to limit the amount of time I'm spending on the bike. I need to get my riding back to the standard it was and then merely maintain it at that level. The condition is one that gets worse the more you use it - so the more rest I give it between riding and the less I use it - it might never get as bad as it was.
I...
-