It's my birthday! As is customary, here's my year in review. See 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010. Sadly, I am a poor diarist, so if I've missed off something important to you - sorry! It has been a year of great change. A new house, new jobs for us both, new countries visited, and many books read. November 2018 Carol's blog about Hackference Brum In the funniest session of the day, Terence Eden told us about his involvement with the W3C and collaborating on the HTML…
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I set myself an unofficial New Year's Resolution - to read more books and write a review of each of them. I wanted to read about one new book per week. Well, I fell a little short of that target - what with getting a new job, moving house, road-tripping across Australia - but I'm pretty pleased with the total. 50 books read and reviewed! It has been a bit tough getting into the swing of reading again. I get about an hour on the train each day, and an hour or so before I fall asleep. I do…
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Somewhere, stuffed in a cupboard or undeveloped on an old roll of film, is a photo of me laughing and joking with a murderer. It was one summer, while I was visiting home between university terms, and I was out with friends celebrating our youthful vigour. A group of us - very much in the Lads! Lads! Lads! phase of our life - were out drinking, catching up with each other, drinking, and trying to get lucky. Mobile phones didn't have cameras back then. So nights of debauchery went mostly…
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In my ongoing quest to open my house to hackers create the ultimate smarthome, I've added a new toy. A video doorbell! Why? I've got a tall house and can't be bothered walking down several flights of stairs just to tell a peddler to piss off. And, when I'm away, it's nice to know where couriers are leaving my packages. So, here's my review of the DophiGo DV-200. It was £40 on special offer. One thing to note - this is an energy efficient unit. There's no PIR sensor or movement detector. It …
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Dr Jaq Silver. Skier, scientist, international jet-setter, explosives expert. She blows things up to keep people safe. Working on avalanche control in Slovenia, Jaq stumbles across a problem with a consignment of explosives. After raising a complaint with the supplier, a multinational chemical company, her evidence disappears and she is framed for murder. Jaq must find the key to the mystery. But can she uncover the truth before her time runs out? I didn't get on with this book. It's…
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Long time readers will remember that I was lucky enough to see the premiere of The Force Awakens in London. So I was overjoyed to see that TodayTix had discount tickets for TFA live in concert at THE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE! It was the last day of our big Australian road-trip, and we'd sailed past the opera house so often that it was becoming a familiar friend. Once we'd found our way to the correct entrance, we were greeted by fully costumed Stormtroopers, a Wookie, Imperial Officers - and this …
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For the sake of my mental health, I've blocked a few people and organisations on Twitter. They can't see what I do, and I can't see them. I'm sure you've done the same to a celebrity or pundit you just can't stand the sight of. Perhaps you have an abuser you'd rather not have thrust in your face. The blocking tool is pretty handy! Except it doesn't work the way I would expect it to. Here's an example where my friend, Kyle Evans (go see him on tour), has quote tweeted an account I've…
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GPS is a modern miracle. Using SPACESHIPS and RELATIVITY you can locate yourself anywhere on the planet. Fun fact! Your GPS won't work if you're above 18Km or going faster than 500 metres per second. Just in case you're a Soviet Guided Missile. But if you're on a regular international flight, you should be just fine! Here are some screenshots I took using the open source GPS Test for Android. Top tips: make sure you get a GPS lock and update your A-GPS data. It's also worth getting as close …
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This post starts off talking about Star Wars, but it isn't really about that. I enjoyed Rogue One - the newish Star Wars film. It's not a perfect film, but it was heaps of fun. My only real problem was with Donnie Yen's character - Chirrut Îmwe. As soon as I saw a Blind Asian Monk, I knew that he would be a kick-ass warrior with almost supernaturally good sword skills. Even if you've never heard of Donnie Yen before, it is such an obvious trope that I felt cheated. He is Zatoichi, …
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I travel a lot for work - and occasionally for relaxation - and I've always suffered from terrible jetlag. But, in the last few years, I've found a method which works perfectly. For me. Travelling East The week before you travel, wake up an hour earlier each day. Monday, wake up at 06:00. Tuesday, 05:00. Wednesday 04:00. Etc. Go to bed an hour earlier each day. Monday, sleep at 21:00. Tuesday 20:00. Etc. Shift your meals back one hour per day as well. Monday, breakfast at 06:30,…
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Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane are famous for the same thing, though they never met. They came from Fleet Street, Knightsbridge, Wolverhampton, Sweden and Wales. They wrote ballads, ran coffee houses, lived on country estates, they breathed ink-dust from printing presses and escaped people-traffickers. What they had in common was the year of their murders: 1888. Why do we know and celebrate the name of a murderer - and ignore their victims? I always thought that "Jack"…
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I go to lots of hack days and hackathons. Some are big corporate affairs, some are boutique community events. They all have one thing in common - Geeks suck at giving demos. You have 3 minutes to convince the judges - or your peers - that you've built something brilliant. How do you do that? One Hundred and Eighty Seconds. It is not a lot of time. So here are my top 3 tips for succeeding at a demo. Show the thing This is the most important one. You need to show what you built. Demonstrate…
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