If you've been following this blog, you'll know that Google unjustly shut down my YouTube channel. They've now reinstated it - but I can no longer trust them as custodians of my data. So, here's a quick tutorial on how to download all your videos - and metadata - from YouTube. The Official Way Google offers a "takeout" service which will allow you to package up all your YouTube videos for…
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(Trigger Warning - violent swearing and criticism of your employer / focus of your fanboi-ism.) Google knows me. I've been using Google since long before they were fashionable. I have a Gmail account (in my name), YouTube (also in my name), an Android developer account (name and bank details), Play account (name, credit card, and PayPal), and I've successfully reported security bugs to them. …
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The planet Earth has completed yet another cycle of carrying me around the sun, and so it is time to cast an eye backwards. Despite this blog, I'm not much of a diary keeper. Since the demise of FourSquare I've not kept particularly good track of where I've been or what I've been up to. Still, let's see what memories of the last year I can dredge up, eh? December 2014 I created a…
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How often have you seen a meeting request which says... To join the conference call, please dial 0306 999 0348, then type in your access number (07700 900 951) followed by the hash or pound key. What a faff! If you're reading the message on your phone you have to flip back and forth as you try to remember which numbers to dial. Well, there's a better way! You all know the standard keys on a…
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I was recently gifted a Satechi WiFi Travel Router & Charger. Currently available on Amazon for £35. It's a clever little device with several useful functions: Travel adapter. Plugs into most power sockets and has a universal plug on top. Two USB charging sockets. Connect to Ethernet and share the signal via WiFi. Connect to WiFi and share the signal via WiFi or Ethernet. …
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One of the most addicting aspects of Open Source software is the ability to scratch one's own itches. I've been blogging since 2004 - and while I'd never mistake longevity for expertise - I do take a certain pride in letting my readers know that I've spent over a decade bashing out words. So, I decided to build a simple widget which would display my posting history in a calendar style. And…
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After much kerfuffle, the world has finally got used to the new Google logo. Well, almost. My eye is continually caught by the poor contrast of the yellow "O" against its background. Take a look... This is Google's default logo on its regular grey background. The contrast ratio between the yellow and grey is 1.50. That fails to meet current accessibility guidelines. This is just awful - I …
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A couple of months ago I noticed there was an auction of Sci-Fi related material in London. The catalogue was amazing! The original Leela costume from Doctor Who, costumes from Star Trek, gizmos from Blade Runner - and a whole bunch of Star Wars props! Sadly, I couldn't afford the original pieces of the Death Star (expected price of £10k-20k) nor the Millennium Falcon blueprints (a more …
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I've been busy writing the definitive Sercomm Camera API documentation. (No, you need a hobby!) While doing so, I noticed that I couldn't get my Pan/Tilt/Zoom camera to... well... pan! No lateral movement whatsoever. It'd move up and down - but its left and right movement was non-existant. I could hear the stepper motor whirring, but it wasn't producing any movement. Weird... TO THE…
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If you thought Web Fonts were pretty nifty, then you're going to think font subsetting is really cool. No, honestly! It is! As I've written about before you can dramatically reduce the size of your Web Fonts by cutting out characters that you don't need. For example, suppose you don't need to include the русский алфавит - you can immediately drop 66 letters (upper- and lower-case), a whole load…
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Eight years after I published this blog post, I helped officially release all these domain names as open data! Funny how life works out, eh? Would you like to know every domain name the UK Government had registered? Of course you would! There could be all sorts of interesting tit-bits hidden in there (ProtectAndSurvive.gov.uk? EbolaOutbreak2017.nhs.uk? MinistryOfTruth.police.uk?) Rather than…
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The one book I insist my new hires read before starting is Edward de Bono's "Simplicity". It suggests that we should value others' time over our own. Every hour we spend making things simple gives a net benefit to humanity. Whether it is laws, industrial design, software, or documentation - our goal should be to make things radically simple. Not only does simplicity save time - it also saves…
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