‘Foveon’s X3 microchip works by capturing three times the colour resolution of comparable image sensors found in today’s digital cameras.’ – BBC News | SCI/TECH | Digital camera chip challenges film
I was going to buy an IXUS but I don’t think I’ll bother now. [Thanks to Will for the link]
OS X users have a new Gecko based web browser to play with, Chimera is a hefty download compared to the likes of Opera, but once loaded the user is presented with a very simple, fast browser with a unique tab interface at the top. It’s still a bit buggy, but I’m definitely going to stick with this browser to see how it develops.
I always think follow-up albums should try and do something new and with last years release of the ‘In a Beautiful Place…’ single, there were indications that Boards of Canada’s follow-up to ‘Music Has The Right to Children’ was going achieve this. I like their new album, but only because it is more of the same.Signal vs Noise > What makes us human?
What is real? 415 564 1347
Confused? So am I.
Said Hamlet to Ophelia,
I’ll draw a sketch of thee,
What kind of pencil shall I use?
2B or not 2B?- Spike Milligan 1918-2002Some more quotes, I particularly like the last one.
Milton Keynes at dusk, through rain spattered glass; doesn’t sound like a particularly appealing subject for a series of photographs does it? I had this thought in mind when I went to see Slow Glass, an exhibition of photographs by Naoya Hatakeyama at the NGCA. Rather than being disappointed at the dull subject matter coupled with the dangerously cheezy technique of photographing through rainy windows, I was in awe while looking at these photographs. Behind a multitude of water droplets, blurred views of Milton Keynes can be seen; street lamps, the multiplex cinema, traffic lights are all the ingredients of a typical new-town where people spend their time navigating round-a-bouts in their cars if they aren’t in their homes. When looking at these photographs, you find yourself being drawn closer; you notice that the water droplets are acting as tiny lenses, bending the light from the scene behind into perfect focus. The result is a series of photographs made up of thousands of tiny images, scattered chaotically over the surface. The exhibition is on at the NGCA in Sunderland until the 28th of March and can be seen in Winchester and York later in the spring.
The creator of Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner has died aged 89. The more we use computers to assist in the creation of animated films, the more incredible Chuck Jones’ achievements become. BBC News | AMERICAS | Hollywood mourns cartoon legend.
I received a phone call from someone asking me to help out at an event:
‘Yes, I’d be happy to help. Do you have a post code for the venue so I can look up a map?’
‘Yes Matt, I’ll just get it.’
‘OK, I’ll find a pen’
At this point, I find a pen on a nearby desk; I’m away from the phone for about five seconds. I sit and wait for the person to find the post code. Three minutes later I hear…
‘Hello ?’
‘Er… Hello’
‘Have you been on the phone for all this time?’
‘Yes’
‘So have I… I thought you were getting a pen’
‘And I thought you were getting the post code!’
We laughed.
Two recently addressed but seemingly unrelated topics have just come together in a strange way. You may have noted the recent addition of the OS X downloads section on the right hand side of this page; a result of my admitted addiction to checking Versiontracker for the latest Mac software and upgrades. Imagine my surprise when I discover that my addiction to Versiontracker is not uncommon; according to this Wired article, everyone is doing it, even the subject of my earlier post [and this is the strange bit], Herbie Hancock: ‘Versiontracker is the very first site I always visit when I go to the web’. So, my disappointment at being bracketed as some kind of ‘mac fiend’ freak [me?] turns to a feeling of pride as Versiontracker gets the Hancock seal of approval. Versiontracker, it’s hip.
2002: A Palindrome Story [thanks to Jeff Gates]
One of the highlights of the classic American kids TV show Sesame Street was, for me, the Pinball Song; an animation sequence with perhaps the funkiest music you’re ever likely to hear. The web is full of useless information and Google hardly ever fails to come up with relevent results for even the most trivial of searches. But finding conclusive information on who recorded this song is almost impossible; search results appear more like a Googlewhack attempt. I managed to glean some information from searching the Usenet archives in which it was suggested that the song was written by Herbie Hancock and sung by the Pointer Sisters, but no-one was really sure. So, with this information, I shall continue my quest for the truth behind the song and hopefully find a decent mp3 version of it.
Hats off to Sotades The Obscene of Maronea for inventing the palindrome in the 3rd Century BC.
‘T. Eliot, top bard, notes putrid tang emanating, is sad. I’d assign it a name: gnat dirt upset on drab pot toilet’
‘Madam, I’m Adam’
‘Sit on a potato pan, Otis’
‘Satan Oscillate My Metallic Sonatas’
20:02 20/02 2002
I can cope with the kind of dreams you have where you find yourself being pursued through a forest by a giant slug or you’re falling through the sky only to wake up at the moment of impact. But at the weekend, I had a dream which, like the scariest horror films, was psychologically disturbing rather than scare-a-minute. I dreamt that when I looked in the mirror, I saw myself trying to copy my own moves, like that famous scene in the Marx Brothers film, Duck Soup [download 21M Quicktime]. To make matters worse, my reflection would occasionally do something different just to freak me out even more. So, if there’s any dream psychologists out there who would like to tell me what the hell that was all about, please do so.
Blog This – ‘We surf the Web; these guys [bloggers] snowboard it’.
Better Living Through XHTML – solid advice on making the transition to XHTML in this weeks issue of A List Apart.
Thomas Heatherwick’s Blue Carpet is a project of urban renewal and of building a new community space in the city centre of Newcastle. It is also intended to be a radical piece of architecture, the aim of which is to attract people to the area by way of interest and intrigue. The blurb promised so much: ‘a visually thrilling but completely functional urban space’ , ‘an intimate space for both performance and play’.
Unfortunately, I don’t think the Blue Carpet lives up to these promises. It’s certainly an interesting piece of work and I like the way the paving tiles react with the objects they surround – as is evident in the images. But, like many things, it just hasn’t lived up to my expectations.
‘The Dock is hated by Mac veterans, who see it as a jack-of-all trade replacement for the combination of switcher, Apple menu and control strip. It’s hated by NeXT veterans, who see it as an equally inadequate replacement for NeXT’s elegant Dock and Shelf combination. It’s hated by newbies – who as one questioner so eloquently put it yesterday (hi Brett) – can’t make out one damn fuzzy icon from the next on a fully loaded system.’ – Andrew Orlowski.Brett, here’s a tip.
Researchers in Texas have cloned a cat, producing a two-month-old kitten called Cc:.
Game for Small Sounds – ‘A piece I wrote with words of one sound each’ [via Textism]
I find myself checking versiontracker.com for the latest OS X freeware and shareware on a regular basis, so I thought it would be good to add another section on the right-hand column which contains my pick of the best software each day.
What’s with all the talk of being nice to Netscape 4.x all of a sudden? I can appreciate the benefits of using style switchers and clever CSS to provide Netscape 4.x users with a good looking page. But really, is it wise to encourage these users to stick with their crappy browsers and help hold back the evolution of the web?A friend demonstrated a Canon Digital IXUS camera to me yesterday and I was amazed, I really want one. So…
For sale: Contax 167MT SLR with a 50mm Zeiss T* lens plus a Contax dedicated flash unit, £350. Seriously, if you want to buy this great camera, let me know.
WarpMart really need to sort out the sign-up process for their online shopping system. I tried to pre-order a copy of Boards of Canada’s forthcoming album Geodaddi, but being a rather forgetful person, I couldn’t remember my password, so I had to sign up again. I was proceeding without hitch until I decided to set the delivery address different to the invoice address, then it all lapsed into a useability nightmare resulting in my decision to buy the damn thing from a shop in town when it’s released. Online shopping should be made as simple as possible, otherwise people are going to take their business elsewhere. Amazon have the right idea with the dangerous one-click system; once all your details are in, all it takes is an itchy finger to press the button and that Stanley Kubrick DVD boxset is on its way to your door. Posteverything have a simple and easy-to-use shopping system with no sign-up process and none of that one-click stuff; just choose the album, securely enter address and credit card info and that’s it. So why aren’t all shopping systems as simple as that?
I really had no idea it was Pancake Day today, that is, until Phil pointed it out. Thank goodness for non-stick pans, that’s what I say.
You know that new personal site I’m working on, the one I told you about ages ago? Well, I’m still working on it.PixelNHance is a nice piece of OS X freeware that allows you to quickly correct the colour balance etc. on any digital image. Who needs Photoshop X anyway ?
How can anyone have such a perfect record collection?
If you have a new iMac, you may want to download the iLamp screen saver to make its usefulness complete [tip: hit the space bar].
You can now search the web in the style of Elmer Fudd. Those crazy Google guys. [via SvN]
Ashley Frieze’s incredible.org.uk is packed full of great content, from the Haikulator™ to Apostrophell: the one person crusade to rid the world of misplaced apostraphe’s… genius. What’s more, it’s based up here in Newcastle, as is Mal Ross’ humorously written minimal.blogspot.com. That brings the Newcastle based independent site / weblog tally to 8, here’s a list [in alphabetical order]:
Maybe we can get an article written about us in the Evening Chronicle… or perhaps that’s something to avoid.
Just testing out the new title feature on Blogger Pro
A great little freeware OS X app for connecting to the Gnutella network. Dean Allen has improved his excellent web writing Applescripts for Tex-edit Plus.
I think I might sign up for the BBC’s Big Arts Week in June. It’s an initiative set up by Timebank and the BBC to get artists and designers into schools to run creative workshops.Reid’s been to Iceland.
Stu on Mamoru Oshii’s Avalon:
Think “The Matrix” set in Poland, without Keanu.
Surely a must see !
The Antiques Roadshow is the television equivalent of afternoon tea; china cups and saucers, triangular sandwiches, Battenberg and sponge cake. It’s so innocent; that age old format of expert and clueless punter having come along with the hope of their Victorian dinner service being worth roughly the same as their bungalow. There’s a certain level of anticipation when you hear the expert say the words ‘have you thought about getting it insured?’, then we know the silver fly swatter used by Napoleon is going to be worth tens of thousands. I’m just interested in old stuff; things that have history and a story behind them. I’ve accumulated quite a bit of junk over the last few years; old cameras, typewriters, watches and in a world of mass production and ubiquitous technology, I just like the uniqueness of them.
Me:Hi,
I’m getting an Error 404 when I try to access any of my sites hosted on uumor.pair.com
Is this a problem with the DNS ?
Matt
Pair Networks [my hosting service]:Hello Matt,
A configuration error occurred on uumor that we have corrected. Please
try your site again.
Thank you and have a nice day,
Sean
The problem was spotted and solved within 5 minutes. What service!
Metroburner + + graffiti from in and around Newcastle.
Nokia demonstrate the use of XHTML and CSS with their mobile browser. This is big news for those who care about web interoperability. [via t-melt > NSOP]
