When did Facebook get fashionable? I was just getting used to only following a couple of social networking sites and suddenly I start getting “be my friend” mail from Facebook several times a day. And I don’t really understand what Facebook gives you. MySpace at least has everyone in the known universe on it and… Continue reading Facebook
We’re Doomed
Evidence mounts that the UK education system is giving up on teaching maths to any reasonable level. Firstly, there’s this story from yesterday. Schools are measured on the results they get. And as maths is hard, some people don’t do very well in maths exams. The solution seems to be to discourage pupils from taking… Continue reading We’re Doomed
Petronella Wyatt on Wikipedia
You have to laugh at the way that many newspapers are still struggling to make sense of the internet. In many cases it’s largely because their writers have no idea what they are talking about when they are covering the subject. Here’s a great example from the Daily Mail. On Sunday, Daily Mail columnist Petronella… Continue reading Petronella Wyatt on Wikipedia
Comment Problems
Some of you have pointed out that you’ve been seeing 500 errors when trying to post comments ot this site over the last few weeks. I’m painfully aware of the problems as I’ve been seeing the same thing when I’ve been posting entires. But I think you’ll find that the problems have gone away. I’ve… Continue reading Comment Problems
Hack Day
Hack day sounds fun. Two days of hacking and socialising at Alexandra Palace. All the cool kids[1] are going to be there. Are you? The language on the official site is a bit “legal”. Tom Coates explains in English. [1] Places are limited. I hope I’m cool enough :-)
The Futility of Screen-Scraping
Martin’s article today about the Daily Express web site reminded me that it’s been some months since I looked at my list of Newspaper RSS feeds. As the list is created by screen-scraping the individual papers’ web sites, it’s no surprise that it all goes out of date as the sites are redesigned and updated.… Continue reading The Futility of Screen-Scraping
Buying EMI Music
EMI announced some weeks ago that they will be making their music available online without DRM. I’d really like to support that initiative by buying their music. But as far as I can tell, the DRM-free music is only available through the iTunes Music Store. And the iTunes Music Store only works on Windows and… Continue reading Buying EMI Music
New Phone
Motorola KRZR After twelve years with Orange, I’ve finally had enough and switched my phone provider. Yesterday my mobile number was ported to O2. Of course, a new phone provider means a new contract. And a new contract means a new phone. What I really wanted was a Nokia N95, but on the contract I’ve… Continue reading New Phone
Slight Reorganisation
I’ve rearranged my feeds slightly. This probably won’t effect anyone, but here are the details. I’ve set up an experimental tumblelog (which, of course, has its own RSS feed). That’ll be where I’ll posting very short entries for the time being. Given that photos and links can both be considered short entries, my Flickr feed… Continue reading Slight Reorganisation
Ticket Touts
Like most of you, I despise ticket touts. I will never buy tickets from them or sell tickets to them. Today, the BBC has an interview with a 15 year old who has been making money by touting tickets on eBay. This is what he has to say for himself. I’m 15 and I’m at… Continue reading Ticket Touts