Technology fetishism
On the subject of mobile phones, it’s astounding after all these years how many people look surprised when their phones (on any network) drop out in the City Loop. Perhaps half of people, including myself, know this’ll happen. If I’m on the phone going into the tunnel, I’ll tell the other party I’m about to ... [More]
I’m not one to blindly believe corporate propaganda, but Telstra’s latest promotion pointing out they have better mobile coverage certainly rings true for me and my (now almost due for an upgrade) GSM (2G) phone. While I’m not much of a wireless data user like the people in the adverts, it’s pretty obvious just with ... [More]
It’s time for a clearout. Here’s a bunch of posts I wrote but never got around to posting. In some cases I intended to research them a bit more before publishing, so beware they may be a little half-arsed. Backwards There were claims and counter-claims during the Kororoit byelection campaign (June 2008). I suppose Les ... [More]
I love my mobile phone’s predictive text. It makes writing messages quite fast, considering the tiny keyboard. But it seems some people don’t know this: if it comes up with a word that you don’t want, you press * to look at alternatives from its dictionary. If you don’t find the one you want, you ... [More]
Leader Newspapers have joined ABC Local Radio in redesigning their web site into a hideous, difficult to navigate mess. For instance, the Caulfield Leader, at www.caulfieldgleneiraleader.com.au, with a page showing the same news stories as the printed version of the paper, plus a few other links, apparently wasn’t good enough. So now it’s the ... [More]
Have you seen the pictures of the Large Hadron Collider to be switched on today? Wow. It just looks so sci-fi, doesn’t it. I don’t think it’ll destroy the world, but it almost looks capable of it. (It wasn’t invented by Osterhagen, was it? Oh, whoops — spoilers!) PS. The kids are looking on the ... [More]
One of the things I do (inconsistently) when signing up for things online is to use an email alias specific to the customer I’m signing up to. The theory is that if that email address ever got leaked to spammers, I’d know who leaked it. If you own a domain name, it’s easy to do, ... [More]
As I’m sure everybody’s heard by now, Google launched Streetview for Australia today. My neighbourhood is certainly in there, as are a lot of other Australian cities and towns and regional areas. View Larger Map Cool things I’ve found so far: Puffing Billy at Menzies Creek The Great Ocean Road It’s quiet in St Kilda. ... [More]
When typing, do you put one, or two spaces after your full stops? I put one, but it seems like a lot of people put two. I’m not sure why this is, other than a hangover from manual typewriters when it looked better. Or perhaps it’s like the thing where Catholics pronounce H as “haitch”, ... [More]
Spot the disclaimer at the top of the page? It’s because a growing number of journos seem to be finding my blog. Certainly nothing wrong with that; nice to see they’re on the cutting edge, gathering information from far and wide. Welcome, media people from everywhere! But I’ve had to emphasise to them that my ... [More]
Judging from the bounces I’m getting from spammers appropriating my email address to use as a Sender, something which is alas unstoppable, the latest trend is to put an unbelievably tabloid subject line on the messages in the hope that people will open them. Or perhaps it’s to try and get through spam defences that ... [More]
On the 12th of August 1990, I sent out an email. It went to a handful of friends, under the name “Toxic Custard Workshop Files.” It was the first of many, initially made up of (allegedly) humorous writing, though these days it’s mostly the previous week’s blog posts. Tonight, 30th of June 2008, I’m sending ... [More]
Fifteen years ago I wore a Seiko wristwatch. It was given to me by my legendary Uncle Kevin (UK in the UK), about a decade before. Fifteen years ago I didn’t carry a camera routinely. I had a 35mm Kodak one that my mum had given to me. I It was heavy, had no zoom, ... [More]
I find it amusing when there’s a mismatch between things that are apparently hip and modern and up to date, and things that definitely aren’t. Take this shop for example: Cool laneway location Grungy warehouse basement position Daggy antique 80’s blue-screen DOS-based Point Of Sale system (on a flat screen)! My fellow geeks are probably ... [More]
Thanks to Kirsten for pointing out that at least one of my blog posts got hit with a spam attack, inserting invisible links into it. See here and here for other reports. The quick solution is to upgrade to WordPress 2.5 quick smart. Which I’ll be doing now, so apologies for any interruptions.
It was like stepping back in time. Down the stairs we went, into the darkness. Electronic beeps and bloops could be heard from all directions. Flickering lights. Most of the classics were there. Centipede. Galaga. Ms Pacman. Asteroids. Space Invaders. Donkey Kong. And more. A handful in cocktail tabletop cabinets, but most the way God ... [More]