- Apple drawing 3.0 line in the sand for iPhone developers – This can only mean that the release is getting pretty close. And, significantly, that the APIs are stabilising — I had to rewrite almost everything I did with the first beta when the latest version of the developer kit came out.
- DNA Database Doublecross – “Yet again this government shows its deep contempt for international courts, and demonstrates its profoundly cynical belief that the innocent simply haven’t been proved guilty yet.”
- Jacqui Smith enlists high street help for ID cards scheme – Doesn’t using high street shops to make ID cards make it substantially less secure? Wasn’t the whole point that ID cards were an unbreakable scheme? This just gets worse and worse.
There are a few pictures that I took when I was in Stockholm that I didn’t include in that blog because they’re not really of Sweden even though that’s exactly where they were taken. This is the first of, well, a few. I think it nicely conjures up thoughts of spring and the coming of summer.
- Birds show off their dance moves – Funny video, fascinating science, bad music…
- Intelligent Design Sort – It would seem that intelligent design has “uses” outside explaining the diversity of nature. It works for Computer Science too. Who’d have thought it?
- Scrap ID cards now, say Cabinet rebels – Maybe there is some benefit in the dire state of the economy…
This is the third instalment in my late noughties Nordic tour. Last year I went to Denmark; in late 2006 I went to Iceland; and in April 2009 it was the turn of self-proclaimed capital of Scandinavia, Stockholm.
Stockholm is known with some justification as the Venice of the north. The city is spread out over a number of islands. Logically in the middle is Gamla Stan, the old town. To the south is Södermalm which is described in the guide book as the capitals hippest island. To the east of Gamla Stan is Skeppsholmen — home to a bunch of museums and gardens — and Djurgården — a large park. To the north is the modern part of town, Norrmalm. To the west is Kungsholmen and to the north east is Östermalm, a wealthy residential area with the shops and restaurants you might expect with such locals.
- American Stonehenge: Monumental Instructions for the Post-Apocalypse – Who doesn’t love a good mystery?
- The Holy Faceble: Genesis:1-2 – The more I learn about Facebook, the less I want to join. Same with this god stuff.
- Rejected. – “It’s just frustrating when the problems crop up, because compared to nearly everything else about the whole setup, the problems seem so arbitrary, avoidable, and developer-hostile. For instance, this problem wouldn’t be nearly as frustrating if approval, even for minor updates to established apps, took less than 7-14 days.” Not that I’m bitter than a minor update to Yummy recently got rejected or anything…
- Three Cheers for Afghan Women – it’s a little depressing to think that, as the article notes, this is actually progress.
- Audio slideshow: Sir Clement Freud – I only really know Clement Freud for his contribution to Just A Minute. I remember that I wasn’t sure what to make of him when I first heard his lists and slow, deliberate delivery, but that changed pretty quickly. It won’t be the same without him.
- Laptop Hunters: Homeless Frank – If you’ve not seen Microsoft’s new adverts this probably won’t make much sense. If you have, you’ll realise that Frank’s analysis of the PCs is more nuanced that the supposedly “real” people in the original videos.
- Objectified – New documentary from the people that gave you Helvetica. Looks interesting.
- Georgia recalls Soviet crackdown – I visited ten years after this. It’s a really beautiful country and such a shame that it keeps descending into civil war or getting into a scuffle with its northern neighbour.
- Odds of Dying in a Terrorist Attack – “You are eight times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a terrorist.” Maybe the government should start protecting us from the police instead? (via Kottke.org)
If you’re a regular visitor you will note that the ZX81 has an exciting new look and feel. It has never looked more like a real ZX81. It’s also about as usable as a real ZX81, though it does have more memory available and the wobbly RAM pack is likely to be less of a concern.
I’m currently running it as a one day trial but may extend if popular. Please let me know what you think.
- A thought experiment – “This presents a problem for customers who are still running the 2.2.1 firmware: they can’t get your fix until they upgrade to the 3.0 firmware.”
- U.S. support for Detroit would buy 50 million Tata Nanos – “What else might we do with $100 billion in this industry? Assuming that we could get a wholesale price of $2000 per car, that’s enough to buy 50 million four-passenger 54 mpg Tata Nanos. The fuel savings from driving Nanos to the 7-11 instead of monster SUVs would save taxpayers $100 billion every year.”
- Right to privacy broken by a quarter of UK’s public databases, says report – “The report, Database State by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, says that more than half of Whitehall’s 46 databases and systems have significant problems with privacy or effectiveness, and could fall foul of a legal challenge.” And people wonder why I’m against ID cards and internet snooping laws.
A few years ago I was subcontracted to one of the large consultancies. I was taking over from someone who was, supposedly, quite senior and the task at hand, I was told, was very hard. I should take copious notes as she wouldn’t necessarily be around afterwards to help me. Making a mistake or missing out any one step could be disastrous to the whole process. If I did everything properly each new installation would take about a week.