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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Liam Proven" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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09:07 pm
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A bit more Simplicity in the media...
Yet more coverage keeps appearing for the SimplicITy machine and the large majority of it is still good...
(In no particular order)
Daily Telepgraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/6544222/Valerie-Singleton-launches-six-button-computer-to-get-elderly-online.html
InfinitePath:
http://www.infinitepath.co.uk/20091111/industry-news/new-elderly-friendly-pc-is-the-definition-of-simplicity/
Computer Shopper:
(I did a brief interview with former colleague at Dennis Jim Martin about this this morning...)
http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/news/272179/valerie-singleton-launches-nettops-for-the-elderly.html
The Next Reporter:
http://thenextreporter.com/jg/simplicity-computer-older-users/082714/
Evening Standard:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23767680-computers-made-easy-for-the-over-50s.do
PC Pro blogs:
(Not so happy with the take on this one...)
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2009/11/11/we-may-be-getting-older-but-we-are-not-gaga-yet/
Bournemouth Echo:
http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/4733901.Bid_to_attract_new_wave_of_silver_surfers_welcomed_by_Bournemouth_OAP_champion/
P2P.net:
http://www.p2pnet.net/story/30983
ComputerAct!ve:
http://www.computeractive.co.uk/computeractive/news/2252995/singleton-sells-simplicity-pc
Which?
http://www.which.co.uk/news/2009/11/valerie-singleton-launches-desktop-computer--188138
The half a dozen of us at Simplicity are all stunned by the sheer amount of attention it's attracted. Of course, there's been opprobium too, but I'll get to that later. Still running on 5h sleep this entire week so far here...
Current Location: bed
Current Mood: tired but happy
Tags: ego, plug
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02:21 pm
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Today, I have been mostly... launching a new PC in the national media
I must be brief, for now, alas, but in case anyone is interested, my project for the last 6mth or so was launched today at the Institute of Directors.
It is the SimplicITy Computer, a new, inexpensive, radically simple PC powered by Linux, aimed at older computer novices who want to get on the Internet.
There's been a fair bit of media coverage so far...
BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8352606.stm
Interview with a haggard, rumpled & very sleep-deprived yours truly:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8353468.stm
BBC Tech blog:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2009/11/computing_for_the_elderly_patr.html
PC Advisor:
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=3206090
PC Pro:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/353227/simplified-pc-targets-reluctant-silver-surfers
Do please let me know if you spot any more mentions!
The company website is
http://www.simplicitycomputers.co.uk/
Current Mood: Exhausted
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04:46 pm
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Happy birthday...
To ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) vin_petrol, moomintroll, Brian the-other-half-of coth...
and me. :-)
Collectively, Vince & I are now 84 years old. Now that really is scary...
Current Location: work
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01:06 am
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Liam's Ultimately Significant 42nd birthday party
On Sunday, I attain the SFnally significant age of 42. But Sunday is a bad day for wageslaves to go drinking, and this Saturday is multiply-booked already, so I am doing it on Friday instead. Come join me!
The venue is Zeitgeist in Vauxhall, the best German-beers bar that I know of in London - and generally fairly quiet, as it's a back-streets place. It's at 49-51 Black Prince Rd, London, SE11 6AB; telling bone 020 7840 0426. Nearest Tube or Rail is - duh - Vauxhall; it's a bit less than 10min walk away. Bring an A-Z or something, as it is not that easy to find.
I plan to kick off about 7pm and will be there until the bitter end. Or the lager end, or the kölsch and rauchbier end, according to preference. They may even do cider, I don't know, but I believe the schnapps selection is quite good.
Open to all - do please circulate this or bring along anyone who you think might enjoy it!
There's a Facebook event here if you are that way inclined. I've basically only invited Londoners on FB, not wanting to spam too unduly, but all are welcome!
There will be more drinking in Croydon on Sunday night, and, I hope, at least one big fireworks display on Saturday - so if you can't make Friday but fancy one of those, email me for info.
Current Location: bed
Current Mood: old
Tags: birthday, invitation, party, plug
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03:28 pm
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A little parable about design choice and parochiality
As I've doubtless bored people silly with for years, another of my non-computery interests is languages and linguistics. One subsection of this is conlangs: constructed languages, as opposed to natural languages.
There are 2 conlangs that virtually anyone moderately well-read has heard of, even prior to the Lord of the Rings films: Esperanto and Klingon.
There is a pervasive urban myth that winds me up about their relative success: that more people speak Klingon fluently than Esperanto. This is very far off the mark: there are a hundred or so fluent Klingon speakers and several million Esperanto speakers, including several thousand native Esperanto speakers, the children of parents who share no mutual natural language and were thus raised speaking Esperanto.
It is a testament to the success of Esperanto that it is so well-known, even if it is widely regarded as a failure.
What is less well-known is that Esperanto is just one of dozens of conlangs. It succeeded the previous most successful one, Volapük, a late-19th century conlang that at one time had many thousands of speakers.
( Read more... )
Tags: language, tech, writing
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03:54 pm
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Dark Mills
Tomorrow is the Dark Mills festival at Merton Abbey Mills - about a 10min walk from my house. It bills itself as "A Celebration of alternative London" and "London's Premier Alternative Festival". It's free to get in, though some of the acts will cost and the club afterwards, run by the people behind Reptile, is a tenner.
But I've never had such a thing inside walking distance before, so I'm quite excited. If anyone wants it, crash space is available - just let me know - as is guidance to local transport, the best pubs in the area, etc. If you're free, do come along!
I believe that the event is more or less guaranteed to be Satan-free, though... ;¬)
Current Location: sofa
Current Mood: anticipatory
Tags: goffick, plug
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05:25 pm
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The Great American Bubble Machine
Wonderful - if very lengthy - piece from, of all places, Rolling Stone about the systematic and methodical dismantling of checks and regulations on the American financial sector, sponsored by financial fatcats, that allowed the banks to go berserk on derivatives trading and make a metric shedload of cash. The senior figures pocket the dosh and run, the banks pay no tax and then in most cases either go broke or get bailed out, and the country and its middle-classes and poor end up penniless.
Interesting that none of the old regulations have been re-instated, that the banks are handing out huge bonuses again, still not paying tax and essentially getting away with it all. Nothing has really changed.
Original article:
The Great American Bubble Machine (print view)
From tech stocks to high gas prices, Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression - and they're about to do it again
By MATT TAIBBI
Pocket summary:
The Big Takeover
The global economic crisis isn't about money - it's about power. How Wall Street insiders are using the bailout to stage a revolution
And an amusing rogues' gallery of the chief culprits:
The Dirty Dozen
Meet the bankers and brokers responsible for the financial crisis - and the officials who let them get away with it
Video links, which don't work for me but might if you're in the USA...
Inside The Great American Bubble Machine
Matt Taibbi on how Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression
As this last says:The piece has generated controversy, with Goldman Sachs firing back that Taibbi's piece is "an hysterical compilation of conspiracy theories" and a spokesman adding, "We reject the assertion that we are inflators of bubbles and profiteers in busts, and we are painfully conscious of the importance in being a force for good." Taibbi shot back: "Goldman has its alumni pushing its views from the pulpit of the U.S. Treasury, the NYSE, the World Bank, and numerous other important posts; it also has former players fronting major TV shows. They have the ear of the president if they want it." P.S.
Futher recommended viewing: Overstock's Patrick Byrne on the corruption within Wall Street.
80min long presentation, but it's worth it.
Current Location: diningroom datacentre
Current Mood: disgusted
Tags: blog, finance, money
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06:39 pm
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eBay pimping
This week's clearout is of old Macintosh software. Except for some Mac OS X 10.1 security stuff, this is all for classic 68000 or PowerPC Macs under system 6 to MacOS 9.x. Probably only of real interest to collectors of classic Mac kit, but if you know any such, do please point 'em at this post! Essentially it's all free for the cost of postage. I've put a nominal price of 1p on eBay.
• Pantone ColorDrive 4
• Adobe Type Manager Deluxe 4.0 + 4.5
• Aladdin StuffIt Deluxe + StuffIt SpaceSaver
• Softkey's 1-Stop CD Shop + other CDs
• Intego Mac OS X security software bundle
• Dantz Retrospect Express 4
• GDT Softworks PowerPrint 3
• Xerox TextBridge 3
Tags: pimp, plug
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03:47 pm
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Content!
1,000-word techie comment piece over on the other LJ, if you are that way inclined, or very bored, or something...
EDIT: fixed. Odd, it looked fine in the preview...
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04:35 pm
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One big social network
Back when I was with Heise, I signed up with Digg and Reddit which I'd only previously been reading, so that I could promote Heise stories there occasionally.
But recently, I noticed an interesting new feature on Digg: Facebook Connect. For a laugh, I enabled it, and as a result, it automatically populated my Digg profile with all the relevant bits of info from my FB one: name, photo, age, sex, location, stuff like that. This saved me a lot of work.
Over the years, I have got really tired of filling in all my contact info on multiple different websites. I must have put in my contact info approaching a thousand times. This is a distinct step in the right direction, I think. But still, I need lots of accounts.
I have accounts on things like Blogger which I created solely for commenting to others' posts; I don't keep a blog there and don't plan to. That itself is getting less necessary, though, because more and more blogs accept things like a LJ ID or a Google ID or an OpenID to let you comment as yourself.
(Although recently I had my first OpenID error - I tried to use my LJ, which has hitherto been my primary OpenID, and the site rejected it, saying it was a v1.0 ID and I needed a v2 one. Great. A return to the PITA that was RSS 1 vs. RSS 2 vs. Atom and all that nonsense.)
One of the last times I re-entered all my info was to create a Google Profile. Mine is here. To my disappointment, it doesn't seem to show up in Google results.
But now, there are mutterings that Google will make all Gmail/Google Docs accounts OpenIDs, meaning millions of new ones. I wonder if this will also include automatically populating profile info from your Google Profile?
This is quite exciting stuff. It could mean you could roam from any social networking type site to any other using a single profile which would follow you everywhere. If you are not one of the poor deluded types who thinks that calling yourself GreenSquirrel on Lj means you've hidden your identity, then this could be terrific. A massive timesaver and a step toward linking all the different sites and accounts in the world together. I love the idea.
I bet there are going to be screams and howls of protest, though...
Current Mood: pensive
Tags: geek, tech, writing
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02:00 am
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Marketing plans that transform into major Hollywood movies
Or, movies that transform your mind into mush. Or toys that transform children into customers.
So ednun took me to see Transformers 2 in Camden tonight. He wanted to go to a showing with audio description, which is fair enough, and as his helper, I got in for free, so that was cool. Thanks, man.
It was interesting to watch an audio-described film. I've never tried it before.
They don't broadcast the audio description; you wear headphones. These are big heavy battery-powered wireless ones that clamp over your ears, but quite deliberately don't have padding to block out the sound, because they don't carry the soundtrack. That you get from the cinema speakers.
They're a little odd. They have multiple controls - an on/off switch, another for people with hearing aids (we think), and not one but two volume wheels, one for each ear. The narration isn't in stereo, but this way, you can adjust the sound balance for yourself, in an odd slightly-clunky way, like trying to steer a tank in Battlezone with 2 joysticks.
I'd also like to know how the wireless transmission works. It's some kind of line-of-sight system; turning your head sideways, or holding hands over the 'phones, introduces static, and Ed tells me that when people walk in front of you, the signal is blocked. Infra-red headphones?
They just carry the extra narration. It's pretty detailed in places - they describe the animated production-company logos and things before the titles, for instance. In places, especially if not a lot is going on, they describe the character's expressions and small movements. Entertainingly, the description was very English, too, with words like "knackered" in it. This pleased me quite inordinately. It's not intrusive, but you do have to turn it up loud, because sometimes, he's talking right through very loud action. And oddly, in places, it's rather under-descriptive: when a hot student girl straddles our hero, mounting him as if to screw him, the voice merely says "she sits on him". That ain't what I call "sitting", my friend.
The thing about this film is, though, I am not a Transformers fan. I did not expect to hugely enjoy the film. And I didn't.
Ed, however, is. He's a massive fan. He even bought the book of the movie, scanned it page by freaking page, and then OCRed the whole thing so he could read it. That is dedication.
I could talk about the film. I could talk about its bizarre disjointedness, about how it not only depends entirely on special effects but, oddly, in this one, of effects of military hardware and explosions almost more than giant battling alien robots. I could talk, for quite some time, with feeling, about Megan Fox. OK, so, in real life, she's a tattooed slapper, total trailer-trash, but in the movies, when they cover up all the tats with heavy-duty makeup, well, damn she is decorative. She couldn't act her way out of a wet cardboard box, but she doesn't need to.
Michael Bay is deranged for getting her to put on some extra weight for the film, but I am aware that my tastes in this regard are not the everyman's.
But still, after everything, even now I know the difference between an Autobot and a Decepticon, hypothetical gods help me, I still think the whole damned concept is a load of utter toss.
So it is something of a relief to know that I am not alone.
So I recommend, for the idly curious, The 10 Most Confusing Things in 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen', followed by the greatly more cynical and thus more amusing Bonus! Rob's Transformers 2 F.A.Q.s! from Topless Robot.
Example:
Can you explain Megan Fox's appeal?
Yes. She looks like a porn star and has the same acting talent as one, yet for some reason she makes mainstream movies. This tonal disconnect is what's so appealing about her.
... and...
Could you sum up the film in one line of its dialogue?
"I am standing directly beneath the enemy's scrotum."
Conclusion: skip the film, read the summaries. Some of the reviews are also recommended for amusement value. Metro's one, for instance, entitled "Just skip these robot wars": blank, wet-lipped super-hottie Megan Fox, who looks like she'd scoff LaBeouf for breakfast before spitting him out and moving on to Cheryl Cole". Excellent.
Tags: film, humour, writing
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06:54 pm
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15 Books
Incipient FB meme - this should propagate through to there, though. No idea if it's catching on on LJ, though. I'm very out of touch.
This, for me, is a rough list in order of most-reread-ness. If you took the position in reverse order, it's about how many times I've reread them, very roughly - so a good dozen-plus times for the top handful, down to at least once or twice at the bottom.
Destructions:
Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. Tag 15 friends, including me. (To write a note, go to your profile page and click on Notes, then click on "Add a Note")
1. The Hitch-Hikers' Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
2. The Dark Side of the Sun - Terry Pratchett
3. Strata - Terry Pratchett
4. The Colour of Magic - Terry Pratchett
5. Red/Green/Blue Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson
6. Life Before Man - Spinar & Burian
7. Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert Pirsig
8. The Lord of the Rings – J R R Tolkien
9. Neuromancer – William Gibson
10. Eon – Greg Bear
11. Zodiac - Neal Stephenson
12. Dune – Frank Herbert
13. Gaia: a new look at life on Earth - James Lovelock
14. A Bike Ride - Anne Mustoe
15. Silent Spring - Rachel Carson
Tags: meme
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05:40 pm
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"It's my last shell and open season on Mormons starts tomorrow morning..."
Just had to dig this out for a mate of mine and thought I'd share it.
One of my favourite webcomics from what were (for me) the early days, around 2000-2002.
Flem Comics: the site that brought you the immortal Hank, The Dancing Abortion.
Specifically, Flem on Mormon-hunting:
(From http://www.flemcomics.com/d/20020108.html)
( Read more... )
Tags: blog, comics, humour
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11:21 am
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Quote of the Day
New York Times: Is it true that Buzz Lightyear, the cartoon astronaut, was named after you?
Buzz Aldrin: Apparently, but there’s no evidence in my bank account to substantiate that.
From Questions for Buzz Aldrin - The Man on the Moon - By DEBORAH SOLOMON
Current Location: diningroom datacentre
Current Mood: amused
Tags: blog, link, quote
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01:45 am
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Linkage of the blatant-self-plugging variety
These don't really count as writing - they're only a paragraph long each - but I've just discovered that not only did OSnews run a story I submitted to them a day or two ago, but that they ran the last one I submitted, too, and I just somehow missed it at the time. This sort of stuff isn't for money, I just thought the items were things that merited wider attention.
RMoX: a GPL, Parallel Research OS Written in occam-pi
An Insider's History of SMSQ/E
P.S. Oh, and in other news, after a rather long day in the Parkside Hospital in Wimbledon, I don't have bowel cancer. So that's good.
Current Location: diningroom datacentre
Current Mood: tired & wrung-out
Current Music: Vomiting cat
Tags: health, plug, writing
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04:51 am
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LJ question
Anyone know a way I can search my own journal for a word or phrase, or see a list of all my post titles ever?
TIA!
Current Location: dining room datacentre
Current Mood:  sleepy
Current Music: washing machine on spin
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04:03 pm
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LJ Talk
I must confess, I almost never use it, but for some reason, Pidgin is today unable to connect to LJ's Jabber chat facility. Has it gone down, or been turned off or something? I see no mention on the ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/newsinfo.gif) news feed...
Current Location: dining room datacentre
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03:56 pm
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New publisher, new danger
Another day, another outlet for my peerless prose. :¬)
Linutop 2 super small desktop PC: Linux lightweight – in more ways than one?
Liam appears on The Register for the first time. Comments very welcome, here or there.
Current Music: White & Nerdy, Weird Al
Tags: ego, plug, writing
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02:13 am
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Croydon pub meet
I omitted to plug this for the last couple of months, because I am new to this sort of thing and really a bit rubbish at it.
But anyway - on Tuesday, it's the monthly Croydon SF fan pub meet. It's at the Dog and Bull in Surrey Street, near the Church Street tram stop, from about 7:30pm. We're often to be found in the back bit of the pub if we get in the way of the pub quiz, or sometimes in the private function room upstairs. Just ask at the bar where the science-fiction people are. :¬)
Tue 12th May. Facebook types can find the event here.
Tags: ad, meet, plug
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08:21 pm
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There ain't no negatives here, none
How I Met My Wife
It had been a rough day, so when I walked into the party I was very chalant, despite my efforts to appear gruntled and consolate. I was furling my wieldy umbrella for the coat check when I saw her standing alone in a corner. She was a descript person, a woman in a state of total array. Her hair was kempt, her clothing shevelled, and she moved in a gainly way. I wanted desperately to meet her, but I knew I'd have to make bones about it, since I was travelling cognito. Beknownst to me, the hostess, whom I could see both hide and hair of, was very proper, so it would be skin off my nose if anything bad happened. And even though I had only swerving loyalty to her, my manners couldn't be peccable. Only toward and heard-of behavior would do. Fortunately, the embarrassment that my maculate appearance might cause was evitable. There were two ways about it, but the chances that someone as flappable as I would be ept enough to become persona grata or sung hero were slim. I was, after all, something to sneeze at, someone you could easily hold a candle to, someone who usually aroused bridled passion. So I decided not to rush it. But then, all at once, for some apparent reason, she looked in my direction and smiled in a way that I could make heads or tails of. So, after a terminable delay, I acted with mitigated gall and made my way through the ruly crowd with strong givings. Nevertheless, since this was all new hat to me and I had no time to prepare a promptu speech, I was petuous. She responded well, and I was mayed that she considered me a savory char- acter who was up to some good. She told me who she was. "What a perfect nomer," I said, advertently. The conversation became more and more choate, and we spoke at length to much avail. But I was defatigable, so I had to leave at a godly hour. I asked if she wanted to come with me. To my delight, she was committal. We left the party together and have been together ever since. I have given her my love, and she has requited it.
- Jack Winter, Shouts & Murmurs
A Very Descript Man
I am such a dolent man,
I eptly work each day;
My acts are all becilic,
I've just ane things to say.
My nerves are strung, my hair is kempt,
I'm gusting and I'm span:
I look with dain on everyone
And am a pudent man.
I travel cognito and make
A delible impression:
I overcome a slight chalance,
With gruntled self-possession.
My dignation would be great
If I should digent be:
I trust my vagance will bring
An astrous life for me.
- J H Parker
Both from the A Word A Day newsletter
Tags: blog, humour, language, writing
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