Medieval Help Desk (movie)

New technologies have always presented challenges to users. Here's a YouTube sketch of medieval help desk support for one of those new fangled 'books'.

iPhone keyboard operation - interesting Apple tutorial

The non-physical keys of the Apple iPhone offer fantastic advantages of standard phone keys, but some think this may be the greatest weak point of the device. The early reviews do suggest it will take users several days to adjust, but in the end this should not be an issue.

This Apple iPhone keyboard tutorial is worth looking at to get a feel of the iPhone and understand the different software mechanisms to make text entry accurate, e.g. anticipating specific mis-hit errors and changing the key target area according to predictive lookup of words.

Artist doodling (movie)

Intriguing YouTube movie of apparently aimless doodling on a wall.

Maybe it says something about the value of micro and macro level views. Watch it to the end (3 min)!

Amazing Photosynth demo

This is an amazing TED Conference presentation of "Photosynth" technology that enables the user to fly through images and information on the Web. Quite breathtaking, but hard to describe so just watch it.



[thanks to David C. for this]

New (dog-related) Apple iPhone ad (video)

You've probably see the Apple iPhone ads - in a class of their own.
Here's a new one that shows how the iPhone can stream YouTube videos.

Billy Connolly on Retirement...

You gotta love him...

What do retired people do all day?

Working people frequently ask retired people what they do to make their days interesting. Well for example, the other day I went into town and went into a shop. I was only in there for about 5 minutes, when I came out there was a cop writing out a parking ticket. I went up to him and said, "Come on man, how about giving a senior citizen a f****** break?" He ignored me and continued writing the ticket. I called him a Nazi turd. He glared at me and started writing another ticket for having worn tires. So I called him a shithead. He finished the second ticket and put it on the windshield with the first. Then he started writing a third ticket. This went on for about 20 minutes. The more I abused him, the more tickets he wrote. Personally, I didn't care. I came into town by bus. I try to have a little fun each day now that I'm retired....... It's important at my age......

[thanks to Rose for this!]

Aiko fetching (movie) - a cat doing dog-type tricks

This is Aiko doing her best trick - playing fetch.
She'll do this quite a number of times before she gets tired.
The mice are her favorite playthings which require regular replacement as they become lost or fall apart (can be bought in '9-packs' from the Murphy Brothers)
.

MacMINI in the case of SE/30

Here's someone who's fitted a Mac Mini into an old SE30 case
using the original greyscale CRT monitor.

http://www.kaede.sakura.ne.jp/~kidou/mac/macmini01.html

Aiko foot stamping trick (movie)

Here's Aiko up to her tricks again, stamping her little back feet for food

Darebin Bridge campaign by Bicycle Victoria - ACTION REQUIRED!

Boroondara Council is stalling on approval for this critical bridge connecting between the Darebin Creek Trail (and La Trobe Uni) and the Main Yarra Trail over the Yarra River at Kew. It will complete a magnificent network of paths across Melbourne that includes the Darebin Creek trail, Metropolitan Ring Road Trail, Main Yarra trail, Outer Circle or Anniversary Trail, Koonung Creek Trail and Capital City Trail.

PLEASE help passing this on to others and by firing off some emails along the lines suggested by Bicycle Victoria.
darebinbridge.com.au

1-click Award silly animation

With electronic devices getting smaller and smaller, here's an idea for a different scale of user interface
1-click Award (takes a few seconds to load)
[source David C.]

Fyxomatosis site - track bikes and photography

Lots of gratuitous pictures of track bikes* mainly for Julian.

This site is by Andy White who's a Melbourne bike courier and obviously loves track bikes and photography. Fyxomatosis is an infectious (and possible fatal) track bike disease that causes the sufferer to ride and take photos simultaneously.

*Track bikes are lean and mean with no gears or brakes, and for some reason are coming into vogue. I noticed them quite a bit in NY (that's my picture of one). Andy doesn't believe riding a track bike is any more dangerous than a standard bike - because "the rider is aware of their limitations, they avoid danderous situations" ... h'mm [Melbourne Weekly Magazine June 6-12, 2007]

Google Street View - Explore neighborhoods at street level–virtually

Google has just added a very interesting extension to Google Maps - 360 degree views of ground level streetscapes that you can pan and zoom. Only 5 cities in the US have been mapped at this stage. San Fransisco has the highest quality images. See introduction.

There are of course some interesting privacy issues arising from this. The Age gives quite a good review. Wired Magazine has a few a few odd sightings, but they're scratching a bit.
A broader view of current discussion can be obtained through Google News.

National "Do Not Call" register - get rid of those pesky telemarketers

The new Australian law banning telemarketers from ringing telephone numbers on the national "Do Not Call" register is now in force.

Registration at https://www.donotcall.gov.au/ This is fairly easy, but it takes a month or so to come into effect. Note that charities, religious organisations, political parties and candidates and social and market researchers are still permitted to ring telephone numbers listed on the register.

Note: Choice running a campaign to have these exemptions removed.

How to smile in Japanese - emoticon cultures :)

The emoticon for "smile" in most western cultures is this :). In Japan, however, emoticons tend to emphasize the eyes, such as the happy face (^_^) and the sad face (;_;).

You might think that's just because the traditions evolved separately, but emotion researcher Masaki Yuki doesn't buy it. He argues that the difference in Japanese emoticons is related to cultural differences. [Cognitive Daily]

Amish Are Ultimate Early Adopters of Solar Energy

What community has the highest per-capita use of solar energy in Ohio? None other than the Amish.

It might sound strange to people who think of the Amish as 19th century holdovers, but that's an oversimplification. Instead, after considering the impact to their values and way of life, Amish communities decide communally whether to adopt new technologies. [Wired]