Lying abed yesterday (Friday morning), listening to the first hour of the Today programme on Radio 4, I happened to hear the excellent Ed Stourton interviewing the Foreign Secretary, David Milliband, via some communication system. Unfortunately, as often happens, the link broke down mid-interview, at which point, Ed asked Mr Milliband, ‘Can you hear me?’ and Milliband replied, ‘No?’ By no means the funniest thing ever heard on Today, but mildly amusing nonetheless. Today now Twitters and so, thinking that some listeners might not have heard the early interview, I fired off a quick tweet, asking if it could be played again. Within the hour, I received a reply to the tweet containing a link to the interview, including its interruption. For me, not only another example of the growing wonders of the internet but also perhaps testament to the immediacy and usefulness of Twitter.
Much excitement this week regarding the beta release of the latest version of Safari, Apple’s web browser. Along with many others, I excitedly downloaded and installed, and first impressions were something of the Wow variety. Perhaps most impressive, along with the increased browsing speed, was the Top Sites feature. This allows one to see the home pages of one’s most visited sites arranged on the screen at once. Unfortunately, on opening my Mail app I discovered something was causing it to crash repeatedly. Also, the RapidBlog plug-in I use with Rapidweaver had ceased to work. The Mail app blamed Growl but the superb Rapidweaver support forums attributed the problem to Safari having changed some protocol or other. No prolonged worries as RapidBlog was rapidly updated and I was able to use the Safari 4 uninstall app which Apple had been kind enough to include in the original download folder. So, having got a sneak preview of what it is going to be like, I think I’ll just wait for the full release.
I first heard about chi.mp on the excellent FruitBytes blog. Chi.mp is an online service which enables you to access all your networking stuff in one place and let others know where you can be found on the web. It also allows you to have different profiles for each aspect of your life: public, work and friends. You control exactly who sees what information about you. Chi.mp is still in beta at the moment and therefore can only be joined by invitation. Originally FruitBytes had some invites on offer but when they ran out I signed up on the waiting list. Didn’t need to wait too long as I was invited to join a week or so ago. Now I have 5 invites to give away - so if you want one, get in touch.
Been a while since the last blog so this one is to do a bit of catching up. Firstly, I’ve decided to put this blog back as the Home page. It makes sense that people see my most recent bits of information on first entering the site.
I’ve also been developing some Twitter content with icklestories and icklememories. The former I’ve mentioned before - a place where I can put fictional thoughts without causing confusion on my main ickledot twitter. This has led me to starting a new website using Weebly. I really like the simple format of this online web tool - and I’m a sucker for a site that looks friendly and … well … cuddly. Weebly is still in its developmental stages and its creators say they have many more ideas to improve functionality. I’ve also put a page of icklestories on this site, mainly to take advantage of the Stacks plug-in for Rapidweaver described previously.
icklememories is just something created on a whim. Might work, might not. Every so so often a jingle or lyric or bit of information comes into my head, or is heard and I thought it might be quite good to place these nuggets of pure nostalgia online. Might just kick-start a series of recollections for someone out there. We’ll see. Also enrolled on a writing course at the Media Museum in Bradford. Bit unfortunate that the first session clashes with another meeting but I hope to get there in time to discover what it’s all about. It’s fantastic to have the national museum of media so close but as is human nature, when something is so convenient the tendency is not to take advantage.
Stacks, this most major of Rapidweaver plug-ins, has now been released as Stacks 1.0. Put simply, it provides for a wide variety of layouts using a simple drag and drop procedure. It removes the need for additional code or complex snippets to create layouts more complex than those offered by RW themes. Stacks’ developer, Isaiah, has provided a number of screencasts which explain its use far better than any written description. In addition, there’s a Stacks Reference Manual for those who prefer words. Elixir Graphics have already released a (free) nifty little TwitterStack Plug-in. Others are bound to follow I’m sure. Many congratulations to Isaiah for providing this wonderful addition which greatly enhances Rapidweaver’s functionality. Takes it to another level, as the football managers say.
Frightened myself with spontaneity yesterday. For a while I’ve been thinking there’s potential for writing fiction in Twitter. Didn’t want to include it in my main Twitter account. Might just lead to confusion. So I decided to launch icklestories. I’m well aware that others have done this already, most notably arjunbasu. Another is tweettales. I’m sure there are many more. Anyway, having set the thing up, designed a little logo and stared at the screen for a while, I came to the frightening realisation I had not a clue what to write! Thankfully something came this morning and so the project has left the ground. I’ve decided to be easy on myself. Doesn’t have to be a collection of mini-masterpieces. Just an array of random scenes and situations from my imagination.
Yet again the internet has provided a new experience for ickledot. A comment left on the blog of David Allen’s Mac 20 Questions podcast quickly led to an invitation for an interview. On replying that I was little more than an ordinary Mac user and certainly no expert, David explained that he was looking to speak to people at all levels of expertise. David’s podcast is based on a very simple but clever idea. It’s all in its title really. Each interviewee is asked the following 20 questions: 1 What is your name and where are you from? 2 Name rank and serial number please - what hardware are you using? 3 What was your first Mac? 4 Are you a recent switcher or have you always used a Mac? Still using other systems? 5 Geek in training, Card carrying Geek or Uber Geek? 6 Do you have a halo? An ipod or iPhone came first? 7 Just a tool to use or are you a fan boy? 8 Which browser do you prefer? Do you use more than one? 9 Bootcamp or virtual machine? 10 Are you a creative individual and do you create content anyway with the Mac Apps? 11 Tell me about how you have created something using iLife: something you did in Garageband or iPhoto or iMovie - tools used and any things which either went well or were a challenge. 12 What is your strategy for making back ups? 13 Your favourite application and some of the best things about it? 14 Do you buy stuff from iTunes and how do you feel about us not getting the full package in Europe TV show, movies etc? 15 Do you switch it off at night or leave it running always? 16 If you spend a whole day working with your Mac how does that go generally? A bit of this a bit of that, project based focus or a complete mish mash? When you work on your computer do you have lots of apps open or just you concentrate on one or two? 17 Do you organise your life with the Mac? Do you have MobileMe, address book, to do lists and contacts? 18 Wish list for a next machine or what are you lusting after now? 19 Do you consume podcasts? 20 Do you have a web site that you would like to tell us about of your own or one that you just recommend to Mac users? Of course, each question is designed to stimulate discussion and, from ickledot’s point of view, it certainly worked. The time flew by and when the Skype connection was finally cut I was astonished to see we had been in conversation for over an hour. The topics we covered were wide ranging: iPods, cloud storage, Twitter, Rapidweaver and many more. It’s all in the editing process now and David has told me it will be available in a few day’s time. Many thanks to David for giving me the opportunity to speak with him.
