Strange Maps is an interesting blog to follow. I found today's entry particularly interesting; it's a visualisation of the geographic distribution of the usage of different languages on Twitter. It tells us something not just about where people are using their native languages on the Internet, but also where Twitter itself's in use.

There's a story on the BBC about a trainee surgeon in Scotland realising it's possible to print models of bones from 3D CT scans relatively cheaply, for inspection before surgery. Still a bit on the pricy side for personal use, but cool to see technology helping to make lives better.

Meant to post this nearly a month ago, but it's still interesting. What kind of tablet do people really, really want to have? An Android device? No, surely it's got to be an iPad? Read on...

Very much not a fan. I didn't really like his products, which often seemed to value form over function, and by all accounts he's someone I wouldn't have wanted to work for/with ( Read more... )

Echoes of the Past is a nice theme for Windows 7 with vintage-styled images; and an obsession with keys, for some reason.

More substantial posts are being held up by LiveJournal’s DDOS-related issues, as well as my own laziness.

You may or may not remember that early last year I pointed out the launch of an online Scottish newspaper, the Caledonian Mercury, that aimed to bring a bit more balance to the Scottish media. The Caledonian Mercury is still going, but it feels a bit magaziney and Rab McNeil (Scotland’s finest sketch writer) only seems to have written once since ( Read more... )

Looks like I’m one of the unlucky 0.08% of users whose account has disappeared due to some sort of error at Google.

More luckily, I’m pretty sceptical of the whole idea of “The Cloud” and don’t rely on GMail. Where my e-mail’s concerned, I prefer to rely on an organisation where there’s at least a chance of getting someone on the phone when ( Read more... )

Ever since Windows 7 came out, I’ve fancied putting together a Windows theme, and a couple of recent blog articles finally prodded me into action.

The obvious choice was the more exotic locations that I’ve got photos of, so I set out to create a California theme and went back and reviewed all my photos looking for scenes that could be turned into ( Read more... )

It’s possible to do some cool things with JavaScript, but fundamentally the whole language is still an evil hack that we’re stuck with because it’s widespread, requiring clever hacks like jQuery to hide some of the unpleasantness. A prime example of hackishness - which will no doubt be fixed once they realise just how foolish it is - has  appeared ( Read more... )

I finally have a fully operational Windows Phone, following its arrival on Friday. The delay is not the fault of the phone, I hasten to say, it's due to unfortunate timing and mistakes made by the provider. I won't dwell on those.


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