McFilter: Links Archives

June 16, 2008

links for 2008-06-16

Map of WiFi hotspots in Liverpool

Might need this in August if I don't get Internet quickly enough to wherever we're living... ;-) Great idea though.

(tags: maps wifi hotspot liverpool internet)
NEETS - Navy Electricity and Electronics Training Series

Online course notes for a from-complete-novice electronics and electricity course. A first glance seems a little too basic for what I'd like, but you never know.

(tags: electronics book learning)

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June 13, 2008

links for 2008-06-13

Get a tax free bike for work | CYCLESCHEME

Interesting scheme to help people get cheap bikes through work. Might have to see if MCQN Ltd. can join the scheme when I'm looking for a new bike...

(tags: cycle uk tax)

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June 06, 2008

links for 2008-06-06

Pearl Writing Services Blog: Press Releases

Useful series of blog posts explaining how to write a press release, and listing a number of online services to help you distribute the release.

(tags: pr business marketing)

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May 27, 2008

links for 2008-05-27

PR Secrets for Startups

Some genuinely useful advice about PR, rather than the usual 5-steps-to-writing-a-press-release sort of content.

(tags: business pr startup)

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May 23, 2008

links for 2008-05-23

Nick Clegg: Democracy? What a great idea... - UK Politics, UK - The Independent

"It shows that people do care. They do care about the world they live in. They just don't care about party politics." Interesting essay on the state of British politics from the leader of the Lib Dems.

(tags: politics UK parliament NickClegg)
bkkeepr

Newly launched service to let you see what other people are reading and keep track of where you are, or your "dog-eared" pages with twitter.

(tags: books)

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May 15, 2008

links for 2008-05-15

Michael Pollan At Google on PSFK

On the strength of watching this I'll be buying "In Defence of Food". To be healthy, shop round the edges of the supermarket (or better still, not in a supermarket at all)

(tags: food video)

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May 07, 2008

links for 2008-05-07

Information Design Patterns

Useful collection of charts and different ways to visualize datasets, and it lets you choose what it is you're trying to display and gives suggestions for the types of chart to use.

(tags: charts data visualization)
flare | visualization on the web

Flash-based framework for building data visualizations.

(tags: flash data visualization library webdev)
CHI: CHI '08, A bright green perspective on sustainable choices

A paper from the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems looking at how 35 American households have embraced green technology and environmentalism

(tags: sustainability usability)

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May 04, 2008

links for 2008-05-04

Extended Environments Markup Language: EEML

A standard for exchanging data from sensors in buildings and such.

(tags: ubicomp metadata sensors xml)
London Lit Plus | July 5th-19th 2008

An "open festival". What an interesting idea - choose a week or so for the events to happen, and let the community organise their own events for it, promoting each other under the banner of the festival.

(tags: London literature festival books)

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May 03, 2008

links for 2008-05-03

Dobbs Code Talk - Entrepreneurs and Tech Startups: Who's Doing What When?

Shock horror! Most people starting tech companies aren't the twentysomethings looking to be bought by Google.

(tags: business entrepreneurship startup)

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April 30, 2008

links for 2008-04-30

Fundable Online Fundraising — Welcome

Interesting web service to help fund small projects. Propose a project that you need funding, then people can pledge money to fund it; if you get enough pledges then you get the cash, otherwise everyone who pledged gets a refund.

(tags: funding money)
Home | Email Standards Project

Project to try to sort out the mess that is HTML email. Includes info about what works and what doesn't.

(tags: html css email webmail webdev)

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April 29, 2008

links for 2008-04-29

47 Hats - DHH nailed it.

Interesting video from Startup School 08. Dispelling the myth that the big, bought-by-Google exit strategy is the best thing to aim for.

(tags: video business microisv)
The Business of Software - Plimus and Google Analytics

Instructions on setting up a Plimus account to track sales with Google Analytics. Was pretty trivial when I set it up for tedium the other day.

(tags: webdev plimus google analytics)

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April 22, 2008

links for 2008-04-22

Solar so good for our house | Money | The Guardian

Interesting article about the economic return on installing solar electricity panels. Upshot is that the return on solar PV can be better than a bank account.

(tags: electricity sustainability solar)
BookMooch: exchange books and trade them, like a book swap or book barter

Interesting site letting you swap books with others (and it even works if there isn't a direct swap - i.e. where you have a book the other wants and vice versa). Think I'll stick to just posting my old books to a friend, but might investigate further in

(tags: books exchange community)
MySpace.com - Flight of the Conchords - Wellington - Folk / Afro beat / Commedia - www.myspace.com/conchords

Listen to "Business Time" - a fantastic glimpse of what Barry White would've sounded like if he'd just been a normal person rather than a sex god...

(tags: music funny)

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April 20, 2008

links for 2008-04-20

russell davies: interesting tickets

Russell has announced the date that tickets go on sale for Interesting2008. I'm not going as I'll still be here in Italy, but would be otherwise. When's Interesting2009...?

(tags: Interesting2008 tickets conference)
• PINTO • GLOBAL SERVICE SPECIALIST

Will be off to these guys sometime soon to buy a soldering iron and some other bits and bobs. Much consulting with the English-Italian dictionary beforehand I expect...

(tags: shop torino turin electronics)

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April 19, 2008

links for 2008-04-19

How to choose the right cover versions (from This Is The Goo I’ve Got)

The golden rules for picking which songs to cover. Also see the list of "best cover versions" linked at the bottom.

(tags: music covers)
The Damsons - Home - MP3 Downloads at indiestore

My mate Ant's band, the Damsons, have their first single out and it's available for pre-order.

(tags: music mp3 damsons)

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April 12, 2008

links for 2008-04-12

Some SlimServer Stuff - Michael Herger's Homepage

LiveCD to turn a PC into a music server

(tags: slimserver linux livecd music mp3)
CRAG - Carbon Rationing Action Groups

People not worrying about waiting for governments to start doing something about climate change, and voluntarily capping their carbon footprint

(tags: climatechange activism sustainability)

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April 08, 2008

links for 2008-04-08

Infochimps.org: Free Redistributable Rich Data Sets

Interesting site collecting and organizing all sorts of datasets.

(tags: data stats open_source database)

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April 06, 2008

links for 2008-04-06

The Bicycle Tutor - Bike Repair Video Tutorials by Alex Ramon

Useful looking site featuring a load of videos explaining how to repair and maintain your bike.

(tags: howto bicycle video tutorial)

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March 21, 2008

links for 2008-03-21

OSCON 2007 - Phillip Torrone and Limor Fried

Interesting discussion about the nascent open source hardware movement. Touching on business models and the current crop of projects.

(tags: open_source hardware videos)
Hydragenic | The London Nobody Knows

A rather sad, but interesting documentary from 1967 about the more everyday and run-down parts of London.

(tags: London video documentary)

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March 15, 2008

links for 2008-03-15

Interview with Adrian McEwen of tedium

Celine Roque of PimpYourWork.com interviews me about tedium, how it came into being and a little about my philosophy for where it's headed.

(tags: interview tedium productivity gtd)
Sustainable Energy - Without the Hot Air (withouthotair.com)

A free book putting figures to the question of whether the UK can provide all its energy sustainably, written by a professor from Cambridge Uni physics department.

(tags: green sustainability book)

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March 09, 2008

links for 2008-03-09

Media UK: tv, radio, newspapers and magazines; contacts, news and discussions

Directory of newspapers, magazines, TV and radio in the UK

(tags: media UK radio directory news newspapers tv)

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March 06, 2008

links for 2008-03-06

Noisy Decent Graphics: Applying Green

Collection of links and information about how to make graphic design, and printing in particular, more environmentally-friendly.

(tags: sustainability green design printing)
BBC - Radio 4 - Reith Lectures

Found this archive of the BBC's Reith Lectures whilst looking for the one Richard Rogers gave in 1995. Unfortunately that one isn't online, but I'll be having a listen to some of the others over the next few days.

(tags: bbc lectures radio audio reith)
towards-an-urban-renaissance--final-report-of-the-urban-task-force.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Been looking for more info on Richard Rogers since watching the Imagine programme about him - this is the report generated by the Urban Task Force that includes him as a member. It discusses ways for cities to evolve and be revitalised.

(tags: toread urban planning richard_rogers)

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March 04, 2008

links for 2008-03-04

Guitar cram session | Ask Metafilter

Great thread on Ask MeFi about songs for guitar. Superb links to some "books of chords", which will save me trawling through ultimate-guitar.com looking for stuff I want to play

(tags: guitar chords)

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March 03, 2008

links for 2008-03-03

Manchester to Liverpool - in just 10 minutes - Liverpool Daily Post.co.uk

There are overtones of the Simpsons' monorail episode, but how cool would a maglev link from Liverpool to Manchester be?

(tags: maglev transport liverpool manchester train)

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February 22, 2008

links for 2008-02-22

The A-Z of Personal Productivity: Introduction | MCQN Limited

The introduction (and main index) for my series of blog posts with ideas and techniques for managing your time and accomplishing more.

(tags: productivity gtd Lifehacks)

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February 19, 2008

links for 2008-02-19

Footy-Mates - Home Page

Doesn't cover Turin unfortunately, but will be trawling this looking for a just-for-fun team when I get to Liverpool.

(tags: football teams local)

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February 15, 2008

links for 2008-02-15

technique_for_getting_ideas.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Five simple steps to follow in order to have more ideas. Simple in how they can be explained, that is ' there is some work to do in implementing them.

(tags: books ideas innovation)
The Prince of Wales - A speech by HRH The Prince of Wales on climate change to the European Parliament in Brussels

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by Prince Charles giving a speech about climate change, but I am impressed at how well he puts the problems across. I hope it has some effect.

(tags: sustainability climatechange speech)
Digital Artists' Handbook | Digital Artists' Handbook

Useful collection of articles about how to create digital art - sound, graphics, hacking together bits of hardware to control things... Lots of links to other bits of software and hardware

(tags: opensource art tools)

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February 13, 2008

links for 2008-02-13

Computer Laboratory: Seminars

Shame I'm not in Cambridge any more, but here's a list of the seminars given at the Computer Lab and they're open to the general public.

(tags: cambridge computer seminars)
cityofsound: The street as platform

Long, detailed exploration of what the street of the near-future could look like, from Dan Hill. Written as a narrative through the lives of the users of an imagined "smart" street.

(tags: street urban ubicomp future)
The Channel 4 Future Blog

"Have your say about the future of Channel 4". Good to see this if C4 are serious about engaging with people about what they should be doing. Get rid of Big Brother would be my first suggestion... ;-)

(tags: tv blog channel4)

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February 07, 2008

links for 2008-02-07

Extreme Drupal Theming with PHPtemplate | Nick Lewis: The Blog

Guide to theming drupal sites.

(tags: drupal themes tutorial template)
Take control of your Drupal theme | Lullabot

More on theming drupal.

(tags: drupal themes template tutorial)
Energy literacy / Research / Home - More Associates

Interesting prototype smart meter that shows your electricity usage broken down by time, or by appliance.

(tags: energy sustainability hardware ubicomp)
Sustainable Everyday Scenarios » Sustainable Everyday

A collection of videos imagining what a sustainable life could be like. It's an interesting and novel approach, which is trying to show people that green could be normal.

(tags: sustainability video)

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February 05, 2008

links for 2008-02-05

Linux.com :: Using mouse gestures across Linux

How to get cool mouse-gesture goodness on Linux. Shame I'm using Windows for my laptop, the number of times I've tried to use the Firefox gestures outside the browser...

(tags: gestures linux software)
wood fire outdoor stove | Ask MetaFilter

It's going to be tricky to recapture that true Italian pizza feeling if I don't have a wood-burning oven to cook it in...

(tags: pizza wood oven)
apophenia: just because we can, doesn't mean we should

Danah puts a great argument for treading carefully when building Facebook-like services. Unfortunately, history shows that the geeks will likely ignore her, because they can.

(tags: social community ethics morals)

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January 30, 2008

links for 2008-01-30

PlanningAlerts.com | Email alerts of planning applications near you

The latest service from the superb mysociety.org - you give them your email address and postcode, and they email you whenever there's a planning application in your area.

(tags: planning UK government politics)

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January 28, 2008

links for 2008-01-28

VCD, SVCD, DVD Newbie beginners guide - VideoHelp.com

Every now and then I end up playing with different video formats and never know what software to use or how to convert from one to another. Lots of info here on how to do so.

(tags: video howto)
next.yahoo » Blog Archive » Creating amazing music blog experiences

Haven't played with this yet, but it looks like a much cooler and more finished version of what I was trying to do with the New Music Radio project to listen to mp3 blogs

(tags: music mp3 blog)
SteamPunk Magazine » Blog Archive » A SteamPunk’s Guide to the Apocalypse

How to build shelter, find food, and generally survive if everything goes to pot...

(tags: howto survival sustainability)

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January 18, 2008

links for 2008-01-18

YouTube - Cambridge Joy

Cool video of people doing parkour round some of Cambridge. Very impressive, as this flinging yourself off buildings in a controlled manner always seems to be.

(tags: cambridge parkour video)
Zoopla! Free house values, sold prices & homes for sale

Interesting property website. Very Web2.0 with google maps overlays giving you rough property prices for areas, and also has lots of data available about how much properties have been sold for and when - even goes as far back as my house in Cambridge (in

(tags: property web2.0 uk)

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January 16, 2008

links for 2008-01-16

» Free Chart and Graph Solutions

Nice collection of pointers to an assortment of graphing solutions. Of course, this only crops up _after_ I've already chosen one. Never mind...

(tags: charts graphs webdev visualization)
Google Analytics Video Tutorial 1: Setup | Conversation Marketing: Internet Marketing Strategy Blog

Some videos showing how to set up, and how to start using Google Analytics to track visitors to your website

(tags: google analytics stats video tutorial)

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January 15, 2008

links for 2008-01-15

The Afterlife of Cellphones - Cellular Telephone - Waste Materials - Recycling - New York Times

Interesting article on how phones are recycled, reused and melted-down.

(tags: mobile phone recycling)

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January 13, 2008

links for 2008-01-13

UK Urban Exploration Forums

Forums for the community of people who enjoy exploring strange and deserted urban areas. Lots of photos of interesting old industrial sites, like the United Glass silos in St. Helens, or the docks in Liverpool.

(tags: urban exploration uk industrial)
ApplianceDesignCards.pdf (application/pdf Object)

A set of 21 cards to help you think about different facets of the design when creating appliances.

(tags: design ubicomp)

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January 12, 2008

links for 2008-01-12

BarCamp wiki / BarCampManchesterUk

Manchester gets a barcamp. It's happening in March, which is long before I'll be in the area. Still, I'm sure it'll be worth attending

(tags: barcamp conference events north_west)

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January 05, 2008

links for 2008-01-05

- News From Nowhere Radical & Community Bookshop, Liverpool

Well, at least I'll have some time to get through some of my reading list before I'm next in Liverpool... then this place looks like it'll be worth a browse round.

(tags: liverpool books shop)

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January 04, 2008

links for 2008-01-04

YouTube - How It All Ends

The fun way to understand the problem of climate change. It's like someone took the Stern Review and condensed it into a 10-minute video with funny hats and explosions!

(tags: video environment climatechange)
The Personal MBA Manifesto: Mastering Business Through Self-Education (Recommended Business Books)

My reading list is already far too long, but I think there are some good recommendations here. Maybe when I get through my current glut of marketing tomes...

(tags: entrepreneurship business books mba)

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December 18, 2007

links for 2007-12-18

47+ Excellent Ajax CSS Forms

Lots of good looking form goodness. Always useful to find out better ways of formatting and displaying forms - they seem one of the trickier bits of HTML to get to look good.

(tags: CSS forms tutorial ajax webdev)

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December 16, 2007

links for 2007-12-16

Green Oil chain lube

Environmentally-friendly (non-petroleum-based) bike oil.

(tags: cycle oil environment)

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December 03, 2007

links for 2007-12-03

Seeed

A new forum aimed at developers of wep apps. Early days, but it looks useful.

(tags: webdev business entrepreneurship forum)

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November 29, 2007

links for 2007-11-29

BBC NEWS | Health | Facing life after losing your son

Losing a sister isn't the same, but losing anyone is different for everyone. A heartfelt and honest account on one man's loss of his son.

(tags: bereavement)
Crayon Physics Deluxe

And now something to lighten the mood. An excellent idea for a game where you scrawl on the "page" with a "crayon" and your drawings become physical objects that move a ball around... oh, just watch the video.

(tags: games crayon fun)

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November 26, 2007

links for 2007-11-26

Guardian Unlimited | Comment is free | We're trapped in a prison and the walls are rising higher

If the terrorists want to use fear to disrupt and affect our lives then, with the continued ridiculous measures from the government, haven't they succeeded?

(tags: politics freedom UK)
Thoughtful’s blog - Thoughtful - Dan Germain’s talk

The video of a presentation given by Dan Germain of Innocent smoothies fame. An honest and passionate talk about the business and getting started as an entrepreneur.

(tags: entrepreneurship innocent presentation)

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November 18, 2007

links for 2007-11-18

Google Trends: turkey, gifts, diet

Trapped in the endless cycle... (via pete.nu)

(tags: fun)

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November 10, 2007

links for 2007-11-10

VectorMagic

Nifty tool to convert bitmap files into vectors. Very useful if you've got a logo or something that you want to blow up without getting all blocky.

(tags: vector graphics tools)
» How to Learn (But Not Master) Any Language in 1 Hour (Plus: A Favor)

Interesting approach to learning a new language. I can see some of these patterns and inferences starting to form with my Italian-largely-by-osmosis technique.

(tags: language learning howto)
Type in Berlin : Journal : Mark Boulton

A lovely presentation about typography and design on the web. Explains why typography is important and gives some insightful examples of how popular websites are laid out.

(tags: typography webdesign presentation)

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November 06, 2007

links for 2007-11-06

Open Handset Alliance

Google tries to do what Microsoft, Symbian and Geoworks have so far failed to achieve. Expect the tech blogs to be wetting their pants over this "GPhone" announcement for a while...

(tags: mobile google opensource android phone)

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November 05, 2007

links for 2007-11-05

Oliver Strunk: The Elements of Style - Index

A brief but brilliant set of rules and recommendations about how to write good prose.

(tags: writing reference style)

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November 03, 2007

links for 2007-11-03

Tweak's Guide to the Home and Project Studio

More info than you ever thought you'd want about how to setup your home recording studio

(tags: music recording audio howto)
Sound on Sound Articles: Technique

Another big collection of guides on recording music, studio setup, etc.

(tags: music audio tutorial recording howto)
UltraVNC SC (SingleClick)

Standalone executable VNC server - good for supporting non-techie relatives remotely (although it requires you to not be behind a NAT)

(tags: software support vnc)

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November 01, 2007

links for 2007-11-01

Monbiot.com » Eco-junk

Not buying things beats buying green things.

(tags: green consumerism environment climatechange)

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October 31, 2007

links for 2007-10-31

My evenings are a waste of time. | Ask MetaFilter

Good thread on MeFi about how to do something useful when you get home from work.

(tags: productivity procrastination motivation)
MeeTimer - Log your time on the Web

An interesting tool that tracks how long you spend surfing the 'Net, and where the time goes. I've installed it but not really checked where I'm spending the time. Maybe I'm missing the point...

(tags: firefox productivity time)
Labs/Joey - MozillaWiki

Another interesting-looking extension for Firefox. Lets you mark things on your PC and then get at them from your mobile. Sounds similar to something I was thinking of writing a while back.

(tags: firefox mobile)
GrandTour | Un anno di viaggi in Italia

A nice tourism video for Torino, although the commentary is in Italian... It gives a glimpse of what the city is like - and I can recognise most of the places they show! Maybe by the time I leave I'll be able to understand all the words too.

(tags: torino travel video)

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October 27, 2007

links for 2007-10-27

Defra, UK - Rural Affairs

County-by-county directory of countryside walks, including distances and maps.

(tags: uk walks)

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