Yum yum

I never use the browser’s internal ‘favorites’ because it ties to that machine, and you have to remember to back them up, and mainly because you just land up with a huge long list of crap.

Anyway, I started using del.icio.us (as in http://del.icio.us) a few months ago and it seems I have quite a few useful links in there. The biggest attractions for me are that when we save a link you have to give it tags (keywords), and of course that you are storing it in one location, regardless of which browser or where you happen to be.

You can even put buttons into your browser (on the Links bar) so it becomes a one-click affair.

I see they have a ‘network’ thing going where you can share your links with your ‘friends’ and ‘fans’. You can even tag a site as ‘for:derekbez’ so I’ll get it directly.

This might not be great news in the general wide world of the web, but it might be useful for some.

Bang Bang

On Saturday evening, around 6pm, I wondered where the fireworks displays around London would be. Good old Google to the rescue.

Turns out most of the displays were happening on Saturday night. Forth November, not fifth. They execute the Guy and then they don't even get the date right! Bah!

Anyway, after a little internal debate, and a bite to eat, I jumped on a train and headed over to Blackheath for the show.

Not a bad turnout - they estimated 40000 people, but by my calculations there were more like 10 or 15 thou. The fireworks eminated from the centre of a fenced off square of about 500m on each side. I located myself in the north western part, so that the nearly full moon provided a backdrop to the fireworks.

Show lasted from 20:00 until 20:30. I thought the music was perhaps a little too loud, but hey, it's a free show.

This isn't a very exciting or profound post, I know. Actually I just wanted to see if I could embed the video I took of the closing minute or so of the display.

HMD : Hope of Mass Discernment

Back in about 1999 I found a website of a company that was working on a Head Mounted Display that was a tiny chip that could be mounted on your glasses in front of you eye. At the time it was 800x600xlots-of-colours, and they were bragging about having 1024-type resolutions soon.

Then they disappeared. I can only assume they ran out of funds to continue their research, or they got absorbed by the DoD.

All HMDs I've seen since are big, bulky and crap. Until today. http://uk.gizmodo.com/2006/10/06/ konicas_seethrough_video_glass.html

THIS is what I've been looking for. This has got to be a way of the future.



Why are cell phones so big? Because we want bigger screens. What if we can move the screen off the phone and onto the sky in front of you? Now put the phone electronics into a medium size wrist watch, and you're on the right path.

Obviously the wires need to go, so I wouldn't expect anything less than wireless USB to come to the rescue there.

The uses go far beyond seeing who's calling you, or reading txt messages. The cell phone is just the first, and most ubiquitous application. Bring a sat-nav into range, especially while driving and have the directions overlaid on the road. Hmmm. Do you see the virtual reality being virtually real now?

Remember Sony's UX micro-PC? Bet you could make it two-thirds the size by removing the screen. That would make it pocketable. I'm going off on a fantasy tangent now, but imagine the processor in your pocket, and virtual machines on your home and work NASs, in a kinda ASP-type of scenario, so you get the apps you need just by walking into the office. No PC on you desk - it's in your pocket. And the screen is floating in front of you.

3-D video conferencing with stereo vision can't be far away. Two cams can't be hard to implement. Heck - two Skype sessions if you have to.

I don't wear glasses, but I would wear placbos to get information while driving or out-and-about, and if, er when the resolution/usability is good enough, maybe even to work.

A few extra features on the glasses will be necessary. Like the ability to black out the background. Oooo - sunglasses on demand, and at the intensity you need!

Next we need to figure out some sort of alternative input mechanism.

President bashing

I recieved yet another Bush-monkey "joke" in email this morning.

I don’t like it when people president-bash. It shows so little respect for authority. Even if Bush is a bit eccentric, and behaves and speaks in a way different to what people expect, it doesn’t make him a bad person, or a bad leader.

It’s like that for all leaders in the (Western) world where the media makes money from dramatasizing anarchic ideas. Free speech is one thing. Bad-mouthing for gain is quite different.

We live in an age of rebellion and anti-authority sentiment. People find it easier to slate someone than actually come up with intelligent contributions or suggestions, particularly regarding those in power. The Bible (Rom 13:1-2) actually says that government is ordained by God and that we need to submit ourselves to it. We also need to pray for our leaders even if we don't agree with them.

Maybe I was just brought up “if you don’t have something good to say about someone, don’t say it.”

(thanks to NatalieR for contributing)

Balance

There is this quote right... And on the surface it sounds very nice, but I disagree with it.

If mankind minus one were of one opinion, then mankind is no more justified in silencing the one than the one - if he had the power - would be justified in silencing mankind. - John Stuart Mill

Mr Mill was obviously not thinking about AdolfH. (Ok, he lived 50 years before, but the principle remains.)

AdolfH was The One with an opinion, and he didn't do much good with it.

Please don't bring up Ghandi at this point. Many, many other people shared his opinions, but he was the front-man who acted on them.

What Mr Mill seems to suggest is that everyone with an opinion should be left alone and never challenged, regardless of how dangerous that opinion might be.

Each opinion needs to be checked against its reasonableness towards follow man and mankind. The easy test to see if it is reasonable is that it will be an opinion shared by many other people.

The difficult test is to determine if those people came up with this same opinion as individuals, or were influenced by propaganda.

How hot is it?

It is so hot that all the have gone south, and everyone has Windows open.

SORBS Sucks

SORBS is an anti-spam list that some email providers use. If you’re on their list, and you try send to someone behind a SORBS enabled server, your message will bounce.

Trying to get unlisted from SORBS is a very frustrating affair. Which I won’t get into.

The SORBS site has a few statements on it that will make you think. For example:

Warning:Whilst the Distributed Denial of Service attacks continue on SORBS it is impossible to retest your machines.

Note: Americans, the First Amendment does not apply outside of the USA, nor is it applicable, as it is to protect the individuals right to speak against a government's wishes. Nothing more, nothing less. SORBS has a right, and an obligation, to publish truthful information. Please take note, all information published on this site is an opinion of its owner based on reports and comments of the administrators. As this is an opinion you will find in law it is always truthful, regardless of whether the opinion is based on fact or fiction. Before offering threats of legal action try running this information past a competent lawyer who is experienced with a person's rights both in your country and internationally, it will help you save your time and money.

Note: Due to the continual selfishness or stupidity of some people, support tickets sent to the wrong queue will be deleted without being answered. Tickets submitted with the SORBS Support System are always sent into the correct queue.

Isn't what SORBS does illegal..?

I want to try my luck in the courts where do I send the papers..?

Just these last two FAQ entries alone tell me that Mr Matthew Sullivan, the creator and manager of this crazy system, is pissing off and frustrating more people than he is helping.

Note to Mr Sullivan: Don’t call me stupid. I’m not. But I am very frustrated with your Frankenstein.

This is one of those rare cases where I could support an Internet Police Force. Some people would say that the likes of AllOfMP3 and PirateBay are bad and should be terminated. But aren’t these sites ‘enablers’? They expose the technology to more people, and so ultimately create a larger market. SORBS on the other hand is a ‘preventer’. It is crippling legitimate email and other services from flowing.

There are more than a few anti-SORBS posting on the web. Just google for “sorbs sucks”. The people behind SORBS are generating negativity and need to change their model, or be terminated.

Here are a few suggestions of what they could do to become a credible organisation:

• Inform people when they get placed onto the lists. They only pick up “dubious” hosts when an email from that host passes one of their feeder servers, so they will have at least one live email address to inform of their decision to blacklist them.
  
• Re-write their support pages in simple English – no techie-speak. Even true techies may not know what they are talking about.
  
• Let themselves be bought out by a Google or a Microsoft. The ‘big-company’ lawyers would hopefully make sure the model is fair and reasonable to the general Internet population.
  
• Most importantly, they should respond to every query timeously and, where possible, politely by hand – ie: none of this automated response two weeks later crap.

If left unchecked, where will this ‘service’, or rather, similar even more obnoxious and obtrusive services that this idea will spawn, go? We don’t need this kind of stress.