Thanks again to BBC Click I have discovered a great new service on the Internet. Lefora is a free forum service that lets you create a discussion forum service for your own communities. It’s really easy to set up, customise and get started.
So why do I need a forum? Well I’ve been secretly working on my own little project and now it’s time to start getting users on board. Using Lefora has enabled me to concentrate on my own service and not waste valuable time implementing another forum. You can check out my forum at rondayvoo.lefora.com. Oh yeah, my little project is a Rondayvoo.com. Feel free to check it out and use the forum to tell me what you think!
If you want your own free forum just click on :
free forum hosting by lefora
I stumbled across this new web technology called JSON whilst reading about the performance features being introduced into by AJAX web development tool I use. Essentially they replaced the XML interface between the server and browser based JavaScript client with JSON. JSON is a way of expressing complex data structures which is less verbose than XML and is supported natively by JavaScript which makes it much more performant in those environments. The home of JSON on the web is www.json.org, where there is an article called “The Fat Free Alternative to XML” that does an excellent job of explaining the benefits of JSON. There are also links to JSON libraries for just about every programming language that ever existed. So the question is, will the web community now have to change the name of Ajax ?
I have just discovered a whole area of IP based LAN technology I knew nothing about until this week! It’s known by various names including Zeroconfig, mDNS and Bonjour and I think this has the potential to completely change home networking.
I have been toying with setting up a DNS server at home to resolve all the host names for the machines on my local LAN, but in my research I spotted a suggestion to use Zeroconfig instead. After a bit of digging I realised this stuff looks very good.
Continue reading ‘Zeroconf / mDNS / Bonjour’
Another recomendation from the BBC’s Click tv show is Pandora. Pandora is very clever. You start by telling Pandora the name of an artist or a track you like then Pandora starts playing a stream of music which is similar. The concept is very simple but the technology behind it looks quite sophisticated. Once your “station” is playing you can train Pandora by adding extra artists or by using the thumbs up and down buttons as each track plays.
Continue reading ‘Pandora - Free Personalised Web Radio’
Submarine Pen.
Must visit this place again. Here are the coordinates:
N43 17.505 E16 29.669
It’s just around the Island of Brac from Milna, South of Split.
Photo courtesy of the crew of Indian Wizard.
My top three favourite CDs are all by the same artist Massive Attack; Mezzanine, 100th Window and Protection. I’m rubbish at describing music but I will say that it’s very electronic, often with very moody atmospheric vocals and some times just a little bit dancy - I think the young people call it “trip hop”. Basically if I had any musical talent at all, this is the kind of music I would want to make.
Continue reading ‘Collected - The Best Of Massive Attack’
Don’t get me wrong, I love my Canon Powershot G2 but often it’s just too big and bulky to carry around. I’ve had my eye on the little IXUS range of Canon cameras for a while and during a recent trip abroad spotted this new IXUS 55. Being stuck in an airport waiting for a delayed plane is a great opportunity to check out a new gadget. One thing I really like about the G2 is that it’s digital camera shutter lag is much better than many other digital cameras, i.e. when you press the button it takes the picture very quickly and you don’t miss too much of the action. However I was amazed that the lag on the 55 is almost non existent. In fact it was the speed of this little thing that made me decide to buy it there and then.
Continue reading ‘Canon IXUS 55′
I have been a huge fan of Depeche Mode since I was a teenager. In recent years they have been going off the rails a bit, but this new album is brilliant. It’s the CD that is constantly played in the car now. Reiss’ favourite track (and mine) is John The Revelator, he just keeps playing it over and over again - I’m scared I might end up getting sick of it !
I first spotted Goldfrapp on Jools Holland’s Hootenanny on NewYears Eve (yes I know I’m sad watching TV on New Years Eve - I had the Flu so TV was the only option this year). With their great synth pop they sounded just like they had fallen out of the 80’s - absolutley fantastic. Although the whole album is great, there are three tracks that really stand out; Ooh La La, Ride A White Horse and my favourite Number 1. I’m looking forward to check out their 2 earlier CDs.
I spend a fair amount of time travelling and staying in hotels so I really enjoy having my iPod with me. It’s not always convenient to wear the head phones - have you ever tried shaving with head phones on ? I looked around for a small pair of speakers for some time until I found this unit from Philips.
Continue reading ‘Philips SBA290 Compact Travel Speakers’
