Posts

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In defense of Spotify

I just saw via a Daring Fireball post that a music exec says the music from Spotify is –

The income from Spotify is MICROSCOPIC – LAUGHABLE – PATHETIC.

Yet how come all the rap acts/bands and CDs I saw and purchased in 2010 were a direct result of me checking them out on Spotify?

And all the acts I want to see in 2011 at gigs and festivals have all been on rotation via my Spotify at some point.

I buy more music and see more gigs because of Spotify.

Oh and if your music is rubbish I will find out on Spotify before wasting my time on your over priced CD and waaayy over-priced digital album.

Step up or step off.

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37signals releases mobile basecamp

The good folks at 37signals have just launched a Basecamp Mobile version of one of their key tools Basecamp.

Basecamp is the tool that I used to ‘manage’ what I have to do both at home and at work. What really interests me is that they chose to go for the route of building a web app rather than a native mobile app. I have been thinking for some time that for many of ‘use cases’ that I see for mobile apps in my areas, the expense of a dedicated app is just too costly to consider and designing for the mobile web is better from a business perspective IF you want simple functionality – context is king of course.

So….. when it finally decides to load in my iphone I will be able to see well it works.

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#YearInReview What did you ship in 2010?

Seth Godin asked “What did you ship in 2010?” so here I go:

I took a trip of a lifetime to Taiwan.
I got my quill out and write a bunch of guides for the day job.
I spoke at PELC10 and am on the committee for the  2011 conference
I worked on ’10’ new projects including prodigal son and grew a great relationship with a client who keeps coming back.
I gave up 1 sunday a month to volunteer with Bristol Advanced Motorcyclists
I trained and ran in the  9-10 mile ‘fun’ run called the Sodbury slog
I started this here blog
She said YES – i got engaged

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Oxford Chill out gloves

Riding in cold windy rainy conditions is completely fine save the trouble keeping the visor clear and wet hands.

Riding gloves keep my hands dry for about an hour but eventually they get very sodden which leads to cold hands and risk of an accident. My solution to date has been to switch to a dry pair but for long rides this is not workable as i’d need up to five pairs.

Enter the Oxford Chill out ‘inner’ gloves which claim to be waterproof and I hope so to keep my paws dry. I picked a pair up today for £11 in the sale.

They also claim to be comfortable but my first impression is that each finger feels like it has newspaper stuffed into them.

As an aside, the product photo on the website has to be one of the least attracting product photos I have ever encountered.

I will write about my success with the rain as soon as it rains next – shouldn’t be too long then.

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Order is important for javascript

A note to my future self, the order in which you import javascript files doe’s matter.

When using javascript, you must load the jquery file BEFORE you load the scripts.
jquery.js THEN your scripts:
script1.js
script2.js

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Huffduffer – my podcasts

Huffduffer is a web service that allows you to bring found podcast episodes together that you and others can subscribe to.

Already I have discovered ‘game theory’ and actually chosen to walk to work just so i can fit a episode into my day. My Hufferduffer account.

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TV’s in the headrest

Image of a tv in the back of a train seat

Nas was rapping about ‘tvs in the headrests’ back in the mid 90’s. Fast forward to the present and a bunch of trains now have tvs in the headrests.

The only problem is they have introduced them at a time when nearly all new mobile devices provide the same service without the cost. I have yet to see anybody not using their own mobile device and using the train tv service.

Reminds me of those kiosks in the high street.