As a little experiment, I spent a little time investigating Google App Engine, with a view to setting up a Twitter bot that could fulfill this off-hand wish.
It transpired that Google App Engine is remarkably easy to use. On Mac OS X I just needed to install the App Engine Launcher, configure it to use [...]
Tag: Uncategorized
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Beanie Big Ben
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MyPolice, (fair and) balanced journalism, and why, if it’s difficult, it’s probably worthwhile
MyPolice, the worthy winners of the 2009 Social Innovation Camp Scotland last week, received a write-up of sorts in the Scottish edition of the Sunday Times today. I introduce the “of sorts” disclaimer because, as you can predict, any reading of the article is pretty heavily weighted by the title it has been given – [...]
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Are underscores OK in HTML class attributes?
I’d been using underscores in class names for a while, and a couple of weeks ago someone I work on things with mentioned that they supposedly weren’t allowed. Now, I prefer underscores over hyphens generally (and certainly prefer them over using camel case), and Google have just pronounced them OK for URLs, too. Is there [...]
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The devaluation in instant availability
Bill Drummond being interviewed about recorded music:
There was one occasion where I went to HMV to buy a CD. Standing outside the doors, I could see aisle upon aisle, rack upon rack – every CD known to mankind is there for me to buy. Over the decades my taste in music has broadened; I like [...]
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I’m game, I hate bizarre password rules too
I’m currently signing up to try out RescueTime, and wasn’t entirely sure about the prospect – but a good bit of opinionatedness has swayed me:
OK, the “watch for mistrakes!” is a tiny bit too unartfully kooky, but that’s forgiveable. What really impresses me is the help text given for the password field:
We hate bizarre password [...] -
Demote questions without answers!
Something that shouldn’t be beyond the wit of Google: parsing a page in a forum that only has one post, posting a question, to which no-one has ever replied – so it can be dropped further down the search results! Or separated into a different set. If I’m searching for a string of words that [...]
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Seeking obscurity
Miranda Sawyer in the Guardian, having a good old-fashioned moan about the new times:
I have an idea about alternative culture: if there’s something interesting going on, leave it alone. Don’t whack it on YouTube, don’t blog about it, don’t hire a PR and get a piece in the Guardian Guide. And never invite a marketing [...]
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Live Search: Firefox 3 – what Firefox 3?
I was a little staggered to find just now, while searching for ‘Firefox’ in Live Search, a whole page of results pointing to Firefox 2. I suppose it’s possible their indexing is just really, really slow (Firefox 3 has been out a week now), but none of the links on the first page were even [...]
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Web things that must die #3: Reflected text
I wasn’t that great of a fan of the “Web 2.0″ style trend for the reflection effect (as pioneered by Apple). Too often it’s executed poorly, and just smacks of trying to look cool without putting too much thought into the actual design. (Yes, I realise I’m quite one to talk.) I think, though, that [...]
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How web design needs to change utility companies
There are any number of blogs and, more specifically, people around discussing the finer points of web design at all levels, from low-level technical matters to high-level interface interactions. The Web is excellent, largely, at self-analysis, reconceptualisation and experimentation – it could, of course, be better, but it’s true to say that the dominant idioms [...]
© 2010 Douglas Greenshields