electro revolt blues

I didn't make the bike ride I'd planned this morning, because the alarm failed and I overslept.

The clock radio is only a few months old, but I've noticed its operating system will occasionally jam. It's done it a couple of times since I've had it, which doesn't fill me with confidence for its primary role to wake me up.

Sure, it has all manner of options but maybe the engineers got a little carried away and technological embellishment has triumphed over base functionality. It suffers from what I consider 'unnecessary moving parts' in that theres a little pop out gadget where an iPod can plug in. I remember my dismay when I unpacked it and discovered the little 'feature'.

And in an attack of the machines moment, the kitchen radio has been progressively losing its ability to receive BBC radio channels. I don't know why, but the signals seem to be getting weaker. Or maybe the amount of other frequencies crackling around are attenuating the FM channels. Anyway, this weekend, there was little to discern above a loud hiss from the one time crystal clear reception.

Oh yes, and then the electric kettle stopped working.

So part of today has been spent replacing parts of the domestic infrastructure, so that I can drink a cup of tea whilst listening to the radio.

ingesting, logging, cropping, editing, transitioning and rendering

A bright Saturday, but many household tasks to perform involving garden, groceries, laundry and similar.

In the background I've been working on some video edits in support of a project and today will set the re-rendering of the nearly complete video sequence, which is around 40Gigabytes in size although not very long in runtime.

There's over 400 cuts in the full sequence, so the workflow for the rendering needs some care. I guess it will take at least an hour of solid computer time to process into its completed high resolution format, so that we can use it on a big screen.

artist reconstruction of sandwich eating incident

My second solo al fresco dining within a few days, although this time it was a brief pause on the way back from Leamington Spa.

The first time, I was simply a little early for a meeting and had decided to walk to the edge of the River Thames, clutching a hastily purchased cheese and pickle sandwich. There was something surprisingly pleasing about this simple sandwich, the freshness of the air and watching a quiet late afternoon London world go by. In my pocket was a small camera, but I'd noticed that I'd not replaced its battery, which was quietly recharging elsewhere.

Oops.

Close by me was Grosvenor Bridge and I could hear the rumble of trains crossing and then an increasingly loud engine sound. Something was odd about it. Yes, a steam locomotive. I watched as a handsome malachite green steam locomotive slipped across the bridge towards Victoria, puffing white smoke and pulling shiny Pullman carriages.

It would have been a photo opportunity, but it's one for the head instead.

"Clan Line", it said on the side of the engine.

It looks as if Hornby make a model of it.

political bingo for the innocent smoothies

I've been watching and listening to some of the early coverage of the electioneering and already there are a few patterns emerging. Such fun to see Mr Brown at the Innocent Smoothies factory in Hammersmith today. Their choice of signage might have been unfortunate however and worse than the example from Southampton, above.

It makes me think its about time to bring out one of those bingo chart/checklists. Presenting the rashbre-o-meter of political gestures Version 0.1 - "Photo opportunities".

Using my rather unscientific initial checklist, it would seem that Gordon has a resounding initial lead, which makes me think there is a complete PhotO-Op Play Book (PoopBook) in the background.

wash-up or spin cycle?

The usually hidden turbo button on the Parliamentary system has been revealed. It looks as if the remaining bills under consideration are all to be processed within the next 2-3 days before Parliament is dissolved.

Harriet Harman can preside over this last minute spin cycle as part of the so-called wash-up process. The bills make an interesting laundry list, with the bribery bill, financial services bill, developing countries debt relief bill and the equality bill for starters.

There's plenty of others too, and it raises all sorts of questions about the time these normally take, the number of ostensibly significant bills that have not been processed and what happens when they all get bundled through in a couple of days.

The one drawing a lot of internet attention has been the digital economy bill, which has had almost a whole day to itself and is being rushed through despite extensive lobbying requesting delays for various reviews.

I can't help wondering whether this bundling of bills will really engage MPs, because of the imminent dissolution and electioneering.

Quite a laundering operation.

hopping hare

We'd decided to go for a wander in the woods as the skies changed from grey to blue and it was a way to make the most of the sunny springtime weather.

The woodland route involved creating large wooden staffs from fallen branches and striding purposefully whilst looking like extras from a hobbit movie. Inevitably we fell upon a pub and decided to sit outside in the sun.

My simple task was to buy the drinks, but whilst still choosing the ale, the others arrived inside the bar, shaking ice from their hair. Spring was being playful and the skies had again darkened whilst handfuls of hailstones bounced to the grounds.

We sipped the Hopping Hare before returning for a rather late Sunday lunch.

iPad arcade cabinets in Topeka and Cadie

A tough decision to decide the best of the April pranks for 2010, but I decided I quite liked this one, the iPad Arcade Cabinet, provided amongst a whole collection of ideas from ThinkGeek.

The also produced the star-trek breakfast cereal (Tribbles and Bits), the screaming kitchen knife (your choice of 50 sounds) and even the child friendly "tell me your secrets" bear featuring a digital recorder. The toy 2001 monolith action figure with no moving parts was accurately portrayed with its squared primes ratios of 1:4:9.

None of this could be googled yesterday afternoon though, because Google.com had renamed itself as Topeka, after the Kansas capital which renamed itself 'Google' for a while to try to persuade Google to run some development there.

And finally, a brief hat tip to one of last year's best, the Cadie Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed Intelligence Entity.

This was artificial intelligence based upon the brain of a 12 year old Japanese girl.

Note the groovy music, rainbow colours and pandas on the website. Click the icon for an explanation and to marvel at the gmail autoresponse generator.

vein based electronic cash

Hand operated Kit-Kat vending machine.


Finger vein Coca-Cola vending machine.


Sony digital camera vending machine

iTable and OhMiBod with bluetooth

I was planning to write a post about the iTable today, but I see that several other people have beaten me to it. The version we had invented heard of had iLegs as well and could be configured in various ways. Unfortunately, even the most bizarre iPrefix products have been conceptualised and the words reserved.

Instead its better to look at the progress of the iTable as a concept.

The first one was pretty basic and rather obvious.

It didn't really have a purpose other than to take up space.

Not a survivor.

Then came one that tried to pack a punch.

Large and purposeful, but could it really do much more than display different place settings on the kitchen table and maybe provide a helpful online newspaper or two?

The latest generation have screens to the very edge.

This means they can be repurposed into other devices.

The one illustrated is switched off, although it is currently configured as a grand piano.

You'll see it also has a foldaway section (the optional iFold) for storage.


But of course, striving for technological greatness continues and there will be another generation, I'm sure.

Just like the other *ahem* well-known product the OhMiBod, which attaches to an iPhone or iPod to provide musical love. Even this has evolved from the earlier versions with the so called freedom cord, to the latest generation which positively buzz with bluetooth connectivity.

BMW political car badge

The scoundrels with the roundels have done another topical advert this year.

I still remember the Rim Impulse Power from a couple of years ago, invented by Dr Hans Zoff.


And the Today programme's section about Shakespeare being French had a spurious plausibility, less so the left handed sandwiches and the WD40 aftershave, although whoever did the odour combatting miracle shirts had done a great job. For the technically minded fourwalls could be taking over from foursquare ("I remember when it only had 3 sides back in 2006 etc.")

can I catch a chocolate addiction?

With the chocolate egg season upon us, I thought it would be interesting to investigate the mood enhancing chemicals associated with chocolate.

Strictly in the interests of science, of course.

The biggie that most people have heard about is the caffeine relative called theobromine, which is the one usually shown on "I heart chocolate" tee-shirts, so that's a good place to start, with its trippy endorphins to create a pleasant buzz.

It's said that the brain chemicals that chocolate enhances are relatives of opium. It works because one of the brain's receptors that flips is the same one that responds to marijuana, but instead of responding to THC (the cannabis chemical tetrahydrocannabinol), the brain produces anadamide and is happy to let chocolate slow down its dispersal to create similar but more localised receptor effect to cannabis.

Then there's the love drug component.

That's because chocolate also contains phenylethylamine, which is a chemical related to amphetamines. Like uppers, this chemical raises blood pressure and blood-sugar level creating a state that has been likened to a feeling of being in love.

So if we see plenty of blissed out people this week, the combination of self produced opiates and feelings of love may be partly driven from their levels of chocolate consumption.

Pass the Creme Eggs.

set the controls for the heart of the sun

Am I mistaken, or is the Director General of CERN in Japan on the day that the most significant CERN experiment in ages is taking place in Geneva? Could that be the other side of the planet, by any chance?

The biggie is the switch-on of the Large Hadron Collider filled with protons stripped from Hydrogen and ramped up to a 'back to the future' style voltage of 3.5 Trillion electron volts (TeV).

Quite powerful.

Then the ikkle protons buzz around and get excited until they are deflected to collide creating all manner of new and otherworldly sparks.

1000 million times hotter than the sun. In a tiny space.

My guess is that the beings from distant planets will spot this sign of galactic level science and decide to point their telescopes and time-travel devices our way.

Earth. Mostly Harmless. As the hitch-hikers guide says.

Nanoo-Nanoo.