Trying out viewat.org

I've decided that hosting my own panoramas is something I can't sustain in the long run - sure, learning to write PHP was fun and everything, but I enjoy writing code for embedded devices and that means Java, C, Python... not PHP!

As there's some places on the web that host your panoramas for you, here's time to try one of these out. Please note that for now, their viewer requires a recent version of Flash installed. I have no idea if Gnash will suffice!

Blue Bridge, St James' Park, London, December 2007

FOSDEM 2008

Just wrapping up with FOSDEM 2008 in Brussels and all I can say is that it's been another fascinating outing with fellow Open Source enthusiasts; we're all out to change the world... one person at a time!

My particular focus is Open Source Java and this year didn't disappoint. Our numbers grow and it seems that each year we get promoted to a larger room! Even with the steady churn of interested people in and out of various specialty presentations, we were keeping a fairly steady 50-60 people in the room.

As last year, Sun took active part in this event and keep showing their commitment to opening up OpenJDK completely. Progress is tangible and philosophy re-education within Sun is clearly going forwards; with the occasional hiccup that is to be expected. "Turning a supertanker is a little trickier than executing a handbrake turn"

This year we had the pleasure of having the people behind Duchess giving a talk about Women in Java technology. I greatly appreciate constructive approach to addressing the clear disparity between genders in our subsection of the technology. I strongly encourage everyone interested to look them up.

My own presentation went very well, considering the usual problems with demos not starting and laptop not picking up the projector. FBToolkit slides - in time-honoured fashion - were prepared 20mins before the presentation. FBToolkit is still growing up and with it comes growing pains. Expect big refactoring efforts over the next few months.

Everyone expecting some photos from this FOSDEM event won't be disappointed; photos from the Saturday portion of the conference and followup dinner can be found here.

I'd like to thank everyone for being great friends, for being there, for helping me get caffeinated most mornings and for helping me have fun instead of having a good night's sleep!

See you all there next year!

Future Of Mobile 2007

This week I went to a short 1-day conference at the London iMAX. The majority of lectures were quite interesting as they confirmed some of my 'finger-in-the-air' assessments.

Of course, no visit somewhere new would be complete without lots of picturetaking, so here they are:

FutureOfMobile2007

And for something a little different how about something elaborate?

Future of Mobile, London iMAX, November 2007

Body protection...

... is a must-have for the next time you make an off-colour joke (blokes: or sexist joke...)

http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/generic/9080/

Some points to note:
"In case you weren't aware, [this item] does not stretch."
"If you have long hair, [tie it up] otherwise [the item] could get tangled in your hair."
"You might feel a bit claustrophobic when first wearing [the item] but don't worry you won't get stuck."
"PLEASE wear a shirt or some other garment underneath [the item] is a bit rough and can scratch you."

My Desktop

I'm barely back from my long holiday and still sorting through photos and I get tagged by Vero. Tagged! Now, you'll be able to tell from my blog that I don't take part in these tagging larks, but this time it sounded like fun. So without further delay I present to you, My Desktop:

1. Souvenir from my twice-weekly climbing sessions
2. Hot cup of tea|fruit tea|juice|etc
3. SE W880i, wish it was more stable
4. I'm a photo-nut so my camera is almost always with me (Canon 350D+IS Lens+QR)
5. Current photo backup solution, 60/100GB drives (*news* 60GB one no longer big enough)
6. Old BenQ FP783 LCD... stylish, wish more PC stuff was this nice!
7. 2GB MicroSD in adapter - of course, stupid SonyEricsson don't use them. Grrr.
8. Cheap Dixons keyboard with fading letters
9. Moo cards from my flickr stream
a. Tissues (for the hayfever and spilled tea on the desk)
b. Canon TC-80N3 intervalometer + adapter (wouldn't work in the 350D otherwise)
c. iPod cable... who knows where the iPod itself is though...

Now, I don't really know of who else to lumber with this particular meme, so I'll tag Mario, Dalibor, Cheeser and Tanya :-)

And now I'll get back to sorting through my mountain of photos from my trans-mongolian train ride!

Police cordons

Something we've gotten used to in the UK through the years of the IRA threats, is police cordoning off chunks of London, typically a few blocks as a result of having a suspicious package or car.

Police cordon off 4-5 streets between Westminster and Victoria, London

Today was no different, with people calmly walking away from the cordoned area as directed by police on site. It's markedly different from the general panic typically seen elsewhere around the world.

I wish this calm attitude was something intrinsic with people, rather than having come from repeated exposure to such threats.

Common sense?

Common sense really does seem to be disappearing... why, oh, why is it necessary to warn people to stay away from the edge of train platforms?

Any instinct of self-preservation would surely be triggered by the 1.5m drop onto tracks, or the electrified line or the sheer SIZE of trains passing at speeds in excess of 40km/h.... but no, I imagine that if something did happen, the train company would be sued.

Redundant warning?, Brookwood, United Kingdom

Common sense for everyone, and transplants for those that have none!