Google have just released a new API for their Google Base project. I personally think this is very interesting, not least because it makes me think in new ways about a couple of projects I’ve had in mind. If data can be stored in Base, then queried by an external front-end, this opens a gamut of new possibilities. More on this later…
Tags: API, databases, Google, web
Adobe have an account on del.icio.us. Pretty cool the way they’ve tried to get involved with the community. I of course am still using mine. [via]
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Flash Fights Back! Superb video showing a Flash animation getting it’s revenge.
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After AOL recently released some of it’s search logs, a few sites have come up giving summaries of them this has to be one of my favourites.
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Orisinal is a great collection of fun little flash games. A few of my favourites: Pocketful of Stars, Bugs, The Amazing Dare-Dozen, Floats.
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An amazing flight simulator built on top of Google Maps using Flash. Note: I couldn’t get this to work with Firefox on Linux, presumably because it still uses Flash Player 7. This blog post from weblogs.macromedia.com (not Adobe-fied yet I see) says that Flash Player 9 for Linux won’t be available until 2007 at the earliest!
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ArsTechnica give their live coverage from the Apple WWDC keynote. Guess what’s not mentioned? Anything about a new iPod model, just when I’m looking at getting a 4GB Nano. I also read this entry about problems with the iPod, though I must admit, most of the complaints do not really concern me.
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In some ways I actually feel heartened by this article on the BBC which says that “employers would be put off a job candidate by poor spelling or grammar”. If I am capable of using good grammar and take care with my spelling, does that give me an advantage?
More from the article:
Only 24% of employers interviewed said they were interested in a candidate’s class of degree and 14% in the reputation of the university they had attended. … “They rank relevant work experience highly, and expect candidates to be able to communicate well and show that they are highly motivated too.”
Such delicate, precious music… sounds like something from a more innocent age (before I was born at least), it’s hard to believe that Wilco’s label actually rejected this album! (See Wikipedia for an article on the controversy.)
This is moving, uplifting, just listening to tracks like “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart” and “War on War” makes me feel warmer somehow. This album was released in 2002, it’s almost annoying to think that I wasn’t aware of it for so long.
Tags: music
This recruitment video for an American state university has to be one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever seen. Whoever thought that having basically a slideshow (with the same wipe every time), and that bizarre song, would be a good idea!?
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An incredible photograph of lightning, taken in Toronto. [via]
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Since I moved to Peterborough, I’ve been playing cards with people who have a preference for playing with Russian playing cards*. These cards are unusual not only in their design and markings (”D” (though the character much more resembles an “A”) is Queen, “B” is Jack, “T” is Ace…), but also in that the cards 2-5 are missing, meaning the deck consists of only 36 cards.
No valid explanation was ever offered for this, but perhaps the most amusing is that when sailors brought the cards to Russia from the west, some of the cards got lost, and the Russians who found them just went along with what they had, telling the printers who were to recreate them “oh yeah, that’s how things are in the west… missing out the first five numbers then appearing to tack the number one on the end…”
* the guy I’m taking over from in this new job - his fiance is from Russia.
Tags: humour, playing cards, Russia
Now that Amazon are providing a grocery delivery service from their main site, the whole review system is included on each product page, which has produced some slightly strange reviews for this particular brand of Tuscan Milk. [via]
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Filmfour has been rebranded as Film4 [links to the same site :)], and made available for free on UK Freeview! You may be aware that this actually happened about two weeks ago, but I’m only reporting it now because I can only now recieve it. I don’t know whether Peterborough has had it’s transmitters upgraded or if it was the weird weather we were having before that was causing a problem or something.
The BBC reports that the previous head of Film4 stepped down from his position “just days after the channel relaunched.”
In tune with every other blog out there, I present Commafruit, as treated by Workfriendly.net. See more here.
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See this MSDN article for a Microsoft solution to the Linux “problem”. Not sure why I find this funny - I think it’s the fact that Linux is dealt with so matter-of-factly, as though Linux were something that an unwitting user had accidently infected their machine with, like some kind of malware…
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Beautiful images of Nacreous Clouds. No, I didn’t know what they were either, but BBC has a great article about them. [via]
Update: those pics linked above are just part of a bigger site.
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Arstechnica recommends that Vista be delayed again in order to improve the quality of the final product. I think people will sympathise with this. Sounds awfully familiar, too.
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