Rob's Blog - October 2005
Contents
Here are Rob's Blog entries for October 2005.
Blog entries for other months can be found in the main blog index.
I've signed up for the first Mobile Monday London event on the 7th November.
Unfortunately, due to the amount of interest, it's already over subscribed so if you've not been able to get a place, I'll have to catch you at the next event.
This month's theme is "bridging the digital and physical worlds", and there are speakers from Vodafone, mTrack, Shotcode and the BBC all confirmed. Russell Beattie is also going to be in town for it.
It's going to be cool.
Entered: 2005-10-28 13:54:29
Congratulations to my former emap collegues Leo Lapworth and Leon Brocard for winning the BBC Backstage competition with Mightyv.
It's a lovely bit of Perl goodness. Leon has even open sourced the heavy lifting TV::Anytime module on CPAN.
The lucky devils have won themselves a nice rack mounted server and a trip to the BBC.
Well done guys, you deserved to win!
Entered: 2005-10-27 09:24:46
I see in the London Evening Standard that some City firms are stockpiling Tamiflu to treat "thousands" of staff in the event of a bird flu epidemic.
The good news (for me) is that my employer is listed as one of the companies doing this.
I hope if the predicted outbreak occurs, my family and I will be some of the lucky ones able to get treatment.
The current National Geographic has a very good piece on Tracking The Next Killer Flu, and it shows what could happen if avian flu does infect humans and comparing it to what happened in previous outbreaks like Spanish Flu.
Entered: 2005-10-24 21:37:47
Ooooh!
Daleks vs cybermen in the new Dr Who series according to the Evening Standard.
I'm getting excited!
Lifeblog Entry - Posted via Lifeblog from a Nokia smart phone
Entered: 2005-10-12 19:03:31
I had a ticket for the Q Awards party tonight as I helped build the voting website for it, but I have had to give it a miss as I've promised to move a chest of draws from my late grandparents house.
Gutted.
However, my little daughter will benefit, and have something nice from the great-grandparents she'll never know.
Somehow that makes it all worthwhile.
Lifeblog Entry - Posted via Lifeblog from a Nokia smart phone
Entered: 2005-10-10 18:40:58
T-mobile are promoting their new Web n Walk product at London Victoria Station at present.
It seems the police are interested in using it on the beat.
It's great to see the internet being pushed by a mobile operator instead of a walled garden.
Lifeblog Entry - Posted via Lifeblog from a Nokia smart phone
Entered: 2005-10-10 18:28:31
Friday saw me at the London Hilton Hotel on Park Lane attending the 2005 AOP Awards.
Two websites I have been working on were nominated for awards, and they both won!
Firstly, the winner of the award for Innovation 2005 went to the Q Glastonbury Blog.
This was a site we put together to contain all our coverage of 2005's Glastonbury Festival. The site editors didn't want to lug around laptops or worry about trying to get an internet connection, so we worked with Nokia and we did it all using their Lifeblog product. Regular readers of this website will know my enthusiasm for this product, and it proved it's worth when the rains came and knocked out everyone else's coverage. Q was able to keep blogging and keep the site fresh as it happened.
Here's what they said about it...
By avoiding 'traditional' festival coverage, such as reviews and photos of artists on stage, the Q Glastonbury Blog became an evolving record of the colourful happenings the team encountered at the event, including cabaret, circus performers and hundreds of stalls. By offering uniquely personal and exclusive coverage, the blgo communicated with users on their own terms, but with the added element of backstage access.
The judges commented...
Q4Music.com/blogs are an innovation for the present, capturing content from the site's own audience. In a busy category, the service has surpassed its competitors and uses technology to its limits to add value for a dedicated community.
We were up against other worthy contenders such as the BBC's News Player, Blinx, Ad Genie, The Guardian's blog, The Sun's Video News, The Scotsma and VNUnet.com.
Our second triumph was Whatson.com's winning of the Lauch 2005 Award.
WhatsOn.com is a bit of a baby of mine, and one site where I was able to learn a lot of new technologies, as well as discovering offic politics, to build it.
Here's what they said about it...
WhatsOn.com provides a solution for the broadband generation that looks for content online that they may have previously sourced elsewhere. The site offers live streams for Emap radio stations such as Kerrang, Kiss, Smash Hits and Mojo, and provides gems of content, including: hour-long interviews and documentaries with some of the world's biggest artists; 'back-stage' features, download charts and an "Also-Playing' feature which sources content from Emap's extensive cross-media platforms. Since its launch in June 2005 the site has attracted an impressive 1.2million users, a figure which is steadily increasing.
The judges commented...
WhatsOn.com brings together a diverse range of online content extremely well. The site offers creative, relevant and easy to use material for the iPod generation, which is used to accessing an exlectic mix of music.
We beat BSkyB, CNET, Magicalia and The Scotsman to win this award.
All in all, it was a really good night. We're a small team, and it's great to see our hard work recognised by the industry, and better to win against some of the really big names out there like the BBC.
Entered: 2005-10-10 09:28:09
Naughty Southern Railway!
Slam door trains were supposed to have stopped running a few months ago. There was a big fuss about it with MPs and Mayors on the ceremonial last train.
So look what's at the neighbouring platform to the Eastbourne service at Victoria tonight.
Lifeblog Entry - Posted via Lifeblog from a Nokia smart phone
Entered: 2005-10-04 18:08:27
Ronnie Barker died yesterday.
Lifeblog Entry - Posted via Lifeblog from a Nokia smart phone
Entered: 2005-10-04 18:03:43
I thought it was time to share my secret onion gravy recipe with the rest of the world, so here it is. It creates enough for two.
It's nice and simple, and really easy to make.
Firstly, the ingredients...
- Half an Onion
- 150ml Stock
- 0.5 tsp Soft Brown Sugar
- Splash of Vegetable Oil
The onion can any old cheap variety, no need for anything expensive. The stock can come from any vegetables you've been cooking, I tend to add 1 vegetable stock cube as well to it if it's quite weak.
Now the method...
- Finely chop the onion.
- Add a splash of oil to a frying pan, and add the onion.
- Cook for a few minutes, then sprinkle over the sugar.
- Keep cooking, stiring occassionally for at least 10 minutes.
- Add the stock and keep stiring for a minute or two.
- The gravy should have thickened by now and ready to eat.
Nice and easy isn't it? Great with vege sausages!
Entered: 2005-10-03 23:07:00
