July 2005 Archives

Here's some industrial design for you to consider...

One of the winners of the IDEA awards this year was this clever product. The Paint Buddy is a touch-up paint storage and application unit that changes the way we will think about house painting in the very near future. Apparently.

Designed to store the leftover paint you have after completing the walls in a room, you would store the extra paint in this device with built-in roller. Then should you scuff the wall 6 months later, you simply pop open the top and roll on the touch-up. When you're done, the roller part comes off for cleaning or replacement. Genius!

[Thanks Chris]

The Secret Penguin is one of 243 signs that have been collected in the massive sign bucket that is SwankSigns.org... Other classics include "How To Pee" and "Maze Fun".

I've had a rest and, as you can probably tell from the last two entries, am ready to write things again.

Nothing huge has happened to spark this, just realised how little I've been about lately.

I have become interested in Broadband - I currently have ISDN and am happy with that but think that Broadband would allow me to spend less time in front a computer.

I'm also working on a few tweaks to the site, some things I want to add that I've seen on other blogs - I've been looking around the internet!

Tomorrow sees the start of a nine day stint at work - most of those shifts are mornings though so it doesn't take up too much of the day and to be honest, I can do with the money.

So there, keep an eye on the place. I'll be writing a little more, probably not every day, but hopefully at least once a week, maybe a little more often. I'll find a happy medium eventually but I've always been a little sporadic...

Audioscrobbler! I love that name...

One of the best ways to discover new bands is through recommendations from your friends, and indeed I've made many a random CD for friends - I'm in the process of making CD20 for JSC now...

Audioscrobbler is a plug-in that connects your computer to music lovers all over the web. You download it and it monitors your music player, uploading a list of everything you have been listening to during the day. My page is available here.

It is fairly straightforward to set up. You go to the Get A Plug-in page and choose one from the long list. You need to make sure that you get the correct plug-in for the music player you use, I mainly use Windows Media Player so use that one, but plug-ins are available for iTunes, Winamp, etc.

You do not need to register to download the software but you do need an account to start using it. Registration is free and easy, and you do not even need to put an e-mail address in, but it will be collecting information from your computer. The software works every time you use your media player and the information is collated from all users to produce charts to show the most played songs.

For people who want to expand their musical horizons, the Explore Music section houses a great tool where you put in the name of a band you like and it shows a list of different bands and artists who feature in the collections of other people who listen to that band.

For more information go to www.audioscrobbler.com www.last.fm.

[Edited on Tuesday, 23rd October 2007 to reflect changes in links contain in post]

Great news. Today's gibberish has been replaced with a fun and exciting geography game: Guess where HSX isn't right now. Ready to play? Here goes...

Fact 1: The World Trade Organization was officially established via an agreement signed in this city, in 1994.

Fact 2: This city was founded in 1062 at the foothills of the Atlas Mountains, and is sometimes referred to as "The Pearl Of The South."

Fact 3: It was the host of the 2005 IAAF World Youth Competition which was held this month and featured almost 1400 young athletes from 180 countries in athletic competition.

[Answer in the extended entry...]