Category Archives: Technology

Zoundz – How could I not want one?

Posted on December 5, 2006 by Jon

Repetitive loop based electronic music? Unusual computer interfaces? Star-Trekky-looky gizmos? It’s my stock in trade, what I love best. Until I can afford the Grand-and-a-half that a Jazz Mutant Lemur costs I’m going to have to make do with a Zizzle … Continue reading →

Posted in Shopping, Technology | 5 Comments

Machinery – How it works

Posted on November 16, 2006 by Jon

Our washing machine stopped working at the weekend. It did everything that is was supposed to, the water ran in and out again, but the clothes never got washed. A washing machine doesn’t look dangerous so I felt that I … Continue reading →

Posted in Shopping, Technology | 3 Comments

Statistics Every Writer Should Know

Posted on June 17, 2005 by Jon

I’m working on a show which uses a lot of statistics at the moment. While trying to find a good description of what Standard Deviation is I came across a great stats site for journalists. I’m feeling much more confident … Continue reading →

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Today’s Computers, Intelligent Machines and Our Future, Hans Moravec, Stanford AI Lab, 1978

Posted on May 31, 2005 by Jon

This Article from 1978 about computers and artificial intelligence has a chart in it which compares the computational power of a pocket calculator, a sponge (alive), a Cray and a sperm whale. Apart from that, I have to admit, it’s … Continue reading →

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I am very busy, but somehow not busy enough

Posted on May 18, 2005 by Jon

I was reading the very excellent magazine “Cabinet” and came across a link to something that I can only describe as marvy. It’s An Illustrated Timeline of Desktop Computer Icons. There, I’ve said it, now you know.

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Motion Induced Blindness

Posted on April 21, 2005 by Jon

Wowser! Here’s a page with a great… well I don’t know if you’d call it an optical illusion or not. I suppose that’s what it is. Motion Induced Blindness

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The Greenwich Time Signal has gone flat

Posted on April 12, 2005 by Jon

Even as I write this BBC engineers are hard at work trying to find out what is wrong with the Greenwich Time Signal. The GTS is played in the seconds leading up to the top of the hour, ever hour … Continue reading →

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BBC doesn’t fall for tech hoax

Posted on April 6, 2005 by Jon

Well, I’ll be. Wired just printed a story admitting that the story they did about toothing (picking up partners for casual sex by sending messages to Bluetooth enabled mobile phones) was a hoax. They even have a link to a … Continue reading →

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BBC falls for yet another hoax

Posted on April 1, 2005 by Jon

World Briefing on the BBC World Service ran a three and a half minute piece today by a man they described as a Washington based journalist, James Srodes. In fact they ran it at least four times, maybe more. It … Continue reading →

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Riddley Walker

Posted on April 1, 2005 by Jon

I just finished re-reading my favourite book, Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban. I first read it at school, at about the same time that I read my other favourite novel, Peter Carey’s Bliss. Put those two books together and you’ve … Continue reading →

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