Posts made in January, 2009
Digital Downsizing
Maybe space really is the final frontier!
It’s a liberating experience to sort all your worldly possessions out ready to emigrate. I can now say that I’ve looked at every single thing I’ve accumulated over my life (and believe me that’s a lot!) and decided whether to bin it, box it up to store, or take it with me to Canada (in the suitcase or by shipping it). A lot of it has been about trying to downsize, trying to get rid of things, sell them or give them away. Strangely, the value of our possessions has changed for us now – it’s much more about size, than cost. If something is big or bulky, it’s far more likely we’ll get rid of it – because storage space is limited and the amount we can take is limited. So anything that’s small can be kept more easily. And if there’s any way to make things smaller, we’ll jump at the chance.
So what’s the smallest thing of all? Data. I can fit 8 Gig of data on a USB key on my keyring… and I can buy one terabyte of storage, taking up less space than a paperback book, for under £100.
Naturally, this is something we have taken advantage of.
Read MoreTake a bigger bite out of your Apple
How to get the most out of OS X
Recently I stumbled upon an article about Google’s latest desktop search interface, the Google Quick Search Box for Mac. This looks like an interesting new tool that could be of some use – and it’s quite refreshing after Chrome’s PC-only launch to see Google launch something only for the Mac. I was more intrigued to read though, that it’s made by the creator of the OS X quick launching application, Quicksilver. Quicksilver is something I’d read a little about before, and I soon started digging via some links on the page to find out more. Quicksilver is one of a growing set of applications that are designed to make your life easier, but are completely new types of application – and therefore very hard to get your head around. If you tell me you’ve got a great new spreadsheet or diary application, I can easily picture what that is, but if you say you’ve got a launcher, the thought that occurs is “What the heck is that? Why would I want one?”. Quicksilver had definitely caught my interest but I’d never quite got my head round it. Which brings me to the main point of this post:
I would like to highly recommend The Apple Blog if you’ve ever been interested to get more out of your Apple Mac. Myself, ever since I moved from Windows to Mac 2 years ago, I’ve thought that OS X offers far more effective ways of getting things done than Windows; unfortunately though, 15 years of using Windows has drummed the Windows way of thinking so heavily in to me that I find it hard to know how to do things “the Mac way”. I have had the nagging sense that I’m just using it like Windows and missing out on quite a lot. If you’ve ever had these kind of thoughts, or are just interested in moving from “beginner” to “power user” then I think you will find this site to be a veritable gold mine.
2009: À Montréal!
New Year, New Start!
Well I haven’t written a “what I’ve been up to” post since India really so given I’m about to have a major life change I thought I should get into gear and post something! I had a very enjoyable and eventful time over Christmas and New Year. We spent time before Christmas with my family in Northumberland. We did a lovely walk just a couple of days before Christmas by Dunstanburgh Castle in warm sunshine! On Christmas eve we headed down to Kent to spend Christmas with Mrs Alex’s family (or Dr Alex as I should say now!) in Kent. Christmas was great, lots of wonderful food as well as my first visit from Santa in about 16 years – I must have been a good boy – and a surprisingly enjoyable trip to the panto in Canterbury. For New Year we rented a couple of lovely cottages at Pekes Manor in Sussex with a big group of friends and enjoyed relaxing and not doing very much. Then I went up to London for a couple of days to visit my good friend and talented actor Ben, we attended a Creative Visualization workshop by John Osborne Hughes together, which was very enlightening, the perfect way to set some New Year’s Resolutions and make them more tangible.
Returning home on the 4th of January we really hit the ground running.
Read MoreStudent Invents Solar-Powered Fridge for Developing Countries | Inhabitat – Green Design Will Save the World
http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/01/12/solar-powered-fridge-by-emily-cummins
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A great bit of innovation by a talented young designer. Like the clockwork radio but even more so, this is something that can make a real difference to the developing worldjust hear it – Any song. Legal. Free.
handy way of playing that song that’s going round in your head
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