The Key to Technology

In every house I've lived in, and I've moved around London a lot no far - not to mention my time in Dublin, there has always been a knack to using one or other of the house keys. It's always "lift it a bit" or "pull th door [towards/away from] you", "wiggle it" etc. and my new place is no different.

It's really the same in every part of life, from the simplest of solution to the most complex (attempting to make life simple) of technology, the user still needs time to get to know the quirks and personality of the technology.

You can claim a lot of devices are intuitive to use, but there are always unexpected "features" that make you think "huh, why did they make it like that". I'm finding this out more and more.

His Ancestral Home

I was very happy, for once, to be woken up early to the news that Barack Obama had won the presidential election, and spent the morning - including my cycle to work - listening to the radio and not getting bored, for once, of hearing the same news over again.

One report on Radio 4 came from Barack's paternal ancestral home of Kenya where the town has erupted in joy, going so far as declaring the day  national holiday.

Now for his maternal links. Everyone knows that we all descend from the Irish, maybe born there (like me), or having ancestors "in the Moneygall area of County Offaly more than 150 years ago", like Barack.

The speculation goes on to see Oprah Winfrey as either the London or Dublin US ambassador...

Overall, though, a very good day.

Grow your greens!

Having just moved into my first ever london gaff wit ha back garden, I'm itching to dig it up - especially since it has a square of public land at the back of it that no-one can access but me. Luckily, I've been given the go-ahead by the mayor!

back pain

So I woke up this morning with grand plans of going swimming today, until I stretched and heard something creak. Back pain quickly ensued and I'm now just getting over it. Not only that, but my driving instructor cancelled on me! So I'm left with a pointless morning of no online access home working. Into work I go!

btw, MS Groove is a fantastic tool for allowing you access to those shared drive files (or even SharePoint) while isolated from a connection or on the move.

So, after venturing into Crouch End and meeting friends randomly on the street, found The Queens, who are friendly and love to give free internet!

Twittering @LastMinute_com

I've only recently started twittering, mostly because I couldn't find an application that I can comfortably use. I now use twitterfox, because it's sits right inside my browser, which is about the only thing that I can install on my work PC.

I have found that it works across many folds:

1. it helps me keep in touch with savvy friends who also twitter. Conversations are quick, open and easy
2. I can follow small pieces of news eg. Number 10, R4's Today program
3. Organisations trawl twitter for people discussing their product eg, Nokia E71. (I was quite impressed when I first twittered about it and they started following me)

The third point is the most important one I think. Unlike facebook status, twitter is searchable, and those searches can be subscribed to.

Anyway, my story is this:

For some reason, every time I visit a lastminute.com page - no matter what page it is - I get a 404 error. So I decided to twitter it quite casually. My friend replied saying that, if they're clever, they'll be listening. They were indeed clever...but not that clever.

Seeming to disregard my problem, they said "you can contact us on the lastminute.com website". Which I can't. Even if I get a "contact us" link, I go straight to a 404 error. So, good support, but no help really...

Overall, though, loving twitter.

Lazy days?

So the reboot of by training hasn't gone too well, mostly due to moving house - so I've redeveloped my time to start next week. I'm still cycling in and out of work - but I'm inspired by "slow cycling". I find that taking my time, waiting patiently etc costs me no more than 5 minutes! And a hell of a lot less stress!

My other initiative is more to do with my working patterns. My IT kit for work is pretty impressive. I have my own small laptop that can connect from anywhere with VPN (anywhere with a wireless network that is) to get my email, instant messenger and shared resources. My phone system can be logged into from my mobile, and I can sync anything and work offline for those times I can't get a connection!

Overall, this means, I can carry my office around with me, and my office can be any flat space where I can open my laptop and connect.

I working to increase my flexibility to physically being in the office when I need to be, IE arriving in time for my first meeting and leaving after my last. After that, I can work at home, in a cafe, anywhere that I need to - as long as whatever I need to do gets done.

To do this, I need my managers agreement, which I have for the next 2 weeks, and I need to keep them updated and assured that I'm actually working. So it involves more accountability I think - which isn't a bad thing.

This just in: Loud Music Damages Hearing!

"A new EU study has found that listening to personal music players at a
high volume, over a long period, can permanently damage hearing."

I read this on british news yesterday, but today it's Ireland's turn to try to drill it home. It has to be the most obvious research there has been so far to date. It may be that the actual report shows something more detailed, in the rate of degradation of hearing, but we're not given that information...or even a link to the report.