Subscribe:
Merry Christmas to one and all.
What do you mean, it isn't Christmas? So far in the last week on the re-run that is television programming, there's been Christmas on "Family Guy", "Friends" and "The Simpsons". Probably others that I haven't seen. As television has been getting rapped for telling lies and misleading people recently, I can only guess that my calendar is wrong, and we're in December.
Of course, there's only one appropriate song ... take it away, Mr Wood
Google is 10 years old today. Well, the Inc part is. Even the question, "when is Google's birthday" is met with this official answer:
The exact date when we celebrate our birthday has moved around over the years, depending on when people feel like having cake. (source)
Hence the "Inc" part.
To say they shook up the search engine market is an understatement. Unlike JFK's murder, I can remember where I was when I first heard about "Google". I was a fan of Alta Vista at the time, and used Yahoo! as a way to drill-down to find information. A comparison of results showed that Google returned more accurate results. Nowadays I have to bite back the phrase "Google for more information" and tell students to "use a search engine to find more information".
Later the Google toolbar kicked in. Placing a simple search facility into whatever browser I was using. They didn't clutter it up with adverts and the like. Their tenet was rumoured to be "build it first and then figure a way to make money from it". AdSense came in, placing adverts at the side of the search results. Easy to ignore if you weren't looking to buy things.
When the Usenet groups was forced to look for a new home, Google came to the rescue, and so discussion groups became Google Groups. Large email storage and shared documents, Google Earth, their labs facility which allowed you to see and beta test facilities. The movies site which then fed into the purchase of YouTube.
Google Maps and Earth allow people to look for local facilities in a non-text environment. With GPS being added to mobile phones, it wasn't a surprise to see a version of Google Maps available for my Nokia 6220 Classic. Although the phone has its own Nokia Maps, it isn't as good as Google Maps. Less fuss means a happier customer.
After the problems with S60 programs being written for specific mobile phones, defeating the purpose of having a standard operating system, I'd guess that Google Android wouldn't suffer from that problem. It might release more creative use of mobile phones.
Chrome - their new browser. No, not their "new" browser, but their first browser. As they are so integrated in to the Web, again I have to remind myself that this only their first browser.
If you want to see where things might be in the near future, have a look at Kevin Kelly's "Predicting the next 5,000 days of the web". You can bet Google will be near the centre of it all. Will "Google" become synonymous with the naffly-named "Cloud"? Only time will tell.
Looking through the local paper's website for something else, I was stunned to read that:
During World War 2 it [Aberdeen] was attacked 34 times, earning it the unwanted nickname Siren City.
And now it has emerged that more than 20 live bombs could be buried under the Granite City.
While experts are certain the live bombs are buried beneath the city, no one knows where.
It is though that 10% of the 212 explosive devices dropped on the city are still live. Now they are posing a risk to developers. [full story]
Robin across at BlogPackingLight pointed me to the Mountaineering Council of Scotland's recent position statement on the Alladale Project (pdf link). They conclude that:
The member organisations of this group find this unofficial, but well-publicised project, as unacceptable as stated. We call for a recognition that the unnatural density, probable artificial feeding and commercial nature shows that this project is a safari park, which would require a zoo licence, and hence is completely different from what it is promoted as which is a re-wilding project. A full project study should be undertaken, followed by an environmental statement stating the legal basis on which this project will be based.
And here's a link to the YouTube version
I wrote some notes earlier on the recent programme shown on the BBC, and then immediately repeated after the 6 episodes were finished showing on BBC Scotland. I didn't post anything about later episodes as I really could not be bothered reporting on the one-sided shallow programme. It was not a documentary. I don't know what it was other than merely following around people on the estate. No attempt was made to do any follow up. Unlike "Trawlermen", the estate and Mr Lister's project is not a sealed bubble, but the programme may have given that impression.
Overall, I find it intriguing that the Scottish Government does not get involved when its own access laws are being challenged, and seems to just wait for people to raise objections, despite the publicity. I find it ludicrous that the MCoS or the Ramblers' Association get involved in court cases when it is the rights of people in Scotland that are being challenged. Maybe I'm missing the point, but isn't that what our government is for?
Software listing. Having followed the advice from SymbianGuru's 3-part article, I arranged software into various folders, and then re-arranged them on the screen of easy access. However, when I copied the supplied 1 gig SDHC on to the newly arrived (from Play.com) 4 gig SDHC, some of the programs installed on the card refused to swap over. So this list is really for my benefit as I'll now have to go and re-install the files.
Internet
Search. Download. Web. Share Online. WidSets. My Nokia. Music Store. Opera Mini. Spodtronic
Applications
My Own (Empty). Recorder. Camera. Games (Marble). Translation (LastMinute.com: Italian, Spanish, German, French). PanoMan. ScrnSnapS60. Location Tagger. CellSpin.
Nav
Maps. GoogleMaps. GPS Data. Landmarks. Sports Tracker.
Office
Converter. Calendar. Quickoffice. Calculator. Active Notes. Dictionary. Adobe PDF. Notes. WorldMate. Enhanced Calculator.
Media
Podcasting. Radio. RealPlayer. Msg Reader. Nokia Audiobook Player.
System
Help (Tutorial. Welcome. Help). Archive (Print Online. PTT). Y-Browser. Log.
Settings
Sett Wizard. Profiles. Voice Comm. Themes. Phone Sett. Connectivity. Speed Dial. Data Mgr. Speech. Call mailbox. Conn Mgr.
I like the phone, and think I might actually buy the Opera browser when the trial period ends. Unless FireFox port a version to the S60 Symbian language before then. I was out with relatives last night, and used the BBC Sports live feed to keep them informed of the Andy Murray tennis match. It was gibberish to me, but meant something to them. Until a cousin found there was a 5 minute delay in the report, and got round it by nipping to the pub next-door to the restaurant. Sneaker-net is alive and well.
And finally, I switched the camera's location detector off on Wednesday, even though I had left it with only the option of picking up the location of the phone from the network rather than the battery-draining GPS system. By Saturday night, I was down to 3 bars of energy (from 7), despite 'normal' usage plus Internet. A more reasonable battery life than I had experience on Monday and Tuesday. Signal strength has been good, far better than the returned Sony Ericsson c902.
The non-caption competition ended (and cunningly, it also advertised Cameron's article to a few more people), and in order of what I find the funniest, the top 3 captions to the photo across here:
1. "I'm only just rehearsing for when I get my knighthood"
2. "Hmm. No, not eye-catching enough. Maybe some day-glo orange stripes...."
3. "B*gger! I'm not in Scotland now. And here come the rozzers"
Congratulations Roger. If you wish to drop me your snailmail address, my contact email is in a graphic in the sidebar.
Now back to the mundane matter of replumbing the washing machine and getting the messages.
Click here to play
The US Geological Survey is scanning and posting some of their old photos. It might not sound exciting, but …
Even the opening page has a photo of Main street in Cheyenne. Laramie County, Wyoming. 1869.
http://libraryphoto.cr.usgs.gov/
The section on pioneer photographers lists some of the expeditions, not only photographing landscape features, but locals too. E.g., Apache Lake in 1873, with 2 Apache scouts in the foreground (I love the look on their faces):
http://libraryphoto.cr.usgs.gov/cgi-bin/show_picture.cgi?ID=ID.%20Wheeler%201873,%20%203
I picked up this site from the Goat's newsfeed. Thanks.
No doubt there are more hidden gems in there, but I must get on with some paperwork.