New flickr upload page

Just uploading a few new photos from the journey back to Bristol and well the upload page had completely changed from last night.

New flickr upload page

I must say the new version is much better, at least you can see how far it got with each file, and you have an overall progress bar, much much better feedback on the process.

P2P Crackdown?

So Friday was tv-links.co.uk being shut down (Jack Schofield‘s and the Open Right Group comments), now today I find out about Oink, which was the first I’d heard about that site (Points West Look North report on YouTube (via:waxy) and DJ Rupture comments (also via:waxy)).

Both were international operations with people in a number of countries arrested and high profile, I mean get a TV news crew to come along to your bust is making a point, are they the first in a new waves of takedowns for P2P sites?

For me tvlinks fulfilled more of the promise of the iplayer from when I first heard about it, than the current version on the BBC (which I heard has so far cost £130 million , but I can’t trackdown the link right now, 2007-10-24: found the link now). All sort of programmes, in a simple to find layout, in a ok quality. Great if you missed a episode or even half a series, so you can catch up at your own pace.

Other sites take this to the next level adding extra meta data like cast listing, links the DVD releases , links to fansites, Trailers, talkboards and all for much less than £130 million. The BBC has built some of this meta data already, I just hope that the current iPlayer can evolve into what it should have been in the first place.

As for OiNK, I never even been to the site but from what I have read today, it does sound like it had a large number real music fans much like Audiogalaxy, lots of stories of people discovering many many new groups via the site.

Anyway it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Video Calling on 3G

I’ve had a front (VGA) camera on my n70, for the last 18 months, I’ve never used it. I don’t know anyone else that has done a video call either.

N70

Why can’t I video call to/from Yahoo!/MSN/AOL, well any of the IM networks that allow video? This is something I would use, now my sister lives in another country or just sorting out computer problems with my mother.

G.I. Zoe

ZOE-0805008605B481572

G.I. Zoe

From the BBC’s new HIV/AIDS site: G.I Jonny launched at the end of the Stephen Fry‘s HIV & Me. Like Dolly Mix, I did find some of the stories hard to listen to, that people are still being knowingly infected by partners and even people who want to get the virus. I just can’t think of anyone else who could of presented the programme half as well Stephen Fry, just the right amount of honesty and shock ,all with a real human touch.

GPS in phones

or how I came to understand why I would want GPS in my phone. Here’s the story.

We were in the new (relatively speaking) part of Carcassonne (which is well worth a visit if you are in the area). This area framed by wide boulevard (which are on the site of the city walls) with lots of parking around a the grid like centre of narrow streets full of shops and places to eat, so we parked the car. Asking my mother that she remembered where we had parked, and off we go to window shop and get some food. So after a few hours and a very lovely meal finishing with a fantastic pear tart, we headed back to the car, or at least tried.

We had been having such a good time that my mother had forgotten where the car was, but had an idea which direction so off we walked, out from the center towards the car, no joy. In the end it was nearly two hour before we found the car, this was in February, and yes the south of France is cold at that time of year.

Since, I’ve always used my phone to take a picture of the street name where the car is, as a sort of outboard brain thing. But it would be so much easier with a GPS, set a marker where the car is, then just forget about it, shop, go for a meal whatever, then simply walk back towards that marker, easy.

Notes

We have Lotus Notes inflicted on us at work, it made me really appreciate Outlook. That is high praise indeed for a former life long Outlook hater (over complex, cluttered gui, feature overload).

Today’s Notes horror, got a meeting request, it overlapped with existing ones, nice dialog box telling me it overlapped but not on which meetings caused the problem. I was given the option to look at my calendar but not edit it, for that I had to go to another screen, open up the calendar, find and delete the overlapping meeting. Still the meeting request was saying meeting where still overlapping, turns out I had to close and reopen the meeting request, so it would then check the updated calendar, and everything was fine.

I’m now getting to the point where if I ever go for another interview and that company uses Notes, then I’m not going to work for them.

A380

Just a bit gutted today about missing the A380 landing at Filton, only found out about half an hour after it landed. Last time the A380 was around a few of us from work found a hill with a good view, and I got some ok photos but this time it I’d no idea it was landing.

A380 3/3