Dear iPhone Developers,
This may exist already, but if it does I haven’t seen it. I’d really like an application that turns off all system sounds except the alarm clock between preset hours. If it could be activated when the iPhone is docked that would be even better, and finally if it could somehow keep the display turned on then that would be excellent!
You see I’d quite like to use my iPhone as an alarm clock.
Now, I can do that right now by setting an alarm but that means that I’ll still have email notifications playing. Of course I could turn them off every night, and back on in the morning again but that’s a little bit more hassle than is needed.
I also like having a clock next to the bed so that I know the time when I wake up, so keeping the display turned on would be great (especially if I can use the Digital Clock app).
Hmmmm, ok I think that’s it.
Ohh and yeah, I’d pay a couple of quid for this. Get to it!
Sincerely,
Gordon “Probably could build it himself but can’t be arsed” McLean
Dear iPhone Developers,
This may exist already, but if it does I haven’t seen it. I’d really like an application that turns off all system sounds except the alarm clock between preset hours. If it could be activated when the iPhone is docked that would be even better, and finally if it could somehow keep the display turned on then that would be excellent!
You see I’d quite like to use my iPhone as an alarm clock.
Now, I can do that right now by setting an alarm but that means that I’ll still have email notifications playing. Of course I could turn them off every night, and back on in the morning again but that’s a little bit more hassle than is needed.
I also like having a clock next to the bed so that I know the time when I wake up, so keeping the display turned on would be great (especially if I can use the Digital Clock app).
Hmmmm, ok I think that’s it.
Ohh and yeah, I’d pay a couple of quid for this. Get to it!
Sincerely,
Gordon “Probably could build it himself but can’t be arsed” McLean
Scott Nesbitt over at DMN Communications recently posted about mentoring and yes, I am quite flattered that I am mentioned…
I have been a team lead/manager at three different companies, cutting my teeth the first time as the youngest and most inexperienced member of the team at Dr. Solomon’s (the anti-virus people, bought by McAfee) standing in for a couple of months whilst a new department head was hired. Needless to say I didn’t do much mentoring there, as I was still largely learning my trade.
The second position was my best learning experience, with a small company that went through a couple of boom/bust cycles. I learnt a lot about myself, the role of technical communications within a software company and as I was hiring and building a team I spent a fair amount of time mentoring some of the technical writers I worked with.
But not all of them.
I’ve never been afraid of hiring someone with more experience, better knowledge or better skillset. Part of that is acknowledging my own weaknesses, and partly it is knowing that a good team requires the right people with a good range of complementary skills.
That said, I have worked with a few less experience technical writers and I do enjoy that process and the challenges it can bring. As I’ve recently been trying to allude, the considerations our profession requires can quite perplexing, and it’s good to talk through such things as, frequently, I too will learn something from those discussions.
So I guess what I’m trying to say is that I think that being a good mentor is as much about listening and learning as it is about guiding and teaching. I should really run this past my parents as they are both teachers and I’m sure will have a view on this kind of thing.
Today though, the role of mentor is fulfilled in a different way. We all have access (limited or otherwise) to some very very smart people in our industry, and whilst I do bemoan the noise on such places as TechWR, it’s true to say that I’ve learned a lot about what I do (and why I do it) from some of the people on that mailing list.
With that in mind it seems to me that the wisdom of the crowd is the new mentor, and that the next time someone asks us why we bother with blogs, twitter, mailing lists and so on, that that is the answer we give.
After all, everyone needs a mentor.
For the past few years my mate Keith has worked in Edinburgh producing the lighting for the Military Tattoo. I’ve never managed to get across to see him, or any of the Edinburgh Festival before, until yesterday.
He gets accommodation for the few weeks he is there, and as luck would have it there was a spare bed last night. So I packed an overnight bag and hopped on the train, meeting Stuart who was coming through for the night. There were no real plans, just a few beers, dinner and maybe a show if the mood took us.
And we did just that, partaking of a few shandies, and a rather good Thai meal in a nice restaurant tucked away down Old Assembly Close (I think, it’s a couple down on the right from Fleshmarket close). We then managed to get a couple of tickets to watch the Jim Rose circus. Keith knew someone who was working on the show so we got in for nothing which was just as well as it was gratuitous nonsense.
That said, I can now say that I’ve seen a woman spurt blue paint from her arse onto a canvas… can you?
It was a good night, followed up by pancakes and bacon for breakfast. However I am a little fuzzy still, age making hangover recovery just that little bit longer.
For the past few years my mate Keith has worked in Edinburgh producing the lighting for the Military Tattoo. I’ve never managed to get across to see him, or any of the Edinburgh Festival before, until yesterday.
He gets accommodation for the few weeks he is there, and as luck would have it there was a spare bed last night. So I packed an overnight bag and hopped on the train, meeting Stuart who was coming through for the night. There were no real plans, just a few beers, dinner and maybe a show if the mood took us.
And we did just that, partaking of a few shandies, and a rather good Thai meal in a nice restaurant tucked away down Old Assembly Close (I think, it’s a couple down on the right from Fleshmarket close). We then managed to get a couple of tickets to watch the Jim Rose circus. Keith knew someone who was working on the show so we got in for nothing which was just as well as it was gratuitous nonsense.
That said, I can now say that I’ve seen a woman spurt blue paint from her arse onto a canvas… can you?
It was a good night, followed up by pancakes and bacon for breakfast. However I am a little fuzzy still, age making hangover recovery just that little bit longer.
- Top 10 Usability Highs Of Mac OS
Or why, when asked, the best way I can describe why I prefer using my Mac is to say "because it's just nicer.." - Privacy worry over location data
Pic of Tom looking sheepish - and seriously folks, Fire Eagle lets you choose the level of granularity as to your location ("nearest city" for example, rather than "to the inch coordinates").
Continuing the terrible titles, this is a take on Catch-22, for no particular reason other than being able to play on the word “private”. Think yourselfs lucky I didn’t choose the schoolboy route and go with “Show us yer privates”.
Oddly the only reason I’m writing about this is because Twitter is currently dead, if it wasn’t then my comment on the issue would’ve been something along the lines of “@plasticbag - nice pic on BBC website! And don’t some people get in a tizzy sometimes..”.
At this point I should probably explain that I’m talking about the recently opened Fire Eagle service which
“… stores information about your location. With your permission, other services and devices can either update that information or access it. By helping applications respond to your location, Fire Eagle is designed to make the world around you more interesting! Use your location to power friend-finders, games, local information services, blog badges and stuff like that…”
[from Fire Eagle help page]
It’s a smart idea, and one which plays nicely into the fact my iPhone has GPS built-in so I can ping exact location information back to the Fire Eagle website at any time I choose. Clever.
But, of course, the privacy nutters (I use the term advisedly) have leapt all over this, stating that locational information could be stored by any of the 3rd party websites or applications that use Fire Eagle and then they’ll know where you have been!
Don’t get me wrong, I realise such things could be abused but from what I can make out Fire Eagle has considered such things. For starters they let you control the level of granularity of the geographic information that you share with other services, from pinpoint co-ordinates to a “I’m near this city” level location. Whilst you can purge your current location from the service at anytime, the privacy busters are more concerned about the historical information that could be stored.
Now I can see that will be an issue for some people, and that having a system know where you’ve been is worrying as it will, no doubt be used to guess where you will be at a given time and then… umm… yeah. Not sure what happens then.
Worse is the possibility of a hi-tec burglar watching out for your location changing before breaking and entering your house. These days I’d guess it’s not that hard to find an address for someone who looks rich, use Google maps to get the geographic co-ordinates of their home and then just wait until they update Fire Eagle with a new location (hey hang on, that DOES sound simple, eep!!).
Or, you know, if you are worried about it DON’T USE IT!!
And no, I’m sorry but the argument of “some people won’t know any better” doesn’t cut it. If they don’t know any better why are they signing up for a service they don’t understand? The Fire Eagle website does a pretty good job of telling people what it is all about so perhaps we need to shift a little responsibility on to the individual?
I’m sure some of you have stronger opinions on this topic than I do, I’d love to hear them. But be prepared to be mocked for, if I’m honest, I really don’t believe the end of the world is nigh because someone knows where I am.
Continuing the terrible titles, this is a take on Catch-22, for no particular reason other than being able to play on the word “private”. Think yourselfs lucky I didn’t choose the schoolboy route and go with “Show us yer privates”.
Oddly the only reason I’m writing about this is because Twitter is currently dead, if it wasn’t then my comment on the issue would’ve been something along the lines of “@plasticbag - nice pic on BBC website! And don’t some people get in a tizzy sometimes..”.
At this point I should probably explain that I’m talking about the recently opened Fire Eagle service which
“… stores information about your location. With your permission, other services and devices can either update that information or access it. By helping applications respond to your location, Fire Eagle is designed to make the world around you more interesting! Use your location to power friend-finders, games, local information services, blog badges and stuff like that…”
[from Fire Eagle help page]
It’s a smart idea, and one which plays nicely into the fact my iPhone has GPS built-in so I can ping exact location information back to the Fire Eagle website at any time I choose. Clever.
But, of course, the privacy nutters (I use the term advisedly) have leapt all over this, stating that locational information could be stored by any of the 3rd party websites or applications that use Fire Eagle and then they’ll know where you have been!
Don’t get me wrong, I realise such things could be abused but from what I can make out Fire Eagle has considered such things. For starters they let you control the level of granularity of the geographic information that you share with other services, from pinpoint co-ordinates to a “I’m near this city” level location. Whilst you can purge your current location from the service at anytime, the privacy busters are more concerned about the historical information that could be stored.
Now I can see that will be an issue for some people, and that having a system know where you’ve been is worrying as it will, no doubt be used to guess where you will be at a given time and then… umm… yeah. Not sure what happens then.
Worse is the possibility of a hi-tec burglar watching out for your location changing before breaking and entering your house. These days I’d guess it’s not that hard to find an address for someone who looks rich, use Google maps to get the geographic co-ordinates of their home and then just wait until they update Fire Eagle with a new location (hey hang on, that DOES sound simple, eep!!).
Or, you know, if you are worried about it DON’T USE IT!!
And no, I’m sorry but the argument of “some people won’t know any better” doesn’t cut it. If they don’t know any better why are they signing up for a service they don’t understand? The Fire Eagle website does a pretty good job of telling people what it is all about so perhaps we need to shift a little responsibility on to the individual?
I’m sure some of you have stronger opinions on this topic than I do, I’d love to hear them. But be prepared to be mocked for, if I’m honest, I really don’t believe the end of the world is nigh because someone knows where I am.
- Negative Feedback
A superlative way of dealing with the proletariat during an eBay auction that has gone awry. - Use the Best Available Ampersand
- The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest
It’s a common topic, an oft repeated complaint, and one which has already had many many lines of advice written, and countless suggestions offered. So here’s a new slant.
The reason most technical reviews fail is because of the writer, not the reviewer.
It’s not because the reviewers couldn’t find the time, it’s not because the reviewers didn’t understand the need or reasoning behind the review, it’s not because they didn’t know what to do, and it is most certainly not because they don’t value your contribution to the product and your part in the development process.
Because, if any of the above reasons are true, it’s YOUR fault, your responsibility.
Katherine Brown covers this area well in her recent article, noting that:
reviews can often go awry for a number of reasons at a number of points in the overall process:
- Poor communication
- Lack of preparation
- Lack of management support
- Unclear expectations and objectives for the review
- Insufficient time planned for the review
- Lack of follow-up
- Wrong people involved, or right people involved at the wrong time
Katherine goes on to offer solutions to all of these issues, but I have a different slant, namely:
- Poor communication - if, as a technical author, you cannot communicate there are bigger problems than the technical review!
- Lack of preparation - you are asking reviewers to give up their time, even if it is agreed many will consider this an ‘extra’ piece of work. Not preparing for this is likely to come across as both unprofessional and arrogant. If you don’t seem to care about the review, why should they?
- Lack of management support - yes, we do need to fight a little harder to get support for our work from management. No, it isn’t the way it should be. As professionals we need to learn to promote ourselves and, by our actions, gain the support we need.
- Unclear expectations and objectives for the review - as I’ve said, many people treat reviews as an interruption, so it’s up to you to make the objectives and requirements clear. What should they be looking for? What should they report back, and how? If they have a general query how do they present it during the review?
- Insufficient time planned for the review - as a project manager once said to me, there is no such thing as “not enough time” just something called bad planning. Yes you may need to fight to get allocated time (and you should, ad-hoc reviews are never as productive as well organised and scheduled sessions) but it is an important part of the technical publications process, so fight your corner hard.
- Lack of follow-up - It’s not hard to send a short email, summarising the main review comments or outcomes, to those that were involved. This is something I am terrible at but I know, when I’ve received similar communications, how well they work and how good they make me feel.
- Wrong people involved, or right people involved at the wrong time - “The more eyes the better” doesn’t always hold true. You need to figure out the best people, and make sure they are reviewing the content at the correct time, enlisting the help of your friendly project manager if required.
This may seem harsh but, and this is something I’m guilty of myself, there can be a tendency to wrongly apportion blame, to presume that the technical reviews are failing because no-one else is interested, or presuming that the work you do doesn’t need a review anyway (and you hate to bother those busy developers, right?).
We are responsible for our work, we are responsible for the information we produce and as the technical review is part of that production process (it is NOT a QA check!) then, if it is failing… well, I’m sorry, but it’s your fault.
One reason I like the Olympics, especially now the BBC red button is so heavily used for additional coverage is the.. er.. additional coverage that all the sports receive. So far I’ve watched a little basketball, fencing, archery, canoe slalom, badminton, weightlifting, boxing, cycling, swimming, and diving. That’s all before the athletics have started.
I’ve watched tennis and football too but they get enough coverage (thankfully there isn’t an Olympic golf contest!).
There is one thing that the BBC remain good at, and I guess it’s largely down to their researchers, is building stories into each event, adding personal backdrops to the unfolding drama and, for me at least, helping to drag you into the excitement.
Add in some skilled commentators who understand that their audience might not understand the finer points of the given sport and it’s an excellent combination (if only they’d managed to shut up during the opening ceremony, where they managed to spoil two surprises).
An example, the men’s cycling road race. At about the halfway point there was a breakaway of 3 riders. Now I’ve watched enough Tour de France to know that breakaways are difficult and that the peloton (the chasing pack) usually reel them back in (strength in numbers and all that).
However the breakaway pulled out a 30 second gap and managed to hold it. With a third of the race to go 2 more riders broke out of the peloton to try and reel them back in before the finish. They managed to get about 15 seconds out from the peloton but couldn’t catch the leaders. Then, with the race entering the final quarter, the last few kilometres, a lone Swiss rider broke from the peloton.
Now, this is a one off event, 3 medals and that’s it. Why the peloton didn’t work harder to catch the leaders I don’t know (there is an element of teamwork at play here too, with the Spanish riders in the peloton probably holding back because they know they have one of the front 3 riders).
Back to the Swiss rider then, and all of a sudden he’s catching the first 2 breakaway riders and no sooner has he done that than he starts to drag them up to the front 3. The kilometres are ticking down, surely the front 3 can’t be caught … but wait! there they are, just up ahead…
By now I’m on the edge of my seat. One man has to work VERY hard to close such a gap, surely he won’t have enough left for the final few hundred metres to the finish line, uphill!
6 riders turn the final corner, up out of their seats, legs pumping hard, lungs burning, adrenalin flooding their veins as they realise they could win! The Russian rider breaks into a sprint, but surely he’s too early!! The hill continues, the other riders are weaving hard now, focussed, determined, they catch the now fading Russian and pass him, the Spaniard edges ahead, the line approaches… HE’S WON!!!!
But what of the Swiss? Does he get anything for his efforts? Any reward at all? I’m desperate to know, unsure if he was beaten into 4th or managed to earn 3rd place and a coveted medal… the tension is killing me, come on commentator!!
He did it, he got bronze!! WOO HOOOOO
OK, so maybe I get a little wrapped up in such things a little too easily but I appreciate the effort, the training, the techniques and strategies at play, and not just in cycling. The mental pressures are as tough as the physical ones at times, and for some this is a one time only chance, the pinnacle of their sport.
How can you NOT be dragged into such drama? How can you possibly flick idlly to Eastenders or Big Brother when there is REAL emotion, real guts and passion on display.
Honestly, if you aren’t watching the Olympics you are some weird kind of cretin. It’s not about sport, it’s about passion, commitment and desire. It’s about despair and pain, about winning, about competing, about focus and drive. Tears, laughter and joy, not medals. It’s about being alive.
Isn’t it?
One reason I like the Olympics, especially now the BBC red button is so heavily used for additional coverage is the.. er.. additional coverage that all the sports receive. So far I’ve watched a little basketball, fencing, archery, canoe slalom, badminton, weightlifting, boxing, cycling, swimming, and diving. That’s all before the athletics have started.
I’ve watched tennis and football too but they get enough coverage (thankfully there isn’t an Olympic golf contest!).
There is one thing that the BBC remain good at, and I guess it’s largely down to their researchers, is building stories into each event, adding personal backdrops to the unfolding drama and, for me at least, helping to drag you into the excitement.
Add in some skilled commentators who understand that their audience might not understand the finer points of the given sport and it’s an excellent combination (if only they’d managed to shut up during the opening ceremony, where they managed to spoil two surprises).
An example, the men’s cycling road race. At about the halfway point there was a breakaway of 3 riders. Now I’ve watched enough Tour de France to know that breakaways are difficult and that the peloton (the chasing pack) usually reel them back in (strength in numbers and all that).
However the breakaway pulled out a 30 second gap and managed to hold it. With a third of the race to go 2 more riders broke out of the peloton to try and reel them back in before the finish. They managed to get about 15 seconds out from the peloton but couldn’t catch the leaders. Then, with the race entering the final quarter, the last few kilometres, a lone Swiss rider broke from the peloton.
Now, this is a one off event, 3 medals and that’s it. Why the peloton didn’t work harder to catch the leaders I don’t know (there is an element of teamwork at play here too, with the Spanish riders in the peloton probably holding back because they know they have one of the front 3 riders).
Back to the Swiss rider then, and all of a sudden he’s catching the first 2 breakaway riders and no sooner has he done that than he starts to drag them up to the front 3. The kilometres are ticking down, surely the front 3 can’t be caught … but wait! there they are, just up ahead…
By now I’m on the edge of my seat. One man has to work VERY hard to close such a gap, surely he won’t have enough left for the final few hundred metres to the finish line, uphill!
6 riders turn the final corner, up out of their seats, legs pumping hard, lungs burning, adrenalin flooding their veins as they realise they could win! The Russian rider breaks into a sprint, but surely he’s too early!! The hill continues, the other riders are weaving hard now, focussed, determined, they catch the now fading Russian and pass him, the Spaniard edges ahead, the line approaches… HE’S WON!!!!
But what of the Swiss? Does he get anything for his efforts? Any reward at all? I’m desperate to know, unsure if he was beaten into 4th or managed to earn 3rd place and a coveted medal… the tension is killing me, come on commentator!!
He did it, he got bronze!! WOO HOOOOO
OK, so maybe I get a little wrapped up in such things a little too easily but I appreciate the effort, the training, the techniques and strategies at play, and not just in cycling. The mental pressures are as tough as the physical ones at times, and for some this is a one time only chance, the pinnacle of their sport.
How can you NOT be dragged into such drama? How can you possibly flick idlly to Eastenders or Big Brother when there is REAL emotion, real guts and passion on display.
Honestly, if you aren’t watching the Olympics you are some weird kind of cretin. It’s not about sport, it’s about passion, commitment and desire. It’s about despair and pain, about winning, about competing, about focus and drive. Tears, laughter and joy, not medals. It’s about being alive.
Isn’t it?
- Remote control your torrents with uTorrent's WebUI
Monitor those illeg... legal downloads - How to move an iTunes library from a PC to Mac (and back)
I have a MacBook, and I really enjoy using it as it is a very nice experience.
I have a PC, and I really enjoy using it as I am a power-user and have it tailored to the way I work and I’m very comfortable in the environment.
I find myself wanting to use the Mac for more but as I’m still learning keyboard shortcuts I find myself pausing and.. well it’s still not as fluid for me as working on the PC. Part of that is the resolution of the MacBook screen which is, these days, rather low. Hence my recent ponderings about a KVM to allow me to hook up the MacBook to my LCD monitor.
Anyway, another thing that stops me switching fully to the MacBook is the pitiful hard-drive. My music collection ALONE, is larger than the drive which brings me to the topic of this blog post.
I think what I need to do is switch out all of my storage needs, files, photos, music, to an external drive. That way it doesn’t matter what machine I’m on, I can just switch the external storage drive and access whatever I need.
So I just need to figure out how to move the iTunes library files to an external drive and I’m all set, I think… Ohhh yeah, and buy a big enough hard drive (and backup).
Or maybe buy an iMac… hmmmm
I have a MacBook, and I really enjoy using it as it is a very nice experience.
I have a PC, and I really enjoy using it as I am a power-user and have it tailored to the way I work and I’m very comfortable in the environment.
I find myself wanting to use the Mac for more but as I’m still learning keyboard shortcuts I find myself pausing and.. well it’s still not as fluid for me as working on the PC. Part of that is the resolution of the MacBook screen which is, these days, rather low. Hence my recent ponderings about a KVM to allow me to hook up the MacBook to my LCD monitor.
Anyway, another thing that stops me switching fully to the MacBook is the pitiful hard-drive. My music collection ALONE, is larger than the drive which brings me to the topic of this blog post.
I think what I need to do is switch out all of my storage needs, files, photos, music, to an external drive. That way it doesn’t matter what machine I’m on, I can just switch the external storage drive and access whatever I need.
So I just need to figure out how to move the iTunes library files to an external drive and I’m all set, I think… Ohhh yeah, and buy a big enough hard drive (and backup).
Or maybe buy an iMac… hmmmm
Yesterday was spent flitting between family visits (bar my Gran as both Louise and I still have remnants of nasty colds and we’d hate to infect her), the evening including some TV and the movie The Matador which I knew a little about but which exceeded expectations by a country mile. A little bizarre and Pierce Brosnan is brilliant, well worth a lazy evening watch.
And today, well bar a brisk walk to test out my knee (it’s throbbing as I type, but not as badly as before) we’ve mainly dotted around the house doing our own thing. Some Olympics have been watched, washings done, rooms tidied and games played. A quiet day, lazily drifting from task to task.
And all washed down with litres of Blue Mountain coffee. Delish.
Yesterday was spent flitting between family visits (bar my Gran as both Louise and I still have remnants of nasty colds and we’d hate to infect her), the evening including some TV and the movie The Matador which I knew a little about but which exceeded expectations by a country mile. A little bizarre and Pierce Brosnan is brilliant, well worth a lazy evening watch.
And today, well bar a brisk walk to test out my knee (it’s throbbing as I type, but not as badly as before) we’ve mainly dotted around the house doing our own thing. Some Olympics have been watched, washings done, rooms tidied and games played. A quiet day, lazily drifting from task to task.
And all washed down with litres of Blue Mountain coffee. Delish.
- iPhone - Disabling digital camera notification in Windows XP
This has been bugging me so it's good to get rid of it...
So this will be all the OTHER bits, the miniblog posts, the Flickr feeds, del.icio.us links, and comments. Everything bar the main posts (and they might get added as well).
- Thom Yorke – The Eraser
- Jimi Hendrix – All Along the Watchtower
- Jimi Hendrix – Hey Joe
- Jimi Hendrix – The Wind Cries Mary
- Jimi Hendrix – Fire
- Jimi Hendrix – Purple Haze
- The Cult – Lil' Devil
- Elbow – Something In The Air
- Elbow – Grace Under Pressure
- Elbow – Buttons & Zips
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