Subscribe to RSS 2.0
£130 for a book
I'm a very nerdy person. Very, very nerdy. I hope that's not shattering too many fond imaginings, but you deserve the truth. I will occasionally read textbooks for fun. There, I've said it. Of course, I tend to favour standard college textbooks - the broad overview kind that will be on the reading lists of every English-speaking university in the world. They cost twenty to forty pounds for great slabs of carefully-curated info, with heaps of pretty pictures. And because I bought one of those, Amazon are suggesting I might like to buy an interesting-sounding* title in a slightly more niche area. But it's £130 and I baulk at that.
*to me at least
Continue reading "£130 for a book" »
Permanent link | Comments (7) | Leave a comment
Things I can live without
So it's funny, being surrounded by packing boxes but not moving for a while. It has been a fun exercise in Indoor Camping, and I've been seeing whether I can live without many objects.
Continue reading "Things I can live without" »
Permanent link | Comments (3) | Leave a comment
Producteev
Whilst I'm on a 'recommends' roll, let me also tell you about Producteev, a cloud-based to-do list manager. I've been using it for my to-do list for a while, and it's really rather good. You can create separate workspaces, and do all the usual stuff: flag by priority, add a date, label, notes, . Best of all, it's collaborative, so I can invite people to share my space and allocate tasks to them. There's an iPhone app that actually syncs properly, too, which is a boon. Plus they have a good blog. Here's a good post.
Right. Posting about that was a handy displacement activity. Back to putting things into moving boxes* and tinkering with php tags.
* You know what I mean. Boxes to move house, not boxes that move. Picky.
PS Have you voted for George yet?
Permanent link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
Zen Internet, and why I love them
So, I'm moving house. I'm very excited: our new house is huge and rambling and has views of the neighbour's horse, a wood, a stream and some fields.
Continue reading "Zen Internet, and why I love them" »
Permanent link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
Zombie Safe House (2010)
Following on from the spirit of that last post, I'm very late to the party with this, but I only just saw the designs for the 2010 Zombie Safe House competition. Check them out here.
Permanent link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
Makers versus Zombies
Make Magazine is excellent. They always have an ingenuity competition with each edition and the latest one reminds me a lot of the post I wrote a little while back about how surely engineers worth their salt could outsmart a few zombies. Click here for a pop-up detailing the parameters of this month's challenge. I think you might have to be a subscriber to enter the competition, though. That said, if you have any interest in making things or seeing what others make, I recommend becoming a subscriber.
Permanent link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
Ghosts of Manhattan Shortlisted for the Pulp Factor Award
I was going to get all organised tonight, and change the background of this 'ere blog page to something else. But no! I shan't! For George's Ghosts of Manhattan is up for a prize! And you, gentle reader, can make him win. Please do cast your vote. The book's a smasher.
On the note of updating things, the home page no longer celebrates the fast approaching end of 2010, since, well, that was then and this is now. Instead it now features a corking new short story from our very own Thomas Emson. Enjoy, you lucky people.
Permanent link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
Advertorial
Rob reminded me today that my last post was ages ago, and something like 'I'm back' - cue big drumroll, much excitement, tooting horns - followed by what we will politely call a swift tapering-off of posting. And so I mark my second, much-anticipated, no doubt heralded return to this blogging forum... with an advert. But it's a good one. See, you're all tantalised now. Click on to see what I could possibly be endorsing. [update: link fixed now]
Continue reading "Advertorial" »
Permanent link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
Getting books out the door
I'll tell you one area in which an e-book might have an advantage over a paperback: when you're trying to rush something topical out the door. I'm thinking in particular of the WikiLeaks book that the Guardian have just published. What with them being the lead newspaper behind the publication of the largest leak in history, it's an obvious story to reprise at length in book form. And as of today, you can buy a copy. But I can't see any sign of an e-book. Presumably the manuscript was signed off a few weeks ago. Why weren't Kindle readers able to grab themselves a copy in mid-January? Isn't time-sensitive publishing an obvious use of e-book technology? I think I might have to suggest that Em drive down there and explain to them how to turn an InDesign document into a Kindle book.