Ziggy's Tech Blog

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Sculpture

2012-02-02T14:30:00.000Z

Just, WOW! This really is a stunning piece of sculpture, made of old, abandoned and unloved skateboards. Japanese artist Haroshi scrapes, file and sands these skateboards down and makes these very aesthetically pleasing polished sculptures. Haroshi is reported to be an avid skater even now and has been since he was young. Personally I think these sculptures deserve much love!

image [Daily du jour]
via [Gizmodo]

A Different Way to Search - for images

2012-02-02T01:00:00.000Z

I'm sure that we have all had that annoying feeling where you just cant quite find the word that you are looking for. It's sitting there on the end of your tongue but it never quite materialises. It's is infinitely more frustrating when trying to use a keyword based online search engine such as Google, or in this case, Google Images. Well there no a nifty little online app that can solve that problem for you! Now don't me wrong this is no quantum leap, and it still relies very much on the drawing skills of the user. But when searching for (as Gizmodo points out) logos or stick figures etc, it's a lot better than vague key words.
This online app, over at Unofficial Google Image Search by Drawing is also capable of employing a webcam to take a quick picture of the user and then use that... This is providing me with endless entertainment!

via [Gizmodo] [Lifehacker] [Unofficial Google Image Search by Drawing]

MegaRetrieval taking the legit Megaupload users' corner

2012-02-01T15:31:00.001Z

We've all heard a lot of fuss and noise over the whole Megaupload deal-io. And according to Gizmodo there is yet another site that is trying to stand up for the legit users. The lovely people over at The Electronic Frontier Foundation are equally as pissed at the FBI as all the rest of us. At the moment the site is not looking like much, only a couple of links to press releases as well as an email for the grieving users to inform the EFF about all their lost data. The only thing that I can think of is that the EFF are building evidence to launch a law-suit against the FBI. Much love to the EFF if you ask me!

via [Gizmodo]

Neo-Nazi Love for Nick Griffin

2012-02-01T12:04:00.000Z

Anonymous strike once again, after their little ordeal with Megaupload is seems that the illusive hacker collective referred to as Anonymous has outed a number of US Neo-Nazi's.

One particular email from “WhiteNewsNow” referred to Nick Griffin as “probably the most effective white activist in the world today” — a claim that’s quite reassuring given how utterly hopeless and unpopular Griffin actually is, even among his own people. Via Gizmodo

This made me laugh a little at the fact that these Neo-Nazis appear to glorify a man who seems to be failing in his crusade for Britain! Setting the bar nice and ~~high~~ low there eh?

via [Gizmodo]

Image [Wired]

Apologies

2012-01-29T17:24:00.000Z

Once again I am slacking with my posts, I have had an interview recently and so much of my time was preparing for that! I hope that I will be able to resume normal service as of tonight or first thing Monday morning! Many thanks for your understanding!

As ever you can contact me with any questions or technology help @ziggyknill

Ziggy

Apple's amazing packaging

2012-01-25T11:41:00.000Z

Unboxing, it's one of those exciting things that we all look forward to. Not only does it result in a nice new shiny gadget (normally, unless it's granny's itchy Christmas jumper) but I personally look forward to unboxing Apple products more than any other gadgetry!
I'm sure we can all agree that it's one of those things that we get excited about even if its not even us opening that Apple box! So why is this? Well it turn out that there is a man in a room. Oh yes, a man in a room in the Apple HQ who opens boxes for a living. Network world has dug up the facts that there are a core group of people and desingners that specialise and obsess over the Apple boxes and making them as good as they can be! It's a well known fact that all at Apple are sticklers for detail but it seems to a greater extent than we ever imagined. First impressions really do count and Apple's desingers have got those down!

“To fully grasp how seriously Apple executives sweat the small stuff, consider this: For months, a packaging designer was holed up in this room performing the most mundane of tasks – opening boxes.”

I would agree with Gizmodo and say that I am glad that I am not an Apple designer but on the other hand I can imagine that after all the papercuts and frustration, it might actually be quite a theraputic job. I mean, after all everything Apple is so shiny!

[Network World] via [Gizmodo]

Gamers 1-0 Scientists

2012-01-23T22:30:00.000Z

So, mum, when you told me that I should grow up and make a difference to the world by being a scientist, I can now honestly say that I would make more difference as a gamer! I think that every teenage boy has now got the conclusive proof that being a massive gamer is a more productive way to better the world. By now I am sure a large majority are thinking what is he going on about? Ok, with the help of Gizmodo, I shall explain!

Foldit, an online video game that attracts the kind of gamer that cares more about the folding patterns of biological proteins than their kill-death ratio on COD is to blame here. Basically Foldit revolves around the 240,000 registered members being fed a puzzle and the member that creates the most efficient protein gets the highest score. Well that's the basics of it anyway. The game developed by Zoran Popovic and David Baker returned around 180,000 results or designs that the scientists sifted through. Picking out the 'best' ones and putting them to the test in the lab. And the results of this left Baker stumped:

I worked for two years to make these enzymes better and I couldn't do it. Foldit players were able to make a large jump in structural space and I still don't fully understand how they did it.

This new crowd-sourced design is 18x more efficient that its original version. Now, unfortunately the enzyme has no real use, but the concept still stands! The members of Foldit are being fed the protein that blocks the flu virus, and their designs for this could actually result in a drug!

Really got on the wrong side of that anon bunch this time eh?

2012-01-23T16:00:00.000Z

Reports on Gizmodo are saying that the Anon bunch have risen once again, after a somewhat shorter break than last time, suggesting that they are really pissed off about this one! It get better than that though! Not only have Anon gone and added CBS.com and UniversalMusic.com (again) but they have appeared to have stepped up the attack from just DDoS-ing. It appear that the Anon bunch have gained access to CBS.com and well, erm, deleted just about everything. CBS appears to be back on its feet but this certainly seems like 1-0 to the Anon bunch! The current recent list stands at: DoJ, RIAA, MPAA, Universal, EMI, FBI, CBS and Universal... again!

Head over to Gizmodo for the full article.

Kim 'Dotcom' the bad, the unfortunate and the ugly!

2012-01-23T15:00:00.000Z

Once again the lovely people over at Gizmodo have collated a number of very amusing images to try and tell the story about this man, Kim Schmitz - as in Megaupload's Kimble aka Kim dotcom. See the full article here.

I however must say that I did cringe somewhat at ~~some~~ all of these photos!

via [Gizmodo]

Away today, unfortunately!

2012-01-23T14:48:00.002Z

Just a quick little note to say that I am not around this evening so while I can give you some quick news updates now I am unable to blog properly tonight - just bear with me and normal service should resume tomorrow. As always contactable @ziggyknill

many thanks
Ziggy

Megaupload Bounces Back, Maybe?

2012-01-22T17:30:00.001Z

So after the strong arm of the law reached out and crushed Megaupload it appears that they have bounced back faster than fastpasstv. Impressive if it is true? Check it out for yourselves. Also it's worth heading over to gigaom and checking out their indepth article on the effect that the take down of Megaupload on Internet traffic. It's a good read.

Link to new(?) Megaulpoad

via [gigaom]

Beautiful Shelving

2012-01-21T13:30:00.000Z

This simple shelving design by Pietro Russomanno is not only beautiful and stylish but also fully customisable! Each bent plywood square has slits in it that can be used to make all number of arrangements to fill any space.

via [Yanko Design]

Megaupload were not MegaSmart

2012-01-21T10:00:00.000Z

The lovely people over at Gizmodo posted a really good blogpost explaining the whole Megaupload deal, along with why Megaupload was targeted by both domestic US police forces and foreign ones and why now? It's defiantly worth it! Full article here!

via [Gizmodo]

"Growing Pains" for GiffGaff

2012-01-20T12:00:00.000Z

In a recent blog we covered how GiffGaff had implemented measures to curb excessive data consumption but its not plain sailing for the company yet. I for one am not sure that GiffGaff truly have a grasp on the low-cost-user-powered business model that they appear to be going for. It appears the the troubles for GiffGaff are closer to home this time, after leaving some of its customers disconnected for over three weeks, as well as repeatedly mixing up mobile phone numbers and not allowing users to top-up. "It seems that GiffGaff have become to popular for their own good" - Gizmodo
GiffGaff say that:

“Due to the big rise in numbers of new customers, this has had some adverse affect on our current customers being able to carry out transactions such as topping up or purchasing a goodybag, as all transactions go through the same channel.”

“Recently, some members have experienced service disruptions caused by our website’s capacity to handle a sharp growth in member numbers. This impacted the site’s overall stability which unfortunately created issues around functions such as topping up, SIM activations and porting your mobile number to giffgaff.”

GiffGaff insist that they are doing everything that they can and I am inclined to believe them, I think that it would be a nice change if they actually succeed with this unusual business model and wish them the best of luck. But currently they seem to be shooting them selves in the foot rather than taking advantage of the massive boom in customers. GiffGaff are offering compensation between £10 and £50 to those users that (as gizmodo puts it) complain enough, I mean "are impacted but the issues."

[The Register] via [Gizmodo]

Internet Outage

2012-01-18T12:32:00.001Z

Im currently blogging from an internet cafe in town. The sad news is that due to an internet outage in my house I am and was unable to keep up with daily blogs for the past and next few days. Bear with me and I will try and get some scheduled so that they are posted over the next few days even with out me having internet, so that you loyal followers can still have some juicy things to nibble on! Still contactable on twitter @ziggyknill

Ziggy

A sticky something for you perfectionists

2012-01-12T11:14:00.003Z

If you are one of those people that loves perfection, and has to have everything just so? Well this concept is for you! A roll of parcel tape that is clear in the middle section, so that you can avoid that annoying wonky tape scenario that frustrates us all! I can now sleep safe at night knowing that the tape on my parcels will be straight! Phew!

via [yanko design]

Patience is a virtue - Eee Pad Transformer owners!

2012-01-12T10:40:00.003Z

No one likes to be the bearer of bad news, but for you Eee Pad Transformer owners that are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Ice Cream Sandwich - there is bad news. It looks like you will have to wait a little longer. Asus announced that ICS wont be rolling out to your Eee Pad until early February! The statement came after a mix up on te Asus' Singapore facebook page, claiming that the update would be available this week! But there is a small silver lining, chances are that the Eee pad (TF101) will still be getting ICS before 99% of other android tablets!

[android police] via [engadget]

GiffGaff getting gutsy for the greater good!

2012-01-11T12:25:00.000Z

The "people powered" mobile phone network that like to think of themselves as in the league of wikipedia, in the sense that it is 'run' by its members. That is that the members answer each others questions and give each other help rather than GiffGaff having large call centres etc that would then result in more costs passed onto its members. GiffGaff is an old scottish word meaning mutual giving and it is thise mindset that GiffGaff is based upon.
However it seems that GiffGaff won't be pushed around when it comes to their mutual giving, it seems that that mutual giving does infact have to be mutual. Or GiffGaff get tough. In a recent forum post on their website GiffGaff have announced that after looking into internet usage patterns on their network they have found some interesting statistics. GiffGaff claim that under 1% of their network user base,

"...is accounting for over 1/3 of our total mobile internet data use across the entire network."

And that this statistic is economically unsustainable to GiffGaff. So what does this actually mean? Well I personally know people that hook their phones up using third party software to their computer and use it as a personal hotspot. If while doing this you are downloading 24/7 then there is a possibility that you are equally to blame. But for the average user doing their daily checks and looking things up online there will be no change. But for those 'power' users that are in the 1% then GiffGaff is going to get tough on you...!

"[GiffGaff are] put[ing] into place a new set of checks on people's patterns of data usage. Without going into levels of detail that would help potential abusers, this will involve checking more frequently for patterns of use of our mobile internet services that are likely to affect other service users and the business, and for behaviour that is not genuine mobile internet use."

This will involve "Data Bars" that are designed to assist the greater good of the GiffGaff user base (and maintian GiffGaff as economically viable!). So GiffGaff are going to be saying bye bye to those that are considered 'Data Hogs'

[GiffGaff] via [Gizmodo]

iPhone 4S - The data guzzling gremlin or just a change in our ways?

2012-01-09T19:00:00.000Z

So the iPhone 4S, whether you love of hate apple, the iPhone 4S is nonetheless a nifty little gadget. But a new report by Arieso found that the iPhone 4S has the highest data consumption of all its predecessors. Twice as much as the iPhone 4 and three times that of the iPhone 3G. Arieso's study covered 1millon subscribers on a European network, and it found that the iPhone 4S has the highest download data of any phone measured. The iPhone 4s comes in just behind the HTC Desire S on data uplink as well.

This said, the study also found that data consumption is not evenly spread across all subscribers, but instead a small proportion (1 percent) account for 50% of all data downloads. As gigaom puts it:

"power users are pushing those consumption numbers sky high"

So what exactly does this mean for the average user? Well, it's not as bad as it first seems. Infact much of what the study found can be put down to advances in technology, higher resolution pictures and video being 'beamed' to our handheld devices. Many critics suggest that Apples new 'Siri' may be to blame for the rocket up in the numbers. But when the iPhone is compared to other smart phones and the number for each are found to be similar then this seems to disprove the 'Siri is to blame' theory, even if you are a heavy Siri user. The most viable reason is that users are jsut becoming more comfortable using data on their smart phones, but be wary, as I'm sure we have all found that those data caps can bit one in their proverbial ass!
via [gigaom]

Yanko Design top of 2011

2012-01-09T15:27:00.002Z

The lovely people over at Yanko design have released a top 50 of their best design posts from 2011. And apart from being a great summary and read, there are also some very very cool designs in there too. Go check it out and see for yourselves. Feel free to send me your favourites @ziggyknill and I will compile a list of readers favourites in order of most loved.

My Bad

2012-01-09T15:17:00.001Z

Ok, Ok, I think this is where I start to grovel and tell you all that I am very sorry for my distinct lack of updates. There is a reason and I intend to explain it to you (in brief) naturally. I am actually at school and going through a bunch of kind of important exams and so have been getting my head down at the expense of my blog. However, I do intend to get back up to date with technology news and start blogging stronger than ever before! The new years resolution starting as of now is to blog everyday, either about my life or about technology news. Apologies go to those who are here for the tech news and/or life stories and vice versa. But I'm going to do some hardcore reading this afternoon and evening and intend to start getting blogs going again. Come rain or shine. However in the mean time I really do appreciate your support. Many thanks! Ziggy

Google says no to annoying 'paginated' articles

2011-09-16T20:24:00.000+01:00

I'm sure that you have all experienced the tedium that is 'paginated' articles. You know those ones that require you to click "--Next->" ever 5 words to read the article? Well it turns out that google hate them as much as we do, so they are now automatically redirecting you to the full article where applicable instead or trying to index the whole article on various web-pages. (Thanks Google). As engadget points out this will no doubt piss off some of the publishers that revel in the page clicks and ad revenues that are generated by these ridiculous articles. (I have to say that I have noticed that about.com are particularly bad). But I hate to break it to you... I don't care!

Sources: [engadget], [Google], [Silicon Filter]

Survey shows Apple customers undeterred

2011-09-15T11:07:00.001+01:00

A survey published by ChangeWave implies that the resignation of Steve Jobs will not have a greater detrimental effect on Apple customers. With only 4% of people saying that they would be less likely to purchase apple products now that Jobs has gone, and 89% saying that it will have little to no effect on them. (Well I say gone but after all he is still involved in Apple, being Chairman of the board). This isn't really surprising as Jobs has left Apple with a very firm hold on the market in all its products. But we have to ask ourselves, how much would we as consumers be affected if the CEO of Sony or Intel or any of the other technology giants stepped down? The fact that there is even question over whether or not Apple will be affected by the resignation of Jobs shows how influential Jobs was in Apples rise to success.

via [TUAW]

Post production effects in YouTube

2011-09-15T10:18:00.000+01:00

We know how frustrating it is when your trying to watch a video on YouTube and its blurry, grainy, often pixelated. Well hopefully this may be no more. This giant of video uploads has unveiled a new editing suite within YouTube that lets you add effects, rotate and stabilise video. Arguably the best part is that if you screw up and the changes you make aren't quite what you hoped for then you can go back and start again. Oh and one last thing. If your already uploaded clip has more than 1000 views then YouTube require to save the edited version as a new one, I guess to protect that which has already gone viral.

Full story via [engadget]

AOL and Yahoo merger talks

2011-09-10T20:20:00.000+01:00

Yahoo, is a very well known name on the internet and at its peak was worth $80bn dollars, it is now worth only $17bn. After firing the chief exec, Carol Bartz, earlier this week for her failure to turn the company around the outlook for Yahoo was looking bleak.
AOL's chief exec Tim Armstrong has reportedly approached Yahoo to get some idea of it's interest in a merger of the two giants, that have both in recent years been falling. Failing to keep up with the pace that both Facebook and Google are setting.

Both AOL and Yahoo have declined to comment.

Full story: Guardian