IA Summit Bloggers

Martin Belam: links for 2008-07-19

Lost tapes of the Dr Who composer | BBC NEWS | Entertainment

"A hidden hoard of recordings made by the electronic music pioneer behind the Doctor Who theme has been revealed". [via Alan Connor]

(tags: archive doctorwho electronica deliaderbyshire radiophonicworkshop)
Chambers loses Olympic ban case | BBC SPORT | Olympics | Athletics

"The BOA will continue to send a powerful message that nobody found guilty of serious drug-cheating offences should have the honour of wearing GB vests at the Olympic Games". Good.

(tags: athletics drugs sport olympics)
Mr. Karamanlis' Harsh Answer | news.ert.gr - Politics

"There is no Macedonian minority in Greece. There never has been. Any allegations regarding the existence of such a minority are totally unfounded, politically motivated and disrespectful". And anyone who says they are a Slavic Macedonian is a damn liar.

(tags: greece fyrom)
Channel 4 to be censured over controversial climate film | Media | The Guardian

"One source said both sides would be able to claim victory after a bitter dispute that has raged in newspapers and online since the programme". Ofcom to deliver a verdict which neatly allows it to sit on the 'is it or isn't it' global warming fence.

(tags: ofcom channel4 climatechange globalwarming mediaguardian)
Nana Mouskouri Says Goodbye To Hania « Crete

At the young age of 73 Nana is retiring from concerts. She played at Chania's harbour down the road from us.

(tags: greece crete chania nanamouskouri)
Last.fm: The Next Generation | Last.fm – the Blog

Typical comment: "I hate it, i hate it, i hate it. I want the old one back. PLEASE say we can have the old version back. You literally just switched it without a f***ing word. SWITCH IT BACK. I do not WANT IT. I paid MONEY for the service as it was."

(tags: lastfm design comments)
How many lost or stolen laptop computers or USB memory sticks etc. will it take before anyone is prosecuted at the Ministry of Defence ? When will a Minister resign ? - Spy Blog - SpyBlog.org.uk

"Where are the Courts Martial or criminal prosecutions under the Official Secrets Act 1989 section 8 Safeguarding of information for those responsible for such losses of unencrypted classified data and documents?". And can I have an ID card from the same people in charge of this please?

(tags: mod security idcards spyblog)
Very Recent - The Buzz Search Engine

A-ha, all the latest breaking popular stuff from all over the place slurped together into one place. Not a million miles away from Fansivu and some other stuff I have been working on...

(tags: search veryrecent fansivu)
Google Anti-Gravity Ray is Fading « SmoothSpan Blog

"When a company has a monopoly on an extremely valuable franchise that is growing rocket fast, all sorts of unreasonable things happen. That company levitates."

(tags: google economics)
21 Ways to Make Your Blog or Website Sticky | Problogger

Another great and comprehensive list.

(tags: problogger)
Dr. Horrible - Internet musical comic capers from Joss Whedon

Damn you internet streaming that requires a connection that can send more than 32 zeros and ones per second, and no download option yet. Gah!

(tags: entertainment josswhedon tv)

James Robertson: Photo: Down the river to the Castle Tower

HDR: Down the river to the Castle Tower Yesterday we drove from Prague down to Cesky Krumlov, in South Bohemia. This is a picture-perfect town, perching on rocky outcrops and hemmed in by the winding river. This is a...

Martin Belam: 2008 Olympic "Spambush" marketing

'Ambush marketing' at major sporting events has become a prevalent phenomena in the 2000s, affecting the Olympics despite the incredibly complex sponsorship rules drawn up by the IOC. The 2002 Winter Olympics saw Sprint running a snowy campaign that associated the brand with sponsoring 'everything fast, new, and really quite amazing', whilst during the 2004 Athens games, beer Miller ran a campaign proclaiming victory in an Athens-based taste test. Athens, Georgia, mind you, but Athens nevertheless. And who can forget when FIFA stripped Dutch fans of their non-official sponsor beer promoting trousers at the 2006 World Cup?

It looks like the 2008 Olympics are also seeing a surge in 'spambush marketing' - spam messages designed specifically to exploit interest in the games. In the last month or so a particularly sick and twisted example has surfaced - informing people that the games may be cancelled due to another major earthquake disaster in China. Users are getting messages with straplines like 'Olympic games under threat of failure!', and are directed to a website after being informed that a new quake has 'levelled Beijing'. Security experts Sophos reported the development at the beginning of June.

"The message on the site claims that a 9.0 Richter scale earthquake has hit Beijing and caused millions in casualties. To see additional details, a user may open or run the video. With the recent China Earthquake in Szchuen still fresh in people’s memory, many would open the file without a second thought. Unfortunately, instead of an online video as it appears to be, opening the link will actually execute the .exe file beijing.exe. Needless to say, the file contains malware and delivers a malicious payload."

As well as the false earthquake story, there are also reports of spam messages that claim to be from the organisers of the games.

Still, at least it has only been happening for a couple of months before the games.

With Africa being the spiritual home of the 419 scam, it is no great surprise to report that I received my first spam email suggesting I invest in some completely fictitious 2010 World Cup Franchises as far back as April last year.

Peter Boersma: Links for 2008-07-18 del.icio.us

Calculated Design | design mind
"As design firms take on the higher-level business challenges traditionally reserved for management consultancies, the increasing application of quantitative user research – long a staple of these industries – is not far behind. "

Alex Kirtland: Yahoo v. Carl Icant

I’ve tried to ignore much of the hub bub around Yahoo v. Icahn v. Microsoft v. Google. But this graphic from TechCruch caught my eye. I did suspect as much about Mr. Icahn, but it’s nice to see it shown in such a simple and stark way. (Of course, I’m blithely ignoring [...]

Peter Morville: Risks of Riding

Last summer, I bought a mountain bike. Since then, I've had a great time rediscovering the joys of cycling on trails and roads. I even participated in my first triathlon. Cycling is a great way to stay in shape, or so I thought.

Then, two weeks ago, I had an accident. While riding down a hill on the Poto, my front wheel hit a stump and stopped dead. My bike and I did a complete forward flip. I landed on my back and managed to bruise a few ribs. The accident really shook me up, and it still hurts to breath deep.

Then, yesterday, while riding downtown, I got hit by a car (driven by a distracted Ann Arbor Art Fair artist). I escaped with only a scratch and a bruise, but my bike's front wheel got mashed.

So, now I'm wondering whether the long term dangers of riding a bike outweigh the health benefits. Don't get me wrong. I'll keep riding because I'm stubborn and it's fun. But I'm no longer convinced it's good for me. If you can point to any good data on the subject, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

Strange Connections

If you have this Findability Study, ~~please send me a copy~~. It's free, but their registration system is broken. AIIM should read their own study, if they can find it!

Martin Belam: links for 2008-07-18

Delver - a new community based search engine | Phil Bradley's weblog

"Is Delver going to make a success of this? My guess is not, and it's down to the registering and tweaking. Most people are simply not going to bother. However, the concept is good, and all it needs is for a search engine to take up the concept."

(tags: search delver personalisation personalisedsearch philbradley)
Photographer Arrested in Greece | This Is Not My Country

"When Jobard hung on to his camera, the guard forcibly dragged him into a nearby public toilet, handcuffed him and hit him several times in the face". All port areas are deemed militarily sensitive in Greece, and photography is banned, even for the press.

(tags: greece photography freedom censorship deviousdiva)
Agious Apostolous: the old military training site | one day in hania

"Yesterday's post showed a photo, taken more than 45 years ago, of my mother standing on some rocks facing a military training site. The buildings are still standing, albeit in a state of ruinous decline". Ah-ha. These buildings are down the road from us.

(tags: crete greece chania ruins)
Journey's End - Officially Number One | Outpost Gallifrey

"Figures released today by BARB confirm that Journey's End was the UK's most watched television programme of the week with 10.57 million viewers. It is the first time in Doctor Who's 45 year history that the programme has achieved this position". Congrats

(tags: outpostgallifrey doctorwho ratings)
RA DIOHEA_D / HOU SE OF_C ARDS - Google Code

Not a patch on the visualisations of Ralf and Florian in Kraftwerk's "Electric Cafe" phase ;-) [spotted via Dan Hon, and, of course, just an awesome idea to put it out this way]

(tags: radiohead google video 3d visualization animation googlecode)
In their own words | BBC NEWS | The Editors

Interesting piece from Rod McKenzie. Like the state of the British economy, not sure what to make of the "alarming rise in knife crime" from over here. Does the media coverage reflect the true stats, and would the stats really represent my experience?

(tags: editorsblog bbc knives crime)
Shock figures reveal no part of Britain is safe as knife violence spreads EVERYWHERE | Mail Online

From the comments: "Just let them all kill each other off. It will save us a fortune". More entertaining than the regular "bring back hanging / national service / arm everyone / the country went to the dogs when women started getting tattoos" brigade

(tags: dailymail comments crime knives)
Fines in Telephone Companies - news.ert.gr - Society

Amazing, just look at that, it seems that the Greek Government has fined every major domestic telecom company in Greece for poor customer service except one - state-owned OTE. Fancy that, eh?

(tags: telecoms greece ert ote corruption)

Luke Wroblewski: Web Symposium: Web Form Design Best Practices

In my Web Form Design Best Practices talk at the Higher Education Web Symposium in Philadelphia, PA, I walked thorugh the importance of Web forms and a series of design best practices culled from live to site analytics, usability testing, eye-tracking studies, and best practice surveys.

My Slides from the talk:
Best Practices For Web Form Design (4.1 MB PDF)

Some of the topics I discuss and provide patterns for are: label alignment, required form filed, input field sizes, content grouping, primary & secondary actions, help text & tips, dyanmic help systems, inline validation, error messages, progress indicators, success messaging, progressive disclosure, gradual engagement, tabbing, flexible data inputs, smart defaults, paths to completion, selection dependent inputs, and more...

For more on Form Design...
Check out Luke's book about Web form usability, visual design, and interaction design considerations: Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks.

Tags: forms, guidelines, interaction design, visual communication, usability, UI components

Martin Belam: A lifetime of lost playlists: Part 6 - If you buy this record (your life will be better)

Starting off with the times when I simply yelled at my mum to put my favourite record on, I've been writing about how the ways that I have organised my music playlists have changed over the last 30-odd years. In the main this has been due just as much to the way musical formats themselves have changed, as to any differences in my musical taste, listening habits and lifestyle.

Buying my own records regularly

In the last part of this series I mentioned taping a lot of records that belonged to my uncle in the early eighties. One day in 1983 it suddenly occurred to me that there was no need to wait until the next time I visited him to get some new tunes - I had enough pocket money now that I could start to regularly buy 12" singles for myself.

The first 12" single I bought was 'New Moon On Monday' by Duran Duran. A couple of weeks later I bought another one, this time 'People Are People' by Depeche Mode. I remember that I asked to hear a bit of it, as I wanted to know what the 12" version was like, and the assistant played a snippet of the single at 33rpm instead of 45rpm. I thought I'd bought the regular release, but on the way home I realised it was a numbered limited edition, and I was very excited by that prospect.

It turned out to be a very significant purchase, because without intending to, I had bought a remix of the track by ON-U Sound producer Adrian Sherwood. The way that he turned the track into a 10 minute industrial dub work-out ended up being a substantial influence on my musical taste.

By the mid-80s my uncle and I had an unofficial arrangement that he would buy the 12" singles of bands that we both liked, but if a second subsequent remix was issued, I would buy that, and then we could swap them to tape them. That meant I started a real habit of seeking out alternative mixes and versions, and since we both liked the artists on ZTT, there was no shortage of variations on which I could spend my money.

So there was a time when, next to the record deck in my bedroom, I had a selection of no more than about 30 records, mostly 12" singles, which I played through over and over again whilst doing my homework. Now my iPod has literally thousands of tunes I can flick through and listen to.

Depeche Mode's 'Master and Servant' single was the first record I ever bought on the day of release without even having heard the track at all, on the strength that I just liked and collected the artist. Whilst nowadays it is commonplace to speculatively download something on a peer-to-peer network on the basis that you might like it, back then this was a significantly more risky £2.99 investment on my behalf.

It was one that paid off for me this time. The nine minute plus 'Slavery Whip Mix' of the A-side and the eight minute plus '(Set Me Free) Remotivate Me (Release Mix)' were both regulars on my teenage turntable. They both currently languish in my iTunes library with a play count of zero - I don't really have the time or patience for nine minute remixes anymore.

Exploring the back catalogue of artists wasn't as easy as flicking through the search results on Amazon or iTunes. It meant physically travelling to a bigger record store than the ones in Walthamstow, which in London pretty much meant a trip to Oxford Street. As my friends and I gradually discovered bands and their musical heritage, we would take it in turns to get albums, and then swap them around for home taping purposes. You'll remember home taping...it killed music apparently.

The Cure was one band that already had a large body of work recorded before I got into them, and when it was my turn to buy a back catalogue album I chose Pornography. We had a great laugh at school telling people "Martin's going into the West End to buy 'Pornography' tonight" without specifying that it was a rather bleak vinyl album from the miserable goths, rather than something a bit more fruity.

I also bunked off school one morning in 1986 to be at HMV on Oxford Street for opening time, so I could secure one of 500 signed copies of Depeche Mode's "Black Celebration" album. I eventually sold this copy on eBay a couple of years back, when I was selling my rarities to help finance my travels abroad.

Making playlists with my own vinyl

By now I was onto my second hand-me-down record deck from my dad, and so the auto-changer of my childhood was no longer the method of making playlists.

I often used to listen to music on headphones in bed, and when my main listening format was vinyl I had a specific method of cueing up the tracks to be listened to in my 'playlist'. Before I went to bed I would sort out the various records that I wanted to play songs from, and then stack them in the right order in front of the shelving unit where my record player was housed. Then, when each track finished, I would physically get out of my bed and swap to the next record.

I was sufficiently nerdy that I always placed the vinyl back inside the sleeve with the A-side facing the front cover, which meant I could stack the records beforehand so that when I removed the record from the sleeve, I knew which side needed to be played - even in the dark.

From a cumulative 'most listened to' playlist point of view, during this period tracks by the likes of Bauhaus, Japan, Joy Division, The Cure and Depeche Mode would be making a strong showing, alongside more obscure artists like Slab!, Tot, Dub Sex, Clan of Xymox and A R Kane.

To get some records by several of the latter onto my iPod has involved converting my old vinyl copies to a digital format - I mean, have you ever tried to find any torrents by the likes of The Wolfgang Press? This involved a level of effort much higher than that suggested by the unplayed and unrated status a lot of them subsequently have in my iTunes library.

And there are some things that the digital reproduction of music simply cannot replicate. When I was avidly collecting the early singles on the Mute label, perhaps the oddest was the joint single by Non and Smegma. The Non side was designed to be played at any speed, and on a unique multi-axis basis. The disc had a second hole for a record player spindle punched into it, so you could have the 7" rotating in an elliptical motion producing a varispeed effect.

Years	The 1980s
Format	Vinyl 12" singles and albums
Metadata	Label on record. 12" outer record sleeves, often with custom inners. Some 12" singles in generic label sleeves.
Making playlists by...	Stacking tracks to be played in front of the record player in the right order, so they could be cued up in the dark.
On the 'most listened to' playlist	Depeche Mode, Propaganda, Japan, Bauhaus, The Cure, The Fall, Joy Division, Duran Duran, Gary Numan, Thompson Twins.

Next...

The arrival of the Compact Disc once again changed the way I purchased and listened to music, and how I made playlists.

Leah Buley: Seen on the floor of the #30 bus. What is this, New York in the...

Seen on the floor of the #30 bus. What is this, New York in the 80s?

Christopher McConnell: linkdump for 2008.07.17

My links for 2008-07-17

Joshua Porter: Tripit Employee Pretending to be Disgruntled Dopplr User?

In On the Internet, people know if you’re a dog, my friend John Eckman details an interesting situation which underscores the importance of identity and revealing who you are in appropriate places on the Internet. John wrote a great post the other day comparing some newly released features from the travel startup Dopplr with those [...]

Martin Belam: links for 2008-07-17

One in the Eye for SEO :: Shane Richmond :: Telegraph

"When Private Eye dabbles in the internet the result is usually both comic and alarming. It’s like having a blacksmith repair your car; it’s amusing to watch him bash around aimlessly for a minute but you soon start to worry he might do some real damage".

(tags: privateeye seo telegraph funny shanerichmond)
Social software that power Intranet 2.0 || Intranet Blog

"In other words, if your organization hasn’t embraced and standardized social software, your employees will begin installing it and using it without your permission."

(tags: enterprise intranet socialmedia)
The Power of Search Queries for Link Building: The Basics and Beyond Part 2 | Search Engine People Blog

"By simply entering in a few search queries you can literally discover hundreds, if not thousands, of blogs that support the dofollow movement; you can comment on them and get a free backlink". Using advanced search to target comment forms on .edu sites.

(tags: linkbuilding seo)
We may be off the cliff - but we haven't plummeted yet | Hamish McRae | Open House

"One of things worrying me in recent weeks has been that people in Britain seem determined to be more gloomy about the economy than the data warrants". It is bloody confusing me- how are you meant to plan for anything if you can't tell if the country is going bust or not?

(tags: openhouse independent economy)
Sexual disease in young Britons on increase » Market Sentinel

"2 years ago we highlighted the government’s decision to shun social media in educating the young of Britain about the dangers of STDs. This flew in the face of research showing most young people took advice about sexual matters from their peers."

(tags: sexualhealth teenagers socialmedia government marketing advertising)
Drawing a message | Heresy Corner

Great line: "What they are worried about, of course, is that there are voters out there who are moronic enough to take it seriously, who believe the stuff about Obama being secretly a Muslim (he is, in fact, like many presidents, secretly an agnostic)."

(tags: heresycorner barackobama newyorker cartoon uselection)
The force is with Scotland's schools intranet, says George Lucas - Times Online

"This year we describe a project from Scotland, the first national schools intranet, which provides every Scottish school with a common e-platform". George Lucas - really? - is gushing about the Scottish Schools extra/intranet project Glow [via Toby Ward]

(tags: intranet education scotland schools timesonline)
Consultants, Analysts: Present Impactful Analysis, Insightful Reports | Occam's Razor by Avinash Kaushik

"Ok this blog is a exception (!), but let’s admit it: Web analytics is boring". Useful pointers to making web analytics less boring and more actually about gathering the information as business needs...

(tags: analytics statistics)
http://me.dm/blog/2008/07/changes_and_updates_-_fear_bre.php

"I would very rarely work with anybody that has a Windows machines these days. They just come with too much baggage". Memo - if you are going to call out Windows users as idiots because you are a Mac supremacist, at least make sure your tag is something other than the value of the URL...</div> <div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/windows">windows</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/webdesign">webdesign</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/funny">funny</a>)</div> </li> <li> <div class="delicious-link"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.seoco.co.uk/blog/2008/07/16/how-good-is-the-mainstream-media-at-linking-out/">How Good Is The Mainstream Media At Linking Out? | The SEO Company</a></div> <div class="delicious-extended">Excellent number crunching of inbound and outbound links to and from the major news media players</div> <div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/seo">seo</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/search">search</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/linkbuilding">linkbuilding</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/newspapers">newspapers</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/news">news</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/media">media</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/links">links</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/linking">linking</a>)</div> </li> <li> <div class="delicious-link"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://digitalworlds.wordpress.com/2008/07/17/play-along-with-the-real-world/">Play Along With the Real World… « Digital Worlds - Interactive Media and Game Design</a></div> <div class="delicious-extended">References <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2007/04/will_virtual_representations_o.php">my post about the Cricinfo 3D cricket simulation</a>, amongst some interesting thoughts about playing "take it from there..." to see if you can do better with real data from live sports events</div> <div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/currybetdotnet">currybetdotnet</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/games">games</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/sports">sports</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/interactivetv">interactivetv</a>)</div> </li> <li> <div class="delicious-link"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jul/17/medialaw.pressandpublishing?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront">Madeleine McCann: Newspapers apologise to Robert Murat and pay £600,000 libel damages | Media | guardian.co.uk</a></div> <div class="delicious-extended">"Until now Murat has had to watch silently as the worst elements of the British media have gone about destroying his good name and reputation. The behaviour of the tabloid journalists and their editors has been grossly irresponsible, demonstrating a reckless disregard for truth."</div> <div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/madeleine">madeleine</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/tabloids">tabloids</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/newspapers">newspapers</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/apology">apology</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/mediaguardian">mediaguardian</a>)</div> </li> </ul><div class="feedflare"> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=pqkuXJ"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=hgSlvJ"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=XIlmTj"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=kHhxHj"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=THEXpJ"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=r9FOlj"></a> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Luke Wroblewski: Gourmet Experiences on a Fast-Food Budget</h1> In his Cooking up Gourmet Experiences on a Fast-Food Budget keynote at the <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.med.upenn.edu/uiconf/">Higher Education Web Symposium</a> in Philadelphia, PA Jared Spool discussed it takes to make great experiences without a big budget.<ul><li>What is behind a gourmet experience: meticulous preparation, quality ingredients, and a creative approach.</li><li>How do the best teams create design? Jared researched teams that delivered great designs and teams that tried to deliver great designs but failed. All the usability issues they found could be traced to someone missing key pieces of information. As a result, these people were not able to make appropriate decisions.</li><li>Every usability problem comes from decisions made without the right information.</li><li>A process is a series of steps to get something done. Everyone has a process. A methodology is a formalization of process that is enforced when we need other people to the same thing, multiple times. Dogma is an unquestioned faith independent of any supporting evidence.</li><li>When Jared began his research on design teams, he suspected there was a good methodology or dogma that every organization worked with to achieve consistently great results. It turned out the opposite was true.</li><li>Very few teams had methodology or dogma. Instead, all successful teams had techniques and techniques. </li><li>Techniques are the building blocks of a process. They need to be practiced in order to be mastered and require trial and error. Tricks are quick and easy and perhaps not the best way of doing things but they “just get things done”.</li><li>Best teams did not have a methodology or dogma, but everyone had techniques and tricks that the whole team knew.</li><li>Three core User experience attributes: vision, feedback, and culture.</li><li>Vision: can everyone on the team describe your vision five years from now? Where will your product be?</li><li>Feedback: in the last six weeks, have you spent more than two hours watching someone use your or a competitor’s design?</li><li>Culture: In the last six weeks, have your rewarded a team member for creating a major design failure? Every time there is a design problem, we learn something about users, their needs, and what we should be doing for them.</li><li>Meticulous Preparation: identify if your pages quickly communicate their purpose.</li><li>Quality ingredients: make sure you have content that matters to people.</li><li>Creative approach: look for opportunities to get things to work.</li></ul><br /><br />Tags: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href='http://www.lukew.com/ff/archive.asp?tag&design+organizations'>design organizations</a>, <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href='http://www.lukew.com/ff/archive.asp?tag&process'>process</a>, <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href='http://www.lukew.com/ff/archive.asp?tag&user+experience'>user experience</a> </article> <article> <h1>Martin Belam: A lifetime of lost playlists: Part 5 - Poised over the pause button</h1> <p> I've been <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2008/07/lost_playlists_01.php">looking at the different ways physical music formats determined how I organised and consumed musical 'playlists' over the last 30-odd years</a> of being a music fan. So far, during the seventies, I've mostly looked at situations where I was at <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2008/07/lost_playlists_03.php">the mercy of my parent's tastes</a>. However, as the eighties started, I had regular access to my own record deck in my own room, and soon got my own cassette-radio player. </p> <p> Having my own cassette player rapidly transformed my music consumption patterns. It meant being able to purchase pre-recorded albums on cassette, being able to swap tapes with friends, and being able to record things from the radio. </p> <p> In these days of pre-release single downloads on iTunes, streaming previews on MySpace, and leaked copies of albums doing the rounds in advance on peer-to-peer networks, it seems rather quaint to think that you had to rely on the radio for new music. As a budding music fan, when a favourite artist had a new single coming out, the only way to get a copy in advance was to hover over your tape deck, listening to the radio, with your finger poised over the pause button. </p> <p> Sometimes I'd record whole radio shows. My parents didn't approve of me staying up all night to listen to Capital Radio's Reggae Show, for instance, so I used to record it. This somewhat defeated the object, of course, since I had to stay awake until the show was at least 45 minutes in, so that I could turn the tape over! </p> <p> Other shows that I taped tracks from were the Sunday Chart Show on Radio One, and then later in the eighties, the <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2004/10/john_peel.php">John Peel</a> show and the Annie Nightingale Request Show. </p> <div align="center"> </div> <p><a rel="nofollow" name="billyref"></a>Now a little older, and armed with our cassettes, my sister and I got to have more say on <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2008/07/lost_playlists_03.php">what was played in the car during long journeys</a>. My sister's choices would no doubt feature on any all-time playlist of my 'most listened to' tracks. I'm sure that she always used to pick to play the "An Innocent Man" album by Billy Joel on virtually every journey for a couple of years purely because she knew how much I detested it. <sup>[<a rel="nofollow" href="#billy">1</a>]</sup></p> <div align="center"> </div> <p><a rel="nofollow" name="duelref"></a>She also had a cassette version of "Now That's What I Call Music 3" that saw sterling service. I didn't mind that as much as Billy, because amongst the pop pap it featured "Red Guitar" by David Sylvian and "Dr. Mabuse" by Propaganda. <sup>[<a rel="nofollow" href="#duel">2</a>]</sup></p> <div align="center"> </div> <p>Cassettes became the mainstay of my music consumption through the late seventies and early eighties, and facilitated the next step change in the way I made 'playlists'. I have an uncle who is about 15 years older than me, and in the early 1980s he was a twentysomething who was out clubbing at weekends and avidly buying new records.</p> <p>I was just discovering music beyond the mainstream radio, and he had a massive collection of great albums and 12" singles for me to record onto cassette. I had tape recordings of pop albums by the likes of ABC, Haircut 100, Depeche Mode, but I also had compilations of things like David Bowie, Roxy Music and Led Zeppelin which I put together out of his record collection. In fact there are quite a few major artists whose material I know mostly through my familiarity with these 45 or 90 minute compilations I made of the tracks that appealed to me on first listen, rather than through their proper albums.</p> <h2>Making playlists on cassette</h2> <p>Making these tapes was, of course, a way of making what in today's mp3 player era we would call "playlists". I would skip through the tracks of a few albums by an artist, and then make up one side or both sides of a C90 with a selection of the tracks that sounded good to me.</p> <p>I didn't have any reliable way of making tape-to-tape copies at home, so once I made a cassette it stayed fixed that way - whether it was good track selection, or there were mistakes on it. I used to have, for example, a fantastic compilation of early Human League 12" mixes and b-sides, except for the bit in the middle where I had unwittingly recorded the tracks from the "The Sound Of The Crowd" EP at 45rpm instead of 33rpm.</p> <div align="center"> </div> <p>Another long-standing error was that my recording of ABC's "The Lexicon Of Love" was missing the climax of the last track, because I had put the 12" mix of "The Look Of Love" in the middle of the album, and that pushed the total length of the album over the inflexible 45 minute mark of the cassette tape. Whenever I dig the album out these days on CD, or, more likely, cue it up on my iPod, I still get surprised when '4ever 2gether' doesn't hastily fade out, and that there is a reprise of "The Look Of Love" tacked onto the end.</p> <div align="center"> </div> <p> If you've grown up used to having software that tells you exactly how much spare space you have left to burn a CD, the idea that when you started recording an album you didn't even know if it would fit onto the cassette you were using must seem pretty alien. Playback was pretty inflexible - you made a tape and it stayed that way. Manipulating the playlist was a clumsy process, and one that is also alien to people used to current music technology. You got quite skilled at knowing exactly how long it took to fast-foward through 3 minutes of cassette, so that you could reasonably accurately skip tracks.</p> <p>The metadata applied to blank cassettes was almost exclusively applied by biro, whether it was to the label of the cassette or writing out tracks by hand on the inlay card. Making entirely custom cassette inlays began to become a common hobby, as illustrated in Thurston Moore's "Mix Tape" book.</p> <div align="center"> <br /><br /> </div> <div class="center"> <table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="500"> <tr valign="top" align="left"> <th valign="top" align="left">Years</th> <td valign="top" align="left">Late 1970s and early to mid-80s</td> </tr> <tr valign="top" align="left"> <th valign="top" align="left">Format</th> <td valign="top" align="left">Compact Cassette</td> </tr> <tr valign="top" align="left"> <th valign="top" align="left">Metadata</th> <td valign="top" align="left">Cassette manufacturer branded labels, with hand-written artist and album and title inlays. Alternatively, pre-recorded cassettes came with copy printed onto the cassette shell, and a colour inlay.</td> </tr> <tr valign="top" align="left"> <th valign="top" align="left">Making playlists by...</th> <td valign="top" align="left">Recording onto tape once. Manipulating playback by fast-forwarding or rewinding through a side.</td> </tr> <tr valign="top" align="left"> <th valign="top" align="left">On the 'most listened to' playlist</th> <td valign="top" align="left">Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, Human League, Roxy Music, David Bowie, ABC, Haircut 100, Nik Kershaw, Howard Jones, Thompson Twins</td> </tr> </table> </div> <div align="center"> <br /><br /> <br /><br /> </div> <h2>Next...</h2> <p><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2008/07/lost_playlists_06.php">In the next part of this series</a> I'll be looking at <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2008/07/lost_playlists_06.php">how I made playlists once I started buying my own records</a>.</p> <p><br /><br /> <a rel="nofollow" name="billy"></a>[<a rel="nofollow" href="#billyref">1</a>] In a bizarre co-incidence, it turns out that at a similar time, halfway around the world, my future wife was <em>also</em> developing a keen dislike for this album because <em>her</em> sister used to always play it in the car on long family journeys. Between us we could probably sing the whole album acapella! [<a rel="nofollow" href="#billyref">Return to article</a>] </p> <p> <a rel="nofollow" name="duel"></a>[<a rel="nofollow" href="#duelref">2</a>] This cult half-hit, which only reached #41 in the UK, must have featured as part of the deal that also saw Frankie Goes To Hollywood's rather more successful "Two Tribes" appear on the album, which had also been a ZTT label release. [<a rel="nofollow" href="#duelref">Return to article</a>] </p><div class="feedflare"> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=ybPxcJ"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=Fj0oDJ"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=wH0Lhj"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=6Dg5Zj"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=X5Iu2J"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=DfNdZj"></a> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Kevin Cheng: Im Writing a Book!</h1> <p>photo by chotda</p> <p>After two years of discussions with Lou Rosenfeld, I’ve finally signed with his publishing company, Rosenfeld Media, to write a book entitled See What I Mean: How to Use Comics to Communicate Ideas. For those that don’t know, Rosenfeld Media is like an O’Reilly for user experience books. They focus on compact, practical [...]</p> </article> <article> <h1>Martin Belam: links for 2008-07-16</h1> <ul class="delicious"><li><div class="delicious-link"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.webmasterworld.com/analytics/3699288.htm">Why Your Server Log Files are Complete Fiction - WebmasterWorld Thread</a></div> <div class="delicious-extended">"To put it mildly, your server log analytics are complete and utter fiction. That means clients who think these server side stats are actually meaningful are probably making life miserable for their web designers, SEOs and marketing staff." </div> <div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/webmasterworld">webmasterworld</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/statistics">statistics</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/serverlogs">serverlogs</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/analytics">analytics</a>)</div> </li> <li> <div class="delicious-link"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://searchengineland.com/080715-082849.php">Google Expands Edit My Search Results Feature? | SearchEnglineLand</a></div> <div class="delicious-extended">"The Google Like/Don't Like feature, where you can move up results, hide search results or remove search results, seems to have been expanded to a group of test searchers."</div> <div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/searchengineland">searchengineland</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/google">google</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/personalisation">personalisation</a>)</div> </li> <li> <div class="delicious-link"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3630225">Duplicate Content -- A True Story - Search Engine Watch</a></div> <div class="delicious-extended">"One of our clients recently began receiving nasty e-mails from people around the world accusing them of spamming. These people were, apparently, getting our client's home page served up as their Internet Explorer home page."</div> <div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/search">search</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/spam">spam</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/searchenginewatch">searchenginewatch</a>)</div> </li> <li> <div class="delicious-link"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.viperchill.com/sneaky-website-traffic/">Five Sneaky Ways to Build Website Traffic - ViperChill</a></div> <div class="delicious-extended">"I don't condone or respect anyone who uses these tactics, I think it’s just useful to know the types of things people may be doing. I try to mix myself with people who are performing 'dodgy' tactics to keep myself well rounded". Exactly.</div> <div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/spam">spam</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/blackhat">blackhat</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/seo">seo</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/viperchill">viperchill</a>)</div> </li> <li> <div class="delicious-link"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.searchmarketinggurus.com/search_marketing_gurus/2008/07/social-news---i.html">Social News - Is It Really Social? from Search Marketing Gurus</a></div> <div class="delicious-extended">"Looking at the gaining of traffic and links again, where's the value social media wise? There's certainly SEO value, links are valuable and so is traffic. I find it tough to see a social media return. How can you form a relationship with the community?"</div> <div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/socialmedia">socialmedia</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/seo">seo</a>)</div> </li> <li> <div class="delicious-link"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.seomoz.org/blog/8-innovative-design-ui-elements-that-make-sites-better">8 Innovative Design & UI Elements That Make Sites Better | SEOmoz</a></div> <div class="delicious-extended">Not sure about all 8, but I do like 'News via the logo', 'The product IS the homepage' and 'Conversion-Funnel based navigation'.</div> <div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/design">design</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/ui">ui</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/webdesign">webdesign</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/seomoz">seomoz</a>)</div> </li> <li> <div class="delicious-link"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.all-about-content.com/2008/07/how-not-to-use-social-media.html">Using Social Media to Promote Social Media Promoting Crap About Nothing - All About Content</a></div> <div class="delicious-extended">"You don’t see me posting about 'how to do social media' a lot as it’s talked about to death by so-called social media marketers who seem to think their job is to win a popularity contest on Digg as if that were the ends instead of the means". Go Mela</div> <div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/socialmedia">socialmedia</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/seo">seo</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/melaniephung">melaniephung</a>)</div> </li> <li> <div class="delicious-link"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/071608dnmethickman.3d76e7d.html">Police say North Richland Hills man's death was elaborate suicide | Dallas Morning News</a></div> <div class="delicious-extended">"The investigator obtained a copy of an October 2003 episode of the television drama CSI and noticed that there were several similarities between that show and Mr. Hickman's case". It seems he used balloons in order to shoot himself in the back of the head</div> <div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/csi">csi</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/suicide">suicide</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/bizarre">bizarre</a>)</div> </li> </ul><div class="feedflare"> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=WW0okJ"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=HO41RJ"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=d9b4Vj"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=YMn2sj"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=BjeQBJ"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=1YnxAj"></a> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Joshua Porter: Can Interfaces be Evil?</h1> Yesterday I wrote an unthoughtful post about an email I received from Slideshare. I analyzed the email as an interface and ended up calling it evil, pointing out that I wanted to find out more about something but had to commit to the invitation in order to do so. At the time, this frustrated the [...] </article> <article> <h1>Atsushi Hasegawa: Moleskine is now made in China</h1> Moleskines Originally uploaded by ahaseg Vol. 21がおわり、新しいノートをおろしたら、帯にMade in Chinaと書いてあった。もともとイタリアのノートなので、目にとまったわけだが確認してみると、前のものまでは、Made in Italyと書いてあった。こんなところにもグローバル化の流れが、と思い、紙質が変わっていなければよいな、と思いながら開いてみた。 moleskineは基本的に万年筆で書くと裏写りするのだが、なぜかモンブランのblue blackだけは裏写りしない。のでそれが変わってしまっていると致命的に困るのだ。で、開いてまず目に入ったのは、開いてすぐのページの色が黄色くなっていることだった。左がItary、右がChina まあ、それはそんなものか、と思っていたのだが、使って３日目で栞の紐が切れてしまった。書きためた内容に戻ったり、特定のページに加筆したり、ということがよくあるので、これは本当に困る。アロンアルファで固定しようと思っているが、この栞ってわりとぎっと引っ張るので、それに耐えるほど固定できるか心配だ。あとは、なにか使ってならない有機溶剤とかが検出されないことを祈るばかりだ。 </article> <article> <h1>Martin Belam: BBC iPlayer browser search plug-in updated</h1> <p>I got an unexpected email from the <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://mycroft.mozdev.org">Mozilla Mycroft project</a> a couple of weeks back, to say that my <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://mycroft.mozdev.org/search-engines.html?name=iplayer&sherlock=yes&opensearch=yes&submitform=Search">iPlayer Search plug-in</a> had been updated. To be honest, I had forgotten that I had even submitted it.</p> <div align="center"> </div> <p>Andrew Steele has refined the code, putting it into the proper Open Search namespace and adding some extra elements to govern updates to the plug-in.</p> <p>My only gripe is that he has also changed the logo from the shocking electric pink iPlayer 'Play' triangle...</p> <div align="center"> </div> <p>...to the rather dull BBC blocks favicon.</p> <div align="center"> </div> <p>It just, IMHO, doesn't look as distinctive in the search drop-down box, and it means that nearly all of the <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://mycroft.mozdev.org/search-engines.html?name=bbc&sherlock=yes&opensearch=yes&submitform=Search">various BBC flavoured searches</a> available from Mycroft have the same icon.</p><div class="feedflare"> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=Vdtz8J"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=i9pLdJ"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=Ev0QXj"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=Rf2g5j"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=FK069J"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=omwbmj"></a> </div> </article> <article> <h1>One thing after another</h1> My daughter was born a week after my grandfather's second wife died.... </article> <article> <h1>James Robertson: Photo: panorama - from the pews to the frescoes</h1> Panorama: From the pews to the frescoes I've now spent several days in Prague, in the Czech Republic, taking a holiday at long last. This is a tremendously beautiful city, even when it's packed with tourists. This was the... </article> <article> <h1>Martin Belam: John Fogerty at the Royal Albert Hall - comments follow-up</h1> <p><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2008/07/lost_playlists_04.php">Having mentioned listening to Creedence Clearwater Revival in today's</a> "<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2008/07/lost_playlists_01.php">Lifetime of lost playlists</a>" post, I thought I'd follow up on <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2008/06/john_fogerty_royal_albert_hall.php">my moan about the John Fogerty show I saw whilst I was in London</a> a few weeks back.</p> <div align="center"> </div> <p>To recap, I was very excited to be around and to get the chance to see John Fogerty live, especially as I was able to go in the company of my dad, who'd introduced me to the band with <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2008/07/lost_playlists_03.php">cassette compilations</a> and by <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2008/07/lost_playlists_04.php">letting me play his 7" singles</a> all those years ago in the 1970s.</p> <div align="center"> </div> <p>Although I mostly enjoyed the concert, especially the run of CCR classics at the end, it was spoilt for me by the very intrusive DVD filming that was going on. The show was stopped a couple of times to re-touch make-up, and the crew set up false shots of the audience cheering and reacting to the music before John had even played a note. My complaining obviously struck a chord with quite a few people, as I've had <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2008/06/john_fogerty_royal_albert_hall.php#comment_listing">lots of comments on the post</a> and some emails as well - <em>mostly</em> agreeing with me.</p> <blockquote>"I was there too. I was so disgusted that I got my ticket refunded." - <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2008/06/john_fogerty_royal_albert_hall.php#c157134">Nick</a></blockquote> <blockquote>"I've seen him in concert before and it was brilliant but the RAH was rubbish. A spoilt evening. We (6 of us) walked out while the second hand clap was on - and there were others walking out as well. I still listen to his music but never again will I go to one of his concerts. A waste for £500 for the 6 of us." - <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2008/06/john_fogerty_royal_albert_hall.php#c157151">David</a></blockquote> <blockquote>"I have never seen such contempt for a (high) paying audience, including having this aforementioned producer turning his back and making 'kiss-my-ass' gestures to us even as he was in the act of supposedly apologising. We eventually had to abandon our seats and sit behind the stage (terrible sound) because we were forced out by the paid extras or hired fans, or whatever they were, who were parachuted in to stand in front of us and dance and shout, making it impossible for us to enjoy the show. It was really quite pathetic and strange to see, from the performers' viewpoint, this large, hostile and sullen audience dotted with pools of film lighting populated with paid actors going berserk." - <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2008/06/john_fogerty_royal_albert_hall.php#c157181">John</a></blockquote> <p>By the weekend the controversy had reached John Fogerty's Wikipedia page, with <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Fogerty&oldid=225021293">my article being cited as evidence that fans had been 'aggravated' by the 'production problems'</a>:</p> <blockquote>"On June 24, 2008, Fogerty made a return to the Royal Albert Hall, a venue he last played at with CCR in 1971. It was the last concert on his 2008 European Tour. Despite numerous production problems which aggravated many fans (some walked out in disgust) this concert was filmed and is scheduled for release on CD and DVD in December 2008."</blockquote> <div align="center"> </div> <p>However, some people weren't so impressed with my description of the night's events.</p> <blockquote>"I don't understand all this negative writing about the RAH concert! I was there too, with a friend and coming from the Netherlands. And we had a great time!" - <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2008/06/john_fogerty_royal_albert_hall.php#c157244">Harry</a></blockquote> <p>The real broadside came from a guy signing himself as Robert:</p> <blockquote>"I think all of the above comments came from the same person, or his friends. Believe me, we were there too and the concert was just GREAT. I already heard a recording (made by a friend) and it sounds just terrific. I don't understand what the above people really want to achieve and why they are writing lies like this... they certainly are NO John Fogerty fans." - <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2008/06/john_fogerty_royal_albert_hall.php#c157241">Robert</a></blockquote> <p>As <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2008/06/john_fogerty_royal_albert_hall.php#c157252">I replied to him in the comments myself</a> - I consider <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2008/07/lost_playlists_03.php">I've been a fan for thirty years</a>, but, hey, what do I know?</p> <div align="center"> </div><div class="feedflare"> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=FXEljJ"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=OLe2KJ"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=1mGojj"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=Nq2Upj"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=LB9xFJ"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=45C5Mj"></a> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Martin Belam: links for 2008-07-15</h1> <ul class="delicious"><li><div class="delicious-link"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/webscout/2008/07/4chan-sprays-go.html">4chan sprays Google with 'scientology' and a nasty insult | Web Scout | Los Angeles Times</a></div> <div class="delicious-extended">"Several active 4chan threads were devoted to the mass Googling of the 'scientology' phrase as well as the upside-down truck insult, all as 4chan users congratulated themselves for having propelled the two phrases to the top of the list."</div> <div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/google">google</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/googletrends">googletrends</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/latimes">latimes</a>)</div> </li> <li> <div class="delicious-link"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/women/7496227.stm">Leeds women change name of club | BBC SPORT | Football | Women</a></div> <div class="delicious-extended">"Leeds Utd women's team have changed their name to Leeds Carnegie Ladies FC. The move came after Leeds United cut off their funding. They also threatened them with legal action if they did not stop using 'United' in their name". Classy, Ken, classy.</div> <div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/leedsunited">leedsunited</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/football">football</a>)</div> </li> <li> <div class="delicious-link"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://news.ert.gr/en/c/7/33911.asp">Google Founders Top MediaGuardian 100 - news.ert.gr</a></div> <div class="delicious-extended">"Google founding fathers Larry Page and Sergey Brin top this year’s Guardian list with the most powerful media figures in Britain". This even made the state news in Greece.</div> <div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/ert">ert</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/greece">greece</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/google">google</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/guardian">guardian</a>)</div> </li> <li> <div class="delicious-link"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://james.cridland.net/blog/2008/07/14/iphone-3g-fail/">iPhone 3G - fail - blog - James Cridland</a></div> <div class="delicious-extended">James reveals that he is the only person in the UK with a 3G iPhone that didn't get a free pair of 'Fanboy rose-tinted specs' to go with it ;-)</div> <div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/apple">apple</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/iphone">iphone</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/hype">hype</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/jamescridland">jamescridland</a>)</div> </li> <li> <div class="delicious-link"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/opensecrets/2008/07/more_bovver_with_rovver.html">More bovver with Rovver | BBC NEWS | Open Secrets</a></div> <div class="delicious-extended">Council unhappy about making FOI information, well, free. For free. 'Any application for consent to re-use information will be considered under the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005, but if consent is given a charge may be made to you.'</div> <div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/opensecrets">opensecrets</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/bbc">bbc</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/foi">foi</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://del.icio.us/currybet/whatdotheyknow">whatdotheyknow</a>)</div> </li> </ul><div class="feedflare"> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=OpVdiJ"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=YqloDJ"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=DsX7Kj"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=CBLyDj"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=Xv61GJ"></a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/currybet?a=YU5RDj"></a> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Joshua Porter: Interface Design Principle: Let people learn more</h1> Update #2: Jon from Slideshare responds in the comments with excellent help. And in reflecting on this post…I realized it’s silly to call the design (or Slideshare) evil. This isn’t evil…it’s an interface. Update #1: There is indeed a group on Slideshare called Presentation Design Tennis. So the following email is true… I received an email [...] </article> </main></body></html>