HackingCough
A blog by Chris Edwards
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Conning teh interwebs
Idiot Forever is a work of genius and it's only a few posts in. In search of teh lulz, a late teen in the US* wrote today about how he conned the Sun into running a story about a love cheat being caught by Google Street View through poor taste in hub caps. Apparently he did so by pretending at one s …
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You know what you want to do with that? Put a bangin' donk on it
It's software that listens to music for you. It's been used to work out which drummers use click tracks, the way composers and producers use harmony and volume in their music and recommend works you might just like. But the defining moment for the Echo Nest has arrived. It demonstrates that music ha …
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Is the Twitterverse a nicer place to be? Discuss
Before answering this question, consider the context in which Andrew Keen made the comment to 1938 Media's Loren Feldman: "I like Twitter because it's more civil than blogosphere". Keen followed the line with: "Just block him". That's because Feldman was having a set-to with another Twitterer call …
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The deadline question
I guess this was inevitable: Earlier today, Charles Arthur at The Guardian wrote a pair of tweets about the deadline question that now seems to be part of the standard issue PR script and why it's not a good idea. I can't remember when this practice started but it never used to happen. Gradually, …
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Art education for kids
A fine piece of real-life Competitive Dad overheard at Tate Britain today. A father and son come into the room that contains a bunch of pieces by Walead Besht in the Altermodern * exhibition that opened last Tuesday (3 February). Fedex is a group of glass boxes mounted on Fedex shipping boxes in va …
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It's all social. Is it really?
On the eve of Facebook's fifth birthday, it must have sounded like a great slogan: "All media is social and all social is media". This nugget, will apparently turn up in an Edelman white paper but was trailed on Steve Rubel's blog yesterday. Other than the fact that the phrase is nonsense - noun me …
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The iTunes 4kHz upgrade
After cutting a revised deal with a further set of major record labels on top of those signed last year, Apple decided to offer DRM-free files to existing customers as iTunes Plus upgrades. Charles Arthur posed a question: was it worth going for the upgrade or was it just as effective to just have …
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Pimp my CMS
This is a long-winded reply to a short retweet that came from Retail Week online editor Martin Stabe of a question from developer Mark Ng: "Journalists: do you think internet story research tools built into your CMS would be a good idea?" My initial response was along the lines of "let's try walkin …
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It's got a good beat
Take a look at the stills from these two videos. Somewhere, there's a cheese factory wondering where all its stock went. Look no further, it's all here. But, when you look at the pics or the videos, which concept do you reckon is going to win in the music biz? At the top we have an (apparently inter …
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Reverse engineering the power of search
When you bought your last personal computer, you probably didn't think you had two gadgets in one. But, whether you wanted it or not, the machine doubles up as a heater. So, it should come as no big surprise that these things burn through electricity like an electric fire. And it's not hard to make …
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The power of search
When you bought your last personal computer, you probably didn't think you had two gadgets in one. But, whether you wanted it or not, the machine doubles up as a heater. So, it should come as no big surprise that these things burn through electricity like an electric fire. And it's not hard to make …
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Bluetooth for all...if only
A cheery missive arrived today via video-release distribution site The Newsmarket on how Bluetooth "allows users to stretch their tech dollars since they can connect and communicate with a wide range of devices and build upon gadgets they already own". It's kind of true, but glosses over the vital …
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Niches you never knew existed, part 826
Samsung claims it is making "it easier than ever to bring Blu-ray into the living room with its unique, wall-mountable design". That's the rationale behind the BD-P4600. I'm not entirely clear on why having to bang some nails in a wall makes it easier to bring Blu-ray into the living room when you …
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Apple board wants green proposal blocked
Apple might claim to be the maker of "the world's greenest family of notebooks" but the company is recommending to its shareholders to vote down a proposal that would make it easier to work out just how green it is. Proposal four in the company's proxy statement, released on January 7 ahead of the …
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It's on the Now Network but not on the network now
In fact, it's not clear just when Palm's new baby, the Pre smartphone, will actually go on sale. The company will probably have to deal with a lot of criticism as to why it's locked the phone to one operator, Sprint, at launch at least. However, that might suit the company best. Roger McNamee, co-f …
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But you don't really care for music, do ya
Before anyone has a pop at Alexandra Burke for murdering Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, they need to have a listen to this. It makes you wonder where the William Shatner version is and, if there isn't one, why not? Let's face it, it's the week before Christmas so where would we be without a Christmas …
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Apple uses some Imagination
It's tough to disagree with Rik Myslewski at The Register's take on Apple's decision to buy around eight million shares in Imagination Technologies. Although Apple is already using Imagination's PowerVR through the Samsung applications processor in the iPhone-class devices, all the signs point to Ap …
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Mobile strategy: SNAFU
For the past two-and-a-half days, my mobile phone has been in clear sight of a basestation but for most of that time, been unable to connect to the network. There's nothing wrong with the phone. It can find the Cingular basestation at Isla Vista, just outside Santa Barbara, California. The basetatio …
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Engelbart's big knees-up
As mouse companies all around the world celebrate the intellectual laziness of the computer industry better known as the 40th anniversary of Douglas Engelbart's demonstration of the mouse, we should be thankful that the pioneer of graphical user interfaces rejected an earlier idea for moving a curso …
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Is money the problem for early-stage investment?
This isn't going to be a popular sentiment but if the Nesta £1bn early-stage fund comes off, it is almost certainly too much money. The problem doesn't like in cash so much as knowledge. If you create a fund with too much money, it runs the risk of flooding the market with well-funded companie …
HackingCough
