Stupid White People

This is a great TED Talk about cultural diversity. I wish there was a way to stop stupid white people. Good blog too. 

Also, Google has added some more sharing features recently and I am going to start using them a little to see if there is any value. Here is my shared items list so far. 

User Centred Dogma vs. Design that is Good

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So this is a really lovely talk by some guy. I completely recommend everyone in the world watches it. It is about an hour and fifteen minutes long but I think it is worth it.

Just in case you were wondering, it is about how user centred design is not as effectual as it is claimed to be and is often used to justify useless endeavours. The speaker (who is actually Jared Spool) claims that simple good design with a strong interaction with people actually using the outcomes is a better model.

I agree. But hey I love doing dissemination maps so I am not going to drop trying to work out how people think yet. Also, I think his model is a good proposition but I think it could be made better by tailoring methods for this kind of work; "Release Early, Release Often" as Google often says.

Everyone can Function

Another great talk by Randy Pausch, this time on time management. I think everyone should watch this. I think it is pretty inspiring. It is worth the 1.5 hours it takes to watch. 

More Barcamp before Gainesville

I just found out that Barcamp Orlando is coming up and this one is going to be a two day event. I am really looking forward to it and already signed up for both days. Not sure if I will talk this time but I might just have to say a thing or two. Here is a little video the organisers put out: 


View Video on Vimeo.

In other news, I think this is a nice way to do Barcamp and I am starting to think about what should happen at our's here in Gainesville. 

The last lecture

This is a long but great talk. Everyone who has 95 minutes to spare should do so watching this lecture. 

In other news, I started using twitter as Metophile of course. I am finding it really great so far, it is surprising how useful the information the service provides actually is. 

In other other news FOWA was really great as was BarCamp Miami. I am looking into setting up a BarCamp Gainesville now. Interested people should comment or email me or something. 

And the last of other news, I am going to the Dry Tortugas for a few days for a quick holiday. 

Also, my work website (that I made) is now up, please leave comments on what can be improved.  

Using what's there

Recently I started thinking about the prospect of establishing developing relationships with various native species to utilise them as tools for common chores. I thought firs about dirt of floors and how it is likely that there is some little creature that would really like to eat my dirt, but, that I have locked out or banished from my vision. In line with this I started thinking about the design of houses that capitalise on the services that the local native plants animals and insects could provide. Not having much of a background in the area I just brainstormed lightly with the hope of getting into it more scientifically further down the line.



Today, I was looking though the recent TED talks I had not seen and found one which seems to be talking about a similar prospect. Realising what nature is for and letting us and it work together advantageously. I think, the way the idea is presented in this talk, makes it seems so simple and so advantageous that people have forgotten the reason of being. I think that addressing the question of motivation is something which will happen but only slowly, and when it happens, most things will be fixed.

If you have good ideas about this, please comment.

Humble Domination

Take a look at this great TED talk by Ben Dunlap. Please click through to watch if you are on the feed.



I wish I were more humble. I think there seems to be an direct relationship between humbleness and holistic achievement. I don't think I live to achieve, but I would love to imagine I could provide some good on such a broad spectrum. 

Economy Mind

So I was a little bored so I started watching this Authors at Google talk by Tim Harford. He is not a good speaker but he does a good job talking about some really interesting results of using economic thinking and economic analysis to understand human behaviour. One point I particularly liked was the conclusion that people in addictive and similar circumstances are naturally inclined to do things that help them deal with their habits. The findings suggest that if a system is put in-place to help people deal with such problems they are likely to use them with the hope they will be affected. 

Also in the talk he mentions a service that offers related solutions called Stickk. Their model is to provide a way to document progress with a stake, made up of personal value, at hand. If the progress falls below a user set amount the stake is contributed to a charitable cause. This company has found that such a method can successfully motivate people to manage their own habits. 

On another note, I had to watch parts of a few other Google talks to find to one that was truly interesting. I wonder if the quality of google talks is going down. I also still wish they created a good summarisation service. 

Music for God's Ears

So I was reading around the previously mentioned 6moons website when I came across a listing of some of their favorite tunes. The list is not too long, perhaps about 65 albums, but it is enormously varied and eclectic. If you are interested in this sort of thing, take a look at some of the tracks I think there is something in there to make anyone swoon. 

Here is a direct link. Most can be found on Youtube for a preview and at least some of them can be bought as iTunes Plus tracks if you want a little clearer listening. 

Gmail Video Thinger

So it looks like we were a bit slow off the mark to get into the Gmail movie thing. Here is the final compilation.

P2P in Video

So some nice person put that good lecture that I went to recently on line. This is the lecture that was on Peer to Peer technologies. If you did not get to the talk watching this video is really worth it.



By the way, this guy is really interesting and has more on his site the P2P Foundation

The love of Gmail

Recently a video competition started involving making videos of the human passing of Gmails around the world and through various situations. I think it sounds quite interesting and I am quite certain I will enter a few pieces.

Does any one else want in?

Also, I am glad to say that I have started the forum for my Individual Projects stuff and so far there are four members.

Film Projects

A friend just showed me this quick little movie on a site. I think the cause is not that good but I think it a fun little project.

I also think that people, especially me and company should take on more video projects. Is anyone interested?

By the way. I have started a projects database on Dabble DB. It is not public at the moment but it might move so at some point. If people are interested in project teams and the like to take on and manage large and hopefully interesting projects then please say so and arrangements will be made.

The Real Technical Support

As was recently discussed, technical support needs to fixed. The level of rigger is completely below what is acceptable when dealing with businesses and people who need solutions fast and cleanly. Similarly the persistence of data is often not addressed well by these people and this often leads to loss of valuable information or inconvenience.

By they way, the Apple store near the corner of Elizabeth and Abeckett Streets is completely crap and I strongly suggest a fully boycott. The offer pathetic service by a staff of surly gentlemen who know are completely incompetent when it comes to fixing anything or being in any way helpful. This is a great example of the worst imaginable technical service.

What is needed by good technical service, why is it no longer something that exists, and how can something change so we are happier in this situation?

I think there is some truth that some things are not worth fixing and there is a lot of truth that it is hard to be the "computer guy" however I do not agree that there is not a system in which computer service persons are greatly valued and offer a good service to the people around them. I think part of the problem is the social acceptance of buying new things but another significant element is the fact that peoples things and their work are important to them. Perhaps a solution is to look at a broken computer more like a wet sketchpad. It is a problem that has to be fixed with minimum interaction. Once the problem is fixed the range of solutions is large.

What do other people think?

Old time never

I think this video is quite a decent look at what people should think computers should be and what people should be working to make them. That said, this is a 20 year old movie. What is not represented here that should be, in our modern dream of future computing?

Think Differently

This is an new apple advertisement that I like quite a lot