Daily updates on the Internet and its social and public policy implications, useful websites, political/cultural musings and more from a UK-based academic (PhD researcher at Media@LSE), Internet consultant and journalist

Archive forNovember, 2005 | back to home

21 November, 2005

Wordpress, an open source weblog engine, is what this website uses and from my experience it is every bit as powerful as Moveable Type - but free of charge. I noted earlier that a small organization, Blogsome, was offering free hosting of Wordpress blogs. Now WordPress.com is offering the same and I hope (given the name) with substantial backing (though it’s not clear to me how it is that hosting is paid for).

14 November, 2005

Like others I have quickly started to find my iPod Nano’s screen is starting to be covered with hairline scratches - even though I left on the thin plastic cover it came with. Now (a little late) Apple is shipping Nanos with cases but since mine did not come with the case, Apple will not ship one to me retrospectively. If I want my iPod screen to be fixed I have to send it back (and it will presumably just get all scratched up again thereafter).

P.S. I am reluctant to write about my iPod further because every time I do I get annoying spam comments advertising pyramid schemes to get them free!

8 November, 2005

Just for fun and to give me an idea of who visits my site and why, I have put up a Frappr! map for this blog which I encourage you to visit and add yourself to (no registration required). Basically all this is is a really easy to use way of attaching a short note about yourself (and optional picture) to a map of the world. Use it to tell me about yourself, why you like (or don’t like) the site, and what kind of things you’d like me to write about more (or less). Or anything else you think I and the rest of the readers might find interesting!

PS if you are adding a URL just paste the address into the “shoutout” space - don’t try creating an HTML link as it doesn’t work.

PPS There are several web applications that let you annotate and share maps - I have started making an annotated list of these services using my favourite shared bookmark application, Netvouz.

Widget_logo

Media (Daily)
BBC News Online bookforum
(Weekly)
lifehacker - but I only look at their top these days. The Economist (I listen to the audio edition)
Arts & Letters Daily
The New Yorker & its cartoons

(Monthly or more infrequently)
Wired magazine
Prospect magazine (if you think The Economist is dumbed down)
Maisonneuve magazine
The Walrus
First Monday - an Internet-only peer reviewed journal of Internet studies
Gnovis - peer-reviewed journal of Communication, Culture and Technology
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
...and various other journals you can't access for free.

Virtual Communities I belong to
The Well
Brainstorms from Howard Rheingold
CIX the UK's "Well" for over 15 years
I'm also on Facebook

Comics
Doonesbury
Dilbert

Multimedia
US Public Radio
Day to Day NPR daily topical feature show inc. Slate content
BBC Radio 4 - archived for a week after broadcast
BBC Radio Drama original drama and serialised books
BBC7 radio dramas and comedy from BBC archives
The News Quiz

BBC World Service
Analysis
Assignment
Off the Shelf (serialised books)
Other non-podcast multimedia
The Daily Show biting American political satire.
Odd Todd periodically updated amusing Flash cartoons
Tales of Mere Existence excellent Quicktime animated short vignettes.
Guardian - monthly Cybercinema roundup
OneWord Radio audiobooks and author interviews

Podcasts

News/Current Affairs/Factual Thinking Allowed weekly interviews with academics
This American Life superb storytelling
LSE public lectures The University Channel guest lectures at major US universities
The Guardian's Podcasts
Slate's podcasts
From Our Own Correspondent

Fiction/drama
Escape Pod - SF short stories
Librivox - volunteer readers read classic fiction.
Craphound - Cory Doctorow reads his works
NPR book reviews

Digital Planet tech radio programme with emphasis on the developing world (now being podcast)
(also see the Go Digital special Digital Destinations) and Bill Thompson's thoughts about recent Digital Planets
IT Conversations: Blogging (broadcasts from conferences - other topics available)
NPR has a weekly tech roundup

Useful stuff
Various handy free/cheap Mac apps (updated regularly)
Online virus scanner
Free anti-virus software
Dave's Quick Search Toolbar Google taskbar on steroids
Workrave Free RSI prevention software
Powermarks Superb Windows bookmark manager ($25)
Netvouz This may be the most full-featured web bookmark manager around.
Endnote ($239 ) Great software for managing academic citations (or try one of these)
snipurl lets you share long urls easily
Mailwasher Lets you choose between several blacklists and other filtering tools to get rid of spam from multiple POP3 mailboxes - and it is free!
SpamMotel - Free disposable email addresses that let you see who is misusing the one you gave them
DigiGuide - a fast, powerful TV guide for your PC, covering the UK, US or Ireland
TotalRecorder - a powerful, inexpensive way to record streaming audio into MP3 files to take away.
QuestionPro survey software Lots of features and free for academic use.

What's the weather like here?

The WeatherPixie

Copyright

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
  • Meta:

  • Meta:
  • Generously hosted 2001 to Aug 2003 by Reid Ellis and from then until mid-2005 by Harald Koch. Thanks to both!
    Try Clarity Capital Partners for your strategic technology consulting and corporate finance needs.

    Blogger Code
    B9 d t k s u- f- i o- x- e l- c--