Unboxing of my Star Wars/Adidas trainers #fb #geekoutt

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There was a surprise gift waiting for me when I got home today. For our 15th Wedding Anniversary my beautiful and spectacularly gorgeous wife had bought me a pair of Star Wars/Adidas Trainers.

Totally geeked out and caught the 'unboxing' on camera so you can share it with me.

Enjoy. But, no touching!

Meal at Chaing Mai Kitchen, Oxford #fb

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Meal at Chaing Mai Kitchen, OxfordInbox 0 minutes ago Show details Robin Mayfield to Robin Due to one mundane reason after another it was quite late by the time we got to the middle of Oxford last night. Hungry and tired I proposed to Nikki that we grab a McD's head back home and watch a movie. Well, she wasn't having any of that and suggested we head towards Chaing Mai Kitchen.

We hadn't been there for about five years when a couple of friends were having a leaving party before heading back to the the States. Since working at Chaing Mai as waiter about 17 years ago I have had a place in my heart for Thai food that has been disappointed at nearly every opportunity to eat at a Thai restaurant. Lamb curry (Maasaman?) is about my defacto dish in most places as that is usually palatable to excellent - depending in equal parts on the quality of the food and my emotional state.

Chaing Mai doesn't do Lamb curry, being a purist Thai place (apparently, Thai's hate lamb considering it too pungent).

What it does do - and I hence heartly recommend - is the best Pad Thai, the awesomest Pork with Long Beans (#32) and the clon-donking-est Mieng Gai (#1). They also do the sublime Fried Trout in Red Curry sauce, but Nikki doesn't think she likes it so we only get it when with friends.
See - http://www.chiangmaikitchen.co.uk/mainmenu.html

Chaing Mai is housed in the old police house off the high Street down a really narrow alley. The sort that are - for good reason - almost extinct from the UK. The venue gives it an oddly cosy feel, with the uneven stairs and exposed window frames and floor boards.

We sat down at 9 and were eating at not more that 9.15. It was marvelous. I cannot remember the last time I made nearly rude noises enjoying my food. Sounds of satisfaction eminated from our table (not that we would have been noticed due to the large party across from us making a fair hulabaloo).

A thoroughly enjoyable meal was finished off with a pleasant conversation with the Thai waiter on the restaurant's history (apparently sold 5 years ago, but still has the same head chef). The off to the car with full tummy and a wife happy that she knew what would calm her grumpy husband.

I commend this eatery to the reader!

http://www.chiangmaikitchen.co.uk

HTML5 and the Rise of Hybrid Apps

Thought this article was an excellent write up of the current state of mobile HTML5 vs Native apps and the move towards Hybrid apps by Jeff Whatcott of BrightCove. Well worth a read and going through the links.

http://blog.brightcove.com/en/2011/11/html5-and-rise-hybrid-apps

Essentially, Jeff is arguing the case for the BrightCove AppCloud platform that provides a framework to distribute HTML5 apps to native mobile platforms. But, in doing so he gives a good overview of the current state of affairs in the mobile app space.

Transfer pictures between iPhone & iPad using @DropBox for #FREE

Picture this situation: I have an iPhone. It is excellent at taking photos and has a wealth of apps that support this - such as Camera+ and Instagram. I have an iPad. It is excellent for emailing, tweeting, facebooking and editing photos. But, how to get the two to work together without any third party computer, mac or cable, and without shelling out for an 'app' to do it?

Here's how using DropBox:

1) Sign up to http://www.dropbox.com - it's FREE for a 1GB

2) Download the FREE app on your iPhone and iPad

3) Open the Dropbox app on the iPhone

4) Go to Uploads

5) Click the '+' button at the top and it opens your Camera Roll

6) Select as many photos as you want (remembering your 1GB limit)

7) Select a folder to upload to

8) Press 'Upload'

9) Watch the upload progress bars - it's really exciting; like 24

10) Open Dropbox app on iPad and go to the folder you saved the photos in

11) Select a photo and 'open with' button in the top righthand corner

12) Click 'Save Photo' - this saves it to your Camera Roll.

13) Remove photos from Dropbox once transfered to save space.

Simple!

Unfortunately, doesn't seem to be a way to bulk download. But, it's free and Dropbox rocks!

All Hail the Box into which we Drop!

(Photo used under Creative Commons from Yutaka Tsutano)

Star Wars Adidas apparel - sweet! Talk about geek chic!

via shop.adidas.co.uk

Looking forward to trying out Prezie with an iPad

had a look at Prezzie a while ago and thought it was okay. But it seems to have really come on in recent years.

What drew my attention back to it was a technical presentation given by a colleague. The Zoom effect was very powerful - keeping an surface level list of topics and then zooming in to pick out an example or go into more depth really held our attention. Be interesting to see what can be come up with in future presentations.

Please comment or email me presentations that you have seen with this tool - prize to my favourite!

Gary Vaynerchuk's simple Business Vaction idea from @garyvee

via garyvaynerchuk.com

10 things I’ve never heard a successful startup founder say from @asmartbear

I built this software for myself, and then it turned out a million people wanted it exactly how I originally envisioned it.

After hiring a few people, being the CEO became a lot easier, and I was able to focus on high-level strategic plans instead of fighting fires.

I wish we had spent less time talking to prospective customers before designing interfaces and writing code.

via blog.asmartbear.com

Really interesting list from http://blog.smartasabear.com - see the rest on the blog.

One thing that seems to come out is 'get out there and find out what people want'

Google helps restore Bletchley Park - are we ashamed yet, Brits?

via googleblog.blogspot.com

Really interesting to see that the UK's foremost historical computing site is being aided by Google.

In the linked article they explain that they have bought Alan Turing's papers and are in the process of returning them to Bletchley Park, the wartime home of the UK's codebreaking effort.

The importance that Bletchley played in pretty much everyone's life can probably be overstated - but, it would be hard. Turing's (and others) efforts to mechanise the breaking of codes not only lead to important intelligence that won a desperate struggle against Hitler's war machine - it also led to vital advances in technology and mathematics that have resonated down through the last 60+ years to the point that you are reading this sentence on a device that is a direct descendant of Bletchley's legacy.

The fact that it takes a US internet giant to come in and lead the charge to save this site is shameful. It's great to have Google's help and hopefully patronage. But it makes one consider how complacent have we in the UK have become as a nation: that we would allow such a site to waste away, begging for scraps, when we owe it so much.

Bletchley Park, lies just outside Milton Keynes and is eminently visitable (sorry of the made up word) for most in the hub of the UK's technology industry - London - and those a little further away from hubdom (another made up word) such as Reading, Bristol and Birmingham. And it really is well worth a visit (they even have a 'buy once and visit for the year' deal).

I hope that Google's interest sparks a little more interest from those in the UK IT community that owe so much to it for their income and freedom over the years.

I'll be popping there myself over the next couple of weeks for my birthday treat.

Tumblr blog is my new instagr.am showcase

Had my http://rjjm.tumblr.com blog for ages but never really used it. Well, I mean, I had Posterous dint I...

But recently, I have started using it as a showcase blog for my Instagr.am photos - mostly so I don't clutter my twitter, posterous and facebook stream with my whimsical snaps.