No More Goodbyes
I start a new job today. It feels novel. And odd. Quite a bit odd. Not done this for nearly 12 years. Last night and this morning I’ve had lots of lovely good luck messages and, as I sit here on the train, it occurs to me that a lot has changed in 12 years. 2004...
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To my surprise, this blog is now 10 years old. We shouldn't be surprised by the passing of time but we always are. It'll be 11 years old next year, can you imagine? The surprise comes in a number of forms. It sounds a little odd that something as new and happening as...
Games to Entertain Children While Travelling
I love to travel. I love my children. But there have been occasions, as every parent will confirm, that the two don't always go well together. Over the years, we came up with a few simple games to pass the time and keep them/us amused. They don't need any equipment,...
What’s Behind You? A Google Street View Game
My daughter and I came up with a game. It's a bit like some of the Google Street View quizzes online but is more personal, interactive and for multiple people. It is very simple. On a suitable computing device of your choice, navigate to a location on Street View,...
My Favourite Live Music Moments
I wouldn't claim to be a live music aficionado. I've been to a fair number of gigs over the years but I know people who go to a lot more. I've never even been to a festival. I have seen Showaddywaddy live though. I wasn't at that Buzzcocks gig. I never saw The Smiths....
Top 10 European Photography Locations
As part of my recent Festival of Museums talk "Adventures With Dark Edinburgh" I did a section on my favourite places I have been in Europe to take photos. This was intended to be the slightly more unusual places so I didn't include places to Edinburgh, London, Paris...
How To Talk Like A Space Geek
Many years ago, I wrote a blog post that complained about the business language of the day. Has to be said, things have only got worse since then. This time, rather than reiterate my annoyance I'd like to attempt to introduce a whole new language for business - that...
And finally… Terra Exitus
Almost 10 years ago I registered terraexitus.com and now I'm delighted to say that a very old idea has finally become a very new book. I had to get the domain first for reasons that will be obvious if you read the book. It hasn't taken 10 years to write, it's a short...
Radio Days
Radio is such a marvellously simply thing. You take an information signal, add it to a carrier signal that is capable of transmitting it over huge distances and build a receiver that can strip out the carrier signal leaving you with the original signal. With this...
The Driverless Car
I am sitting looking out to sea. A bright day is starting to darken. A dark smudge joins the approaching cloud to the horizon. Rain is on the way, I need to head home. But I can't. My car won't start. It's not broken, it has fuel. It is simply refusing. I can't even...
Hey Twitter, I Had An Idea, You Should Do This
This morning I was reading about the problems at Twitter, Execs leaving, share price pressure, getting over-taken by Snapchat etc and I was reminded of a thought I had a while back. Being a good citizen of the Twitter world, I offer it up here to be read by a few of...
A Lap of The Duomo in Milan with the Fuji X100S
Only the briefest of stops in Milan, so I jumped on the Metro to Duomo and wandered about for a bit, essentially doing a lap of the church itself and grabbing some food and pictures as I went. A little bit Dark Edinburgh style and little bit street - just kept...
The Perfect Night for Photography with the Fuji X100S
At my Dark Edinburgh talk at the Festival of Museums last year, I discussed what I considered to be my perfect night for photography ( specifically my type of Dark Edinburgh photography ). It went like this. It's a quiet day of the week and it's raining. The streets...
Social Media Map – On The Death of Cross-Posting
Back in early 2009 I posted what was then my Social Media Map - a visual summary of how I was using Social Media at that time. Later that year I posted a small update to it. Seven years later, it seems appropriate to revisit the picture to see how it has changed....
Social Media Isn’t Mundane – People Are
I had an idea, I thought it was cool. I discussed it with long time friend and occasional collaborator - the head honcho of Obverse Books. It was very simple. You can find on EBay - along with everything else - collections of old postcards for sale. The plan was to...
A Rainy Night in Amsterdam with the Fuji X100S
My favourite time for shooting at night is right after the rain has stopped. The streets are still empty, everything shines and, crucially, you don't get wet. So, when I headed out into Amsterdam with the X100S on a rainy night I did so hoping that, by time I got off...
A Simple Ideation Process
A few years ago, just after I'd finished working in a startup, I was still full of entrepreneurial spirit so I set about trying to have another idea. My goal was to have a new idea a week written up as a short document. I stopped when I had eight. Some of them were...
Mdina Malta with the Fuji X100S
If you ever get the chance - the old walled town of Mdina in Malta is a great place for photography, especially at night. I had a very entertaining time wandering the quiet streets with my Fuji X100S. Here is a selection of the photos.
Instagramming with Google Photos and Google Drive
As a fairly frequent early adopter, I've had an Instagram account for a while and, like most of my technology tinkering, it received light use and I never quite committed to it - I've always had plenty of other places to post pics. Recently, I've been posting a lot...
My Favourite “I Told You So”
Every now and then you have to stop and think. As you become fatigued by the annoying small-print of life, you have occasionally lift your head and see all the nice headlines. One of the headlines that it would be easy for me to miss is that I've known my best friend...