Digitalia – Page 39 – Alasdair Watson

Links for Monday May 21st 2012

The Toolbox: a directory of useful single-page sites and apps
Really useful set of stuff. Wonder how fast I could roll my own wordpress layout with these tools.
electric imp
Easy to install wifi for well, everything. If this takes off, things (no, literally, things, physical-object-things are going to get interesting. The only thing I object to is the same thing I do with all cloud services – that the devices talk to the company's servers, rather than a system in the home, thereby making the company a single point-of-failure for its own technology. You would not buy a wristwatch that stopped working if Casio went bust, why sould any other technology be different.

Easter island heads have bodies!?? | Thinkbox
From the department of "I did not know that". There's a story in there somewhere. Possibly underground.
Blogging is not a thing, it’s an attitude
A simple and clear insight into why "corporate blogging" is an oxymoron. In order to blog, one must be free to express one's *true* thoughts, on any subject that one is moved to. Otherwise, you're just writing on a website. Which is not a bad thing – there is not value judgement necessarily implied here, although yes, I do have a preference, and you can guess what it is – but it's not blogging.

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Alasdair

The Wirecutter – Best iphone photography accessories
There are a few in here I've been tempted by, so I'm flagging this as one to come back to if/when I decide to spend cash on this sort of thing. Which may be never.

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Alasdair

Andrew Berls | Reducing bad signup emails with mailcheck.js
Handy for work, the rest of you can skip it.
Prototyping without physics – Edge Magazine
This is a hugely important insight into modern (computer) game design, I feel.

The Sex Myth: How To Blog Anonymously (and how not to)
Good set of practical tips – useful to people who wish to blog anonymously, but also just to people who wish to minimise their identifiable digital footprint.
25 modern and creative product/industrial designs | From up North
Someone please buy me, well, most of these.
Simperium
The sync service that powers Simplenote, my favourite quick text editing tools, is now available as an API for use in other apps. This is very exciting news for someone like me.

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Alasdair

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Alasdair

US juedge rules it is OK to fire someone for a Facebook like
Facebook likes to not enjoy free-speech protections. In this case, several people were fired for "liking" their (elected) boss' political opponent, but it would in theory be OK for fire someone just for liking something their boss disliked. Scary biscuits, if you live in the US.

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Alasdair

Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on Download Page
Blah blah privacy, blah blah tracking cookies, blah blah, install this so that google stop tracking (almost) every website you visit.

Welcome – The Data Journalism Handbook
Interesting stuff, and that I will have to read when time permits.
Visiting NYC? Where to Eat in New York | Serious Eats : New York
I really do want to go back to New York. I haven't been since I was 18, and I really want to go and do the place properly.

R/GA Getty Images Watermark Project (Noisy Decent Graphics)
Nice work from getty – turning a watermark into something that actually enhances the image for those encountering it.