Tag: opensource

Bookmarks for September 4, 2015

  • cantino/huginn
    Self hosted IFTTT like service. Of possible interest. One of my issues with services like IFTTT is that they're only really useful if you start to give them data like when you're in and out of the house. On the one hand, I don't think there are criminals out there who have hacked these services, and are using them to plan burglaries. On the other, I'm still really uncomfortable with giving third parties access to that data.
    Tags: opensource, IFTTT, ruby, rails, automation

Bookmarks for November 20, 2014

  • Russell Davies: Inevitable
    If you work in marketing or comms, this is a mandatory read.
  • Alan Moore – This Is Not A Dream – YouTube
    Alan Moore's history of the CIA, "Brought to Light" appears to be available in full on Youtube. No idea if it's legit, and it's not his best audio work by any means, but it's still worth a listen as a history of the CIA.
  • Let's Encrypt
    Technical level incomprehensible bollocks to most of you, but the short version is that if this works like it says on the tine, then summer next year cannot come soon enough. This represents a massive improvement to one of the more frustrating tasks on my plate at work *and* means that in theory *every* website should be able run encrypted, even just little stuff like personal blogs. Which is actually really important, these days.
    Tags: security, opensource, encryption, free

Bookmarks for November 16, 2010

Bookmarks for September 21, 2010

  • Politics of storytelling – Laurie Penny interviews China Mieville
    This is food for thought. Key quote: "Storytelling is clearly an extremely important function of societies, but it's nonetheless unproven that to be human is to be a storytelling being. Even if it is the case that human beings are completely intrinsically storytelling animals, it doesn't follow that that's something to celebrate, any more than we should celebrate the fact that human beings are defecating animals."

    There're a number of obvious counter-arguments, that can essentially be lumped in as "the power of art to bring about change" but it's still a point of view worth remembering.

    Tags: politics, fiction, revolution
  • I was wrong about veganism. Let them eat meat (but farm it right) | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The Guardian
    I think I'm going to have to pick this book up. A lot of the numbers around the environmental impact of livestock farming have seemed off to me particularly in relation to arguments about grain (because, well, what's wrong with grass-fed?) and water (because invariably, the numbers seem to assume that any water fed to a cow never leaves the cow, which is pretty self-evidently wrong). It's nice to see that someone's actually taken the numbers apart and proved them wrong/fallacious, and done so in a way that convinces even a big hippy like Monbiot.
    Tags: food, science, environment, sustainability, meat
  • Alex Payne — The Very Last Thing I'll Write About Twitter
    A clear and sensible statement about the need to decentralise services like Twitter, Facebook, and really, almost any service, if you want it around for the long (decade+) haul. Idle thought: Someday, someone will figure out how to massively decentralise search, and than things will get really interesting. (Google have, of course, effectively done this internally in that their search architecture is spread over cluster after cluster, but that's not the same as true decentralisation…)
    Tags: business, twitter, analysis, social
  • Diaspora Developer Release
    I really want this to succeed – once it's out of beta, and at the more-or-less easy to install stage, I'll probably put some time and cash, into setting up a Seed. I absolutely know that there are people I've lost touch with since leaving Facebook, and I know my social life has suffered for it. I've felt quite disconnected from many of my friends this year, and it's bugging me quite a lot of late. I'm not blaming anyone, you understand and I'm not going to be one of those arseholes who think that it's everyone else's fault – I knew what I was doing when I walked away from Farcebook – I'm just a little sad that people don't seem to use any other contact medium any more. So as soon as I can, I'll help offer a better alternative…
    Tags: opensource, facebook, social, diaspora

Bookmarks for January 29, 2009

  • Stephen Fry – Don't Mind Your Language
    I'm a bit of a linguistic conservative – my objection to neologisms like "squee" and "woot" is well-documented. But I'm also in firm agreement with Mr Fry here, even if my method of expressing it would be 180 degrees from his own. But then, that's why he's a national treasure and I'm not.
    Tags: humor, language
  • WebHome < Main < Reprap
    I know fuck all about engineering, electronics, or most of the tools this might be useful for. And yet still, I want one.
    Tags: design, opensource, hardware, electronics, prototype, 3dprinter
  • London from above, at night – The Big Picture
    Some staggeringly beautiful shots of my hometown. There is a small, mean part of me whispering that anyone who was half competant with the right kit and a helicopter could produce these. This is untrue, because he has (I assume) put time, effort and work into getting to a point in his career where it is economically viable for him to do so.
    Tags: photography, london, photo
  • More of London from above, at night – The Big Picture
    More shots by the same photographer. And I know that small mean part of me is dead fucking wrong. These are superbly composed, beautifully shot exposures that evoke feeling and mood, that betray a really bloody good eye. Even were I up there with the right kit, I'm sure I'd miss most of the more interesting shots here.
    Tags: photography, london, night