xlab.co.uk - a weblog by Philip Lindsay

You are the Ref

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:20:00 GMT

In time for the new season, The Guardian resurrects the classic cartoon strip from the 70’s and 80’s. I remember reading this in Shoot! when I was a wee lad.

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'Slit-eyed' gestures by Olympic competitors

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:12:00 GMT

A debate has kicked off after pictures surfaced of some Argentine footballers making a ‘slit-eyed’ gesture in a photograph. Similar pictures of Spanish basketball and tennis players have also surfaced recently.

Is this racism or just a bit of fun? I seem to remember Prince Philip making a similar gesture years ago (so, yes, it probably is racist…).

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10 Years of Cuddly, Friendly iMacs

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:29:14 GMT

A trip down memory lane from the early colourful iMacs (I had a Bondi Blue one) to the current grey/black flat screen model. The curved concept design by Nuno Teixeira is quite interesting too.

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“We continue to wait in vain at these Games for anyone prepared to venture into the water wear...

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:57:00 GMT

““We continue to wait in vain at these Games for anyone prepared to venture into the water wearing an old-style pair of budgie smugglers and a determined expression.””

— The Guardian, commenting on the effect swimwear has on the performances in Beijing.

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Olympic ceremony star mimed

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:16:16 GMT

The real singer (9 year old Lin Miaoke) was deemed not pretty enough to appear at the ceremony. It’s also claimed that some of the footage of fireworks at the opening ceremony was CGI.

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BBC - Britain From Above

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:09:54 GMT

Really enjoyed the opening episode of the BBC’s new series last night. If you missed it you can watch it again on iPlayer. The accompanying website is very nice too.

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Hospital using Wii as training tool

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 22:18:42 GMT

Surgeons are honing their hand-eye co-ordination playing Kororinpa. I wonder what they make of Trauma Center.

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Camino - 1.6.3 release

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 22:07:23 GMT

Still my favourite web browser. The Firefox 3 UI is a dog compared to Camino.

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The new Delicious is here

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 09:29:18 GMT

New design and domain (delicious.com). I guess del.icio.us was a bit too nerdy for the general public (and prone to misspellings).

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Lotus Evora

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:09:00 GMT

This is the first new Lotus for more than 10 years. The Evora keeps faithful to the standard Lotus philosophy of powerful, lightweight mid-engined cars, but also includes plenty of luxury and comfort (as opposed to the minimal Elise). The layout is 2+2, with the backseats even featuring ISOFIX fittings for child seats. Looks great too.

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Objectified

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:00:53 GMT

A film about industrial design, documenting the creative processes of some of the world’s most influential designers (Jonathan Ive, Chris Bangle, Dieter Rams etc.). Nice t-shirt too.

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Kaka: The million pound per month man

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:08:00 GMT

If Chelsea want to sign Kaka they’ll need to pay him around 250 grand a week. Crikey bob - that’s a lot of wonga.

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Kodak Zi6

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:10:59 GMT

Kodak’s answer to the Flip Ultra. The Zi6 (stupid name) shoots 720p HD video at 60fps onto SD cards. It’s been a long time since I got interested in any Kodak product, but this looks/sounds great. Not sure when it’s available in the UK though…

Via Daring Fireball

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The Second Coming

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:28:55 GMT

Ars Technica’s incredibly detailed review of the iPhone 3G. If you wanted to know the difference in size between the power brick of the old iPhone and the new iPhone, then this is the review to read.

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Google and Viacom reach deal over YouTube user data

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:44:32 GMT

Google has agreed to provide Viacom with a version of YouTube’s viewership database that removes user name and IP data. Your data is safe (for now…).

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Inside Belsay Castle

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:58:00 GMT

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Hen's Teeth

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:02:27 GMT

After months of looking around we eventually cornered an elusive Wii Fit at our local Zavvi store. As others have experienced, there seems to be problems with Nintendo stock all over the place. Last Christmas, when trying to track down a copy of Super Mario Galaxy, there were shortages everywhere for Wii Consoles and DS Lite’s.

So what’s up? Being cynical, it’s hard to believe that Nintendo can’t make enough to satisfy demand, so the only reason left is that they’re restricting stock levels intentionally. Garrett suspects Nintendo are only releasing stock in countries where they can secure the best deals (i.e. where the Yen is strongest). The UK pound is currently quite strong so this could be plausible. Whatever the reason it seems a risky strategy.

As for the Wii Fit - it’s great. If you’re a Wii owner I’d thoroughly recommend it - if you can find one…

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A remix of Radiohead’s ‘Nude’ using a ZX Spectrum, an Epson Dot Matrix Printer, a HP scanner and a load of hard drives.

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:01:43 GMT

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wishli.st

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:14:02 GMT

All-new design and backend. Good work Dave!

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The iPhone we've been waiting for?

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:41:10 GMT

The iPhone 3G business model caught most people, including myself, by surprise. I can’t remember the last time a tech company (let alone Apple) offered a better product at half the price of it’s replacement. By doing this Apple is giving the iPhone 3G a great chance of grabbing a large slice of the smartphone market.

Outstanding though the original iPhone was, it was always a ‘heart-over-head’ decision when lined up against similar smartphones. I’d also wager the majority of original iPhone owners already owned Apple products. With this new approach Apple have made the iPhone a much more convincing and feasible alternative to the Blackberry’s and Nokia’s. Hell, I might even be tempted myself…

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