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Friday 24th of December 2010


 12:33 UTC  -  Peace. Out.


 03:46 UTC  -  Our game is now on E4 - http://www.e4.com/game/crisis-christmas-crossword/play.e4 - is there no stopping us now?


Tuesday 21st of December 2010


 22:29 UTC  -  I created an algorithm which fitted all the family's presents so they exactly filled the suitcases I'm taking home. Then I remembered there's two more presents awaiting collection from the post office. :(


 19:37 UTC  -  10 days. 5 developers. 5 TV stars. 1 game-that's the Crisis Christmas Crossword. As well as the game, we made a tracking & reporting system; framework logic; Facebook connectivity; server-side API; find, film, edit, & prepare footage of 5 celebs; source a script and music; liaise with agents and legal; and create the deploy scripts necessary. A truly wonderful display of engineering, project management, and chutzpah!


Monday 20th of December 2010


 17:56 UTC  -  ...is doing stats analysis on the Crisis at Christmas game; but I'm doing it on the live database, so my results change each time I run it. Go go bleeding edge...


 09:04 UTC  -  David Mitchell - yes that one, from Peep show - just tweeted about the game we made with him (http://apps.facebook.com/crisis_at_christmas/)... we got another 100 plays in the first 37 seconds :)


Friday 17th of December 2010


 10:51 UTC  -  Today is not the day to soft launch my first Facebook game since leaving Playfish, since it's the day after the PF xmas party. But it's here anyway. It took 10 days to turn-around, so testing is required, please! http://apps.facebook.com/crisis_at_christmas/


Monday 29th of November 2010


 11:12 UTC  -  An interview with, er, me! http://forum.gpm2world.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1256 At least a couple of people on the forum found it interesting :)


Sunday 28th of November 2010


 23:29 UTC  -  So few songs deserve the description "sublime". Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah is one of them. Jamming along with Jeff Buckley's version on piano just makes me feel so fuzzy inside. Oh, to achieve that level of greatest...


Thursday 25th of November 2010


 12:25 UTC  -  I can't be added as developers of apps because of the "Your account must be verified..." box? Pah!


 11:36 UTC  -  A game I wrote in 1996 - Grand Prix Manager 2 - has a fan site. And they've just asked me to do an interview. This is probably the only time I know what it's like to be a rock star. I wonder what game I'll say was my "difficult" second album...


Sunday 21st of November 2010


 23:44 UTC  -  Only 1800 lines of code written this weekend, but I also munged some graphics, generated display/interface files, and wrote gameplay code - a notoriously tweaky discipline. So I think it's pretty decent progress, TBH. I now have a reasonable draft of a complete data-driven crossword game for the Kindle. Now for beer and burgers in celebration...


Sunday 14th of November 2010


 19:00 UTC  -  I've only written 2000 lines of code this weekend, but that comprises of "complete" graphics, input, timing, filesystem, font, and GUI subsystems for the Kindle. All without a debugger. It's spiritual port of SGX, TBH, so it was less thinking and more doing. Being productive is good!


Sunday 31st of October 2010


 09:06 UTC  -  spent his extra hour in bed reading about the graphic design changes made to the London tube map since 1931. Sad or stupendous?


Thursday 28th of October 2010


 09:00 UTC+01  -  wishes the best of luck to all his friends laid off by EA yesterday, and fingers crossed for those rumoured to be going today. :(


Wednesday 27th of October 2010


 11:46 UTC+01  -  doesn't like the fact that FB goes through other peoples email address book to suggest them as 'People you may know'. Particularly as it (appears to) remove that person from your 'block list' in order to do so.


Thursday 21st of October 2010


 23:13 UTC+01  -  had a smart observational comment about "The Social Network", but Lawrence Lessig has already made it.


Thursday 14th of October 2010


 20:10 UTC+01  -  has seen a great use for a phased array of microphones: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/10/super-microphone-picks-out-single-voice-in-a-crowded-stadium/


Sunday 10th of October 2010


 18:53 UTC+01  -  is annoyed at structuring and classifying data, despite professing a love of taxonomy.


Tuesday 28th of September 2010


 20:17 UTC+01  -  has released another major versino of Minerva. Finally! Now, if you have a Bluetooth photo frame, you can send the weather report, currently playing music, and Google calendar data to it. Combine it with the new 'data sets' functionality, and Minerva will notice what film you're watching and download the appropriate cast list (and their biography and other films) to your photo frame as well.


Monday 27th of September 2010


 20:05 UTC+01  -  wonders if he can get away with a 16 bar, and 40 second, long verse when there's only 15 words in it...


Monday 20th of September 2010


 11:56 UTC+01  -  Something I punched up last night... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IALIF_KHfv8


Friday 27th of August 2010


 10:09 UTC+01  -  has his ticket for board game camp (http://boardgamecamp.eventbrite.com) - is anyone else going?


Thursday 26th of August 2010


 09:50 UTC+01  -  is in a (slightly) good mood after recieving a book I'd forgotten I'd ordered. A breakdown on the ZX Spectrums ULA chip - circuits, timing, control logic... everything to rebuild a Spectrum from scratch, basically :)


Monday 23rd of August 2010


 08:07 UTC+01  -  has packed his memories into boxes, and hidden them in the loft. There will be soon a clean slate - one way or another.


 08:02 UTC+01  -  is making tough decisions.


Monday 16th of August 2010


 15:34 UTC+01  -  is watching many years of his life become unraveled. What was the point in helping anyone?


Monday 26th of July 2010


 18:42 UTC+01  -  is off to spend his last evening with the guys from the China office. More food. More beer. More fun.


Friday 23rd of July 2010


 02:45 UTC+01  -  had his first foot massage last night. Thanks for Jo for suggesting it, and Andrew for knowing the place. If any of my (female) friends would like to practise, I will gladly offer my feet into service :)


Thursday 22nd of July 2010


 08:56 UTC+01  -  spent the morning walking along the Great Wall of China. Not all of it, of course, although it did feel like it at times. What did the rest of you do before breakfast? ;)


Wednesday 21st of July 2010


 03:56 UTC+01  -  has now eating Peking duck in Peking :) Thanks Jeremyn Yew Munn Yam !


Monday 28th of June 2010


 22:55 UTC+01  -  bought too much magic from the Mystic Ring bring and buy sale. But then again, is there such a thing as "too much magic"?


Wednesday 16th of June 2010


 21:26 UTC+01  -  calculus makes me want to derive off the edge of a clilff.


Tuesday 15th of June 2010


 14:49 UTC+01  -  has just been watching and listening to the world cup. I heard "Vuvuvuvuvuvuvuvuvu vuvuvuvuvuvuvuvuvu vuuuuuuuuuvvvvuu uuuvuvuvuv uvuvuvuvuvuvu uuuvuvuvuvuvuuvuuvu vuvvvvvvvvvvuuvuvuvuv uvuvuvuv vuvuuuuuuuuuuuu 1-0 vuuuuuuuuuuuuuu uuuuuuvuu vuvuvuvuvuvuvuvuvuvuvu vuvuvuvuvu vuvuvuvuvuuv uvuvuvuvuvuvu vuvuvuvuv uvuvuvuvu uvuvuvuv uvuvuvuvuvuvuvuvuvu vuvuvu 2-0 uvuvuvuvuvu vuvuvuvu vuvuvuvuvuvu vuvuvuvuvuvuvuvuvu".


 08:14 UTC+01  -  is impressed by the RBox, a $3 console. http://rossum.posterous.com/20131601 (that's $1 for the chip, $1 for the joystick, and $1 for glue components) Everything else is software. Now imagine a Beowulf cluster of those... ;)


Monday 24th of May 2010


 13:58 UTC+01  -  has a brain that can accurately recall each note of a 10 minute solo in a Soft Machine album he hasn't heard in years, but regularly forgets his own name.


 12:37 UTC+01  -  Also a great shame to hear that the brilliant Ray Alan died earlier today


 07:33 UTC+01  -  is already missing Martin Gardner. RIP, my favourite mathemagician.


Tuesday 18th of May 2010


 20:18 UTC+01  -  arrived from SF on Tuesday evening... after leaving on Monday morning. This is an odd feeling of tired and fully awake.


Thursday 13th of May 2010


 16:40 UTC+01  -  is wondering how to update his status - mentioning the ghost walk, New York bagels, Sashimi, trolley cars, gift shopping, and walks under sun-drenched palm trees - without making all his UK peeps jealous...


Tuesday 11th of May 2010


 17:05 UTC+01  -  took a walk around San Francisco bay, snapping pictures of Alcatraz, the golden gate bridge, Lombard street, and a few other places. Then walked into work under the palm trees in the blazing sun. This sure beats the Piccadilly line at rush hour...


 14:24 UTC+01  -  As a true Brit would say, HOWS THE WEATHER OVER THERE?! ;D


Monday 10th of May 2010


 16:52 UTC+01  -  is in San Francisco. Wow! In the states for the first time ever. Being a true Brit I spent my first 20 bucks on beer, in the bar on the ground floor of our US office.


 08:44 UTC+01  -  voted tactically. My tactic was that I voted for the party I actually wanted to win. Novel concept, eh?


Saturday 24th of April 2010


 08:26 UTC+01  -  is amused by the fact that Enya warrants an "ambient remix" album. And more amused that the remixes are less ambient by virtue of added drum loops.


Wednesday 31st of March 2010


 13:00 UTC+01  -  If it's worth buying, it's worth buying from my affiliate link. (Great idea Pedro!)


 06:28 UTC+01  -  has forgotten his "Bob" badge, on the first day in 15 years it might have been ironically cool to wear it...


Monday 29th of March 2010


 14:14 UTC+01  -  has taken delivery of 20 new books... all with his name on the cover :) http://www.apress.com/book/view/9781430227786


 11:42 UTC+01  -  Photo caption from HappyFunVille!Mon Mar 29 12:43:05 GMT+0100 2010


Wednesday 10th of March 2010


 14:34 UTC  -  wonders when did battery chargers required software? Er, since Energizer wanted to install a backdoor on your system - that's when... http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=5602 (I had to check whether it was April 1st, too!)


Tuesday 16th of February 2010


 15:20 UTC  -  If you can't get enough of me talking about beer, there's another episode here: http://thebeercrate.com/episodes.htm#ep35 At least with a podcast, you can turn the volume down. Or off!


Friday 12th of February 2010


 09:42 UTC  -  FOSDEM 2010 is finally documented. http://www.bluedust.dontexist.com/fosdem2010/


Sunday 31st of January 2010


 16:17 UTC  -  has just written the phrase "specificity of function" into the conclusion of Chapter 7 of his new book, and has a disproportional amount of love for it.