It seems my Half-Life on the iPod Nano video was one of the top stories on digg last week. I had no idea, but I’m quite glad the link was to the Google video rather than my blog – I’m not sure my little server would handle a full blown digging very well.

The only reason I noticed was because I saw myself on the Diggnation video podcast. Short clip here.

On a completely unrelated note, Jack Schofield from The Guardian interviewed me about my Google Maps hack yesterday.

I may be failing in my endless quest for Internet anonimity.

I’ve put another iPod Linux video on Google – “playing” Half Life on the Nano. You can see it here.

Remember, to do this, you’ll need to install iPod Linux. You’ll also need iDoom installed, and the Half Life .wad file. You can find a list of wads that work with iDoom here.

You can always tell when I’m bored because I start playing with Garagaband..

Here’s my latest creation:

http://media.dynamite.co.uk/confideinstan.mp3

(Previously I made this in a moment of boredom.. http://media.dynamite.co.uk/slimkylie.mp3

People keep telling me not to give up my day job.. but I don’t have a day job. And that’s the problem.

I finally got around to fixing my Google Maps hack to work with the API:

www.dynamite.co.uk/local

Put simply, this hack allows just about any geocoded data source to be overlayed on a Google Map. I’ve currently got BBC travel news, Weatherpixies, Flickr photos, UK points of interest, London web cams, GeoURL local web sites and UK Gatso speed cameras on there. Just select a data set from the drop down menu, and everything will automatically update.

Possible future improvements may include:

• More data sets
• Automatically remember your last map / location
• Link to any given map / location
• Use KML internally so my data can be used within Google Earth.

I’m sure there’s lots more I could do too. Suggestions welcome. 🙂

My Christmas present from Google arrived today. Yay!

It’s a nice leather case containing

Wireless mini-USB optical mouse
128Mb USB memory stick
USB laptop light
Mini USB hub (not shown in photo as I’m using it already!)
Headset with microphone

That’s $43.16 of USB goodness.

This is actually the best present I received this year (last year!). I’m wondering why it arrived so late though.. I don’t think I can blame the Post Office this time.

To the anonymous person that sent me this mail…

ipod nanos cant play videos only the new video ipod can ……… idiot

… I have to tell you that videos play just fine on my Nano.

The mail was a response to me posting
this little demo on Google Video.

This quite clearly states that it’s a demo of iPod Linux.

I do wish people would check their facts (or even just watch the damn video!) before calling me an idiot.

It seems I’ve not posted anything here in over 4 months.

In my defence, I’ve (a) been busy and (b) been posting to my Fotothing quite a bit. Taking pictures is so much easier than thinking of stuff to write.

Speaking of Fotothing, I’ve now left ADVFN and no longer have any connection with the site. The primary reason for leaving was that I physically couldn’t do the commute because of my arthritis problems. Getting a seat on the train meant leaving the house at 7am and getting into work an hour early. Have I mentioned how much I hate the Northern Line?

Anyway, I’m working again and for the first time in ages I’m completely debt free. So I’m happy… at least until I’ve done my Christmas shopping…

WorkAvoidance

“Stories, trivia, news and interesting links from around the world, updated daily.”

If you’re bored at work, this is an interesting distraction!

Company update
July 12, 2005

Fotothing gets snapped up by ADVFN
– stock market data specialist buys photo blogging site –

ADVFN, Europe’s leading stocks and shares Website has acquired Fotothing.

ADVFN (www.advfn.com) has over 500,000 registered users and also owns dating Website CupidBay.com, which itself boasts over 400,000 members.

ADVFN’s expertise at running and developing large scale Websites will be invaluable in taking Fotothing to the next level.

“I am very excited about what this means for Fotothing and the opportunities it affords the site. I will be working on Fotothing full time and will continue to run the site on a day-to-day basis. I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who’s helped make Fotothing such a fun place to be; long may it continue.” Dom Ramsey.

Hmmm.

So I got my monthly hosting bill for Fotothing this morning.

£288. That’s about $530.

It’s a fairly basic dedicated server package with 1&1, but the killer is the cost of bandwidth if you exceed what’s included in the package – 0.5p / Mb.

I think I’m being ripped off.