grapefruitopia

photolog: WTF bus

Somebody needs to tell the marketing guys at Stagecoach that they really ought to be more careful about the acronyms that they put on the back of their busses.

benjymous

19/06/07 16:23 |

(comment: 4) | [

On Sunday I spent some time playing with the mootools framework (that's used by the slick gallery popups) and built a little "recent pictures" widget, that you should be able to see below the menu on the front page. I was surprised at how easily this went together - the javascript source itself is very simple thanks to the power of the framework.

benjymous

19/06/07 12:54 |

(comment: none) | [

mootools programming web ]

Wild Things

I've added a new photo gallery to the site, titled Wild Things - showing the furry, feathered (and sometimes spiky) visitors to our garden.

P.S. can anybody identify this orange furry fellow?
P.P.S. Daffs to the rescue - it's a Drinker Moth!

benjymous

09/06/07 15:25 |

(comment: 3) | [

photography wildlife ]

Do not put the blow dryer on high. Its face might melt

By now everyone knows that Wikipedia is a user-run free encyclopedia, which seems to contain virtually every fact you'd ever want to know. However, what if you need random tutorials and self help guides? It's not too good then, is it?

That's where wikiHow comes into play - "The How-To Manual That You Can Edit" - it contains thousands of guides on how to do all sorts of things, many useful, but others have a very narrow niche interest.

Armed with the Random Page link, I found a selection of gems that you never knew you needed to know:

Ever walked down the street, and thought "Now was that a violin or a viola?" I know I've lost many hours of sleep because of this. Thankfully here's the answer.
Steve Irwin's problem was that he didn't read this first.
Do you have a male rabbit and a female rabbit? Yes? Then expect baby rabbits. If you're not sure you can find out how to be certain if your rabbit has one in the oven.
Another common problem for today's youth - How do I determine the gender of my date?
Don't eat the crust! Don't burn yourself! Eat the crust!
Last time I was in Pets at Home, I was really annoyed that they don't sell pet carriers suitable for rocks. Now I can make my own.
"How to ask a girl to prom in a cute way" - hey you, girl, please prom, no, not like that, prom in a cute way. Thanks, much better.
Alien babies - always fun. Here's the "Natural" way to make one.
Darn it Billy Joe, that's sure one slippery animal to catch.
One that should be printed out and airdropped into the Big Brother house - How to Be Friends With Someone Emotionally Unable to Be an Equally Supportive Friend.
You know what'd really make your life complete? I don't either, but knowing How to Effectively Deploy a Distinctive Podcast Marketing Solution couldn't hurt.
How to Be Popular in an All Girls School - erm, I can think of a fairly simple way...
*cough* I'm feeling a bit ill, so can't come in today.
...and finally, the best warning of the lot: Do not put the blow dryer on high. Its face might melt.

benjymous

08/06/07 12:59 |

(comment: none) | [

web funnies ]

Photosynth

I don't normally get too excited about Microsoft's products - they're usually guilty of just watching what the industry is doing, and copying everyone else's ideas. When they're not doing that, they're watching what everyone else is doing them, and buying them up.

...Anyway, the point of this is the Photosynth Technology Preview (built from technology they consumed from a smaller company) is incredibly impressive. The idea is that it'll take all of your photos, analyse them, and build them into a 3d browsable model of the scene. Whilst you can't add your own images yet, there are a few sample scenes to play with - it feels like something out of Blade Runner the way you can spin a photo into 3d and view it from another angle.

It needs a fairly hefty system spec, sadly, so here's a link to a YouTube presentation of the technology.

benjymous

07/06/07 13:31 |

(comment: none) | [

web photography ]