Pigeon-Empowered Wireless Internet


pasta and vinegar reports (via RIM – Ami Ben-Bassat’s Blog) how Dr. Yossi Vardi, with Ami Ben-Bassat, a science writer, and Guy Vardi, “the CPO (chief pigeon/technical officer)” ran a test of Pigeon-Empowered Wireless Internet to “try and improve Wi-Fly – pigeon-empowered wireless internet and to confront this technology against ADSL”.

Looks like it worked. Nice one. Not sure if the design of the pigeon graphic was *meant* to look like a peace dove, but it’d be nice, wouldn’t it?

Why, Madrid?

Why, Madrid?“Oh dear.”

That’s how the BBC News website put it, when trying to be polite about Madrid’s Olympic website. I feel kind of bad for them, even though I’ve not exactly been forgiving myself, when commenting on the state of Web Española.

Unfortunately, there’s no arguing with the BBC’s point of view (“Right from the start, the technology breaks down.”) The fact that this is highly representative is frankly depressing. I still haven’t worked even *once* for a local internet client who had the right perspective: *cheap* is king here, thinking small the norm. Currently I’m working for a Spanish company but not one member of the staff, founders included, is from anywhere near Spain (I’m from the closest location, come to think of it – it’s only a thousand miles to Manchester!)

And that’s the way it is. When I came to Barcelona in 1999 I was mildly surprised at the state of affairs, but then again that’s why our Barcelona-based client had chosen a London agency to take it into new web territory. I kept telling myself and others “oh, it’ll catch up, things’ll even out.” I still find myself stuck with that mantra, although I don’t bother to trot it out anymore. I don’t think things *will* catch up or even out. When the opportunity to make some strides came, in the shape of the high take-up of mobile here, I had believed this might be it. But no, it’s been the same old story: no imagination.

[Update 2005-05-25: looks like they actually took the time to listen to some opinions as the site has been slightly spiced and they seem to have got rid of the “Why Madrid?” slogan… doesn’t *anybody* involved with their campaign speak English?]

Subversion

Just a few days ago, I moved over to using Subversion for version control instead of good ‘ol CVS. Although it’s basically CVS evolved, it somehow *feels* different. Anyway, so far so good. I’ll report back here if there’s anything interesting to report.

Livin' La Vida Loca!

The Death of Dynamic Range is an interesting piece about how dynamic range has been progressively more and more mashed in modern music production in the recent years. While this in itself isn’t exactly news, it’s interesting to see the examples and discussion. It’s also interesting to see how the same sound gets maximised quite differently for different formats and/or markets.

The article’s main point is that crushing the dynamic range into (or past) the clipping limit of the medium is destruction of the sound. Of course, it is, but so is using a distortion pedal. That said, it’s not such a “musical” usage of the effect and applying something to the whole mix isn’t the same as applying it to an element to create differentiation in tone colour. Anyway, it’s an interesting page.

Headph0ne Phet1sh

There’s nothing like a nice pair of cans, is there? Well, if you’re into it, check out Headph0ne Phet1sh, where “you’ll find all manner of ladies wearing all kinds of headphones”. Headph0ne Phet1sh is pretty impressive for the sheer quantity of content and as they say, “don’t knock it until you’ve tried it”.

Barcelona or Bust!

I’ve just got a new flat sorted out in Barcelona, so I’M BACK! I have to say, it’s nice to be in BCN again. Big shout out and ’nuff respeck to Lio for the use of his fun bouncy sofa bed while I was looking for a flat.

The new flat, which I’ll be sharing with the Brown Bear, is on Valencia and is quite mad, frankly! Anyway, feel free to visit ;)

(Sorry, nicked the title from the Manchester crew.)

Less is more

The complete lack of design on this site is growing on me. Maybe I’ll just leave it like this…

WordPress 1.5 update

I’ve been threatening to upgrade this blog to WordPress 1.5 for a while, to bring it up to date with domipix and Brown Bear. Now I have, but the style is just a plain version of the theme from domipix.com. It’ll be changin’…