dan being open

"dan being open" is on the move

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 20:51:31 +0000

I’ve decided to drop all my subdomain blogs and post only through mled.me

I wrote this post to kick start the move and explain my reasons for starting from scratch.

If you’d like to continue to follow this blog, you’ll need to follow mled.me from now.

Thank you and goodnight.

Melvina Reynolds - Little Boxes

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:40:28 +0000

Melvina Reynolds - Little Boxes

My Tumblr as a mosaic

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:34:18 +0000

My Tumblr as a mosaic:

Neat little app that lets you view your Tumblr as a mosaic.
h/t sarahcooley

I absolutely love this new video from OK GO

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:29:55 +0000

I absolutely love this new video from OK GO

staff: Now testing: Pages You can now add static pages to your...

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:27:00 +0000

staff:

Now testing: Pages

You can now add static pages to your blog, with a few very useful options. Head to your blog’s Customize page and click the “Pages” menu to get started. There are currently three types of Pages you can create:

Standard Layout. Create a simple page with a title and body using your current theme.

Custom Layout. Create a page with a completely separate layout.

Redirect. Forward a route to a page on another domain. Useful for maintaining links when moving your domain name over to Tumblr.

Developers: Check out the Theme Docs for instructions on implementing the new {block:Pages} tag.

DOH! I’ve spent the last two weeks making a portfolio-esque site using permalinks to individual posts like pages. Now Tumblr can be used properly as a CMS, and not in the hacked about way I’ve been doing it.

Thanks very much Tumblr, I just really really wish this had come along about three weeks ago!

(via mikearauz) Really interesting talk which starts with some...

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:01:00 +0000

DS Games - E3 2010 - Guitar Hero 5

(via mikearauz)

Really interesting talk which starts with some stats on Facebook and Farmville. I was amazed by the statistic that there are more Farmville users than Twitter accounts - Facebook is BIG

The most interesting point that is made - who is going to help us get to the point where our behaviour is dictated by marketing and interactivity with brands? I think Google will get their first, I mean, just look at Google Voice which lets you have all those cool services for free in the hope that you contribute to their databases

Achmed the dead terrorist

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:26:52 +0000

Achmed the dead terrorist

Drumsound & Bassline Smith Mini Mix - Annie Mac - BBC Radio...

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:36:24 +0000

Drumsound & Bassline Smith Mini Mix - Annie Mac - BBC Radio 1

Action packed

Video

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:00:57 +0000

London Meetup: Change of Plan, Next Meetup: Saturday 27th February 2010, 7:30pm @ Jerusalem, 33-34 Rathbone Place, London (Between...

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:36:42 +0000

London Meetup: Change of Plan, Next Meetup: Saturday 27th February 2010, 7:30pm @ Jerusalem, 33-34 Rathbone Place, London (Between...:

(Click here for a map.)

Sorry to do this to everyone but the last place just springed on us that they wanted 21+ only and for us all to arrive at the same time. So we’ve booked Jerusalem instead. The new start time is 7.30

Also; if you’re looking for food; Bentio’s Hat… a good Mexican…

There’s a Kent LUG meet that day too. Saturday 27th - the day of Meetups. Exciting stuff

dannahan: Aziz (@azizansari) ACTUALLY answered my question! ...

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:27:03 +0000

dannahan:

Aziz (@azizansari) ACTUALLY answered my question! Here’s a video of him scratching! Will post data results tomorrow!

Enjoy!

This is pretty much the response you get when you ask someone that works on Debian when the next release is out

Why is working in a school fun? Because kids are hilarious.

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:22:27 +0000

Why is working in a school fun? Because kids are hilarious.

On Spotify

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:25:31 +0000

david-noel:

A few weeks ago, MSG asked me to write about the “awesomesauce around Spotify”. I’ve been sitting on Michael’s request for far too long.

So what can I say about Spotify other than it has become one of the (web) applications I use most? Not that much aside from: I use it every day, all day. It’s my go-to-place to listen to music I discover here on Tumblr or Hype Machine. To my surprise, 99% of my search queries have returned results, their catalogue keeps growing and you’ll find most of the newer and less-known music and a huge back-catalogue.

The three main features are Search, Browse and Playlists. Here’s how I use it:

Rather than pure playlists, I use them as folders:

Albums: here’s where I archive albums that I have listened to for a while, just like your main iTunes

To Listen: this is where I add albums that I come across but yet still to check out in more detail. Once I’ve done this, I move them to the Albums folder.

Sweets: single tracks I enjoy. This is probably my only real playlist and it’s pretty long

Tronics: all things electronic, a playlist for weekend nights

Hardcore/Punk: where I collect albums and tracks I rediscovered from my teenage years.

Classics: a place for the old-timers

Steel: if you remember Pedal Steel Week you’ll know I have an obsession for steel guitars and banjos. This is where it’s at.

Additionally, I saved two collaborative playlists with classical music from my co-worker Matas, who knows everything about classical music.

So that’s it, you ask?

At this point, yes that works for me. Spotify has integrated some social features (like sharing links to Twitter, Delicious and Facebook), the most native feature being the ability to create playlists together with other users. Set up a public playlist and let your friends drop your tracks in there, updated in real-time.

Now, Spotify hasn’t officially launched in Germany so at this point I don’t miss the social aspect at all. I’m curious to see if and what way that will change once my trusted musical allies (yes, you Tumblrs!) get to join the awesomesauce (love that word).

The Home screen is where Spotify feature album and artist suggestions but I barely use it. It’s one of the weaker elements of the service but I don’t mind since I don’t use the home screen to discover music.

They offer an offline version which, in theory, is awesome - if you have an iPhone. I’m still on a Nokia E71 and even tough their Symbian app is pretty damn solid, I use my iPod instead.

Recently, they’ve rolled out their recommendation engine ‘Related Artists’. This is pretty cool. I haven’t used it much yet - instead, I’ve been using a cool app named Find The Band that was built during Music Hack Day in Stockholm. Type in an artist name and based on its data on last.fm, it suggests similar artists and links right into Spotify.

All that said, I am a huge fan and even though I received a free “beta” account, I was happy to pay 120€/$160 right after getting the invitation. It has yet to be seen if Spotfiy can scale its business model globally and compete with other cats like Mog or Grooveshark (which I’ve never used) but until then, I am a happy subscriber and want to see them succeed.

If you ask me, anyone who wouldn’t lay down $160 for a year full of unlimited online & offline music is crazy.

Update: hot-linked into some of my folders. If you have Spotify, you can now access the playlists.

Spotify is really excellent on Android phones too

atencio: 5 Seconds Films - “Goat Trip” I’m currently loving the...

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:27:50 +0000

atencio:

5 Seconds Films - “Goat Trip”

I’m currently loving the website 5 Second Films, where a group of people release a 5 second film every weekday. It’s a great example of how effective shooting and editing can tell a story or a funny joke in a minimal amount of time. Anyone who wants to be an editor or director should watch as many of these as they can. Here’s a few more really good ones.

Fuck, I keep finding even more that I love. Ok, one more.

This is one bookmarklet I’m definitely using!

GPOYW - Talk to the hand edition Mostly taken because NOW I...

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 11:09:03 +0000

GPOYW - Talk to the hand edition

Mostly taken because NOW I can

I just need to fix the pixelated look that Adobe Flash seems to love applying

Anyone suggest how to fix this?

Revenue sharing comes to Mahalo Answers

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:31:00 +0000

jasoncalacanis:

(Click to enlarge)
Mahalo Answers is about to launch something really innovative I believe: We are going to start sharing Google AdSense revenue with our Mahalo Answers community in the form of our virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. The way it will work is that the person asking the question will receive up to M$100 in revenue sharing and the best answer will get up to M$100 in Adsense revenue. What this means is that you might make M$100 ($75 US) for just ASKING a good question…. you might also get up to that amount for getting the best answer. This is, of course, in addition to the virtual currency (Mahalo Dollars) put on questions already. This is part of my overall vision to match virtual currency to knowledge exchange, content, UGC and search. The reason Mahalo rocketed to #150 on Quantcast and 15m uniques and operational breakeven is because of this new(er) vision.
Feedback?

This is an amazing idea. Mahalo’s concept is pretty much a guaranteed success.

My only issue is how the currency is being written - M$. I have grown up abbreviating the word Microsoft as M$.

Wondering if Google is using Twitter to track the buzz about Buzz.

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 09:55:05 +0000

Wondering if Google is using Twitter to track the buzz about Buzz.

What do you call a woman who can suck a golf ball through 50 ft of garden hose? Darling.

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 09:55:05 +0000

What do you call a woman who can suck a golf ball through 50 ft of garden hose? Darling.

If I was a twitter loser I’d complain about the day I have had. But I’m not. And I...

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:47:36 +0000

If I was a twitter loser I’d complain about the day I have had. But I’m not. And I understand hashtags unlike 98% of the people I follow

staff: Accidently blow away all your hard work on a custom...

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:23:20 +0000

staff:

Accidently blow away all your hard work on a custom theme? Don’t worry!

Tumblr now stores the last 20 revisions of your Custom HTML. To revert to a previous version, just visit the Theme Recovery page.