Yesterday was my most favourite day in a long time. This is perhaps surprising when you consider the day started with getting up early and walking to the tax office!

I wanted to check whether I had to register to be self-employed with the HMRC. Turned out I did, but my situation is a bit odd so I haven’t done it yet. Instead I’m booked in to attend a workshop on self-employment next Monday. Basically I’m going to be learning about tax, but I’m actually quite excited. It makes things more real.

After that I spent a few minutes checking out a war memorial and dedicating some of my thoughts to the troops. That always humbles me.

Then I went scouting for a job, which will support my self-employment in the early days. I got a couple of leads for basic shop assistant work. Although I probably didn’t come across amazingly, I did enjoy the interaction. There was a certain pressure there for me to impress and the atmosphere of the exchange was different to a shop/customer exchange. The whole thing felt like a mission.

Then I realised I could get a lift home if I waited about an hour; otherwise I’d have to catch a bus. I decided to use this an excuse to check out the library. I’ve not been in a library in too long, and although this was nowhere near the quality and size I’m used to, I felt immediately at home. I think I’m going to visit more often.

I did all this before lunch. The tax office and job hunting were things I really didn’t want to do, but I pushed through them. The war memorial and library were impulse stops and are just always incredibly worthwhile things to do. To some people this probably doesn’t seem like it would make a particularly amazing day, but self improvement is all about pushing yourself a step higher that where you were previously. It doesn’t matter which step you reach; just the fact that you are one step higher.

I’ve decided something I really need to do is travel to the cities more. It takes about 50 minutes to get to Cambridge from my town, but I have to find my way to the local station first. If I can make use of that time somehow, I think it will be worthwhile commuting there more frequently. I may just spent the time in the library, but my main purpose is just to get used to travelling around and meeting people. London is only 2 hours a way, so I should do that too (though that is 4 hours travelling total). A lack of funds is still stopping me in both cases though.

I just read the following on the blog of the wonderful Ben Casnocha. It was sent to him by his friend David Cummins:

Some people believe the modern Renaissance Man is an investment banker who likes to ride horses on his weekends off or take a wine tasting course. That’s not a Renaissance Man, that’s a guy with a hobby. A Renaissance man is someone that can see trends and patterns and is able to integrate what he already knows. A Renaissance Man is curious and interested in different things. You have to be willing to ‘waste time’ on things that are not directly related to your work because you are curious. But then you are able to, sometimes unconsciously, integrate them back into what you do.

Ben isn’t exactly clear whether Cummins wrote this or just forwarded it; but whoever it was, it struck a chord.

This is me exactly.

I’ve been looking for a way to conceptualise what a modern Renaissance Man is for some time. Clearly, if Leonardo Da Vinci (the quintessential Renaissance Man) were alive today, he would not be cutting up bodies and designing parachutes. I believe his life would be much more like that described above.

An example from my life:

I really like learning how to use a computer. I’ve always done little bits of programming and learnt how to use new bits of software. Recently I came across a Content Management System called Drupal — a system one uses to easily update content on a website. I was originally interested in finding a way to keep easy track of my self improvement endeavours. Instead, the more I’ve learnt about it, the more I’ve realised I can use it for creating a community site for my main interest — improving human abilities.

Everything I do seems to eventually feed back into this subject. Sometimes I go wildly off-track, but eventually it becomes useful. I guess, in a way, this blog is my opportunity to get off track.

Ken McCarthy has just posted some interesting news about the migration of television. First it was obviously on the television, then it hopped to the Internet, and not it is heading back to the television again.

This week, Tivo announced that its customers will be able to view video content off the web on their television sets.

I love news like this because it’s a sign of the future happening as we speak.

I’m particularly excited by this other news:

Apple announced it has partnered with major airlines to let passengers power their iPods in flight and watch iPod videos in their seats.

This is an early sign of truly portable computers (computers that we can carry in our pockets). IPod videos are currently a bit pathetic because of the small screen, but when you can plug it into something of a decent size it makes a whole lot of sense. So essentially you have your videos always available in some form wherever you are, but when you find a screen, you can plug it in.

It’s not difficult to make the connection between iPod videos and fully functional computers. You can check your email wherever you are, but when you find a connection point you suddenly have the bonus of a big screen and a keyboard. I think video may be the one to drive this.

A final quotation from Ken McCarthy:

My prediction: When all this finally shakes out, every TV will come with a broadband connection and an easy search console that will enable users to search the Net and find the exact programming they want without leaving the living room sofa.

If they’re going on a trip, users will be able to insert an iPod-like device into their TV, grab the programs they want for the road and where ever they are - in a hotel room, on a plane, in an airport or train station, on a cruise, or the back seat of a car - they’ll be able to plug their video storage device into any video player and watch what they want.

What you want to watch - when you want to watch it - and the one I don’t here as often, but will be equally as important - where you want to watch it. That’s the future of video.

Read Ken McCarthy’s The Great Migration here.

If sound is done badly, people notice that the work is rubbish.

If it is done well, it’s mostly ignored. This is a good thing.

And then there’s this tape dispenser. Which is probably too overt for most productions, but works amazingly well in this short.

Watch Moth

(Also check out the stop-motion Orange Ad, and… well everything else really)

I recently listened to an interesting presentation by one of the creators of Jib Jab — a company that has pioneered its way into animation through the use of the Internet. What is particularly fascinating is the fact that this company is an independent started by two brothers (and understanding wives). Marketing and distribution have been made possible by clever business sense, quality productions and the Internet.

This will happen a lot more.

KIWI is a great example of this.

As soon as people can easily transfer media from the Internet onto their TV sets, this will really take off.

JibJab interview part 1 here, part 2 here.

Photosynth is a project by Microsoft Live Labs that synthesises collections of photographs together to create a new form of 3D presentation. It is extremely impressive and probably another one of those elements that will change the world.

Some thoughts:

• Imagine what this would be like if you combined it with something like Google Earth
• What if you combined it with NASA photos?
• What if it was combined with microscopic photography?
• How easily could you incorporate video into this? Live webcams?
• Could you use this with traditional art work?
• How could this be used to fight crime?

Take a look at the videos and live presentation on the official website.

I visited the Poppy Appeal website today. I read this:

This year, the Legion is offering you a different way to give to the Poppy Appeal! By texting the word POPPY to 85099, you can download one of three Poppy images to your mobile phone in return for a donation of £1.50

Each download (two of which are animated) feature the Poppy icon with the words ‘Remember’ and the time and date of the Two Minute Silence on 11th November

By downloading the Poppy you will also receive a text reminder on the day before 11th November to remind you to pause for the Two Minute Silence.

Seemed like a good idea, and perhaps a talking point which is never a bad thing when our ex-servicemen are concerned.

So I plugged the number into my mobile phone, typed POPPY, and waited for a reply with a confirmation of payment.

I’ve never ordered any ringtones or such like for my phone before, so I don’t know what usually happens. What I expected was a reply message with the image attached. What I received was a message saying ‘Poppy download’.

I’m reasonably quick witted and so I noticed the ‘Goto’ menu command. I clicked it. This sent me to the download page on the mobile version of the Internet. I’ve never used this mobile-internet before, and I have no idea if it costs money.

I’m presented with 3 pictures. I select one and click the ‘go’ button. That sends me to a blank screen.

Great.

I press backup and try selecting the next one. Same blank screen.

Backup again, but unfortunately 3rd time is not a charm either.

Then I spot the text hidden at the bottom of the screen and realise I may have paid 3 times. Either that or not at all. How do I know?

I decide to call it quits, and then I receive a succession of 3 messages all saying ‘to download later please visit’ and then a long web address. Umm. What do I do? Do I go to it on my computer or on the phone? I try the phone, it seems sensible. I arrive at that blank screen again.

Damn.

Has that cost me another £1.50?

One last try, I copy the web address into my computer browser.

Aha.

No wait, it’s telling me the address isn’t correct.

I double check and realise I’ve missed a ‘c’. I add it.

Blank page.

ARGH!

I don’t really care about the image and reminders, but I would like to know if I’ve donated or not. Are these ordering systems not tested properly — preferably by people who don’t know what they are doing?

I’m thinking the answer is no.

Mark Kennedy has an insightful post on drawing crowds so they don’t look like a jumbled mess. A few key points:

• Express one idea or mood. The crowd should be a single entity (Although possibly not in paintings?)
• Paint every character the same colour or tone.
• You can pull a main character out by making them different

My favourite point, however, was about creating a crowd as if it were one character in an animated sequence.

This panel from Tintin illustrates the point beautifully. From left to right it reads like one character getting up from the ground and retreating, but is actually obviously a squad of soldiers. The technique provides order and rhythm as well as selling the idea of movement. But more than just the movement, it sells a more complex idea: that the soldiers are getting up and retreating. This could well be my new favourite technique.

Full post is here.

Without doubt more and more people are turning to online applications for the convenience it provides. But more and more people are also becoming frustrated when they lose their internet connection.

It’s all very well me having gMail available wherever I am, but if my connection dies I have to stop emailing. This shouldn’t be the case. A connection problem should still allow me access to my mail and allow me to send it. Sure my outgoing mail may be put in a local queue until the connection is restored, but most the time I don’t need to know about that. Apart from a little icon in the corner of my window saying Gmail is not connected, I should not notice any difference when on- or offline.

This is how I would like my gMail account to work:

I click on my Gmail icon on my desktop or type the address in my web browser.

My computer tries to connect to the gMail server. If I’m online, it compares the latest application version with the version stored on my computer. If gMail doesn’t exist on my computer, it will download it straight from the internet just like it does now. If my offline version is out-of-date, it will also download it off of the internet and the local version will be updated. If my version is up-to-date, it just loads from my hard drive. And, of course, if there is no connection at all, it will load from my hard drive.

The only time I should ever see a connection error is if I’ve never used email on this computer and I have no Internet connection.

A similar process happens for my email. When there is a connection, gMail updates my email and downloads it to my computer. When there is no connection I just continue reading unaware that I’m offline.

GMail should be simple because it already works on the web. Taking something more complex like Photoshop would be much more difficult but also perfectly possible.

Photoshop would work something like this:

Presume I’m on a computer that has never accessed Photoshop before.

I type Photoshop.app into the web browser.

A password box asks me for my Photoshop password to make sure I’ve paid to use it.

Photoshop checks to see whether there is a version offline. If so, it loads it.

Because of the size of the software this is done in modules. Anything out-of-date gets updated in the background, but only the out-of-date parts of the software get updated.

If no version is available offline it runs the front end from the web while surrounding modules download in the background.

Obviously breaking it into module is a lot more complex than gMail is, but it is perfectly doable. Photoshop may be a long way off, but gMail is only a step or two away.

The point of this will be that software isn’t installed by the user, it just runs. It may be slow at first, but it soon speeds up. You buy software (or discover free stuff) and it’s available on any computer with an Internet connection and appropriate hardware. (Provisions could be made to check USB sticks also, so a connection wouldn’t always be necessary).

And yes, this could also include operating systems.

Best of both worlds, and for the user off- and online are ostensibly the same.

From a humanistic viewpoint I am not a fan of the industrial revolution. Too many people sacrificed their lives (through a kind of living death), in order to provide our present reality. Tied to a production line or cast down a dark coal mine, is difficult to equate with being human.

With this viewpoint in mind, I am a little unsure what to make of the message behind Artzybasheff’s Machinalia. His personifications of machines could also be seen as ‘machinifications’ of people. Man as machine or machine as man? I’m unsure; it’s a little difficult to distinguish.

See the stunning Machinalia here