I found my old Russian SLR camera a few days ago. It's a Zenit EM Olympic edition, a tie-in from the 1980 Moscow Olympics. The Russian Zenit, and more so its East German cousin the Praktica, were popular manual SLR cameras for beginner photographers in the UK in the 80s and 90s. I got mine… Continue reading Helios
So, the cloud
I had intended to follow up my last post with a long, informative piece about where the various cloud hosting providers were registered and where they kept their data. I had hoped to work out how to escape from the situation in which all of my personal and business data is being provided to foreign… Continue reading So, the cloud
“It didn’t violate the First Amendment because Americans weren’t among the people targeted”
We've recently been told quite a lot about the activities of the US National Security Agency in monitoring internet communications. Much of it could be described as "stuff you might have feared, but that's a bit depressing to have confirmed". For people outside the US, one perhaps surprising thing is that the US government seems… Continue reading “It didn’t violate the First Amendment because Americans weren’t among the people targeted”
Firefox OS on the Geeksphone Keon
(Previous post: What is Firefox OS all about?) Hardware To get this out of the way first: this is clearly intended to be the lowest-end device that Firefox OS apps will need to support. It's distinctly bargain-basement. By far the best thing about this hardware is its soft-touch orange plastic rear cover, which is nice… Continue reading Firefox OS on the Geeksphone Keon
What is Firefox OS all about?
When I first read about Firefox OS, the ongoing project to make an operating system for phones and tablets that runs entirely in a Firefox browser, I thought: what a marvellously futile idea. The world isn't short on niche, provisional, or failed experiments in operating systems for phones: Sailfish, Tizen, webOS, BB10, Ubuntu-for-phones, Meego, (cough)… Continue reading What is Firefox OS all about?
Can the American be trusted?
I found a striking bit of cultural conditioning in my head today. I watched Apple's introductory video about iOS 7. That's this one: If you haven't seen it already, and have some minutes to spare, watch it now. The first half is narrated by Jony Ive, Apple's (former) top hardware designer and (now) chief Designer… Continue reading Can the American be trusted?
The Breakfast Post 