Pete Ashton » Links

Link Dump

Pete Ashton — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 09:00:00 +0000

Link Dump // The Dark Side of the Moon (The Flaming Lips album) – This almost slipped under my radar. It's very good indeed, both faithful to and playful with the original. Go get a copy. // Facebook Fixer for Greasemonkey – Clears all the crap off and makes it slightly more usable. If you use it. I hardly ever do though I keep meaning to. // A listening guide to Uptime / Downtime – Provided by Wikipedians identifying the samples. // The Kleptones "Uptime/Downtime" Album – From the monkey who brought us Yoshimi vs The Hip Hop Robots and A Night At The Hip Hopera. Another masterpiece of bastard pop free to download. Do it now. // Passive aggressive notes left on WIFi router names – "please no more grindcore at 3am" // Wikileaks are fundraising – This is the site which people can send leaked documents to without fear of lawyers serving them writs. They provide an invaluable service. Go throw them a fiver or something. // LIVE! Pictures from the Labour plot! – Sod the "first YouTube / Facebook / Twitter election" nonsense. This could be the first Lolcats election. Much more relevant to the future of democracy. // Doing journalism in 2010 is an act of community organizing – "Despite what years of local monopoly may have taught many veteran journalists, readers don't automatically show up for whatever you publish." // Growing up Heroes – Photos of American (on the whole) kids dressed up as superheroes. Better than it sounds and it sounds great. // The ‘Israelification’ of airports – Fascinating article on how Tel Aviv's main airport deals with a constant and real terror threat. There are no queues and you're through in minutes. Comparisons are drawn with the "letting the terrorists win" policies of US airports. // How to say stupid things about social media – Cory Doctorow states the bleeding obvious, but sometimes it needs to be stated. // Newspaper Club Prices – You can now order your own newspaper from Newspaper club. 100 copies for £120. Intriguing. // Helga’s New York Adventure – My friend and occasional colleague Helga Henry has finally found her blogging voice. Loving this. // Chip Music – A forum for creators and fans of 8bit and related music. Haven't dived in yet. // Hobbitted – A blog by someone reading Tolkien for the first time. I love the tone of bemusement. // Dear Rock Stars – Steve Lawson, a musician, replies to those in the "music industry" who say people like him are suffering. He's not suffering. // Photos2You – I have it on good authority this is the cheapest place to get black and white films developed. // Victorian Infographics – Very awesome indeed. // Blindhæðir – Laura Kicey crowdsourced the funds for a photo tour of Iceland. In return funders got prints and she wrote up the journey in this fantastic piece of travel blogging. // Compliment Sandwich – The Juneau Projects boys have a blog. // Nobody Has A Million Twitter Followers – Anil Dash is on Twitter's Suggested User List. His findings are interesting. // Twitpanto 2009 — The Sequel – Jon Bounds accounts for his experimental theatre production, a pantomime on Twitter. // Decode: Digital Design Sensations – I have it on good authority that this exhibition at the V&A is worth going to // via delicious/peteashton/toblog

The Nine Eyes of Google Street View

Pete Ashton — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:17:27 +0000

The Nine Eyes of Google Street View – Possibly the best thing I’ve read online this month, if not this year. Lovely photo essay using the automatic, neutral eye of Google’s Street View cameras. The technical and artistic angle is interesting but it really hits home with the social stuff. The people who mostly appear on Street View are the poor since they mostly live on the street. Highly recommended.

Closed Doors at the Council

Pete Ashton — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:18:25 +0000

Closed Doors at the Council – One of the questions that’s often asked about the decline of local newspapers is how will local government be held to account if no-one is watching? Manchester website MULE decided to have a go, with predictably depressing results. This reminded me of when I first started dabbling in blogging about Birmingham and went to an event at the Birmingham council chamber. Mike Whitby, the leader, spoke for 20 minutes. I had no idea what he said. One might think they don’t want people to understand them.

How SLR Cameras Work – aperture, shutter and iso value

Pete Ashton — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:19:03 +0000

How SLR Cameras Work – aperture, shutter and iso value – Great interactive demo to teach the basics of photography. Move the controls to see exactly what the difference between f1.8 and f11 is.

Outdated music industry deserves no Govt help

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:06:05 +0000

Outdated music industry deserves no Govt help – Great overview of the current tactics used by the music recording industry to shore up their failing business models which asks the obvious question:

Where's the government help for travel agents, directory publishers, local newspapers, hard-core pornographers and other industries whose entire business models are disappearing thanks to online competition, legal or otherwise? What's so special about music?

via Dubber, natch

The Rubbish Superheroes of Birmingham

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:05:56 +0000

The Rubbish Superheroes of Birmingham – Eye on Moseley has been gathering evidence from the Birmingham Mail of a breed of sub-standard beings with special powers living amongst us. Keep an eye out for Amazing Man, Bone Boy, Death Charge Mum, Crucifixion Man and, most intriguing, Tragic Cop.

Fanzines enter pages of history

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:57:08 +0000

Fanzines enter pages of history – BBC article on news that the National Library of Scotland is to start archiving 70 years of fanzine activity. The photo shows copies of Zum! and Caption, which is nice but implies the contents boxes piled up behind my wardrobe may contain a fair amount of duplicates. Still, when the time comes that I'm ready to rid myself of this precious load it's good to know sending them Chris Atton is an option.

The Kaye Family on LP Cover Lover

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:13:16 +0000

The Kaye Family on LP Cover Lover – I bought this record in a charity shop years ago and fell in love with it. I don't miss having a vinyl player these days but occasionally the glory of their music pops into my memory. There are 30 second clips here but the full album download appears to have expired. Still, it's something and, if I'm honest, it's all about the glorious cover.

51 Creative Business Cards That Will Make You Look Twice

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:13:15 +0000

51 Creative Business Cards That Will Make You Look Twice – This isn't about business cards. It's about lovely design within the limitations of a small piece of card. I particularly like the peanut though it probably fails the wallet test. Not to mention the hungry on the way home from the meeting test.

Bulldog book

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:13:14 +0000

Bulldog book – One for the 90s small press comics people (and anyone else interested, of course). Jason Cobley has collected his favourite strips from his Bulldog comic into a 200 page book which he's selling through Lulu. Garen Ewing has the details and his personal history with the character and publication.

Mosquito Ringtones

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:13:12 +0000

Mosquito Ringtones – You'll probably know all about this stuff. A few years back shops started broadcasting very high pitched sounds that only teenagers could hear to stop them hanging around being all young and that. But the kids took this notion and started sharing ringtones for their phones so they could send messages in class without the teacher knowing. Here's a load of downloads at a range of frequencies so you can see how old and decrepit your hearing is. I can barely hear 12khz which puts me in the 50 and above bracket. Too many loud gigs I guess. Where are you?

Wired interview with Alan Moore

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:13:11 +0000

Wired interview with Alan Moore – The one good thing about this Watchmen movie is we're treated to lengthy rambling interviews with Alan Moore again. Always a pleasure, never a chore.

Download everything from 50 Foot Wave

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:13:10 +0000

Download everything from 50 Foot Wave – Kristin Hersh and co and put all their recorded output from the last few years online for free. Go get it.

How to squeeze decent photos out of an iPhone

Pete Ashton — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:58:42 +0000

How to squeeze decent photos out of an iPhone – Meg writes the most essential and excellent guide for those people who have an Apple mobile computing device and who like taking photographs. (The rest of you, as you were.) Best tip here is to hold the shutter button and gently release it when you want to take the shot, rather than jabbing at the bloody thing as I’ve been doing. That and holding it sideways. There’s also some great stuff on what conditions are optimal for the relatively shitty sensor on the iPhone.

Stuff White People Like #122 Moleskine Notebooks

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:14:15 +0000

Stuff White People Like #122 Moleskine Notebooks – "One of the strangest side effects has been the puzzling situation whereby a white person will sit in an independent coffee shop with a Moleskine notebook resting on top of a Apple laptop. You might wonder why they need so many devices to write down thoughts?" As a white person who sits in cafes with a Macbook and a Moleskine-ish notebook I can vouch for the authenticity of this post. via Nick

First Fold Records

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:02:07 +0000

First Fold Records – Met up with Stuart Tonge last week and he handed me a pile of CDs from the co-op label he's involved with. All good stuff and once I've given them a proper listen I intend to write about them but in the meanwhile they have a blog with some vids and stuff.

The unnofficial SXSW 2009 music torrent

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:02:06 +0000

The unnofficial SXSW 2009 music torrent – A few years ago the SXSW music festival put mp3s from all the bands playing in a big torrent. It was a big success but for some reason they discontinued it despite still having the files on the website to download one by one. Thankfully a precedent was set and every year kind souls do the work for them. The torrents went live a couple of days ago and are now seeding nicely so you should be able to download this 5GB of tunes fairly quickly.

A load of Thunderer

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:02:05 +0000

A load of Thunderer – The Sunday Times published a piece of high hackery about social media, as it seems to do every Sunday with weary reliability. This one is about Twitter. I idly speculated (on Twitter, natch) that it would be amusing to report on newspapers in the same way newspapers report on us. Within a few hours I was informed Kevin Marks had had the same idea. via Ewan

Point and shoot tips from the old masters

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:02:04 +0000

Point and shoot tips from the old masters – Rather inspiring post comparing the limitations of cheap compact cameras with those used in the pre-digital age when film was slow and f8 was the standard aperture. I have to say shooting with a manual SLR where I had to set the exposure and focus for every shot probably taught me more about seeing than anything else, although that was more about slowing the fuck down. A compact doesn't force you to do this so you have to force yourself. via Kottke

The Pac-Man Dossier

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:17:44 +0000

The Pac-Man Dossier – More information than than you ever thought possible about Pac-Man. Some lovely vintage illustrations too. via Tom