It’s been a while in the making, but augmented reality on your mobile is just about here. And by that, I mean that these applications are available for your mobile phone, and it will only be a matter of time before they gain critical mass. So what am I talking about? In the research space, among others I can refer you to iCam (2006) and MARA (2006) from researchers at Georgia Tech and Nokia respectively. iCam allows the placement of … →
End of the world
Just in case the world ends tomorrow in a haze of sub-atomic particles, there is something I must confess: I ate the last papadum.
The lateness of the 460
As if to bear out the frustrations I described in my last post about the go card, this morning the 460 was 26 minutes late. The bus was due at 8:10am, and I arrived at the bus stop (Forest Lake ‘E’) at 8am. The bus showed up at 8:36am, just six minutes before the next 460 was due.
Many Eyes
I’ve been playing with Many Eyes from IBM Alphaworks. It’s a visualisation tool for data sets of various sorts. To test it out, I uploaded my Olympic medals per kilotonne of carbon emissions data sets. You can see the data sets here and here, and the resulting bar charts here and here, respectively (Java required).
TransLink go card: beginning to irk me
I’m still ahead. But would you believe that, on the very day of my previous post about the go card, the go card machine in the bus failed to work when I needed to get off the bus at Forest Lake? How’s that for coincidence? Exactly the same thing happened again last night when trying to touch off. What happens is this. I get on the bus at Indooroopilly, touch on, the light goes green and says something about a … →
Gold, Silver, Bronze, Carbon
Georgia, it seems, may finally have reason to celebrate after what’s been a tough few weeks for the former Soviet nation. A revised tally of the 2008 Olympic gold medal count, which adjusts the tally according to carbon emissions, puts Georgia at the top of the rankings, well ahead of its nemesis, Russia. Jamaica, Ethiopia, Kenya and Cameroon round out the top 5 in the revised tally. Australia, Russia, China and the USA are left trailing by some margin, as … →
It’s happening: Macs gaining market share
Macs are increasing their share of the personal computing market, and Aussies are leading the charge: in the last quarter, Mac sales grew at a whopping 52% in Australia. Overall, Macs are still way behind, at about 3.5% of the global market. But apparently that’s double what it was five years ago.
A year of parenthood
It’s been just over a year since Xander was born, and I can quite honestly say it’s been the most fulfilling year of my life so far. Parenthood is everything they say it is: tiring, rewarding, sometimes difficult, but ultimately truly wonderful. To me the year seems to have passed fairly quickly, although it’s been jam packed with stuff. Xander had a fantastic 1st birthday party, meticulously organised by his mummy. He’s just started walking, and he has a penchant … →
TransLink go card: I’m ahead
The TransLink go card system is broken, but not for the reasons Ben points out, or at least not mainly for that reason. It’s broken because the machines are too often not working (on the buses, anyway). That means that I, and thousands of other passengers each day, score free trips. Already this week, I’ve had three or four free trips because the machine was not functional, and the bus drivers simply waved me onto the bus. While I’ve been … →
