Here's a wee message for @splodz aka Zoe...

Thank you for your kind gift of 13 (yes, THIRTEEN) rolls of 35mm film. I am extremely grateful!

Tx

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I got a Kindle... some thoughts including what I like and dislike

A couple of weeks ago I bought a Kindle... its the wi-fi only model (I didn't think the 3g version was necessary) and I have to say... I really like it.

Its a different beast from my iPad... and any comparison is just not fair. I think of it as my iPod for books. Let me explain:

The Kindle is an eBook reader... with some experimental functionality thrown in. It excels (in my opinion) in its main purpose - the storage and presentation of eBooks - just as an iPod (original / classic) excels (again, in my opinion) in the storage and presentation of digital music.

I don't use it for anything else... I don't send .pdf files to it or receive news or RSS feeds. I have my iPad for that... and it does that very well. I just use it for reading books... and have amassed 64 books on it to date... including the full Harry Potter series and the Lord of the Rings.

This is where it comes into its own... just as the iPod does for music:



Above is a comparison :: My Kindle vs 5 of the 64 books on it. For travel and for my daily commute... this is important for me. I am currently (and slowly) working my way through 7 books at the moment and I couldn't possibly take all 7 with me when I commute.

Other things I like about it include...

• its weight - its light and a lot lighter than the iPad;
• its screen - it can be read in full daylight unlike the iPad and it doesn't keep my brain active at night (I know this sounds like marketing hype but its true for me);
• its size - it can be carried in the back pocket of my second-hand 501s or jean-jacket without any issue;
• I don't consider the fact it doesn't feel like a book as an issue... I actually like the way it feels - I can easily read one-handed which is very useful on a packed train.

Now... its not all rosy. It's like me, it has its flaws...

• I don't like the fact I can't change the wallpapers - you know me and my personalisation. I can jailbreak it to enable this... but I'd prefer not to. It should be a feature.
• I would prefer colour - I'm so used to colour with my iPad that I miss it on my Kindle. I love wonderfully designed book-covers and 8-bit grayscale just isn't that good for covers.
• I don't like the fact it I am charged to send stuff to it... but do appreciate the "free.kindle.com" email address that supersedes the charging address ("kindle.com"). I have no need for this charging address... and am unsure why I even have it?

In summary... I really like the Kindle 3 as a device. It compliments my iPhone / iPad nicely... just as my iPods do... and, as such, I would recommend it for folks who commute and wish to carry a number of books with them on their journey.

Tx

This is cool :: photopile.com

photopile.me is a fab wee interface that uses the instagram API to present your recent instagram pics for folks to see via a browser rather than in-app on an iPhone.

I am http://www.photopile.me/user/headphonaught/ is you want to have a look at some of my pics.

Sign up is free... you just need to authorise the site via instagram.

Tx

This is cool :: Isobel and Dave's sunny colourful homemade wedding :: photos by Anna Hardy

I am grateful to my dear friend Laura for bringing to my attention the fabulous work of Anna Hardy and, in particular, this fantastic photoset :: Isobel and Dave's sunny colourful homemade wedding.

I don't know who Isobel and Dave are... but they look so happy together and their wedding looked awesome. Thanks to Anna Hardy for allowing me to share in their happiness with her truly awesome and inspiring photography. I would love to be given the opportunity to take photos like that.

Tx

PS I hope they don't mind me pinching one of their photos to illustrate this post?

May 2011's Calendar

Its nearly May... and, to the relief of my dad who has been on the phone regarding this, here's May's calendar. Taken in the Scotland Street School Museum in Glasgow earlier in April.

Usual flavours are included below.

Enjoy.

Tx

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iPad

Oh and I wish I could give you a Kindle version... but I haven't worked that one out yet.

in the moment

I am hurt.
I am broken.
I am defeated.

Or at least this is how I feel.

The poster... the promotion... and now the declined placing request... are now piling up on me.

I say this not for sympathy... but for information... because it is only fair to let you know what's going on.

I am in the middle of uncertainty... of doubt... of questioning and its a horrible place to be. I want to be at the other side... I want to be beyond this... I want to have the reassuring certainty that everyone so readily dishes out:

What's for you won't go by you.

and

It wasn't the right time.

I genuinely want that certainty... but it comes with hindsight and I'm not through the pain... and, as such, haven't been awarded such vision.

I'm still questioning:

"Why?" "Why not?" "Why me?" "Why not me?"

I truly hate this uncertainty... because it robs me of all the good and great in my life right now.

I am blinkered.
I am myopic.
I am blinded to that which is successful by that which is unsuccessful... as always the minority spoil it for the majority.
I focus on what I don't have rather than focussing on all that I do.

So please... as you seek to comfort me and others like me... remind me of all that I have in my life and let me work out whether or not it was my time and let me reconcile why it wasn't for me.

And please do not take this as a criticism. I am extremely grateful for all the support I have received. Each message... via phone, text, tweet, FB message, comment, IM and even in person... has reinforced one thing that I do have... I have awesome friends.

Tx

experience & differentiation

I recently went for a promotion... and got rejected because I lacked experience... specifically... the experience of leading and managing people.

It's true. I cannot argue against their judgement... because I do not have enough experience in this area. I can accept this.

What would make it easier to accept, however, is if there were opportunities for me to gain is experience in my current role. Unfortunately, there is not. Which means I need to consider my future.

My current situation aside... I have been considering experience... as a means of differentiation... possibly the only means left to us now.

Let me explain.

Take music, for example: Access is now king. Before it would have been ownership... but in the days of bit-torrents and spotify... we have, at our fingertips, unparalleled access to the kind of content we could only have dreamed of before. Thanks to my Internet connection, I can access any album that takes my fancy. Not everything but far more than just my personal collection.

Or take books? Access to content has always been available through Public Libraries. I am a huge fan of the Library and hope they never disappear... because they give access to ideas that a private citizen may never have otherwise.

I am grateful to Amazon for their Kindle. I recently bought one and love it. It complements my iPad nicely and it is some "thing" that enhances my life... because it gives me access to their whole library of material... albeit at a reduced price rather than for free. The Kindle and the Kindle apps are enablers in this manner.

That said... if we all have access to all this content... what differentiates us as people?

Access is not enough. We need to do something with this access to benefit. We need to experience.

I believe every book we read... every song we hear... every relationship we build and conversation we hold... every mile we travel... builds us as people. We are shaped by our inputs. They are what allow us to grow.

It's all fine and well to have the ability to access anything we want... we need to do something with it. This was true before digital... and it's true now.

Increased access gives us width.

Yesterday I read H.P.Lovecraft and from the Message translation of St Matthew's Gospel. I went for a bicycle ride on my refurbished BSA Javelin then watched "Mary Poppins" and a number of videos on Vimeo. I also listened to a post-rock compilation featuring artists from throughout the world... as well as listening to two Italian guitarists playing the most exquisite Baroque music on their acoustic guitars. This is width and it is this width allows me to experience some very different and disparate things.

The key is experience... and it is our experience that differentiates us.

Whilst we may be moving towards homogeneity when it comes to our devices... it's what we do with them that counts. iPhones & Androids, iPods & zunes, iPads and Kindles... may all becoming ubiquitous but the content on them varies and what we do with them varies even more.

I see this as a tremendous opportunity... because we need to... in fact, we have to... look beyond the homogeneous artefacts to see the content.

Before we could judge a book by it's cover or an album by it's artwork... now we need to inquire. The visual clues have changed and we now have more work to do.

We'd better get busy then.

Tx

- Posted from my iPad using BlogPress -

Hope for Japan... a compilation of awesome music for a wonderful cause

Hope for Japan is a compilation of seriously awesome music for a wonderful cause... it features personal favourites such as Matt Stevens, Lowercase Noises, The Echelon Effect, Good Weather for an Airstrike, and Circadian Eyes... along with a whole host of others. 36 tracks in total... all for a minimum donation of $5.00 with all proceeds going the Red Cross' efforts in Japan.

A must-have purchase... Well recommended.

Tx

As

As around the sun the earth knows she's revolving and the rosebuds know to bloom in early May.
Just as hate knows love's the cure, you can rest your mind assure.
That I'll be loving you always.
As now can't reveal the mystery of tomorrow but in passing will grow older every day.
Just as all is born is new, do know what I say is true.
That I'll be loving you always.

Did you know that true love asks for nothing.
Her acceptance is the way we pay.
Did you know that life has given love a guarantee.
To last through forever and another day
Just as time knew to move on since the beginning and the seasons know exactly when to change.
Just as kindness knows no shame, know through all your joy and pain.
That I'll be loving you always.
As today I know I'm living but tomorrow could make me the past but that I mustn't fear.
For I'll know deep in my mind, the love of me I've left behind.
Cause I'll be loving you always.

We all know sometimes lifes hates and troubles can make you wish you were born in another time and space.
But you can bet you life times that and twice its double that God knew exactly where he wanted you to be placed.
So make sure when you say you're in it but not of it, you're not helping to make this earth a place sometimes called Hell.
Change your words into truths and then change that truth into love, and maybe our children's grandchildren and their great-great grandchildren will tell...
I'll be loving you.

"As" by Stevie Wonder... taken from "songs in the key of life". Words that are very apt for the day before Easter Sunday.

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Passion... Two albums that mean a whole lot to me

See the full gallery on Posterous

The soundtracks to "the last temptation of Christ" and "the passion of the Christ" mean a whole lot to me... especially at this time of year - their ambience adding to my meditation on the suffering of Jesus.

I have only seen one of the two films (the passion... ) and only seen it once. Regardless... I think that their power as soundtracks is evident... with the sentiment they express being the value I seek from them.

Well worth checking out... if you haven't already?

Tx

Posted via email from headphonaught's posterous