The Year 2011 in Lego
The Guardian has curated some of the best from Flickr in order to show the year 2011 in Lego format.
I need a few more Lego bricks and characters methinks. Even still, I could never compete with some of these gifted Lego creations.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/allyhook/
Guardian article and Flickr Gallery
Music for Children
Given virtual 24-hour children’s television (CBeebies, CBBC) and the ubiquity of digital media available elsewhere in our house (DVDs, iPlayer, YouTube on the iPad/iPhones) it is often hard to get children to listen to music – or, to rephrase – listen to real music.
Are these days of parental influence gone? Personally, I’m glad my folks played The Beatles and The Rolling Stones and, best of all, the War of the Worlds soundtrack. Not so Manhattan Transfer.
I’ve decided to use a different approach to try to get my son into music which I like and has inspired me…. namely Playmobil figures singing Joy Division. We’ll see how it works.
Siri Update
As an update to this post about Siri voice unrecognition, you will be glad to know that the iOS 5.0.1 update (with better support for Australian English) has had a profoundly positive impact on said individuals interaction with Siri.
Just a caveat here: the person in question is not Australian and has never even been there.
Photosynth with Tripod
I’ve been using Photosynth (my favourite M$ product) since about the day I got my hand-me-down iPhone 3GS a couple of months ago and I’m generally quite taken with the results it produces. It is certainly more impressive – primarily because of the ability to do vertical and horizontal axis – than Dermandar and I’m a bit of a sucker for the 3D/QTVR style interaction both on the iPhone and on the Photosynth.net site too.
On a quiet day last week I finally got the opportunity to strap my iPhone to a tripod to do a panorama of a not terribly interesting location I’m afraid. The majorly borked section was too close to the iPhone and it just couldn’t resolve it. In general though, it’s worth pursuing the tripod option.
Here he be – Silverlight required.
Studio Ghibli Season on Film4 Begins 10th December
Film4 is showing a huge load of Studio Ghibli films each day from Saturday 10th December to Christmas day around tea time (5pm if you prefer “dinner”). More: http://www.film4.com/features/article/studio-ghibli-season-on-film4
Image from: http://missprettylady.deviantart.com/art/Studio-Ghibli-Shoes-1-161547126
‘Siri’ or ‘Now I Know How the Scottish Feel’
Sat listening to someone trying to get to grips with Siri on the Apple iPhone 4S. It started at making notes and dictation – with ultimate failure – and ended on trying to call a telephone number unsuccessfully.
It was pure frustration for me and the lucky new iPhone 4S user. Mind you, I say lucky….. We’ll see.
Good Morning, Captain
Normally I’d do Hello World, but for a change I’m going to say Good Morning, Captain instead.
The 8-bit version which is very well done.
