Geoff Jones

Inveterate dabbler in business, travel, gadgets & life

Posts

RSS feeds alternative name

I think the guys on the irc backchannel at Les Blogs2 are onto something with an alternative name for RSS feeds as ARSE (apparently its the way RSS sounds to native English speakers when pronounced by mainland Europeans)

It seems a good name to me as it can be an acronym for Atom / RSS /Emissions
and also has an analogy to the human body. Feeds enter through the mouth additional processing is done by the individual and then the resulting mashup is expelled through the arse.

I wonder if it will get into the next OED like Ben Hammersley’s word Podcasting!

Mesh networking in Cambridge UK


Here is Rend Shakir being interviewed by Nick Lawrence in The Sauce bar on the inaugural day of Cambridge Matrix’s first public wireless mesh node. Could this be the start of free WiFi here in Cambridge UK?.

The interview was for the BBC1 InsideOut programme. Rend was, explaining what a wireless hotspot is and the advantages of using a wireless mesh network rather than localised hotspots.

The business model is to sell the base station to the local cafe. Users can then access local advertised links, on the homepage, for free (the base station owner getting a cut of the advertising revenue) or use it as a regular hotspot with roaming accounts available from just £5.00 per Day.

The programme is scheduled for BBC1 on 6th Feb 2006 at 7.30pm. Hopefully, by then there will be many more public nodes in Cambridge.

Ben Hammersley: Hot BBC Archive Action

This is just so awesome. The complete BBC catalogue of over 1 million past programmes going online – I wonder how many of programmes you will be able to download! There is a wonderful snippet of what is to come here Showing John Peel’s rise to fame graphically. All very cool indeed.

Well done Ben the BBC and everyone else who is involved, this is really revolutionary stuff.

UpYourBudget Treasure Hunt Blog

Here is Hugh trying to redeem Budget Rent A Car system. Budget is the victim of one of my person embargoes ever since one of their franchisees took me to court over a broken rear screen in an estate car that I rented. I hotly disputed the case and gained a personal victory when the judge threw the case out of the court (Up yours, Budget). The Judge stated that glass insurance should cover all glass rather than just the front windscreen. What made it worse was the hostility and nastiness that emanated from Budget in the months leading upto the case. So I guess they lost several thousand pounds from me over the years with my embargo.

UpYourBudget Treasure Hunt Blog

http://www.gapingvoid.com/MT-2.65-full-lib/mt-tb.cgi?__mode=view&entry_id=1994