http://www.byrion.com/blog/ en The personal blog of Byrion Smith a web developer from Bristol, UK. Copyright 2008, Byrion.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss hello@byrion.com (Byrion Smith)

Well Ibiza was an experience. It was exactly the type of holiday I told myself I'd never go on and that I had decided was probably the worst kind of holiday you could have. And yet there I was at 06:30 in the morning, flying via Thomas Cook, 5 hours late, bound for Ibiza. I had arrived at Gatwick 10 hours earlier, leaving plenty of time before the ~1am flight. What I didn't realise was I'd not be sleeping in the relative comfort of the plane, but instead through security, on seats outside the gates. I now realise I'd been lucky I'd never had a plane delayed before - this was awful. I spent 10 hours at Gatwick airport, I still can't believe it.

So trusty Thomas Cook, eventually, with no word on the reason for the delay, had us on our way in the early hours. On our arrival to the apartment we met a rep who really should have been more perceptive about why we were there. We were there because the trip was unbelievably cheap, not because we wanted to "have it large". The question 'is there any culture' got a laugh, and the trips and events he tried to sell were probably the last thing I would ever want to do, ever. Half the stuff I wouldn't repeat here just in case kids are reading (or adults over the age of 30). Let's just say, if you ever want to stop me doing something, hire this guy to try and sell it to me. I won't touch it with a barge pole once he's done.

My worst fears were realised, and in the area we were staying there was little but restaurants for the English. Every table came with red and yellow bottles of ketchup/mustard, then there was English breakfast or... English breakfast.

Every bar had a PR girl outside attempting to get you in their hostelry by any means necessary. My usual dismiss-them-as-quickly-as-possible approach - used successfully since '88 on charity workers and the like - was received very badly indeed. That said, they did have the occasional good deal, such as the one which involved a pint of White Russian; 'twas with Tia Maria, rather than the correct Kahlua, though I put up with it due to the price being cheaper than a teaspoon of White Russian in good ol' Great Britain.

We visited the club "Privilege", billed the largest club in the world. Of course the reason we got such a good deal there was the fact it was a quiet night and most of it was closed off. Even so it was big and the laser show was pretty damn impressive. Even more impressive was the price of the drinks, which started at €8 for less than half a pint of Coke. You were looking at €18 for a pint of beer. Oh of course tap water isn't available there either, so that's how they got €8 out of me.

Eventually the day before we headed off (and had further delays at the airport thanks to our favourite airline, Thomas Cook - don't fly with them, don't, don't, don't) we took a trip to the other side of the island, and visited Ibiza Town. Right there was Dalt Villa, a reinforced castle, city, place, which was a satisfyingly beautiful place. There and at Ibiza Town was culture, and decent restaurants. I didn't realise how much I had missed good things. Paella was on the menu that evening.


Photograph: My own, Gatwick Airport.

- I wrote this blog on the train, and posted it on the train - good times!]]> http://www.byrion.com/blog/24 http://www.byrion.com/blog/24 Sun, 24 Aug 2008 12:15:11 CDT

I have always needed to be thoroughly convinced by a service before signing up to it. I was not the first to sign up to Facebook or Myspace; I had heard of them and looked into them long before my friends, but was probably the last of them to sign up myself. I guess there's no point in signing up to a social service if no one else is using it.

I think I've completely changed my philosophy there, and right or wrong am jumping on everything that looks fun or useful. For instance I'd quite like to make use of services like Brightkite, and Yahoo's Fire Eagle, though at present I don't have a GPS enabled phone, so I don't think I'll be taking full advantage of them for another year or so.

So we come to Flickr, another service which has been around a good while, and which I only signed up to a few of months ago. I've always wondered why you'd want to have your photos hosted somewhere else (and pay for it if you have a pro account), when you're already paying for your own hosting. Well I ended up signing up as I thought I'd use it as a photo blog of some form; uploading interesting and representative photos I take. When I signed up I was still wondering why it'd not be better for me to just integrate my photos into my blog here.

Well Flickr has been a surprise favourite of mine. It's well built and the social side of it is great too, such as getting alerts when friends upload photos or someone comments on a photo. The best bit about it I've found is simply the fact there are so many people using it, and many who search it as a repository of photos to use. One thing that aids this is Flickr's integration of Creative Commons, making it easy to use photos people have uploaded, knowing it's perfectly legal.

My photograph of a '24' (the series) branded stimulation drink was used on another site, and that was my first taste of what Flickr can bring you. Recently I uploaded a photograph of a water lily I took with my phone camera, and within seconds someone had seen it and commented on it, "great shot love colour :)". I don't understand why some people don't bother writing sentences, and instead rely on key words to get their message across. I guess they have really, really busy lives. But anyway I do have to say it is a pretty decent photograph for a phone.

The most interesting thing to have happened to me due to Flickr is explained by this story: I was in the office one day and a colleague spots a Google Street View car driving past. We all go look out the window; I pull out my phone and take a couple of photographs [above and here]. There and then I used 3G+ to upload both of them to Flickr.

A few days later Ben at work says he spotted my photographs in the Bristol Observer, our free local paper! Well true enough there they were. Now that's pretty cool that my photos have been found off my Flickr profile, and put in a paper. Problem was, there was no attribution and they had not contacted me for permission. All my photos have a Creative Commons Attribution License, stating that they may be used only if attribution is given.

To cut, not a long story, but a long time, short, I had a few conversations with the writer of the article, and he said he'd give me £50 as a "good will gesture", which I accepted. It's been a good couple of weeks now and I have still not received this, and he is yet to confirm to me that the photos have not been used elsewhere. I think I may have to put on my angry face at some point soon.

Flickr is a great service, and I imagine I'll pay for a 'pro' account once I have reached my photo limit. Yes it's unfortunate the free account is not limitless!]]> http://www.byrion.com/blog/23 http://www.byrion.com/blog/23 Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:28:41 CDT

It's fair trade so it's okay.

It's not free of course; you can purchase said beverage for 90p at your local University of the West of England, Bristol - and possibly, I believe, other places.

You may have already tasted the Ubuntu Cola experience. If you haven't, you can't disagree that it tastes a bit like Virgin Cola. As far as I can make out only the sugar is fair-trade, and they claim the drink is 96% fair-trade (excluding water). That means the colourings and preservatives are exploitative!

This seemed like a topic which would take a small amount of time, in fact 10mins if you include the going outside to take the photo. I could talk more, how's "Open Source Cola" for one thing? I think everything will have already been said somewhere else so I'll leave this post short, direct and to the point, hah.

I wrote this post a while ago, so please pretend it's new and exciting.]]> http://www.byrion.com/blog/21 http://www.byrion.com/blog/21 Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:01:00 CDT

I got the chance to meet the band Feeder on Saturday. I've seen them play live quite a lot, I think I've only seen Bristol band The Chemists (previously Undercut) more times. Feeder announced a small tour in very small venues around the UK, pre-festival and their first chance to play new songs from their album.

On Saturday, a mate and I went down to the venue a little early to see if we could meet the band before the gig. I was a little doubtful, but while we were waiting we happened to see Taka (the bassist) waiting by their tour bus. Now, I know what the band look like really well, but for some reason it was a little hard to tell if it was him or not, and on approaching him he went and sat in the driver's seat. At that point we thought maybe he was the driver! But no.

He came out again a little later and was obviously Taka, so we got our copies of Echo Park signed. It took me a while to decide what I'd get signed by the band; it was a tossup between three items: albums Picture Of Perfect Youth and Echo Park, or single Turn. Well it had to be Echo Park, possibly their greatest album.

After having the album signed by Taka, Grant Nicholas (lead) came later, followed by Mark (drummer) a while later. All three were really nice guys and were happy to chat for a while.

Grant said that on this last gig of the tour they would include a few more older songs in the set, rather than mainly new songs as with the other gigs. The result was a fantastic mixture of old and new. Tracks included Itsumo, Fires, We are the People and Miss You off their new album, together with older tracks such as the amazing My Perfect Day from album Polythene, Insomnia, Come Back Around and Pushing the Senses.

I'm not entirely sure they got the fact that people hadn't heard the songs before (unless they had got hold of the leaked album). This lead to a couple of uncomfortable seconds after shouting "This is Itsumo" followed by absolute silence. No one knew the song! Or at least no one admitted to knowing it. Anyway, it was a great gig which balanced new and old songs very well. The news songs were fantastic live, as expected.

The photo above is of The Thekla, a boat venue which will never lose it's appeal! Grant said they'd never played on a boat before. The balcony surrounds the stage which explains why the photos I have added to Flickr (taken by a mate) are from the side/behind them.]]> http://www.byrion.com/blog/20 http://www.byrion.com/blog/20 Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:29:11 CDT

Twitter has been in the news a lot recently. The BBC's technology correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones, blogged last month that Twitter is "at the tipping point", and that the founders of the service essentially need to find a way of making money. It also needs to find a way into the main stream.

As those who have used Twitter will know, it's basically a service that can be likened to the Facebook status feature. Though unlike Facebook, Twitter relies absolutely, completely, entirely around this.

I am certainly not a heavy Twitter-er, and have only started using it pretty recently. The ability to add my latest "tweets" to my site got me signed up and since then I have attracted an enormous 5 followers (which for the non-Twitterists means they have added me as a friend and receive my updates).

So what's the point? - That has always, without exception, been the first response to any of my attempts to get people to join in, and a question I have found difficult to answer. Why can't I get people signing up?

Well to start with, I don't even seem to be able to get people on my Web Design course to sign up (and Twitter should supposedly be most attractive to these people due to the link with the web/media industry), so maybe I am doing something wrong? I put to these "potentials" that Twitter is like the Facebook status feature, but it's a sort of community based text messaging system that allows for semi-conversations using your status. It's a way to let people know what you're doing, whether mundane or spectacular, and for other people to hear about it and get involved, in real time.

A recent Guardian story included a quote from a London blogger, Leisa Reichelt, who described Twitter as "Ambient intimacy", and I like that name. "Ambient intimacy is about being able to keep in touch with people with a level of regularity and intimacy that you wouldn't usually have access to... It helps us get to know people who would otherwise be just acquaintances."

I'm sure Twitter is one of these things which gets better as more people use it. I'm sure if most people on my course used it, the rest would want to use it too. They don't though, and it seems it's because they're happy leaving their social networking at their home computer, and not carrying it around with them.

I believe, more and more people will begin to update their social networks remotely, using their mobile phones. The question is will that be using Twitter, or will Facebook create a better text orientated service and include UK networks other than O2, or will it be something like Google Friend Connect that will bring mobile social networking to the masses?

I couldn't really leave out the China Earthquake. Twitter was in the news again as it was claimed the service carried the first notifications of the earthquake having taken place, before the first news carrier published the story, or even the USGS apparently. It's been said that "Twitter is becoming the canary in the news coalmine". News Gatherers are beginning to look for ways to watch Twitter for signs of breaking news, proving that it can, and is, becoming more important to everyone. Maybe that shows Twitter is not about to fade out, and that it instead could enter the main stream.

Twitter can also be a useful source of news; I have recently started 'following' GuardianTech. The idea is it'll provide me with interesting topics to read regularly, but not too frequently! However I'm not sure I'm going to stick with it; I deleted 5 unread tweets from GuardianTech this morning.

Just got another two messages, oh make that 3, was about to stop following GuardianTech, but found one of the stories interesting. So I forgive them, again.]]> http://www.byrion.com/blog/19 http://www.byrion.com/blog/19 Mon, 19 May 2008 08:04:00 CDT
I've been "well" working hard on this, I mean, I have gone out, in fact it's been a busy weekend for me! But I did spend a substantial chunk making this site. I also did this quicker than I'd normally take to make a site; possibly due to the fact I've put it live when it's not finished, but also possibly due to my sheer extraordinary super speed.

It's late and I've been working really hard to get this to a point where I can put it live, but to be honest I'm error fixing while writing this. I'm determined to put it live anyway. I'll be working on the portfolio and other parts of the site over the next few days, so make sure you check back for them! I know you will, because I suggested you to.

For the last few weeks I've been "proper" looking forward to an 80's fancy dress party, so you can imagine my dismay when it was cancelled. Luckily a smaller non-fancy affair was held somewhere else, which was fun and tiring.

Then Saturday, I had Brunch! I hadn't had brunch in a long time, I've had late breakfast and early lunch recently, but never Brunch; brunch being an entirely different state of affairs. Tintos Lounge on Gloucester Rd - bit of a wait - but damn fine brunch.

That evening I went to a birthday Barn Dance! This event involved cowboy fancy dress (I really am not a fancy dress kind-a-guy, in fact this is probably the first time since I was 6). Also featuring was barn dancing *do-si-do* and lots of food. I worked behind the bar some of the time, this was entertaining as you could watch the tap turning-off issues that were bound to, and did happen. Thanks Teague.

So there we go, I wasn't a complete sad act that stayed in all weekend. Lots happened!

You notice how I didn't mention Sunday?]]> http://www.byrion.com/blog/18 http://www.byrion.com/blog/18 Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:16:46 CDT

Did you see what I did there? Cringe worthy huh...

Number one difference between old and new websites on the net - new sites will be wider. It used to be you had to build websites for 800x600 "resolution noobs". Are we all, here and now, witnessing the demise of this resolution?

According to the BBC you don't need to worry about them anymore. To be fair, I think they're probably right. Most people now have larger resolution screens, and to give these people fair use, sites can't just sit in the centre of the screen surrounded by a sea of nothing. Steve Herrmann, editor of the BBC News website says "we now reckon that 95% of you [bbc.co.uk users] have your screen resolution set to 1024 pixels or wider".

Enter, new BBC News website...

It is unbelievable how much nicer it looks. Apart from the updated masthead graphics, it is pretty much simply wider. With this extra space they have used white space to great effect, giving the design "room to breathe". Suddenly the old version does seem really cramped!

They've kept the same format that has lasted them all this time, and made it better. It is a very refreshing change.

You can read Steve Herrmann's comments on the new look site at his Editors Blog.]]> http://www.byrion.com/blog/17 http://www.byrion.com/blog/17 Mon, 31 Mar 2008 06:55:37 CDT

Nothing is better than having a sit down in a coffee related establishment. Whether it's Starbucks, Costa or an independent, it's a perfect place to sit and read a paper or do a little work on your notebook pc.

There is advice I can give to anyone currently residing in said establishment, or indeed I believe anywhere; if you see someone that you don't want seeing you, don't try and hide behind a mug. Even if it is 'venti'. It's more likely going to have the opposite to the desired effect.

Of course I want to be able to access the internet anywhere. Being a mainly web based software developer... I not only NEED to access at least hourly: facebook, bbc news, xkcd (just in case of a new one), and update last.fm with my latest listens, I also want to be able to work on and update sites remotely. At home I just don't have the variety of coffees I have become accustom too.

So for a while now I've been looking at options for adding mobile broadband to my laptop. What would be perfect would be merging it with my phone tariff. That would mean I could share "download" between my phone and laptop. No reason why I shouldn't be able to send and receive texts from my laptop too (if not make calls). Also I would presume that it'd be best value for money. I don't think that's possible right now though! Currently the packages available from the network "3" seem to be the best value. Will 1GB download be enough? What about upload? And will I REALLY get 2.8mbps?

The people in shops really don't seem to be very helpful when it comes to mobile broadband. The few times I've been in they've been more determined to inform me of their latest deal than actually telling me stuff which will make me buy it or not. I don't know if I'm on my own, but I buy things because I want them, not because I can get £50 off it. Though I don't deny that helps.

Mobile broadband can only grow in popularity, and I think Three have been wise to have mounted such a large promotion for it (now being followed by Vodafone). I would presume to say Three must have done well out of it. I'm quite disappointed with Orange's lack of mobile broadband (my current phone operator). I think I spotted a dongle hidden away in the accessories section of their brochure, but that was it. Mind you, that was better than O2 that didn't even seem to have a brochure.

For now I'll wait, though I am very tempted by Three's offerings.]]> http://www.byrion.com/blog/16 http://www.byrion.com/blog/16 Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:57:53 CDT

Who said users should choose what they use?

Savethedevelopers.org
Save A Developer. Upgrade Your Browser.

The campaign to get users to upgrade to IE7. Sure I'd have appreciated not having to develop for IE6 recently (flippin' png transparency).

Nicely pointed out to me by Andy from andybee.com - I like his use of minimalism and simplicity whilst also being 100% w3c valid! Amazing.]]> http://www.byrion.com/blog/15 http://www.byrion.com/blog/15 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:36:20 CDT

Not a quiet month, despite the blog count.

I've been to some gigs for once! I go to gigs so rarely now but I guess that makes them all the much better when I eventually get round to going to them. All the gigs I went to in February and so far in this month have been mates, or mates of mates in one case. Anyway, I saw The Bumblebees for the first time at the Louisiana. They're mateys Ellis, Roz and Bert. It was great to finally see them and I can't say they didn't completely surprise me. I love them... they're not like anything I'd normally listen to, but there's just something amazing about them. Especially the song "Cool Science", which has got to be one of their best songs, all credit goes to Ellis for writing that! And I know he can do better too. Also I couldn't not love seeing Ellis apologise to his mum as he swore in that song.

ALSO, this month I had the chance to once again see the amazing The Lauras at the Thekla (which also happens to be one of my favourite venues, it's the one on the boat!) Though there was a very scary doorman on this night that just randomly started staring at me, not moving, not speaking or responding to me in any way for almost a minute... I was so confused! I still don't know if it was some kind of joke or what, however I didn't much like him after that. THE LAURAS, also contain Ellis and Bert (Bert being the songwriter for this band). They are an amazing 5 piece which includes a trumpet. I won't list everyone's names for the purpose that there is no purpose, really.

I must have seen them more than 6 times now, and they've been better every time. I just can't believe how good some of their songs are. Find a Friend, Work It Out, The Way You Do and Bandaged Hearts and Kindness to name some of my favourites.

I'm being spurred on to write some of my own stuff, but really don't have the time at the moment; I'm busy doing some really great things. I'm also busy doing things which are less good; I have quite a lot of stuff on at Uni, which at the moment seems more like a drain on time rather than actually learning anything. In fact, at the moment I feel like I could easily be learning more out of Uni. At the end of the day though, I will have a Degree! Eventually.

Uni is okay though, and will get better once I've got the remaining coursework in. It doesn't help being accused of "Assignment Offences" at random though. Well hopefully that'll get happily resolved soon enough.

At The Lauras gig, I met a really great bunch of people who had become friends with The Lauras, this 3 piece is known as The Jelas. In fact I went on a trip all the way to Bath to see them on Friday. The trip alone was worth going, bath is amazing, and I love going places. I had absolutely no idea what sound The Jelas made, and these guys are really, really experimental. There was something I liked about them, and I know they'll only sound better the more I see them, so I'm going to make an effort to catch them as often as I can!

It's actually been a really good month. One of my best mates has got himself into the Police, pretty much his life ambition (he just needs to pass the medical, but I think he's all good there)... oh and he also just passed his Grade 8 Piano so a great year for him already! UNFORTUNATLY I need to take my Grade 5 theory before I can do Grade 6... so I'm currently wading through that atm.... but I hope to catch him up soon! (Baring in mind he can't go any higher than that).

I'M BEING SPAMMED
Yeah, randomly some automated script somewhere really doesn't like my photo of the Clifton Suspension Bridge. All of a sudden I'm getting spammy comments left, sad really. I'm going to make use of my newly acquired PHP graphic manipulation skills and build myself a confirmation code generator to stop these sly dogs from posting. That'll be fun, I just need some time.]]> http://www.byrion.com/blog/14 http://www.byrion.com/blog/14 Sun, 09 Mar 2008 20:00:00 CDT