28 Weeks Later

Just back from a nearly-free preview screening of same. Hadn’t seen the first one, so didn’t really know what to expect.Not a lot, as it turned out; a mildy diverting (if utterly linear) gorefest with some big explosions and a lot of early-morning shooting around London to make it look deserted. And one of the most obvious “we’re going to make a third one” endings I’ve seen in a while.

Came back out to my car to find that somebody had stolen the magnetic ISPCC ribbon from the back, presumably to stick on their own. Only in Ireland…

Och-aye-demy

Just noticed that KDE’s Akademy conference is taking place in my old stomping ground of Strathyclyde University’s Computer Science Department in Glasgow… pity there are no usability sessions on the schedule, might have been tempted to gatecrash for nostalgia’s sake :)

Back in my day (1989-93), the Graham Hills building was called Marland House (we’d just bought it off BT), and its main function was to house a lab full of QLs that Sinclair had donated. Despite the stories in the press at the time, every student didn’t get one to take home– AFAIK they all stayed in the lab, and all we ever did with them was our 68k assembly language assignments (as set by Duncan Smeed, who’s probably still setting them today…)

The top few floors of the Livingstone Tower, on the other hand, housed (as they still do) the staff offices and the 3rd and 4th year computer lab, which at the time had just been kitted out with smart new Sun terminals (ELCs, IIRC– which looking back at them now were the forerunner of Sun Rays, I guess). Little did I know then…

Happy Birthday, Speccy

No, it’s not my own birthday today, but the 25th birthday of the groundbreaking ZX Spectrum.

I still remember the excitement as the bundled Horizons tape threw up a proper loading screen (rather than the psychedelic loading squiggles I’d grown used to on the ZX81), and later presented me with Thro’ the Wall, a full colour Breakout clone. Which was written entirely in BASIC of course, complete with neat squashy visual effect as the ball hit the paddle… turned out to be nothing more clever than swapping UDGs when the ball hit row 21, but half the fun in those days was finding out things like that so you could do it yourself. If only making computers do things were still that easy…

Way too many favourite games from the Spectrum era to list here (feel free to add your own), but suffice it to say I still play many of them via FUSE on my PowerBook! Thanks for the memories, Clive.

The Doctor is In?

So, a combination of seeing Ross’s GUADEC call for papers, and reading the Ask Doctor Usability column in the latest edition of the ACM’s Interactions magazine that flopped through my door the other day, sparked a thought.

Would there be any interest in a GUADEC session where people could bring along applications they were working on, and have a quick on-the-spot expert review by some usability folks? (Or ask for advice generally, but reviewing something tangible might be more productive in a limited amount of time, and more interesting if anyone was voyeuristic enough to come and watch.)

I’m not saying I’d be the best person to run such a thing mind you– I’m terrible at giving instant opinions, I much prefer to go away and think about things for a few days :)

Holiday catchup

So, first blog of 2007… bliadhna mhath ur, and all that.

It was a fairly quiet break for us this year, at least in terms of travelling and seeing family– we did neither, apart from a one-night spa break up the road at the Johnstownhouse Marriot in Enfield. (The food there really is gorgeous.)

We were out and about around town a bit though… went to see Jason Byrne on December 23rd, and we took in Casino Royale, Flushed Away, Happy Feet and Deja Vu at the cinema (mostly for free– thanks Curly!)

Work-wise, I’m trying out a Sun Ray 2 at home for the first time this week… the technology is certainly impressive, although it remains to be seen whether it’ll oust my laptop as my working-at-home tool of choice. It would probably be more useful if I had one on my desk at work as well, to get the full benefit of session mobility– maybe it’s time to retire my old Ultra 10….