Here are the details of the art show that Martin Gyger mentioned when I visited his workspace a couple of weeks ago:
Date: 5th to 7th September 2008,
Time: Friday and Saturday from 17:00 to 20:00, Sunday from 15:00 to 18:00,
Place: Reichensteinerstr. 14, 4053 Basel, map.
i went a-photowalking and learned about a project that is collecting and growing old varieties of fruit.
This recent Twitter announcement is disappointing on a personal level, but also on a more global level as White African discusses:
Twitter represents a change in communication. By acting as a global gateway for updates via SMS (or the web), that then updates all of your followers, Twitter succeeded in breaking ground in one-to-many messaging. There have been a couple times over the past year where Twitter was used in Africa to get news out that wasn’t possible in any other format.
And in the comment thread he explains:
What’s missing for it to work in Africa is not just the sending of updates, but the receiving of your contacts updates. That really is what created the network effect for Twitter, and why it can’t succeed where it’s not available.
In Africa, not having SMS is a deal killer. Though there would undoubtedly be users who access it through the web – as is true throughout the rest of the world, true penetration in Africa can only come through services that can be fully operational using only SMS. Why I think this is particularly disappointing is that those third generation Twitter services that could really serve the needs of both ordinary Africans and humanitarians globally will not be built now.
The really interesting thing to me, so that Twitter doesn’t have to shoulder the load by itself, is the opportunity to build services that are separate and independent, but also equal. I guess the closest analogy I have would be to Jabber in this case – where anyone can run a server and that makes the whole greater than the sum of it’s parts.
A very interesting thread, which I’d like to recommend here.
My observations in Blantyre:
As a gentle drizzle sets in, I’d just like to dump a couple of carefully composed poetry text snippets here at Chiperoni headquarters.
So far this summer of 08 has treated me well. I’m spending every weekend with my latest gadget: Shooting photos with my Canon 40D. There’s a lot to learn. And try out. Especially regarding lenses and post-processing. I’m still very much of a snapshotter.
I have noticed something:
The memory aspect of photos has become important to me. A couple of years ago before I started blogging and flickring, I joked that I’m taking photos with my retina and one day I’ll just download the contents of my brain (bioware, wetware). But as I proceed through life, more and more of my life pictures are moving to the back of my brain. I can still access them if I want, but they are moving further back as I take care of the daily clutter. But I don’t know if the pictures will disappear one day.
I like the way I can document one moment. With one shutter click.
Yesterday I went to see the Fotomuseum in Winterthur. I enjoyed it immensely. The show that I liked the most was the one on Theo Frey.
See this Wikipedia page for more infos on his biography.
The show reminded me of a Hernando de Soto interview I read. Not so long ago, many people lived in abject poverty here in Switzerland. The Frey photos brought this time closer.
Throughout the past weeks I’ve continued my low key fitness and jogging program. I haven’t run any races or lost any weight, but it helps to deal with stress. And the side effects of sitting hunched up in front of a laptop.
The Summer of Ohhh Eight…
Did you realize? This is the second last year of single digits. I didn’t know that 08 is a lucky number in China. But I feel that this summer is special. A time to remember. Dobbiamo profittare.
just zapped into this documentary on fighting malaria along the Zambezi:
The World Uncovered – Zambezi.
Text snippet in my own words:
“need to invest more money into malaria research. Some drugs such as Chloroquine (now ineffective) were developed during the 2nd World War.”
for my own future reference:
Here’s a list of CSS editors that might be useful. Some of them have been around for years:
I use Textwrangler to code HTML and CSS. I recently stumbled across an HTML editor called Smultron, which I quite like as well.
A message from the admin: Chip moved to WP 2.6.
If anything appears broken, leave a comment 😉
Update:
Finally, fixed the Terong Related Links plugin, which hasn’t been working for the past months since I upgraded to WP 2.5. I found this fix here and simply replaced the PHP code as described. After activating the plugin, open a blog post and you should see a Related Links in the right-hand sidebar below Related.
I’m trying out a new plugin called XML Sitemap Generator for WordPress.
Schaulager is currently showing work by Andrea Zittel and Monika Sosnowska. If you get a chance to go, you should.
I particularly enjoyed Zittel’s design and architecture-related work.
And Sosnowska’s Corridor is great.
Malawi blogger Victor Kaonga writes about the long queue at the Road Traffic office:
NDAGHA: What I saw at the Road Traffic Office in Lilongwe
I waited in a similar queue in Blantyre during my visit last year.
Cy has uploaded a video discussing the benefits of mobile technology for farmers in Malawi:
Just a quick note pointing to some snapshots I took on Saturday in Martin Gyger’s studio.
I like seeing other people’s workplaces…
Martin told me that he will be moving into a new workspace very soon, but before he moves out he’ll organize an exhibition. I forget the exact date but this should be some time in early September. And Martin says he’s planning to take part in this year’s Portes Ouvertes on 18th and 19th October.
Martin displays much of his work on Flickr. His work is for sale. Contact him directly if you’re interested in getting an original or a print.
in my mailbox:
Hi there,
You recently registered to get fring, but sadly your phone was not supported
Well , good news, the wait is over, and weÂ’re delighted to now invite you to join the fring community!
Caution: short techie bit coming up…
Until now, phones running on Java ME software (for example lots of cool Nokia & Sony EricssonÂ’s) have not been able to be part of fring because the technology of these devices is very different from the others in the fring family. One of the main differences is that they handle voice calling in a very specific way that makes it difficult for fring voice to be included.
…end of Techie bit!
So, in response to literally thousands of potential Java ME fringsters wanting to become part of our growing global community, weÂ’ve created a special version just for you called minifring, enabling you to connect with other fringsters and all of your online communities from your mobile for free and enjoy the benefits of being part of fring.
With minifring you can now use some of the most popular bits of fring to keep in touch with all of your other fring, Skype, GoogleTalk, MSN, AIM, Yahoo, ICQ, and Twitter, buddies, for free while youÂ’re on the go. You can enjoy the same rich IM-style chat, and real-time presence as other fringsters, so youÂ’ll know at a glance whoÂ’s available, whoÂ’s in a call, and whoÂ’s already chatting. YouÂ’ll see all of your online buddies and phone address book contacts in one convenient searchable list. And youÂ’ll be able to send music, picture, video and other digital files easily and quickly from your mobile without the cost or hassle of MMS, Bluetooth, cables or infrared.
Best of all, youÂ’ll be able to experience for yourself what fringing freedom is all about!
Just as with fring, you can connect over any mobile internet connection – 3G, WiFi, Edge, GPRS (and soon WIMAX) And it doesnÂ’t matter which mobile network operator youÂ’re a member of – all you need is a data subscription, and weÂ’ll give you fring.
And if you get a phone in the future which supports fringÂ’s voice calling, you can seamlessly transfer and enjoy the full fring experience without any hassle.
To join up, simply visit www.fring.com, click the Download button and follow the step-by-step instructions and youÂ’ll be a fringster before you know it!
We look forward to welcoming you to the family.
The fring team.
Sounds interesting. And it’s good timing. Cos a lot of people are now talking about mobile apps.
hmm… I can’t find my Sony Ericsson W810i in the list.
(the apostrophes showed up like this in my mail = authencity)
This t-shirt text puzzled me this morning…
ZIM
TST
ERN
I figured it out after a while but at first I kept associating ZIM with Zimbabwe.
I’ve uploaded two batches of snapshots to my Flickr stream. I’m a snapshotter at heart and I’m not spending much time correcting or editing my work (yet).
Unhindered by talent or technical skills, I hope I can at least convey the fun I’m having. I particularly enjoyed Saturday’s photo tour with Diveangel.
BTW, there’s a Basel Flickr meetup planned for 27th July 2008.
Recommended read (via White African):
The article is right about the distribution network. Coca-Cola is available in every remote village.
