Cyberpunk, Spirituality and Technology - The Voidspace Blogspot

Online Comics: The Joy of the Intarweb

Oh how the internet has enrichened our lives. Providing dramatic changes in the way we communicate, no aspect of the online revolution has touched my life more than e-comics.

My only two 'dailies' are Frazz and Dilbert.

Just about everyone has heard of Dilbert, the cubicle bound engineer enjoying the corporate world. It's only funny 'coz it's true.

Less people seem to have heard of Frazz, and it is perhaps a slightly more acquired taste. I think it is hilarious though. It carries the same sort of humanity as Calvin and Hobbes, along with a sprinkling of literary references and Jef Mallett's humour.

The next two are 'occasional' comics, but both have a large enough back-catalogue to keep you diverted from meaningful work for hours.

A Softer World is very much more 'adult' than the previous offerings. Alternately dark, sinister, bizarre and downright funny (sometimes all at the same time). Not for the faint hearted, but this comic carries a real atmosphere.

Questionable content is also more adult, but a lot more harmless than A Softer World. Martin, Faye, Dora and an arthropod PC called Pintsize cavort in an almost recognizable [1] universe. One for geeks, anyway.

Questionable Content is full size, so I can't show you one here. There are a few more cartoons shown on the gallery pages if you're in desperate need of a fix.

[1]	At least the women are realistically neurotic anyway.

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Posted by Fuzzyman on 2007-04-03 17:37:44 | |
Categories: Fun

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Ruggedized Devices and the Top Ten New Smartphone Technologies

There are two new articles in the Science & Technology section of Voidspace. These are:

• Top Ten Smartphone Technologies

  A close look at the top ten up and coming technologies for smart-phones and mobile devices. From flexible displays, to 3D accelerators, to fuel cells; there are interesting changes afoot in the world of communications.

• Ruggedized Devices

  If you're anything like me, then any new and cool gadget comes with a risk that it will soon die from being dropped, squashed or otherwise destroyed.

  This article is a look at some of the cutting edge rugged mobile devices, with a review of their features and the pros and cons. There is some impressive looking gear shown here.

These articles are both written by Rene Tse. I particularly like the article on rugged mobile devices. I'd love to get a new PDA [1], and I even kept my last one for two years without breaking it, but having one that can cope with rain and klutz-induced-disaster would be a big bonus.

[1]	I'm particularly tempted by the HTC Athena which is now available in the UK. Luckily for my pocket, my current contract doesn't expire for another few months.

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Posted by Fuzzyman on 2007-04-03 17:37:27 | |
Categories: Technology, Website

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Travelling, Talking About IronPython and a Funky Image Viewing Program

Ouch. It's actually around three months since my last posts on this blog. In a feeble attempt to make amends I'm making a few in a row.

It's been a mad three months (see the last blog entry for details). As well as writing I've done a bit of travelling, my first ever trip to the USA (Dallas in Texas), and Krakow in Poland. On both occasions it was to talk about IronPython, but I met some great people and generally had a great time.

As part of our presentation, my colleague Andrzej Krzywda and I wrote a small application in IronPython. It's for viewing images, so you might find it useful, and even better it's free:

You can download it from: Tabbed Image Viewer Download Page

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Posted by Fuzzyman on 2007-03-31 01:05:10 | |
Categories: Technology, Life

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It's Been a While, but I've Got My Excuses

Hello folks. It's been a while since I've posted here, far too long. This is of course the traditional opening to blog entries on unloved blogs all across the intarwebs. Oh that it should come to this, my blog joining the ranks of the deceased or terminally ill livejournal homepages.

Of course I have my excuses (which is no excuse), and I could always promise to turn over a new leaf and not leave it so long again. Alas, I suspect you may have heard all this before.

Of course if you're that interested in what I have to say then you can visit my Techie Blog, which is thriving. This may say more than I would like about my priorities at the moment. The nub of the matter you see, dear reader, is that I am writing a book. A real live book, with a real live publisher and a real live advance and everyfink. This was the very dream of my younger pretentious self, but alack [1] it is a technical book - which hardly counts as a grand literary work.

I have now been employed with Resolver for almost a year, developing an application with a semi-obscure dialect (IronPython) of a semi-obscure programming language (Python). IronPython is actually the creation of the behemoth Microsoft, and thusly is attracting a lot of interest, and we folks at Resolver are pretty much the first people to develop a whole application with it. The book is (well... will be) called IronPython in Action, and is being published by Manning Publications.

I'm now onto chapter five and still enjoying the process of writing, especially having my work professionally edited and learning to stick to the subject. It is absorbing far too much of my time though, and is likely to continue to do so for the next few months. Perhaps when I find another few minutes I'll tell you about it...

[1]	I have already used 'alas' this entry, and thought that its less multiplous sibling 'alack' could do with an airing.

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Posted by Fuzzyman on 2007-03-31 00:42:52 | |
Categories: Work, Blog On Blogging, Life

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