Merl’s Blog

Paul, paul! Can you please re-boot teh interwebs I can’t download my pr0n?

Net disaster recovery.

Not so long ago this information was highly classified, but now Apple has released CAD drawings of the iPhone 4 for download here.

iPhone 4 CAD drawing

Image courtesy of www.core77.com

It’s been a busy day for Apple with the release of two long overdue products updates and a brand new device.

New iMacs
New Mac Pro
New Magic Trackpad

Surprise, surprise when you stick salty water (your hand) in the way of your mobile phone signal then the signal gets attenuated.

So it’s not just the iPhone 4 that suffers from the death grip it is also the Droid, the HTC, Nokia in fact any mobile phone suffers unless the signal is so strong the attenuation becomes insignificant.

Haven’t we known this for years, or has the whole world fallen over and banged it’s head.

More info: http://www.apple.com/antenna/

Samsung Death Grip:

HTC Evo Death Grip:

* Nexus One Death Grip:

Droid Death Grip:

The subject of the talk is absolutely fascinating and that way it is presented is very engaging.

This lively RSA Animate, adapted from Dan Pink’s talk at the RSA, illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace.

Some interesting background information to the BP oil spill.

• the contract was American
• the contractors were American
• the subcontractors were American
• the platform was American
• the failed blowout preventer was American
• BP is now simply the brand name for a corporation which is 40% American (Amoco merger) / 40% British / 20% others

Still, don’t let a few inconvenient things like facts get in the way of a handy little bit of xenophobic scapegoating.

When I Googled “oil spill” every search result returned was an article about how “BP buys oil spill keywords”.

Does this mean BP will now implode like if you Google “Google”.

When I saw this I imagined it is how the Large Hadron Collider works.

Two awesome inventions combine to form something greater than the sum of the parts.

iPad + Velcro from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

Their ADSL service in the Wolverhampton area totally sucks. On an ADSL2+ service that I have seen hit 12Mb down and 900k up, which is good – don’t get me wrong. I also frequently see speeds of 200k down and 50k up with a ping ranging as high as 2-3,000ms. Yes that is the correct number of zeros.

There are an incorrect number of zeros running their network.

Martin’s dad Brian makes him sandwiches each morning to take to college for lunch. There are three types of sandwich to add variety, one of which is salami. This routine has gone on for many months.

Brian has, in the recent weeks, changed the salami. The new salami is more ‘fatty’ and Martin doesn’t like it so much. Rather than informing dad of this he chooses to dispose of the salami sandwiches in his wardrobe. Communicating with dad isn’t easy – he shouts and moans a lot.

Julie, who cleans for Brian and family, doesn’t clean Martin’s room because it’s normally such a mess. Therefore the salami isn’t discovered as soon as Health and Safety might prefer. A odour develops.

When the salami is eventually discovered altercation and bickering engulf the bazaar of the bizarre.

The episode raises questions:

Was Martin dropped on his head as a child?

Has Brian no culinary imagination?

Does Martin know where the fridge is?

Might Brain prefer an extra 10 minutes in bed in the morning?

Real names changed to… you know the drill.

UPDATE: According to Martin’s mom Susan, pensionable salami sandwiches were also found in Martin’s kit bag…