Faffing Is A Way Of Life

Neat iTunes + AppleTV tip

2011-12-25T08:17:00.001-08:00

> So now iCloud music is on your appleTV... But how to create a playlist to listen to your music on appleTV?
> > Turn on iTunes match for your appleTv and on your iPhone / iTouch
> > Create a Christmas playlist on your iOS device or iTunes which has iTunes match enabled. > > Hey presto it's automagically there on your appleTV too.

Posted via email from markfaithfull's posterous

Untitled

2011-12-01T10:57:00.001-08:00

Who was the first person to use Control-C as a shortcut?
Moses.

Posted via email from markfaithfull's posterous

HP Labs

2011-11-29T08:37:00.001-08:00

HP Labs

I spent the day as a guest of HP labs, and nothing symbolises the heartbreaking lost opportunity that is HP more than the number of MacBook Pros I saw there.

The history of HP is the history of the silicon revolution. Does anyone have more firsts: 1966 HP 2116A the worlds first go-anywhere, do-anything computer (although at the size of a large double refrigerator- hardly a portable)
1968 HP 9100A the first 'personal computer'
1972 HP35 the worlds first portable scientific calculator - fits in your shirt pocket
1974 HP 65 the worlds first programmable pocket calculator 1974 the first microcomputer to use DRAM (not magnetic cores)
1977 HP-01 'wrist instrument' a combination watch, calendar and calculator
1980 HP sells its first 'PC' the HP 85
1981 HP12C Financial calculator - the world standard and still sold today
1983 HP150 Touchscreen PC
1991 HP95LX palmtop PC - size of a pocket calculator, power of a desktop PC
1993 HP Omnibook 300- ultra portable PC with extended battery life

Theres nothing on this list, bar the cell phone, that isn't a core feature of the Apple product line - so why are Apple ruling the world and HP appears not to know what or who it is. HP's early success and the engine of its growth was its measurement and medical components business which it sold off in 2000 (hello Agilent). In 2002 it acquires Compaq (who in turn had consumed Digital (DEC) makers of the most powerful mainstream processor chip (the DEC Alpha) and Tandem - makes of the most reliable computers in the world). Where did the Alpha go? Tandem still lives on as HPs NonStop Enterprise Division but have you ever heard of them, ever seen an ad, ever met a salesman?

HP, the story of missed opportunity and a legacy squandered.

Posted via email from markfaithfull's posterous

Blighty Byte Review: How to Enable Multi-Tasking Guestures in IOS 4.3

2011-04-22T10:10:00.000-07:00

Blighty Byte Review: How to Enable Multi-Tasking Guestures in IOS 4.3: "It's easy to enable your iPad with iOS 4.3 to control multi-tasking. You will then be able to: - Pinch for the home Screen - Swipe up to r..."

Still here?

2011-04-20T06:56:00.001-07:00

April 19th 2011 is when Skynet was due to go online and become self aware... Look's like we're still here- but did Skynet change its name to Google?

Posted via email from markfaithfull's posterous

Drive me to the moon - in your Audi A6

2011-04-20T06:39:00.001-07:00

I was just picked up from Malaga airport by the usual taxi driver, is his Audi A6 estate- I've been travelling with him for years and asked how his car was holding up - I remember him getting it new a few years ago. It still is spotlessly clean, and drives silently on the motorway. I was amazed to learn the car has driven over 567,000 kilimeters - thats more than the distance from the earth to the moon! It's never had a problem and only ever needed its regular services and expected consumables.

Even more amazing, his previous A6 was traded in with more than a million kilometers on the clock!

Vorsprung durch technic indeed!

Posted via email from markfaithfull's posterous

10 Commandments of Email (Improving your Outlook)

2009-12-18T06:00:00.001-08:00

Improve your Outlook: How to use Email

The Ten Commandments of e-mail

Our business is awash with email, but we don’t communicate very well. There is a difference between providing data which is meaningless and useful information that can be acted upon. Consider these Ten Commandments for email, and improve the way we communicate:

1. I trust you to do your job, you don’t need to copy me in every time you ask someone else to do something. I trust my team to do their job too- don’t cc me when you ask them to do something- I won’t chase it for you; that’s between you and the person you contacted.

2. If you want me or my team to do something, ask directly in the email, don’t just copy me on a message relating to the subject and expect me to work out what you want.

3. Use the @NAME convention when you want different people to pick up actions from an email. Eg Customer X has reported a problem with the system, @FRED can you call them and find out exactly what it is @BILL can you check our logs to see if we can see a problem at our end.

4. An escalation is a direct email describing the problem and actions to be taken; it is not sending an email to someone else and cc-ing the world. You are managing the situation so you need to think it through and email your analysis as a status update- I don’t need to know every action you are taking. Like I said, I trust you to do your job.

5. For quick updates and messages use only the subject line and prefix it with ‘1:’ to show its a one line message that doesn’t need to be opened

6. I will assume that I am required to take no action when cc on an email; cc means For Information Only, and it should be used sparingly. Don’t expect me to react when cc on an email.

7. Minutes and actions live in formal documents and stored in the project folder on the file server and must never be in the body of an email- attach the document to the email or (even better) put links to the document in the email.

8. A blind cc (BCC) is almost always the wrong thing to do- deal with the situation a better way

9. Categorise your email before sending: If you require action from the recipient, prefix the subject with ‘ACT:’ making it easy to identify those emails that require action. If the message really is just for information, prefix the subject line with ‘INF:’

10. Pick up the phone more often and speak to me

Posted via web from markfaithfull's posterous

iPod Nano is Harry Potter's Camera

2009-09-17T00:01:00.001-07:00

Apple changes the world again, but this time no-one appears to have noticed.

When apple released the first all in one imac, personal computers
changed forever - legacy interconnects died and USB took over the
world. And, how a computer looked became important- allowing the home
pc to move out of the study into the living room and bed room.

The iPhone turned phones into pocket computers in a way psion only dreamed of.

The iPod nano has a camera - millions of teens and young adults will
get a nano for christmas and have a decent (enough) camera in their
pocket every day - better than many phones and penetrating further
into the population than the high end phones with decent cameras (like
the ones made by sony).

The iPod nano has a camera that only takes moving video.

The iPod nano has a camera that does not take still images.

Now given that to make a movie you have to take still photos at about
24 times per second - the reason why the nano doesn't take stills is
because Steve said he didn't want it to. What does he know that we
don't.

This christmas millions of homes will record christmas on their IPod
nano not as a series of stills but as moving pictures - long and
short.

Will next years photo album look like Harry Potters with all the
images being a 2 or 3 second moving image on a loop?

Steve thinks so.

Posted via email from markfaithfull's posterous

Posterous - a neat tool

2009-08-26T05:51:00.001-07:00

So Posterous (www.posterous.com) looks like being a really neat tool - I've sent an email to post@posterous.com and this update will show up on on twitter, facebook and my blog- and if a photo was attached it would also go to my flickr account. It also require zero setup to start using, the only work is if you want to start syndicating your content out to other social sites like I am - you could just use it as a blogging platform.

Still trying to decide exactly how cool and useful this is- but it definitely has potential!

Posted via email from markfaithfull's posterous

A meme to far

2009-08-24T11:51:00.000-07:00

A recent trending topic on twitter was #songsincode and the best I saw was the immortal:

zzymyn if (false) { giveUp(you); letDown(you); runAround(you); desert(you); makeCry(you); sayGoodbye(you); lieTo(you); hurt(you); } from user zzymyn on twitter

For more of this madness, go to: http://songsincodedb.com/

Failure is not an option - part II

2008-03-09T10:30:00.000-07:00

In the previous post, I shared some of the story of Gene Kranz, NASA Flight Director for the Apollo 13 mission (Houston we have a problem, and all that).

For the mission specialists and engineers working to save those astronauts, failure simply as not an option.

Have you ever considered that Failure is not an option for Christians either? Not that we have to work hard to avoid it- but rather that failure is not one of the options God will permit for us.

Look at some scriptures:

the LORD was with him [Joseph] and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did Gen 39:3 NIV

Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do. [said Moses] Deut 29:9 NIV

Then you will have success if you are careful to observe the decrees and laws that the LORD gave Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged. [Said David to his son Solomon] 1 Ch 22:13 NIV

As long as he [Uzziah King of Judah] sought the LORD, God gave him success. 2 Ch 26:5 NIV

This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah, doing what was good and right and faithful before the LORD his God. 21 In everything that he undertook in the service of God's temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered. 2 Ch 31:20 NIV

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
       which yields its fruit in season
       and whose leaf does not wither.
       Whatever he does prospers. PS 1 NIV

So you can see from these examples, God promises success and the histories in the Bible demonstrate success for God's people. But don't miss that condition in many of these scriptures, success comes at a price - whole hearted pursuit of God. This really is Seek first the kingdom in action.

Failure is not an option

2008-02-10T09:34:00.000-08:00

In 2002 a star struck young Trekkie by the name of Mark Faithfull had the honour of meeting and interviewing Gene Kranz, NASA flight director for the Apollo 13 mission. This is his story...

MF: The catch phrase: “Failure is not an option.” really strikes a chord. I remember it distinctly from the film [Apollo 13], and it’s also the title of your book. Where did it come from?

GK: Actually it was not a phrase that I originated. I use it nowadays but as we were finishing up our work in the mission control centre, this is about three hours after the explosion, I had formed up my Tiger Team, and I gave them a brief speech but it basically said: “We’ve never lost an American in space and we sure as hell aren’t going to lose one now. When you leave this room you have got to believe, your team has to believe, that we are bringing this crew home. Now go make it happen!” And this was apparently too long for the people who did the script for the movie so they translated that very long statement into a single catch phrase of: “Failure is not an option.”

MF: Reading your book, which I enjoyed very much, you often talk about people who inspired you personally or who mentored you. Do you think that’s very important for technical and professional people to have a mentor within their working life?

GK: I think that as an individual, as a team member, and as a leader, they need mentors. But mentors really exist all over. If you read between the lines in my book, you’ll find that the first boss I ever worked for in flight test, a gentleman by the name of Harry Carroll, taught me enthusiasm. The man who taught me to fly taught me trust. Ralph Saylor, who was my boss at Hollomon Air Force Base, taught me about accountability and responsibility. Chris Kraft taught me to accept risk. So basically mentors exist all over. It can be your co-workers. It can be teachers in school. It can be people that you read about, and what you have to do is you have to form an open mind that allows you to accept this lesson from this broad range of people. I think most people think of mentors as somebody who is going to simply be a godfather to them. They’re going to carve out their role in technical and professional life, but what they have to do is they have to just be like a sponge. They have to listen, listen, listen, and they’ll start getting these lessons in mentoring from the people around them.

MF: Thinking about what Kennedy said when launching the Apollo program, “we choose to go to the moon.” That gave you and your entire team a very clear mission, a very clear goal and objective for the program. Do you think it is an important thing for large projects to have a very clear - even inspirational - goal?

GK: Well yeah. And there’s no question that it was not only an inspirational goal, it did several things. First of all it really set what I would say impossible dreams out in front of us. This is the Camelot kind of a goal that says: gee whiz in our lifetime we are the ones lucky enough to be chosen to work this program that’s going to take us to the moon. It also set a deadline that said, within this decade. And Kennedy also used the term, “We’re doing this not because it is easy but it’s because it is hard,” and he recognized the difficulty that we faced, and then he followed on by saying, “because this goal will then cause the best of our abilities to move forward.”

This post is an extract from an article by the author previously published in 2002 in The Connection, the journal of ITUG the independent user group for HP NonStop Servers.

You can buy Gene Kranz's excellent autobiography Failure is not an option from amazon here

The Secret of Psalm 46 - an online gem

2007-11-30T12:44:00.000-08:00

Every now and again, you stumble across something that really captures your attention online - this happened to me yesterday while I was doing some research into Psalm 46 for a lecture I was to give - the blog posting I found had very little to do with it; however as a piece of delightfully engaging, entertaining prose it had me hooked. I heartily recommend it to one and all, so click here and read on: The Secret of Psalm 46 by Prof Brian Moriarty (Yes he really is Professor Moriarty Mr Holmes!!)

True Lies

2007-11-29T06:17:00.001-08:00

So now it's official, thanks to the UK justice system - telling lies to a computer is still lying.

From The Register: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/26/lying_2_computer_still_lying/

What did surprise me from the ruling however- was that the Judge decided that even though Renault had been defrauded of money by the defendants claiming discounts they were not entitled to (the lying to the computer bit) - he said they could not have that back as damages as they did make some profit from each transaction anyway.

Sounds like stealing a little is ok, as long as you dont steal a lot... that dunt sound right 2 me.

The Geek Diet now online

2007-11-26T05:00:00.000-08:00

The Geek Diet is now online, find out more and buy a copy from thegeekdiet.blogspot.com

Stunning Silence of Diet

2007-11-15T05:53:00.000-08:00

It's been a bit quiet on the blog front for a few months- I've been busy writting a book or two! The Geek Diet should be off the the publisher within the next few days and out in time for Christmas 2007. It will be available to buy from www.thegeekdiet.co.uk and all good book stores in time for Christmas!

Facebook – Everybody wants to look at Amber

2007-06-07T00:50:00.000-07:00

In a recent edition of the excellent net@nite podcast, host Amber MacArther stated that Toronto is the Facebook capital of the world with a greater proportion of its inhabitants having Facebook pages than anywhere else on earth. (Facebook is a social network site that helps you to keep in touch with old friends – originally for university graduates but now open to all comers. One of the key features is the ability to upload your photographs for people to look at)
There is a growing number of these social networking sites which all feature the ability to load your photos which are then available for anyone to see. MySpace is one example and Flickr is another. On Amber's home page featured in the pod cast is a link to her Flickr page and sure enough there were some photo’s there of holidays and some events she had covered in her day job as a reporter.

I can understand the attraction of being able to load some family snaps up onto your internet homepage in a private album in order to share them with friends and family; I’ve done it myself with images of kids’ school plays for the grandparents living in Spain to see- but I feel distinctly uncomfortable about sites like Facebook and MySpace which not only encourage but facilitate a voyeuristic approach to looking into strangers lives and public photo albums. In fact looking at some of the comments posted under the photos on Amber’s Facebook- the majority appear to be from strangers, or is that strange guys, saying things like ‘phwaa she’s gorgeous…’

Is this the next evolution of the cult of celebrity where now ‘ordinary’ people become the objects of our adoration – unawares – and we live vicariously by reading their diaries and photo albums rather than by living our own life?

For me, I prefer the approach laid out in the Bible – Jesus said he came that we (all) should have life in all its fullness (John 10:10) – which to me means that my own life is full of joy, excitement and adventure – my own photo album is full of images I want to look at – and I don’t need to cast envious glances at anyone else’s. More than that, let’s not forget the prime directive in the 10 commandments (Exodus 20) not to be envious of other people’s possessions or relations as that road only ends in disaster for us.

The life that each of us has, is one destined for greatness – that’s what the bible says when it describes us as adopted sons and daughters of the master of the universe and co-labourers with him in the grand plan of the restoration and ultimate rule over all of creation.

Forget facebook, give me the good book any day.

Recommended Books

2007-05-19T07:43:00.000-07:00

Four cool books to recommend this time:

The Children of Hurin - JRR Tolkein
The 'new' Tolkein pieced together by his son and grandson makes a remarkably flowing read- far more readable in style than the likes of the Silmarillion. Be warned, this is a tragedy of epic proportions, but still an enjoyable read and not as long as you think as a third of the book is taken up with supplemental material.

Getting Things Done - Dave Allen
Now I understand why Merlin Mann calls his blog 43Folders. Getting Things Done is an approach to organisation for personal effectiveness - beyond time management and prioritisation. Beware - you may need to un-learn everything you know up to know about workload planning but this system looks like it will work for me and has a massive following especially in the high-tec community

Failure is not an Option - Gene Kranz
The autobiography of Gene Kranz, with a great deal of focus on the Apollo 13 mission - a fantastic read by an amazing man - that reminds me of the time I met him - but more of that later ;-)

Wild at Heart
If gentle Jesus meek and mild is a bit of a turn off for you then this passionate and readable journey to rediscover the masculine heart of God will set your pulse racing and remind you of a side to God that often gets forgotten. If your church is full of serving women and observing men, this book will help you understand why and how to tackle the issue.

(Click through to amazon.co.uk to buy these books and support www.assemblyangels.com)

Everything I need to know in life I learned from Star Trek

2007-05-12T02:50:00.000-07:00

One of the truths of the human condition that many people not only fail to recognise but also seem to spend most of their lives in denial about and trying to avoid is this: mankind was designed to work. Idleness may be something we strive for, but it's something that ultimately we find unfulfilling.

A quick history lesson

God created the universe, God created the planet earth and all the living things thereon- including the slimey, creeping ones and the magnificent plumed ones. Then God creates man, in his own image. So man is created with the nature of God: God loves - and so do we, God delights in creating things - so do we. Creation=work. Get the picture?

So, why is it then, that so may churches and charities struggle to find the volunteers that they need? Thinking about churches just for now- why are we not getting involved in helping in the jobs needed to run the church and fulfill the great commission Jesus gave at the end of his earthly ministry. "Go into all the world," he said, "making disciples...."

STAR TREK
When Captain Kirk (or Picard (that reminds me of a funny thing that happened when I was privileged to meet and interview Gene Kranz, who was the NASA flight director for the Apollo 13 mission - but more of that another time!)) lands on a strange new world, or meets new life or new civilisations- he knows how to act because Star Fleet has issued him with the Prime Directive and other standing orders that define rules of behaviour and a framework of responses that can be used to work out the appropriate response to any given situation.

The Church's Prime Directives
So that got me thinking, what are the church's Prime Directives? Well lets start with the BIBLE- that's the Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. The BIBLE lists a number of requirements and responsibilities for God's people, including:

Spread the Gospel
Worship God
Take care of the poor, the widows and the orphans and of course the aliens!

Now God did not lay these responsibilities on a chosen few- they were general command given to us all.

So breaking that down- if we all are charged with spreading the Gospel, then that not only includes the act of evangelism but also all those activities that are needed to make it possible such as designing the poster- handing out the invitations to the revival meeting, inviting pre-christian friends round for a dinner party... get the picture?

And the imperative to worship God, includes all those jobs that need to be done to make it possible such as (thinking about corporate worship) putting out the chairs, sweeping the floors, playing the music, running the projector or OHP, handing out the hymn books, being a steward... get the picture yet?

So why do we have so many Christians sitting in the pews on a Sunday not at all engaged in the work of the Kingdom, because they are waiting for 'the call' when actually God has already given very clear instructions to us all about what he wants to see being done and we just need to get on and do it. Once we start obeying the written instructions already given, then God may decide to give us some more responsibility- but not before!

SO that is how Star Trek taught me everything I need to know in life - obey your prime directives - and be nice to aliens!

Welcome - Faffing explained

2007-05-11T05:14:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Faffer's blogspot- what is Faffing I hear you ask? Well faffing is taking time to get round to doing the things that don't matter in order to give priority to the things that do. Of course, there is the opportunity for tension when those around you disagree as to exactly what might fall into one category or the other!

{faff-er: one who Faffs; To Faff - prioritise selectively}

This weeks best of the web links:

A new convert to www.twit.tv (which is This Week in Technology and nothing to do with bird watching or stupid people)

Who says politicians don't have a sense of humour - see this on YouTube - Bush doing Bush at the White House correspondents dinner: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq7sRkg_2Ss

And proud husband says check our Mrs Faffer's www.assemblyangels.com which is going to help transform british primary schools by giving kids the life skills they really need.

So how do you work out what are the important things in life? For me its God, Family then other stuff which turns out to be harder to prioritise than I thought... being part of a rapidly growing church (HIC) keeps us all very busy including the two junior faffers in the house.

My life motto and our thought for the week can be found here.