All 4 entries tagged Internet

Bush and the Bloggers

Writing about web page http://uk.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUKN2822743820070328?feedType=RSS

Reuters reported this morning that George Bush quoted two Iraqi bloggers in a speech he made “to try to bolster his case that his troop buildup in Iraq is making progress”.

But lest anyone starts to think that he is genuinely aware of the lives that so-called ‘average’ Iraqis are leading, let me just emphasise a couple of things that Reuters’ impartiality prevents them from underlining.

They are a pair of Iraqi dentists who write an English-language blog, IraqTheModel.com, and who met Bush in the Oval Office in December 2004

Wha? They met Bush??? In the White House?!?!?!?!

Ey? What kind of non-diplomatic foreigners end up meeting Bush in the White House? I suppose the kind of non-diplomatic foreigners who can prove their love for America, with perhaps the greatest understatement about the state of Iraq, during a war teeming with contenders for that title.

The Bush Administration needs to revise the way it’s been handling and planning for this critical war.

: 29 Mar 2007 01:20 |  Tags: Blogging George Bush George W Bush Internet Iraq Iraq The Model Politics United States |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Do I really look like…?

Writing about web page http://www.myheritage.com/FP/Company/face-recognition.php

I don’t know whether I’m a little slow on the uptake with this website, or if I’m an online trend setter (oh how I wish to be one of those).

Either way, I just stumbled across a website that’s does some highly complex analysis (it uses algorithims I’m told!) to work out which ‘celebrities’ you look like. Register, upload a photo of yourself and you’re away.

So I did. I sat there twiddling my thumbs waiting for a photo of Brad Pitt to pop up, but then…

Surely some mistake?

70%? I’ve got to admit it’s probably better than the last person I was compared to on a Warwick Blog, at least he isn’t a cartoon (see here). The worrying thing is I tried it with two more photos. He came up again with the first one and his Dad came up the second time!

The only thing that makes me feel better is that in my third photo, I supposedly look like Brazilian footballing legend Romario. No, he ain’t exactly a looker, but at least it shows how much crap the whole thing is anyway!

: 26 Mar 2007 21:42 |  Tags: Internet Life |  Comments (3) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

5 Dead Useful Little Websites

Everyone knows Google, bbc.co.uk and Wikipedia are bluddy useful, but here’s a list of 5 similarly useful little ones that you may or may not have heard of.

• Hype Machine
  Collates music blogs and the MP3s they host. In short: new music, freely downloadable (just watch out you don’t copyright thieve.)

• TempInbox
  Need to put in your email address to sign up for something but wanna avoid spam? TempInbox does exactly what it says on the URL

• Bug Me Not
  Helps you sample the subscribers-only parts of all sorts of websites.

• TinyUrl.com
  Natty little website that turns a long web address into something far more manageable

• Student Free Stuff
  I genuinely got a free Wilkinson Sword razor just 6 months after giving them my address. And my friend got some cat food. I perhaps should have stuck with “4 Dead Useful…”

: 19 Mar 2007 22:50 |  Tags: Hype Machine Internet Review Websites |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

I'm a big fan of the BBC but…

Now, I’m a big fan of the BBC. It’s one of roughly three things about which I feel a slight tinge of national pride.
But I’ve just found a feature of bbc.co.uk that is the most ridiculous waste of time and probably money.

Live text commentary during football matches is superb, a great alternative when the game’s not on the radio or TV. But I’ve just discovered the BBC is now offering pathetic animated footballers enacting the latest text update. It doesn’t tell you any more about the action than the text does and the pictures are worse than a game of World Soccer on a SEGA Master System. Please, somebody tell me they have found some use for it.

I’m slightly concerned that the BBC’s next article on the government’s latest anti-crime policy might be accompanied by a cartoon of Tony Blair making ever so reassuring hand gestures.

: 19 Feb 2007 00:41 |  Tags: BBC Football Internet Media |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem