Kitten Fluff

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sharon-podcast,
originally uploaded by sharonspotbottom.

Sharon’s ace take on podcasting…

Sharon knew pod casting was more than just a pretty word. Curious, she went straight to the source to learn their secrets.

I’d subscribe!

Talking of which, check out Blugg/Podbat’s easy peasy podcast publishing machine! Full of alien magic.

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CIMG2174,
originally uploaded by soymlk.

This is an amazing structure that seems to have been built at the Burning Man festival in the desert.* I don’t really know much about the festival, but I have read a bit about it. We met someone today who went with some mates in an RV – air conditioned of course…

* Except I have just noticed that these photos are from 2004. But there are more in that pool from this year.

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Hello Kitty Snap-on BentoBox w/Divider,
originally uploaded by GeishaBot.

GeishaBot on Flickr has an enviable obsession with Hello Kitty.

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Hurricane Rita [Adult Book Store],
originally uploaded by slight clutter.

My Flickr contact Slight Clutter continues her great photo reporting of events in the hurricane-hit New Orleans, and now those cities in Rita’s path.

These are great black and white shots of the journey out of Texas.

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sharon book 1,
originally uploaded by sharonspotbottom.

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I am loving Sharon’s Flickr book! Now I am even more keen to get my mits on mine…

I think Sharon should start selling them on eBay…

Over 1,000 photos will be in mine. Apparently I have not received mine yet as Qoop was having an issue with one of my photos of Blugg with Atlas the cat in Amsterdam.

I think they have sorted it now though.

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transformation 0009,
originally uploaded by mynona.

This is what I feel like doing right now. But enough of that – these are eerily creative pictures from one Myona.

Check them out.

Bre from I Make Things and Pink Bunny points to an Ananova article about a giant megalithic Pink Bunny that artists in Italy have built.

They have stripped her! Hmmm Creative Commons?

Worldwide Tropical Cyclone Names

I was wondering why hurricanes always seemed to be named after ladies (apart from Ivan)… Here is the answer. But all you American folk probably knew this already…

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Ceiling on the floor,
originally uploaded by The Kitten’s Toe.

So I woke up the other morning thinking some weird part of my dream was coming true, then fleetingly thinking someone had broken in, only to abruptly realise that our living room ceiling had decided to dump itself on the floor.

Luckily neither I nor Blugg (or Lily who still visits) were sitting there at the time. We had been having leaks and cracks appearing for some time. We had reported it to the peeps above.

I hope it gets fixed soon. It stinks. It leaked from a shower. It smells of piss.

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Beau,
originally uploaded by peyri.

For the first time, some of my photos on Flickr – those of our “dog”, Aibo - have had tags added to them by someone I don’t “know”. Interesting feeling that. Felt a bit amiss for not having added the tags myself in the first place.

Her name is Robotgirl and she has the Robots: technlogy + pop culture.

I haven’t looked at this group for a long time. There are some truly robotic gems in there.

I know it has been around for some time, but I just love the I/O Brush developed mainly by Kimiko Ryokai at MIT. It is a paint brush but really it has loads of tiny cameras in it which take an image of what the bristles are pushed against, then “paints” it onto a special whiteboard.

Cool as bollocks. See the video of it in action. Kids love it.

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Men’s Alice dress,
originally uploaded by Crys.

Alice Taylor from Wonderland is in Tokyo for a gaming conference.

What she found there frightens me.

Our Seattle friend Bre Pettis, who we met out at Gnomedex, has posted his newsletter that he gives the kids he teaches creative multi-arts to.

He is truly a creative pioneer and deserves some Big Ups. I wish I had a teacher like Bre when I was at school. Here is some it:

I am a multi-artist and teacher. I make things. I am a visual artist and I draw, paint, and take photographs. I am an actor, film-maker, and puppeteer and I create short videos and films I am a reporter, editor, poet, writer, storyteller and blogger.

I believe that it is my job on this planet to support and inspire others to reach their creative potential. It is essential for everyone young and old alike to explore new ways of expressing ourselves. Young people have the advantage of having agile minds that can learn anything that they set their minds too. The sky is the limit! I love to see the sparks of creativity that students have when they encounter new ways to express themselves.

Read the rest for yerself.

Image: Bre Pettis, I Make Things

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Hurricane Katrina [Bus Window],
originally uploaded by slight clutter.

I realised that one of my Flickr contacts, slight clutter, is an American Red Cross volunteer and is helping relief efforts in New Orleans.

Great photo set here of some of the people being sheltered there.

Mashup of the Week Podcast
If you are in need of some good toons to listen to tonight, check out Mashup town. I like the model here.

They mashup tracks – lots of them some of the great classic like The Doors and Sesame Street – and link to iTunes so you can buy the original tracks separately. Really something to drive sales of back catalogues.

This is defo what people will start to do more of as the novelty of music download services wears off and people start to grow at ease with the act of downloading. They will naturally want to see what else they can find there.

But I love the new remixes that are created here.

Schneier on Security: 276 British Spies

This has kept me entertained for the last hour. I am trying to find anyone I know.. ehhehe…

I am also looking at the amount of them who have been in Hong Kong.

I like it Hitachi! I want to turn my PDA USB sync cable into a neckace or belt or something – they just need to be disguised in some leather or some other material … Maybe embedded in a leather belt or something – then I can just pull it out… The plug bit could be blinged up a bit.

Via Engadget.

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obsolete robot,
originally uploaded by _boris.

From the Lifeless Faces group.

Some day the landscape will be full of abandoned robots. Maybe not quite like this.

They will turn into herds of feral bots. Even the council Cleaner Bots will refuse to clear them up.

Can’t wait for used domestic humanoids auctions on eBay. Er, better than these…

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Sister – c. 1976,
originally uploaded by The Kitten’s Toe.

Exhibit A.

On explaining that her daughter would appreciate the seals on Pier Whatever it is in San Francisco.

Me: They were cool but there were only a few there.
Her: Really? Where were they all?
Me: Well this lady in a shop told me they were all off mating in the Channel Islands.
Her: What really? Did they swim there then?
Me: Um…

I am battling a bot in real-time here.

Within minutes of posting that last post, I get a comment spam. I delete it, refresh, and lo and behold there tis another. *rolls up sleeves*

The perfect solution to my crapness when it comes to printing out my digital photos* and putting them in albums to drag out when drunk.

Qoop turns your Flickr photos into a printed, bound book. Smashing.

Via Make Magazine

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3G newspaper,
originally uploaded by The Kitten’s Toe.

I dunno what this little 3G is on the top of the pages on The Sun, but it made me get very excited, sadly, about what could save the newspaper industry - e-paper.

Won’t it be fun when our newspapers are made of e-paper – flexible electronic, disposable (eco friendly – would have to be) and interactive. So, full of sensors.

You could grab a paper, and when you see a story you were interested in, you can swipe your 3G mobile or your multimedia device over the sensor and download content – like movie trailers, or holiday details, or indeed audio and video – and maybe blog links – to your device. Then you discard the paper. You’ve had a good skim read, and you have downloaded your extra content that you are interested in to take with you somewhere else.

I want that now.

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taco hell,
originally uploaded by thehomsar.

Flickr encourages people to build groups to which members are invited to contribute images.

I tried to find an “ice” themed group because I was flicking through my favourites and realised that the non-cat faves were mostly of snow and ice. Hmm…*

I searched for ice themed groups (the search needs working on – odd for a company that was bought by Yahoo) and was intrigued by the variety of different groups that have been set up.

I saw this one – GI’s take on photography. I made me realise how much of a collection of community neighbourhoods Flickr is becoming. People find homes there – affiliations which are not about “being like-minded” which is unproductive.

You get communities difference – all sorts of different people – who intersect and interact around a theme. It is also what I always wanted in an online “community” – a place where you enjoy giving and receiving contributuions – comments for example – and sharing the world through your eyes.

There always somewhere to explore – always something to see, new faces to look at, and new things to talk about.

*Not sure what that says about me.