just to let you know

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• BBC Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles cleared by BBC Governors for saying that he found a mobile phone ringtone "gay".
• German businessman auctions off his World Cup trophy replica by the end of June - estimated price to be around 10 Million Euro (german link).

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• more dribbling news from Uschi Lang, who said "Yes" after her future hubby proposed to her in front of an Apple Store webcam.
• Apple's new MacBooks are heating up due to bits of Sellotape being left on a cooling grill.
• Annik Rubens, famous for her german, Munich-based podcast "Schlaflos in Muenchen" has now masterminded "Around The World", a videocast with short movies from anywhere on the globe.

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• well worth a read: ex-Talking Heads frontman David Byrne's Online Journal
• Last tango for Berlin's "Palast der Republik", once Erich Honecker's pride and joy.
• the new "Make Poverty History" video is extremely powerful, yet simple.
• turn you Mac Mini into an entertainment center
• vote on the name of the Wembley footbridge 13-23.May - will it be called the "Dietmar Hamann Bridge" ?
• Eccleston quits Doctor Who role after only one screening

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• "Don't mention the prince": HRH Prince Harry apologises for turning up in a Nazi costume at a friend's brithday party.
• Binmen in Frankfurt sweep away work of art.
• The german Green Party celebrates its 25th anniversary

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• for the umpteenth time Spiegel Online repeats its article about british presumptions about Germany and associated cliches (german). Change the record, pals!
• Leading german polititians have brought forward suggestions to send unemployed to those countries hit by the Tsunami desaster (german).

Headlamp Conversion

A funny article explaining how to convert the headlamps on your car so they comply with european regulations when going to continental Europe. I specifically like the example with the wall in the pub car park.

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• Blogger's new year resolutions on Technorati
• "Linux" fifth most searched tech word on Google in 2004
• BBC on blog mainstream.
• According to dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster, Blog was 2004 Word of the Year (based on online lookups).

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• meet ASIMO, Honda's running robot (3mph) who needs a wee...
• Time Magazine names George W. Bush as "Man of the Year"
• Wal-Mart to enter the Linux laptop race with a Linspire-based machine for $498.
• About a German who went to some lengths to show his frustration about car registration authorities (click on story 2)
• Germany's Chaos Computer Club (CCC) gives full instructions on the Hack-a-Bike website how to crack the call-a-bike service provided by Deutsche Bahn in Berlin

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• The owner of the iTunes.co.uk is facing some legal threats by Apple.

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• Show me the money! 25 years after its recording the kids who sang the background vocals in Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" ask for their royalties.

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• very soon the Scots will realise whom they've lost - Berti Vogts' resignation speech.

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• Eric Meyer - a web Pro. Apple pays tribute to the master of CSS et al on their website.
• I might have mentioned him on here quite a few times - but if you haven't seen them yet, then I can only recommend you immediately go and see Andy Budd's latest additions to his photo gallery. Fabolous !
• and yet another cherry - Gray Woodhouse's Travelogue. A wonderful collection of travel writings and anecdotes.

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• Shame of the nation: German right-wing parties gain ground in east german elections.

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• First photos of packaging and interior of the new iMac G5.

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• a German who didn't fancy going to work was found by the police hiding in this wardrobe.
• According to a Forsa opinion poll, 20% of all Germans want to have the wall back.

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• England keeper David James seems to struggle with more than catching balls - in a BBC report he says:

  "We were comfortable. The free-kick should not have changed the game but the equaliser cost us three points."

  Sorry, David, but a draw against Austria still leaves your team with 1 point, so how can you lose 3 ?
• The world's first Internet cafe celebrates its 10th birthday.
• The British public has decided: Beaker & Honeydew are the best screen scientists ever.

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• Microsoft due to kick off "Plays for Sure" campaign to highlight MS Music Store compatibility of MP3 players.
• Bikes against Bush activist Josh Kinberg has been arrested by NY police before he could even get onto his bike and do some street chalking. The chalk is water soluble and the officers involved had been given this information, but still kept him under arrest until Sunday morning. His bike and equipment have also been confiscated.

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• Experts list for Best Sci-Fi movies of all times. (link from Kottke)
• Artificial Life Inc. developed the Virtual Girlfriend game - guess what the easiest way is to keep her happy ? Spend your virtual money, of course !
• And I thought it might never happen - further planned smoking restrictions in German train stations.

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• "Spaghetti" or "Schpagetti" ? 3 major newspapers and magazines join the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung by opting out of the german Writing Reform.
• Late sentence for a 73 and 74 year-old for their involvement in Berlin wall killings.

linkable Olympic Games special

• a glance behind the scenes - Olympics Games from an IT perspective
• Three american athletes share their olympic thoughts and feelings on this blog.
• The Scotsman with a view behind the scenes in the olympic village. Sounds as "Eat til you Pop" is the name of the Games.
• David Akin reports that blogging from the olympic village is restricted due to IOC regulations.
• meet DJ Tiesto, the DJ of the opening ceremony
• Also check out the BBC's comprehensive schedule of the Games.

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• Chris Duncan, a Scottish Family Historian has recently cast doubt over claims made by a Scottish author that Elvis Presley had ancestry in Aberdeenshire.

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• Interesting movie trailer for Team America. Putting the "F" back into "Freedom".
• for most of you web designers out there this is probably an old hat, but I only just discovered the Firefox Web Developer plugin. Grrrreat ! (via Chris Pederick)

David Woodings Photography

When David first approached me and asked if I could do the design for his website David Woodings Photography, I was more than delighted.

David is a talented and gifted young photographer who gives wedding and portrait photography some contemporary new dashes of esprit. If you are looking to hire a photographer who is not too much into-your-face, but remains in the background without you even noticing, go and check out his online gallery.

Michael Knight's car KITT for sale

no more "Guy, I need you !" - K.I.T.T., Michael Knight's super-intelligent, self-driving and emotionally stable car is up for sale on Ebay. Will David Hasselhoff (aka "The Hoff") be tempted ?

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Jerry Goldsmith, the composer of the Waltons tune died today, aged 75. Therefore I thought a little "Waltons rememberance" linkable section would be in order.

When I was just a little lad, I loved the Waltons and hardly missed an episode. I specifically remember the one where the family installed their first refrigerator in the kitchen or even the episode where John-Boy witnessed the crash of the Hindenburg zeppelin as a journalist.

The Waltons was a moving series and must have made such an impression on people. Unsurprisingly, there are a few websites covering everything about and beyond the 221 episodes mighty american TV series.

Warner Video offer the Waltons on DVD now and there are some other places for Waltons images, for example.

Could there be a more perfect tune for a family programme as The Waltons? I think not. Most recently, the tune was also used as a running gag in the BBC's comedy series 'The Smoking Room', where several chacters tried to remember the exact melody from The Waltons.

What made The Waltons so successful and special? Let me summarise it with a quote from Robert L Stevenson I heard the other day: The Waltons were all about something that makes a better life - "Something to do, someone to love and something to hope for".

Good night, John-Boy !

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• The International Herald Tribune comments on the state of financial affairs in the German county of Saxony and Dresden in particular.
• While the NYT hails untucked shirts as the "New Pennants of Rebellion", blogger Howard Sherman contributes his amusing 2p to it. Tucked shirt = Rebellion ? Have I missed something ?
• Leith in Ediburgh now has it's own community blog - TheLeither.net

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• Interesting comparison of the first Kodak cameras of around 100 years ago to the cameraphones of today. History repeats itself !
• WiredNews on the Odeon cinema re-design incident the other day - also with some interesting comments from Jeffrey Zeldman.
• Report from a former british soldier about his years of national service during the post WW2 years in Germany.

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• Butter to the fish - Michael Moore provides facts about F9/11 claims on his website.
• photos of Jason Kottke's recent heli trip over Manhattan.

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• Interesting report on Wired about bloggers suffering from burnout.
• British NHS decided: Germans flown in to cover for GPs. Interestingly, there are 2,350 German doctors currently registered with the General Medical Council.
• old dogs - new tricks and all that... I found this really helpful when battling with MS IEs duplicate characters characters problem problem.

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• Who needs the iTunes Music Store, eh? They Might Be Giants offer their latest tracks as mp3 for $0.99 directly on their website.

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• Too much of a good thing: The future of BBC online is under fire after the so-called Graf review. Following year long complaints by the British Internet Publishers Association (BIPA), BBC online is accused of accused of providing too much entertainment content and therefore stifling competition as a publicly owned and run company. Governors of the BBC volleyed back a Future of the BBC" document with suggestions from the BBC top management how to reform the public broadcaster. For german readers, there is also a worthwhile article about this on Spiegel.de.
• Fahrenheit 9/11 already circulated in P2P networks - much to Michael Moore's delight.

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• Turning dirt into gold - Glastonbury mud sells on Ebay.
• let's go and save some trees: Sony introduces the LIBRIe eBook. Link to the review on Excite.
• Marginal Revolution reports on tragic events in Nigeria - children die of Polio despite vaccines being available, because local clerics create their own spin around the vaccines that originate frm the US. They claim it's a plan to make the population infertile.
• The german police tapped 400% more telecomms wires of foreigners residing in Germany.
• Ad blocking TV box developer wins court ruling against TV channels.

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• The announcements and comments around Apple's new "Dashboard" features in OS X 10.4 ("Tiger") sound very intersting, but seem to me like a repeat of some dotcom ages (SAP once called something similar the "Business Workplace" now it's the "Enterprise Portal" within the ERP sector.). I guess we all knew it might be coming back sooner or later, but with wider acceptance.
• I always saw it coming rent-a-puppy gets more popular in Japan.
• TalkingPanda.com - an iPod based dictionary at $10 per language.
• TypeNow.net - This brilliant web site for movie, game, etc themed fonts has it all.

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• Bush urges member states to let Turkey into EU. After calling the bigger EU nations old fashioned, US president Bush now develops a sudden interest in EU foreign politics. Wonder what would happen if EU leaders would urge Mr. Bush to let Turkey into the US of A.
• Swiss football referee Urs Meier complaints to governing european football body UEFA about the hassle he, his family and his business have been getting since the much dipsuted disallowed goal in the England - Portugal match last week.

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• Apple's iChat might be the first Videoconferencing software to broadcast from an airplane wirelessly at 35k feet.
• Toshiba developed a hydrogen/oxygen based fuel cell that might be able to power your next iPod. Give me steam !
• check out the Guardian's formidable Pierluigi Collina gallery. (for all those non-Europeans non-soccer supporters it should be mentioned that he is the world's most famous football referee)
• Computer pioneer (COBOL, ASCII, Hyperlinking) Bob Bemer dies.

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• Introducing piPod, an iPod based Pizzeria directory for NY. Who said the US only brought us Baseball and Burgers?
• Sex workers in Canada demand workers rights.
• Jason Kottke managed to describe demi-god Zidane's style of play in the most passionate and beautiful way. I always loved to watch Zidane playing and Jason really hits it on the head here.

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• I fab site about kite photography - how do these guys keep the camera steady, I ask myself? (link from kottke)

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• No tight shorts on mini skirts in ugandian unis: "make sure you're dressing for a lecture."
• Some more rumours around iTMS Europe...
• Morrissey gives and interesting interview (for a rare change) on Morrissey-solo.com.
• A BBC forum asked readers the question if it was right to invite the Germans to this year's D-Day celebrations.
• Do you think you're too busy doing things that don't really fulfill you? Read Stuart Perry's Essay on Structured Procrastination and your life will be transformed soon. But don't put the task to read his article too high on your agenda.
• Proud to be dinosaurs: Six years after Apple gave up the godfather of all PDA's, Newton enthusiasts of the world unite in Paris on Sept. 5th this year for their first Newton conference.

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• Duct Wall taping is the name for taping people onto walls and ceilings whenever appropriate (or not). It can be fun, honest !? Guess the nationality of the guy who is cellotaped to the ceiling ! (and no, it's not me)
• Apple patches OS X security hole. Phew ! A german hacker saved us all.
• Network admins of the Technical University of Braunschweig have temporarily switched off all Email spam filters. 98% of mail was identified as spam - holey moley !
• ASCII roses, ponyrides in the Grand Canyon, an Amish straw hat and a friend in India are amongst the eyebrow raising offerings on GMailSwap.com. Incredible what people are willing to do to get their hands on one of Googles GMail accounts.
• Bill Gates recommends blogs to businesses as a new tool to share information.
• A party broadcast for the european elections showed a breastfeeding mum's nipple - british authorities all spared us this emotional rollercoaster the other EU nations wiht non-censored broadcasts will have to go through.

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• The Civillian Space Exploration Team managed to launch the first amateur space rocket into space. It was reported that the rocket reached an altitude of approx. 100km - launched from the Nevada desert.
• german chancellor Schroeder being slapped in the face by party member.

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• Free first Mac OS X Emulator for Windows (developed by 2 programmers from Aachen !) now available for download. (but it's only version 0.1 yet)
• US moves to ban furtive photos
• Google testing banner ads as part of their AdSense program
• The Royal Economic Society recently issued an interesting article (PDF format) on the Inefficiency of Splitting the Bill. So Germans are doing it better for a change by calculating exactly what everyone's due ?
• I guess there'll be lots of people shooting off to this years Masturbate-a-thon in San Francisco

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• Freedom of information act request makes it possible: TheMemoryHole.org - The website showing the US soldier coffins that no one was supposed to see.
• German radio station SWR3 - asked its listeners to vote for the greatest first lines of lyrics ever written: according to their audience it's from Alanis Morisette's: Ironic.
• interesting NYT article on Steve Jobs & Apple
• Collision Detection talks about "Koolio", the world's first real beer-serving lab robot. "Pint of Caley 80 and a bag of crisps please, Koolio - and make it snappy !"
• A german postman decided to sell contents of parcels himself rather than delivering them.

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• Apple praised on announcement of better speech recognition in next release of OS X.
• NYT technology story on Sony's lack of innovation and the their Connect store - who cares ?
• on Sunday, The London Marathon wrote another beautiful story: Tracey Morris - still a fun runner in 1999's London Marathon - finished yesterdays race within the qualification time for this year's Olympics in Athens and will most likely be picked for the british team.
• Spiegel.de's Adrian Schimpf with a little german vocabulary list of english football idioms

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• a scene from 12th Night has been translated into SMS language.
• the oldest existing german/jewish NY newspaper - Aufbau - is not available in print anymore. The last circulation figures of the bi-weekly issue were around 10,000.

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• Ross Anderson of Cambridge Uni believes that P2P news networks will substitute news services such as the BBC by 2010 and thereby by-pass censorship. Why by 2010? RSS and XML syndication do already give us this ability today. All that it takes is more freelance journalists to publish and syndicate their articles.
• German customs are currently auctioning a formerly seized Ferrari online.

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• In case you can't be bothered with watching the Eurovision Song Contest on May 15th, here is a website listing all songs and even offering audiofiles / videos for most of them.
• Andy Budd has posted a recent entry on Google PageRank algorithms and how to make them work for you.
• According to a survey carried out by The Independent 11% of all Brits think Adolf Hitler never existed.
• The BBC marks the 10th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death
• The Observer's Top 10 sporting things to do before you die - unbelievable but true: I did no. 4 already ! :-)
• A lot is said and speculated about Google these days. This is a very interesting set of blog articles on Google's potential future ambitions

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• An online article by the german Spiegel.de about the annual Edinburgh (Fringe) Festival. In my opinion it's tricky to throw all of the festivals together into one article (Fringe/non-Fringe), as they are *very* diverse, but there you go (article in german).
• Apple delays the european launch of iPod Mini.Us Europeans always seem to get the short straw, eh?
• The Brit who saved Volkswagen - Volkswagen honours Ivan Hirst, a british soldier who picked up the pieces at VW in post-war Germany.

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• a wonderful contribution on the terrorist attacks of past, present and (unfortunately) the future by Jeffrey Zeldman.
• Germans still cling on to about 10 percent of the Deutschmarks that were in circulation 2 years ago.
• George Michael decided that he doens't want to take any more money from the public and will offer all his future music for free over the net.
• the latest Jamiri Comic deals with those TV programmes who hide or distort the Apple logo whenever they show one of their machines (german).

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• the Republicans launched a 'Kerry vs Kerry' website to demonstrate how controverse Kerry's opinions have been recently. The humour on the site would even dissapoint Germans, I'd say. As long as the Republicans come up with sites like this there is nothing to worry about for the Democrats.

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• A 3-headed frog was spotted in Somerset today

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• Oi, you paperback writers! Publishing-On-Demand becomes more and more affordable
• I should have checked the rules & regulations before I got married, I think. The German Embassy in London spells it out for you.
• the german participants in this year's pre-selection for the Eurovision song contest in Istanbul, Turkey. A decision on this life & death topic will be made by the teutonic public on March 19th.

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• a green german politician injected some fuel into the eternal debate in Germany about speed limits on the famous Autobahn (motorway). "We brake for nobody!"
• ever tried and entered 'Bush's foreign friends' in Google and hit 'I'm feeling lucky' ? That's the result...

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