Alex Stanhope - syndicate

3 types of backup, not one

alex — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 06:44:59 +0000

There are three types of data maintenance that I should be doing on a regular basis:

Backup - duplicating the current version of my active documents
Cloning - cloning my entire main harddisk to backup drive that is a similar size and format. This copies the operating system files and applications in such a way that they 'just work' on the backup drive. In the event of a main disk error or crash, I simply slot in the backup drive, restore to it my latest working files and carry on working.

Digital Britain released

alex — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:46:24 +0000

Today the final report for Digital Britain was published by the DCMS. I've only had a chance to skim through it, but here are the things that jumped out at me.

#24 The Universal Service Commitment (USC) mentions Fibre to the cabinet (FTTC).

#34 Ranging from 4MB (rural) to 50MB (cities and suburbs), the next generation of wireless access promises some interesting pervasive media applications.

#35 Ofcom to extend the life of the existing 3G licences indefinitely.

#39 Radio will move across to DAB by 2015.

Prosumer reorganisation of value chains

alex — Sun, 03 May 2009 12:04:22 +0000

I've been thinking about how producer-consumers (prosumers) are affecting the value chain in the content industries (e.g. publishing, film, tv, radio, new media).

Openness in relation to knowledge, services and people

alex — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 07:24:05 +0000

Openness is a distruptive concept in the fields of knowledge (wikipedia), content (creative commons), applications (open source software), services (open APIs) and people (crowdsourcing and community contribution).

BMW Z4 on your real-world desktop

alex — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 20:27:04 +0000

BMW have recently launched their new Z4, but as well as a glossy TV spot, the company are deploying a complex social media campaign.

Simple HDRI example using 3DS Max and Mental Ray

alex — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:16:48 +0000

Found a couple of great tutorials on YouTube and Blue Sfear so I created a simple 3D scene using a High-Dynamic Range Image (HDRI).

Racing at Silverstone

alex — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 18:14:17 +0000

On Sunday morning, while Jenson Button was leading the Australian Grand Prix in Melborne, I had a chance to put in some fast laps too! I visited Silverstone for a single seater driving experience.

At 140bhp these Formula Ford cars lack the power of an F1 car, but they do capture something of the excitement. Capable of accelerating from 0-60 in 4.5seconds, they will do about 100mph before hitting the rev limiter in fourth. Absolutely brilliant fun!

Formula 1 PC game 10GBP

alex — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 18:36:07 +0000

I've been playing rFactor recently. The game itself is an amazing achievement (good physics engine) but perhaps more incredible is the level of activity in its mod community.

CTDP publish an F1 2006 mod, for free, which as you can see if both highly detailed and playable (you'll have to take my word on the second part).