Food beckons... typos get fixed later 
Happy invoicing!
- Does Microsoft Suffer from Premature Innovation? - "From when I joined Microsoft in 1997 until I left in 2004, and even since then (but especially during the heady days of the DOJ lawsuit), accusations flew fast and furious accusing Microsoft of misusing the word “innovation”, that Microsoft couldn’t innovate, or didn’t innovate... the past is littered with what I have sometimes referred to as “premature innovation”. Technologies created by Microsoft (or sometimes acquired by Microsoft) way ahead of their time. So far ahead, in fact that to many people, they don’t make sense – and as a result, either die on the vine or fail to sustain themselves in the market after release." getwired looks at some of the things Microsoft made that didn't work out - and some that did, or may do in the near future.
- That's Not Online! - "Library collections, archives and other information that aren't accessible online, and how to find them." Slightly odd design to this site whereby you click on a panel and it tells you how old it is, then you have to click again to follow the link; but despite that quirk, there's loads of interesting info here.
- mocapdata.com: New free data - online collection of motion capture data, the stuff on this page being free; just what you need to get realistic motion for the figures in your new Plan B game
- Piano Quality - "The finest pianos in the world were built about a hundred years ago. Due to evolution in engineering, exhaustion of raw materials, and flagging business standards, we will never see their like again. Some people may build very good pianos; new forms of the instrument may exceed (in narrow ways) the magnificent machines built a few decades either side of the year 1900. But, from a musical perspective, there will never be a “better” piano than the typical concert grand of a century ago." This post (and the stuff it links to) explains why.
- Doug's Word Clocks - "A word clock is a clock that tells the time using words. In late 2009, I saw the QLOCK2 on a hobbyists web site. I was immediately struck by its beauty, but also by its price!! I decided that I would write an article showing people how they could build their own version." Doug offers kits, or all the info you need to make your own word clock from scratch
- The Ultimate Celebrity Inteview! - "An Actress bounds into the East London photographic studio, slightly out-of-breath, fizzing with the energy of Silvio Berlusconi on Horny Goat Weed at an 18-year-old’s swim party. “I just gave a homeless man outside a 20 pound note, and now I’m worrying he’d have rather had it in two tens,” she says, huge eyes widening in a luminously fresh face, as she puts down her vintage handbag and leather-bound copy of Anna Karenina (“I’m obsessed with Tolstoy, it’s a weakness, I need to widen my contemporary reading”) in a flurry of activity that lights up the room and makes all heads turn." Excellent satire
- Ronald Searle - Wonderful obituary in The Economist, written in the style of Nigel Molesworth: "ART is for weeds and sissies whose mater hav said Take care of my dear little Cedric, he is delicate you kno and cannot stand a foopball to the head. Whenever anebode mention Art they all sa gosh mikelangelo leenardo wot magnificent simetry of line. Shurely the very pinnackle of western civilisation etc.etc."
- Work from Home: Part 1 of a Special Cockeyed Report - "Work from Home. There are about 23,958 of these signs in Sacramento. That is an exaggeration, but they really are everywhere. They are nailed to telephone poles and zip-tied to chain-link fences. There are new designs all the time. All of them have a mysterious lack of information regarding what company or scheme they are promoting." Rob tracks down the company behind the scam.
- mypermissions.org - "Start 2012 by Taking 2 Minutes to Clean Your Apps Permissions.Try guessing how many apps have permissions to access your private information... Now click the icons and get ready for a surprise!" Handy utility for tracking down the third party apps to which you have given access to your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. accounts.
- Clipart Covers - "Classic (and not so classic) Album Covers in Clipart and Comic Sans."
Happy invoicing!
Comment