Links from 2009

This map and compass training course in the Peak District will introduce you to the basic skills needed for safe and effective independent navigation.

Gives you any grid you want, anywhere you want: Typographic Grids, Golden Sections, Fibonacci series or Rule of Thirds. Thats not all, Slammer also has Rulers, Crosshairs, Magnifier, Measurements & Screenshots

To check in you need three conditions met: You need someone to review it and say it looks good. You need to be certified in the language – basically, you’ve proven you know the style of this language – called “readability.” And then you also need the approval from somebody in the owner’s file in that directory.

Ghostly’s Favorite Albums of the Decade

Incredible, incredible, incredible list from Ghostly.

“Although these stories are reports about medical research, they are really about computing – in the sense that neither would have been possible without the application of serious computer power to masses of data. In that way they reflect a new – but so far unacknowledged – reality; that in many important fields leading-edge scientific research cannot be done without access to vast computational and data-handling facilities, with sophisticated software for analysing huge data-sets.”

— John Naughton, Computers offer a faster way to cure humanity's ills

Although these stories are reports about medical research, they are really about computing – in the sense that neither would have been possible without the application of serious computer power to masses of data. In that way they reflect a new – but so far unacknowledged – reality; that in many important fields leading-edge scientific research cannot be done without access to vast computational and data-handling facilities, with sophisticated software for analysing huge data-sets.

Spotify playlist of Ghostly's 110 albums of the decade. If Warp were on Spotify this would be even better (can't blame them for not being, though).

"The collection of essays expands on the vision of pioneering computer scientist Jim Gray for a new, fourth paradigm of discovery based on data-intensive science and offers insights into how it can be fully realized." Free book from Microsoft Research.

"Some of the tricks are brand new, some are very, very old, IE5.5. old. They all have in common the "fewer or no images" mantra."

DJ Food – Blech 20.1

“Part 1 of a new Blech collection – classic tracks from Warp’s 20 year history, mixed together by Strictly kev aka DJ Food with a nod to the Blech mixes he did with PC in the 90’s. Certain sections mirror the set played at Warp’s 20th anniversary gig in London, 2009.”

Fabien Potencier of Symfony on PHP templating and his django-like twig template language.

"A standard specification currently being developed to display 3D graphics on web browsers. It enables hardware-accelerated rich 3D graphics in web pages without the need for special browser plug-ins, on any platform supporting OpenGL or OpenGL ES. Technically it is a binding for JavaScript to native OpenGL ES 2.0 implementation, to be built in to browsers." Blimey. It's running in Firefox and Webkit nightlies, apparently.

A bookmarklet for typographically obsessed web designers. It enables rapid checking of fonts and font styles directly in the browser without editing code and refreshing pages.

There is no fold.

Shows "a waterfall of your page load performance as well as a comparison against an optimization checklist."

I'm not sure I approve.

<blockquote>I propose a simple set of rules and requirements that dictate how version numbers are assigned and incremented. For this system to work, you first need to declare a public API. This may consist of documentation or be enforced by the code itself. Regardless, it is important that this API be clear and precise. Once you identify your public API, you communicate changes to it with specific increments to your version number. Consider a version format of X.Y.Z (Major.Minor.Patch). Bug fixes not affecting the API increment the patch version, backwards compatible API additions/changes increment the minor version, and backwards incompatible API changes increment the major version.</blockquote>

A Google Chrome extension that helps you identify and fix performance problems in your web applications. It visualizes metrics that are taken from low level instrumentation points inside of the browser and analyzes them as your application runs. Using Speed Tracer you are able to get a better picture of where time is being spent in your application.

A quick [!] overview of Continuous Integration summarizing the technique and its current usage.

A CSS/HTML/JavaScript framework started as a personal project and then grew into something more. The idea behind it is to reduce the amount of time spent on setting up the basic master HTML template by reusing the same coding techniques.

A beautiful taster of the forthcoming Posthuman DVD.

Syn Emergence is a project which examines my own associative relationships between sound, form and space.

The project is constructed according to a range of specific sonic and spatial scale rule sets (micro, component, meso and macro) which I designed as part of a cross-disciplinary notation/cartographic system.

The processes of the film will be used for the forthcoming Posthuman (myself and Josh Doherty) album entitled ‘Syn Emergence’ released next Spring.

New tool from MSE; checks digital prices across a range of digital stores. Shame it doesn't query more independents, though.

A free, global Domain Name System (DNS) resolution service, that you can use as an alternative to your current DNS provider.

Zend Framework Coding Standard for PHP

Steven Poole: Working for the Man

“What would videogaming look like if it rejected the machine as a model for play, if more games incorporated gratuitous moments of relaxation from their constant, accelerated striving? Or if more games did not treat us as employees but as autonomous co-creators?”

What would videogaming look like if it rejected the machine as a model for play, if more games incorporated gratuitous moments of relaxation from their constant, accelerated striving? Or if more games did not treat us as employees but as autonomous co-creators?

Once HTML 5 becomes a viable option, how can we avoid having teams of web developers spending their time discussing which syntax to use instead of working on the project their clients pay for?

"Let's ruin E-ON's pathetic online attempt to rescue their ailing brand." Oops.

It’s extremely cool to see this pattern being evangelized for such a major piece of the Internet.

This is a list of old game releases. These games were priced at nearly $50 a year ago, now probably a lot less. Why buy a new game when there are plenty of fun games out there worth renting or buying for less?

A creative/eco converted warehouse factory space five minutes walk from both Liverpool Street and Old Street stations. With offices and studios, we offer creative and social businesses an affordable, friendly and relaxed environment to work and collaborate with like-minded people.

It’s not intended to be a fully designed template, but rather a foundation for a design.

Open Knowledge Foundation spoke with Robert about the history of the MusicBrainz project, about the role of community, about the way open licensing helps MusicBrainz work, and about the future he sees for music meta data.