Blog posts

I have launched a new development blog to document the work I’m doing.

For a few weeks I’ve been meaning to mention Call That News, an entertaining overview of British news reporting written by a character named Franz. I’ve been enjoying reading these reports since they launched. And for those that might be interested, I’ve just launched a new blog. a work in process is a space to write about the work I’m doing building web sites and experimenting with web technologies. It won’t entirely displace thinking about the web from this blog, but it’ll allow me to keep the thoughts here more focussed on social implications. ...

It’ll come as no surprise to anyone who knows me or who has read this blog with any regularity that I wasn’t a fan of the choice of Condoleeza Rice for the new US Secretary of State. On top of her many failings around the Iraq war, her very clear partiality and lack of fans overseas don’t mark her out as someone who’d make for a good diplomat. It’s not come as much surprise to see her quickly demonstrating her knack for double-speak on that new stage. ...

With the initial stages of all three current projects out the door, it seemed like time to get my Technorati API implementation up to date. There have been quite a few changes to the API since I released the last version at the beginning of October and I felt it was time to begin catching up. In the end, I opted for a complete rewrite, following the PEAR coding standards as I intend to propose it for inclusion in PEAR soon. Having benefitted so much lately from the tools included in PEAR I decided it was a good idea to give something back and this seems an obvious starting point. ...

The initial reports emerging from this week’s meeting of G7 finance ministers were unsurprising but a little worrying for those of us eager to see the growth of momentum from the Make Poverty History rally and the World Economic Forum meeting. The US delegation seems to have refused to entertain the suggestions of a tax on (currently entirely untaxed) airline fuel to provide more funding for international development initiatives, selling of bonds, or of revaluing IMF gold reserves to provide funding for debt cancellation. ...

I’d been looking forward to a new upgrade to my computer and some new CDs that arrived today, but one letter arrived that left all that as mere distraction. In technical terms it was an I-797C Notice Of Action. In simpler terms, I finally have a date for my Green Card interview. I am to be in Detroit at 8am on April 19th for the interview (I don’t know what they’ll ask) and if all goes well will have my Green Card shortly after that. ...

Bite’s staff know how to brew their (starbucks) espresso drinks well, and their connection is a very reasonable 300kbps up/212kbps down, but other than that it’s hard to recommend the downtown Grand Rapids bistro as a destination for WiFi usage. With prices rather higher than most of my usual wifi haunts, a complete absence of power outlets (short of unplugging some of the lamps) and small tables, Bite is one of the more disappointing offerings in the downtown area. It definitely has a charm and would likely be a good destination for lunch, but the prices and the lack of amenities rule it out for regular, serious usage. ...

GRWifi.net now features RDF metadata about all locations, as well as the option to search by proximity and view all points on a map.

The other day I came across a tool called worldkit which builds maps by plotting points taken from an XML file onto a jpeg based on their co-ordinates. It seemed like just what I’d been looking for to further extend the geographical information provided at Grand Rapids WiFi. Having expected to spend quite some time putting it all together, I’m very pleased to be able to announce that those who are so inclined can now see the WiFi locations in Grand Rapids plotted onto a map here.

The BBC is reporting that Gordon Brown is calling for 100% debt cancellation for the world’s poorest countries by the end of 2005. He was speaking at the World Economics Forum (WEF), an annual gathering of business and political leaders that seems to have had a much stronger emphasis on global poverty this year. As yet, there don’t seem to be many details of the content of Gordon Brown’s speech. The WEF blog has this piece about the final plenary at which “South African activist Kumi Naidoo of Civicus and the Global Call to Action Against Poverty chastized the World Economic forum for not doing enough to address poverty and inequality.” But the UK Treasury doesn’t yet have the speech in its archive and little analysis is yet to be found online. ...