Jamie’s Weblog

A review of the MyBook external hard disk bought from “dabs.com”:http://www.dabs.co.uk
!/notebook/images/47.jpg!

If you use System.out.println-style statements and the default java.util.logging.Logger class, you’ll often find that the printed statements don’t align with the logged output. For example,
Logger.info(”Start something…”);System.out.println(”Finished it”);
can produce,
Finished itStart something…
which is obvously wrong. This is because the Logger is using System.err and your print statements are using System.out, and hence they’re not synchronised [...]

The launch of Royal Mail’s printable stamps caused some uproar because they won’t have the Queens head on them (they’re just machine-readable 2D barcodes). This reminded me of a presentation from the MIRW workshop at MobileHCI. Basically, Enrico started by talking about how much was lost in the move from pictorial stamps to [...]

Whilst I was in Helsinki airport last week, I read this “honest in-flight announcement” from the Economist — a must-read for any frequent traveller.
I’ve also read several obituaries for Steve Irwin, which is momentous in itself because I’ve never actually read an obituary before. The BBC has some pics of the memorial service and [...]

I’m at the MobileHCI conference in Espoo, Finland. As is my way, I’ve compiled a list of things I’ve learnt about Finland since I’ve been here.

Mobile Phone Throwing is a serious sport. There was a conference social event last night and the best thrower got the mobile just over the 50m mark. [...]

I’m in Finland — alone. It’s quite a nice place but there are other places I’d rather be 10days after getting married. My wife and bestman have some blog posts and I’m sure I’ll add my own in good time.