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UI evolution

I saw a reference to Netvibes recently for aggregating RSS feeds. I'm sure there are many others out there, but this I find really cool. Not does it aggregate the feeds neatly, but it is so configurable, and fully takes advantage of the capabilities of the browsers (both IE and Firefox), you would not have believed a few years ago that this was a browser interface. Cool....

Why does stuff always happen at home when I'm away?

It's predictable, I go away on a business trip, and something will happen at home, which would really be better if I was there. It has happened again this trip.

Hydrogen Powered Cars and more philanthropy

I note on the BBC web site this morning an article about GM's much awaited hydrogen powered car. It actually looks like they may be doing their bit - of course they are only doing it to try to stay the world's largest car producer - but we are always going to need transport, and hydrogen is only going to come about when there is sufficient volume production to make it cost effective. I'm right behind GM on this one.

On the philanthropy front, George Soros is another in the line of high-profile financiers/rich people to donate a significant sum to good causes. Well done George, you can't take it with you, and leaving it to our children just makes them lazy and inappreciative. (did I really say that out loud?)

How about we see some of the others in who have made sums beyond imagining (Larry?) actually delivering significant benefit to mankind. We can make this world a better place for many of the under-priviledged, mal-nourished, sick and needy, it just takes courage.

And while we are at it, how about diverting more of the billions currently spent on ordnance and the like, into projects which enhance life, rather than destroying it?

Another one of those days

You can tell when developers don't have to suffer using their own software for building things, it sucks! I just installed the dot net framework v2, as one of the apps I use has gone that way. A real shame, because now the thing just ain't fun any more. I hark back to the old days when products like PowerBuilder were built in themselves, and that ensured that developers did not end making software that others groan at.
While I'm at groaning, why don't developers have to get the UI bit right. When the UI bit is right, it makes a good product shine. It can also be used to "put lipstick on a pig", but those that do that have to do more soon or they'll lose their market share.
I like this new rich client interface stuff, like Adobe's Flex product, which combines a rich client UI with the Ajax functionality. That is definitely the way to develop apps today. I just hope that I'm working for a company that is doing just that now. Here's hoping!

On global warming: a "big idea" for a US presidential candidate

I see the "Naked economist" who writes for Yahoo! finance in the US has written an article which goes a little further around the subject of taxation and carbon emissions. In the article he proposes that a US presidential candidate use the idea as his "big idea". There is no doubt that even people in the US are waking up to the issue of global warming.

Palestine - what is the agenda?

Is Israel's current level of violence against the Palestinians warranted? One Israeli soldier has been captured, and hundreds of palestinans are now suffering incomprensible levels of violent backlash, which will only lead to many more deaths, on both sides, and many injuries.
Would it be impertinent to ask the Israeli authorities how many Palestinians have been removed from their homes, incarcerated, and treated without due human rights?
To me it seems that the current verbal expression by the Israeli's does not reflect their actual agenda. Power plants have been taken out, the Israeli's control the water supply, which I'm sure is also affected - WHAT IS GOING ON?

Ubiquitous and Free WiFi?

I heard about this from somewhere (perhaps the BBC) You share your WiFi and you get access to all other shared access points for free. Seems like a great idea to me. I'm going to give it a go, look for a new Fon HotSpot at Badger Towers in the near future. I'm about to become a Fonero!
For more details go to fon.com and join a worldwide community making WiFi free and ubiquitous.

Philanthropy in the news - again!

Seems like the age of Philanthropy is back! The Children's Investment Fund - a hedge fund (whatever that is) has declared that it has fulfilled it's contractual obligations and in one year has given £50.4m to it's charitable arm. The Charity works to alleviate child poverty in the developing world. The BBC has an article about this. With all this money and effort going into the charitable sector, we have to hope and pray that the third world will reap the benefits.
It is good to see philanthropy is still alive.

Philanthropy is alive and well!

Well, the world's two richest men have come together (they were good friends anyway) in the cause of world health. Warren Buffett - the world's second richest man has declared that he is giving some unimaginable sum of money to the Gates foundation. Bill Gates himself is stepping down from the hellm at Microsoft to concentrate on making the Gates foundation successful in tackling world health. Well done to you both. I'm really pleased to see this happening, applying the abilities of some of the most successful business brains to world health, and neither of these guys started with pots of money, they made it. Way to go guys!

Make the producer pay for cleaning up the mess!

Here I am again, needing to go off to some (not so remote) location, so I go to my favourite airline's web sites, and I can't understand it, how, how, how can they continue to offer flights at such ridiculously low prices. The environmental cost alone means that it should be more expensive. If the world's governments cannot agree to tax aircraft fuel, then it ought to be put on the oil companies that the result of burning their refined products should be paid for by them. How about that as an idea to ensure that we don't go on with this ludicrous situation.