Pressing Question

Looks like Blogger has got a bit bored with supporting externally-hosted blogs (like mine) over FTP. According to the press release:

"FTP remains a significant drain on our ability to improve Blogger: only 0.5% of active blogs are published via FTP — yet the percentage of our engineering resources devoted to supporting FTP vastly exceeds that."

Understandable I suppose, but which way forward? Probably a good opportunity to have a look at Wordpress publishing (I've also got a Tumblr thing running with a feed from here but that's a whole different kettle of ballgames).

However, Solveig's used to the Blogger way so I guess we will port hers to be a Google-hosted 'Custom Domain' - she'll also then get access to the fancy sidebar widgets which might be a boon.

Anyway, between now and mid-March, expect to see some changes around here, not least with the RSS feed, the commenting system and probably the design.

Ah well, any excuse for a tinker :)

Full Chrome

The dev channel of Google Chrome now has F11 fullscreen support, with a neat 'floating' bookmarks bar when you open a new tab. I'd still like to see top-of-screen mouseover pull down all the menu bars, not just the fullscreen toggle tab, but it's much improved:

Oh look, they've also fixed the Blogger picture posting issue (Chrome wasn't sending the BlogID correctly) - bonus!

Fame At Last

It's happened. I have been carefully selected for a highly-prized invitation to the social network du jour that you don't choose to join. That's right - I'm on Google Street View! Well, my legs are, the rest of me is hidden behind a bloody road-sign. Proof, you say? Here you go:

(click to enlarge)

That's Alex alongside, by the way, and it looks like we were headed for EAT so it may have been a Friday pie-day.

Anyway, I'd like to thank each one of you for your help and support over the years and reassure everyone that I won't forget you when the millions start rolling in and I buy one of the Cayman Islands to live on.

Front Of House

Found this interesting bit of London history via Google Sightseeing on Twitter: 24 Leinster Gardens

Very Hungry Google

For Freyja - the best 'special' Google logo ever:

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a children's book written by Eric Carle, originally published in 1969. It is highly popular and has been praised for its use of easy-to-read words which makes it good for teaching young children to read. The book contains 225 words and large, colorful illustrations. It follows a caterpillar as it munches its way through a variety of edibles such as ice cream, salami, watermelon, one slice of Swiss cheese, and a lollipop before it finally pupates and emerges as a butterfly. The story teaches the life cycle of a butterfly, counting to 5, the names of the days of the week, and about different types of food. It is one of the best-selling books of all time with over 25 million copies in print.

RSS is FUBAR

One thing after another!

Blogger RSS/Atom feeds are being published with 0 bytes

*twiddles thumbs*

Blogroll, Schmogroll

It was pointed out to me recently that the 'blogroll' in my sidebar is currently not working. This is a direct feed from my Google Reader of other blogs which I mark as worth sharing with (both) the people who happen to read my website. So I looked into it and it turns out that if just one of the feeds in the list is not working for some reason, or has moved, or is malformed then the whole feed 'just fails'. Can't quite believe Google has let that bug slip through the net! So now I have to go and work out which one it is and de-list it.

Sorry about that.

Polishing Chrome

I have been trying out the Google Chrome browser, because - well, it's shiny. So far, a resounding, if beta, yes. Simple, clean UI incorporating (aka stealing :) the best bits of functionality from Firefox, Opera and IE, it has made me question nearly all the add-ons I have installed in FF3 which seem to only serve to a) slow it down and b) leak memory all over the shop. Chrome is definitely a (qualified - no Mouse Gestures yet?) win.

However, one of the things I do a lot, other than posting drivel on this blog, is send interesting links to other people. Hang on, where is the Menu toolbar? Where is File > Send Link? It's not even a Right-Click option! Don't panic, Captain Mainwaring...

Google Chrome: Send Link

Nice fix. Thank you!

Chrome Plated

As kottke says, people have been speculating about this for over 7 years:

Google Chrome

"All of us at Google spend much of our time working inside a browser. We search, chat, email and collaborate in a browser. And in our spare time, we shop, bank, read news and keep in touch with friends -- all using a browser.

What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that's what we set out to build.

On the surface, we designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple. To most people, it isn't the browser that matters. It's only a tool to run the important stuff -- the pages, sites and applications that make up the web. Like the classic Google homepage, Google Chrome is clean and fast. It gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go."

This is going to be worth a look :)

Can I Have A Lens With That Please?

This is great for us types what sport the funky eyewear:

Official Google Reader Blog: Reader Accessibility
"We have now integrated this functionality into the main Reader interface. So with this lens in hand (your pocket) you can continue to hit j and k to move through articles, and when you find the print too small to read you can press = or - to enlarge or shrink the font of the article you're reading."

Hurrah! My eyes are not actually that bad but anything that helps with the end-of-day squinty ache is a hit with me...

Google Reader Just Got Better

"We found it!"

Awesome.

Footing The Bill

Here's another quite cool Google maps app - type in a street (although postcodes work better for the UK) and it will give it a walk score based on how 'walkable' local amenities are:

Obviously it can only track locations and businesses that show up in Google Maps (it didn't pull in our excellent local Thai place) but anything that helps me avoid the fuming logjam of chaos which is London's South Circular is a boon - we scored 62, what about you?

Run Forrest (Hill) Run

In a weak moment, I managed to somehow agree to sign up for the Arbuthnot Securities team to enter the 5km (3.5 mile) JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge. So, eight weeks to get up to optimum fitness (although more pressing might be to purchase some suitable running shoes...) Anyway, one of my team members pointed me at Gmaps Pedometer, a Google Maps mashup which allows you to put in a route with various marker points and it calculates the distance run/walked/staggered. And this is my training route:

Gmaps Pedometer :: SE23 :: 3.7 miles

Wish me luck...