July 2005

The Optimus keyboard. Every key of the Optimus keyboard is a stand-alone display showing exactly what it is controlling at this very moment. See it – it’s a remarkable concept. Comments Jayant 16 Jul 2005 5:49 am: Not sure of commercial application esp to laptops whose sales are inc and PC dec. So, quite niche S Anand 16 Jul 2005 8:16 am: Well, laptop keyboards could have this functionality too I guess. Francis 16 Jul 2005 10:03 pm: i would want to focus on the screen as opposed to the keyboard. S Anand 17 Jul 2005 11:10 am: True. But it helps teach shortcuts as well. It would help me with Photoshop and some games.

How to make a movie using Google Earth Comments Jayant 16 Jul 2005 5:48 am: Good stuff. Wish I worked at Google

Profile of the London bombers. I hope their Pakistani origin does not create a backlash. But then, this is the UK. Not the US. Comments Francis 14 Jul 2005 5:13 pm: http://www.wherearethejobsgoing.com harish 15 Jul 2005 1:58 am: you can never say. places supposedly tolerant like new zealand had a few attacks on mosques. also i heard the discrimination on the pakis particularly is a long standing issue. am i wrong? the link incidentally doesnt click through to the page intended. its on the index page S Anand 16 Jul 2005 8:05 am: Fixed the link. Thanks, Harish. And yes, I have heard about some incidents against Asians outside London. You are right.

100 quick and easy healthy foods. Foods which need less than 30 minutes of preparation and cooking times. Comments Jayant 13 Jul 2005 2:48 pm: An apple a day keeps the doctor away!. Just wash with plain water nd eat Ram 14 Jul 2005 3:34 pm: Morning: Idly’s with Kara chutney, Lunch: Thayiru sadam with manga urugai, Dinner: Idly’s with Thakkali chutney will keep you energetic, smart, slim and trim. Why to squander on those junkies!!! (Above listed names are popular South Indian dishes) S Anand 14 Jul 2005 5:40 pm: Don’t forget sambar!

Sparkler art. Long exposure photos on Flickr with a sparkler. via Dhar

I met Leonard Payne, The Priest, Andrea Casalotti and Scott Caplan at the London Marketing Soiree. Quite a diverse bunch of people. Leonard quoted Seth Godin on something neither he nor I will never forget. They say, if a website is well designed, people will find what they want. That’s not true. Think of the visitors as monkeys, wearing a ‘Big Red Fez’, going itchy on the keyboard. What’s the one thing on the monkey’s mind? ...

We had a conference call planned at 8:00am. Reva was to join in from India. We got on to the call, and were done by 8:40am. 9:10am: SMS. Waited in conference now off to lunch 9:56am: Mail. You didnt initiate the call! 10:03am: Reply. I guess you dialled in at 9am UK time. We had the call at 8am. 3:17pm: Mail. I dialled at 8 GMT = 13.30 IST ? Correct? 3:19pm: Reply. Ah, no. We’re 4.5 hours ahead. 3:25pm: Mail. Great Britain is one hour ahead of GMT during summer! 3:53pm: Reply. Yeah, you’re right – most people don’t realise Greenwich isn’t always on Greenwich Mean Time :-)

Londoners’ reaction to the bombing. Feels like a classic British reaction. That seems to be feeling around office too. More from IrishEyes. Comments S Anand 13 Jul 2005 11:50 am: More at We’re Not Afraid.

The public transport reacted beautifully to the damage. I had to take Bus 259 from Finsbury Park to Tottenham Police Station. As I waited at the bus stop, I saw a 259 double decker pull in. Followed by another. And another. And another. Four double-decker buses following one after the other – and they ended up getting filled. Almost felt like a train, except without rails and a floor above. ...

There are explosions all over London. We are fine. Comments Sri 7 Jul 2005 2:24 pm: Nice way to let your family Krishnan 7 Jul 2005 4:14 pm: Hi Anand…The six ways of reading a book for free link is not working. Can u pls reload the link S Anand 7 Jul 2005 4:45 pm: Did I have a link like that? Where? Ram 8 Jul 2005 2:15 am: Those who are using IE may get a false icon saying it as a broken link,but with Firefox it works fine S Anand 8 Jul 2005 5:44 am: Guys, what link are you talking about!? Anonymous Hero 8 Jul 2005 7:22 am: I am using Firefox but the link is not working Ram. Can you tell me how it worked for you? S Anand 8 Jul 2005 8:47 am: If this is a hoax on me, it is the best I have seen so far! Anonymous Hero 8 Jul 2005 10:12 am: From my side, yes… I saw the other two comments and thought to myself, “Mate, that looks like a nice way to pull a fast one on Anand’ :-) S Anand 8 Jul 2005 10:59 am: Well, seems like a day of hoaxes. I got a mail from a colleague in Finance asking me not to reclaim VAT. I never even tried! Ram 9 Jul 2005 3:44 pm: From where can we get Free e-books ? If anyone knows please post it here or mail me Dhar 10 Jul 2005 1:58 am: Depends on what kind of e-books you are looking for. If you want novels, you could check out http://www.greylib.align.ru/ S Anand 10 Jul 2005 11:38 am: The torrent network has plenty. Try the BitLord client. Dhar 11 Jul 2005 3:46 pm: And the sites: torrentspy.com and thepiratebay.org/. What I like the most about thepiratebay is their response to legal threats (http://thepiratebay.org/legal.php) Anonymous 12 Jul 2005 9:41 am: guess the link that was mentioned corresponds to the june 17th entry at http://www.geocities.com/root_node/articles/London_2005.html and mirc is a good place for ebooks. S Anand 12 Jul 2005 11:04 am: Oh, OK.

Taking pictures at low shutter speeds without a tripod. Comments Anonymous Hero 5 Jul 2005 9:56 am: About why Google History is important: I had searched for something from home laptop and I was at office and needed the same info. Went into Google history and found the same thing… So the search history and the links I clicked on were available from any computer attached to the Net. Found it pretty useful… Ram 5 Jul 2005 4:51 pm: Pls update the placement section with new useful links… S Anand 5 Jul 2005 6:36 pm: Ah… that’s a good use. I was also wondering if we could do some profiling of the kinds of sites we visit – perhaps by checking what their tags are on technorati or del.icio.us sathish 22 Jul 2005 11:14 am: probably based on our search history, there could some recommendations to given

If it weren’t happening to me, I’d appreciate the British sense of humour. I was at the King’s Cross station, buying tickets for the next week at a counter. “Hi, um… I already have a zone 1-5 pass…” “Con-gra-tu-LAY-tions!” Comments Anonymous 11 Jan 2007 1:13 pm: dont follow the humour

The next London Geek Dinner is on July 11th. I’ve registered.

Edward Tufte. Professor Emeritus at Yale University. Taught statistical evidence, information design, and interface design. Working on includes digital video, sculpture, printmaking.