tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353524322008-05-03T20:59:13.265+01:00Michael Saunbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899702935992577808noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35352432.post-50077864464388636962008-01-29T19:39:00.000Z2008-01-29T21:26:14.207Z

Though I expect many of my colleagues will just shrug and wonder whether I can get any more geeky, it seems that a couple of my geek interests have, probably temporarily, crossed paths. Over on Ogle Earth there's some speculation as to whether Nokia buying Trolltech might bring Google Earth to Nokia phones, whilst on Internet Tablet Talk the speculation is about the impacts on Maemo. Well as an

Michael Saunbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899702935992577808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35352432.post-82136324015059909112008-01-27T18:09:00.000Z2008-01-29T19:39:18.500Z

In the light of recent events here in the UK[2] I thought I'd investigate data encryption - well try it out. Fortunately my work doesn't require me to handle confidential data, and these days, for the most part, I don't carry much of my own personal information with me. Though I've long been either pragmatic, or perhaps wealthy, enough to consider that the loss of any portable electronics - phone

Michael Saunbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899702935992577808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35352432.post-69081277810563668642008-01-13T18:19:00.001Z2008-01-21T16:18:31.869Z

I've had my new Nokia N810 for just over one week. It's the gadget in the bottom right of the picture, also shown are a HP calculator from 1985 (which I still use but it lives in my desk drawer) a Palm IIIe and last year's Nokia N800. So what's it like? Well a colleague who owns a N800 described it as "techie bling", which is what HP calculators were in the 1980s, so it's probably a fair

Michael Saunbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899702935992577808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35352432.post-35721493490218122192008-01-13T16:31:00.001Z2008-01-13T16:43:03.029Z

Over the holidays I built myself a weather satellite receiver. It receives data from MSG, Meteosat 7, and GOES 11, via the EUMETCAST relay on Hotbird 6. Not being a satellite TV user it's a few years since I last messed around with kit like this and it's amazing how cheap and simple it is today. Though getting everything working as I wanted it in Linux was more of a challenge. There are more

Michael Saunbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899702935992577808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35352432.post-51879310024441560982007-12-26T12:40:00.000Z2008-01-11T16:49:41.379Z

A quick summary of my 2007 as the web sees it - January. Carlo and I visit Addis Ababa and Nekemte in Ethiopia - Exeter Ethiopia Link newsletter (pdf) BCS HQ London. Fifty Years of Fortran. March. Leeds. High Performance Computing. May. Google Developer Day, London. (Impossible) September. Web2ForDev, Rome. A climate mashup. (Français)

Michael Saunbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899702935992577808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35352432.post-61271430885418328192007-11-11T09:12:00.000Z2007-11-11T09:37:00.763Z

ICT update published a very nice article on my climate change mashups presentation at Web2forDev - A climate mashup. You can even listen to me and Carlo talking about why we feel this sort of experiment is valuable. Of course we're far from the only, or even major, players in the field of weather mashups, the most famous of which is probably Weather Bonk - recently acquired by The Weather

Michael Saunbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899702935992577808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35352432.post-86273375186867631372007-10-20T12:51:00.000+01:002007-10-21T13:38:58.494+01:00

No so long ago I used to work from home, in fact most days for nearly seven years. I enjoyed it, though it is most certainly a lifestyle choice rather that a career move. But then it's lifestyle choices such as exercise, diet, hobbies, and spending time with friends, family, even pets, that seem to improve happiness, health, and the like, far more than business meetings, report writing, etc. It

Michael Saunbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899702935992577808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35352432.post-239988008570091562007-10-13T17:58:00.000+01:002007-10-13T19:08:40.937+01:00

Today I received the latest mailing from the OUBS (Open University Business School) which listed various seminars that are supposed to help me keep my business knowledge up to date - it's a few years now since I took various courses leading to an MBA. Perhaps because yesterday was my last day managing a team, well as a full time job, I glanced through the list with a less than serious frame of

Michael Saunbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899702935992577808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35352432.post-16337174881825033092007-09-30T14:34:00.000+01:002007-09-30T14:47:51.150+01:00

As I've already been asked a couple of times to show how I combined maps and RSS feeds in Google Earth during my presentation at web2forDev it seems sensible to write a short note on it here. Overlaying charts This really is very simple. For those who like to experiment then all that needs to be said is - select the menu item Image Overlay... from the Add menu. There's even a keyboard shortcut

Michael Saunbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899702935992577808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35352432.post-17095118655229013922007-09-29T11:34:00.000+01:002007-09-29T19:28:32.107+01:00

I'm home now, had a long lie in, unpacked my bags, felt I should try and write something about the last week, realised I still felt quite tired so decided to read other folks posts. Thankfully others aren't as lazy as me so there are two reviews of my presentation out there already! Thanks guys! http://blog.web2fordev.net/2007/09/27/climate-change-mashup/ http://ictlogy.net/20070927-web2fordev-

Michael Saunbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899702935992577808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35352432.post-83255671763536486632007-08-21T19:39:00.000+01:002007-08-23T12:27:09.471+01:00

On the Wemapr website I'm gathering together the resources I'll need for my presentation at Web2forDev so it was great to see on the LatLong blog that Google have made adding maps to web pages even easier. See Google LatLong: YouTube-style Embeddable Maps for the details and a video tutorial. View Larger Map Curiously almost as soon as I'd posted it this entry was copied and the language "

Michael Saunbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899702935992577808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35352432.post-17614190540691472202007-08-02T10:22:00.000+01:002007-08-03T15:07:47.195+01:00

I'm not at work this week, yippee! It's great to not have to go into Exeter every day* - not that I don't love my colleagues (just in case they're reading). I've not gone away, just using the time to chill out and, more usefully, catch up with stuff I've either neglected or just got behind with. My personal email inbox has grown far bigger than my work one - that can't be a good thing. Now is

Michael Saunbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899702935992577808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35352432.post-58148339363113888302007-06-18T20:31:00.000+01:002007-06-18T20:59:07.097+01:00

A little while ago Wepoco got a mention in an article in FreePint http://www.freepint.com/issues/240507.htm#feature I keep meaning to write something about that article since it does seem that something quite significant is starting to happen and Wepoco seems to have drifted into its orbit. Trouble is I'm not really sure what to write. So instead, in true Web 2.0 style I'll just rely on links,

Michael Saunbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899702935992577808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35352432.post-91517973114352995332007-06-03T12:52:00.000+01:002007-06-19T11:41:28.344+01:00

Continued from unreasonable-acts-and-impossible-things part 1. Part 2. Impossible. The Google folks had very sensibly chosen to start their Developer Day 2007 at midday (registration from 11am), this meant I was able to buy a cheap(ish) rail ticket getting me into Paddington at 11:20am. I think it was about 11:55 when I walked through the door of the Brewery, and perhaps because it was so close

Michael Saunbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899702935992577808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35352432.post-33744957010243115572007-06-02T18:43:00.000+01:002007-06-02T19:57:15.614+01:00

Part 1. Unreasonable. There's a programme on the TV here in the UK called Grumpy Old Men, it's supposed to be funny and sometimes it is, a bit. I have a few problems with it though, these men aren't old, heck most are little older than me, and that isn't old - believe me! More importantly they're not grumpy, they're perhaps slightly intolerant (esp. of fools) and wonderfully unreasonable. As

Michael Saunbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899702935992577808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35352432.post-68135035931450377052007-04-13T23:42:00.000+01:002007-04-13T23:42:15.253+01:00

It seems that Larry Brilliant and his team at Google.org have identified many of the same issues as Wepoco.com over the last 12 months. "We live in very complicated times. Global health, poverty, and climate are inextricably interrelated, and it is the poor of the world who bear the heaviest burden. " Official Google Blog: New team members for Google.org I say - seek complexity! It's not the

Michael Saunbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899702935992577808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35352432.post-54550748495095704752007-03-26T20:13:00.000+01:002007-03-26T20:20:00.057+01:00

I've written a short piece about the recent trip to Nekemte in Ethiopia for the Exeter-Ethiopia Link March 2007 newsletter. It's on their website at http://www.exeterethiopialink.org/ Also Google Maps and Google Earth now has high resolution imagery of Nekemte. I'll try and put together a virtual guide to the places Carlo and I visted.

Michael Saunbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899702935992577808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35352432.post-47232751245301706062007-02-04T09:50:00.000Z2007-08-23T12:03:13.330+01:00

Here are my first impressions of the new Nokia N800 Internet Tablet (from Nokia, Finland). I've owned the old 770 tablet for 12 months, so this is a quick comparison with that gadget. New features. Webcam. Popping it out starts the video phone application, which is a nice touch.Stereo speakers. Better, and louder than the mono speaker 770. Makes the N800 a very useable portable Internet radio.

Michael Saunbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899702935992577808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35352432.post-90717269203112181042007-02-03T20:16:00.000Z2007-02-03T20:24:45.651Z

The first Wepoco field trip was a great success. Carlo and I travelled to Nekempte in Oromia, Ethiopia to investigate the possibility of a pilot project to establish the benefits of advanced climate and weather information to subsistence farming. I'll post a link to the trip report on my blog soon, but for now here are some of the photographs. Ethiopia January 2007

Michael Saunbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899702935992577808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35352432.post-49403166752768406532006-12-02T15:04:00.000Z2006-12-24T15:46:09.881Z

Although plans are still evolving the Wepoco project aims to get essential weather and climate information to even the most remote farmers. These days the Internet reaches some pretty remote places, but the coverage is nothing like that for mobile telephone networks. So a mobile strategy is an important part of the project. A while back the BBC had this report on WAP (mobile phone Internet use

Michael Saunbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899702935992577808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35352432.post-28163110638282618642006-11-14T19:05:00.000Z2006-12-24T15:45:27.669Z

Google Maps http://maps.google.com/ now has African towns and roads, though the towns of Ethiopia don't yet show at the resolutions I'd like for the Wepoco project www.wepoco.com (but you can't have everything). Added to which those cunning Google programmers have added another feature I've been wanting in order to expand site specific weather forecasts to more countries - http://

Michael Saunbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899702935992577808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35352432.post-1162579464394200472006-11-03T18:38:00.000Z2006-11-04T19:50:54.895Z

Here are some links to useful management resources for folks who manage technical suff. I've copied these (slightly edited) from the old website. The Quality Gurus Information from the dti. Communicating Sequential Processes Communicating Sequential Processes, or CSP, is a language for describing patterns of interaction... Strategy Survival Guide A guide from the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit

Michael Saunbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899702935992577808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35352432.post-1159728658062145382006-10-01T19:41:00.000+01:002006-11-11T17:00:22.686Z

Welcome to Michael Saunby's blog. This blog probably won't say much about me, but will hopefully become a reasonably easy way to find stuff that I've done or am doing. So it's yet another project, and like most others will probably never be complete, it will evolve. The latest project I've got involved with is Wepoco. Other projects include writing software for the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet.

Michael Saunbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899702935992577808noreply@blogger.com