Twice today I’ve suddenly stopped what I was doing and thought, they must have set out to make this awkward… The first incident was also the simplest one, in xinetd config files you’ll often find “disable = yes”. Firstly this is insane because you should assume something’s off and people will turn it on if they want it. This is a basic principle that should be stuck to. Secondly the option is strange to read. Read on →

After an initial problem with the projectors that looked like it was about to sink the whole day (if you saw me at that point I looked like I was about to either explode or cry :)) we managed to get the equipment sorted and all four talks (with five speakers) went almost perfectly to plan. The only talk that overran was the Xen talk, which was due to the number of audience questions. Read on →

Author: Mark Pilgrim Dive Into Greasemonkey Homepage Q: What is Greasemonkey? A: Greasemonkey is a Firefox extension that allows you to write scripts that alter the web pages you visit. You can use it to make a web site more readable or more usable. You can fix rendering bugs that the site owner can’t be bothered to fix themselves. You can alter pages so they work better with assistive technologies that speak a web page out loud or convert it to Braille. Read on →

I ended up seeing two films in the cinema yesterday, and for the record going to the cinema during “working hours” doesn’t make it any less busy dammit! After watching both Sin City and Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith I have only a few comments to make. Firstly I enjoyed Sin City more, Sith seemed to be about 45 minutes too long and, despite the gorgeous backdrops and neat fight scenes I found myself clock watching. Read on →

The bash shell gets more negative press than it deserves from most “real” programmers. Between the “I can’t see what it’s doing, I need an echo after nearly every line!” and the “Why doesn’t it have a check option like perl’s -c!?” most people that only occasionally dip in to bash end up frustrated by it’s lack of features. All because they can’t be bothered to read the man page… Read on →

After the enjoyable and easy to read “22 Immutable Laws of Marketing” (my review) I decided to give “The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding” an afternoon of my time. This book is very similar in presentation, format and even writing style to the “Laws of Marketing”. It’s an accessible, easy read in which each law is broken down in to a very short chapter that makes it as enjoyable to dip in to while on the go as it does to read cover to cover. Read on →

Authors: Al Ries, Laura Ries ISBN: 1861976954 Publisher: ProfileBooks After the enjoyable and easy to read "22 Immutable Laws of Marketing” (review) I decided to give “The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding” an afternoon of my time. This book is very similar in presentation, format and even writing style to the “Laws of Marketing”. It’s an accessible, easy read in which each law is broken down in to a very short chapter that makes it as enjoyable to dip in to while on the go as it does to read cover to cover. Read on →

Authors: Al Ries, Jack Trout ISBN: 0006383459 Publisher: HarperCollins Marketing books ain’t my usual bedtime reading material but as the Open Source movement continues to forge ever onwards the softer skills are going to become every bit as useful as writing code or documentation. While looking for an accessible book on these dark arts I stumbled on Eric Sinks take on the The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing and just had to read the original. Read on →

Is out and hitting mailing lists now. You can find the full details on this very site at the Unixdaemon GLLUG June 2005 page. Organising this meeting has been quite strange, the speakers roster has changed almost completely from my original plan, the dates moved and, because of the summer, a lot of my usual routes of publicity have either cut back or gone off on holiday. I’m actually very proud of the talks we have and the quality of the speakers that have freely given up their Saturday to come and talk so it’s a shame were not getting full exposure. Read on →

I’m pleased to announce that the next GLLUG meeting will be held on June 11th between 13:30 and 18:00 at New Cavendish Street campus of Westminster University. This is located in the shadow of the BT Tower. The nearest tube stations are Great Portland Street, Warren Street and Goodge Street. Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Circus are also within easy walking distance. New Cavendish Street campus on Streetmap. This event is FREE to members and non-members. Read on →