bookmark_borderMy name is important

If you get a moment go check out www.mclean.com or for that matter www.mclean.co.uk. I own neither unfortunately.

Both are high-level domains, both are classed as desirable (read, expensive) and both are currently being used… for nothing. Well I’m sure they bring in money for the person who owns them and has them sitting their forlornly with nothing but adverts on them.

It’s rather sad.

And very bloody annoying.

I pay for the domain names I have and I don’t mind doing so but having contacted the owners of these particularly domain names, domain names which obviously I might, maybe, be interested in using (dear first time reader, let me introduce myself, I’m Gordon McLean). Alas I’ve either heard nothing or the topic turnst to money and some rather large amounts are mentioned.

So, I’m setting up a blog appeal to raise sufficient fu…. no, I’m not really.

I just wanted to say that, you know, it’s annoying. My Mum and Dad have put HUGE amounts of effort into tracing our genealogy and where better to start putting the information than in the domain name for our family.

To be frank it just seems mean that these people are allowed to sit on these domain names and do nothing with them or than earn money for hosting adverts. Isn’t the internet supposed to be better than that?? They are the worst kind of leech and whilst I know that this blog post isn’t going to change their opinion (I’m sure they will point to the $xyz dollars they earn each year by sitting on those domains) it’s just a bit… crap.

bookmark_borderiPhone Apps

I’m still loving my iPhone, despite it’s foibles (why can’t I send a link of my current location from the Maps application to another iPhone user? Or even a weblink to Google maps? Or.. you get the point).

To capture my current usage I thought I’d jot down the apps I currently have installed. Because, you know, blogs, lists.. etc etc. So without further ado other than the default applications my iPhone runs:

  • Twitterific – paid version – still a little buggy but easily the most used application other than the SMS and phone functionality.
  • Mobile Fotos – after ditching my Windows Mobile phone a couple of years ago, one thing I missed was Shozu which allows you to upload your photos to Flickr. Shozu is available for the iPhone but Mobile Fotos is a more rounded application.
  • Digital Clock – I have a dock, and can set this application running, set an alarm (turn on Airport mode) et voila, my own alarm clock. Oh yeah, you need to change the screen timeout as well. ONE app to do all of those settings would be worth money to me.
  • Instapaper – paid version – a simple bookmarklet which I was already using to track articles to read later on. The iPhone app lets me read them when I get a few spare moments (yeah, on the loo!).
  • Airsharing – free version (was only available free for a limited time) – lets me easily moves files to and from the iPhone meaning I can do away with my other USB drives.
  • Zenbe – a list application that syncs from the iPhone app to my online Zenbe account and vice versa. Has replaced TaDa lists for me purely because of the iPhone app.
  • Here I am – a simple app that emails your current location (long/lat). Haven’t used it much, kept ‘just in case’.
  • Movies – to quickly find the latest movie times, not used often but v.useful.
  • Palringo – a bit like Trillian, lets me log into multiple chat clients on my iPhone. Not used often.
  • Light – cos sometimes you need a completely white screen when you don’t have a torch handy.
  • VNC – so I can VNC to my computer. Works FAR better than you’d think!
  • WeightTrack – in an effort to lose some weight I thought I’d gadget/geek up and use my iPhone. Had the application for 3 weeks and entered 2 weights so far. Must do better!
  • iChoose – a coin flipper/decision maker type app. Silly but.. MAY be useful someday?
  • Cube Runner – simple tilt based game. Navigate the ‘ship’ through the cubes as you fly through them.
  • Lightsaber – ohhh shut up. I’m a geek and I like Star Wars, I can’t NOT have this on my phone!
  • iPint – really should delete this…
  • Monkey Ball – another tilt based game, guide the monkey in the ball through the courses. Simple, frustratingly hard!
  • Brain Challenge – a nice diversion which has the added benefit of stimulating your brain, keeps track of your progress too.
  • HoldEm – poker game which is curiously addictive and has helped me understand poker a LOT better.
  • Oblique – an iPhone app of the Brian Eno Oblique Strategy cards designed to inspire you to think different.
  • Last.fm – installed after a recommendation, have yet to do much with it.
  • Simplify – iPhone app to hook into the Simplify Media server which runs on my home computer (primarily to let my PS3 see my ‘media’).
  • TV Plus – tv listing application that can hook up to your Sky account and send remote record requests! VERY slick and waaaayyyy better than the sky website. In saying that I think my Sky box needs set up again or something as it’s not managed to work for me, yet.
  • PhotoFrame – nice idea this, if you set the screen timeout to never turn off, run this app you get a digital clock, date and picture slideshow. Only 6 photos at present but looks good. Another app that would be way better if IT could change the settings for the screen timeout (if it’s docked and getting power, leave the screen on).
  • Exposure – location based photo app (amongst other things) which I don’t really use. Can pull Flickr photos based on location… interesting but not hugely useful.
  • Vicinity – location based app that will give you listings of useful numbers (restaurant, taxi and so on) depending on where you are. Not often used but COULD prove useful in the future.
  • Google – quicker than firing up Safari and going to the search bar there, that’s the only reason I use it.

I also have home screen links to Google Reader and the new iPhone optimised Flickr webpages

Blimey, that’s more than I thought. There are a couple there I should remove and I’ve installed at least twice as many as listed here but ultimately these are the ones that currently work for me.

I know a few of you have iPhones (and yes I know a few of you think they are over-hyped) so do let me know if I’m missing out on the MUST HAVE application, won’t you?

bookmark_borderBack on track

Whilst I can’t say the words are flowing all that freely the past few hectic weeks are behind me and, whilst the next few are still full of plenty of things that need done/attend, they are all mostly things I can envisage and plan for so that, somehow, seems like things are better.

Which makes it sound like things were bad, they weren’t, just busy (and even then a lot of that busyness was mainly in my head).

So. Hello! Welcome to my blog.

Ohhh now there’s a thought. I wonder what it must be like to start a blog afresh, free from conceptions and restrictions, a blank canvas on which to paint which version of myself I choose, an empty space to fill with those areas of my mind which I keep closed off to even myself.

Might be interesting.

But no, don’t bother searching, I don’t have an anonymous blog. Not yet…

Twitter remains a good outlet for the odd random thought and nonsense, which oddly should allow this this blog to go full circle back to the origins which brought it to life. I even switched away from having a miniblog once twitter came along, although I still share links via my delicious account.

But I guess the comforting thing is that my blog has never really had a distinct focus, and as it took quite a while for me to figure out what my ‘voice’ was, I have the luxury of blogging about whatever I want, whenever I want. Doubly so now my other blog is given over to more considered posts centred around my profession.

That said, I did recently clear out a load of old draft posts that I’ve kept hanging about for months in the vague hope I might one day complete but as I’ve not managed that up to now I decide, what the heck, and bye bye draft post.

I’m hoping to take a little more time to consider my posts here, and part of me covets a Post of the Week award, mainly for the pleasure I get from writing. But hey, don’t count on it. Knowing me the next few posts will be about my iPhone.

Ohhh, actually, now I come to mention it…

bookmark_borderChanging Roles

Where does the ‘documentation manager’ fit in an organisation?

As our company grows and we push ourselves to be better it is envitable that some people will end up in slightly different roles than they envisaged. Thankfully my current company isn’t too bogged down on job titles and org charts, preferring to make sure that roles and responsibilities are defined and allow people to get on with getting things done.

So, I currently find myself conducting a mini content audit, across most of the company, in an effort to find the big gaps that may or may not exist (ok, that definitely do as every company has them) and working with a couple of other people in different areas of the company to make it happen.

It’s a switch away from concentrating on writing and managing the product documentation but it is an area I’ve long since considered something that someone in my position SHOULD be driving forward.

This exercise has given me the opportunity to touch base with most other areas of the company, and it’s telling that very few have a full product view. In fact I’d say it’s fair to say that none of them have (and rightly so) and so I often find myself pointing out that documentA is already in progress by teamB, so teamX doesn’t need to do write their own.

It also means that, once we have finished the audit and written up the missing information, we should have a cohesive and complete story through all the various touching points our customers have with our company. It should make our offering easier to sell, easier to understand and back up the fact that our product is excellent and our staff are a bunch of smart people!

I have a double interest at play here though, as I also have a developer community which I need to feed far more regularly than I have been, so any content is ‘good content’ as far as they are concerned.

An interesting time which, once again, reminds me why I love this profession of ours, after all who else gets to stick their finger in so many pies.

bookmark_borderElbow – Carling Academy

Last night I stood in a crowd of people, rapt and in awe of a band that, frankly, can’t get much better (although I’m sure they’ll prove me wrong).

I’m not going to write a review per se as SwissToni has already done an excellent job, but I did just want to capture some thoughts about last night.

1. It’s the subtle things that make you realise this is a slick outfit, well seasoned. Guy Garvey comes on stage wearing a jacket. As the first song starts up he takes it off and lays it down. At the end of the evening, as the last song winds up he puts it back on. End of show.

2. As others have touched on, part of the charm of the band isn’t just the lush melodies, or heart wrenchingly beautiful lyrics, instead you are drawn into the gig by a frontman that feeds off of what he sees before him. He reacts to gestures and shouts, and whilst he will have a set of stock questions there is never the feel that he is reading from a script. He is as much there as we are, all joined in the same glorious moment.

3. And what moments. I realised last night what it is that has just a pronounced impact on me when seeing Elbow live, it’s that I’m rarely ever so THERE, so in the moment to the total exclusion of everything else around me. I’ve never experienced that at other gigs, always finding myself realising my feet are sore, or that I’m thirsty or ‘did I lock the car?’.

But not last night. Tears trickled down during the sadder songs, and during Mirrorball you could’ve stripped the place of the rest of the audience and I don’t think I would’ve noticed, so complete was my attention on that moment.

Amazing, brilliant, wonderful. So many words yet I find myself struggling to put my thoughts into words. So I’ll steal some from SwissToni:

very few bands can convey such a broad emotional palate so effectively. They deserve to be cherished.

Seriously, go read his review he captures most of my thoughts perfectly.

A few final notes.

Acknowledging the fact the band will be back for an encore, Guy Garvey challenged us to sing “We Are Sailing” and if we did they’d come back out. I’m not sure if there was anyone in the hall that WASN’T belting it out at the top of their voice and I’m certain the big grins on the faces of the band members were genuine (even if they were of the ‘what a bunch of fabulous nutters’ type).

And lastly, during Mirrorball, Guy broke into a small smile whilst pointing right at a couple that were embracing, lost in their own thoughts. I hope that little smile was at least a small payback for him for providing us with a wonderful, wonderful night.

bookmark_borderOne year wiser

A quick thank you to everyone who took a moment from their day to wish me Happy Birthday on Friday. Many of you did so through Twitter, some by email, some by comments on this blog, some by text message and… eh… yeah I think that’s it. Thank you.

Each little message gave me a lift and I was a little surprised by just how I was affected. I am sincere when I say that it meant a lot to me, so thanks (have I said thanks yet? thanks!).

So, as I sit here in a new t-shirt, smelling of new aftershave, contemplating which Hitchcock movie to watch (from the boxset I received), or perhaps to play one of the three games I was given, and all the while looking forward to Elbow tonight which is a rather nice way to round off a birthday weekend if you ask me, I realise that I am very lucky and that presents (or not) isn’t the important thing.

The important thing is friends and family, relationships and emotions.

Now, if you’ll excuse me I’ve got some marzipan chocolates to eat!