I have a new job at Canonical. Before I started, rather than inflicting a new way to interact with a computer on my own life I thought I should test Ubuntu out on my mother. In her own words: “I can be your lab rat” – very nice of her I am sure you will agree. Thank you mother! Now, all my memories of ever building or re-building any machine are always connected to a very late...
I was in an M&S food shop the other day and there – more than any other shop I go into – it’s freezing! At the risk of sounding like my late father: “We are not here to keep the whole of London cold” Ok, I paraphrased, he would have said heat and it wouldn’t have been London but my point remains. I cannot believe that the best way to keep the food fresh is...
Now you all know what you are getting for Christmas.
Actually, now that I have got my sewing machine out, maybe I will send you the ready made ones. Nice idea, no?
A single bus journey in Brighton costs £1.80. The day of the London to Brighton charity cycle the train companies ban bicycles from making the return journey by train. BP has dropped plans for UK wind farms Now that I have delivered you a few facts that bug me, I will aim to get to the point. I took the bus yesterday and, when I mentioned the extortionately expensive fee in the cab on the way...
My TV doesn’t have an off switch. The stereo doesn’t have a proper off switch either. In the war against standby this seems to be rather a big obstacle. Each of these devices has a big button which implies that it should be ‘easily turn on and off-able’ (to borrow from the old ad) and yet I hit the big button and am rewarded with a little red light. Turn it off at the wall, I hear you shout. Well...
I was chatting away with SavageSays the other day. He had made a (fairly rare) foray to Waitrose to do some grocery shopping. “I didn’t know which Flora to buy” – he said – “I used to buy just plain Flora because I thought it was healthy but now they have loads of them. What’s omega anyway?” As one of my participants once said, “Choice is a terrible thing!” That remains one of my favourite...
I watched Dragon’s Den the other day. If you don’t know the format, it is like Pop Idol for inventors/wannabe entrepreneurs etc. In between the moments when I have to leave the room out of sheer embarrassment for the ‘pitchers’, I quite like all the crazy and brilliant ideas and the different approaches people have. Anyway. True to form a chap steps out and pitches his idea for a safety gadget...
As an update to one of my very early blog posts on this poor neglected blog I can proudly announce that I am now a fully paid up member of The Fawcett Society. Historically I have struggled with the word feminism. Studying electronic engineering with a large majority of male students I always felt that somehow the women’s organisations around the university weren’t so much helping but rather...
I commute. The price I pay for living where I want to and working where I want to is approximately 4 hours a day travelling; about 2 hours 10 minutes of which are spent sitting on a train. I undertake a whole range of activities while I travel: sometimes I sit and think, sometimes I catch up with friends (the Stella express we like to call it), I read, I listen to music, listen to books, work...
My mother is off to travel the world. She has retired from the sometimes rewarding often frustrating world of teaching in a modern world, her children can take care of themselves so she has packed her bag and is leaving us! As one of the results of her life’s work to date, it is my job to ensure we all get to find out what she is up to. So here goes: 1) The first 6 months of her journey...
Ivanka Majic works in technology. She was Head of Design for Ubuntu, service managed Digital Marketplace through to beta, was acting director of digital for the Labour Party. She lives and works in Brighton where she works with the council’s digital first team, does a bit of teaching at Sussex University, and works with her husband on projects like restaurantsbrighton.co.uk and the BRAVOs. She has also started a podcast with her friend Michael which you can listen to at grandpodcast.com.