Wednesday, 21 June 2006

LG KG800 Chocolate phone: the Lara Croft way?







No, the photo's not of Angelina Jolie and there's no Tomb Raider connection (all trademarks acknowledged etc etc), sorry to disappoint you.

But it is one way to wear your LG KG 800 Chocolate mobile phone (which I've reviewed in detail previously, including PC connection tips and the Chocolate camera's frameshot function).

There may be other ways to wear your Chocolate phone. But I rather like this one...

(Yes there are more pics. No I'm not posting them!)

Monday, 12 June 2006

Google Spreadsheets beta: sign up for your free invite fast!






For anyone who's not yet heard about it, Google Spreadsheets was released on limited test a few days ago. Free, of course.

Sign up quick for an invite if you're interested - the last I could tell, Google were sending out invites only a couple of days after signup, so if you sign up now you may be able to get to try it out.

Remember, spreadsheets aren't just for finance or maths types, a lot of people (me included!) use them just to help organise lists and tables. And the beauty of Google Spreadsheets is that not only can you access them from anywhere over the Web via a browser (IE 6 or Firefox 1.07+, Javascript must be enabled), you can also share them with selected others (though at the moment only if they have a Google Account, which it's free to sign up for) - let them view your spreadsheet, even edit it (and chat with them you as they do so). Very much Web 2.0 social software.

You can import Microsoft Excel .xls files and also .csv files from your computer, and export to those formats too. Plus, you can export or save your spreadsheet as a Webpage, i.e. HTML file, which is handy. I'd like to be able to import Excel files attached to my Gmail direct, without having to save them to my computer first, but no doubt that will come.

Google have rustled up an overview and some help pages about Google Spreadsheets, plus there's also a Google Spreadsheets Google Group.

I've not had the chance to try it out in detail yet but if there's more to report back on, I will. It looks very very good though, and one of the most potentially useful things to come out of Google Labs in a while.

Funny acronyms: nominative determinism again?






From a recent issue of Private Eye, some very apt acronyms for certain organisations - nominative determinism or aptonyms, in a way, or maybe more accurately the opposite in the second case - just spell them out for yourself:
  • British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons
  • Sexual Health Action Group.
And if you really really don't get the first one, especially the Americans (too British an expression for you, Kirk? :D) then look it up here. Not exactly the right spelling, but close enough. Look up the second one here if you must, but that term must have crossed the Atlantic by now!

(No, I haven't been posting much lately - have been unusually busy at work etc. Hope to get back to it soon.)