The K700i is too cool. Today, I was in a shop, I saw something I thought my brother would like, and I sent a picture message of that item, he looked at the picture on his own K700i and asked me to buy the object for him.

I’ve bought £7.50’s worth of retro-games for the phone in the ‘Java’ format. Games made back in the 80’s are now cool again, small platform games run very cool on a mobile phone!

Now I’ve found this site and this site which lets you download games for free, and put them on your phone via bluetooth. I advise you not to do this, I think buying games is better…..look at the page to get an idea of what games are available to buy for the k700i format.

Next week I’ll write a bit about Vodafone, and why not to use their service, as they restrict their customers. My brother is a Vodafone customer and I’m an O2 customer. We’ve both got the same mobile telephone, but Vodafone have locked up my brothers phone, restricting his ability to use the phone to do various functions…..O2 have enabled me to be creative using my phone….a big difference…..and in brief, avoid Vodafone, go O2!

Cousin Joanne’s husband Mark has the solution to this years big problem, the needles constantly fall from the Christmas tree, you only have to touch the tree and loads of needles come away. So, here is the solution: Simply saw off an inch of the bottom of the christmas tree, and place straight away it in a bucket of water. Line the inside of the bucket with bricks. Once the tree has been cut down, the sap seals the base, by cutting it again, and then putting it in water, the sap cant set….and the tree drinks…..The needles will now not fall as quick. Cheers Mark!

Sorry plastic Christmas tree fans…..this tip will not solve your problems!

Yesterday my brother and myself drove to Cowlinge, Suffolk to spend the day with our cousin and her family.

We went Go-Karting at Red Lodge Karting in Red Lodge near Bury-st-Edmonds.

We had a fantastic half hour on the course, for £24 its not too bad per person.

The karts were great, very fast compared to some of the other go-karts I’ve been on around the UK. The track was excellent, and it was great when it rained and we skidded everywhere.

Just a few pointers for the course staff:

• Have spare karts ready incase one breaks, like mine did. Spare karts should be next to the track, not in the barn.
• Test all the karts before they go on the track, my Great-Cousin Daniel’s kart was faulty and painfully slow for 15 minutes.
• Put more staff on the track.
• Mark the protective suits with sizes.
• Increase the size of the car park, it is tiny.
• Explain the safety instructions in English, not in ‘I’ve done this 30 times already today so I’ll say the safety instructions very fast, with no interest what-so-ever and think that everyone will understand me because they can read my mind’.

Other than those points, this track is well worth a visit, but do ask the team at the course….where the spare carts are, incase things go wrong (and they will, as to be expected).

Mark raced the Dad of another family for most of his time on the track….it was very entertaining to watch Mark overtake the Dad on the inside and watch the frustrated Dad trying to get Mark back.

I tried to include the following quote in every psychology, HCI and decision theory document I wrote while at University (1997 - 2000), trying to end on it if I could….:

“I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand.”

- Confucius (Died c479 BC)

Still significant today, and relates well to the underpinning theory for action research.

OK, advice please. 4 hours in Lakeside Shopping Centre, and still no flippin’ idea what to get him.

He’s got the garden tools, he’s built the loft conversion and has the tools…..he’s got about 20 coats, 20 pairs of shoes, trainers….8 watches….loads of jigsaw puzzles and craft kits….more slippers than your average Dad…tons of socks….shirts, jumpers and jeans……

Come on guys, help me here….what cool think should I get my Dad this Christmas? Something interesting, please, anyone!

P.S. My Brother, a training primary school teacher (site under development) is stuck for idea’s too….so give more than one idea, or we’ll both chip in together…..

P.P.S. Help help help!!!!!

Oh No!!! Former Ultralab SummerSchool teacher Dunstan Bertschinger has met a famous celebrity, and managed to film him!

Click to watch Dunstan Bertschinger with Sir Richard Branson.

Trust Dunstan to film the event…..and typically….Dunstan has gone and posted up pictures on the web of (WARNING: NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED) Dunstan’s Bike Accident! From the moment of the accident, to the repair job! Yuck!

Hope you are feeling better mate, and sorry….but I’ve met a bigger celebrity than you!!!

Dunstan was a SummerSchool teacher with Ultralab for 3 years before moving to work and travel in Australia. You can track the movements and accidents of Dunstan Bertschinger at ..Is Dunstan..

I’ve done an experiment this evening. This blog gets hundreds of hits every day, and it records where those hits have come from. I have sat this evening and stripped out the code for the last 400 searches from search engines which have pointed at this weblog.

You can see, from the past 400 hits, that the majority of hits have come from Google, this is no surprise really, but it demonstrates strongly that the likes of Yahoo! and A9 really have their work cut out if that want to stay in the search engine game. And as for TV advertisment regulars….Ask Jeeves….shameful with a zero result too…. Out of 400 web searches, an unsurprising, 374 came from Google. Nothing came close, well NTL World got 10 results, and NTL World’s search power is provided by Google! (and is full of adverts hindering the search a bit). What about AOL then? They got 13 results, not very good really is it.

You can actually click the below links, and see what previous searches people have done to find content on my weblog! Of course, I’ve not written here what each link’s key words actually are, because Google’s spider will come along and link them all up for all the wrong reasons!

Conclusion: Google wins, use Google, the end.

Here is the last 400 search engine results that found content on this weblog:

NTL Return 1

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So why are we all using Google? Personally, I think these are the reasons are…

• It looks simple, and is simple to use
• No picture adverts, no overpowering banners
• Fast return of results
• No flipping Pop-Ups!!
• The advertisers links are clearly up the side of the page rather than returned in the results
• The advertiser links are actually relevant to the results, and can be a useful search result in their own right
• There is a safe search facility, which restricts unsuitable returns from unwanted sites
• Google actually finds what you are looking for

Don’t forget to leave your comments below….

Hello, I’ve updated the Digital Creativity website, here at Ultralab. The Digital Creativity Project is the new name for our Summer School (SummerSchool) project, we’ve grown beyond the SummerSchool brand, in what we now do.

This year has by far been the most interesting for all involved in Ultralab’s SummerSchool projects. We’ve built two big DVD’s containing all the work from around the world. We are also in the process of re launching this website, to become far more interactive and also be home to many resources and research findings associated to digital creativity.

Involved this year have been various organisations from England, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

Representing Wales, and commenting on behalf of Ysgol Haf 2004’s Geraint Lang concludes on the 2004 V&A event:

” Everyone from the ‘Lab played their part to the full-yet another demonstration of why the Lab is so successful in its undertakings!

For me, the Ysgol Haf 2004 project was properly concluded when each pupil received their individual DVD copy-following a true and public celebration of their achievements!

I said to a couple of you at the close of proceedings, Friday’s ‘do’ was the most professional show of its kind I’ve been a part of-and I have been to or involved in several before! “

As we head into 2005, I thought I’d have a look back and I stumbled across information that predates me at Ultralab, but still something I was a part of, in a very different way. Between the years of 1995 - 2000, while studying full time at APU I was also working part time for Tesco. During that period, I worked on the staff reception, announced the cheep banana’s over the tannoy and went on to run the checkouts in the evenings and weekends.

During my time at Tesco, I remember groups of schools turning up at our branch to use some funky looking computers supplied by Apple in the staff training room.

So why am I rambling on about this? Computers were not wired up very well to the internet in 1999/2000….not many schools were online, and Tesco SchoolNet 2000 was an online project, allowing schools to come into a Tesco store and use the equipment to take part in the worlds biggest online project….the Guinness World Record Award proves it! Over 520,000 children have taken part. Over 17,400 UK schools registered for the project.

Tesco SchoolNet 2000 still exists online, with Ultralab’s big friend Intuitive Media who do very similar things to Ultralab (we’re academic, they are corporate).

Tesco SchoolNet 2000 is now known as SchoolNet Global.

Ultralab and Tesco went on to design the ‘Learning Zone’ in the Millennium Dome.

During my first week at Ultralab I headed up to the Dome with Professor Stephen Heppell for the first ever SEEVEAZ/Ultralab Summer School It was at the Millennium Dome that I first met Shirley Pickford an Ultranaut who was working at the dome doing ‘SchoolNet Stuff’.

So, I left a company who were funding SchoolNet, to join one of the organisations that made it happen.

Here is extract information from The Story of SchoolNet….

The SchoolNet Global project has grown from the long and valuable collaboration between Intuitive Media and Ultralab. Both organizations are driven to place the full power of technology in the hands of children and teachers and have led the development of participative learning on the Web.

March 2003 - Members in over 20 countries
Just two months after its international launch, we have project members from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Indonesia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Uganda and USA.

I’ve been really sick this weekend, with that rotten bug that has been going around. I sat down and watched 1997 movie ‘Titanic‘., the story of how the 1912 liner sank in the Atlantic ocean after hitting an iceberg. This is one of the best selling movies of all time, most homes in the UK own a copy. 168 mistakes were made during the production of this movie (as listed at MovieMistakes.com).

Personally, I think it is a good film, but some of the stories about the survivors I find more interesting.

For loads of Titanic related information click here

I looked around the Internet and found the story of Anna Turja Lundi’s Titanic Experience, a touching story.

Read up on more Titanic information from the BBC.