Hacknot: Architecture Group anti-pattern

Hacknot has a piece on the Architecture Group anti-pattern. While I can see legitimate concerns, it is hard not to ascribe the problems raised as those facing any cross-organisational group. Having seen and worked on architecture groups in different settings I think they can work, but like everything else they must have rules:

- Membership should be open, anyone interested can attend.
- They should publish / blog the minutes of their meetings (seems obvious).
- They should help align technical approaches taken on different projects so that work is not replicated / projects are encouraged to use each other's libraries.
- They recommend, but not mandate.
- They should provide a resource that people can ask questions such as: We are thinking of solving X by doing Y, any thoughts?
- They should be actively developing new systems / libraries etc.

Obligatory morning iPod drool

One of the nice things about being a complete victim is that you can learn to embrace it. Take iPod it hits the shiny techno techno fetish thing right on the button. I love my iPod. Now wouldn't I love more of it? Well that's the logic anyway. The reality is that is that most of the shiny white accessories, provide a function you don't really need.

Which is why it's nice when every once in a while that something comes along at a bargain price that allows you to scratch that itch and here it is:

Products-IceTune - Stereo Speakers and Charger for iPod/iPodMini: " $69.99"

Cute stackable speakers and iPod charger for less than $70. Well what are you waiting for?

Online Digital Print Service Ireland

I've just spent a couple of days trying pretty much all the print services and the only one that is really worth using is Photobox.

Okay they are located in the UK and they aren't the cheapest, but they are fault-tolerant (in terms of handling dropped connections). After trying to upload about 50M of photos to all the other services and having them eventually bomb out leaving nothing uploaded, this seems to me the deciding feature.

They are also fast. Pictures sent back in a couple of days.

Welcome to Dinkatron

Wow it only took 5 years but I finally put some stuff up on the net. Luckily for me in that time the net has moved on.

So first, the main reason I finally got this together was to have somewhere to upload pictures and here are the obligatory links:

• Some initial Pics
• Feb pictures from the park