'The Bottom Line - It's all about Data', DDE on the ever-evolving Open Street Map. Thanks to a tireless comparison at RefNum, OSM is found to be far more accurate than Google Maps: 'examining the road network shows 89 "errors" in Google Maps'. As ever, it's the data gathered on the way that's the most fascinating: the flickr set is a treasure trove for lovers of English street sign typography.

After yesterday's post, let this be the 20th use of the word 'papbot' on the internet. Previously associated with this paper automaton / a history of the London Docklands Development Corporation / human tetris. In Japan, of course / Buzzword, meet word perhect.

The end of Electrelane. Sad / My Bloody Valentine restart? / the Halloween Horrors of architecture / On Her Majesty's Postal Service, i like on Bond stamps and Pan paperback covers / related, two James Bond flowcharts, via Isegoria: opening sequence and Overview.

Our Champion, Clay Risen on Herbert Muschamp, occasional lapses in judgement, reflecting badly on all of us and how media works in the late 20th and 21st centuries. 'But in elevating an underwear ad to the plane of great art, Muschamp seemed to be flattening everything cultural into the consumable - morality and society had no place in a worldview that judged everything by its ability to deliver instant, though momentary, gratification.'

Related, the end of Stylus Magazine - Noise into Music explains why sites like Last.fm 'promote mediocrity': 'Why read 600 words about why you might or might not adore a record when you can get given a list of records you almost certainly will quite like for nothing, everyday? And that's the thing about downloading, about free music; everything is worth a listen if it costs you nothing.'

We have similar feelings about the advent of new online technologies as well. things is powered by blogger but every page apart from the weblog is hand-coded in notepad. It takes ages. It's the modern equivalent of using hot lead type and it has its limitations. We got as far as setting up css, but that was a few years ago now. Any advice for how to make this site a little more, well, contemporary?

The internet feels a little overloaded today. First Blogger starting to crumble under its own weight (as noted here, here, here, here, and here), then Yahoo mail buckled and stopped. posted by things at 10:06 / 0 comments