Rob Miles University Lecturer and Microsoft MVP. And tall.
June 6, 2017 7:33 pm
These are the exclusive "Goldfinger" edition I never thought I'd be blogging on matters relating to gardening. Perhaps I'm growing up.Shudder.However, if you are in the market for some proper tough gardening gloves, ones that actually protect your fingers from all kinds of pointy nasties that you find when taking out a holly bush, then I strongly recommend these, which I got from the local PoundLa… Read more →
June 5, 2017 9:48 pm
Thanks to CodePen Hull for the picture of me holding up a phone to prove something worked. Codepen is a great idea. Get together a bunch of people interested in code and have them tell each other what they are up to. There were six talks over the evening, ranging from a lovely looking Scrum development management tool, a splendid hosting framework, video game development, first steps in programmin… Read more →
June 4, 2017 7:42 pm
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild The Complete Official Guide, Standard Edition By Piggyback I suppose it's an admission of defeat to buy a game guide. But actually I like them for the pictures as much as anything. And sometimes they are useful because they let you know that something is possible, rather than telling you how to do it. My official guide for the Zelda: Breath of the Wild arriv… Read more →
June 3, 2017 7:31 pm
I think another reason I was grumpy yesterday was that, while mowing the lawns, I managed to take out some of our solar powered lights. I'm not always a huge fan of lights in the garden to be honest. Last year we got some blue lights that must have previously been used on an aircraft carrier to guide planes down to land. To say they lit up the neighbourhood was something of an understatement.But t… Read more →
June 2, 2017 7:03 pm
Can you use your skill and judgement to tell which of these options is selected on the "upgraded" YouView user interface? I can't.Oh, and while we're on the subject of stupid design: Why enable spell checking on the body text of the blog post editor but not on the title? This means that the interface detects and highlights errors that might not be spotted, while failing to notice mistakes that eve… Read more →
June 1, 2017 9:15 pm
We had the exam board this morning and then I wandered off for a walk around the city before I went to get my train home. I really like Dundee. I'm going to have to make some time for a proper visit. I also like the fact that I wrote a chunk of chapter six of "Begin to Code with Python" sitting at platform 1 waiting for my train. I'll be able to read my description of the while construction and ho… Read more →
May 31, 2017 8:09 pm
Took a few trains to Dundee today to help with External Examining of the course at Abertay University. Just like last year, the weather was awesome. The people who designed the hotel I'm staying at really know their stuff. I've counted eight mains sockets in the room, four of them with USB power outputs. I wish I'd brought more things with me to charge up. Read more →
May 30, 2017 7:47 pm
I love things like CodePen. Anything that gets developers talking about what they are doing is absolutely brilliant in my book. These kind of events are great for students too. They learn that developers are just like them, just a few years further down the tracks. c4di are hosting another CodePen event next Monday evening, 5th of June. There are three speakers, and I'm one of them. I'm going to i… Read more →
May 29, 2017 10:07 pm
I've bought Minecraft on lots of different platforms but never really played it enough to do it justice. Perhaps the version on the Nintendo Switch will be the one that changes this. It's not particularly expensive and from my fairly limited perspective, does a very good job of implementing the game. The controls are a bit fiddly. I keep throwing things when I mean to select them. But then again I… Read more →
May 28, 2017 9:04 pm
The Incredible Hulk used to say "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry." For me it's "You wouldn't like me when I'm playing croquet". We got the croquet set out today for the first time in many years and had a go. I seem to have lost a bit of my accuracy. But none of my nastiness. Sorry folks. You would think that by now I'd have learned the dangers inherent in giving other people large, heavy, mall… Read more →