Verticality

I seriously want one of these, even if just for the novelty factor - a vertical keyboard: Apparently being able to touch type helps when you're trying to use the keyboard, but should you forget where some of the keys are, there are two wing mirrors to allow you to see the keys. And while we're on the subject of things I want, Synapse is a media player with a 'central intelligence system' called the Brain.

The Brain is the central intelligence of Synapse. When you use Synapse, it learns. When you play songs, it learns. It learns what you like and it knows exactly how likely -- to the hundredth of a percent -- you are to play those songs. It learns your style from you. There is no master database anywhere telling it to play two rock songs one after other. It knows to do that because you did it. And if you never played two rocks songs together, it wouldn't either, which alone beats any other product available today.

You can also download the Brain as a Winamp plugin. If I get the time (looking increasingly less likely at the moment, seeing as I've just realised that I'll have finished all my A-level exams in two months' time and therefore have some serious revision to do) I'll report on how effective it is.

And my, aren't we mature:

American Secretary of State Colin Powell has said France will suffer consequences for having opposed the US over the war with Iraq. He said the US would be reviewing all aspects of its relations with France in light of its decision to veto any UN Security Council resolution authorising war against Iraq.

Conclusion: America's a democracy; the world is not and instead bows to America.

Today was a good day

Today was a good day.

I went for another interview in Farnborough today, having not yet heard anything about the interview I attended there two weeks ago (for a different job) since the interviewer went on annual leave before telling YinI whether he'd made a decision. Today's interview turned out to be not a formal interview at all, but merely a chance to go through my CV and find out what kind of job I'd be suited for.

It was quite relaxing since I got to chat with the interviewer, and then with the current YinI students for about an hour, and then a short guided tour around the grounds - during which I discovered their building has a gym and a general library, and a 'common room' with newspapers, leather sofas, vending machines and free internet access - and then off home again with a good hour's reading on the way back. I don't know why, but I really do find commuting by train relaxing - all that time when you get to just sit and read, uninterrupted and in a world of your own.

You can tell I don't travel by train that much, can't you?

Anyway, almost immediately I walked in the door, I got a phonecall from YinI offering me the web design job from the two-weeks-ago interview, which I really really wanted. So I now have a job all sorted for next year (and hopefully sponsorship through university, and a job at the end of it, if it all goes well). Yay me.

Actually, the first good thing that happened today (as far as I can remember - I haven't got up that early in three weeks, so a lot of this morning is a blur in my memory) was getting on my train and finding £2.15 on the seat that had presumably fallen out of the pocket of whoever was last sitting there. On the basis of "see a penny, pick it up", etc. (and the fact that the train was pulling out of the station by that time) I have to say I pocketed the lot. It seemed to work; I think I almost got 215 pennies' worth of luck out of it!

Having got the web design job, it means I now get to spend the summer getting to grips with tricker CSS and having a stab at learning ASP, which is what's used on their intranet pages. Should be fun :)