Dominic Finn

The site is now set up. Let the games begin! http://cleverestbastardinnottingham.co.uk/

I have now been awarded the official Knave of Nottingham title by Google which pleases me greatly. If you search for Knaves in Nottingham you will find me. Life goal complete! My next task is to become the Cleverest Bastard in Nottingham. I have some hard work in front of me but I think it's achievable.?

These photos come courtesy of my friend Tom Cowdry. He seems to have as great eye for strange photos. The Nottingham Evening Post ones are my favourite.?

soon Reblogged from VIVADIXIES . Tags: cat soon May 12, 2011, 7:15pm via fuckyeahdementia.com

via theoatmeal.com Rapture humour. I'm a couple of days late on it but still funny.

Cheryl Cole dumped from the X Factor . Boo Hoo.?

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeZlih4DDNg]

As I was closing word down this morning I was presented with an extremely strange request from it. It had been collecting my "ignored" grammar and spelling errors and had asked if it could send them all off to Microsoft to help improve the tool for future use. I suppose I can see where they are coming from... but really? That data could contain all sorts of information both about you, others and about your business.? Really not cool!

via designboom.com I have been following the Fujitsu design award 2011 entries and have seen some excellent food for thought.

Just taking a minute out of writing the most annoying query I have done in while.... we need to be able to search for a supermarket store name that has certain things that we are looking to find. For example Stores that have received more than 50 copies of Stuff Magazine. If the searched for Store doesn't have it, it must find the next store alphabetically that does.? In principal this works ok but the query just runs slightly too slow. Too slow for a user that would be using it day in day out. I've tried several ways but am finding no real quicker way at the moment.? Anyway, my?favourite?Podcasts at the moment are: Engadget Podcast Wired Podcast Guardian Tech Weekly .Net Rocks Java Posse Hanselminutes I have others that I download but I rarely end up listening to them now. One up and coming fave that I have been trying out is Deep Fried Byes. An old fave that stopped last year sadly is 3 Red Lights (an very funny xbox podcast). No links. Not enough time. Google will furnish

Reading an article in?February's Pagpub magazine?made me think about how we can damage a project right from the start just be using the wrong terminology. Jonathan Rasmussons article called "The Way of the Agile Warrior - They're Not Requirements" warns against discussing "requirements" with customers, instead to discuss "features". It's well worth a read. I download the .mobi version to my Kindle but you can read the web version here ->? http://pragprog.com/magazines/2011-02/way-of-the-agile-warrior

I'm leaving my current company at the end of the month and there are many things that need tying up. One of these is how I get a load of raw data in Excel and import it into Sql Server. The task is extremely difficult to automate because of the crazy manner in which the data comes. The open nature of a spreadsheet means that it comes completely different each time we get it resulting in lots of messing about and vlookup pain to get it into a nice importable format.? I want to record the task as a screencast so that anyone doing this task after I leave can see the sort of methods I use to format the data correctly. I've used BB Flashback Express in the past so I have just downloaded and installed this. During installation I was just really annoyed at the requests for desktop shortcuts, quick launch links and the like, topped off with a request to collect information on how you use the software. It's anonymous but who cares, we do I want a program that I will only use?occasio

It is possible to unlock the boot loader for certain releases of Sony Ericsson Android? phone models from 2011 and onwards. Please note that you may void the warranty of your phone if you unlock the boot loader. Sony Ericsson can then no longer guarantee the full functionality of your phone, and will not be responsible for any unsigned custom software being flashed to the phone after the boot loader is unlocked. Certain functions in your phone might cease to work , and performance might not be ideal. You might also damage your phone permanently . In the worst case, unlocking the boot loader will cause physical injuries or material damage, for example, due to the phone overheating. Certain content on your phone may also be inaccessible due to the removal of DRM security keys and the secure user data partition while unlocking the boot loader. Therefore, you should only unlock the boot loader of your phone if you are an advanced user with good knowledge of the technology and ri

At the time this first came out there was a real buzz in Twitterland about Google App inventor. Now it may be because I have left this land but its probably more likely down to our 5 minute attention span but no one has spoken about this for quite some time. I am pretty sure anyone can now sign up for an App inventor account now and it really is a cool tool to use for writing Google Apps. Yes I should be spending less time fucking about with this and more time actually writing proper Google apps in Java but I just can't be bothered at the moment and this suits my purposes. From an education standpoint I think it's excellent. I can show this to my girlfriend who is currently studying for a FdSc in Computing but is struggling with all the programming and it helps her to understand the logic behind basic programming. Once you have written something it creates a more credible finished product that she can install on her Android phone and show to people instead of some ropey lookin

Spotted this on Reddit. Love it.? http://images56.fotki.com/v127/photos/9/51779/9725616/P5080193-vi.jpg#

via geekosystem.com God help me. I am addicted to Minecraft at the moment. I normally avoid all games like this as I have a very addictive personality. My only saving grace is my tiny attention span so hopefully the fad will have passed by next week. Either that or I will have constructed a gigantic statue of Conan The Barbarian.

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/23237102 w=400&h=225] Timelapse - The City Limits from Dominic on Vimeo .   I saw this video on Gizmodo. I love it. 

via noteslate.com Noteslate. The most annoying non existent product ever. Following Gizmodo and Engadget religiously has a tendency to make you feel like nothing is ever going to come out and actually be released. However no piece of technology has annoyed me more than the noteslate. I really love the idea but no real hard evidence or videos have been released. If it was ready to ship for the next month or so it would be sitting in reviewers hands by now. Such a shame. I would buy 2!