You can now find me posting at:

Ademdjemil.co.uk/blog

I have migrated all the SpecialStuff posts over there too.

I personally haven’t, and will usually just email people with links to photos I’ve taken, but I was recently presented with a site to make me change my ways.

I was drawn to Photobox.co.uk because of a promotional offer they are running for first time registration. When you register you get 30 free photos, and if you follow this link and use the promotional code “20EXTRA“, then you can get 50 free photos in total.

It’s a simple case of uploading your photos into a set, and then selecting to print them (you will need that promotional code now). I did this for 50 photos, and only had to pay the £1.50 postage, and the photos came the next day.

Launched at the beginning of year 2000 PhotoBox was the first online photo sharing and printing service in UK and Ireland and quickly became market leader.

I was very happy with the photos when they arrived, and it was certainly quite novel to know that all my photos would be up to a certain standard, as opposed to photos on 35mm film which when developed would usually have fingers over the lens, or be out of focus etc.

The photos are not compressed and the images you get on a 6″x4″ print are brilliant, a fact that is sometimes lost when viewing photos at full-size on a monitor. This is how photos are meant to be viewed.

The prices are actually very good, and although you may be able to save a few pence at some highstreet developers, this does remove the hassle of having to go there, drop them off, and come back the next day to pick them up. Instead they were delivered to my door. The prices are definitely cheaper than most though.

This is a great way to have a physical back-up of all those digital files that we hope will be safe for ever, but can’t be too sure about. At least this way if it goes all apocalyptic Rise of the Machines stylee then I’ll have some nice memories when I’m in my bunker.

The 50 free photos offer has got me sold, and I’ll certainly be gettting more photos printed this way.

I was over at Aiden’s blog and thought this was a very interesting video which was on this post.

It doesn’t explain everything but I think it does help you get your head around it. Check out the Wikipedia article too.

I wanted to make a site that would initially be set-up by me, but then could be maintained by others with minimal experience.

I tried creating a website using WordPress, but couldn’t really get around the fact that it is originally programmed as a weblog, and not specifically for making stand-alone site, and so I searched around for a CMS that could help me out, and this is where Websitebaker comes in.

Website Baker is a PHP-based Content Management System (CMS) designed with one goal in mind: to enable it’s users to produce website with ease.

You’ll need a MySQL database to run the site, but if you’re host doesn’t offer that, you can get a free one here.

If you fancy giving Website Baker a quick go then you can try out a demo here.

Installation is minimal and once that’s done, there’s no need to have anymore ftp access. Where as other CMS require you to upload new themes, templates, and plug-ins via ftp, Website Baker enables all this to be done from the admin interface by browsing your desktop for downloaded mods and uploading the .zip file.

The admin screen is very simple (see below screenshot) and I am confident that even someone with minimal web experience would feel comfortable with Website Baker.

Click here for full-size image.

I’ve already made one site using Website Baker, and I’m going to make a few others too. A very good piece of software indeed, oh and it’s completely free, which is what we like over here at SpecialStuff.

One option would be to upgrade my account in order to get the extra databases but of course that would cost me more money, and this is where FreeMySQL.net can help. Sign-up is very and all that is needed is for you to create a Username, a password, and give them a valid email address to activate the account.

We are the leading provider for absolutely FREE MySQL Database Hosting. With our control panel we give you the extra edge to managing your free databases. We provide an even higher level of support and service to you and the rest of our clients. Also being the absolute first free mysql database provider to have a control panel for our clients to manage their free databases, we give you the option to have multiple databases under one account. You are never limited to how many you can create, with a max of five at one time.

You can have a maximum of 5 databases with each account, which is completely free, and you also get access to phpMyAdmin, FlashMyAdmin, and MyQuickAdmin, which means you get quite a lot of control over your databases.

Obviously as a free service there are no guarantees and it’s worth having a read through the terms & conditions:

The software and host provided hereunder is on an “as is” basis, and we have no obligations to provide maintenance, support, updates, enhancements, or modifications or continued availability of services. We are entitled to discontinue this service without notification and delete the databases irrevocably. We do not recommend you to use FREEMYSQL databases for any critical data and for any critical purpose! We refuse any warranty and liability!

I will still keep my permanent sites on my 1&1 hosting as I know that I’m covered if anything goes wrong, which is hopefully doubtful, but for my test sites and smaller sites I shall be using FreeMySQL.net and can always export and backup the tables if needed.

I’ve been using Flickr for a couple of years now, and currently have 4000 photos hosted there, and while it’s pretty easy to upload photos, it’s very hard and time-consuming to download your photos,with the only official route currently being to download each photo individually, and this is where Flickr Backup comes in.

Flickr Backup is a utility that allows you to download the pictures you have uploaded to Flickr back down to your computer for personal backup or restore.

Flickr Backup is an open-source project, and is also OS independent so you can install it on your Mac or PC, and as such proves to be very useful for all Flickr users.

Downloads can be found here, and once unzipped a simple *.exe is just a ‘double-click’ away from launching the programme. On it’s first run a window opens up in the web browser and a pop-up will ask for your permission to access you photos, which involves logging into your Flickr account and clicking the immediate prompt. The Flickr Backup interface is very simple with the options to backup any photos by ticking individual thumbnails or selecting preferred ‘sets’. The selected files can then be backed up as individual files and folders or as compressed *.zip files, and these in-turn can be saved to your hard-drive or directly to a CD or DVD.

All in all, Flickr Backup is a very good tool.

 OpenOffice.org is a free opensource collection of the usual office applications, and is available on Linux, Solaris, and Mac OS X, although I chose to download it for windows which prompted a 93MB download.

Extract from Wikipedia:

OpenOffice.org is a collection of different applications that work together closely to provide the features expected from a modern office suite. Many of the components are designed to mirror those available in Microsoft Office. The components available include:

• Writer — a word processor similar in look and feel to Microsoft Word and offering a comparable range of functions and tools. It also includes the ability to export Portable Document Format (PDF) files with no additional software, and can also function as a WYSIWYG editor for creating and editing web pages. One important difference between Writer and Microsoft Word is that in Writer, many functions and number formats from Calc (below) are available in Writer’s tables. Another difference is that in Writer, automatic save is off by default.

• Calc — a spreadsheet similar to Microsoft Excel with a roughly equivalent range of features. Calc provides a number of features not present in Excel, including a system which automatically defines series for graphing, based on the layout of the user’s data. Calc is also capable of writing spreadsheets directly as a PDF file.

• Impress — a presentation program similar to Microsoft PowerPoint. It can export presentations to Adobe Flash (SWF) files allowing them to be played on any computer with the Flash player installed. It also includes the ability to create PDF files. Impress suffers from a lack of ready-made presentation designs. However, templates are readily available on the Internet.^[6]

• Base — a database program similar to Microsoft Access. Base allows the creation and manipulation of databases, and the building of forms and reports to provide easy access to data for end-users. As with Access, Base is able to work as a front-end to a number of different database systems, including Access databases (JET), ODBC data sources and MySQL/PostgreSQL. Base became part of the suite starting with version 2.0.

• Draw — a vector graphics editor comparable in features to CorelDRAW. It features versatile “connectors” between shapes, which are available in a range of line styles and facilitate building drawings such as flowcharts.

• Math — a tool for creating and editing mathematical formulae, similar to Microsoft Equation Editor. Formulae can be embedded inside other OpenOffice.org documents, such as those created by Writer. It supports multiple fonts and can export to PDF.

• Quickstarter — a small program for Windows and Linux that runs when the computer starts for the first time. It loads the core files and libraries for OpenOffice.org during computer startup and allows the suite applications to start more quickly when selected later. The amount of time it takes to open OpenOffice.org applications was a common complaint in version 1.0 of the suite, and Quickstarter was a solution of sorts. Substantial improvements were made in this area for version 2.0.

• The macro recorder — is used to record user actions and replay them later to help with automating tasks, using OpenOffice.org Basic

As you can see, they seem to have most bases covered, and OpenOffice.org provides a good substitute for Microsoft Office, and allows to user to open documents from the Microsoft set of programmes.

click for fullsize image

Many people are now mirating to open source software, and this also includes larger intitutions such as the French Police Force, who along with OpenOffice.org have also switched to Mozilla Firefox as a substitute for Microsoft Internet Explorer, and Mozilla Thunderbird instead of Microsoft Outlook.

The OpenOffice.org project aims “To create, as a community, the leading international office suite that will run on all major platforms and provide access to all functionality and data through open-component based APIs and an XML-based file format.“

HousePrices.co.uk enables you to search the UK Land Registry database of
houses sold in England and Wales since 2000 and find out all the sales that have occured in a certain location, and how much the houses went for.

Simply put in a postcode (even a partial one will do), a roadname, or even a house name, and you’ll get a detailed list back with the sale date, price, house type, tenure, and n integrated map courtesy of Google Maps.

click for fullsize image

So next time you’re thinking of buying a house, have a quick look on here and see how much more you’re paying for your house than the guy who bought it 5 years ago!

I’m not entirely sure of the legality of this programme – Me (22/08/06)

Well it seems that it is completely illegal, as I found out on this BBC news article, and the FA Premier League, Uefa, Cricket Australia and other sport bodies have employed a company called NetResult to police the internet for unauthorised video.

We’re gradually working the numbers down and down, so unfortunately it’s a bit of a lengthy process – NetResult’s Tim Cooper

At the moment you can only watch live Premiership football matches if you are subscribed to a satellite service, but as a recent report has suggested that more people are watching online video as opposed to sitting in front of the television, surely now is the time to not fight against online TV, but try and work with it.

There are now services to download TV content , although it is mostly sitcoms and shows, and with the news that from next season, Sky and Setanta Sports (who have won the rights to show Premiership matches on TV in the UK until 2010) will be able to broadcast matches legally on the internet, surely it won’t be long before they actually implement this.

If they don’t offer this service then it will be their fault that people resort to services such as SopCast, as they have the means to put out content of higher quality, and increase their revenue through another medium. I wouldn’t mind paying £1 to watch a live match on my PC and that would be £1 more than they are currently getting from me.

It’s features are very much the same as Writely so why not check out their homepage and take a tour to see which is for you.

If web-based word-processing applications are not for you and you prefer to have the actual software on your computer then another blow was dealt to Microsoft when earlier this month Tesco announced it was to launch it’s own budget line of PC software offering six packages, including office software, security systems and a photo editing tool, each of which would retail for less than £20.

Is this the end of MS Office?? I doubt it.