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Thursday, June 19, 2008 8:15 PM

Who doesn't take credit/debit cards in 2008? Washington State Licensing, that's who

Normally I renew my car tabs online with a credit or debit card, but that wasn't possible this week so I visited an actual License Office. Much to my amazement there was a sign stating "We do not accept Debit or Credit cards". When my turn came to speak
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Sunday, July 29, 2007 9:54 PM

My First Program (circa 1980)

I recently discovered my first real program(*): from 1980, it was my attempt at Space Invaders for the RML 380Z. This was the government-subsidized computer for schools, my school ( Chatham House Grammar School ) was lucky enough to have one. One, yes,
Posted by andypennell | 1 Comments
Wednesday, November 01, 2006 9:19 AM

Time to change some American holidays I think

On July 4th the tradition is to have fireworks. However, as it is July in Seattle, it doesn't get nearly dark enough until 10pm. Try keeping young kids awake/entertained until then. On October 31st the tradition is to traipse the streets dressed as someting
Posted by andypennell | 2 Comments
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Friday, October 13, 2006 1:39 PM

BBC America: Why Do You Hate Me So?

I'm sorry but I have to rant about BBC America's Guide Data that my Tivo uses. My TV enjoyment is determined entirely by how well or otherwise my TiVo works. In my seven years of using TiVo, only once has it not recorded something I wanted. However, in
Posted by andypennell | 0 Comments
Thursday, August 31, 2006 8:55 PM

See my early work: X-Debug from 1992

I recently discovered a floppy containing the source to a program I wrote in 1992: X-Debug, a debugger for the Atari ST. Coincidentally I also received an email via this blog from someone asking if I had the source and rights to the Atari version of HiSoft
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Wednesday, June 14, 2006 9:13 PM

An Inconvenient Truth: You Must See This Movie

I have literally just returned from watching this, and am compelled to ask everyone I can to go and see this extraordinary movie . If you care about this planet, or you have children who you would like to have a chance of a decent future, you must see
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Tuesday, June 13, 2006 11:49 AM

Wanted: Power Strip with Switches

It shouldn't be this hard, but all I want is a power strip with switches on each outlet. In my garage I have no less than six different chargers, and I don't want or need them to be on all the time. If I still lived in the UK, I could find such a device
Posted by andypennell | 46 Comments
Tuesday, May 09, 2006 11:31 AM

Gas IS Cheap: It's Official

As a Brit living in the USA I've always been amused by Americans complaining about gas (aka petrol) prices: they complained when it hit $2/gal and are complaining again now its $3/gal. The US govt. has a great table that shows the US price compared to
Posted by andypennell | 8 Comments
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Wednesday, April 05, 2006 8:55 AM

Crazy Digital Dates

A certain VP pointed out that early this morning it was 01:02:03 04/05/06 (US date format), which reminded me of my youth: I can clearly remember standing in the school playground at lunchtime, all looking a our cool digital watches as it became 12:34
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Saturday, March 18, 2006 4:16 PM

Find new music with Pandora

I am very bad about finding new music: I'll buy new albums from artists I know I love, but that's about it. However that has all changed now I have discovered Pandora . Pandora is based on the Music Genome Project, which is basically a huge music database
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Wednesday, November 02, 2005 9:02 AM

Class Action Lawsuits: What a Waste of Time!

I just got an email announcing a settlement for a Netflix class action lawsuit. If I sign up, I get one extra DVD in my rental queue, for one month. Woop de woo. I'm dancing in my chair. If I read the settlement right, I see the defendent gets $2000,
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Tuesday, September 27, 2005 11:50 AM

What am I working on? iHD, that's what

So what have I been working on that I haven't been able to blog about? iHD, that's what! Its the interactivity layer for the next generation DVD format, and I'm really excited by HD-DVD, with its greatly improved picture quality, capacity, and of course
Posted by andypennell | 3 Comments
Thursday, September 22, 2005 4:42 PM

Places where software should never fail: Your Dentists

There are certain places where software should never fail. Obvious ones like aircraft, missile control systems etc. Well here's a new one: when you are lying in a dentist's chair, mouth wired up, with a tooth freshly dremeled away, and the dentist and
Posted by andypennell | 2 Comments
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Tuesday, September 06, 2005 10:15 AM

10 Years at Microsoft

I started at Microsoft the day after Labour Day, 1995 (which I soon learned was spelled Labor Day). This was about a week after the Windows 95 launch , so things were still pretty crazy on campus. It took years for the football (er, soccer) fields to
Posted by andypennell | 3 Comments
Friday, September 02, 2005 10:46 AM

10 Years in the USA

When I arrived here, ten years ago today: I was single I was childless I had lived in tiny house in Milton Keynes, England That house contained no actual PCs, but it did have a computer with a 1200 baud modem I had two email accounts (on BIX and CIX)
Posted by andypennell | 6 Comments
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