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	<title>Steve Workman &#187; Ramblings</title>
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	<link>http://www.steveworkman.com</link>
	<description>I&#039;ve been designing and building web sites since 2003. This is my personal site. You&#039;ll find my work, insight and ramblings within</description>
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		<title>Retrospective: Apple product prediction</title>
		<link>http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2011/retrospective-apple-product-prediction-2/</link>
		<comments>http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2011/retrospective-apple-product-prediction-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 22 Jul 2011 18:20:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Steve Workman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ramblings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Apple]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[future]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[products]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[retrospective]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.steveworkman.com/?p=685</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Well over a year ago, I wrote an article on the regulated rigidness that is Apple&#8217;s product release cycle. I mapped out the next two years of Apple&#8217;s product launches down to the month, and it has been the most viewed post on my blog for the entirety of last year, even eclipsing Smashing Mag [...]


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<li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/projects/use/2007/a-catchup-and-a-roadmap/' rel='bookmark' title='A Catchup and a Roadmap'>A Catchup and a Roadmap</a></li>
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</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="socialize-in-content" style="float:right;"><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3R3aXR0ZXIuY29tL3NoYXJl" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-url=\"http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2011/retrospective-apple-product-prediction-2/\" data-text=\"Retrospective: Apple product prediction\" data-count=\"horizontal\" data-via=\"steveworkman\" data-related=\"steveworkman\"><!--Tweetter--></a></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2011/retrospective-apple-product-prediction-2/&amp;layout=button_count&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=50&amp;action=like&amp;font=arial&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=65" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:50px !important; height:65px;" allowTransparency="true"></iframe></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><g:plusone size="standard" href="http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2011/retrospective-apple-product-prediction-2/"></g:plusone></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><script type="in/share" data-url="http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2011/retrospective-apple-product-prediction-2/" data-counter="right"></script></div></div><p>Well over a year ago, I wrote an article on the regulated rigidness that is Apple&#8217;s product release cycle. I mapped out the next two years of Apple&#8217;s product launches down to the month, and it has been the most viewed post on my blog for the entirety of last year, even eclipsing Smashing Mag calling my bookshelf &#8220;rough&#8221;. nearly 40% of all page views were for that and over 80% of searches led to that page</p>
<p>So, looking back on what I wrote, was I right? Does it even matter?</p>
<p>Was I right?</p>
<p>Yes, most. Of the time. I predicted the iPhone, iPad, new iPods and 10.7 announcements very well. The iPhone 4 sdk announcement was spot on, but the ipad launch date was a bit off, as was the iPad 2 and iPhone 5 as well. I didn&#8217;t see OS X 10.7 Lion coming so soon after it&#8217;s announcement, given how long 10.6 took to release.</p>
<p>It seems that Apple have switched to an 18 month release cycle with it&#8217;s more mature products like the iPhone. The iPad is still new so innovation and new features are simple, the iPhone is more difficult as there&#8217;s very few extra sensors that they could add, so software and CPU/GPU components as well as the design of the device itself are the updates to be made. Significant changes like that take longer, so the 18 month cycle seems more reasonable.</p>
<p>What I got wrong or missed completely was more telling: I didn&#8217;t get the iMac refresh or te MacBook pro or air updates. I also got iWork 2011 out by 6 months. Not brilliant form, but let me explain why they&#8217;re out: Apple don&#8217;t control them, Intel do.</p>
<p>Intel&#8217;s processors are the main reason to get a new MacBook, they&#8217;re certainly the biggest update in every generation. The recent addition of Thunderbolt ports and a bit more RAM isn&#8217;t really a good reason to upgrade. Major design changes I.e. the unibody MacBook pro change or the nee design MacBook Air are harder to predict, but Intel makes it&#8217;s roadmaps very clear. They go in an annual tick-tock pattern, new architecture on the tick then tweaks and enhancements to that architecture on the tock. Then it continues (like clockwork) with a new micro-architecture every 2 years. This means you get an updated MacBook every year, at almost the same time of year. The only time it misses is if Intel miss a deadline, and they&#8217;ve not done that for years.</p>
<p>So, what&#8217;s the future? Pretty much the same as when I last wrote. Expect updates, regularly. As products mature, expect their release cycles to extend. New products get 12 months updates, then after a few years get 18 months updates until they are eventually discontinued. MacBook updates will continue to be in line with Intel processor updates.</p>
<p>And that is how Apple&#8217;s release cycle works. Any questions, Tweet me or write a comment below.</p>
 <img src="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?view=1&post_id=685" width="1" height="1" style="display: none;" />

<p><strong>If you liked this, you may also like:</strong><ol><li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2009/apple-product-roadmap-2010-2011-prediction/' rel='bookmark' title='Apple product roadmap 2010-2011 (prediction)'>Apple product roadmap 2010-2011 (prediction)</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/projects/use/2007/a-catchup-and-a-roadmap/' rel='bookmark' title='A Catchup and a Roadmap'>A Catchup and a Roadmap</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/web-design/iphone-web-design/2011/ipad-2-the-porsche-school-of-all-new-design/' rel='bookmark' title='iPad 2: the Porsche school of &#8220;all new design&#8221;'>iPad 2: the Porsche school of &#8220;all new design&#8221;</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>5 Rules for a great workspace</title>
		<link>http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/5-rules-for-a-great-workspace/</link>
		<comments>http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/5-rules-for-a-great-workspace/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 01 Oct 2010 11:00:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Steve Workman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ramblings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[workspaces]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.steveworkman.com/?p=443</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I started writing this post about a month ago whilst sat in the back garden of a friend&#8217;s house. I wasn&#8217;t actually thinking of much, but the environment allowed me to think clearly and freely. For reference, I was in the garden pictured above, and there wasn&#8217;t just one of those gorgeous dogs, there were [...]


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</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="socialize-in-content" style="float:right;"><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3R3aXR0ZXIuY29tL3NoYXJl" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-url=\"http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/5-rules-for-a-great-workspace/\" data-text=\"5 Rules for a great workspace\" data-count=\"horizontal\" data-via=\"steveworkman\" data-related=\"steveworkman\"><!--Tweetter--></a></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/5-rules-for-a-great-workspace/&amp;layout=button_count&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=50&amp;action=like&amp;font=arial&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=65" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:50px !important; height:65px;" allowTransparency="true"></iframe></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><g:plusone size="standard" href="http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/5-rules-for-a-great-workspace/"></g:plusone></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><script type="in/share" data-url="http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/5-rules-for-a-great-workspace/" data-counter="right"></script></div></div><p><a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zdGV2ZXdvcmttYW4uY29tL3dwLWNvbnRlbnQvdXBsb2Fkcy8yMDEwLzA5LzE1NjAwNTAyNS5qcGc="><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-499" title="My back garden office" src="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/156005025.jpg" alt="My back garden office" width="600" height="399" /></a></p>
<p>I started writing this post about a month ago whilst sat in the back garden of a friend&#8217;s house. I wasn&#8217;t actually thinking of much, but the environment allowed me to think clearly and freely. For reference, I was in the garden pictured above, and there wasn&#8217;t just one of those gorgeous dogs, there were three!</p>
<p>Since that time I&#8217;ve been thinking more about workspaces, and I&#8217;ve come up with some golden rules for a good office for me. I must stress that this works for me, and may or may not work for you.</p>
<p><strong>Rule 1: as few interruptions as possible</strong></p>
<p>I had had a good afternoon in the garden, silent apart from the birds singing, and plenty of tea in the kitchen. I was getting a lot of good thinking done and I was starting to get it down on paper. My only problem was three lovely four-legged distractions. One of them wanted me to throw a stone every 5 minutes and would bark if I didn&#8217;t. The further I threw it, the longer a break I got. If I threw it out of sight, she&#8217;d come back with a different stone after giving me nearly 15 minutes of uninterrupted peace as a reward for my good throw.</p>
<p>The more I think about my workspace, the more important a lack of interruptions becomes. A place where a person can think, exclusive of noise and distractions is conducive to creativity and great work. Someone speaking to you engages the language part of your brain (the left hemisphere). This generally dominant part stops the creative half of your brain (the right hemisphere) in its tracks and it can take a few minutes to re-engage this half your brain.</p>
<p>Now, in my opinion, coding is a creative task like drawing, and not a language or logical task. I&#8217;ve noticed this recently as I&#8217;ve been reading &#8220;<a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL2Ftem4udG8vOUVKV3gx">Drawing with the right side of the brain</a>&#8221; in an attempt to learn to draw. The book describes giving the language center of your brain a task it rejects in order to engage the right, more creative, hemisphere. As I&#8217;ve been doing this with drawing, I&#8217;ve noticed I do exactly the same thing when I&#8217;m engrossed in coding. The book recommends as few interruptions as possible when drawing, and so I recommend the same when working.</p>
<p><strong>Rule 2: a clear desk is a clear mind</strong></p>
<p>Once again, on the subject of distractions, having too much junk on your desk is conducive to procrastination, the enemy of getting things done. I personally tend to tidy, play with my iPad, sketch something, all generally whilst I&#8217;m waiting for something to load (I&#8217;ll come to that later). This also relates to any application that sends you messages. I&#8217;m a sucker for having GTalk, DestroyTwitter and Outlook open on my laptop as well as the company messaging system. It&#8217;s a blessing that most of my e-mail is mailing list stuff that I can ignore and that DT has an &#8220;away&#8221; function that queues up tweets for when I need a break or I&#8217;d get nothing done.</p>
<p><img class="aligncenter" title="My cluttered desk" src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-ash1/v299/48/82/539833614/n539833614_1239678_7482.jpg" alt="My cluttered desk" width="604" height="453" /></p>
<p>For instance, look at the picture above. This is me in 2007, not long after I&#8217;d started working at my current employer. I&#8217;m not following any of my rules here and I&#8217;m amazed that I got much done at all. The following things are wrong:</p>
<ol>
<li>My desk is a mess, there&#8217;s paper all over the place and I have to rummage through things to find what I&#8217;m after</li>
<li>I have two notepads in front of me, that&#8217;s one too many</li>
<li>There&#8217;s another laptop behind me with my work e-mail. This is so far out of my way for looking at my main screen that I disconnect from my task every time the laptop screen flickers</li>
</ol>
<p>I&#8217;ve learned a lot since then and now my desk is a lot clearer with fewer distractions.</p>
<p>So, a new policy, my desk shall be clear and the only apps open shall be the ones that I am working with directly.</p>
<p><strong>Rule 3: I must have a wall, it stores the ideas too big for my head</strong></p>
<p>This one may seem odd, but I have to have a wall for me to put design work on. If I don&#8217;t get some place for me to stick my database diagrams and wireframes, even if it&#8217;s just the little partition between my desk and the next, I won&#8217;t be able to see the big picture.</p>
<p>One of my jobs back in 2009 was up in Sheffield, where a team of four were trapped in a tiny glass box in the middle of a floor of people. Crampt conditions and general overheating weren&#8217;t the best when all of us were in the room, but since we didn&#8217;t have any desk space, we all used the walls and shared ideas. The result was a well thought-out system which was hugely well received by the client, all because we could see the big picture.</p>
<p>On other projects where I&#8217;ve not had access to a permanent wall, I&#8217;ve simply worked from home where I have a whiteboard (which I&#8217;ve had since uni). Giving myself the freedom to work in large spaces always produces my most creative and thought-out work.</p>
<p><strong>Rule 4: equipment is just as important as space</strong></p>
<p>Recently my desk and office have been brilliant, I&#8217;m following my rules and they&#8217;re working. However, I&#8217;m falling into an old trap, doing something else whilst the system loads. Unfortunately for me, the system needs to take a 30 second break every time I move the cursor (no prizes for guessing what tech I&#8217;m using) and hence I&#8217;m taking 30 seconds out to do other stuff, like get distracted by twitter.</p>
<p>The rule here is that your equipment is important. If you&#8217;re having to compromise and work around issues which allow you to lose concentration, be it a rubbish laptop or running out of sharpies, then you have to correct that. I&#8217;d never dream of doing iPhone development on my 2006 macbook, it&#8217;s simply not fast enough and would annoy me more than the task would be worth. Get the most powerful computer you can afford, it will make your life so much easier in the long run.</p>
<p><strong>Rule 5: keep yourself happy</strong></p>
<p>This last rule is the hardest to achieve, but will do the most for your productivity. My team, my colleagues and with few exceptions my friends, are not only there to work with me, but to keep each other happy.</p>
<p>An example from a project in late 2009, this time 12 people crammed into a room for 10; desk space at a premium, we were all in the same boat, and we kept each other going. The team dynamic was good because we were all working on something that we knew was important to the client and we were happy to work all sorts of hours to make it work. We also had an assignment manager who bought chocolate and sweets by the boat-load whenever morale started to waiver. Lunch was taken together and trips to the pub were highly encouraged. We were happy, and so we worked hard.</p>
<p>It is important for your health, not just your productivity, that you&#8217;re happy at work. Take breaks when you want, not when you&#8217;re distracted by someone. Build up a relationship with your colleagues where you can talk about anything, not just about work all the time, and have some fun!</p>
<p>These are my rules that I&#8217;ve come up with for a more productive place of work. I&#8217;m not saying they&#8217;re right, but they work for me.</p>
<p><em>What are your rules for a productive workspace? I&#8217;d love to hear your suggestions and advice. Just leave a comment below.</em></p>
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</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Geeks need their space</title>
		<link>http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/geeks-need-their-space/</link>
		<comments>http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/geeks-need-their-space/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:48:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Steve Workman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ramblings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Campaign Monitor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[workplaces]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.steveworkman.com/?p=425</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Today&#8217;s post inspiration comes courtesy of Matthew Solle (@solle) who tweeted this video of Campaign Monitor&#8217;s new offices This video reminded me of my afternoon at my client. After a week of wireframing, data architecting and meetings, I finally got to sit down and code what I&#8217;d had in my head for nearly a month. [...]


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<li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/5-rules-for-a-great-workspace/' rel='bookmark' title='5 Rules for a great workspace'>5 Rules for a great workspace</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/projects/use/2007/the-facebook-platform/' rel='bookmark' title='The Facebook Platform'>The Facebook Platform</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="socialize-in-content" style="float:right;"><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3R3aXR0ZXIuY29tL3NoYXJl" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-url=\"http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/geeks-need-their-space/\" data-text=\"Geeks need their space\" data-count=\"horizontal\" data-via=\"steveworkman\" data-related=\"steveworkman\"><!--Tweetter--></a></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/geeks-need-their-space/&amp;layout=button_count&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=50&amp;action=like&amp;font=arial&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=65" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:50px !important; height:65px;" allowTransparency="true"></iframe></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><g:plusone size="standard" href="http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/geeks-need-their-space/"></g:plusone></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><script type="in/share" data-url="http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/geeks-need-their-space/" data-counter="right"></script></div></div><p>Today&#8217;s post inspiration comes courtesy of <a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3lvdXRoZXVzZXIuY29t">Matthew Solle</a> (<a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3R3aXR0ZXIuY29tL3NvbGxl">@solle</a>) who tweeted this video of <a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jYW1wYWlnbm1vbml0b3IuY29tL2Jsb2cvcG9zdC8zMjQyL3RoZS1uZXctY2FtcGFpZ24tbW9uaXRvci1vZmZpY2Uv">Campaign Monitor&#8217;s new offices</a></p>
<p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="640" height="385" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fEHC6DkNpRU&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xd0d0d0&amp;hl=en_US&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;fs=1" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="385" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fEHC6DkNpRU&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xd0d0d0&amp;hl=en_US&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;fs=1" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<p>This video reminded me of my afternoon at my client. After a week of wireframing, data architecting and meetings, I finally got to sit down and code what I&#8217;d had in my head for nearly a month. Fellow geeks, you know how good a feeling it is to be in the zone and just do simply excellent work at what feels like breakneck speed, it&#8217;s great.</p>
<p>Except, I work in an open-plan office. There&#8217;s meeting rooms all around me and I&#8217;m right by the door, so people come and go all the time. I&#8217;ve also got two laptops and an iPad on my desk, along with a main monitor. Add to that an iPhone and my actual phone and things are pretty busy and I can easily get distracted without all the people around me.</p>
<p>This video showed me the absolute joys of having space to sit and think. People can still ask you stuff, messenger is always on, and they can pop round whenever it takes their fancy, but you have a room all to yourself with white boards and space to put all your thoughts on the walls. These developers, these lucky, lucky developers, will have the space to concentrate on what they do best, in an environment that they can tailor to their liking. It&#8217;s the joy of freelancing and having a home office, mixed with working with the best people around. Throw in guitar hero and I can&#8217;t imagine a better office.</p>
<p>So, why aren&#8217;t there more of these?</p>
<p>Simply, it&#8217;s money. In London, it wouldn&#8217;t make financial sense to have a kick-ass view of the river and all that space for only 20 people. It simply doesn&#8217;t happen. Open plan offices allow for people to be much closer together and still have some sense of space for themselves (just say no to cubicles).</p>
<p>I&#8217;d argue that the best people need this space, and if they can&#8217;t always have an office, then a project room for a small team. Failing that, just some space on the walls. As a developer, I value my space to think. As a designer, I value my space to create, and as a leader, I value my team.</p>
<p>Employers, give your people more space. A smaller office does not mean you save money if your workforce is unhappy. A smaller office does not equal more team spirit because you&#8217;re packed in together. A smaller office does not guarantee people talking to each other more just because they&#8217;re so tight up next to each other. Think about your office, think about your people, and create a space to work.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve found a great post on cool workplaces. Get inspiration from these and make your office a better place to work: <a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3Bvc2l0aXZlc2hhcmluZy5jb20vMjAwNi8xMC8xMC1zZWVlZWVyaW91c2x5LWNvb2wtd29ya3BsYWNlcy8=">10 Seriously cool workplaces on Chief Happiness Officer </a></p>
 <img src="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?view=1&post_id=425" width="1" height="1" style="display: none;" />

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<li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/5-rules-for-a-great-workspace/' rel='bookmark' title='5 Rules for a great workspace'>5 Rules for a great workspace</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/projects/use/2007/the-facebook-platform/' rel='bookmark' title='The Facebook Platform'>The Facebook Platform</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>Post drought = busy</title>
		<link>http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/post-drought-busy/</link>
		<comments>http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/post-drought-busy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:00:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Steve Workman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ramblings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iPad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iPhone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UXMag]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.steveworkman.com/?p=266</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[You know those days, the ones that turn into weeks, and when the weeks can quickly turn into months you start thinking I really should have stopped the rot when it was weeks (and before that, days). That feeling, is what I have now. Over the past few weeks (actually, nearly a month), I&#8217;ve been [...]


<strong>If you liked this, you may also like:</strong><ol><li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/2008/steveworkmancom-launches-2/' rel='bookmark' title='SteveWorkman.com Launches'>SteveWorkman.com Launches</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/web-design/microsoft/2006/joys-of-msdn/' rel='bookmark' title='Joys of MSDN'>Joys of MSDN</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/projects/steel-software/2007/steel-softwarecom-reborn/' rel='bookmark' title='Steel-Software.com reborn'>Steel-Software.com reborn</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="socialize-in-content" style="float:right;"><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3R3aXR0ZXIuY29tL3NoYXJl" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-url=\"http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/post-drought-busy/\" data-text=\"Post drought = busy\" data-count=\"horizontal\" data-via=\"steveworkman\" data-related=\"steveworkman\"><!--Tweetter--></a></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/post-drought-busy/&amp;layout=button_count&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=50&amp;action=like&amp;font=arial&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=65" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:50px !important; height:65px;" allowTransparency="true"></iframe></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><g:plusone size="standard" href="http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/post-drought-busy/"></g:plusone></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><script type="in/share" data-url="http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/post-drought-busy/" data-counter="right"></script></div></div><p>You know those days, the ones that turn into weeks, and when the weeks can quickly turn into months you start thinking I really should have stopped the rot when it was weeks (and before that, days). That feeling, is what I have now. Over the past few weeks (actually, nearly a month), I&#8217;ve been rushing around trying to get projects sorted, doing extra projects and starting new ones. Therefore, I haven&#8217;t had a chance to post. My bad.<br />
<a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zdGV2ZXdvcmttYW4uY29tL3dwLWNvbnRlbnQvdXBsb2Fkcy8yMDEwLzAzL3dyaXRlcnMtYmxvY2suanBn"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-267" title="writers-block" src="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/writers-block-300x200.jpg" alt="Steve has writer's block" width="300" height="200" /></a><br />
Good news is, I&#8217;ve found 10 minutes to write, so, here&#8217;s my last month:<br />
1. I&#8217;ve been asked to write articles for <a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy51eG1hZy5jb20=">UX Magazine</a> from an industry perspective. I&#8217;ll be posting once every few months, with my first one due in a week or two. I&#8217;m really pleased to be able to write for these guys who are just trying to spread the word of UX<br />
2. I&#8217;m at a new client, doing standards-based SharePoint work. I know, those two words don&#8217;t go well together, but just go with me on this one.<br />
3. I&#8217;m finishing an iPhone demo too. This could be really big so fingers crossed<br />
4. I&#8217;m going to buy an <a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zdGV2ZXdvcmttYW4uY29tL29mZnRvcGljL3JhbWJsaW5ncy8yMDEwL2ktY291bGQtcmVhbGx5LWRvLXdpdGgtYW4taXBhZC1yaWdodC1ub3cv">iPad</a>. I had previously said that <a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zdGV2ZXdvcmttYW4uY29tL29mZnRvcGljL3JhbWJsaW5ncy8yMDA5L2FwcGxlLXByb2R1Y3Qtcm9hZG1hcC0yMDEwLTIwMTEtcHJlZGljdGlvbi8=">I won&#8217;t buy one til the 2nd generation</a>, and, like with my 1G iPod Touch, I&#8217;ll probably regret it in the end, but I want one dammit!<br />
5. Finally, if you didn&#8217;t know already, I&#8217;m now engaged to my girlfriend/now fiancee Emily. We had a very good party last weekend and even 8 days later are still not fully recovered</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s a promise that I&#8217;ll have an on-topic post for next week.</p>
 <img src="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?view=1&post_id=266" width="1" height="1" style="display: none;" />

<p><strong>If you liked this, you may also like:</strong><ol><li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/2008/steveworkmancom-launches-2/' rel='bookmark' title='SteveWorkman.com Launches'>SteveWorkman.com Launches</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/web-design/microsoft/2006/joys-of-msdn/' rel='bookmark' title='Joys of MSDN'>Joys of MSDN</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/projects/steel-software/2007/steel-softwarecom-reborn/' rel='bookmark' title='Steel-Software.com reborn'>Steel-Software.com reborn</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>I could really do with an iPad right now</title>
		<link>http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/i-could-really-do-with-an-ipad-right-now/</link>
		<comments>http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/i-could-really-do-with-an-ipad-right-now/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 07 Feb 2010 23:46:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Steve Workman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[iPhone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ramblings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iPad]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.steveworkman.com/?p=230</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve found my use case for an iPad: working without wi-fi. I&#8217;m sat on my sofa watching the superbowl and my Internet connection is down. I&#8217;m left trying to write blog posts on my iPhone, which, by the speed of my typing, is not going to be fun. At this point, I&#8217;d like an iPad. [...]


<strong>If you liked this, you may also like:</strong><ol><li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/web-design/iphone-web-design/2010/emily-vs-the-ipad/' rel='bookmark' title='Emily vs the iPad'>Emily vs the iPad</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/web-design/iphone-web-design/2011/ipad-2-the-porsche-school-of-all-new-design/' rel='bookmark' title='iPad 2: the Porsche school of &#8220;all new design&#8221;'>iPad 2: the Porsche school of &#8220;all new design&#8221;</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/user-experience/2011/why-your-workforce-needs-to-be-mobilised-today/' rel='bookmark' title='Why your workforce needs to be mobilised today'>Why your workforce needs to be mobilised today</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="socialize-in-content" style="float:right;"><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3R3aXR0ZXIuY29tL3NoYXJl" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-url=\"http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/i-could-really-do-with-an-ipad-right-now/\" data-text=\"I could really do with an iPad right now\" data-count=\"horizontal\" data-via=\"steveworkman\" data-related=\"steveworkman\"><!--Tweetter--></a></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/i-could-really-do-with-an-ipad-right-now/&amp;layout=button_count&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=50&amp;action=like&amp;font=arial&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=65" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:50px !important; height:65px;" allowTransparency="true"></iframe></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><g:plusone size="standard" href="http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/i-could-really-do-with-an-ipad-right-now/"></g:plusone></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><script type="in/share" data-url="http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2010/i-could-really-do-with-an-ipad-right-now/" data-counter="right"></script></div></div><p>I&#8217;ve found my use case for an <a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5hcHBsZS5jb20vaXBhZA==">iPad</a>: working without wi-fi.<br />
<a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zdGV2ZXdvcmttYW4uY29tL3dwLWNvbnRlbnQvdXBsb2Fkcy8yMDEwLzAyL2dhbGxlcnktc29mdHdhcmUtaWJvb2tzLTIwMTAwMTI3LmpwZw=="><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-231" title="gallery-software-ibooks-20100127" src="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/gallery-software-ibooks-20100127-300x174.jpg" alt="iPad" width="300" height="174" /></a><br />
I&#8217;m sat on my sofa watching the superbowl and my Internet connection is down. I&#8217;m left trying to write blog posts on my iPhone, which, by the speed of my typing, is not going to be fun. At this point, I&#8217;d like an iPad. I&#8217;d like a laptop which isn&#8217;t quite a laptop, it just does what I need it to do. Thanks to lots of apps, the only thing I couldn&#8217;t do on an iPad would be code, and I&#8217;m sure that won&#8217;t be far away. All I want to do is write a blog post from the comfort of my sofa, without getting cramp in my hands or the battery running out.</p>
<p>The wi-fi only version is an interesting prospect, though wouldn&#8217;t solve my current internetless problem unless I could tether the iPhone to it. I wouldn&#8217;t be against the 3g version, though the data would have to be allowed to be shared with my current plan, or I simply couldn&#8217;t justify the expense.</p>
<p>I&#8217;d also love it if it was intelligent enough to use the home sharing feature that iTunes 9 introduced. Music over wi-fi seems like a no brainer to me.</p>
<p>Well, will I get one in April? Maybe. If the price isn&#8217;t as silly a conversion as Macs are, it may be worth a look. Otherwise, it looks like i&#8217;ll make do with my old laptop</p>
 <img src="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?view=1&post_id=230" width="1" height="1" style="display: none;" />

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<li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/web-design/iphone-web-design/2011/ipad-2-the-porsche-school-of-all-new-design/' rel='bookmark' title='iPad 2: the Porsche school of &#8220;all new design&#8221;'>iPad 2: the Porsche school of &#8220;all new design&#8221;</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/user-experience/2011/why-your-workforce-needs-to-be-mobilised-today/' rel='bookmark' title='Why your workforce needs to be mobilised today'>Why your workforce needs to be mobilised today</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Apple product roadmap 2010-2011 (prediction)</title>
		<link>http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2009/apple-product-roadmap-2010-2011-prediction/</link>
		<comments>http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2009/apple-product-roadmap-2010-2011-prediction/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:35:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Steve Workman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[iPhone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ramblings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Apple]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[roadmap]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.steveworkman.com/?p=172</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you&#8217;re like me, with an eye on Google Reader even over the holidays, you won&#8217;t have failed to notice the upcoming Apple event at which the Apple touch-screen tablet, likely to be called iSlate or the Slate, will be announced. Such is the predictability of this event, given the number of rumours that have [...]


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<li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2008/apple-store-frivolity/' rel='bookmark' title='Apple Store Frivolity'>Apple Store Frivolity</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="socialize-in-content" style="float:right;"><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3R3aXR0ZXIuY29tL3NoYXJl" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-url=\"http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2009/apple-product-roadmap-2010-2011-prediction/\" data-text=\"Apple product roadmap 2010-2011 (prediction)\" data-count=\"horizontal\" data-via=\"steveworkman\" data-related=\"steveworkman\"><!--Tweetter--></a></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2009/apple-product-roadmap-2010-2011-prediction/&amp;layout=button_count&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=50&amp;action=like&amp;font=arial&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=65" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:50px !important; height:65px;" allowTransparency="true"></iframe></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><g:plusone size="standard" href="http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2009/apple-product-roadmap-2010-2011-prediction/"></g:plusone></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><script type="in/share" data-url="http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2009/apple-product-roadmap-2010-2011-prediction/" data-counter="right"></script></div></div><p>If you&#8217;re like me, with an eye on Google Reader even over the holidays, you won&#8217;t have failed to notice the upcoming Apple event at which the Apple touch-screen tablet, likely to be called iSlate or the Slate, will be announced. Such is the predictability of this event, given the number of rumours that have appeared, it is now completely without interest. Even the <a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5uZXdzZmFjdG9yLmNvbS9zdG9yeS54aHRtbD9zdG9yeV9pZD03MDgxMA==">stock market</a> takes more notice of Apple&#8217;s rumours, rather than their product announcements.</p>
<p>So, I&#8217;ve gazed into my crystal ball, looked at the last few years of product announcements, and have come up with the major headlines for the next two years of Apple products.</p>
<div id="attachment_173" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zdGV2ZXdvcmttYW4uY29tL3dwLWNvbnRlbnQvdXBsb2Fkcy8yMDA5LzEyL2FwcGxlLXByb2R1Y3Qtcm9hZG1hcC0yMDEwLTIwMTEucG5n"><img class="size-full wp-image-173" title="Apple product roadmap 2010-2011" src="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/apple-product-roadmap-2010-2011.png" alt="Apple product roadmap 2010-2011" width="500" height="537" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Apple product roadmap 2010-2011</p></div>
<p>The major events, spread throughout the year, all have very specific themes. January is iLife/iWork and major product announcements, March is a developers preview of new software, WWDC in June is a major product launch, September is a big iPod event and November is pre-Christmas product refresh time. For those reasons, the above list shouldn&#8217;t be too surprising to most people in the know.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m predicting next year will be the Slate&#8217;s year, rather than the iPhone. It&#8217;s too soon for a form factor change and it&#8217;s got all the features it could have at this time, so 2011 will be the next iPhone update. The Slate will fit into the iPhone&#8217;s product release schedule, now being Apple&#8217;s flagship product, with yearly updates for the first few years depending on its success. The Macbook Pro line will be somewhat ignored until the end of 2010 when it gains Intel quad cores like its iMac brother. At this time, I believe the first details on OS X 10.7 will come out, probably with a new UI paradigm, potentially merging with the Slate&#8217;s modified iPhone OS.</p>
<p>2011 will see &#8220;Westmere&#8221; Mac Pros, though it&#8217;s possible that this will be quite a quiet event, given<a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5tYWN3b3JsZC5jb20vYXJ0aWNsZS8xNDM5OTgvMjAwOS8xMS9jb3JlaTd2c21hY3Byby5odG1s"> i7 iMacs are more cost-effective</a> than Mac Pros. An updated iPhone/Slate OS will follow in March, and a second generation Slate in June (which will be the one I&#8217;ll get). Some controversy to follow then with a new iPod on the horizon; my thinking goes that the whole product line there needs a kick to keep people buying them, and by this time, technology will be good enough for something amazing. Finally, after that will come Intel i9 iMacs, with those processors being available for Macbook Pros by the end of 2012.</p>
<p>Honestly, you could probably try and predict further ahead than that with some accuracy, but forecasts become quite hazy more than two years down the line. Still, if there&#8217;s any betting shops out there willing to give me good accumulator odds on this, drop me a line!</p>
<p><strong>Update 1 (March 2010):</strong> I got the <a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL2FwcGxlLmNvbS9pcGFk">Slate/iPad</a> right, though not the release date. Still, by the time it reaches the rest of the world it probably will be July. Not so sure about a March &#8220;Town Hall&#8221; event, though I&#8217;d still expect iPhone OS 4.0 with the iPhone update this year. Also, people keep going on about potential Core i3/i5 updates for the Macbook Pro line. This hasn&#8217;t happened yet and I still think I&#8217;m in with a shout of November. The problem will be power consumption and heat, which may need a bit more work to keep the 8 hour battery life promise that Apple have made.</p>
<p><strong>Update 2 (April 2010):</strong> it seems I got the iPhone 4.0 OS announcement right at the town hall event, just seems that it was in April rather than March. Unfortunately, the i5/i7 Macbook Pro announcement was in April, not November as I said. Better luck next time for that one</p>
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<li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/projects/use/2007/a-catchup-and-a-roadmap/' rel='bookmark' title='A Catchup and a Roadmap'>A Catchup and a Roadmap</a></li>
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</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Recent work &#8211; entirely non-UI focused</title>
		<link>http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2009/recent-work-entirely-non-ui-focused/</link>
		<comments>http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2009/recent-work-entirely-non-ui-focused/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 May 2009 00:01:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Steve Workman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ramblings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[.NET]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.steveworkman.com/?p=158</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When I created this blog, I wanted it to be about user interfaces, CSS, and maybe a bit of client script and design. That&#8217;s what I do and what I love doing, truly it&#8217;s what I got into this business to do. My last few months, however, have been spent dealing with all sorts of [...]


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<li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/projects/use/2006/website-changes/' rel='bookmark' title='Website Changes'>Website Changes</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/projects/2008/patching-iui/' rel='bookmark' title='Patching iUI'>Patching iUI</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="socialize-in-content" style="float:right;"><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3R3aXR0ZXIuY29tL3NoYXJl" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-url=\"http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2009/recent-work-entirely-non-ui-focused/\" data-text=\"Recent work &#8211; entirely non-UI focused\" data-count=\"horizontal\" data-via=\"steveworkman\" data-related=\"steveworkman\"><!--Tweetter--></a></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2009/recent-work-entirely-non-ui-focused/&amp;layout=button_count&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=50&amp;action=like&amp;font=arial&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=65" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:50px !important; height:65px;" allowTransparency="true"></iframe></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><g:plusone size="standard" href="http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2009/recent-work-entirely-non-ui-focused/"></g:plusone></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><script type="in/share" data-url="http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2009/recent-work-entirely-non-ui-focused/" data-counter="right"></script></div></div><p>When I created this blog, I wanted it to be about user interfaces, CSS, and maybe a bit of client script and design. That&#8217;s what I do and what I love doing, truly it&#8217;s what I got into this business to do. My last few months, however, have been spent dealing with all sorts of other technologies that exist nowhere near the front end.</p>
<p>The technology I&#8217;ve been using has actually been quite fun. I&#8217;ve been dealing with the <a title=\"Entity Framework\" href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL2VuLndpa2lwZWRpYS5vcmcvd2lraS9BRE8uTkVUX0VudGl0eV9GcmFtZXdvcms=">.NET Entity Framework</a>, which is an auto-generating data access layer similar to <a title=\"LLBLGen\" href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5sbGJsZ2VuLmNvbS9kZWZhdWx0Z2VuZXJpYy5hc3B4">LLBLGen</a> or <a title=\"Hibernate\" href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5oaWJlcm5hdGUub3Jn">Hibernate</a> for Java. It&#8217;s free, works very well and has saved me a heap of time on this project. There are quite a few problems with it though, namely handling of scalar stored procedures, mediocre data model updating and the usual Attach/Detach context problems that it shares with Hibernate. It could do with some &#8220;scaffold&#8221; functionality too, but I think that&#8217;s included in <a title=\"MVC Framework\" href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5hc3AubmV0L212Yy8=">.NET MVC Framework</a>.</p>
<p>I&#8217;vealso  been playing with <a title=\".NET AJAX\" href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5hc3AubmV0L2FqYXgv">.NET AJAX</a> which works ok, though it&#8217;s not as lightweight as doing the posts to another page (or in another language, damned viewstate), it has built-in fallbacks for non-javascript users, which is exactly what you want to do when making a AAA accessible site! I&#8217;ve had exposure to <a title=\"iTextSharp\" href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL2l0ZXh0c2hhcnAuc291cmNlZm9yZ2UubmV0Lw==">iTextSharp</a>, a .NET PDF assistant. I found it very easy to use and getting .NET to populate some PDF form fields was very easy. Having to use Adobe Acrobat Pro to make the PDFs was not as fun <img src='http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_sad.gif' alt=':-(' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>I&#8217;ve also been playing with SQL database mail, SQL&#8217;s bcp function,  and fighting with Visual SourceSafe and IIS. Yes, I&#8217;m working for a client who likes Microsoft <img src='http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif' alt=';-)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>In reality, I&#8217;ve been sidelined from what I like doing because I can also do the server-side gubbins. Some days I&#8217;d rather not know how to do it, but I&#8217;ve now been a programmer for nearly 6 years (!!!) and I&#8217;ve realised that I know quite a lot about the entire process of building a system architecture that works (I know the following languages, Java, C#, CSS, HTML, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, SQL, Objective-C, Haskell, Prolog, and lots of specific libraries like DirectX, OpenGL, jQuery).</p>
<p>My next project looks like it will be iPhone based, so whilst I need to brush up on my Cocoa, I may get back to doing what I love: creating beautiful, usable interfaces that improve the way we work with technology.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m looking to complete work on an article on &#8220;Designing for Touch&#8221; soon. Looking good so far&#8230;</p>
 <img src="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?view=1&post_id=158" width="1" height="1" style="display: none;" />

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<li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/projects/use/2006/website-changes/' rel='bookmark' title='Website Changes'>Website Changes</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/projects/2008/patching-iui/' rel='bookmark' title='Patching iUI'>Patching iUI</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Unique IDs in AJAX Web Applications</title>
		<link>http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2008/unique-ids-in-ajax-web-applications/</link>
		<comments>http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2008/unique-ids-in-ajax-web-applications/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:07:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Steve Workman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[JavaScript]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ramblings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ID tags]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.steveworkman.com/?p=115</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This week, Roger Johansson of 456 Berea Street posted about unique IDs in web applications. I read this and thought, &#8220;you&#8217;re right, they should be unique, but what if you&#8217;ve got an AJAX repeater?&#8221; By this I mean when I&#8217;m loading functional parts of my application that I&#8217;ll be referencing with JavaScript again, do I [...]


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</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="socialize-in-content" style="float:right;"><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3R3aXR0ZXIuY29tL3NoYXJl" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-url=\"http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2008/unique-ids-in-ajax-web-applications/\" data-text=\"Unique IDs in AJAX Web Applications\" data-count=\"horizontal\" data-via=\"steveworkman\" data-related=\"steveworkman\"><!--Tweetter--></a></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2008/unique-ids-in-ajax-web-applications/&amp;layout=button_count&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=50&amp;action=like&amp;font=arial&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=65" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:50px !important; height:65px;" allowTransparency="true"></iframe></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><g:plusone size="standard" href="http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2008/unique-ids-in-ajax-web-applications/"></g:plusone></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><script type="in/share" data-url="http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2008/unique-ids-in-ajax-web-applications/" data-counter="right"></script></div></div><p>This week, Roger Johansson of 456 Berea Street <a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy40NTZiZXJlYXN0cmVldC5jb20vYXJjaGl2ZS8yMDA4MTIvdGhlX2lkX2F0dHJpYnV0ZXNfdmFsdWVfbXVzdF9iZV91bmlxdWUv">posted about unique IDs in web applications</a>. I read this and thought, &#8220;you&#8217;re right, they should be unique, but what if you&#8217;ve got an AJAX repeater?&#8221; By this I mean when I&#8217;m loading functional parts of my application that I&#8217;ll be referencing with JavaScript again, do I have to maintain a unique ID? Surely it knows what I added last or how to make them into an array?</p>
<p><span id="more-115"></span></p>
<p>This problem is common with certain kinds of forms where you want to let the user add another item but don&#8217;t want to have a large form on a page. For this I then append a bit of my form to the page. However, if I want to manipulate that field again, I have to assign it a unique ID, but what should that be?</p>
<p>Say the field had and ID of &#8220;cheese&#8221;, what would you add to the end to make it unique? Would you continually increment and hope they don&#8217;t hit the button 65 million times? (unlikely I know, but possible). Do you assign it a random number, then have to remember this random number and hope it doesn&#8217;t come up again?</p>
<p>What I would love to see is to be able to (naturally) access arrays of IDs, allowing IDs to be duplicated without the browser falling over. Is it too much to ask, or do I have to keep appending random numbers to my fields?</p>
 <img src="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?view=1&post_id=115" width="1" height="1" style="display: none;" />

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</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Why I Use Opera &#8211; A case for the browser underdog</title>
		<link>http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2008/why-i-use-opera-a-case-for-the-browser-underdog/</link>
		<comments>http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2008/why-i-use-opera-a-case-for-the-browser-underdog/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 09 May 2008 08:40:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Steve Workman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Browsers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ramblings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[browser wars]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Opera]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.steveworkman.com/?p=71</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I’ve been using Opera since it reached version 9.0 in 2006. I have used it every day since in one form or another. I use Opera on my PA laptop, on my Mac, on my TV, my games console and on my Phone, and since Opera’s rendering engine is now built into some Adobe products (Photoshop, Dreamweaver and GoLive) I’m using Opera even when I don’t realise it.


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</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="socialize-in-content" style="float:right;"><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3R3aXR0ZXIuY29tL3NoYXJl" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-url=\"http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2008/why-i-use-opera-a-case-for-the-browser-underdog/\" data-text=\"Why I Use Opera &#8211; A case for the browser underdog\" data-count=\"horizontal\" data-via=\"steveworkman\" data-related=\"steveworkman\"><!--Tweetter--></a></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2008/why-i-use-opera-a-case-for-the-browser-underdog/&amp;layout=button_count&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=50&amp;action=like&amp;font=arial&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=65" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:50px !important; height:65px;" allowTransparency="true"></iframe></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><g:plusone size="standard" href="http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2008/why-i-use-opera-a-case-for-the-browser-underdog/"></g:plusone></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><script type="in/share" data-url="http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2008/why-i-use-opera-a-case-for-the-browser-underdog/" data-counter="right"></script></div></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Arial;"><img class="alignright" style="float: right;" src="http://techzone26.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/opera-logo.jpeg" alt="Opera Logo" width="165" height="145" />I’ve been using <a title=\"Opera Browser\" href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5vcGVyYS5jb20=">Opera</a> since it reached version 9.0 in 2006. I have used it every day since in one form or another. I use Opera on my PA laptop, on my Mac, on my TV, my games console and on my Phone, and since Opera’s rendering engine is now built into some Adobe products (Photoshop, Dreamweaver and GoLive) I’m using Opera even when I don’t realise it.<span id="more-71"></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Arial;">I use Opera for its productivity features. Opera Desktop contains keyboard shortcuts for almost every action, but I’ll start with the most important features:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Speed Dial</strong> – Opera lets you pick 9 web sites that you visit the most and assigns them to the number keys. Now, if I want to go to my e-mail, I simply press Ctrl+3 and the browser goes to the page I want. I could also type 3 into the address bar and press enter or use the voice commands.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Searching with letters</strong> – With the multitude of services on the internet, I find myself having to go through many pages and lots of tedious loading in order to get to a search page. Opera does have a dedicated search box for many services, but you can do it another way. In the address bar, I can type “g PA Consulting” and it’ll perform a Google search for PA Consulting. It works for any search too and can be set up by the user, so I often type “a Web Design”, which will search Amazon.co.uk for “Web Design”.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“The Wand” &#8211; Password manager</strong> – A very simple and effective solution. On any form you can save the input to “the wand”. If you return to that page and want to put the same information in again, hit Ctrl+Enter. If you have saved more than one set of data to the form, it’ll ask you to select one. Managing your passwords couldn’t be simpler.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Built-in RSS reader</strong> – Most browsers have some form of RSS syndication functionality, but few come close to Opera’s easy-to-manage feed reader. It’s not as fully featured as a stand-alone feed reader or Google Reader, but it loads stories very quickly and does its job. Other features that I’ll mention here are an in-built <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">download manager</strong>, <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">BitTorrent client</strong> and <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">POP3/IMAP e-mail</strong> program. Opera is a Swiss-army knife that doesn’t need extensions to make it powerful.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Presto Rendering Engine</strong> – The Opera team has produced their own rendering engine that renders web pages faster than any other browser (even Safari, depending on the test). Opera supports the full range of CSS2 and most of the CSS3 feature set. Put simply, if a web site renders incorrectly in Opera, the web site isn’t correct (according to W3C standards). Whilst this used to cause a lot of problems, this really isn’t the case today. In your day-to-day usage, you shouldn’t find many popular web sites that render incorrectly in Opera.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Arial;">Opera is also the fastest web browser for JavaScript. Run the </span><a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL21vb3Rvb2xzLm5ldC9zbGlja3NwZWVkLw=="><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Arial;">SlickSpeed</span></a><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Arial;"> test on all the modern browsers and Opera will come out on top every time (the 9.5 release excels at this test).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Voice Commands and Screen Reader</strong> – From a testing perspective, screen readers can be right at the bottom of the list for resource requests. With Opera, the UE expert need not worry about accessibility because Opera has a voice module built in. You can issue commands to read the page, go to a certain page (or a speed dial choice) and do all the commands that are available throughout the program.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Arial;">The next few features are in the <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a title=\"Opera 9.5 Kestrel\" href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5vcGVyYS5jb20vcHJvZHVjdHMvZGVza3RvcC9uZXh0Lw==">upcoming v9.5</a></em> release:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bookmark synchronisation</strong> – A very popular extension for Firefox is a built-in feature for Opera. This allows you to synchronise bookmarks, speed dials and search engine preferences between instances of the browser on multiple computers. Perfect for using Opera on your desktop and your laptop.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Opera Dragonfly – Developer tools</strong> – Opera now has a suite of developer tools, including a full DOM and CSS inspection tool, JavaScript debugger and multiple error consoles. It will also be able to debug Opera Mobile and Opera TV devices. Whilst Dragonfly is not as developed as Firebug, it can be considered as a genuine alternative.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Arial;">Opera includes even more features including mouse gestures, fraud protection, individual site preferences, thumbnail preview of tabs, widgets, notes, custom themes and a very useful kiosk mode. It’s also the least memory-hungry of all the browsers and the fastest to load.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">So why isn’t it used more?</span></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Arial;">It’s used a lot on mobile devices (40 million phones have shipped with it pre-installed), though its take-up on the desktop is around 1.5% of the market. It’s partly to do with Opera’s rendering “problems” and the reputation that has gained it. Firefox tends to be kinder to web pages that are less standards-compliant, and so has gained a greater following. Opera has only recently (i.e. 6<sup>th</sup> May 2008) received developer tools, something Firefox and Internet Explorer have enjoyed for years. This has discouraged developers for developing to Opera, which starts a vicious cycle of errors, a bad reputation and fewer developers fixing problems on it. It also doesn’t help that many large companies simply ban Opera from some of their services (RBS Banking doesn’t support Opera, though it supports Firefox).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Arial;">It may also be that before version 8.5. Opera was supported by advertisements. This image has been a hard one to shake off, especially as Firefox was coming to fruition at this time and was completely free. Opera has recently gained some popularity in other channels like on the Nintendo Wii and mobile phones, emerging markets that will increase the profile of the company and hopefully the use of the full browser, though that remains to be seen.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Why should I change my browser now?</span></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Arial;">Most people simply “make do” with the browser they are given. Now people are realising there is a choice (Firefox), but they are simply making do with that. Changing to Opera will boost your productivity and supports the features that other browsers only seem to copy. If you’re even remotely interested in where the internet is headed (i.e. mobile devices/integrated computing), Opera will be at the forefront of that movement.</span></p>
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<li><a href='http://www.steveworkman.com/web-design/browsers/2008/opera-95-released/' rel='bookmark' title='Opera 9.5 Released'>Opera 9.5 Released</a></li>
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		<title>Athlete @ The Camden Roundhouse</title>
		<link>http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2008/athlete-the-camden-roundhouse/</link>
		<comments>http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2008/athlete-the-camden-roundhouse/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 Feb 2008 23:40:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Steve Workman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gigs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ramblings]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.steel-software.com/2008/02/04/athlete-the-camden-roundhouse/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A few weeks ago, the Camden Roundhouse played host to one of Britain&#8217;s great underestimated bands. Perhaps to call them undiscovered would be a misrepresentation for Athlete have had 3 top-ten albums and a couple of top-ten singles, but the sell-out crowd would call them one of the country&#8217;s most unappreciated bands. The crowd was [...]


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</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="socialize-in-content" style="float:right;"><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><a href="http://www.steveworkman.com/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-feed-statistics/feed-statistics.php?url=aHR0cDovL3R3aXR0ZXIuY29tL3NoYXJl" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-url=\"http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2008/athlete-the-camden-roundhouse/\" data-text=\"Athlete @ The Camden Roundhouse\" data-count=\"horizontal\" data-via=\"steveworkman\" data-related=\"steveworkman\"><!--Tweetter--></a></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2008/athlete-the-camden-roundhouse/&amp;layout=button_count&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=50&amp;action=like&amp;font=arial&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=65" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:50px !important; height:65px;" allowTransparency="true"></iframe></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><g:plusone size="standard" href="http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2008/athlete-the-camden-roundhouse/"></g:plusone></div><div class="socialize-in-button socialize-in-button-vertical"><script type="in/share" data-url="http://www.steveworkman.com/offtopic/ramblings/2008/athlete-the-camden-roundhouse/" data-counter="right"></script></div></div><p>A few weeks ago, the Camden Roundhouse played host to one of Britain&#8217;s great underestimated bands. Perhaps to call them undiscovered would be a misrepresentation for Athlete have had 3 top-ten albums and a couple of top-ten singles, but the sell-out crowd would call them one of the country&#8217;s most unappreciated bands. The crowd was mostly middle-class 18-30s, a lot of couples and close groups of friends, which is probably one of the biggest indicators of why Athlete have never taken off in the way they should have. They&#8217;re not a band that your whole group of friends will like, some people will understand and some won&#8217;t.<span id="more-58"></span> Truth be told, I didn&#8217;t get in to their latest album, Beyond the Neighbourhood, until the 3<sup>rd</sup> listen, but after that I was hooked. Its beautiful balance of soft guitar, electronic noise and traditional rock has made it one of my favourite albums of 2007.</p>
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<p>The gig started somewhat badly. When I discovered that Boy Kill Boy would be supporting, I was quite excited at the prospect, but the reality did not pan out as I had thought. The audience simply weren&#8217;t engaged by Boy Kill Boy&#8217;s raucous strumming, and tunes that would have other audiences bouncing fell on deaf ears. This wasn&#8217;t completely the band&#8217;s fault (though the drummer could hardly stop his eyes rolling into his head, looking like he was in intense pain with every beat), the sound was completely wrong for this band. My sound engineer friend kindly pointed out that you couldn&#8217;t hear the guitar at all, just the bass and high-end keyboard. It certainly didn&#8217;t help that the vocals then were lost in the Roundhouse&#8217;s high ceiling, echoing at every opportunity. That&#8217;s not to say it was all bad, the band loosened up and sound problems were remedied, but not before the audience was returning nonchalant looks to the front-man&#8217;s wry smiles.</p>
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<p>After a short break, Athlete took to the stage to rapturous applause and quickly launched into<em> &#8220;Second Hand Stores&#8217;</em>&#8221; (one of my favourite tracks), which buoyed the crowd with their energy and upbeat choice of opener. The gig progressed flicking between all three albums, playing crowd pleasers and all the singles, front-man Joel&#8217;s smile exuding happiness and energy back to the crowd. Twenty minutes in and everyone had settled into a rhythm, Athlete continuing to delight the audience with every new song. The crowd certainly seemed to enjoy the melancholy a lot more than I thought they would. This seemed like an audience who would actually sit and marvel at Pink Floyd rather than enjoy bouncing off the walls to Muse. Athlete&#8217;s brilliance shone through with some excellent instrumental sections, notably at the end of<em> &#8220;The Outsiders</em>&#8221; where their keyboard player worked his magic on the sound banks, producing a calming notion on the crowd.</p>
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<p>When the lights came up everyone looked satisfied, as though they had came expecting greatness and had received their dues. The out track, <em>&#8220;Flying Over Bus Stops&#8221; </em>provided a sombre end to a show that had been brimming with life. Whilst some bands like to go out with a bang, Athlete left the audience in no doubt as to their musical style; understated, never compromising on quality, and most of all, absolutely brilliant.</p>
<p>Steve</p>
<p>Currently listening to: Radiohead &#8211; In Rainbows<br />
Currently Reading: still reading that Anthony Lloyd book<br />
Currently Eating: Goooood food<br />
Currently Watching: Cloverfield and Lost, both brilliant<br />
Currently praying for the writers strike to end because: I miss scrubs</p>
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