Status-Q

Ah - here's something for the run-up to Christmas...

Might be tempted when my dongle contract expires...

Leo Laporte is the host of the TWIT.TV network. He's an excellent host and his range of podcasts on a variety of topics have been the background for most of my shaving for some time!

The nature of the group discussions on the shows mean, however, that you never get to hear Leo for more than a couple of minutes at a stretch, and he's a very smart guy with a lot of interesting experience. So it's great to be able to hear the whole talk he gave at the Online News Association conference.

I've loved this image since I first saw it some time ago, and have just managed to track down a copy. I don't know its... errm... origins, though. Does anyone else?

Found this in the past, somewhere out there on the net...

Look at the dot in the centre and move your head towards or away from the image - the surrounding circles seem to move.

Anyone know why? Could you use such effects to make advertisements, or road-safety signs, more noticeable?

I’m a big fierce bird.

No, really, I am!

You think I’m only small, but I’m going to be big and fierce one day.

Are you scared yet?

See – I’m practising already.

There, that’s a pretty fierce look!

Well, OK, landlines are almost gone already, but their demise took another big step closer with AT&T's testing of a $150 3G femtocell.

If femtocells haven't played a big role in your life so far, let me explain, because they probably will do in the future. These are little cellphone base stations that you plug into your broadband network and, hey presto, give you mobile coverage in your home or office. Your phone can use them in just the same way as it would use a traditional cellphone tower, and the calls get routed over the broadband to the mobile service provider. Goodbye DECT.

I live about a mile from the centre of the UK's high-tech hub, Cambridge, and still get pretty patchy coverage in my house from most of the major providers. It's a disgrace, but soon devices like these will allow us to fix the phone companies' failings. At our own cost, of course, but that's better than not being able to make calls at all.

Anyone trialling them in the UK?

Rose and I have been removing some foliage today. This was the second load...

Many thanks to Andy Stanford-Clark for getting me searching YouTube for 'literal music videos'. Some of them are brilliant, and your appreciation for each one probably depends on your generation... Here's the best I've seen so far. Bonnie Tyler tells it like it is. Update 2012: you can now find it here . Here's Penny Lane, for even older readers...

I'm talking, of course, about the Aeropress - a coffee-making device from those people at Aerobie who brought you the better Frisbee. This is a better cafetière. I'm pretty fussy about coffee and I think this makes perhaps the best I've ever had. Actually, it's a sort of cross between a cafeterière (or French press) and an espresso maker, because it pushes the water through under pressure. The hot water only stays on the grounds for about 20 seconds, which I think is part of the key to its success.

I've long been a fan of my Nespresso machine, but I have to admit it's been standing idle for the last couple of days since this arrived. The Aeropress has been on sale in the US for a while but it's only fairly recently that you've been able to find it easily in the UK - I bought mine on amazon.co.uk for a small fraction of the price of the Nespresso machine.

A very fine bit of design, and definitely recommended.

You can see one in action here:

I use water from a not-quite-boiled kettle rather than doing the microwave thing, but this shows you how quick the process is. Oh, and the stirring is important.