Status-Q

I'm in the process of turning my previous, rather elderly, theme for this website into one that looks somewhat similar, but is now what is known in the jargon as 'responsive'.

This means the layout will try to adjust in all sorts of terribly cunning ways to the size of your screen or window. In particular, it should make it a bit easier to peruse Status-Q on a mobile device. One should always have something sensational to read on the train.

Please bear with me if there are still some rough edges, though...

While walking my dog in the fens yesterday, I saw a windmill, some miles away on the horizon.

That wasn't unusual around here.

But its sails were turning, and that was.

I set out on a search, and found it in the little village of Wicken, where Dave, Mary Ellen and Alan kindly showed me around.

It was a thoroughly inspiring visit - a beautiful sunny day with lots of wind, and as I climbed higher and higher, the whole building thrummed, almost purred, with an energy that rose and fell with the gusts.

I also captured some quick footage on my iPhone.

(Also on Vimeo here).

Definitely recommended if you're in the area when it's open - usually the first weekend of the month.

Tilly crossing the dyke, just north-west of Reach, this afternoon.

This morning I composed a longish message to my nephew, James, by dictating to my watch - a procedure that worked beautifully. There then followed a brief discussion on the quality of speech recognition. I turned to my Mac - because, of course, iMessage conversations are synchronised across all devices - and I continued dictating. "It's good in a quiet location with a good network connection!"

Sadly, this time, I did not enunciate the first couple of words quite so clearly, and the Mac cheerfully recorded, "Screwed in a quiet location with a good network connection!".

Which might have conjured up all sorts of interesting images at the other end.

Still, I guess that's just what they call 'social networking'.

Now, had I instead sent the message, "It's god in a quiet location with a good network connection!", it would still have been amusing, but understandable, in these days of careless typists and small keyboards. It's something we've adapted to, like illegible writing in the past. But, as I have a rapidly dwindling number of electronic devices in the house that do not at least claim to understand speech, I wonder when our ability to understand speakos will become as well-developed as our ability to interpret typos...

Marco Arment writes about why he's reducing his use of Google products:

...the reason I choose to minimize Google's access to me is that my balance of utility versus ethical comfort is different. Both companies do have flaws, but they're different flaws, and I tolerate them differently:

• Apple is always arrogant, controlling, and inflexible, and sometimes stingy.
• Google is always creepy, entitled, and overreaching, and sometimes oblivious.

How you feel about these companies depends on how much utility you get out of their respective products and how much you care about their flaws.

Simply put, Apple's benefits are usually worth their flaws to me, and Google's usually aren't.

I'm a fan of both companies, though if I had to choose between them for some reason, I too would pick Apple, both for the quality of the product and the cleanliness of the business plan. (My favourite Google product, though, which nobody else can yet match, is Street View.)

Back when Gmail was the hot new thing, and because it was free(!), I started using it as a backup for my email. I never actually use the web interface, but my other accounts forward incoming messages there, where they get filed immediately into the archive. This guards against losing too much in the event of the complete annihilation of whatever other email provider I'm actually using at the time. (Like Marco, I'm a very happy user of Fastmail.) I set up this system 11 years ago, and really haven't had to think about it since: it's probably the most painless backup solution available!

It does mean that Google have over 100,000 of my recent messages with which to analyse everything about me, though, and I wonder whether that trade-off is worthwhile now that my entire email archive - of which they only have half - would fit happily on a small USB stick....

The standard Apple charger clips into this Spigen charging stand. Works nicely for me.

Came across this a while ago - not sure of the origin....

I think this is great. Not long ago we would have thought internet-connected cars somewhat futuristic. Internet-connected bicycles would surely be next. But how far can you push that idea? Well, how about instrumenting your cycling using a pedal which has its own 3G connection and is self-powered?

More information about Connected Cycle here and on their web site.

We visited Eltham Palace, in London, today. An enjoyable outing. Henry VIII grew up here, though he wasn't a great fan of Art Deco, so that was added more recently.

Prof. Harold Thimbleby on how good design can dramatically improve safety.

Thanks to Simon for the link.