Every once in a while ideas pop into my head. I can’t help it. Most are crap, but some warrant further investigation. Problem is that I do not have the technical knowledge to look into some of them and create proof-of-concept type applications. I’m pretty good with WordPress and actionscript, but other than that I’m pretty much lost. One of my ideas would require using the Google Maps API for instance, others need somewhat sophisticated database operations or SMS interaction, or… who knows.
More Wanted: Tech guru

I picked up my new PC yesterday, installed Vista last night and have been playing with it for a few hours now. So far everything is going pretty smoothly, except for the fact that my old PC wasn’t very happy about being replaced and, in a stroke of envy I guess, decided not to boot anymore.
More Testing my new PC…

I haven’t bought a new PC for years. Not this century actually. My old rig has been upgraded a million times (from a 350 MHz Pentium III to a Celeron300@450, an AMD Duron 800 and later a 1300). A few years ago I had my motherboard’s capacitors explode, and it was turned into an Athlon 2000+. Since then I’ve made as few changes as possible, because I wanted to get a completely new one. That has meant living with a very noisy/slow/ugly computer for a few years, but those days will soon be over.
More A new rig

More baby gadgets . We’ve had one of the first DECT baby monitors for about four years now and even though it was ridiculously expensive when we got it we now feel it was money spent very very well. With DECT, there’s simply no interference, no chance of listening to your neighbour’s kid instead of yours and an amazing sound quality. Later models were much more affordable, and now they’ve released a new series, just in time for the birth of our second daughter, Iris.
More Philips/Avent SCD499 baby monitor

Chi Nederland, a Dutch association of human-machine interface specialists has published a short interview they had with me. It deals with interfaces, Flash and other usability issues. Enjoy!

Yesterday, I went up to the attic where my computer is to check my email and found that the entire floor smelled like burning plastic. The smell appeared to originate from our trusty old German-made washer dryer combo. I opened the door to check the laundry and found that it was on fire! Once the thick black smoke cleared away I could see my favorite towels smoldering away inside the washer’s drum. whilst drying, it had actually heated the laundry to the point where it ignited. Apparently, that happens quite easily with cotton.
More Dryer fire!