I'm sure many of you have will know what I'm talking about when I say it is very hard to keep track of all your online social interactions these days, tweets, blog posts, comments, bookmarks, videos and more!

To help us keep our sanity as we traverse the Social Multiverse™ several useful tools have been created; FriendFeed will aggregate most of the sites you contribute to into one twitteresque page, allowing comments to be made in one place, but unfortunately outside of the environment of the original post. Other tools, such as coComment or co.mments, keep track of conversations by aggregating your comments, from multiple sites, into one place, with browser plugins installed to automate it.

I've been using both these solutions for sometime now, to both feed my sidebar and help keep track of interesting discussions. Recently I've discovered Yahoo! Pipes, which according to Wikipedia, is:

...a web application from Yahoo! that provides a graphical user interface for building applications that aggregate web feeds, web pages, and other services, creating Web-based apps from various sources, and publishing those apps.

I've used it to pull my feeds from blogs, twitter, youtube, flickr and any discussions I'm tracking all into one time ordered feed. Pipes that you create can be made public so that other users can create clones based on their information my source is available here, just paste in your feed URL's and you're good.

I have plans to modify my pipe further, as at the moment it is a fairly basic RSS aggregator and other examples on Yahoo! Pipes put it to shame.

What other methods do people use to keep track and stay current?

Our prayer meeting on Monday night had a visit from night Pastor Groza, of Bethany Baptist Church, Romania, and a group of operatic singers, the Pro Gospel Quartet, I think they are in Northern Ireland for a while touring around various churches and venues, if you get a chance to hear them you should, they are incredible, I have never heard such powerful songs, sung with such passion, they really were giving it everything! No linkage for you unfortunately, I can't seem to find any mention of them online, but they could give professional singers a run for their money. My hat also goes off to their pianist/organist who was equally as incredible and managed to blow up short the church organ, that's what I call power!

Growing up in the seventies and eighties, my childhood memories basically consist of videogames, bright plastic toys and TV cartoons.

While reading an article over at Proton Charging I discovered the Foldskool Heroes, folded paper (and somewhat deformed) versions of my childhood memories. Be sure to check out the astronaut with chest bursting alien action in all its papery goodness.

As some of you know, on the 8th of August this year I got married and the lads have been making digs that I haven't blogged since then because I'm under the thumb, "another good man down," they say.

I wouldn't blame the delay on marriage as that's not fair, nor would I blame my beautiful new wife for keeping me from blogging, but the change of dynamic; moving house, living together, turning that house into a home, all take time and have been top priority for me. I've found my workload to be a lot heavier lately and and after a long busy day in work its hard to find something to write.

However, the break has done me good, now nearly five months on, I'm still happily married and writing the first of several planned posts and who knows what else.

On the 1st December after little more than one week's warning, Chancellor Darling (Not pictured below) lowered the UK VAT rate from 17.5% to 15% and the nation rejoiced.

On the same day the Irish VAT rate rose from 21% to 21.5% they weren't quite as happy. Very few people spared a thought, however, for the programming and IT support companies that had to push out updates and talk almost IT illiterate clients through changing updating their software. Yesterday I was one of those people, stepping in to fill the breach and stem the endless tide of phone calls and I have never been more grateful, in my life that I no longer work tech support.

That's all I have to say about that.

After working out I grabbed a cup of coffee from the Peet's stall in the hotel lobby, it wasn't great coffee but I was initially pleasantly surprised to see that the staff were undergoing retraining, right up to the point where I heard the trainer talking to the barista. This wasn't some young college kid, but an older Hispanic lady, who is very pleasant and upbeat, (although in Florida it's uncertain just how real the pleasantries really are). The trainer was a young well dressed White woman, whom I assume is from the local head office; I have ran, participated in and evaesdropped on enough Batista training sessions to know the way she was talking to this lady was in no way appropriate regardless of her competancy in making coffee. Talking down to and criticising someone to colleagues via the phone, infront of both the trainee herself and customers is wrong, there is nothing else to say about it. Hopefully she'll make it through the retraining and may I suggest the head office staff could do with some retraining on manners! Andrew

I'm in Florida on honeymoon and the last think I expected to find was a front page article in the Wall Street Journal about latte art! I'm not sure if it's available online, but it actually seems like a very balanced article, going into the potential expense and "over thinking" that can go into producing latte art. It even mentions our very own James Hoffman, and his crazy latte art challenge, among other famous names, David Schomer and Mark Prince etc. I'm still shocked that they found a place for a story like this on a front page otherwise dedicated to the ongoing conflict in Georgia. More news from the colonies is on it's way; Ive been to Starbucks to try their new Pike Place roast. Andrew

After helpingRussell I've decided to upload a couple of photo sets showing what I think are the best options to Jailbreak and/or Unlock an iPhone using Pwnage

This first photoset shows the options needed to create a custom restore bundle that will unlock and activate an original generation iPhone.

iPhone 2G Unlock

Disclaimer: DO NOT FOLLOW THESE STEPS FOR IPHONE 3G, THERE IS NO UNLOCK FOR IT YET

I hope you've got your glasses nice and full, there's a whole stack of toasts coming! We'd like to thank you all for coming today, it wouldn't have been half the day it was without our friends and family around us, so thank you.

We'd also like to thank our bridal party for their help today, for the bridesmaids, Tanya and Lousie, our ushers Brian and Richard, my groomsman Ashley, Kyle for his reading, to Jessica for singing and of course Mark, my best man. Just remember bro, go easy on me in your speech. The advantage of getting married first is that I can repay the favour when its your turn! I'd like you to raise your glasses and toast the wedding party.

A big thank you goes to both my mum and dad and my new mother and father in law, who have so warmly welcomed me into their family. The love and support from both our parents and the Godly homes that we have grown up in, have made a huge impact on both our lives and is part of the reason that we both know the Lord today. Lets raise our glasses to our parents

Of course then we have the most important person of the day, Lila, who, Im sure you'll all agree looks absolutely stunning.

As I'm sure you all know Lila and I are both saved, and Church has been and is an important part of our lives, infact Lila and I first met in church, all those years ago, but of course being a typical teenage boy, I had very interest in girls and am sorry to say didn't really notice her. But as you know Lila likes to get her way and eventually, after a few years, I noticed her, which goes to show, persistence pays off. We started going out on the 6th of September 2003, after  bravely asked her out via text message. I was a bit more brave when it came to proposing however, I did that in person! However any rumours that some people might spread. about how the shock put Lewis in hospital are completely untrue. I want to thank Lila for agreeing to marry me, I'm still not sure what I did right to make her say yes, but she did and now today I feel like I'm the happiest man in the world. So please everybody raise your glasses in a toast to Lila

Finally I'd like to thank our Lord and Saviour for all the help and strength he has given us over the years and would hope, now that we are married that we can now walk together, united in Him.

Thank you

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="203" caption="Burning Blackberries"][/caption]I've been nearly two weeks since the arrival of my iPhone 3G, signified by the burning of effigies of blackberries throughout the country. And since that time I've been patiently waiting for a native Wordpress application that would rival the TypePad app; yesterday was to be that day, or was it. Although not quite as disappointed with it as @cimota, there still are bugs to be worked out, like why I had to reinstall my blog to get it to work. I'm also concerned with my comment on the support site is still unapproved, are they trying to hide their bugs?

Regardless I'll stick with it for a while yet, I'm hoping for a quantum leap in features for version 1.1, in the way that Facebook 1.1 improved on it's initial false start.

Andrew

An interesting article, the author states that

"trust has faded in modern society because of the collapse in marriage and the family, the breakdown of working-class communities, and more fluid job structures"

I couldn't agree more, the sheer selfishness of people never ceases to amaze me, driving and shopping in Tesco on a Saturday afternoon are too good examples, but society as a whole is so wrapped up in itself that it is actually blind to its own condition.

Displacing the blame for the human condition - Telegraph.

Coffee on the cheap,
originally uploaded by colonelgrib.

I know the title of this post sounds like a new Starbucks' special, but it's really about saving money (not buying in Starbucks would be a good start) :-) At the moment there seems to be a lot less money to go around. Does that mean a lot less money to spend on "unnecesary luxuries" like a good cup of coffee?

Not so, making good coffee doesn't have to cost the earth, use a lot of electricity on fancy equipment or even create a mess. When we take coffee brewing back to its most simple form, you not only save money but you might actually find it tastes better too!

The photo attached shows you everything you need for a simple cup of "pour over" coffee; standard kitchen funnel, filter paper (or a mesh filter from a home coffee machine), coffee in an air tight container and a mug, all you need to add is hot water.

For one cup of coffee all you need is a desert spoon's worth of coarsely ground coffee (remember to only grind what you need, or use fresh pre-ground), put the paper filter in the funnel, add coffee and pour in your hot water, stir the grounds and add hot water until there is enough in your cup an thats it!

And it doesn't end there, anything left in the filter can be poured down the sink, helping keep your drain clear (yes coffee grounds are actually good for your pipes!) and the filter paper can be added to you compost pile if you have one. So there you go, you get a nice cup of coffee, save money, time and effort and help the environment too, what better way to start the day?

Andrew

Reality is having it tough lately, be it Dalek invasions or backwards temporal ripples from the CERN LHC test next month, but the worst disturbance of all, is the disturbing of my reality caused by another coffee shop closure in Belfast.

According to this blog post Espresso Soul in Belfast, has ceased to trade. I'm not sure of the details but I can say that Espresso Soul offered some of the best coffee in Belfast and the only reason there is no review here is that their coffee was so good I only drank espresso, poured from their beautiful lever machine, they will be missed.

Regardless of Espresso Soul's situation, it is very increasingly hard to operate any sort of business based on quality and passion rather than quantity and making a fast buck.

Andrew

I use Google Alerts like some Batman-esque early warning system, any and every time a news article or blog post mentions the words "Coffee" AND/OR "Espresso" AND "Belfast" AND/OR "Northern Ireland" I get an email sent my way. It not a perfect system, but it does allow me to find random or obscure articles that I would not have found ordinarily. A side effect is that I tend to trigger my own alerts, the sentence above will make sure of that, I also get a lot from Phil :-)

This morning's Alert brought me an interesting article, from Trifter with this hilarious quote:

"I suppose we are taking our place among the sophisticated places of the world much in the same way that a ten year old girl tries out her mother's make-up. Refinement comes with age and experience, and at this stage we still have lipstick smeared from ear to ear."

Cappuccino City

Over the coming weeks I hope to serialise a talk I recently gave at BarCamp Belfast. In this way and without the time constraint I hope to develop each point fully.


The terms startup, venture capital, blog and podcast are familiar to all that are involved in the IT world and the online community that they have created. However to say that these things only apply to IT companies is akin to looking through a telescope. In a world not too far removed from that of IT, young men and women who dare to be different are bringing innovation, energy and ethics to a centuries old industry, the Speciality Coffee Industry.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be lifting the lid on the speciality coffee industry, showing you that its not just caffeine that drives us and how the IT and coffee worlds overlapping has brought innovation.

I came across a renewable energy company in Chesire called,Sky Flair. After reading their about page I'm not sure how I'd feel about them installing equipment for me. Perhaps I am being a snob, could it be that this an open and honest approach to communicating with customers or a amateurish and unprofessional way to present you company?

It's a sleepy Sunday afternoon for me, after BarCamp Belfast yesterday and the media team in Church this morning. Time I think to relax, catch up on some reading and enjoy my new sample roasts.

I've been really enjoying coffee from South America lately, especially from Guatemala and El Salvador. Guatemala Finca San Francisco Tecuamburro is a personal favourite and I've been trying several styles of roast to bring out the natural sweetness in these beans and after the cup (or three) I've just had, I think I'm nearly there

I remember, at least I think I remember, (it could have been on televison), a time when staff in a shop were there to help and assist you, even if they were only after a sale. Fast-forward to the brave new world we live in and you'll find the majority of shop staff are no longer there to help you or their company; take a look around, most shop staff are under enthused, spoilt teenagers, who are only there to fund their weekend binge drinking/smoking/drugs/child support payments and have no interest in what they do because they can easily move another cushy seemingly brainless job with ease.

I'm not knocking all teenagers, nor am I saying the jobs are brainless, but it does seem that there are a lot of them and they really don't care. Whether it was the girl in subway who was disgusted and refused to put mayo on a meatball sub, the staff in Burtons who won't help you find a product, or the cafe worker who refuses to make a cappuccino cooler, because "that's how the machine does it" you all know who you are! If you find yourself reading this, no I am not a grumpy old man, but just think how you'd like to be treated in a shop, that's how you should be treating others. It's an age old ideal, but is as relevant today as ever.

Andrew

I hope to attend BarCamp Belfast this month, held in QUB on 21st June. BarCamp, for anyone that doesn't know, is a sort of un-conference, where people gather together "to share and learn in an open environment." To take the concept one step further I think of it as an "analog" wiki of sorts. Attendees arrange among themselves, before hand and during the event, who will speak and on what topic. Its like a 21st Century Quaker IT meeting.

I think its a great idea for people in similar fields to meet together and share their knowledge, ideas and have a bit of craic. Just look around the Web (2.0) today and you can see so much openness, with open APIs allowing unparalleled integration of apps. Collaboration spurs innovation!

If you still dont' know what I'm talking about, Wikipedia is your friend.

Andrew

This is a quick video, giving some pointers on pulling a better shot of espresso

Andrew

AKA - I can’t cup to save my life (Although that would be an interesting situation to be in, all the same)
The weekend has come and gone and as promised I have the results of my “great experiment” which were slightly different than I expected; I discovered a complete inability to distinguish any flavours when cupping! I’m not panickng yet though, I have a very good sense of smell and taste and I find it very unlikely that this would happen, unless the taste was incredibly over/under powering, which would happen if my grind was incorrect.

Not to be defeated and not wanting to waste any more precious coffee, I moved to my espresso maker and set to work over-caffeinating my family. The result being that I ended up pulling drinks WBC style, in batches of four, both espresso and cappuccino and having three members of the family evaluate, based on body, flavour, sweetness, acidity etc. I drank the remaining drinks, so they wouldn’t go to waste

We sampled Coffee Collective’s Espresso Blend, Ristretto Coffee’s Espresso Blend, Has Bean’s El Salvador Finca La Siberia and my “Proletariat Blend.” In hindsight, I wish I’d ordered Has Bean’s Espresso Blend, to make this a fair test; the La Siberia is in a league of its own as far as I’m concerned, it’s a wonderful example of a single-origin espresso and stood out to all the family as something different, although some noted it may actually have been too sweet and bright for cappuccino.

I won’t get into specifics, although I know that’s what you all want, but I was pleased to find my blend could almost hold its own against the pros, even after roasting the Sumatran component too dark. No surprise that The Coffee Collective came out on top, these guys have created a wonderfully balanced and sweet blend that lends itself to milk drinks. Ristretto are locally based and are making serious inroads into the stagnant Northern Ireland coffee industry, their blend itself is very Northern Irish, quite a heavy body with a touch of sweetness, its much closer to the expected “coffee taste” than something like the La Siberia. My blend, needs work, that’s the main point of this test. I feel the proportions are right and the choice to halve the Monsooned Malabar a few months back has allowed the fruity flavours in the other beans to come through, its also quite well balanced as a straight espresso. In the next few weeks, look out for part 3, where I’ll be running the same test on some high end commercial machines to see the difference in taste.

Andrew

Not just confused, but kinda dirty too. Why? Because I’ve just been in Starbucks and I really enjoyed it!

I popped in to the new Victoria Square store to make use of their wifi for wedding planning purposes, ordered my usual small cappuccino, not too hot. I made a point to ask them not to heat the milk too high as opposed to adding cold milk and to my surprised they had no problem sticking it to the man, so to speak. The result? A not half bad cup of coffee! (My Victoria Square review is still a work in progress so this is not a review.) Not only was the coffee good but they were some of the most friendly and talkative (in a good way) coffee shop staff I have met in a long time.

It’s such a good location too, lovely view, plenty if comfy seats, open wifi from somewhere nearby as well as their own t-mobile wifi and late openings. I have to say I really enjoyed myself and I’ve came to a shocking realisation of just how big a snob I am. Which makes it even more pleasing to find such gems in the rough. I for one will be back. (Until Clement’s start opening their York Street store late, that is)

You know who I'm talking to!

Northern Ireland is a land which in the past has been blessed of God, but living here ourselves we may not fully realise the extent of the blessing. It only takes one look to the British mainland or south to the Irish Republic to see how previously God fearing lands are in the grip of “evangelical” atheism, militant Islam, and worse, complete indifference and apathy. Apathy so bad that many adults have never been to church even as a child. When speaking to people in Northern Ireland is is generally assumed that they have had some sort of church upbringing; Protestant and Catholic alike will have heard Bible stories and know who Jesus was. But without any “Christian” orientation in a life, a person will see the message you bring, of God's salvation as a strange alien concept.

Religion, especially Christianity is a taboo subject; atheists blame as the source of all the World's problems, a view taken up by many throughout the land. And to this background our message seems as bizarre and ridiculous as that brought by many cults like Scientology, whose beliefs we find laughable.A different approach must be taken to not just witness, but to educate as to what we witness about. Yes, we can live our life as a living testimony of what God has done for us, but if someone asked us why we lived in that way, telling them we are saved because Jesus died to save us from their sins, would seem as religious technobabble. It is a challenging problem, to understand this mind set, and find a way best suitable to witnessing to those with it, which will take much prayer and patience.

We must also pray that the plague of apathy does not take root here in Northern Ireland, for the seeds have already been sown, parents no longer send their children out to Church or Sunday School and the association of Biblical Christianity with the Catholic Church due to the Ecumenical movement, has tarnished our reputation.We must witness to the young now while there still remains a generation that are willing to hear, for once the foundation of youth has been removed the church will crumble. God forbif we would let that happen.

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. Mark 16:15,16