Welsh Blogs.com

Some people just don't get free speech.I've written many times about the people who abuse it. But back in October (readership: zero) I wrote about the people who try to restrict it. And that's a far worse crime.Amnesty, though, is on the case.The worst we have to deal with when we step out of line is Leighton Andrews getting a bit cross. But in China and Egypt people are sent to jail just for having their say. And Microsoft, Yahoo! and Google help to put them there.There will be a live internet solidarity event on Wednesday 6 June at 18:30. In the meantime, check out their website:...

Clay Shirky, commentator and writer on the social aspects of the net, told the BBC News website he had seen it all before Actions like a change in rules, all that does is remind people of the truth - you don’t own the infrastructure. But that makes people hysterical Clay Shirky, asked by the BBC to comment on the Yahoo purchase of Flickr But what the BBC didn’t bother to say is that Clay Shirky is a member of the advisory board of Ludicorp , makers of Flickr. If you were at the BBC putting the story together, wouldn’t you have thought this a relevant fact to mention? flickr Ludicorp Shirky...

Check out Flickr’s new maps for London. This is stunningly good stuff… Yahoo and Flickr now have good maps for Britain and the rest of Europe as well, which should help the whole geotagging thing really fly outside the US. I’ve known this was coming for a while, but it doesn’t make its arrival any less welcome… Tom Coates on Flickr’s maps Well, maybe. Flickr/Yahoo is still, in fact, well behind Google in the quality of the mapping not that you’d know it from Tom Coates but then, of course, he works for Yahoo… I while back I cited Venice as an example of the difference in map quality. Well, Yahoo’s got better, true. Here’s Flickr, now: Flickr’s version St Mark’s Square and here’s Google’s: Google’s...

Mae Radio Amgen yn dathlu ei benblwydd yn 5 oed. Dyma engrhaifft wych o ddefnydd effeithiol o dechnoleg i gael diwylliant amgen Cymraeg at gynulleidfa byd eang. Islaw mae llun 'clawr' i gyd-fynd âg darllediad wythnosol. Roeddwn i'n ffan anferth o Lego tra'n blentyn felly dwi'n hoff iawn o'r llun yma.Mae'r llun wedi ei gynnal ar wefan Zooomr. Dwi wedi creu cyfrif arno ar ôl darllen post ar Sbwriel*spot. Dwi eisioes yn defnyddio Flickr ac yn meddwl ei fod yn wasaneth gych, ond hoffwn weld beth all Zooomr gynnig am ddau reswm:1. Yahoo, sy'n berchen ar Flickr, a dwi'n teimlo'n rhagrithiol yn talu £12 y flwyddyn iddyn nhw wedi iddynt roi manylion personol i awdurdodau Tseina, tra dwi'n annog eraill i foicotio Nestle2. Mae Zooomr yn awyddus iawn i leoleiddio eu gwefan, felly gall fod ar...

I switched on Yahoo Messenger earlier ( Beta 8 ) on my PC, and lo-and-behold there is a huge fecking banner ad at the bottom of it! WTF? We never had that before! Arghghghgh… now that Yahoo have joined forces with Microsoft, YIM is turning into bloody Messenger. Grrrr… I’ve been using YIM for six or seven years. But unless Yahoo switch off those ads I’m never launching the thing again. Customer lost. Anyone have a hack so we can turn off those banner ads? Thank god for Adium and Trillian, thats all I’m saying….. – EDIT: fortunely, there is a fix to remove the banners. still, I’m not happy about them suddenly appearing in the first place...

This weekend has been nice, if uneventful. I did manage three trips to the alehouse. Friday night, which at one point had me lying face down on the floors in weatherspoons Colwyn Bay with a beer bottle in hand. Don't worry, I wasn't drunk, I was reaching the switch to switch the itbox off after it crashed when we won £2. They have two new games on it: A shite "Deal or No Deal" clone called "Take it or Leave It", and a matchy colour game called "Monkey Business", which I proceeded to win £4 off. Result! I also went Saturday lunchtime for a bit of lunch, and Saturday night we went to the Fynach. We sat outside watching the boats, and it was all tranquil and peaceful - until the person I was drinking with started going on about arses. Bless him. I got an email from Microsoft...

Tom Coates writes a damaging critique of the BBC’s New Media restructuring. Damaging, specific and - who knows - maybe libellous. Coates points out the BBC’s all-mouth-no-trousers promises that fill conference schedules but which result, practically, in nothing. He says, there’s nothing here that’s even vaguely persuasive compared to Yahoo!, Amazon or Google. Flickr - a company that I don’t think got into double figures of staff before acquisition - has more public APIs than the BBC, who have roughly five thousand times as many staff and then he goes on to blame an individual, someone called Ashley Highfield. It might be true, though, that the promotion of Highfield and the lack of production of stuff from the BBC compared to the tremendous work done by...

Well, it's been and gone, an awesome Germany vs. Costa Rica game and a rather dull Poland vs. Ecuador game. Here are my thoughts from the opening day's play. Firstly, they have introduced Fifth Officials for this World Cup. Why? I mean, it's just taking the piss now. Referee makes the decisions, the linesmen assist the referee, the fourth official holds up the board for substitutions......what does the fifth official do? By the official definition, he sits in front of the TV, gives his view on proceedings, but can't be involved in any decisions. Christ, half the nation did similar today, except they were less sober. Boo to the Germans for spoiling their home shirt. It used to be awesome, with the 3 stars on their shirt (1 for each World Cup Win) being a different colour on their German...