Placetique

The Anti-TED Talk

Jon Reades — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:31:43 +0000

After a few months back on the conference speaking/attendance circuit, I’ve had something of a refresher course in the joys of academic meetings and decided it was time to write up the range of feelings — from irritation to rage …

Understanding the Financial Crisis

Jon Reades — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:52:16 +0000

Although this is definitely a case of ‘over-egging the pudding’, it’s nonetheless a very nice, extended riff on how contemporary financial markets are effectively operating without any kind of buffers or controls and why this is leading to huge problems …

Place, Memory & Myth: Some Reflections on September 11th

Jon Reades — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:23:45 +0000

Unless you resolutely avoid reading the news then it can hardly . have . escaped . your . attention that we’re coming up on the 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. Since I was living in New York at the time …

Wild Food from the Green/Brown-Belt

Jon Reades — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 11:33:11 +0000

One of the things that I love about London is the easy access to relatively ‘wild’ (i.e. un-managed) areas from parts of the city that are wholly urban. We owe this, of course, to the existence of the green belt …

Microsoft’s Table-Top Computing: Shades of Mobile 5

Jon Reades — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 13:19:53 +0000

I know why I keep expecting Microsoft to produce something useful: they periodically manage to pull themselves together and release an Operating System that is a measurable improvement over its predecessors (e.g. the Windows 98 to XP to 7 trajectory). …

Clan of the Cave Bear: Herzog goes 3D

Jon Reades — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 09:53:59 +0000

The last sentence I ever expected to hear was “Let’s go see the 3D Werner Herzog film…” [Vanity Fair] Like everyone who hasn’t managed to steer clear of a theatre entirely for the past couple of years, I’ve seen …

Robot Wars: Android Off-line Mapping Face-Off

Jon Reades — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 10:29:09 +0000

I’ve got a few trips coming up to places where either: a) I don’t want to use data because it will be expensive (i.e. America), or b) I won’t be able to use data because I will have no reception …

Problems of Scale

Jon Reades — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:51:52 +0000

So on Friday I went to hear my supervisor, Peter Hall, on a panel discussion with Hank Ditmar (of the Prince’s Foundation) and Will Alsop (famous architect/urban designer). The title for the discussion was “The Object, the City & the …

Twins terrorise New York

Jon Reades — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:57:20 +0000

I have to admit loving this one — what a way to mess with people’s heads. The background is here. And for a higher-quality version than the one on YouTube, watch this.

Slow-Motion Mortgage Wreck

Jon Reades — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:00:31 +0000

Over at Naked Capitalism, Yves is talking about the risk of default in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. As someone without a mortgage or a home part of me is kind of enjoying the whole debacle since I rather foolishly …