Posts from the “Cool” Category

Universal Railway Maps

Posted on February 23rd, 2009

I’m back from Shanghai with lots of posts on the way (super busy city with some amazing architecture) but just stumbled across these wonderful re-imagining’s of Seoul, Tokyo and New York‘s subway systems by Korean designer Zero per Zero which also doubles as a calendar somehow (via JeanSnow). I love this stuff. Check out what happens when you mouse over the cute logo on their site also (0 / 0). I have got to buy one of these for my apartment but not sure whether to go for the Seoul or Tokyo designs. Hope they ship to China!

Digital Footprints

Posted on February 13th, 2009

In this age of ubiquitous connectivity there is very little we do which isn’t tracked and stored in some form or another be it active (something we request) or passive (something which is happens automatically behind the scenes). This data is used for a variety of reasons; for marketing, personalisation, recommendation, law enforcement, research, capacity planning, trend analysis, performance enhancement… – the list is almost endless. It spans both our online and offline lives, whether we like it or not, and is becoming evermore sophisticated in its reach and depth. Being a bit of an analytics junkie I decided to take a look at what all my favourite applications/services offer by way of being able to visualise some of this data – WordPress blog…

2009 Goals

Posted on January 3rd, 2009

Looking back 2008 was a pretty good year on balance. My largest personal achievement was relocating to China from London, starting a new job and effectively a new life here. I’ve been in Shenzhen for four months now and am still enjoying everyday for the most part. A few years ago I would never have imagined having the confidence to be able to do this and now looking back if I hadn’t taken the leap into the unknown I would always have regretted it. I think there’s a lot to be said for avoiding the malaise of the “comfort zone” by forcing yourself to change and by doing so learn something new while gaining valuable experience. As a record to try and energise myself…

Window of the World

Posted on January 1st, 2009

As New Years Eve‘s go I think mine probably ranked among the most surreal. After work some colleagues and myself went to the “Window of the World” theme park located in the western part of Shenzhen. The 48 hectare park contains over 130 scale reproductions of some of the most famous tourist attractions in the world including a 108 meter tall fake Eiffel Tower. In China they never do things in halves and although I’m somewhat used to brash and vulgar displays of wealth around here this takes it to another level. Above: replica of the glass pyramid entrance to the Louvre in Paris but here actually an entrance to the Metro! Getting into the park proved to be a rather unpleasant experience due…

Overlooking The East

Posted on August 27th, 2008

There have been some amazing advances in CG animation over the past few years with Pixar having a string of hits which seem almost unstoppable and meanwhile a new level of sophistication is emerging both in the visual style and story telling departments. What I find strange though is that the creative output of the Japanese animation (anime) industry is still largely ignored by the west (with a few exceptions) even though they produce more content than every other country put together. I would suspect this has something to do with the cultural gap which can be particularly evident if you are unfamiliar with that part of the world although for me makes it all the more interesting… Recently I’ve seen two anime films…

Spectacular

Posted on August 8th, 2008

I only have one word to describe the opening ceremony to the Beijing 2008 Olympics – Spectacular! China certainly knows how to put on show and with Zhang Yimou at the helm you wouldn’t really expect anything less. London now has a lot to live up to but I can already guarantee you it’ll be tame in comparison to this. I’ll let the photos do the talking… can’t wait to download this in HD! All photos © Getty Images – larger versions can be found at The Big Picture

Street View Comes to London

Posted on August 4th, 2008

Google Street View, the system that provides interactive panoramic pictures of streets in Google Maps, has recently been causing a stir in the UK with privacy groups fearing it might breach data protection laws. After assurances from Google that it would blur peoples faces and numberplates they have been allowed to proceed and there have been multiple sightings of its high-tech cars roaming the streets in and around London. Some relatives of mine spotted one of the cars while they were having a walk in Surrey (just south of London) and had a chat with the driver as well as taking some pics of the gear he was driving around with. Apparently the array has 7 cameras at the top with laser range finders…

London -> Tokyo by Train

Posted on May 13th, 2008

Sometimes you come across an idea which is so mad that it might just have a chance of success. This was the case when I first heard about proposals to dig a 200km+ undersea train tunnel between Korea and Japan in a similar fashion to the Channel Tunnel which connects Britain and France (albeit 4 times longer). The tunnel has a number of proposed routes, a couple of which would see it also pass through the territorially disputed islands of Tsushima and Iki on it’s path. It’s estimated that it would cost around 100 trillion Won (£1=W2000) and 15 to 20 years to build the so-called “peace tunnel” which would be a joint venture between the two countries if it ever comes to fruition.…

随线放矢 Randomwire

Exploring asian culture, travel and technology

Posts from the “Cool” Category

Universal Railway Maps

Posted on February 23rd, 2009

Digital Footprints

Posted on February 13th, 2009

2009 Goals

Posted on January 3rd, 2009

Window of the World

Posted on January 1st, 2009

Overlooking The East

Posted on August 27th, 2008

Spectacular

Posted on August 8th, 2008

Street View Comes to London

Posted on August 4th, 2008

London -> Tokyo by Train

Posted on May 13th, 2008

Posts from the “Cool” Category

Posted on February 23rd, 2009

Posted on February 13th, 2009

Posted on January 3rd, 2009

Posted on January 1st, 2009

Posted on August 27th, 2008

Posted on August 8th, 2008

Posted on August 4th, 2008

Posted on June 29th, 2008

Posted on June 14th, 2008

Posted on May 13th, 2008