Below are the most recent 4 friends' journal entries.

Sunday, August 17th, 2008
pozorvlak	12:24a	Shoes that last For many of us, it's really hard to find shoes that fit right. Some people have feet that are too big or too small, or too narrow or too wide, or just weirdly-shaped; some people just really hate shoe-shopping. The ideal situation is to get a pair of custom lasts made to the exact shape of your feet, then get all your shoes made bespoke: unfortunately, this is ludicrously expensive. The really expensive bit is making the last, which can then be re-used pretty much for the rest of your life, but getting the actual shoes made is crazy expensive too, not least because the only companies that offer this service cater only to the ultra-high end of the market. But this is the 21st century, right? Surely we can do better. Here's what I'm thinking, in the ideal case: you log on to a website, then take off your shoes, and wave your feet around in front of a webcam for a bit in a suitably sciency manner. Some cunning software on the other end uses photogrammetry to build up a 3-d model of your feet. You then click on whatever style of shoes you want on the website (customising them as much as you like - since we're making pairs to order, we don't have to skimp on the options). Specialised CAM software calculates the correct amount of leather, fabric and rubber to cut for your shoes, which are then formed on a last that's just emerged from a 3-d printer. Your shoes are assembled, either by a machine or by someone who's paid a living wage, then packed in a box and shipped out to you. The last is either retained for future use or melted down, it doesn't really matter: they've got the model file, and generating a new one only takes a couple of minutes anyway. Problems that occur to me: The photogrammetry bit may well be too hard, and a brief scan of Wikipedia suggests that we'd need two cameras to get 3-d coordinates anyway - most people have at most one webcam, of course. Maybe we could have some kind of shoebox-sized LIDAR array, into which you put your feet, and either strike a deal with the shoe-shops to get them installed or post them out, Netflix-style. The first plan would have the unfortunate downside of eliminating one of the main USPs, which is that you could buy shoes without having to set foot inside a shoe shop. Manufacturing. Yeah. That's not going to be easy. Particularly if you have a conscience. It's usually a good plan to take a luxury item and bring it within the reach of the masses, but I don't think this one will fly. Bummer. (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, August 14th, 2008
news [ theljstaff ]	4:59p	Basic Accounts, India, and LiveJournal Inc. Development Goals and Basic Accounts Last week we updated our development goals for 2008. Generally we noted a number of cool enhancements and investments to LiveJournal that we are working on, including improved search, usability, and site development. We also wanted to let you know how we hope to accomplish all these things, and how we plan on paying for them. In order to accomplish our stated goals for this year and beyond, we need to increase the revenue gained from both groups of LiveJournal accounts: paid subscription accounts and ad-supported accounts. As of August 28th, all users will be able to choose to downgrade their account to Basic through their Manage Account page. Additionally, we will start showing advertising to visitors who are not logged in to LiveJournal when they are looking at Basic Account journals and communities. Basic Account users themselves will not see ads on any Basic journal or community while they are logged in to their account. If you want more information about this, take a look at our new post on lj_2008 where we outline our reasoning. Indian Flash Fiction Contest In other news, we are excited to tell you we've launched "Quick Tales" LiveJournal's first initiative for users in India, in celebration of India Independence day, August 15th. "Quick Tales" is a flash fiction writing contest in which we're partnering with Caferati.com, one of India's largest online literary communites. The contest's winners will receive some great prizes and it is open to anyone with a mailing address in India. We hope that users with an interest in Indian writing or just India will watch LiveJournal's india_writing community. That's where the finalists and winners will be announced, so keep an eye on it towards the end of September! If you're in India then enter the contest - if your story is slick and quick (under 500 words) then you could be the lucky winner! Meanwhile, back at LiveJournal Inc. We have updated and redesigned our corporate site. The goal of the redesign was twofold: first, to update the look and feel (Dystopia users will appreciate it!); second, we want to provide a destination for prospective employees, partners, and members of the press where they can access important information about the company. Kudos to our design team. (706 Comments |Comment on this)
pozorvlak	11:49p	Two Shades heads-up Lots of people have been asking me if I'm doing anything at the Edinburgh Fringe this year. The answer is, unfortunately, no. However, Two Shades of Blue¹ are doing not one, but two shows: a reprise of Comedy and Cake, and a new show called Back to the Future: The Pantomime. They're performing in Edinburgh from the 17th to the 25th of August, at C venues: however, there's also a preview performance of both shows TOMORROW (ie, Friday), at 7.30pm, at the 10th Oxford (Marston) Scout Headquarters, 238 Marston Road, Oxford. Tickets are £10 on the door (which includes entrance to the launch party plus some food and drink), or £7.50 in advance (paypal to tickets-at-twoshadesofblue-dot-org-dot-uk). We shall be attending the Monday performances, which are (not entirely coincidentally) the cheapest Edinburgh performances. Given that The Matrix: The Pantomime sold out about half the time last year, it may well be worth booking in advance: tickets are available from the company's website. ¹ Two Shades of Blue are an unholy alliance of the Oxford and Cambridge University Light Entertainment Societies, now in their sixth year at the Fringe. No, I have no idea what they've got against contemporary dance. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, August 9th, 2008
pozorvlak	12:43p	Experiment 5 ............. failed. Breakfasts which I have enjoyed over the years Cereal Toast Porridge, with Salt Grated cheese tom yam paste (part of my on-going series of experiments to determine if there is any foodstuff that is not improved by the addition of tom yam. Mmmm, lemongrass). NB: no true Scotsman puts sugar in his porridge. I may not be a true Scotsman, but they're dead right on this one. Poached/fried/scrambled/boiled eggs on toast or crunchy bread Eggy bread (US: French toast) Eggy in a basket, à la V for Vendetta Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) Thai omelette Edit: Scrambled egg with smoked salmon Cold leftover pizza (NB: this only works with pizza. Do not attempt to eat the cold leftovers from any other form of late-night fast food for breakfast the next morning.) The full English breakfast: at least toast, egg and bacon, and optionally tomatoes, mushrooms, fried bread, baked beans, sausages and hash browns. The full Scottish breakfast: as above, with the addition of potato scones, haggis and black pudding. Sausages should ideally be square. The full American breakfast: as for the full English breakfast, but accompanied by an entertaining game whereby you, by careful study of the menu, attempt to pre-empt all the waiter or waitress' questions about your order, and he or she attempts to invent questions about your dietary preferences so minute (the sodium content of your butter, for instance, or the amount of ice in your orange juice) that you fail to anticipate them. [I wouldn't want to eat any of the above three every day, but they're nice on occasion...] The full German breakfast: smoked meat and cheese on bread, accompanied by muesli and yoghurt. Kippers (smoked herring) Kedgeree Smoked salmon and champagne Breakfasts which I cannot, in all conscience, recommend Stir-fried leek and spring onions in mee siam sauce. Like I had this morning. It wasn't exactly bad, just, y'know, not good enough that I'd recommend trying it to others. Anyway, the leek needed using up. (13 Comments |Comment on this)