Missing: Bella the Dog

This isn’t the sort of thing I’d usually write about here, so for the hardcore who’ve come to expect a blend of media and tech thoughtfulness, an alternative reading is that this is a a live case-study in how digital can play troubleshooter to certain real-world issues…

Those who follow me on Twitter will know the news already:

There’s been a search out for her ever since, with all five Saunters and some amazing neighbours clomping about in our wellies, flashlights in hand.

I’m pretty sure we’ve thought of everything: we’ve scouring the entire surrounding area (see map); spoken to people all over town; put up flyers and posters in areas of high traffic; we’re leaving a scent-trail back to the house from where she went missing; notified all the necessary authorities and secured some media coverage (Star Radio, GumtreeDogLost).

As you’ll see, what we need now are some more eyes and ears…


View Larger Map

Four hours ago, something incredible happened. A lady I’ve never met created the Facebook group ‘Help find BELLA‘ and invited some friends.

Since then it’s grown, and now a whopping 128 people have joined. Tomorrow, there’s a search planned for 10.30am in the Littleport area. Truly awesome. Thank you all. We can’t do this without you!

[box]Update: We found her! I’ll update this blog post when we find her. In the meantime, please tweet, Facebook and G+ this blog post to anybody in your network that lives in the Cambridgeshire/Norfolk area.[/box]

Many thanks indeed, Tom.

30 Day Song Challenge – Week Six

Day 26: a song that you can play on an instrument

Bonobo – Black Sands (album)

I can’t play any instruments, but this is the album I like to play about with on Djay, mixing software for iPad

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Day 27: a song that you wish you could play

Funkadelic – Maggot Brain

Voted best guitar solo ever, so get ready for a face-melter! Thanks to Andrew for the hookup.

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Day 28: a song that makes you feel guilty

Chemical Brothers ft. Richard Ashcroft – The Test

Hmm… no comment.

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Day 29: a song from your childhood

Leftfield – Melt

I remember this blaring out over the kitchen speakers as I began to develop a taste for music.

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Day 30: your favorite song at this time last year

Way Out West – Only Love

These guys were the soundtrack to my summer last year – nearly that time again!

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So there we have it, people – thirty songs that mean something to me in (at least in some small way). I hope this has been at all enlightening, it’s certainly been fun to put together. Don’t forget, you can always submit new music to me by adding to my collaborative Spotify playlist.

Happy listening, Tom x

Coffee Too Hot To Handle? Try These

Coffee Joulies are a new invention that reduces and sustains the temperature of hot drinks, while looking pretty awesome in the process. Their inventors are “two Daves” from New Jersey, who have engineered, prototyped, and produced their first run of units over the last eight months.

They claim that Coffee Joulies are “miniature thermodynamic heat storage devices” which appear to function via some kind of endothermic/exothermic reaction:

They absorb excess thermal energy when the coffee is initially poured too hot to drink, cooling your coffee down to a drinkable temperature three times faster. Once your coffee reaches the right temperature the beans release that stored thermal energy back into the coffee, keeping it in the optimal temperature range twice as long.

They have proven results, too:

And the beans themselves look really cool:

Thanks to Tom Allen for the link – reckon I might try to get a hold of some!

Digital Cortex Is Back!!

Before I say anything about my months in the digital wilderness, let’s celebrate the return of fresh content to this blog with an expression of pure robotic joy:

Right then. What have I been up to?

  • Lots of cool, creative and techy stuff for MediaCom and MBA.
  • Went on an Android development course, and made an Asteroids game!
  • Moved to Ladbroke Grove from Clapham South. West is best.
  • Joined Foursquare and learned to love it.
  • Tried and failed to make a Foursquare widget for bloggers.
  • Joined the Gym – tickets to the gunshow now on sale.
  • Did a bit of consultancy for Moviestorm and Optricks Media.
  • Went on a few awesome nights out, inc. the Viral Video Chart relaunch.
  • Found some simply stunning new music which I’ll share with you soon!
  • Tried a pickled herring sandwich in Amsterdam.
  • Flew to Berlin and back again in a day.
  • Watched about a million films.
  • Proclaimed Warren Ellis the best comic book author of all time.
  • Created Digital Cortex Lite and filled it with interesting content tidbits.
  • Constantly tweeted across numiferous topics.
  • Redesigned Digital Cortex using the Thesis theme.
  • Bookmarked loads of interesting stuff to share with you here.

So quite a few things really. But please accept my apologies! I’m ready to be a better blogger. Starting now. Stay with me. Grab the feed. Let’s try this thing again.

Love Tom x