The location and time zone setting in the latest version of Gnome - the one that shipped with Ubuntu 8.10, is great:

For the uninitiated, Gnome is the graphical front end of Ubuntu Linux.

The selected location shows the current time and date at the place you’ve set as your current location, as well as the weather and temperature. Clicking the date and time reveals the view above, with a calendar, time zone map and list of the locations you’ve added.

Adding new locations is intuitive, I found it in 10 seconds without having to Google anything, and once you’ve added a location it stays in the view that opens when you click the date/time display. Easy, and displays lots of information without getting in the way. The weather icon is a particularily nice touch!

Here’s the worst software idea I’ve seen this year: bringing Citrix remote technology to the iPhone. I’m sure most people who have had the misfortune of using Metaframe will agree with me. It is the slowest, most crash prone piece of crap I’ve ever touched. And if that wasn’t enough, try developing sites that will work in the damn thing, with configurations varying between servers. Nightmare.

While the idea of running Windows apps on the iPhone might initially seem compelling, the list Chris Fleck from Citrix has suggested so far includes such gems as bringing Flash to the iPhone and being able to open IE-only web apps. Fabulous it is not.

I’ve just come back in from shoveling tons and tons of beautifully fluffy snow and am sitting here waiting for the snow plow to come round so I can get to the hills.

I don’t know how I missed out on Bon Iver this year. All of a sudden I hear on NPR’s All Songs Considered podcast about this guy that “oh yeah, there’s Bon Iver of course; man, what an album”, as if they’ve mentioned him many times this year. I considered myself a faithful listener up to that point. There’s one gorgeous album out called For Emma, Forever Ago. Go get it!

.. that I had seen it all when I saw the monstrous 17 inch Thinkpad laptop with a full size keyboard, built-in drawing pad and screen calibrator. Then Lenovo goes and does this - a dual screen laptop. It’s almost twice the weight of the T61p I’m typing on on the moment, and the T61p is no ultra portable, let me tell you.

I think I’d be a bit embarassed unfurling that thing in my office!

I’m surprised at myself for agreeing with this piece in the Guardian’s sometimes enlightening, sometimes ridiculously comment fishing Comment is free.. section.

The commenter laments the loud chorus of complaints about the UK X Factor winner (Idol-similar competition) singing Leonard Cohen’s beautiful song Hallelujah as the final single. I cringe when I hear covers like that, we had a hit in Norway with the same song starring Idol winners and ephemeral pop sensations, but as much as I cringe it really doesn’t detract from the original or one of my more favourite versions.

(I have to admit nothing beats the original to me, there’s something about Cohens voice and phrasing that fits that song so well)

It reminds me of a friend of mine who complained about the Swedish band Kent after they started getting into heavy rotation on a Norwegian hit radio station and “everyone” started liking them. What value did the music have to start with if external factors like that can cheapen it?

I have to agree with John Gruber that the Ski Lodge app from the iPhone/iPod app store looks absolutely gorgeous. Its graphics and quick overview of snow conditions are by far the best of the ski report apps I've seen on the app store.

Unlike Gruber however, I snowboard, and there's stuff lacking from these apps that make them less than useful for me.

A three day weather forecast would be a useful start. I normally plan my trip at least one day in advance, and the current conditions usually aren't enough to help me decide.

Another thing is the trail maps. This isn't a critique of ski info apps but more of the ski resort sites. It becomes more apparent however, when the trail map link in the app links to a huge PDF. In the case of British Columbia's Whistler/Blackcomb for example, the PDF is over 8MB and is taxing even for newer computers, let alone the iPod.

So far, these apps are cool, I have them all installed and check them out, but there hasn't been a single day I've gone snowboarding based on the report in the application alone. I always reach for the web site. So I hope they're able to put more info in there in the next version, in the same beautiful style that Ski Lodge already has.

You need to speak norwegian for this one but I'll take the time to translate it:

Couldn't stand up A man from Molde was so intoxicated that he could no longer stand. The police drove the man to the hospital.

That is it. No, really - that's it.

Normally, getting back on the horse is something you do after falling off.  I'm not sure I fell off so much as fell asleep, so consider this a pinch in my arm.

That is all.