Emulator of the Acorn Electron 8-bit microcomputer.

Acorn International Inc., a Chinese company that markets cosmetics, electronic and autocare products, reported a bigger fiscal fourth-quarter loss Friday, partly hurt by an impairment charge.

Acorn International Inc., a Chinese company that markets cosmetics, electronics and auto care products, said Thursday its CFO Gordon Wang will step down effective April 1.

I had a great childhood. I had plenty of friends and lots of toys and games as well as computers like my ZX Spectrum and later Acorn Electron and Atari ST. I often found myself immersed in programming or other projects which took lots of time as well as playing outside with friends. However I did used to find that during holidays and some other times e.g. when the weather was bad that I had very little to do and would get bored. From where I am sitting now that seems like a different world. There is far too little ...

New Electronics

From little acorns New Electronics The open source community is evolving: as entire sectors become dependent upon projects such as Android and other Linux derivatives, there is a distinct ...

By Rob Maguire for Art Threat—a blog covering political art and cultural policy.

Tadamon, a Montreal-based collective that works in solidarity with struggles for self-determination, equality and justice in the Middle East, has spearheaded a call from Montreal artists to support the international campaign for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israeli apartheid. The following is an open letter they released on February 25.

Today, a broad spectrum of Montreal artists are standing in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom and supporting the growing international campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against the Israeli state. Last winter, the Israeli state launched a violent military assault on the Palestinian people of the Gaza Strip, leaving over 1400 Palestinians dead, including over 300 children. Despite the official end of military operations, the blockade continues to this day, with devastating consequences for Gaza’s residents.

Over 60 years from the beginning of the ongoing Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe) in 1948, in which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced from historic Palestine through Israel’s creation, Montreal artists are united in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom and justice.

Montreal artists are now joining this international campaign to concretely protest the Israeli state’s ongoing denial of the inalienable rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties, as stipulated in and protected by international law, as well as Israel’s ongoing occupation and colonization of the West Bank (including Jerusalem) and Gaza, which also constitutes a violation of international law and multiple United Nations resolutions.

Palestinian citizens face an entrenched system of racial discrimination and segregation, resembling the defeated apartheid system in South Africa. A matrix of Israeli-only roads, electrified fences, and over 500 military checkpoints and roadblocks erase freedom of movement for Palestinians. Israel’s apartheid wall, which was condemned by the International Court of Justice in 2004, cuts through Palestinian lands, further annexing Palestinian territory and surrounding Palestinian communities with electrified barbed wire fences and a concrete barrier soaring eight meters high.

Gaza remains under siege. Israel continues to impose collective punishment on the 1.5 million Palestinians of Gaza, who still face chronic shortages of electricity, fuel, food and basic necessities as the campaign of military violence executed by the apartheid state of Israel endures. UN officials recently observed that the "situation has deteriorated into a full-fledged emergency because of the cut-off of vital supplies for Palestinians." As a result of Israeli actions, Gaza has become a giant prison.

The global movement against Israeli apartheid, supported by a large majority of Palestinian civil society, is not targeted at individual Israelis but at Israeli institutions that are complicit in maintaining the multi-tiered Israeli system of oppression against the Palestinian people.

In fact, the Palestinian civil society BDS call, launched by over 170 Palestinian organisations in 2005, explicitly appeals to conscientious Israelis, urging them to support international efforts to bring about Israel’s compliance with international law and fundamental human rights, essential elements for a justice-based peace in the region. The present appeal is also rooted in an active engagement with many progressive Israeli artists and activists who are working on a daily basis for peace and justice while supporting the growing global movement in opposition to Israeli apartheid.

During the first and second intifadas, Israel invaded, ransacked, and even closed down cinemas, theatres and cultural centers in the occupied territories. These deliberate attempts to stifle the Palestinian cultural voice have failed and will continue to fail. Around the world, the call for BDS is growing and is strongly rooted in the historic international solidarity movement against apartheid in South Africa.

In keeping with Nelson Mandela’s declaration that "our freedom [in South Africa] is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians," we believe that international solidarity is critical to liberating Palestinians from Israeli colonialism and apartheid. This struggle will continue until all Palestinians are granted their basic human rights, including the right of return for all Palestinian refugees living in the Diaspora.

Today, a diverse array of artists in Montreal, from filmmakers, musicians and dancers to poets, authors and painters, are joining the international movement against Israeli apartheid. On the streets, in concert halls, in words and in song, we commit to fighting against apartheid and call upon all artists and cultural producers across the country and around the world to adopt a similar position in this global struggle.

To add your support to this letter or to present questions or suggestions please write to info@tadamon.ca

1: Aidan Girt, musician, 1-Speed Bike
2: Alexander Moskos, musician, AIDS Wolf
3: Chole Lum, musician, AIDS Wolf
4: Yannick Desranleau, musician, AIDS Wolf
5: Esmeralda Súmar Jara, Amérythmes
6: Karen Lliana Lemus, Amérythmes
7: Ronald Lemus, Amérythmes
8: José Sermeno Rosales, Amérythmes
9: Daviyd Yisrael, Amérythmes
10: Pierre Allard, Action Terroriste Socialement Acceptable, ATSA
11: Annie Roy, Action Terroriste Socialement Acceptable, ATSA
12: Hamid Nach, musician, Bambara Trans
13: Kattam Laraki-Côté, percussionist, Bambara Trans
14: Iqi Balam, singer, Banda de Gaza
15: Owain Lawson, musician, Black Feelings
16: Brian Mitchell, musician, Black Feelings
17: Kyle Fostner, musician, Black Feelings
18: James Di Salvio, Bran Van 3000
19: Bronwen Agnew, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
20: Maire White, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
21: Skyla Mody, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
22: Annabelle Rivard, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
23: Veronica Post, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
24: Sonja Engmann, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
25: Cathy Inouye, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
26: Anne Gorry, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
27: Andrea Miller-Nesbitt, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
28: Joseph Boulos, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
29: Matt Corks, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
30: Florence Richer, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
31: Maggie Schreiner, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
32: Jon Boles, musician, Clues
33: Ben Borden, musician, Clues
34: Brendan Reed, musician, Clues
35: Don Wilkie, co-founder, Constellation Records
36: Ian Ilavsky, co-founder, Constellation Records
37: Tyler Megarry, DJ Backdoor
38: Robyn Maynard, DJ Dirtyboots
39: Kevin Moon, DJ Moonstarr
40: Vladimir López, DJ Palosanto
41: Scott Clyke, DJ Scott C
42: Mike Lai, DJ Static
43: Mado Lamotte, Drag Queen Diva
44: Nader Hasan, musician, Echoes Still Singing Limbs
45: Nick Kuepfer, musician, Echoes Still Singing Limbs
46: Aidan Jeffery, musician, Echoes Still Singing Limbs
47: Amine Benbachir, Elby & Woods
48: Jordan McKenzie, musician, Elfin Saddle
49: Emi Honda, musician, Elfin Saddle
50: Deeqa Ibrahim, singer, Empress Deeqa
51: Normand Raymond, musician, Ensemble Acalanto
52: Carmen Pavez, musician, Ensemble Acalanto
53: Rafael Azocar, musician/composer, Ensemble Acalanto
54: Rebecca Foon, musician, Esmerine
55: Jean-Sébastien Truchy, musician, Fly Pan Am
56: Lisa Gamble, Gambletron
57: Emilie Mouchous, electronic musician, Gamackrr
58: Sub Roy, musician, Grand Trine
59: Zayid Al-Baghdadi, musician, Hazaj Ensemble
60: Fadi Halawi, musician, Hazaj Ensemble
61: Michael Farsky, musician, Homosexual Cops
62: Joel Janis, singer, Jahnice +
63: Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, artist, Jerusalem in My Heart
64: Lubo Alexandrov, musician, Kaba Horo
65: Erik Hove, saxophonist, Kaba Horo
66: Zibz Black Current, poet, Kalmunity Vibe Collective
67: Matin Heslop, contrabass, Kalmunity Vibe Collective
68: Ron G. vocalist, Kalmunity Vibe Collective
69: Katalyst, poet, Kalmunity Vibe Collective
70: Adam Kinner, saxophonist, Kalmunity Vibe Collective
71: Mohamed Mehdi, guitar/voice, Kalmunity Vibe Collective
72: Jordan Peters, guitar, Kalmunity Vibe Collective
73: Fabrice Koffy, poet, Kalmunity Vibe Collective
74: Gordon Allen, musician, L’Envers
75: Simon Leduc, musician, Le Descente du Coude
76: Fanny Bloom, La Patère Rose
77: Kilojoules, La Patère Rose
78: Roboto, La Patère Rose
79: Simon D., Léopard et Moi
80: Lynne T., Lesbians on Ecstasy
81: Bernie Bankrupt, Lesbians on Ecstasy
82: Mathieu Farhoud-Dionne, rapper, Chafiik, Loco Locass
83: Geneviève Beaulieu, musician, Menace Ruine
84: Steve Lamothe, musician, Menace Ruine
85: Fred Savard, musician, Metis Yeti
86: Matthew Jacob Lederman, musician, Moondata LABprojects
87: Nantali Indongo, Nomadic Massive
88: Modibo Keita, Nomadic Massive
89: Diegal Leger, Nomadic Massive
90: Nicolás Palacios-Hardy, Nomadic Massive
91: Lou Piensa, Nomadic Massive
92: Ralph Joseph, Nomadic Massive
93: Meryem Saci, Nomadic Massive
94: Vox Sambou, Nomadic Massive
95: Jason Selman, Nomadic Massive / Kalmunity Vibe Collective
96: Sébastien Fournier, musician, Panopticon Eyelids
97: Félix Morel, musician, Panopticon Eyelids
98: Nicolas Basque, guitar/voice, Plants and Animals
99: Matthew Woodley, percussionist, Plants and Animals
100: David Bryant, musician, Set Fire to Flames
101: Thierry Amar, musician, Silver Mt. Zion
102: Sophie Trudeau, musician, Silver Mt. Zion
103: Mohamed Masmoudi, musician, Sokoun Trio
104: Greg Napier, musician, Special Noise
105: Jeff Simmons, musician, Special Noise
106: Edward Lee, artist, St. Emilie SkillShare
107: Reyrey Castonguay, artist, St. Emilie SkillShare
108: Machaulay Culkin, artist, St. Emilie SkillShare
109: Amanda Oliver, artist, St. Emilie SkillShare
110: Rochelle Ross, artist, St. Emilie SkillShare
111: Tasha Zamudio, artist, St. Emilie SkillShare
112: Kerri Flannigan, artist, St. Emilie SkillShare
113: Jessie Stein, singer/guitar, The Luyas
114: Yassin Alsalman, musician, the Narcicyst
115: Gern F., singer/guitar, The United Steel Workers of Montreal
116: Martin Cesar, musician, Think About Life
117: Greg Napier, musician, Think About Life
118: Caila Thompson-Hannant, musician, Think About Life
119: Graham Van Pelt, musician, Think About Life
120: Andrea deBruijn, poet, Throw Poetry Collective
121: Alessandra Naccarato, poet, Throw Poetry Collective
122: Merrill Garbus, musician, Tune-Yards
123: Sundus Abdul Hadi, visual artist
124: Jean-Marc Abela, filmmaker
125: Faiz Abhuani, Artivistic collective
126: Paul Ahmarani, actor
127: Mitchell Akiyama, electronic musician, intr. version recordings
128: Patrick Alonso, photographer
129: Hala Alsalman, filmmaker
130: Tito Alvarado, poet, Proyecto Cultural Sur
131: David Arancibia, pianist
132: Sabrien Amrov, photographer
133: Fortner Anderson, poet
134: Tasha Anestopoulos, DJ
135: Daniel Anez, pianist
136: David Arancibia, pianist
137: Amelie Ares, artist
138: Shahrzad Arshadi, artist/photographer
139: Nedaa Asbah, musician
140: Natali Asbah, violinist
141: Maroupi Asbah, violinist
142: Jon Asencio, musician/performance artist
143: Martine Audet, poet
144: Mila Aung-Thwin, Eye Steel Film
145: François Avard, author
146: Shira Avni, filmmaker
147: Magali Babin, electronic music composer
148: Gina Badger, visual artist
149: Rebecca Bain, musician
150: Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, filmmaker
151: Kate Bass, visual artist
152: Philippe Battikha, musician
153: Mireya Bayancela, comedian
154: Jonathan Belisle, Transmedia StoryTeller
155: Nabila Ben Youssef, comedian
156: Kamal Benkirane, writer/editor
157: Serge Bérard, writer
158: Patricia Bergeron, film producer
159: David Bernans, author
160: Isabelle Bernier, artist
161: Josué Bertolino, documentary filmmaker
162: Santiago Bertolino, documentary filmmaker
163: Mark Berube, singer, The Patriotic Few
164: Kawtare Bihya, artist
165: Eli Bissonnette, founder Dare to Care Records
166: Pierre-Guy Blanchard, percussionist
167: Julien Boisvert, filmmaker
168: Michel Bonneau, musician
169: Rana Bose, writer
170: Marie Boti, director, Productions Multi-Monde
171: Magda Boukanan, pianist
172: Bachir Boumediene, Eye Steel Film
173: Arnaud Bouquet, documentary filmmaker
174: Marie Brassard, actress/theatre performer
175: Derek Broad, designer
176: Richard Brouillette, filmmaker
177: Marion Brunelle, jazz singer
178: Alexia Bürger, comedian
179: Chris Burns, musician
180: Louise Burns, artist
181: Peter Burton, musician, executive director of Suoni per il Popolo festival
182: Antoine Bustros, pianist/composer
183: César Càceres, visual artist
184: Philippe Cadieux, visual artist
185: Michel Campeau, photographer
186: Olivier Campo, Bar Populaire
187: Daniel Canty, writer/filmmaker
188: Paul Cargnello, singer/songwriter
189: Boban Chaldovich, filmmaker
190: Vincent Champagne, filmmaker
191: Mazen Chamseddine, graphic artist/architect
192: Yung Chang, filmmaker, Up the Yangtze
193: Sarah Charland-Faucher, filmmaker
194: Elsa Charpentier, artist
195: Julie Châteauvert, Dare-Dare art gallery
196: Ghada Chehade, poet
197: Geneviève Chicoine, artist
198: Shayla Chilliak, musician
199: Jordan Christoff, musician
200: Stefan Christoff, pianist/photographer
201: Jacob Cino, music producer/DJ
202: Moe Clark, poet
203: Andrea-Jane Cornell, sound artist
204: Michel F Côté, musician
205: Marie-Hélène Cousineau, filmmaker
206: Mateo Creux, pianist
207: Jean Michel Cropsal, painter
208: Daniel Cross, filmmaker, founder of Eye Steel Film
209: Vincenzo D’Alto, photographer
210: Amy Darwish, artist/dancer
211: Noémie da Silva, photographer
212: Marie Davidson, singer, Les momies de Palerme
213: Mary Ellen Davis, documentary filmmaker
214: Luke Dawson, artist
215: Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood, literary translator
216: Étienne de Massy, artist
217: Sylvie de Morais, comedian
218: Lhasa de Sela, singer
219: Julie Delorme, DJ/CKUT host
220: Sophie Deraspe, filmmaker, Les Signes Vitaux
221: Jean Derome, jazz musician
222: Nathalie Derome, interdisciplinary artist
223: Marcelle Deschênes, composer/multimedia artist
224: Robert Deschênes, artist
225: Richard Desjardins, artist
226: Denys Desjardins, filmmaker
227: Keiko Devaux, pianist, the Acorn/People for Audio
228: Omar Dewachi, musician
229: Benoît Dhennin, photographer
230: Nathalie Dion, artist, Zazalie Z
231: Xarah Dion, musician, Ample collective
232: Dominique Lebeau, Domlebo, musician
233: Kim Doré, poet/editor
234: Julie Doucet, comic artist
235: Robyn Dru Germanese, artist
236: Frédéric Dubois, cultural worker
237: Bruno Dubuc, filmmaker
238: Martin Duckworth, documentary filmmaker
239: Philippe Ducros, theatre director, Hotel Motel
240: Katie Earle, artist
241: Marlene Edoyan, filmmaker, Multi-Monde Productions
242: Will Eizlini, musician
243: Hassan El Hadi, musician/singer
244: Majdi El Omari, filmmaker
245: Darren Ell, photographer
246: Nirah Elyza Shirazipour, filmmaker, Eyes Infinite Films
247: Yves Engler, author
248: Bérenger Enselme, Bar Populaire
249: Claudia Espinosa, photographer
250: Tony Ezzy, musician
251: Julie Faubert, visual artist
252: David Fennario, playwright
253: Javier Fernàndez-Rial, pianist
254: Carlos Ferrand, filmmaker
255: Ian Ferrier, poet
256: Riley Fleck, percussionist
257: Arwen Fleming, musician
258: Lindsay Foran, visual artist
259: Andrew Forster, artist
260: Tammy Forsythe, choreographer
261: James Franze, musician
262: Kandis Friesen, visual artist
263: Fanny-Pierre Galarneau, graffiti artist, Aïshaaglyphics
264: Carmen Garcia, film producer
265: Francisco Garcia, artist
266: Brett Gaylor, filmmaker, RIP! A Remix Manifesto
267: Chloé Germain-Thérien, filmmaker/illustrator
268: Christine Ghawi, musician/actress/winner of Gemini Award
269: Olivier Gianolla, painter
270: Peter Gibson, visual artist, Roadsworth
271: Serge Giguère, filmmaker
272: Yan Giguère, artist
273: Dan Gillean, visual artist, Fiver
274: Jason Gillingham, artist
275: Miriam Ginestier, DJ/artistic director of Studio 303
276: Michel Giroux, filmmaker
277: Ernest Godin, producer/filmmaker, Kondololé films
278: Anne Golden, video artist
279: Malcolm Goldstein, violinist/composer
280: Amber Goodwyn, singer, Nightwood
281: Ashley Gould, DJ
282: Janna Graham, sound artist
283: Étienne Grenier, sound artist
284: Neil Griffith, musician
285: Steve Guimond, artistic director of festival Suoni per il Popolo
286: Alexandra Guité, filmmaker
287: Freda Guttman, artist
288: Malcolm Guy, documentary filmmaker, Productions Multi-Monde
289: Tamara Abdul Hadi, photographer
290: Rawi Hage, author
291: Linda Dawn Hammond, photographer
292: Katy Hanna, artist
293: Shannon Harris, documentary filmmaker
294: Tim Hecker, electronic musician
295: Dorothy Henault, documentary filmmaker
296: Anne Henderson, documentary filmmaker
297: Hanako Hoshimi-Caines, contemporary dancer
298: Magnus Isacsson, documentary filmmaker
299: Yuki Isami, musician
300: Naledi Jackson, visual artist
301: Yohan Jager, pianist
302: Stéphane Jaques, theatre director
303: Jocelyn Jean, artist
304: Rodrigue Jean, artist
305: Sandra Jeppesen, poet/professor
306: David Jhave Johnston, poet
307: Sophie Jodoin, visual artist
308: Norsola Johnson, musician
309: Nicole Jolicoeur, artist
310: Sawssan Kaddoura, visual artist
311: Stephan Kazemi, designer
312: Kaie Kellough, poet
313: Arshad Khan, documentary filmmaker
314: Nika Khanjani, filmmaker
315: Maya Khankhoje, writer
316: Valerie Khayat, poet/singer
317: Catherine Kidd, poet
318: Sergeo Kirby, cinema producer, Loaded Pictures
319: Courtney Kirkby, sound artist
320: Aysegul Koc, filmmaker
321: Nick Kuepfer, musician
322: Devlin Kuyek, author
323: Sylvain L’Espérance, cinéaste
324: Danièle Lacourse, cinéaste
325: Stéphane Lahoud, cinéaste
326: Jean-Sébastien Lalumière, cinéaste
327: Ève Lamont, documentary filmmaker
328: Noam Lapid, visual artist
329: Chantale Laplante, composer
330: Rodolphe-Yves Lapointe, artist
331: Monique Laramée, multidisciplinary artist
332: Graham Latham, musician
333: Hugo Latulippe, cinéaste
334: Brian Allen Lipson, musician
335: Klervi Thienpont Lavallée, actress
336: Franck Le Flaguais, artist
337: Sophie Le-Phat Ho, Artivistic collective
338: François Leandre, visual artist
339: Michel Lefebvre, artist/multimedia editor
340: Vincent Lemieux, artist/DJ
341: Jean-François Lessard, writer/composer
342: Anna Leventhal, writer
343: JJ Levine, photographer
344: Mika Lillit Lior, choreographer/dancer
345: Sarah Linhares, singer
346: Paul Litherland, artist
347: Amy Lockhart, filmmaker/artist
348: Guillermo Lopez, cinema editor
349: Jacinthe Loranger, visual artist
350: Ehab Lotayef, poet
351: Lousnak, singer/multidisciplinary artist
352: Caytee Lush, poet
353: Kit Malo, artist
354: Khalid M’Seffar, radio host/DJ
355: Jessica MacCormack, multidisciplinary artist
356: Emmanuel Madan, sound artist
357: Rob Maguire, editor ArtThreat.net
358: Claude Maheu, musician
359: Hernán Maria, musician
360: Omar Majeed, filmmaker, Taqwacore – the Birth of Punk Islam
361: Iphigénie Marcoux-Fortier, filmmaker, Multi-Monde productions
362: Natalie Marshik, artist
363: Billy Mavreas, visual artist
364: Valerian Mazataud, photographer
365: Kirsten McCrea, artist, Papirmasse
366: Taliesin McEnaney, theatre artist
367: Catherine McInnis, artist
368: Meek, electronic musician
369: Feroz Mehdi, filmmaker/activist
370: Elany Mejia, musician
371: Amy Miller, documentary filmmaker
372: Jeff Miller, writer
373: Claude Mongrain, sculptor
374: Émilie Monnet, singer, Odaya
375: Evan Montpellier, musician
376: Vincent Moon, filmmaker
377: Allison Moore, artist
378: Katie Moore, singer/songwriter
379: Jean-Guy Moreau, artist/comedian
380: Dominic Morissette, filmmaker/photographer
381: Nadia Moss, visual artist/musician
382: Krista Muir, musician, Lederhosen Lucil
383: Mehdi Nabti, musician
384: Tyler Nadeau, photographer
385: Dimitri Nasrallah, author
386: Rawane Nassif, filmmaker
387: Pamela Navarrete, artist
388: Norman Nawrocki, musician/author
389: Joshua Noiseux, photographer
390: Kelly Nunes, DJ
391: Alexis O’Hara, multidisciplinary artist
392: Sean O’Hara, founder Alien 8 Recordings
393: Sarah Pagé, musician
394: Cléo Palacio-Quintin, musician/composer
395: Catherine Pappas, documentary filmmaker
396: Marie-Hélène Parant, artist
397: Richard Reed Parry, musician, Bell Orchestre
398: Alain Pelletier, multidisciplinary artist
399: Yann Perreau, singer/songwriter
400: Sara Peters, poet
401: Pierre Petiote, artist
402: Mauro Pezzente, musician, founder Casa del Popolo
403: Alisha Piercy, artist/writer
404: Pierre-Emmanuel Poizat, musician
405: Carole Poliquin, filmmaker
406: Janet Ponce, singer/author/composer
407: Jeannette Pope, filmmaker
408: Rozenn Potin, filmmaker
409: Levana Prud’homme, dancer
410: Jean-François Poupart, writer/professor
411: Thea Pratt, artist
412: Alain G. Pratte, photographer
413: Kern Prophete, hip-hop artist
414: Jesse Purcell, artist, Just Seeds
415: Nelly-Eve Rajotte, artist
416: Anne Ramsden, artist
417: Nada Raphael, documentary photographer
418: Louis Rastelli, author
419: Antonella Ravello, photographer
420: Coire Ready Langham, circus artist
421: Fred Reed, writer
422: Victor Regalado, artist
423: Monique Régimbald-Zieber, artist
424: Alain Reno, illustrator
425: Gisela Restrepo, artist
426: Gerard Reyes, dancer
427: Andrea Rideout, theatre artist
428: Coco Riot, artist
429: Matana Roberts, saxophonist
430: Antoine Rouleau, photographer
431: Guilaine Royer, cultural worker
432: Daïchi Saïto, filmmaker
433: Trish Salah, poet
434: Babak Salari, photographer
435: Samian, hip-hop artist
436: Miriam Sampaio, multidisciplinary artist
437: Marjolaine Samson, artist
438: Julian Samuel, artist/writer
439: Ariel Santana, artist
440: Claire Savoie, artist
441: Dorothy Saykaly, contemporary dancer
442: Patti Schmidt, radio host/cultural commentator
443: Anita Schoepp, artist/musician
444: Nadia Seboussi, artist
445: Fran Sendbuehler, graphic artist
446: Marcel Sévigny, author
447: Sam Shalabi, musician/composer
448: Nik Barry-Shaw, writer
449: Eric Shragge, author/professor
450: Bridget Simpson, musician
451: Michelle Smith, documentary filmmaker, Productions Multi-Monde
452: Prem Sooriyakumar, filmmaker
453: Jennifer Spiegel, writer
454: Laurel Sprengelmeyer, artist, Little Scream
455: Darlene St. Georges, art educator
456: Alexandre St-Onge, sound artist/musician
457: Allison Staton, photographer
458: Victoria Stanton, performance artist
459: Gab Perry Stensson, artist
460: Martha Stiegman, documentary filmmaker/author
461: Kiva Stimac, visual artist, founder Casa del Popolo
462: Brett Story, filmmaker
463: John W. Stuart, graphic designer/writer
464: Caroline Tagny, graphic artist
465: Roger Tellier-Craig, musician
466: Vincent Tinguely, poet/writer
467: Juan Toro, musician
468: Tanya Tree, documentary filmmaker
469: Benoît Tremblay, artist
470: Philippe Tremblay-Berberi, filmmaker
471: Gisèle Trudel, artist, Ælab
472: Svetla Turnin, executive director of Cinema Politica
473: André Turpin, cinéaste
474: Armand Vaillancourt, painter/sculptor
475: Rufo Valencia, writer/poet
476: Sylvie Van Brabant, filmmaker
477: Niek van de Steeg, artist
478: Francis Van Den Heuvel, filmmaker
479: Rahul Varma, theatre director, Teesri Duniya Theatre
480: Chris Vaughn, violinist, Free Benny Meanz
481: Adrian Vedady, jazz musician
482: Felipe Verdugo, pianist
483: Sebastián Verdugo, pianist
484: Stefan Verna, documentary filmmaker
485: Gilles Vigneault, artist
486: Sam Vipond, musician
487: Tamara Vukov, filmmaker/academic
488: Shannon Walsh, documentary filmmaker
489: Francesca Waltzing, artist
490: Erin Weisgerber, sound artist
491: David Widgington, journalist/filmmaker
492: Ezra Winton, founder Cinema Politica
493: Britt Wray, artist
494: Gary Worsley, founder Alien 8 Recordings
495: Dexter X, filmmaker/musician
496: Eileen Young, visual artist
497: Karen Young, singer/songwriter
498: Kevin Yuen Kit Lo, graphic designer
499: Michael Zaidan, filmmaker
500: Kim Zombik, singer

Photo by Filippo Minelli.

Link to the original post.

Tags: apartheid, BDS Movement, Boycott, Canada, israel, Middle East, Montreal, occupation, Palestine

 

The entrepreneur and innovator tells Simon Garfield about inspiration, determination and why he doesn't do email…

Thirty years ago this month, Clive Sinclair launched a computer that he hoped would change the world. In the majority of cases it only changed the way people played primitive computer games, but it also turned a bespectacled, prematurely balding man into a hero for our times.

In those dark days before Windows 7 and the iPad, the Sinclair ZX80 represented the pinnacle of affordable domestic computing. It was a flat box without a screen or proper keyboard, it had the memory of a hamster and at the back of it was something that looked like a radiator grille but was actually a strip of plastic designed to look like a radiator grille. It promised it could do "quite literally anything, from playing chess to running a power station", which was good value for something costing £79.95 in kit form and £99.95 assembled, about one fifth of the price of other home computers.

Sir Clive, who was knighted for services to industry at the age of 43, will be 70 later this year. He lives in an apartment overlooking Trafalgar Square, and from his adjacent office he has a magnificent view of tourists and lions (recently he also had a view of people performing on Antony Gormley's fourth plinth, but that "got a bit boring really"). He was a household name before Sir Alan Sugar, and for a while was the unlikely future of modern electronics: a bright, hi-tech uncle rejuvenating British industry blighted by decay, unions and Thatcher.

Sinclair helped transform Cambridge into the computing capital of the world, a homegrown version of Silicon Valley and Taipei, and for a couple of brilliant years he made the bestselling computers in the world. And then the competition took him on, and his great machines went the way of the Spinning Jenny, and here he is in his carpet slippers nursing a heavy cold.

He says his recollections may be a little blurry, but he is clear on one thing. Before his other inventions made him poor, the ZX80 and its successor the ZX81 made him rich. "Oh my lord, yes," he says as he settles on a sofa. "Oh good God, yes. Very much so. I'm just speaking from memory here, but within two or three years we made £14m profit in a year. That would be a lot today."

He says that the ZX80 computer was named after the year it appeared, and because the letters sounded cool and futuristic. He is keen to credit the rest of his small team at Cambridge, not least Nine Tiles, the company that made the Basic operating software. But he is a little hazier about what the machine could actually do.

"We had several routines you could be doing within minutes," he says. "People could tap in a few keys and make the display do some strange things. All very exploratory. We had a little printer, and one guy, right at the start, came out with the program that generated hypothetical dinosaurs. It invented their names, and printed out their pictures, and it could go on doing this indefinitely. Then very soon a huge number of games came out and the whole thing exploded."

"Not literally?"

"No."

The ZX80 sold about 50,000 units, and the ZX81 which replaced it cost £69.95 and sold 250,000. The brochure promised that a child of 12 would soon be mastering "decimals, logs and trig", although the trig would have to be saved to a cassette recorder. The average 2GB laptop of today has 2,000,000 times more memory than that offered by Sinclair's first machines, although he is keen to stress that computing ability isn't everything. "Our machines were lean and efficient," he says. "The sad thing is that today's computers totally abuse their memory – totally wasteful, you have to wait for the damn things to boot up, just appalling designs. Absolute mess! So dreadful it's heartbreaking."

Sinclair, who is not an especially tall man, has always been a great one for the smallness of things. He made those little pocket calculators, he made black digital watches, and also those pocket televisions on which the newsreader Kenneth Kendall looked like Angela Rippon. Later he would make the little C5 (1985), way ahead of the game in the quest for an electric car, so long as you didn't actually try to take it on the road.

He says the important thing about his computers was not only their ability to help with domestic chores (when WH Smith sold them it stressed you could "flummox your bank manager"), but also their capacity to expand the user's intellectual horizons. But it was the male hobbyists who had the most fun: adverts depict fathers programming train timetables with their sons while mum brought in the Victoria sponge.

Things really took off when the ZX became the Spectrum in 1982, and colour games such as Jet Set Willy became the second major activity in teenage bedrooms. Like the Chopper bike, these amusements are now retrospectively popular again, although Sinclair sees none of the rewards. When did other companies such as Atari and Commodore begin to catch up? "I don't think they did catch up. We never had any serious competition in the sense of making machines that were cost effective by comparison. The BBC machine Acorn was quite expensive, and only succeeded because the BBC put its name to it, which was quite outrageous. Then the IBM machine took over. Not because it was a good machine – it was a completely appalling design, but it was IBM, so you know…"

And what computer does he now use himself?

"I don't use a computer at all. The company does."

"So you don't do email?"

"No. I've got people to do it for me."

"If friends and family want to communicate?"

"They can do that. We've got a computer in the front office, but I get someone to do it for me."

"That seems odd to me. Why is that?"

"Sheer laziness I think. I can't be bothered."

"Do you not know how to operate it?"

"I do know how to, but I don't."

"Sorry to press, but it seems the simplest thing in the world to do your own emails."

"Well I find them annoying. I'd much prefer someone would telephone me if they want to communicate. No, it's not sheer laziness – I just don't want to be distracted by the whole process. Nightmare."

When he's not not doing his emails, Sinclair occasionally appears in the tabloids pictured with a blonde former lapdancer 36 years his junior ("He's actually incredibly attractive to women," his intended, Angie Bowness, whom Sinclair met in Stringfellows, has said.). The rest of the time he continues in his attempt to reinvent the wheel. He walks across the corridor to his office, where one section is given over to the A-Bike, his miniature lightweight folding bicycle. He launched this in 2006, and it costs £199.99. He says it's selling well, and that he's just solved some manufacturing problems. I pull one out to sit on it.

"They're not necessarily working models," he says, "so I'd rather you didn't."

I ask him how it folds up. "I won't go into that now if you don't mind – I'm not feeling too well."

I ask him what else he is working on.

"A little electric car."

"And what can you tell me about that?"

"Not much."

"When might it be viewable?"

"I hope within a year."

"Any resemblance to previous efforts?"

"No, it doesn't look like anything we've done before."

"But obviously all the big companies are doing their own electric cars."

"But they won't be doing what I'm doing, I'm sure. As usual I hope I'll sell lots of them. But who can tell?"

Emily must have been on the prowl for some inspirational tablescapes and floral arrangements when she found Chandra + Matt’s Cedarwood wedding, and Phindy Studios definitely didn’t disappoint with their fun images.  (Fun fact: the newlyweds are a match.com success story!)  Chandra wore a slim-cut gown from the Bridal Garden and classic Stuart Weitzman pumps, and decked her maids in royal purple sheaths from Nordstrom.  The cheerful bouquets and bold centerpieces were offset by the couple’s clean and ultra-modern square confection from Patty Cakes.  Emily is training me to be more detail-oriented, so let me direct your attention to the couple’s fun playbill-inspired menus.  (Did I say that right, Em?)  Visit Phindy Studio’s own post about this wedding for a few more shots from the day!

How did the two of you meet?  Tell us your story.  We met on match.com in 2004.  Matt "winked” at me, which communicates interest without a formal email.  And, I, managing a flurry of winks, ended up sorting my inbox by height.  Matt (who is 6’5”) was first on the list, and that’s how it all started.  We corresponded via email and IM for five weeks before we met for the first time halfway between Manchester, CT and Tyringham, MA for a six hour dinner.  According to Matt, he knew from the moment he saw me that he wanted to marry me.  I, too, was equally intrigued by him, and secretly envisioned our future together, even from day one.

Describe the proposal: Matt and I were living in Chicago and he persuaded me to take a bike ride to the lake.  He had packed a picnic of snacks, so we sat on a blanket staring at the lake, nibbling and chatting about our highly-anticipated future in Nashville, TN (iwe were moving in two months).  Matt was in the process of editing videos – one of his many hobbies - so I didn’t think anything of it when he gave me his iPod and headphones, and told me he had a video he was working on that he wanted to show me. The video was a six minute overview of our 3.5-year relationship that ended with white text on a black background that said, “Our Future.”  I was in tears, and took of my sunglasses to find an engagement ring in Matt’s hands and tears in his eyes.  I was completely surprised.  Our wedding save-the-date was electronic and included the video Matt created to propose to me: http://www.mattandchandra.com/savethedate.html
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: The Hatch-show print cards announcing our marriage tucked in the napkins at each guest’s seat.  Behind the Hatch-show cards were ten different cards corresponding to the ten guests seated at any given table.  These cards gave guests extra details about our wedding and provided an opportunity for guests to interact with each other.  Here’s the list of card topics:

1. First Dance Lyrics, Ben Folds “The Luckiest”
2. Explanation of the Beer & Wine selection
3. Specialty Drink Menu
4. Dinner Menu
5. How well do you know Chandra & Matt TRIVIA: The Early Years
6. Details about the cake flavors & the surprise late-night snack:  empanadas & fondue
7. Part of Matt's Match.com profile
8. Our first email exchange

10.  Comments card

Tell us about finding your wedding dress: Every Thanksgiving, we visit Matt’s family in Greenwich, CT.  On black Friday, my mother-in-law and I ventured into NYC to find my dress.  I had an appointment at the Bridal Garden, which is NYC’s only bridal boutique whose proceeds benefit education for NYC children.  I loved the concept, and the fact that all their designer gowns are up to 75% off retail prices. The first dress I tried on at the Bridal Garden ended up being “my dress.” It was a fun-filled afternoon with my mother-in-law who was an incredible support throughout all phases of the wedding planning.
Describe your bouquet: I carried a hand-tied bouquet with green mini hydrangeas, green roses, plum dahlias and mini calla lilies wrapped in green moss satin ribbon with copper satin ribbon crossed on the stems.
Describe your wedding cake: We served a four-tier square cake with dark brown ribbon and marzipan green apples, plums, acorns and leaves with a fresh plum dahlia and berries. The entire cake was covered in white chocolate cream cheese frosting.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day?  My favorite memory of the day was our ceremony. It was written by us, but still full of surprises and filled with humor.  We had two friends pick and share readings, one of which was personally written.  Others shared photos that symbolized something about us, resulting in lots of tears and comic relief.  We also had a close friend officiate the wedding. As this happened, our rings circulated the crowd to be touched and "blessed" by the hands of our guests. Since I am from Oceanside, California and Matt from Greenwich, CT, we blended sand from the east and west coast to symbolize our past, present and future.  It was beautiful in every sense of the word and VERY memorable.
Did you write your own vows?  If so, what was your favorite phrase, verse or line? A week before the wedding, we talked about what we wanted from each other.  Those requests became “promises” and we each said 3 promises as our vows. Here’s mine:

Chandra: “I Chandra, choose you Matt, to be my lifelong partner. I promise to be the healthiest version of myself I can be; to support you, and all of your interests and endeavors; and to prioritize our family, friends, and loved ones amidst the day to day business of my life. These things I promise you, my partner and best friend, on this day, the next day, and every other day, for the rest of our lives.”
What’s next for you as a couple?  What are you looking forward to in the future?  We’re excited about buying a home, traveling before kids and enjoying each other’s company in Nashville.

Congratulations, Chandra + Matt!  We wish you all the best as newlyweds and beyond.

Want gorgeous wedding photography? Be sure to enter the Brion Hopkins giveaway by March 1 for a chance to win a wedding photography package!

Ashlee Vance of the NYTimes puts the cost of developing an ARM-based chip at around a billion dollars for companies like NVidia, Qualcomm and Apple.  And that's without the fabrication process to actually produce the chip.  

That's quite an investment for Apple and something that smaller companies like Palm wouldn't be able to fund.  Apple got a head start on their A4 chip production by purchasing PA Semi for $278 million two years ago, but has likely been spending liberally ever since.  Still, many dispute this high cost.

Until the iPhone "platform" was unveiled in 2007, ARM designs weren't considered for processors that could power "actual computers."  That is unless you consider that the ancestors to the current ARM designs were use in the Acorn desktop computers popular in Europe 25 years ago.

“Apple was the first company to make a really aspirational device [in a really long time] that wasn’t based on Intel chips and Microsoft’s Windows,” said Fred Weber, a chip industry veteran. “The iPhone broke some psychological barriers people had about trying new products and helped drive this consumer electronics push.”

Intel is the obvious victim of this possible industry move to ARM processors. The NYTimes cites Intel's ability to run Windows and their $9 billion war chest as obstacles to ARM chips like Apple's A4 entering the general computing space.

Kevin Willis thinks remote voting makes more sense in theory than in practice.

I think a serious proposal for remote voting might be problematic. Whose going to institute an electronic system, if we went that route? Diebold? Don't get me started on the sheer idiocy of developing voting machines with off the shelf technology, including Windows as the OS. I shake my head every time I think about it. Or go to vote.

What's going to happen the first time a representative says that his staff did not actually vote the way he told them to?

What's the response when Republicans accuse ACORN of getting involved?

And to the point of ill senators -- the first time there is a controversial vote, there will be accusations that an ill senator, who voted remotely, actually didn't vote. Instead, there will be accusations that the political hacks hovering around him like vultures made the vote for him. Unconstitutional! Anti-Democratic! ACORN pulled the lever! Blackwater pulled the lever! There was a lobbyist in his hospital room *on the day of the vote*!

And so on. Remote voting sounds simple, but I think there's a hornet's nest under that innocent looking exterior.

The implication there seems to be that we have so little trust in each other and the system that we can't stomach even common-sense procedural reforms. Speaking of which, here's Zeppelin on overestimating our presidents:

"If you've watched the past year unfold and come to the conclusion that America's problems would finally be solved if only the president was willing to propose much more radical, much more sweeping legislative initiatives, there's something wrong with you." Ha! Exactly right. Thus the problem with the cult of personality that embodies presidential campaigns. The misguided belief that the various veto points of our system, special interests, pure lack of courage, and other reasons why things don't happen can all be miraculously washed away by some Great Leader delivered unto us some glorious day is very romantic and exciting but totally alien to reality. You have to admit this sort of thing makes covering presidential campaigns interesting though. Who'd ever get excited about a speech in Iowa or N.H. with some boring Republican or Democrat complaining how the Senate won’t do any of these wonderful things he's saying?

I may start doing this regularly.

The British Education and Training Technology exhibition has been helping to computerise schools since 1985, but it now goes a lot further than putting computers on desks -- into cashless payment systems, biometric tracking, and CCTV

The annual BETT educational trade exhibition has moved on a long way from the days when it seemed mostly about picking computers and cheap software for the Acorn BBC B or Archimedes. The current show, which closes today (Saturday), has products that few people would have considered way back then. Examples include digital signage, short-throw projectors (for whiteboards), electronic money, CCTV cameras and biometric entry and registration systems. In some cases, schools could be getting ahead of most businesses.

One example is the VeriCool Fingertip Cashless Catering System. This uses a small pad for fingertip scanning and verification. Pupils use money preloaded into their accounts to pay for lunch with their finger, without having to use cash or a swipe card. Not only does this solve the problem of lost or stolen dinner money, it means no one can tell who is getting free school meals. The same system can also be used for checking people in through the school entrance or registering attendance at lessons.

Another cashless epayment company, sQuid, has also started to offer biometric fingertip identification. sQuid provides for micropayments in schools using a contactless card system like the ones widely used for transportation systems. This is useful, again, because it avoids the problems of handling cash and integrates with school accounting and catering systems. At BETT, sQuid said it had introduced a fingerprint-based system that was being used at Banbury School in Oxfordshire.

Face recognition is another approach. Aurora was demonstrating Face Register (which it calls faceREGISTER), which was launched in April as a "post 16 registration solution" (PDF). Students enter their pin number, then the machine takes their photo using infrared flash and compares it against the data held on file. The company says it takes less than five seconds to sign in, and students can sign out in three seconds or less. Obviously Face Register allows for all kinds of tracking by student, by subject, by tutor and so on. But it also provides an attendance record for those pupils claiming a government Educational Maintenance Allowance, designed to encourage poorer students to stay on after they reach 16.

Nor is this the limit for what's appearing in schools. Some have already installed CCTV systems, and the analysis software is becoming increasingly sophisticated. For example, Security Systems Technology (SST) says its "recent education work includes an IP-addressable solution with over 100 cameras at Brampton Manor School in east London and a staff time & attendance project at The West Bridgford School in Nottingham." Its press release adds:

"Video analytics, including people counting as deployed by SST, has become a valuable tool for University & school facilities managers often to aid the Utilisation Survey process. Alarm-based installations are able to continuously monitor CCTV images throughout a school or college, creating an alert if certain patterns of behaviour occur such as large groups gathering in an area or intrusion into a protected zone. Facility managers at educational sites will immediately recognise the potential applications of such scene analysis."

We already know that the UK has become a "surveillance society" -- the House of Lords Constitution Committee said as much in its report, Surveillance: Citizens and the State, published a year ago.

Kids are already tracked by CCTV cameras in town centres and perhaps on buses and trains. Tracking them in schools seems the obvious next step.

Below is a list of new products for 2010 from the ATA Show. Select a link to view more details about a bowhunting product.





Aim Outdoors

• Whisper

Alpine Archery

• Jim Shockey Signature Series Yukon

Axcel

• Armortech-HD
• AX3000

Barronett Blinds

• BloodTrail Camo

Bearpaw Products

• Deluxe Fletching Jig

Bushnell

• Scout 1000 ARC
• BowHunter Chuck Adams Edition

Campbell

• Campbell Video Editor

Copper John

• Dead Nuts

Covert Scouting Cameras

• DLC Covert II "Assassin"

DeadFall

• CamoFlex 3-D Concealment

Doinker

• Doiner DISH

Drury Outdoors

• Whitetail Madness 13
• 100% Wild Fair-Chase
• Dream Season 13
• Bow Madness “Season Two”
• Dream Season The Television Series “Season Six”
• Whitetail Obsession 10
• Longbeard Madness 15
• Predator Madness 5

Easton

• FlatLine SuperLite Carbon

Eberlestock

• G287 Slingshot

Elite Archery

• Judge

Fatheads

• Fathead Graphics

Fuse Accessories

• Pilot G-Series Sight
• Pilot M-Series Sight
• Pilot Comp Dovetail-Mount Sight

GamePlan Gear

• Pass Through BowCase
• Leech Treestand Accessory Pack

Gold Tip

• Velocity

HawgLite

• The Marauder Lighting System

IQ Bowsight

• Retina Lock

Keyes Hunting Gear

• 3-D Quiver Pack

Lakewood Products

• C276 - Double Bow 41” Case

LimbSaver

• Proton

Millennium Treestands

• L110 21ft Single Ladder

Morrell

• MLT-Super Duper
• Bone Collector Broadhead Target

Mossy Oak

• Mossy Oak Break-Up Infinity

Moultrie

• Game Spy I-35
• Game Spy D-55
• Picture Viewer
• Power Panel

Mountain Mike's Reproductions

• Skull Master

New Archery Products

• BloodRunner 2-Blade
• Thunderhead Edge
• Spitfire Edge
• Apache
• NAP QuikFletch

Norway Industries

• 3.0 Fusion Vane

Ol'Man Outdoors

• AlumaLite Stands

Plano

• All Weather™ Bow Case
• 1449 Guide Series Case
• 1450 Guide Series Case
• 1460 Guide Series Case
• 1470 Guide Series Case
• LBL Wallet
• Bucket-top StowAway

Predator

• Informer XP
• Informer
• TrailEye IR
• TrailEye

Quality Archery Designs

• Ultra-Rest HD Bone Collector

Recon Outdoors

• Viper

Reconyx

• HC600
• HC500

Rifle Cam

• The Stabilizer Cam Video Camera Mount
• The Crossbow Cam Video Camera Mount

Rinehart Targets

• Rhinoblock™

Rivers Edge Treestands

• Big Foot XL Lounger

S.A.B.O Tactical Archery Systems

• Superimposed Ambient Ballistic Optic Zero Parallax with Zero Electronics Tactical Holographic Archery Sight

ScentBlocker

• ScentBlocker® Cold Fusion™
• Dream Season Silent Shell Jacket and Pants
• Dream Season Early Season Jacket and Pants
• S3® 4WD Glacier Vest
• Bone Collector™ Mack Daddy™ Jacket
• Ground Zero Ozone Wave

Smootchie Outdoors

• The Breath-Taker

Summit Treestands

• Dagger
• Hunter Seat

Sure-Loc

• QC® 2

TightSpot

• TightSpot Quiver

Tru-Fire

• TI Fixed-Blade Broadhead
• Hybrid Strap

T.R.U. Ball

• Bone Collector Beast

UWay Outdoors

• NightTrakker 5MP IR Scouting Camera: NT50

Whammer Jammer

• Crossbow Ballista

Wildgame Innovations

• Acorn Rage Drop N Block
• Buck Bran Feeder Frenzy
• Acorn Rage Juiced

The section began in 1983 as a couple of pages in the main paper before branching out as its own section. Its editors remember how it evolved …

Jack Schofield | Futures Micro Guardian | 1985-1994

The success of Futures Micro Guardian, for which I'd written a weekly column from the first issue in 1983, encouraged the Guardian to expand its IT coverage, but this wasn't just an editorial concern. The paper's commercial strategy was to try to dominate the graduate recruitment market, and in the 80s, IT was a growing business with plenty of job ads to chase. I joined the paper to launch Computer Guardian in September 1985, and we chased them.

It had to appear on a Thursday because we aspired to make it something like the media, education and society sections that appeared on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

I didn't have any problem being commercial: I'd spent a decade editing bookstall magazines where you either made money or you didn't survive. But it was interesting to join a paper owned by a charitable trust.

It was also like stepping back in time, because the Guardian didn't seem to have any computers. Like many computer journalists, I was already an online addict, and used BT's Telecom Gold service when editing Practical Computing, one of the early monthlies. I started publishing my email address in the Guardian and used that and Cix to receive copy electronically. This became even more useful when, post Wapping, our minicomputer-based Atex publishing system arrived. Before that, Computer Guardian pages were made up in Manchester, with stories being sent up a week before publication.

Computer Guardian covered everything from talking teddy bears to supercomputers. Features on the opening broadsheet page were usually aimed more at the general reader, and we covered microcomputers from Acorn, Amstrad, Atari, Commodore and Sinclair. These were extremely popular at the time, mainly for playing games, so I added a column of games reviews. Features on the inside panels, next to the job ads, covered more professional and industry topics. Regulars included Keith Devlin's maths column, continued from Futures Micro Guardian, and the Workspace column written by a retired IT manager, the late Ralph Cornes.

Over time, the two side's interests converged as IBM PC-compatible machines became affordable, and as both home and professional users adopted Microsoft Windows 3 after its launch in 1990. Indeed, in the use of online systems such as Fidonet bulletin boards, Prestel, CompuServe and Cix, some home users were ahead. Many readers were on Demon, which started via a Cix conference, before big companies woke up to the net.

In the early 80s, it was axiomatic that microchips would change the world, as they got faster and cheaper every year. Having seen computers move from number-crunching to word processing, and then to graphics and video, I fondly imagined the PC eventually challenging television. Also, as more and more of the world was transformed by the microprocessor, it seemed it must eventually make sense for each bit of the Guardian to have its own technology coverage instead of hiving it off into a separate section. There's still a long way to go, but we've gone further than I really expected.

Nick Passmore | OnLine | 1994-95

I'm not sure I ever was officially OnLine's editor – Alan Rusbridger, then still deputy to Peter Preston, asked if someone would look after the launch and I volunteered. Alan had bought a modem in the US that he had to run off a huge 115v transformer and I always suspected he gave me the job because I'd helped get it working for him …

The Guardian had form of course, Vic Keegan and Jack Schofield had been writing about computers in its pages since the mid 1980s but my own online qualifications were limited to a bit of lurking on Cix and having used AppleLink and its successor, eWorld. Also involved was Tim Radford, a science editor with a gift for popularisation and an extensive contacts book. (Tim took me to lunch with Professor Steve Rose to see if we could persuade him to write for OnLine rather than the Telegraph. We were hardly promising to make him rich, but I think he was only partly joking when he said he didn't want to write regularly for the Guardian because so many of his colleagues read it and would be eager to offer him free criticism.)

We knew that if we were going to preach weekly about the possibilities and potential of the internet we should practise too. It wasn't obvious how, though: we launched with plans for a CompuServe forum and months were spent fruitlessly trying to negotiate a contract that would allow free two-way interaction with our "readers".

Luckily, one of the brightest of the bright young things around the place at the time was Azeem Azhar, who started putting some of our content on the web and, with the help of a Mac extracted from Apple and a line from Pipex, set up Go2 (Guardian OnLine online) which went live in November 1995. Go2 was not just a home on the web for content printed in the paper but was added to through the week.

Go2 was soon overtaken by and absorbed into the Guardian's wider ambitions for the web but it played its part in developing those ambitions.

OnLine made another contribution to our technical development: in 1994, most of the paper was still written and edited in an Atex system – dumb terminals hooked up to modified DEC PDP-11 minicomputers – not only did most journalists have no access to the internet, a good proportion had never even used a mouse.

OnLine was the first of our newsprint sections produced usinong the Quark Publishing System and gave us an opportunity to work out how to use QPS for "hard" news departments. It worked pretty well and in 1998/99 we installed it to replace Atex for the whole paper. As part of that change we had software written that created a structured (in SGML and later XML) feed of content for the website from every page as soon as the page went to press. Having that feed meant that, even with its very limited resources, the website could build the critical mass of content it needed to make itself one of the places on the web worth visiting every day.

Bill O'Neill | OnLine | 1996-99

I arrived in January 1996 from New Scientist where, as a leaving present, they'd grudgingly allowed me to attend a week-long Microsoft training course that had been booked for editorial staff. I don't remember gagging for the exposure but, after all, these were the halcyon days of Windows 95 and it must have seemed a useful way of working out my notice period. And it was, though not as I'd expected.

Guardian journalists relied on an archaic text-based system supported by a network of terminals, called Atex, and though the system was clunky and temperamental, it did the job. Meanwhile, the Guardian OnLine section consisted of a couple of desks in a corner of the paper's newsroom in Farringdon, and a clutch of sparkling Apple Macs. I'd never seen a Mac outside of a publisher's design department and I was worried.

The OnLine section also came with two bright young things who'd clearly been born with an Apple in their cots (as they would proudly attest). I quickly discovered that you didn't need a training course to work a Mac. Then, just a few days later, I found myself in the paper's daily morning conference arguing that a story in the business pages about the plummeting commercial fortunes of the Apple Computer company should be taken up by the Guardian's flagship comment section. The idea was taken up, not surprisingly in view of the likely number of Guardian readers who were also Mac users.

And therein lies the germ of what somehow became the guiding principles throughout my tenure at OnLine's helm. I arrived keen to reveal the latest developments in technology (and science) and how they could change people's lives, but wary, in particular, of IT's burdensome marketing and PR hype. It was easy to accept that Microsoft would dominate and that Apple would go under, but rather boring.

For most people, the internet (and the associated communications revolution) was still more of an interesting phenomenon, with exhilarating and frightening potential, rather than a must-have for modern life. But many of these potential and actual readers were computer illiterati buying their first machine, and needed intelligible guidance. They demanded hard facts shorn of tortuous writing, presented winningly and couched within a provocative line. Arguments would ensue – lots of them that bred more – but it seemed the way to go.

OnLine's esteemed predecessor, published within the Guardian, seemed to have emerged from computer magazines and be aimed at folk who understood the jargon and liked to get their fingers inside the machine. Technological developments gave the new section independence and the paper's management allowed it breath-taking autonomy – just make it sexy, advised the features editor (and he wasn't talking "sexed-up"), and geeky (rather than nerdy), suggested a senior editor.

And so OnLine emerged from the paper's editorial department as a very separate and independent supplement. All the editing and design, and much of the writing, was done on those Macs (PCs, by which non-Macs were then universally known, were not up to the job); contributors, inside and outside the paper, yielded copy that stimulated readers to join the revolution; and OnLine's artwork was put up for award.Then, quite suddenly, those territorial battles of the burgeoning internet age that made such good copy – Apple v Microsoft, Dell v Sun, security v surveillance, Linux v allcomers, copyright v free-for-all, and so on – seemed to lose their edginess. Apple was on the mend again and Jobs was even talking to Gates (perhaps he always was). In any event, it was time to tackle new challenges.

Charles Arthur | Technology | 2005-2009

Of the thousands of words that I've edited in Guardian Technology since November 2005, none has delighted me quite so much as the opening of Sean Dodson's article in May 2006: "In 1824 an English bricklayer named Joseph Aspdin rediscovered one of the great secrets of the ancient world." It has it all: mystery, storytelling, and most of all it's about the sort of technology that you can drop on your foot. (Don't quite recall what he rediscovered? Find out online).

It always seemed to me that the mutation of OnLine paired with Science (as "Life") into Technology, as the Guardian moved to its Berliner format, called out for an exploration beyond the computer keyboard, to examine topics, such as: ow-power lightbulbs, the realities of standby consumption, the usefulness of otherwise of the International Space Station, personal DNA sequencing and laser fusion.

But the internet is of course the driving force behind much of society today. And it seemed to me obvious that the Guardian's Technology section should try to direct some of that force to everyone's benefit.

Soon after starting on the section, I talked to Michael Cross, who provided our public sector coverage, about how we might go about creating a campaign for the section to pursue. What mattered? We agreed that public sector (impersonal) data held enormous commercial value – but that to realise that value also meant persuading government to let anyone use it, so that everyone could benefit from it.

The "Free Our Data" campaign kicked off in March 2006, and helped to influenced Tom Watson MP, who later ascended to the Cabinet Office under Gordon Brown: he in turn made the case throughout government.

"[Free data] has gone from being a minority sport to the mood music in the civil service," as one key figure told me recently. And, importantly, the campaign has succeeded: from April, key map and postcode data will be free, and more will follow. It has been worth the effort.

Regrettably, we could not reinvent our business model in print as quickly as we could reinvent the government's approach to data. That huge sucking sound? Well, that's the internet taking away the job adverts that paid for the print edition.

Paper, though delightful, is expensive to make. Shifting electrons around on a screen is far cheaper. Thank you for reading for so long – right to the conclusion. We've enjoyed it.

The name game

Futures Micro Guardian 20 October, 1983; edited by Tim Radford

Computer Guardian 19 September, 1985; edited by Jack Schofield

OnLine 19 May, 1994; edited by Nick Passmore to December 1995, Bill O'Neill to March 1999; Online Victor Keegan to August 2005

Technology 15 September, 2005 – 15 December 2009; edited by Richard Adams to November 2005; Charles Arthur to December 2009, continuing online

Buying a computer, 1983

"It might be cheap but sometimes it's nasty – Jack Schofield offers a guide to the first-time buyer:
Choosing a machine for its software is not easy. You have to find a shop that stocks it, and is willing to demonstrate it at some length … Some machines are a better bet than others, but bear in mind there are no certainties. My shortlist of micros to look at would be – in alphabetical order – the Acorn BBC Model B (£400) and the Acorn -Electron (£200), the Atari 600XL (£160) and 800XL (£250), and the Commodore 64 (£230)."

• Read the full article

From Jack Schofield's first column for the Guardian's computer section in 1983, here is his guide to buying a home computer

Alas the latest isn't the greatest
It might be cheap but sometimes it's nasty. Jack Schofield offers a guide to the first-time buyer.
20 October 1983

Choosing a home micro is difficult — probably more difficult than choosing a business model. Among home micros there is no standardisation either of hardware or software. Each brand has its own dialect of Basic programming language. Even if different micros use Microsoft Basic — the de facto "standard "brand — each will have its own sound and graphics commands, and its own way of handling cassette tape and floppy disc storage.

In fact virtually all the software — the commercially available programs — is incompatible. This is the case not only between different machines but often between different models, both old and current, from the same manufacturer.

The situation is similar to the video recorder market. VHS tapes will not run on a Betamax machine, or vice versa. The old Philips 1500 and new 2000 ranges are similarly incompatible. With home computers, unfortunately, the problem is far worse because there are not three or four but some 25 different systems, with further subdivisions for semi- and non-compatible model variations. Just about the only company to avoid this morass is Atari, all of whose micros run the same software, but of course, not the same cartrides [sic] as their VCS video games machines.

So there are two ways to choose your microcomputer.

You can either select what you think is the best hardware, or else choose the one with the best, or the most, software.

However, I would still not recommend the beginner to buy the latest machine, let alone wait for that wonderful new model which is always; but always, just over the horizon. For a start, most new machines have "bugs" — flaws in the Basic language, the operating system, and often the hardware, too. Many early buyers have had terrible struggles with their machines before the manufactures sort these out. Then, most new machines are short of "peripherals" — add-ons such as disc drives for storing programs, joysticks, printers, speech synthesizers, light pens and all the rest of the paraphernalia. Often there is initially little or no software and this normally takes about a year to appear in reasonable quantity.

If you wait, most machines get cheaper. A year ago, for example, you could have paid £345 for a Commodore G4 with no software available; today it costs £199 to £229 and quite a lot of software is starting to appear. Similarly the Atari 800 has dropped from £450 to £300, and the TI-99/4a from £200 to £100. Only the BBC Model B is more expensive now than when it was launched.

This does not mean you can choose any old machine, because old machines get discontinued, too. The Acorn Atom and Sinclair ZX-80 arc examples, while the days of the Vic-20 must be numbered.

Very successful machines, however, are likely to last longer than less successful ones. And when they are updated, the new models are more likely to be compatible than not. Thus Apple kept faith with their users, maintaining broad compatibility with the Apple II — launched in 1977 — through the II Plus and IIe. Atari's new 600XL and 800XL are compatible with their 1979 models the 400 and 800. The Acorn Electron is at least semi-compatible with the popular BBC Model B.

The ideal solution is to choose an established machine that is one to two years old and/or for which lots of software exists. The problem then is finding the software you like, and can afford, because then you simply buy the machine it runs on.

This also makes sense because over the long term you are likely to spend more money on software and peripherals than on the original hardware.

Choosing a machine for its software is not easy. You have to find a shop that stocks it, and is willing to demonstrate it at some length. If you require a specific type of program, this is essential. In the home-micro market, many good programs are only available for one machine. There are, of course, numerous rip-offs.

For example, if you or your offspring is mad keen on the arcade games Centipede or Donkey Kong then you can buy these for the Atari. For other machines you can buy copies with names like Millipede, Centibug, Crawler, Super Snake, Katerpillar Attack and so on.

Donkey Kong copies are called things like Donkey King, Crazy Kong, Zany Kong or Killer Gorilla — you get the idea. Many such imitations look quite like the real thing, but may play much worse. It's rather like buying a Star Wars video — or Beatles record — remade by lookalikes. Most will be awful. Some, very few, arc actually better than the originals. But you have to try a lot of them to find out.

Some independent software houses like Melbourne House and Thorn EMI are starting to produce their programs for a range of different machines, so the situation is improving.

If your requirements are more general, then you can take pot luck. For example if, you want to do word processing, there are now ten word processing programs for the Commodore 64. You could buy the machine with reasonable confidence that one of them will suit you. By contrast, there are only two usable word processors for the Dragon so you had better make sure you like one of them before you buy a Dragon for word processing.

Once you get into the shop, the sales pitch will start. This machine has a 6809 cpu (central processing unit) 48K of RAM, 672 and 380 pixel graphics, 9 octaves of sound and so on. Ignore it. Look at three or four of the best available programs on the screen, and judge the results The problem with specifications is that they are not a reliable guide to performance. For example, the 6809 microprocessor is indeed more powerful than the more common 6502 or Z-80. But more people know how to program these, and far more good software is available for machines that use them. The 6809 is more powerful, but not better.

The amount of RAM (random access or "read/write" memory, where you store programs and data) is a major selling point, but ask how much RAM is available directly for Basic programming. You will find the 64K Commodore 64 and the 48K Atari 800 both have about 37.5K free to Basic, while the 48K Lynx has about 13.5K Basic. Raw numbers can be misleading.

The maximum resolution of the graphics is another selling point fraught with problems for the unwary. For example, the BBC Model B has a maximum resolution of 640 by 256 pixels. However, this mode restricts you to two colours, it requires 20K of precious RAM (which means there is hardly any room for the program) and a normal TV receiver can't display it properly anyway.

Sounds need to be listened to carefully. For example, one micro offers 8 octaves of sound and another only 3.5 octaves. Nevertheless, both produce only 255 different frequencies (notes) from Basic. Another machine has four sound channels, but only one can be used at a time. Yet another has great sound potential, and no sound statements in Basic!

If all else fails, take advice. Some machines are a better bet than others, but bear in mind there are no certainties. My shortlist of micros to look at would be — in alphabetical order — the Acorn BBC Model B (£400) and the Acorn Electron (£200), the Atari 600XL (£160) and 800XL (£250), and the Commodore 64 (£230). The weakest of these is the Electron. The Atari and Commodore models, however, need their own special cassette recorders for storing programs — an extra cost — while the BBC Model B needs an expensive extra chip if you want to add disc drives.

For a cheaper option, perhaps the best value machine is the Sinclair Spectrum (16K £100, 48K £130), simply because it has the more, good-cheap software. It lacks a proper keyboard, has poor sound, and needs expanding — at extra cost — to bring it up to the level of the others. Nevertheless, it is a remarkably powerful machine for the money. The Oric is also worth considering: it has better sound and a better keyboard than the Spectrum, but nowhere near as much software.

In fact, all today's home microcomputers are astonishingly cheap compared to their historic cost. Whichever you buy, you won't have to pay much for an interesting, and entertaining, step into the future.

Jack Schofield is the editor of Practical Computing

• You may also enjoy Jack Schofield's memories of editing the Guardian's technology section

[We interrupt our Copenhagen coverage for this week's Econundrum:]

This year, my Christmas shopping goal was simple: No gadgets. But I’m beginning to think an electronics-free Christmas might be harder to achieve than I thought: According to Amazon’s weekly list of top-selling Christmas gifts, grown-ups are going crazy for Kindles, while kids are clamoring for something called Chuck My Talking Truck (“Not only does Chuck have over 40 spoken phrases and sounds, he also drives to you when called and shakes his bumper and dump bed while chatting and ‘working.’”) Creepy.

Doubting my ability to resist booty-shaking dump trucks, I decided to prevail upon the MoJo hive brain. Courtesy of our smart, thrifty, and eco-minded staff, here are ten greener alternatives to Amazon’s top ten gifts. (If the idea of buying more stuff doesn’t appeal, sit tight till next week: DIY gift ideas are on their way.)

1. Instead of: Baby Einstein Takealong Tunes
Try: Animal Dolls are huggable plush toys based on kids’ drawings. Made of organic materials, 100 percent compostable. Completely free of “high quality and enjoyable classical melodies.” ($24.99 at animaldolls.com)

2. Instead of: A Hoover Vacuum Cleaner
Try: A National Parks Pass. No lint in the great outdoors! ($80 at nps.gov/fees_passes)

3. Instead of: Bakugan 7 in 1 Maxus Dragonoid figurines
Try: Anyu, the organic cotton ice pixie who hails from a polar ice cap. And you know what evil forces are at work up there. Just imagine the dramatic play possibilities. ($22.46 at greenfeet.com)

4. Instead of: Givenchy PLAY eau de toilette
Try: A pretty Japanese Furoshiki. Wear it, giftwrap with it, or carry your lunch in it. ($9-$34 at furoshiki.com)

5. Instead of: Amazon Kindle
Try: Something retro: A used book. Bonus points for a childhood favorite, or a cool one that’s gone out of print. (prices vary; try powells.com)

6. Instead of: Lego Ultimate Building Set
Try: BPA-free tea set made from recycled milk jugs. ($25 at potterybarnkids.com)

7. Instead of: Bare Escentuals Make-up
Try: Something frivolous: Mercy Corp's Women’s Leadership kits. “Give women the resources to turn their ideas and energy into successful small businesses.” ($50 at mercycorps.org/mercykits)

8. Instead of: Levi’s Jeans
Try: Recycled shirt from Stella Neptune. I like this one, which features a jaunty skull wearing a slightly askew crown. ($68 at stellaneptune.com)

9. Instead of: Crocs
Try: Acorn Eco-Wrap Slippers, made of earth friendly fibers, including hemp, wool and yak. ($25.74 at sierratradingpost.com)

10. Instead of: Playskool’s Chuck My Talking Truck
Try:  Recycling truck from Green Toys, Inc. Made in the USA from recycled milk jugs; shipped responsibly. Never too early to learn proper sorting. ($21.95 at greenfeet.com)
 

Ten Years Of ATP, Minehead

From indie acorns, an influential music empire grows: that's the story of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival. Born from a simple wish to create a leftfield event which had all of the pros of pre-existing music festivals (great bands) but with none of the cons (camping, sponsorship, being miles from the stage), ATP has gone from being an interesting fringe concern to a thriving, diversifying music business. If this anniversary event can't quite boast the star quality of this weekend's Nightmare Before Christmas, it still has a great deal going for it. What used to be called post-rock is represented by Tortoise and David Pajo, whose Ariel M will perform their great Live From A Shark's Cage album. Elsewhere Shellac, the Breeders, Six Organs Of Admittance, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, OM and Sun o))) fill out the alternative picture.

Butlins Minehead, Fri to 13 Dec

John Robinson

Little Dragon, on tour

A requisite blend of modernity and cuteness, Little Dragon make music that could well have been written on an iPhone app, with a view to being used for a mobile network ad. Suffice it to say, this being 2009, that this Swedish band play electropop. Reminiscent of former Beastie Boys acolytes Cibo Matto, they are perhaps best appreciated via the same sideways look that they themselves offer on the world. There's a lot to recommend the group – singer Yukumi Nagano has a voice of soulful potential – but their electronics don't quite go far enough. New album, Machine Dreams, duly flirts with being Dido for hipsters, but happily never goes all the way.

London Rhythm Factory, Mon; HiFi, Leeds, Tue; Jam, Brighton, Wed

John Robinson

Othello, Birmingham

Among the venues for previous productions by Birmingham Opera Company have been a marquee in one of the city's parks, a former car workshop, a disused ice rink, a former rubber factory and a bank. So it's no surprise to learn that the venue for its production of Othello is a former industrial plant in the Digbeth area of the city. But like all of Graham Vick's shows for the company that he has led so single-mindedly for more than 20 years, there's more to this new Othello than just a quirky choice of location. It will be, BOC claims, the first time a professional production of Verdi's penultimate opera has featured a black singer in the title role – the tenor Ronald Samm – and, like all the previous productions, it will involve a huge number of local people, some 250 in all. The cast also includes baritone Keel Watson as Iago and Stephanie Corley as Desdemona; Stephen Barlow conducts.

Argyle Works, Sat to 19 Dec

Andrew Clements

Total Immersion: George Crumb, London

Last year the BBC reformatted its annual new-music weekend at the Barbican as a series of day-long programmes of concerts and talks, each concentrating on a single contemporary composer. Evidently the change of format was a success, for the current season includes three more of these Total Immersion days. There will be events focusing on the music of Hans Werner Henze and Wolfgang Rihm, but first is a day devoted to that of the American George Crumb. Crumb's works peaked in popularity in the late-60s and early-70s, when his blend of avant garde techniques and modish extra-musical allusions were combined with a vivid aural imagination to create some memorable and immediately accessible soundscapes. Two orchestral works from that period, Echoes Of Time and River And Star Child, are included here.

Barbican, EC2, Sat

Andrew Clements

Craig Taborn, London

The American jazz-piano original Craig Taborn is a familiar UK visitor – notably with saxophonists Chris Potter and the adventurous Tim Berne, and guitarist-producer David Torn – but hearing this remarkable innovator playing his own music is a seductive prospect. With his fine 2001 solo album Light Made Lighter, Taborn revealed enough enthusiasm for wilful chalk-and-cheese tensions, and electronic abstractions, to satisfy the most hardline improv purist, but also showed himself to be delicately rhapsodic like Brad Mehldau, melodically lumpy and lateral like Thelonious Monk, and at times a headlong standards-swinger too. He plays this gig – to be recorded for broadcast on BBC Jazz on 3 – with his regular trio of bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Gerald Cleaver. It's a band that reveals how much the keyboardist and his partners are both inside and on the edge of the jazz tradition.

Vortex, Dalston Culture House, N16, Mon

John Fordham

Them Crooked Vultures, on tour

Some people are all front; Josh Homme, interestingly, is all side. Though nominally the frontman of Queens Of The Stone Age, his "main" band, he operates with Eagles Of Death Metal, as a producer, with the collective Desert Sessions, and now with Them Crooked Vultures. Comprised of Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters on drums, and Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones on bass, leading the band must be flattering to Homme's ego, if little else. As it turns out, their album proves to be more than the sum of its already august parts. Presenting hard rock in a classic, Physical Graffiti-style vein, but with Homme's vaguely gothic touches, the group may be big but they're also humble. Having supported Arctic Monkeys, they're now primed for a big splash.

Plymouth Pavilions, Thu; Portsmouth Guildhall, Fri

John Robinson