www.jacobsen.no / anders / blog / London Archives

July 17, 2007

Visual journeyplanner for London

I love it when good ideas get implemented: introducing the graphic journeyplanner for London MORE...


June 04, 2007

London 2011+1 releases their logo and branding programme

Watch out if you want to do anything in 2011+1: the whole year has been trademarked! MORE...


February 14, 2007

Le Cool London has been launched

le cool is a free weekly magazine featuring a selection of cultural events and leisure activities, revealing what is worthwhile and the things that you really should not miss. MORE...


September 26, 2006

Grey market Coke in London

Reader Jerermy writes with a comment on the stories on grey market coke imports to UK from 2003: apparently it's getting crazier and crazier! [...] MORE...


March 21, 2006

Anglican archibishop says: 'I think creationism is ... a kind of category mistake'

Picking up on the Creationism / intelligent design debate, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has entered the debate between scientists and religious fundamentalists, stating that he does not believe that creationism - the Bible-based account of the origins of the world - should be taught in schools. MORE...


February 28, 2006

More on the cartoon debacle

Dave Murray writes: 'Where Holland has gone, Britain and the rest of Europe are following. The silencing happens bit by bit. [...]' MORE...


February 23, 2006

Creationism coming closer to home

A growing number of science students on British campuses and in sixth form colleges are challenging the theory of evolution and arguing that Darwin was wrong. Some are being failed in university exams because they quote sayings from the Bible or Qur'an as scientific fact [...] MORE...


January 06, 2006

VoipStunt's 'SkypeIn' equivalent free and Caller ID enabled

Logging into VoipStunt today I found a promotional message offering me a free inbound phone number for my account. [...] the REALLY cool thing about this is that CLI / CLIP (Calling Line Identification Presentation, sometimes known as CLID Caller ID Display) was instantly available as an option (set in user profile) on outbound calls. MORE...


January 05, 2006

Wifi phones are getting interesting

The United Kingdom has unveiled plans for citywide Wi-Fi networks that will give residents in nine cities high-speed wireless Internet access from laptops, PDAs and mobile phones. MORE...


December 13, 2005

'Norwegian Voices' - or how to spoil a great opportunity

Terje Isungsset - scratching his pieces of stone and shaking pieces of wood - and Sidsel Endresen howling a piece commissioned especially for the event - brought listeners' faces to grimaces... MORE...


November 24, 2005

Free Google Wifi @ Heathrow Airport, London

This bodes well for some competition against BT / T-Mobile's rather costly (by comparison) offerings... MORE...


November 04, 2005

Readable and informative London shopping street maps

What do you get if you combine the business information in Yellow Pages / Google Local, the geographical information of Streetmaps / Multimap et al and Harry Beck's information design principles of the London Tube Map? Street Sensation! MORE...


October 19, 2005

Broadband 'triple play' in UK: Dégroupage total - how we need ye!

I'm having a look for a new internet connection. I recently moved, and the new place doesn't have a BT line (or an active one, at least). This is causing a bit of a predicament, as I would like to have some decent TV channels, fast internet (and if I have to, a telephone, although this is not a fixed requirement from me, but seems to be a fixed requirement from the vendors:) [...] MORE...


July 22, 2005

Police reaching out for witnesses for London bombings

The police in UK are using the internet to sollicit information, mobile phone photos etc from the recent bombings in London: this time, there are a number of wannabe suicide bombers on the run, and there will be CCTV footage and bystander mobile phone footage of them somewhere out there: [click here to submit images from the London bombings] MORE...


July 21, 2005

Pffff

Not an easily scared population, the second bombing attack is already being mocked online: [...] MORE...


One guy caught?

BBC (14:22) eyewitness reports that passenger(s) chased a 'young, very dark, probably asian' man running out of one of the stations after the foiled suicide bomb attack. Police was called. We're definitely going to get those guys... MORE...


Blog reports of new blasts, no first hand accounts yet

I think we can get these guys alive; someone please have snapped a mobile phone photo of the morons doing this... MORE...


New London blasts - where to get more information

More reliable information should start cropping up soon here: MORE...


'Code Amber' - full evacuation

BBC is on with 'breaking news' as well now: London Underground has gone into full 'standard' emergency shutdown mode - code Amber - evacuating all stations and shutting down trains everywhere. MORE...


Hackney Road bus blast

ITV News 13:40: Bus on Hackney has had an explosion on top floor. Eyewitness reports all passengers evacuated. Apparently no injured. MORE...


New London blasts hitting the mainstream websites

Also reports about a bus 'incident' in Hackney Road. Stay tuned for more. MORE...


New London Incidents updates

Transport for London: following 'a number of incidents' 3 lines of the London Underground have been shut. British Transport police: 2 stations confirmed evacuated. MORE...


Here we go again: 'incidents' at Warren Street, Oval and Sheperds Bush

ITV News reports breaking news that stations Warren Street, Oval and Sheperds Bush are being evacuated because of 'incidents'. Unconfirmed reports about smoke, backbacks and whatnot. *Channel surfing for more information* MORE...


July 12, 2005

Add 'ICE' to your mobile phone

add your loved one and/or family members to your SIM card prefixed by 'ICE' to ensure they get the message if something *knock wood* should happen... MORE...


July 08, 2005

Surviving a Terrorist Attack

Justin writes a first hand account here: Surviving a Terrorist Attack MORE...


Listening in upstairs

Read this MORE...


Normality recovers

Today, it seems, most people are working more or less at normal. Some from home (no need to crowd the services that do run), but still: London life resumes. MORE...


July 07, 2005

More rumours

Rumour-monging over at perfect.co.uk: 'Heard that a suicide bomber has been shot dead at Canary Wharf. Slightly more sinister than Chirac’s exploding haggis.' MORE...


London Prepared (government website)

Hands up anyone who had seen this website before today (I hadn't): londonprepared.gov.uk MORE...


BBC Radio streaming

BBC's websites are healthy again. Listen to BBC five live here MORE...


ABCNews

Just got a call from ABC News in US who will use my photo of the Evening Standard today in their news coverage as of immediately. Cool when traditional news organizations tap the blog-o-sphere. MORE...


Brits and resistance

A sign of UK resilience (London's been under threat of terrorism for years; it's normal here): UK share indexes fall 2.26% but other countries' fall more MORE...


Why Londoners rule

Gia: We are not terrified, we are just annoyed. MORE...


Mobile phone networks during the emergency

The BBC has speculated that the phone system has been closed by the security services to prevent the possibility of mobile phones being used to trigger bombs. MORE...


The first newspapers are out in the shops

London evening standard frontpage MORE...


Multicultural London

Tony Blair: 'Whatever they do it is our determination that they will never succeed in destroying what we hold dearin this country and in other civilised nations throughout the world.' MORE...


More information on London blasts

Misc links, Flickr photo sets, timelines etc of the London Explosions this morning MORE...


Ambulance convoy (photo)

Took this photo with my mobile phone when walking to the next building to get a sandwich for lunch. 4 ambulances quietly forming a convoy, followed by a police car. MORE...


London bus blast (photo)

I know you're not supposed to, but since news.bbc.co.uk keeps going up & down due to high load, I re-post their photo of the blown up bus. MORE...


UK Blog-o-sphere kicking into action

Check the UK Blogs aggregator for first hand reports from people stuck in offices around London (like me) MORE...


Official: Minimum 20 dead

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said there had been at least six explosions, but said the picture was still 'very confused' MORE...


Londons airports ok so far

Apparently London's airports are functioning close to normal following the blasts in the city today, but airline stocks are plummeting along with (and faster than) the rest of the stock markets MORE...


News from the archives: London terror attack 'inevitable'

March 2004: 'A terror attack on London is inevitable, Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir John Stevens has said.' MORE...


New bomb: Houndsditch

Apparently yet another bomb has gone off in an area where many people fleeing from Liverpool street would be: MORE...


FTSE plunges (less than 5% so far)

The FTSE has plunged 160 points, but Downing Street says rumours that Tony Blair is to return to London from Gleneagles are false. MORE...


Home secretary speaks / COBRA engaged

COBRA (for Cabinet Office Briefing Room A) is a name used to describe ad-hoc committees within the UK government for responding to emergencies. MORE...


Entire London Underground closed

the whole of the London Underground has been closed MORE...


Developing story: Explosions in London

Scotland Yard has confirmed there has been an explosion on a bus in Tavistock Place. Union sources claim there have been reports of blasts on three different buses. MORE...


London's 7/7

One day we celebrate London 2012, the next day the ambulances are howling through the streets to a number of sites in the City... Power-surge or intentional explosions? Someone just told me one or more buses had it's top(s) blown off. MORE...


June 29, 2005

Farmer's Market UK tour

I'm going with some friends to Norwegian Balkan-turbo-jazz-boogie group Farmers Market's concert at the Marquee Club, Leicester Square, London tomorrow night. MORE...


June 13, 2005

Tonight: Moses, The Famous Last Words etc

Need an indie gig for tonight? Moses, The Famous Last Words, The Jolly Company and more are playing at The Water Rats theatre, London WC1, tonight 13 June 05 @ eight pm-ish and onwards. MORE...


Tomorrow: Sambassadeur & more @ Water Rats Theatre, London

Sambassadeur has a style that sounds like more-than-a-slight nod to Belle & Sebastian, and I like it. Get a flyer for discounted entry here & come along! MORE...


June 01, 2005

Tonight: Alys and Aquilina @ The Betsey Trotwood

Tonight I'm off to shoot the gigs of Alys and Aquilina at The Betsey Trotwood (eight-ish pm). Get your quid off vouchers here. MORE...


May 19, 2005

Tonight in London: Honeymoon Machine

I'm off to watch The Honeymoon Machine tonight at Bar Academy. If anyone wants to tag along, it's only 5 quid... MORE...


April 26, 2005

Google Maps UK

This is genius. MORE...


April 01, 2005

Do you need a passport when flying from England to Scotland?

Not an April fools' joke, someone came to this blog searching for information on do you need a passport from england to scotland flying: The answer is no, you don't need a passport for immigration reasons, but you may need one as ID for your airline [...] MORE...


January 11, 2005

London Congestion Charge OCR technology

The London Congestion Charge zone is a defined area in London where you have to pay a fee to drive your veichle. The charging of this fee (and the tracking of evaders) is being done by a large number of CCTV-style cameras [...] MORE...


December 20, 2004

An idea for Nice (and Athens) taxis?

The number of times Southern French cabbies have tried to scam myself and colleagues is criminally high. Generally, if you are taking a cab from Nice Airport to either the city centre or westbound toward Antibes/Sophia Antipolis and if your accent is detectable when stuttering your destination in tourist-French, rest assured the driver will try his best to scam you [...] MORE...


December 09, 2004

Norwegian expats in London

There appears to be a whole lot of stuff going on among Norwegians living in London. I've lived here for about 2 years now without really taking part in any of this: [...] MORE...


Francophone websites in London

The other day I thought I'd have a look for what's available for French people working/living as expatriates in London, and there is quite a lot, actually: MORE...


November 30, 2004

Norwegian Christmas Tree @ Trafalgar Square

Anyone living in or visiting London in Christmas time will have noticed the impressively tall Christmas tree on Trafalgar Square. Traditionally 23-25 metres high, it's an annual gift from the people of Norway to the people of London. Tonight (Tuesday 30th November, 6pm) the lights will be lit and the Mayor of London and the Mayor of Oslo will give speeches, choirs will sing carols etc. Enjoy. MORE...


November 22, 2004

The Gift - AM FM

A great, energetic band playing music that is very hard to categorize. Imagine, if you dare, a mix of Björk, Anastacia and Sigur Rós, all playing and singing together, on speed... or something... In either case a great live-alternative-pop/rock-band; if you've got an opportunity and you're into that sort of music, you really should check them out on stage (3 concerts coming up in US the next days, 1 in NY, 1 in Santa Monica, 1 in Santa Fe). MORE...


November 17, 2004

Will American DVDs play in a DVD player in England?

[...] No, by default your UK-bought DVD player will not play DVDs from outside your region (UK being in DVD Region 2 (sub code D1), US being Region 1). However, browsing the net a bit should reveal whether the player you own can be made region-free, or you can consider purchasing a player that will play all zones. [...] MORE...


When was 'the Gherkin' built?

Answer: 30 St Mary Axe, as the building officially is known, was granted planning permission August 23, 2000, and the building was completed in 2004, opening on April 28. MORE...


November 16, 2004

SpyBlog discovers interesting inconsistencies in UK Home Office's statements

The SpyBlog keeps a watchful eye on the UK government. A recent post discovers something quite interesting in the mixed official messages about the recent confiscation of independent, international media outlet Indymedia's UK servers: [...] MORE...


UK catching up on the smoking ban front

The British Government has released a white paper on benefits of implementing a smoking ban in public places to combat the risks of tobacco smoking. [...] MORE...


September 22, 2004

London (Pillow) Fight Club

If you thought otherwise (I did) - the oh-so-2003 Flashmob phenomena wasn't dead: just got an email about an upcoming Pillow Fight in London, 6th of October: London Pillow Fight Club. Could be fun. MORE...


September 17, 2004

Computer Games -- Art?

MYST IV creator Ubisoft has teamed up with County Hall Gallery in London for an exhibition of the game's artwork this weekend. Clever. MORE...


London Open House 2004

Residents of and visitors to London should take note that this weekend is the annual 'Open House' weekend where a lot of usually closed properties are opened up for tours and visits. MORE...


September 02, 2004

Boots Digital Photo Printing

The Boots chain of drugstores in UK has a decent offer on printing digital photos: if ordering 50+ photos (6x4 inch) you get them printed for £0.10/photo. Unfortunately I had a very annoying experience with them last week: [...] MORE...


August 26, 2004

Size matters

Photographing the London Mayor's building and 'looking professional' triggers security guard response, as does sporting a decent SLR at London's Paternoster Square, where I was stopped twice in an hour. MORE...


August 16, 2004

Fishcotheque!

Make sure your late night articulation is not too impaired when giving directions to your cab driver - you could end up in the Fishcotheque! MORE...


July 31, 2004

Morcheeba, Badly Drawn Boy++ in London next week

All Londoners take note: Royal Festival Hall's Heroes & Villains series still has tickets left for Spiritualized (Sunday), Air (Tuesday), Lee Hazlewood+Morcheeba (Wednesday, 50% online discount) and last but not least to the man who wrote the wildly popular About a Boy sountrack, Badly Drawn Boy (Fri + Sat). MORE...


July 29, 2004

The subtle differences

Funny: preparingforemergencies{.co.uk versus .gov.uk} MORE...


Racism... or not?

My local council has sent me a pretty thorough questionnaire including questions about colour/ethnicity. In this blog post I'm asking questions around: But it all brings me back to my question above: I can see how (maybe slightly naïvely?) they want to make statistics to prove they're not discriminating; but isn't not knowing this better? Isn't not knowing whether I'm a slightly sunburned Scandinavian or a Caribbean the best way to take my provided opinion (on the distributed survey) at face value and overlook things as trivial as my ethnicity? MORE...


June 10, 2004

Funny place names in UK

This site tells me I live reasonably close to both Cock Pond, Tyttenhanger, Pratt's Bottom and Titsey Park, among others. Further away are Herbert's Hole, Nasty and Thong (real names of places in UK!) MORE...


June 03, 2004

Stuff not to miss this weekend in London

NotCon 2004 & Joi Ito blogger meetup MORE...


June 02, 2004

Virgin Broadband ordered

They are vague about any usage restrictions (Gb/month?); apparently some exist but they are not trivially found from the homepage links. (Anyone with more info?) MORE...


May 14, 2004

Hi, you already know my blog

Photos of Cory, Loïc and Heiko MORE...


The world's smallest art gallery?

Hugh Macleod's business card doodles! MORE...


London bloggers galore

Seyed Razavi, Suw Charman, David Brake MORE...


More London blogger photos

More photos MORE...


Hello my name is / Hello my domain is

Photos from Wednesday's London Blogger dinner. MORE...


March 24, 2004

More space invaders

More aliens in the streets... MORE...


March 22, 2004

London Art Aggregator

You know the world is progressing when you can find things like the London Art Aggregator - an RSS listing of art exhibitions in London today. MORE...


February 16, 2004

LAMB Live @ Brixton Academy

Lamb was playing live at the Brixton Academy Friday 13th Feb. I took some photos with my mobile phone. MORE...


February 04, 2004

Sometimes it's faster to walk

The London Underground is famous for it's beautiful, sylistic map, which incidentally is utterly disconnected from real geography. I'm currently reading Bill Bryson's ''Notes From a Small Island'' where he notes some examples: [..] MORE...


January 21, 2004

A true story about noise cancelling

It's true what they say; these babies work. Even at reasonably low volumes, all you hear is your music. Good bye temporary deafness form playing loud music in attempts to drown out ambient noise. Hello Pink Floyd! MORE...


January 20, 2004

Eating shark carpaccio

Now it has to be said it probably sounds fancier than it really is. The meat was a bit stringy, but sliced in reasonably thin slices (carpaccio really should be very thin, this could have been thinner) and jazzed up with some olive oil, basil and lemon, it is definitely worth trying, if not for anything else than having tried it. MORE...


November 12, 2003

Upgrading a UK mobile phone

I have had a contract with Vodafone Corporate for a year now, and with an average spend of about 100 pounds per month, I figured it was a good time to ask for a free upgrade of my handset. No such thing; in fact, the proposed prices for ''upgrades'' are almost more expensive than what can be had online for SIM free handset - i.e. a handset with no contractual obligations whatsoever... Which leads me to an easy choice: [...] MORE...


October 29, 2003

Public photography moral dilemma

Fearing I might have encountered something that belonged to child protection services rather than internet/photoblog publication I haven't done anything about the photo. Now I'm asking for your opinion... MORE...


October 23, 2003

Free Internet access & frequent hotel guests

I split my nights between the Hiltons and the Starwood group to earn and maintain their respective top level statuses (Hilton Diamond VIP and Starwood Platinum) - if one of the chains had free internet I'd go only there (and that's quite a few thousand pounds going in some hotelier's direction just from one traveller alone *hint hint*). MORE...


October 21, 2003

British Airways launches extra checkin at Heathrow

Good news for BA Executive Club Gold/Silver members and anyone flying Business/First from Heathrow Terminal 1: BA opened a separate check-in area for us less than a week ago. MORE...


October 16, 2003

UK public photography

[...] I walked up to a police officer in London today and asked him whether there were any regulations on taking pictures of random people in public, and he informed me that as long as they were not perverse (sneaking up on couples going beyond simple snogging etc), it was completely fine. [...] MORE...


September 11, 2003

Greater London Authority

a photo of the Mayor of London's new offices - almost competing with the 'erotic gherkin' in trying to stand out in a city full of square and rectandular buildings... MORE...


September 10, 2003

St. Paul's Cathedral by Night

St. Paul's Cathedral, London, by night. The trees are not (yet) autumn-coloured, but the tungsten lamps illuminating the parking lot cast a fitting hue. MORE...


August 16, 2003

Closing time, Smithfield

The first photos from my spanking, brand new Canon 10D... MORE...


July 17, 2003

Improving CRM at Zingo Taxi

Not having had any particular problems grabbing a cab off the street recently, I hadn't had any incentive to give Zingo taxi a chance. Until last Thursday. Disappointingly, I met an immature CRM system... MORE...


July 15, 2003

London, 12 July 2003: Sunny life

I passed a stunning, fabulous, incredibly wonderful weekend in London. Here's a photo of the British Airways London Eye. MORE...


Vandalism --> Art ... ?

A photo up close and personal with train vandalism transforms the scene into something a bit arty... MORE...


June 10, 2003

The Swiss Re Tower

The ''Swiss Re'' tower in London City (also known among locals as ''The Gherkin'') is nearing completion. I think this is a really cool skyscraper, and walked over to shoot a few snaps of it. MORE...


June 01, 2003

BA349 31May03

Some views from British Airways flight# 349 (Nice-London) May 31st 2003 MORE...


May 27, 2003

Farrindon Tube Station, London

I was playing a bit with my camera and took some photos over the weekend [...] MORE...


May 26, 2003

Why I will never fly RyanAir (and why you shouldn't either)

[...] After having wasted 120 pounds on lining Michael O'Leary's pockets, I had to return to London, and all I was left with was this experience I would like to share with you: DO NOT FLY RYAN AIR... [...] MORE...


May 21, 2003

London nightclub philosophy

nobodysuglyafter2am.com MORE...


May 15, 2003

Beverage parallel imports in EU: The Inside Story

''It's one of the problems that we encounter as well, the so called parallel imports and cross border. We can't do much about cross border because that is trade within the EU. Parallel imports however are coming from outside the EU. These bottles are produced at the [Company XXX] plants in other countries but sold at a lower price in [Country YY].'' MORE...


Parallel Coca-Cola Import (2)

The odd Coca-Cola bottles I found in London appear to be Georgian. That means that someone has found a business model that makes it economical to ship this stuff more than 3500 kilometres and still making a profit. Who needs the environment? :-( MORE...


May 14, 2003

Parallel import of Coca-Cola?

Several of the major sandwich outlets downtown London seems to have shunned the normal distribution chain of Coca-Cola and related products. Some sell German bottles with an English-text sticker on, some sell these bottles with foreign-looking characters: MORE...


May 13, 2003

London City, evening of May 12th

Some photos of the spectacular colours over the City last night. MORE...


April 30, 2003

May 1st in London: Mayday

May 1st in London: ''In a futile attempt to rid the City of London's financial district of its capitalism, The Vacuum Cleaner will be vacuuming up all the dirt he can find. Armed with a vacuum cleaner and fluorescent jackets, with 'Cleaning Up After Capitalism' printed across the back, cleaning will last from 10am until the end of the working day.... You will need your own cleaning equipment'' MORE...


April 22, 2003

UpMyStreet.co.uk for sale

I'm already a declared fan of location-aware services, and UpMyStreet is another great example (although not particularly mobile (yet)) of a service that gives (UK only) users information about e.g. their nearest supermarkets, nearest doctor etc based only on their zipcode... MORE...


March 19, 2003

Secret Subways

Tokyo is said to have 12 subways and 250 km of tunneling. It seems like the true number is closer to 2,000 km... MORE...


January 30, 2003

I'm surrounded by morons...

Yesterday I went to the movies with a bunch of friends and colleagues. Just as we reached the final, emotionally laden scenes of the film, the archetypical bad cinema etiquette scene manifests: (...) MORE...


October 25, 2002

Hello London

Time has come for me to start a new project. Future location: London MORE...