Rik Abel http://www.rikabel.com riding the crest of a wave in a space that's about to explode... Wed, 16 Apr 2008 06:57:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 en ©Rik Abel rik.abel@gmail.com (Rik Abel) rik.abel@gmail.com techno, dj mixes, electro, minimal 1440 techno, electro, minimal Techno mixes to make you throw your hands in the air like you just don't care. FACT. Techno mixes to make you throw your hands in the air like you just don't care. FACT. Rik Abel Rik Abel rik.abel@gmail.com No no http://www.rikabel.com/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/podcast_144.jpg Rik Abel http://www.rikabel.com 144 144 how many are you on? http://www.rikabel.com/2008/04/15/how-many-are-you-on/ http://www.rikabel.com/2008/04/15/how-many-are-you-on/#comments Wed, 16 Apr 2008 06:57:49 +0000 Rik http://www.rikabel.com/2008/04/15/how-many-are-you-on/

I don’t normally like clever/ironic babywear, but i just HAD to get this for Rowan. It is from a dutch brand called “Imps & Elfs” who do loads of nice stuff… (yes, i *know* it should be “elves” … you tell them).
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]]> http://www.rikabel.com/2008/04/15/how-many-are-you-on/feed/ Rowan Alexander Abel-Copithorne http://www.rikabel.com/2008/03/26/rowan-alexander-abel-copithorne/ http://www.rikabel.com/2008/03/26/rowan-alexander-abel-copithorne/#comments Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:43:35 +0000 Rik http://www.rikabel.com/2008/03/26/rowan-alexander-abel-copithorne/ I thought I’d better formally announce via blog post (!) the birth of our son Rowan Alexander Abel-Copithorne on Weds. 19th March (one day before Daddy’s birthday, which is nice) 2008. Rowan weighed in at a hefty 8lb 13oz (old school) or 3995g (in your fancy new metric system). He was delivered by C-Section after a ridiculously long 48 hour labour (I know it’s not a competition, but wow…). He was too big to come out and apparently - having spoken to him since - he was also quite comfy in there, thanks. Oh, and he was the wrong way round as well. I blame myself, I think I distracted him at a cricital moment. Silly Daddy.

Adrienne and baby are both home now and are doing well. Rowan is delightful and beautiful and cute and sometimes resembles an evil genius hatching sinister schemes, but mostly looks like a cute little bear. He has been a dream so far. Adrienne is beautiful and a wonderful mummy and ridiculously hardcore. I mean, for real, yo…

You can see photos on www.flickr.com/photos/rikabel right now, I’ll try to organise some sets and stuff for ease of browsing when I get a spare moment. Hahahhahaha! heh. heheh……sorry.

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]]> http://www.rikabel.com/2008/03/26/rowan-alexander-abel-copithorne/feed/ Cambridge Commuter Hell! http://www.rikabel.com/2008/02/28/cambridge-commuter-hell/ http://www.rikabel.com/2008/02/28/cambridge-commuter-hell/#comments Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:08:25 +0000 Rik http://www.rikabel.com/2008/02/28/cambridge-commuter-hell/

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]]> http://www.rikabel.com/2008/02/28/cambridge-commuter-hell/feed/ Love and Hate, updated for the geekerati http://www.rikabel.com/2008/02/28/love-and-hate-updated-for-the-geekerati/ http://www.rikabel.com/2008/02/28/love-and-hate-updated-for-the-geekerati/#comments Thu, 28 Feb 2008 10:57:09 +0000 Rik http://www.rikabel.com/2008/02/28/love-and-hate-updated-for-the-geekerati/

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]]> http://www.rikabel.com/2008/02/28/love-and-hate-updated-for-the-geekerati/feed/ Still alive, just busy… http://www.rikabel.com/2008/01/25/still-alive-just-busy/ http://www.rikabel.com/2008/01/25/still-alive-just-busy/#comments Fri, 25 Jan 2008 09:15:37 +0000 Rik http://www.rikabel.com/2008/01/25/still-alive-just-busy/ Good lord! It seems that I haven’t blogged since last November, how remiss of me. Well, I’m still alive, just been a busy little bee…

I designed/built a new website for digger/excavator bucket attachments - www.digascreener.com. Based on WordPress (as per usual) it is truly the most social-software aware, 2.0-powered digger bucket attachment website out there. Watch the videos, they are awesome.

I’ve also spent much of the last month working at the V&A Museum, attempting to de-crappify the frontend of an online ticketing system they bought in, which was challenging (due to the amazing ineptness of the default front-end code) but also lots of fun and very rewarding. Expect it to go live some time….soonish?

Most recently I’ve been working with Phil Wilkinson and cohort on an (iterative, iterative, iterative…) redesign of www.crowdstorm.com (product review/informaton aggregation and social recommendation oh my!  - NOT price comparison, we hasten to add)  which is also challenging but lots of fun (occassional migraines notwithstanding).

Oh, and finally I’ve sort-of launched a new music blog/podcast at www.minimalschminimal.com which has some nice DJ mixes and stuff on it, plus a video of a techno viking. I hope to be able to actually add some fresh content to it in the near future…

So, that’s what I’ve been up to…how YOU doing?

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]]> http://www.rikabel.com/2008/01/25/still-alive-just-busy/feed/ My cat loves to code… http://www.rikabel.com/2007/11/02/my-cat-loves-to-code/ http://www.rikabel.com/2007/11/02/my-cat-loves-to-code/#comments Fri, 02 Nov 2007 15:12:47 +0000 Rik 1193792786

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]]> http://www.rikabel.com/2007/11/02/my-cat-loves-to-code/feed/ Flock | the social web browser http://www.rikabel.com/2007/11/02/flock-the-social-web-browser/ http://www.rikabel.com/2007/11/02/flock-the-social-web-browser/#comments Fri, 02 Nov 2007 11:33:03 +0000 Rik http://www.rikabel.com/2007/11/02/flock-the-social-web-browser/ Flock | the social web browser

I just installed version 1.0 of Flock, a ’social web browser’ based upon Firefox, and my initial impressions are that I am totally impressed and blown away. Aside from the fact that it is apparently much more stable than Firefox (which I’ve kept using as I am so dependent on Firebug) the integration of your various social tools/sites (Facebook, flickr, YouTube, twitter and more…) is seamless and beautiful. For example, I’m writing this blog post inside Flock. Once you have logged in to your blogging account you can just right-click on any web page and select ‘Blog This’ and away you go! But it gets better…

Assuming you are a facebook addict, just log in to facebook and all your friends will appear in the Flock ‘People’ sidebar. You can then keep track of updates, message, poke, change your status etc without leaving your browser, which is nice. The same applies for twitter.

But it gets even yet still more betterer…

If you log-in to your flickr account (or piczo or photobucket), you can then see a ‘media toolbar’ along the top of your browser window with all your flickr photos, which is nice. Say you want to share a photo with a facebook or twitter friend - simply drag and drop the photo onto their name in the sidebar and voila, flock automagically creates a message directing them to said photo. How cool is that? Alternatively you can click the arrow icon on a photo in the media bar and choose to blog it, email it, or get a link to the image or a bb url…haha! All this also applies for your YouTube videos as well - just toggle between which ‘media stream’ you want to see in the media bar. But it isn’t just your accounts you can view in the media bar, you can also subscribe to media feeds for your friends or indeed for any user of any of these services.

But wait, there is more! Flock also has a built in RSS reader. And a built in photo uploader which can upload to flickr, or piczo, or facebook…

AND, it plays nicely with FireBug, so I am a very happy camper.

Flock does genuinely seem to deliver almost seamless integration of your various social software services within the browser - I haven’t been as excited by a piece of web technology for, ooh, several weeks. It remains to be seen how stable it really is, and what other services they will support (I’m thinking last.fm) but my initial impressions having played with it for the last hour, while configuring it and writing this post, is that is, in a nutshell, extremely impressive.

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]]> http://www.rikabel.com/2007/11/02/flock-the-social-web-browser/feed/ Rik’s Podcast #5 - Genki DJ Set http://www.rikabel.com/2007/10/25/riks-podcast-5-genki-dj-set/ http://www.rikabel.com/2007/10/25/riks-podcast-5-genki-dj-set/#comments Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:25:25 +0000 Rik http://www.rikabel.com/2007/10/25/riks-podcast-5-genki-dj-set/ Here as promised is a DJ set from the mysterious entity known only as Genki.

Tracklist!

  1. Scott Grooves - Mothership Reconnection *Daft Punk rmx
  2. Les Rythmes Digitales - From Disco To Disco
  3. Data - The Last Symphony
  4. Armand Van Helden - NYC Beat *MSTRKRFT rmx
  5. Lifelike - So Electric
  6. Alan Braxe & Kris Menace - Lumberjack
  7. MSTRKRFT - Easy Love
  8. Nicky Van She and Dangerous Dan - Around the World
  9. Terry Poison - Ballroom *Data rmx
  10. Cassius - Feeling For You *LRD Rmx
  11. DJ Mehdi - Signatune *Thomas Bangalter edit
  12. Chromeo - Tenderoni *Etienne De Crecy rmx
  13. Royksopp - Remind Me *Ernest Saint Laurent rmx
  14. Cajuan - Raven *moog rave mix
  15. Scissor Sisters - Comfortably Numb *ATOC rmx
  16. Air - Remember
  17. Alden Tyrell feat. Fred Ventura - Love Explosion
  18. Agoria - Les Violon Ivres
  19. Junior Boys - In The Morning *Hot Chip rmx
  20. Mirwais - Miss You *Jacques Lu Cont rmx
  21. Battles - Atlas

How amusingly eclectic! Genki is a Japanese word meaning (more or less) “friendly, lively and happy”. I hope that is how the mix makes you feel.

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]]> http://www.rikabel.com/2007/10/25/riks-podcast-5-genki-dj-set/feed/ 00:01:01 Here as promised is a DJ set from the mysterious entity known only as Genki. Tracklist! Scott Grooves - Mothership Reconnection *Daft Punk rmx Les Rythmes Digitales - ... Here as promised is a DJ set from the mysterious entity known only as Genki. Tracklist! Scott Grooves - Mothership Reconnection *Daft Punk rmx Les Rythmes Digitales - From Disco To Disco Data - The Last Symphony Armand Van Helden - NYC Beat *MSTRKRFT rmx Lifelike - So Electric Alan Braxe #38; Kris Menace - Lumberjack MSTRKRFT - Easy Love Nicky Van She and Dangerous Dan - Around the World Terry Poison - Ballroom *Data rmx Cassius - Feeling For You *LRD Rmx DJ Mehdi - Signatune *Thomas Bangalter edit Chromeo - Tenderoni *Etienne De Crecy rmx Royksopp - Remind Me *Ernest Saint Laurent rmx Cajuan - Raven *moog rave mix Scissor Sisters - Comfortably Numb *ATOC rmx Air - Remember Alden Tyrell feat. Fred Ventura - Love Explosion Agoria - Les Violon Ivres Junior Boys - In The Morning *Hot Chip rmx Mirwais - Miss You *Jacques Lu Cont rmx Battles - Atlas How amusingly eclectic! Genki is a Japanese word meaning (more or less) "friendly, lively and happy". I hope that is how the mix makes you feel.Share This Music,,Podcast,,Techno,,mp3 Rik Abel no No Rik’s Podcast #4 - Louis Atkins techno mix http://www.rikabel.com/2007/10/19/rik%e2%80%99s-podcast-4-louis-atkins-techno-mix/ http://www.rikabel.com/2007/10/19/rik%e2%80%99s-podcast-4-louis-atkins-techno-mix/#comments Fri, 19 Oct 2007 20:59:58 +0000 Rik http://www.rikabel.com/2007/10/19/rik%e2%80%99s-podcast-4-louis-atkins-techno-mix/ Good lordy it is another podcast in my series. Mikey Lambe will be amazed at my industry, I would imagine. ANYWAY, this mix brings you the mad skills of my very good friend Louis “as in ‘Juan’, but not actually related” Atkins, resident of Bethnal Green, native of Copacabana, Rio, ‘Brasil’ (sic, and who am I to argue…) - all round good chap and ace techno/electro producer and DJ. Funnily enough, and quite meta, I am blogging this podcast from Louis’ room, on Louis’ computer, which has a ‘Brasilian’ keyboard, so if my punctuation goes a bit pear-shaped, that’s why. Louis is LITERALLY doing a mix for, me, live, while I blog about his mix which is the feature of this podcast. See: It went meta… did you see where it did that? (Option-W to do a question mark. How completely intuitive. ANYWAY…) ANYWAY. Here is the set list for the mix you are about to download and then listen to, somewhat slack-jawed at it’s amazingness.

TRACKLIST!

  1. Michael Mayer - Love Food (Kompakt)
  2. M.A.N.D.Y vs. Booka Shade feat. Laurie Anderson - Oh Superman (Get Physical)
  3. Rekorder - 9.1 (Rekorder)
  4. Teflon - The Wombat (Rebelone)
  5. Lutzenkirchen - Kobalt (Craftmusic)
  6. Jurgen Paape + Boy Schaufler/Gesang - We Love (Kompakt)
  7. Trentemoller - Moan *Radio Slave remix for k/instrumental (Poker Flat)
  8. Audion - Fire (Cocoon)
    …it starts to get quite fucked up around here…
  9. Supermayer - Two Of Us (Kompakt)
    …pass the bong, dude…
  10. Simon Baker - Plastik (Playhouse)
  11. Tiefschwarz - Original *Carl Craig remix (Souvenir)
  12. Adam Beyer - AWC Pt.1 (Plus8 )
  13. Danilo Vigorito - Temperance (Intelligence)
  14. Kabale und Liebe & Daniel Sanchez - Mumbling Yeah (Area Remote)
  15. Kaliber - 13.1 (Kaliber)
  16. Cobblestone Jazz - W (Cocoon/K7/Wagon Repair - go nuts)
  17. Craig Torrance & Philip Hochstrate - Shrinkage *Samim remix (4twenty)
  18. Gui Boratto - Beautiful Life (Kompakt)

There, isn’t that awesome-sounding? (Option-W, remember…) If you enjoyed this mix why not subscribe to my podcast in ‘like iTunes and shit’ by simply clicking the iTunes feed at top of my left column, right here? Then you will LITERALLY receive a hot injection of ”fresh’ new ‘beats’ approximately every week, delivered straight to your iTunes, without you having to lift so much as a finger, literally. Isn’t technology awesome?

So, enjoy Louis’ mix, he is a wicked DJ.

Coming up next, a mix by the mysterious entity known only as ‘Genki‘…

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]]> http://www.rikabel.com/2007/10/19/rik%e2%80%99s-podcast-4-louis-atkins-techno-mix/feed/ 00:01:01 Good lordy it is another podcast in my series. Mikey Lambe will be amazed at my industry, I would imagine. ANYWAY, this mix brings you ... Good lordy it is another podcast in my series. Mikey Lambe will be amazed at my industry, I would imagine. ANYWAY, this mix brings you the mad skills of my very good friend Louis "as in 'Juan', but not actually related" Atkins, resident of Bethnal Green, native of Copacabana, Rio, 'Brasil' (sic, and who am I to argue...) - all round good chap and ace techno/electro producer and DJ. Funnily enough, and quite meta, I am blogging this podcast from Louis' room, on Louis' computer, which has a 'Brasilian' keyboard, so if my punctuation goes a bit pear-shaped, that's why. Louis is LITERALLY doing a mix for, me, live, while I blog about his mix which is the feature of this podcast. See: It went meta... did you see where it did that? (Option-W to do a question mark. How completely intuitive. ANYWAY...) ANYWAY. Here is the set list for the mix you are about to download and then listen to, somewhat slack-jawed at it's amazingness. TRACKLIST! Michael Mayer - Love Food (Kompakt) M.A.N.D.Y vs. Booka Shade feat. Laurie Anderson - Oh Superman (Get Physical) Rekorder - 9.1 (Rekorder) Teflon - The Wombat (Rebelone) Lutzenkirchen - Kobalt (Craftmusic) Jurgen Paape + Boy Schaufler/Gesang - We Love (Kompakt) Trentemoller - Moan *Radio Slave remix for k/instrumental (Poker Flat) Audion - Fire (Cocoon) ...it starts to get quite fucked up around here... Supermayer - Two Of Us (Kompakt) ...pass the bong, dude... Simon Baker - Plastik (Playhouse) Tiefschwarz - Original *Carl Craig remix (Souvenir) Adam Beyer - AWC Pt.1 (Plus8 ) Danilo Vigorito - Temperance (Intelligence) Kabale und Liebe #38; Daniel Sanchez - Mumbling Yeah (Area Remote) Kaliber - 13.1 (Kaliber) Cobblestone Jazz - W (Cocoon/K7/Wagon Repair - go nuts) Craig Torrance #38; Philip Hochstrate - Shrinkage *Samim remix (4twenty) Gui Boratto - Beautiful Life (Kompakt) There, isn't that awesome-sounding? (Option-W, remember...) If you enjoyed this mix why not subscribe to my podcast in 'like iTunes and shit' by simply clicking the iTunes feed at top of my left column, right here? Then you will LITERALLY receive a hot injection of ''fresh' new 'beats' approximately every week, delivered straight to your iTunes, without you having to lift so much as a finger, literally. Isn't technology awesome? So, enjoy Louis' mix, he is a wicked DJ. Coming up next, a mix by the mysterious entity known only as 'Genki'...Share This Music,,Podcast,,Techno,,mp3 Rik Abel no No I AM EH http://www.rikabel.com/2007/10/18/i-am-eh/ http://www.rikabel.com/2007/10/18/i-am-eh/#comments Thu, 18 Oct 2007 14:57:12 +0000 Rik http://www.rikabel.com/2007/10/18/i-am-eh/ When we were in Vancouver over the summer we saw this amazing VW Beetle “art car” parked just off Robson St…

art_car_02.jpg

Not only was it totally encrusted with what must have been 20 years accretion of trinkets, baubles, geegaws, dolls, deities, slogans, flags, tchotchkes, canadiana, ephemera and assorted miscellaneous crap…

art_car_01.jpg

…It also featured a fairy grotto in the back seat area complete with working water fountain and tinkling ambient music. Awesome….pass the bong, dude.

art_car_03.jpg

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