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I've just discovered Flock. I don't know if I'm just behind the times, and this is yesterday's software, but I only just found out about it. I was introduced to it via a news article from the BBC about it, so it can't be new or cutting edge...I think I've just really not been paying attention. But I've tried it, and I kinda like it.

If you haven't heard of it, it's a web browser designed to take better advantage of, dare I say it, 'web 2.0' sites. It calls itself the "social web browser," which almost drove me away, but I've been using Firefox for a while now, and I'm curious about other browsers, so I decided to give it a try. I've only been trying it for about 10 minutes, and already I have figured out how to use some of it's gizmos (which means it's pretty intuitive, even though it looks overly-complicated with lots of buttons and tabs and windows-within-windows). I like how it deals with web mail, and I've already set up the RSS feeds for all the family blogs.

I'm posting this from within Flock, rather than using the dashboard at Blogger, and so far, so good. But I did have to open up a window in Firefox to find the urls for the links above, so I don't think I'm there yet. But hey, it's only been 10 minutes...give me a couple days and we'll see how it goes.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Driving Miss Bonnie...Sean...Jane...Ken...

I just started my new job (even though I'm still doing elements of the old one, until the project wraps up at the end of March). It kicked off on Friday, but today I had my first official meeting with my new line manager, so today felt more like the first day. I'm excited about it, because there is a lot to do, and it's a completely new role so I'll get to shape it as I go.

But one of the aspects of the job is a decent amount of driving around the region, which a lot of people in the company do. This isn't a big deal, but recently the organization decided to invest in SatNav for everyone. So I got a new TomTom last week, and took it for its first spin today.

The Mazda is getting a tune-up, so Mark and I commuted together this morning in Noddy (the Honda). We knew where we were going, but I wanted to try it out, so I plugged the TomTom into the ligher and fired it up. There was a lot of set up and we soon had to make the biggest decision of all - which voice to use.

I had a listen to each and there were a few contenders. There are a mix of accents to choose from (and languages, if I could use if I could remember any of my high school Spanish, which I don't, unfortunately). There were a couple which I just couldn't imagine listening to for more than the 10 second test message, but there were more viable options than I had expected.

There was Jane, the Brit (very BBC, nice to listen to, doesn't grate on the nerves), Bonnie, the American (not as annoying as the guy American, I don't remember his name, sentimental, reminds me of home), Ken, the Australian (although not as strong an Aussie accent as one could have hoped - I guess they were trying to avoid the "Crocodile Dundee" stereotypes) and Sean, the Irishman (Kathy, the female Irish voice was in there with a chance, but Sean had a more obvious lilt, I think).

It was a tough call, but I went with Sean in the end. There wasn't one with a Scottish accent, which I think probably would have won the day, but Sean is quite nice. I might have to give the others a spin, maybe for a change of pace, or if Sean and I have a falling out.

Tomorrow is going to be the real test, because I have a 2 and a half hour drive to Slough to do, which I'm not exactly looking forward to (you may not know where it is, but it was where the fictional company in the original British version of The Office was located, so make your own conclusions). So we'll see how we do.

It could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.