Blog
23 January 2010
Recipe Binder for iPhone uses Facebook Connect to work with the Recipe Binder for Facebook application, which currently has 5,315 monthly active users and over 20,000 user-submitted recipes for Facebook users to browse, search, favourite, rate and comment on.
What I like best about using Recipe Binder over other recipe websites is that all the recipes have been “tried and tasted” by other friends and Facebook users. I’ve found some pretty good original recipes on there and I will honestly be adding more of my recipes now I know I can easily access them on my iPhone.
Recipe Binder for iPhone (iTunes App Store link) is available now and costs just $1.99 / £1.19.
Well done Chris and Dave!
Non-Disclaimer: This is just a quick plug for an iPhone app which a couple of mates have been working on. They haven't asked me to write this and I'm certainly not being paid to do so. In fact, I even had to buy my own copy...
Labels: facebook, food, iphone
03 January 2010
Firstly, apologies to anyone who saw this post earlier when the title was incomplete and it didn't have any content. I am currently on a train trying to use Blogger on my iPhone. Although I didn't have any signal to save the post as a draft, it seems I did have enough signal for it to publish when my fat thumbs pressed the wrong button. Then FeedBurner picked up the post and published it to Twitter. And I've just had a Google Alert email telling me it's now indexed by Google Blog Search. It's times like this when I have to question whether the real-time web is a good idea. Anyway...
The reason I'm on a train is because I'm heading down to London in preparation for the first day of my new job at Google. Even though it's been two weeks since I finished work, I still feel like I've been rushing around trying to get everything sorted. One thing I wanted to do before starting was update my website. It's about four or five years since I last made any significant changes to the design or underlying structure of the site, so it's long overdue. And given I'm joining the Webmaster Team at Google, I figured I might get a few more visitors.
Of course, I left it until the last minute and didn't really get chance to do everything I wanted to. So what you're seeing at the moment is definitely a work-in-progress version which I expect to change lots over the next few weeks, months or years. It could really do with an Under Construction animated GIF. If you get any errors or experience any issues with any area of the site, please get in touch.
And if you do find any problems with my site, please don't worry... I can assure you that the quality of my work at Google will be much, much better than this!
Labels: google, personal, ruscoe.net
31 December 2009
Some of our friends got married.
Some of our friends became parents.
Suzy and I became godparents for the fourth time.
My grandfather sadly passed away.
I turned 30.
Suzy and I finally got married.
We went to Scotland for our honeymoon.
We went to Jersey for my belated birthday celebrations.
I decided to leave SDL.
I decided to join Google.
And I finally stopped biting my nails.
2009 has been an eventful year. Best wishes to everyone for 2010.
Labels: personal
08 December 2009
This post is CC-licensed and originally appeared on Google Blogoscoped at the following address: http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2009-12-08-n29.html
I’ve been using Google for about nine years. I made the switch from AltaVista because it was faster to load and had better results. Ever since then, I’ve been constantly amazed at the number of new services being released and acquisitions being made by Google.
When I stumbled across Google Blogoscoped in 2004, I immediately got hooked on the idea of trying to second-guess Google’s next move. Searching for secret services and subdomains, digging through source code, monitoring experimental sites for subtle changes, and looking out for security exploits are all things I’ve done and written articles about. It’s always fascinated me to see how quickly news about Google spreads across the Internet, newspapers, radio and television. And it shows that I’m not the only one interested in Google!
People have often suggested that I should work for Google, given my obvious enthusiasm and keen interest in everything they do. I’ve always dismissed that suggestion, partially because I’ve never seen a position advertised which I felt would suit my skills and experience, but also because of all the stories I’ve read about how difficult their interview process can be!
So when I heard Google was looking to hire Webmasters in the UK, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the job specification described my ideal job and I decided to apply. What happened next came as quite a shock...
I’m extremely excited to confirm that I will be taking on a role within Google’s Webmaster Team from January 2010, working from the London office. Although I don’t know exactly what I’ll be working on yet, I’ll be part of the team that looks after Google’s many websites, which doesn’t include products such as Gmail, Google Calendar or Google Reader, but might mean I get to work on Google’s home page from time to time!
Unfortunately, this obviously means I am no longer able to be co-editor of Google Blogoscoped. But that doesn’t mean I’m leaving for good and closing the door behind me. After five years of contributing to the forum, I don’t intend on stopping now. I’ve always been impressed by the discussions and observations made by the Blogoscoped community, so I hope it will continue to be a part of my daily routine for many years to come. I’ll probably avoid commenting on any speculation about what Google might be planning next though... ;-)
I’d like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Philipp for giving me the chance to write for Google Blogoscoped, which has clearly played a large part in developing my interest in everything Google-related and has given me some great exposure and opportunities. Being able to attend Google Press Day 2007 in Paris was a particular highlight for me!
I’d also like the thank everyone else who reads the blog or contributes to the forum. It’s people like you who help to keep Google honest. It’s really important that you continue to question what Google is doing and raise any concerns that you may have about how Google operates as a company. After all, I want to work for an awesome company rather than an evil one!
[Enormous thanks also to Google Blogoscoped members, and Googlers, John Mueller and Reto Meier!]
Labels: blogoscoped, google, personal
16 November 2009
In my last post about my surprise trip to Jersey, I left a bit of a cliffhanger, which was mainly to give me more time to write this post. But I can now reveal that my final surprise of the weekend was an evening meal at one of Jersey’s Michelin-starred restaurants!
After a drink and some bar snacks in our hotel bar, Suzy booked a taxi to take us to Ocean Restaurant at The Atlantic Hotel. On arrival, I could tell why she didn’t book a room at this hotel for the weekend; wooden floors, stone walls, chandeliers, expensive art-work... the place was like a palace!
Since we were a little early, we had another drink and some more bar snacks, being careful not to ruin our appetite, and then perused the menus. Given our previous experience and Christian’s more recent comments about the price of the wine at The Old Vicarage, which is the only other Michelin-starred restaurant we’ve visited, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the wine at Ocean Restaurant started at around £18 per bottle.
Despite being tempted by their tasting menu, we both decided to choose from the à la carte menu. And here’s what we ordered:
Abuse-bouche
Sole Goujon with Lemon Foam
Starter
Suzy: Ham – Pressing of ham knuckle, maple baked foie gras, roasted langoustines, artichoke purée
Tony: Scallops – Pan roast hand dived Jersey scallops, honey baked pork belly, creamed cabbage
Main Course
Suzy: Beef – Tasting of Jersey beef miniatures, dauphinoise purée, onion rings, beef marmite
Tony: Venison – Roast loin of Scottish venison, autumn vegetable dauphinoise, d’Agen prune jus
Pre-dessert
“Something like lemon meringue pie served in a shot glass but without the pastry”
[Sorry, once again this wasn’t on the printed menu we brought away, so that’s my lame description!]
Dessert
Suzy: Chocolate – Hot chocolate soufflé, white chocolate ice cream
Tony: Coffee – Coffee panna cotta, espresso jelly, white chocolate quenelle, whisky foam
We would have loved to have tried the cheese board too, especially after seeing the huge selection of cheeses get rolled out on a trolley for the table next to us, but we honestly couldn’t have squeezed in another mouthful!
I generally don’t like coffee-flavoured desserts, but the coffee panna cotta tasted great. In fact, everything we had was cooked to perfection. The flavour combinations were all spot on, the presentation was outstanding, the service from the staff was of the highest standards, and the atmosphere was perfect too.
Sounds pretty good, eh? That’s because it was! Seriously, it’s easy to forget what amazingly good food tastes like. When we were on our honeymoon, we did have some really good food, but it’s clear why Ocean Restaurant has a Michelin star – as well as three Rosettes in the AA Restaurant Guide 2009 – and all those other places we’ve visited don’t.
Ocean Restaurant definitely gets our recommendation!
Labels: food, personal, restaurants, travel
