I’ve been trying to teach myself to touch type since last year, and in the process I’ve tried a varied range of free tutoring software off the net.. The best two that I’ve found so far have got to be Stamina and TypeSpeed. (I used to use KTouch on linux but I’ve swapped that for Stamina on XP at the moment.)

Stamina, is everything you need from a typing tutor. Big easy to read text entry area, nothing to distract you from typing. Simple stats that are easy to understand and a very funny user manual. Remembers where you got to in a previous session so it’s good to go as soon as it’s launched. Highly recommended…

TypeSpeed, is an entirely different beast. Text based running in a terminal window, words zip from left to right and you have to type them in before they fall off the screen. Very simple and very addictive, as long as you don’t mind being classified as a T-Bone, Pencil or Monkey if you’re not very good. Well worth a look…

Let me know if you have a go…

Been to the Ordnance Survey Outdoor Show at the NEC today with my brother. We only stayed a few hours, about as long as it took to wander round the two halls. It was a bit of a disappointment really, nothing really stood out. The show itself was half and half big name brands and regional tourist boards touting for business.

I’m not sure if we need shows like this any more. Even at a exhibition like this you can only ever show a small fraction of the kit that is available. For example, there was only one tent manufacturer in attendance, Vaude… For an outdoor show that seems like a bit of an oversight. Maybe the remit was too wide and the venue too small.

I freely admit that I’m a picky customer, consciously acting out an inverted snobbery that I’m not proud of admitting too. I like my gear specialised, and if it’s an obscure brand so much the better. Maybe that’s why I didn’t get as much out of it as I was expecting. Won’t bother next year…

I’ve been scraped, which is both a surprise and a disappointment at the same time. Some automated system has decided it liked the look of my post on the 12th and decided it fit the criteria for inclusion on their entirely synthesised site. Nice of them to include a link back to the original article, so that makes it alright then…

Of all the things that I considered when I started this test installation, and I’ll reiterate that it’s only a test at this stage, being used by a automated tool to provide handy chunks of content for someone else’s link farm wasn’t one of them.  Frankly I didn’t think there would be anything that’d interest anyone else other than myself and a few friends I’ve pestered into helping me test the site.

So the lesson for the day is, underestimate the depth and breadth of the internet at your peril. Here endeth the lesson.

Yes, there’s still a way to go to hit the top 40 but the movement is in the right direction. Seen as the site started down at about 9.25 million, to reach the heady heights of 8,926,723 is marginally impressive. Doubly so when you can count on the fingers of one hand the people who are actually visiting the site… Keep up the good work chaps…

It finally turned up today.  After a few nervous weeks of checking the snail mail every day it finally arrived. The day after I’d requested that they resend it ‘cos I thought it’d got lost in the post… So the final piece of the puzzle is in place and I can now get paid by Google.

Notwithstanding the minor detail that they only pay out once you’ve accumulated more than $100 worth of revenue.  I’ve made about $11 over the past 2 months so I reckon I can look forward to a payday in about, ooh, summer 2009 sometime…

The other thing I noticed looking at the postcard they sent me (Apart from the bizzare Jamaica | New York postmark) was that the Google logo just doesn’t look right in print.  Being used to seeing it backlit on a screen, it just looks flat and lifeless on a bit of card.

Weird how it’s the little things that stand out…