Well, I just can’t resist an OS upgrade, especially when it’s priced at £20.99 for all three of my Macs. There’s plenty of information around about what’s in Lion, and why you might, or might not want to install it, so I won’t go into any of that for the moment.

But for anyone who’s wondering about how they can use a Mac App Store download to install on multiple computers, or indeed to do a clean install rather than an upgrade, can I draw your attention to this useful article:

OSXDaily: Make a Bootable Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Installer from a USB Flash Drive

This explains how to open the installer package and copy the disk image file to a USB drive, which you can use to install on any of your Macs. Nicely done, and probably a better option than doing a download for each computer.

I’m starting by upgrading the MacBook Air, and I’ll let you know if anything breaks.

One thing you do want to note – if you use WideMail or Letterbox to change how Mail displays things, it might be a good idea to rest Mail to normal display before upgrading. It may not be necessary, but I’ve done it anyway, to avoid potential issues.

Up just a wee bit today, well within daily variation range, so not a problem.

The rain decided to have an early start today, so I didn’t walk to work. And as my knees are creaking a bit, I’m taking today as my first rest since Friday, which seems like a good plan.

Here’s some traditional seaside entertainment spotted at Llandudno

Mr Punch

I’m sure they didn’t used to have loudspeakers like that when I was a kid[1].

[1] Oh dear, two posts in one evening about me having been young once. Shocking.

Ok, first I just have to say this: 

Following on from the recent announcement of the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, about which I am moderately excited, comes even better news. Gollancz have announced a shiny new website – The Science Fiction Gateway, which will be offering what’s claimed to be the biggest digital library of science fiction and fantasy ever assembled. Quite apart from various forums and the like, the plan is to make thousands of out of print titles available as ebooks. The site will launch in the autumn with over 1000 books, building to 5000 by 2014.

This is, quite frankly, wonderful. In fact, I feel another  coming on. You see, when I was a little proto-geek back in the 70s, most of the classics by Heinlein, Clarke, Asimov and the rest, not to mention lesser (but fun) stuff from the likes of E E “Doc” Smith, were in print and widely available in bookshops everywhere. Now, getting hold of those books can be tricky, to say the least. While you can search for used copies, you have to know what you’re looking for. Back when I was young[1] you could discover all manner of wonderful stuff just by browsing.

If the SF Gateway does even part of what it’s aiming for, it will be an extremely Good Thing. Details are in the press release available at the SF Gateway site.

[1] I was!!! Really!! I remember it – I think it was a Tuesday…

Standards are often found in IT-related thingies. And there is much to be said for them, including such wise words as

The great thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from

and

Standards are like toothbrushes. Everyone agrees they’re important, but nobody wants to use someone else’s

And now the ubiquitous xkcd has joined in:

Click the picture to see it all, in the usual manner. Quite accurate, really…