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Who is this Ben Davis chap?

Ben DavisBen Davis is a freelance web developer based in Derby who loves creating beautiful, content-driven websites. He uses only open source products to power his creations to show that with just a little imagination, endless curiosity and a healthy dose of caffeine anything is possible.

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May, 2009

  1. Tweeted this week 2009-05-31

    May 31, 2009 by Ben

    • Installed and getting intimate with Windows 7. Honestly, I’m quite impressed; in a slightly “it’s about time” kind of way. http://is.gd/HM1r #
    • Ah today is such a relief – no work! Which means me, my pc and a lot of loud music; been through cat empire, rodrigo y gabriela – now NOFX. #
    • #3wordsaftersex :: “Can I help?” #
    • I no longer know what I’m supposed to do on or with facebook. There’s a lot fighting for my attention but nothing actually interests me! #
    • Google Wave looks absolutely amazing! I’m a long time gmail user and this makes a lot of sense to me. http://wave.google.com #
    • RT @sitepointdotcom Why Opera 10’s User Agent Smells Bad :: Version num. shouldn’t be compromised for bad scripts http://tr.im/mNEY #
    • Hmm, heavy night last night.. Long slow day today but it’s relaxing into a nice bright but cool evening. @colliersteph missing you muchly #
    • Tweeting with twitter-tools by Alex King. Can’t wait to see what the weekly digest looks like. WordPress could turn me.. it really could. #
    • Stuck at work, staring at what’s left of todays sunshine. My kingdom for a window that opens! #

    Powered by Twitter Tools.

    Category Tweets | Tags: | No Comments

  2. Google Wave – communication as it could/should be

    May 29, 2009 by Ben

    I’m tempted to talk a lot about this new developing application; it’s uses as well as how it could well revolutionise how the world communicates online. But I won’t the video below does that far better than I could.

    (more…)

    Category Websites | Tags: ,,,,,,,, | No Comments

  3. Windows 7 Release Candidate (build 7100)

    May 27, 2009 by Ben

    shot-0.1-windows7 Well, in the last few days I’ve installed and have begun to get intimate with Windows 7 and honestly, I’m quite impressed; in an underwhelmed and slightly “well it’s about time” kind of way.

    It’s improvements thus far, while occasionally quite good, are obvious userbility tweaks which should have been present in Vista.

    I’ve never been one for Microsoft and have argued against its use and policies before. But just as I often can’t stop trying out distros of Linux I thought I’d try this. Hey, I got into the beta program for free and downloaded it for free. Up to that point – what difference is there between this and Linux? Well, quite a few actually but to that justice I need to delve a little deeper to form a more complete opinion.

    Until then, enjoy these screenshots of my currently running system and tell me what you think. It definitely looks good. That much I can say!

    (more…)

    Category Blog | Tags: ,,,,,,, | 1 Comment

  4. The Great Mouse Detective

    May 26, 2009 by Ben

    Watch The Great Mouse Detective Online.

    The link above uses the playlist feature of youtube to link together clips. Works rather well, but not flawlessly. Thanks youtube, for providing me with the pleasure of watching this film. You can see the full playlist, if you’d prefer.

    Technorati Tags: , , ,

    Category Movies | Tags: , | No Comments

  5. Ghostbusters three

    May 22, 2009 by Ben

    Interview with Akroid

    Despite the opinions of others I welcome this revival. I too have very fond memories of watching the films as a child but I don’t feel those memories will be sullied by a third film revival. How very silly!

    I hope truly it gets made and made well, of course. I might not be queing for hours to see it but I’ll certainly see it.

    Category Movies | Tags: ,, | No Comments

  6. Another theme update

    May 22, 2009 by Ben

    Yet again I’m posting up another screenshot of my work in progress theme.

    Basically, with this theme I wanted something really personal, the kind of theme you’re unlikely to find anywhere else. I also wanted to make its palette slightly ubuntuesque with oranges and browns. I think it’s coming along pretty well. (more…)

    Category Blog, Websites | Tags: ,,,,, | No Comments

  7. Create your twin with Gimp

    May 21, 2009 by Ben

    http://chetanism.blogspot.com/2008/11/create-your-twin.html

    Great little tutorial which allows you to double yourself (or whatever you want really) in a picture. Well written and easy to follow, expect to see some examples of this on the site… soon as I finish the Bonsai design (see last post).

    Category Blog | Tags: ,, | No Comments

  8. Tweeting with pleasure, courtesy of Inkscape

    May 19, 2009 by Ben

    Today I was inspired to draw.

    Well, strictly tonight, technically this morning…

    Anyway. I quite accidentally found this Twitter style tutorial and decided I wanted a twitter icon of my own, that would go with the colours of my new design. However, I don’t use Adobe Illustrator… or whatever. Just Open Source programs.

    Tweeting the way I like it

    Tweeting the way I like it

    So out came Inkscape, off ran an hour or two of my time and I produced this.

    After a relatively (for me) short period of time tinkering with it, I decided I didn’t really like the way the eyes and cheeks were done in the original article so went back to my more cartoon-like style (seen in my previous doodles.. keep your eyes peeled for when my portfolio goes online).

    Actually, I’m pretty pleased with it. I could’ve spent much longer tidying it up, and I probably will go back to it and do just that, but I’ll write up a tutorial to go with when I do.

    For now, it’s just gone half three in the morning… and I should really sleep.

    EDIT –>

    Just thought I’d put the source file up for download as well, I bang on enough to my friends about Open Source, what kind of en example am I setting if I don’t follow my own advice!

    My Tweeting Birdy – SVG :: Download source

    Category Design | Tags: ,,,,, | No Comments

  9. Jamendo and Shearer

    May 15, 2009 by Ben

    Recently I’ve started to use the fantastic service offered by Jamendo.

    Basically it’s a website/torrent service where bands from all over the world can publish their music and make it completely available to anyone registered on Jamendo; to stream the music online or download and listen at their leisure.

    There are some great bands on there and I’d thoroughly recommend their service to anyone who, like me, seems to have lost their drive to find new bands and new music.


    One such great band that I’ve found in the short time I’ve been registered is Shearer with their album Eve specifically.

    But you don’t have to go to the site to listen, thanks to their widgets I can put them on this page!

    Category Musicality | Tags: ,,,,,, | 1 Comment

  10. Bonsai Autumn Wallpaper

    May 13, 2009 by Ben

    Click to download full size.

    Just a little example of what can be easily achieved using only free software – not bad for an hour or so’s work!

    Click it to download the full size image if you like, it makes quite a nice desktop wallpaper. It’s in png format… not sure if you can use png’s in windows but most other OS should be fine. I know Linux is, but I’m biast!

    Category Design | Tags: ,,, | 3 Comments

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