GMail, Google’s wonderfully different web-based eMail service, is now more-or-less open to the public. That is the US public only at the moment. As a side effect of the launch of Google Talk which requires a GMail account Google have made it a lot easier to get a GMail account - simply visit https://www.google.com/accounts/SmsMailSignup1 and enter your (US Only) mobile telephone number to get an authorisation code.

Other countries will be supported shortly but this seems like a good way to reduce the number of automated signups and to verify the location of subscribers. I imagine once more countries are supported GMail will officially come out of beta.

Those of you who knew me around the time of lyximer will remember we required a UK mobile number for our signup system and that a user’s username and password was sent by text message (or phonecall if they didnt have a mobile) to ensure we only had UK users…

Google launched their own IM service last week and while it has some definite failings it seems a good overall first beta. It’s important to remember that it is still a beta and that it will likely develop in many directions over time.

Google Talk uses Jabber/XMPP so although there is no client available for any operating system other than Windows just yet (although OS X and Linux clients are promised soon) Mac users can use iChat or Adium and Linux users can use any of the wealth of Jabber or GAIM clients available to them.

The interface is clean and uncluttered in a stark contrast to MSN (which seems to be the most popular IM program around at the moment) and the audio conferencing uses the same codecs as Skype so it sounds pretty good too.

There’s still a lot missing - conversation logging (perhaps we’ll see this integrated into GMail at some time?) - there’s various reasons to suspect this, not least that the current version stores it’s logs in a URL Encoded format. File transfers (every other IM service offers this … come on!), Video conferencing (would be nice) etc etc…

But those of you who remember GMail when it was first introduced will see how far it’s come along in just under a year, I expect we’ll see good things from Google Talk.

While aforementioned friends are off sunning themself in Prague, this is the weather I had to put up with - although the multiple-rainbow thing did make for rather cool photos (no, the quality on this isn’t any good because it’s three photos randomly taken with my phone from inside the car which I hadnt intended to do anything with - and then stitched them together :P)

Ok, slightly cheating because I amn’t there and didn’t take this photo! However a friend (with a rather nice k750i) did as a comparison of the weather - personally I think they just want to show off that they’ve escaped the rain of Glasgow. Isn’t technology wonderful - you can send pictures from a completely different country straight from one phone to another and then to here

Tomorrow the Fringe will come to an end for another year, and the task of converting lots of theatres back into normal buildings will begin. As the curtain falls on the last show at the Pleasance with it comes the retirement of Christopher Richardson who has ran the successful venue since 1985.

Now 66, Christopher founded the Pleasance 20 years ago providing performance spaces for the unknown names of people like Rowan Aitkinson and Graeme Norton.

For the first 10 years of it’s life the Pleasance, one of the biggest venues on the Fringe consistently made a loss and the company repeatedly neared bankruptcy. Christopher personally bailed it out loads of times and it is thanks to him that the venue is what it is today.

Christopher Richardson has become a very important part of the fringe and has repeatedly given us all a venue that I like many others have loved to spend day-after-day show-after-show and indeed night-after-night at in it’s 17 spaces and courtyard bars.

Pleasance will live on without Richardson at the top, but it must be a difficult day for him to leave behind a venue he has devoted his life to. We can all only hope it will continue to be the same vibrant, diverse venue we’ve all come to know and love. The Pleasance.

Update: Can you believe the audacity of these people?! - Read Marika Klambatsea’s representative’s response to my opinions, and quote from the Scotsman! Apparantly, I’m too young to argue with them… and yet more nonsensical comments after the link

It goes without saying but… None of the views expressed above necessarily reflect those of C Venues or any member of the C Venues staff team. They do however reflect my personal opinion and that of the Scotsman’s reviewer!

I left Edinburgh today, most of you will know the reasons why. C were nice enough to pay me a proportion of my agreed fee for working at the festival.

In an unsuccessful attempt to cheer up Morph I decided to tidy the room in the C flat (my own flat doesn’t look that bad either at the moment!) but this was truly a momentous occasion as all who know me will know … didn’t help though.

For some bizarre reason I chose to photograph this ticket - cheapest ticket i’ve ever had for a fringe show - also despite seeing lots of shows this is the only one I’ve actually held a ticket for - it later turned out that this was to be the last show I’d see in C Electric…

(The show itself wasn’t that great - half the audience left before the interval. It did get better afterwards.. but still…)

  

  

Fringe venues are known for operating on a budget and most places i’ve work make do with whatever equipment they can get their hands on (or buy off eBay or hire really cheap!) which usually means a small memory desk (or if you’ve got moving lights a frog!) for lighting and something like a Spirit Folio sound desk.

These photos are from the control point of “Screen 2″ in C Electric this year - the lighting desk is a Strand 530i and the sound board is a Yamaha O2R (a desk designed for recording) - the dimmers are Avolites things all with their own individual displays… very nice equipment - but then again C seem to have more money than most fringe venues - still only pay their staff about the same as everyone else! (£250ish for the festival) ah well, we don’t do it for the money!