What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This?

Apologies for my extended hiatus from this blog: I suddenly had a great deal of time-dependant work to do, which has kept me fully occupied for most of January. While I prepare for my next post, I hope there might be some interest to be had in another one of my old essays.

In this short but somewhat steamy article I take a look at another one of the curiosities of the Roman world: the poetess Sulpicia, who remains the only extant female author of Roman love poetry.

Uneasy Aquisitions and Polluted Ecosystems: The Google Conundrum

Regular listeners to the Full Circle Magazine podcast will know that I have spent a great deal of time pondering the value of "ecosystems" in the world of technology. What is meant by this term in context, much like its ecological equivalent, is the environment produced when a company's products are used alongside each other. In the world of technology, where services are interlinked and mutually reinforcing it also has a lot to do with "user experience", the sensation encountered when using a whole suite of products together. Look and feel therefore has an increasing impact on digital ecosystems as they grow, with an ideal outcome being that a user is able to work with multiple products from a single source together almost entirely seamlessly, finding little difference between them in terms of interface design and sensation, while having as many of their digital needs taken care of as the provider is able to manage.

How to Build an Emperor

Having neglected the classics somewhat in recent months, the festive season seems as good an opportunity as any to publish some more of my university work.

Dealing once again with the theory of imperial power, this short essay examines how the idea of the "Emperor" came to be developed at the beginning of the Roman Empire by an individual damned by history: the Emperor Nero.

Gaming the System

A few weeks ago the Schumpeter column of The Economist published a stimulating article on the contributions made by modern video games to the art of management. After some initial comments, I promised a more detailed follow-up on the topic, as I believe there to be considerable value to be found in some elements of gaming not mentioned by the article.

REVIEW: Android 4.2

Having found the long-awaited 4.2 Android update pushed to my Galaxy Nexus earlier this week, now is a good time to take a quick early look at the new system for the benefit of those considering the pros and cons of installing it on their own devices.