Things in Jars

Simon Madine (thingsinjars)

@thingsinjarsFollow me on Twitter

Hi, I’m Simon Madine and I make digital toys and write guides on web development.

I'm a senior web dev and evangelist for Nokia Maps in Berlin.

  • Twitter
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Forrst
  • Shelvist
  • Last.FM
  • RSS
  • Open Source Ideas

    Written 30 Oct 2009

    Ideas

    All too often, I have ideas which might make a cool website or iPhone app or whatever and I know I just don't have the time to build them. I'm going to post them here in the hope that someone else might find a use for them. These ideas might already be in existence, of course. I'm not claiming they are unique in any way (although some might be).

    You are free to take these ideas and do whatever you like with them. Of course, if they become amazingly successful, I could do with a bigger TV...

    Comments

  • SpreadShop

    Written 9 Apr 2008

    Cartoons

    SpreadShop

    If you wake up every morning and think, "My t-shirts are so dull, I wish I had interesting clothes...", you need to have a look at my online shop.


    Comments

  • Window Cleaning

    Written 16 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Window Cleaning

    Nothing specifically Japanese, it just looks cool

    Comments

  • Big. Yellow. Spider.

    Written 16 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Big. Yellow. Spider.

    Difficult to get the scale of this. Big. And Yellow. And probably dangerous.

    Comments

  • Self Portrait

    Written 12 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Self Portrait

    And just to show that it really is the view from my office, here's me...

    Comments

  • My Desk

    Written 12 Sep 2007

    Photos

    My Desk

    My Desk with MacBook Pro, Mighty Mouse and Oolong Cha.

    Comments

  • Shibuya

    Written 12 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Shibuya

    Shibuya's busy at night time.

    Comments

  • Beginning of Sunset

    Written 12 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Beginning of Sunset

    And this is the beginning of the most amazing sunset I've seen since arriving. I like the view from my window.

    Comments

  • Pasmo

    Written 11 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Pasmo

    They finally rereleased the prepay Metro and Tokyu line I.C. card yesterday after running out of them in April. So I got one.

    It's like I'm some kind of local.

    "Hey, do you need a ticket?"
    "No, I have my prepay metro card"
    :)

    Comments

  • Shougayaki

    Written 11 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Shougayaki

    Or 'Ginger Pork'. I'm not intending to just upload lots of photos of my dinner but some of it does look nice.

    Comments

  • Office Corridor

    Written 11 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Office Corridor

    The view from my office door down towards reception in the Ark Mori Building.

    Comments

  • Setagaya Koen Fountain again

    Written 9 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Setagaya Koen Fountain again

    Spent the afternoon reading a book on Japanese verbs while getting cooled occasionally by the mist coming off this fountain. It looked really cool with the sun going down behind it but I couldn't quite capture it the way I wanted.

    Comments

  • Tonkatsu Dinner

    Written 9 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Tonkatsu Dinner

    In the continuing effort to prove to various people I am eating well while over here, this is my dinner. Tonkatsu, ramen and a chickeny broth.


    Tasty it was, too.

    Comments

  • Building in Ueno

    Written 9 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Building in Ueno

    Another of those incredibly shiny buildings...

    Comments

  • Carnival Time

    Written 9 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Carnival Time

    Turns out September is carnival season here in Tokyo. This was just a little procession making its way around Ueno.


    Had to jostle my way past a few dozen other guys taking photos of the girls in front. Didn't they realise I was taking these photos for posterity, not for the girls in the tiny bikinis?

    Comments

  • Monkey Float

    Written 9 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Monkey Float

    Part of the carnival procession.

    Biiiiig monkey.

    Comments

  • Setagaya Street

    Written 9 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Setagaya Street

    Nice little street somewhere in Setagaya.

    Comments

  • Krispy Kreme Queue?

    Written 7 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Krispy Kreme Queue?

    No idea what was going on today but there was a queue of several hundred people to get into Krispy Kreme in Shinjuku today. The queue went round the corner, across a bridge and continued back for a couple of hundred metres.

    I didn't realise doughnuts were so popular...

    Comments

  • Sangenjaya Sunset

    Written 7 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Sangenjaya Sunset

    And here's the view 10 minutes ago from my room. Pretty cool. Guess this is what the sky looks like after a typhoon.

    Comments

  • Another Sunset

    Written 7 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Another Sunset

    Another one from my window. Didn't bother messing around with it in Photoshop, this is just how it was taken.

    Comments

  • Underneath Yurikamome

    Written 5 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Underneath Yurikamome

    Same motorway ramp as before, this time from underneath.

    Comments

  • Chucking it down

    Written 5 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Chucking it down

    Yeah, I know, Edinburgh gets it fair share of rain, too. But this is like switching on a shower. And then all of a sudden it stops. Kind of like switching off a shower...

    Comments

  • Door Frame

    Written 5 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Door Frame

    More of an instructional shot than anything arty. This is taken at eye-level.

    Note to self: Duck.

    The grey strip is a handy bit of rubber some kind soul put there to make sure it's not as painful walking into the door as it could have been.

    Comments

  • Shinagawa East Exit

    Written 5 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Shinagawa East Exit

    Extremely big and quite odd archway heading out of Shinagawa Station's East exit.

    Comments

  • Yurikamome

    Written 5 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Yurikamome

    Even though I was running late, while wandering across Kounan-Ohashi, I had to take a photo of Yurikamome, A great big round-in-a-circle motorway on/off ramp. It heads onto Rainbow Bridge but I couldn't get any decent shots of that, it's too big.

    Comments

  • Here Comes the Weather...

    Written 5 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Here Comes the Weather...

    Right before the storm clouds opened, the sky got extremely dark. But, as the sky behind me was still blue, this building's reflective windows stood out quite well.

    Comments

  • Big Electrical Things

    Written 5 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Big Electrical Things

    Don't have a clue what they're called but they're big and shiny.


    They could be Big Telephone Things, I guess.

    Comments

  • Cabling

    Written 5 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Cabling

    Of course, with Japan's tendency to have all the cabling overhead (as opposed to the UK's underground cabling), it does mean that this is right outside my window. I could touch it if I were so inclined. And it's dripping wet.

    I'm not 100% sure if this is a good thing..

    Comments

  • Ceramic Thing

    Written 5 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Ceramic Thing

    One of those bits that joins cable to other cables.

    Comments

  • Rain on the Roof

    Written 5 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Rain on the Roof

    It just started raining so I thought I'd take some shots. It's properly chucking it down. This is the roof of the building opposite.

    Comments

  • Night-time Cars

    Written 5 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Night-time Cars

    Just some traffic on my street at night time.

    Comments

  • Daytime Cars (and a fella on a bike)

    Written 5 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Daytime Cars (and a fella on a bike)

    Standing outside the Tokyo Regional Government buildings looking towards the Imperial Palace. The government buildings themselves were quite impressive but I didn't want to risk upsetting the stern-looking guards standing outside them by taking any photos in their direction.

    Comments

  • Shibuya Mid-Afternoon

    Written 5 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Shibuya Mid-Afternoon

    This is half-way through my commute from the office back to my apartment. Get off one exceptionally busy train, through the exceptionally busy square, onto a slightly less busy train.


    I'm fairly sure the woman on the left posed as soon as got my camera out.

    Comments

  • The Ark Mori Building

    Written 3 Sep 2007

    Photos

    The Ark Mori Building

    And this is the exceptionally tall building I work in. It's very very tall.

    Comments

  • Left Window

    Written 3 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Left Window

    View from the left window of the office.

    Comments

  • Right Window

    Written 3 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Right Window

    View from the right window of the office

    Comments

  • Pre-cooking

    Written 3 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Pre-cooking

    And this is just to prove that I'm not just eating noodles and tuna.


    Beef, Ginger, Garlic, Shoyu, Mirin

    Comments

  • Mid-Cooking

    Written 3 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Mid-Cooking

    And into the pan you go...

    Comments

  • Post-Cooking (Pre-Eating)...

    Written 3 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Post-Cooking (Pre-Eating)...

    And now for dinner...umai desu...

    Comments

  • Shower

    Written 2 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Shower

    I have no idea. Tried my best to figure out what this box was for. I know that if I press a random sequence of buttons, hot water comes out of the shower. But if I press another random sequence of buttons, I get a voice telling me I've done something wrong. But I'm not sure what...

    Comments

  • Shower Curtain

    Written 2 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Shower Curtain

    Just my shower curtain.

    Comments

  • Dinner

    Written 2 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Dinner

    Tasty, tasty noodles. Looked all around the flat but couldn't find any chopsticks. Oh well.

    Comments

  • UFO

    Written 2 Sep 2007

    Photos

    UFO

    It's probably not a good thing when your food has 'Unidentified' written on it...

    Comments

  • My kitchen

    Written 2 Sep 2007

    Photos

    My kitchen

    It's tiny. This photo's taken from the bedroom. You've got the oven, microwave, fridge, front door, several different recycling bins and some very complicated insructions on what and how to recycle.


    And, of course, the TV showing anime on prime-time Saturday night. Now that, I like.

    Comments

  • Bedroom Floor

    Written 2 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Bedroom Floor

    The floor of my bedroom. That is all. Instead of tatami, it's floorboards and instead of a futon, it's a bed. Not as much traditional japanese styling as I'd have hoped for but, hey...

    Comments

  • Strange Sun

    Written 2 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Strange Sun

    There was some bizarre Bazaar on in the park. Couldn't quite figure out what was going on but I did manage to get this photo of a Sun. It's either cute or scary. I'm not sure which yet.

    Comments

  • Setegaya Koen

    Written 2 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Setegaya Koen

    First thing I did after moving into my apartment was have a little wander around the park next door. It's very nice.

    Comments

  • Shibuya crossing

    Written 2 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Shibuya crossing

    That big crossing in Shibuya. With all those people. And a picture of Cameron Diaz.

    Comments

  • Home Office

    Written 2 Sep 2007

    Photos

    Home Office

    It's too small to show anything other than the bottom of the desk. No, really.

    Comments

Browse articles by category:

Toys, Guides, Opinion, Geek, Non-geek, Development, Design, CSS, JS, Open-source Ideas, Cartoons, Photos

Recent side-projects

  • Insta-Art
  • 8-Bit Alpha
  • Shelvi.st
  • The Elementals
  • Harmonious

Toys

Find my digital toys at thelab.thingsinjars.com.

Contact

Send me a message via Twitter.

Adopt-a-Museum

@thingsinjars:

    © 2012 Simon Madine