B of the Bin?

It looks like the beleaguered B of the Bang sculpture which is the largest piece of artwork in the UK is set to be taken down.

Originally constructed to mark Manchester's holding of the Commonwealth Games in 2002, the artwork began to hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons when the integrity of some of the 180 spikes began to fail.

Currently cordoned off, the local council have settled out of court for around £1.7m which covers the original sculpture cost of £1.4m plus the extra costs incurred keeping the surrounding area safe.

Some local residents wont be sad to see it go although I think that when any work of public art is removed from built up cities, there is always a tinge of sadness. I'd love to see the council recommission something in its place.

Free GPS on Android...

The 'amaze' GPS platform has been offering free (ad based) GPS solutions for mobiles since they began to incorporate the GPS chips in the handsets.

The software has proved to be very useful on more than one occasion, and as its free, new users aren't limited to a trial period or the usual 'crippleware' which removes key features until money changes hands.

This kind of free software should be the 'norm' for google's new opensource handset but time alone will tell. In fact on this occasion, lots of other users from handsets like Nokia's N96 can also share the love and download for free as well (no joy for iphone users though!).