Like many long-serving hardware and software developers, I shudder to think about the countless hours I have spent on side projects that were "overtaken by events" and are now lost for all eternity. A recent trawl through creaky backups on Floppy, Zip, Jazz, DAT, DDS, CD-R and DVD-R uncovered tantalising glimpses of incorrigible optimism but nothing of lasting value. Even if I were to set aside a weekend to revive my data forensics skills, I would then have to deal with obscure file formats requiring proprietary tools that have gone the same way as many of the developments they inspired. The point is that most of my peers will have succumbed to the same forces during this frenetic period of technological change and now the fruits of our goofing-off time are gone forever. More's the pity because there is massive educational, entertainment and historical value to be found in the dregs of our fleeting existence compared to our more trumpeted achievements. If you don'...