Category: Blog

The Ashes

This is something I didn’t see coming. I like cricket, I loved The Ashes series and well done England for winning. The middle three tests were great to watch and all had tense endings. The end of this match was a bit of an anti-climax but none the less entertaining. What struck home the most was the level of competition between the two teams but also the sportsmanship and respect on display – unusual to see from an Aussie team.

A cautionary note – I hope the players don’t turn into celebrities like footballers in general and the England team (with wives) in particular. I couldn’t care less about there off pitch life’s, who they are married to or how many of them stay in magnificent houses. Keep to the sport – far more interesting. Take the hint Mrs Flintoff although he must be a sure bet for sports personality of the year.

iTunes 5.0

New iTunes version 5.0 with a new look and some new features even for old iPod users. Playlists within folders, contact and calender synch with Outlook, far better search (allegedly like spotlight in OS X), shuffle options (woo), parental controls (woo – this is irony by the way) and album reviews in the music store. Was that really worth an update to a version 5.0.

On installing it seemed to update my whole library. On syncing with the iPod it’s refreshing ALL the tracks. That’s 22 gigs it’s writing back to the iPod. Strange. Even odder – some tracks won’t write to the iPod – they did yesterday. I updated the iPod firmware and all seems well by going from version 2.2 to 2.3.

The new search is great – fast and accurate. Folders are also nice as the parent folder will display a sum of all the child playlists. Not convinced on the new look which is better than the old brushed metal but seems to have an odd double pixel around the left and right window border.

It’s done

The windows have been installed and the mess is starting to clear. Took two guys three days to fit 13 windows and a new front door. While I’m pleased that it’s all done in a short time I hope it wasn’t rushed – it certainly looks like a good job has been done and they did work some really long hours – to be honest I can’t fault the finish and I’m really chuffed. Immediate differences are it’s quieter, warmer, less draughty and overall looks a hell of a lot smarter so I’ve absolutely no regrets. Luckily they were all fitted in the dry which is a bonus especially as it’s raining tonight. Just need a wet and windy day (shouldn’t be long to wait for that) to make sure everything is wind and watertight. Only job to do is for a plasterer to fix some gaps that have been left and for me to re-fit all the curtain rails and re-hang – weekend jobs a plenty for me!

*Update* – since the new door and windows there have been two people at the door looking for our neighbours. We’ve either blended in nicely or we’ve lost the ‘the ugly’ door tag that we used to have.

Moto GP3

This could quite possibly be my last game bought for the Xbox due to the imminent 360…yet I’ve owned it for 18 months. The reason – it’s no different from Moto GP2 except there are extreme tracks, a buggier Live interface and well…that’s it. 18 months development for that.

However the extreme track are great. Think a mixture of PGR2 and Ridge Racer tracks but with bikes and you get some idea what the extreme mode is all about. Strangely this has also seen a resurgence of friends playing online again – nostalgia has really kicked in. Well worth a purchase especially if you don’t own Moto GP2 – I’m off to set some new times.

*Update* – maybe I was a bit harsh as I’ve really enjoyed the last couple of hours with this. The extreme tracks are really good and there is some graphical polish thats been added to the Moto GP tracks. Online is great and the use of seed points well implemented. However the AI of the computer bikes is truly awful – they stick to their line no matter what you do which can be a bit frustrating. However with enough friends it makes for a great online racer.

K2

Upgraded the site to a new theme – K2 from Michael Heilemann is a turbo charged theme for WordPress which is more than a theme – it’s a mod. Supports numerous plugins and comes with it’s own option panels. Currently still in beta and a little rough round the edge’s but like this theme I do. I’ll be updating more through the week with some new plugins and pages. For the moment there’s a few links that may be broke – they’ll be fixed soon enough.

Also moved all images from my host to Flickr. Makes cleaning up my web space a bit easier and hopefully future upgrades will be a lot tidier. It took a while but what else was there to do on a wet and windy day, apart from watching the cricket – I’ve become a closet test match watcher!

House improvements update

New FenceNever did I think painting a fence, and only one coat at that, would take so long. But it did. All day Saturday and Sunday to paint the bitch and although I’ve still got the second coat to put on it’s looking top smart. Main difference is that the fence is straight and sturdy and won’t sway in a gale as proved by last nights wind. In an ideal world we’d put the same fence up on the other side but our neighbours aren’t playing ball and if I’m being honest…they are a pain in the arse. I guess that’s a neighbours role.

Anyhoo – soffits and guttering is also painted and the garden tap is fitted – ironic since the weather has turned since it was fitted. Apologies to everyone for ruining their summer. Just the windows and door to get fitted and some painting inside and our ‘upgrades’ will be complete. Joy.

 

Good to Talk and search and…

Google’s been busy – Google Talk has been unleashed and an update to Google Desktop. The Talk application allows anyone with a Gmail account to talk to one another or just IM as per any of the other IM apps. Free, simple and open source as it’s built on Jabber protocol. Nice.

Google Desktop is more than a simple upgrade. They’ve dropped the ‘Search’ from the title and now include a Sidebar that similar to the sidebar that was once in the Vista beta’s and can be picked up as freeware elsewhere. The desktop search is also more refined, popping up in a small window similar to MSN desktop search. Nice. The sidebar is pretty ugly though. Although it can check your Gmail account, weather, has a quick launch window and can check stocks and shares it’s all been done before and clutters up the desktop. I prefer to use just a search entry box and see the results.

What’s frustrating is that there is a lot of duplication between Google, Yahoo, MS and others all clambering for the same market. Where’s the originality? Kottke article expands on this some more – WebOS anyone? Maybe one day but the confusion between what the big players offer, an increasing lack of trust in web browsing and e-mail never mind web apps and the 80-85% userbase who will never switch from IE 6 makes me think that MS will be in control for the foreseeable future and that a suite of web apps may be useful but will never truly replace desktop apps. And remember – as a company gets bigger it gets all the more hated.

Now You See It

New monitor with flashYet another game show reference – this could be a trend. Anyway – the new monitor has arrived and it’s fantastic. Why didn’t I buy an LCD ages ago. It’s a 19 inch LG (LG 1980Q to be precise) and I can’t fault it’s image or the design of the monitor itself – there’s just so much room on my desk now. The screen rotates and mirrors as it’s physically moved and the buttons are heat sensitive – well there had to be a gimmick of some sort to make it worth purchasing. Highly recommended.

Note – no dead pixels yet although I’ve avoided temptation after the PSP hunt.

 

The Price is Right

Xbox 360
£280. That’s the price for the Xbox 360 in the UK and it will be launched this year (rumoured last week in November). This is the first console that has been released so close to the USA launch – kudos to MS for doing that and also coming in at a respectable price. The £280 gets you:

  • Xbox 360 console.
  • Xbox 360 Hard Drive. 20 GB and detachable.
  • Xbox 360 Wireless Controller. Nice but has a range and battery life of up to 30 feet and 30 hours of life on two AA batteries. Not much so the battery pack and charger become essential purchases.
  • Xbox 360 Faceplate.
  • Xbox 360 Headset.
  • Xbox 360 Component HD-AV Cable. (I NEED to buy a Plasma or LCD screen)
  • Xbox Live Silver membership – who cares – I want Gold.
  • A bonus Media Remote: Included for a limited time, the integrated control centre for the entire digital experience lets consumers play DVDs, movies and music, as well as access their Windows® XP Media Centre Edition 2005-based PC’s controls with a single remote. Nice.

I reckon that’s quite a bit of hardware for £280. It would have been nicer if it came with HD-DVD but it’s still an impressive package. Not so good is that a cut-price 360 will be available for £210 that has everything except no hard disk, no headset, a wired controller and no free remote. This will be the first console to launch with different hardware options which for me means developers will code against the lowest hardware specification – no hard disk. This might not sound a big deal but the Xbox took great advantage of the hard disk so it will be disappointing if dev’s feel curtailed by this step. It also seems strange that MS have spent the last 3 years building up Xbox Live, have spent the last three months talking up the new 360 service and the online marketplace which will have lots of paid for downloadable content yet launch a console which doesn’t have the headset or the hard disk. Odd. Unless they were trying to get near to £200 and/or the price point of the soon to be launched PSP.

With around 4-6 must buy launch titles it’s going to be an expensive Christmas. I can’t wait.

 

A new path

Could be a title to some new way of thinking, a change in direction, a step forward. But no. The first of this years house jobs has been done and at the start of this week it wasn’t even on the list. We’ve had a new path laid and it makes a pretty big difference. The path before was full of cracked concrete and old pre-war slabs. The new path looks and feels so much better.

That leaves:

  • New door
  • New windows
  • Replace fencing in the back garden
  • Paint guttering and pipes
  • Outside tap

So much to do….so little time (and money!!).