Happy Birthday to lots of people, Merry Christmas and Happy Easter.

'The following takes place between 2 August 2010 and 22 April 2011....'

So what's new I don't hear anyone ask or care.
I've been on holiday - and managed to avoid injury.No bumps no scratches, no hospital visit and more inportant no stiches. Even manages to do some 3 mile runs.

I have a new Bike Thanks you to Evans Cycles for making the price affordable meaning I was allowed to buy it. I've been out lota of times to Cannock Chase (fell off 3 times), the Chevin at Duffield (fell off once) and general riding anywhere off-road (no really fell off).

One fall at Cannock bent the front wheel which also changed to an oval shape, therefore new wheel was required.

I have a new Camera
I seem to have a run of bad look with cameras, my first Sony was a cheapy that I decided to sell and upgrade, my second Second was left in a pub, my third Sony went pop, I gave up on Sony. My first Panasonic Lumix went pop-whizz-bang, I gave up on Panasonic. I know have a Canon...... Surely not a bad choice.
I have a new phone It's an iPhone 4 - no Pictures necessary I guess

I have a new Bike
Not content with falling off my mountain bike, I thought I would try and fall off onto tarmac, so bought a road bike, at first I thought of a Hybrid but decided they were a 'neither-here-nor-there' bike and went all out. It's a 2010 model but £300 quid off so can't know it, especially when the 2011 model probably has a different coloured stripe (and nothing else).


I rode to work for charity
There I was, watching Chris Moyles do his bit for Comic Relief and made me feel guilty about how lucky I am to have my life, then I thought, 'I need to do something.... fun for charity' I then decided I would ride to work, and back again to try and raise some money. The problem is, this was decided on Wednesday, Comic Relief was Friday.....

I did it 18.5 miles each way and £280 raised from family and friends, you are all great people. Thank you x

I rode to Matlock to see if I could
.... The long way round, 44.5 miles on a Saturday morning with no stop for Fish & Chips... Not good.

I had a Christmas Card from my eldest children
This has got to be the highlight of last year, a Christmas card from Lauren and Ryan. This might not seem important to some, but is very important to me.

Lauren, Ryan - if you read this. Love ya lots and see you soon xxx

There, 8 and a half months summed up in 1 post written in around an hour, I really should update more.

I'm in Love (again)

My Touch Diamond died a while ago when once again, I left it in my back pocket and broke the screen, I reverted to my trusted HTC S710 while I waited for something great to come along.

I waited and waited until last week I was shown the "Google Phone", before this time I wasn't really fussed about this as I have been a lover and owner of smart phones since they came along in 2003 (I think), however I am a changed man. The Google Phone (running Googles' "Android" OS), is absolutely amazing. I have had this phone less than 12 hours and already think I'd be lost without it.

Unboxing


The Phone comes with charger (not shown), sync cable, pouch and some books (that I never read) and headphones (not shown).


The main home screen (Left) and the application screen (Right) which you drag from the bottom in a similar fasihion to te Touch-Flo system on HTCs. (I have installed "A LOT" of applications already).

My Bedside clock which is looking favourite to replace my iHome bedside clock due to it's "Stupidly bright display"

First impression

This is the future, there is a "Market Place" for apps which are either free or very cheap, every app you can think of is available, I have downloaded for example.

The Clock seen above, Sky Planner (with remote record facility for Sky+/HD), compare everywhere (barcode scanner that compares prices), facebook (of course) various GPS trackers for biking & running, fitness apps for gym work, Roadsync (Exchange synchronisation) media players to stream music and videos from the net or my own shared music at home).

There is no keyboard, input is via the onscreen keyboard which I admit, altough I like 'real' keyboards, the onscreen one is very good and others are available via the marketplace. There is also no stylus meaning your finger is good enough.

A 2Gb Micro SD card is included with it and 16Gb cards are readily available from eBay for around £30

Does this mean there is finally something to beat the iPod touch / iPhone - in my opinion, Absolutely, I will need to test the media playing capabilities, so will reserve complete judgement, but if you can get your hands on one of these beauties, hurry up.

They are currently only available via T-Mobile or Vodafone (or eBay) but there's rumours of an Orange version later in the year.

9.5/10


Quick Update : 9.5/10 - Have just remebered "Beebplayer" which is a version of iPlayer and lets you watch BBC programmes, tested withh Episode 11 of the Apprentice - works perfectly !!!

More Gadgets

I have had my HTC Diamond for a couple of months now, at first I didn't like the lack of keyboard and almost went back to my old trusted s710, I continued and now quite like it.
I have now been given a shiny new device however, The HTC Touch Pro - Which is the same as the Diamond, but with a keyboard.
This must be perfection I thought... Nope, now it has the keyboard which I wanted, the device is too big, its double the depth of the Diamond. - It also doesn't have 4Gb internal storage like the Diamond has, it does allow for MicroSD however.

I will continue to play, I have already begun by wiping the Vodafone software by flashing the ROM to a more Damo friendly OS.

More soon

The End of the World is nigh (tomorrow)...

(... but if it doesn't end, there are new gadgets on the way).

News is the world will end tomorrow, although I would have guessed at a repeat of the Bibles "40 days of rain" apparently the "Large Hadron Collider" is a 27-kilometre underground tunnel that thousands of science geeks have built along the France-Switzerland border in an attempt to "maybe" discover the "Theory of Everything"

It's not pocket-sized and doesn't have a touchscreen

This Gadget is being switched on tomorrow when it has been said one of 3 three can happen

1. The secret to theory of everything being revealed

2. Nothing

3. The creation of a black hole that will devour the Earth.

Obviously I'm going with option 1 or 2. If it does turn out to be option 3, my holiday plans are scuppered and I haven't written down my logon passwords in case anyone does survive and needs to log onto my computer.

If, however the world doesn't end, there's 3 new gadgets coming very soon...

1. The next generation iPod Nano

Photo courtesy of Engadget

2. The HTC s740

3. The HTC Touch Pro


Hurrah...!!!

Edit:

The next generation iPod Touch also announced

Gadgets

Back to gadgets.

It's been a while since I have looked at replacing my mobile phone for the simple fact that

1. There's nothing out there better than my HTC Touch Dual
2. The iPhone isn't available on anything other than O2.

Now there's a new toy coming very soon, and on Orange. The HTC Touch Diamond.
Orange - despite sending me a text stating you have reviewed my talkplan and I'm already on the best plan, I beg to differ, I want more minutes, more texts, unlimited data and one of these phones FREE.

Now then, isn't there a few football matches coming up..

The War is (almost) Over

*** GEEK ALERT***

So glad I didn't go all iPoddy on this oneIt seems like the next generation format war is almost over

I have always taken a (slight) interest in the gadget/computer wars.

First the Spectrum vs Commodore 64 (I had the Spectrum(s) 16k, 48k and the +2A)
Then Atari ST vs Amiga A500 (I had the Atari STe)

Thankfully I missed the VHS/Betamax war so only the VHS was available.

The PS2 vs Xbox was a dead cert (if you dont coount the Xbox Media Centre) (PS2 here)
The PS3 vs Xbox 360 have both seemingly lost to the Wii (How ???) (Xbox 360)
The DVD +/- was settled by combining the 2 (Yippee - I have have a dual burner)

The latest war that is close to ending is the Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD. If I had an interest in moving to HD, I would have gone for HD-DVD, I've no idea why, but wouldn;t have gone with BluRay as its backed by the wonderful Sony who have brought such delights as Betamax, Minidisc memory Stick etc.

It has however, all but won this time. Whether or not this is due to the PS3 with its built in player I don't know, but the HD-DVD manufacturers have thrown in the towel and the film companies either backed Blu-Ray from the start or have switched 75% of the new releases on High def will be Blu-Ray.
How do I get my hands on a free PS3?.

*** GEEK ALERT OVER ****

Another Ipod

Far from being iPoddy, I was fairly happy with my Pink, 4Gb, original style iPod, especially since the battery upgrade, however my I was forced... Forced I tell you, into having a new 160Gb Black iPod Classic.

Mine

I say forced, it was actually given to me, brand new, gratis, free, no exchange of money, and definately not stolen etc, by someone who is almost my new best friend.

I have managed to "legally backup" and transfer some of my movies, music, TV shows and podcasts over to it, and still have 125Gb free.

...Wow

I didn't realise the iPod only plays .mp4 movie format, stupidly, I presumed I could just transfer my avi files (legal DVD rips of course) straight to the iPod without too much hassle.
Oh No - I have to convert them first.

I used "A-One Ipod Video Convertor" to do the conversions, can anyone suggest something better, my favourite price is free, but cheaper is not always better.

I need a holiday so I can sit in the sun all day while SWMBO reads her Sophie Kinsella books and I watch Simpsons, American Gangster, Family Guy, Transformers, Debbie Does.. (not that one).

I need a use for my original "Pinky", and the 3 broken grey ones I bought off eBay for £25 will repaired... and sold back on eBay.

I have an Xbox Baby,
(but first...)

......I had a brililant comment today from someone in relation to my "Boycott Asda" post.

Blogging is a funny old thing, done by people wanting to have a rant at someone or something, want to tell the world about their lives or just have a little corner of t'interweb, I like to do a bit of everything, nothing too full on, just a place to have a laugh and not get too serious.

...Back to the post in question,

Long story short, Back in March 2007, our Xbox circle of mates all wanted to get a new game on release date, we went to Asda who refused to sell us 8 copies...... I blogged about it telling readers to boycott Asda as they have "ruined our lives....".

Heres the comment, (it's an exact quote so dont slag of the improper use of grammar or spelling).

soryy but i think ur so childish, why would you want to buy 8 copies anyway, your obviously some weird computer geek, get a life, how the hell did asda ruin your life by not sellin them to you. grow up you sad little person

Wierd computer geek
You got me there, I'm a geek, as are the IT people I work with, of which 13 of the 15 also have Xboxes, as are most of my geeky friends, in fact a lot of people I know. I love gadgets/computers and technology (embrace it baby).

Get a life
I've got one of those, - I go out (in the real world) I drink Stella/Jack Daniels/Magners, eat curry, pizza and all other forms of crap, go out drinking in the real world, have a job I love, a woman (I love), 3 children (I love) family and friends. (I love/tolerate).

I have a life and it's f*cking brilliant

Grow up
Who defines what is "grown up", childish I may be sometimes (as my real life fiancee will confirm), but grown up I definately am, I have responsibilities in life which determine that I am grown up as do most adults, I just also have fun.

Anyone else care to confess to being a a wierd, childish computer geek. (Tao, Lee, Cookie, Gaz)

Sad Little Person
I couldn't be any happier, 6 foot 2 and 15 stone

Rant Over - meet Miss Geeky Junior(ess)

Hello Is that Xbox Support, My Daddy won't let me play

By the way comment poster, AOL isn't the best ISP, Windows Media Center isn't brilliant, you should use Firefox as your browser rather than IE 7 and you didn't have to click on my blog when searching for an "Asda" image in Google - Now thats Geeky, and I also have your ip address 172.202....... but instead of all this, chill out enjoy or don't read my blog, it's a bit of fun.

iOrange

After my falling out with Thomo over his recent purchase, I have decided to allow him to buy me lots of beers in return for forgiveness.

What I am not happy about though is the fact that I don't want the iPod Touch, I don't want an iPhone,

I Need one

The HTC Touch Dual is a fantastic phone with most of the functions I want in in a phone, but its missing... that something,When Orange bring out the iPhone v2 (which they will) put me down for one, with a decent data plan . (v2 will have 3G)

I love the iTouch (Now), combining this with a phone I use and carry around every day will be perfect.

Santa Baby, Slip an iPhone under the tree, for me.

Hate !!!!

I have known my (ex) good friend Thomo for 10 years, 8 months and 23 days in which time we have worked together at 3 places, employed each other, loaned each other tonnes of money, been through births, deaths, marriages, new girlfriends and splits from girlfriends, you could say he was "A MATE"2 days ago however this all came to an end.

3 cases of Stella was purchased, we arranged for a "serious" session with Stella, Dominos Pizza, Xbox and TV round at my house.

when Thomo turned up however, he instantly did something to make me hate him...

He pulled out his BRAND NEW 16Gb IPOD TOUCH...

I WANT ONE !!!

XBox Fall Update (Part 2)


Further to my blog about the Xbox Fall Update it appears the details have been confirmed by the MS people

Downloadable Games
A perfect way for Microsoft to make sure everyone buys a bigger hard by allowing downloads of classic Xbox games and having loads of games everyone wants, the first games to appear are Crash Bandicoot: Wrath of Cortex, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, Halo, Fable, Fuzion Frenzy, and Psychonauts. prices start at $5 (£2.50) up to $15 (£7.50) per game.

View Your Friends' Friends
Similar to Facebook, look at who your friends are friends with, not sure this is really needed on the Xbox though.

Inside Xbox Feed
News on whats happening on the Xbox scene (Yawn)

Parental Timer
Stop your kids ruining your life by keeping you off your (their) Xbox.

....and finally and most importantly

DivX/Xvid playback
Stream your DVD rips and legally downloaded content direct from your PC (or USB Hard drvie/memory stick) to your XBox without need for additional software (or crappy Vista with MCE). Now I can watch my US TV programs on a proper telly.

Coming next Tuesday 4 December (or 5th for us lot who are on a works Christmas party - photocopies of arses will be scanned and posted here*)

It's Chriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistmas (in the style of Slade)

a Noddy Holder

It's that time of year where the world goes mad, spends a fortune, gets drunk, gets pregnant, gets fat, has a lot of time off work. In other words, the festive Christmas period, it's also a time that SWMBO hates as she has to think of things to buy me that I actually want, normally I am forced into doing a list, but this year we are having a year off from buying each other as we are

a - skint
and
b - are concentrating of buying baby SWMBO presents instead.


This means I can now put a guide to my perfect Christmas present list without fear that it's too expensive or impossible to get.

For Him (ahem Me!!!)

Digital Photo Frame - (£30 - £200) The basic ones aren't too bad , they do exactly what they should do, show photos stored on a memory card, the advanced ones, also play movies, play music and stream photos wirelessly, I have a Samsung SPF-72V and love it

Digital SLR Camera - (£300 - silly money)
The next step up from the "point and shoot" digital camera, add lenses, flashes, tripods and you'll look like a Pro, you wont be able to take photos like a pro but you'll look like one, I want a Canon EOS 400D but can wait until I know what I'm doing.

Nintendo Wii (£280) Perfect gaming for all the family, just avoid the injuries, even SWMBO is interested in one of these and she hated it when I got my Xbox

Xbox 360 (£200+)
Get the Elite if you can afford it, you'll soon be playing movies on your XBox 360, if you can't afford an Elite at least get the Premium, and be online with your mates till the early hours, making your days drag as you'll get no sleep and anno your work colleagues who haven't got an Xbox as you'll spend all day talking about them.
Games to buy - Assassins Creed, PGR4, COD4, Halo 3

Playstation 3 (£300+)
Im yet to be convinced as they have yet to bring out Grand Turismo, I'd be tempted by Singstar but can play it on my PS2 at a lot cheaper.

T-Shirt (£10 ish)
You just have to have a T-Shirt from T-Shirt Hell, virtually every shirt is offensive in one way or another, my favourites are this one and this one, oh and this one for the kids.

NAS (£180)
If you don't know what a NAS is, (and I don't mean the rapper who married Kelis), skip this bit. Freecom FSG-3 is great, 500Gb of storage, email server, web server, media server, torrent client all built into a little box the size of a book. A bit noisy for the bedroom though.


For Her

Erm - I'm not so good at that, so I'll be very very brief

Underwear from M&S Not the cheesy stuff that us men really like from Ann Summers, but the "nice" stuff that they'll actually wear. (See what I did there with the "bried leading to underwear - Genius)
Gift Vouchers River Island, Oasis etc,

Ipod Fill it with music and they'll ignore you all day, the bigger the drive the more they'll ignore you.

Beauty makeover Better still a Colour Me Beautiful session. This may backfire however with you being accused of thinking they need it...

Book
Buy them one of the Sophie Kinsella books, they'll love it (SWMBO did)

To be honest I don't actually think females (apart from my mum and mother-in-law) read my blog anyway (correct me if I'm wrong).

For t'baby

Babys Laptop

Thats enough of that, I know for a fact babies don't read this blog (correct me if I'm wrong)

Playstation 3 - Singstar
The reason I was holding out for the Playstation 3 was because of Gran Turismo HD, which is still yet to surface and the reason I got my Xbox 360,
It seems that Singstar has a release date of 7 December released with nan iTunes style download function for songs costing 99p.

If you've never played singstar you are missing out, think of a game that you can only really play when as pissed as a fart and there's a group of you, like the Nintendo wii games but without the injuries. Initially there are 44 songs available with more planned from 17 December.

It's still not justification for me spending £300 on a PS3 to then buy the games when I have my trustee sidekick PS2 (which is not chipped and the games aren't free*)

My (pink) iPod - I think she's alive

Following on from my dead iPod post, I received my replacement battery from t'bay today. I paid £4.99 for the battery, there were some cheaper, but this one appears to have more power therefore is supposed to last longer. Great seller though, the battery even comes with the tools needed (2 screwdrivers) and full instructions on how to do it.
I was a little nervous about taking my ipod apart at first, but managed it, I'll need to charge it before I say if it has solved my issue, I'll let you know as soon as it's charged,

Here's How I did it.

1. Using the Flat screwdriver, prise the white plastic top and bottom from the iPod (tricky due to the glue)
2. Remove the metal "retaining" clip from the bottom of the iPod, there are also some screws at the top (I forgot to photo those though). unscrew these screws.
3. Unclip the connector at the bottom of the iPod
4. Push the "motherboard" from the bottom of the outer casing.
5. Unclip the battery power cable from the motherboard, remove and replace with the new battery
6. slide the motherboard back into the outer casing.

7. Replace the connector, retaining clip, screws and white plastic top and bottom.

8. As Gordon Ramsay would say.... DONE
The instructions recommend a minimum charge of 3 hours before first use, I'll be charging mine overnight.

Now then... I wonder if I could get a larger Microdrive in the same place (Answer is maybe, but they only go to 6Gb so not really worth the effort of trying).

The Microsoft Zune

Unlike Taoski, I am not dedicated to Apple and becoming an even less loyal fan of the iPod, especially now my iPod is having problems, I love what the iPod does, not what it is, the ability to play a shed load of music is the reason I have one (and the fact I got it Mega cheap).

I have been reading up on Microsofts' music player the Zune which, although has been out quietly for a while, has had some improvement.

All the Ipod fanboys seem to do (obviously) is constantly slag off the Zune as they do with everything non-apple, I, like a lot of others am not too fused, the comment from a reader at Engadget which sums it up perfectly.

I am constantly baffled by people who care what a device that is going to be in your pocket 90% of the time looks like. Function over form for me any day of the week.

I totally agree, who cares what device you listen to your music on, I prefer to have as many functions built into a device as possible (although it means more things to go wrong), but a music player with as large a capacity as possible, ability to play all music formats, video, show photos, FM radio would be perfect.

When you compare an iPod to the Zune, there are advantages and disadvantages with both of them and.... get me... I've done a comparison

	Ipod Classic	Microsoft Zune
Capacity	160Gb	80Gb
Size	61.8 mm x 103.5 mm x 13.5 mm	61.1 mm x 108.2 mm x 12.9 mm
Weight	162g	128g
Screen Size	2.5"	3.2" scratch resistant glass
Controller	Jog wheel	Zune pad
Music Format	aac, mp3, vbr, aiff, wav,	wma, mp4, m4a, m4b, mov, mp3, aac, vbr
Video Format	H.264, mov AAC-LC mpeg-4 (m4v, .mp4)	wmv, HD wmv, mpeg-4 (mp4/m4v) H.264
Video Output	None	Yes - Through headphone jack
FM Radio	No	Advanced FM Tuning (see the name of the current track ).
Connection	Ipod connector	Wireless or cable
Music Downloads	iTunes	Zune Marketplace
Photos	jpeg, bmp, gif, tiff, psd (Mac only), png	jpeg
Wireless	NO	Yes - 802.11b/g wireless (30ft range)
Sych	iTunes	Zune software, sync wirelessly
Other Info		Import recorded TV from Windows Vista Media Centre and playback

To Sum up
If there was a 160Gb Zune with the aftermarket accessories of the iPod, I'd have one in a flash, as I have a iHome (clock radio), an iStation (speakers) and a iPod connector fitted to my car stereo.

My Ipod Battery is ...


"Fuct" in IT support terms means Failed Under Contnous Testing, and my iPod Mini is completely Fuct.

and yes mine is pink , that was
all that was available at the time ...

I though maybe it was my Ipod connector in my car that may have been draining the battery, however after a full charge last night, it managed to play for a total of 13 seconds while I was being punished at the physio today, and I really need my iPod in physio to help me forget that the physiotherapist is hurting me, (and he does hurt me).

I have now decided that if I am not going to get a free iPod, I don't want to fork out on an iPhone, an iTouch doesn't have enough capacity so I'll go down the next cheapest route and purchase a replacement battery for my iPod.
They are around £8 on eBay including shipping for the 850mah battery which will actually give approximately 60% more battery life than the original "working" battery did, although the battery life wasn't actually that bad before, it's always better to have more for yer money.

I'll report back when I have broken replaced the battery and have to buy an iPod anyway have it working again

-----

Finally, Sir Danny of the "aitch arr", if you're reading this and still want your iPhone, read the reviews and buyers guide over at ilounge. I know you're going to buy one anyway
I haven't read the reviews and won't as I refuse to be persuaded into wanting one, let me know if they say they are not worth it and I don't want you to show me your ... ever.... yet.

A Week of Freebies

I have had a great week of free stuff, however a week of problems

I went to the Aston Villa v Derby Football match on Saturday, and watched Derby get stuffed 2-0, blagged a lift home from one of the guests then managed to lose my wallet.

On Wednesday I went to the Man Utd v Dynamo Kiev game, drank and ate for free and got a "lovely" red and white scarf.

altogether now "The Championsssssss"

Yesterday I managed to blag a free SkyPe/Home Phone , although I don't know that many people with Skype accounts and the people I know that do have them, i normall talk to on Xbox Live anyway, I'm going to try getting my family with internet connections to get Skype accounts.


I'm just holding out for an iPhone now, (that I don't really want - and definately won't get).

Some people just don't listen

Dear Time Magazine - do you not read my blog... tut tut

What next indeed

Time magazine have only gone and named the iPhone the "Invention Of the Year"
Obviously this paper is either an Apple fanboy, have no idea what they are talking about or don't actually own things such as this. I guess as an invention it's but not as revolutionary as the iPod itself. Although it does appear that they actually don't really like it either - worth a read.

Just look at the size of it, "life in your pocket", yeah right

The iPhone is just an iPod touch with a built in mobile phone. The things I like over a traditional ipod are the Touchscreen and Widescreen functions, but it's still missing (for me at least), 100Gb in storage, Built in GPS for Sat Nav, 3G and the ability to synchronise with MS Exchange - oh - and the pricing, available tariffs and limited choice of network providers.

I know there are ways around these issues (apart from the storage), but I, like many others want things to work straight out of the box.

I have the HTC TYTN II which has built in GPS, 3.5G connectivity and syncs with Exchange, ok the memory is stored on a Micro SD Card, which at the moment are only up to 6Gb in size (for £30 though), so a slight drawback, but I still prefer it to an iPhone.

I do however still want the iPod "classic"... Please..... someone... anyone.

iPhone UK
The iPhone is coming to the UK on November 9th.

Do I want one yet? - nope, I'm still managing to resist temptation especially as the pricing and tariffs have been announced.

Firstly, you can only supposedly get the phone on the O2 network (I'm on Orange), you have to pay £269 for the phone itself (8Gb) model, and then you're robbed every month with the tariff.

£35 per month gets you 200 minutes and 200 texts
£45 per month gets you 600 minutes and 500 texts
£55 per months gets you 1200 minutes and 500 texts

I currently pay £25 per month and get 500 minutes and 500 texts. and SWMBO pays £35 for 500 minutes and unlimited texts.

So not only are you having to pay over the odds for the privilege of owning an iPhone, there's a premium each month for using it. The tariff does come with an unlimited data allowance although the iPhone isn't a 3G device.

&

I'd rather go for the 160Gb Video iPod (now known as the "Classic") for £229.00 and get a Smartphone on a free upgrade. The iTouch is only let down by the hard drive size (8 or 16Gb).