.mac

If you've been reading this blog on a fairly regular basis you will know that not long ago I posted some thoughts on who needs Apple's .mac, well since then it's quietly been seducing me, and Jon. So I signed up. For a trial. With a view to maybe more.

I love iDisk - it really beats everything, 1Gb (Full accounts) of online easily accessible storage

I like the way that everything works with OS X seamlessly; backing up to either my iDisk or and external hard disk now takes one program and not two.

I like the way synching all my contacts and calenders is as easy as synching my mobile.

I will admit that there are some features that I'm going to have to get my head around and is it worth £60? I don't know, but as it's the only option that feature seamless integration with OS X. It's gotta be worth something.

WARNING: Hack saws can be dangerous!

You are looking at a picture of my finger 7 hours after I cut it open on a hack saw..

You might be asking why on earth I was using a hack saw, and I'd say you'd probably have a fair point so let me explain.

Whilst Rosie was doing her work experience was with Jim Bailey, in his recently tidied and rearranged office, I was doing a whole bunch of tech stuff that I'd been putting off. Namely re-racking all the old outboard equipment and adding some new ones. Part of the job involved removing the sides of an old mixing desk and one screw wouldn't budge so Jim and I decided that the only way to deal with it would be too saw it off.

So I sawed through it and the blade just kept on going, resulting in a nice little gash in my finger. Being, kind of practical, the first thing I reached for was a packet of baby wipes (don't ask why I had them, it's an equally long story) and some tape (which all good techs carry) to clean it and apply some pressure (which should stop the bleeding). However, as I now know wet items actually encourage blood to flow which explains why it was still bleeding 30 minutes later!

Blue Man

Yesterday I took Rosie to see the Blue Man Group as her main Birthday present. It meant getting up early (8am which for Rosie is really early), spending 2 hours on the train and crossing London on the tube, which is something Rosie really doesn't like.

After we got to London we took a tube across to St. Paul's cathedral and wandered across the millennium bridge to Tate modern for a quick look round. I really don't understand modern art though, but even I found the Salvado Dali exhibition pretty good.

From there we headed off along the South Bank, past the recreated Globe theatre to a Pizza Express where we had a great meal overlooking the Thames and life in London at lunch time. After we'd eaten we headed off to the Holborn/Covent Garden area, where after we'd got lost and I had to use the Symbian version of Google Maps to find our way, we found the New London theatre and got the tickets.

With some time to spare we ventured into some of the boutiques around Covent Garden including one called All Saints; where you can buy a belt that says "Jesus Loves You" for £50! Finally it was time to get seated, and put on our Pancho's, for the Blue Man group.

I really can't explain what the shows like, if you've seen it you'll know what I mean, if you haven't. Well, either go there NOW (Though it finishes on the 24 June) or buy The Complex Live on DVD and you'll understand. Stand out moment for me was playing them playing The Who on instruments made out of PVC pipe.

After it finished we had mad dash back across London to get our train, and once we were at Victoria we had our random moment of the day; You go 70 miles away from home and what happens? Well, you bump into someone from Church. Yes, yes, we saw Stuart Bellamy.

So, after a further 2 hours back to Littlehampton we rushed to Fred's Fish & Chip shop for much needed chips. Amazingly we still made it Slam on time, and a good time was had by all. And hopefully we'll do something similar in a few weeks to go and see Avenue Q!

Most random blog...EVER!

If you've ever read my blog before you'll know that it can be pretty random, well I've found one that's much more random. Just click here.

Edit - I've found another random website here. Would someone please give me a job, it's the only way to save me from this sort of randomness!

Verra Cruz

Imagine my surprise earlier this evening when I checked Verra Cruz's myspace page and found I was one of their top friends! I couldn't quite believe it so, I took a picture.

For those of you who don't know who they are I fully recommend you check them out. They're a rock band from St. Albans and I think they rock.

.mac? not me.

At beginning of 2007 someone launched a contest to find an alternative to the .mac. Well I think I've found the solution, and it's called Google. I'm sure I'm preaching to the converted but I truly think that it's a complete solution, and best of all it's free.

.mac has mail, Google has mail
.mac has an address book, Google has an address book (kinda)
.mac has a calender, Google has a calender
.mac has iChat, Google has GoogleTalk

And so it goes on. Want my advice? Well, save your £70, find a friend with Google, get them to invite you, then take 'em out for a pint.

Sky Anytime can be bad for you

This is a bit of a rant, but Sky+'s Anytime service can be dangerous for your health. Whilst browsing it this afternoon I found an interesting new children's TV program called "My Friends Tigger and Pooh" and also an episode of "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody" (which Rosie doesn't like me watching). Which I'm now sat watching

What I was hoping was to find was the 400th episode of The Simpson's but, alas no, I'll just have to Sky+ it.

Nintendo Wii

I've finally ordered my Nintendo Wii, the down side? Well I'm not going to get to until Christmas.

I've ordered a pack that includes Wii Sports, Rayman, Super Monkey Ball and an extra Wiimote.

I've just got to wait now...

Has Apple TV come of age?

Last week Apple updated it's Apple TV product with a factory fitted 160Gb Hard Disk option, but does this new addition mean that it will finally find some more homes?

Well, I certainly think it makes it more attractive to users but I'm not sure that this upgrade alone justifies it. Why?

1. Here in the UK the iTunes Store has little, or no, video content.
   
2. Ripping DVD's takes an age: Using the x264 codec to rip and encode a DVD may take as long as it would to watch the DVD. So why not just watch the DVD?
3. Staying with DVD, would it really been so hard, or expensive to include a DVD drive?
4. Why HD only? The audio isn't HD (and by that I mean 24Bit/96 (or192Khz)Khz) and, for now, it's only likely to be user generated content (photo's and iMovies) that are HD.

Having said all that I think that Apple are working towards a longer term goal and certainly this if I had enough time to create content for it I'd be quite happy to buy one.