24 posts from February 2008

I just missed a train home by minutes last night.  Normally that's not a big deal as they're usually every 20 mins or so.  It was late so that was unfortunately not the case.  Instead I had an hour wait and a train that took twice as long as normal.  My natural aversion to taxis and a desire to clear my head involved a considerable walk home.

To cut a long story short, it was real late before I got to put my head down and then I was awoken way too early by a cold caller!  What were they trying to sell?  Well they didn't tell me, it was one of those calls!  A quick Google later I find that it was some dodgy company that sells phones/contracts and pretends to be my network, 3.

Whilst typing this I've received a text of a test message I left on my mobile's voicemail.  I thought it was about time to try out SpinVox and I've got to say I'm impressed.  I left my message whilst I had music playing and I spoke as quickly and as naturally as I would normally.  SpinVox converted nearly 100% correctly.  What did it get wrong?  I haven't got time to type it all out and I believe it was only two words anyway...

I said, "...my throat is a bit hoarse"
SpinVox translated, "...my flake is a bit horse"

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Hmmm, delicious!  Note the really old Ericsson and an NEC 808Y as a coaster.  Neither can be classed as 'fresh plastic' but they were once tasty.

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Here's my Nintendo-loving Eee PC next to a real Nintendo DS Lite.  Only one fits in a pocket though.  Oh, and only one can out do the Energizer bunny.

Surfing on my 'board

Here's my Eee on my sideboard.  It's exciting stuff.  Look ma, no wires!  I can play the bongos on my sideboard, I kid ye not.

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My tiny laptop, my giant PC.  When you get used to the keys on the Eee PC, returning to a full sized keyboard can be a bit odd.  Notice how the gaps between the keys on my desktop's keyboard look almost canyon like.  Good job I don't have vertigo.

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Here's the Eee at it's favourite resting spot just a stone's throw away from my sofa.  As you can see, the Wavebird controller looks ridiculously large compared to the laptop.

Keepin' it real: Old skool Eee PC

This here blog is in desperate need of video.  And what better way to show off some 'fresh plastic' than to film myself playing Super Mario Brothers 3 on my Eee PC?

The footage is shaky because I was holding the cameraphone (in this case my ageing Nokia N73) whilst attempting to play the game.  Let me tell you, playing the game using a keyboard is a skill in itself.  I'm right-handed for a start and was using me left hand - and just two fingers.  Hmm, no matter how I try describing that it just sounds wrong.

Anyway check out the video and ignore the sound problems (why is it when you want technology to behave it plays up?)

I flew with Ryanair last week (don't get me started on the booking process!) and was amazed when they mentioned 'flight mode' in the announcements before take-off.  I figured they finally got it, but alas not.  All mobile devices even those that could be used offline had to be completely and utterly off for the entire flight.  Laptops were okay to use (I had my Eee and did some catching up on TV) but "personal electronic items" weren't?!?  Did that include digital watches and mp3 players?  Who knows!

Last year I was on another Ryanair flight and asked the girl next to me what the time was (I stopped wearing a watch a long time ago) and she proceeded to take out her phone and turn it on mid flight (clearly she stopped wearing a watch a long time ago too!)  Her phone wasn't offline and the plane obviously didn't fall out of the sky!

When unlimited isn't unlimited you really need a way to keep tabs on your usage.  Fortunately operator 3 (UK) used to provide these details.  Unfortunately this is now not the case.  What does this mean?  Well it can mean that the user has their connection cut off until the next billing cycle or, in the case of PAYG, sees their credit diminish real fast.

Last week I was staying in an hotel room with an amazing view (well it was better than what I'm used to!)  With free WiFi and an Eee PC it seemed a perfect time to try out video calling with Skype - so that's what I did.

It was easy to set up and get going and the picture and sound quality were really, really good.  There was a slight delay but other than that it would've been hard to fault it.

As the laptop is tiny and light, and as it almost opens up 180 degrees I just held it away from myself and did a sweep of the windows.  What anyone outside below made of me doing this I don't know, maybe they thought I was showing off my laptop!

There's a long convoluted back story to how I found this without looking for it.  BTW if you've not caught Sarah Silverman's Comedy Central show (on Paramount in the UK) you don't know what you're missing.  It's amazing what she gets away with.

Here's GeekSugar's piece and the one direct from WIRED - oh and a pic I'm not 100% sure I can repost but will anyway (Hey I'm driving traffic to both sites after all and not earning a dime in the process!)

Sarah silverman wired_1.preview

In the process of finding out whether the MTV Shop in Times Sq does Comedy Central merchandise (I still haven't found out, does anyone know?) I stumbled upon something funny from Reuters.

Anyone that knows me or happens to be a regular reader of the blog will know I'm not too impressed with the iPhone.  To me it's style over substance and even the style isn't all that.  At least, not when you've played around with one for any length of time - It can be a very frustrating experience doing some basic tasks that even a tenner-at-ASDA (WalMart) jobbie can do with ease (seriously, I'm not kidding!)

So, where am I going with this?  Well, you know those huge crowds (and media circus) gathering outside the flagship Midtown Apple store for the launch of the iPhone?  It seems that there was just one or two people over at AT&T's store a few blocks away!  Both shops offering the eagerly anticipated and both having them go on sale at the same time.  Why the stark difference?  Like the phone itself... style over substance (in my humble opinion!)

Check out the Reuters piece for yourself and get a kick out of the contrasting pictures and the Nokia angle (I'll say no more!)

iPhone launch: a tale of two stores

I managed to pick up a pair of Eee PCs back in early December without much fuss. Our local Toys R Us (in the UK, just in case you hadn't noticed my username!) had plenty.  Skip forward a couple of months and they don't have them, the neighbouring PC World doesn't have them and a quick check on the web produces nothing but 'sold out', 'not in stock', 'discontinue' and warning of huge lead times.

There are a couple of Surfs in stock but they're really not worth it IMHO, but it might be a choice of a Surf or doing without for my friend that now desperately wants one!

Something I did notice in my brief search was that PC World Business now offers to pre-install upgraded RAM - 1GB or 2GB.

There's an interesting advert for the Asus Eee PC in the latest French edition of Cosmopolitan.  Blogeee.net has it covered (excuse the pun!)  The advert would appear to be placed by French mobile phone operator SFR and their Eee PC + HSPSA modem bundle is what's being sold.

My French is useless so if anyone's willing to do a translation, please do!  Merci!