89 posts from October 2008

...with great difficulty!

The Sony Ericsson W595 that 3 kindly gave me a few weeks ago at their 'The Darkside' spookfest has made it's way into my oldest nephew's hands.  That was always my plan.  As much as I liked it, it's not the kind of phone I need.  But it was fun - something sorely lacking in most other handsets I've used.

Was a bit problematic returning it to it's original out-of-the-box like state though.  First of all I wanted to get all the text messages off it and on to a laptop.  That required the software suite found on the supplied CD.  Trouble was the supplied CD wouldn't work in the laptop so I had to download it instead.  Was it an easy process once installed?  Kinda.  No.  Not really.  Got their eventually though!

Okay, so I archived the SMSes and transferred photos and music over.  All I needed to do was completly reset the phone/clear the memory.  Shame it wasn't all that easy!  'Master reset' removed all added software and changed all settings back to default.  It cleared a game I purchased (I figured it would) but none of the pictures or songs.  Was there a way to clear the memory card (a la 'format')?  Not that I could find.  I could only delete file by file, or folder by folder.

As someone that regularly tries different handsets, I wish there were easier ways to sync/backup/transfer all the content off of any phone with any other phone.

Hopefully my nephew will get a lot of fun out of it.  I've told him he's got the net on it for a few weeks.  He's just started using MSN and is about to get on Bebo so the phone should be ideal (well, as soon as Windows Messanger launches on the W595!).  First thing he put on the phone?  Pac-Man!  It comes with the handset, but he paid the £6 for the licence (yes, £6!)

I've been downhill skiing (who skis up hill?) with my niece and oldest nephew this afternoon.  As there aren't any slopes (real or otherwise) near us we used a Wii, a copy of Wii Fit with balance board and an InFocus projector.

Even with the Wii's decidedly lo-res output and a slightly blurry projector image (I need to get on to InFocus about the outer plastic but that's a different story) it's a fun and slightly surreal experience.

My life without ADSL.  My struggle.  My pain.  My hope...

I think it's about a month now without broadband at home.  How am I coping?  I'm baring up.  I make a daily trip to a nearby ADSL-giving centre run by a couple of volunteers (I affectionately call them 'my parents') and that helps stave off my information and communication hunger.

Back at home I've come to rely on mobile broadband from 3.  But, like any relief effort in a disaster zone, communications with the outside world can be problematic and prone to interruptions and slow downs...

Seriously, I'm so glad I've got mobile broadband right now.  Had I been migrating my ADSL service earlier this year (like originally planned) I'd have gone spare without a dongle.  It's not quite a lifesaver, but it's pretty damn useful nonetheless.  I think the mobile operators should seriously look into dongle rentals for those that don't have a use for them normally, but are switching providers or moving house and nead something to fill the gap.

Now for the moan!

I keep getting disconnected.  I keep getting slow downs.  I keep pondering whether I need to reconnect or wait the waiting out.  I keep having to reboot to get the dongle connecting again.  And this keeps winding me up and is beginning to test my patience!

Is this an issue with 3's network?  3's Huawei E220 dongle?  The laptop I'm using?  I have no idea.  I have a feeling there's a bunch of issues at work here rather than just one.

Now for the good news... my router from Sky has just been delivered!  I doubt I have service yet but I'll plug it in later and check.  The fact that I now have the router would seem to confirm that things are in progress and that there shouldn't be any more snafus.  Fingers crossed!

I've had so many governmental agencies (on both sides of the pond), law firms, PR companies, network operators and now risk management looking at my premium rate scam posts that I've lost count.

Hi guys!  Good afternoon.  Maybe if we had proper regulation and decent laws there would be no risk to manage, eh?

The most recent ad I like that is for a product I either don't like or don't care about is the water flume one for Barclay Card.  Basically this nerdy looking guy in an office strips down to his undies and heads to a store room where there's the top of a water slide.  He launches himself down the slide which then carries him around skyscrapers, factories, a library, a bus stop and a metro system.

There's probably a video of it somewhere on the interweb, which is also a series of pipes (or tubes).

I shot a lot of video of yours truly playing Wii via the InFocus IN1 projector.  I was just about to edit it with Windows Movie Maker and upload it to YouTube.  Then I thought, hang on, why not see if my ten year old nephew can/wants to do it tomorrow.  Nothing to do with me not being bothered, honest!

I do like Movie Maker, it's by far the easiest video editing software I've ever used.  It's also pretty nippy on the Tecra M9 (although to be fair I've only got one other laptop to compare that to and I've yet to use the software on that!).  Shame it outputs to WMV though.

Don't ask.  Don't get.

Spoke to Sky's customer services earlier and asked who I would need to speak to about perhaps getting a couple of Box Office movies to make up for the delay in getting their broadband service switched on.  The nice lady said they couldn't do that but she could credit my account £10.  Result!

Sky can be a bit hit and miss, but I can't fault them today (other than the same lady wrongly telling me I wasn't entitled to some of the channels in the HD Mix that I'm receiving, but I digress...)

If I ever dropped any handset down the toilet of a train I sure as hell wouldn't want it back!  I wouldn't care how much I liked the phone.  I wouldn't care what precious messages, pictures or important contacts were on it.  I wouldn't care how much the phone cost, even if I couldn't afford to replace it.

No.  If any phone of mine ever went down the pan it would stay there until I flushed it away.  I'm not religious but I'd probably use some holy words fitting the occasion and then I'd move on.  Safe in the knowledge I wasn't going catch some nasty illness or, um, get my arm stuck...

Man trapped in toilet U-bend (trying to retrieve his mobile phone on a high speed train)

Slightly disingenuous title as I didn't find them and I think they were in a cupboard.  Ever the one for a catchy title...

Pac-Man the MB boardgame

Unfortunately I've been older than 14 for quite some time so I'm barred from playing Pac-Man the boardgame!

Frogger the MB board game

Same goes for Frogger!  Well at least I can look at the boxes... Full (re)unboxing to follow later.  Unfortunately some pieces from both games seem to be missing.  Oh, and we had Donkey Kong the MB boardgame too - but not quite sure where that is.

Question of the day: Is boardgame one word or two?