So today we have the iPhone 4 announced, and that is a game changer. The iPhone 3G I have is probably the single most influential piece of technology I have bought in years. It has freed me from the office allowing me to do my work from anywhere. Emailing, blogging, tweeting, calling, texting, browsing, apping. It really is a great device, and the iPhone 4 promises so much more. A 5MP camera, front & rear facing with flash, awesome. Glass front & back which is many times stronger than plastic, and won’t scratch like the plastic backed 3G, awesome. Faster HSDPA superb. 720p video recording, nice. Multitasking, yes. It’s just ticking all the boxes for me. Video calls look fun and I could see myself dealing with my Business Partner in Scotland from down here on the south coast improving no end with Video calling on our iPhones.

I love it already, and will be buying one. The slated release date is 24th June so I’ll be there for the 32GB version. Only choice I need to make is Black or white?!?

That is all. iPhone 4 awesomeness.

iPhone 4 promo

It has been a huge culture shock so far. I’m used to living in big cities and having everything within walking distance. We are now quite rural and it is all very different, however what we lose on our doorstep with regards to entertainment, culture & commerce we gain in breathtaking countryside, awesome beaches and a much more relaxed way of living (it’s so quiet here people leave their car doors unlocked & open all day & night to stop them getting hot!

One of my big fears as a techie was the lack of services available on our Rural exchange (PAR Exchange). Whilst the lack of O2 and Be (Not to mention Virgin Cable which I’m used to) is a bit of an issue with regards connectivity speed & download allowances, I managed to get on BT Option 3. Does mean I’m limited to 100GB of downloads in a month, but now we have Sky HD fitted I tend to do much less downloading (and I’d rather watch things like Lost and Pacific in native 1080i HD on the Sky box now). I think I’ll get away with it for now, and the fact that in a rural spot I’m getting 6.5Mb broadband is excellent.

I’m still trying to think of a subject for my PhD research. I would really like to do something a little less technical this time and perhaps more geared towards modern uses of the Internet (My Masters was in Computer Science which is pretty hardcore, whereas my BSc was in Web Development & web computing which was as much a humanities subject as it was a science & engineering subject). I’ve seen an interesting research opportunity at the University of Southampton, but I will probably end up attending back up north at one of the Manchester based unis, be it MET or Manchester University. I’m really looking forward to advancing to Doctor/Professor and feel much happier now I have a plan in place.

Anyway back to the Cornwall move. Vicki & I are settling in quite well to Rural life. Visiting farmers markets, walking on the beach & coastal paths, stopping at Harbours for lunch. Very much looking forward to welcoming our first guests in June.

Finally, last weekend my Brother in Law Gary ran the London Marathon in a time of 4hrs 4mins. Very impressive, Gary did an excellent job and he didn’t even seem that tired afterward (wish I was that fit). We had a great few days in London, stayed at the fabulous Park Plaza Westminster Bridge, with possibly the best view in the whole building (top floor, bridge facing suite). We also went for a great meal with Emma, Andy, Kate & Gary at a Singaporean restaurant in Soho. Loved it.

Anyway, I intend to update the blog more often now I’m settled again. Until the next update here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

iMac 24" Ready to unpack

Well it has been a crazy month of new things. Firstly the month has seen me in and out of the doctors with headaches, which we have concluded is down to stress, and a weak right eye which is being irritated by using a screen all day. So I now have two pairs of posh designer glasses to wear which has already made a big difference, meaning I can see my iPhone & netbook and all other screens alot more clearly.

To go with the new eyewear, I finally invested in a North Face hardcore waterproof with zip out fleece which cost me so much money it makes my eyes water thinking about it, but I’ve wanted the jacket and the fleece for so long, and I got a good deal on the pair so I now have them.

Perhaps the icing on the cake is our new top end 24″ iMac with maxed out Ram, Graphics and processor specs. Cost a hell of a lot of money, and the guys in the Apple Store Manchester where very helpful in sourcing & sorting us out with our new baby, so all our work is now being completed on the iMac.

Mixed thoughts so far, the hardware is amazing, and the screen is immense, however Snow Leopard sucks. Tons of system crashes, enabling Sharing makes everything start to crash,, and running CS3 or CS4 is impossible on Snow Leopard, Illustrator, Photoshop and Dreamweaver just crash whenever you try to open, save or print a document. It will also crash on copy/paste or infact for any reason at all. Also the guttenberg print drivers seem very sketchy, and there is a lot of banding and colour problems on my Trusty Epson CX3200. I finally had enough of the issues and downgraded to Leopard 10.5.8 which is solid as a rock.

So now all our badge orders, and all my Development work is being completed on the Mac, and I’m loving it. Speaking of badges, we are selling loads of Halloween Badges over at Koolbadges so be sure to head on over to check us out.

iMac in it's temporary home, before driving back to our house.

First impressions of the app Are mixed. The gps signal isn’t great on the iPhone, and the app isn’t as responsive or fast when compared with the tontom go. However the functionality is complete and the app has much more functionality than the recently updated tomtom go software.

Well I’m now in the second month of ownership and I still love the Samsung N110. This machine has completely changed the way I browse then Internet, and the fact that most of the things I do online are web based such as Twitter, Gmail, iPlayer and reading news and blogs, the Netbook is an ideal partner.

I was sceptical from the start with regards to quoted battery life, but I’ve got to admit, even with normal usage on battery with brightness adjusted to my lining and iTunes either playing music or downloading podcasts in the background, I still manage in excess of 8 hours battery life from a single charge. I now find that If I charge the netbook overnight, I can do all my computing on it the following day without the need for a power outlet. The powe consumption and battery life is amazing, and although the system may be limited from a processor power point of view, it is more than sufficient for editing photos in Picassa or Photoshop, and writing php in Dreamweaver.

Another fear when buying the netbook was the size. I wanted a laptop which was portable, and all the laptops I have owned in the past where far from portable because they required hoofing about in laptop bags, and always required the AC adaptors. The Samsung N110 was supplied with it’s own samsung netbook sleeve, and I tend to just throw it in the car or a backpack to take it anywhere I go.

The screen is only 10 inches, and the resolution is only 1024 x 600 but this is quite easy to get used to, and the synaptic scroll pad is great for scrolling down web pages. Most pages will fit horizontally without need for scrolling and with the adoption of good CSS standards, most content will shift to fit.

The keyboard was another worry, coming it at something like 93% of full size I’ve actually adjusted to the keyboard really well, and it is really nice to type on for extended periods of time.  The silver nano key coating is also welcome as it eliminates bacteria growth on the keys, and i far more hygenic than normal keyboards.

I have tried Windows 7 on the Samsung N110 and whilst it runs well, there are issues with shutdown taking a while. Also I’ve experienced far reduced battery life under Windows 7, and the netbook feels nowhere near as snappy as it does under XP, so I’ve opted to stay with XP on the netbook. To be honest I don’t really see a problem with using XP on a netbook as it is a very familiar operating system, and does a great job at providing awesome performance and superb battery life.

This netbook has really set me free with regards working from home. Coupled with the new iPhone 3.01 update and Tethering I can work online from anywhere (even got online from the Outer Hebrides in Scotland and was able to work and twitter). The combination of the netbook and the iPhone means I am now truly mobile.

I can’t see my life without a netbook in it now, and hopefully as processor development continues, and battery technology improves we can maybe hit the 24 or 48 hour battery life marks. By using the Netbook in place of the Desktop 99% of the time I’ve reduced my power consumption from 400-500 watts right down to 6-8 watts of power draw. This is a great benefit of Netbook technology, and may even persuade me to look into a net-top for home.

I’ll keep posting reviews of this netbook along with experiences and problems encountered so watch this space.

Downloading Carpool Podcast. Check it out at Llewtube or on iTunes

I’ll try to come up with good stuff to post, that won’t bore the pants off you, I just need some time to do something notable

Hall Street Depot - Transport Museum

Well I’m as good as a month into the project and it’s already getting a little tough. I need new socks badly, which I should have bought before starting the project. I’ve read most of the books I had backlogged so it’s a library job for them. We are also getting a little bored not spending money. Vicki by default isn’t spending, probably in sympathy, but as a result we have become like hermits, only leaving the house to go for a walk or to grab groceries. There is our daily journey to the post office to post out orders from Koolbadges but apart from that we do nothing. We where going to start going swimming as we live oposite a huge park with a leisure centre in the middle, however they have a problem with the filters int he pool and refuse to fix it so that is out of the question.

We also spotted the St Helens Transport Museum when we went to the walk in centre a few weeks back. We where going to go along today to see the old cars and buses ad have a small day out, but alas the website says they only open at the weekend so that will have to wait. If you want to check out the museum it definitely looks worth a visit.

In other news, the not spending whilst boring and not ideal, has improved our bank balance no end, and whats more we seem to be earning more money now we aren’t spending than we ever have. Our balance seems to be staying well in the black as they say, and I really do attribute this to the not spending. The money seems to be snowballing now which is positive, especially for me the eternal student

Also, after reading about my escapades and the running out of DVDrs, My cousin Adam donated 25 blank discs to me. I’m using them wisely at the moment as I don’t know when the next batch will be donated/stolen/borrowed.

We have a day out to Liverpool planned for tommorow which should be good. Go and see some free museums, Tate (the free exhibitions) and enjoy a picnic down by the docks. Will post up some pictures tomorrow. Also, if you not already on Twitter, get your arse over there and sign up! I’ll be closing my Facebook account shortly as it has come to my attention that they are selling data to third parties. So sign up to Twitter and follow me at http://twitter.com/jodsclass

The iPhone 3G is an indispensable gadget - but will benefit from Firmware revisions!

Well I’ve been having trouble with youTube on my iPhone since I bought it. Videos where taking forever to buffer and where really unwatchable. I have a Netgear wgr614 v6 Wireless router which was set to b & g for wireless. After endless testing and troubleshooting I have found that if I force the router into B only mode, although I take a wireless performance hit, youtube on the iPhone is perfect. I really don’t know why this is, maybe apple tried to tweak their 802.11g protocols too much for some routers. Anyways a quick fix that works for me. If your youtube on the iPhone is going slow over wireless and you need a fix, try setting your router to Wireless B only.

I will keep you updated if I find out anything else.

httpv://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz7lhENHrc4

Give the gift that keeps on giving - Thats a flickr pro account for me!

Well what a 48 hours I’ve had. Decided to sort out all the files I had stored across 2 desktop PC’s, a laptop and the iBook. That meant amalgamating 3 sets of My Documents from the windows machines, 3 Sets of My pictures and so on. I’ve copied all files onto the desktop PC in a single location and I’ve been sorting out accordingly.

Gosh. The amount of rubbish we accumulate on our computers is amazing. I’ve found documents created pre-millennium which is just wrong, and also found that I have 2,3 or even 4 sets of the same photos and word documents. I have my Masters Thesis work, and my Degree work duplicated across all machines and even in different locations on the same machine. So the cull has started in Earnest.

All documents have been copied to the desktop and the copies on the laptops and second desktop have been deleted. I then shared the My Documents on my main PC over the network, mapped the My Documents folder, and changed the folder locations of My Documents on the subsequent laptops and desktops to point at the network share on the main machine (confused?). this ultimately means we are both working from the same hard drive with regards our documents, and will hopefully allow us to check files in and out when we take them mobile (to avoid duplicates and random revisions).

Whilst sorting through over 20GB of photos we have amassed it dawned on me that my Flickr pro account has now expired. I really need to re-subscribe so once the pictures are sorted, I can back the whole lot up to flickr marked as private for a fail safe. Trouble is the £ is so weak at the moment against the $ so I’m putting off buying the Pro account until the exchange rate improves.

Don’t suppose anyone out there wants to gift me a pro account? username Jodsclass

Go On, you know it makes sense