Phone Phun...

...and phree at that - Maze Finger...

Phude...

Cornwall to Calzone....

Scary thought....

http://www.palinaspresident.us/

Weird cloud...

According to the weather girl this evening this 'hole' in the alto cumulus cloud is caused by ice crystals falling from above the cloud layer and through it. The ice then evaporates before hitting the ground. From the photos sent in by viewers I wasn't alone in snapping this phenomenom...

On My iPod:

"Some People Have Real Problems" by Sia

New MacBooks...

Just been able to view one in the flesh - very nice.
May have to splash out for one to replace my ageing, though still serviceable, iBook. That already has a new home if I happen to get a new laptop.

Bit disappointed that the backlit keyboard is only available on the 2.4GHz model - does that mean the lesser models aren't used in the same sort of conditions? C'mon Apple...

And the pricing of the new range is getting a few folk pissed off - the only thing I can say is maybe the new unibody process is a factor for the increase in price - not that I am excusing Apple for the price hike. I guess carving solid blocks of aluminium is a bit more expensive than clicking together parts made from moulded plastic.

That being said I am veering towards the 2.4GHz model anyway - just to give me a bit more 'oomph' for the future. The old iBook is a 600MHz model and while it is happy working with 10.4, it does start to show it's age when things get busy.

Water waste or Whatta Waste revisited!

Seems like my observation back in March of this year regarding the waste of water in my local Starbucks has also been noticed by others...

US coffee-shop chain Starbucks has defended itself against claims of a serious waste of water by leaving taps running in its stores all day.

A spokeswoman said the purpose was to clean utensils and the policy meant the company met health standards.

But environmental groups have criticised the practice, accusing Starbucks of wasting millions of litres of water every day.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7654691.stm

At least I am not alone...

My attempt at breakfast pizza...

My iPhone is an atheist...

The symbol for "Genius" option in iTunes 8 bears an uncanny resemblance to the symbol used by some atheists...

http://decoy.iki.fi/atheist/no-ghost-c-06.en.html

"Just get me to the church on time"...

That is one way to ensure everyone arrived for the wedding on time -
hire a Routemaster double decker bus as your wedding car!...

Breakfast Pizza

I have an urge for breakfast pizza.
Pizza for breakfast I hear you protest.

Don't knock it until you've tried it - if you can put pineapple and ham on a pizza base you sure as hell can put beaten egg, sausage, bacon, mushrooms and cheese!!!!






Now I think about breakfast a bit more - biscuits and sausage gravy...yum...

London 2012....

Now that the 2008 Olympics are over we can look forward to four years of being bombarded with the London 2012 logo...

Well, I'm not going to suffer it alone - in case you hadn't spotted the blooper...

Thanks Darling.....

... for opening your trap and sending the pound tumbling on the international money markets.
I decided to buy some now just in case there are any further drops in the pound against the dollar.
Today £1 bought me $1.70 compared to the $1.97 it got me just under a year ago...

God this coffee is strong...

...there are a couple dressed in fifties rockabilly style attire and they have just sat down across from me......

Intel iMac - #2

So, TNT have delivered my second replacement Intel iMac today.
Screen looks fine and no other issues appear to be obvious.
Now to find out if the Time Machine back up of my PowerPC G5 will install trouble free on the Intel iMac...

Great gadget but...

...I need one just to open the pack!!!

Today I unpacked my new iMac...

...then packed it back up again about 30 minutes later!

On starting it up I spotted a black mark on the lower left quarter of the screen. Not dead/stuck pixels as far as I could see but what appeared to be an upside down L shaped mark on the LCD screen.
After a few phone calls it is getting collected and replaced - so I guess another week to fortnight without a desktop machine.

LeRoi Moore - 1961-2008

http://www.davematthewsband.com/news/

Thursday - iMac Day?

Hopefully tomorrow will see the arrival of my 24" 3.06GHz Intel iMac.

IF TNT can find my house...

Bye bye iMac...

TNT are picking up my G5 iMac for return to Apple this afternoon.

Wonder how soon the shiny new iMac will take to arrive?....


Or maybe they are not. Just got a phone call to say that the driver could not find my address!
So, TNT employ people with no ability to ask for directions? There is a Post Office/Store about 500 yds from my home on the main road through the village. The driver didn't think to maybe stop and go and ask? UPS seem to manage to find me...
I asked if they had sat nav? Apparently the drivers tend to ignore the satnav in small villages as they aren't accurate. Well, MY satnav seems to work on the postcode for my home.
Do they have mobiles? They had my home phone number but apparently TNT use phones which don't work out here in the sticks!
So, I have stayed in all day - now, due to trips etc., I am not going to be around until next Wednesday.

Great........

Traffic tourette's...

The uncontrollable urge to scream obscenities at other drivers who infringe on your space (whether real or imagined).

Jay: Man that guy just cut you off.
Mark: That @#$% can't drive worth @#$%.
Jay: I see your traffic tourette's is getting worse.

Urban Dictionary

You don't say...

MobileMe was launched too early, Jobs concedes

"This accessory"...

...nag screen appears every time I plug my iPhone 3G into the Griffin AutoPilot in my car.
Pressing "No" dismisses it and allows me to play music.















It even connects to the integrated vehicle Bluetooth system allowing calls to be made/received (1) and charges the iPhone (2).
All this while still fitting into the Proclip mount that I originally got for my 4G iPod!


So, this accessory does work with iPhone......

MobileMe - perhaps, maybe...

Never had any real issues with .Mac but since they revamped it into MobileMe I have been having problems. As, no doubt, have other .Mac users...

One thing is the 'homepage' fails to load without some "unresponsive script" error message popping up two or three times - doesn't matter what I am trying to access, mail, gallery etc.

BSW

iStat Menus 1.3

I found the iStat Pro widget by iSlayer to be a useful tool during my recent iMac problems and they have a neat addition to the menu bar - iStat menus 1.3 - it even got a MacFormat "Choice" award and five stars.
I like the ability to view the calendar and time zones from just clicking on the time icon in the menu bar. Maybe other utilities have this but I hadn't found one...

Update...

Been a while since my last post so here goes...


iMac:
iMac has been back into Apple Store for the constantly running fan problem. Had a new fan fitted which failed to make any difference.
Eventually contacted Apple Support and, after another visit to the Apple Store with no fix, Apple have agreed to replace the G5 with a brand new Intel iMac. Thank the gods for Applecare...
As it was a straight like for like replacement I was offered the base model, a 20" 2.4GHz.
I decided to try for a paid upgrade to a 24" 3.06GHz and this has been accepted. So for the difference in price between the 20" and 24" I will hopefully be 'future proofing' my desktop Mac for the next few years.
The machine was becoming impossible to work on - the CPU fan was running at 4500rpm almost constantly. The ability to do any work was being affected by sitting 18-24" from the fan which was almost like sitting in front of a hair dryer. Even just using a browser would cause the fan to start speeding up. I even went back to Tiger to see if the extra load of Leopard was the cause but it still happened.

iPhone:
I finally gave in and bought a 16GB iPhone 3G in black - while the 3G cover is a bit sparse around where I live, if I travel 8-10 miles east, west or south I get into 3G-land.
One of the first things I did was apply InvisibleSHIELD to the back and Power Support Anti-Glare Film to the screen. The IS film was a bugger to apply and still has 'bubbled' areas around the corner cuts.
So far I am pretty happy with the device and wonder if the IS film will help prevent the rear case cracking that seems to be getting reported on various iPhone sites...

Highway robbery....

The local Dick Turpin has his prices 7p a litre higher than the Shell pumps 500m along the road.

That's £6.26 a gallon...

Just put a gun in my face and ask me to hand over my wallet...











BP - Blatant Profiteering...

Éire says FU to EU...

"Voters in Ireland have rejected the European Union's Lisbon reform treaty in a referendum by 53.4% to 46.6%.

The vote is a major blow to leaders in the 27-nation EU, which requires all its members to ratify the treaty. Only Ireland has held a public vote.

The European Commission says nations should continue to ratify the treaty, designed to streamline decision-making."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7453560.stm

Why won't the politicians get it into their thick heads the people don't trust the EU.

At least the Irish got the chance to tell the EU to feck off - something Brown and Nu Labour have denied the UK even though they promised a referendum in their manifesto.

http://www.libertas.org

http://lisbonvote.com/

BSW