January 29, 2006

Off-air

I managed to lose my phone down the back of a taxi last Friday. Apologies if you were trying to get hold of me; I’m back up with an old phone now.

Posted by Oliver at 06:03 PM | Comments (2)

August 10, 2005

Because I don't have enough toys

I’ve spent the last few evenings depriving myself of sleep as I stay up late working, then struggling through the next day in the office like a zombie. More on why I’ve been doing this once it doesn’t matter who knows.

Something I’ve found soothing in my zombie state is to put together my ideal PC on the internet. Which is an unusual activity to admit to, especially as something relaxing! But I find it satisfying to mentally build my ideal PC from a pile of parts, even if it’s to see how much it costs at the moment. It’s not very demanding to do, and it’s a nice distraction from the usual list of five things that need immediate attention.

This particular build of PC solves most of my pet hatreds of computing machines: it would be small, whisper-quiet, and very good for playing games on. This last one isn’t as important as it used to be, as my game-playing has tailed off considerably recently. After 15 years of gaming, very few new relases excite your interest any more. My liking for the DS is due almost entirely to it’s touch-screen, which is the most innovative thing to happen to how games are played since they invented the wireless joypad rumble pack analogue stick … arse! Since I don’t know what, but it made me interested when I was bored, see?

Anyway! This new PC - or the components of it, as I’m building it myself - are listed here, for those with an interest in this sort of thing. And after all that, I wasn’t even planning to buy it… but then, after a prolonged mental debate, I did! My iBook, while great, still needs repair and is starting to struggle running the external monitor I’ve it hooked up to. And I’ll finally be able to do all that development stuff I’ve wanted to; homebrew work for games consoles on apple computers is much more of a hassle than it is on a PC, and on the PC it’s already something of a hassle. This does ignore the main reason for my not doing such activity as being lack of time, not lack of a PC, but if it’s easier to get started I’m that bit more likely to do it.

I’m definitely not looking forward to the guaranteed minimum hassle quotient you always get with Windows: viruses, automated hacking attacks, and the occasional crash. But if I only use it as a games and development machine I’ll never have to use the internet (the iBook is still great for that) so hopefully all that bad stuff will just pass on by. Hopefully.

Posted by Oliver at 05:22 PM | Comments (2)

July 26, 2005

I should have titled that link DANGER

One of my favourite things to do when aimlessly browsing the internet is to pop over to Expansys and see what their deal of the day is. Expansys aren’t notably cheap, but they do have a large amount of technical gadgetry, and they seem to realise Ireland exists and don’t charge a ton of cash just to post new expensive toys here. Deals of the day are a great way to make me want to buy something I had no idea even existed thirty seconds previously, but so far I’ve never given in.

I’m currently lusting after the Nokia N91, even though I bought a new phone in February and HAVE NO NEED OF A NEW PHONE. But Sendo went tits up recently, so maybe I should sell my phone and buy a new one? Or maybe I should stop itching to spend money and keep up shouting at myself?

Posted by Oliver at 05:28 PM | Comments (2)

May 03, 2005

The Mistake

I’m a hands-on kind of guy. Which is why, rather than paying to get my iBook fixed, I thought I’d just crack it open and wiggle the connection that had to be the cause of the video signal not getting through. Just jiggling a loose connection. What could be easier, right?

Well, ‘cracking it open’ could be bloody easier, for a start. I couldn’t do it. I became very aware of how expensive the iBook was, and while bending the plastic case like that might be required (they had pictures of it and everything, in the maintenance manual I found on the internet), it’s also completely nerve-wracking. But, I should be happy, as I did succeed in a fashion: there’s a minute crack in the case now. That I put there. That’ll teach me to completely over-estimate my own abilities - or at least, it would do if I wasn’t so bloody obstinate.

Why did I think I could do it at all? Well, I was a handy boy with a screwdriver at one stage in my life. I took apart televisions and video recorders just to have a look at what was inside. I didn’t know that TVs have charged components that can seriously injure you if you touch them, even if the telly is plugged out - but then, I was smart enough not to touch any metal components for fear some static electricity might ruin the delicate electronic bits. I took apart my Commodore 64 too. It made putting together my own PC a few years later seem like a doddle.

And secondly, Apple are happy to fix your computer for you, but they erase your hard disk as a matter of routine. Even if that side of things is working perfectly. So I’d lose everything I’d put on there over the course of the two years I had the machine, including an insane amount of music, video lectures, email, and a bunch of other stuff. I have no room to store it anywhere else, and no patience for the hassle of copying it there, then copying it back over on the iBook’s return. I’m just that lazy!

Well, I’ve given up. I’ve ordered an external hard disk & software to back up the whole thing, which should get here in the next few days. Hopefully that’ll automate the awkward archiving process. Then I can wave goodbye as my computer gets sent off to the great repair shop in the sky Cork. And hey, when it comes back, I might have a shiny Tiger waiting for it…

PS: Wexford fans might be interested in breadortart.com, which sells Wexford-themed tshirts for fans of that county. I spent a few hours getting paid to put the site online over the weekend. Getting paid to do such work is a first for me, hurrah.

Posted by Oliver at 02:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 27, 2005

Stuff I don't need to solve problems I don't have

I’m not allowed buy myself a new phone until 2007. I’m not great at the whole self-discipline thing but this is a a good rule that’s served me well in the past. I’m just slightly afraid that I may have plumped for a new phone a few months too early. Actually, really the problem is that I want one of these. Basically the phone I have now, only with much more storage space, better battery life, and shinier. I like shiny.

Sigh. Stupid gadget lust! I’m still getting myself a Palm Tungsten X if they ever materialise. I’d probably buy a Tapwave Zodiac 2 either if they’d only sell them to people outside four specific countries. Look! I have money! You have shiny toy! Reliable international delivery methods have been proven to exist! Is it just that you don’t like Irish people?

Hmf. Any day now Nintendo will < INTERNET RUMOUR> release Palm software for the DS < /INTERNET RUMOUR> and then they’ll get my money. Again.

Posted by Oliver at 01:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 09, 2005

Note to self

A short discussion of my Sendo X review is here. I get a little het up as usual.

Posted by Oliver at 05:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 23, 2005

Sendo X: DO NOT BUY

I’ve been a happy user of the Sendo X phone for the three weeks now. Here’s a quick review of why I chose it and how it’s worked out.

Introduction
I wanted a new phone for two reasons: my old Nokia 6310i was a great basic phone, but it wasn’t so good at hooking up to the rest of my gadget network. The battery life was beginning to drop, and it was becoming less reliable; I’d already had it repaired once. I was also hoping to get a smartphone that could do some of the tricks my old discarded Psion Revo PDA was so good at.

Why did I go for the X? It had the following in its favour:

How it’s worked out so far
As it turns out, the Series 60 software isn’t quite as good as the Revo in some areas, and it does lose out more than I thought it would for not having an integrated full keyboard. But it’s been good enough for my needs so far. I’d hoped I could use it as a random note-taker, which I have been doing. I also hoped I’d be able to write creatively on it, but I’ve been doing absolutely none of that; T9 predictive text is only bearable for a few sentences.

It’s changed my habits in a few other ways. I purchased it in a bundle from Expansys with a gigabyte memory card, thinking I could use it to store music and documents to read on the go. I’ve wound up doing neither! My iPod is a far better music player, while the X’s screen just isn’t big enough to read A4-sized documents comfortably on. What has been great is the camera. It’s intergration with the phone has meant that I have a camera with me at all times, so I’m happy enough to take a quick snap or two whenever the thought occurs. I would never have considered buying a standalone digital camera. It would just have been one more gadget to lug around with me. I’ve never been one for taking photographs anyway; I think I’ve taken more since I got the X than I did for the previous three years in their entirety.

As a phone, the X has been fine, with better sound quality than the 6310i. It did take my fingers a few days to forget how the 6310i worked and get used to the (only slightly different) keyboard shortcuts of the X.

Using Bluetooth to connect to my iBook has been flawless. Everything just worked, without wires. This was a pretty liberating experience, compared to the 6310i’s interpretation of Bluetooth, not to mention the ordeal undergone getting the Revo talking to an MS Windows PC (not that there were problems with that, just that the softare installation, restart cycle and wire connection setup routine took ages. Once that was done, it wasn’t too bad).

Programming the X
As far as programming the X(or any Series 60 phone) goes, it looks like I’ll need a Windows PC, tricky solutions like GnuPOC for OS X notwithstanding. I will be keeping an eye on GnuPOC, just in case it matures to the point where a simpleton like me can use it. There’s also the option of getting to grips with Python, as a Python interpreter is now available for Series 60 phones. This would probably be the easiest way to start in Series 60 programming, and it seems readily doable via my Mac too… maybe someday. My current programming language obsession is Haskell; I’ve not much room for yet another programming language at the moment.

The downsides
The phone’s only real negative is the battery life. I never used to turn my phone off at night, but if I leave the Sendo on all night the battery only lasts about three days between charges. Turning it off at night pushes this to about four and a half. The 6310i managed to last a week between charges when I first got it, though two years of battery use saw this go down to about four to five days. And of course, with Nokias you’re bound to find somebody else with a charger if you’re stuck. The Sendo X charger is specific to that model; it can’t be used even with other Sendo phones. Don’t expect to find one anywhere other than where you left it…

Other minor quibbles are that if you’re not careful dust can be trapped behind the screen. It also feels slightly too thick, at only 22mm, because length- and breadth-wise it’s so compact.

Conclusion
It’s funny to think of how my good experience with the phone is so different from my original criteria (especially needing to view documents) but looking back, it was pretty unrealistic to expect any smartphone other than a Sony-Ericsson P910i or its siblings to perform that role well. The price of the Sendo was far less than you’d pay for the P910i, though it was still the most I’ve ever paid for a phone, and the most I think I would ever pay for a mobile phone, no matter how useful I thought it would be. And there’s no way I’d bring a P910i with me everywhere; it’s just too bulky.

But I’ve never been disappointed with the X! Reading documents on it is mostly an ergonomics issue, not a software one, so it’s good to know that if I absolutely have to browse a document on the go it can be done. The cameraphone side of things has been great fun to play with, which more than made up for my poor conception of what it was I wanted.

Overall, my experience has been a great one. UI-wise, the phone isn’t great (more a Series 60 problem than a Sendo problem) but it’s always responsive. Sendo implemented a great summary screen that’s been pretty useful so far (if you want something similar for your S60 phone, try this. I’ve not used it myself!).

So, why the loud ‘Do not buy’ at the top of this article? Because, about two weeks after I received the phone, Sendo announced the X2! It’s basically an X in a much smaller form factor. You’ll be able to buy it direct from Sendo for just over two-thirds of the price I paid for the X (it should cost about 225 euro). Sigh. It’ll not be out until the end of the summer, so if you can wait until then I’d recommend doing so. I’m very happy with the X; the biggest disappointment is that if I’d waited a bit longer, I could’ve had the X2!

Posted by Oliver at 04:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 25, 2005

Consumer anxiety

The life of a gadget addict is often an unhappy one. All desire may be illusory but that doesn't stand up when you can see a new shiny gadget that'll replace your current, perfectly-fine-but-a-bit-bashed gadget for a mere three hundred euro.

True gadget addicts never buy from high street shops. Usually what's being sought can't even be bought in high street shops, at least not in Dublin. And if they can, it's usually at a ridiculous mark-up, and it's hard to persuade yourself to buy from a shop that invariably knows less about what it's selling than you do.

So, what we do is, we research the gadget exhaustively on the internet. This includes obsessively reading and re-reading every review, news item, and every piece of manufacturer's bumpf you can find. Then, after you justify the price to yourself (easy in this case: it's a reward for finishing my part-time masters! Yay me!) you go ahead and order it.

I placed my order on New Year's Day. Afterwards, crisis struck: they were out of stock. There were more being made, but it'd be (as it turns out) nearly a month before they'd send one out to me.

This was Very Bad News. That's 25 days for reading every forum post about the new toy. The problem is, only the unhappy post about their new toy. There are hundreds of posts out there about how this is a crappy phone. And not enough posts about how it's great. This is not unusual for a fancy gadget, seeing as how those for whom it's working fine are off playing with their gadgets and not posting enraged comments in internet forums about how they've been completely screwed over by companies who unpardonably fail to drop everything to sort out their obscure problems.

But, y'know, all that negativity can get at a person. And slowly wear away their conviction that getting the gadget was a good choice and - quickly now! There's still time to cancel!

But, just in time, my order's been shipped. On balance: hurrah! Brief review to follow.

Posted by Oliver at 01:57 PM | Comments (0)

January 18, 2005

Most useless, yet most desirable gadget ever

A big red button. Now, to wire it to post a blog entry...

Posted by Oliver at 04:28 PM | Comments (0)

January 12, 2005

Applephilia

Oooh oooh oooh! Apple yesterday unveiled a plethora of new and exciting objects to those who find Apple objects exciting. Of whom I am one! Note to self: you don't need any of these shiny new things. Though that new small Mac Mini looks nice. And would be great for your parents. And might stop them bugging you about getting the computer working. Nor do you need that new iPod Shuffle, no matter how small and smart it is. Your existing iPod works just fine. Even if it is getting on slightly. You've already treated yourself for getting the Masters, even if that little selection hasn't arrived yet. Stop it.

Posted by Oliver at 09:49 AM | Comments (0)