chrisgreen.co.uk

For the first time in years (far longer than I can actually remember for sure), I’ve forgotten to take my mobile phone with me. As I am now half way along my journey to work, this means I will be separated from my phone until at least 7pm today.

I already feel a bit cut-off, but that will soon change when I get into the office. For now, I’m making do with my 3G modm and the MacBook, which is how I am doing today’s post.

Suffice to say, if you need to reach me today, you will actually need to call my office landline for a change, rather than going straight to my mobile.

I do get rather fed up with people, usually work contacts, who insist on using my mobile phone number as the primary way of contacting me for work-related queries (and I’m talking about the pointless stuff like “did you get the press release we sent you a week ago” rather than the more useful “My client is running late for his lunch meeting with you”.

I have a perfectly good landline in my office - please use it in the first instance. The mobile is there so that you can get hold of me if it is urgent, or if you have genuinely failed to get me on the landline first - don’t just bypss my office number altogether.

I do reject about 70 per cent of the calls I get to my mobile number during office hours anyway (and definitely bounce unknown and withheld numbers straight to voicemail unless I’m not sat at my desk, then I will answer), so chances are you’ll still only end up talking to my voicemail before you talk to me, so you may as well talk to my office voicemail if it is not time critical - it’s more likely to get a reply, or at least listened to before my mobile voicemail will.

I’m having a bit of an iPod clear-out, having realised that I own more iPods than I could possibly make use of.

The stuff is listed on eBay, and all proceeds will be used to buy shiny new Apple items, such as a 160GB iPod Classic, and if there’s anything left over, a second composite video cable and power adapter for it.

http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZchrisgreen1

Everything has been looked after, in most cases you’d struggle to tell it has been used at all as I keep all my iPods in cases as I am paranoid about scratching them.

And before anyone asks - I am not selling the engraved Nano I was given just before Christmas - as the guys in the office will confirm, I’m keeping that and use it every day!

This year I’ve decided to split things into two posts - one for here and one for my IT PRO blog. For the personal blog I’m doing my resolutions, for the work blog I’ll be doing my technology predictions for 2008.

I should add at this stage that I am hopeless at sticking to such resolutions, but it remains important to at least try. You never know, this might be the year that one sticks!

Chris Green’s 2008 New Year Resolutions

1) Blog more - both my blogs (this one and the IT PRO blog) have been suffering a bit of late. I’m not losing interest in blogging, quite the opposite in fact, it is just a problem with spare time, and not having any. I need to blog here and at IT PRO more than once a week each. Hopefully I’ll have a bit more time this year as things continue to settle down at work and hopefully at home. Also, now that we have completed the migration of the IT PRO blogs away from the abysmal system we launched with and onto Wordpress, using it will be a lot more practical and pleasant.

2) List stuff on eBay - before anyone gets the wrong idea I’m referring to my own possessions, not anything I’ve ever received as a press gift of review item. I’ve become overloaded with junk again, and I need to do a massive eBay selloff to get some space back in the house. That means getting rid of things like obsolete computer equipment and software I’ve bought and subsequently replaced with other kit (for example I have a pile of CRT monitors I desperately need to get rid of), DVDs I no longer watch, obsolete DVD players and Freeview boxes, plus anything else I’m not using any more that is occupying space and cluttering the house up.

3) Pay down my credit cards - they are way too high and need sorting, sharpish. Item 2 will go some way to helping.

4) Get some exercise - I’ve spent the last 18 months driving a desk and I’m really feeling the worse for it. I have not been travelling to the extent I usually do over the course of a normal year, and believe it or not, all that time usually spent out at conferences, running around airports and generally working in the field does do some good in terms of keeping you healthier than normal (you don’t eat as much, you eat at regular times and you get some upper and lower body exercise from all the walking, running and luggage carrying). I’m not talking about getting back into the insane shape I was in at school and university (it would be nice, but is ultimately unnecessary), but I do need to be more active, and I’ll feel better as a result. That means less time in the car and more walking, getting back to the gym more often, dusting off the golf clubs now and again, and maybe laying off the Coke - maybe!

5) Write more - not just blogs but do more journalism in general, I need to write much more than I did in 2007, more news and especially more features and reviews. I am going to set myself a target of writing at least one review and one feature a month as a minimum, and see where it goes from there.

6) Podcasting - need to do the podcasting more regularly, and start doing some of the video stuff I’ve been threatening to do for a while.

7) Summer Party - For the last three years I’ve been talking about holding a summer bash at the house for family and friends, this year it will actually happen. Now I’ve said that we had better have the weather to make it happen.

8 ) Redecorate the conservatory - it’s a mess, I hate the colour and the roof needs some work to stop it leaking - again. All stuff I need to do this year and the sooner the better so that the conservatory can be used come the summer, as right now it is not somewhere I’d like to be, let alone entertain guests.

OK, I know I said the next post on this blog was going to be my Skypephone opus, and that is coming next, but I just wanted to slip in a quick post about my latest purchase and how much fun I am having with it.

On Monday, in-between having a puncture fixed on the car and trying to install Leopard on the MacBook, I did a load of Christmas shopping, and treated myself to a little gift.

Having recently received a iPod Nano as a gift, I’m using it a hell of a lot (it is a lot lighter than my 60GB iPod Video, which I still think is great, but the Video Nano is nice for taking to work and on short trips where I don’t want a brick in my pocket). The trouble is that the video output cable for my 60GB iPod Video doesn’t work on either the Video Nano or the new iPod Classic. Apple has removed the video out from the headphone jack on the new models and instead only offers video output from the dock connector (and they’ve changed the pin outs so that older dock connector video connectors etc won’t work).

Anyway, I decided to cash in my Nectar points, and in Argos I picked up the new and improved composite video cable with dock connector. It wasn’t cheap - £35 before Nectar discount - but you get a fair amount for your money. It is a well made cable, with a dock connector at one end (push-pull type rather than with locking clips), and three metal phono connectors at the other. There is also a USB connector, allowing you to charge your iPod while playing through the cable, or even sync it. Also included in the box is the new-style USB power supply. Its the same one bundled with the iPhone, so it is half the size of the original USB Apple power supply. US buyers get just the US 2-pin head attachment, us Brits get both the UK plug attachment and the 2-pin European attachment.

As a result of buying the cable (which works with the Video iPod as well as with the new models) I’ve been watching a huge number of video podcasts on my big TV in the study, as well as watching a roaring fire, courtesy of Cali Lewis and iYule.tv.  Even though I was only playing th iPod Nano version of the iYule video rather than the high-res one, it still looks and sounds great.

For many, the day is finally upon us. at 10am this morning Apple is holding a small press event at its Regent Street store to mark the UK launch of the iPhone.

Whether the device will actually go on sale today remains unclear, but whatever happens we will know the following information just after 10am:

• UK pricing
• Exclusive UK network carrier (sadly, this is 99.9 per cent certain to be O2, the Tub of Lard of mobile phone networks)
• Airtime pricing
• On-sale date

Also, a Chris Green prediction - I expect to see Apple also announce a 16GB iPhone today. The launch of the iPod Touch, which is basically an iPhone minus the mobile phone circuitry, in 8GB and 16GB varieties, coupled with Apple ditching the 4GB iPhone and cutting the price on the 8GB model suggests that a 16GB capacity bump was planned, but held back from the recent iPod Special Event in order to give the company something new to announce alongside the UK iPhone launch.

Holding back a 16GB version of the iPhone means the company has a genuine new product skew to underpin  today’s announcement, rather than coming to market and just saying: “The same old iPhone product that has already been on sale since June is now available in another territory.

The one certainty about the iPhone announcement - IT WILL NOT BE 3G. There is no need, no point and most importantly, Apple has not submitted a 3G device for radio-communications approval by Ofcom.

Speaking personally, I would not want a 3G iPhone at this stage, as using 3G would crucify the already borderline battery life of the device.

Reading the news that yet another retail chain has failed in the face of competition from bigger online rivals and major supermarkets, one has to wonder if the economics of online retailing in any sector are such now that only the biggest bricks-and-mortar traders can hope to compete on equal terms?

read more | digg story

Having taken the day off work to go and see it, I’ve written a review of the new Simpsons Movie, which is now online over at Den of Geek.

Please head on over and have a look at the review (warning, contains spoilers), as well as the multitide of other articles on cult TV, movies, comics, games and books.

I was going to do this post later in the day, but I can’t sleep, and I can’t settle watching TV, so here goes.

Earlier this evening I had to go out to do some stuff – pay in some money at the bank, post a letter, stuff like that. The deposit bit of my nearest Nationwide ATM was broken, so I had to drive a bit further than planned (Uxbridge) to pay in my cheque. This was probably not a bad thing as I was already feeling a little unsettled this evening, and hoped that the extra drive would help me relax – yes, driving actually relaxes me, it is one of the few outlets I have left to help me unwind. It is also why I prefer to drive places and not hit the booze rather than use scummy public transport and be able to drink.

It was a lovely evening, nice and sunny, nice and warm, the iPod was pumping the right tunes through my car’s stereo and the car itself was in the mood for some high-speed country driving, so I decided to take the scenic route home. Rather than thunder down the A40 from Uxbridge to Ruislip, I went via the B roads, and in particular, Breakspear Road.

It is not a road I normally drive down (in fact, I’ve probably only been down there about four or five times in my life. Driving down that very long road, which stretches from Ickenham to Harefield, was brilliant. It has a surprisingly high speed limit, and today was just right to go flying along it, powering along the straights, diving into the twisty bits, sliding the car past the occasional passing car and tractor, with the windows down taking in the fantastic countryside and views across North West London,  all less than a mile from my already leafy doorstep. I was enjoying myelf so much I forgot to turn off towards Ruislip and ended up going all the way to Harefield.

There is an incredible expanse of real countryside round here, and I don’t take it in as much as I should. This evening was a real eye-opener, as I’ve already spotted a number of areas I need to explore, and even a couple of nice looking country pubs that might be worth a visit along the way too. Also, with the lousy weather we’ve been having of late, it was nice to be able to go out and drive about for a little while with the windows open without getting cold, wet or both.

I need to do this more often!

It’s a Monday night, I’m sat on the couch in the study with a bottle of wine updating various blogs, installing apps on my Facebook page, setting up a second Twitter feed while updating my main one, installing the beta of Safari for Windows on one of the laptops, watching Current TV and stress testing a Sky Broadband DSL line.

I really am a geek.

Unfortunately, due to a technical hitch with my mic that nearly derailed the whole thing, the interview has not been put online. However, it went rather well.

We also covered off the privacy issues of such services holding and displaying personal information, and even talked about Sony’s plans to morph the PSP into a phone - yes, yet another attempt at an iPhone killer.