University - DONE!

I've just presented my last bit of coursework for my MSc. As of now the taught part of my course (the last 2 years) and all my exams are done - only the dissertation is left. WOOHOO!!!

HTC Touch Diamond 2

I couldn't hold out any longer - I just bought a Touch Diamond 2. I've been watching the phone up to release date and thinking: "I don't need one, it's not that different". But then came the reviews of the release units - and my mind was changed.

Admittedly it is not night-and-day different to the Touch Diamond 1 but there are significant changes such as tighter touchflow integration and the promise of free WinMo6.5 updates later in the year - meaning I get to use the new MS Marketplace. Should be here on Tue...

Aberdeen

This weekend I have been working in Aberdeen on a system upgrade. All has gone well, so far, and the upgrade has been fairly straightforward. I even managed to catch the Grand Prix in the office :)

Sailing Shoes

I did a little shopping at lunchtime today and found myself some shoes suitable for sailing in later in the year. They have non-slip/mark soles and even a washable insole. Look comfortable and should be good for windsurfing in too...

Second Flash

I got home from another weekend at work last night and whilst waiting for K to get back from yoga, had a play with my new 2-flash setup. Took some interesting shots (link in title) but liked this one the most. The second flash is behind the guitar - lighting up the amp.

Nottingham

I was walking back to the hotel from the office in Nottingham today in the glorious sunshine and decided to take this pic. You wouldn't tell you were in the middle of a large city surrounded by industrial parks and offices!

Bike to Shop

My bike went into the shop today for its first of three safety checks - Part of Marin's 'Platinum Care' which comes with this sort of bike. Other than gear alignment I don't think it needs anything else...

Update: needed new rear gear cable.

Steam Train

Working in my home office when I heard a whistle outside the window - I grabbed my camera off the desk and managed this shot as a steam train went past :)

Update: turns out this was the train used on Top Gear, Series 13, episode 1. Must have been returning from the trip :)

Canon 580EX II - SURPRISE!

I was surprised yesterday when A came round with a gift - a Canon 580EX II!!! A gift for the upcoming photo shoot at his sister's wedding.

So, within an hour (whilst at the pub) I had read the manual and around midnight I attacked the cats with a pap-style flash attack (pics linked in title).

It is amazing HOW much better it is that the 430 EX - THANKS A!

Canon 580EX II Review

Roadster Foglight Foils

I fitted some foils to K's roadster yesterday. They get rid of the massive silver fog/indicator backs that stood out so strangely on the front of an otherwise all-black car. I think they look great :)

SlimPlug

My Sony P netbook has a tiny tiny bag to go with it - looks rather too much like a man-bag actually :( Anyway, the only annoying thing is the HUGE UK mains plug that comes with it. Well, I found the answer - a foldable one from Slimplug - costs about £10.

Input Director

If, like me, you have more computers than makes sense you will have come across the annoyance of having to change keyboard/mouse every time you want to use a different machine. If you don't want a KVM then Input Director might be the answer. I can now control all 3 machines (6 screens) with my main mouse/keyboard - awesome! Best bit - it is free for non commercial use!

Nottingham

I've been in Nottingham since Friday with a system upgrade at one of the local papers. It's gone quite well but I can't wait to get home. I'm waiting on a DB transfer at the moment... The pic is of the 'wheel' in the city centre.

New Mouse for Netbook

I've just ordered a new mouse for my netbook - white of course to match. It's bluetooth and made by MS so should be good quality.

Important features (for me) include a back button and an on/off switch.

Update: it's pretty good and comes with its own pouch too!

Kitchen Lights

We got some new kitchen lights this weekend - much more in keeping with the rest of the house than the ultra-modern wiggles we had before (now on ebay). They have 6 40W bulbs each which gives a much less harsh and focused light. Most importantly K loves them :)

Cat in the bin

Max has taken to sleeping (all day) in my study as I work. I think it is because Rasmus hasn't figured out the aluminium ladder yet. Anyway, I took this pic the other day when I found him buried under waste paper in his favourite spot in my bin!

Windows7 (7057)

I spent most of last night putting Windows7 on my Vaio P. It is very stable, has got all the drivers and seems to be better than Vista in terms of snappiness and video playback.

Update: after a week of using it is clear that this is beta. In general it worked very well - faster than Vista and with some very nice new usability tweaks. However, with video it was flaky and after several BSODs I have reverted to Vista again. I can't wait for the final release though!

IE8 is out

So, IE8 has been released and I have just downloaded it. The difference on this netbook between it and 7 is dramatic _ mush smoother and more responsive! I was getting crashes on my main machine with the beta - so we'll see if the full release fixes it.

Vaio - it's here!

I took delivery just now - it is SOOOO tiny. Looks very good in white too! More later this evening once I have played with it some more :)

Update: well, it took 2 hours to burn the recovery DVDs, but once done I could start my work. I uninstalled all the bloatware that came with it, reduced the number of Vista programs installed, reduced a lot of the special effects and threw out all of the google desktop type things. The result is a perfectly usable system with over 2 hours on a charge. I'm using Live Mesh to sync it with my other machines and Live Mail to get hotmail/gmail. So far I am very impressed...

USB DVD-RW

In order to allow me to Hax0r my new Sony I need an external DVD. This one came recommended as it is slim and powered only though the USB so no mains cables to worry about.

3rd Time Lucky

After a horrendous day with my Oakleys I took some advice and bought some new shoes. I went to Evans and tried on Shimanoes, Specialzed, Northwave and Mavics. In the end the Northwaves were the most comfortable. So, I ordered a set of SBS Carbons in black. Out of stock atm but should be with me in a week or two. Hopefully this will stop me nearly breaking my ankles!

Bedgebury MBK

J, A and I met C and A in Bedgebury (Kent) on Sunday for some MBK action. It was quite a drive there but you get a whole load of red run graded MBK trails. Weather was perfect and the ground a good combination of wet and dry. I managed to fall off several times (I think my shoes are to blame) and at one point face planted direct into a muddy puddle - pics in title.

Sony Netbook - VGN-P11Z

Oh dear, this morning in LHR airport I spotted one of these - link in title. It is a fully fledged Vista machine (2GB Ram, 1.33GHz CPU) with an astonishing 1600x1024 screen.... The only reason I am not writing to you from one now is that they only had the green one in stock and I want the white version. The guys in Aberdeen airport say they'll sort me out with a home delivery on Friday if I still want one...

Update: got one coming mid-week ;)

Tokyo?

I used my mobile with Google Latitude when in Sweden to put a location pin against my profile. I was using GPS (so it should have been accurate) but it decided I was somewhat more East than I thought....

Sweden

K and I went home to Sweden this weekend. It was only a short visit but good nevertheless. We did quite a lot of shopping, drunk quite a lot of coffee and had real Semla. It even snowed - but it did not settle. More pics in title link...