Mr Technology puts the hammer down!!

Jul 252008

I decided over the past few weeks I needed to upgrade the security of my home wireless network because it was on a relatively weak WEP system with a 10 digit password.

For reasons anyone with a little knowledge would accept, I chose the WPA and… to be safe… chose a 40 character alphanumeric password. Wonderful.

I changed the password on the router and of course immediately lost access to the net. Windows Vista being what it is, it wasn’t immediately apparent what to do to reinstate the connection but after 15 minutes or so I worked it out. Again wonderful.

Then I remembered I had to reboot the router and modem to complete the process so off I went to do it.

Disaster. No connection.

Nothing I did made any difference. I rewrote this, disconnected that, chose this option, replaced it with that one… nothing.

I was so depressed with my inability to make such a simple thing function that I took myself off to bed to get some sleep, think it over and recover a little (we’ve had some late nights and early mornings).

When I woke an hour or two later I returned to the computer *determined* to force it to my will. Then I sat and thought about what was really happening and went to check the modem.

Would you believe I’d not switched it back on?? I feel like screaming

Samsung Omnia (i900) update

I.T and similar No Responses »

Jul 242008

Seen a price for an imported 16Gb version of the Samsung Omnia i900 which comes in at around AU$1018.28 which seems to me to be a pretty good price… especially bearing in mind my having bought the iMate JasJam for a similar price 3 years or so ago.

I’m not buying it at this price though. I actually *want* a ‘plan’ from a Telco so until one of the biggies comes up with something suitable I’ll have to wait. Still, it looks as if they’re beginning to trickle into the country so maybe I won’t have long to wait!

Hello world!

General Ramblings No Responses »

Jul 212008

Well hello again. I’ve managed to crawl out of bed and am all bar ready to return to the blogshere to throw my opinions into the melting pot. Sorry for the self-indulgence of the past weeks, when I have flu I’m a pain to all around me so abandoning the blog for a few days has probably saved a lot of people a lot of grief!

Either way, we’re more or less back. The kids return to school tomorrow after their winter break, so I’ll have a free hand to catch up with all those issues I’ve ignored over the time recently spent coughing and spluttering into an acre of rainforest converted to ’tissue paper’ just for my benefit.

Oi… who said they were hoping I had a relapse??

Bought an iPhone – seen better?

Entertainment, I.T and similar 6 Responses »

Jul 202008

So let’s see. Who got sucked into the hype and like a million others went out and bought an iPhone? Oops… you did?

Well, if you *did* rush out and buy one I doubt you’ll be too happy reading the rest of this article.

To be honest I was considering rushing out with the rest of the herd to get my grubby little hands on a grubby little screen but after after a lot of reading round I decided to wait awhile and see what the reviews were like about the machine in use. I also wanted to wait out and see what the alternatives were because several stories made oblique references to ‘new touch phones’ that were coming onto the market, but mostly without any specifics.

I began reading around a wider circle and stopped short when I came to two new phones, one was the HTC Diamond which is a *beautiful* piece of kit with pretty good specs the other was the Samsung Omnia which is where I now am… drooling! The phone is good looking but the specs… ohhh… the specs!!!

For those of you with iPhones, compare what Apple has provided with your bright new offering, with the Samsung machine specs:

3.2-inch wide touch display

GPS

stereo Bluetooth,

WiFi

8/16 GB internal memory

memory card slot (accepts up to 16GB micro-sd card)

5 MP camera (with sports auto-focus, geo-tagging, auto-panorama, stabilizer, face detection, smile detection, and video editing)

FM radio

auto-rotation

12.5mm body

… well yes there’s more, but I’m sure you get the picture?

There’s a review at http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/9459.html if you’re interested.

Samsung Omnia i900 i907 For me the appeal of the Samsung lies in the radio, the GPS and the 5Mp camera. However, the Div-X support… and the ability to support 16Gb mini-SD cards *as well as* the inbuilt 8/16Gb will mean I could carry several full length movies to watch if I was ever anywhere where I (or the kids) could otherwise be bored rigid!

Currently, from the published specs, it seems to be really approaching the ‘all-in-one’ mobile computer, PDA. phone concept many of us have been looking for. Of course usability is something that only comes with hands-on experience.

Despite the fact that my iMate JasJam comes with a slide-out keyboard, I rarely use it.

For preference, I use the touch screen and have almost exclusively since purchase! So for me, character recognition is something else I’ve come to expect as a must have… and something else the iPhone seems to have ignored.

Of course *price* is an all-consuming sticking point for many, including myself, so no matter how good a device it is, if it simply costs too much when it is available in Australia, then no matter what it offers, it’ll just have to be put on the wish list and wait.

Right now tho I’m waiting for a test model to become available… and if it’s available on an affordable ‘plan. I’m sure I won’t have long to wait.

Bendi Bindi Back!

Environment 4 Responses »

Jul 182008

The miniscule Wildlife Warrior and merchandising machine known as Bindi Irwin will be ten years old in a few days (July 24th). The development of her fan base in the wake of father Steve’s death has launched her into ‘superstar’ status. In fact, her fame has grown to the extent that the ‘Bindi Irwin’ name is quite possibly currently the most well known of any child on the planet!

There are signs that merchandising her name might propel her into the same earning league as the Olsen twins, but with the huge difference that Bindi is becoming well known as a child with a purpose. Whereas all other child stars are famous for being famous, Bindi, even at 10 years old has her fame grounded in a worthwhile cause. She is after all the undisputed queen of the mini-conservationists, pushing hard to bring the problems human society causes wildlife to the front pages of the world media. To be fair to Bindi herself, to mum Terri, and to Australia Zoo, as much as Bindi herself is being ‘marketed’, the underlying message is still heard loud and clear. Without serious ongoing intervention the next 50 years could see the extinction of 90% of ‘wildlife’ on the planet.

Bindy Irwin with 'Bindi Doll'

So the circus surrounding her upcoming ‘birthday party’ at Australia Zoo can be excused because whilst it *will* increase her personal fortune, increase her market ‘visibility’, and of course enhance the takings at the zoo… it will bring back to the forefront the message that all wildlife on the planet is interdependent and we continue to lose diversity at our own peril.

Look past the tacky merchandising and you’ll see a 10 year old girl with an ongoing mission to save the planet. It’s a lot to dump on the shoulders of one little girl, but she’s doing her bit just the same, and keeping her huge trademark grin while she’s about it.

Good onya Bindi… and Happy Birthday. Steve would still be very proud of you.

On the mend?

General Ramblings 2 Responses »

Jul 172008

Well yes, I’m ‘sort of’ on the mend. I can’t say I feel as bad as I did, but I’m still ‘out of it. I’ll take a few extra days off and try to make sure I’m back properly. No point trying to force things after all.

I’ve done very little posting in the forums. Hardly been on ‘Messenger’ or ‘Google Chat’, in fact I’ve missed most of everything and everyone this week!

Sadly because I’ve spent most of the week half conscious, I’ve also missed most of this weeks ‘Angela Catterns shows’ and so have *no* idea where she’ll be popping up next – if at all! That’s so sad after waiting all this time to hear her again. C’est la vie, maybe next time.

So, again, I apologise for the lack of posts but at least you know I’ve here somewhere, even if I’m not particularly loquacious right now.

Got to go, I feel a sneeze and some more dry hacking coughing coming on. Back soon… I hope.

Sick as a Dog

General Ramblings, Health 5 Responses »

Jul 142008

Sorry to report that I’m still suffering with the flu I didn’t mention I had.

I came down with the Australian version of the lurgy a couple of weeks ago and I’ve gone steadily downhill since. Strangely even before it arrived I knew it was on the way.

Over the many years of my life I’ve discovered that whenever I feel really well and suddenly get really ‘workish’ it is in fact a precursor to a total physical collapse! It’s happened too many times to be a coincidence and I’ve started taking notice of it.

Perhaps my body is doing a form of ‘nesting’ so that I feel I *can* collapse because the house is clean and tidy so I don’t feel so guilty about it… who knows. One thing tho is that now I am aware enough to make sure I have supplies of medicines and snack type foods around to make sure I don’t have to venture far until it all blows over and I recover.

This time, for some reason, the kids actually helped out a bit as well instead of leaving me to battle on with it. Also the wife has done sterling duty keeping everything working as it should in the house.

My head still hurts and the throat feels like someone is scouring it with sandpaper, but this is actually an improvement! At least my sinuses don’t feel as if they’re about to explode.

I’ll be back sooner or later of course… but right now please accept my apologies for the lack of updates etc. I’ll be back, but maybe not ‘in force’ for a few more days yet.

Life in the Kennel.

General Ramblings No Responses »

Jul 092008

Please accept my apologies for not updating the blog as regularly as usual. The kids are home for what would be known as half term in the UK, but end of term in Oz, and so I’m a bit ‘pushed’ for time! In addition I decided now was a good time to start spring-cleaning and disposing of some of the rubbish we’ve collected over the years.

I’ve started in the kitchen which, apart from the computer, is where I spend most of my time after all. All the shelving has been worked through anything clearly ‘clutter’ and of no immediate use has been shifted to the ‘back room’ and will be part of a projected ‘garage sale’ to be held sometime over the next few months.

There are still many ‘useless’ items on those shelves, for example my collection of scruffy science-fiction paperbacks, assembled over the past 50 years really ought to go now. Yes I like to pick them up and read them occasionally, but since ‘occasionally’ means once every ten years or so, filling valuable shelf space with them seems a little perverse. The question currently is what to do with them?

Next step is to investigate e-bay I suppose and determine if there is a market for any of the junk… sorry I mean ‘disposable goods’… that I’ve decided we no longer need. Who knows. There might be another Sci-Fi nut out there who’d like to read all these things and would be willing to pay hard cash for them!

Moving on, I still have to go through the other rooms to consign ‘junk’ to the growing pile of garage sale goods until I’m convinced the house is junk-free. And then we move to the garage which we are currently unable to even walk into, let alone park the car in!

So that’s the state of play. The kids will be off school for another week and a half and then the blog will be back in force. Until then… all I can do is apologise.

How’s your quality of life?

Home and Hearth, MoneyMaking No Responses »

Jul 042008

We’re quite remarkably well off by most standards. The wife earns a bucket of money, which of course we spend and enjoy pretty much, however the actual ‘quality of life’ issue still raises it’s head now and then.

In order for the wife to earn this small fortune she has to leave the house at 6:00 a.m. and return at 7:00 p.m. which is a long, long day. The result is that she’s tired constantly (aggravated by her physical condition of course and the tablets she takes to control it) and the weekends are often gone before she’s recovered enough to be able to do much.

So is our quality of life all it could be?

Well the wife said this morning she *has* to work in order that she keeps us constantly supplied with all our technological toys, and the accoutremonts of the lifestyle, to which I respond phooey!! Given the choice between her being home with us and having the toys etc we’d *all* choose her every time!

Can we do anything about it?

Well over the years I’ve whined in here repeatedly that I’d like to move, or *do* something about the issue and never got anywhere. I doubt anything will change anytime soon either. Interest rates have risen, petrol costs have risen and house prices have dropped. Essentially the simple cost of living has increased to the level that we just can’t afford to move even if we wanted to. We’d just end up with the same mortgage in a smaller house and she’d *still* have to work the same hours!

What to do? Anyone got a sure fire get rich quick scheme they can recommend??

Angela’s Army

Entertainment 2 Responses »

Jul 042008

Had a nice email from Angela Catterns the other day in response to a ‘welcome back’ message I sent via her website. Today is her final day sitting in for Richard Feidler in his ‘Conversation Hour’ on ABC Local Radio 702 and I was prepared to say ‘bye’ for now. I’d even dug out this old photo of her taken when she was a presenter at Triple J radio in 1986 to give her a better ‘send-off’!

Angel Catterns at Triple J in 1986 However, she told me she’ll be sitting in for James Valentine in the afternoons for the next two weeks! The response from me was ‘woohoo’!!

This week was good for us fans, just in terms of her voice getting some airing but much as she did her job beautifully, the structure of the Conversation Hour is fairly rigid in that an interviewer is really there to… well… interviews!

One of Angela’s strongest skills is her ability to get people to open up, which she did beautifully this week. Of course the point of the interview is to give the person being interviewed a chance to share and shine instead of the person asking the questions, tho of course the right questions have to be asked! So you don’t really want the presenter to outshine the target!

The afternoon show however is very varied in its appeal with a large variety of ‘segments’ where the presenter is the main focus and I’m expecting Angela to again come into her own and let it all hang out in the way only she can. Should be a great couple of weeks.

Oh yes… before anyone decides I’m getting obsessed with Ange this isn’t quite true. She just has a voice that is entirely consistent with ‘honesty’ and it’s a pleasure to listen to her. I’m just one of a half million other members of ‘Angelas Army’, a group of people who happily follow her around the airwaves just because we trust her.

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